Baseball 2020 - We Hardly Knew Ye
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 28, 2020
I’m as big a baseball fan as there can be. Opening Day should be the first Monday in April, in Cincinnati with the Reds hosting a division rival - Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, or Pirates, with the remaining 14 other Opening Day games played the next day. All day games. If Opening Day itself is not designated a national holiday, it should be on April 15 - Jackie Robinson Day as designated by Major League Baseball.
I pine for the return of our national pastime from the final out of the World Series through the day in February when pitchers and catchers report for duty, through the first radio broadcast of a Mets exhibition game, until the shout of “play ball!” on Mets Opening Day.
This past off-season was no exception. From the last out made by the sign stealing Astros giving Washington, DC its first baseball championship since 1924, through a stunted spring training, summer camp, and a long awaited late July Opening Day, after less than a week, I’m thinking playing at all is a mistake.
In addition to the number of players, coaches, umpires, and staff who opted out of the 2020 season for health reasons, the Miami Marlins reported (up to the minute Tuesday afternoon) 17 team members - 15 players and two coaches testing positive for the Coronavirus. This not only put their home opener against the Orioles on the shelf, but the rest of the week as well.
The further impact of the Marlins Coronavirus diagnosis is starting to look like the Domino Effect running up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The Monday and Tuesday games in Philadelphia between the Phillies and the Yankees were postponed as a precautionary measure - even after fumigating the clubhouse, as the Marlins most recently played in Philadelphia. Because of those postponements, the Yankees and Orioles schedules have been adjusted for those two teams to meet up in Baltimore for two games starting Wednesday. Additional scheduling changes will be announced as the week progresses. The schedules of the 10 teams in the National League East and American League East are now in flux.
Should an independent flare up affect another team, it will impact three of four more teams. Ultimately, with travel on planes, trains, and buses, as well as hotel lodging from city to city, the 2020 baseball season is in grave jeopardy.
There is another issue to consider - the rise in player injuries, particularly pitchers, at a higher rate than usual. This can be attributed to an elongated period of downtime, and less preparation time once the July opening dates were announced. Teams should be entitled to play at full strength, save for the couple of typical injuries that plague most teams, with a full complement of Major Leaguers, not Triple-A call ups. There’s no telling how long the Marlins, as a team, will be sidelined, nor should they be rushed back to action. Can a league continue while down a team? Should it? Let’s face it, the main reason the season began at all is for the paychecks - the players want to be paid, and the team owners somehow need to recoup the losses from ticket sales and concessions.
According to Major League Baseball, there have been more than 6,400 Coronavirus tests since Friday, July 24, with no new positive cases from any of the remaining 29 teams. However, if Major League Baseball is truly concerned about the health and well being of its players - its money making product - it should seriously consider pulling the plug on the 2020 season, and start fresh in 2021. This die-hard fan wants to see a full season with full rosters of healthy players - even if they play for the hated Yankees.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He has been a New York Mets fan since 1972 growing up in New Jersey.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Sunday, July 5, 2020
"From Every Community"?
“From Every Community”?
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 5, 2020
On Independence Day President Donald Trump announced the creation of the national Garden of American Heroes during his speech from the White House. This announcement was met with applause which grew as Trump read the list of the first 30 men and women to be bestowed with such an honor.
“I signed an executive order to create... the national Garden of American Heroes... a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. We will honor extraordinary citizens from every community, and from every place and from every part of our nation. Great men and great women, people that we can look up to forever. Families will be able to walk among the statues of titans, and we have already selected the first 30 legacies and 30 legends.”
John Adams Douglas MacArthur
Susan B. Anthony Dolley Madison
Clara Barton James Madison
Daniel Boone Christa McAuliffe
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Audie Murphy
Henry Clay George S. Patton, Jr.
