Making America Great – Part 2

Yesterday’s post was my macro treatment of making America great again. Those are policies, programs and mindsets that need to be embedded in our national psyche if we are to improve upon the situation we now face. But there is a micro treatment as well and today’s post focuses on that.

What can I do – what can you do, what can we do – to make America great?

First, I think America is already great. We’ve lost some luster and some panache. But that is temporary and situational, maybe even cyclical. At any rate ‘things’ are not terrific and they could be. So here’s what I think can be done. By each of us. It is the choice of each person. You can do these things or not, but then you can’t complain about national results if you didn’t lend your hand in making good things happen.

1. Be inventive. If something breaks, fix it yourself. If you can’t, adapt use around the broken item and determine if you even need it anymore. If not, dispose of it and streamline your surroundings.
2. Be inventive if you have a need but no visible means to fulfill the need. Think of ways to fill the need in other ways. A good cook/chef works around the ingredients available. It is not a make or break situation but rather a moment to create new solutions. I call this inventive.
3. Be inventive via substitution. If you have a need and what you would normally use to fill the need is unavailable, find something else to fill the need. Unlike cooking, we are not talking about substitute ingredients, but rather altered responses to the need. So, instead of asking someone for information, look it up yourself. Learn to ask questions that not only provide answers to your original question, but ask questions that round out your understanding of the field from which your question and answer originally targeted. You will be amazed at what you learn. Context is important to all things. Relish the complexity and nuance of how surroundings affect and shape information and facts. There is much to be learned and appreciated from this search for information and understanding.
4. Invest yourself in everything. Either seek self reliance in the first place, or determine to live the solution from start to finish. Reduce dependence on others. Do things for yourself. You will value and appreciate so much. And you will reduce expectations from not just others, but from the ‘world’ at large. The world is not there for you. You are here to be a part of it, not a leech to suck life out of the global community.
5. Appreciate more of life’s gifts. Music (the emotional responses to the music, your emotional reach to hear more). Arts (the visual delight of what the artist is saying to you and all other viewers; the responses within you to the artist’s message). Math (the logic and orderliness of the universe). Science (the logic and connectedness of all things in the universe to one another and what it informs us about life). Earth (our surroundings – air, temperature, weather conditions, dampness, dryness, blue skies, green plant life, enormous tree specimens and their leaves or needles; mountains, lakes, rivers, hills, oceans). Time (the resource in which and with which we know the present and search for the future). Relationships (both family and friends and what they mean to us; what they teach us of ourselves). Health (the wellness of our bodies and spirit and how this supports and enriches our appreciation of self and life).
6. Intellect, the workings of it. Plato, Aristotle and Archimedes thought their way through life. Like the great thinkers throughout all of history, they brought order and understanding to their lives. They wrote about such things and shared their knowledge with the ages so you and I can know what they knew. Observe life and understand why things happen and how we can positively affect those happenings. Also understand how we can negatively affect those happenings so we can avoid doing that. The mind is with us always but we do not always attend it. I’m suggesting that we do attend it with vigor and constancy. We will be amazed at how this will change lives – ours and others.
7. Work hard and get involved. Don’t let George do it, Harry or Alice either! You do it. Mow that lawn. Wash that car. Clean the windows. Learn to cook for yourself. Write a poem. Write a book. Read a book. Listen to music. Involve yourself in your life. Do not be a spectator.
8. Do not blame others. Own your life and leave others be until you are strong enough to do for yourself. Blaming others for your problems does nothing to solve your problems. Those are still with you to live with and survive. Your life is yours; it does not belong to others,
9. Help others as best you can.  You can offer to help or actually pitch in and help. Do what you can to ease the pain and suffering of others near and dear to you. Do not own their lives. That is for them to do. But we all need help from time to time. Living in community teaches us that. Our dues for communal life are to help and pitch in from time to time. We all gain from this cooperation and collaboration. We share the burdens and benefits together.
10. Love as much as you can.  Others and self are the aim of this love. You generally cannot love others well if you don’t at first love yourself. This is a hard lesson to learn. It smacks of egotism but it isn’t. We must first value our own life before we can be of any use to others. And then we gain from those relationships in order to give more. 

The next time you fall for the cheap line that America isn’t great, or your employer isn’t great, or whatever, think of what you didn’t do for the good of others. Include yourself in that as well. What can I do to make life better for myself and then for others? Have I done enough. Or am I living off the fruit of the land and other people without making my contribution to the whole?

America is great. It can be more. But it begins with each of us.

March 31, 2016

Making America Great Again

It can be well argued that America didn’t lose its greatness. Far from it. However, many of us are living with reduced means. In my case it is the result of three things: I’m retired and living on reduced, retirement income, something well-expected, so one does not complain about this; second, I suffered financial set backs due to a collapse of my health and that ceased most income, expanded medical costs for a while, and made me think maybe my life was over; third, poor planning and execution on my part of a better retirement plan.

For other good people, they outstayed their careers. Businesses changed, technology changed and products and services were replaced by newer products and services. Workers in the old industries were thus displaced by something for which they were unprepared. Then there are those who were under-prepared but somewhat aware of what was coming toward them!

A lot of people missed out on global economic developments. Not all goods are manufactured in the USA anymore. No, they are made all over the globe and traded across national borders much more freely than in the past. The good news is that allowed companies to reduce prices and costs so the standard of living for customers was boosted. We now live in larger homes, with more amenities, and with more free time to entertain ourselves and travel. That’s the good news.

The bad news is many jobs were lost as companies learned how to outsource supplies and manufacturing. Streamlined companies employ fewer people. Low cost labor in foreign lands reduced wages and salaries in America. So loss of jobs was one result and lower or stagnated household incomes was another result.

The double whammy hitting American consumers was huge. This was not a policy decision. This was not an ideological decision. This was not a political decision. No blame is pointed at anyone. Living in a free market system produces winners and losers all the time. Most of us are lucky and win more often than lose. A growing number of those folks who have refused to adapt to new circumstances, or are unable to understand what is now expected of them, will continue to suffer a decline in their living standards. It is normal. It is a fact of life. It is international competitive economics.

Of course there are ways to address short term imbalances affecting our people. But it takes resolve to do this and an open mind to allocate resources in order to invent solutions to such problems.

American politicians, however, want something of their own – power, money, influence, whatever. And they will do – have done – anything to get those rewards. Trouble is their process only builds a split between the population in an attempt to win votes for themselves. Trump is such an example. You know it. I know it. We should all admit this.

If we truly wish America to return to a more prosperous and buoyant future, there are many things we can do to make that happen. Here’s my list of things to do:

1. Refrain from finding fault with others for the circumstances; focus on the problem at hand and allow creative talents and knowledge to work on solutions.
2. Invest in our people in these critical ways:
1. Remedial education for mid-life career development
2. Education to hone the intellect for critical thinking skills
3. Early childhood education for a proper head start for every kid in the land, or perhaps call it ‘proper start’
4. Excellence in local schools; teach kids to learn, not memorize; reward teachers who excel at their craft and can reach students effectively
5. Reorganize the nation’s approach to all educational activity so it is effective and efficient with our time and resources
6. Provide educational support to all who want it and will work for it based on their abilities; consider making all higher education free
3. Remove private financial support of the political process; no campaign financing from donations; all from set budgets from tax funds; make campaigns a contest of ideas and abilities not mindsets and influence peddling
4. Focus national efforts on major new inventive futures:
1. Energy resources avoiding all fossil fuels
2. Renewable resources used for energy
3. Reduction of energy reliance as completely as possible
4. Invent new transportation methods for mass and personal transport
5. Redesign and reformat housing standards to do more with less; improve stability of and level of standards of living for the masses
6. Integrate technology, entertainment, education into quality of life understanding and attainment
7. Invent health care methods that cure rather than palliate medical conditions
5. Engage in world wide peace initiatives that enable all people everywhere to participate in global governance and benefit from it. Peace is more creative than war. It’s time we lived this reality.

