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THERE’LL BE SOME CHANGES MADE. HOPEFULLY

By coincidence, I finished reading Jill Lepore’s Pulitzer-winning book about the history of the Constitution, “We The People,” just as the 2026 midterm election came to its wonderful conclusion.

If you’re not familiar with it, Lepore’s book is a detailed accounting of efforts to either change the Constitution or, failing that, reading it in a way that changes its meaning from time to time.

Because the amendment process in Article V makes that kind of change extremely difficult, we’ve more often relied on how the nine people on the Supreme Court interpret the document.

Liberals are fine with that when the results are something like Brown v. Board of Education that ended segregated schools or Oberkfell v. Hodges which legalized same-sex marriage.

Conservatives are fine with that when Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ends the right to abortion in many states or when Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allows corporations to spent unlimited money on campaigns.

Thanks to Trump, the conservatives hold sway on the court right now. They hold a super majority – six of the nine justices are right-wing. In fact, the three justices picked by Trump are only nearly as bad as Clarence Thomas, named by George H.W. Bush, and Samuel Alito, selected by Bush’s son.

And, because the High Court is MAGA in black robes instead of red hats, and both houses of Congress acted like trained seals under Republican leadership, Trump and his unmerry band ran roughshod over norms, laws and Constitutional provisions. RIP, emoluments clause.

Trump proved the Constitution contains loopholes – and he drove a giant ballroom through them. Sure, courts might eventually catch up with his crime spree. But a lot of damage will be done – lives lost, lives ruined, peace disturbed, an economy savaged, landmarks wrecked or destroyed.

The Democrats won a bigger victory than any of us dared imagine. Bigger than even the victories Republicans won earlier this century in a deck stacked by gerrymandering and voter suppression. In Congress, in governors’ mansions, in state legislatures.

And still, they’re not close to being able to effect the changes that are needed. Because to amend the U.S. Constitution, two-thirds of both houses of Congress must approve the proposal. And then three-quarters of the state legislatures – that’s 38 as of now – have to OK the change.

What Constitutional amendment do you think could possibly pass in Alabama AND Vermont?Utah AND New York? California AND Oklahoma?

So the kinds of changes Democrats need to make must go around but not against the Constitution. It’s like playing Operation, the board game – if you try to remove the organ, you can’t trip the buzzer. Which in this case is John Roberts and his merry band at SCOTUS.

But Democrats can’t do nothing. They campaigned on the idea of making changes to root out corruption and preserving democracy. That goes hand-in-hand with the affordability mantra – political graft is contributing to the high cost of everything.

One slam dunk is to pass ethics reforms for all branches of the federal government – legislative, judicial and executive..

This means no stock trading. No starting businesses while in office. Putting existing investments into a blind trust, No working as a lobbyist for a certain amount of time after you leave office. No gifts above $100 – there’s no problem accepting a tin of cookies from Girl Scouts, but paid-for trips and real estate are ridiculous.

Would the tame right-wing Supreme Court strike that down? Maybe. Show them for what they are and pass the legislation anyway.

And one more thing: If a judicial or executive nominee refuses to accept these guidelines, there should be a coalition of senators and representatives, from both parties, saying they will vote “No” regardless of their political affiliation.

It’s unlikely we can get rid of the Electoral College. And I’m not sure the popular vote compact – awarding a state’s electoral vote to the national popular vote winner – is a particularly good idea.

if I voted for the national vote loser, and he or she carried my state, I doubt I’d be crazy about the state casting our electoral votes for the other candidate.

We’re also going to have a hard time getting rid of Citizens United. But Montana and Hawaii have enacted legislation limiting the influence corporations have on elections. That should be something the other 48 states do, too.

The Democrats can’t really enact some other needed reforms that Trump can veto – adding seats to the Supreme Court and statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Also, adding seats to the House of Representatives to make it more reflective of the actual population. California has one seat for every 757,000 people. Wyoming has one for all of its 589,000. That’s more than a 20% underrepresentation for California.

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One other thought: There should never be another U.S. Supreme Court Justice who states a belief that the Constitution needs to be interpreted through the prism of the original intent of its authors.

That is absolutely ridiculous. It ascribes infallibility to a bunch of guys who still owned slaves. Who read by candlelight, cooked on an open fire and took a week to get from New York to Washington.

It’s doubtful “Hamilton” would be the success it is if Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it in the form of minuets and chorales instead of hip-hop and rock.

That’s what original intent means to me. The Constitution should be a living document; it should adapt to the times. That means the Second Amendment should be interpreted to take into account weapons of mass destruction, that the Fourth Amendment be interpreted to understand how much easier to search individuals in a technological age.

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You can’t be sure whether the massive Democratic victory this month is a harbinger of a shift in Americans’ attitudes. We thought the U.S. was “past racism” when it overwhelmingly elected a Black president in 2008 – and think about what’s happened since.

But with a little vigilance, we can begin the process of emerging from the darkness of the past decade.

