Tag: Pennsylvania

The Most Conservative County in Liberal States

By Elias Sorich/Stacker

American politics have polarized faster than in other democracies, according to a report published in the National Bureau of Economic Research. This trend is reflected in the ideological movement of the U.S. Congress, with both Democrats and Republicans moving further and further away from an ideological center, though Republicans have done so on average more intensely. Indeed, the recent struggle of Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to gain the speakership role highlighted the degree to which hard-right conservative politicians have come to hold disproportionately large sway over the Republican majority.

Many of those detractors, members of the Freedom Caucus, come from reliably Republican and ideologically conservative states, though a number come from more moderate or swing states. To develop an understanding of the complexity of the American political landscape, Stacker compiled voter turnout data from The New York Times and statewide political ideology data from Gallup to rank states by their share of self-identifying liberals. Ties were broken by the corresponding percentage of conservatives, as able. Voter data was then used to identify counties that voted against this statewide average ideology.

In looking at these counties, data from government agencies such as the Census Bureau and research institutes—such as the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute—were used to highlight and analyze demographic factors that might make the political ideology of the county apparent. Percentages of people identifying as "white Christian" in each county were sourced from the 2020 Census of American Religion. Detailed voter turnout data was unavailable for Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana, and Alabama.

In terms of understanding how these demographic factors affect the political lean of an American voter, a few qualities stand out as the biggest and most reliable predictors of party affiliation and ideological tendency. Namely, religion, race, education, and where a voter falls on the urban-rural divide. To distill these complexities into a couple of takeaways: Racially diverse communities lean Democrat by wide margins, and white Christians account for a large percentage of Republican votes. The highly educated tend to lean Democrat quite broadly, and in presidential elections, rural areas see a 15-22 point increase in Republican votes regardless of other variables such as race and education. Gender, age, and sexuality all play into the equation as well, with older voters leaning conservative, women leaning Democrat, men leaning slightly Republican, and LGBTQ+ voters overwhelmingly liberal.Florence County, Wisconsin

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#20. Wisconsin: 24% liberal, 35% conservative

- Most conservative county: Florence County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 2,133 (72.6%)
--- Total votes cast: 2,940

Located on the northernmost, rural border between Wisconsin and Michigan, Florence County has a population of 4,558, of which 94.6% is white, most of whom identify as white and Christian. The county has a population density of 9.3 people per square mile, a median age 15.9 years higher than the national average of 38.6, and 20.6% of its population has attained a bachelor's degree or higher, 14.4% lower than the national average of 35%.Fulton County, Pennsylvania

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#19. Pennsylvania: 24% liberal, 34% conservative

- Most conservative county: Fulton County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 6,824 (85.4%)
--- Total votes cast: 7,990

Fulton County shares a border with Maryland to the south and is sparsely populated, with McConnellsburg (population 1,150) its largest town. In terms of explaining conservative dominance in the county, three demographics stand out: its population of 14,556 is 94.3% white, only 15.7% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher, and 80% of the population identifies as white Christian.Sussex County, Delaware

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#18. Delaware: 24% liberal, 29% conservative

- Most conservative county: Sussex County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 71,230 (55.1%)
--- Total votes cast: 129,352

Distinguishing Sussex County most significantly from its more liberal neighboring counties is the high median age of its residents at 51.8 years, with 29.8% of Sussex County residents being 65 and older, and 75.4% of its 237,378 residents identifying as white. Immediately north is Kent County, Delaware, which has a median age of 38.8, and a lower percentage of white residents at 58.8% of 181,851. While not as markedly white as other counties, Sussex's racial demographics, combined with the fact that older voters generally vote more conservatively, likely contribute to its Republican lean.Morrison County, Minnesota

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#17. Minnesota: 25% liberal, 32% conservative

- Most conservative county: Morrison County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 14,821 (75.8%)
--- Total votes cast: 19,558

One of the top counties in Minnesota for dairy farming, Morrison County has a population of 34,010 with a density of 29.5 people per square mile, making it a decidedly rural region. In terms of demographics, the county is 94.2% white, a recurring factor in sharply conservative counties.Kent County, Rhode Island

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#16. Rhode Island: 25% liberal, 29% conservative

- Most conservative county: Kent County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 42,001 (45.1%)
--- Total votes cast: 93,093

Demographically, Kent County is fairly average, containing parts of the greater Providence metropolitan area as well as rural swaths, and with income, employment, education, and median age levels on par with the national average. The county's tossup nature is reflected in its voting history, going for President Trump by a 0.7% margin in 2016 and President Biden by a 7.6% margin in 2020. Likely tipping the county's balance towards conservatism, however, are the 38% of its population identifying as white Catholics, a group that leans Republican by a 14% margin, as well as a largely white overall population representing 86% of the total 170,363 residents.Kiowa County, Colorado

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#15. Colorado: 26% liberal, 33% conservative

- Most conservative county: Kiowa County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 795 (88.0%)
--- Total votes cast: 903

The location of a collapsed agriculture industry, Kiowa County is 1,767.8 square miles, but contains only 1,446 residents, making it one of the top 50 least densely populated counties in the nation. With a population that is 75% white and Christian, and overall 89% white, Kiowa's steep conservatism likely comes down to its racial and geographic demographic qualities.Wayne County, Illinois

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#14. Illinois: 27% liberal, 31% conservative

- Most conservative county: Wayne County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 7,176 (84.4%)
--- Total votes cast: 8,499

Wayne County is host to 368,017 acres of farmland, constituting 80% of the county's 713.8 square miles. Its largest city is Fairfield with a population of 4,883. Eighty-two percent of the county's population of 16,179 are white Christians, and 95.5% of the overall population is white, with the percentage of the population attaining a bachelor's degree or higher at 15.2%, about 20 points lower than the national average.Litchfield County, Connecticut

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#13. Connecticut: 27% liberal, 30% conservative

- Most conservative county: Litchfield County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 55,601 (51.7%)
--- Total votes cast: 107,544

Connecticut's largest county by square mileage, Litchfield County has a population of 185,186 and contains a consistent distribution of smaller towns interspersed with natural areas and preserves. The county is wealthier than the national average, with a median household income of $84,978 against the nation's $69,717, and more highly educated with 38% of the population attaining a bachelor's degree or higher and 15% attaining a postgraduate or professional degree. Factors contributing to the county's tendency to go for Republican candidates by small but consistent margins are a high median age of 47.6, a population of 85.7% white, and 5% white Christian.Ocean County, New Jersey