Perhaps you have other ideas to share? Please do so. Anytime. Now would be a good time!

March 30, 2016

Beyond Oil

Well beyond oil and other fossil fuels, our life as a global village will hum with energy that does not pollute. No pollution of water, soil or air. Can you imagine it? Think about it for awhile. Let it sink in.

Trains will whisk us from town to town, city to city and even among urban neighborhoods. Powered by electricity – solar, wind, hydrogen cells, hydro dams, etc. – these new facilities and infrastructure will reduce street congestion, traffic jams and time lost to commuting and other required movements. Surface trams, powered again by electricity, will move people locally. Interaction of diverse social groups will occur so naturally in place at function and interest we will not even notice. Common humanity will be so normal it won’t be thought of.

Personal transport for self and family will likely still be available. America loves its cars too much to strip ourselves of a vision absent automobiles. But they will be different. Smaller, compact, using alternative energy sources that, again, do not pollute the air, water or soil we depend upon so dearly for life and health. Such cars will help us get to social affairs, schools, medical facilities and cultural events. Public transportation will move the larger groups of people but personal transport will still be needed. And desired. But the social significance of such will be lessened. The positive effects are too valuable to support such wasteful habits of the past.

Homes will be smaller and more densely neighbored. Parks and green space will be abundant and at close hand. Exercise, a healthy environment and plenty of natural light, will power individuals to do their daily activities. Beauty of landscape and architecture will also inspire and nurture human interaction and productivity.

Did we mention creativity? That, too, will be experienced with positive results from surroundings that emphasize them. How could this be otherwise? So natural.

We argue now about oil resources. Currently we have a glut of oil product in storage and in the production pipeline, to say nothing of what is being pumped from the ground and on its way to refineries. This was not always so, but it is now. Many nations produce oil energy supplies. Many nations use their own production to fuel their needs thus reducing demand on other producers in the world.

We also use energy more sparingly today and thus energy supplies go farther than they once did. And we have invented alternate energy sources as well. Thus fossil fuel resources are needed less and less.

While the surviving supplies continue to compete with one another – nations as well! – the glut continues to press oil prices downward. But that is temporary as the glut is used up and supplies return to normal. Then the prices will rise accordingly.

But wait! If we make progress on reducing our dependence on oil energy supply, we will rely less and less on oil until it is a relic of the past.

We are observing the partial results of conservation, better engineering and invention, as well as altered thoughts in how we ought to live. This will be the new reality maker, I think. If we use less space, involve our minds more in quality of life pursuits, and value a clean environment, I’m confident that lifestyles will change so much as to cause our global community to abandon oil as energy.

The standard is shifting. We need to continue the shift until demand for oil is miniscule. We are on that path. But we have a long, long way to go.

Let’s consciously make the need for oil go away. Completely away. It will only disappear if we work toward that. All together. And now.

March 29, 2016

Relevance of Political Campaigns

Proving the unprovable is what political campaigns do these days. Spinning an image is part of it. Displaying personal attributes the candidate needs to succeed in the position being sought, that’s another function of the campaign. Day by day sound bites are made and used and demanded – over and over again, until one day a campaign manager has the bright idea to showcase the remarkable mind of the candidate on a host of issues.

A bright idea but one most difficult to bring off successfully.

Why you ask? Glad you asked! Because, no candidate has a mind so creative, experienced and voluble to cover a gold range of subjects that will fit comfortably in a campaign. Oh they try! How they try. But eventually the lie is shown clearly and people make up facts, and quotes from the candidate that fit each and every circumstance. It would be nice if the candidates did have this breadth of understanding of the most critical issues. But they don’t. Take Trump. Does he have any grasp of international relations, use of military power or nuanced negotiations to gain collaboration among a large array of allies? I know you know the answer to that question! Don’t make me put it into words!!

And policy issues closer to home. How would America improve its educational output among students? Are they mastering the classwork they will need to survive in the modern world? Are they capable of creating whole new futures that will sustain a vibrant and successful nation? How do we measure that? How do we pay for that? How do we calculate performance along the way toward those goals?

Most of the candidates running for president have never run a city department let alone serve as policy chief, or Mayor of a city. Or a Park District or Library system? What about congressmen and senators? Do they govern? I don’t thing what they do is actually governance. It is obstruction at the worst, and advise and consent at the best. But please watch how the Illinois State Legislature failed to provide a budget last July 1st and still doesn’t have one. It won’t, either. It will be the following year’s budget they might have the gumption to pass for the next fiscal year. Meanwhile the state molders, university campuses are threatened with closure, local schools lose teachers, aides and management staff. Classes are shortened. Study halls are lengthened. Day care for all ages has been born.

That is not governance. Nor is Congress’ obstruction of President Obama’s every wish and program. So they can accuse him of being ineffective. They are wrong of course; he is effective; they are not. And their poverty of spirit and intellect are in full view for all to see. Governance? No. If they could they would but they cannot. Even John McCain cannot do this and never has at the national level. Play acting at it, for sure! Same with the senior Utah senator. Talks a good game but delivers nothing. Nothing for his state, region or nation. He is a zero producer. And all for the game of politics.

Governance requires persons with authority to consider seriously what the nation, state or region needs, then create viable options to explore, choose the best at reasonable cost and then implement. For the good of the country. Implement and produce results. Have you witnessed anything like that lately from Washington DC or your state capital, or your mayor’s office.

Small communities excel in governance. They are up close and personal with both the problems and the people who live with those problems. There is real concern and caring that drives solutions forward. And action is taken to deliver those solutions.

Big government is not the bad thing people think it is. No; it is the people elected to serve in big government that disappoint. When will we – you – make this situation disappear? How do we do it?

We have an election coming up. A national election. I have my favorite candidates but I won’t share that with you. That’s not the purpose of this essay. The purpose of these words is to help you make a commitment to support only those people who are doing their jobs. For the rest, support their opposition.

I’ve said in this space before – get rid of most elected national politicians and elect serious candidates who know what they are talking about and really truly want to get good things accomplished. For the nation. For its people.

Only then will we have a responsive, intelligent forward looking governance structure. We deserve that. We need that. The lack is apparent upon all that we survey.

So what are you waiting for? Time’s a wasting!

March 28, 2016

Southern States Still Battling Gays

North Carolina has passed a law unanimously in their Senate to ban all municipal gay rights laws passed outside of the state’s direct supervision. It started because squeamish politicians felt a transgender person ought not be allowed in a public bathroom based on their claimed sex rather than their gender at birth. So a man now identifying as a woman and for all the world to be viewed as such, is forced to walk into a men’s room instead; can you imagine the confusion over that? Same for a woman who is now for all the world seen as a woman but dressed as a man must enter a woman’s restroom.

