Letter from Virginia Kennedy

Sempa Has the ‘Wrong’ View

In response to Mr. Francis Sempa’s letter in the issue of March 12, “Harry Levine Got It Wrong,” I don’t think Mr. Levine needs to defend Washington’s behavior during the Whiskey Rebellion to make his point.

Mr. Levine suggests that Washington was, without question, a better statesman than Mr. Trump and was formulating, within the context of his own experiences, a vision of nationhood that makes alliances based on advancement of that vision.

George Washington did plenty of things wrong; his answer to the Whiskey Rebellion may have been one of them. He had slaves; he betrayed the Haudenosaunee. Even so, Washington’s concept of alliances supported his dedication to a vision of nationhood, young in its formulation with inconsistencies and hypocrisies that diverse groups of people have spent 250 years working to dispense or repair.

Washington was flawed, as we all are. But Washington was a statesman articulating a path forward for a young democracy for which he risked his life in battle and refused to rule as a king; Trump is a grifter who cares about nobody but Trump and publishes pictures of himself wearing crowns. Therein lies a difference that can’t be discounted.

Mr. Sempa is an historian and thus ostensibly knows how to do research. He should research what myriad conservative judges, including Trump-appointed judges, have to say about how “faithfully” the Trump administration is executing immigration laws. For one example among many, check out Trump-appointed judge, John Totrud’s scathing ruling on Trump administration lawlessness.

I’d also suggest that any person, historian or not, who asserts that Mr. Trump—the man who pardoned the lawless, violent criminals who stormed our Capitol and attacked police officers protecting it because he had ginned them up with claims of a stolen election that wasn’t stole—knows what it means to “faithfully” execute laws is, well, dishonest.

Virginia Kennedy
Leader, CooperstownOneonta Indivisible