In celebration of Maternal Health Month, a community baby shower was held at Olde Towne Medical & Dental Center. The event was hosted by the DEI Committee of League of Women Voters-Williamsburg Area, the Political Action Committee of the York-James City-Williamsburg NAACP, Birth in Color and the Omicron Xi Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.

Tracey Ray, YJCW NAACP political action chair, led the planning committee to host the July 17 event. The event included information sessions on pregnancy health and wellness from Dr. Amber Price, president of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, doula support, car seat safety, postpartum self-care, fatherhood programs and community resources.

The community baby shower hosted 15 vendors and organizations supporting the Williamsburg, James City County and York County communities. Families were able to enjoy kid-friendly activities, lunch and lots of fun! Each expectant mom received gift bags that included diapers, wipes, the baby’s first book to encourage reading and several other items. Raffles included a car seat, Pack & Play, Booster Seat, nursing pillow and several other gifts.

“The event was a great success with 12 moms plus 1-2 guests each and eight siblings (who were entertained by volunteers) as well as multiple organizations that provided relevant resources,” Ray said. “We want to thank Anthem Health Keepers Plus, Sentara and the Prescription Shoppe for being sponsors for the event. And a special thank you to Aaron Thompson, executive director/CEO of Olde Towne Medical & Dental Center, and his staff for being amazing community partners and generous with their time and financial support.”

Becky Sipos, League of Women Voters-Williamsburg area

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Policy perspectives

Lou Hrkman provided some interesting perspectives on energy policy in a recent opinion column (“Four pillars to support energy policies in Virginia,” July 27, 2024). I found many, but not all of his thoughts, helpful. I agree we should stop doing what isn’t working, but I disagree with his blanket discounting of the value of leading the marketplace to certain behaviors. Tax incentives like deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest deductions, or even accelerated business investment depreciation, have a long history of guiding marketplace behaviors.

But more troublesome are the author’s sweeping and hostile political comments. Consider the following two statements (among others):

“Today’s Democrat policy prescriptions are not only ineffective, but can succeed only in Communist China, not in free democratic societies.” “Republicans are for the possible. Democrats are against everything!”

Mr. Hrkman’s inclusion of strongly felt political beliefs serve only to minimize the credibility and value of his otherwise interesting piece. Rather than invite discussion and compromise, he appears to prefer division and polarization. I suggest the entire country, irrespective of political leanings, has an interest in this issue.

Greg Stringer, James City County

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Election has electrified country

Joe Biden’s selfless act of passing the torch to Kamala Harris has saved us from Donald Trump and his disaster. The reaction to this has electrified the country like I’ve never seen before. It was instantaneous. The cloud has lifted. Trump’s reaction basically has been, “Hey, he can’t do that …”

The polls have said it all for a couple of years: the people don’t want an old man either way. OK, Joe did exactly that: Trump just got trumped by Biden’s selfless act. Now, Trump is the oldest bumbling fool spewing incoherent garbage in the race.

As I recall, the polls have held that 70% of people didn’t want either Biden or Trump because they were too old. This might be the same proportion of the vote against Trump and for Harris. This is not going to be a close election. It’s going to be a landslide. Let’s see: all the women (50% of the voters) and half the men (25% of the voters) means Harris will get 75% of the vote.

Now, before anyone issues any threats of violence when Trump doesn’t win, keep in mind who the commander-in-chief of the military will be on Jan. 20, 2025, who just might send Seal Team 13 to arrest Trump for making threats of violence.

Here’s the best part: All of this will lead to Donald J. Trump being convicted of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and the theft of classified documents and will be imprisoned forever.

Zan L. Cartwright, James City County

The paintings appeared on social media in 2020 in support of leftist and rightist causes, and now two years later, they’ve become ubiquitous on social platforms.

The four paintings by Rockwell were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of Union address. In his speech, the president argued that what was at stake was the defense of four universal freedoms that Americans take for granted: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Although Roosevelt’s words and thoughts were inspirational, they were too abstract to a large segment of the population. Rockwell, a well-known illustrator for magazines, proposed to transform them into images that a large populace could understand.

First, he offered to undertake the task in collaboration with two government agencies but was rejected. Finally, the editor of The Saturday Evening Post was the one who saw the potential of the paintings and commissioned Rockwell to create them.

Rockwell’s interpretation of Roosevelt’s’ speech appeared on the magazine covers, and the images soon were everywhere.

