As we start a new year it may be useful to review a few incidents from the past year.
As background for a couple of these happenings, I should point out that the United States Constitution requires that each president must be sworn in. Most Presidents have been sworn in by placing their left hand on a Bible while taking their oath. It is a tradition that can be traced back to English Common Law, much of which influenced early American law. George Wahington swore with his hand on the Bible, and almost all Presidents since have followed. Theodore Roosevelt, however, did not. Barack Obama had two Bibles--one was Lincoln's, the second was Martin Luther King Jr's. In other legal proceedings, such as in courtrooms, the tradition is repeated, although alternate methods of oaths or affirmations are sometimes used. Most, if not all, contain the phrase: "...to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Now for two alarming new developments in this regard. Earlier this year Karl Frisch, a Virginia school board member was sworn in with his hand on a stack of five pornographic books instead of the Bible. Those books were banned by most other school districts. The action seems to be catching, because in the Pennsylvania Central Bucks school district which oversees 17,570 students, Karen Smith was sworn in on December 4, 2023, as president with her hand on sexually explicit books. These people are now in charge of teaching many of our young children.
In another incident, during late this past December Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender athletes from competing in girls and women's sports. This action harks back to the nomination of Ketanji Jackson for the Supreme Court. Marsha Blackburn asked Jackson to define woman. She replied: "I can't. I'm not a biologist." Blackburn went on to point out that a transgender had beaten several girl swimmers, including some Olympic competitors, in a swim meet, thus depriving those girls of the rewards of their hard training. The woke left is pushing for gender identity that attempts to blur the distinction of the sexes. DeWine's veto drew the comment from one mother who said that DeWine, as an older man, did not have a daughter who would be embarrassed to share a changing room with a trans.
Following the horrific attack of Hamas against Israel on October 7 there have been numerous protests by ivy league students against their Jewish colleagues. In a congressional hearing the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania were grilled about these protests and the lack of disciplinary action against the participating students. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna, pointedly asked Harvard president Dr. Claudine Gay if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard's rules of conduct. Gay started to give a waffling answer, but Stefanik insisted it required a yes or no answer. She asked a similar question about calling for the mass murder of African Americans. "Would that be free speech, or would it break Harvard's rules of conduct?" she asked. The point was driven home. Stefanik repeated her earlier question that required a yes or no answer. "It depends on the context," Dr. Gay replied, but she could not provide a satisfactory example of such a context. Since the hearing Dr. Gay has faced severe criticism for plagiarism in her doctoral dissertation in 1997. Dr. Gay was forced to resign this month as Harvard donors fled.
Perhaps I have been living in a cocoon, but it is only recently that I have encountered the expression "word salad." Apparently, it is an old description that goes back centuries in Germany where it was associated with psychological disorders. Nowadays the expression is used for meaningless jumbles of words that emanate from a speaker. During the past year or so we have been treated to word salads from our Vice President. During one recent interview she said: "This is the most election of our lifetime, this one is, this one is...We are talking about those who are intent and purposeful to, to attack fundamental freedoms. The freedom to be free from fear of violence and hate... the freedom to just be. The freedom to just be." The word salad that takes the cake however was spoken by Kamala Harris earlier in the year: "It is time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day." If it wasn't for the fact that this woman is only a heartbeat from being our President, it would be hilarious.
Peter Gilderson, Madison.
