Teach
02-12-2017, 06:22 PM
“Look men! There’s Jackson standing like a stone wall, let’s rally behind the Virginians!” cried out Confederate General Barnard Bee during the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), July 21, 1861.
The North had high hopes for winning that first major battle of the Civil War. Union General Irvin McDowell had planned two diversionary attacks or feints at the Confederate right with the hope that those diversions would allow the main force under McDowell to roll up the Confederate left flank. In simpler terms, it like a counter play in football, a fake into the line at one place (shifting attention there) and then finding an opening on the other side of the line or around the end. If all goes well, it results in a touchdown. Yet, it all depends on perfect timing; something the Union didn’t have.
At First Bull Run, troops on both sides were “green”. The Union ranks were filled with thousands inexperienced troops who joined the Union army as part of a three-month enlistment (Had the Union army’s ranks been filled with seasoned veterans - obviously not - the outcome might have been different; however, in this case, on that hot July day, it was a simply a matter of “fits and starts”). What resulted was a sobering defeat for the Union army.
Well, in my view the “voter fraud” protestations of the current administration are akin to those ill-fated diversions and feints of the Union army at Manassas. I can’t imagine that POTUS, a man of intellect who’s built a multi-billion dollar business empire, is still grousing, over three months after the election, about its outcome. DJT won, pure and simple. No, he didn’t win by a landslide (When FDR defeated Alf Landon, “Kansas Coolidge,” in the 1936 presidential election, it was a landslide (the phrase: “So Goes Maine, So Goes The Nation” was replaced with: “So Goes Maine, So Goes Vermont”).
Further, I believe the voter fraud issue is one of those Hamlet moments: “Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much”. Further, it is my belief that POTUS is looking ahead to the 2018 midterm elections, the 2020 presidential election -- and beyond (where heirs and assigns might very well play a part – The Trump Dynasty?).
Moreover, I believe, as cited, that this is about future elections and the legislative regulations that a Republican-controlled Congress can enact. Those voter laws would, in all likelihood, tighten current election laws, even to the point of taking the process out of the hands of the individual states (reserved powers).
In addition, there is the intimidation factor. As it is, there are some people (in my opinion, mostly minorities) who are apprehensive about participating in the elective process, even if they’re perfectly legitimate voters. If new voter-law regulations are passed, these voters will likely find that going to their polling place will become an even more daunting and foreboding task.
Thus, in conclusion, I believe that the current voter brouhaha is just a diversion. A feint. it’s more about the future than it is the present.
Oh, as far as the First Battle of Bull Run is concerned, it was, as cited, a Confederate victory. It would take four long years to end the bloodshed. In an interesting historical footnote, Wilmer McLean owned a house near the Manassas battlefield. After the battle, he moved his family to the interior of the state of Virginia (thinking it would safer there). It was in his house in Appomattox Court House, VA that the agreement was signed by both Grant and Lee that ended the hostilities of the American Civil War.
The North had high hopes for winning that first major battle of the Civil War. Union General Irvin McDowell had planned two diversionary attacks or feints at the Confederate right with the hope that those diversions would allow the main force under McDowell to roll up the Confederate left flank. In simpler terms, it like a counter play in football, a fake into the line at one place (shifting attention there) and then finding an opening on the other side of the line or around the end. If all goes well, it results in a touchdown. Yet, it all depends on perfect timing; something the Union didn’t have.
At First Bull Run, troops on both sides were “green”. The Union ranks were filled with thousands inexperienced troops who joined the Union army as part of a three-month enlistment (Had the Union army’s ranks been filled with seasoned veterans - obviously not - the outcome might have been different; however, in this case, on that hot July day, it was a simply a matter of “fits and starts”). What resulted was a sobering defeat for the Union army.
Well, in my view the “voter fraud” protestations of the current administration are akin to those ill-fated diversions and feints of the Union army at Manassas. I can’t imagine that POTUS, a man of intellect who’s built a multi-billion dollar business empire, is still grousing, over three months after the election, about its outcome. DJT won, pure and simple. No, he didn’t win by a landslide (When FDR defeated Alf Landon, “Kansas Coolidge,” in the 1936 presidential election, it was a landslide (the phrase: “So Goes Maine, So Goes The Nation” was replaced with: “So Goes Maine, So Goes Vermont”).
Further, I believe the voter fraud issue is one of those Hamlet moments: “Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much”. Further, it is my belief that POTUS is looking ahead to the 2018 midterm elections, the 2020 presidential election -- and beyond (where heirs and assigns might very well play a part – The Trump Dynasty?).
Moreover, I believe, as cited, that this is about future elections and the legislative regulations that a Republican-controlled Congress can enact. Those voter laws would, in all likelihood, tighten current election laws, even to the point of taking the process out of the hands of the individual states (reserved powers).
In addition, there is the intimidation factor. As it is, there are some people (in my opinion, mostly minorities) who are apprehensive about participating in the elective process, even if they’re perfectly legitimate voters. If new voter-law regulations are passed, these voters will likely find that going to their polling place will become an even more daunting and foreboding task.
Thus, in conclusion, I believe that the current voter brouhaha is just a diversion. A feint. it’s more about the future than it is the present.
Oh, as far as the First Battle of Bull Run is concerned, it was, as cited, a Confederate victory. It would take four long years to end the bloodshed. In an interesting historical footnote, Wilmer McLean owned a house near the Manassas battlefield. After the battle, he moved his family to the interior of the state of Virginia (thinking it would safer there). It was in his house in Appomattox Court House, VA that the agreement was signed by both Grant and Lee that ended the hostilities of the American Civil War.