Trump's Principle, Their Village

 

There is a wonderful scene in "Dr. Zhivago" when Zhivago, captured by a partisan group led by a particularly blood thirsty partisan is brought before this fearsome man and, unexpectedly, the partisan engages him in a discussion of principles, why the partisan is fighting for the Reds against the Whites. It's all a matter of principle he tells Zhivago. 

"Oh?" Zhivago says. "I saw an example of your principle on the train ride out here: A village was burned."

"They had been selling horses to the Whites," the partisan says. "It was a matter of principle."

"Yes," Zhivago rejoins, "Your principle, their village."

Mad Dog was reminded of this at a meeting of the Select Board where the 5 member Select Board voted down a Warrant Article which would have instructed the Hampton Chief of Police to not sign a contract with ICE.

As is typical of Select Board meetings, the members of the Board listened silently as citizens speak in the "Public Comment" part of the meeting, but none of the Board ever replies to any of the concerned citizens and usually, none of them engage in any discussion with the other select Board members, lest the public, which is watching on Channel 22, should be informed of the thinking of these gods rendering decisions from Mt. Olympus. 

One of the Select Board members, Amy Hansen, who had been elected with the endorsement of the town Democratic Party, broke with this code of silence, and said she did not want to make this Select Board action "partisan," before voting against the other Democrats against supporting the warrant articles. 

"Well," replied Carleigh Beriont, a Democrat, "Due process is hardly a partisan issue." In the end only 2 of the 3 Democrats on the Board voted for the article and the 2 Republicans against, * along with Amy Hansen who is now referred to in Democratic circles as a "DINO."

Less than a week later, Renee Good was shot in the face by an ICE agents in Minneapolis, a cold blooded murder, recorded from multiple angles. It was, one might say, a murder by a partisan on principle.

Mother murdered on Principle

Chris Muns had introduced the warrant articles for the Board's consideration. Chris speaks Dutch and lived with his family in the Netherlands, and he is very aware of Anne Frank, who was arrested for being an illegal immigrant, deported and killed in a concentration camp. He says he does not want to remain silent in America under current circumstances. He happens to represent Hampton in the state house of representative in Concord. 

On the ballot, below the text of the warrant article will be a line in bold letters: NOT RECOMMENDED BY THE SELECT BOARD. That's another Hampton tradition. There are 30 pages of warrant articles, and most voters know little about any of them, so they simply read the recommendations of the Select Board, or the School Board or the relevant board and vote that way. It's supposed to be Norman Rockwell civic participation in town government but, in practice, it looks more like Soviet Russian elections: Recommended by the authorities, or not.

During the Vietnam war, an American general famously replied to a reporter's question about a Hamlet which had been napalmed by his forces. The village had been giving aid to the Viet Cong, he said  and he added, "We had to destroy that village to save it."

Napalmed on Principle

That's what Trump and his toadies Hegseth, Leavitt, Noem and Miller are saying now.

* Technically, this is not entirely accurate. Rusty Bridle voted against the article, along with Amy Hansen and Chuck Rage was absent, but we are told he will be allowed to vote later and he is a well known "dead Red" Republican so his vote is thought to be a forgone conclusion. Hegseth and RFKJR might oppose Trump tomorrow, but that has about the same chance as Rage voting for this warrant article.