According to contemporary press reports, “The government put them on postage stamps, displayed them in an exhibition as part of its nationwide war-bond drive and printed them on posters that helped raise $133 million for the war effort.”

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, the deputy director and chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, home of the “Four Freedoms” paintings, is quoted saying: “Rockwell’s oeuvre was intended to distill and quickly spread a mass message. Many Americans did not register what the meaning of those freedoms truly were and found Roosevelt’s speech abstract. What Rockwell wanted to do was to envision them in a way that a large populace could understand.”

In fact, Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” had an extraordinary appeal on a mass of people living behind the Iron Curtain. Even during the darkest days of the Cold War and Stalinist terror, the images of the painting surfaced.

Significantly, many of the history books used in schools in Eastern Europe featured Rockwell’s images, although they were interpreted according to the Communist doctrine.

Thus, I was familiar with the “Four Freedoms” paintings long before my arrival to America in 1958 as a refugee from Communist Czechoslovakia.

Once my wife and I settled in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum was high on our list.

Always on the look-out for a good story, we checked into the iconic Red Lion Inn. I was told Rockwell often dined there and used the features of local residents in his illustrations.

A local man informed me, confidentially, that some of the people portrayed in the “Four Freedoms” paintings were actually Stockbridge residents, although Rockwell moved and settled in Stockbridge decades after the paintings were created.

During my several visits to Stockbridge and the Rockwell Museum, I failed to stumble into an “exclusive” story that would have added to the Rockwell legend.

However, the “Four Freedoms” paintings remain the images to me that best describe America as the “Shining City on the Hill.”

Frank Shatz is a Williamsburg resident. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” the compilation of his selected columns. The book is available at the Bruton Parish Shop and Amazon.com.

Like most Democrat front groups, they are sorely misinformed. Virginia Republicans, on the other hand, should pursue a much better path. I believe there are four pillars to support Republican energy policies in Virginia:

1. Realism. Stop doing what isn’t working. The world needs to follow the U.S. example of how the U.S. became the world leader in reducing emissions. Net zero can only be achieved when technology advances over time, it is accepted by the public, the new technology is affordable, and market forces — not government mandates — lead the way.

Democrats always measure success by how much they spend, never by results. There is no comprehensive report published by a credible governmental organization that concludes net zero will be achieved by 2050. Today’s Democrat policy prescriptions are not only ineffective, but can succeed only in Communist China, not in free democratic societies.

2. Any energy transition will take a long time. You can’t change a worldwide energy system that took 150 years to build and change overnight. We can only move as quickly as engineering, physics, economics and science allow.

The public needs to hear from industry and business leaders that any transition will take a long time; most importantly, it needs to hear it from the federal government. Weening the world off fossil fuels in the near term is pure folly. This idea was developed by radical environmentalists to justify keeping it in the ground.

3. American leadership on the world stage. The world needs Republican leadership, not the European Union, China or the Democrats, for they have failed. The United States is the world’s largest energy producer and has decreased emissions more than the next five countries combined.

The U.S. is the natural leader to show the world how it can be done. Natural gas is responsible for 58% of all emission reductions in the United States; natural gas reduced more emissions than renewables. The same can be accomplished worldwide by U.S. liquified natural gas exports. Dictating and limiting developing nations’ energy options is the modern era’s colonialism. It’s a moral imperative to end climate colonialism advocated by the global elite and forced upon the developing world. Leading a worldwide effort of an “all of the above” strategy will benefit developing nations and the U.S.

4. Innovation and technology. America has always solved complex societal problems. We have a proven playbook that works; it’s called technology and innovation. Republicans are for the possible. Democrats are against everything!

Solutions need to be affordable in both Indiana and India. If we want true change, governmental programs are not the answer; the solution is unleashing entrepreneurs and allowing the market to adapt and innovate. Worldwide use of coal reached a record in 2024, and the U.S Department of Energy has been developing near zero emissions coal plants of the future. We should export this technology. If we are to reduce both domestic and global emissions, it will require innovative technologies that not only reduce emissions but are also affordable, reliable and clean.

Lou Hrkman is the former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. He lives in James City County.

While most people are aware that the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, this historic legislation actually covers much more. The act has 11 sections called titles. Each title was aimed to provide access to help level economic playing fields. The five most far-reaching titles outlaw discrimination in voter registration requirements, public accommodations (i.e. restaurants, theaters and hotels), access to public property and facilities, public schools and colleges, and employment.

