Haven't been here in a while. Sorry. I've been slaving away.

...

I'm not a party person. Never admired either party. Political parties exist primarily for the good of their political parties, not for the people. The primary goal of parties is to build animosity and create sensationalism, to stay dedicated to age-old “principles” until they fossilize into prejudice. And only rarely do the “parties” seek common ground with one another to compromise and accomplish something.

…

But, ladies and gentlemen, when a political party gets control of government, it’s different. The primary goal of government is not to solve every problem by elevating its status as though it is the most vital concern to humanity. The goal of government is not to agitate and pick fights. The goal is to keep a lid on all that stuff, to balance maximum freedoms with peaceful coexistence, despite the differences. The goal of government is not to tear us apart. The goal is to seek solutions, to promote efforts to find solutions, and to welcome intelligent, well thought out solutions of all sorts. Government’s goal is not to force feed solutions, as a tyrant does, with tantrums, but to get us to the next day without tearing us apart. All the public bickering and mud-slinging needs to stop. Lots of people think that’s the fun of politics, but when that party’s over, it’s over! Whichever side obtains power must deal with the real business of government, keeping a lid on it.

…

What’s really eating at people nowadays is the Civil War. That war never ended. It was fought in this country to end slavery. It became a war when the Government abdicated its responsibility. Instead of calming the decades-old irrational outbursts, the Government just let things slide until it finally had no choice but to join in, and the battle was on, and the country became divided.

…

And the problem of slavery? Well, that was never really solved. We’re still dealing with it. We still pay people less money than they need to live on. Two hundred years ago, we gave them a shack and some worn out clothes and made them find ways to survive when they were finished in the fields.

…

Nowadays, we give them eight bucks an hour and make them live on that! Even with two or three family members working, those wages don’t cover expenses the way privileged wages do. So we have working poor. We even have homeless workers now.

…

Oh, but business is booming, isn’t it?

…

We promote slavery by allowing people to become indentured servants. They volunteer to become enslaved. They try to cover debts by taking on more debt, and the “Master,” the boss of the Big Bank, he gets to collect interest and compound it. Slavery has broadened its scope. Nearly every one of us is a slave. We spend hours of our day earning money to pay interest at the end of the month. Only difference among us is, some are having awful luck crawling out from under the debt, and that debt, that burden of indentured servitude, is relentless, and it grows.

…

And business, it does hum!

…

It is becoming clear that minimum wages need to be raised, because wages that don’t support people amounts to enslavement of a sort. Government has the responsibility for that. Parties, simmer down! Tyrants, shut up! Get after that problem, Government! Find a compromise and find it soon.

…

Then the debt problem, another vestige of slavery: People are convinced, by some of the noise going on, that another loan just might help to get them out of some hardship or another, and they voluntarily take on more indentured servitude, more credit cards, more installment loans, a mortgage, a second mortgage, a college loan another loan, and still more indentured servitude.

…

Can’t balance those issues against wages though, can we? People who volunteer to take on more debt to get out of misery are just creating more misery for themselves, right?

…

But cheap labor and interest payments sure do make the gears of business hum, don’t they, Master?

…

Find us a balance, Government! How do we keep business humming, but maybe not so loud and nasty, and at the same time, provide a living to the working people? And if we’re going to maintain a slave class of people, how do we take better care of our slaves, Government?

…

This is an awful mess. It’s the worst mess we’ve been in for a long time. It’s bringing out the tyrants who rant and rave and distract us with all sorts of other issues just to save them some cash. They’re extremely good at that. But now this pandemic has come along, and it’s magnified the mess, because a large portion of our essential, front line workers is from the slave class (or, if you insist upon using euphemisms, the low wage, heavily indebted class), and we’re being forced to confront the facts of it, even though most of us would rather not. 

