THE SUMTER ITEM N.G. Osteen 1843-1936 The Watchman and Southron
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 H.G. Osteen 1870-1955 Founder, The Item
H.D. Osteen 1904-1987 The Item
|
A11
Margaret W. Osteen 1908-1996 The Item Hubert D. Osteen Jr. Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Graham Osteen Co-President Kyle Osteen Co-President Jack Osteen Editor and Publisher Larry Miller CEO Rick Carpenter Managing Editor
20 N. Magnolia St., Sumter, South Carolina 29150 • Founded October 15, 1894
COMMENTARY
Generation recalls where it was during attack
E
ach generation has a moment cemented into its memory when it learns of a historic, often life-changing
event. For my generation, it was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For the preceding generation, that indelible memory is often when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. For younger generations, it is likely to be the ChalJim lenger disaster or Hilley the attacks on 9/11. Wednesday will mark the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt so memorably called “a date which will live in infamy.” Perhaps not so much in human memory. I recall covering a Veterans Day
parade in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1995, the 50th anniversary year of the end of World War II. I was struck at the time by something I read that said 50th anniversaries are generally the last milestone anniversary in which a majority of the people who took part in the event are still alive to participate. By the 75th anniversary, participants in historic events have dwindled considerably. By 2041, living memory of Pearl Harbor will be exceedingly rare. My father, Terry “Ted” Hilley Sr., was a 23-year-old college student at what was then called New Mexico A&M in Las Cruces when he was awakened from a Sunday afternoon nap by a radio relaying news of the attack. It often evoked a groan from his children when he could rarely pass by the house he was living in at the time without pointing it out. Like many his age, he quickly joined the Army and trained to be a medic. He decided to join the Army
Air Corps but was mustered out because of a heart murmur. In my family, only my uncle Raymond “Butch” Bumgarner saw combat during World War II. He saw enough action in France that he rarely — if ever — talked about it. He also saw enough to earn a Bronze Star. I asked — rather complained — one day at one of the many homecooked meals our families shared at my Uncle Butch’s house why we were only served water at the meals — no tea, no sodas, no lemonade. I was told it was my uncle’s way of honoring his buddies who didn’t make it back. On his deathbed, he reportedly related a story that he had kept to himself for more than 50 years. His squad had just returned from a grueling reconnaissance mission near the front lines when the order came in to make another. It was decided that half of the already exhausted unit would go out, and the other half would get some much-
needed rest. My uncle said he suggested a coin flip, and after the idea was accepted, his part of the unit won the toss and remained in camp. The other half of the unit went out. None returned. The World War II generation, which struggled through the Great Depression only to be called to fight a world war, has been called the “Greatest Generation.” I just called them “mom,” “dad,” uncles and aunts. Very few remain. For the members of that generation in your family or those you have known, take a moment to remember Pearl Harbor Day on Wednesday. If you know anyone from that generation who is still among us, shake his or her hand or give him or her a hug. And pause for a moment on Wednesday to remember that infamous day 75 years ago and the burden that was placed on their shoulders that fateful day.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR 3 ‘WHAT-IF’S’ NEED TO BE ANSWERED ABOUT CASE
COMMENTARY
Majority rule would equal tyranny
I
t is alleged that Hillary Clinton won a popular-vote majority. Therefore, if the nation were not burdened with the antiquated Electoral College, anguished and freaked-out Americans whine, she, instead of Donald Trump, would be the next president of the United States. You say, “Hold it. Before you go further, Williams, what do you mean it is alleged that Clinton received most of the popular vote? It’s a fact.” I say “alleged” because according to Gregg Walter Phillips of True the Williams Vote, an estimated 3 million noncitizens voted. Presumably, those votes went to Clinton. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote just as Hillary Clinton allegedly did. Such outcomes have led to calls to abandon the Constitution’s Article 2 provision for the state electors to select presidents. Despite the fact that the system has served us well for over 200 years, many Americans now call for its abandonment in favor of electing presidents by popular vote. Before we abandon the Electoral College, let’s consider the function it performs. According to 2013 census data, nine states — California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia and Michigan — have populations that total roughly 160 million, slightly more than half the U.S. population. It is conceivable that just nine states could determine the presidency in a popular vote. The Electoral College gives states with
