The Nuclear Option on Democracy - Marbury V. Madison Rides Again? Vance and Trump are saddling up.

 

The Nuclear Option on Democracy

Marbury V. Madison Rides Again? Vance and Trump are saddling up.

Well, week one of the new Trump administration has passed. Sadly, in my opinion, it has been darker and more malevolent than I had feared. It is clear that we are now seeing Trump 2.0 and it does not look promising for our democratic institutions.

If Trump 1.0 was “Trump as buffoon” 2.0 is now “Trump as tyrant.”

The most blatantly obvious of the actions of Trump 2.0 was an executive order directly contravening the constitutional provision for birthright citizenship. Donald Trump falsely claims that “as we all know, the US is the only country that provides birthright citizenship.”

Camp in the Lupine

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Were that true, it would only make the intent of the Founders clearer. However, despite President Trump’s blatant lie, more than 30 nations have birthright citizenship equal to ours, and nearly 100 have some form of birthright citizenship.

The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, described the executive order. as “blatantly unconstitutional.” Yet, he has issued only a temporary stay on the Presidential Executive Order in anticipation of hearing the case.

You’ve heard the phrase before: “The Nuclear Option”.

Up until now, it has been the threat by one political party or another to disrupt the accepted norms and standards that have developed over time to encourage our elected officials to seek a consensus that both parties can live with.

The last time that The Nuclear Option was invoked, it was just a tactical nuke. It wasn’t intended to blow up our democracy, just to secure an advantage for Republicans and it led to the packing of the current US Supreme Court and ultimately to two major SCOTUS decisions that may be paving the way for a much more dangerous threat to democracy itself.

I’ve been pretty clear since I began to write this column that I am disgusted with the leadership in both political parties, and in general, there is a growing and dangerous lack of faith in our institutions in general, with the Supreme Court the latest target. Yet overall, with the notable exception of SCOTUS, the Judicial branch of government has held the line for democracy better than the executive and legislative.

Clouds Over Mount Crawford

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For an unsigned open-edition print, of any size, 

and merchandise using this image, click here:

There have been plenty of Supreme Court decisions that both sides find objectionable but the two SCOTUS decisions - Dobbs and Trump Vs. United States - particularly in light of the threats posed by Project 2025, threaten to rend the fabric of democracy- perhaps beyond repair.

The Dobbs case has shown that the deeply corrupted US Supreme Court will not hesitate to overrule even precedent that has been the law of the land for 50 years. Furthermore “Trump Vs. United States”, the 2024 case that dramatically broadened the immunity of the President for otherwise illegal acts committed within the scope of his official duties, virtually creates carte blanche authority to engage in activity outside the scope of the law for the President and within his Pardon authority for those he authorizes to engage in such activities.

In order to make the case for the grave, inherent danger we face we need to revisit a civics lesson that most Americans should know about, but few actually do. Public education in at least the past two decades has nearly obliterated Civics in schools, what, at one time, was common knowledge . . . The 1803 case of “Marbury vs. Madison”.

Marbury v. Madison was not a particularly “sexy” case. It involved a “turf battle” between presidential administrations over an appointment that had been made improperly by the outgoing administration of John Adams resulting in its rejection by the incoming Jefferson Administration.

Banded Rock, Livermore Falls

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Nowadays we would see the actual court case as a bit of a snooze. However, in the early years of our Republic, sometimes even the most seemingly trivial cases were important because every case was building precedent for future decisions.

In deciding the outcome of the court case the Supreme Court made a ruling on the specific question (Adams appointment was not seated). More importantly, it used the case to establish an important doctrine known as “judicial review”, which gives the Supreme Court the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.

As a result of this:

• The Supreme Court established judicial review, which gives the courts the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.

• The Supreme Court became the primary interpreter of the Constitution.

• The judiciary became a co-equal branch of government, alongside the executive and legislative branches.

“But wait”, you say! (because you are a thoughtful citizen). What happens if the President just chooses to ignore the court’s ruling? After all, the courts don’t have armies to enforce their mandates. Aren’t they simply relying on the goodwill of the other two branches of government to support their ruling?

Painted Highlander

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Of the three branches of our government, the judicial branch has, by far, the lowest budget, and enforcement of its rulings relies completely upon the acceptance of all three branches of government to provide the authority (and the funding) necessary to hold up this third leg of our co-equal “constitutional stool”.

Fortunately, for most of our history, the three branches have - in fact - come through for us. However, not always. One of the times represents a proud moment in our history. The other a moment of shame.

