Category: Democracy

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Democracy Featured

What A Great Idea! Let’s Pollute More!

I agree that any talk of restoring this country’s greatness must include a return to the smoke-belching, less-regulated, gas-guzzling, backroom-deal-making era that characterized the United States during its hegemonic, paternalistic, condescending, arrogant post-World War II to 1991 past. If I’ve argued anything in my life, it’s that smog and respiratory distress are about as American as politicians who haven’t a clue as to how to effectively run the country.

We seem to have hit the jackpot these days.

I suppose when you don’t believe in science, or that people have an effect on the climate, then enacting policies that roll back environmental laws and that encourage automobile manufacturers to build cars and trucks that will pollute more makes perfect sense. After all, the companies that produce cars have been absolutely correct in the past when they opposed seat belts, harnesses, catalytic converters, cleaner fuel standards and designs that allowed vehicles to crumple around the edges rather than on people. And I’m all about forgiving Volkswagen and others when they faked pollution data to make their cars appear cleaner. It’s perfectly reasonable to cut back on regulations because, hey, we can trust Detroit, Tokyo and Wolfsburg to make the right decisions for us.

And there’s absolutely no hypocrisy in the new policy when it comes to federalism, because allowing states, such as California, to follow their own pollution protocols is just too much for the know-nothing conservatives who on every other issue argue that states should absolutely be able to follow their own paths. Environmental concerns, they are arguing, must be dictated by Washington or else some states might have cleaner air than other states, which would violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Birthright citizenship means that everyone should have dirty lungs.

The good news is that many Americans did go to science class pretty regularly and understand that there’s no going back to the coughing, wheezing past. And I suspect that many Democrats, who are already making inroads by running on health care that actually saves lives, will use this assault on our environment to further the argument that this administration simply doesn’t make a sensible argument on, well,…anything.

So get ready for those fun September temperature inversions. And dirtier rain. And more unhealthy air and water. I’m feeling greater already.

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Think the Supreme Court is Non-Political? Think Again.

I just spent a week doing what all teachers should have the option of doing in the summer if they didn’t need a second job to make ends meet. I attended a seminar on a content topic that was both fascinating, useful, and timely. It was sponsored by the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History and took place at Lafayette College, which has a very nice campus and facilities, and included 32 other educators from around the country And the topic? The Bill of Rights. Can’t get more current events than that.

After a one-week immersion, my general conclusion is this: The Supreme Court just makes stuff up.

Honestly.

They come up with a rule about how they’re going to treat cases having to do with privacy or searches or speech or due process or religion and then for the next case, they change the rules, so if you’re looking for consistency, look at a nice thick bowl of pudding instead. For example, in 1977 the court ruled that public union agency fees were perfectly legal and even preferable. This year, the court struck them down as a violation of the free speech rights of people who don’t agree with the union’s political leanings. Never mind that money that unions use for political action are separate from those used for internal contract defense. The result is that starting now, anyone can stop paying union dues, but still be covered by the contract.

Likewise with privacy. With the probable addition of Brett Kavanaugh, the court looks primed to declare that abortion, marriage equality and the rights of LGBTQ Americans are not guaranteed by the constitution and that the states could regulate such behavior. This has been the conservative strategy concerning choice since the Roe decision in 1973, but since that decision was based on other cases that recognized a generalized right to privacy, many other rights would fall if the court decides that the states retain the power to regulate their citizens. It might not mean that abortion would become illegal everywhere, but it would allow states, probably around 20 at this point, to make it a crime. And those states could also likely limit contraceptives and even the morning after pill if they so desired.

And you thought that conservatives wanted the government out of people’s lives. Please rethink this. Conservatives love to tell the federal government to go away, but they have no problems allowing restrictions that their states want, and most of those have to do with what they call moral behavior. As if any Trump supporter has any claim to moral behavior or recognizing just what the heck it is. The court could also expand religious rights and give them precedence over civil rights laws as long as your faith is real, substantial and committed. As for corporations? Not only are they people, they are strong, wealthy, powerful people whose rights will overshadow the average American’s simply because they have the money to get their message into the marketplace more frequently and with more visibility.

In the end, it’s very difficult to predict what might happen once someone gets on the court, but I think we have a pretty good idea of the direction of this court. I can’t say that I’m optimistic.

Need a reason to vote in November? Start here.

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You Want Change? Eyes Forward

I’m sure you’ve heard about the latest outrage. Of course you have. It was about foreign affairs or the economy or immigration or something that will make the country weak or less democratic or dirtier or something. You reacted to it on social media. Maybe you organized something or gave money to someone or just shook your head.