Change is coming. Let’s hope it’s good – and that the good sticks.

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CHRISTMAS IN REVERSE

The way it usually works, kids make wish lists for the holidays and then get the shiny new toy.

Tuesday’s election reverses that. Democrats found the toy early the next morning. And now, they have a wish list of what they want to do with it.

I felt pretty sure the Democrats would take the House; they only needed three flips. I hoped they would take the Senate with maybe 52 seats so that the possible defection of Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman wouldn’t matter.

But like most Democrats, I dreaded Election Night. Kamala Harris was certain to win. So was Hillary Clinton eight years before.

Instead, the Trumpian dystopia.

The actual results felt like I got the bicycle, the baseball mitt and the video game console, instead of just the console.

The Democrats gained at least 24 House seats and are predicted by NBC News to gain 41.They’ll hold something in the vicinity of 258 seats; the Republicans have been bullying people with just 220.

They took control of the Senate with a minimum of 54 seats. Two races, not yet called, are leaning their way.

Those margins loom large. Donald Trump can’t pass anything or get anyone appointed to the executive or judicial branches without carving out something around 40 Democratic votes in the House. Given what the electorate said about his policies, that ain’t likely.

So what can we do with this thing?

The kind of sweeping legislation to expand healthcare, reverse the Supreme Court abortion decision and other Democratic priorities doesn’t seem possible. Trump already indicated he’ll veto stuff willy nilly.

But Democrats can’t fear that. If there’s legislation to undo the healthcare cuts that go into effect as a result of the tax cut passed in the current Congress, go for it. Let Trump veto a bill to lower Americans’ costs. That’s the campaign poster for 2028.

If there’s legislation to help get gas prices down, let Trump veto it. And, as it stands, not funding the idiotic war against Iran probably helps that cause.

A push on ethics reform would also go over well. Ban stock trading by members of all three branches of government. Ban gifts worth more than $200 to anyone in government. Limit lobbyists’ influence. Again, if Trump vetoes, make ethics issues an ad subject in the next election.

There’s always a chance surviving Republicans now see the light and want to show they understand that affordability isn’t a hoax. $4-a-gallon and $6-a-gallon diesel are the primary reasons for Tuesday night. Not the only ones, but likely the biggest ones.

It is a Democratic tradition to let bygones be bygones. My saying is Democrats want to govern, Republicans want to rule. Governing means you do litigate the past in order to get your priorities done.

That’s over. The Merrick Garland memorial deliberate speed on investigations needs to join Garland in retirement.

Investigations into what most of us believe are serious crimes against the nation are fair game. Theft of our tax dollars, sweetheart contracts to political cronies, the enrichment of the Trump family and all the other crap we’ve dealt with since January 20, 2025.

We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Legislate for the good of the American people. Investigate for the justice Americans crave.

I don’t believe impeaching Trump serves a purpose. He’s 80 years old, he’s a senile bat and, most of all, there aren’t enough votes to convict. Making him a martyr for the fourth time – two prior impeachments and a questionable assassination attempt – isn’t a good idea.

But, by all means, haul the Trump kids – yes, even Barron – and Jared Kushner before Congress. Make them testify. If they don’t, find them in contempt. Yes, eventually Trump will pardon them – and lots and lots of other people. But put their perfidy on the public record – and help the state attorneys general develop cases that Trump can’t wash away.

And, there are people who might be worth impeaching. Pete Hegseth mismanaged the precious resource of the world’s strongest military, firing generals and admirals who didn’t meet his political or bizarre masculinity standards.

I love that one of the Democrats who appears to have won in South Carolina is Nancy Lacore, a vice admiral Hegseth forced into retirement. Another is my congresswoman-elect, Cait Conley, who spent 16 years in the military and worked protecting national security. Let’s see how macho Hegseth is when these veterans go at him.

There’s even talk that a Hegseth impeachment might take place in the lame duck Congress. That would be a sign that some Republicans learned a lesson.

Another impeachment candidate is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary. His tenure includes such amazing accomplishments as the return of measles, lettuce that gave people exploding diarrhea and the encouragement of vaccine skepticism that endangers large swaths of the population.

There are Republicans who would happily throw Kennedy under the bus – which he might actually think of as a fitness regimen.

What Democrats can’t do is business as usual. Their model for how they should operate is 250 miles north of the Capitol.

Zohran Mamdani won election as New York’s mayor a year ago. He spent that year doing a lot of the stuff he was going to do – along with creating an image of NYC as a place of joy and striving. If Democrats follow his path and do things that make life more affordable and maybe even fun, their shiny new toy will last a lot longer than the ones under the tree.

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SHOW OF HANDS

I love writing a blog like this, expressing my viewpoint on our world for your consideration.

I donate money to candidates. It heartens me to know I possess resources to help people who deserve public office achieve it.

But nothing, nothing gives me political satisfaction, nothing makes me feel as if I’ve accomplished something, like voting.

Which I did yesterday.