Davy Crockett Ronald Reagan
Frederick Douglass Jackie Robinson
Amelia Earhart Betsy Ross
Benjamin Franklin Antonin Scalia
Billy Graham Harriet Beecher Stowe
Alexander Hamilton Harriet Tubman
Thomas Jefferson Booker T. Washington
Martin Luther King, Jr. George Washington
Abraham Lincoln Orville and Wilbur Wright
While all of the above 31 men and women are worthy (apparently the Wright Brothers are an entity and not individuals to the president), President Trump did say “...from EVERY community…” As such, here are 18 candidates from the Jewish community for the president to consider.
LOUIS BRANDEIS (11/13/1856 - 10/05/1941)
Appointed by President Woodrow Wilson, Brandeis was the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice (1916-39); the namesake of Brandeis University (1948); known as the “people’s lawyer,” for defending such issues as a maximum number of hours a person could work and a minimum wage; also an ardent Zionist from 1912 forward
ALBERT EINSTEIN (03/14/1879 - 04/18/1955)
Earned the Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (1921); considered the most influential physicist of the 20th Century; developed the Theory of Relativity; introduced the science of Cosmology; gained US citizenship in 1940; encouraged President Franklin Roosevelt to pursue a nuclear bomb; declined offer to serve as President of Israel (1952) although he supported Zionism
FELIX FRANKFURTER (11/15/1882 - 02/22/1965)
Only naturalized American citizen (born in Vienna) to serve on the Supreme Court (1939-62); leading jurist supporting the doctrine of judicial self-restraint - adhering closely to precedent; helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (1920); awarded the Medal of Freedom (1963); considered himself a Zionist
MILTON FRIEDMAN (07/31/1912 - 11/16/2006)
Earned Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (1976) for his research on income and consumption as well as his developments in monetary theory; his theory of Monetarism focused on the importance of money supply affecting price levels; strong believer in free-market capitalism, free trade, smaller government; strong supporter of US entry into World War II; most influential economist in the second half of the 20th Century
RABBI ALEXANDER D. GOODE (05/10/1911 - 02/03/1943)
Chaplain/Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II; one of four military chaplains to give their lives to save American troops during the sinking of the troop transport Dorchester; PhD. from Johns Hopkins (1940); served from July 21, 1942 until the sinking of the Dorchester by a German U-boat; posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross
HENRY BENJAMIN “HANK” GREENBERG (01/01/1911 - 09/04/1986)
Major League Baseball’s first Jewish superstar - nicknamed the “Hebrew Hammer;” American League MVP 1935, 1940; Hall of Fame inductee 1956; often dealt with anti-Semitism in Detroit playing for the Tigers and on the road, but earned respect the league over for his decision not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 - the holiest day on the Jewish calendar; served two tours of duty in the Army during World War II - the first ending two days before the December 7, 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor - two days later he reenlisted, serving in the Army Air Corps through June 1945 - 47 months, the longest tenure of any player - returning to baseball and hitting a home run on July 1
EMMA LAZARUS (07/22/1849 - 11/19/1887)
Poet of the famed The New Colossus (1883) - adorned to the Statue of Liberty (1903) “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…;” mentored by Ralph Waldo Emerson; published more than 50 poems, a book of poetry, and a novel; critiqued contemporary literature; spoke out in favor of a Jewish homeland, and against European anti-Semitism
LEWIS CHARLES LEVIN (11/10/1808 - 03/14/1860)
First Jewish member elected to the House of Representatives - served three terms (1845-51) representing Pennsylvania’s First District; earned law degree from South Carolina College, now University of South Carolina (1828); founded the American Republic Party (1842); called for the election of only native born Americans to all public offices; editor of the Philadelphia Daily Sun
URIAH P. LEVY (04/22/1792 - 03/26/1862)
Veteran of the War of 1812; first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy; third owner of Monticello following Thomas Jefferson’s death and funded the repairs so desperately needed; advocated ending corporal punishment in the Navy - ultimately abolished by Congress in 1850; namesake of the USS Levy (1943); Jewish chapels at Norfolk, VA Naval Station and United States Naval Academy in Annapolis named for Levy; a statue of Jefferson in the Capitol Rotunda was commissioned by Levy
J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER (04/22/1904 - 02/18/1967)
Theoretical physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb;” director of the Los Alamos Laboratory researching and developing the first nuclear weapon - the Manhattan Project (1942-45); he and Einstein were concerned the Nazis would develop a nuclear weapon first; after seeing the results of the bomb’s use, Oppenheimer resigned from his position; chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission; won the Enrico Fermi Award (1963); opposed development of the hydrogen bomb - the work of Edward Teller - also Jewish; professor at UC-Berkeley and Cal-Tech
DANIEL PEARL (10/10/1963 - 02/01/2002)
Wall Street Journal journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief; kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan by al-Qaeda terrorists; kidnapped while conducting journalistic investigations into relationship between British terrorist Richard Reid and al-Qaeda; BA communications from Stanford; At Home in the World, a collection of Pearl’s writings was published posthumously in 2002; his last words included “my father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We’ve made numerous family visits to Israel.”
