What happened.
When I signed up for this my intent was to engage with others in some exchanges of ideas and information about current events, drawing on my experience as a former attorney, China scholar, military intelligence analyst and 5th generation Texan. But then life got in the way. I suffered a severe injury to my shoulder at a time that I was moving back to Texas from Florida to be near my surviving siblings (94, 90 and 81), nephews and nieces. The move in September and the complete reverse shoulder operation in mid-December really through me off track. So, I never got started and I have now made the decision to return to Florida to the 55+ gated community where I previously live for nine years. I started a Democratic club there in 2017 and it grew in leaps and bounds, now with 150 members. Texas is too red for me. My brother (90) and his wife are Democrats but everyone else is MAGA. I made an effort to build up the Democratic Party here in Tom Green County doing the same thing I did in Florida, for which I was selected as the Democratic Man of the Year in 2018. But, I actually met resistance, leading me to conclude that the Tom Green County Democratic Party is actually under the control of closet Republicans.
The shoulder operation was not a success but suddenly in the past week my recovery has leaped and bounded forward. And just in time as I prepare for my return to Florida. Thankfully, we have such great contributors via Substack, making almost anything that I could contribute superfluous. I subscribe to HCR, Joyce Vance, Jess Craven and Andy Borowitz. I will probably subscribe to Dan Rather.
I did want you to know why I have not really plunged into the effort. Right now we’ve got our work cut out for us to preserve our democratic republic. I have mentioned the study by two Univ. of Kansas professors who published their study in Feb. 2018 regarding who voted for Donald Trump and why. I downloaded the report when it first appeared. It is now no longer available without buying that edition of the peer-reviewed journal, Critical Sociology. The title of the study is “The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?” I will be happy to email you the study if you let me know. The email address to request the study is richsuth@aol.com.
The reason that I recommend the study is in part owing to an observation made by the ancient Chinese general, Hsun-tzu, who, in his book, “The Art of War,” wrote: “Know your enemy and in one hundred battles you will win one hundred victories.” Perhaps a little too optimistic, but I think that the professors hit the nail on the head.