Family Tree Limerick

As we research, travel, and see

Our far-flung family pedigree,

It’s not just through random chances

That we get to add more branches

To our growing family tree.

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Why I Voted For Trump: Past Sins Versus Current Evil

In the immediate 2024 Election aftermath, many critics, liberals, and media members asked me (and over half the country) why I voted for Trump for President. The uproar — despite Trump’s overwhelming victory and the liberals resounding defeat — has not slowed down. In fact, it seems like the media and those who didn’t vote for Trump are doubling down.

Is Trump Evil? Am I then also evil?

Almost every day (when I choose to read or watch anything), I’ll see something from a relative, friend, or just the media badmouthing Trump and those who voted for Trump. The narrative usually runs something like: “Those who voted for Trump are either stupid, ignorant, or deliberately choosing to ignore what a terrible person he is, and how he’ll ruin the country.”

Fortunately (according to their narrative), they are the enlightened ones, those who didn’t vote for Trump, whose duty is now to protect and preserve this great Nation. This they will do by standing strongly and firmly against the Bad Orange Man (no matter what he does), by pointing out how hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophonic, warmongering, and stupid he is. It further becomes their duty to convert all those who voted for Trump, that we may see the error of our ways (although years of campaigning against him has not been successful).

If we are not willing to change, to see the error of our ways, then we too must be hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophonic, warmongering, and stupid.

It is in this post-election scenario that I wrote the following, as a response to a relative’s forwarding an anti-Trump post. I did not respond on social media, but I still feel it’s important to let my feelings and logic be known.

If Everything Against Him Is True, I Still Have Compelling Reasons Why I Voted For Trump

“All right. I have tried to listen to what some BYU graduate said about Trump being “a sexual predator and how dare he get into office and nobody cares that we put a sexual predator in the office”, with an open mind. I think if you listen to it [and other anti-Trump commentary] with an open mind too you will see perhaps some of the same problems that I see with it.

Although the presenter does make several very good points, (and I’m certainly willing to think about them), the post’s beginning assumption, which he continues to bang on like a drum throughout the video, is that people who voted for Trump voted to put a serial sexual predator into the White House.

I’m trying here to say okay maybe I’m responding cognitively (or whatever whatever he said) and all the reasons that he said that I would feel the way I felt. (But isn’t it interesting that by using that very argument, he gives people absolutely zero way to feel other than how he’s wants them to feel?) So I’m going to go on the assumption that I do not believe that Donald Trump is a serial sexual predator. I do not believe the proof is there that he is currently that.

I think the same argument could be made for Bill Clinton and in fact Is even more so for Bill Clinton, because evidence shows that he was doing that type of thing in the Oval Office. In contrast, the evidence for Trump doing that has been, what, decades ago? So, for the sake of argument, let’s say Trump was a serial sexual predator. Do people have to be judged by the worst thing they’ve done in their life, for their entire life? There is no changing? There is no repentance?

[Sidenote: When presented with this arguement, most folks will say “Well, Trump never repented. He never said he was sorry. So how are we to know what he did?” Uh, is that our job? We get to go around and look at others and say “You didn’t repent. Or, if you did, you didn’t repent and change in the right way. Therefore, according to me, you are still guilty, and still a bad person.” Do we have that right?

So right off the top I don’t agree with his argument. He makes an assumption (Trump IS a serial rapist), and then builds on what I feel is a flawed assumption. If he would stop pounding on that point, I think he might have a valid arguement.

How Safe Do Folks Who Voted For Trump (Or Didn’t) Feel Now?

The video presenter’s point about why people don’t feel safe with Trump is, I think, valid. Many people (my relatives included) don’t feel safe having a man in the White House who, they are convinced, is a serial rapist.

I’m also certain that there are a lot of people that don’t feel safe with Trump, and not because of Trump’s sexual proclivities. There are people who don’t feel safe because he hobnobs with the presidents of Russia and China and North Korea. There are people who don’t feel safe because he says fracking is okay and “drill baby drill”. There are people who don’t feel safe because of his border policies and because of his announced intent to deport people. There are people who don’t feel safe because of his economic policies. There are people who don’t feel safe because of his environmental stance. There are people who don’t feel safe because of his business dealings. There are people who don’t feel safe for a lot of reasons.