AYN RAND - born ALISSA ZINOVIEVNA ROSENBAUM (02/02/1905 - 03/06/1982)
Author of novels promoting the theories of individualism and laissez-faire capitalism - popular among conservative and libertarian readers - The Fountainhead (1943), Atlas Shrugged (1957); early influence - seeing her father’s pharmacy business confiscated by the communists following the Russian Revolution of 1917; her personal philosophy was objectivism - man as a heroic being, his own happiness the moral purpose of his life, productive achievement his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute
JUDITH RESNIK (04/05/1949 - 01/28/1986)
First Jewish woman in space (second overall - Sally Ride); electrical engineering at Carnegie- Mellon, MS in engineering at the University of Maryland; biomedical engineer in the neurophysics lab with the National Institutes of Health; PhD in electrical engineering at Maryland (1977); accepted into NASA program (1978) - one of only six women; among the seven who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger (1986)
HYMAN RICKOVER - born CHAIM GODALIA RICKOVER (01/27/1900 - 07/08/1986)
Admiral United States Navy served 1918-82; United States Naval Academy (1922); considered the father of and directed the development of Naval Nuclear Propulsion a.k.a. The Nuclear Navy, first nuclear powered submarine - The Nautilus (1951); MS in electrical engineering at Columbia University; chief of the Naval Reactor Branch, Reactor Development Division of the Atomic Energy Commission (1949); longest service in the Navy of any officer; first person to garner two Congressional Gold Medals; USS Hyman G. Rickover commissioned in 1984
JONAS SALK (10/28/1914 - 06/23/1995)
Creator of the first polio vaccine; one of the leading scientists of the 20th Century; MD from New York University (1939); testing began in 1952 and 1.8 million children received the vaccination during the test period - Salk administered the vaccine to himself and his family in 1953; approved for general use in 1955 and President Dwight D. Eisenhower honored Salk in the Rose Garden at the White House; launched Salk Center for Biological Studies (1963); studied AIDS and HIV later in his career
HAYM SALOMON - born CHAIM SALOMON (04/07/1740 - 01/06/1785)
Played a major role in financing the American Revolution having immigrated from Poland; arrested twice and accused of being a spy by the British in 1776 and 1778 - the second time sentenced to death but managed to escape; helped overturn Pennsylvania law barring non-Christians from holding elected office; made numerous interest free loans and funded a portion of government debt, ultimately dying penniless
FRANCIS SALVADOR (1747 - 08/01/1776)
London-born Sephardic Jew; elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1773, less than a year after arriving in the colonies, even though it was illegal for Jews to vote, let alone serve in elected office; responsible for writing the South Carolina state constitution; chosen to serve in South Carolina’s provincial congress in 1774 and helped right the state’s bill of rights; endorsed independence from England and that Continental soldiers be paid; first Jewish soldier to die fighting in the Revolutionary War
OSCAR S. STRAUS (12/23/1850 - 05/03/1926)
First Jewish cabinet member - Secretary of Commerce and Labor (1906-09) appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt; three-time Emissary to Ottoman Turkey; advisor to President Woodrow Wilson - aiding in the plans for the League of Nations (the United States declined to join); a voice in America for European Jews and their protection from continued pogroms; Columbia Law School (1873)
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 5, 2020
On Independence Day President Donald Trump announced the creation of the national Garden of American Heroes during his speech from the White House. This announcement was met with applause which grew as Trump read the list of the first 30 men and women to be bestowed with such an honor.