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#12. New Jersey: 27% liberal, 29% conservative

- Most conservative county: Ocean County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 217,740 (63.8%)
--- Total votes cast: 341,516

Part of the broader New York metropolitan area, Ocean County is home to 637,229 people and has grown consistently over the decades, gaining 10.5% in population from 2010-2020. The city of Lakewood is a source of much of that increase, growing by 45.6% to a total population of 135,158 from 2010-2020, thanks in large part to an influx of Orthodox Jewish people, a group that leans Republican by 75%. Otherwise, the county's population is 83.8% white, with 10.4% of the population being Hispanic or Latino, and overall has fairly average income, education, and median age demographics.Lake County, Oregon

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#11. Oregon: 28% liberal, 32% conservative

- Most conservative county: Lake County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 3,470 (79.5%)
--- Total votes cast: 4,363

Located in southern Oregon in a region known as the "Oregon Outback" for its desert habitat, Lake County is 8,138.6 square miles in size and contains a population of 8,160, putting its population density at about 1 person per square mile. A quarter of the population is 65 years and older, and 82% are white with an overall median household income of $50,685, about $20,000 lower than national and state levels.Garrett County, Maryland

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#10. Maryland: 28% liberal, 29% conservative

- Most conservative county: Garrett County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 12,002 (76.9%)
--- Total votes cast: 15,611

Maryland's westernmost county, Garrett County is sandwiched between West Virginia and Pennsylvania and contains 118.75 square miles of parks, lakes, and forestland—about 18% of the county's overall size. The county is overwhelmingly white at 96.5% of 28,806 people and is 71% white Christian, with 23% of residents religiously unaffiliated. The county has a slightly above average median age of 47.3, with 22.4% of the population 65 and older, a median income of $58,011 against the state's $90,203, and 24.7% of residents having attained a bachelor's degree or higher.Honolulu County, Hawaii

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#9. Hawaii: 28% liberal, 22% conservative

- Most conservative county: Honolulu County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 136,259 (35.7%)
--- Total votes cast: 382,114

Containing 70% of Hawaii's residents and encompassing the entirety of the island of Honolulu, Honolulu County has a population of 1,016,508, 43% of whom are Asian or Asian American, 10% of whom are Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and 18.5% of whom are white. In terms of political affiliation, English-speaking Asian Americans lean Democrat by a margin of 55 points, a gap that has continually widened over the last two decades. Religiously, the county is quite diverse—4% of its population is Buddhists, the third-largest concentration of Buddhists in the nation, a group that leans Democrat.Lassen County, California

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#8. California: 29% liberal, 29% conservative

- Most conservative county: Lassen County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 8,970 (74.8%)
--- Total votes cast: 11,985

Located in California's arid northeast, Lassen County has a low employment rate of 30%, though the population's median age is 37.3. Notably, 46% of people employed in the county are local, state, and federal government employees—31.4% higher than the national average—with state and federal prisons located in the region accounting for a significant amount of that number. Only 11.8% of the population has attained a bachelor's degree or higher. The county is relatively diverse when compared to other counties on this list with 64.3% of the population identifying as white, 23% as Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% as Black or African American, and 3.3% as American Indian/Alaskan Native.Belknap County, New Hampshire

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#7. New Hampshire: 30% liberal, 28% conservative

- Most conservative county: Belknap County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 20,899 (54.3%)
--- Total votes cast: 38,453

Host to the majority of Lake Winnipesaukee, 15% of Belknap County's area is water, and its largest city is Laconia, which has a population of 16,871 to the county's 63,705 residents. Significant to the politics of the region is a popular ski resort called Gunstock, which in 2023 led to an upheaval in the county's state delegation after a Republican-led group attempted to usher in corporate ownership of the resort. In terms of its demographics, Belknap contains the highest concentration of white Christians in New Hampshire at 63%, with 92.8% of the overall population identifying as white.Wyoming County, New York

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#6. New York: 30% liberal, 27% conservative

- Most conservative county: Wyoming County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 13,348 (74.0%)
--- Total votes cast: 18,050

Located in far western New York, Wyoming County is the state's largest dairy farming county, containing an estimated 49,925 cows, per the USDA's 2017 Census of Agriculture. The county also contains the third-highest concentration of white Christians in the state at 67% of the population and of that 22% are white evangelical Protestants, a group that leans Republican by a margin of 59 points.Washington D.C.

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#5. Washington D.C.: 30% liberal, 24% conservative

- Most conservative county: Washington
--- Republican votes in 2020: 18,586 (5.4%)
--- Total votes cast: 344,356

As a federal district and not a state, Washington D.C. does not contain any official counties, but its local government performs the services of a city and county. A region that votes overwhelmingly Democratic and has since at least 1964, D.C.'s conservatism is difficult to identify. Notably, 63% of D.C. residents have attained a bachelor's degree or higher and 35.9% have attained a graduate or professional degree. The region is also very diverse with a population of 689,545 breaking down to 41.4% Black or African American, 39.6% white, 11.3% Hispanic or Latino, and 4.8% Asian.Lincoln County, Washington

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#4. Washington: 31% liberal, 28% conservative

- Most conservative county: Lincoln County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 5,150 (73.2%)
--- Total votes cast: 7,033

Located in Washington's eastern region, Lincoln County is the state's second-largest wheat producer, with over 80% of the county's 2,310 square miles devoted to farmland. The county is sparsely populated, with a population density of 4.7 people per square mile, and its residents have a somewhat high median age of 47.1, with 25.1% of the population 65 or older. Lincoln's population is 89.2% white, and the county has the highest concentration of white Christians in the state at 67%.Essex County, Vermont

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#3. Vermont: 32% liberal, 28% conservative

- Most conservative county: Essex County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 1,773 (53.9%)
--- Total votes cast: 3,288

The least populous county of Vermont and in all of New England, Essex County has 5,920 residents, of whom 94% are white, and 67% of whom identify as white Christians, the third-highest concentration in the state. Essex also has the lowest median household income in the state at $48,194 against Vermont's overall $72,431.Piscataquis County, Maine