In 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower called in the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas on September 25, 1957 to escort nine Black students into Central High School. The students, known as the "Little Rock Nine", were prevented from attending by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Ike was respecting and defending the Supreme Court’s Brown Vs. Board of Education ruling of the Warren Court.

However, one of the great stains of history was Andrew Jackson’s reaction to a ruling by the Marshall Court that the Indian Removal Act was effectively unconstitutional.

In 1832 The John Marshall Court ruled on the Indian Removal Act through the case "Worcester v. Georgia", where Chief Justice John Marshall established that the Cherokee Nation was a sovereign entity protected by federal law and not subject to Georgia state laws, effectively opposing the Indian Removal Act's forced relocation policy.

Shake it Off Arch
Merch

President Jackson, probably the President most admired by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, reacted by declaring “ John Marshall has made his ruling - now let him enforce it.” knowing full well that Marshall had no effective way to enforce the ruling. Jackson proceeded to order the removal despite the Courts ruling.

Jackson’s refusal to respect the Supreme Court ruling led to what most Americans will remember as an act of genocide against peaceful native nations, today known as “The Trail of Tears;” a forced removal of Native American People that resulted in thousands of deaths from starvation and disease among the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations, among others.

Fast forward to today.

One year ago, JD Vance was asked about Project 2025’s call to remove civil servants throughout the federal government. He specifically referred to Jackson’s remarks in defiance of the Court in his response.

Squam Lake Fine Art Poster

Then, after taking office on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump issued his recent Executive Order directly in opposition to the US Constitution.

When the two highest elected officials in the country blatantly defy the Constitution, creating their own version of our sacred document by fiat, The poison has moved into the bloodstream.

Without the respect for and adherence to the Constitution, there’s not a lot worth holding onto . . . maybe Canada? Tune in next week for my thoughts on that.

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About Wayne King and Anamaki Chronicles Substack

Author, podcaster, artist, activist, social entrepreneur and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" - a vicarious, high-voltage adventure to stop a private power line - as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon.

Anamaki Chronicles Substack has no paywall, we exist through the generosity of subscribers and the purchase of art , books and merch from the Anamaki.com website and from Wayne’s gallery of images.

Wayne lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags, attesting to both his ancestry and his spiritual ties. Anamaki is a derivative of an Algonquin word meaning “abiding hope”.

Art, Columns and Podcasts are produced at Anamaki Productions, Winter Warrior Studios in Bath, NH.

Land Acknowledgement

This land lies in N’dakinna, the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Sokoki, Koasek, Pemigewasset, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude those who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.

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Notes:

Marbury v. Madison Details: Oyez.org

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/5us137

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison

The Enduring Legacy of Marbury v. Madison (1803) 

Welcome to the Anamaki Chronicles Blog - About us.

The word Anamaki is a derivation of "Enduring Hope" with roots in both my Algonquin roots and that of my late wife Alice Vartanian King's roots in the Persian language group.

It is from this new location in Bath, NH, at the confluence of the Ammonoosuc and Connecticut Rivers that we produce fine art, books, podcasts, columns, music and our new Anamaki Chronicles stories, songs, poems and other celebrations of life.

Our two main websites are Anamaki.com and WayneDKing.com - My Fine Art Website. We still have two websites that feature new merch and open-edition opportunities to purchase unsigned fine art images at very affordable costs. FineArtAmerica.com and Redbubble.com print nice quality images and merchandise and provide you with the choice of adding mats and frames to the images as well.

Other ways that you can be involved:

Mailing list. Sign up for the Anamaki Substack - its free, generally, but contributions are appreciated. 

Merchandise is available, and we have tried to take advantage of some of the best images to craft merchandise around. 

The first few entries below will be dedicated to some of the most interesting Merchandise created within the areas that relate to our art, podcasts, columns and poetry. 

Remembering Stuart Klein

 Remembering Stuart Klein

1942-2023

By Wayne King

To this country boy from New Hampshire, Stuart Klein was the epitome of the 60s. He came to Camp Mowglis - School of the Open, in 1964, my second year in the youngest dorm (I was 7). Stuart had been through his first year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (of course!) where through serendipity he had met Jerry Hakes and through Jerry's guidance came to Mowglis - the place he would come to call "the one spot on earth where I had the least to complain about!"

