So Many Topics!

Immigration Policy

Muslim vs Americanism

Business Conflicts of Interest

Lack of Personal Transparency

World Tensions – War?

Beating Back ISIS

Obsession with Lifestyle *

So many topics to address and yet justice can only be done one at a time. Which to choose? Which one is the most important? Which of the topics has potency to affect all the others?

The latter point may just be the most helpful idea in making a choice. Aha! I have it. Obsession with Lifestyle is the topic for today. And why is that you ask? Well read on!

Scanning today’s news headlines I find a preponderance of items dealing with films, popular music and musicians, celebrities from the entertainment industry and the challenges or triumphs they are experiencing. I also note public interest articles on environment, the animal kingdom, funny videos that are sure to tickle the news junkie, and many other subjects too esoteric to go into. Of course there are the diet and health items as well as travelogues enticing the reader on to consideration of exotic trips to out of the way places. Of course sunny climes are depicted during our dreary winter months!

The point of the previous paragraph is the amount of ‘news’ items that have to do with lifestyle issues. Wealth and personal financial management articles are a close ally of this but then, managing wealth makes lifestyle choices possible. Especially the fanciful options. With all of this written on lifestyles when do the readers spend time on the truly important items that will spell whether or not they will have the time or existence available to them in which to engage lifestyle choices?

This is a critical issue. With the federal government entering identity chaos, mission and purpose of government have been redirected. Where exactly is still under examination. The changes underway in two weeks time since Trump took residency in the White House have thrown most of our assumptions out the window and policies are now being written that totally revise how life is to be lived in America. Well, that is an overstatement because policy does not control life in these united states. We citizens still do that and will continue to do so until some force enters our homes and physically changes what we are doing and when. I doubt that will occur.

Policy does shape operations, procedures and expectations. But policy also is misunderstood by most people, especially those who wish to make rapid change and are not experienced in public policy. Policy must be understandable to the majority of citizens. Personal whim does not usually muster support. So declaring certain nationalities unwelcome in the USA does not sit well immediately and creates chaos. Chaos, in turn, creates reactions and counter actions. National and international behaviors change as a result. But only for the instant to register reaction.

When the full scope of the effect of the policy is plumbed, the original policy is withdrawn and rewritten to a much milder stance. That has not happened as yet but will shortly. Just watch.

Declarations will be spouted from the White House or emissaries to the effect that “this is not what we intended, so the actual practices will be…”  See how this unfolds and measure how close or far off my prediction is. Either way the original policy will not stand.

Even the governor of Washington state has declared Trump an enemy of the state. And of course taxi drivers in New York City are mainly foreign nationals and are staging work stoppages at airports. How then do travelers move from airports to cities and back? How do airlines react to passengers of blocked nationalities? How do their nation’s react to their people being blockaded from free movement?

Then there are the trading partner relationships being upset. And foreign policies throughout the globe being upturned. Anger and frustration turn to mistrust and edginess of military preparations should such be needed.

It is a small distance from there to actions of war.

And that is my point. If Americans are obsessed with how they live with shallow feelings and interests in the lives of celebrities and wealth, how do they absorb and understand the larger issues of life and death being toyed with from the current White House?

Is this obsession the reason Trump was elected? Too many people placed their attention away from the important and focused on the frivolous? Enough so to explain why enough people voted for a person clearly unprepared and unable to be President?

Attention to details is important. Distraction has a cost. I fear we are witnessing an exorbitant price of the unthinkable right this instant. Please prove to me I am wrong!?

January 31, 2017

Poverty, Powerlessness, Guns

The title of this post today is my attempt at defining the elements of violence in Chicago neighborhoods. It is not Second Amendment run riot. It is not liberal design run amok. It is not bad leadership in the police department. It is not poor leadership in the city’s government.

Rather it is a confluence of social ills that have led us to the brink of a return to the Old Wild West.

It is also another example of – “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”

In every city in America are neighborhoods mired in stubborn poverty. Living conditions create complex sub societies where families turn away from themselves as one by one, the young explore larger social experience. There they are exposed to what can be, not what they have.  They see money and the things it buys; they see life styles money affords. They see power and influence they have not experienced themselves. They learn to want it and seek it.

How they do the seeking to fulfill the wants is variable. For some hard work, saving money, going to community college and later to a four-year college or university for a degree. They explore career options and build a life that slowly acquires a family, a home, and a life style with which they are comfortable. And happy.

A variable is this: find ‘friends’ similar to themselves living in similar powerless lives. Seek power through means of short duration – take, rob, fight in the presence of others for support. Gang life comes into focus. Strength in numbers. Companions in poverty and now in seeking power. A gun is flashed, and others are pulled from hiding places and waist bands. Soon an arsenal is in evidence and those not so armed are urged to get theirs soon.

An armed band of poverty youth in one neighborhood. And yet another. And another. And so it goes that several neighborhoods become populated by armed gangs with time on their hands and power to gain. Robberies spike. Turf struggles emerge, then violent fights. Drive by shootings happen to mark territories and enforce gang discipline. Money is earned from nefarious dealings and robberies. Crime grows as gangs fight for dominance. They now have the power they sought; but seek more.

Violence against people adds to the sense of power. Gun violence is but one aspect of it. Families shrink from the horror but in poverty have little resilience to move to a new and safer environment. What jobs they have is all they have and elsewhere is a gamble of unemployment. Renting or owning a home in the current ‘hood is more affordable than the cost of moving elsewhere where the cost of living is unknown and a job is not available.

So the status quo is kept. The family remains. They call the police when violence happens. And watch from windows when authority arrives to quell the violence. Only they witness more violence as police protect themselves in such violent surroundings. Innocent people get hurt and even killed. And the police are blamed for unprofessional conduct. Even jailed or stripped of their jobs. More are hurt and reduced to powerlessness in this dance of the macabre.

Now the police are powerless, too. The families – they are powerless and have been for generations.

Unless the guns are removed. Unless the poverty is lessened and eventually removed. Unless the power is returned to these neighborhoods and safety and peace along with the power returns with it.

Unraveling the reality of poverty, powerlessness and violence is not easy. It doesn’t come from elevating the violence and powerlessness that comes with National Guard or federal authorities.

No, it comes from understanding the cause, effect and result of social interaction and history. This is how mankind deals with its problems. It learns. It changes behavior. It improves on its circumstances. With feelings and minds engaged people work on these problems and fix them.

It was the lack of engagement that produced the problems in the first place. The engagement of the local family structures and neighborhood builds the power that solves the problem. Regaining a foothold will not be easy but it is the only way.

The only way. Forward, together, one household at a time. First one step and then another. Open the front doors along the block. Meet and talk and share hopes and dreams. Let light shine on shared problems. Let small steps ease the neighborhood back to a life self sustaining and safe. This is community. And yes, this is the power that has been missing.

That power comes from within and it resides there even now – used or not. It does not reside in the nation’s capitol or in the police precinct.

It resides in you and I – us.

January 30, 2017

Petulance and Character

We have seen much petulance in the past several days. A new president is sworn into office and all we get are smug smiles, leering sneers, thumbs up signs, raised fists and cold shoulders. And these all from the president himself.