…

Times like these, a leader with a quiet approach to government suits me far better than someone who is constantly and openly sticking it to the other party, or exhorting people to "fight," whether that means storming the Capitol, or using abusive language to criticize, or filibustering, or insisting that someone stand up and read every word of a 700-page document aloud.

…

Lately, however, it has become the popular thing to repeat rumor as though it is doctrine, to seek out the science that suits your personal views, to find friends to help you spout disgust and hatred for the “extreme right” or “extreme left,” and when you get into a discussion with one of those “idiots” (although you try hard to avoid such a thing), where the “idiot” makes you uncomfortable by asking you to provide more evidence, you end the conversation. You just repeat the party line, tell her or him that they’ve got it wrong, and retreat to your fossilized principles.

…

So if I can find a candidate, in any party, who tries hard to be honest, who selects words carefully, tries not to talk too much, tries not to seek out confrontation just to make a name for herself or himself, responds either quietly to criticism or not at all, I will vote for that person, if I have the opportunity to do so, regardless which "party" has hold of her or him at the moment.

…

Government does far too little and makes far too much noise as it is.

Snipers

We’re all wrapped up in sensationalism, and I’m not sure I’ll even vote in the next election.

Sorry for the big word, “sensationalism.” I know most of the facebook audience respects twitters, tweets, and emotionally charged stuff more than a cogent argument, but here I am, giving it a try once again. And yes, I know most American citzens are generally impatient with cogent arguments, and I know someone is going to find a phrase of mine to attack and provide her or him an excuse to dismiss everything I’m writing, but there are moments when it just gushes out of me like pus from an overgrown, long ignored cyst. So watch out. I’m going to give this bugger a really hard squeeze:

I am not a fan of our current president or any of our recent past presidents, for that matter. Some have done and are doing damage and/or good for democracy. Some have done and are doing damage and/or good for our economy. All of them have shopped around for a "base" population in this country, and paramount in their priorities has been a preoccupation with remaining in power and doing so by maintaining the selfish interests of their constituents, not the good of the country as a whole.

I am not a fan of our current representatives or senators. All of the above can be said of them as well. When staying in power is all about sucking votes from the general population by pandering to their desires and attacking the personal flaws of other candidates instead of discussing the issues, you've got a recipe for keeping things as they are: Keeping wages as low as possible in order to maintain profit margins and stock prices; keeping the working class largely working poor and desperate enough to hang on to low wage jobs and labor long hours for a second class existence; keeping the parties angry at each other so that they can't get together to take the next steps forward.

The political parties are endeavoring to destroy democracy, or at the very least, transmogrify it into a populace that avoids thinking too hard and by default, approves of the status quo.

Our ruling class is too rich. They've got vast hordes of cash. They see the country as a place for them, naturally. They see their piles of money as affirmation of their power. They fail to see how their greed saps the life out of others – all others, everywhere, in this country and outside of it. While scapegoating and spreading all sorts of hatred, they fail to remember that the overwhelming majority of their ancestors came here as immigrants. When they think of the economy, they think primarily of maintaining their own bank accounts and tax shelters. When they think of the next election, they think of finding dirt on their opponents. They all talk of “fighting” for their ways.

We don’t get together anymore to talk about it and listen to one another. Instead, we load our guns with the worst, most destructive sensationalism we can find at the moment and take a shot at someone. Then we move on. We run away without pausing two seconds for a response. We’re snipers, hiding in the trees, shooting at one another and running away from anyone else’s point of view.

Perfect way of keeping a conflict alive and healthy, and preventing solutions that question the rich people who like things just the way they are.

The Immigrant

At a relative’s funeral,

A tall, skinny, white-bearded,

Very old man in a sweat-soaked blue suit

Approaches me and

Stinks up the air I’m breathing

With his obnoxious, repulsive odor.

“Hello,” he says.

“This is your grandpa,” Dad tells me. “He’s my dad.”

They wait.

“Say hello Grandpa.”

I stare, vacantly, at them both

I stare,

Captivated in my fear and prejudice

Against immigrants.