One year Stuart would arrive with shoulder-length hair and a fu-manchu mustache and the next he would come with a regulation military cut, that he insisted my father trim up twice during the summer when my dad, the barber, arrived for the required haircuts.

While the Craftshop was initially his domain, it was not long before Mowglis' Director William Baird Hart Sr. saw past the quirky iconoclast veneer to the strong and empathic leader that Stuart would be to all of us and made him a part of the leadership team.

I can't possibly convey the vignettes of Stuart that swirl through my brain as I reflect on those years. No doubt it was a measure of the faith that William Hart Sr. had in him that led Mr. Hart to assign Stuart the task of meeting a young African-American boy, Singleton Bender Jr - "Junior" to all of us - in New York City, fresh off a bus from his home in rural Piney Woods Mississippi, to escort him safely to Mowglis for his first summer, of many.

Junior was our Jackie Robinson. The young boy who broke the "color barrier" at Mowglis and captured the hearts of every member of our large "pack", in large part because Stuart and Mr. Hart, with a whole lot of help from Shad Farouqi and Jim West, saw to it that he was made to feel a brother of the pack right from the start. I still laugh at the mental picture of the short Jewish guy and the young African-American boy facing the good, the bad, and the ugly together in the Big Apple. Going to a Yankees game and a wrestling match at Madison Square Garden, even having to turn to Gaius Merwin to throw his legal weight around to secure a room at a posh New York Hotel that "just couldn't seem to find their reservation".

But there were so many other memorable moments. On a day-off hike up Mount Washington with Steve Underwood, Stuart and Steve were caught in a storm and took refuge in the weather station. As they emerged from the station Stuart was dumbfounded by his inability to move against the wind, until he realized that he had caught his poncho in the door!

I can still picture Bill Boicourt and Phil Hart leaning against the fence on Greybrother's field sharing a funny story with Stuart. Stuart's head thrown back in his irrepressible and familiar laugh. That same winter he and Bill would go out clubbing in Manhattan and ended up finding their way into a performance by Frank Zappa.

Then there was the time he knocked, unannounced, on Irene Gibbs door with Charlie Walbridge and the two were greeted by Irene toting her shotgun, quickly traded for a warm hug.

There were the private moments as well . . . when Stuart helped Jim West create an engagement ring for Elaine. Or when Myron Braley taught him to use a lathe as he described the process he and his father had used to castrate a huge boar. Stuart treasured his friendship with Myron, as solid an old Yankee as was ever made.

However, the picture that most boys from those days will have vivid memories of is that of "Mr. Klien" covered with paint, a brush in each hand and one in his mouth as he labored away on the massive murals that he would create for the fancy dress ball costume night held annually in those days. One year he painted a nearly floor to ceiling homage to Phil Hart and another capturing Mr. Bill Hart Sr on council rock.

Thank you Stuart for helping us all to see the very best in one another. (With apologies to Kipling:) "Good hunting on a new trail, dear brother. Remember, the brothers and sisters of the pack loved thee."

A Firestorm is Brewing - The Supreme Court Prepares to Pull the Pin on Democracy

 May 19, 2022

The View from Rattlesnake Ridge

Wayne D. King

A Firestorm is Brewing

The Supreme Court Prepares to Pull the Pin on Democracy

If it wasn’t bad enough that Russia has attacked the peaceful, democratic country of Ukraine and now threatens the world with the deployment of chemical and nuclear weapons, here in the good ol’ USA the Supreme Court is threatening a pseudo-nuclear attack of its own on our democracy.

The Right, having unleashed one attack on our democracy on January 6 of 2021 is now watching in an almost giddy state for their Supreme Court to foment the same response from the other side. There is nothing they would love more than all-out holy war.

Columbine Explosion 

If you think that watching them lose their minds over mask mandates in the middle of the pandemic was bad, think of what they would be doing if this were directed toward them.  Let's face it: if this were being done to men in this country, they’d be blowing shit up.  

Fortunately, women and the men who support them in their bodily autonomy are far more rational. But do not mistake this for complacency. It would not take a lot for things to turn very ugly.

Now I am not advocating violence. I am saying that the Supreme Court is about to invite it. Furthermore, the broader they cast the net, the more they invite it.  What happens when they broaden their target to birth control - as some are already proposing. What happens when marriage equality is undone and LGBTQ rights are undone because that is surely on the agenda of the religious right.  

