To the editor:
With apologies to the John Nesbitt and John Doremus shows of old, let’s explore some of the “passing parade” of recent events.
Robert Lee made some good points about professional politicians, elites and their ilk on Sept. 16. Perhaps he would join my observation that many pols are much like outdoors dogs. They often engage in useless barking, and they wander off to places you’d rather they not go; but, as long as they meet minimum requirements — tending to varmints, or to our governmental basics — we will probably keep them around.
Mr. Lee cited the alleged corruptions of a current U.S. senator, and of a former Virginia governor. Yep, the dogs occasionally wander into stuff that is very difficult to scrub.
Do many people care very much about Hillary Clinton’s published explanations about her 2016 loss to President Trump? She has become yesterday’s news by now. Mr. Trump still cannot resist rhetorically booting her around, occasionally. Considering the ongoing Mueller investigations, though, the irony of last year’s “Lock her up!” chants are surely growing a bit close for comfort to some of the Trump folks.
Just a month ago, President Trump was supposed to have sunk to an irredeemable low based upon his statements about CSA statue removal protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now he is considered, in some quarters, to have turned a corner with his pivot toward negotiations of deals with congressional Democrats.
What a difference a few weeks — and a couple of hurricanes — make.
Recently, a UNC-Chapel Hill group has proposed a federal lawsuit to remove the “Silent Sam” CSA statue from campus. Seems that some Tar Heel kids just cannot go to class and dissect their frogs, or conjugate their sentences, because of ol’ Sam’s “hostile environment.” Outfitted with no cartridge pouch, Sam is less threatening than Mayberry’s Barney Fife.
Since Sam began his campus vigil in 1913, likely 100,000 Tar Heels have completed their degrees despite him; and more than a few returned for their degrees from wartime service where they witnessed true hostility. Perhaps it’s time to just let Sam rest, silently, in his shady spot.
Douglas Smith
Rockingham