I especially hate this old man in the blue suit.

He is obviously a crazy man.

He has a crazy hat.

He looks odd.

He talks funny.

He is made of harsh stuff, mean stuff.

He is easily angered.

He could as soon crack you upside the head

As smile and offer you candy.

“Here,” he says. “Take dat. It’s goot, ya!”

It’s a piece of hard candy,

The kind I most dislike,

The kind I’d never choose to eat,

But instead of telling him so,

I take it and put the repugnant

Piece of sugar in my mouth.

He has touched it with his immigrant fingers,

His work-swollen, scarred, bony,

Ugly immigrant farmer fingers,

That have shoveled mountains of cow shit.

But I put it in my mouth

Because I’m afraid of him,

Because I know he wants me to do this

To show my acceptance of him.

I wish this awful man

Would leave me alone.

I look away, sucking the awful shit

In my mouth.

“Ya,” says Dad, speaking in his German brogue,

More brogue-ish now, in his family’s company.

“He’s just a little shy, you know.”

“Ya,” says the old man.

And then then they both speak German,

The old man first,

Then Dad,

In that fearsome, awful German tongue,

And they both laugh, and look at me,

And I know they’re laughing at me.

Two Germans,

One a genuine immigrant,

One a first generation American

Barely removed

From the immigrant.

Two men to be feared,

Germans, hated Germans,

Third Reich Terrorists.

One I sincerely hate,

The other I sincerely love and respect,

And will love until the day he dies.

How odd, to love and hate this way.

But I’m a silly child, and I cant help feeling

That people who talk and act and dress

This way are killers

Of many kinds of people.

Later, I would learn,

Killers of Queers and Jews,

And French and Spanish and English

And many brave Amerikaners.

And even though

I don’t know

All these things yet,

Even in my infant brain,

I carry with me a

Prejudice of hatred, that I’ve caught somewhere,

Like some God forsaken disease, and

Somehow, I am sensitive to

A single side of all of that

Without understanding the facts.

It’s an awful thing,

To reject such a man,

As I did,

Sixty years ago.

I dearly wish I’d been man enough to say,

“I know your life as an immigrant

Has been hard, very, very hard.

Thank you for your courage,

Moving into a country that despised you,

And still despises you,

Mocking your ways,

Fearing your temper,

Hating you for your oddness.

Thank you for giving me a new start

In a new country where at least we’re free,

Free even to believe only what we want,

If we so choose,

To dismiss that which we find distasteful,

If we so choose,

Free even to bathe ourselves in our own childish prejudices

If we so choose.”

But looking at these Germans,

I am so young.

I am still such a child,

I am still such a child.

I’m not man enough

To say such things to this

Ridiculous, fearsome old creature.

He finally turns away from me,

And I spit the hard candy out,

And throw it under the coffin

Of his brother.

So, forever sorry for this sin,

I go out of my way to smile,

And greet beautiful immigrant people.

I can see their beauty now that I’m old, and man enough,

If I so choose.

I can look past all their strange and curious ways,

If I so choose.

I admire them for their courage.

I so choose.

But I’m still afraid, just a little afraid, still.

And when I’m stabbed with prejudices that live in me still,

I just recall the time a fearsome, old,

Courageous, skinny, stinking, bearded man

Gave me hard candy at his brother’s funeral.

I can’t guarantee a better life for them.

I know my smile and friendly greeting are not enough.

It’s a little piece of hard candy that I offer them,

But I offer,

In my clumsy, apologetic way,

Trying to express my profound respect.

It’s all I can think to do.

Kumbaya My Ass

Most of us are in the middle. I admire Liberals for their courage, optimism, and creativity. But I can't accept their trust that "all will be well if we simply ...".

Kumbaya! Anyone who tells you, “This is going to happen if we do that,” is telling you a lie. No one knows what’s going to happen. True Conservatives will tell you, we can’t depend on the continuity of all other things after we initiate change. That, folks, is a Conservative principle; that’s reality, and reality is what makes real Conservatives move slowly with change.