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#2. Maine: 33% liberal, 35% conservative

- Most conservative county: Piscataquis County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 6,143 (62.0%)
--- Total votes cast: 9,908

With water representing 9.5% of its area, and a significant portion of its land devoted to state parks, preserves, and wilderness areas, Piscataquis County is a largely rural, natural region. The second-largest county in Maine at 3,961 square miles, Piscataquis' population of 16,800 has a median age of 51.3, with 26.1% of the population aged 65 and older, and 20.3% of the population having attained a bachelor's degree or higher.Bristol County, Massachusetts

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#1. Massachusetts: 35% liberal, 21% conservative

- Most conservative county: Bristol County
--- Republican votes in 2020: 119,872 (42.9%)
--- Total votes cast: 279,279

Bordering Providence, Rhode Island, and containing a high proportion of urban area, Bristol County's population is 579,200, and the county has a population density of 1,047.2 people per square mile. The county's median household income of $73,102 is above the national average but lags behind Massachusetts' median income of $89,645. Just 9.5% of the population are Hispanic or Latino, whereas 78.7% identify as white.​​

Data reporting by Sam Larson. Story editing by Brian Budzynski. Copy editing by Robert Wickwire.

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Comment below or email editors@thehustings.news

Sanders Stumps

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has hit the hustings “to make his closing midterm pitch,” Rolling Stone reports. He plans to visit key battlegrounds “where we think we could have the most impact,” Sanders says, including Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin where Democratic candidates for the Senate are in tight races with MAGA-hatted Republicans. Sanders also will visit Congressional districts where the Democratic Party has given up hope, such as South Texas.

“He’ll campaign on behalf of Senate candidates who aren’t planning on appearing alongside him,” Rolling Stone says. 

Upshot: In other words, the self-described democratic-socialist will try to boost Democratic Senate candidates who are fighting off Republican challengers’ attacking them as too far left, a gambit that appears to be working for the MAGA candidates. 

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Lettuce Wins

(THU 10/20/22)

British PM Resigns – Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced her resignation just 44 days into her term, the BBC reports. Her conservative party is to choose a successor by Friday, October 28. London’s Daily Star claimed victory for its 60-pence head of lettuce for outlasting the PM with the shortest term in British history.

--TL

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Biden Ups Midterm Ante on Abortion Issue (WED 10/19/22)

Codifying Roe v. Wade – President Biden announces Tuesday the first and foremost issue on his agenda for the second half of his term, if Democrats manage to hold majorities in both the House and Senate, will be a bill codifying Roe v. Wade, The Hill reports. Yes, that is a big “if”. With three weeks to go to the November 8 midterm elections, most polls show that intended voters rank inflation and the economy as their top issue, ahead of abortion rights.

The Hill helpfully notes that if Democrats do hold off the GOP in the House and Senate, such legislation could appear on or near the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe decision, January 23, 1973 which was overturned last summer by SCOTUS’ ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Upshot: The White House’s gambit will only work for Democrats if it boosts turnout by pro-abortion rights voters in the midterms, rather than counts on changing minds among those who will vote by November 8 anyway.

•••

Record Early Voting in Georgia – The state’s first day of in-person early voting broke the midterm election record by Tuesday morning, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, with nearly 123,000 voters turning out. If Georgia is any indication of the turnout nationally, its likely polls on individual races across the states will prove to be way off the mark.

Meanwhile: Numerous news reports indicate independent and moderate Republican and Democratic voters in Georgia are willing to split their tickets. That would be good news for both incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose Democratic challenger is Stacey Abrams, and incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is in a statistical tie in recent polls with Trumpian Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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Codifying Roe v. Wade – President Biden announces Tuesday the first and foremost issue on his agenda for the second half of his term, if Democrats manage to hold majorities in both the House and Senate, will be a bill codifying Roe v. Wade, The Hill reports. Yes, that is a big “if”. With three weeks to go to the November 8 midterm elections, most polls show that intended voters rank inflation and the economy as their top issue, ahead of abortion rights.

The Hill helpfully notes that if Democrats do hold off the GOP in the House and Senate, such legislation could appear on or near the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe decision, January 23, 1973 which was overturned last summer by SCOTUS’ ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Upshot: The White House’s gambit will only work for Democrats if it boosts turnout by pro-abortion rights voters in the midterms, rather than counting on changing minds among those who will vote by November 8 anyway.

•••

Record Early Voting in Georgia – The state’s first day of in-person early voting broke the midterm election record by Tuesday morning, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, with nearly 123,000 voters turning out. If Georgia is any indication of the turnout nationally, its likely polls on individual races across the states will prove to be way off the mark.

Meanwhile: Numerous news reports indicate independent and moderate Republican and Democratic voters in Georgia are willing to split their tickets. That would be good news for both incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose Democratic challenger is Stacey Abrams, and incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is in a statistical tie in recent polls with Trumpian Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

Latest on the Midterms (MON 10/17/22)

Hill v. Point: A news alert Monday evening, October 17, from The Hill says Republicans are “growing more optimistic” that they will grab majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate after the November 8 midterms. Pollsters say the GOP is gaining momentum from the “stubborn” inflation rate being blamed on President Biden and the Democrats.

That alert was followed by The Point! by CNN’s Chris Cilizza who writes of a surprising poll by J. Ann Selzer for the Des Moines Register, placing Democrat Mike Franken in a statistical tie with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who seeks his eighth term at age 89. Grassley, who hasn’t been seriously challenged in several terms, has 46% in Selzer’s poll to Franken’s 43%. 

Upshot: Selzer’s polls have been the most reliable since polls in general went south with the 2016 presidential race, Cilizza notes, and FiveThirtyEight rates her with a grade of A+.

•••

Early and mail-in voting are underway in many states as the November 8 midterm elections loom. While there is much new attention this year being paid on down-ballot races where elected state and county officials could potentially determine how future elections are conducted and counted, U.S. Senate races are in the national media spotlight. 

Specifically, three key Senate races are considered most likely to determine whether Democrats maintain power in the upper chamber or whether the GOP regains its control in January. 

