The Last Black President

I remember being elated after the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Part of my joy came from knowing that the tenure of President George W. Bush was coming to an end. If you recall the times, you know the country was in deep trouble and falling fast. You’ll recall that the world financial system was near collapse because greedy bankers and speculators took Bush’s “ownership society” call to heart and packaged up the real estate industry into fraudulent securities that were found to be worthless, ruining financial institutions world-wide, causing the Great Recession. You’ll recall that this country was losing about 800,000 jobs a month and businesses could not get loans to operate. You’ll recall that our wars were out of control and accomplishing nothing. And you’ll recall that Bush’s fiscal policy created the biggest deficits on record, while the income of average Americans was headed south at a record pace. So, the end of the Bush Presidency was heartily welcomed by me and a good many others. But there was also something else that gave me and, I believe, many others a good feeling. This country had just elected its first black President. To be honest, I never believed that could happen in my lifetime. To see it- to have cast my vote to help make it happen was a very special thing.

I was talking with my sister on the phone after the election telling her how great I felt about this amazing event, when she asked the obvious question: Did you vote for Obama because he is black?  I believe I surprised her with my quick response: yes! She, of course registered a small protest, thinking that race should NEVER be a factor in who we vote for. I carefully explained that race wasn’t my only reason to vote for Obama, but it was most certainly one of the reasons I voted for him.  I would have voted for the Democrat no matter who it was, because the Republican policies of the last President were simply awful; and, the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket was a joke (seriously? Sarah Palin?) Nonetheless, the racial factor was important to me because in order to have change-you have to make change happen. The candidacy of Barack Obama gave us the chance to make a statement about America. To have the change that many believed could not happen in their lifetimes, was a great opportunity- and one we had to seize when the moment presented itself. So, yes- I voted for Obama (in part) because he is black.

There were a number of folks who believed the election of our first black President signaled an end to much of the racial divide in our country. They believed that having a black President was proof that racism had finally been defeated- after all, a black man had now achieved the highest station in the land. I personally never believed that. My fear was that having our first black President would spur renewed racial divisions. My fear was that those who had settled into the comfort of subtle, institutionalized, hidden racism could never abide a black man in the White House. Many of those fears have been born out in some of the most hate-filled and disgusting acts of disrespect any President has ever encountered. I’m convinced that much of the opposition President Obama encountered from the Republicans in Congress is rooted in racial animosity. I’m also convinced that much of the radical protest against the President on the streets and in our media is an outgrowth of fear and loathing based on deep-seated racial bias.     

On the very night that Barack Obama became President of the United States a group of Republican Congressional leaders gathered at a Steak House and decided that they would cause the failure of this new President. They plotted to say “no” to every initiative, to block any and every idea put forward and to literally stand in the way of every piece of legislation the President supported, even if it was their own

 idea. And they did just that! In the first two years of his Presidency, the President had a majority of his party in Congress so he was able to do a few good things for the country: The Lilly Ledbetter Act (helping women fight for equal pay) passed with no Republican votes; the financial stimulus bill and the auto industry loans ( that slowed the recession and saved the auto industry) passed with no Republican votes; The Affordable Health Care Act ( originally proposed by the Heritage Foundation and instituted by Romney in Massachusetts)  passed with no Republican votes. During Obama’s first term there were (a record) Senate 381 filibusters against his legislation. During the second two years of his first term the Republicans gained control of the House and set the record for the least number of Bills passed in the modern era, becoming the do-nothing champions of the world.

During the Health Care debate in the summer of 2009 Senator DeMint of South Carolina vowed “to break” Obama using this issue. This was clearly the language of old south slave owners who needed to get “uppity” slaves back in line. When the President addressed joint-session of Congress on Health Care another southern Representative shouted “you lie” at the President while he was speaking. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer confronted the President and shook her finger in his face (in front of the Press). Several ridiculous Republican Presidential candidates openly questioned the President’s birthplace- suggesting his Presidency was a black Kenyan plot to destroy the country. One candidate even openly challenged the Presidents Harvard Law School grades suggesting that he was promoted because of Affirmative Action- subtly suggesting that a black man can’t get through Harvard without some help. Over the course of his Presidency numerous Congressmen and women, along with several Senators have described the President as “lazy” or as a "gangster", and openly said his intention was to destroy the country. I can think of no other President (even the most reviled in history) who has been labeled with such indignities. His policy positions cannot justify the level of animus he has endured. The racial aspect is the only thing that explains it.

