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Dodged A Bullet

DOUGLAS CUNNINGHAM

DOUGLAS CUNNINGHAM

That phrase never did make much sense, did it? How would you dodge a rifle bullet anyway, moving at somewhere between 1,200 feet per second and 2,800 feet per second, sometimes even faster? Plus, whatever fast movements I was once able to make, I cannot still make them at my advanced age.

Nonetheless, I think the election results were salutary in that most – but not all – of the crazies lost. But we are a long way from being out of danger.

As Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic last week: “As relieved as I am that some of my darkest worries did not come to pass last week, democracy is still in danger. What happened last week was an important electoral victory that allows all of us to fight another day – specifically, two years from now. Without the defeat of the deniers in 2022, the 2024 elections would likely have fallen into chaos and perhaps even violence. Both are still possibilities. But voters rallied and turned back the worst and most immediate threats to the American system of government.”

He compared it to Dunkirk in World War II, saying it was the American version of the great battle in which more than 300,000 British troops were evacuated from the beach in France where they were trapped by Nazi forces. The rescue gave time and space for Great Britain, and for the U.S., which had not yet entered the war. In other words, one battle in what would become a long continuum. Indeed.

One election in a continuum. And it’s not over yet.

I am thinking today of my father and father-in-law. Both stalwart Republicans. Both strong on national security. Both concerned about the trade deficit. Both worried about the fiscal situation, the deficit spending. So much so that my father would mutter about it at night, as he watched the news.

Both are deceased now, yet their goals seem more important than ever. They would be horrified at the idea of abandoning Ukraine, as the Republicans are ready to do – and yes, my father and father-in-law could find it on a map, in a moment or two, unlike our current politicians. Both served in the military, my father in the Army, my father-in-law in the Navy. They saw the partitioning of Europe, the fierce fighting in Korea. They knew the dangers of careless words, of appeasement, of weakness, of a failure to maintain commitments.

When did Republicans come to have a pro-Russia caucus? A mystery, that one.

Anyway, I don’t think it is over. I don’t think the denialism is over; I don’t think the fascination with the former president is over. Yet both amount to what our grandparents would have called stories, fictional set pieces. “Story-ing”.

It’s time to embrace truth. We don’t have to like it. But the time for fiction is over.

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Here’s a goal: Could we at least have a government that functions? I think that’s one of the things that drove the election results this year. Maybe this idea was not even fully articulated, but certainly a desire to stop the “burn it all down” approach that some candidates advocated and many more provocateurs embraced.

Not a lot of people are big fans of government. Yet, simultaneously, we want good roads, clean water, public safety, a strong military, good snowplowing, safe drugs and medical care. We want our seniors protected and don’t want them to live in poverty. We want our children educated, and we want them exposed to sports, theater and music. We want parks, and public spaces and a clean environment. In Putnam County, most of us want robust Recreation Departments in our towns. This list could continue, and it would be lengthy.

Pretty much everything on that list involves government, from our villages all the way up to the federal government. Yes, it costs money. None of us like paying it. But we can’t want all those things – and more besides – without recognizing the cost and the supporting infrastructure, the government workers, the agencies, the bureaucracies, all the stuff that underpins delivering what we want.

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I am encouraged by the state Education Department’s directive that schools that still have mascots with Native American wording or imagery must change them. “Arguments that community members support the use of such imagery or that it is ‘respectful’ to Native Americans are no longer tenable,” senior deputy commissioner James N. Baldwin, of the Education Department, wrote to schools. He also said that “should a district fail to affirmatively commit to replacing its Native American team name, logo, and/or imagery by the end of the 2022-23 school year, it may be in willful violation of the Dignity Act. The penalties for such a violation include the removal of school officers and the withholding of State Aid.”

Wouldn’t you know it, but one of those districts, among about 60 statewide, is Mahopac in our own Putnam County. And the district already has some experience with losing state aid, though it was eventually recovered. But so far, the School Board has resisted entreaties in recent years to change the name.

Faced as it is with a clear directive, I hope the district now moves quickly. I hope it involves the student body and graduates and those who advocated for change.

A note: Our vote doesn’t really count here, but several months ago, we directed our sportswriter to stop use of the team name. We now refer to teams from Mahopac simply as ‘Mahopac” or ‘the blue and gold’. Until, of course, a new name is selected.

Until next week.

I’m Doug Cunningham, and I’m editor of the Putnam County Courier and the Putnam County News and Recorder, in Cold Spring. Reach me at editor@pcnr.com, or at 845-265-2468.

This column, any letters and the editorial cartoons are all opinions. They are protected speech. They are not intended to be objective.

I’m in the office most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but reachable at almost any time.

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