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In October 1981, our schools closed.

We had failed to pass a millage sufficient to keep them open.

Several reasons prompted this unfortunate event. State funding for education had been diminished to the extent its replacement through local funding was a contentious strain. There were other reasons, some reasonable, some not.

It was a time of adjustment, and, as is common in such times, many things did not go smoothly.

In retrospect, we could have conducted ourselves better. As it was, we made the national news with strong negative community connotations, connotations that were exacerbated unnecessarily.

There was dissension, strife, name-calling, and then the band didnt play.

I remember the parade. Im not sure just which one it was it may well have been the Santa Claus Parade, but there was a good-sized crowd gathered along Chisholm Street when, moving with other entrants in its turn, along came the Alpena High School varsity band.

But it marched to a private cadence; one its director had set, a rhythm the crowd could not discern.

No drums drummed, no horns played, no melody lifted the spirits of the day; twirlers twirls were left unfurled; no batons were tossed to float freely if only for a little while.

Instead, a hushed progression demonstrated its displeasure with adults who had denied them the notes they wished to play. So, they played no notes at all that day.

It was a non-musical contribution of discordance our band performed not the music we needed to help bring us together again; not the music we had taught them, not the music where our pride resided with our pleasure in them.

Their non-selection did not play well, and, for the first time, I didnt hear the music play.

The second time was at President Barack Obamas first inauguration, when he paused to make mention of a specific Supreme Court case, Citizens United. This case allows unlimited independent political campaign spending by corporations and unions, an opinion authored by Justice Samual Alito Jr. He was present with the other Supreme Court justices that day.

Its an unfortunate ruling, in my view, one that deserved President Obamas condemnation for its false equivalence of money with speech that unleashed a wrecking ball on the legitimacy of our politics. A wrecking ball we are living with today.

That was the last time Alito appeared at any State of the Union address. He took his horn and went home, not to be seen again in the congressional halls of we the people.

Think about that, the only time in the oldest, greatest democracy on Earth when all three branches come together under one roof to consider the state of our union this guy stays home, piqued.

And Alito wasnt at President Joe Bidens recent State of the Union address, either nor was Justice Clarence Thomas or Justice Neil Gorsuch.

But, it only gets worse Justice Thomass wife, Ginni, has been let loose.

Consider her recently reported exchange with President Donald Trumps former chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, regarding the 2020 presidential election and their attempts to overthrow its confirmed results.

This is a fight of good versus evil, wrote Meadows. Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs.

Mrs. Thomas replied, You guys fold; the evil just moves fast down and underneath you all.

Its not enough to attempt to overthrow a presidential election; they need to cloak their efforts in a justification of spirituality after all, they have Jesus Christ on their side!

Freedom of religion is central to our American democracy, a freedom enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution, a document considered by many to be of divine inspiration and at the core of this nations greatness.

Its a guarantee our forefathers fought long and hard for, guaranteeing to each of us the right to worship, or not, as we chose and that no religion is to be considered superior to another by our government.

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof.

First Amendment to the United State Constitution

But Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows believe they represent the sole sources of Gods work, adopting an air of confident absurdity that evil would prevail but for their enlightened actions.

History has taken us down this road before to disastrous effect.

Bundle in with their assertion of religious superiority, a selection of conspiracies, a catchy phrase no one has a good definition for, such as cancel culture, an intolerance or two, maybe even a hate, and we are well down a blasphemous path transforming a deity into a political hack.

All this leads to a place where no one has to show up to follow our Constitutions mandate respecting anothers religion, or the Golden Rule or the performance of enlightened music.

All one has to do is believe in a political party.

Finding there, mired in its politics, a form of grace.

Good grief.

Doug Pughs Vignettes runs weekly on Saturdays. He can be reached at pughda@gmail.com.

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And then the band didn't play | News, Sports, Jobs - Alpena News