Gary Bennett

A Personal Story: Why Defunding the Police is Probably a Very Good Idea

“Defund the Police” does not mean to eliminate the police. It means to reallocate some resources.

Before I tell my story I’m hopeful that we can agree that ‘defunding the police’ does not mean eliminating the police. That is a poor choice of words and self-defeating. If that’s what your preferred talk show host is insisting, you may need to expand your horizons on the news you consume. No one is advocating for that. Not Biden, not BLM. ‘Defund the police’ simply means reallocating a portion of the police budget to other professionals or societal programs that are better suited to handle certain nonviolent situations.

Here’s my story. It is sad and embarrassing, and I hate to talk about it. I almost never do in any detail, but it seems necessary, especially now. If this is something you haven’t considered, I hope you will now. My story is not unique. You may have a similar one.

I am the healthcare and financial power of attorney for a desperately mentally ill extended family member. They have been diagnosed with schizophrenia for well over 30 years, and I having been trying to help this person for well over 20 of them. I’ve been to the hospital with this person more times than I can remember. Hospitalization is the only way this person will even begin to take their prescribed medicine. Once out of the hospital, this person will stop taking their medicine, get progressively worse and the vicious cycle repeats. This is terribly sad and frustrating. I am told by various psychiatrists that my extended family member has no personal insight into their disease. They don’t know they are sick. They only know that the prescribed narcotics make them feel bad, and they don’t need them anyway.

I’m usually able to talk this person into going to the hospital. When I can, everything is fine. But, on some occasions, this person is so bad that I cannot get them to the hospital by myself. I am just not able to handle them alone when the sickness turns them into a loud, angry and uncooperative stranger. So, I call 911 and ask for an ambulance. I only do this when this person truly needs emergency psychiatric treatment. I’ve been coached to know the signs. On every single occasion I’ve called for an ambulance, even when I specifically say this person is not a danger to themself or others, two city (not Frederick) police officers accompany the ambulance. When they arrive, they see and hear a haggard, shouting, angry mess of a human being. They immediately take over. The ambulance technicians always yield to the cops.

I’m sorry to say that the cops have never, ever been helpful in these types of situations.

I don’t know if their training just does not cover mentally ill people (seems unlikely) or if their instincts just kick in and take over when threatened. And I can assure you my mentally ill family member indeed threatens them loudly and does not tire easily. This person threatens me, too, but I know they don’t mean it. The police officers do not know this. Try explaining that to two police officers who are being cursed and yelled at. Eventually, the ambulance technicians are able to take over and talk my family member into going to the hospital. More than once I’ve told the police officers softly and kindly that they are probably not needed in this type of situation. They tell me police policy keeps them returning. I admit that time constraints have kept me away from looking into this policy to any degree. Even if I had the time, I would not be sure where to start.

For my family member’s last episode, which occurred late last year, two police officers spent a total of 12 person-hours – six hours each – trying to assist. The time commitment was similar for my family member’s other hospitalizations. The officers were nice enough and tried to be helpful, but they were just not equipped to help. Their time would have been much better spent patrolling the streets and responding to reports of real crime. They must realize that, too.

Please multiply my experience by the hundreds of other non-violent issues police must respond to each week like drunkenness, drug overdoses, underage parties, you name it. Police should not be handling these types of things. I have seen that firsthand. We are expecting too much of them. This must play a part in their stress and eventual burning out and acting out.

And that is why we should take some of the police budget money away and allocate it to counselors, social workers, EMTs, nurses, and other professionals who can better handle these nonviolent situations. I would think that most police would agree with that.

Mental illnes is not pretty and police have a dificult time handling such cases.

I Think I’ll Have to Take a Knee

By Gary Bennett

Chattanooga police officers take a knee for Black Lives Matter protest.

I’m so sorry it has come to this. I do love my country, I do. I swear.

But I don’t think my country loves me back. At least not the red part. How else to explain that my president sees people like me as enemies to be vanquished? As anarchists and thugs to be dominated? As wishing to end America, not improve it? I can scarcely believe such words can come out of any president’s mouth. But out they come from this one. Mind you he’s not talking about far-away, foreign terrorists. That I could understand. He’s talking about fellow Americans.

I can remember not so long ago that presidents would say that good people can disagree about what the best path forward for America is. We may be democrats or republicans but we are all Americans, all patriots. But no more. I seem to be a second-class citizen now in the eyes of my president. I keep waiting for people from the president’s party to say enough is enough. This is not what America is. These ‘others’ are our friends and neighbors. But no. Mostly I just hear deafening, depressing silence.

It seems all those Supreme Court and appeals court justices and the tough cultural talk is worth it to red America. It would not be for me. I’d like to think that if a democratic president spoke this way about the other half of America I would speak up and say this is not acceptable. I hope I would do that. I think I would do that.

It has now been proved, of course, that Colin Kaepernick was right all along. You’ll remember he was drummed out of the NFL for kneeling for the National Anthem to protest police brutality against blacks. The NFL has apologized and most of America seems to understand now. Patriotic songs? They’re just songs, so I’ll be happy to take a knee and show my displeasure with how things are going in America right now.

Land of the free and home of the brave?
Not so much. Minorities do not share in the promise of freedom and never have. There is nothing brave about killing unarmed people just because you have a badge or never, EVER pushing back against Russia no matter what they do.

Sweet land of liberty?
I don’t think so. Not right now. Exercising your right to pack into parties and not wear masks thereby endangering the more vulnerable among us is nauseating and the very definition of selfishness, not liberty.

God shed His grace on thee?
If He did, He must be quite sad that it didn’t stick. There is nothing graceful about how this president has fanned the flames of bigotry and purposely driven division for his own personal benefit.

It’s hard to live in a land that treats its fellow citizens so poorly. Before you tell me to leave, ask yourself why I should. Since when is wanting America to live up to its lofty potential and strive to become a more perfect union un-American? I don’t think we’ve strayed so far off the righteous path that we can’t get back on it quickly. But another four years of this president and the path will be overgrown and unrecognizable.