We are not used to this behavior on our national stage.

Let there be no mistaking that this stage is not Trump’s but ours – the American People’s.

There are many in public office in Washington DC. Several hundred of them are elected directly by their constituents. Many others are not; they are appointed by elected officials. Thousands more are hired to fill vacancies caused by the change of administrations in due course.

Still working quietly day by day are the tens of thousands of federal civil servants who have been vetted, trained and hired through tried human resource protocols. They are the ones doing the work of the federal government, not those who strut their stages of influence. No, the work force does the daily tasks that actually is the government. Social Security. Medicare. Medicaid. Military. Intelligence operations. Health and human services functions. Judiciary. Justice, investigations, analysis, planning, budgeting and safeguarding the business processes of our large organizations. The institutional life of the government is huge. And complex.

Dealing with this as a blind bureaucracy would be a mistake. These are professional people in professional jobs for which they have been well trained. They ought not be treated as chattel. Blanket hiring freezes hurts them as they struggle with normal turnover and unable to replace those who die, retire, become disabled, or change jobs. The remaining workforce is required under hiring freezes to take on more and more tasks without relief. Not a good thing for accuracy and efficiency. Private organizations know this lesson well.

And salary freezes as well? On top of the growing work burdens and overtime requirements? Without merit increases, or promotional opportunities?

If you were working in this environment, how would you feel?

If your argument is with management and decision makers, focus your attention there, not on the workers who carry out the directives of others.

This is just one of the current whims of petulance being carried out by a new president who does not know his job yet.

Instead of learning what it is he is supposed to do in his new role, he argues over photos comparing inauguration attendance comparing his to his predecessor’s? The record is well established. The Obama inaugural attendance broke all records. It is well documented. The Trump festivities were much more modestly attended. And TV coverage was heavy but viewership unmeasured. No way to document TV viewership, so this cannot be counted as attendance.

Like a child Trump focuses attention on the poor comparison and has to blame someone. So it is the messenger who catches the fallout. The Media? Give me a break! The media reports facts: who, what, where and when. The why remains for history to settle or for research to uncover. That takes time. Besides, I don’t want media opinion unless it is well researched and documented. That then is factual and not opinion.

Polls will tell us the public’s opinion. And that may be interesting but not a driving force unless it is in campaign season and indicative of a pending tide of votes. In governance season it matters little.

So why the deep and abiding interest of our new instantaneous president in chief? It is his ego, of course. To be sure that is my opinion and not a fact. But then again it may be fact. I’m just not the person to claim it is at this point. That’s up to you and history to discern.

Meanwhile, what will we be dealing with?

January 27, 2017

The Young and the Bloggers

Yes, the young and the restless is an alternate title appropriate here! But I want to chronicle a specific young woman who is at a crossroads of a sort. My granddaughter Lindsay.

She is 16, a very good student, active in music (violin, guitar and ukulele; singing and song composing), theater, and reading. Her grasp of the world around her is alive and active. She thinks about things seriously yet retains her sense of humor. She wonders out loud and thinks and writes about her thoughts. Yet she is dismayed.

It seems that her community is above average in household income and age demographics also suggesting families in mid and later careers. Such homes are the bastions of the middle class attempting to rise farther. And their politics are often republican and conservative.

This is context to the political climate of Trumpism. It seems Lindsay’s schoolmates have families that supported Trump in the recent election. As a result casual conversations among her set of friends mirrors the Trump tweets. Such are disrespectful of women, gays, immigrants, and the whole welter of targets well known to us all. This has caused a freeze in friendly chats at school. A cooling of social interaction is uncomfortably growing and these young people are struggling to understand what is happening.

Of course mindsets of young teens are subject to parental opinions. Such are ever present and slowly absorbed as context of understanding the world around them. Only until the individual teenager experiences different opinions among peers will their brains figure out alternative ways of perceiving the world. The broader context pulls the individual into a larger world view. It is the normal process of maturing. Exposure to the outside world broadens one’s thinking by challenging logic, expanding dictionary, and growing historical facts. And a slow expansion of understanding all of that.

Meanwhile she is struggling to communicate intelligently with her friends. She works to maintain a diplomatic approach to smooth things over until more is known and understood. This will take time. This will take experience. It will take patience.  All of these are maturing agents as well. She is on her way.

Getting her over the interim, however, is the challenge. She is thinking of writing a blog that explores her feelings and thinking about many topics. I’m hoping she will accept this challenge and use the blog as an open journal of her growth. I’m being a little selfish in this because I’m wanting to see how a ‘millennial to be’ thinks.

Although I work with a group of teenagers who are drug addicts, I still don’t know how they think, only how they behave. I’m struggling to capture some connection between their behavior and the thinking. Perhaps my granddaughter’s blog will help with my education?

Listening to different generations and their ideas is paramount to understanding them.

We shall see. First she has to get comfortable with the concept of blogging and exposing herself to the world. One hopes this will be a pleasant experience and not a hideous one. After all, behavior of others appears to be an ungoverned morass these days. Yet another challenge to logic and articulation of current events as they affect our personal space and thought!

January 26, 2017

New Reality

Face it. We live in a new time. Politics has upended value systems long fought for and achieved. The new order diminishes the following: women, gays, immigrants, hard workers, achievers, entrepreneurs, creators, science, theology, intellect and history.

Evidently what has been awarded value are: greed, wealth, power, lack of curiosity, less education and manipulation of people, resources and facts.

White males feel aggrieved and so they stole the houses of government from the people. Under educated people felt aggrieved so they helped the white males redress wrongs they didn’t understand. All the problems in their homes, neighborhoods, towns, states and regions, yes, even the nation, are the problem caused by someone else. Not them. The power of Alternative Facts comes alive! So they rallied around that single thing and voted a nothing into office. 

Well that nothing most likely will accomplish little but damage. Intentional or not, damage will be done. Let’s explore the what:

-Infrastructure: yes, like anything man made and of use, it requires maintenance. Occasionally it will require rebuilding from scratch or replacement. But there is another issue – if replacement is necessary, ought it be in the same shape, design and location as the present structure? That is a strategic question in need of serious answer. I wonder if the ‘nothing person’ is capable of asking that question and answering it correctly?

-Education: yes, like any institution, it requires maintenance, occasional redesign, and tweaking to maintain its ability to produce desired results. But first we must identify those desired results. Do we understand them? Have we accurately identified them? And do we know how to acquire those results? What then needs to be changed in the institution to produce those desired results? Does the trump team know how to manage this? Or will they dump and replace regardless that they will destroy the good with the bad?

-Foreign Affairs: the objective is what? World peace I’d say. That means sharing the peace with everyone for common good of all. But if the objective is America First, then world peace will not be available except by way of domination and military might – and death of many millions of innocent people. In the nuclear age those millions might turn out to be billions of people. And then the question is what are we left with? And are you so certain ours is the nation to survive the new nuclear holocaust? Strategic minds of goodwill are needed here, not minds of narcissism and self aggrandizement.