Such folly. I hope those fools understand it is straight people with hidden cameras taking illicit photos of unsuspecting ‘normals’. Do they understand that pedophiles are almost always opposite sex straight people molesting both boys and girls? You understand that, right?

Pedophilia is a straight person’s problem, not a gay person’s pathology. Of course a person would have to be open to research and actually reading it to receive this message and understand it. But no, Congress has legislated no research on such. And southern states are following suit.

There are times I wonder if the year is 2016 or 1416. the medieval mindset seems to be well implanted in some areas of America; most notably southern states. That would include Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Arizona. Arizona? Well, there is just no figuring out that state. But Texas you have to admit is consistent with its discrimination and passe social thinking. 

Georgia will lose the Super Bowl if they don’t change some discrimination laws currently on the books targeting gays. We shall see if the state is amenable to such a solution.

I still marvel at the hilarity of southern intellectuals. They seem to think that gay rights and abortion rights are values given by God and thus are protected by the US Constitution.  It is precisely because they think it is granted by God that makes it religious credo and thus exempt from the Constitution. Protected practice, yes; but not protected enslavement of others not believing as they do in the name of their religion.

Please, you can avoid gays all you want, and avoid temptation of abortion. But the rest of us are not subject to your beliefs. We’ll leave you alone with those just as long as you leave us alone with our beliefs.

Freedom of religion? Or freedom to enslave others to your belief system?

Gays are harmless. They may be different from the norm. That does not make them pathological unless discriminated against so continuously and illogically that paranoia sets in.

Oh Lord, save us all from these weirdos!

March 25, 2016

Yearning for Success

What do you yearn for? What does your family, or neighborhood or community yearn for? Is it success? If it is, how do you define it? I mean, how do you define success? In any specific situation, or in the larger context, what do you mean by success?

I ask this of my clients all the time. The quickest answer is – “to earn lots of money, all the time, and not worry about finances.” Well, that’s dandy, but I don’t think that is a very good answer. Here’s why.

Success is the result of something. We work hard and earn a paycheck. In the short term that is success. We have suffered through whatever, performed tasks, put in our time and earned a paycheck. That paycheck is used however we will use it, but mostly for the necessities of life. I doubt that is the success standard my clients are referring to.

So back to the task to define what is success? When pressed the clients will add that they want to be compensated for their time, talent, work, creativity or use of investment assets appropriately enough that a stream of income results large enough to fund dreams and hopes, not just the necessities of life.

OK, now we are moving along in the right direction. But I suspect there is a very large issue hidden in all of this, and that is: What do I have to do to earn this revenue stream? Is it something I like? Is it a pleasure to perform? Is this technically work?  And to all of that I say, yes!

Of course it is more. Generating a revenue stream may be central to your definition of success, but for many that doesn’t compute. What they are interested in is feeling rewarded for being who they are and what they are contributing to that is larger than themselves. This is not an ego thing; it is a self definition issue that allows a person to realize – admit really – that they are of worth, of value, and it’s OK.

It is OK that I am overweight. That’s not an ego element to me. I am overweight and I most likely will never return to the weight I felt best at. That is a reality of aging. We cannot attain what we want because obstacles beyond our control exist. In the real world. Things don’t work out the way we want them to. Grow up and accept it!

OK, past that obstacle, my appearance is changing to something I’m not liking but it’s OK. As long as I’m not ugly or disgusting. I can live with that. I will just have to focus on other things that don’t have anything to do with liking, attractive or other superficial ‘things’.

Now we are getting somewhere. Success does not really relate to attractiveness (although that is nice!) or to money, whether in the bank or invested in things or flowing through my fingers all the time. Money is only a means of transacting business and paying for necessities. On its own it has no lasting value.

Success has much more to do with lasting value. A piece of art, for example, has value because it means something to a lot of people. It is a statement that stands the test of time. The statue of David in Florence is such an example. It is a classic. It has presence that makes the viewer ponder life. It whets the brain to think. As does most serious art – sculpture, painting, fabric, ceramics, music, literature, theater – whatever is art is also activity of the mind. It is a one to one relationship. It is not always apparent. But it connects just the same. And it is remembered. Lasting value. Lasting presence. It is not money although many will strive to own it so it will be readily accessible to stimulate their mind.

So, again, success; how do we define it? Maybe it is the nondenominational payback or reward for doing something we are good at that satisfies our inner self in some way. Being of help to others is its own reward. You might get paid for doing that help but most of the time you won’t. You feel good about yourself because you helped another person. That’s a form of success.

When I ask a client these questions I’m really looking for a clue to what drives them in life. What is their passion? What are they doing in life that they want to continue doing other than survive? When I dig deeper most clients respond: “I want to make a difference in the lives of other people”. Now that’s what I’m getting at.

The next series of questions is uncovering what they want to do action-wise to achieve the result of making a difference in the lives of others. At that point we begin to enter the realm of measurable. And that’s when the real work begins.

The intellectual exercise that starts it all, however, is defining success. How much of that intellectual work have each of us done? Some? A lot, or none?

Sadly I think the latter is the most common answer in today’s America. If we had done the work so much of what we consume in modern culture would be dumped immediately. So too self absorbed politicians.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and do the brain work. Who are you? Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? What is success and how do I define it for my life?

Start with those and see where it leads you. Your journey will be filled with awe I promise!

March 24, 2016

Civility Please!

We all have firmly implanted in our minds how uncivil the Trump rallies and campaign events are progressing across the nation. The model of nastiness, even violence, seems to be accepted as normal. But it isn't and the Trump organization is beginning to get the message. A lot of repair work needs to be done.

I don't much care for the insouciance of the republican party. They seem to accept a lot of behavior in the past 20 years that does not conform to what had been the American polite behavior norm. They have pulled out all the stops to win elections and they have been successful with this approach. That's how they won control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate. It hasn't worked so well for winning the White House but they did manage to get George W elected and re-elected, so.....

But here's the thing. Americans at large do not accept this behavior. Even republicans are admitting embarrassment with the Trump antics. His sour face and angry scowls, twisted lips and spittle drenched announcements. His off hand demands to 'get him out of here' echo throughout the nation. To his supporters this is a show of force and executive demeanor. To the rest of us, however, it is a show of offensive bullying.

American culture is much more polite than Trump and his supporters. Manipulation goes only so far.

But wait! Trump is not the only one engaging in this behavior. Rubio responded in kind and lost his own state of Florida in the primaries. He is no longer on the presidential campaign stage. His supporters and others in the republican party have made a statement. Make it civil or go home. He went home before he got the message. Now for Cruz to get the same message!

But now Bernie's supporters are doing the same thing with Hillary's campaign. The nastiness level is less than Trump's, but the steam and rancor are building. This could very well destroy Bernie's campaign, and harm Hillary's campaign at the same time. It will lessen the democrat's chances of beating republicans. We all lose in this scenario.

It is up to everyone to ratchet down the rhetoric several notches. It is also time for candidates to own up to the excesses rising in their own campaign organizations whether they approve of them or not.

I think Bernie Sanders has excellent talking points. He has been persistent with these for years and he is correct in most of his positions in my mind. But to allow them to be machined against a fellow democrat is foolish and misleading. It is also dishonest. He needs to disassociate himself from this practice and to admonish his supporters from engaging in this behavior.