Civil rights leaders hoped that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would lead to racial equality and equity for Black, Indigenous and people of color, also known as BIPOC, and women. While there has been progress during the past 60 years, challenges still exist that have caused new generations to continue King’s fight for racial and economic justice.

BIPOC and women have made great strides in government, business, education and religious sectors. In 2020, Kamala Harris broke a glass ceiling when she became the first woman and woman of color elected as vice president of the United States. Today she is on the path to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

Recently, Harvard University researchers found a rise in income mobility among Black people after examining census and tax records covering more than 50 million children over two generations.

However, a large wealth gap still exists. Black people have average incomes substantially less than their white counterparts. In the new book, “Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap,” co-authors Ebony Reed and Louise Story indicate that income mobility did not close the wealth gap. “The Black-white wealth gap still stands at 15 cents on the dollar, where it stood in the 1950s.” The book attributes this to economic discrimination embedded in America’s financial systems, which dates back to slavery and Jim Crow-era practices of redlining, unfair housing covenants, and racial and employment discrimination.

When we look at slavery from an economic perspective, it was designed to generate income and wealth for enslavers that could be passed down to their descendants, while keeping the enslaved and their descendants perpetually impoverished. Old money and houses passed down from slavery still benefit some white people today.

But there is potential to help level economic playing fields and heal racial wounds by truth-telling, reparative acts and increasing diversity and equity in the workplace.

In 2021, Lucy McCauley inherited the Wilmington, North Carolina, home of her great-grandfather. When she learned that his actions helped lead to the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, she sold the house and used the proceeds from the sale in a reparative way. She started a scholarship fund for African American students.

In 2022, Donna Melcher began a journey of racial healing that brought her to Williamsburg. Determined to look her family ties to slavery squarely in the face without whitewashing the uncomfortable parts, she stood before a crowd of more than 50 people, apologized for the harm her ancestors had caused and took tangible, reparative steps to make amends. “One day I will be somebody’s ancestor and I want to be the ancestor that got it right,” Melcher said.

In 2020, 56 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, Citigroup Bank conducted a study to put a price tag on racial discrimination over a 20-year period. The cost was a staggering $16 trillion! The good news from the study was that the U.S. economy could swell by $5 trillion over a five-year period by addressing the wage gap and promoting diversity within management ranks at banks and businesses.

When we come together to build a more diverse and just community, we all win!

Laura D. Hill is the executive director of the Virginia Racial Healing Institute, which manages Coming to the Table-Historic Triangle. Learn more about her work at varacialhealinginstitute.org.

There has been much discussion about rezoning issues recently. For example, there are proposals to rezone in the Powhatan Creek watershed, which I think is a very bad idea. It would damage the environment of this beautiful natural area and would lower the value of local houses and lots.

When a developer wants to build more housing and asks for a rezoning, many people are resistant. And rightly so, because rezoning violates the assumptions we had when we bought our houses: that the surrounding neighborhood would stay somewhat constant.

Citizens expect a certain amount of stability in zoning laws and comprehensive plans. This is why some proposed zoning variances are bad ideas. They are not being done for the common good. Repeated polls and letters to the editor show our citizens want to preserve the county’s open spaces and keep the road traffic to a manageable level.

Supervisors, please pay attention to your duty and power to rezone — it must only be done for the common good of all and not just for the value to the developer.

Mac Mestayer, James City County

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Elect civil candidates

Why can’t the American voters get the facts and clear description of plans instead of name-calling, unsupported allegations and pure politics in place of plain truth? The statement by Trump that he wanted unity was a good sign and he was in a great position to do so. But, alas, he meant unity within the Republican Party, not American unity. We hear words like “corrupt” and “crooked,” which can only mean that Americans had elected a criminal to represent them. It’s a direct assault on the citizenry and a contribution to the extreme polarization that divides us. Do we prefer to decide on facts and reliable statements or do we prefer nastiness? Has anyone heard anyone say, “I respectfully disagree” or admit that he or she just spouts party stuff but not anything civil? It’s easy enough to disagree with Senator or President so-and-so without making him a bad guy — after all he’s presumably doing his job as he sees it. So the first thing for us voters to do is easy: elect candidates who are civil and have clear, workable plans.

Richard Dunn, Williamsburg

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Who threw civility away?