-International Economics: everyone re read Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. Then reread it. Discuss in group. Agree on the important issues and operative methods. Only then discard self-serving national economics. International economics requires free trade so the elements of production are used for their best and highest economic good wherever they are found. Best designs. Best materials. Best manufacturing methods. Best labor. Best minds. Etc. When this is done the ‘free market’ identifies those who can succeed without artificial supports of tariffs and trading agreements. The art of the deal doesn’t hold sway here. Only economics open and free. If in doubt of this conclusion, reread The World Is Flat.

-Healthcare: accessible to all through universal care, standards and scientific discovery. This benefits everyone. Peace on Earth Goodwill Toward All Men.  Remember this? That should be the motto of the healthcare system. It belongs to all of us, not just the wealthy or powerful. Share the good with all so all will be good and empowered to survive and fulfill the many promises of a talented global population.

-Military: do what we have to do to protect against evil, but no more. Work hard to find agreement and peace and then maintain that. No offensive designs. Remove all nuclear weaponry. No need for them. Work toward that end.

-Democracy: it works best when the electorate listens to one another, works toward common goals, and celebrates our common humanity. It does not work if the goal is bald power to exercise over others. Knowledge is the true power. Facts and hard logic.

Every religion throughout history has preached love one another and yet we don’t. We are afraid someone will take advantage of us. Well guess what? They are already taking advantage of you. The only way to break that cycle is to love them no matter what. And then – if they love you back at long last – you won’t have to be afraid of them.

Seems to me we should try to live by this while we can. Before it is too late.

If you believe this to be true our churches should be full of grateful worshipers. The opposite is true – the churches stand mostly empty or underused. And yet there are many who claim to be worshipers and believers. Where are they? What are they saying? What are they doing?

My, my! The emperor is not the only one without clothes.

January 25, 2017

Facts, Fiction & Wikileaks

What goes around comes around. One person claims a statement to be true when in fact there are no facts to base the statement on. Another person quotes a leak from Wikileaks as a fact when, in fact, the statement is taken totally out of context – the context may never be fully known! – but we still don’t know the context and thus do not know the truth.

Mr. Assange leaks millions of pages of purloined documents and electronic communiques and foists them on the world as truth. Again, whether they are or not depends on many factors; among them is context, authorship, expertise of that author, or whether the content is mainly opinion.

Facts people; facts matter but they must be properly set in historical context, anthropological resonance and personal credibility. History is written on these elements. And I remind all readers here that history takes decades and sometimes centuries to get right. The nuance is vital to understanding the happenings. The latter includes facts as well, thoughts that string threads of meaning moving through time.

Assange does not have that talent or asset behind him. He only has mastery over a switch that manages flow of data. Apart from context there is no understanding other than what the reader or propagandist wishes to make of it. But that is not truth. That is not fact. That does not make history.

Chelsea Manning was involved in some of this in a minor way. He/she was duped into sharing a passel of files to Wikileaks and Assange. Manning did not make anything of all of this, just a passer of codes and data. It is Assange who did the leaking and the foisting.

And it is Assange who needs to be repatriated to America so he can face his crimes in the criminal justice system. Manning was a minor player who paid a huge price for his role. Jailed. Court martialed. Stripped of benefits and compensation. Denuded of his honor and personhood. Forced to bare his gender identity and transgender journey in full public view and ridicule. And imprisoned for many years with a long prison term ahead to the year 2045. Horrendous treatment in the military and by the military. And the mistreatment continues. Much more penalty than anyone else in a similar situation.

And Assange? He lives in hiding to avoid criminal prosecution.

But the commutation of Manning’s sentence by President Obama has opened the door to Assange’s offer to return to the USA. Once here he will face his punishment, too. Finally.

For the Paul Ryan’s of the world – and all of the other disingenuous politicians of republican identity, President Obama still addressed the need for justice in this matter. With Manning’s commutation comes justice for Assange. At last we will have the opportunity to better understand all of the relevant facts concerning this travesty of confidence and secrecy of national intelligence material.

With Russia and other international ‘unfriendlies’ hungrily absorbing and greasing their propaganda machines in high speed, the Wikileaks phenomenon has created a massive intelligence problem. But it should be remembered that propaganda works in both directions – it smears both the target and the messenger. Both lose credibility in the eyes of the public.

Manning deserves to live the rest of her life in anonymity and peace. She has paid a high price for this. Assange on the other hand has much to compensate peace loving people everywhere. May justice be fair and swift in these later chapters of this travesty.

And may republicans finally get the message that it is their duty to preserve and protect America from all enemies – foreign and domestic – even if it is themselves.

As we go through confirmation hearings of all of Trumps nominees, may our eyes and ears be truly open to fact and truth. Both have been in dire doubt these past several years of distortion and campaign rhetoric. It is finally time to settle down and get back to work.

But will they? The politicians have not earned our respect for quite a while now; perhaps they will finally tire of the propaganda trail and get to work?

Let’s just watch and see what happens. Don’t hold your breath, though!!

January 24, 2017

Fresh Start?

Let’s see where Trump is heading. From his tweets this is what he deems important:

• NATO is passé and needs to be replaced with something else
• UN has wasted its potential and needs to be reformed or jettisoned
• Ambassadors know nothing of the new possibilities so must be replaced
• His financial interests are the important ones to safeguard so he will
• The former point means we remain on the oil standard for energy
• The former point means protection of the planet is not on his priority list
• Free trade is bad so we return to the rule of tariffs and trade barriers
• Color blind means only White is visible
• Education should always be vocational
• Healthcare belongs to only those who can afford it 

I suspect these priorities will lead to the survival of the fittest. Charles Darwin wins the evolution argument! Trump’s press conferences will channel this going forward.

In a matter of weeks the polarity of all discussions will slip toward the republican format: what is up is down and what is in is out. If we keep these two threads in mind we should be able to keep track of what is being said and pushed forward in Congress. Just remember things are no longer the way they were or logical. A new order has stepped onto the national stage.

Time will tell what the new actors will demand as their ransom for their leadership. This is their time to demonstrate what they have been yelling and whispering on the sidelines lo these past 8 years. Now we will see and feel what it is they claim is best for America and the world community.

Pardon me if I do not show confidence in this form of government. Their ideology has consistently demeaned people and ideas for as long as I can remember. This means women, children, immigrants, history and most religions are up for grabs. Gays need not apply. And forget Native Americans. Their numbers are too few to register on political polls so they don’t exist.

I just can’t figure how they think women are lesser humans when they are married to them, were given birth by them, and received tender loving care for the most part by them. They also have daughters, granddaughters and many nieces, aunts and grandmothers. I guess their focus on others creates memory loss?

From that point to history we can see how the long story of mankind’s struggle on the planet can be forgotten.

My lasting thought is – but can they be forgiven?

January 23, 2017

Red Letter Day

Well Inauguration Day comes but once every four years in America. That is when we swear in a newly elected President. It may be a new person to the role or a re-elected President continuing on for his or her second term in office. This time it is a new person in the presidency.

New in more than one sense. That is the problem we face as Americans this time around. For the last eight years we had our first African-American president. This time most of us thought we would be swearing in our very first woman president. Well that isn’t happening.