Eyes forward lefty. The day-to-day is simply a distraction. The point is to say how you will fix this or make it less important or make it go away. Perhaps, yes perhaps, you might even want to ignore it next time. I know, that’s a tough one, but it might lower your blood pressure or clear your mind so you can think and not just react.

Feel better? OK, this will take time.

Keep your eyes forward. The message has to be that if you want a change from what’s been happening, then you have to register to vote, and then vote. Then you have to make sure that the correct message gets out. Do you want a foreign policy that has a point, that safeguards democratic values, that honors and supports our allies, that makes China think twice before stealing intellectual property and that sends a message to Russia that what they’re doing is completely unacceptable?

Then you have to vote for the people who will send that message.

Do you want an economy where wages actually rise for workers, where workplace safety is a prominent concern, where unionized workers can bring positive change, where products are safe, where pollution is punished, where the gap between the highest earners and the lowest stop widening, and where all people have affordable, meaningful health care?

Then you have to vote for the people who will send that message.

Do you want a society where all people are valued and where all Americans have access to the ideas that will enable them to prosper intellectually? Do you want leaders who will recognize that we are strong because we are diverse, and that we ask questions of each other because that’s what helps us figure out what we need to do to improve?

Never forget that the president was elected with a minority of the popular vote and that he is still not popular with a majority of Americans. We are the majority. Eyes forward.

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Democracy Featured

The Issues That Will Win the Day

Have you noticed that Congress hasn’t passed any laws lately? Yes, I know they’ve probably snuck in some measures having to do with the awfulness of the government being able to help poor people or possibly allowing people to cite religious beliefs as a way to discriminate, but other than that, nothing.

I’ve already written about the lack of an infrastructure bill, despite the desperate need we have for a new electrical grid that utilizes non-fossil fuels, better roads and airports, and safer bridges. I certainly understand that undermining our NATO allies and embracing Vladimir Putin takes precedence in the president’s schedule, but could Congress actually solve some problems?

This needs to be the focus of the Democratic message going into the fall election campaign. Candidates need to stay away from impeachment and even the Russia investigation and remind voters that the swamp has indeed been repopulated with people who want to dismantle the supports that have allowed people social and economic mobility. The party must reach out to moderates who are unhappy or wary of what the Republicans say they’ll do with a larger majority and a Supreme Court that will uphold their program. The surprises we’ve seen in Alabama, Pennsylvania and New York have all come from candidates who knew their constituents and ran campaigns that appealed to those local realities. That will bring more success, but only if more candidates forego the anger that repels moderate voters.

Healthcare, higher wages, a tax bill that supports all middle-class Americans. These are the issues that will bring more votes than anger and blame and talk of removing the president. The biggest mistake the Democrats can make is to move too far to the left. That can, and will, come later. For now, move incrementally and build a larger support base.

Never forget that the president was elected with a minority of the popular vote. More people support the Democratic vision of this country than the conservative’s view. If Democrats stick to the issues, they can win.

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Whither Infrastructure?

What a great word. Infrastructure. People of all stripes and models use it earnestly despite its awkwardness. It means so much and is so difficult to romanticize.

I’ll stop.

Remember when infrastructure was going to be first on the new president’s agenda? It was going to be the issue that Democrats and Republicans could rally behind because, really, roads, bridges, the power grid, airports, public transportation systems, etc., in this country are dreck and need a massive infusion of money and attention at every level of government.

So what happened? My sense is that the issue is far too big and unsexy for a president who loves controversy and chaos and attention, but is short on policy knowledge. And it would take a whole bag of dough to get all of these projects going and the tax bill put a major hole in the federal budget. Add in the ideological opposition that Republicans have to spending taxpayer money in urban areas that voted Democratic and you have the kind of political blindness and ignorance that comes around once in a great while. Forget North Korea and dismantling the health care system. Neglecting infrastructure will cost lives if we don’t get going soon.

To be fair, the president did talk about infrastructure early in his administration and said that it would be great and that we would do it, but we haven’t. Meanwhile, the trains get worse, the roads get worse, airports get worse, bridges get worse, power outages get worse, and we don’t seem to be interested in moving forward on securing our economic lifeblood, roads and airports, or repairing and upgrading them anytime soon.

Wouldn’t this create jobs? Ensure safety? Allow us to compete more broadly with countries around the world that have functioning and improved infrastructure? Make us…you know, great? Of course it would, which is why it’s so low on the list of things this administration wants to do. My fear is that it’s going to take a great tragedy to get this administration to commit political capital to rebuilding these facilities. And even then, I can see them blaming everyone before they settle on a plan that will likely be less than what’s absolutely necessary.