There is hope, however. The potential replacement is popular, genial and a moderate. The polls look promising and democrats will not take that for granted like they did in 2016. More and more republican office holders can see the writing on the wall and are beginning to speak out and distance themselves from Trump and his more hateful, bigoted speech. His white supremacy stance is out of step with this moment in America. Twitter and Facebook are pushing back. All but the most sycophantic governors have filled the leadership void left by Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is beyond me, knowing what we know now about this man, that anyone would vote for him in 2020, much less 38 percent of America that polls are now showing. But that would signify a landslide, and I will take it. I’m betting that many who supported him last time are too embarrassed to admit they made a terrible mistake that is costing America dearly. The come-to-Jesus moment will occur in the privacy of the voting booth or more likely when filling out the election form and mailing it in.

Four more years of this? I hope not. I’m not sure I can get through four more months.

One Man’s Journey to Understanding White Privilege

by Gary Bennett

As seen in the Frederick News Post, June 22, 2020

The events of the past few weeks have got me thinking about the term ‘white privilege.’ What does that mean? I’m white but I don’t feel especially privileged. Oh, but I am, and if you are white, you are privileged, too, whether you think so or not.

White privilege is a term that has been around for quite a while but current events have brought it roaring back. White privilege means that white people, either directly or indirectly, have benefitted from the systematic minimization of blacks and other minorities. Whites in this country have the freedom to move, buy, work, play and speak freely without fear of retribution that blacks do not enjoy. Just like the coronavirus, cancer, or heart disease, white privilege can’t be seen, but it is there.

You may say that, “No, I have not done that. I have nothing against minorities.” But I say that if you simply go on with your tidy life and pity those ‘other’ people because you think you are smarter or have worked harder than them to reach your middle-class place in society, then you should think again.

Consider this: Do you look back fondly on your childhood? Did your school seem to have everything it needed? Did you have the opportunity to go to college if you wanted whether you followed that path or not? Did you have some help from friends or family to land that first job? Did the ability to go to college or trade school lead to that first job? Did you have help qualifying for that mortgage you needed to buy your first home? Did a policeman give you a break on that stupid thing you did as a teenager? Did you learn about police brutality through news reports instead of experiencing it first-hand or by second-hand accounts? If you get pulled over for speeding, do you feel confident nothing bad will happen?

If you answered yes to most of these, or even just some of these, then you are the beneficiary of white privilege. How do I know? Because most black people cannot answer yes to any of these questions. And because they can’t, it weighs down their lives in ways we can’t begin to imagine. One black friend told me it’s like pulling along a ten-pound weight everywhere you go with no chance of getting rid of it.

It took me a long time to learn this.

I grew up in Allegany County in far western Maryland in the 60’s and 70’s. It was and still is 92 percent white. Nearby Garrett County, Maryland and Mineral County, West Virginia are 99 percent and 96 percent white respectively. My high school, believe it or not, was 100 percent white. Growing up in this rural area, I had a better chance of interacting with a bear than a black person.

My first real exposure to black people came in college. Even then, Frostburg State University was only 30 percent black. I wish I could say I had some black friends in college, but I really can’t recall any. There was one person I tutored named Reggie that I liked a lot. He was fun and eager to learn. I do remember Reggie and his friends had some customs and cultural habits that were unfamiliar to me and a little bit scary. I didn’t try to understand or get close. I didn’t have to. I went on my merry way.

I didn’t get to know many black people until I began my career in publishing and associations in the early 80’s. I have mostly worked in the Baltimore and Washington DC areas (60 percent and 50 percent black respectively) until I recently ended my career. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time in most major U.S. cities. Because of my work situation, I got to know many, many black people. In fact, as I think about it, I’ve worked side by side with many more black people than whites over the years.

A constant in my professional life was cross-departmental ‘work teams’. And one thing was certain, no one cared a whit about the racial makeup of these teams. You either got along and got the job done or you didn’t. And if you didn’t, you had to explain why. And believe me, no one would have accepted cultural differences as the reason.

After a steep learning curve, I can say without hesitation that my black teammates turned out to be some of my favorite colleagues and the best people to work with. They had the same work concerns as you or I. The same desire to do well and make a solid contribution. One thing they had that I didn’t was the deeply ingrained need to always be “on.” You see, they could not afford to coast during a meeting or turn work in late. No, that would be professional suicide and only the whites could get away with that. I shake my head now because I remember white colleagues getting away with this time and again. It didn’t seem so bad at the time.

My black colleagues also had many personal concerns that I was not privy to.

More than once I overheard their anguished complaints over the safety of their children, the lack of resources in their schools, the lack of jobs for their friends, not feeling safe when taking a walk in their own neighborhood or driving while black in the wrong neighborhood. Sure, they were the lucky ones, raising themselves up to middle class or better. But, as I grew to learn, they were the exceptions. Their neighbor, with just as much talent as them, couldn’t find a job or get their kids into a better school. None of them wanted a hand out or even a hand up as the saying goes. They simply wanted white folks to figuratively get their knees off their necks, to just give them a chance. I now know white privilege for what it is – the lack of undue obstacles in my way.

I learned this lesson, but it bothers me that many don’t or won’t.

Those that never get out of their mostly white home towns and counties will never be able to learn this first-hand. Of course, their lack of experience and understanding does not hold them back from spouting hurtful and uninformed opinions. That is why you see the fixation on the relatively few looters, the “whataboutism” of violence against cops by criminals (sad but predictable), the crocodile tears of the effect of coronavirus on these large crowds of protesters and worries about reimagining how public safety and police departments should work instead of on the central issues of the day: racial injustice and police brutality.