Having just seen the striking images of an assassination attempt on a former president, certainly Professor (Joseph) Filko has done us a service, trying to tamp down the rhetoric between citizens at this time.

He speaks about mutual vilification, calling a political opponent “evil.” If you call me evil, well you must be. He speaks of “demonization of all who oppose us.” He correctly mentions “the temptation of the most emotionally committed or unstable to engage in acts of violence …”

He goes on with a dissertation of necessary interdependence. Agreed. Most of all he inveighs against incendiary “bomb throwers” warning not to follow their lead. “Repeat a narrative-reinforcing lie often enough and we will believe it.” “We must listen to each other with the intent of understanding …”

I agree with all that, remembering arguing with college classmates who were Democrats but remaining friends. That time needs to return. Civil discussion is more important than ever.

I rarely agree with the professor, but I believe he is well meaning. But something is missing, discernment which he must possess. Are there no differences between the Trump forces and the Democrats?

Who made political opponents enemies? Newt Gingrich. I found out I was a “RINO.”

Descending the escalator, Trump, a hatemonger, became the primary bomb thrower, bashing immigrants and refugees, mocking the disabled, calling our nation’s fallen “losers,” while a draft dodger himself, lighting in flames tinder, our middle class and below. Many do not realize they are unfairly taxed while the wealthiest get the biggest tax breaks.

As to our “unstable,” this nation has supplied their AR-15s.

Professor?

Ronald Ruszkowski, Williamsburg

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On TV, truth isn’t always in the script

I am concerned that many people lack the true facts and/or dismiss facts as Democratic Party propaganda. I watch several TV channels for the news, and I fear that those who watch only Fox News are being brainwashed into a dark corner. Fox often criticizes President Biden for various problems, but omits the underlying facts, and then sugarcoats a Trump presidency as the fixer. Although there are numerous examples, I offer the following two for your consideration.

The problem: inflation. Factual omissions by most Fox TV hosts: the root causes included labor shortages followed by wage increases, shortages of raw materials and components, extreme weather devastations and pent-up demand from the COVID period. The outlook: inferences that Trump would solve the problem, but I have yet to hear a specific game plan by Trump to reduce prices. No president can simply issue an executive order to decrease prices.

The problem: immigrants flooding into our country. Factual omissions by most Fox TV hosts: the Senate passed a tough bipartisan bill for immigration reform earlier this year, but the Republican House Speaker has refused to even bring that bill to the floor of the House (supposedly due to pressure from Trump, who wants it to be a campaign issue). Trump could have made reforms when he was president, but he gave it lip service and failed to find a solution. The outlook: mass deportations proposed by Trump.

Page Brinkley, James City County

The money from criminal activity is considered dirty, and the process “launders” it to look clean. However, contrary to public perception, it is not just drug or terrorism related crimes that require money laundering.

Every second federal criminal indictment seems to include at least one charge on money laundering. People think it involves the clandestine exchange of bags full of cash and numbered Swiss bank accounts.

This is not the case.

“Technically, under U.S. law, the crime of money laundering means engaging in a transaction that involves the proceeds of an earlier crime with an intent to either carry on further criminal activity, or hide the nature, location, source, ownership or control of the proceeds of the earlier crime, or avoid a federal reporting requirement,” Jacob Thiessen, of Williamsburg, said in an interview with the Gazette.

Thiessen, a lawyer by training, has dealt with money laundering cases for 25 years.

He also holds a doctorate degree in comparative world history from Johns Hopkins University. In the fall of each year, Thiessen teaches a course at the William & Mary Law School.

“Most crimes, except crimes of passion, are committed for profit and therefore involve proceeds,” he explained. “Most criminals want to hide their crimes and therefore try to draw attention away from the proceeds they’ve made. So, most people who commit crimes will do something that can be characterized as money laundering. This isn’t just a phenomena of drug cartels and international arms traffickers; money laundering is ubiquitous because crime for profit is ubiquitous.”

Thiessen explained that criminals need to do three things with the proceeds of crime, if they really want to enjoy those proceeds. First, they need to place those proceeds somehow in a non-criminal commercial world. Sell the stolen goods, deposit stolen currency or checks. Then they need to layer transactions — move money from one account to another, buy something valuable and resell it. Finally, once they’ve successfully covered their tracks, they need to integrate the proceeds into the legitimate financial system. This layering integration allows the authorities to focus their attention on the process and instruct third parties such as banks to watch for suspicious financial transactions, a thing they are good at.