They haven’t a plan, and they really haven’t a clue.

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The Absolute Power Grab: Ignorance of the Law Becomes Trendy

There’s nothing like studying the Watergate scandal to remind you of what can happen when one person gets more power than they can handle. President Nixon thought he was above the law, but the Supreme Court said otherwise.

Now we have Nixon redux or more likely, Trump acid reflux, in the form of a president who believes that he too can ignore the law because he has “unfettered authority over all federal investigations.” If you’re not frightened by that statement, then you are either are too young to have lived through Watergate. And I’m sorry, but learning about it in school is not the same. You don’t really get to understand the fragile balance of power between the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government.

For the president to indulge in this power grab doesn’t surprise me, but it is disturbing. As Indiana Representative Samuel B. Pettingill said of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the debate on the court packing plan of 1937:

“This is more power than a good man should want and a bad man should have.”

Of course, President Trump came into office and was immediately frustrated by how much he could not do simply because he was president, but now that he has advisers who share his disdain of constitutional limits on the executive, he’s feeling untouchable and more secure. And while it is true that the president can terminate the investigation by firing the Special Prosecutor, that does not mean that Congress can’t step in and prosecute Trump for any crimes or misdemeanors the prosecutor uncovered. Then there’s public opinion, which, in Nixon’s case, was the undoing of his administration after he ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, precipitating the Saturday Night Massacre.

Yes, President Trump could fire Robert Mueller, but that wouldn’t mean the end of the drama. If nothing else, the American people understand the importance of concluding an investigation and publicizing the results. Firing Mueller would necessitate suppressing the evidence, which would result in more lawsuits. And more suspicion. Because the more the president talks about how unfair the investigation is, the more guilty he looks.

What this all comes down to is the fact that the president believes he is untouchable and that he can control the news cycle with his juvenile tweets, empty threats and folksy phrases, all served up with a 6th grade vocabulary and lots of !!!!. The courts will have the final say and based on past decisions, and the constitution, the president will likely lose.

For the sake of the republic, I certainly hope so.

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The Last Vestige of Scoundrels

Great statements are considered great for a reason, and this one by Samuel Johnson about false patriotism certainly stands the test of time. Scoundrels will use patriotism for their own ends.

If it wasn’t apparent when Donald Trump began his run for president, it is crystal clear now; that his brand of patriotism is noxious, uncompromising, divisive and exclusionary. It is not a patriotism that demands respect or knowledge of American history.

It requires obsequiousness to the ruler.

It demands slander of anyone who is different, either by skin, sex, love or political belief.

It encourages ignorance, hatred and small-mindedness.

As we commemorate those who have fought for our freedom to challenge, to protest, to take to task, to account for the behavior and actions of those we elect, to disagree, to resist, and to just be a terrific nuisance to those who want something different from us, we must remember that change only comes when we make it inconvenient and painful for those in power to continue in power.

Have a great holiday.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Remember not to post anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want your mother to see.

Of course, that would exclude 99% of what’s on the Internet.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Democracy Donald Trump Featured

Beware of Smiling Dictators

It’s on. The Kim Jong-un Redemption Tour is officially under way and like any other one-party, all-powerful, illiberal, murderous dictator, he is smiling all the way.

Hello. I had my uncle shot. (Smile)

Hello. I had my half-brother killed in one of the most unique, sinister plots I could think of. (Smile)

Hello. I’m going to make nice-nice with our brothers and sisters in South Korea and meet with President Trump, who thinks I’m going to give up all of my nuclear weapons in return for some food and maybe some cultural artifacts. (Smile)

I’ll believe it when I see it.

And here’s the funny thing: Kim has a far more experienced foreign policy team than the United States does now. The president, I fear, knows very little other than what’s in his gut, which at any given moment has come from McDonald’s. The new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has been on the job for a little over two days and is more infamous for his dislike of Muslims than what he knows about global politics.

OK, you’re right. Not funny at all.

Plus, I’m a bit unsure as to what “denuclearization” means. Are both Koreas supposed to give up their nuclear arsenals? Are the Chinese and the Russians supposed to give up anything? After all, North and South can’t sign a peace agreement to end the war without the US and other countries that were involved in the fighting. And what about the Japanese? Will we be asked to stop supporting Japan with our nuclear weapons?

Or is this like my kitchen? I won’t bomb my neighbor, but please don’t ask me to give up my microwave.

So many questions.

And then there’s that smiling Comrade Kim, knowing that he can go on killing, starving, harassing, jailing, intimidating, propagandizing, bankrupting and misleading his people because he probably watches FOX News and understands that the Trump Administration will not only turn a blind eye to human rights abuses, they’ll go all Oedipus on us and take a stick to their remaining oculars.