To be sure, there were about 50 people who did the same thing at Clarkstown, New York, Town Hall. I can’t speak for their level of accomplishment. And I suspect the majority of those in the room did not vote for the same people I did.

Doesn’t matter. I did it. I exercised my right as a citizen of the United States to help determine who represents me and who provides the services I pay for with my taxes.

And thanks to that ballot, the opinions expressed in this blog gain more credence. I put my franchise where my typing fingers sometimes take me. I stood on a line, filled in the circles on the ballot and made my views actually count. When the votes get counted Tuesday night and the numbers change on TV and computer screen, one of those will be me.

We live in one of those dysfunctional political thrillers of the past. What would happen if the President of the United States went insane? What would happen if a foreign power gained control of our government? What if, after more than a century, we turned on our devoted allies in an insulting and disgusting manner?

Too many of us still believe that it doesn’t matter. That it doesn’t affect them. That politics is only about people with the means and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

It might be easy to be cynical after 72-1/2 years. I never believed this country would actually restore Donald Trump to the White House after what he did in his first term. COVID. Stupid tax bills. Kissing up to Putin. Refusing to concede defeat when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

It remains a mystery how he won in 2016. A miserable failure in most everything he did. A miserable, unhappy human being who stiffed his contractors, displayed loyalty to no one but himself and anyone who paid him, played on racial and religious and sexual stereotypes. Treated women like objects for his pleasure.

Should have known better. This country elected Ronald Reagan, twice, in the 1980s. It elected Richard Nixon twice, It has elected men and women to Congress with the morals of a shark and the brains of a rock.

But I cling to the belief that I can change the world. That there is something I can do to stop the Titanic from sinking, to keep the runaway car from going off the cliff. To preserve a country I still believe is worth preserving.

And the bad guys believe it too. Yeah, a few hundred million dollars is something Elon Musk might find in an old jacket pocket. But he’s been spending it trying to preserve the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. His money is littering the roadside in nonsensical yard signs that will take until Christmas to remove. In nonstop TV ads that question the patriotism and humanity of people who want affordable healthcare and a sustainable environment.

So much crap has happened since January 20, 2025 – hell, since that day the orange fool rode down the escalator as his New York lair. And the way to begin – again, the word is begin – to clear this crap from our lives is to vote. To vote early if that’s more convenient. To vote Tuesday if that’s easier or the only way.

To stay in line if it’s late. To resist intimidation and misleading information. To report to someone you trust anyone – including people from this administration – who tries to intimidate voters or fellow citizens.

I can spew whatever thoughts I have for as long or as short as I want. I could write a masterpiece of prose that might make you cry or laugh.

But nothing is as powerful as the show of hands you, me and every other responsible American makes culminating Tuesday.

Go get ’em!

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SEEKING LAWLERLESSNESS

When the midterm election rolls around, midway through a presidency, most Americans ignore the 434 House seat elections that don’t affect them directly.

But a handful of races garner national attention. Maybe because they’re seen as bellwethers for the electorate as a whole. Maybe they’re a reflection of closely watched demographics. Or they’re seats that always seem to be battlegrounds.

Which brings me home.

I live in New York’s 17th Congressional District. Its southern boundary is less than 10 miles north of New York City, but it reaches all the way up the Hudson, on both sides, for about an hour’s drive north.

Two of the counties in the district – Rockland, where I live, and Westchester – are among the most affluent in the nation. Bill and Hillary Clinton – the 42nd and should-have-been 45th Presidents of the United States – live in Chappaqua, in the heart of the district.

This year, the race is a donnybrook. The Republican incumbent is Mike Lawler, a former political operative seeking a third term. The challenger is Cait Conley, a 16-year military veteran and the former counterterrorism director on the National Security Council.

Polls go both ways in this one. Some show Lawler ahead, although there is some skepticism about the tilt of the polltakers. Others show Conley in the lead. Five points either way would be a landslide here.

The economic issues causing Republicans to cower across the country hit this middle-to-upper class district hard. The price of gasoline is well over $4 a gallon, with some $5 readings in isolated parts. Utility bills surged in the wake of the COVID outbreak and never really came down. Food prices in the New York area rank among the highest in the country – and these parts are no exception.

So that would make you think that this district is ripe for a flip. But there’s a catch.

That catch is the Bloc.

Western Rockland has one of the largest Hasidic and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States. Hebrew is as common as English, if not more so.

The area’s voting patterns are so bizarre that national Democrats thought they had proof of voter fraud in 2024. They didn’t. One precinct in the town of Ramapo, where these folks live, came in Trump 512, Harris 0. For Congress, it was Lawler 505, Democrat Mondaire Jones 1.

Those are Mayor Daley/Boss Tweed type margins. And the thing is they’re not fake news. People in these precincts vote in a monolith.

Which is why Lawler, unlike other embattled Republicans this year, brought Trump to the district. His audience was in the Hasidic area and they got to hear what they wanted – a ringing endorsement of Trump’s buddy Benjamin Netanyahu and support for Israeli actions in Gaza.

