A Cause for Celebration

On this past Monday evening, as a prelude to our post-election podcast, I popped open the last bottle from my 2018 stash of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA. There was certainly cause for celebration–but it was not in celebration of one man’s victory or another man’s loss–nor was it about partisan party politics. My jubilation ran much deeper!

To me, the outcome of this year’s election is not just about the resilience of American democracy–but it also about the restoration of those cherished American values that have been, as of late, lacking in the Office of the Presidency:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Dignity
• Decorum
• Diplomacy
• Dedication to public service
• Kindness
• Class
• Empathy

And on this Veteran’s Day, the respect and gratitude that all those who have served in our nation’s armed forces truly, deserve!

Even though the Trump presidency has not quite given up the ghost, we decided to perform a political autopsy anyway. You can listen to the results of our post mortem at Sit Downs and Sessions.

Posted by: Chris Poh

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The Unmasking of America

I find it incredibly ironic that so many of those who balk at the idea of wearing a mask because of some perceived threat to personal freedom have no problem blindly doing someone else’s bidding from under the brim of a red baseball cap or from behind the muzzle of an AR-15. Personally, I can think of no greater threat to individual liberty than following those who mask their insatiable need for power and profits behind some bogus brand of patriotism wrapped in the American flag!

If nothing else, the last four years have brought about the unmasking of the remnants of those old demons that still threaten our democracy. Thankfully that threat has been met with the unleashed energies of our better angels. But whether our country chooses a blue tsunami, another red tide, or just a bit of mixed surf during the course of this year’s election, it will be for naught unless we dedicate ourselves to national healing and bringing about social and economic justice to every citizen and immigrant that still believes in America’s promise.

In June of 1863, Robert E. Lee once again pushed his army northward in his second attempt to bring the fight to Union soil. The journey that would eventually end on the hills and fields surrounding Gettysburg would pass over some of the same ground lost during the previous year’s carnage at Antietam. The war-weary marchers would temper their rebellious tendencies as they gazed upon the unburied bleached bones without knowing if the fallen were friend or foe–no blue, no gray, no North, no South–just the unmasked remains of a house divided.

Hopefully, this time around we will choose civil discourse over civil war!

Listen to our political prognostications and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election at Sit Downs and Sessions

Posted by: Chris Poh for American Public House Review