I lean Conservative, but I don't swallow far right ideology. The far right seems to have given up on democratic principles. They're starting to behave like Liberals. They’re starting to favor sudden changes, and they’re starting to promise us that everything will work out just fine if we simply …”.

Kubaya! It appears that Conservatives and Liberals alike just want control; they seem to want the power to keep us all in line, and like it or not, that is a distortion of our way of life in the United States of America.

As a group, the Democratic party has all drifted past the middle. They’re leaning extra hard right, past me for certain, but by no means far enough to keep up with the Republican party. And despite my protests that I am indeed Conservative, I’m considered a very strange, left-leaning creature by Republican standards, and a weird, unidentifiable independent by Democrats.

Yes, I know you can find many issues that "clearly divide us," as they proudly say. Both parties harp about abortion, gun control, health care, the deficit, the economy, trickle down, and much more. They're all issues that can be calmed, not completely solved, but calmed, with a little bit of compromise. Not enough of those in government want to compromise right now to make that happen. However, if you think about it carefully, you’ll see that these issues are easy to entrench yourself into, even if nothing changes. And if you think more about it, you will notice that’s just what many of them want to happen with these issues - nothing.

It used to be that our government never tried to solve all the problems. It just took care of matters as best it could so we could all get on to the next day, next week, next year without fracturing the whole country. No one was entirely satisfied, but at least, things got done. Now, things don’t get done. It seems as though we've put people in power whose purpose is to fracture.

Thank You, Mr. President!

I’m not a Trump fan exactly, but I must admit, we owe Donald Trump a debt of gratitude! This country is on the road back to greatness. Here’s hoping we stay on it.

The Republicans wouldn’t consider Affordable Health Care. Remember? Obama pleaded with them to carefully examine AHC and come up with an alternative plan of their own. They refused to look at it. Trump made them look.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Republicans had legitimate complaints. They pointed to the shortfalls in both the “affordable” and the “care” sides of the “Affordable Health Care” plan. They were serious problems that needed attention, but Republicans paid no further attention, other than to complain about the situation, and Democrats refused to reconsider any part of AHC. Frankly, I believe it as that kind of disinterest that made most Americans angry.

 
Another problem was that the very rich had been saddled with taxes to support health care for the poor. Republicans don’t like taxes. But Donald Trump, one of the mega rich himself, made them look hard at that part of it as well.

Trump imposed requirements that rose above politics. He said the country needs a plan that covers all people, or for certain, more people than Obamacare. He insisted on a plan that doesn’t push health costs up. He insisted that it be truly affordable for all Americans. He insisted that we find the best available plan for this nation at this time, and that costs and benefits of all concerned parties, providers, insurers, and patients, rich and poor, be examined.

These were the standards. These are not the concerns of right-leaning Republicans. Right-leaning Republicans preach low taxes and less government. They promise freedom for people to take care of themselves, but along with that, require people, even wretched, impoverished people, to take care of themselves, without much help from those entitled to hoard money, and particularly, far less help from the real “Badguy”: “Big Government”

These are not the concerns of left-leaning Democrats. Left-leaning Democrats preach taxing of the rich and government control. They promise people that they won’t have to worry much about taking care of themselves, but they limit choices about how they’re going to be taken care of and promise to protect us all from the real “Badguy”: “Big Money”

It took a Redemopublicrat to get these two sides working together again. Trump is a Redemopublicrat. A Redemopublicrat is not aligned with left or right, Liberal or Conservative, Republican or Democrat. He aligns with himself, exclusively. He claims to be a member of a party, but he doesn’t seek to benefit the party or to benefit from the party, necessarily. He seeks out that which benefits him. He accepts what happens, if it benefits him. Trump doesn’t rise above the fray; he’s in it; he’s part of it.