This lack of first-hand knowledge isn’t just true for rural western Maryland, but all over this great country of ours. Large swaths of citizens have separated themselves from ones not like themselves or at least have taken no tangible steps to get to know them. It’s not really their fault they haven’t been exposed to black folks, but I do believe if they really want to understand their anguish, they have to work harder to educate themselves.

Police officers are no different from the rest of society in this regard. They bring their own implicit and explicit biases to work just like we do. They no doubt prefer faces that look more like themselves. But unlike other professions, they quite often have split-second, life and death decisions to make. That can’t be easy. But if they have chosen this profession, we must demand better of them. The armed forces have mostly done it right. Blacks and other minorities have a very good chance to make a name for themselves. Instead of surplus equipment of war, police agencies all over the country would be better off taking the military’s recruitment and integration practices to heart.

It seems clear the country is finally in the early stages of moving toward a more just future, and those who don’t understand that and grasp at the vestiges of a bygone era risk being left behind and on the wrong side of history.

What Can We Do About Police Brutality?

By Gary Bennett

Gary’s homemade signs for the Frederick Black Lives Matter march.

My wife, Ellen, and I joined 5,000 Frederick County citizens in the peaceful Black Lives Matter march on Friday evening, June 5th, 2020, in downtown Frederick. This was an impressive turnout for a small city like Frederick, and has been repeated in cities large and small all across the nation for weeks now. That is how we know this is a movement. The riots of 1968 swept across America the entire summer after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. That summer undoubtedly changed America, and this feels the same.

We reject the notion that police brutality is not a white person’s issue. It assuredly affects black people disproportionately, but make no mistake, this is an issue for all of us. Witness the violent assault on peaceful protesters of all hues recently in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. Despicably, Attorney General Bill Barr authorized the use of tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the unsuspecting crowd that had the temerity to block the president’s path to Saint John’s Church in order for him to obscenely hold aloft a bible to signify who knows what. Domination over peaceful protesters?

As white people, Ellen and I felt we had a duty to show up at the Frederick protest, lend a helping hand and show support to our black neighbors who are so aggrieved. To sit comfortably at home and remain silent is to be complicit in the wrongdoing. That is not right. It was great to see that we were not alone. To my untrained eye, the crowd seemed to be about half white and black.

It is clear that many white people are starting to get it: police brutality is not an infrequent occurrence. A recent ABC News/IPSOS poll shows that three-fourths of those surveyed believe what happened to George Floyd is not an isolated incident but evidence of a broader problem. It took heartbreaking real-time video to get us to this point, but we are here now.

If some police officers perpetrate unneeded violence when the ever-present cameras are rolling, what do they do when they are not? Unfortunately, we know the answer. The list of black victims at the hands of the police is long and well documented. It is clearly not just a few bad apples. If that were the case they would have been weeded out by now.

An oft cited statistic holds that police officers use force against blacks seven times more often than they do against whites even though whites commit the preponderance of crimes. I believe it. Despite what Bill Barr says, the evidence points to systemic racism within police departments. Dating to the Jim Crow south of the early 1900s, police officers automatically associated blackness with danger leading to the use of harsher force than was necessary or used with whites. History is hard to overcome sometimes. Add that to the stew of police machoism, the need for split- second decision-making, and disdain from some citizens, and you have the perfect recipe for unneeded violence.

Of course, we are not talking about all police officers. It is a false narrative that you can’t be for the police if you ever criticize them. A confounding “whataboutism” going around now is “what about all the police gunned down by criminals. Where is the outrage for that?” Unfortunately, violence is what we can expect from some criminals. We can and must expect better from police officers. Fully 95 percent of police officers are professional and want to diffuse tense situations. But in law enforcement, having five percent bad actors is not good enough. They hold life and death in their hands. Good cops know this and barriers must be removed for them to intervene. Peer pressure is a powerful deterrent, maybe the most powerful.

What else can be done?

We can start by immediately firing and charging officers caught on camera perpetrating unneeded violence. Commanders know unneeded violence when they see it. In these clear-cut cases, we should do away with “suspension without pay while we investigate.” The officers will still have their day in court and can petition to get their jobs back if found innocent. There would be no violation of police officers’ due process since no one has a right to a job they are not suited for.
Hiring officers must do a better job in weeding out “warrior” cops and others who have no business behind a badge. Reportedly, Officer Chauvin had 18 complaints filed against him. In most other professions this person would either be fired or minimized to the point of quitting.
The protectors of bad cops are often the police unions. The time is now ripe to negotiate less protections for bad cops. The trade off? More pay for good cops.
Other ideas floating through Congress now should have our support: a national registry of disciplined and fired cops so they can’t join another force, a demilitarization of police departments to no longer automatically receive surplus implements of war, more transparency in police training so the public sees what is being taught and can respond and consult, the discontinuance of choke holds nationwide, a beefing up of civil liability laws against police, a definitive statement from the Supreme Court on what constitutes unconstitutional use of force, and less dependence on police to solve every small problem of society. This is what is meant by “defunding” police departments.

Many of us are heartbroken at the cruelty shown by Officer Chauvin in Minneapolis toward George Floyd, an unarmed and compliant black man. But this tragedy has once and for all ripped off the bandage that was covering a seeping wound. I hope we can all come together to change the culture of brutal and racist policing quickly. My black neighbors have rightly run out of patience.

Crowd gathered at Frederick, MD bandshell on June 5th, 2020 to protest police brutality against blacks.

Major League Sports Can Take a Flying Leap

By Gary Bennett

Empty stadium for a Major Leage Soccer match, summer 2020.

An amazing thing has happened to me and I suspect many others. I’ve found that I just don’t need to watch all these games on TV anymore. I don’t miss live sports! Not Major League Baseball, not the NBA, not pro hockey, and I suspect not the NFL when the time arrives.

I never thought I would say that. Growing up I couldn’t get enough of the Baltimore Orioles. I vividly remember sneaking out to my dad’s truck at a very young age in an attempt to pick up the evening’s Orioles game on the radio. Some of my fondest memories are listening to games all alone in that old, dark truck and reporting the score back to my dad.