“I signed an executive order to create... the national Garden of American Heroes... a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. We will honor extraordinary citizens from every community, and from every place and from every part of our nation. Great men and great women, people that we can look up to forever. Families will be able to walk among the statues of titans, and we have already selected the first 30 legacies and 30 legends.”
John Adams Douglas MacArthur
Susan B. Anthony Dolley Madison
Clara Barton James Madison
Daniel Boone Christa McAuliffe
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Audie Murphy
Henry Clay George S. Patton, Jr.
Davy Crockett Ronald Reagan
Frederick Douglass Jackie Robinson
Amelia Earhart Betsy Ross
Benjamin Franklin Antonin Scalia
Billy Graham Harriet Beecher Stowe
Alexander Hamilton Harriet Tubman
Thomas Jefferson Booker T. Washington
Martin Luther King, Jr. George Washington
Abraham Lincoln Orville and Wilbur Wright
While all of the above 31 men and women are worthy (apparently the Wright Brothers are an entity and not individuals to the president), President Trump did say “...from EVERY community…” As such, here are 18 candidates from the Jewish community for the president to consider.
LOUIS BRANDEIS (11/13/1856 - 10/05/1941)
Appointed by President Woodrow Wilson, Brandeis was the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice (1916-39); the namesake of Brandeis University (1948); known as the “people’s lawyer,” for defending such issues as a maximum number of hours a person could work and a minimum wage; also an ardent Zionist from 1912 forward
ALBERT EINSTEIN (03/14/1879 - 04/18/1955)
Earned the Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (1921); considered the most influential physicist of the 20th Century; developed the Theory of Relativity; introduced the science of Cosmology; gained US citizenship in 1940; encouraged President Franklin Roosevelt to pursue a nuclear bomb; declined offer to serve as President of Israel (1952) although he supported Zionism
FELIX FRANKFURTER (11/15/1882 - 02/22/1965)
Only naturalized American citizen (born in Vienna) to serve on the Supreme Court (1939-62); leading jurist supporting the doctrine of judicial self-restraint - adhering closely to precedent; helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (1920); awarded the Medal of Freedom (1963); considered himself a Zionist
MILTON FRIEDMAN (07/31/1912 - 11/16/2006)
Earned Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (1976) for his research on income and consumption as well as his developments in monetary theory; his theory of Monetarism focused on the importance of money supply affecting price levels; strong believer in free-market capitalism, free trade, smaller government; strong supporter of US entry into World War II; most influential economist in the second half of the 20th Century
RABBI ALEXANDER D. GOODE (05/10/1911 - 02/03/1943)
Chaplain/Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II; one of four military chaplains to give their lives to save American troops during the sinking of the troop transport Dorchester; PhD. from Johns Hopkins (1940); served from July 21, 1942 until the sinking of the Dorchester by a German U-boat; posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross
HENRY BENJAMIN “HANK” GREENBERG (01/01/1911 - 09/04/1986)
Major League Baseball’s first Jewish superstar - nicknamed the “Hebrew Hammer;” American League MVP 1935, 1940; Hall of Fame inductee 1956; often dealt with anti-Semitism in Detroit playing for the Tigers and on the road, but earned respect the league over for his decision not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 - the holiest day on the Jewish calendar; served two tours of duty in the Army during World War II - the first ending two days before the December 7, 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor - two days later he reenlisted, serving in the Army Air Corps through June 1945 - 47 months, the longest tenure of any player - returning to baseball and hitting a home run on July 1
EMMA LAZARUS (07/22/1849 - 11/19/1887)
Poet of the famed The New Colossus (1883) - adorned to the Statue of Liberty (1903) “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…;” mentored by Ralph Waldo Emerson; published more than 50 poems, a book of poetry, and a novel; critiqued contemporary literature; spoke out in favor of a Jewish homeland, and against European anti-Semitism
LEWIS CHARLES LEVIN (11/10/1808 - 03/14/1860)