Ohio: While Republican challenger, venture capitalist and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance holds the double-edge sword of Donald J. Trump’s endorsement, Democratic candidate Rep. Tim Ryan says he disagrees with his party’s leader, President Biden, on such issues as immigration policy. Vance and Ryan were scheduled to face off in their second of two debates Tuesday, October 18. The two candidates are in a statistical tie according to FiveThirtyEight, with Ryan polling an average of 45.1% to Vance’s 44.8% as of October 14.

Georgia: Republican challenger, football hero and Trump endorsee Herschel Walker has lost some support in the week or so since the Daily Beast reported a woman claims he paid for her abortion. Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock leads Walker 48% to 44.2% according to FiveThirtyEight averaging. Warnock would need at least 50% of the vote to win outright, however, to avoid a runoff likely against Walker. A third-party candidate, Libertarian Chase Oliver, is currently polling about 4% according to Fox News. Much of his November 8 votes would likely go to Walker in a runoff.

Nevada: Republican challenger Adam Laxalt leads incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto 45.1% to 44.5%, another statistical tie, according to FiveThirtyEight averaging. This despite 14 members of the Laxalt family, long politically prominent Republicans in Nevada, endorsed Cortez Masto over Laxalt’s embrace of his Trump-MAGA endorsement. Cortez Masto is losing Hispanic support over inflation and the economy, Newsweek reports, citing a USA Today/Suffolk University poll.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), endorsed by The Philadelphia Inquirer October 17, leads erstwhile Jersey guy and MAGA Republican Mehmet Oz by 48% to 42.4%, according to FiveThirtyEight, which means the GOP would have to win at least one challenge against a Democratic incumbent just to retain the 50-50 Senate split, a tie broken by Vice President Kamala Harris. This race is for a replacement to retiring Sen. Pat Toomey, a not-at-all-Trumper Republican.

--Compiled by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Biden in Like a Unity Lamb, Now an Anti-Fascism Lion

By Ken Zino

Ah, the changing of the seasons. President Biden’s second trip to Pennsylvania this week resulted in not only the great photographic backdrop of Independence Hall, but it allowed a framing of the crisis that has come from seasons of Republican-created catastrophic political climate change. This is now approaching the second brutal winter troubling the soul of American democracy since Biden won the 2020 election. Indeed, Biden won the last election by using the same theme, but until Thursday night Biden had been remarkably restrained from using it. Biden announced his bid for the presidency in 2019 close to Independence Hall. This was a compelling sequel. 

President Biden -- after clearing his throat into a live microphone -- got straight to the point. Trump (Biden until now referred to him as the “former guy”) and additional so-called MAGA Republicans espouse destructive ideas casting doubt on election results, spreading conspiracy theories and attacking law enforcement and American institutions.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden said. …they “are determined to take this country backward” … “advocating authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence.”

Key points for patriots: 

•“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise.”

•“Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology,” Biden said. “But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

•“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards.” 

•“Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”

•“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American Democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us.”

Yes, I know that MAGA Republicans are clutching more than all the Mikimoto pearls extant would allow. Republicans brought Biden’s real moral outrage on themselves. They are unfit to hold office as we move on to an improving and optimistic American democratic experiment. 

Remember 1776, when 13 colonies embarked on a distinguished experiment in self-governance as an independent, autonomous nation because the course of human events made it necessary to separate ourselves from our unjust rulers. That was the foundation of something immense, and thus far, enduring. The colonies had but 2.5 million people at that time reporting English and other ancestry. Small numbers in today’s world, but they were people with far bigger aspirations, following far bigger ideas.

We the People were refugees or immigrants, lettered or illiterate who were fleeing or escaping religious and political persecution. Biggest of all was the idea that led to the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. These ideals embodied in our laws say we will work together to be free of despots and kings.

That’s why it’s called Independence Hall. Not Despot-Lago.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The New Boss

By Stephen Macaulay

When people get new jobs, and they happen to be at upper management or executive positions, they like to change things to make it more in line with how they do things. For example, I once had a new boss who detested paper clips and demanded that everything be stapled. While that seems like not a big deal, it surely was to those who had spent years accumulating paper clips.

So imagine what happens when you become the President of the United States and have the ability to do things somewhat more substantive than determining when breaks can be taken or expense reports filed or whether transoceanic trips can be flown in Economy Comfort rather than steerage. New bosses have lots of power.

Joe Biden is the new guy. He wants to do things his way. After all, he did win the election. (Guess I might have stuck “Spoiler Alert” at the beginning of this paragraph.) One of his biggest priorities is to reverse the Trump administration’s harsh initiatives that put restrictions on immigration. 

Recently departed President Trump tried to prevent counting non-citizens in the 2020 Census. As a result, the Trump administration has delayed the census count past its Constitutionally mandated due date. While it may seem odd, not counting non-citizens violates Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution. Yeah, that Constitution. The resulting delay of the count past the Census Bureau’s December 31 deadline also means state Electoral College vote numbers and House of Representative districts cannot be apportioned.

Another Biden administration executive order also ends the “Muslim” travel ban. This called for restricted travel and immigration from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia Yemen, Eritrea, Nigeria, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Tanzania. Not specifically a “Muslim” travel ban, it was one with a wink. Do you think that were there not such a restriction, people from those countries would have been at the Capitol in numbers on January 6?

Biden’s easiest EO puts a hard stop to building The Wall. According to FactCheck.org, as of late December 2020, of the 438 miles of the “border wall system” built under the Trump administration, “365 miles of it. . .is replacement for primary or secondary fencing that was dilapidated or of outdated design. In addition, 40 miles of new primary wall and 33 miles of secondary wall have been built in locations where there were no barriers before.” My math has it at 73 miles. Given the number of times that Trump mentioned The Wall you might imagine there’d be more. There isn’t. There was a lot that was said during the past four years that was Fake News. Much of it from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Spoiler alert: Trump lost Pennsylvania in 2020.