small populations a measure of protection against domination by states with large populations. It levels the political playing field a bit. For example, California is our most-populous state, with about 39 million people. Wyoming is our least-populated state, with about 600,000 people. California’s population is about 66 times larger than Wyoming’s. California has 55 electoral votes, and Wyoming has three. Thus, in terms of electoral votes, California’s influence is only 18 times that of Wyoming. Even though our nine high-population states have a total of 241 electoral votes, a candidate needs 270 to win the presidency. That forces presidential candidates to campaign in thinly populated states and respect the wishes of the people there. The Founding Fathers held a deep abhorrence for democracy and majority rule. In fact, the word democracy appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. In Federalist No. 10, James Madison wrote, “Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” John Adams predicted, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Edmund Randolph said, “That in tracing these evils to their origin, every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy.” Chief Justice John Marshall observed, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”
Throughout our Constitution are impediments to the tyranny of majority rule. Two houses of Congress pose one obstacle to majority rule. Fifty-one senators can block the wishes of 435 representatives and 49 senators. The president can veto the wishes of 535 members of Congress. It takes two-thirds of both houses of Congress to override a presidential veto. To change the Constitution, an amendment must be proposed which requires not a majority but a twothirds vote of both houses, and enacted, which requires ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. Finally, the Electoral College is yet another measure that thwarts majority rule. Despite a public consensus on the issue — resulting from miseducation — there’s nothing just or fair about majority rule. In fact, one of the primary dangers of majority rule is that it confers an aura of legitimacy and respectability to acts that would otherwise be deemed tyrannical. Think about it. How many decisions in your life would you like made through majority rule? What about what car we purchase, where we live and whether we should have ham or turkey for Thanksgiving dinner? I am sure you would deem it tyranny if these decisions were made by a majority vote. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. © 2016 CREATORS.COM
Well, here we go again. Someone wants justice but doesn’t like the results of a jury trial. So we will retry the police officer again and again until someone gets the results that he wants. The family is calling for “peaceful protests” and mentions “we’re not going to tear up this city.” Could calling for a retrial be too long off for those who call for justice but don’t want to accept the results of a trial? I would like to know three what if ’s? What if Scott didn’t have a “non-functioning brake light” that day? What if Scott would have just stayed in his car and not have gotten out and fled from the officer? What if Scott hadn’t become involved in a physical altercation and resisted arrest? Then we find out that Scott’s police record listed 10 arrests: “for contempt of court regarding failure to pay child support or to appear for court hearings; he was arrested in 1987 on an assault and battery charge and convicted in 1991 for possession of a bludgeon.” He also “served two years in the U.S. Coast Guard before given a general discharge in 1986 for a drug-related incident.” “Family members have said he may have run because he was worried about going to jail because he was $18,000 behind on child support”? Can you believe that another family received “$6.5 million in a civil settlement?” I wonder what the officer’s family would have received if he would have been killed instead of Scott? It used to be that “crime doesn’t pay,” but not today. Today, lawlessness pays millions. I wasn’t there for the incident, and I wasn’t there for the trial. However, I do support the jury’s wisdom. Maybe the officer would have been found innocent if the jury wasn’t afraid North Charleston would burn because of their verdict. Please teach your loved ones to not commit crimes; if an officer stops them, they should do what he/she tells them to do; don’t run from the scene, and don’t assault the police officer. JACQUELINE K. HUGHES Sumter
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send your letter to letters@theitem.com, drop it off at The Sumter Item office, 20 N. Magnolia St., or mail it to The Sumter Item, P.O. Box 1677, Sumter, SC 29151, along with the writer’s full name, address and telephone number (for verification purposes only). Letters that exceed 350 words will be cut accordingly in the print edition, but available in their entirety at www.theitem.com/opinion/letters_to_editor.