Grandpa said

Last post
Next post

I’m nearing the end of the book below titled the Great Influenza. The Book the Great Triumvirate was published in 1987 the year my history loving Dad died. I don’t know when I bought the book but I read it in 1995. I know that because from 1979 until 2017 I kept track of the serious adult books I finished reading. That list is online here.

My mania for keeping track of the books I’d completed reading began in large part because I was envious of a fellow my age who took my Dad’s advice to spend a year in Independent study reading. That story is told in this post. Look for the subheading with the name Asimov.

Never vote for a Democrat,” that’s what my Grandfather said. Its been decades since I have voted for anything other than a Democrat. I think Republican Tim Pawlenty got my vote about 20 years ago when he was Minnesota’s Governor. Not long afterwards I bought an electric billboard in Duluth asking him to challenge the Red Plan. He didn’t. The webpage I started back then Let Duluth Vote is still up because I’m still mad enough about the Trump like perversion of our vote theft that I keep paying to have the old site available to anyone wanting to read through it. LetDuluthVote.com

This post is about books, history, and political parties and presidential overreach which leads to the current president. I’ll put this post in the category “Trump” (among others) but for now that’s all that needs to be said about the John.

The history is demonstrated in the old ruler which, on its backside, shows all the presidents from Washington to Clinton. If you look close you will see two blue stripes between Andrew Jackson and President Pierce. Actually the line cuts right across Pierce’s face because by 1854 the Whig party was defunct. This factoid represents my thinking about the party Abe Lincoln joined. It had a short life of about twenty years. For a long time I’ve been aware that its demise left Lincoln at sea politically and I’ve felt the same way as the Republican Party my Grandfather Robb told me to stick to has become a cesspool. OH, here’s a story illustrating how the party has not only soiled our Democracy but the religion devoted to the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

I heard it on NPR which Satan John wants to cripple.

A retired minister who went by his middle name because he still preaches at other churches where pastors are going on vacation said he gave a sermon at a church about loving our enemies. At the end of the service an angry older woman walked up to him furious saying Jesus never said any such thing. Then she spat right in the middle of his face.

I was curious about origin of the the American Whig party which seemed obviously to have arisen from the longer lasting British Whig party. I learned that the Brit’s Whigs got their start as opponents of the King. That made perfect sense. The Whigs got organized in the middle of the Andy Jackson presidency. When the Supreme Court told him he had no right to send native Americans on the Trail of Tears his response was to comment that they could use their army to stop him.

Trump loves Jackson but its worth remembering that Abe Lincoln who worshiped Jackson’s top challenger Henry Clay also put Jackson’s bust in the White House as he waged the Civil War. Jackson had threatened to send his army into South Carolina if they ever attempted to violate national laws.

The book The Great Influenza is fascinating for a great many reasons. Because it takes place in the year, the month, when my grandfather was wounded three times over in France, 1918, I’m learning about his life and the disease which was even deadlier than his war. The man he never forgave for joining it, Woodrow Wilson, let both the Influenza and War rage simultaneously. I find myself wondering if the near dictatorial powers he excercised to prevent anyone from saying boo about the war might have played a part in my Grandfather’s thinking. I’ve also wondered for Decades if the Presidents racism may have played a part too. I will never know although I have my suspicions.

I have filled the book with yellow magic marker stains should I ever wish to review it with a quick skim. I will soon review the Great Triumvirate which I find has even more yellow flair marker in it. That’s because it covers the period of the Whig party’s birth and death. This also happens to be the only period of time that I have trouble remembering the order of the American presidents. It was Lincoln’s formative political years.

When I was a kid my Dad asked his father in law if he could name all the presidents in order and my grandfather did just that. Its something I want to be able to do again. A few years ago I nailed them all down but that Whig period has slipped away again.

I’ve been mulling over a change of parties since I ran as a Perot Choice candidate for Congress in 1992 and again as a Unity party candidate in 2006. Abe ran as a Republican in 1860 but when he ran for reelection in 1864 he ran as a Union Party candidate with a Democratic running mate.

Parties are forever. George Washington never wanted their to be political parties….which he called “factions.”

The GOP has soiled itself perhaps forever. Today its 171 years old. The British Whig party died the same year the Republicans elected their first President in the United States. They lasted 200 years compared to the American Whig parties 20 years.

One last thing that does bring President John back into this post for the third time…..I feel so dirty….

I read the prologue just now of the Great Triumvirate. Its author thanks the National Endowment for the Humanities for helping fund his research and writing. It was about a decade long labor of love. The NEH is one of the entities that Trump is doing his best to smother.

About the author

Harry is a ferociously good natured eccentric in Duluth Minnesota who detests traitors dressed up as Uncle Sam. You can find somewhat better edited writings of his at the Duluth Reader "contributors." page. The URL is:
https://duluthreader.com/contributors/h/84/284-harry-welty