My heart goes out to Dr. Anthony Fauci. He’s a man who has served our country and our people well for decades, and who has earned his retirement. He is also imperfect and has made mistakes, just like the rest of us.
I cannot honestly say that I know all the legal ins and outs of the congressional hearing that has resulted in his being charged with contempt of Congress. I can, however, understand his refusal to speak at a media-driven event whose purpose seems to have been to put him in jail, especially when his lawyer was expelled from the room.
(BTW, please accept my apologies as an Ohio resident for the behavior of Senator Moreno at that hearing. He is an embarrassment.)
With the vote to charge Dr. Fauci with contempt, Republicans in Congress made it clear that they are focused on finding truth and meting out justice. Good for them!
But not really: the Republican passion for truth and justice stops cold at the gates of the White House, making it crystal clear that everything they do—including the Fauci spectacle—is mired in political expediency, and therefore not to be trusted.
“Socialist”
As I rode my bike a couple of days ago along quiet trails in a nearby county park, I realized how much I love public places.
I have spent much of my life in places set aside by various levels of government for public use. From the parks in my small hometown, to the state park the next county over, to a good number of our national parks, I have enjoyed and loved and appreciated them all.
The idea that there are some spaces—some vast, wild or near-wild spaces where nature rules and perhaps history has been played out—that belong to us all is one thing that makes me proud and grateful to be an American. I enthusiastically support the idea that private interests do not have claim on everything, and that not every inch of American landscape needs to be developed and exploited to turn a profit.
But isn’t the very idea of public places socialistic? Isn’t it socialism for government to take something from a citizen or group of citizens and use it for the good of all? Am I, therefore, a socialist?
I guess so.
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