“Shining a Light”
By Jean Hastings Ardell
I missed the Blue Moon Sunday night. Chalk it up to news avoidance, which I adopted recently when the flood of bad sad news in the world became too much to take in. Maybe I’m not alone in this. While I missed this opportunity to appreciate a nighttime landscape lit by the full moon, it occurs to me that perhaps that’s just what ails our democracy—a lack of illumination.
Out of the chaos since the Taliban took over Afghanistan it’s hard to escape this thought: Beyond our botched withdrawal, throughout our twenty-year involvement there we tended toward willful ignorance of the nation’s culture and history. From the initial lie of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction through subsequent Republican and Democratic administrations who lavished money—more than $2 trillion upon our military-industrial war machine—we got it so wrong. As a Kabul-born humanitarian aid worker who wants to remain anonymous told me that America failed to understand that our war against terrorism—remember that we originally were after Osama bin Laden—could not have been just about Afghanistan, given that the Taliban came out of Pakistan. As for our chaotic withdrawal, like our government, she did not see it coming to this degree when she was last there in June.
Both political parties failed the people of Afghanistan and our service members who deployed there, as well as the taxpayers who funded this debacle—so let us quit the political finger-pointing. With bowed heads for what we put them through, let us honor those veterans and the Afghans who worked with us with heartfelt gratitude for their sacrifices. And may the Biden and future administrations honor the people of Afghanistan by instituting a foreign policy illuminated by respect and understanding.
When you think about it, it would be laughable, if it weren’t so tragic, to think we expected to export democratic values to Afghanistan when so many of us are unwilling to respect them here at home. In a knee-jerk reaction to Donald Trump’s defeat, Republican-backed legislatures around the country have passed bills that make it harder to vote in an election. Lacking such dominance in the California legislature, Republicans came up with the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was elected three years ago with more than 60 percent of the vote. I recently sat in on a braverangels.org forum on the issue. Those in favor of recalling Newsom offered pallid arguments: “poor “Covid-19 strategy, for example, and a desire to see change and accountability in Sacramento. One man argued it was not a “Republican” recall because 52 percent of the signers in Los Angeles County were Democrats. Count on it: this is a Republican-funded-and-backed recall. Check the Proponents’ Statement on your ballot, whose list of G.O.P. grievances includes Newsom’s positions on immigration, taxes, and the death penalty, among others. Attempting to recall a governor who has not been guilty of gross malfeasance just because you don’t like his policies is a perversion of our electoral process. The recall movement also attempts to obfuscate what Newsom has achieved. As Matthew A. Winkler, editor-in-chief emeritus of Bloomberg News, points out, the many prophets of California’s impeding implosion were mistaken:
“No one anticipated the latest data readout showing the Golden State has no peers among developed economies for expanding GDP, creating jobs, raising household income, manufacturing growth, investment in innovation, producing clean energy and unprecedented wealth through its stocks and bonds…. For all its bluster as ‘best for business,’ Texas can’t match California’s innovation….Even with the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, California cemented its position as the No. 1 state for global trade.” You can read the entire piece at Bloomberg.com.
There are more reasons to vote No on the Recall. Newsom’s term ends in 2022. It is unwise to bring in a rookie who must get up to speed on the myriad issues facing us just as campaign season opens. And take a look at the 46 candidates. Few of them have the background or experience to run the state. There’s also the cost: $276 million. So much for Republican fiscal responsibility. Finally, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, and Aaron Edlin, professor of law and economics at UC Berkeley, have raised the argument that this particular recall ballot is unconstitutional because “it violates the basic notions of democracy.” They’re calling for a lawsuit before the state court.
Shine a light on this attempt to stifle the democratic process with a No vote, sending this message to the Republicans who supported the recall: If you want to return California to a vibrant two-party state, re-evaluate your political platform, which has caused the people of this state to vote Democratic in increasing numbers.
Jean is a Laguna Beach resident and member of the Third Street Writers.