The war in Gaza and Trump’s support of Netanyahu is the wild card in New York-17. It’s why Lawler and local Republicans try to spread an image on their New York bogeyman, Zohran Mamdani, as an anti-Semite who endangers Israel and Jews everywhere.

For the rest of the district, Lawler tries to present himself as a reasonable moderate. Hell, he’s got a beard, how could be MAGA?

One of the things he’s trying to sell is the idea that he fought to raise the property tax limit that homeowners can deduct from their federal income taxes. One of Trump’s first punitive moves against states that didn’t vote for him came when his Republican buddies enacted the SALT (state and local taxes) cap at $10,000 a year. The states where property taxes are that high are reliably blue: New York, Massachusetts, California.

Lawler claims he got the cap raised to $40,000, which would alleviate the tax bill for the lower  income end of the population. What he doesn’t advertise is that the boost is limited to three years – it’ll go back to $10,000 about the time Lawler gets interested in trying to unseat Chuck Schumer in the Senate.

What’s hilarious is the signs that say “Thank you Mike Lawler for SALT.” That ignores the fact that SALT itself is a bad thing, that his Republican colleagues are hoping to get back to draining blue states as soon as they can.

Conley wasn’t my first choice to run against Lawler. She’s a little too conservative. For example, she supports restoring much of what was cut from the Affordable Care Act, but she does not support Medicare for All.

But I liked the way she handled herself in the Democratic primary debates. The early favorite came across as mealy-mouthed and a traditional local hack. This race needed a fighter – and despite my vote for a more progressive candidate, Conley won.

She’s rewarded Democrats with a social media-worthy debate performance against Lawler. When the issue of violence against women – in the wake of the Cornell gang rape allegations – came up, Lawler tried to talk over Conley as she advocated strong sexual consent laws.

“I do not need you to mansplain to me what domestic abuse and sexual assault against women is and the appropriate response,” Conley warned Lawler. “Don’t start. Sit over there.”

I think she fights pretty well.

Since I moved here in 1987, most of the House races haven’t been close. For the first 14 years, Republican Ben Gilman dominated. He was what we in New York call a Rockefeller Republican – somewhat moderate. In 2026, assuming he didn’t bend the knee to Donald Trump, he’d be called a RINO – Republican in name only.

Then, after the 2000 census, the redistricting left us with a Democratic stalwart, Nita Lowey. She won relatively easily until she retired in 2020.

Mondaire Jones won in 2020. But in 2022, another census redistricting caused a shift that put Jones in the same district as another Democrat, Sean Patrick Maloney. That caused Jones, a promising Democrat, to shift to an ill-fated New York City race, and left us with Maloney, who represented the Democratic establishment. Lawler beat him by less than 3,000 votes.

So those are all the reasons why this race is the center of attention. Conley and Lawler both make national TV appearances – Lawler is unlike a lot of other Republicans in that he embraces the non-right wing networks because he thinks he can seem like a reasonable member of his party.

I’d love to be confident that Lawler is going down. I’m not. Not at all. I could see a scenario where Democrats take a big majority in the House, capture the Senate – and we’re still stuck with Smarmy Mike.

Early voting starts Saturday. The only way I, the other democracy savers in New York-17 and the other democracy savers from Maine to Alaska can make what we want happen is to vote. As soon as we can. In numbers that can’t be denied.

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I WANNA BE THE GOOD GUYS AGAIN

Superman fought for truth, justice and the American Way.

He’d be really confused now.

Not the truth and justice part. But the American Way has skewed off the highway and into a swamp.

That’s the grin-and-bear-it way to look at a tragedy – the betrayal of Ukraine by Trump and his henchmen. 

In his desperation to avoid a midterm election whomping, Trump reached a deal with the Devil – um, sorry, Vladimir Putin. He says the U.S. will lift its oil embargo against Russia, imposed since it invaded Ukraine four years ago. That comes with a deal to purchase enough diesel fuel to supply the United States for 12 hours.

Not months, weeks or even days. Hours.

Trump believes driving the price of diesel fuel lower will help mitigate the impact its surge has on inflation. Not that what he’s doing would actually help, but even if it did, the damage is done.

Most Americans don’t drive diesel-powered vehicles, so it’s not immediately obvious why diesel is such a big deal. Unfortunately, diesel powers those big honkin’ trucks cluttering your commute home and your leaf-peeping trip.

Imagine how big the tank is in one of those monsters. Now imagine paying $7 a gallon to fill it.

That money has got to come from somewhere. And if you’ve been to the supermarket in the last few weeks, you know where.

Four weeks ago, I bought cream cheese for my low-carb bagels. It was about $6.50 for a half-pound, which is about $1.50 more than I paid in 2024.

Two weeks ago, I bought some more. That half-pound cost me $9.