I believe republicans will destroy their own message, campaign and party with a continuation of destructive politics. In the end, however, it is the American people who will enforce this result. You and I have the responsibility to inform decision makers this sort of behavior is unacceptable.

Winning at all costs no longer works. What you have after victory simply doesn't function well at all. The very fabric of governance is built on collaboration and compromise. At the crux of those two is trust and respect. Agreement need not be present. Only respect and trust. Decency allows that to emerge but only if we work for it.

Are you? Are you calling out fellow supporters to cool the rhetoric? Are you cooling your own?

It's high time we all did this.

March 23, 2016

Dealing With Anger

The guy in front of you cuts you off; intentional or slopping driving? You watch and keep your distance but note his actions are erratic. Either he is texting or checking work files on the computer next to him. Now you really keep your distance.

No wonder accidents occur. And no wonder road rage is more prevalent today than in days long gone. Traffic is more congested now. Street and highway designs are better engineered, but volume tests the limits of those designs. Besides, rush hour seems to rewrite the rules of the road each day.

You are in line at the pharmacy drive-through and someone is taking a long time. No movement for 15 minutes. You wonder why someone monopolizes this facility at the expense of all the other customers. Fumes begin to form in the mind! 

A doctor’s office notifies you they have denied your prescription refill. When you call you learn they think you have not seen the doctor yet for the annual checkup. I can’t believe I let something like that slip. I challenge them. Their voice belies tension. I later learn they changed their annual checkup scheduling procedure and they failed to notify patients of this. A reminder card had been sent to patients at the 6 month time frame and we were to make the appointment following instructions on the card. They dropped use of the card. Told no one. All appointments for annual checkups were left to chance memory of patients. I don’t have that kind of memory. Besides I have too many doctors to leave it to this memory schema.

Although the new appointment was now made, the prescription was approved for only one month at a drug cost premium of about 30%. So I denied the refill and will await my checkup with the doctor and acquire my 90-day refill approval. And then for the remainder of the year going forward.

There were other instances this past week when I was challenged and did, in fact, lose my cool. Although I’m usually a pretty nice, cooperative person, I get agitated when tired, pushed by others with outrageous expectations, or am treated poorly by bureaucracies. In truth I can melt down pretty easily. Because last week contained an election day and I worked it as an election judge, my work schedule was doubled. We all spent about 20 hours on Tuesday’s election routine. So we are tired. I am pooped. I am thus ready to be irked easily.

And I was. Melted down at least three times, maybe four. Believe me I was tempted on other occasions but restrained myself. Sometimes the meltdowns are good medicine. Most often, though, they are not. Just the opposite; they are destructive and not good for my own physical health. Or any one else for that matter!

I’ve discussed this with others and admitted my lack of control and poor humor. Others piped in with their own experiences. Seemed I was not the only one stressed last week. Maybe there was something in the air or water supply?

I kind of doubt that. but I don’t doubt that the incivility within our current social environment is catching and infecting others. I’m just one of the sufferers. And infectors!

When will these awful political campaigns be over? Really? They just seem never to stop. Following a campaign and inauguration, it seems campaigning starts all over again for the next election just 2 or 4 years distant. That’s so unfair. To begin campaigning again. So soon.

Please God. Make them stop!

March 22, 2015

Obama’s Thinking re: Foreign Affairs

The April cover story of Atlantic Magazine is written by Jeffrey Goldberg. A national correspondent, Goldberg tracked down Obama for face to face interviews over a three month period – in the White House, aboard Air Force One and one in Malaysia. He did background work with Obama’s top national security and foreign policy staff and advisers as well. This is a long work (19 pages) because of the depth and detail covered. In short, read the article for an understanding of Obama’s strong performance in foreign affairs during his tenure.

Goldberg believes ‘The Obama Doctrine’ is visible throughout all of this. It is: military action has limits per each situation and is to be used sparingly; regions have their own cultural disputes they must own and manage; America is not the global community’s war machine.

Goldberg quotes President Obama: “I had come into office with the strong belief that the scope of executive power in national security issues is very broad, but not limitless. Where am I controversial? When it comes to the use of military power. That is the source of the controversy. There’s a playbook in Washington that presidents are supposed to follow. And the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses. Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works. But the playbook can also be a trap that can lead to bad decisions. In the midst of an international challenge like Syria, you get judged harshly if you don’t follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons why it does not apply.”

To that I say Amen! Restraint is the hardest reaction to manage but is often the most valuable and effective.

A thinking president uses his intellectual gifts. Obama did this in deciding not to strike Syria with missiles. In his words, Obama states: “I’m very proud of this moment. The overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom and the machinery of our national security apparatus has gone fairly far. The perception was that my credibility was at stake, that America’s credibility was at stake. And so for me to push the pause button at that moment, I knew, would cost me politically. And the fact that I was about to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in America’s interest, not only with respect to Syria but also with respect to our democracy, was as tough a decision as I’ve made – and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make.” Goldberg claims US allies and Obama’s own cabinet and advisors were stunned by the decision. Even Secretary of State John Kerry was flummoxed by the decision and repeatedly urged the president to strike Syria with missiles. Obama is reported as announcing that no one except the secretary of defense should bring him proposals for military action.

On  the Middle East, Goldberg suggests that the chaos in Libya proved to Obama that the Middle East was best avoided. Obama said: “There is no way we should commit to governing the Middle East and North Africa. That would be a basic, fundamental mistake.” “Right now, I don’t think anybody can be feeling good about the situation in the Middle East. You have countries that are failing to provide prosperity and opportunity for their people. You’ve got a violent, extremist ideology, or ideologies, that are turbocharged through social media. You’ve got countries that have very few civic traditions, so that as autocratic regimes start fraying, the only organizing principles are sectarian.”

On ISIS, Obama believes it is like the Joker in Batman. Obama says, “These are men who had the city divided up. They were thugs, but there was a kind of order. Everyone had turf. And then the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. ISIL is the Joker. It has the capacity to set the whole region on fire. That’s why we have to fight it.”  But the president goes on and states this dichotomy: “ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States. Climate change is a potential existential threat to the entire world if we don’t do something about it.” That gives us a powerful thought to ponder. It also provides insight to how the president’s mind works incisively.

Goldberg develops a strong line from Obama that Saudi Arabia should play a much more inclusive role in the Middle East. According to Obama, “The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians – which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen – requires us to say to our friends as well as to the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.”  Finally a sensible suggestion to a fiery region of the world.

On other matters the Atlantic Article provides these Obama positions:

Libya: European nations, especially Britain and France, should have done more to help solve the Libyan problem. They are the closest to the region and have the most to lose.

Ukraine: Obama believes Ukraine is not a core American interest and he is thus reluctant to intervene in the country. Russia will always be able to maintain escalatory dominance there.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: Obama thinks Netanyahu doesn’t think the president understands the pressures and political consequences in the Middle East vis a vis Israel. But as an elected President in a divided United States who won the White House twice, Obama told Netanyahu to stop the lecturing. He does understand the situation as well as he does.