Outside of Washington DC the tone is even more offensive and overtly racist. The likes of Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest of the ultra-rightwing talkers have gone so far into racist and hateful talk that it is a national disgrace. They have no shame. We can never forget Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro” parody he played for months on his show. We can never forget the rhetoric immediately following the election urging people to stock up on ammo and guns to protect themselves from the threat of black hoards who will attack whites with impunity now that there was a black President. We can never forget the tea party rallies where white folks depicted the President on signs with a bone in his nose- or smugly eating a watermelon. Every day the internet is flooded with offensive and outright threatening language towards the President, saying in plain language we need to “kill this black devil”.  I could go on with many other examples but the point is that this President has had to absorb it all, and not speak back about this racism, because he knows that he cannot define himself or other people of color who will follow him only by race.

The opposition he has encountered in every institution of government, and in the murky and shallow minds of racists across the country has been a disservice to us all. The conspirators who met on the night of his first inauguration and vowed to defeat him have done nothing for us. They have only stood in the way of progress. This country could have better job growth, a better health care system, and a faster growing economy if they had been true to their oath of office instead of their oath to Grover Norquist and their oath to each other put Party before country. It was the Republican Senate Minority leader McConnell who said the #1 priority was to make Barack Obama a one-term President. I so wish his priority had been to be an honorable Senator.  

Now, I take heart in the fact that their plans failed. I take heart in the results of the last election when the American people gave a resounding endorsement of our first black President and rejected the ideas of a party that served us so poorly the last four years. His election in 2012 wasn’t a squeaker- it was a convincing win, along with major Democratic wins in the Senate and some wins in the House.  It seems the only folks who aren’t convinced are the same old congressional fools who miscalculated him and their own policies all along. They still haven’t been able to accept that the majority of voters rejected their party and its positions.

It is up to all of us now to insist that those obstructionists in Congress stop the personal attacks against this President and get back to the business of governing. We need to contact our Senators and Congress people and insist on a functional government- we must insist that the hatreds that caused this paralysis be stopped for good. Every one of us now has a major interest in seeing to it that our President succeeds. It is so important that we elected our first black president- but it is equally (if not) more important that he is not our last black President. His success will ensure that the Presidency will be open to all people of color in the future. His failure will send the wrong signal for generations to come, and it will have been put on him by the forces of racism that still live on in this country.

Barack Obama’s election can only be seen as breaking the barrier of race if it leads to other Presidents who have diverse racial backgrounds- then we can say we are nearing the defeat of racism. Real progress must be about progress for a people- not just a person. The triumph of Obama’s Presidency can only be fully realized if he is not our last black President.

Thanks for looking in.     

The Lance Armstrong Rule

Perhaps it is worth noting right at the outset that where Lance Armstrong is personally concerned, there are (quite literally) no rules. I think we all know the story by now. Lance Armstrong, a household name in this country and many other countries around the globe, became preeminent in the sport of Cycling, and incredibly rich along the way. He won every major Cycling title, and held the record for winning seven Tour de France titles. The Tour de France is the most grueling road race and most prestigious event in the world of Cycling. To win this title seven times is a feat of Herculean proportions, unmatched by any other athlete in any other sport. To make his story even more compelling, Lance Armstrong is also known for his successful battle against testicular and brain cancer and forming the LiveStrong organization to fight cancer. The story is truly the stuff of legend.