The same was true of my butter substitute and my fruit juice. $2 and $2 and $3 begin to add up – and although I’m not wealthy by any means, I’m in a slightly better position to pay that increase than a family of four struggling to get by.

So, yeah, Trump is desperate to get the price of diesel down. But he’s also desperate to bail out his old buddy, Vlad.

Trump bet on Russia. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but neither does talking about the late, great Hannibal Lecter as if he’s a real human being. Or saying Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat dogs and cats.

Russia is a failed state. It had a chance to become a center of European commerce, like Warsaw, or a center of Asian commerce, like Seoul and Shanghai. 

But Russia’s gonna be Russia – paranoid, belligerent, parochial, hateful. Putin has pulled those strings for most of the 21st century.

So bailing Putin out of an oil embargo bought into by the rest of the free world – an embargo sparked by a wide awake Joe Biden – is what Trump needs to do to protect his investment and satisfy his patron.

And, of course, in this scenario, we don’t matter.

Not just the fact that Americans overwhelmingly support Ukraine, that we overwhelmingly support President Zelenskyy, that we don’t think Russia under Putin is a potential friend and partner.

But our own freedom and pride matter not at all to Trump. Because if Ukraine, four years into a courageous fight against a bigger foe, can’t make it, it bodes ill for the rest of Europe and the West. We become shameful bystanders to the end of order.

Not just in Ukraine. Trump’s ridiculous demands in Greenland and Canada were meant to weaken the greatest military alliance in history and ease Putin’s path to dominance. The stupid war against Iran is meant to tie up American resources in the Middle East, an area where Obama and Biden wisely thought it best to disengage. The nonsense with Cuba and Venezuela is meant to underline the “zones of influence” theory that totalitarians promote.

We have always thought of ourselves as the good guys. Being respected means being admired, not being feared. When we lose the world’s respect, we’re just a bunch of spoiled brats on this side of the Atlantic and this side of the Pacific.

Few of us can leap tall buildings or bend steel in our bare hands. But we aspire to be like Superman, standing for truth, justice and the American Way.

When the American Way is the right way. Right now, with Trump blubbering around the White House like a malevolent blimp, it’s not.

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IT MIGHT NOT BE TOO LATE, IF YOU HURRY

I never worry about whether my voter registration is active.

That’s because I vote in any election I can get to. Not just every four years for President. But midterm elections for Congress, governorships and state legislatures. Off-year local elections for town offices. Judges for whatever jurisdiction. The local school board and budget. 

Even the local library board and budget – that election is usually some weird day in December and I’m sure that, out of my town of 80,000 , maybe 200 people vote.

So I’m ready for November 3. In fact, I’m ready for before November 3, because early voting starts October 24 in New York. 

All I need to do is coordinate with the other members of my family on when we’re going to the special early voting site. I need to do this because I’ve promised every Democrat who has rung our doorbell that I would bring everyone in my family to the polls.

That’s how deeply I care about this election. About just about any election.

You should care, too. Sorry to preach, but the people who don’t vote are as much to blame for the crisis we endure. If you can’t be bothered to be a functioning citizen, don’t complain when Trump cheers the wiping out of the San Diego Zoo or gets THANKS TO DONALD J. TRUMP carved into the chair at the Lincoln Memorial.

Among other obscenities.

Unfortunately, if Trump’s BS makes you angry or scared, you’re out of luck in many states.

That’s because, for a supposed democracy, we do a crappy job of letting people vote. You have to register. It’s something you actively have to do. By mail, online or in person. 

And every state has a different deadline. Sometimes, it’s hard to know when that deadline is – it’s not like a holiday whose date everyone remembers. 

For instance, if you live in Florida and want to rid the state of the taint left by Ron DeSantis and his goons, you time passed. The voting registration deadline in Florida, according to vote.org, was October 5, three days before this was posted. 

If you live in Texas and get nauseous of the thought of Ken Paxton as a U.S. senator and Greg Abbott getting another chance to further his police state, you missed your opportunity. The deadline was October 3.

That said, there are still states – some of which have tight races that will determine whether Trumpism flourishes or flails – where you can still register to vote.

Several states have voter registration up to and including Election Day. If that’s the case, no worries. Just go to the polls on November 3 – or earlier if there’s early voting. Vermont, Minnesota and Washington State are among the states where you can do that.

And other states still have registration open. A short drive to town hall can make you an American hero.

For example, here in New York, the registration deadline is October 24. In the 17th Congressional District, where I live, it could make all the difference in whether Smarmy Mike Lawler can continue his worshipful kissing of Trump’s ass.

In Michigan, you can support one of those most thoughtful candidates in recent memory, Abdul el-Sayed, keep a Democratic Senate seat from another Trump sycophant. You can register in person until the polls close at 8 p.m. EST on Election Day, or by October 19 online or by mail.

To register on Election Day in Michigan, you need either a driver’s license, or a combination of a photo ID and proof of residence like a utility bill or government check.