What is happening is far different than a vast majority of Americans thought would be happening. A person – another male – will be sworn in but he represents something extraordinarily odd. Here are some of the markers:

·         Rich, or so he says

·         Smart, or so he says

·         Powerful, or so he says

·         Problem solver, or so he says

·         International peacemaker, or so he says

The person doing the talking is not a writer, reader, student or knowledge person. His education is of questionable credentials if not outright lowest common denominator. We know nothing of his arts and intellectual interests – or gifts, for that matter. He is on the surface just what he says he is.

Is that good enough? I don’t think so.

This is not about an election. This is about hiring the best person for a very important job. A job each of us in the USA relies on for safety, hope, vision, leadership and long term focus. The resume of the current president-elect is not full enough or shared deeply enough for any of us to make a decision about his hireability. As a matter of fact I would not hire him based on what little I know of his background. Neither would most of you.

That’s a fact. Being a self proclaimed billionaire is not a resume item. In fact there is no proof that he is a billionaire. Rich, yes; fabulously rich? No. No proof. No balance sheets. No tax returns. Bottom line – no documentation whatever proving he is a billionaire.

But even if he did prove that as fact, there are all the other aspects of his background that still need vetting before making a hiring decision.

Such aspects include these:

·         Sensitivity and respect for all people living within our borders

·         Hope and vision for world peace and respect for the processes and values that acquire it

·         Value of history and the struggles that have brought mankind to its present place; how then to proceed with respect for all that has preceded us

·         Respect for education, science and logic that help mankind understand its potential and problems as well as recognize the tools to use to solve important issues

·         Basic respect for justice and fairness among all people wherever they reside on the globe

·         An openness to possibility and discovery wherever it may be

The only aspect that we might find helpful in the role of president is success in making workable deals. I think the current president-elect has that aspect covered. It doesn’t inform us, however, to whose benefit the deal applies? To the American people or to the primary stakeholders in the business firm? The latter is not what America is about. Nor should it be. My position here is not anti business; it is anti self dealing and anti greed.

The presidency is about much higher ideals than those trumpeted by the president-elect. Those are not in evidence from this person. My conclusion is this is a bad hire and ought not be consummated.

I’m just saying…  Pray people. Pray!

January 20, 2017

Fake News and Press Conferences

Under Trump things are different and will continue to be different. How this is good remains to be seen. It takes time to build history, good bad or otherwise. It also takes time to build trust. Reliance is similar to trust; it takes time to build up a feeling that what you are hearing from any one person or news source is believable. This goes for politicians both large and small.

Trump is a large politician. So are Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. They are huge on the political landscape. That does not give them automatic credibility. On the contrary, it raises questions about their reliability, credibility and honesty. What is in their words that serves their purposes? Their wealth, power and reward system? That is a crucial question and a critical one as well.

Discerning the truth, the facts; that is the issue at hand and it is not easy.

We have observed recent behavior and ‘transactions’ from Trump and his team that are reliable indicators of his credibility. We also have reports from other sources that indicate what news items are based on fact and which are based on their propaganda value. The latter is a shading of the facts and circumstances of news events so that they seem positive to a person’s reputation or believability.

In America propaganda has not been an historical fact. Political discourse and ‘debate’ of course, borders on propaganda and always has. But bald, historically based propaganda has not been an American fixture. Nazi Germany was heavily influenced by propaganda. So too any national government prone to central control of the governance of its people, economy and culture. China is a major player on this stage. So too Russia and the past USSR. The entire Cold War of the 1950’s to 1980’s were propaganda driven; we think mainly on the communist side, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that America participated in misinformation and propaganda during those years as well.

In recent times it can be argued that propaganda has surged to the forefront in politics. The entire era of Bill Clinton’s presidency was riddled with attacks and legal skirmishes by Bill Clinton’s enemies. Shameless interference with due process was a daily occurrence. The Bush/Cheney years were better, but that’s because the republicans were in ‘charge’ and they didn’t need to deal propaganda so readily. They did, however, in the entire matter of the Iraq War. That was a made-up chapter of history and I feel certain historians in time will show this to be the case. The evidence is too much available to suggest otherwise at this point. Of course the outcome of the Iraqi Debacle was the subject of still more propaganda. Once engaged it is hard to relinquish the need for propaganda. It is like lying – once the lie has been made, it must be kept alive or else the lie is bared to public view. Eight years was a long time to maintain the lies and in time the make believe crashes to ground.

The Obama years was another era of intense clashing of political wills – not necessarily republicans versus Democrats, but rather conservatives versus whatever people feel is the opposite of that point of view. Nonetheless propaganda was leveled against all things Obama and led to 8 years of gridlock. We see the same thing in Illinois politics. Gridlock in legislative circles; nothing gets done; harm and decline mock otherwise purposeful human institutions. Shameful.

And then the 2016 Presidential Election cycle was countenanced by the political managers. Propaganda and make believe figured largely throughout the republican campaigns. Both the primary and later campaigns both were employed heavily. Look at all the candidates who vied for the party’s nomination. In time each played their simple game of untruth and misrepresentation to gain a few points among the voters. One by one they fell by the wayside.

Until only one was left and he was the king of the propaganda mill. Yes sir, the Trump organization trumped all other campaigns in managing the news, the events, the points of view and the news reports. Seemingly playing the odd man out and the blasphemously absurd, Trump controlled the airways for most of the election cycle. The news media ate it up because it was great for ratings and ad revenue. Of course consumers of news who do not discern well fact from fiction were predictably misled. Just as the trumpets had wished.

With the president-elect now Trump, the behavior has not yet been altered. He is still strutting the stage claiming rigged conversations, intelligence reports, and media handling of current events. Near as I can tell the only manipulator of the news is the Donald himself. In time this will be made more evident. Incontrovertible. The truth will out.

Then it will be up to all of us to figure out what happens next. I think Trump will be found to be an emperor without clothes. It will then be up to all of us to rescue what we believe is the real America.

The only problem is the misery we will need to survive until that eventuality is realized.

Facts are facts. Opinion is opinion. History is history. Which is it we are witnessing? Time will hold the answer. Stay tuned for details.

January 19, 2017

Alike or Different?

Some people simply look for how a person is like themselves. Others search for the differences. The former is a kind of acceptance; the latter is the opposite, or at least the beginning of the opposite. I suppose early stages of thinking in either manner is the start of discernment – who and what am I dealing with in this person?

Eventually, however, each of us will find a way to either find a way of feeling compatible with the other person, or decide to separate ourselves from the other. To be with or to be against – that seems to be the question.

I ask why these must be the only options. Surely there is more to life than ‘on’ or ‘off’, like or dislike, support or fight against.

A quick scan of American public sentiment would tell us the simple is true, the complex not. How divided are we as a nation and what makes us prefer to be this way? Is it natural? Is it inevitable?

Maybe. The awful truth is that ‘maybe’ is the operative answer at this point in time in our history. We are challenged to see life in one way or another; not multiples or optimals. Just negatives. It is either good or bad; nothing in between.

