Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: The Confederacy

Attachment-1-1136

Source: HBO

Source:The Daily Review

I believe this is an example of where Britain is very different from America. In Britain, you basically only have one government because the United Kingdom is a unitarian government with most of the governmental power in the country rests with London in England which gets to decide how the rest of the country including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and yes England which is actually a territory that is part of Britain, gets to live. Apparently too many people aren’t aware of that and talk about England as if its some independent country and talk about England as if they’re talking about France or Germany.

America is very different where power is much more decentralized. We don’t just have fifty states and those fifty states aren’t Federal agencies. Their independent jurisdictions that are part of a nation state known as the United States and have jurisdiction over their own affairs in their state. So if Alabama wants to have confederate statues, thats their business. Even if it offends oversensitive over caffeinated college yuppies that have nothing better to do with their nights like gee I don’t know, studying, getting laid, and instead spend their nights protesting Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now confederate statues.

So if we were in Britain right now whether it was Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or England, and someone was offended by some statue, Parliament could just declare that statue offensive or the Prime Minister could just do that by herself and that statue would automatically be eliminated. Even if the people in Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, or Manchester, aren’t offended by the statue themselves, at least not a majority of the people. But we’re obviously not in Britain and neither is John Oliver.

If someone is offended by a statue in Birmingham, Charlotte, Richmond, Philadelphia, Boston, or wherever else in America, sure they could complain about it and even peacefully protest against it. But don’t expect Congress to pass some law telling some city or cities that they have to remove a certain statue because it offends someone or a group of people. Perhaps especially a group of oversensitive over caffeinated college yuppies, who keep local coffee houses and Red Bull in business by themselves.

Because Congress would be out of their jurisdiction. And don’t expect the President to even comment on it. Other than maybe President Donald Trump who will say that there’s nothing wrong with having confederate statues. He might complain about having statues that honor African-Americans who fought for the Union in the Civil War, but thats a different issue.

“Mind your own damn business!” Is one of my favorite phrases. I’m not an indifferent person and I see bad things that happen to people all the time that make me feel bad because some innocent person had to experience that. But unless there’s something that is really bad that is going on in Maryland, especially involving the State Government and Annapolis is trying to pass some law that I really don’t like, I could really care less if Alabama or any other Bible Belt state tries to honor some Confederate figure. Or tries to pass some big government law that tries to outlaw homosexuality, or gambling, to use as examples.

We have a Federal Republic and as along as the states are passing laws that are within the U.S. Constitution, they are within their rights. Big government laws like banning homosexuality violate the Constitution and would get thrown simply because they violate the Fourth Amendment and our right to privacy. But as long as any state is within the Constitution and putting up statues and keeping older statues is certainly within the Constitution, states can honor anybody from the Confederacy that they choose too. And if people are offended by that, they can always vote with their feet (to quote to Ronald Reagan) and move to a state that is more politically correct with the times.

HBO: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver- The Confederacy

About FredSchneiderUS

I’m a blogger because I like writing about things I’m interested in and knowledgeable about. Which shouldn’t sound surprising, but blogging provides that immediate outlet for me and other bloggers to weigh in on what they’re thinking about and what they’re interested in. To put down on paper or computer words and feelings that they may struggle to get out of their mouths on the spot. To be able think about things and then express them. That is what blogging and writing is about, at least when it comes to commentary. Writing as a reporter or biographer, is a bit different. Because it’s not so much about what the writer feels that is relevant unless they’re being asked about it. But what’s more important is what they know and how they know that based on their reporting. An opportunity for blogger commentators to get things off their chest that perhaps they’re not able to do simply by speaking to people. That is my favorite thing about blogging to be able to immediately get things off my chest that I’m thinking about. Blogging is the perfect form of communication for me, because I’m interested in so many different things and frankly knowledgeable about them. I write mostly about current affairs. Government and politics, public policy, history, but I’m also interested in sports especially sports history, as well as movies especially classic Hollywood and entertainers. Especially entertainers who’ve been around a long time and are from classic Hollywood. Today’s Hollywood and entertainment, not so much, but that is a subject for another piece. And when you’re a blogger and you just read something that got your attention and were really interested in from either a positive or negative standpoint, or perhaps you just saw a movie or saw some story and you’re really interested in and knowledgeable about what you just saw, you can immediately weigh in on what you just saw. I mean to be a blogger all you really need is a computer and have something to say. Being able to write helps as well. That is what blogging and writing is to me. The ability for people to write what they’re thinking and how they feel, as well as what they know. Which is the most important thing here, because even commentators need to know what they’re talking about to be successful and make a living at that. Whether they write or talk on TV or radio, or a combination of all those things. That is what I’m going to do here and if you’re someone who has multiple interests and are interested in things besides who the latest hot celebrity is and who that person is seeing and why they’re in trouble now, or what the latest new technology is, then I hope you check out this blog. Because I cover a lot of different things here and not just government and politics, but history including Hollywood history and to a certain extent what’s going on there today. And you might even see a few pieces about so -called celebrity culture, but just from a a satiric viewpoint.
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