So why this particular moral or amoral stance and fear?

The video presenter then goes on to say that doesn’t mean that I’m a bad person because I voted from Trump, but “we need to do better.” In what way? I can say that I didn’t feel safe with Kamala or the Democrats for a dozen reasons. I didn’t feel safe and I don’t feel safe with many of the standards that the Democrats espouse. I don’t feel safe with the hypocrisy of having a president seduce an intern in the Oval Office and prey on her, and then coming back several years later and saying oh by the way this guy that you elected is a sexual predator even though what evidence there is is primarily hearsay from decades ago. So I think, as in all political discussions, we have to make choices between the lesser of two evils. My inability to feeling safe with Kamala Harris and the Democrats far outweighs my lack of safety with Donald Trump. And that is on every ground: Moral, economic, military, social, emotional, everything.

More importantly, while I recognize that people who have been abused or feel at risk would not feel safe with a sexual predator in the White House, I believe in the people he is surrounding himself with (let’s assume he is a sexual predator). They are going to protect my daughter and my granddaughters and my sons and grandsons from all the things that I’m worried about them experiencing far more than the Democrats have proven during their last several terms that they are.

What I’m Afraid Of And Why I Voted For Trump

What type of things do I worry about, you ask? I am frightened for my grandchildren being constantly bombarded with the being gay is good or that they can mutilate their bodies messages. I worry about my granddaughters having to listen to drag queens in public schools, exposing them at a young age to a life style I do not think is appropriate. I am fearful my children will have their parenting rights taken away from them, just because they don’t agree with society or the Teacher’s Union.

I worry about my daughters and granddaughters and sons and grandsons facing nuclear war. [Update: Many are worried Trump will start World War 3, nuclear war, and end us all. Reality: Biden/Harris just gave the Ukraine permission to use medium-range guided missles to strike Russian within her borders. Problem? The missles guidance depends on either the USA or NATO-enabled satellite systems. If Russia gave Cuba missles, then provided the satellite guidance to strike at Miami, Atlanta, Houston, and Disney World, we would consider that an act of war.]

Biden/Harris did that very thing last week, after they lost the election.

I worry about my children and grandchildren facing economic destruction. I worry and I’m scared for the potential downfall of our constitutional republic. I worry about a continuing open-border policy that allows criminals to freely come in, be housed on the taxpayers’ dollar, flown to a place where “they can be safe”, and then proceed to kill young women jogging. (This happened less than 10 miles away from where my niece and nephew are raising their children on the other side of Georgia.) I worry about the government putting so many restrictions on our property at Spirit Tree Farms that we can’t use to benefit Nature and the environment the way that we would like.

These and other factors that I’m afraid of far outweigh, sorry to say, the worry that YOU and others like you are going to be directly and adversely impacted by having Trump in the White House.

In a nutshell, the reason I voted for Trump is this: Even IF all the claims against him are true, the things I fear the most are the policies and practices of the Democrats. The potential results of his character flaws, even if they are as bad as the Democrats and the majority media claim, are nowhere near as bad as the potential, promised, and proven results that the Democrats have brought, are bringing, and would bring.

The people have spoken. We have four years to watch the results.

Nach Hause Family History Trip: Nieder Schönfeld, Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien — Now Krasnik Dolny, Boleslawiec, Poland

Family History Trip Part 2: Nieder Schönfeld, Altöls, Kreis Bunzlau in Nieder Schlesien — Starke, Dausel, and Dehmel Families

This is the 2nd part of our family history trip, to present-day Poland (Formerly Nieder Schlesien, Germany). We’re researching where the Starke / Dausel / Dehmel families lived in and around Nieder Schönfeld, Ober Schönfeld, Altöls, and other towns in Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien, former Germany. These villages are now Krasnik Dolny, Krasnik Gorny, Stara Oleswia, in the Boleslawiec District, Poland.

The genealogy focus starts with my father Gene Kuhns’ “Granny Geerdts”, Bertha STARKE (Geerdts), and her mother Johanna Anna DAUSEL (Dehmel, then Starke). Bertha STARKE left Nieder Schönfeld / Kreis Bunzlau and came to Milwaukee as a teenager in the early 1890s. It was there she met and married my father’s maternal grandfather, Gustav Martin Carl GEERDTS.