Well, I am a unique person. So are you. So is each of us. All of mankind’s teachings, religions, academic disciplines have told us so. But we don’t much act like it. “You are either with me or against me!” That is the current mantra.

Cooler heads know this is not true. Hot heads fall prey to the mantra, but the rest do not. Why is that? How do we overcome it?

I prefer the cooler heads, myself. I think there is more good to be found among all of us – singly or together – than the negative. United we stand. Divided we fall. Lincoln said it clearly – “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The more we find points of separation the more divided we become. We know this. So do propagandists and manipulators.

The more difficult task is to seek how we are in agreement and to then expand that base to more agreement so we can stand united with a solution that fits us all best. This is what is meant by ‘for the good of the people’. Remember the Biblical exhortation – “Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward All Men.”

We cannot have the peace without embracing goodwill toward all men. It is the very essence of foreign affairs and diplomacy. Finding the common threads of our being together and wanting to be together. Finding agreement among all the disagreeable topics; then building more agreement until most if not all the disagreements melt away.

We have more to gain by working together than working apart. We can achieve great things by pooling our resources and intelligence rather than pitting our resources against each other. We know this. Instinctively we know this.

So why don’t we live like we do?

The great melting pot of American culture is an example of this. Together we have accomplished much for hundreds of years, and not just for ourselves. We have shared these accomplishments with the rest of the global community. Education, food, ideas, health care, charity, economic systems for self sustainability, and so much more. Each of these things is a compact among people so we can celebrate our sameness. We express ourselves in different ways according to our cultures but at the very core of all of this are the same feelings and essence of oneness.

At some point each of us is called to respond to this call for unity. Without fear. With confidence. We are asked to step up and forward to do great things.

It helps if we have a leader in which to believe. But we have done so often without the leader. And that only underscores the reality that the call is a universal truth.

Do you hear it calling? Are you stirring to respond? Will you lend your life and purpose to brighten the light in the lives of others not because they are the same as you but precisely because they are different and thus alike?

Not an easy concept to wrap your head around. Yet it is so simple. Just say yes and step forward!

January 18, 2017

 

Remembering Roots

Over and over again I remember my days in California. I don’t know if it is because of California, or if it was my age at the time. The first five years of life are epic in discovery – so many impacts, the large and small of existence, the wonder and awe and yet the happiness of being cared for and embraced in family.

Early years I think are like that. I recall becoming aware of pleasant aromas coming from flowers or flowering shrubs. How delightful it was to smell and know where it came from. Do you remember those moments, too? Do you remember when you realized the caress of kind temperatures and humidity levels in the air surrounding you? When you looked up in the sky did you wonder about the blue? Or the clouds and their shapes; and then see that they were moving? What about key features of the landscape – the open meadows, the mountains, the deserts, the trees – what did you think of them; how did you see them and notice them?

When very young, life around us comes to our notice. In bits and pieces, yes; and eventually in scenarios and larger ‘pictures’ or ensembles. A sense of presence and surrounding comes over us. Awareness but not necessarily cogent meaning takes some form of shape in our minds. Later we can make more sense of it as we gather experiences and signals that are available in our environment. We sense the world is there and slowly absorb it and come to some sort of understanding about it. Imperfect but in part.

I recall early mornings in Altadena, California. Dad was off to work, my brother and sister were off to school and mom and I were home getting the day’s chores done. Not so much me. I was dressed and ready for the day but unprogrammed as to what was to be done for the day. I remember placing my cheek on the window glass facing south. The morning sun was warming; the dewy front yard sparkled. A soft breeze barely moved the pine tree, palm tree and shrubbery. Birds flitted about drinking dew drops. An occasional car passed on the street with a swish of air.

I opened the window and felt the cool morning air. It was moist and refreshing. Temperature was cool but warming in the sun. Bird calls were sounding and the day was coming alive. This was a winter day awakening in southern California in the late 1940’s, probably 1947 or so. It was peaceful. Safe. A place and time for wonder.

I was probably 5 years old and not yet in school. But I remember. Do you remember back then when you were that age? Do such memories niggle your current thoughts from time to time?

I can be in a meeting with the office door or window propped open and an aroma, sound or movement happens. It distracts my attention and for a slight moment my mind travels back to a time long ago. It almost feels real and of this moment. Then poof – back to the meeting, the present.

Food cooking smells wafting near trigger similar memories. And sounds, too. Transports of the past that somehow inform the present. Is it something missing or needed? Or is it merely a pleasantness of life’s fullness remaining in a mindful bouquet?

We lived one block from a golf course. North and above it were meadowed pastures of the foothills. Those pastures were home to horses and breeding operations for nearby Santa Anita racetrack. The horse farms were places of wealth and beauty. Peacocks strode the lawns. Lush lawns they were, too, abundantly covering the landscape and neatly embracing languid homes of privilege. Sweeping vistas, driveways and fencing framed life in a special ideal way. And just a short walk from home and streets of suburban normalcy.

The mountains behind our home were tall – 7500 feet – and home to Mount Wilson Observatory. We could see the ‘W’ cut into the forest of pines marking the mount’s proud presence. On cold wintry mornings we could spot the snow line on the mountain as its tendrils crept ever lower toward the foothill communities. Only once in my memory did the snow reach us. And the schools were closed for that day! And my Minnesota-born mom taught us how to make snow angels.

Those memories stick. Those scenarios remain forever embedded in the mind. For whatever reason I know not.

Oh idyllic memories mix with not so pleasant ones, too. Like smoggy hot days that hurt the lungs to breathe, or the asthma attacks that gripped my young body in those days. Indoors I went and remained until the air was clearer and better to inhale without pain or ache. Smog was real. It kept getting worse. And the traffic, too, heavier and heavier, especially in front of our home. Our neighborhood was feeling the effects of urbanization and the post war economic boom.

Soon we moved farther east toward Pomona and Claremont. We built a new home in what was once an orange grove. Much of that grove remained until all the homes were finally built and the trees removed. We still had one orange tree and two lemon trees in our back yard. The orange tree didn’t survive construction activities. The lemon trees did and boy did we have fresh lemonade and lemon pies!

Soon after building the home dad got a job in Massachusetts. We moved in summer of 1954 and said goodbye to a southern California that would never be the same again. And we were off to a region so different from our experience that breadth and depth of life experiences were aiming for a jolt.

The process of growing up and aging. It is all of one piece with many chapters. Each moment is a lesson. Each its own chapter of consciousness. And conscience? When did that come about and from which of the many chapters preceding it?

The fabric of life is woven from many threads and all is good. Especially when we ponder upon them.

January 17,  2017

Native Homage

For a nation that claims to honor ancestors, forbearers, history, principle and values, America is and has been at a loss with regards to Native Americans. We have killed them, enslaved them, relegated them to islands of poverty and solitude, and stolen their birthright, land and dignity.

Even today the lands which we say they own by treaty are dishonored and trammeled by economic interests and bullies in search of oil, natural gas and pipeline rights of way for the aforementioned. The issues are many but the primary one is right of ownership and self determination related to that land.