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Other first-day executive orders:

  • 100 Days Masking Challenge. With over 403,952 dead of COVID-19—no, it didn’t “just disappear”—let’s stop making this partisan. Viruses don’t vote. So asking all Americans to wear a mask and for enforcement on federal properties, it is an acknowledgement that it is still a massive problem—a fatal, massive problem.
  • Create the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense. Remember when Trump was whining about how Obama dealt with the 2014 Ebola epidemic? Well this position was created by Obama, and like many things done by that administration, eliminated by the Trump administration. How did that work out? See above.
  • Rejoin the World Health Organization. Maybe it was snowed by China. And if we’re talking about being snowed: remember the chest thumping after the U.S. China Phase One trade agreement was put into effect? According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, through November 2020, “China’s year-to-date total imports of cover products from the United States were $86.9 billion, compared with a prorated year-to-date target of $153.8 billion. Over the same period, U.S. exports to China of covered products were $82.3 billion, compared with a year-to-date target of $141.7 billion.” That’s one hell of a dealmaker. As for the WHO specifically: viruses don’t carry passports. They get fought globally. Or they do far more damage than they otherwise would.
  • Extend eviction and foreclosures moratoriums. This is a multiagency lift. Had the pandemic been addressed early on, perhaps this wouldn’t be necessary. It wasn’t. This is.
  • Pause student loan payments until September 30. Again, see previous.
  • Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. If Ford Motor Company — a major U.S. corporation that sells hundreds of thousands of pickup trucks every year—thinks climate change is real and that the Paris Accord is worthwhile, isn’t it?
  • End the Keystone XL pipeline. Check the price of gas at your local station. The Biden administration also wants to reverse the decisions that turned over what had been national monuments in places like Utah and Maine to development. Seriously: Once they’re developed they’re done.

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It’s Official, Again, for Now, as Electoral College Votes

By Todd Lassa

California’s 55 electors formally cast their votes for longtime U.S. senator and former Vice President Joe Biden Monday, putting him over the 271 he needed to become president, and on to a 306-232 victory over incumbent President Trump.

Now, finally Trump will end his challenges against the presidential election outcome, based on unfounded claims of ballot fraud primarily in Democratic-majority urban areas, right? 

Not so fast. While electors met in 50 states plus the District of Columbia Monday, a joint session of Congress meets January 6 to count those votes, and hardcore Trump Republicans are still threatening to overturn Electoral College votes, NPR reports.

The latest of Trump’s more than 50 failed court cases came in Wisconsin Monday just one hour before the state’s 10 electors were escorted by police into a statehouse chamber to cast their votes for Biden. The state Supreme Court rejected the incumbent president’s bid challenging four types of ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties after the first recount there added about 130 votes to Biden’s 0.6% margin.

Monday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court decision was close; 4-3, with one conservative justice joining the court’s three liberals. 

Michigan’s presidential electors met in the Lansing statehouse at 2 p.m. Eastern time Monday, in chambers closed because of safety precautions. Prior to the vote, Michigan Republican leaders stripped state Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, of his committee assignments after he made comments on a local radio station that hinted he was part of a group that planned to undermine or overturn Biden’s 16 Electoral College votes from the state, the Detroit Free Press reports. 

And this all comes after the U.S. Supreme Court late last Friday rejected Texas’ Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit demanding that 20 million ballots from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin be thrown out. The court’s unsigned ruling prompted sometimes violent demonstrations in several U.S. cities Saturday, including Washington, D.C., where attendees included former national security advisor Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and members of the right-wing Proud Boys, who have ties to white nationalism. 

A group of 126 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives backed Paxton’s suit to reverse the vote of the four “swing” states Biden won November 3, which left 74 House Republicans who declined to back President Trump’s effort. Or, 73 if you count out retiring Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., who announced Monday he would leave his party.

Please address comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Dawn or Dusk for Pennsylvania

By Michelle Naranjo

Consider me a reluctant Pennsylvania tourist who owns a home here in Lehigh County. It's okay. I know that I will never belong. 

I moved to Pennsylvania with a sound understanding of risk. I moved for love. Sue me. 

From being born in New Mexico into biracial parents -- let's just say that my family has been in what is now the U.S. since my great x17 grandfather -- I think it's cute when people tell me their great-grandfather came to this country. My parents were pretty sedentary but never accepted.

Flash forward: Parents are gone, and I own a house in rural Pennsylvania, and there are days when I drive for glue, or something odd, at one of the local Dollar General stores -- I live precisely three miles between two of the franchises -- and I catch a view of the "blue mountain."

They call everything Blue Mountain everywhere here. There is a road I can drive up and stop to look north or south and hope to see someone crossing as they trek the Appalachian Trail. I yearn to connect with another tourist. 

Those hikers probably won’t stay long enough to see the darkness here that you can also find in England, Wales, Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. That may look like an odd list of places, but it is everywhere I have lived as a tourist. 

As an outsider, here is what I see:

Between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there is wealth. Those people have "green" properties, so pay one-third or less than the people who have homes on hillsides and cannot claim the same environmental tax write-offs. Farmers also get a similar tax benefit, even if they let their land go fallow because they can't sell corn or soy to China. 

And there are more people here without any path to wealth. The current jobs are in the distribution warehouses popping up. Forty hours at $15 an hour is a promise that means two or even three jobs for people trying to have a family. Property taxes have disenfranchised homeownership. Landlords are making bank. The worse the school district is, the higher the taxes. 

The best of the public schools between the big cities are impressive with sports and labs, but the lucky from them get to attend any one of the plethora of small, liberal-arts colleges, while poorer districts might get wrestlers into a state Pennsylvania school. Yay, team.

And these are proud people who do not leave where they grew up. Coal is dead. Fracking is dying. They can’t let go.

The 1970s and ‘80s efforts to diversify the workforce here ended in an elevated racist culture. Puerto Rican restaurants struggle to identify themselves as "Spanish" to appeal to the euro-centric Penn Dutch descendants. Imagine what it is like for anyone speaking Spanish at a warehouse. Or, for those who don’t?

Like several of my neighbors, I was too scared to put out my Biden signs. We live in a mix of manicured and aging neighborhoods where yard signs say, “Not a Gun Free Zone” all year long. Our homes are all sent The Epoch Times newspaper unsolicited. The latest issue was about the evils of marijuana and Hunter Biden. 

All of that is to say that Pennsylvania may have been the deciding factor for our new president-elect, but we have a lot to heal here in the hinterlands. Or, as I learned in Welsh, y gwyll, meaning “the dusk.” 

I say "we" like I might stay. There is work to do.

Naranjo is a freelance writer living in rural Pennsylvania.

