A Fence For All Seasons And All Reasons
When is a fence not a fence?
A United Fence
Just one stick alone
doesn't constitute a fence.
A fence missing enough sticks
isn't much of a fence either.
A united fence is the best
at keeping things in or out.
A united people
are like a united fence.
All are involved
and no one is left out
or missing.
The people stand there
upright and together,
side by side,
of equal stature,
of equal strength.
a united fence for all,
for all seasons,
and for all reasons;
a bulwark against
all that is a threat to any.
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© 2017 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved
Caucus Sense
When the Republican Party caucuses were held in Utah, I prepared a short message I hoped to deliver at my local caucus.
It never got delivered. The reason was simple: the leaders of the caucus in my city were determined to give our caucus votes to Senator Ted Cruz. Discussion was limited to nominations of delegates that would vote for Cruz. Utah's Republicans did. I didn't.
Here is what I had hoped to say:
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[I welcome this chance to speak on my thoughts about the 2016 Election.
Long ago I quoted Mahatma Gandhi who once encouraged the people of India with these words: "First they will ignore you; then they will laugh at you; then they will fight you; then you will win."
In my 80 years I have observed how politicians campaign for office, some serious and some just for recognition.
I wondered at first how serious Mr. Trump was about running. Was it just a publicity stunt or was he serious. Meanwhile those "in the know" ignored him, then they laughed at him as simply "an entertainer",.
Now despite Mr. Trump's self-financed resiliency I am observing them fighting him as he brings long-silent voters into active participation in this year's electoral process with 1 out of 10 of his voters having not voted in the past 10 years.
Out of respect for their votes and mine, and out of concern that a shattered Republican Party losing in November would mean Hillary Clinton could possibly appoint as many as four new justices to the Supreme Court in the next 8 years, I promise to do what the other Republican candidates have promised to do. I will support Donald J. Trump, if he is the nominee of our party. And, I believe as expressed by former Democrat President Jimmy Carter that "Trump is malleable, whereas Senator Cruz is not", and that Governor Kasich is only likely to be a candidate, if the convention is manipulated to deny our new voters their expressed support of Mr. Trump.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In light of the outcome of the 2016 Election, and the very real need that not only Republicans, but the nation as a whole unify enough to tackle the very real questions the 2016 Election raised, I have written the poem at the right.
If I were an illustrator, and I am not, I would draw a white picket fence with each picket in the fence representing separate groups of Americans.
We cannot have an effective fence made of just a picket for Democrats, and a picket for Republicans, and so the white picket fence would include all parties, all genders, all races, all religions, young, old, laborers, Native Americans, engineers, union members, and so forth.
Visualize that kind of fence with the pickets side by side.
Each side of a picket allows us to face outward and inward at the same time, outward at our role in the world, and inward at ourselves.
We have so much to accomplish as citizens of our ever smaller world, and as citizens of the ever more cohesive and prosperous America.we can build together. Like a picket fence, and as Secretary Clinton urged us, we are "Stronger Together", but only if we stand up and work together for the valid goals we share.
Standing together we can and will still dicker and debate, cajole and shout, demand and desire. But when our voices have all been heard and decisions are made, let those decisions be decisions that make America as strong and resilient as our growing unity permits.
Then let our enemies ignore us, then laugh at us, then (if unavoidable through every effort we have made) fight us. United we will surely win the ultimate victory.
Our nation, our children, and our posterity, deserve nothing less.
"United we stand. Divided we fall." Those six words must be our guide.
Our mottos remain: e pluribus unum (from many, one) and In God We Trust.
May it be so, I pray.