Don’t tell me that there is precedent for this and then go back to Brown vs. Kansas (Board of Ed) or Plessy. When the Supreme Court ruled on these things and overturned precedent, each time it was to grant greater freedom and equality to citizens, consistent with the vision of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Overturning Roe will have exactly the opposite effect. It would be a statist powerplay against half the population, but we would all pay for it in the long run because when we allow such basic control over our bodies to be dictated by the state it will not be long before they cast the net wider and wider. 

Leave aside the fact that as many as 80% of Americans believe women should control their own reproductive choices, and the theft of at least one member of the Supreme Court has placed us in the path of this oncoming train.

Leave aside that the majority on the Supreme Court has sprung from two elections where the conservative, anti-choice, candidate lost the popular vote, only to become president because of an arcane electoral college system.

Leave aside the fact that most of these judges who are poised to overturn Roe outright lied  under oath when they testified before the Senate in their confirmation hearings.

Trashing the fundamental right to privacy reinforced by the Roe decision is the final nail in the coffin for the personal privacy of American citizens, male or female, black, brown, white, and native. All of this led by a cabal of lawyers at the Federalist Society, spending hundreds of millions of dark money dollars to remake the Supreme Court with the specific intent of  “transforming the foundational understanding of rights in America”. 

Yet, as bad as the attack on privacy is, Americans should also be aware that the First Amendment, the most basic freedom granted by our constitution, is also be on the chopping block. In a nation where religious freedom is considered a hallmark, a handfull of fundamentalist christians are now intent on deciding what freedoms are to be accorded to which Americans. They have decided that their chosen religious dictates give them the right to tell every other American, irrespective of religious beliefs, or non-beliefs, how to live their lives. If they are allowed to do this freedom of and from religion will become a thing of the past and Americans will no longer be bound together by a grand idea, still unfolding, but by the celestial dictator concocted by a small minority and we will be no better than Iran or North Korea.

Why am I - a male with all of the privileges already attached to that - speaking out about this?. My Alice, who was my north star, would never forgive me if I stayed silent. Alice and I endured the heartache of 5 miscarriages. Each one a long personal journey into darkness and grief. The thought of us having to also endure an authoritarian-driven government investigation into the question of whether it was actually a miscarriage is unthinkable. Alice is no longer with us to speak for herself, I feel compelled to speak for her and for my sisters and for every woman in America, including those who oppose abortion. Freedom is only found in the right to search our hearts and minds to determine what decision is best for ourselves and our families and to exercise our own bodily autonomy. The fight for Choice is the only position that respects the rights of all religions including atheists and agnostics, by allowing that choice to be made by those most directly affected, individuals.    

Notes and links:

Frank Schaeffer once produced propaganda films that helped launch the Christian right. Now he feels regret for what he calls an 'anti-family' movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25JyC5Whhvc

Schaeffer interview with Terry Gross

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/97998654

Wayne King is an author, podcaster, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published four books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon. He lives in Thornton, between Rattlesnake Ridge and the Waterville Range. He proudly flies both the American and Iroquois Flags. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing

Roaring Back Economically - Now is the Time for a Basic Income and National Healthcare

American Spirit

The View From Rattlesnake Ridge
Ruminations from an Unabashed Optimist, an Environmental Patriot and a Radical Centrist


Roaring Back Economically
Now is the Time for a Basic Income and National Healthcare


In this age of Covid-19, I am unable to experience the day to day joys of sharing time with neighbors and measuring their sentiments, hearing their stories, and drawing on them for life lessons. There will come a time, again, when we will be able to do this, and again I will return to my perambulations among neighbors in search of their stories and sensibilities for this column.

For now, my walks and rambles are solitary. I am alone with only my thoughts, the sounds of the brook, the wind, the pileated woodpeckers hammering at the trees, the red squirrels chattering at me. Some days my thoughts are small and parochial. Some days they range like a mountain lion, covering ground like a river tracing its tributaries high into the rocky precipices.

Lately, most of those thoughts have focused on the tragedy confronting our beloved American family.  Today, my mind wandered to my other family, a proud part of the American family but also distinctive in its own way.

My Grandfather’s people, and by birthright mine, the Haudenausanee - also known as the Iroquois - in the early years of the republic would range well down into the Rattlesnake Ridge area from time to time, sometimes in search of game and other times empire. For 500 years before the birth of the United States, the Iroquois people nurtured and sustained the first and only democratic republican form of government. Long before the birth of Jefferson and Adams, even before John Locke from whom Adams and Jefferson drew inspiration, the Iroquois were gathering to make decisions collectively and democratically. There is evidence that Ben Franklin looked to the Iroquois confederacy as he helped craft the US Constitution.