Vladimir Putin: Obama is reported as saying: “The truth is, actually, Putin, in all of our meetings, is scrupulously polite, very frank. Our meetings are very businesslike. He never keeps me waiting two hours like he does a bunch of these other folks. He’s constantly interested in being seen as our peer and as working with us, because he’s not completely stupid. He understands that Russia’s overall position in the world is significantly diminished.”

The article helps us understand the strengths of President Obama as a world leader. He is serious about the role. And he is serious about not involving America in fruitless and expensive side trips that only confuse and worsen conditions.

I think at home Obama has been dismissed for racist reasons. That is something our nation will need to repair in the near future. Meanwhile, it is apparent that Obama’s intellect is intact and magnificent. He understands domestic and foreign issues better perhaps than any president in recent memory. The political climate of his presidency has been poisonous to anyone who would have won the White House. But especially for him for cultural reasons beyond his control.

Just imagine what it would have been like with any other person in the White House during the past 8 years! I tremble at the thought.

And I tremble now because of the poisonous political campaigns now rolling across the nation.

March 21, 2016

One Coin: Two Sides

Oh go ahead, flip for it! Yes or no, up or down, in or out. Flip that coin and see what it is. Take your chances and let the natural world of chance decide the question. Or your fate?

The coin these days is not yes or no; rather it is Fear or Anger.

I say that with calm. I awoke this morning realizing that most people facing this presidential election season are disturbed by developments. Wondering how to distill the situation in a few words I decided on Fear and Anger.

Fear – a reaction to the unknown, the unpredictable, the unknowable. Hard-to-understand might be a phrase relative to this distillation.

Anger – a reaction to what exactly? Indecision by authorities? Continuing confusion in areas of normal certainty? Frustration over the unpredictable, unknowable or unknown?

Are fear and anger opposite sides of the same coin or actually the same thing?

I ask this because I observed both anger and fear on primary election day. Our polling place processed nearly 1300 ballots. Each one came from a citizen. Many acted as though they knew what they were doing but many more acted fearful, suspicious and angry as well. One lady stomped into the polling place early while daylight savings time delivered an inky blackness to the parking lot and indistinct entryway to the polling facility. She claimed it was too dark outside and she nearly tripped and who was going to do something about it? She said this to me because I was the first staff in line to greet and serve her.

I informed her we didn’t own the facility nor did we have access to the light switches. And besides, the parking lot is not lit anyway. We had to navigate the same territory with no lights, used our headlights to find the lock for the key to work in, open the doors until the light switches for the front area and hallways were found and switched on. Then we parked, entered the building and began set up operations. And that was at 5 am.

Her response: incompetence, everywhere incompetence; you should have taken care of that detail the day before.

We did report this situation to the Election Commission, mentioned the need for better lighting to the building owner when we saw him later in the day, and filed concrete suggestions for improvement via the Election Judges Report when closing the polling place late that night at 10 pm.

The woman’s anger and rudeness stayed with me. All day long her angry, twisted, frustrated face flashed in my memory. Exhausted that night, I fell into bed at 11 pm, well past my normal bedtime of 8:30 (give me a break, I’m retired!). Later that night, around 3 am, I awoke with the woman’s anger and thready voice echoing in my thoughts. I arose then for a bathroom break, and remained up to tend to the computer.

That is when I wrote my Wednesday blog. I searched the internet for voting results and learned them, realized the large turnout, and then understood why we were so busy. We had worked triple time throughout the day. We were constantly under pressure to keep the lines manageable. We interacted with voters as positively as we could but realized, as nice as they normally are, they were strained.

It came to me during the early hours of Friday morning, this morning, that the American voter is frightened, dismayed and angry at the turn of events. The campaigns mirror this anger and fear. People don’t understand what is happening.

Into this environment snake oil artisans enter to take advantage. Fear always sells. With that anger builds. And sales go through the roof. Always has; and I think it always will.

Americans think they won World War II. We were on the winning side and our participation in the war was critical to its successful conclusion. However, the war was won because the world had its future at stake. The world community understood this. And they pulled together and fought the war and won it for everyone else. Hitler and Japan were defeated. The forces of evil were defeated.

That was then. Today is now. We have not won a world war since 1945, 70 years ago. Meantime, generations have lived relatively happy lives. They have attended to their homes, families and personal interests. All was well with them. Until today they realize something is not well.

Our infrastructure is crumbling but congress doesn’t wish to replace it or fund the replacement. Education is not responsive to the tens of millions of people who have lost careers due to obsolete technologies, products and services. Other nations and their people are hungry enough for jobs and incomes that they have invented new products and services, and produce them cheaper than Americans could. So business has shifted to other regions of the globe. New investments in these industries have built solid economies around the globe. Living standards have improved globally. A fresh set of possibilities are present for once poor nations.

In America things are different. We still enjoy a high quality of life but the future  appears dim and dented. Worn around the edges we wonder where all of this will lead. And then a political campaign season descends upon us and we are teased, bullied and harangued about what caused all of this and what we can do about it. We learn what to fear and what to be angry about. But something is missing.

And I think that is accountability.

Each of us is accountable for our own lives. We are also accountable for making decisions that affect the lives of others and, in fact, the well-being of our nation. We exercise accountability by reading and researching what is going on around us so we know how to react productively and constructively.

If the future is to be bright what do we need to be doing along the way toward the future? Among the responsibilities are these:

• Educate my kids and our neighbor’s kids so they can think their way to careers and lives filled with meaning; educate people of all ages so they keep up with the changes happening around us at all times and thus assist them in realizing the need for career changes before they happen and make proper adjustments
• Maintain public infrastructure so our society continues to work efficiently; this includes schools, streets, sewers, water supplies, storm water management facilities, highways, bridges, viaducts, dams, power stations and energy grids of all sorts
• Retain inventive investment mindsets so emerging technology, scientific and medical breakthroughs are used productively. This is how we discover new things and create change. Education is how we learn how to adapt to change.
• Be interested in and involved in governance of our society. This means know and understand what is going on around you in your name. We are the citizens of our nation and thus own it and are responsible for it. What decisions are being made in our name? Why? What consequences will these decisions have on our lives down the road?
• Do not leave it to someone else to do the work or take the responsibility. This is your job, my job, our job together. It is not rocket science. We do not have to have an advanced college degree to do this. Common sense will suffice. That is, common sense will suffice IF WE KEEP UP WITH THE WORK. If we fall behind things get messy and confused. And that is where the fear and anger enter the picture. 

The Angry Woman Voter is a symbol and symptom of our time. She left important work to be done by others while she concentrated on her own life and interests. Unfortunately, others did the same and left the hard work to others and now they are disappointed because they see the destruction such avoidance has created.

Yes America, we have done this to ourselves. Our governance structure is in shambles because selfish people focused on themselves rather than the basics of our society. It doesn’t run by itself. It is run by people like you and me.

Best we pay attention and select the best and the brightest to do our work for them. Being on the board of directors of this enterprise, shouldn’t you pay close attention to how well they are performing?

Don’t blame the poll watcher or election judge for the low funding of polling places and dim lighting. That one’s on you and something you should have been paying attention to long ago.

March 18, 2016

Voter Understanding

Way back in my teens I was a conservative thinker about all matters of government. At the time I really was concerned about government taking over more control of our daily lives. I was young and not filled with many facts, but I read the intellectual articles published by conservatives.  At the time these people were only allied tangentially with the republican party. They really felt establishment politicians were serving for their own personal reasons and not for the good of the country. Patriotic themes were common in those days, and conservatives announced their purity of love for country more than most people.