And it wasn’t just baseball. Growing up and well into my adult life, pro football games became appointment viewing. Not because I was a big fan of any one team, but because there seemed to be nothing more American than watching and talking about football and the undeniable fact that it is exciting – the ultimate reality show, full of action, energy, feuds, and sometimes violence.

Golf, tennis, auto racing, and soccer? I’m not sure these can even be considered sports. OK, I’ll give you soccer. But if most games end up 0-0, is it really much more than just some intense exercise? As for basketball and hockey, I can take them or leave them, but if nothing else is on, especially relatively late at night, I am drawn to them as a nice mindless way to end the day.

But no more.

Since major league sports have been on hiatus and off the air since covid-19 took over our daily lives, I’ve found that I can live without them. Sure, if they come back later this summer, I’ll watch some, but I don’t have to. There’s a big difference.

Just think of all the hours Americans could put to better use if fewer sports were on the air. When the time is right, we can even play team sports ourselves if we wish. In Frederick County there are softball, basketball, flag football, and soccer leagues for kids and adults of all ages. And just think how much healthier we would all be if we used this newfound time to simply exercise more and stay away from the mindless snacking that comes with watching sports. I‘ve done a lot more walking, biking, and hiking recently as I suspect have most Americans. Americans used to be doers, not watchers. I’m not sure where we went wrong.

What about professional athletes, you say? Don’t they have the right to pursue their dreams. Well sure, but do we need to pay them such ungodly sums of money? I understand they are entertainers and they are getting what the market will bear, but what does this say about us as a society. And what about the owners? Aren’t they entrepreneurs that help make American great? No and no! Most made their billions before owning a major league sports team. Their team is a very expensive toy to them. By now we all realize, if we didn’t before, that the real heroes are doctors, nurses, teachers, first responders, store clerks and other essential personnel. We agree they all deserve much more pay than they receive now. But how can we ever hope to get to a more equitable arrangement?

One way would be – I don’t know exactly how without being considered unamerican or (gasp) a socialist – to somehow limit the apex of the sports profession to the semi-pro level. This is not uncharted territory. A case can be made that American professional sports were semi-pro up until the advent of huge TV rights agreements in the 1980’s. I can remember my heroes of the 60’s and 70’s needing off-season jobs to make ends meet. This is as it should be since these adults are playing children’s games for much of the year.

The editorial board of this paper and at least one local columnist have waxed poetic about the return of the Frederick Keys. That is fine, but what if the Keys players, who are not paid much more than minimum wage anyway, were shooting to make it to the top of their profession in Triple A baseball rather than the major leagues, which would no longer exist? Would that limit their dreams? Not in the least. Only about one percent of minor league players ever reach the major leagues anyway. At Triple A they would be paid a handsome salary in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the same level as other professionals who reach the top of their industry, but not the millions and millions of dollars that is so obscene and counterproductive for a healthy society. Billions of dollars could now be available for the real heroes if a redistribution plan using tax credits can be worked out. Beer companies could sponsor nursing homes instead of ball clubs. Obscenely rich Americans could buy and run a hospital. You get the picture.

And don’t forget about the added benefit that would accrue to colleges. Doing away with major league sports would encourage the return of the true student-athlete. Once again, players would be playing for the glory of their school and to get a college education and not so much for that big payday. And who among us would not like to see the big football and basketball mills with their obscene budgets, administrators, and hangers-on brought down a notch?

Stadium workers and team administrators at the major league levels and even sports writers will have to find other jobs, but that may be a price we have to pay to recalibrate our society. Already, stadium workers are seeing the writing on the wall as fans are prevented from attending games this summer. And as unlikely as this may seem, very few major league pro ball players, most of whom are coddled and receive more pay than they can ever hope to spend in a lifetime, have even bothered to donate any part of their exorbitant salaries to offset losses by stadium workers and staff. Instead they are quibbling with the billionaires about how to carve up their shrinking revenue pies. These people are not heroes.

The current pandemic conditions have pulled back the curtain on this unseemly business once and for all. Whiny millionaire players and greedy billionaire owners don’t deserve our support. Nearly empty stadiums may continue well into the future but less TV revenue due to declining ad revenue due to declining viewership holds the key to getting sports right-sized once and for all. What to watch instead? May I suggest the History, National Geographic, and Discovery channels. They feature entertaining programming that helps us examine the human condition in ways sports can never do. Why, just recently I completed a six-hour miniseries on President Grant on the History Channel that was more than peanut-worthy.

Is Donald Trump the Dumbest President Ever?

By Gary Bennett

Trump supporters, I know what you’re thinking. Please stay with me. It’s not as bad as you think.

When President Trump suggested that scientists should look into injecting disinfectant into the human body as a means to clean the lungs of covid-19, you may have thought that clinched his standing as the least intelligent president of all time. To be sure, the uncomfortable look on the face of Dr. Birx as she contemplated the style and color of her shoes as Trump looked her way and made his plea was priceless.

But not so! Tempting as it may be to label Mr. Trump as least intelligent president ever, we should remember that we’ve been here before. Well, maybe not to this extent. Just in my lifetime, both George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan suffered from so many malapropisms, verbal tics, lapses in thought and in Reagan’s case, forgetfulness, that their intellectual capacities were likewise questioned. During their presidencies, conventional wisdom among wide swaths of Americans, both supporters and detractors alike, deemed both to be not very bright.

We face the same dilemma today with Mr. Trump. Is he profoundly unintelligent as so many think? Or is he crazy like a fox, continually egging on the political establishment for his own benefit? Or more importantly, does it even matter? After all intellect can’t be the only predictor of presidential greatness. If it was, then smart presidents such as Bill Clinton (Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law School grad) and Jimmy Carter (Naval Academy graduate with distinction and a submarine officer) would be among our greatest presidents. Historians widely agree they are not. Conversely, presidents such as Reagan and Harry Truman were not considered very smart but are ranked highly on the greatness scale.