First Jewish member elected to the House of Representatives - served three terms (1845-51) representing Pennsylvania’s First District; earned law degree from South Carolina College, now University of South Carolina (1828); founded the American Republic Party (1842); called for the election of only native born Americans to all public offices; editor of the Philadelphia Daily Sun
URIAH P. LEVY (04/22/1792 - 03/26/1862)
Veteran of the War of 1812; first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy; third owner of Monticello following Thomas Jefferson’s death and funded the repairs so desperately needed; advocated ending corporal punishment in the Navy - ultimately abolished by Congress in 1850; namesake of the USS Levy (1943); Jewish chapels at Norfolk, VA Naval Station and United States Naval Academy in Annapolis named for Levy; a statue of Jefferson in the Capitol Rotunda was commissioned by Levy
J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER (04/22/1904 - 02/18/1967)
Theoretical physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb;” director of the Los Alamos Laboratory researching and developing the first nuclear weapon - the Manhattan Project (1942-45); he and Einstein were concerned the Nazis would develop a nuclear weapon first; after seeing the results of the bomb’s use, Oppenheimer resigned from his position; chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission; won the Enrico Fermi Award (1963); opposed development of the hydrogen bomb - the work of Edward Teller - also Jewish; professor at UC-Berkeley and Cal-Tech
DANIEL PEARL (10/10/1963 - 02/01/2002)
Wall Street Journal journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief; kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan by al-Qaeda terrorists; kidnapped while conducting journalistic investigations into relationship between British terrorist Richard Reid and al-Qaeda; BA communications from Stanford; At Home in the World, a collection of Pearl’s writings was published posthumously in 2002; his last words included “my father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We’ve made numerous family visits to Israel.”
AYN RAND - born ALISSA ZINOVIEVNA ROSENBAUM (02/02/1905 - 03/06/1982)
Author of novels promoting the theories of individualism and laissez-faire capitalism - popular among conservative and libertarian readers - The Fountainhead (1943), Atlas Shrugged (1957); early influence - seeing her father’s pharmacy business confiscated by the communists following the Russian Revolution of 1917; her personal philosophy was objectivism - man as a heroic being, his own happiness the moral purpose of his life, productive achievement his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute
JUDITH RESNIK (04/05/1949 - 01/28/1986)
First Jewish woman in space (second overall - Sally Ride); electrical engineering at Carnegie- Mellon, MS in engineering at the University of Maryland; biomedical engineer in the neurophysics lab with the National Institutes of Health; PhD in electrical engineering at Maryland (1977); accepted into NASA program (1978) - one of only six women; among the seven who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger (1986)
HYMAN RICKOVER - born CHAIM GODALIA RICKOVER (01/27/1900 - 07/08/1986)
Admiral United States Navy served 1918-82; United States Naval Academy (1922); considered the father of and directed the development of Naval Nuclear Propulsion a.k.a. The Nuclear Navy, first nuclear powered submarine - The Nautilus (1951); MS in electrical engineering at Columbia University; chief of the Naval Reactor Branch, Reactor Development Division of the Atomic Energy Commission (1949); longest service in the Navy of any officer; first person to garner two Congressional Gold Medals; USS Hyman G. Rickover commissioned in 1984
JONAS SALK (10/28/1914 - 06/23/1995)
Creator of the first polio vaccine; one of the leading scientists of the 20th Century; MD from New York University (1939); testing began in 1952 and 1.8 million children received the vaccination during the test period - Salk administered the vaccine to himself and his family in 1953; approved for general use in 1955 and President Dwight D. Eisenhower honored Salk in the Rose Garden at the White House; launched Salk Center for Biological Studies (1963); studied AIDS and HIV later in his career
HAYM SALOMON - born CHAIM SALOMON (04/07/1740 - 01/06/1785)
