ENGAGE

I don’t know what more can be said about Donald Trump’s electoral victory and what that portends for our country and the world. I think on a personal level, it means that I can no longer sit back and watch the world go by. It means that the time for citizen action is now. Citizens sitting back is what got us into this mess and the only way out of it is for us to step up and engage. WHat that engagement will look like is hard to say, although it is obvious that the first task is to oppose Trump’s Cabinet choices - all of which appear to be abominable. We must call, write, post on Facebook, Tweet, march, picket and knock on doors. We cannot leave any stone unturned in this fight for our country’s soul. We must stand up for those who are vulnerable, the “others” who are, in all actuality all of us. We must be the America I think we are. We are already great but we must act like we believe it. We must not let evil triumph. If it does, it will because we didn’t stand up for what is right, what is true, what is good.

Here we are, on the eve of another Presidential election. It should be like most but it won't be, at least on the basis of what we have seen so far which has been unlike any campaign I have ever seen.


Hillary Clinton took the Democratic nomination away from Bernie Sanders (some say illegally or at least improperly). His supporters did not go quietly into the good night, even after Bernie conceded and declared his support for the nominee. Supporting the nominee is as it should be and Bernie played by the rules of the game, which, are supposed to include a fair amount of graciousness in defeat. Bernie was that voice of reason. He took the weight of his support to the Democratic Convention where he brokered deals with the platform Committee so that his supporters concerns were recognized and included. In return, he has lived up to his end of the bargain by campaigning for Hillary Clinton.


Hillary, on her part, has waged a pretty standard campaign with boots on the ground and television ads both extolling her plans and, conversely, attacking her opponent. All pretty standard fare. Even the internet campaign has become the norm. Whether the tried and true methods of her campaign will work this time remains to be seen.


Donald Trump, her opponent, has been anything but the usual candidate for President. He has managed to offend Black Americans, Women, Latinos, soldier's families and soldiers themselves. Undoubtedly I am forgetting someone. He is racist. He lies about 90% of the time (high even by the standards of politics). His business practices speak volumes about his values. His bankruptcies which are numerous, made questionable use of tax laws and loopholes. He said that " makes him smart."
What it makes him is just another shady businessman who lies and cheats any way he can. He discriminated against minorities in housing, he stiffed workers and contractors and he grossly inflates his income. We don't know by how much because he refuses to release his tax returns even though almost every modern presidential candidate, including Hillary, has done so. What is he hiding? Inquiring minds want to know. Many think he is hiding his losses. Others think he is hiding his business with Russia. Maybe it is both, maybe even more.


All of this and he has no specific plans for a tenure in the White House. Most politicians take the opportunity that a campaign offers to lay out specific policies and plans. Trump has not, except that he wants to build a wall on the border with Mexico and to deport millions of people who have been here for decades and many of whom directly contribute to our society. Such a policy is both ill-advised and impractical. All in all, Donald Trump has little going for him except the Big Lie. He says things in small sound bites and then repeats it over and over until people (read his supporters) believe it. His mantra is "Crooked Hillary. Hillary's emails. She ought to be in prison. I will lock her up." And he repeats this over and over with little substance of his own. 


How can a man with no substance except for degrading and attacking others, think he is fit to serve as President of the United States? He is frightening because he can whip his followers into a frenzy to the point where they are threatening violence if the election turns out badly for Trump. He is skilled at acting. He is skilled at appealing to mob mentality. He appeals to those who see themselves as left out and left behind. In short, he is America's own Adolph Hitler. I think he wants to be a dictator, at least that's how he talks ("I will put Hillary in prison" - not the DOJ or FBI but him, etc.) Everything is "I, I, I" Everything is about him. There is nothing in his life or experience that has been about public service or sacrifice for the good of the nation. I don't think he is even capable of that kind of selflessness and that worries me,  Donald Trump worries me, even if he loses. I hope he is better at losing than he has been so far. God help us all.


  

         

Why I Dislike The Democratic Party

Today I finally got to the breaking point in my relationship with the Democratic Party. I have been a lifelong Democrat and have a long history of putting considerable time and energy supporting Democratic candidates. That was when I actually thought the Party believed it's own platform and in the historic ideals of inclusiveness and social justice. I suppose I was naïve and the reality has always been that Democratic politicians have always been politicians first and Democrats second.

It used to be, however, that Democrats did try to live up to their pol-speak and worked for things like civil rights, preserving Social Security and helping the poor, the disabled and the children. The late Senator Edward Kennedy spent his life working for expanding healthcare to all. It was his passion and he believed and worked for it. In short, he believed in the ideals of FDR.

 Since Bill Clinton however, the Democratic Party has been moving to the right. This is often referred to as neoliberalism. It is basically what happens when a political party is taken over by corporate interests and the extremely wealthy. They do not have any interest in social justice. They care only about the bottom line. People are merely a means to an end for these corporatists. Social Security is a hindrance to their profit margin, as is most of the social safety net.

Democrats may have, at some point, tried to resist the pull to the right but at the end of the day, they caved in to the 1%. Now there are  only small differences between the belief systems of the Democrats and the Republicans. There is no left-wing of the Democratic Party just as there is no moderate wing of the Republican Party.