That’s the real payoff and Kim knows it. He will not be held to account for the truly terrible things he’s done to his people and he’ll extract something of value for his regime. The South might get a peace treaty, repatriation for citizens who were kidnapped by the North, reunification meetings for families, and a promise from Kim not to invade, which will help the government of President Moon Jae-in maintain its economy and security. The North will get pretty much everything else, including some food aid, which is great, but it certainly won’t be enough to turn around an economy that’s hovering about three inches above dirt level.

As for the United States? Kim will want something in return for his denuclearization, such as a promise that the US won’t invade, but it also might involve us weakening our alliance with Japan and South Korea. And I’m sure that Chinese President Xi will be involved as well. Many of the news reports talk about how China is sidelined or marginalized as Kim goes directly to the South and then will meet with President Trump. I don’t buy a word of it. President Xi, unlike the other bombasts who’ve taken to the world stage in the past two years, knows the value of silence. And loyalty. Kim is not acting alone.

When all is said and done, though, the smiling dictator will go back to his country and dictate. Everything. Nothing of any value will change.

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Democracy Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

After the Nor’easters:Trump Caves on the Budget While the Real Storm(y) is on the Horizon

For all the talk about President Trump almost vetoing the Congressional spending bill, what’s lost is that his presidency will likely turn out to be a textbook case of an outsider with no natural political constituency unable to reorder the bureaucracy or scare enough legislators to bend to his will. After all, here is a politician who did not garner a majority of popular votes and is proving unable and unwilling to reach across the aisle to work with Democrats, who in many cases would be able to give him votes on legislation he’d like to pass.

Yes, he got his military spending increase, but on most other measures, including the ridiculous wall on the Mexican border, he earned the political equivalent of the Golden Sombrero, whiffing on cuts he proposed in funding for the arts, the EPA, housing and transportation, each of which received an increase in government support or the same level of funding as the year before. In effect, Congress ignored the president’s request, then essentially told him to sign the bill or he’d get a worse one in return.

So much for Trump the dealmaker or politician who would come in and clean house. In fact, the only house he’s cleaned is the White House by firing and replacing his staff at a rate unseen in…forever.

Congress has learned that the president cannot rally Americans behind his agenda mainly because his agenda is supported by a minority of people and his behavior has so eroded his support that Republican members of Congress are running for the doors in anticipation of a Democratic wave election in November. Trump has also shown a notable lack of policy knowledge and engagement, so trying to make an actual argument other than a particular policy is “great” or “the best” seems to be beyond his grasp. Add in the tweets that come in flurries after he’s watched some outrage on FOX and you have a political environment that is unstable, ignorant and rudderless.

Just what the Founders envisioned, right?

What should make Republicans quake that much more is that they and the president should be at the height of their power and influence. One-party governance has a short shelf life as Democrats can confirm from 2009-2011. You get two years to prove your worth and Republicans understand that they have not unified the country and that the president is not going to have a coat, much less coattails in the upcoming election. For the president to be snubbed on his major priorities at this point is a major rebuke. Neither they nor he are going to regain influence. The tax cuts are in the system. If all Trump has left is to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military, then it’s going to be a difficult environment for them for the rest of the year.

And that’s just the domestic side. A rejection of the diplomatic order that’s kept the peace since 1945 in the form of higher tariffs, a foreign policy team full of hawks, and a confrontational attitude towards China and North Korea are all causing some concern in the United States and abroad. It’s one thing to shake up a moribund system. It’s quite another to cause other countries to question the commitment of the United States to protocols that keep the world safe.

The president finally has a foreign policy and security team he’s comfortable with, but he still sees the world as a series of personal relationships that determine who gets punished and who doesn’t. Congratulating Vladimir Putin while applying tariffs to Japan makes for a contradictory signal. Gutting the State Department, leaving embassies short staffed and trusting your gut on Kim Jong-un is downright dangerous. The lone bright spot is holding China accountable for the theft of intellectual property, which has gone on since the 1990s. But that’s hardly something to run on.

It’s a bit too early to call President Trump a lame duck, but he’s getting close. Congress passed the tax cuts, but the ACA remains, as does an un-walled border. The issue that could unite the country, an infrastructure bill that provides both jobs and desperate repairs, is nowhere to be found. And, of course, the Stormy clouds are gathering.

Donald Trump will not be a transformative leader because his worldview and policy knowledge are far too limited, and he had done nothing to unify the country. Congress just reminded him of that. The people will remind him again in November.