Although money laundering is usually associated with converting “dirty money” to legitimate money, terrorist financing makes legitimate money available for illegitimate purposes. Thus, guarding against money laundering involves scrutinizing transactions to see where the money comes from and where it goes.

The Bank Secrecy Act passed in 1970 intended to guard the U.S. financial system against being used to launder money. It requires financial institutions, including banks, to have anti-money laundering programs, keep records and report certain kinds of transactions to the federal government.

In the wake of 9/11, a new law, popularly known as the “USA Patriot Act,” was passed in October 2001. It gave the federal government more power to crack down on terrorist financing.

It is well-remembered how easily the 19 hijackers could open bank accounts, get money wired to them and navigate life in the United States while plotting their attack. Since then, one of the provisions is a requirement that financial institutions identify their customers before opening accounts for them.

According to Thiessen, a new twist in the anti-money laundering world is the rise of cryptocurrency. It is some sort of private electronic money, on which you can speculate the price rising and falling. Some people passionately support cryptocurrencies, others hate them. However, millions of people around the world use them. This presents a challenge to traditional ways of protecting against the use of financial transactions to launder money or finance terrorism.

To illustrate the volatility of cryptocurrency, Thiessen described the first-ever Bitcoin transaction. It was the purchase of two pizzas on May 22, 2010, for 10,000 bitcoins, which worked out to $41. The exchange value of one bitcoin was $0.0028. Earlier this year, one bitcoin was worth $58,685.10.

Frank Shatz is a Williamsburg resident. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” the compilation of his selected columns. The book is available at the Bruton Parish Shop and Amazon.com.

All this activity creates huge environmental concerns — lawns of non-native grasses use fossil fuels to power mowers. The chemicals applied to control pests and promote plant growth eventually drain into streams, rivers and lakes, affecting Virginia’s drinking water. Excess fertilizers encourage algae growth in lakes; fish absorb pesticides that find their way to us in our food.

Turfgrasses must be regularly mowed to maintain an even green grassland, like a golf course or lawn bowling space. But the moist and mild climate in Europe that supported these activities did not exist in colonial America. The seeds colonists brought with them were European and today’s turfgrass mixtures come from Europe and Asia.

Throughout the growing season, the water used on lawn grasses can be as much as 35,000 gallons, the amount needed for an average backyard swimming pool. And the irrigation system and the sprinklers must be maintained as well. Homeowners can see water bills higher in summer from the necessary watering — turfgrasses require 1-1½ inches of water once or twice a week.

The aisles of the big box stores display a lot of “turf builder” products that contain chemicals such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron and sulfur — all necessary to maintain healthy growth of most plants. Lime is often recommended to raise the pH of coastal soils because acidic soils encourage some weed species. But these “weeds” are usually native wildflowers and grasses that grow best in slightly acidic soils. They could be the source of a green lawn that requires only occasional mowing and little maintenance. These broadleafed plants and native grasses support bees that pollinate our flowers, butterflies that reproduce as larvae, a major food of baby birds, and predators such as ladybugs and praying mantises that devour insect pests. A mix of wildflowers, sedges and grasses supports birds, bees, butterflies and worms that result in rich organic soils as they decompose.

Many wildflowers tolerate periodic mowing, not too low, and will flower low to the ground. In spring bluets, blue-eyed grass and Carolina petunia contrast with yellow dandelions and buttercups. Both native and non-native wildflowers produce nectar that provides energy to flying and crawling creatures. Blue violets are host plants for fritillary butterflies that lay their eggs on the leaves for the caterpillars to chew as they grow. Field pansies, lyre-leaf sage, hyssop skullcap, buttonweed and wood-sorrel will quickly spread, holding soil with a network of roots.

Nutsedges are undesirable in turfgrasses — garden centers have more than one brand of chemicals to kill this plant. All sedges are difficult to eradicate because they reproduce with underground tubers and rhizomes. But many native sedges can be used as attractive ground covers along with low-growing native grasses like poverty oatgrass. Mosses and lichens will also appear, growing from their tiny spores in the ground and on the air.

So alternatives exist: lawns of natural plants mean freedom from watering, fertilizing, reseeding and pesticide use. A mix of flowers, grasses and sedges can be periodically mowed to present a well-groomed lawn. “Freedom lawns” require little maintenance, feed birds and insects and form healthy ecosystems. What’s not to like?