You need to check the rules for your state. It’s not that hard. Vote.org is a good place to start. Or you can look up your state’s Secretary of State website or the site of your local elections board.

The MAGAmuffins who claim that any election Trump and his followers lose is rigged are trying to make it seem as though it’s way too easy to vote. Or it’s way too easy to manipulate vote totals through fake registrations and noncitizen voting.

That’s crap. And there’s an easy solution that I guarantee these people wouldn’t like.

Automatic registration.

Allow everyone 18 and older to vote. They can either be registered through Social Security. Or just have them show up with a government-issued ID on Election Day – there would be no need for registration.

But you can’t have voter ID AND registration, the way MAGA is trying to intimidate states into thinking. If you’ve registered, you’ve proven your identity. Your signature should be enough.

That’s what we’ve done in New York since at least the first time I went to the polls, as an 8-year-old in 1962 voting with my parents (a great tradition that every family should extend). It works fine. Only sore losers squawk about fairness.

But you can’t complain about the situation in this country – you can’t even say stuff like “it’s politics as usual” or “there’s no difference between the political parties” – if you don’t participate. Throwing up your hands is not responsible.

Voting is.

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ISSUE DRIVEN

In less than five weeks, Americans will know if they’ve shaken off the shackles of stupidity that have plagued our country for almost two years.

No midterm election in my 72-1/2 years has carried the weight of this one. All that’s at stake is the fate of democracy in the United States, the stability of the world order and the lives of millions of people here and around the world.

No pressure.

Elections should always be about issues. This election is – and isn’t. Because the one overriding issue is our survival as a free country.

That freedom has eroded drastically since January 20, 2025. People are being picked up on the street or dragged from homes because – or despite – their immigration status. Journalists are harassed, insulted and barred by the government they’re supposed to hold accountable. Science has given way to superstition and nonsense, leading to unthinkable disease outbreaks. 

Commerce is stymied and traditional allies shunned on the whim of a super-sensitive buffoon.

So there’s no question that we need to vote out the pond scum occupying the U.S. Congress, the state houses and even our town halls. 

A message needs to be sent to the Republican Party that it has committed a mortal sin against the Constitution and the moral foundation of this country. And, as I learned when I was a good Catholic boy studying the catechism, mortal sins lead to hell.

But all this sturm und drang fomented by Trump and his sycophants have distracted us from real problems. The kinds of problems naturally occurring in a society in which humanity, technology and even the atmosphere evolve.

For example, we have wasted decades letting climate deniers believe they’re an alternative point of view. But they’re as much an alternative as the sun rising in the west. Climate change is affecting us more and more each year, and we can’t afford to let Trump and the special interests who enrich him.

We’ve seen disastrous storms plague Hawaii, wildfires spread across California and the Rockies. A weakened atmosphere allows smoke from Canadian forests to befoul the skies over New York. Superstorms roll up the East Coast – and the ability of scientists to track them has been thwarted by uncertain conditions above us.

Our government should be doing two things. One is to set standards that minimize further damage to the climate – encouraging electric vehicles and alternative energy generation. The other is to lessen the impact of weather disasters.

In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to end the rampant flooding that occurs every time it rains hard is to plant more trees. Those trees are intended to absorb the increase in water output that’s occurring in storms.

It’s a small thing, and its success might be marginal. But that kind of thinking is better than doing nothing and shrugging it all off to bad luck.

We need to fix our transportation systems. Rail travel isn’t much faster than it was at the turn of the century – the 19th into the 20th, not the most recent one. Our air traffic system is one thunderstorm at O’Hare from chaos. While technology innovation has grown exponentially, innovation in how people and goods move across the country has barely budged.

Healthcare needs to be fixed once and for all. The Affordable Care Act accomplished a lot – it’s probably the most valuable piece of legislation passed in the contentious 21st century. But instead of building on it, Republicans have been eroding it. There’s debate in the Democratic Party about whether Medicare for All is the right solution, but everyone in the party wants expansion – not contraction – of healthcare coverage.

The intrusion of technology in our lives is scaring the hell out of people. Instead of looking at artificial intelligence as a way to improve our lives, a lot of us worry that it’s going to end up killing us instead. And the data centers that process all the technology that rules our lives is desecrating our environment and draining our resources, producing little benefit to people who live nearby.

We need to work with our neighbors – Canada, Mexico and the islands in the Caribbean – to solve these problems. Not create new ones with insults, disrespect and petty grievance. 

Maybe you have other things that you believe are important. Fighting crime. Protecting the vulnerable in our society. Showing respect to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identification, physical capacity or any other arbitrary criteria you can name.

But instead, the election that takes place on November 3 is about one issue. How do we take the steering wheel away from people who drive our nation like they’re drunk? How do we combat narcissism and the worship of a false god? How do we get back to the idea that there are three separate and equal branches of government in the United States?

It will start by throwing out the Republican fools. In the Senate. In the House. In the governors’ mansions. In the legislatures. In town halls and city halls. Hell, even in the town highway department.