American power interests have stripped Native Americans of the very birthright we claim for ourselves and always have. Manifest Destiny, remember? What is in our way of becoming bigger and better is not an obstacle but a blemish to be removed. That is the essence of that policy. And evidently it has been at work over and over again to denude Native Americans.

We are a land that needs to bow our heads in shame over this. Some of us get this. Most do not. I have no idea why this is. Basic decency and respect for others is the key issue we need to recall. We learned it as a child. We relearned it in kindergarten. And our families enforced this lesson on us at every turn. Yet we forget.

Native Americans were here on this land long before us. At least 9000 years; most likely 11,000 years. Maybe longer. But who’s counting when younger upstarts arrive on the scene and want what others have? On that first Thanksgiving Day, who fed whom? The Indians or the settlers? My hunch was it was the Indians feeding the starving settlers. Now that’s hospitality!

Their reward was not very nice. In fact they lost their culture, home, land and birthright to invaders – yes a bunch of illegal immigrants. They came; they saw; they wanted; they took. And yes they killed and plundered. We have placed a pretty face on this history but the underlying reality is stark and ugly.

Remember this going forward. It is our story and history of America. Not a nice chapter for us. We have dressed it up as valor, courage and perseverance to settle a new land, the New World! How wonderful of us! And yet, who lost? Someone always loses in the name of land and destiny.

Have we ever gathered the personal strength to admit our failing in this? Are we big enough yet to apologize to the American Indian and thank them for all they represent in human culture? Do we accept them fully as our brothers and sisters and are we willing yet to restore them to a place of honor and wealth their past demands of us? And will they forgive us?

I don’t think we are yet at that point lo these hundreds of years later. Perhaps the shame is too great.

The least we can do today in 2017 is renounce all land rights to cross their treaty granted lands with pipelines of oil, sludge, ignominy and defeat all in the name of someone else’s right to wealth at their expense. Only now we must also admit that such pipelines prolong the laying to waste of the planet for an energy technology long overdue for replacement with something cleaner and renewable.

Perhaps the nobleness of the Native American spirit culture will save us yet again from our own despoliation of our environment?

That would be a hearty lesson of irony!

This victory, however, would be for all of us and our progeny for the very long term future. It is high time we paused and listened to the wind whispering the age old wisdom of our native hosts – the land and the air and the moon and the sun are here for you as long as you respect them; they will return the favor many times over.

To that I say Amen!

January 16, 2017

Rural vs Urban

I don’t know how it works in other states in our nation but in Illinois I have 73 years of perspective. I was born in California and lived there for 11 years. Then our family moved to Massachusetts in the East for 6 years. I moved with my folks to upstate New York and lived there until I went off to college in Illinois at 18 years of age. So I was not a New Yorker for very long, but retained that mailing address until I graduated from college in 1965 at age 21.

I remained in Illinois for my entire career – which is to say the rest of my life. I expect to end my days in Illinois, a safe bet I’d say.

So for my entire adult life I’ve lived in Illinois and gone from freshman in college to senior citizen. In that span of time I’ve started careers (at least 4), married, had two kids, now have four grandchildren on my side of the family. I’ve endured one divorce, came out gay late in life and found my life partner, married him and have 7 grandchildren on his side of the family. All of this in Illinois.

I worked entirely in the Chicago metropolitan region. I attended graduate school and seminary in Chicago. I worked directly in Chicago at three jobs. I worked in the suburbs at one job that involved a consulting/field career throughout the state and multiple Midwestern states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and of course Illinois). My undergraduate college years were spent in central Illinois. I had many friends who lived all throughout Illinois and neighboring states. Nearly all of them were anchored in rural or small town communities.

On the other hand I lived and worked mainly in urban surroundings. Frequent interactions with client organizations over more than 20 years exposed me to the complex social organization of rural-urban living. Mindsets differ among them all depending on the makeup of commerce, career and arts in each community. Some are agribusiness centers while others are complex manufacturing hubs. Other communities built their histories around colleges or vast universities. Such towns and small cities valued intellectual pursuits, research, reading and study. They also engaged in major scientific research and pushed out the boundaries of mankind’s understanding of the universe. In such environs communities are aware of an expanded life and are sophisticated on many levels.

There remains a divide, however, that is quite apparent to anyone interested. And it is this: what control over my life in this community and region of the state is in my hands and what is not? How do I/we safeguard our place in the state?

Illinois political history developed in this manner:

1. Large city of Chicago had complex social needs requiring assistance from the state and national governments
2. Suburban counties surrounding Chicago became financially comfortable with communities of relative wealth and significant institutional life in schools, colleges, universities, churches, libraries and all the rest of sophisticated life. These communities found local resources to build their institutions and maintain them.
3. Downstate communities consisted of the remainder of the 102 counties in the state and embraced a vast agricultural landscape and enormous agribusiness focus. Many research universities were also located in those regions of the state and modest urban/suburban areas developed in commercial hubs throughout the state. The capitol is located downstate, as well.
4. Financial resources needed to be shared so all three areas (Chicago, Chicago suburban, and downstate) could thrive in collaboration. Such sharing required political agreement and it developed restlessly over many decades.
5. The result was this odd balance of power:
1. Chicago received state subsidies for major infrastructure required for economic development and sustained economic growth for the larger Midwest region
2. Chicago received state subsidies for the management of complex social problems concerning public education, housing, transportation and poverty
3. Downstate communities received subsidies from wealthier counties because those counties had the resources and the downstate communities did not
4. Collar suburban counties of Chicago were comparatively wealthy to downstate regions and thus these counties ended up subsidizing Chicago/Cook county, and all the rest of the state’s counties. The collar counties supported their own needs as well
5. The result: property taxes in the collar counties are enormous compared to the other counties of the state. Public education taxes downstate amount to $800 to 1200 per household annually; in the collar counties this figure is $4500 to 6000 per household annually. Cook County and Chicago property taxes lie between these two levels of household taxation.
6. Political leadership amounts to two power centers ganging up on the third one and bullying them into paying a disproportionate share for everything in the public realm.
7. This condition continues into 2017
8. Downstate is subsidized heavily by the urban areas while the urban areas are left alone to solve complex problems on their own. 

I raise these points for this reason. Research currently concludes that political support for Trump came from rural areas of America across the continent. These people feel left out yet are unaware that most of their existence is subsidized by others. These others, by the way, are hard pressed to maintain their own life style let alone continue to subsidize the rest of the state and similar situations throughout the nation.

Take Illinois as a template and duplicate it in all the other states. My hunch is the template will work pretty much the same regardless of the state.

My point is different, however. My point is this: we are all in our national life together. If we are to succeed and thrive we will do so only together, working together, thinking together, and inventing the future together. This is a collaborative construct. It is not a selfish yours-mine construct. The latter will destroy us; the former will give us all fresh birth.

I have been aware of the divide for many years. Many of my clients saw me coming from wealthy areas to serve their organizations, and then to return to my ‘wealthy’ home. How little they understood. Hell, how little they knew.

But that comes down to the same thing – not knowing facts is ignorance; making decisions with that ignorance present, leads to disastrous outcomes. It makes sense to them only because they don’t know the full story. They don’t see it and therefore make decisions in a partial vacuum.