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Democracy Donald Trump

Secretariat Was a Stable Genius Too

donald trump spouting nonsense METRO GRAB taken from: http://video.metro.co.uk/video/met/2018/01/06/8980338924088870056/640x360_MP4_8980338924088870056.mp4

Can someone please tell me what the fuss is all about? Didn’t we know that a minority of people didn’t elect a statesman or someone with a deep and abiding knowledge of public affairs? Wasn’t it clear that Donald Trump was just a real estate guy with a TV show that glorified…himself and…his accomplishments based on…his ego? Is it not apparent that a minority of voters decided that they wanted a regular person who knew as much about the constitution as every other regular person and wanted someone who is as angry as they are about the what’s-so-complicated policies regarding immigration, taxes, health care, foreign affairs and the separation of powers?

Didn’t one of your parents ever say to you that big people talk about big ideas, while small people talk about…themselves?

The events of the past three days surprise me not. They are disturbing. They are frightening. And they were eminently avoidable. But Democrats have to be very careful about what accusations they make and what stories they gather themselves behind. Enough with the mental health updates or the talk of impeachment. These just make the left seem unhinged, screechy, petty and uninformed. And can someone please tell the New York Times that they don’t have to include a recap of every wrong thing the president has said over the past year in every story. I can’t even read the paper anymore.

The only objective is to win enough seats to take over the House and/or the Senate and to stop the GOP’s reactionary agenda before it can do any more damage to the country. That’s why the 2018 midterm elections are key. The Democrats need to mobilize their voters and those Trump voters who didn’t like Hillary, but would vote for a sensible Democrat who would protect their health care, truly lower their taxes, safeguard the environment, respect and improve international agreements and support reproductive rights.

It’s clear that the Republicans are not going to challenge the president on his behavior as long as he supports their program. But even that is beginning to fray. The order opening up the entire US coastline to drilling is such an outrageously terrible idea that even Governor Rick Scott, no friend to moderation, is against it, as is Chris Christie, who would be able to see the derricks from his beach chair.

There is also resistance to Jeff Sessions’ announcing that the Justice Department would begin acting against states that voted to legalize marijuana. Not that I’m a big fan of balancing state budgets on alcohol, tobacco, gambling and pot, but returning us to GiulianiTime.  The absolute last thing we need is for our criminal justice system to begin arresting low level drug users in states that have legalized weed. That would be a travesty. And here I thought the GOP was the party of states rights.

Democrats need to capitalize on these issues and get out their voters and those Democrats who sat out the 2016 election. And they’d better come up with an economic argument too because that will also be the key issue in November, as it usually is. That most people see the GOP tax cut as a sop to the wealthy will help, but seeing more money in your paycheck is a powerful argument to stay the course. Then again, cuts to social programs, as the Republicans promise, will certainly wake people up to the danger.

So cut the garbage about psychiatric evaluations and see this election through the correct lens: It’s politics, and all politics is local.

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Do Not Let Us Fall Into Temptation

Usually I skip over stories that have to do with the Pope, but I’ve been reading more of them since Francis took the rather large yarmulke a few years ago because he seems to get the part about treating people like humans. He still has work to do with women and the Rohingya, but his proposed new change to the Lord’s Prayer (which I have as a 45 rock version from 1973) comes at a most perfect time.

Temptation seems to be all the rage these days and I have to agree with Francis that the problem is not with a deity leading us there, but with us as functioning people resisting the lure. And we do have problems with that.

From national and state politicians, media moguls, entertainers, business executives and, yes, the President of the United States, men have been tempted to use their power and influence to harass, rape, threaten, bully and terrorize both women and men for…what? Sex? Influence? Power? Babies? There’s a pathology here because rolling the dice and hoping you don’t get caught must be part of the demonic thrill involved in the chase. And sometimes, even an apology does not substitute for tears.

But there are other temptations that are weakening us too. The Republican Party, tempted by power, is shutting out any reasonable attempt at bipartisanship on health care and taxes, and I imagine that they’ll extend their terrible ideas to infrastructure, government spending and immigration.

The Democratic Party is similarly tempted by the thought of overreaching in their opposition to the president by becoming, at times, irrational baying wolves, calling for impeachment or overturning the election results. Neither of these will lead to the path to power, nor do I believe that they will become a force that compromises or ends the partisan war being fought throughout this country.

For all of this, I am not a religious person, but occasionally religious leaders do tap into the zeitgeist, intentionally or not. We could all use a little humility, and if it won’t come from the president or his inner circle of sycophants, then it must come from us because only the American people can put an end to a tolerance of lies, misdeeds and obstinate behavior.

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