Jametown Post-Journal

        How History Repeats Itself

LOCAL COMMENTARIES

FEB 19, 2022

ROLLAND KIDDEr

A good friend of mine related a story from one of his history classes in college. In a question directed to him the professor asked: “What is history?” My friend was silent, somewhat dumbfounded and didn’t know how to respond. “Well,” said the professor, “it’s just one damn thing happening after another!”

It seems to me that this college teacher had a pretty good grasp on describing what “history” is. Another matter of note about history is that human beings tend not to change much and so what has happened in the past is likely to happen again in the future.

It should really be no surprise that Vladimir Putin wants to invade Ukraine. Strong men, autocrats, dictators–have always liked to invade other countries. Think of Hitler, Stalin or Tojo during World War II. It didn’t matter whether it was Poland, Finland or China–invading and taking over someone else’s territory is part of what being a dictator is all about.

Why do autocrats think this way? Probably because of the truth that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It could also be because, in their view, being strong means that you can push other people around. And, that idea probably stems from the sinful side of human nature which posits that some people are superior to other people–the opposite of the Golden Rule which says “we should treat our neighbors as ourselves.”

Another lesson from history is that, often, other nations are unwilling or ill-prepared to stand up to such aggression. Think here of Neville Chamberlain’s attempt to mollify Hitler by allowing him to take over Czechoslovakia in 1939. Part of Chamberlain’s motivation was that he knew that Britain and the West were not prepared at the time to stop Hitler.

Bringing all of this back to our current crisis with Vladimir Putin threatening to invade Ukraine–old lessons from history still seem to ring true today. We and the democratic nations of the West are not prepared militarily to stop Putin. The United States today only has a volunteer Army which is over-committed and undermanned. The same could be said of NATO and our other Western alliances. The hope is that the threat of sanctions and isolating Russia from the rest of the world will be enough of a deterrent to stop Putin. Will it?

The last time we came this close to having a war with Russia was with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. War seemed imminent then, but the Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, finally realized that going to war with the United States would be disastrous–and he backed off. Will Putin back off?

Let’s hope that he does. If he doesn’t, is the United States ready to impose a sea and air embargo on everything going in and out of Russia? Are we willing to mobilize our population and reinstate the draft in order to carry on a war?

The historical “repeat” we are all hoping for is that diplomacy can work to save Ukraine, rather than having its failure lead to war. If Putin invades Ukraine, will China be emboldened to invade Taiwan? History is unpredictable. The whole crisis reminds us again that we still live in a very fractured world.

Gerrymandering is Alive and Well

Elbridge Gerry, one of our lesser-known founding fathers, signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation but refused to sign the original Constitution because it didn’t contain a Bill of Rights. Later, he helped author the Bill of Rights Amendments which became a part of our Constitution. In other words, Elbridge Gerry was a man who stood for principle.

However, what Gerry is most known for today (other than the Town of Gerry which is named after him) is his involvement in drawing a legislative district in the shape of a salamander while Governor of Massachusetts in order to protect his own political party. Thus, alas, he has gone down in American history as the author and originator of “gerrymandering.”

Gerrymandering is the process, now well-perfected across all the States in our Union, where the parties in power draw election districts to benefit themselves. It has recently happened throughout the Republican-controlled South, including Texas and Alabama, and the Democrats just did it in New York. Welcome to “Politics 101” in America!

When I was in Albany, the Republican Party controlled the state Senate. So, when redistricting was passed, Republicans always drew districts giving themselves the best chance at retaining a majority in the state Senate. Now, that they are in the minority, they are screaming that the Democrats are doing the same thing. It is hard to feel sorry for them–though saying that is not meant to justify the process of gerrymandering.

This year, a special bipartisan commission, created to recommend new districts in New York, couldn’t agree on the maps for redistricting and so it submitted two sets of maps to the legislature– which were then voted down overwhelmingly by legislators from both political parties. When those maps were rejected, by law, the job of redistricting went back to the state legislature.

Last week, the legislature acted, passed and the governor signed into law new state and federal election district lines and–guess what? The districts favor the party in power in New York–the Democrats.

However, what it did for us in the Southern Tier, is create a district in which no Democrat really has a chance of winning. The new Southern Tier Congressional District will now stretch from the shores of Lake Erie almost to Utica–a distance of 250 miles. Not only that, but the leading candidate for the Republicans doesn’t even live in the District. She resides near Oneida Lake and currently represents a Congressional District up in that area of the State. Her name is Claudia Tenney.

 

Tenney, has announced that if the new Congressional District lines (now subject to a Republican lawsuit) remain the same–that she will run and, if elected, move into the new Southern Tier District. She is probably unstoppable, since she already has raised over $1 million dollars for her re-election which she can spend in whatever District she decides to run in.

This new Congressional District may not look like a “salamander,” but it certainly deserves all the aspersion associated with the term “gerrymandering.”  

This new Congressional District we are in may not look like a “salamander,” but it certainly deserves all of the aspersion associated with the term “gerrymandering.” Especially, if you are Democrat living here–forget about it. The chances of electing a Democrat in this new Southern Tier District are slim to none.


Rolland Kidder