Played a major role in financing the American Revolution having immigrated from Poland; arrested twice and accused of being a spy by the British in 1776 and 1778 - the second time sentenced to death but managed to escape; helped overturn Pennsylvania law barring non-Christians from holding elected office; made numerous interest free loans and funded a portion of government debt, ultimately dying penniless
FRANCIS SALVADOR (1747 - 08/01/1776)
London-born Sephardic Jew; elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1773, less than a year after arriving in the colonies, even though it was illegal for Jews to vote, let alone serve in elected office; responsible for writing the South Carolina state constitution; chosen to serve in South Carolina’s provincial congress in 1774 and helped right the state’s bill of rights; endorsed independence from England and that Continental soldiers be paid; first Jewish soldier to die fighting in the Revolutionary War
OSCAR S. STRAUS (12/23/1850 - 05/03/1926)
First Jewish cabinet member - Secretary of Commerce and Labor (1906-09) appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt; three-time Emissary to Ottoman Turkey; advisor to President Woodrow Wilson - aiding in the plans for the League of Nations (the United States declined to join); a voice in America for European Jews and their protection from continued pogroms; Columbia Law School (1873)
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
Friday, July 3, 2020
A More Perfect Independence Day
A More Perfect Independence Day
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 3, 2020
In the United States we the people celebrate Independence Day, not the fourth of July. Are you going to wish people a “happy sixth” when returning to work on Monday? On that date 244 years ago the British colonies of America declared its independence from the tyranny of King George III (1738-1820). No more taxation without representation. No more trials without juries.
For all our faults and foibles as a nation constructed of, by, and for mortal human beings, for all our missteps and sins, there are myriad reasons to salute Old Glory, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and rejoice in the greatness that is the United States of America. Such as being the most generous nation on earth. Such as opening our doors, legally, to more people than any other country. Such as the inventions and discoveries made by Americans. Such as the rights afforded people of all races, creeds, colors, and sexual orientation. Such as the freedoms granted by G-d, found in the United States Constitution. Freedoms such as “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” - not the guarantee of happiness - the pursuit of happiness.
We the people should not, must not, pay for the sins of our forefathers. After all, as the giant melting pot that we are, how many millions of Americans jumped into that pot after 1865? No amount of money can ever right that wrong, nor should it be attempted. Who should be paid? By whom? How much? For how long? The resentment will only deepen the already deepening chasm between the races.
Instead, a payment must be made in the guaranteed equal opportunity, not equal outcome, but equal opportunity. Dismantle, and rebuild, from the ground up, the concept of public education that it not be dominated by teachers’ unions and tenure protecting bad teachers. School choice must be permitted for all children, not just those rich enough to afford religious or parochial schools - schools with up to date books, materials, technology, and qualified teachers with proper training able to pass a subject exam every three or five years. More support from school administration, greater parental involvement, and stronger discipline.
If this sounds like I am asking for the moon, as an experienced educator, I know this is necessary. As citizens across this great nation, we know what the alternative looks like. It always starts with education, and not from the first day of preschool or kindergarten, but in the home. If those at home can’t provide some semblance of education during those all important pre-K years, that is where social services should play a role. These programs should be funded by eliminating the pork-laden overspending by the legislatures designed to kiss the collective tuchuses of the voters. This is where less is more.
This is the reparation due to the socio-economically disadvantaged. Education is always the key. It leads to greater competition. It leads to better, higher paying jobs, which leads to greater freedom and independence. Free from government dependence on welfare, failing schools, and/or a failing prison system which is far from rehabilitating.
