Turmoil in America is nothing new. I like the parallels with 1920, which ended in the greatest political landslide in the history of contested Presidential elections, and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties.
Wilson’s Attorney General, Palmer, thought we were menaced by Bolshies, as they were called, and after having two separate bombing attacks on his home, initiated the Palmer Raids. He arrested 6-10,000 people, and discovered three pistols, but no bombs. He did manage to deport around 750 of the trouble makers, though. But then on September 16, 1920 a bomb went off in front of J. P. Morgan’s bank on Wall Street, killing 38 and injuring hundreds more. It stood as the worst terror attack in our history until Oklahoma City.
This was believed to be the work of Italian anarchists, just as the assassination of McKinley had been the work of a Polish anarchist. 1920 was the year of Sacco and Venzetti, and Ponzi, of Prohibition, and women’s suffrage, and 3,600 strikes by organized labor. Harding’s phrase, “a return to normalcy”, had a lot of appeal.
2016 isn’t 1920. This year in politics stands alone, and I defy anyone to tell me with assurance they know how it will all turn out. Maybe it’s just a prelude to 2020, when history will repeat itself after 100 years.
I was all set to celebrate Father’s Day when I made the mistake of watching a snippet of Meet the Press. Chuck Todd announced that he believes the gay community in America is about to join forces with the gun control movement. With these reinforcements, and under the leadership of Hillary Clinton, the NRA may at last be defeated.
This naturally depressed me, a life member. The Gun Gestapo is going gay, and every friend of the Second Amendment, is forewarned.
We’re already forearmed.
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