Some time ago we learned that the story is indeed only a legend. In reality Lance Armstrong was exposed as a cheat and a liar of equally Herculean proportions. He had long been suspected of using performance enhancing drugs and a procedure known as “Blood Doping” permitting him to perform at this unbelievable level. Most of us know the advantages one can get from using anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Blood doping is the process of injecting (your own previously extracted) blood or just the red platelets to allow your body to store and use more oxygen. He did it all. It is all forbidden in the world of Cycling and most other athletic endeavors. The sport of Cycling is notorious for these kinds of abuses, but Lance Armstrong is undoubtedly the king of cheating in the Cycling world.

In recent months the International Governing body that controls the sport of Cycling found that there was ample evidence to strip Armstrong of his Tour de France titles and several other titles. Only this week the International Olympic Committee announced they were stripping him of his Olympic Medal. Now the web of lies and deceit have all come down, and we see exposed before us a horrible human being who swindled the entire world. So what was his next logical step? You guessed it- next stop Oprah Winfrey. As one commentator noted, it’s interesting that he chose Oprah as the venue to make his “confession”. After all, the commentator said, “she’s not exactly known for her journalistic talents”. Going to Oprah is another attempt by this this prince of lies to manipulate us. I admit I haven’t watched the entire interview where he “confesses” because practically nothing he can say will change my sense of this sordid story. But I did hear on the news that he still hasn’t fully confessed- claiming to Oprah he stopped cheating in 2005. My personal BS meter pegged out on this one. Frankly his confessions don’t interest me that much. It’s fairly clear that he invented this incredible apparatus of cheating to serve his ego and to create a massive fortune. A quick study of his ruthlessness shows that he may have established the most intricate and pervasive system of sports cheating in the history of sport itself. His feats were questioned from the beginning of his career, but it seems anyone who became a serious threat to his empire encountered incredible personal intimidation or was sued. Isn’t it rich that Armstrong had the gall to sue people for lying about him, when he knew they were telling the truth all along? There is a long trail of people whose lives have literally been ruined by this man. I cannot count the times I’ve seen him on TV providing exhaustive rationalizations and anecdotal reasoning to reassure us he was innocent.

For me, his character and credibility are beyond salvation and my first inclination was to say we should all just banish him from our thoughts forever. Then I reconsidered, and instead started thinking that he is the perfect reason to establish The Lance Armstrong Rule. The Lance Armstrong Rule isn’t for him- it’s for us.

The LAR, as I now call it, is that we should always be reminded to “think instead of believe”. All too often in this culture we want to believe that our heroes really are capable of super-human feats. Somehow we’ve come to believe that when our sports heroes tell us it’s because they really are “that good” or they “train that hard” we don’t question it. Anyone who has lived in their own body in excess of thirty or thirty-five years intuitively knows that we don’t become better athletes as we age- particularly after years of grueling, difficult, pounding, competitive sporting activity. But we want to believe! Unfortunately the LAR eventually comes into play and we have to admit something else caused this to happen. Then we are crest-fallen, and pull our children close to tell them their heroes are just flawed human beings after all. And we are left with the anger of knowing we got duped again.

I will not forget a story 60 Minutes did on Roger Clemens some years ago. Clemens was climbing into his forties and was still a force on the mound- the most intimidating pitcher in baseball. Of course he took the film crew through his fabulous home training facility and tediously traced his training regimen, to explain why he was still such a great pitcher, in such great shape. Then, it turns out he was “juicing” the whole time. Even his friend pitcher Andy Pettitte admitted to using steroids with him. It’s something Roger still denies- or at least claims it may have happened by accident-like those hypodermic needles accidently jumped on his butt! Then there was the case of Seattle Mariner Brett Boone who came into his best-ever season after gaining over twenty pounds of muscle in the 4 month long off-season. He was having a great year, having turned into a power hitter after several mediocre years barely able to hit the ball out of the infield. Legendary Mariner sports announcer Dave Niehaus went on and on about how Brett really hit the weight room hard to transform his body into a power hitting machine.  Then Boone was named in the huge report Baseball finally did about their pervasive steroid problem.  Dave must have known better, but he chose to be knowing co-conspirator in keeping the myth alive.

