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Norbert Bufka

Author  ·  Historian

Blog posts : "Politics"

Dangerous times

We are living in the most dangerous time in the history of the United States since 1860 when southern states decided to secede from the union. President Abraham Lincoln rose to the challenge but it cost the lives of more than 600,000 americans in the bloodiest war of our history. Today we are facing…

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“A rigged election ” is fake news

Donald Trump continues to do what he does best: create chaos and diversion. He has maintained that the election was rigged, but this is not new of course. He claimed the 2016 election was rigged, that he actually won the popular vote then and that he won it again in 2020. He is relying on the old ad…

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10 Lessons from the Election 2020

The 2020 election is over. We must learn several important lessons from this election.

  1. If we are to continue as a democracy we must face our differences and polarization with a bond of love for our country and each other.
  2. Our republic will continue only if all citizens are allowed to take an…

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What is a Faithful Citizen?

 

Overview

Since 1975, the United States Conference of Catholic bishops (USCCB) has been issuing a document every four years to help Catholic citizens be responsible voters. It is called Forming Conscience for Faithful Citizenship. It can be downloaded here:  https://www.usccb.org/issues-and…

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A Lesson from History

I recently read Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler which he wrote in 1924.  He had two fundamental beliefs: the first is that the German (Aryan) race is superior to all others and must be preserved in its purity for the world to advance. His second belief was that the Jews were responsible for everything w…

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Save the US Postal System

The Continental Congress in 1775 established a postal system which has been an integral part of our tradition and culture. It is now under serious attack by our President, who does not want it to deliver the millions of mail in ballots this fall.  In other words, he opposes the post office for his o…

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Civil service under siege

in the first century of our country’s existence, the president made many appointments as favors to friends. The assassination of James Garfield in 1881 by a disappointed office seeker, resulted in the creation of civil service under the Pendleton Act of 1883. After a few years of adjusting to the ch…

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Catholic voters: do not be deceived by Trump!

After the 2016 election, I learned that 40% of Catholics cat their vote for Donal Trump. I was sick to my stomach. I could not believe that my fellow Catholics could be so off track. After watching Trump in office for over three years, I thought they would come to their senses, but alas! a poll rel…

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Joe Biden is the best candidate for President

Joe Biden was US Senator for many years and Vice President for eight years. He has experience working with people across the aisle and foreign leaders. He knows how government works.

 

Brian Burch of CatholicVote sent an email blasting Biden for his lack of policy initiatives, supporting abor…

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The firing of Maguire should motivate voters

 

Ever since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I was wondering when the Republicans would have enough courage to stand up to him. Each time he did something more offensive, I wondered if this would be the act that spurred them onto courage.

Some advisors did stand up to him only to find thems…

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We are living in the “best” and “worst” of times

Charles Dickins began A Tale of Two Cities with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is a good way to describe our current political life in the United States. Democracy is alive and well in this ongoing experiment in self-government begun in 1776. Women are gathering in pr…

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Impeachment of President Trump

Impeachment of President Trump

Impeachment is the formal accusation of “treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeaners”by a public official. At the federal level this is reserved to the House of Representatives. Geral Ford said that impeachavble offenses are whatever the House says they are. So P…

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Bishops have duped Catholics

The United States Conference of Catholic bishops(USCCB) , has sold its moral authority and credibility to the right-wing politicians in this country. We are paying for that with a president who is the opposite of moral leadership. The situation is reminiscent of the Catholic Church and other Christi…

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Jesus was a socialist - the disciples were communists

In Matthew 25, Jesus urges the people to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsy, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison. In Acts 2:44-45, the disciples “had all things in common”.

It is not a good idea to impose modern…

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New Year's Resolution

It is traditional to make some resolutions for a new year and it is also traditional to break them before thened of January. There is one resolution however that I urge you to make and keep. This is a very important election year.

President Donald Trump is running for reelection and the Republica…

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1984 has arrived

George Orwell’s book, 1984 became public on June 8, 1949. It depicted a country run by Bib Brother and the Party. In the book this was a leftist organization and all readers thought that the threat of government control would be the product of the political left. Orwell described a country in whic…

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Our president is mentally unstable

In 2016, I wrote in an op-ed column in the Midland Daily News that Trump was unfit for office. My claim was not based on his policies but rather his mental state and character. He was unable to focus on anything longer than a few minutes, he seldom read anything, and he did not listen to advice from…

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US in Grave Danger

We have a president who is totally about himself, hates anyone who disagrees with him, demeans immigrants and others whom he dislikes, befriends our enemies at the expense of our allies, is morally corrupt, and is a consummate liar.

I cannot believe anything he says nor trust him about anything t…

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Best of times, worst of times

Charles Dickins began A Tale of Two Cities with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is a good way to describe our current political life in the United States. Democracy is alive and well in this ongoing experiment in self-government begun in 1776. Women are gathering in pr…

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Is Donald Trump fit to be President?

David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote that Donald Trump is an affront to basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship.” I will explore in this column why Brooks made such a bold statement.

Words

Words are the building blocks of communication, whether in personal conve…

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