The examples I list above should pass your smell test that there is not a one-to-one relationship between presidential intelligence and greatness. But it is close! General intelligence has consistently been found to be the one best predictor of positive job performance in a wide range of occupations. Being president is no different.

There has been quite a bit of research done on the subject of presidential intelligence. I’ve read some of it. The most cited study seems to be that of Dean Keith Simonton and published in Political Psychology in 2006. He used “estimated IQ” to rank the presidents. Because most U.S. presidents died long before the advent of actual IQ tests, Simonton and his colleagues estimated presidential IQ based on observed factors from biographies including published works, openness to experience, inventiveness, curiosity, charisma and sophistication. This study garnered quite a bit of press in its day but also featured many detractors. Of course, to accept these findings, you have to believe that presidential historians are trying their level best to shed light on their subjects in an impartial way with no axes to grind (a tall order for many of us, I know.)

The rankings I present here are my own based on my reading of the above-mentioned study and my own reading of many presidential biographies (a hobby of mine).

You’ll note that I did not try to rank Donald Trump. I, like many political observers who are not overly partisan, just don’t know what to make of him. As I mentioned earlier, he is either one of the more intelligent presidents, operating at a level that most of us can’t understand, or he is the least intelligent president of all time. I do suspect it is the latter, but I’m not sure. History will judge.

Finally, it should be noted that all 39 presidents ranked in the study were found to have estimated IQs higher than the population in general so please don’t associate the ten least intelligent presidents with not being smart. Nothing is further from the truth. All of our presidents, by definition, have been smart enough to ascend to the highest office in the land. But, you’ll see, there are no great ones among those with lower intelligence.

Ten Most Intelligent Presidents

Thomas Jefferson – widely accepted by most scholars as brilliant. Principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
John Q. Adams – Highest estimated IQ of all presidents. Prolific writer, speaker, and thinker.
James Madison – Father of the Constitution. Adroitly maneuvered among the top thinkers of the day to put his stamp on the Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln – widely credited with saving the union through his adroit use of power and strategic thinking. Our most gifted orator.
Bill Clinton – Rhodes Scholar who excelled at mastering complex information and explaining it with simple, understandable words.
Woodrow Wilson – Highly respected academic who was president of Princeton University. Strategic thinker who was the father of internationalism.
Theodore Roosevelt – Highly educated and erudite with the ability to present himself as an everyman. Uncanny ability to persuade people to follow his lead. Our most quintessential “leader.”
John Adams – Founding father who adroitly shifted the country, rightly or wrongly, toward political partisanship.
John Kennedy – Had a razor-sharp wit, was highly educated and a respected if not prolific writer. His strategy is credited with saving America from a nuclear exchange with Russia in 1962.
Jimmy Carter – Successful businessman, Naval Academy graduate, and submarine officer. Credited with bringing Egypt and Israel together in late 1970’s. Winner of Nobel Peace Prize.

Ten Least Intelligent Presidents

Andrew Johnson
James Buchanan
Zachary Taylor
Warren Harding
George W. Bush – Despite a Harvard MBA, showed little intellectual curiosity. Not a good speaker. Overly trusting. Would rather delegate than master complex information.
Calvin Coolidge
James Monroe – a plodding speaker and middling intellect of the day. Benefitted almost completely from Jefferson and Madison patronage.
Ulysses Grant – Despite his reputation as Lincoln’s top Civil War general, he was an unimpressive thinker and failed farmer. He was largely an accidental soldier. Was the beneficiary of immense blind luck. Presidency plagued by scandal due to hands-off approach.
Benjamin Harrison
Gerald Ford – An accidental president and unimpressive thinker and speaker. Prone to misspeaking.

Other Notables:

George Washington
Middle of the pack. His physical stature, quiet confidence, and blind luck largely drove his success.

Andrew Jackson
Toward the bottom. A frontiersman with little formal education, he did not distinguish himself in speech or writing. Ruled through intimidation, not with power of thought.

Herbert Hoover
Middle of the pack. Downplayed warning signs of Great Depression. Paralyzed, unable to make big decisions.

Franklyn Roosevelt
Middle of the pack. Despite his larger than life persona, he was mostly the beneficiary of wealth, privilege, and good political instincts. Depended largely on the intelligence of others.

Harry Truman
Middle of the pack. The quintessential everyman was a failed farmer and retailer. He was the beneficiary of the democratic political machine of the day. Thrust into the spotlight by happenstance, not intelligence. But highly regarded as a great president. Able to make tough decisions.

Dwight Eisenhower
Toward the top. A first-rate military mind who nevertheless tended toward intellectual laziness later in life. Widely accepted as a good, but not great president.

Lyndon Johnson
Middle of the pack. Not highly educated or known for deep thinking or introspection. The quintessential political animal.

Richard Nixon
Toward the top. Accepted as a strategic and deep thinker but made the mistake of trusting in others too much. Another political animal, second only to Johnson.

Ronald Reagan
Toward the bottom. Not highly educated or respected as a deep thinker. He was second only to FDR in positive political instincts. Nevertheless, accepted as a good to great president.

George HW Bush
Beneficiary of wealth, upbringing, and a political family. Not known for his speaking or writing capabilities.

Barack Obama
Toward the top. Is verbally eloquent, fluent, and has the ability to inspire and motivate. Constitutional scholar.

Donald Trump
Either crazy like a fox or least intelligent president ever. History will have to judge.

King Trump

By Gary Bennett

The following ditty is sung to the tune of Steve Martin’s 1977 smash hit King Tut. Our favorite president is in the starring role, of course. Apologies to Mr. Martin, one of my all-time favorites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYbavuReVF4

King Trump

Now when he ran for pres’dent,
He never thought he’d win
Just an infomercial
To get jobs for all his kin.
(King Trump)
How’d you get so lazy?
(Funky Trump)
Your grammar sure is crazy.
Born in New York City,
Isn’t it a pity.
(King Trump).

