My father was honorable, a good man. He was tall, gentle, and unafraid to speak his mind. He worked hard for all his family, his business, and for the little town where I grew up. He was known throughout the community among black, Hispanic, and other community members as someone who was always willing to lend a helping hand, lending or giving a few dollars when times were tough just to help out with groceries and rent.
When my father was in his seventies, he received an award from Rotarians because he had never missed a single weekly meeting in fifty years. He was a Mason and a Shriner and volunteered in their causes for children and others. These were things I witnessed. These are things I know. He truly was a wonderful father and a good human being!
One of the things I also witnessed was his strong belief in American democracy, in the Rule of Law, common decency, and the belief in the common good. During the late 1960’searly ’70s, he almost voted for Richard Nixon, his first foray into perhaps becoming a Republican as many others were doing in the United States after so many years of the Legacy of FDR and the Democratic Party. Perhaps it was my mother’s doing, but he refrained, I think (not sure), and I still remember being with him when Nixon resigned as President after Watergate.
I, a young mother and a lover of all things American, its history, and its government, sat and sobbed for hours that Nixon had so betrayed the Presidency and brought such dishonor to the office. Daddy did not say anything but he understood my grief and despair that our democracy had fallen so far. How times have changed!
As I have mused in the past, Daddy was full of trite, yet true sayings. He loved to say “Never cry over spilled milk!” I do not worry today if something happens which I cannot control just because he always used to say that. Another thing he used to say was, “You are known by the company you keep!” I thought of that as I listened to the news today.
Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York and former Mayor of New York City, had his law license suspended by a New York appellate court Thursday which concluded that he had made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large” in his service to the former POTUS.
It is interesting that Giuliani is in the company of other such individuals, like one Roy Cohn, now deceased, who once advised Senator Joseph McCarthy in the infamous Army-McCarthy Hearings (1954), and who served as attorney to the Mafia as well as to the former POTUS. Cohn was also disbarred. That fact, in combination with the recently disbarred and incarcerated attorney, Michael Cohen, who also served as counsel to the former President, raises many questions. As my father used to say,” You are known by the company you keep!” Sad, but true!
One of the other stories from the news today is the social media report regarding treason and executions being advocated for by some of the followers of former President Donald Trump. Think of it! Executions in the thousands and thousands for those of us who believe in the beauty of our American Democracy! I guess former Vice President Mike Pence just this week, who stated that he upheld his Constitutional duty in the U.S. Capitol by certifying the election of the 46th President, is probably on the list with those of the rest of us. Makes you wonder, right?