Independence Day is more than fireworks, bar-b-cues, and yes, even baseball, which sadly this year will not be played on Independence Day 2020. On April 15, 1947 Major League Baseball righted a wrong when Jackie Robinson (1919-72) stepped onto Ebbets Field as part of the home team Brooklyn Dodgers. Read the Declaration of Independence - as a family, if possible. Celebrate the men and women in uniform, who gave us, and continue to give us, the freedoms we cherish. In 1948 President Harry Truman (1884-1972) righted a wrong by desegregating the branches of the military. Truman should be celebrated for that, as well as, in the same year, being the first world leader to recognize the State of Israel as a new member of the world of nations. Some would say Truman should be shunned by 2020 standards because he uttered racial epithets about blacks and Jews, yet those people would be wrong for not understanding the context of the period of history these events occurred. History does not exist in a vacuum - it evolves over time and the progress thereof should, must, be recognized and celebrated.
A more perfect union. Amendments 13, 14, and 15 certainly righted some wrongs - ending slavery, naturalizing former slaves as American citizens, and granting those new citizens - male, age 21 and older, the right to vote in 1865, 1868, and 1870 respectively. And the 19th Amendment righted a wrong in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote during the Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) administration - just in time for that November’s presidential election.
There are those who are calling for the vilification of Wilson because the native Virginian was a racist. Princeton University, where Wilson served as president from 1902-10, and his alma mater (1879), officially decided last week to remove his name from the School of Public and International affairs as well as one of its residential colleges. Yet Wilson should be remembered for leading the United States to victory in World War I. He should also be remembered for appointing the first Jewish justice to the United States Supreme Court - Louis Brandeis (1856-1941), in 1916.
No one is perfect. No place is perfect - that’s Utopia, and that never existed, save for the fertile mind of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) whose book was published in 1516. Not even the Garden of Eden. Should statues of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1919-68) be torn down and streets in his honor renamed because he was a philanderer and a plagiarist? Should the monument to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) be removed from its secluded location in Washington, DC because he interned 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II? More than 60 percent were American citizens. (OK, I think it should. The only good thing to come from FDR was FDIC.)
“He that is without sin... let him cast the first stone…” (John 8:7).
We don’t have a purity test in the United States - if so, the failure rate would be 100 percent. We no more take down the statues, monuments, or memorials of a Dr. King or an FDR than we do of a George Washington (1732-99; General winning the Revolutionary War and First President), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826; Declaration of Independence and Louisiana Purchase), Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; winning the Battle of New Orleans capping the War of 1812 to preserve the Union), or Abraham Lincoln (1809-65; credited with freeing the slaves). We remember them for their body of work - their entire body of work. We honor them for the good they did for society, civilization, and/or humanity.
Happy Independence Day to all freedom loving Americans.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 3, 2020
In the United States we the people celebrate Independence Day, not the fourth of July. Are you going to wish people a “happy sixth” when returning to work on Monday? On that date 244 years ago the British colonies of America declared its independence from the tyranny of King George III (1738-1820). No more taxation without representation. No more trials without juries.
For all our faults and foibles as a nation constructed of, by, and for mortal human beings, for all our missteps and sins, there are myriad reasons to salute Old Glory, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and rejoice in the greatness that is the United States of America. Such as being the most generous nation on earth. Such as opening our doors, legally, to more people than any other country. Such as the inventions and discoveries made by Americans. Such as the rights afforded people of all races, creeds, colors, and sexual orientation. Such as the freedoms granted by G-d, found in the United States Constitution. Freedoms such as “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” - not the guarantee of happiness - the pursuit of happiness.
We the people should not, must not, pay for the sins of our forefathers. After all, as the giant melting pot that we are, how many millions of Americans jumped into that pot after 1865? No amount of money can ever right that wrong, nor should it be attempted. Who should be paid? By whom? How much? For how long? The resentment will only deepen the already deepening chasm between the races.