(King Trump)
Now, if I’d known
That I could not be King,
(King Trump)
I’d taken all my money
And bought my Vlad a ring.
(King Trump)

Never read the Constitution
(Funky Trump)
Have no fear of retribution!
Born in New York City,
People say I’m not so witty
(King Trump)

(Trump, Trump)
Bullshit by the pile,
(Disco Trump, Trump)
Bill Barr sure loves his style,
(Boss Trump, Trump)
Colludin’ all the while
(Rockin’ Trump, Trump)
His fans shout “Trump Sieg Heil!”

He gave his life for racism!
Orangish tint!
Knows 75 words!

Now, when I vote
Please don’t think that I’m a chump,
(King Trump)
I’d rather chew my arm off,
Then to side with ole king Trump.
(King Trump)

He should’a won an Emmy,
(King Trump)
I’ll sign the checks, please lem’me,
(King Trump)
Movin’ to Miami; shootin’ Lysol in my fanny.

He was born a rich tycoon-a, nasty questions clear the room-a,
(King Trump)

The Latest Pandemic: We Refuse to Learn What History Teaches

By Gary Bennett

3D illustration of Coronavirus, virus which causes SARS and MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

Will we ever learn?

Epidemics, plagues and pandemics have been around since the dawn of time. But over and over, government response has fallen heartbreakingly short. Indeed, keeping its citizens safe from enemies foreign and domestic is the main reason we have government in the first place. But when it comes to disease, governments more often than not downplay the threat posed by this insidious enemy.

Don’t be fooled by the flurry of governmental activity happening now surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19. Daily announcements of more and more drastic measures to mitigate spread of this disease don’t change the fact that we are frantically trying to play catch up. It didn’t have to be this way.

Back on January 22^nd President Trump was asked if he was worried about a coming pandemic based upon what was happening in China. Trump responded, “No. Not at all. We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” Even if you discount his penchant for looking at everything through a political lens and his seemingly intrinsic need to sound authoritative on a topic he obviously knows little about, his carefree stance was horrifying. He held to this position for several precious weeks when we could have been preparing. That point should not be lost. Presidents must measure their words carefully and land on the side of caution, but those are behaviors this president doesn’t much care for.

No president can know everything of course, and we can’t blame them for that. That’s why we have experts in government advising the president on technical and scientific matters regularly. Except in this case we didn’t until very recently.

A week before Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Obama’s homeland security advisor briefed his incoming counterpart on pandemic threats and how to respond to them based on the previous administration’s response to outbreaks of swine flu, Ebola, and Zika. The briefing covered limits to international travel, compromising of supply chains, tanking of the stock market, overburdening of our health care system, and all framed by the premise that a vaccine would not be ready for many months—the same situation we are in today. Falling on deaf ears, National Security Advisor John Bolton eventually shut down the National Security Council’s unit for preparing and responding to pandemics. Then, the new administration’s official in charge of spearheading responses to infectious threats quit and was not replaced. We should not forget that both actions egregiously inhibited our initial national response to COVID-19.

It is no secret—unless you are perpetually affixed to Fox News—that this administration’s response to the latest pandemic has been woefully inadequate, especially in the beginning when it would have made all the difference. But unfortunately, this administration is not alone. One only has to look at the two most virulent international pandemics in modern U.S. history. In both cases we had a chance to lead and mitigate the consequences but fell woefully short: the HIV/AIDS pandemic of 1981 and Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

In 1981 Ronald Regan (R) was in the White House. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit, the Reagan administration’s first reaction was to treat it as a joke. In a new documentary short called When AIDS Was Funny, posted by Vanity Fair, audio of press conferences reveals Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, Larry Speakes, joking about the now well-known HIV/AIDS epidemic and assuring the country that Reagan was doing nothing about it, nor should he be. The administration assured America that the disease could only be slowed by ethical behavior that could not be legislated. The perpetrators of the disease – gay men – would realize this and adopt proper lifestyle changes eventually. How terribly shortsighted this policy was.

History shows this inaction was an undeniable stain on the Reagan presidency. It took deaths by celebrities like Rock Hudson, deaths of thousands of heterosexual Americans, and deaths due to transfusions from tainted blood by children like Ryan White to change Reagan’s mind and get him moving. By the time he finally addressed the crisis in earnest in 1987 – six years after its discovery – 23,000 Americans had died from the disease. To date, 35 million people have died from HIV/AIDS and its complications worldwide. How many would have been spared with more timely, thoughtful and decisive action by the U.S. president, one who did not pander to his yuck-it-up base?

In 1918 the U.S. government badly handled the Spanish flu pandemic, responding to it much as the current administration has to COVID-19. Woodrow Wilson (D) was in the middle of his second term as president. World War I was raging in Europe but prospects of an armistice were growing day by day. When the Spanish flu hit first in New York with a deadliness that few had ever seen, officials downplayed the threat. They were more concerned with keeping up morale for the war effort. That decision proved disastrous. As more deaths occurred, panic spread and people distrusted the government more and more. Americans witnessed scenes reminiscent of the European Black Death they had heard about from stories passed down from their grandparents.

Amazingly, Wilson never released a public statement on the pandemic. Surgeon General Rupert Blue said, “There is no cause for alarm if proper precautions are observed.” Another top health official dismissed it as “ordinary influenza by another name.” Of course, it was not. Spanish flu had a mortality rate of 2 percent — much higher than seasonal influenza strains, and similar to some early estimates about COVID-19. By 1942 when a vaccine was finally licensed, 675,000 Americans had died and over 50 million worldwide,

In a chilling parallel to today, if a newspaper reported the truth, the government threatened it. The Jefferson County Union in Wisconsin warned about the seriousness of Spanish flu on Sept. 27, 1918. Within days, an Army general began prosecution against the paper under a wartime sedition act, claiming it had “depressed morale.” In an ironic twist of fate, President Wilson even contracted the disease, only to eventually recover and be felled by a stroke a few months later. Historians agree that his months-long recuperation from Spanish flu hurt negotiations to end World War I.