Most Redems are duplicitous. They can and will renounce allegiance to their party without really caring for its “principles” or “politics.” But they go along with their party's refusal to recognize certain hard realities. Their main priority in life is themselves and their closest people. They appeal to their “base,” and, as is true of all who appeal to their "base," their behavior can often be “base” indeed.

That’s Trump.

But to be fair to Trump, he seems to be duplicitous in favor of a “base” he calls the common American citizens. He made promises to them that we as a society would become great again. He told us we would transcend politics. He didn’t use those words, I know. But he SAID WORDS that meant the same thing; whether he intended them or not is anyone’s guess.

Trump removed the easy labels. He insisted that this plan transcend (rise above) politics. He made his friends consider all Americans, without prejudice toward their economic status. Those constructing the replacement plan were directed not to produce a liberal plan or a conservative plan. He re-focused attention away from double-talk and insisted that they make a “great” health plan for all Americans.

The Republican Party dutifully delivered what they could offer. Afterward, they kept themselves informed, listening carefully to the reactions of their constituents, the people who mattered most. They arrived at this conclusion: We can transform Obamacare to make rich people richer, but we can’t make health care better for all Americans while doing so, at least, not now.

Imagine how difficult it must be for career politicians to admit they are wrong, that a plan enacted by the other party, a plan you’ve criticized for nearly a decade, will not be improved upon, “for the foreseeable future.”

Both political parties have at last completed their examination of AHC. Both agree it’s about all we can do, at least for now. Everyone would like to see it improved. I say it’s about time Republicans came on board, and President Trump should be commended for making it happen.

It’s possible that he didn’t mean to make that happen. Maybe he’s horrified at the outcome. Maybe he sees it as a gigantic fiasco. It’s a shame if he sees it that way, but even if he does, perhaps somewhere deep inside, he understands the importance of the whole matter, or if not yet, perhaps he’ll come to understand its importance in the future. I’m not at all certain about the depth of this man’s understanding.

The examination of Obamacare was a rare moment that transcended politics; however, it must be made clear that Trump is not a Transcendentalist. He thought he saw the best way forward on health care. He didn’t. He claimed that he and his buddies would put together a health plan that covers all Americans, reduces health costs, and makes health insurance affordable for every single American. They failed.

But maybe what Trump meant to say was, “We’re going to do the best we can. If it’s politically impossible to improve on the current state of health care, we’ll leave Obamacare alone. If we can do better, we will. It’s up to my Republican friends to find the best way forward. Here are the standards, Lawmakers; now go to work!”

And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, working (many of them very reluctantly) according to the President’s standards, tried to put Humpty together, but they just couldn’t get it done.

Ah, but what an effort! And how honest and bold and courageous to admit that for now, the current plan does a better job of covering people than theirs could have!

And for this moment at least, the Republicans have seized greatness and have risen above their own petty politics (aside from shooting that goofy criticism at the Democrats, who had already established AHC, the health plan Republicans couldn’t beat).

At any rate, I hope the President maintains the integrity of his mission, the one he promised the American people he would undertake.

Some say Trump is the devil himself. Some say he’s the Second Coming of Jesus. But the fact is, he’s a plain-talking man who just happened to inherit a fortune. Truth be known, he’s kind of a simpleton, a reality that the simpleton in all of us finds embarrassingly, and curiously, compelling. He does say some pretty nutty things. The fact that his fast-talking buddies could not come up with that special health plan does not make Trump a failure.

Nor is the failure of the Republican Party an affirmation of Obamacare. Republicans say AHC might not survive. On the other hand, if Trump continues to insist that Republicans do no harm to the current health insurance program, it just might.

I know I've ground this hamburger already, but like the band leader says, "One more time now!!"

Here’s where we stand on health care: Trump says he wants us all covered, and for less cost (a vision that transcends politics). And the Republicans, on the President’s insistence that they live up to the standards, made their best effort to realize that vision, on behalf of all Americans.