There needs to be an overwhelming rejection of what has transpired over the past 20 months. Because if we don’t, I shudder at what life will be like starting in early January 2027.

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KAOS

This week’s convening of the United Nations General Assembly spotlights the warped state of our world in 2026.

You used to know the good guys and bad guys. You used to think that we, here in the United States of America, fell into the good guys category.

Now, it’s hard to say.

American presidents served as the guide in the fights against fascism, Soviet communism and terrorism. Their legacy is the Marshall Plan, the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the capture of Osama bin Laden.

This month alone, an American president said he might annihilate Iran, started a trade war with Canada and said of seizing Venezuela’s oil “to the victor goes the spoils.” He said Ukraine’s retaliation for the wanton murder of civilians “unfortunately” resulted in the depletion of Russia’s oil and diesel supplies.

The American president thinks Russia, Saudi Arabia and North Korea are allies. He thinks Canada, Mexico, Denmark and South Korea are not.

This topsy-turvy world reminds me somewhat of the secret agent shows of the 1960s.

Because it seems as though the world’s alliances aren’t formed around national interest. They seem based on the self-interest of individual oligarchs.

The most famous of these is the James Bond series, which continues today (BTW: Jack Lowden from “Slow Horses” would be a great 007!). Bond and British Intelligence joined forces with other nations to combat SPECTRE – which stood for SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

Does that sound like the alliance of Trump, Mohammed Bin Salman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Khalil al-Hayya, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Il to you?

It’s an alliance that based on the enrichment and personal powerlust of each of them. The idea that everything is zero-sum – that it’s either their way or no way.

Notice one name is missing.

It’s not. Vladimir Putin is the Ernst Blofeld of the modern-day coalition of the wicked. He’s the mastermind. He’s the won with the cat, who will open the trap door for the piranha tank to punish someone for incompetence or insufficient loyalty.

There are days when it seems as though there’s a supervillain plot to take our money and render us beholden. In the process, the world’s real problems – hunger, disease, climate change, technological encroachment – get shunted.

Who is our James Bond?

Actually, I think there are three.

One is the military guy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He’s the one with the creative bent that has given a smaller defender the upper hand against a dark, relentless foe. Watching video of drone attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg is stunning and a sign the good guys have a shot of winning this.

The economic guy is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump has tried to cripple the greatest neighbor any nation ever had. He insulted its sovereignty and belittled its enterprise and culture.

Carney’s not having any of it. He knows he’s the one with the actual business acumen. And he pressing that knowledge, forming alliances with other nations and selling Canada’s abundance to nations not stupid enough to tariff it.

The third James Bond is us.

We are the agents of change if we want to be. We can lash out against Trump, against the would-be feudal lords of the Middle East, against the hegemonists of Asia and against Putin’s connivance.

The 2026 midterm elections are 40 days away. Early voting has started in four states and will soon be available in all but a handful. Yes, you can vote by mail, but Trump will do what he can to invalidate that, so a convenient early time is the best solution.

When the James Bond movies came out, there was other spy entertainment. 

“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” teamed an American and a Russian as good guys against a world dominance organization named Thrush – which actually didn’t stand for anything.

And, on “Get Smart,” Maxwell Smart was Agent 86 in the comedy about the American espionage group CONTROL’s battle against an evil enterprise. It was appropriately named by the hilarious do of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks.

KAOS.

That’s what it seems like we’re living through. Villains who’d be comical if they weren’t so goddamn dangerous. 

It’s time to take control.

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THE GARDEN ISLAND

If you fly 5,000 miles over nearly a full day with two lousy changeovers in Los Angeles, you must like a place a lot to do it again. 

That’s Kauai.

My wife and I went there in March for our second visit. The first trip, in 2022, ended with us desperately trying to find a way not to go home. 

The weather was perfect. The beaches were perfect. The food was perfect. The scenery was perfect. The people who live there were perfect.

Our second trip wasn’t quite as wonderful. The first week was pretty much a washout due to a Kona storm that stalled over the Hawaiian Islands. We were actually lucky – Oahu and Maui were inundated with water. We only had about 7 inches.

The weather improved markedly the second week. All the things we loved about Kauai the first time we loved again.

We stayed both times at the Sheraton Kauai Resort. It had a gorgeous pool and a pathway that jammed up with gazers around sunset. 

Many of you know this. Because you’ve seen them a lot in the past couple of weeks.

The pool got ruined by sand from the force of a hurricane that swept through Kauai. The pathway got broken up. Water smashed through the seaside exercise room where I used the stationary bike every morning. A flood surge turned the breezeway into a fast-moving stream.

I don’t like the idea of naming hurricanes because it bestowed a sense of humanity that this sort of destruction doesn’t warrant. This has never been more the case than this storm.

Not only was the resort where we created new great memories severely damaged. But the storm downed trees that blocked the roadways we walked to get my sixth Hawaiian shirt and an amazing white pineapple. The houses we envied as we walked were shattered.