We will get through the COVID-19 pandemic like we have all the others. People will suffer and many will die, but this is not the end of the world. Most biblical scholars can assure you of that. We can only hope that this and future administrations will finally learn the lessons that history tries to teach us over and over again: take it seriously and prepare as soon as possible. As soon as we recover from this disaster, we must insist that government prepare for the next one, which is sure to come. Politicians must listen.

FSK Lions Step in to Provide Medical Equipment

By Gary Bennett

Ellen Bennett displays medical equipment available for lending through the FSK Lions Club.

As seen in the Frederick News-Post Feb. 19, 2020.

In August, 2019 when Frederick nonprofit Federated Charities announced their intention of shuttering their free used medical equipment program (Local Lions Clubs fill void, July 11, 2019), Francis Scott Key Lions Club knew they had to help.

“With a motto of ‘we serve’, there was never a question of our club not stepping up and helping out,” said Gary Bennett, an FSK Lions Club member who took notice of Federated Charities announcement in the News-Post and took it upon himself to make something happen. “This is a needed program that just had to continue in some shape or form.”

As the July 11 news article reported, several other Lions Clubs in the county and surrounding area also provide free medical equipment to all who ask, but none of the three clubs serving the greater Frederick area had participated to this point.

“The need is there,” according to Gary’s wife Ellen Bennett, who is a retired hospice and long-term care nurse and fellow Lion. “Many folks in our community just can’t afford the medical equipment they need, and they fall through the cracks because their health insurance won’t cover this needed equipment. We’ll lend it for free.” Ellen Bennett will serve as volunteer program manager for the FSK Lions program.

“We will serve as a conduit for those with medical equipment to share to get it into the hands of those who need it. It’s really not much different from a lending library,” said Ellen. We will ensure that all equipment is clean, disinfected, and in good working order when it is picked up.

The FSK used medical equipment program will provide wheelchairs, knee scooters, walkers, rollators, bedside commodes, shower chairs, crutches and canes. Those with equipment no longer needed can contact the Bennetts through the regional Lions Clubs website at https://mdlions22w.org/. Just find the tab “Medical Equipment” and then FSK Lions Club. Citizens needing equipment can use the same web address to get help.

Other Lions Clubs serving the immediate area with used medical equipment include Boonsboro, Funkstown, Hagerstown, Libertytown/Unionville, Mount Airy, New Windsor, Smithsburg, Taneytown, Union Bridge, Williamsport, and more. Potential clients are encouraged to contact the Lions Club closest to them.

For the time being, the FSK program will operate out of Gary and Ellen Bennett’s garage in the Ballenger Creek area. “Trying to find an appropriate and permanent home for such a needed program is more difficult that you might imagine,” according to Gary. “I’ve contacted numerous storage facilities and other likely targets such as other nonprofits to no avail,” said Gary. “I know the Frederick community wants to help so if any of your readers know of a facility or can provide one of their own, we would like to hear about it. We need about 300 square feet. We don’t mind giving up our garage for such a worthy cause, but it’s not a good long-term solution for us or the Lions.”

Indeed, finding an appropriate storage facility for the medical equipment is what has caused many Lions Clubs, including the Frederick and Yellow Springs clubs, to not participate. “Lions Clubs serving smaller communities that tend to have their own buildings are more able to provide a service like this,” said FSK Lions Club president Duane Voitel. “We are proud of the Bennetts for stepping up but we need the community to also help us. We don’t mind putting in the volunteer hours to coordinate something like this, but we just don’t have the funds or land to sit our own storage facility on. We’d certainly like to have something more centrally located in downtown Frederick so we can best serve the folks who need it the most. The International Lions Club does provide its own insurance.”

According to Gary Bennett, anyone needing equipment can contact them through the FSK Lions club and have it the next day. Recipients are expected to pick up the equipment themselves, but in certain situations, the Lions can help with that, too. Recipients can use the equipment for as long as they need but are expected to eventually return it so the Lions can lend it again.

“Elin Ross with Federated Charities has been invaluable in helping us set up this program,” said Gary. “They’ve provided valuable consultation and advice and a waiver document that we are using. We’d also like to thank Jim Ensor with the Libertytown/Unionville Lions Club and Dennis Ahalt with the Mount Airy Lions Club for helping us build our inventory and Frederick’s Senior Services Division and Frederick Health Hospice who are helping to spread the word about this program.”

Recently celebrating in 60^th anniversary, Francis Scott Key Lions Club has been serving the Frederick Community since 1959. They support a number of local, national and international charities and service projects including vision screenings for children in Head Start, daycare, private and afterschool programs, providing Leader Dogs to blind and low-sight individuals, and providing eyeglasses to those in need. They are part of Lions Clubs International, the world’s largest service club organization with over 1.45 million members in over 200 countries. If interested in joining FSK Lions Club, contact info@fsklions.org, www.fsklions.org, (240) 626-1511 or attend one of our biweekly meetings the second or fourth Tuesday of each month at Capital Crave and Frederick VFW on the Golden Mile. Dinner is at 6:00 pm and meeting at 6:30 pm.

Look Out, Virginia — There’s a New Sheriff in Town and She Doesn’t Much Like Guns

By Gary Bennett

It never ceases to amaze me how much gun owners care about their guns.

When I try to think of something that I enjoy so much that if it were curtailed in any way, I would take off for the state capital with my compatriots to lodge a protest, I come up empty. But that is exactly what gun rights supporters did in Richmond on January 20 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, no less.

You certainly have to give them credit. What the gun rights supporters did in Richmond was undeniably impressive. Over 20,000 made their way to the Virginia state capital from all over the country to voice their displeasure with the gun safety measures working their way through the newly Democrat-controlled legislature. That is democracy at its best.