Esheheman's Breath

One of the most striking aspects of the Iroquois Confederacy’s democratic deliberations is that they were required to consider the effect of their actions, not just in terms of their immediate needs, but in light of the effect on the next 7 generations before arriving at a decision. So today I am doing just that in my rambling ruminations.

This pandemic has laid bare many of the weaknesses in our democracy and our economy. A significant portion of the economic tragedy has its roots in an economy that for 50 years - since the early 1970s - has slowly drained wealth from the middle class, the working class and the poor. Only a year ago a report from the Federal Reserve found that 40% of Americans would be unable to cover a $400 emergency with cash, savings, or a credit card. This growing disparity of wealth had already begun to blossom into a crisis before we were struck with the Covid-19 crisis affecting every aspect of American lives.

The existential crisis of Climate Change has faded from the light of public discourse, eclipsed by an even more immediate crisis. But, like the Covid-19 Pandemic, Climate Change is a science-based crisis and if there is one thing that we have all learned - with the possible exception of the Trump administration - science-based challenges don’t respond to lies, bullying, and spin. Eventually, they will bite you.

The marginalization of communities of color has come into full public view as the numbers of cases and deaths among black, brown, and Indian communities dramatically outpace even the high numbers among the general population.

These and other challenges are mixed in the rich stew of partisanship and culture wars, cooked up by Newt Gingrich in 1994 and today boiling vigorously as Donald Trump turns up the heat in anticipation of the coming election. One need only count the number of times the President uses the words “I” and “me” when he addresses the nation or the media, and how little he uses the word “we”. His lack of empathy for the 80,000 plus Americans who have lost their lives is shocking and disheartening, but not surprising.

Secrets of the Patriot

The good news is that American’s have come together as we always do in a real crisis. There are signs that the efforts of a small vocal minority supported by the President are causing even that rare unity to fray but polling shows that most people have taken their lives and their safety into their own (well-washed) hands and have stopped listening to the President and turned their attention to those who will tell them the truth.

Even Congress has demonstrated a willingness to push partisanship aside in the best interests of the American people. Let’s hope they continue to do so because the challenges ahead are going to require that they continue to step up and that the sacred cows of both the Republicans and the Democrats will be put to the test and found wanting.

This Pandemic raging around us has created the perfect storm for many Americans - a catastrophic convergence of forces over which we have almost no control.

Since the beginning of this pandemic, it is estimated that 27 million Americans have already lost their health care insurance and that number may rise to 45 million before the worst is over. Despite this, the Trump administration refuses to reopen enrollment in the ACA, otherwise referred to as “Obama Care”. Congress should immediately reopen the ACA enrollment. Furthermore, they should do something they have stopped doing for a long time - taking a page from the Iroquois Confederacy and looking for solutions that consider the next 7 generations of Americans. Americans deserve a national healthcare plan that covers every single American.

Over the course of the last few years I have made the case for an American Dividend, more commonly referred to as a Universal Basic Income based on the presumption that Americans have contributed to the wealth of the nation through their sacrifices, their labor, and their taxes - but have never been included as shareholders in the economic miracle. I won’t reiterate all of the arguments for a UBI here, but you can read previous columns about it and there are a lot of people of all political persuasions who are now talking about it and writing about it. What I will do is try - in a few paragraphs - to make the case for doing it NOW - even as a temporary measure - as the most effective way to drive our economy forward and find our way out of this pandemic while respecting and protecting one another.

As impatience grows for restarting our economy and for resuming some semblance of normalcy in our day-to-day lives we will continue to experience the push and pull between economic needs and health and safety needs. While we must let the science and data drive our decisions in order to minimize the rate of new infections and deaths, we clearly must begin making efforts where possible to reopen the economy and return to life in a new normal. However, the challenge we face is one at the confluence of science, psychology, and economics, presenting a significant challenge and the need for our leaders, and each of us, to exercise judgment. Even as our Governors and policymakers begin this process, carefully laying out rules regarding testing, tracing and isolation, social distancing, and other safety measures, many folks will not be comfortable resuming “normal” life without confidence that we have flattened the curve sufficiently to make venturing out safe. Furthermore, rebounding economically, especially for our small businesses, will be profoundly challenging at 25% or even 50% of their previous capacity. We need to find a way to harness the economic power of both those who are ready to venture out and those who are not. Here’s where a basic income for every American can drive a robust resurgence.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos makes $6.54 billion dollars per month. If he dines at the most expensive restaurant in America, “Per Se” Restaurant in New York City, it will cost him $685.00. In his home state of Washington, “the Herbfarm Restaurant”, located on the outskirts of Seattle will cost you a more affordable $285. But Jeff Bezos can only eat ONE dinner.

