Solvang is a small town in Central California, population ~5000. It was founded by the Danes in 1911, with architecture styled to look like old-town Copenhagen.
As one might expect, Trump’s threat to seize Greenland has driven local residents, many of whom have Danish ancestry, into a snit. At left is a photo of a recent protest.
On Trump’s remarks at left, a reader asks:
Here’s a solid article on the horrors of the mining of lithium that are used to make our batteries that power everything from our drones to our EVs to our cell phones.
Two questions:
1) Are these horrors any worse than the consequences of the wars, lung disease, and environmental devastation that accompanies powering the world with fossil fuels?
2) Can you think of any possible solution to the energy crisis that won’t be taken over by Big Money and result in the exploitation of millions of human beings?
If interviewed on the subject, most Americans would rate themselves highly in terms of character judgement.
Yet half of U.S. voters put Trump back in the White House.
If you or I were creating a set of CDs on the decline of American citizenship, we would probably point out things like the destruction of the U.S. educational system, the fact that 60% of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck, the huge number of people who go bankrupt due to healthcare costs, and the rising tide of fascism and racism.
Of course, we’re not devotees of Hillsdale College, an extreme rightwing Christian institution.
To be honest, I don’t know, and will never find out, what’s in these materials, but I’d wager they contain ideas like the loss of faith in Christ, our constitutionally based laws against forcing our children to read the bible, our failure to force schoolkids to recite the pledge of allegiance, the “open borders” that were ordered by Biden, the invasion of Muslims into the U.S., allowing our liberals to protest against government oppression, our acceptance of basic science, e.g., the theories of evolution and anthropogenic global warming, and the lack of support for Trump, possibly the greatest president our country has ever had.
It’s a shame that Americans are so down on our educational system, on the basis that it “cranks out liberals” and “punishes those with nonconforming ideas.”
I went to a Quaker school, so most kids were “woke” (though obviously the term didn’t exist at the time). In general, we are anti-war, tolerant of others, environmentally conscious, etc.
Yet I’d like to believe that a young conservative could write a paper and receive a good grade if it was thoroughly researched and well written.
What would I say?
I’d say that it seems both strange and grossly unfair that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Shintoists, and the adherents to the world’s other minor religions have no path to heaven, and, according to the bible, are doomed to burn in hell for all eternity.
It could be argued that real-world learning about civics, democracy, and the U.S. Constitution is quite valuable, and worth a few hours out of school.
And in this case, there are so many elements of our constitution at work:
The right to free speech and peaceful assembly as guaranteed in the First Amendment
The right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment
The right to due process as guaranteed in the 5th and 14th amendments
The assignment of setting up voting systems to the states and to congress, and specifically not to the president
It’s not hard to imagine a world in which countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and the other social democracies did not exist. If that were the case, the type of libertarian blathering at left could possibly make sense.
However, the world that exists today, one can a) look at the World Happiness Rankings, b) realize that these nations are consistently at the very top, and c) fashion a government that emulates them.
If you want further proof, hop on a plane and walk around Oslo, Copenhagen, or whatever, and notice various features: virtually no homelessness or poverty, almost everyone college educated, lots of bicycles and EVs, no one’s dying of a treatable disease or going bankrupt due to astronomical medical expenses, a real sense of community, and very low crime rates, since no one needs to steal.
Is this really a problem? We can all agree that adequate food and housing are good things, and that hunger and homelessness are bad.