I had deep interests in a career in business and industry. I observed the connection – intersection, really – of economics and politics. A lot of theory was discussed, and government manipulation of the economy was something conservatives complained bitterly about. Especially Keynesian economics, placing a burden on the classical economist of British origin. Born there in 1893, he died in 1946. His economic theories were the most popular at the time and continue to influence public policy today.

Keynes' primary theory believed that nation’s suffering a strong recession or depression, could correct the situation by creating public debt, spending it on economic goods of long lasting value, and thus boost the economy measurably. As the economy improves, tax collections and other returns on the investments purchased by government debt were to be used to repay the debt.

That last bit of policy is often omitted in a recall of Keynesian Economics. You see Mr. Keynes was continually blamed by conservatives in America for growing public debt. In the 1950’s and 1960’s republicans and conservatives blamed inflation on runaway federal debt. They also believed that government economic policies were too interventionist and accumulated too much power in the hands of the federal government.

How much of this was factually true is arguable. The case can be made, however, that the American depression of the 1930’s would never have been successfully battled if it hadn’t been for massive federal spending on public infrastructure under the Public Works Administration (WPA) and several other far-reaching programs that flooded the economy with money, jobs and a general lifting of the depression. Before that happened, however, World War II entered the scene and government military spending went through the roof.

Once the war was over, the American economy was on fire with growth and reinvestment in new industries, inventions, new careers, expanded education for the masses, and a host of other developments. The future was bright and with victory over communists on two sides of the globe, America could do no wrong. The economy was beyond strong; it was dynamic and massively able.

Somewhere along the way conservatives still complained about government interference in all matters relating to business and industry. Regulations were argued over. Deficit spending was broadly condemned. And Keynesian economics was considered the bad boy theory of all time!

Truth be told Keynes was correct. Spend public money – even loan dollars – to build new highways, bridges, dams and public infrastructure, and the economy will perk up. The investments will create even more economic activity and more jobs will result. Standards of living will rise along with the economy. All of this was true.

And yes there were some drawbacks. If politicians promised too much and financed their promises with borrowed public funds, the economy could become overheated and produce an endless chasing after goods and dollars creating inflation. Keynes had an answer for this: pay down the public debt, shrinking the very thing that grew economic activity in the first place. So slowing the economy was only a matter of reducing the debt, paying it down, and raising the cost of money. The latter required the Federal Reserve to increase reserve requirements for banks to off set their risk dollars in loans, and to raise interest rates that would make it more costly to borrow. In turn loan volumes would decline and along with that a general slowdown in economic activity.

When needed, the process could be reversed and tweaked and tuned endlessly to produce a fairly balanced economy. For decades the nation generally did well managing the economy in this manner. But political philosophers felt the quiet hand of competition would work better.  It truthfully never has worked all that well, but supply and demand does work to keep things balanced in the economy.

At any rate, once I was in college and studying economics seriously I learned that the political pundits were mostly wrong. Politics had distorted political philosophy AND public economics. Distorted in major dimensions and almost all untruthful.

That’s when I began to realize public discussion about complicated things can easily go astray and be manipulated by people of ill will. Conservatives became those people of ill will. They talked of dishonest economics and pretended to understand the complexities of economics all while spinning a political ideology built on nonsense.

It remains pretty much the same today. Conservatives think they understand the economy when in truth they only understand the facts affecting their own livelihoods, businesses and household finances. That is only one half of the economic story, however. The role of government in economics is critically important and it requires management by knowledgeable people with no axes to grind. Try finding those types of people in the Congress of today. Too much flippant political language destroys our trust in them. We must still find good people to trust and give them the authority to manage the affairs of public economics with fairness and intellectual honesty.  It really is too important a matter to leave to politicians.

So, with an understanding of economics and a college degree in the field to show as my credential, I became a much more sober, understanding person willing to observe public policy formation in an increasingly political age. Here’s what I learned.

The republican party doesn’t truly understand economics as well as it claims. It does understand power politics and where the levers of power reside: banking, industry and regulations. Their too simplistic approach, however, is to eliminate regulations, leave banking alone to define affordable risks, and support industry to create jobs.

What they forgot was the inherent greed of the key players in all of this. Left on their own they usually turn policy to favor their own interests. And thus it has. Banks and investment firms rejoiced at the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act; that occurred in 1999 with an unholy alliance of politicians trying to compromise between Democrats and Republicans. By 2007 the real estate industry was nearly dead, so too were banks, and the debacle had spread to all of Europe and most of Asia as well. A world financial meltdown was created by bad policy decisions.

In the aftermath a new President was tasked to fix the mess. And he did even as the same old politicians bitterly complained. So with most people against him at every turn, Obama managed to wrest enough control from the kooks and fix the system. He literally saved the world from its own greed! But you won’t hear very many people thank him for it.

No, it is in their interest to maintain the purity of their hatred against John Maynard Keynes and liberal economic policy. Bosh and Nuts! It is not liberal economics at all. It is just economics, plain and simple. What others have made of Keynes’ theories is on them not him. His theories have been proved right time and time again.

What hasn’t been proven is the idiocy of politicians who misrepresent theory, education and science to feather their own nest of issues and ideologies.

But we have heard this all before and yet where are we today? Still in the same place, listening to do nothings and know nothings and letting them screw up the public nearly every time.

Shame on us for letting them. Shame on them for pursuing the greed. For themselves, remember; all for themselves.

March 18, 2016

Voting Results

Well the results are in for Illinois and few surprises were tallied. The highlights are:

Democrats:  Hillary won handily over Bernie (50.5% versus 48.7%), but Bernie made a stronger showing than expected. Still, Hillary won the delegates and continues her march toward the party’s nomination this summer.

Republicans: well, Trump didn’t lose and that isn’t a surprise (he won 38.8% of the vote). The surprise – if you think there was one – is that super conservative Cruz polled so well in the voting (he took 30.3% of the vote). Perhaps that is because the other candidates are viewed as weak and voters made this a contest between Trump and Cruz instead (Kasich took 19.7% of the Illinois Republican vote, while Rubio earned just 8.7% of the votes in Illinois). Rubio also lost his own state of Florida and has called his campaign suspended for now. As republican candidates continue to disappear, votes continue to move from past candidates to those remaining. So the lines of the contest are becoming clearer.

Predictions for fall elections: Trump vs. Hillary. I see no other possibility unless a candidate becomes incapacitated in some manner. The writing is on the wall.

That means the summer will be filled with national presidential campaigns touting conservative versus progressive candidates and policies. We have several months to research what that really means.

As I write this it is 3:50 am and I served as an Election Judge from 5 am to 10:30 pm Tuesday, March 15^th. Although tired and achy from a long day standing, sitting and performing myriad clerical duties in serving voters in our four precincts, I couldn’t remain in bed until I learned the results.

As the polls closed and the election staff worked late into the night, violent storms moved across Illinois dropping rain by torrents and brightening the sky with spectacular lightening displays. Thunder rumbled near and far as well and the wind flung light objects far and wide. We can hope the political signs have disappeared during the night and left our landscape much cleaner! And more honest!!