But, because I fancy the idea of living on Kauai, the part that struck hardest is how the island’s people suffered from the storm.

Some are still without electricity more than a week after the storm. They needed ice on an island where air conditioning and ceiling fans make it habitable. 

There was one death attributed to the storm on Kauai. That’s sad, but obviously good planning and residents displaying their intelligence kept the toll down. 

Now comes the dilemma.

On the one hand, like most of Hawaii, tourism is the main driver of commerce. There is almost no time of the year when the resorts, the hotels, the restaurants, the gift shops aren’t filled with visitors from the mainland and from other countries. 

So losing tourism revenue is a serious matter. I’m sure that the Hawaiian and Kauai governments and the businesspeople on the island are anxious to get things running again.

On the other hand, the first obligation is to make sure the people who actually live there are safe and secure. That their losses are made good. That they are back to living their lives without worrying about pandering to tourists. Especially demanding ones who, after spending the fortune it takes to go to Hawaii at all, want everything just right at the moment they want it.

It goes to one of the big issues on Kauai and all the other Hawaiian islands: Who are they? Are they Hawaiians, with their own language and culture that need preservation and cultivation? Or are they Americans, looking to make a living the best way they can?

If I were planning to go back to Kauai anytime soon, I wouldn’t. I would wait at least until some time in 2027 – and only then go if I know the people there are able to sustain and greet visitors.

What I do plan to do is support some of the businesses on the island. I don’t drink coffee, but I’m told Kauai Coffee is excellent. I do drink rum, and Koloa Rum makes an excellent gift for discerning drinkers. There are chocolate companies and cookie makers and produce suppliers – and if you want to send them some support this coming holiday season, they’re worth the effort.

There are also charities to help residents still in need, including farmers trying to recover from the devastation. We donated to Malama Kauai https://malamakauai.org/, which deals with both the producing and the distribution of food on the island. 

Most importantly, let’s think about what just happened.

Hawaii has been belted by storms all of 2026. This doesn’t seem like an accident. We think of climate change as making cooler places warmer. That’s only part of it. 

There’s less of an atmosphere to shield us from the extremes of weather – and we’re seeing that all over the world. Even in a place where the weather is nice 99% of the time.

There’s an election in less than seven weeks and a bunch of people running who don’t think climate change is a hoax or fake news. As the people on Kauai can attest, this might be a good time to vote for them.

Kauai’s history is fascinating. It was never a conquered part of the Hawaiian kingdom because it is further away from the other main islands than they are from each other. Warriors on both sides had a hard time getting across that swatch of the Pacific Ocean.

But now it needs not only the help of its fellow Hawaiians, but the help of its fellow Americans. It’s up to us to show the spirit of aloha to one of the most beautiful places on earth.

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ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE

Osama bin Laden’s capture in May 2010, 8-1/2 years after he perpetrated the atrocities of 9/11,, united the United States.

If you remember, there were spontaneous celebrations in Washington and other cities. After President Obama announced the special forces team’s success, he went to New York for a solemn wreath laying at the World Trade Center site. Then he visited city firefighters at a station particularly hard hit, sharing lunch with the crew.

It might have been the last time this country was united.

Otherwise, we’ve pretty given bin Laden what he wanted.

He wanted to destroy us. He wanted to knock off our pedestal as the world’s indispensable nation. 

bin Laden saw our diversity as weakness. That’s what he has in common with history’s autocratic scum, like Hitler and Stalin – and now Putin. He wanted a rule based on his warped idea of Islam, just like the warped Christianity of totalitarians. 

There was no place in it for infidels – people who practice other faiths. There was no place in it for Muslims who didn’t share his view; bin Laden supported the deaths of thousands from Afghanistan to Africa to the Twin Towers.

But after a couple of days of celebration and relief, we went back to doing bin Laden’s work of tearing ourselves apart.

The forces that saw diversity, equity and inclusion as weakness gained the upper hand in our politics. They were fueled by oodles of money from people who profited from the old way of doing things.

And they were led by a huckster who would say what it took to appeal to their prejudices as long as he profited from him. Donald Trump would be the most liberal Democrat in America if he thought he’d get more money and power that way.

In the process, he divided us in a way bin Laden could have only dreamed of. Trump is bin Laden’s victory.

But the seeds of thwarting bin Laden are still in the ground.

In New York, while bigots and political opportunists squawk about his attendance at the 9/11 memorial, a Muslim mayor leads an effort to unite his city and restore its greatness. He revels in the diversity and culture of the town.

There are other leaders in other cities and states with similar agendas. They see the mosaic as being stronger than the single sheet of material. They fulfill the promise of this country to form a more perfect union, to govern and not to rule.

bin Laden would have written a flattering letter to Trump and won him over. The rest of us know better. It takes all kinds of people to make America great – and that won’t happen until we run this country again.

On this 25th anniversary, may the loved ones of those killed on 9/11 and those killed because of its aftermath find peace.

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