The Golden Age of the Automobile

My brother, Allen, would round the corner a half block from our house in his 1968 Pontiac GTO. His dual muffler pack would announce its arrival before him getting there. We called it the Golden GTO (Goat).

We grew up in Brownsville, PA., in the 50s and 60s. It was often said in earlier days that Pittsburgh would never amount to anything because it was too close to Brownsville. We never knew if that was true or just an old wise tale.

General Motors came out with the GTO and Ford Mustang in 1964 Camaro in 1966. The age of speed and power in the automobile industry was upon us. I don't remember my brother's GTO horsepower, but it would make the teeth of green new dealers’ chatter if I told you. It was a simpler time back then. You did not have to worry about noise pollution; the louder, the better, and more heads it turned. We did not have to worry about catalytic converters and your carbon footprint to curb air pollution because the EPA didn't exist. You didn't have to think about gas prices, as the average gallon cost was 34 cents. We did not have to be concerned about supply-chain problems as everything, from the tires up, was made in the USA.

My brother would drive down the street and rattle through his four-speed transmission on the floor, and his muffler would crescendo like a perfectly tuned orchestra. It was as if he made a fashion statement every time he accelerated. It was as if the power cars of the day had their own mystique and personality and most were faithful to a brand, be it General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler.

After my brother got his GTO, I inherited his 1955 Chevy, which was an automotive cultural icon on its own.  My brother drove it for a long time with just a primer gray paint finish, a trend in that day.  People referred to it as the “Gray Ghost.”  He converted it from a three-speed shifter on the column to Hurst three-speed floor shifter.  Floor shifting was considered the new or novel way to go.

It was the hot car of the late 50s and early 60s, but not so literally hot. The heater would take a long time to heat up. I commuted to college at California State College, PennWest California today, located in California, PA, a trip of about five or six miles.  Mornings in the winter trimester could be at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  On these cold mornings I would crank up my Chevy and head out to school.  About the time that I pulled into the college parking lot the heater was just starting to blow hot air. That afternoon as the shadows were increasing and the temperature dropping on those short winter days, I drove home. About the time I pulled into the curb at 521 Green Street, you guessed it, I just started to feel the warm air from the heater. Needless to say, I never took my off my winter gloves or earmuffs on these trips.

This car did not have power steering or power brakes; the only thing power about them was the strength of your arms or legs. If you were not claustrophobic, you would be after you rode in the back seat, but what it lacked in creature comforts, it made up with moxy. Most kids wanted to drive a 55 Chevy. We did not know anything about the luxury features of a car, so, what we did not know, did not hurt us. We just knew we had a car with a big engine and loud muffler that turned heads and got you from one place to another, and that was enough. Just how it was in those days.

The OPEC oil embargo in 1973 changed all this. Gas prices spiked, cars and engines got smaller, and the power car was gone. New cars that were better designed and more efficient started to be manufactured, but maybe I am getting old; but the new automobiles lack the mystique of the cars' 50s and 60s. These classic vehicles will never return, yet it is still fun for us war babies and baby boomers to remember the golden age of the automobile.  

I can still hear to this day the roll of thunder of the Golden GTO as it rumbled down the street.

Losing Our Freedom of Speech

 
In 1737 Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins."

Are we on the brink of tyranny?

Ben Franklin

We saw a terrible thing happen in the assault on Congress in Washington, DC, yet the adverse reaction can be worse than the crime. History teaches us that when something troubling happens in a society, we make two wrong moves. We overreact or under-react. No one denies that the people who committed these crimes need to be held accountable, yet people made some troubling reactions and suggestions in its aftermath. 

 

Big tech, who controls the flow of information in our country, is de-platforming people with whom they disagree politically. Voices from Germany and Mexico have warned us of the danger of these actions. Members of Congress are proposing a commission to discuss reigning in the freedom of the press. Be careful about what you seek. When the other party or political persuasion is in power, and the shoe is on the other foot, people may silence you.

 

Franklin finishes his statement with these words, "An evil magistrate intrusted with power to punish for words, would be armed with a weapon the most destructive and terrible. Under pretence of pruning off the exuberant branches, he would be apt to destroy the tree."

 

Are we undermining free speech and destroying democracy?

 

The Destruction of the Constitution

The Firewall of our Republic

In February of 2020 the Virginia House of Delegates passed Bill 177 moving Virginia away from the Electoral College system.  Del Mark Levine said, “Every Virginian’s vote should count. Anyone who opposes this bill opposes democracy.”  The problem with this quote is it flies in the face of the intent of the Framers of our Constitution.

 

They did not form a purely democratic form of government, but a Republic, or a Democratic Republic, as some call it.  The Framers, in their great foresight, saw a day when the more populous states could dominate the political landscape with very little voice given to the smaller states.  The Electoral College is the firewall that the Framers put into our Constitution to ensure that no group of densely populated states or cities could choose our President at the exclusion of the smaller states.

 

It appears that the Democrat Party has concluded that they can never control our national elections with the Electoral College in place.  Bill 177 in the Virginia House of Delegates starts the dismantling of our US Constitution. Either Delegate Levine and our Democrat lawmakers don’t understand the type of government our Founding Fathers constructed, or they do understand it, and they are intent on changing it to gain political power.  Either way, all Virginians, whether Republicans or Democrats, should be appalled at the destruction of our Constitution.

