Confederate Flag & Maryland's Current Support of the Confederacy

   

Many are happy that South Carolina government officials are saying it's time to remove the Confederate battle flag (it was never the flag of the Confederate government) from its Capitol grounds, that a Republican leader of the Mississippi legislature is saying it's time to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state flag, and that Walmart is saying it's time to remove items with the Confederate battle flag from its stores.

If this continues, the only state in the country that will still glorify the Confederacy and the institution of slavery for which it stood will be Maryland. Maryland?

Our state song, embedded in legislation, is "Maryland! My Maryland!" That title sounds innocent, but the statute includes the words to this nasty song.

In its very first line, Maryland My Maryland tells our citizens that “The despot's heel is on thy shore.” The “despot” being referred to is Abraham Lincoln, who asked loyal Americans to come to the aid of the U.S. government against threats from the rebel Confederate government to attack Washington D.C..

Then it urges our citizens to “Avenge the patriotic gore, That flecked the streets of Baltimore." This "patriotic gore" refers to American soldiers defending themselves when Baltimore gangs attacked the soldiers who were peacefully marching from one train station in Baltimore to another. This song is cheering for the Baltimorians who attacked and killed U.S. soldiers who were defending our county.

It goes on to tell Maryland, “Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong." This refers to the “dalliance” of delaying from seceding from the United States and joining in making war against the United States to support slavery. It goes on, “Virginia should not call in vain,” meaning Maryland should join Virginia in making war against the United States. If this isn’t clear enough, we then hear, “Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,” so Maryland’s state song is making it clear that Maryland should make war upon the United States.

And it ends with, “Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!" The northern scum referred to here is the United States army, Abraham Lincoln, and the United States government.

It is an embarrassment for Maryland to still have this state song. Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, years ago repealed its state song that idealized the culture of the old Confederacy, and South Carolina is doing the right thing now by removing the Confederate flag from its Capitol grounds. Even in Mississippi some state legislators are making a move to remove the Confederate battle flag from its current state flag. Maryland should not be left behind as the only state that still glorifies the Confederacy, treason, and the fight to preserve slavery.

The Maryland General Assembly should adopt a law repealing Maryland Code, General Provisions, Title 7.  Emblems; Designations; Commemorative Days and Months, Subtitle 3.  Additional Emblems; Designations, Part II.  Arts, Culture, and Food, Md. Ann. Code art. GP, § 7-318  (2014)

The General Assembly could then provide for a contest, as Virginia has done, to welcome all Maryland citizens to prepare original songs that celebrate the beauty of our state, the spirit of our people, and our exciting history. That would certainly get a lot of good publicity and excite our people with this contest for a new state song for Maryland.

Council Committees Consider OLO Report on CCOC

Montgomery County's OLO (Office of Legislative Oversight) produced a report in March 2015 on the CCOC (Commission on Common Ownership Communities), and today two County Council committees (Public Safety and Planning, Housing, and Economic Development) held a hearing about that report.

The report makes many conclusions based on a survey it made. As pointed out by Council Member Sidney Katz, there are about 340,000 MoCo citizens living in COC's (common ownership communities) but the OLO report based is survey on 61 responses to its survey, which was only sent to 211 people suggested by the CCOC. That type of survey is useless.

Another issue discussed was whether the CCOC should remain under the Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) or should be transferred to the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA). The OLO report recommended moving it, but OCP and DHCA didn't seem to have strong feelings about this.

The real issue seems to be whether the CCOC is focusing on what it is supposed to, according to the MoCo Charter and regulations and the desires of the County Executive and Council. It is supposed to focus on education of COC's but according to the CCOC it is spending a lot of its time on hearings. However, Council President George Leventhal pointed out that the OLO report says only about 12% of the cases that come to the CCOC go to hearings. This led to what appeared to me to be confusing responses from staff present at the hearing.

Two Interesting Events Yesterday

   

There were two very interesting MoCo political events yesterday.

The first was an early meeting of the Rockville Mid-County Democratic Breakfast Club, now led by the hard-working and very capable Dolly Kildee.

The speaker was Marc Elrich, who presented a very thoughtful talk about the MoCo budget and what it means for life in our county. 