One month of Jeff Bezos income would cover a $2,000 basic income for three million two hundred seventy thousand Americans, roughly 1% of the entire population; men, women and children; roughly 2% of American households.

So here’s a simple question: What is going to have a greater impact on the US economy: a month of dinners for Jeff Bezos (at $8,550) or 10 million dinners purchased by American families from local grocery stores and restaurants? Which of these is more likely to help save small businesses on Main street?

Stinson Brook Camus Poster

Now I’m not picking on Jeff Bezos, whom I admire immensely, but last year any one single American paid more in taxes than Amazon, which paid no taxes because of a tax code heavily skewed to the wealthy in our nation.

Businesses don’t create jobs, CONSUMERS create jobs through demand and businesses respond by hiring labor sufficient to meet the demand. It’s simple economics.

Put a basic income of $2,000 per month in the pockets of every American for the remainder of the year and it will cost half of what any of the previous 3 “relief” packages have cost and you can bet that - whether they are sheltering in place or out and about - Americans will drive the economy and support their local businesses. With real disposable income, the free market will determine how that income is used and most of the businesses we know and love in our communities all over America will find a way through this crisis. Furthermore, you will see a flurry of new entrepreneurial activity as Americans find new ways to create jobs and generate income using some of that disposable income to launch startups. In addition to this the President, The Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader of the Senate, should appoint a blue-ribbon task force to look at ways to fund a basic income permanently.

None of this should be construed to ignore the need for an aggressive, nationally-directed system of testing, tracing, and isolating. If we had a national service requirement, that most Americans - from all parts of the political spectrum - support, we would be able to activate that network of millions of Americans to do the testing and contact tracing. As it stands the use of Americorp and Peace Corps volunteers could be activated immediately to fill much of the need. If we do not aggressively develop such a system quickly, few of us will feel comfortable about emerging into a world where a simple, and desperately needed, embrace can end in tragedy.

Americans of all political persuasions have set aside their differences in this pandemic and we can hear the faint but growing sound of the American song rising from their efforts, as they cheer for our frontline heroes, as they check on elderly neighbors and greet one another walking in the park or on the trail, even in acts as simple as paying for the coffee of the next car in line at the Dunkin Donuts drive-through.

Keep singing. Don’t let tribalism and partisanship derail what could be the great American renaissance after we beat back Covid-19. Dream 7 generations ahead.


Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space. His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images with another, "New Hampshire - a Love Story", on the way. His most recent novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline is available on Amazon.com. He lives in Thornton, between Rattlesnake Ridge and the Waterville Range. He proudly flies both the American and Iroquois Flags. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing
UBI, Basic Income, American Dividend, Roaring back, recovery, Pandemic, Covid-19, truth, testing, healthcare, insurance, national service

Leaving Home 2.0: The Heart of - and Hope for - America Lies Next Door

Leaving Home 2.0
The Heart of - and Hope for - America Lies Next Door


Well I left my happy home to see what I could find out.
I left my folk and friends with the aim to clear my mind out.
I hit the rowdy road and many a kind I met there. Many a story told me of the way to get there.
So on and on I go and seconds take the time out there’s so much left to know and I’m on the road to find out.

~ Cat Stevens


With tears in my eyes I made a final walk-through of my now-empty happy home. About to become the happy home of Jill and Oli and their two beautiful children.

It had been almost a year since losing the love of my life, Alice, and here I was about to experience a second wave of grief. . . Leaving home 2.0. It turned out to be both a source of immense sadness and a powerful and positive lesson in life because the process of saying goodbye to Rumney gave me a new appreciation for what it had given me all these years.

Most of us will have to experience this at least one time, if not more, in our lives. I remember leaving home 1.0, but because of college and some travels with my friend Christopher afterward, the transition did not really seem so difficult then.

I remember that NH’s Tom Rush provided the music of that moment with his “Child’s Song”.


Goodbye Momma
Goodbye to you too Pa.
Little sister you’ll have to wait a while to come along.
Goodbye to this house and all its memories . . .
Got to make one last trip to my bedroom. Guess I’ll have to leave some stuff behind.
Funny how the same old crooked pictures, just don’t seem the same to me tonight.