Given this background, it is no surprise that we have a candidate like Hillary Clinton who is basically Bill to the second power. Yes, she does have experience. Yes, she is an effective politician but is she a true Democrat? Does she hold to and work for the kind of social justice pursued by the Democratic Party prior to 1992? No, she doesn't. She gives lip service to the social contract but it is obvious that she either will not or cannot live up to the ideals of FDR. There is simply too much corporate money influencing her and the rest of the Democratic Party.

 The people don't stand a chance in the Party as it stands. The poor cannot even afford to be a part of the Party process. It costs money to go to state conventions and even more to attend the national convention. Their voices are lost as are those of the elderly, the disabled and children. Who speaks for them? A bunch of corporatists in Democratic clothing.

 This doesn't even begin to address the problems Hillary Clinton has with credibility and character. She comes with a long list of issues surrounding her judgement as well, the email scandal being only the latest. People want to be able to trust their President and she has not shown herself to be trustworthy at all.

Many people simply cannot allow themselves to vote for her. The thing is, she is a symptom of the modern Democratic Party as it has evolved into a creature of corporate interests. Thus we have Democratic leaders buying into Hillary wholeheartedly. Thus we have them booing a candidate who believes in social justice, who has moral credibility and stands with the people of this country. He will not roll over and accept the status quo and for that he is booed. Shame on the leadership of the Democratic Party. They have even abandoned good manners. They are not the Democratic Party I grew up believing was on my side. They are on the side of the wealthy and their own self-interest. I am done.   

A Place At The Table

A few evenings ago I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the film, "A Place At The Table", starring Jeff Bridges. It was a very thought provoking and emotional film about hunger in America. I highly recommend it as a way to elicit conversation and discussion about the very real crisis. There are many facts about hunger in the film, elucidated by various experts but the experiences of a number of people (primarily of single mothers!) were what stuck out to me. Much is said about hunger in this country but we do not often stop to think about the individuals who are affected. Numbers and statistics are dry and it is tempting to focus on them rather than people because, as this film points out, people are harder to ignore; they are harder to forget. 

It is impossible for me to forget the little girl who lived in squalor and went to school hungry most days. The devastating effect hunger has on children was most disturbingly demonstrated by her situation. She could not concentrate or focus on school work when her stomach was growling. For me, this situation hit all too close to home. As I watched Rosie, I saw myself as a child. 

When I was in first grade, one of the teachers who knew my father (she had been his teacher as well) took me aside and talked to me about breakfast and then talked to my parents. I was always being sent to the corner because I was tired and couldn't concentrate. I never made the connection between that and not having eaten in the morning. This film became very  personal. I remember my family had government issued canned peanut butter and also cheese. I never paid much attention, I guess I figured everyone had the same. 

Hungry children are nothing new in the country but the epidemic certainly is, at least since the 1960's when president after president issued wars on hunger. The school lunch program and, later, the school breakfast program cut childhood hunger drastically. What changed? Why are 1:6 children in this country suffering from food insecurity? Watch the film and you will find out. 

To discover more about the issue you can visit: http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table/film.

Bread and Roses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1912, there was a bloody mill workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This was a significant event in the formation of labor unions in this country. James Oppenheim wrote a touching poem put to lyrics. Joan Baez sang the definitive version.

 

 

 

 

 

Liberty For All?

 

My congressman asked this evening what Independence Day means to us. I immediately thought of the Declaration of Independence and the list of grievances the Colonists laid out against the King of England. And I thought of the present day situation in these United States. I wondered what Thomas Jefferson would have made of the Patriot Act, of the National Security Agency spying on our own citizens. I know what Benjamin Franklin would have said because he did: "He who gives up essential liberty for a little security deserves neither."

The founders gave their all for liberty and I know it would have appalled them to see us throwing it away in the name of short term safety. Safety is never assured even if all citizens voluntarily give up their freedoms for that purpose. In that moment when we cede our liberties we have betrayed the spirit of the American Revolution. 

The rise of the power of corporations in this country (and worldwide) is also quite alarming. Power concentrated in fewer and fewer hands creates a situation much like the one that confronted the American colonists. With the East India Company monopolizing trade rights, the colonists faced excessive taxation and the inability to purchase needed items from anyone else. The burdens these policies caused led directly to revolution.

Today, we have corporations wielding growing power in Congress and the Courts (especially the US Supreme Court) and to some extent in the Executive branch as well. The greater the power of corporations the less power the proletariat (or the 99%) have.

The Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court was a perfect illustration. The Court ruled that corporations have the right to express themselves through essentially unlimited financial contributions to political campaigns. The idea that corporations are people makes a mockery of the First Amendment but the divided Court saw it differently. Corporations now have unlimited power to influence and direct political campaigns. The ordinary American citizen is thus left essentially voiceless in comparison.

The state of the Union this Independence Day is quite questionable. We lose our freedoms by the inch. We seem to be headed down the slippery slope towards totalitarianism and the complete undermining of the Constitution. The only thing that can reverse this trend is the united action of the People. We must rise up and be heard before it is too late.