Working the polls we noted heavy turnouts. We observed a surge of young voters. We also noticed deep thought as voters considered switching to another party ballot to make a difference among the opposing party’s candidates. I think Bernie’s results closer to Hillary’s is a point in fact. Many Illinois republicans detest the thought of Hillary running on the Democratic ticket. So they flooded her primary trying to take Illinois away from a Hillary win. They did not succeed.

If I’m right, however, then party switching only nailed the results for Trump and doomed everyone else but Cruz. So if Republicans hanker a convention pitted between Trump and Cruz, they have their wish. If that’s not what they wished for, they got it anyway! That’s the gamble a party takes when it messes with the other party’s ballot.

Time, of course, will tell us where such initiatives were attempted and whether they worked.

For now, I can return to bed and sleep the sleep of the exhausted. And in my head are images of bacon and eggs and English muffins drenched in butter. That is my reward.

Then a busy schedule of SCORE appointments. It’s a good life I think. It’s one I wouldn’t want any different!

March 16, 2016

Illinois Votes Today

Oh Lord let the air waves be silent today and tonight! Let there be peace on our little bit of earth. Please!

I am an election judge today in my old neighborhood. It will be like old home week as many people I have known over the past 22 years do their duty and cast their ballots. Because of this renewing of acquaintances this duty is fun, interesting and absorbing. I’ve been assigned as a judge in other polling locations in the past and the time moves as slow as ants moving a one ton bison carcass. You cannot believe how slow the time drains by.

Besides seeing old friends the task of election judges is a good one. We keep the machinery of the polling place working. Most of the time it is smooth. Sometimes it is a little arduous. Most problems are understanding people with foreign accents and poor English as a Second Language (ESL) skills. Our area is one of growing diversity. That is good. Cultural life is growing richer by the month! And the people are delightful. Still, communicating can be a little difficult. Thankfully really tough cases bring family members with them to translate.

Some polling places experience few voters. Ours is a site of high voter turnout, usually 35% to 55%. The latter is the norm and that outstrips national averages by a large number. We are proud of that record. Still, why are most voters not registering their preferences for candidates? This is part of the democratic process. Voting is not work to do unless you count preparation beforehand. That should include researching candidates and their positions on a host of issues you think matter the most. Then you choose who you think would make the best public servant for the community.

That is not an easy task. It takes time to read and become familiar with which candidates share their views articulately and persuasively as well. How are we to know they will be a good public servant? We don’t, actually. We have to use our judgment on that. Discernment is a skill needing practice and application. All of us have been disappointed by candidates in the past. Just look upon the Illinois state legislature and the do-nothing reps and senators. It is a national shame brought on our state. They still do not have a budget for the current fiscal year and the deadline was last July. Say what?

Also, congressional personnel are not any better. They calculate what is republican and what is democrat and then vote along party lines. Give no party a victory. Give no man or woman a victory. Disregard what is good for the nation and our fellow countrymen. Just do the bidding of the party. What nonsense. You say you believe in an issue or two? Then live it and vote it. Forget the party borders and exercise your mind and work for your constituents.

Election Day is the day we voters exercise our power. We select who will govern us. They don’t select us. We select them. If we don’t like what they are doing – or not doing in the present circumstances – then we need to vote accordingly.

One hopes each and every one of us has done the homework to make good decisions. Republican or Democrat, each of us deserves one another’s effort in voting with intelligence.

The results will be broadcast soon. Then we will see how things progress from their to the conventions and finally the November Election Day.

Onward!

March 15, 2015

Problem Solving

Nothing succeeds like success, or so we are told. We know that we have problems to work on in our nation, our states, communities and neighborhoods. We know those difficulties exist. Some of us are working on them for solutions. Others sit by and watch others do the heavy lifting without much support or assistance of any kind.

And in political circles the effort is only focused on how to divert negative attention on me and how to redirect it on a political enemy. I think we are adult enough to understand this is the way of the world. It goes on in America. It goes on in Russia, China, Iran and Iraq. It goes on in Germany, Italy, France and in every single country on the face of the globe. This is life. This is reality.

But let’s face one incontrovertible fact: nothing will get solved if we, and I mean WE, don’t roll up our sleeves and get involved. Personally. Face to face. And now. Right this moment.

There is no time like now to get involved. Ask questions of people you think are knowledgeable about the problem you are interested in. These may be friends or neighbors. Perhaps someone at your church is engaged with people who understand the issue and need more helping hands. Maybe a local charity is in the know better than anyone else, or perhaps it is visiting a local college or university and finding out who knows about the area you are interested in. Most institutions of higher learning are very committed to community involvement. Believe me, they will welcome your involvement.

Of course there is city hall that will shed some light on the issues, but beware: they are skeptical of strangers bearing gifts! They are quite used to people contacting them with hidden agendas. Build a trusting relationship with these people and then offer to help. You may find yourself appointed to a board or commission tasked with managing just this problem area.

Not one of us has all the answers to problems rampant among us. We often realize the importance of such issues, but only at critical times are we moved to take action. That action needs to be an offer to help. If accepted, use the opportunity to get involved and begin the process of understanding the problem from all perspectives. It is a problem because there are ‘sides’ and perspectives at work. All of these need to be considered when designing a solution to the problem.

The work is awkward and slow. At times it will become emotional, too. Find a good person to mentor you until you feel comfortable drawing your own conclusions. Bring your point of view forward and use it to sponsor lessening of tensions and creative means to find a solution. The most important problems we share will be difficult to solve.

That is why it is important that we all feel like a stakeholder in the problem. Because the simple truth of the matter is we ARE a stakeholder. It matters if our society is functioning well, fairly and with justice. Well it isn’t. We have disenfranchised people who will slow progress for the rest of us. It is in our interest and theirs to be creative and collaborative in inventing solutions to problems.

So now, which problems bother you the most? Which ones have a local aspect to that problem. Who do you know who would help you get involved? When are you going to take the first step?

Might now be the right time?

March 14, 2016

Policing Chaos

Chicago’s headline yesterday morning was: ‘21 shot in 20 hours in Chicago.’ And this activity took place in a large, general region of the city where gangs are prevalent. Families of those gang members shrink in the homes out of fear of the violence their offspring or siblings will bring home with them. Shots are heard frequently in the neighborhood. Sirens are a constant chorus day and night. Of course they call the police in two circumstances: when the bullets are flying, or when they find family members dead from gun shot wounds.

The press is called if the police arrive and need to shoot their way to safety in this chaos. Somehow the police get tainted by their even being nearby in response to the calls for help. Then the spin gets applied: this is a cop shoot out.

I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg, in this matter. What I do know is residents living in fear in neighborhoods affected by gangs have a problem. And if they make the police the scapegoat they have an even greater problem. The police one day may not show up because they have allowed a chaotic environment to happen and propagate. Gangs do not appear overnight. They grow out of a destructive brew of social dysfunction focused on neighborhood, family and schools. Anti social behavior becomes a defensive act of survival. Churches often get involved to lessen the tensions but they are left powerless in the face of stubborn violence, deadly violence.

Churches, however, often become critics of police tactics. This turn of affairs allows families to blame police as well. When this happens they all lose. So do we in larger society.

Seems to me there are many resources to study and understand the problems inherent in the above scenario. What is lacking is a coming together of police, church, family and others who can lessen tensions and begin the delicate process of building peace. Currently we are stuck in indecision and lack of cooperation. Nothing much gets done that is good. Just tossing blame hither and yon. That simply does not work.