Helen Hamilton is a retired biology teacher, worked as plant technician for the National Park Service, served on the boards of Virginia Native Plant Society and the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, and authored several field guides to local plants. She lives in York County.

The Williamsburg Area League of Women Voters was recently criticized in The Last Word anonymously for signs that read “Vote Like Democracy Depends on It (It Does).” These are signs available through the U.S. League promoting the Vote 411 program. Anonymous claims that this makes the League a partisan organization.

The League of Women Voters was created 104 years ago following women winning the vote. The goals, then and now, are to encourage citizens to participate in our democratic process by exercising their right to vote and to educate voters about the issues. We register students who are about to turn 18 to vote, help new residents get properly registered and host forums where candidates from all parties can discuss the issues with voters. The Vote 411 program provides information on voting locations and provides the issue information supplied by all the candidates regardless of party affiliation.

The LWV does not tell anyone how to vote. We do not endorse political parties or candidates. We are totally apolitical. We know that our democracy (yes, it really is a republic as created by the Constitution, but we are a democracy) works best when everyone is involved.

Our democracy works best when those who vote understand the system and the issues. Making everyone better informed only makes better citizens. Please consider joining your local League of Women Voters in 2024! Men, women, students, everyone is welcome!

Voting is not a partisan issue! It is a right and a duty.

Susan BivinsPresident, Williamsburg Area League of Women Voters

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Defend our democracy

I am currently reading a book titled “Blitzkrieg” by Len Deighton. In it, he describes how Adolf Hitler and the Nazis transformed Germany from a democracy into an autocracy with Hitler as dictator. Despite the fact that the publication date is 1979, I found the similarities between this transformation and what is going on today with Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters to be extremely disturbing.

For example, on pages 48-49 he writes: “Unlike most political parties, the Nazis never offered the voter a well-defined program of politics and economics that would bring peace and prosperity. Rather, they warned of … conspiracies that would destroy the world and … invasions that would bring doom to pure-blooded Aryan man.”

One has only to substitute MAGA supporters for Nazis to characterize what is going on today. Trump and Project 2025 leave no doubt of their intent to turn our democracy into an autocracy with Trump as a dictator. For some time, I have comforted myself with the belief that no matter how extreme Trump and his supporters were, our democratic institutions were strong enough to turn back these attempts. Now I am not so confident. The only way to end the threat that Trump poses once and for all is to defeat him in November. Choosing not to vote is not an answer. We must go to the polls and defend our democracy.

Douglas Wood, Williamsburg

The party’s 2024 convention this week brought back memories of the earlier event.

The Cow Palace in San Francisco on July 13-16 saw the culmination of a battle between Goldwater — “Mr. Conservative” and his ultra conservatives — and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York, a political moderate.

At the end of the primary nominating season, Goldwater was the leader. Rockefeller’s followers — the party’s anti-Goldwater faction — and others got together before and during the convention to nominate Gov. William Scranton of Pennsylvania in a last ditch effort to block Goldwater.

I got to the convention in an unusual way. Near the close of my sophomore year at William & Mary, I signed to take a course, called political parties, for the fall 1964 semester. It was to be taught by professor Warner Moss, head of the school’s government department.

My grandfather, W. W. Kale, a prominent Charlotte city and North Carolina state businessman said he thought it would be good for me to attend either the Republican or the Democratic national conventions. It would help me in the course.

Which convention one would I prefer, he asked?

Frankly, I told him it didn’t matter. He said he knew state leaders in both parties, but a member of the N.C. Republican Committee “owes me a favor,” he said. So, soon, I found myself going to California after I was named a sergeant-at-arms for the convention.

Later that summer I would turn 20 years old and was assigned to assist Rockefeller.

My job during the convention’s four days was to be with Rockefeller and his family in their special box, just off the convention floor. When I met him, the governor was gracious and laughed when he realized I was a “Southerner” assigned to a “Yankee.” But we got along great!

My duty was to help him any way I could, and I manned his box when he was on the convention floor with the New York delegation.

It was a raucous four-day gathering, the ugliest convention in decades, according to news reports. There were also numerous and historic events.

The name of Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith was placed in nomination. It was the first time a woman had been nominated at a major party convention. She got a glorious reception, as I recall.

The friction between Goldwater and Rockefeller followers broke out many times. I was asked to accompany Rockefeller to events elsewhere in the convention hall. My job then as a sergeant-at-arms was to help clear a path for him amid Goldwater followers.