The only encouraging sign of change in our culture of sports mythology, and our more broad-based acceptance of outlandish lying, is the inaction taken this month by the Baseball Writers Association. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens were all eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  They are also the face of steroid use in baseball. The Baseball Writers did not induct any of them- primarily to make a statement about how the drugs have tainted baseball, and to say their feats should not be celebrated or rewarded because they cheated to achieve them. 

The pervasiveness of cheating, then lying about it, in sports is just one area that demonstrates a very real weakness of our culture. We tend to believe that anything an American does must be “the best” and we tend to elevate our heroes well above what reason tells us is even possible. Perhaps the worst part of this tendency in us is that we abandon our use of critical thinking when we judge the world around us. It seems we would rather have a Belief System than a Logic Model to guide us. I admit that having a belief system is much easier; and taking the easy way might be an emerging cultural trait too.  But when something like the Lance Armstrong thing happens we can’t just blame it on him alone. In some ways we have to ask ourselves why we believed the unbelievable in the first place and why it's so important to idolize these athletes.

Belief Systems have increasingly become a way to cope with issues beyond the sports world. In matters of public policy, this has become a very dangerous trend. Here are a few practical applications for the Lance Armstrong Rule outside of sports idolatry. When the energy industry tells you that 200 years of burning fossil fuels and putting billions of tons of pollutants in the air doesn’t affect the air, and the weather- even though we can all see the polar ice caps melting and actually see climate change happening before our eyes-then it is time for the LAR. When the gun industry, NRA  and right-wingers tell you that even though we have the highest gun ownership rates and the highest gun violence rates in the world (by far) – AND there is no correlation between those two facts- it’s time for the LAR. When the Republican leaders in Congress tell you we can’t raise taxes on rich people or corporations because they are “job-creators” even though we’ve had that policy for years and there is amble evidence it just isn’t true- you guessed it, LAR!

I keep hoping that we as a culture are starting to get wise to the fact that we have now experimented with belief systems, and will find that they are no substitute for knowledge, research, and critical thinking. This culture has more access to science and factual information than any other people on earth. But, as I heard a commentator (from another country) say the other night, “Americans are the most entertained, and the least informed people in the world.” If that is true we will continue to fall for the likes of Lance Armstrong, ideologue politicians, and others who tell us to ignore our lying eyes and just believe what they say. So when that happens, remember the Lance Armstrong Rule: Think-instead of Believe.

Thanks for looking in.

P.S. If you want heroes to believe in, try looking at Teachers, Firefighters, Police, Nurses, Advocates for the Victimized and the Poor and those who protect the environment. They don’t entertain us like the athletes- but they do more for our children, families and future than a thousand Lance Armstrong’s could ever do.  

  

 

"Unfriending" Hate

Over the last couple of years I’ve been an avid user of Facebook. I started using it to keep me more “in the loop” with my kids and grand kids. It’s ideal for seeing the latest candid pictures of the family, and for just keeping up with friends and family in a relatively easy way. I’ve also used Facebook to share the link to this blog and many of you have honored me by reading my stuff through the Facebook connection. I have a fair number of “friends” on Facebook, but I haven’t extended that status to people I don’t actually know by “friending” friends (as they say in Facebook lingo) or just randomly inviting people into my Facebook world. On the whole I’ve had a great time using this incredible tool and learning how this brave new world of social media works. For an old guy like me, it has been an eye-opener. Facebook has changed a number of us and brought us to a new level of connectivity with old friends and new ones- and the world around us.