There are, as we all know, many budget problems resulting from a slow recovery from the recession of 2008, the Wynne case decision by the Supreme Court, and other things. 

Council Member Elrich explained in detail how we still have the ability to determine what kind of a life we'll have in our county by making smart decisions about the county budget, such as helping renters, trying to get detailed audits for the county and especially the school system, and in other ways. It was a very interesting morning session.

In the evening, there was a discussion at the Council room about public financing of MoCo elections. It's a complicated issue and the details are still a little murky, but hopefully regulations that are almost ready to be made public will clarify the issue. Those of us who support stopping the use of huge sums of money to win elections look forward to success for this program.

Candidates for MCDCC

There are 2 vacancies on MCDCC, the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, the group that is in charge of the Democratic Party in our county. One vacancy is for District 20 and the other is At-Large, meaning anyone in MoCo can run for it. There are 8 At-Large positions on MCDCC and 2 for each of the 8 legislative districts.

Vacancies in MCDCC are filled by vote of the remaining members, and the vote to fill these vacancies is scheduled for June 9 at 7:30pm at the MCDCC headquarters in Kensington.

So far, as far as I have seen there are 3 active Democrats who have publicly declared that they would like to fill the MCDCC At Large vacancy. They are Tony Puca, Hamza Khan, and Dave Kunes. In my opinion all of them are excellent candidates who could help the MoCo Democratic Party.

Maryland Loses the Wynne Case in the U.S. Supreme Court

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the "Wynne" case. The decision will cost Maryland and its counties hundreds of millions of dollars now and long into the future. It is a fiscal disaster for the state and counties.

Maryland has a State tax on income and also a County tax on income. When some of that income comes from money earned by Maryland residents outside the State, Maryland gives the taxpayers a credit on the State tax but not the County tax. The Supreme Court ruled today that this is unconstitutional, a violation of the "negative" or "dormant" Commerce Clause of the federal Constitution.

The basic reason is that, according to the Supreme Court's majority opinion today, the federal Constitution prohibits states from taxing residents in a way that impedes interstate commerce. Maryland's tax scheme made it more economical to earn money in-state rather than out-of-state, and the Court would not allow that.

This decision is estimated to cost Maryland about $200 million in refunds for taxes collected unconstitutionally in the past, and over $40 per year from now on. Montgomery County is estimated to lose about $115 in refunds and about $24 million per year in the future. These are huge losses, and it might make a raise in property taxes unavoidable.

The Supreme Court decision was 5-4, but with an unusual mix, unlike the usual liberals vs. conservatives. The majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito and it was joined by Chief Justice Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer (!), and Sonia Sotomeyer (!). The main dissent, which would have helped Maryland, was written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and was joined in by Antonin Scalia (!) and Elena Kagen.

Maryland's Primary Date in 2016 is Now Officially April 23

Today the Governor signed legislation that officially changes the date of next year's primary election in Maryland to Tuesday, April 26, 2016. 

This means the date for candidates to file to be on the primary election ballot will be Wednesday, February 3, 2016.

A Very Interesting Day: NOW, Van Hollen - Edwards Debate, Newseum Commemoration of 50 Years Since the Voting Rights Act

Today there were some very interesting activites.

First, the Maryland Chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women) held its annual meeting. There was a report about work on bills in the Maryland General Assembly this session and then election of new officers. It was a good meeting.

Then Maryland NOW held what was probably the first debate between candidates for the Maryland seat in the U.S. Senate, Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards. It was very interesting. 

Things got a little nasty at one point when Edwards said, as she had before but not with Van Hollen sitting close by, that she would protect Social Security while Van Hollen had been willing to compromise on it in Congress. Van Hollen replied that he had always protected Social Security and gave details to prove his point.

This evening, at the Newseum there was a program put on by Moment magazine and the Newseum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The moderator was Steve Roberts and the panel included Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, former Congressman Barney Frank, Julian Bond, and others. 

They talked about memories of their roles in the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960's and concluded with a moving statement by Julian Bond about what the right to vote meant to freed slaves in the 1800's and what it means today. As a result of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court the ability of Americans to vote is more difficult rather than less so, and this is the opposite of what we should be seeking.

The Newseum and Moment magazine did a terrific job.