Good Advice and a Goodbye

Starting with the good advice from Charles Blow. Good advice from me is to at least try not to punch the next person saying "we need to give Trump a chance." Peace, yes; Trump no.

Nothing is safe or sacrosanct in Donald Trump’s developing governance team, and America had better start being alarmed about it and moving to actively oppose it.

The time for voting has elapsed, but the time for being vocal has emerged.

That sounds familiar. Oh yes Evan McMullin was giving that advice, too. 

You may have been on the losing side of this year’s election, but you are on the right side of history. In the final tally, courage will always defeat fear; love will always conquer hate; the beautiful diversity of America, and indeed all of humanity, will always outshine the darkness of racial enmity.

This is the reason I write, to remind people of honor and courage; to tell them that their cause isn’t lost, that their destiny is victory.

I always try to stay on the side of the angels. What does a founder have to say? That's always important. 

In a 1780 letter written to a fellow revolutionary considering “retiring into private life,” staunch abolitionist Samuel Adams — a man strongly opposed to slavery and therefore one of my favorite founders — wrote:

“If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experiencd Patriots to prevent its Ruin. There may be more Danger of this, than some, even of our well disposd Citizens may imagine. If the People should grant their Suffrages to Men, only because they conceive them to have been Friends to the Country, without Regard to the necessary Qualifications for the Places they are to fill, the Administration of Government will become a mere Farce, and our pub-lick Affairs will never be put on the Footing of solid Security.”

America needs you … now. Speak up.

And now the goodbye to someone who spoke up and spoke well. It seems I frequently don't know of someone until I see their obituary. It's bittersweet. 

West Virginia statesman and author Ken Hechler, whose seven-decade career included stints in the Truman White House and Congress, has died. He was 102.

There's so much that's good, just go read it all. I'd like to think he and John Glenn are tipping a few cold ones now. 

Hechler served nine terms in Congress, where he championed civil rights legislation and fought for coal mine safety, strip mine regulations and black lung compensation. He later served four terms as West Virginia’s secretary of state, becoming a common sight driving around Charleston in his trademark red Jeep.

There's much more.