By most essential standards, his vision, that effort, and their admission that they could not improve upon the current state of things, were all great.

Very well.

But greatness, of course, is not merely admitting you can’t do better. Trump's stated mission is to transcend the politics of all issues, not just health care - to take all things into consideration, to recognize the effects of our choices upon all citizens – rich, poor, powerful, and powerless, and to act, or, as in this case, not act. The result will be a thorough re-examination of where we are and a re-alignment of priorities as they affect everyone.

Very, very well!

So, what next?

He’s already begun to address national security - do we spend too little on defense? - or maybe too much? immigration – is there enough vetting? tax reform – is there proper fairness in the system? - are some allowed too many tax advantages? entitlements - is the entitlement to hoard cash less serious, as serious, or more serious, than the entitlement to pay for social security most of your life and then collect on it when you get old? good jobs – are there too many immigrants? - are there enough? Mexicans - are they a real problem? NAFTA – is free trade the root cause of our troubles? - are automation, robotics, and the digital revolution the real culprits? - what can be done about them? the environment – is global warming merely a hoax? Obama wire taps – evidence? – why would anyone make such an accusation?

Where will this man's duplicity break in the future? Will he continue to insist on transcending politics in search of solutions? The truth can be painful. Will he continue to accept truth when he’s confronted by it? That's an essential part of greatness.

If Trump means what he says and he sticks with his mission, we’ll find ways to improve life, but we’ll also discover that some parts of it are about as close to greatness as we can get “at the present moment.” He’ll occasionally find it best to leave well enough alone.

Pretty hard stuff for a Redemopublicrat to swallow. But give him credit; he ate this one.

As One Lousy Christian to Another

Why is it that so many "Christians" honor the life of Jesus with words, but refuse to live as he taught? I'm not just making accusations here; I've called myself a Christian a time or three myself, when forced into selecting a belief from a series of multiple choice responses on certain redundant questionnaires, but I'm as hypocritical as any of you on practicing meekness, mercy, and peacemaking, and that business about forgiving those who sin against us "seventy times seven" times is out of the question.

I’m a lousy Christian, so I don’t call myself one most of the time, even though I believe that Christ’s teachings were some of the most important lessons in the history of humankind. Still, if it’s not a multiple-choice question, or if I can choose “other,” I do. Although I’m a believer in the Higher Power, I do not claim to know her name or nature. (I’d like to be a Transcendentalist, but I’ve never lived up to those standards either, and besides, I don’t think it quite qualifies as a religion anyway.)

But it seems that many American “Christians” have so utterly given in to manipulations of terror that they've completely lost their bearings. Christ’s commandment to "love foreigners as ourselves" is invisible in their lives. Some of the hard core self-righteous even long for the day when they can watch certain non-believers burn in hell, and they take proud comfort in emulating an angry, ruthless God that torments the enemies of his people and reigns supreme.

It strikes me that those who apply every morsel of violent nastiness in the Bible literally, but throw all sorts of theological gymnastics of avoidance against Jesus' new commandments, to love enemies and to love one another, might not deserve to be called "Christians."

OOPS. Did I say that? Well, OK, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I thought it and I said it, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend, really. What I mean is, if some of us feel we have to deny love and embrace such violence, might we more appropriately be called "Fundamentalist Extremist Christians," or at least "Old Testament" believers?

Here's an existential thought: Maybe it doesn't matter much what we call ourselves. Maybe we shouldn’t care. Is that where we are? I hope not. I think it does matter, and if some can claim freedom of speech when they talk carelessly and fearfully and hatefully of others, I can claim the same freedom when I ask them to either live up to their professed faith or adopt a more appropriate label for themselves.

I’m sorry if I sound bitter, but it seems so many people don’t care, and I’m no Jesus, but I spent 36 years trying so hard to make my students care, and I sometimes wonder, What the hell good did it do? Time for a glass of wine.