Sadly, Facebook can have a dark side too. On New Year’s Day I found myself doing something  I didn’t think I’d ever do (although I know of two occasions when it was done to me- I guess some folks don’t like my liberal leanings). On that day I “unfriended” someone from my Facebook account. I had finally had enough of the dark side of Facebook- and it really was a sad moment for me. The story is as follows:

The person I “unfriended” (that’s Facebook talk for banishing someone from your Facebook account) was a person I have known for years and a person I used to work with. I’ve always known that this person had different ideas than me about politics and many other aspects of life. My experience was that this person and I could have a spirited, but respectful debates. I’m guessing that we might still be able to do that face-to-face. But the dark side of Facebook reared its increasingly ugly head and I finally had to say, enough! You see, on New Year’s Day this person posted one of those links to a website that featured a “joke” along with a picture of The President, his wife and Oprah Winfrey. The joke was that the three of them were in an airplane talking about throwing money out of the plane, and what denominations they would each throw out to make the most people happy. The punch line was that the Captain of the plane overheard their conversation and said, “gee, if I threw all three of them out of this airplane I could make 250 million people happy”. It’s a dumb joke and quite frankly a bad joke- but I found the idea of throwing the President, his wife and Oprah Winfrey out of an airplane offensive and not very intelligent political speech. I found it offensive mostly because it fosters more of the hateful (and racially tinged) speech that revolves around this President.

After a few minutes of thought I decided that I don’t need that kind of hateful thinking in my life. More and more I have noticed that people are using Facebook and so many of those pre-made placards and links to express ideas that are down-right hateful, judgmental, and disturbing. There seems to be a cottage industry growing up around creating these pre-packaged slogans and sentiments we can attach to our Facebook page, thus spreading it to our friends and anyone else in their circle. Facebook has the distinct characteristic of being able to spread notions pretty widely-pretty fast. Thankfully most of what comes out on these pre-packaged things are amusing, clever, and harmless. No harm-no foul! Every now and then similar looking placards and links are used to express offensive material. Lest you think I’m being a little too sensitive, let me explain that I have never taken offense at someone who disagrees with me or has strong political views- even if they very strongly disagree with me. I don’t like conflict, but I know how to handle it- and I’ve always tried to manage conflict with respect towards those who disagree. But I cannot have respect for those who foster and spread hateful material- most particularly race-based hateful material.

In the last few years we have seen a remarkable uptick in the number of racist remarks masquerading as political speech. I know there are those who argue that these kinds of messages aren’t overtly racist- after all they don’t come right out and use the “n” word. But subtle racism is still racism. I firmly believe that having our first black President has unleashed the deep-seated racism in this country, and the racial element is at least partly responsible for the dysfunction in our government today. Each time I’ve seen this kind of thing get posted on Facebook, or someone has “liked” a post that promotes this veiled hate-speech I do a couple of things. I first go to the original site to see who’s really behind it and what kind of comments are common there, then I will either delete the comment to keep it from inadvertently spreading because of me; and I have, on a few occasions, sent a “message” to the person pointing out the aspect of the post that might be offensive. I don’t want to post those messages publicly because that just spreads the original hateful message. 

I often wonder if those who post and “like” these placards or links on their Facebook pages have taken the time to really look through the original page before hitting the “like” button. On the occasions when I’ve gone to the source page I discover these pages inhabited with comments and postings that are racist on their face. The insidious practice of these groups is to create a subtle message and put it out there for people to spread, when the more overt and offensive material stays on the original page for the true believers. A good case in point is a page I’ve seen “liked” promoting the idea that the US should be more active in defending Israel. Defending Israel (to a greater or lesser degree) is a legitimate political position and opinions can vary. But when you go into the original sites, you see the most hate-filled comments. Typically the source page have racist comments about President Obama being a Muslim (or a socialist, or you name it) and they contain vile or violent threats or images about the President. This kind of content disturbs me because the people who post it are my friends or family, and I would never have thought of them as racists. So I have to conclude that they just aren’t careful about whom they are associating with through these links, or Facebook has revealed a side of them I didn’t know. And that is the dark side of social media.