But why did so many have to ruin it by dressing up in fatigues and carrying their pistols on their hips and long guns across their chests? This unfortunate attempt at intimidation and bullying took away from what was otherwise a sound message: please don’t infringe upon our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Despite organizers’ pleas for demonstrators to wear regular clothes so as to not appear to be gun-crazy lunatics, I’m afraid that is exactly what happened. The temptation to put on a menacing show proved too great. Thank goodness the other side stayed away, focusing instead on working the phones to promote their point of view. One could easily imagine another Charlottesville had the two sides been toe to toe in Richmond. And kudos to the state police who proactively rounded up three American terrorists bent on doing harm at the protest.

Of course, 20,000 protesters pale in comparison to 2.4 million Virginians who voted in large part for increased gun safety in the 2019 state election, thereby flipping the legislature blue. The new silent majority in Virginia spoke and spoke loudly: there is a new sheriff in town and you’ll now be checking your guns at the door.

Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature made a mockery of the governor’s call last fall to discuss gun safety in a special session by ending the proceedings in 90 minutes. Students of government and history could easily see the blue wave coming after that happened. Voters in the middle on both sides tend not to put up with dereliction of duty like this, and they didn’t.

You can say that the rich treasure trove of progressive voters in Northern Virginia overwhelmed the rest of the state, and you would be partially right, but the truth is the blue wave hit all parts of the state. Anyway, aren’t Northern Virginians are just as much Virginians as those in the rural western parts of the state? How sad that many on the right called for Northern Virginia to be annexed into Washington, DC because of this change in political fortune.

There has also been a rush of over 110 communities in rural Virginia to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. A few counties even entertained the idea of leaving the state for the greener pastures of gun-loving, ruby red West Virginia, which is surprisingly constitutional. These developments were funny but sad at the same time.

Having their community declared a Second Amendment sanctuary may make gun enthusiasts feel better, but such a declaration has no force of law, just like declaring a city an immigration sanctuary has no force of law. It is a waste of time and confuses people into thinking they can ignore gun laws coming out of Richmond. Nothing could be further from the truth and some people will unfortunately find out the hard way.

Besides the “I want it my way or I’m leaving” mentality, what bothers me most about many gun owners is that they only see the perceived infringement of their own rights. What about the rights of the rest of us to feel safe in our communities? What about the families torn apart by gun violence?

We know you are not the perpetrators, but most gun owners never seem to offer any solutions or seem willing to even join in the discussion. It would be so refreshing to hear gun owners say, “Hey, they’re right. This is our responsibility. We have to do something. We can’t go on this way.” Sadly, that never happens. No, they are happy to blame mental illness, ignoring the fact that only 23 percent of shooters have such a diagnosis according to the CDC. So, please see this political ploy for what it is: deflection. Once the furor of the latest bout of gun violence dies down, meaningful mental health system reform is quickly forgotten and on we move.

There is no doubt this new political reality must be very unsettling to rural Virginians. I lived in rural Southwestern Virginia for many years before moving to Frederick in 1988 so I get that. Gun ownership and sportsmanship is a way of life. I think most reasonable people understand and appreciate that. The good news is that no one is coming to take away Virginians’ guns. That is a scare tactic. Don’t fall for it. No mainstream politician is even suggesting such a thing. Even if they did, it would be impossible to implement. What do gun owners think – that a small band of FBI agents or state police officers will descend on their communities house by house to confiscate guns? Please.

Let’s be equally clear that regulation is not infringement. The Second Amendment says the right of the people to keep and bear arms “shall not be infringed,” not that it “shall not be regulated.” Even the first four words of the amendment “a well-regulated militia” demands regulation. The Supreme Court has upheld the Second Amendment as pertaining to ordinary citizens (“the people”) and not state national guards as many will argue, but that doesn’t make the Second Amendment absolute. None of our rights are absolute. The courts have upheld time and again that all amendments are subject to reasonable regulation.

As much as I might like to, I can’t make up and publish vicious lies about my worst enemy designed to harm their name without risking dire consequences. Free speech is regulated but that doesn’t infringe upon my right to exercise it reasonably. Likewise, requiring some training before a person can carry a concealed weapon, requiring a universal background check before any gun can be purchased, and limiting handgun purchases to one a month (who are these people?) infringes on no one’s right to bear arms.

The NRA has done a wildly successful job of convincing gun owners that if you give just a little bit, the government will come back for more. History shows time and again that is not the case. Once the party in power gets what they initially want, they back off and move on to other things. The rash of gun regulations now making their way through the Virginia legislature is due to pent up demand and the suicidal policy of the last legislature to not consider any gun regulation whatsoever. That is not where most Virginians are. If the previous legislature had governed from the middle-right on gun regulation instead of the hard right, I believe they would still be in power. I also believe the Democrats are making the same mistake right now from the left. They are pushing for too much, too quickly. Republicans will have an excellent opportunity to make this case to voters later this year. We are a 50/50 country and Virginia is a 50/50 state that changes legislatures every single year. When will we learn to govern that way?

This may come as a surprise to many and the fanatics will deny it but most gun owners support reasonable regulation. A recent NPR-PBS Newshour-Marist poll shows that 89 percent of Americans support enhanced background checks, including 84 percent of Republicans. And, according to a Fox News poll, two-thirds of Americans support an assault weapons ban and nearly three-fourths support a national “red flag” law. Yes, Fox News.

Unfortunately, you will hear the exact opposite from the NRA. The NRA claims 5 million members, but as a former association executive, I can assure you that number is probably inflated. Even if it is not, there are 80 million American gun owners. To say the NRA represents the gun-owning public is absolutely wrong and proven in national poll after national poll that examines gun issues. So please, don’t be taken in by their propaganda. We can have our guns and regulate them, too.

Gary Bennett is a political scientist, historian, and freelance writer living in Frederick, MD.