When Rockefeller addressed the convention, I was in the box with the family and remember him being booed. On the first ballot, Goldwater had 883 votes (655 were needed for the nomination) while Scranton was next and Rockefeller a poor third.

By the end of the convention, Rockefeller had introduced me to most of the party’s leadership, especially those who visited his convention box. I most especially remember meeting Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois (Senate minority leader) and his full-head of wavy gray hair.

I had a marvelous time at the convention, meeting and greeting political higher-ups. When I returned home to Charlotte, I had many stories to tell (most of which I have forgotten in the ensuing 60 years) and the convention DID help me in the fall government course.

I also enjoyed my brief relationship with Rockefeller; my association with him resumed a decade later when he began visiting Colonial Williamsburg, which his father had financially supported. I was then a newspaper bureau chief working in the city. I met him on the street and introduced himself. He did remember me, “that Southern boy,” he said.

Rockefeller frequently called me when he was back in town, asking about my family and my newspaper work. He died in 1979, after serving for several years as vice president under President Gerald Ford.

By the way, in the November 1964 presidential election, the Republican Goldwater-Rep. William E. Miller ticket lost to President Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Hubert Humphrey.

Wilford Kale is a correspondent for The Virginia Gazette.

One of the most difficult things about writing an opinion column after dramatic events is trying to offer a perspective that has not already been beaten to death by the pundits in the news media. This column will be such an attempt.

With some exceptions, the nation’s political class has called for a return to civilized discussion and mutually respectful disagreement in order to turn down the temperature on our discourse. We’ve heard that before, and this column has been calling for that for years. But our history reveals that we soon return to hyperbole, hyperventilating and open hostility as soon as we perceive the political stakes rising in importance, especially at election time.

The late Charles Krauthammer once said that we crossed the Rubicon when we stopped saying, “I think you’re wrong,” and started saying, “I think you’re evil.” At that point, people come to believe that they are engaged, not in a policy dispute, but in a moral crusade, and we come to believe that all the forces of right and righteousness are on our side. We then suspend all attempts at mutual understanding and start making judgements instead. From there, the natural outcome is the demonization of all who oppose us, and then the temptation of the most emotionally committed or unstable to engage in acts of violence becomes manifest.

It is obvious that we need to “turn down the temperature,” but simply doing that has proven to be only a temporary respite until the next jugular issue comes along. Yes, we buried the hatchet after the last spasm of open hostility, but the problem is that we never forget where we buried it.

What the nation really needs now is a paradigm shift, i.e., a new way of looking at the world around us and seeing it through a different mindset. This writer respectfully suggests that the key word here is interdependence.

When we are very young, we are totally dependent upon others, usually our parents, to provide for us. Then as we grow older, we seek to become independent. We come to the erroneous conclusion that life is a straight-line continuum, beginning with dependence and ending with independence. But that’s wrong. Independence is only the halfway point in what the late Stephen Covey called the “maturity continuum.” The true end point is the realization that we are all interdependent.

The dependent person’s statement is, “I can get what I want from others.” The independent person’s statement is, “I can get what I want on my own.” But the mindset of the mature interdependent person is, “I can get what I want on my own and with the cooperation of others.”

Our mutually hostile political camps have failed to recognize the reality that we live in an interdependent country and an interdependent world. There may be no greater cause of human conflict than trying to behave independently in an interdependent reality. That’s true of families, organizations and nations.

If we would all just recognize that, then we can open ourselves to the idea that seeking win-win solutions is the only way forward. We would come to understand that trying to destroy those with whom we are actually interdependent (win-lose) is ultimately self-destructive. We will never move forward as a society if we continue along our current path of mutual destruction and personal demonization. We must reject all of the self-serving bomb throwers whose influence on the 24-hour news cycle and the social media is exaggerated far beyond their actual acumen. Their programs and posts are destructive, and we need to stop watching, clicking and reposting. Those of us who think we can continue constant exposure to such influences and remain immune are kidding ourselves. Repeat a narrative-reinforcing lie often enough and we will come to believe it.

If we would just listen respectfully to each other with the intent of understanding instead of arguing back, and with the realization that our interdependent reality requires win-win solutions, we just may have a chance to begin working together toward resolving the challenges that face our nation and indeed the entire world.

Joseph Filko has taught economics and American government, and lives in Williamsburg. He can be reached at jfilko1944@gmail.com.