 

It has become very evident in the Election of 2020 the power that the Constitution has given to our states in electing a President. The battle ground for the defense of the Electoral College is in the state legislative bodies.  We must work here in Virginia and elsewhere to elect legislators who will defend our Constitution.

A Political Chameleon

 

Joe Biden: A Political Chameleon

 

Chameleons are lizard-like animals that can change their color according to the environment in which they are living.  Joe Biden is a political chameleon in that he can change his rhetoric according to the political environment in which he finds himself.

 

Joe Biden is a typical politician.  In the primary election cycle, he appealed to his far-left base.  When asked if he would end fracking, he said, “bingo.”  Recently, in the general election, he said that he would not ban fracking.  Will the real Joe Biden please stand up.  Historically, after Presidents have been elected, and particularly after their reelection, they start to show their real colors.  It will be the same with Biden because he is a political animal.

 

In 2016 the American electorate grew weary of politicians and elected Donald Trump.  Since Donald Trump came down that escalator in 2015, he has been the same.  You may not agree with everything he says or how he says it, but you know he believes what he says.  The American people are starved for authenticity in their governmental leaders.  They will put up with a few chinks in a person’s armor if they believe that he really means what he tells them.

                                         

The difference between the two Presidential candidates is clear.  Joe Biden is a political chameleon and will change with the political landscape. With Donald Trump, what you see is what you get.

 

Chris Wallace: Fair and Balanced?

 

This week On Fox News Sunday, a guest challenged Wallace about his bias. He referred to the guest’s comment as a talking point.  Is it a talking point, or is there bias?  Wallace can be tough on all his show's quests, but if you analyze how often he challenges liberal and conservative viewpoints, his bias becomes pretty obvious.

Let me make my case.  In the first debate, he challenged both Trump and Biden, yet he brought up far more discussions that were weak points for Trump than Biden.  I suggest that the challenging questions asked were at best 60/40 or probably 70/30 in favor of Biden.  Do the math.  In his show this week on Fox, Wallace interviewed pro-Trump and pro-Biden people.  He did ask the tough questions of both, but again, if you count the number of negative questions about Trump's actions and policies as opposed to Biden's, the breakdown was about 75/25 in favor of Biden.

I am not saying that Wallace is dishonest or is trying to be unfair.  He is just who he is, one with a liberal bent, and that is OK, but don't masquerade him as fair and balanced.  The apple never falls too far from the tree, and Wallace's tree is full of liberal fruit.  Some say that wisdom is just a keen sense of the obvious, and it is pretty obvious that Chris Wallace is not fair and balanced.

A Steeler Hero

What Al Villanueva, offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, did Monday night, September 14th, 2020, was heroic. The Steelers decided to put the name of Antwon Rose,

a young African American man killed by a Pittsburgh police officer, on their helmets

Al Villanueva

for the 2020-2021 season. That night Villanueva replaced Rose's name with a young black war
hero killed in Iraq.

The Steelers' management decision, though done for a good motive, I believe, was very misguided. Amid the furor around the tragic George Floyd death, the Steelers made a statement about the Rose fatality, while ignoring the circumstances around his death. Displaying his name on their helmets sends the message that he was the hero, and the police were the villains. Anytime we distort the truth, it only leads to more division and potential violence against those who protect us.

It is always tragic when you lose a son, no matter what the circumstances. We should not seek to denigrate one who has passed, but neither should we try to make him a hero when he was not. The facts in the case don't support the narrative that the police officer was wrong, and Rose was right. The officer was found not guilty by a group of his peers.  Are there things that the police can learn from this case, of course, but hindsight is always 20/20. I would not want to have been that officer in this situation.

Villanueva's sin, for which he has been vilified, is that he honored a young black man who really was a hero. Villanueva defied the principle of "group think." Team unity is good, but there is a higher principle: whether something is actually right or wrong. Inadvertently, though the Steelers say that they support diverse thought, they have put their players in an awkward situation to express it. It is becoming impermissible in our society to express independent thinking, which always leads to oppression rather than freedom.

Big Al, you are my hero, and I think many other fair-minded people in the Steeler Nation agree. 

 

Gravity Wins

I am seventy-four years old, and a few years back, I had an epiphany of sorts.  I realized that gravity wins. 

In recent decades, I have tried to live a healthy lifestyle.  I used to jog, and now I walk.  I ride my bike in the warmer seasons of the year.  I have tried to eat a healthy diet, with a few exceptions.

I have never met a donut I didn’t like. Diet and exercise can slow the process, but eventually, we all go the way of all flesh. Aging can be compared to furniture; when your chest starts to drop into your drawers.

You have probably heard about the octogenarian who once said, “there are three things that happen to you when you get old.  You lose your eyesight and hearing; I can’t remember what the third one is.”  A realistic and healthy perspective on life and death can be therapeutic.

COVID-19 and the fear of death have manipulated our society.  No one wants to die.  Anybody who says they have no fear is either a fool or a liar. Reasonable steps to avoid danger are proper.  Nonetheless, a morbid fear of the reality of our ultimate demise can rob us of life even before death.

Gravity does win.  In the recent movie about Mr. Rogers, when speaking about death, he said, “anything we can talk about we can manage.”  If we never come to grips with our mortality, we will neither live well nor die well.