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Ode to Pennsylvania

By Charles Dervarics

Pennsylvania has had its detractors over the years.  To famed political advisor James Carville, it’s just Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with “Alabama in between.” In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama got into hot water by citing his trips to struggling small towns in the state where people “cling to guns or religion.”

As a Pennsylvania native with a blue-collar background, I usually don’t take kindly to these references – though the state has had its challenges. As the coal and steel industries declined, those without a college education suffered. And it has a record of social conservatism, perhaps best reflected by the late Bob Casey, Sr., father of the current U.S. senator, who was a pro-union governor and leader of the anti-abortion wing of the national Democratic party.

Fast forward to 2020, and it’s not surprising the state emerged as a political hotspot. Natural gas and fracking have revitalized parts of the old industrial base in the north and west, while the state’s vast middle is still largely Republican and conservative. But the cities, particularly Philadelphia, remain a huge source of Democratic support where concerns about racial injustice and poverty take precedence.

But after Donald Trump surprised Hillary Clinton there in fall 2016, Joe Biden has turned the state blue again for a few reasons:

His home state roots: As he never hesitates to mention, Biden was born in Scranton in the state’s northeast area. The official 2020 tally has him with 54 percent of the vote in Lackawanna County, where Scranton is the county seat. Clinton’s share was about 50 percent. Biden also prevailed in Monroe County, the next county to the south.

Philadelphia and its suburbs: Biden again ran a few percentage points ahead of Clinton in the all-important suburbs and benefitted from higher turnout overall. In Bucks County, Biden claimed nearly 200,000 votes and 51.5 percent of the total, compared with Clinton’s 165,000 and 48 percent. More city residents also cast ballots in 2020, with Biden earning about 81 percent of the vote. 

Limiting losses: While Trump ran up the score in rural locations, Biden captured some areas the president won in 2016. One is Northampton County in the central-eastern Lehigh Valley, which Trump carried by four points in 2016. But current results show Biden with a slight lead there. It’s a similar story in Erie County in the state’s northwest corner.

It wasn’t easy for Biden, who took heat for comments on the oil industry and fracking that likely cost him some votes. But the small gains he made in many vote-rich areas – compared with 2016 – have given him a statewide edge of 40,000 votes.

The president’s legal team has raised challenges in Pennsylvania and other swing states, filing lawsuits to halt counts and challenge votes. So far, those efforts have not resulted in any changes to the Pennsylvania tally.

Charles Dervarics is a writer and policy analyst based in Alexandria, Va. He formerly was a reporter with newspapers in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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Biden is One State from Victory, at 264-214 Electoral Vote Lead Over Trump

By Todd Lassa

Nov. 4 UPDATE: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was named "apparent winner" of Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes Wednesday afternoon. The Trump campaign says it will file for a recount. Meanwhile, despite the AP's early morning declaration calling the state for Biden, ballots in Arizona are still being counted and no winner has been officially named. The latest electoral vote count is 248 for Biden and 214 for Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

First, it seemed we were in for a long Election Day evening, lasting until this Friday or beyond as we waited for vote counts from the states Donald Trump flipped to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Then President Trump appeared before a crowd of unmasked supporters at the White House about 2:30 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday to confirm the fears his opponents in the Democratic Party have long held.

“We were getting ready to win this election,” Trump said, to the cheers of his crowd. “Frankly, we did win this election.”

President Trump threatened, without merit, to take his grievance to the Supreme Court with his three appointees, including Amy Coney Barrett. “We don’t want them to find ballots at four in the morning,” he said.

Shortly after three in the morning, however, the Associated Press called Arizona for Biden, the first state to turn from its 2016 vote. Democratic candidate Mark Kelly also beat Republican Martha McSally in the race for John McCain’s old Senate seat, the AP also reported.

With Trump’s lead in Wisconsin hinging on mail-in ballots still being counted in Milwaukee County, and Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina still in play, Biden was holding on to a 238-213 Electoral College vote lead over Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.

BREAKING: The vote count in Metro Milwaukee, reported at 4:45 a.m. Eastern time, put Biden ahead of Trump in Wisconsin, though several smaller cities there still had to report votes.

“It looks like it’ll be a long few days,” says Charles Dervarics, contributing editor. “Biden appears to have lost opportunities in the Southeast, though he should win Arizona. But the race looks like it will come down to the old Midwest ‘blue wall’ of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Just as in 2016, they again will decide the election.”

Prior to Trump’s White House speech, Biden made a drive-in appearance in Wilmington, Delaware to tell supporters, “We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on-track to win the election,” but made it clear there is no victory for him yet to declare.

“It is not over until every ballot is counted.”

This presidential election most certainly will revive calls to reform the system and its 51 ways to count votes, but not until after it is over – in weeks, if not in months.

“Although the presidential election isn’t decided, and may not be for a bit, it’s clear that our country needs improved vote counting,” says Gary Sawyer, of The Hustings editorial board.  

“The rules on counting absentee ballots differ wildly from state to state. That’s an issue in this extremely strange year. No one could have anticipated the onslaught of early voting. But the result has been increased turnout and it’s unlikely voters will want to return to traditional Election Day voting. This slower count will happen again. “

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Red, White & Blue Golf Carts at The Villages

By Todd Lassa

By the time former Vice President Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for president this year, political pundits were still looking at the electoral college map like it was 2016 all over again. Could President Trump maintain his popularity and turn Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin blue once again? 

Florida has 29 electoral college votes, however, to Pennsylvania’s 20, Michigan’s 16 and Wisconsin’s 10. It is one of the more reliably red states in play according to the latest polls, along with North Carolina, Arizona and even Texas. 

Biden holds a 1.2-point lead over Trump in RealClearPolitics’ Oct. 30 average of 11 polls for Florida, which happens to be the same percentage victory that Trump had over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Four years ago, Trump’s  RealClearPoilitics  poll average was 0.2 points above Clinton just before the election. 

Key to Florida’s choice next Tuesday will be the vote from The Villages, with its 130,000-plus residents, most of them seniors over 55, and many of whom vote assiduously. Residents motor around The Villages largely in electric golf carts. (In 2005 The Villages entered The Guinness World Records with a parade of 3,321 golf carts.)  These carts make a great political news story photo op, as many of their owners festoon them with campaign signs. 