But the ‘rest of the story’ is important. Like science, it matters that we get all the pieces defined, laid out and understood before making decisions and commitments.  Or conclusions.

Rural or urban, we have much to gain by working together for everyone’s benefit and sharing the same dream of the future. It is not a world of ‘us against them’ unless that is the fight you wish to engage. I don’t; but neither am I going to remain silent any longer.

The time for all of us to understand the issues before us is now. Or forever hold your peace. It would help if you would refrain from voting, too, when you really don’t understand the facts of the matter before you. Perhaps we would have avoided whatever is ahead of us in a Trump era of political history.

January 13, 2017

Aiming High

Watched several public talks over the TED video service. TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design. People who are researchers, scientists and experts in their fields talk on topics that matter and should be spread to everyone else. The talks cover all academic disciplines of science, education, design aesthetics and mechanics, as well as the combination of all of these things as they intersect and are used in creating arts and entertainment.

These talks are often seminal; jaw dropping nearly every time. More importantly the talks have expanded all over the United States and globally. People from all walks of life have ideas that matter to share. I have a local friend who has presented more than once, and has also developed videos for TED and become a narrator and host interviewer for several other sessions. She is a housewife. She is interested in organic gardening. She is dedicated to living healthy and eating healthy. She has developed an expertise that has moved many other people to replicate her work and spread home-based organic gardening and growing food for the household table. She now controls much of her environment that ensures her continued health and that of her family.

Once Shawna wrote a book. Now she has authored several. And she is on the speaking circuit in several topical arenas and travels the world to share her ideas and learn still new and wondrous things.

Her story is positive. TED’s story is positive. The fact that all of these elements come together without planning and compel our attention, informs us of the power of knowledge.

Knowledge is power. It always has been. If no one told you that you would learn it on your own. Those people who say ‘let George do it” or sit on their hands when needs run rampant in their community, will benefit from the living conditions and quality of life that others make happen around them. But they will be denied the power of knowledge they could have had if they had become engaged in the community and its processes in the first place. Now they are left behind; cared for but not a player. The others are the players and movers and shakers. And they understand much more and learn still more.

That’s the nature of education. It is also the nature of discovery and self discovery and development. We learn about the basics in life in the ‘margins of our understanding’. Those margins are common and everywhere. We drive down the street and wonder why something exists as it does; asking the question in wonder is the beginning step. Looking into it more, reading about it, researching the topic and all the rest, leads to a broader and fuller understanding of the situation and related topics. The person involved – you or your neighbors – are learning much about life and have expanded their lives accordingly.

Think about the universe. Is it static for you or dynamic? Is it moving? Darting about, expanding or contracting? Not your life, but the universe itself that surrounds you and the rest of us?

I would answer in my old and faithful manner by saying it is ‘basic physics’. And that would be true. It is particle physics, astrophysics, and all that sort of thing. All rolled up in one. The basic answer is the universe is expanding at a faster and faster speed. It is not static, and it is not contracting. Expanding like a ball of gas toward a future of unending promise and possibility.

Think of that. Think of the intellect, the puzzles to ponder and solve, the facts now unknown but which will be known in time. Think about the possibilities all of those facts hold for each of us. New sciences, new fields of education, new academic disciplines to produce and expand. Expand to fill the space and time and promise we all hold - alone and together.

Most elected officials do not think on these things. They invest time and energy in things more tangible for themselves. But the brain power of each of us and all of us diminishes those politicians. Smart leaders know to fund and support those who are smart and creative. Margaret Thatcher asked British scientists why the UK ought to invest huge sums of money in the CERN Large Hadron Collider project. She asked them to help the decision makers in government understand why this investment should be made?

And they did. But they had to bring the discussion down to their level of understanding before the argument and funding request was won. They were successful and the CERN LHC is in existence and operating fully as we speak.

Adding to particle physics research happening around the globe in the US and elsewhere, CERN is expanding not only our understanding of the universe but also expanding the discipline of physics itself. The more we know the more we need to know.

This is the stuff of science. It is the core of human understanding of our world and universe. It transcends nationalities, borders and ethnicity. It transcends governments as well. Like understanding and knowledge, peace is such a discipline. When we work together for common goals we ignore weapons of war; we also ignore – in fact don’t even think about – ideological differences. They truly do not matter when it is the universe we are pondering.

So for all of us fretting about potential dangers of a Trump presidency, please know there are many intelligent people who have transcended such worries. For them their sights are aimed much higher. To the skies and space beyond.

Thank God someone is. Even more that someone cares.

January 12, 2017

How Does this Resolve?

Everyone seems to be mad about something or someone. There is blame in the air. Whites complain about blacks, something I thought was well behind us. Blacks are attacking whites, something I understand but dread because it only starts the whites against the blacks all over again. People with money think poor people want something from them. The middle class still exists but it is much smaller and making do with a lot less accumulated wealth and recurring income.

Standards of living are changing. Houses are now getting smaller. Amenities remain fairly stable, but over the top baubles like swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs and gyms are appearing in more and more McMansions.

Family autos are up-scaling for those who have the money while they are downsizing for those who don’t have the money. The number of cars is declining per household. Savings are declining and investments for retirement years are down considerably.

Defined pension plans from employers are being frozen for established employees and disappearing for new employees. 401k’s are offered in place of pension plans, but most of the money deposited in the 401k’s are from the employee themselves. A very small financial benefit is paid into the plan by the employer.

Retirement income in the future will be more difficult to find unless the person strikes it rich.

Health insurance benefits are dwindling from employers. Self funded plans are growing. If the Affordable Care Act hadn’t been offered, over 50 million people would be uninsured. As it stands roughly 18 million are not insured. The future does not look good if the ACA is repealed and not replaced. Meanwhile Congress is making noise to reduce or remove Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

The new standard of living for the future is that each person is on his own to support himself and manage his lifelong risks. No government sponsored programs will be provided as a safety net. Those programs that do remain will be much smaller than they are now.

It would appear that the wealthy want to get wealthier at the expense of others, and the poor will get poorer because that’s what the power brokers want to see happen.

These words seem draconian. They seem un-American. They seem totally unrealistic. But if you attend cocktail parties and political meet-ups, the above scenarios are exactly what are being discussed. Plans are being made to implement these changes.

Doubt me? Sit down with republicans across the nation. This is what they feel a Trump era is all about. Even caring and soul searching philanthropists are saying the same thing.

The question is, will any of this happen in actuality or is it just bluff talk designed to scare and addle political enemies? At this point it is too early to tell but it is worth talking about so all of us in the public can get used to the ideas and change what is being proposed. Maybe thinking about this early and pondering what it will mean for our quality of life will cause us to take action. Maybe?

Hopefully that’s what will happen. Doubtful however; the American people rarely rally quickly and press historic changes. That is why I think we should think about it and write about it. Remember how long it took us to beat back racism and its ugly presence? And now we face it all again? God, I hope not!

