Voting | Cascade Publishing House

Black People Vote Too

Black people vote too, yes they sure do vote.

Thank God Joe Biden. Blacks do vote in large numbers in the states where they reside. Mostly in the south, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, well, you get the picture.

Even though Black people vote in prodigious numbers, the fake news media have written Joe Biden out of the race. These fakers want a fresh face to talk about in 2020. Biden does not fit the bill as he has been around much longer than this writer, who has been around far longer than he cares to admit on most days. read more

Harvey's Black History Month Calendar Released

Cascade Publishing House (CPH) is pleased to release the speaking appearances of its founder and publisher, Harold Michael Harvey, during the 2020 Black History Month observance. The theme of this year’s celebration is 2020 African Americans and the Vote.

On February 1, 2020, Harvey will be honored by the Tuskegee University Baseball team as the team pays tribute to 29 former Tuskegee University baseball players during the team’s Black History Month observance. read more

Democrats Take Center Stage

Finally, Democrats are poised to take center stage in their quest to hold onto the oval office for another four year term. By law, President Obama is prohibited from seeking a third term. On Tuesday, the Democrats will host their first of four debates in the 2016 presidential campaign season. It will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. CNN will provide a two hour coverage of this debate. It will be moderated by Anderson Cooper, who will be assisted by Dana Bash, Juan Carlos Lopez and Don Lemon.

So far this campaign season, the Democrats have taken a back seat to the high jinks of the Republican Party’s field of seventeen candidates. The Republicans have hosted two debates and two preliminary debates to accommodate its huge slate of candidates. Republican thought and spin have been all over the air waves, unabated by Democratic policy statements.

The American public has witnessed Republican contenders engage in a blistering, unfiltered back biting, insult hurling and name calling escapade, reminiscent of an average social media newsfeed. Almost to a man and lady, they have sought to see who can appeal to the worst attributes of humankind.

For instance, GOP front runner Donald Trump pontificated during one debate that vaccinations were a contributing cause of Autism. There is absolutely no science that remotely backs up his contention, according to well respected research on this subject.

On the stage with Trump when he uttered this nonsense was the leading neurosurgeon in the country, Dr. Ben Carson, who failed to correct Trump’s assertion; probably because, this is a widely held view in the Republican community and Carson did not want to appear to be politically out of line with Republican thought.

Meanwhile, the Democrats during this period, have appeared throughout the country at campaign rallies, with limited exposure. But Tuesday night, they will have a national television audience to themselves for the first time. It will be the Democrats turn to frame the issues facing America as the second decade in this century comes to a close.

On stage will be Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee. These five democrats may be asked to make room on the stage for Vice President Joe Biden, should Biden either decide he is in the race or that he wants to participate in the debate in the event he later decides he will enter the contest.

Tuesday’s debate is expected to be long on public policy issues and short on personal assaults by the candidates. It will not have the same sex appeal or star power of the Republican debates. The Democrats are expected to refrain from name calling and personal attacks. Expect each of them to spend their time telling the American people why they should become the 45th President of the United States of America.

The Democrats’ debate on Tuesday should be like the welcoming relief of a breath of fresh air, after the dumb down approach to campaigning the Donald Trump troupe has presented to the American electorate in the early stages of the 2016 campaign.

On Wednesday morning, if social media news feeds are filled with disappointment over a reasonable discussion of the issues, it will be a clear indication that the way to win in 2016 is by spouting “meme” quotes – “a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc, that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users” – that remove the necessity for people to do a little reading and some critical thinking before selecting the next American president. In which case, the 2016 winners will likely be chosen for their inability to think themselves out of the proverbial “wet paper bag” and not because of their grasp of the complex issues facing the nation domestically and internationally in the coming decade.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com .

SOURCES:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/10/politics/democratic-debate-time-date/

http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016-debate-schedule/2016-democratic-primary-debate-schedule/

http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/10/09/5-things-you-wont-see-in-the-democratic-debate read more

Obama connect dots

Obama connect dots. Standing at the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, President Barack Obama connect dots. He made the case for restoring the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This bridge, which bears the name of a Confederate General made the perfect backdrop for President Obama to connect these dots.

“This speech,” my 86 year-old mother called to say to me, “will be repeated for years to come by the children, just like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, ‘I have a dream’ speech.”

Undoubtedly, this speech will. By connecting these dots, Obama freed Selma from the burden of shame, her segregated past has carried the past 50 years.

Indeed the whole nation carries this shame, drenched in the blood of Lewis, Williams, Boynton, and nameless-faceless others.

While President Obama connected these dots, he wove every constituent part of America into the rich fabric of the expanding American dream. He implored conservatives in the nation to make room for the immigrant, the former Negroes, the women, the Gays, the Muslims; in short, every living breathing human being, who was not part of the equation when the framers drafted the Constitution of the United States of America.

He did it with a flare and a style unmatched by any president in the history of the country. At times, he spoke presidential. At other times, he spoke like he was sitting in my family knook, chatting over morning coffee while discussing the issues of the day.

Then there were times his speech was reminiscent of a political stump speech, as he urged the 100 congress men and women in the audience, to go back to congress and get 400 other members to restore the Voting Rights Act.

There were times he spoke like a parent, chiding the young people for not voting after so much blood had been shed to gain them the right to vote.

Finally, he spoke like a brother on the corner telling the brothers, that they give away their power. He concluded his speech in the tradition of the great ministers of the Gospel, quoting Isaiah, in the cadence of Jesse Jackson, to the roar of the crowd, connecting dots, making the case that black lives matter and we too are Americans.

Harold Michael Harvey, JD, is the author of the legal thriller “Paper Puzzle,” and “Justice in the Round: Essays on the American Jury System,” available at Amazon and at haroldmichaelharvey.com. He can be contacted at [email protected]