Before and after the ’16 presidential election, the vast majority of those carts in The Villages were plastered with pro-Trump signs, piloted by seniors wearing red MAGA hats. This time, national media have covered a large influx of Biden-blue golf carts. Is it real, or is it an anomaly, with a handful of outspoken Democrats infiltrating the deep-red retirement neighborhood? Our resident of The Villages and our former GOP official from California discuss, in the left and right columns, respectively.

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Coal, Jobs & Cronies

By Stephen Macaulay

In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump was barnstorming with a message about coal. 

“Clean coal,” he called it. Which, as is sometimes said, “isn’t a thing,” but we will let that go.

Trump would proclaim: “We’re going to get those miners back to work . . . the miners of West Virginia and Pennsylvania . . . Ohio and all over are going to start to work again, believe me.”

“We’re going to have an amazing mining business.”

They believed him. Trump won West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. And how did those miners do? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in November 2016 there were 50,400 people employed in the U.S. coal industry.

How did he do? How many of those people did he get back to “an amazing mining business?”

In September 2020, the number of people involved in the coal-mining industry is 44,500. 

Note that this is not a COVID-19 phenomenon. Coal jobs have been on a decline throughout the Trump presidency. What’s more, in October 2019, Murray Energy, the “country’s largest privately held coal miner” filed for Chapter 11 in October 2019, according to NS Energy, which covers the coal industry among other energy-related subjects. It became “the eighth U.S. coal producer to file for bankruptcy in the past year.”

NS Energy noted that company owner Bob Murray “has long advocated for government support for his industry and was a strong critic of the country’s former president Barack Obama, whose time in office he described as ‘eight years of pure hell.’”

“The coal tycoon has long been a supporter of President Donald Trump, and is believed to have played a major role in the reshaping of environmental policies over the past three years… .”

One might change the verb in that statement to “dismantling.” 

Still, that did not seem to work out so well. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, renewables, which it defines as “utility-scale solar, wind and hydropower,” is increasingly important. “Renewables have now generated more electricity than coal on 131 days in 2020 — more than three times the 2019 results and with some 80 days left in the year.”

IEEFA concludes, “the data show coal power’s economic viability continuing to shrink … .”

Working people need to take his claims about coal into account when he talks about the jobs he has created and will create. Trump undoubtedly created more wealth for his cronies than for the stalwart men and women who once worked the mines can ever imagine. 

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The Coal Industry Continues to Falter, but Trump Can Still Rally the Miners

By Todd Lassa

Near rural Salisbury, Pennsylvania, just north of the Maryland border, there is a large building just off the state highway with a sign, “Trump Digs Coal.” 

It’s a standout sign in this rural area filled with pro-Trump signs and campaign banners, the single sign calling out an industry that has helped define this part of the country for more than a century. There are far more “Pro Life, Pro-Trump” signs on lawns on the roads to Meyersdale, where we spoke with a Trump and a Biden supporter earlier this month [“Talking to Trump and Biden Supporters in Small-Town Pennsylvania,” Oct. 5]. 

The Biden supporter we interviewed, Jennifer Clark, said she thought it was time for locals to move beyond the coal industry and train for jobs in a modern industry. Because of natural gas production, spurred in recent years by the fracking process, the coal industry is declining on its own, independent of President Trump’s support for the electrical power source. 

Pennsylvania is the third-biggest state for coal production according to a September 2018 report in Mining Technology [ https://www.mining-technology.com/features/five-largest-coal-producing-states-us/]. Wyoming was first with 297.2 million st/year. Even the next four biggest producers in the U.S.; West Virginia (at 79.8 million st), Pennsylvania (45.7 million st), Illinois (43.4 million st) and Kentucky (42.9 million st) don’t add up to the production from the nation’s least-populous state.

According to The New York Times’ recent deep-dive into the industry [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/us/politics/trump-coal-industry.html?searchResultPosition=1] 145 coal-burning units at 75 power plants have been idled since the president’s 2017 inauguration, enough to power about 30 million US homes. “Another 73 power plants have announced plans to close,” the Times reports, including the Navajo Generating Station in northern Arizona, which went offline October 2019, months before the coronavirus pandemic shut down major parts of the country and led to reduction in the burning of fossil fuels. 

A positive effect of these shutdowns is that sulfur dioxide emissions are down nearly 30% for the first three years of the Trump administration, according to the Times. Coal burning accounts for about 20% US electricity production, down from 31% in 2017. Meanwhile, renewable energy, spurred by Obama administration policies, accounts for about 17%, NPR reports [https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925278651/what-would-a-2nd-trump-term-mean-for-the-environment]. 

Mining coal long has had a reputation as a dirty, dangerous, and life-shortening job. Former Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray has filed an application with the US Labor department for black lung benefits, according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting and Ohio Valley ReSource [https://ohiovalleyresource.org/2020/09/30/bob-murray-who-fought-black-lung-regulations-as-a-coal-operator-has-filed-for-black-lung-benefits/].

Despite the potential dangers, coal miners have prospered over the years, and the biggest threat to small towns and rural communities might be the wages lost. According to the Times report, miners at the Navajo station that closed late in 2019 earned an average of about $117,000/year.

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Coal Miners are the Blue Collar Superdelegates that Still Support Trump

By Bryan Williams

How many years have we been hearing about “green jobs” that will employ blue-collar workers in obsolete smokestack industries, and how they will transform the American economy while curing the climate “emergency”? 

Every election cycle, politicians say they will help foster more green jobs, which usually involves spending billions. This time, it’s $2 trillion if Democratic candidate Joe Biden gets to implement his plan. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton even went so far as to promise she would “destroy” the coal industry and then help the miners find training or new employment.

How did she expect this to play out in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other blue-collar job states, such as Michigan and Wisconsin? She practically handed that to Donald J. Trump, who shrewdly swooped in to rescue the coal miners.

There were about 90,000 coal miners in the US, according to The Guardian (U.K.), and about half that – about 45,000 – currently. 

Why all the hubbub over so few workers? I think it comes down to this – coal miners are superdelegates for all blue-collar workers. 

Since I started paying attention to politics in the early 2000s, I have heard politicians of all stripes make claims that we must transition our economy and provide training for workers in obsolete blue-collar jobs. Twenty years later, what have we got? 