Instead, a payment must be made in the guaranteed equal opportunity, not equal outcome, but equal opportunity. Dismantle, and rebuild, from the ground up, the concept of public education that it not be dominated by teachers’ unions and tenure protecting bad teachers. School choice must be permitted for all children, not just those rich enough to afford religious or parochial schools - schools with up to date books, materials, technology, and qualified teachers with proper training able to pass a subject exam every three or five years. More support from school administration, greater parental involvement, and stronger discipline.
If this sounds like I am asking for the moon, as an experienced educator, I know this is necessary. As citizens across this great nation, we know what the alternative looks like. It always starts with education, and not from the first day of preschool or kindergarten, but in the home. If those at home can’t provide some semblance of education during those all important pre-K years, that is where social services should play a role. These programs should be funded by eliminating the pork-laden overspending by the legislatures designed to kiss the collective tuchuses of the voters. This is where less is more.
This is the reparation due to the socio-economically disadvantaged. Education is always the key. It leads to greater competition. It leads to better, higher paying jobs, which leads to greater freedom and independence. Free from government dependence on welfare, failing schools, and/or a failing prison system which is far from rehabilitating.
Independence Day is more than fireworks, bar-b-cues, and yes, even baseball, which sadly this year will not be played on Independence Day 2020. On April 15, 1947 Major League Baseball righted a wrong when Jackie Robinson (1919-72) stepped onto Ebbets Field as part of the home team Brooklyn Dodgers. Read the Declaration of Independence - as a family, if possible. Celebrate the men and women in uniform, who gave us, and continue to give us, the freedoms we cherish. In 1948 President Harry Truman (1884-1972) righted a wrong by desegregating the branches of the military. Truman should be celebrated for that, as well as, in the same year, being the first world leader to recognize the State of Israel as a new member of the world of nations. Some would say Truman should be shunned by 2020 standards because he uttered racial epithets about blacks and Jews, yet those people would be wrong for not understanding the context of the period of history these events occurred. History does not exist in a vacuum - it evolves over time and the progress thereof should, must, be recognized and celebrated.
A more perfect union. Amendments 13, 14, and 15 certainly righted some wrongs - ending slavery, naturalizing former slaves as American citizens, and granting those new citizens - male, age 21 and older, the right to vote in 1865, 1868, and 1870 respectively. And the 19th Amendment righted a wrong in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote during the Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) administration - just in time for that November’s presidential election.
There are those who are calling for the vilification of Wilson because the native Virginian was a racist. Princeton University, where Wilson served as president from 1902-10, and his alma mater (1879), officially decided last week to remove his name from the School of Public and International affairs as well as one of its residential colleges. Yet Wilson should be remembered for leading the United States to victory in World War I. He should also be remembered for appointing the first Jewish justice to the United States Supreme Court - Louis Brandeis (1856-1941), in 1916.
No one is perfect. No place is perfect - that’s Utopia, and that never existed, save for the fertile mind of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) whose book was published in 1516. Not even the Garden of Eden. Should statues of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1919-68) be torn down and streets in his honor renamed because he was a philanderer and a plagiarist? Should the monument to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) be removed from its secluded location in Washington, DC because he interned 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II? More than 60 percent were American citizens. (OK, I think it should. The only good thing to come from FDR was FDIC.)
“He that is without sin... let him cast the first stone…” (John 8:7).
We don’t have a purity test in the United States - if so, the failure rate would be 100 percent. We no more take down the statues, monuments, or memorials of a Dr. King or an FDR than we do of a George Washington (1732-99; General winning the Revolutionary War and First President), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826; Declaration of Independence and Louisiana Purchase), Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; winning the Battle of New Orleans capping the War of 1812 to preserve the Union), or Abraham Lincoln (1809-65; credited with freeing the slaves). We remember them for their body of work - their entire body of work. We honor them for the good they did for society, civilization, and/or humanity.
Happy Independence Day to all freedom loving Americans.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
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