This part of the research tour will also include a Czech DNA relative of my father from about 100 km east of Prague.

[For an overview of the entire family history tour and a in-depth discussion of the Kuhns / KUNZ / MARK line from Kreis Tirschenreuth, Bavaria, find it here.]

Family History Tour in Nieder Schönfeld, Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien, Germany
(Krasnik Dolny, Boleslaweic, Poland)

After a lot of research about the Starke / Dausel / Dehmel family in one-time Nieder Schlesien, Germany (now in Boleslaweic district in SW Poland), we finally made it there. My father’s maternal grandmother, “Granny” Geerdts (aka Bertha STARKE Geerdts) was born in and lived in and around Nieder Schönfeld, Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien, Germany. Today it’s known as Kraznik Dolny, Boleslawiec District, Poland. Towns she was connected with include Nieder Schönfeld, Neu Schönfeld, Ober Schönfeld (Krasnik Gorny), Alt Öls (Stara Oleszna), and others in that area.

Backstory and Historical Context of STARKE, DAUSEL, and DEHMEL Families in the Nieder Schönfeld and Altöls Areas of Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien

Johanna Dausel (Dehmel Starke) of Kreis Bunzlau, Nieder Schlesien, Germany, ca. 1905

When Bertha STARKE left Bunzlau for Wisconsin, USA in the early 1890s, she may have gone with other half-siblings or siblings, including members of the STARKE and DEHMEL families. After she left, her mother Johanna DAUSEL (Dehmel, then Starke) stayed in the area before traveling to Milwaukee to visit. She then lived in Kiel with her son Ernst Starke until she passed away and was buried in Kiel in 1911.

From the letters Johanna wrote, it appears her DAUSEL brothers stayed in the area, including in Altöls. This trip was an attempt to find their graves and more information about them.

Although there is evidence of Starke, Dausel, and Dehmel families in the Kreis Bunzlau area up to and including WW2, no specific connection has been made, nor have other relatives been found.

At the end of WW2, many people from this area of Germany fled because of the advancing Russians. Those who didn’t leave were eventually forced out in the late 1940s as part of the post-war turning over the land to the Poles. As a result, there are no native Germans left in this area. The border city of Görlitz, Germany (former DDR / East Germany) is about 40 km. west of Bunzlau / Boleslaweic. Most of the German cemetaries were destroyed or fell into disrepair. Many of the old buildings were abandoned or fell into disrepair during the Cold War era.

Family History Research in Nieder Schönfeld (Krasnik Dolny) and Altöls, Kreis Bunzlau

Bert DAUSEL and David KUHNS meet at the DAUSEL family monument at the Nieder Schönfeld Lutheran Cemetary in present-day Krasnik Dolny, Boleslaweic, Poland

Because there are still German-speaking people whose parents and grandparents fled Kreis Bunzlau, we were fortunate to have some Family History research help about that area. In particular, the Facebook Group Ahnenforschung Kreis Bunzlau + Umgebung was very helpful. During our trip, group member Sascha Simon, his neighbor (and potential relative — no DNA connection yet) Bert Dausel, and others met us in Krasnik Dolny cemetary, helping us find potential Dausel ancestor places and graveyards.

Fortunately for us, they had been in the area before, which made it very easy to find and get to different sites.

Marnie’s blog about our Family History tour discusses our first full day in Krasnik Dolny (Nieder Schönfeld), especially meeting “cousin” Bert Dausel and Nieder Schlesien researcher Sascha Simon at the Lutheran Cemetary. Bert and Sascha then read the Marie Rothkirch DAUSEL (married to Gottfried DAUSEL) headstone at an old cemetary in Altöls / Stara Oleszna (the blog includes a YouTube video).

Day 7 of our family history / genealogy research trip continues with more extensive cemetary research in Altöls (Stara Oleszna, Boleslaweic District, Poland), including uncovering and taking more photos and videos of headstones from the 1700s and 1800s. Check out that blog here.

Kreis Bunzlau Ahnenforschung Auf Deutsch

Falls Sie Deutsch sprechen, und interessieren Sich für Starke, Dausel, Dehmel Familien in Kreis Bunzlau, können Sie auch bei mir anmelden: da.kuhns at gmail dot com.