~ Tom Rush

It was spring of 1980 when I put down one month’s rent and one month security on a little brown shingled cottage on Main Street in Rumney owned by Joe and Nancy Kolb. Joe and Nancy lived across the street in a rambling beautiful home that served as both their residence and a space for Joe’s woodworking business and Nancy’s Quilt shop. In the three years I lived there Joe was always only a phone call away if there was a problem. He was the model of a reliable landlord and a good neighbor.

Just to the south lived Donald “Pick” Jaquith who was widely acknowledged to have the most beautiful flower gardens in the area. I would often look out my windows toward his gardens and see various neighbors, including Betty Jo and Bill Taffe, or Ann Kent walking the garden with Pick. Pick died a few years after that and he would have been thrilled to see that Betty Jo and Bill picked up the torch after him. Today people stop to look at their beautiful gardens as often as they did with Pick’s. Pick Jaquith showered the community with love and flowers for most of his life and now that role falls to Bill and Betty Jo.

Betty Jo was a Republican State Representative when I first moved to town and for quite a few years after that. She established herself as the leading House authority on Education and she was part of an extraordinary contingent of smart, powerful and moderate Republican women who made all of us proud to be anywhere in their orbits: Donna Sytek, Phoebe Chardon, Liz Hager, Sally Townsend and Caroline Gross to name a few. When I ran as a Democrat for the Senate a few years later, Betty Jo had to be careful about her involvement - but Bill was at my house several times a week building lawn signs and providing moral support. I always knew who’s corner both of them were in and I have always been grateful.

Just down the road from Betty Jo and Bill, Cindy Perry and Norrie Parr have lived since before Alice and I built our house up on the Stinson Lake Road. Cindy was a teacher in the Russell School for all the years that Zach was a student there. She was his favorite teacher and he never misses a chance to visit her when he returns to town, even for a few days. An extraordinary teacher breathes life into a child’s imagination that lasts a lifetime. Cindy was that kind of teacher. Norrie was the consulting forester at Grafton County Cooperative Extension and he was always willing to pay us a visit when we needed advice about logging or just managing our small wood lot. Norrie had forgotten more about trees than I ever knew - even though I had been a dendrology ace at UNH during my college years. Cindy, and her neighbors Diana Paquette, Maggie Everts, Barbara McElroy, Melody Funk, and others, along with Alice, were among an extraordinary group of women who formed “GotLunch! Rumney” to provide lunches to children in town who might not have adequate food during the summer months, when the school lunch program was not a source of sustenance. There were plenty of us of the male persuasion who supported the effort, but the brains and the heart of the organization were these amazing women all of whom enriched Alice’s life and mine immeasurably.

As I drove away from my life in this extraordinary town for the first time I thought back on many of those who had come before but were no longer with us. Faith Moulton, from whom I bought my first home, a 17 room monstrous farmhouse with only ¾ of a bath in the entire building and not a lick of insulation anywhere. Faith helped me finance the purchase by taking a second mortgage and I gave her a place to live for a year while she made the transition in her own life. At any one time the building had been the town’s funeral home, Post Office and Town clerks office under the direction of Faith’s late husband Lyn.

There was Doris Tunnell and her daughter-in-law Betty. Doris was a rock ribbed Republican who introduced me at my first Senate campaign announcement. She wore those big glasses so fashionable in the sixties that looked like they had wings. Her smile held a thousand secrets and a sense of humor second to none in Rumney.

I’ve told you in this column about Ann and Joe Kent who started the Quincy Bog Natural Area. Joe and Ann were the James Carville/Mary Matalin of Rumney. He a Colonel from Vietnam and a true conservative, just as interested in getting the most from a dollar as he was in conserving the natural resources of Rumney including the Bog. Ann had a heart as big and generous as the Mountains. Her heart beats still in her daughters Jennifer and Martha. She was the liberal wing of the Kent household. But like the birds they both spent hours watching together, they flew highest and strongest when both wings were strong and working together as one. Ann and Joe were as different in their ideologies as two people could be yet both were deeply committed to our community. After Joe died Ann had an honored seat at our Thanksgiving and Christmas table every year along with our neighbors Kevin and Debbie Maes and their family. Kevin & Debbie Maes have been friends and neighbors since Alice and I moved in. I was away in Africa on business one year when a microburst felled huge White Pines across our driveway, knocking out the power and stranding Alice and Zach. Kevin was there the next morning - chainsaw in hand - to make sure Alice and Zach were not stranded any longer.