I’m sure there are success stories of coal miners who have transitioned to green jobs. But for nearly a generation, politicians have told these workers, “I have a plan for you. It will take away your job. There might be some money to retrain you and then you might get a new job after.” That rings pretty hollow and is disingenuous.

Along comes populist Trump in the 2016 presidential race, promising to save blue-collar jobs and revitalize American manufacturing. Since his inauguration he has done quite a few things that many other presidents and elected officials have not. 

Has he been successful? Not in the case of the coal industry. The market has helped kill coal, but so have government policies. I have a cousin who used to work at a coal plant here in California. The company had invested millions in clean coal technology to burn the fuel with minimal pollutants. The plant’s officials tried for years to get Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and then Gov. Jerry Brown to take a tour and see how their stringent environmental policies weren’t necessary. Neither governor would even send a representative, and my cousin finally moved to Texas to find work. How many coal miner families can relocate? The political abandonment was felt – my cousin felt it deeply as well, I’m sure, by coal miners and their families in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Trump may not have been successful in bringing back those obsolete jobs, but what’s more important, I think, to those coal miners is they finally feel like someone powerful has their back.

They will vote for him again.

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Of Time, Bells & Meaning

By Stephen Macaulay

In 1787 Paul Revere opened a bell foundry in Boston. In addition to things like copper spikes and bolts that were used for shipbuilding, Revere cast his first bell in 1792. One of them was produced for the USS Constitution. During the War of 1812, the bell was put out of commission by a British ship, HMS Guerriere.

(For those of you who have forgotten their American history classes, the War of 1812 pitted the U.S. against the United Kingdom, which would seem unthinkable today as the U.K. is now one of our closest allies—well, given the way the current administration has treated our closest allies, maybe it isn’t so unthinkable. Anyway, during this war the U.K. and Native Americans were on the same side; the U.S. tried to get chunks of Canada; the Brits burned the White House. Again, much of this seems bizarre, but things were different 208 years ago. Hang on to that thought.)

While Revere’s bell foundry is somewhat obscure, it is worth noting that in 1787 the U.S. Constitution was signed.

According to the official White House website, “The founders also specified a process by which the Constitution may be amended, and since its ratification, the Constitution has been amended 27 times.”

Which is germane because it is clear from this that the founders didn’t think that what they had created was carved in stone tablets.

Even the White House understands that. Things change. Even words.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett has described herself as a “constitutional originalist” and that she takes a textualist approach to the law.

During the hearings for her appointment to the Supreme Court, Lindsay Graham, a former JAG lawyer (there is no evidence that he, like Harmon Rabb, suffers from night blindness, although he seems to be vexed by a tendency to behave as a presidential lickspittle), asked Judge Barrett what all that means in a way that could be understood.

She replied, "So in English, that means that I interpret the Constitution as a law, that I interpret its text as text, and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it."

She added, "So that meaning doesn’t change over time and it’s not up to me to update it or infuse my own policy views into it."

“The meaning doesn’t change over time.”

Really? 

So the words as written in 1787 have the same meaning as they do today? Back when Paul Revere was casting bells?

Let’s look at Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, which is important vis-à-vis the recent decision regarding the U.S. census as this is where taking the census every 10 years came from:

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.”

Note how there seems to be a randomized capitalization of words. Presumably were one to write that way on one a paper submitted to Judge Barrett when she was teaching they would have been in a World of Hurt because We don’t capitalize Nouns Nowadays. 

What’s more, there is the word “Persons” not “citizens” (or Citizens). There are Persons counted as fractions (or Fractions).

And meaning doesn’t change over time? 

Macaulay is a cultural commentator based in Detroit.

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Pundits on the Right Favor One More Presidential Debate

Conservative pundits’ comments:

Should there be more presidential debates? Yes, indeed. Should they be in-person affairs? Without question. An informed electorate needs these opportunities to evaluate the candidates in full measure, absent the usual campaign props. The best idea I’ve heard of late is employing two moderators, each representing their political POV, like a Hannity and a Maddow, asking questions of the opposing side. That sounds to me like a great way to get past the talking points and to test the candidates' mettle, and it would net a huge audience on both sides of the aisle! 

--Andrew Boyd

Conventional wisdom insists there are virtually no undecided voters remaining, accounting for 3 percent to 6 percent of the electorate, if even that much. Considering the close 2016 election was, even a small smattering of votes can change the election results if they are from battleground states. The debates should go on, even if electronically, so voters have all the information they need to make a good choice. Even if the media feed Biden questions or mute Trump, this will allow those voters who watch to learn a little bit more about the candidates. Debate on, Don! Not showing up will only hurt Trump, and he needs to try and do better than in his first, er, debate. As for Biden, the more he obfuscates or ignores questions the more the undecideds will break for Trump.

--Bryan Williams

The Commission of Presidential Debates has done a disservice to the country by politicizing the presidential face-offs. The Veep debate stage was a farce with plexiglass between two healthy, socially-distanced candidates. The Commission further spread unnecessary fear by canceling Thursday’s Trump-Biden Town Hall which should have been a feel-good moment for the president’s recovery from COVID. Outside the CPD/media bubble, Americans have adapted. I am in Georgia this weekend, which is a planet away from the panic being spread by political elites. Cases are way down, schools open, and the state’s 5.6-percent unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the country.

That said, President Trump has also done the American people a disservice by backing out of the debate. As president, he should take every opportunity to communicate how to combat the virus. He could simply have used the Zoom debate to read from the Great Barrington Declaration – a petition written by top Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford epidemiologists (and signed by nearly 20,000 medical experts). It details how to protect the vulnerable while opening society as Sweden has done – to date one of the most successful countries in combatting the virus.

--Henry Payne

Terri Walker of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania [“View from the Right: Talk with a Trump Supporter in Rural Pennsylvania,” Oct. 5] says via email: “I personally would rather see a live debate. It's important to observe body language. You can tell if someone is being untruthful. I'd much rather see the debates held with a clear barrier of some sort only used while President Trump is potentially still infectious. I do however, think it best that President Trump wear a face mask as precaution for himself and others. I do believe another debate is crucial for those still on the fence.”

Please address comments to editors@thehustings.news

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