The police are caught in the middle of this chaos. They did not cause gangs to form. They are, however, charged with the responsibility of controlling gangs and lessening their impact on society. If the rest of society supported their efforts and helped them, police might actually gain some traction in their endeavors. Lacking that cooperation, police are dealing with a stalemate.

The result: 21 people get shot in 20 hours in the neighborhoods.

That problem belongs to all of us. Social unrest and violence is caused by heavy concentrations of population in tight quarters. Competition among residents for breathing room and education and opportunity pits too many people against one another. This is a social problem and a social disease. It comes from urban areas growing quickly. It comes from urban economies growing unequally and affecting poor people who become trapped living in areas that increasingly are unfit for habitation.

These problems are not new. They have been present throughout our history as a nation, and they are present in other nations as well that have disproportionate economic development and disproportionate economic rewards among the people of the region. The poor get poorer; the rich get richer. The latter move to safer areas which leaves the poor to manage a region in decline. And then more decline until conditions are not survivable and people die.

Help community leaders lead. Help police patrol the streets and keep them safe. Help the schools teach students about opportunity to fuel better lives. Help churches harbor the innocent and weak in times of crisis. But overall: participate in your community and help it be whole.

The police are not the enemy. They are but men and women like you being paid too little to risk their lives and health to protect yours when you are doing too little to help your own situation. Now is the time for you and your neighbors to stand united and work with others to end the chaos and violence. Only you can do it.

The alternative is growing violence until someone is declared the victor over the dead bodies. Is that what you really want?

And by the way, Chicago is not the only community with this problem. LA, New York, Pittsburgh, Miami, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas and many other large urban areas have the same problems. None are immune. But all can do more to control the situation.

When will they. And we?

March 11, 2016

Bits and Pieces

Just a short travel today through the issues of the day:

Bernie vs Hillary: I prefer Hillary because she is well prepared to govern. That means she understands the pitfalls before her and will have to work hard to compromise and work with a lot of people who oppose her. She had eight years of exposure to this negative work environment while her husband was the President. Seemingly Republicans invented hateful politics back in those days. They have grown only worse leading up to today’s gridlock in Congress. I doubt Bernie’s embracing a revolution will gain any traction in the Capitol building. It will be hard enough for Hillary. He can help her in many ways attain the same goals they both share.

So it’s time to unite behind Hillary and move on to the convention and the fall campaign. Please.

Trump et.al.: Well the Republicans are in a mess. Trump is not a governing person. He is a decision maker and edict maker. He expects his ideas to be implemented and pressed forward. This will not work in Congress unless most of the residents are oosted in this round of elections. With most attention focused on the White House race, I predict Congress will remain much the same as it is today. Sad but true. In any case, Congress will continue to block anyone residing in the White House.

Kardashians: Why are these people still on the front page of our media? Why? They are not interesting. Pretty, yes; meaningful and valuable to the success of our society? I don’t think so. And Caitlyn? How can a repressive party in all things gender oriented still attract Jenner/Caitlyn? Methinks more than a few screws are loose in that noggin!

Iran and the Future: It amazes me that Iran was hurt terribly by the economic sanctions of the past decades due to their anti-social behavior on the international stage. Now that a huge majority of nations have approved a peaceful settlement with Iran so they can resume building their future, it is stunning that they are thumbing their nose at the majority of nations that defined that peace settlement. Would they rather we go back to the old status quo which produced dictators within their borders and a hegemony of religious power mongering that rob citizens of their freedom? Is that what the Iranian people think?  If not, they still allow the kooks among them too much power to poke the eyes of good people around the globe attempting to be their good friends. If the kooks are not as I described them, then perhaps Iran’s culture is warped beyond salvation?  It is theirs to build constructively or with folly. If the latter, we all lose. Everywhere. Would be very sad!

North Korea: What nonsense and psychosis convulses the power centers of this nation! Ludicrous and sad. Trouble is it is also scary that people devote their lives to such destructive ends. They are capable of much more good than this but they choose the negative because it is easier and clouds reality from the population. The people are afraid because their government makes it seem normal. The people thus cannot see how enslaved and poor they are. Not having a free press and vigorous public discussion of issues allows North Korea to produce their false front. Surely they know that a nuclear war – if it is even possible by them – would lead to their entire erasure from the face of the planet, by their own destructive means or defensive action of others nearby. Well, at least they would be beyond the hurt of their present circumstances. But so too would the hurt be on many others.  Sad.

Anti Government Sentiment: I can understand having a problem with authority. We all grew up surviving parental demands and sibling orders, especially if you were the youngest! A teacher’s regime in the classroom was sometimes viewed as unfair, but in time we realized this was not the case. The principal of the school was another issue entirely. He (or she) was seen as the judge and jury of the entire school building. And we treated him with awe from afar and hoped we never earned his attention!

But anti government sentiment runs heavy in America in the southern states and southwestern enclaves of Nevada, Arizona and Texas. The lonelier locales of Idaho and Utah also harbor some of the same sentiment but to a much lesser degree. For the most part I get the sense that these people are greatly afraid of authority outside of their own skins. The reasons are vague and not based much on facts. Governing them is thus an oxymoron; they are ungovernable. But they push conspiracy theories and all the rest of the baloney. Thus the gun culture thrives in these places.

The Republican Tea Party seems to be home to these crazies and that complicates things for the rest of us. Especially the party. Can you even imagine a Cruz, Rubio or Trump presiding over this mess of anarchy?

Conclusion: the world is in a particularly bad mood these days. We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail all over the globe. I hope so. I’d like to enjoy the spring and summer that’s coming. Please let there be thunderstorms and not Armageddon!

March 10, 2016

Doctor Visits, continued...

Let’s see, my general medical practitioner wants to see me twice each year – an annual check up and then a 6-month quick catch-up. The pulmonologist wants to see me annually with an occasional lung function test thrown in to boot. The cardiologist insists on annual check ups with occasional retesting PLUS monthly Coumadin/warfarin clinic visits for tracking blood clotting moderation. The skin doctor wants 5-year check-ups, and the spine doctor/pain clinic wants visits as needed with an MRI thrown in for good luck. So far I’ve kept all of these appointments and each has been easy, very easy. No new meds; no new behavior adjustments. Weight is coming down nicely. Lung capacity is 65% and holding. The doctor notices my mother is now 102 years old and is confident I’ll survive for another 18 to 24 months without trying!  All is good.

And that’s a relief. A woman at church Sunday wondered if I had changed my hair style or done something different. She claims I look younger. I thought so too over the past couple of weeks while shaving. It seems my face is thinner and my eyes are brighter. And the hair is the same, maybe a little darker and stiffer. Still very little gray and the thinning has stopped for several months.

I don’t know if these are all good signs or temporary benefits of getting married. Of course the ladies at church think the latter is the primary cause!

But what is more important is I am feeling very good and can keep my activity level up nicely without too much trouble. There are times I actually walk normally; not all the time, but some of the time. That’s a good thing.

So, aging may not be for everyone but brave and hardy folks can do quite nicely after the age of 72. And that’s a good thing.

Equaling Mom’s 102 years is not probable. Imagine doing 30 more years of this! Yikes!

March 9, 2016