Kevin later ran for State Rep and won and has served with distinction for going on 6 years now. He’s recently been joined by Francesca Gothie Diggs and I can honestly say that the town has not had better representation since Betty Jo Taffe made her mark. Francesca is already making a mark with a strong and empathic community focus to her service.

Not everyone who has had an impact on my life here in Rumney has been a friend or a fan. It took me a lot of years to get Bob Berti to mark the other side of his ballot but he was a giant among those who dedicated a big portion of their lives to the welfare of our little community and I respected the hell out of him and never gave up. Now I am proud to call him my friend and he once even admitted that he had put a check next to my name on more than one occasion.

Then there are Steve & Joanne Decosta - in my earlier years there was rarely a town meeting that didn’t find us on opposite sides of nearly every issue. Even on some very contentious state issues. Yet last year when my dog, Boof, escaped Steve and Joanne rescued him and called me to say he was safe and sound in their home. When I picked Boof up at their home we talked with one another like old friends and I came away humbled by the lesson.

Arthur Morrill was another person who showed up in support of my opponent in every Senate election and he always had a tough question for me - usually about run away spending. I gave as good as I got in those exchanges - usually suggesting that we should privatize the state agency that Arthur worked for - with tongue firmly planted in cheek. But when Arthur would show up to assess our home for tax purposes every few years he was always fair and honest. I learned an important lesson about honest dialog and free expression from Arthur and I will never forget it.

By now you are well acquainted with Micky Lewis - who kept our long driveway plowed and sanded every winter. Only a few months ago he told me how mad he was at me back in 2005 because I had revealed the location of our local swimming hole in “Heart of New Hampshire Magazine” because for a while it was overrun with “unwanted “ visitors. But his ire was unimportant when we ran out of wood during a brutal cold snap a few years ago and Micky dug into his reserve supply to make sure we stayed warm. Zach and the local young folks call him “coach” because he is always willing to give them the benefit of his wisdom and experience. Over the years he has done the same for Alice and I and we loved him for it.

I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg that is my beloved community. There’s Keith and Andrea, Lee and Alan, Paul and Joan, Terry and Miriam, Brad and Laurie, Gary and Nancy, Edie, Wally, Brian, Collette and Tony, Mindy, Karen, Ross, and TJ, Carol and John, Nate, Brian, Adrina, Hank and Debbie, Mike and Dolly and I have not even gotten beyond Main Street. . .

Like the long and winding road on which I now find myself embarking, these vignettes I have shared with you have led me along a circuitous route to the lessons of community. They are the acorns that have grown to become the oak of my experience. The lessons I have learned from these people, and others, in my small town - both those still living and those no longer with us - fill my heart with gratitude. The lessons of community here in the shadow of Rattlesnake Ridge reveal a path to a future defined by hope, tolerance and a shared common humanity. The hope for our world and our democracy can be found here - and in every community - in the ever widening circles of our common values and our common humanity.

In his extraordinary book, “The Coddling of the American Mind” co-author Jonathan Haidt quotes civil rights leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev Dr. Pauli Murray in describing this “Common Humanity Politics” a broadly encompassing and inclusionary vision that seeks to bring us together in common cause. He specifically quotes King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the words of Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray:

“When my brothers try to draw a circle that excludes me, I will draw a larger circle that includes them. When they speak for the privileges of a puny group, I shall shout for the rights of all mankind.” 

For 35 years the people of Rumney have drawn those wider circles that declare we are in this together.

These lessons do not kill the sadness of the changes that must come but they amplify the joy that helps us continue on this journey we call life.

To all of the people of Rumney - thank you. You will be missed. I’m so happy and blessed to have traveled this road with you.





About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor, former publisher of Heart of New Hampshire Magazine and CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., and now host of two new Podcasts - The Radical Centrist (www.theradicalcentrist.us) and NH Secrets, Legends and Lore (www.nhsecrets.blogspot.com). His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images and a novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline all available on Amazon.com. He now lives in Thornton, New Hampshire at the base of Welch Mountain where he proudly flies both the American and Iroquois Flags. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing . You can help spread the word by following and supporting him at www.Patreon.com/TheRadicalCentrist . 

Book Reading and Signing - Sacred Trust - Plymouth Historical Society May 15, 2019

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