Here are a few actions I think we should propose for the near future:

1. Remove all employee benefits for elected officials; no pensions, health plans or disability plans. They live on the same thing we live on. Their income counts for social security benefit taxes and calculation of benefits; they are not guaranteed a lifetime pension just because they were elected to office.
2. All elected officials must pay back all education loans and subsidies they received for their education before they became elected. No subsidies for public servants who have the responsibility for making decisions on all others for their benefits.
3. No salary increases for elected officials without voting on them by the American voter; each and every time.
4. Family members living in the households of elected officials are not eligible for any public subsidies from any program – health care, living stipends, educational loans and scholarships, etc. The head of household has to support his/her family without help from the public. 

Now that the elected officials are all on the same basis as the rest of us, let’s see what they do with their power! Yes, let’s just see what they do then.

January 11, 2017

You Think I’m Crazy?

It’s not a good sign when someone questions your sanity. Nor you theirs. But that is life in 2017 evidently.

My head now bleeds daily from scratching my head. No; I do not have bed bugs, eczema or psoriasis. The scratching comes without warning with an audible ‘huh?’ I bet you have such attacks ever since November 8, 2016. Somehow this seems natural.

At least I’m not alone. Huh? (scratch, scratch)!

This blog is of interest broadly across the globe, mostly in Europe. Sure, here at home in the States, too, but wow! Readership has soared in France, Germany is picking up, and countries I rarely think about are hitting on the blog as well. I guess I’m not the only one with questions about America and its sanity.

And no, rest assured I am completely sane. My marbles are all properly organized and in their rightful places. They are joggled from time to time as my disappointment and jaw dropping reflexes increase in frequency. There are times I feel so amazed at the antics in my own state legislature and US Congress that I remind myself we are living through a truly unique period of history. Whether that is American History or World History is not yet known. Maybe both in ways not one of us can imagine.

I do know that when a disaster strikes, there is a grieving period and then a time for recovery. Hope sparks to life during the recovery. We begin to see how things will get better and come back to normal eventually. That’s where my current discomfort comes into play. I don’t see a time of recovery. I only see a forest fire that continues to burn the whole forest down to the ground, and then leaps to another canyon and does the same. Or the flood that continues to wash over our land and homes and people, drowning everything in sight with nary a chance for revival.

It’s a hellish confluence of disasters playing off each other. No retirement program in the form of Social Security. No Medicare program, either. Remind yourselves here that both programs are liquid and successful and not funded by the government. Operated and managed by the government, but paid for by each and all of us insureds.

Medicaid is another matter, but then we all pay for the program in taxes; always have; always will. So what’s the problem? Why are we getting rid of all three of these programs?

And then we ask: Why eliminate the Affordable Care Act? It performs the function it was built to do. It could be better but so many politicians insisted it be this brittle and tentative. Why not fix those parts and strengthen it? Do these people truly want Americans not to have access to health insurance or health care? And why is that? Will someone insist on asking that question and recording the answer in detail?

You see, all of the above is an ideological divide between conservatives and what others label liberals. The Left and the Right. No precise definitions provided, just vague accusations and shudders of fear. No discussion of the merits of either side; no intention of examining the possibility of compromise or collaboration. Just search and destroy missions on programs with value.

At some point the question is Why? What is the gain from this destructive work? Who wins? Who loses? Why are such wins and losses even needed? What happens to those who lose? Will they certainly live lives of desperation and finally death? Why do so many people feel this is a proper way of running a country and society? Where is the compassion of generations of religions that taught them otherwise? Why are we even having this discussion?

This is not republican and democrat. It is right versus wrong.

I want an answer to that question. I want Trump to provide an answer in writing with proof he wrote it (not ghost written). I want Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to do the same. I want to understand where they are coming from. I want to truly know that they mean no harm to 50 million poor people. I want to understand what they intend to do with and for these people when they are lying in the gutter of every neighborhood homeless, hungry and sick.

Do they really think charity and church will rush to the rescue?

I think they are delusional and evil people. Let them prove they are not. The ball is in their court. Tell us all, gentlemen, what is your design and why?

We are waiting for your words.

January 10, 2017

Mandates

I think we have a problem with language in America. The word “mandate” is being used over and over again with meanings that most likely differ from what the speaker intends. According to my dictionary (Merriam Webster) the word is defined as:

“An authoritative command from a superior authority such as a court; an authority

 specifically granted by those who have elected a representative.”

The current use of the term – mandate – does not fit the definition.

The Donald claims a mandate to lead America. He has no such thing. No court or significant majority of voters have named him a leader with a mandate. He has won by constitutional definition the position of President Elect and will be inaugurated on January 20, 2017 to the Presidency of the USA. The position does not come with a mandate. It comes with authority and duty.

Witness the Obama election: a majority of those voting handily elected him to his current term of President. He did not claim a mandate, but he did claim authority to speak for the American people; that is as it should be because it is part and parcel with the job description.

Trump will have that same authority, but it is not a mandate nor is that term defined in the constitution. The fact that less than half of voters selected Trump and in terms of the Electoral College this led to his being declared the victor in the election, specifically denies him a mandate. No majority or super majority has named him with such.

The fact that the Supreme Court is in shambles – an ideological tie between conservatives and liberals – is only the result of ideological bluster and manipulation by republicans. Filling the ninth justice position was attempted by the sitting president as he was required to do but rejected by game players in Congress. A constitutional stalemate resulted and now the Supreme Court does not have a mandate.

The US Senate is in the hands of the Republicans by a slim majority – 48 to 52. This line in the sand can be upset easily depending on the issue under discussion. And thus no mandate is present in the Senate. If the numbers were 60 Republicans to 40 Democrats, then an argument could be made for a mandate. But such is not the case.

The House of Representatives has been in Republican control for the past several years. It will continue as such, but the margin has dwindled. American voters did not lay a mantel of mandate on the House. It has majority position but that alone does not provide the ‘moral’ mandate they are claiming.

So, with four authority loci – White House, Supreme Court, House and Senate – enumerated, only one has a majority position. No mandate is available in the first three loci and it is questionable in the fourth.

Conclusion: no mandate to rule from a position of unique strength exists in the current government of the USA.

Saying it is so does not make it so. But here again, the principle of saying and making it fact is a pattern of political discourse we have seen in America for lo these past several decades. It is pure ideological nonsense. And it is obstructive of the job of governance.

Ideologically it goes beyond obstruction to destruction. Examples include:

• Repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a workable replacement program
• Continued avoidance of replacing necessary infrastructure for the common good and health of the American people and economy
• Under funding education initiatives that would ensure education outcomes keeping American citizens competitive in the global labor pool
• Denigration of safeguards to our shared ecology thus placing under threat our planet’s very existence
• Inability to discuss matters of science without emotional burdens
• Equating religion with governance 

There are more examples to offer but they would further demoralize the reader.

Logic should be the arbiter of all discussion. Logic, fact and science are the bedrock of our knowledge. Addling the process of governance with other components other than reality is insanity.

The American voter is being used as the scapegoat here. Rather the ‘representatives’ are and should be the scapegoats. They are the ones claiming what isn’t theirs to wield.

Mandate comes with authority, moral authority. Last time I checked the moral ingredient was seriously lacking.

When oh when will this nightmare end?

January 9, 2017