Liberty. Fraternity. Equality. This unholy trinity, like the three legged stool, cannot stand on one or two legs alone. Republic and democracy are the entities where the beneficiaries of that trinity, publios and demos (same thing in two languages, Latin and Greek, sort of like apple and pomme in English and French) thrive.
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“Mission Impossible.” The title of the TV series was, of course, ironic because, whatever the improbable mission, on TV it was achieved. This is not the likely outcome of the Glynn County Police “mission,” to “ensure public safety within the community,” (p.8) because that is a real life impossibility.
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Well, this is not a diary and, if I were not a New Yorker subscriber, I would not have bothered to respond to such a sparse come-.on. It is not nice to tease.

That said, the article is informative, not as tedious as many New Yorker pieces and provides a new perspective.

I have long thought that Bernstein was the better reporter and do not trust Woodward. He is a grand stander and a self promoter.

Since Nixon once answered a letter I sent him, I’ve been ambivalent about his fall. Since I learned that both he and McGovern supported a guaranteed family income, I have felt that he was set up because he had to be removed. Had McGovern won, he would not have been able to effect such a program. Nixon could and the financiers, nor Capitol Hill, could put up with that. Formally liberating the dollar from the bands of gold threatened to reduce the currency to a mere utility. All the people gambling with it as a scarce resource could not have that. They could not give up the levers of the economy. Bad enough that the expanded electorate would challenge the established hegemony.

Watergate overshadowed so much else that happened. One might say it was the beginning of a grand deception which has now culminated with deception being all there is.

Segregationists are desperate for some stratagem that will automatically confer special status (like heritage or even material inheritance) without the recipient having to do or accomplish anything. That is because these status seekers are by and large incompetence. So, basing social standing and recognition on education and/or achievement is anathema to them. Segregation and the maintence of exclusive neighborhoods is not about the excluded; it is about people who sense of self-importance is enhanced by shutting other people out. We see evidence of it not just in fancy gated enclaves but also in slum dwellings festooned with KEEP OUT signs. Perhaps it is atavistic, like the redwing blackbird shrieking when someone enters its territory.

While many of us are disgusted by how the Dude seems to have wasted his inheritance in six bankruptcies, his base may well find his status as an heir to a great fortune attractive. And the waste lets them feel superior (as it does Democrats) in arguing they would have done better in life if they’d had his advantages.

Forgot to add that this segregationist desire puts those who hold it in conflict with the Constitution, which directs that all PERSONS within its JURISDICTION are to be given equal treatment. Remember that for slavery to continue within its confines, the slave had to be defined as 3/5 of a person. The word person is super important; more important than citizen. After all, citizenship is a bundle of obligations. Persons have natural rights and their behavior is presumed to be good because their Creator has endowed them with a moral sense. This premise, too, puts the Constitution at odds with the fundamentalist belief that man is evil and must be persuaded or forced to do good.

The Republican party is largely made up of people who believe that humans are sinful and in need of correction by establishments of religion and, if that does not work, then the use of force must be called on and that involves the state. Where does this preconceived notion/prejudice come from? It is necessary to justify ordering other people around. And ordering other people around is a necessity for people who can do nothing for themselves. In other words, authoritarianism is the incompetents’ default.

IACP GCPD report: response #2

Glynn County has featured the IACP study on its home page with the following explanation of intent:

“The number one goal in the County’s Strategic Plan is a “Safe Community”. The Glynn County Police Department has a large role in the County’s effort to ensure that our community is safe for our citizens and visitors. In an effort to meet the objectives
for a safe Community that are outlined in the Strategic Plan and to prepare the Department for the growth that is taking place in an expanded population and increased level of visitors a comprehensive operations and management study of the Glynn County Police Department was conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The completed full study and supplement can be viewed at the links below.“
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Not new, but perhaps more concise.

Whether elected or appointed, public officials resent being demoted to being public servants. So, yes, government by the people, aka democracy, is under attack by those who would be governing us. Since Republicans are royalists at heart, who would just as soon be ruled, they are less constroversial from the poobahs’ point of view.

The founders were wise to schedule elections every two years. We have been foolish in granting some officials life tenure. Of course, when the average life expectancy was 40, that was not a significant problem.

All that glitters is not gold. However, gold is a malleable mineral virtually impervious to environmental degradation and preserves man’s inspired transformations long after he has turned to dust and gone. In a way, gold lets figments of the imagination assume material form.

When it comes to currency, gold’s most familiar form, paper currency is more organic, while electronic currency most nearly approximates the immaterial (value) being imagined.
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Don’t know why this did not get published long ago.

What is their point? If the answer is to keep the salt water out during high tide, what is that supposed to accomplish? Is there an idea that, eventually, when the salt marsh has died off, the land will be drainable and suitable for building? Is that why the Glynn County planning staff has changed the future land use designation for the Buffalo Creek delta from general industrial to low density residential?
Does no one realize that the ground water rises and falls with the tide and the soils are going to continue to be unsuitable for structures?
How long will it be before the foundations of Mariners’ Landing start to crack?