The proliferation of these Facebook hate-sites; or sites that promote unfair judgments about the poor, or people of certain religions, or economic class, or political ideals, is becoming almost overwhelming. I find myself longing for my Facebook friends to just express themselves, instead of relying on pre-packaged slogans of others. In fact, I think that’s what Facebook was really meant to do. I can understand why these sites are appealing. They often contain a simple message about a complex idea and it’s easy to just hit the “like” button and move on. They tend to strike an emotional chord that doesn’t require much thought. But either way, I’ve made a decision that I don’t want racist materials (subtle or otherwise) on my Facebook page. I don’t want materials that denigrate others because of their economic status, or belittles them because it’s easier to accept the simple false notions about people, than to really go for a deeper, more complete understanding of those around us.  This not a new phenomenon, but Facebook now spreads this kind of thinking far and wide, almost instantly.

It was bit painful to “unfriend” someone. This was someone I had enjoyed having in my life. But, when I became convinced that their ideas about the world were so tainted by racism, I just decided to rid myself of it on this medium.  “Unfriending” the messenger may do little to help rid the world of hate, ignorance, and racism- but it just might. Maybe if enough of us just stop associating with this kind of material we would send a message that we won’t tolerate it anymore. At least I have decided not to tolerate it any more on my Facebook pages.

Thanks for looking in.

Reflections and Plans

 REFLECTIONS:

Most of us view the New Year holiday as a day to stake stock of the year that has passed and make plans for the year ahead. Of course some of us will view this holiday as a time to get over that hang-over from the night before. I don’t do that anymore. My advancing years and growing aversion to pain have taught me not to go down that road again. So for the New Year holiday we just chill out, relax and do a little thinking about the past year and what lies ahead.

To say 2012 has been a big year is a serious understatement. The year got off to a big start with a birth in the family. Our younger daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in January. Anyone who has read this blog knows I’ve written about Kaya a couple of times and mentioned her several other times in these essays. That’s five grandchildren for us, from age twelve down to (almost) age one. We take particular pride in each one of them. They are very special people in our lives and each one brings a special kind of happiness to our existence. We always keep our grandchildren in mind as my wife and I engage in some of the social/political actions we’ve taken this year, and they are always foremost in our thoughts as we continue to develop ideas and actions related to the world we live in. If there is anything sacred in our belief system, it is that we want to contribute to a better world for our children and our grandchild to inherit.

The past year has been a year of professional change for me and my kids. For me a change has come in the form of a new job with all new areas and subject matters to learn about. This is a return to management in a great organization. The challenges have been many, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I said some time ago in this forum that I enjoy learning new things and I view change as one of those things in life that keep us young at heart. In the past year I’ve also told you about the advances in both my daughters’ careers, and how proud we are for their achievements.

In addition to all the changes and new aspects of life we've experienced, I’ve had many moments of both fun and consternation watching our government and our politics weave its way through our culture and our lives. What a year it has been! In spite of the last gasps of partisanship we’re seeing in these last weeks of this year as we peer over the fiscal cliff, I still believe this was a defining year for the country. I think the country loudly said that the extreme conservatism that has dominated the news is not what this country really wants. Instead, I believe the electorate said in a pretty clear voice that moderation, common sense, and middle class people deserve government’s favor- not the rich or these mythical “job creators” we’ve heard so much about. Several movements sprang up for a while then faded into the mainstream like the Occupy Movement. It didn’t last long as a physical presence, but I think it helped set the stage for those who recognized there is basic economic injustice in our country.  That movement got people to notice the issue, and I believe it mattered in November when we cast our votes.

Of course this was also a year to be remembered for its disasters, natural and man-made. Many people suffered loss from horrendous and unprecedented storms. Many around the world suffered from the ravages of war and domestic conflict. At home, violence claimed the lives of many thousands who died needlessly. The image of the innocents who died was captured momentarily in our conscientiousness by the death of little children in Newtown. Saddest of all is the thought that they are only 20 of the nearly twelve thousand who die each year from gun violence. Perhaps the tragic events this year will finally give rise to a new movement to start ridding our culture of these instruments of death and violence. 2012 may be the year we look back on and say, “We finally decided to do something about it”.

There were so many things of importance that happened in our collective public life that it is impossible to recount them all. Thanks for giving me an outlet to comment on these events and on my family over the last year. Being able to write- just the act of writing- has been a healthy thing for me personally. I have had some very positive responses and some very negative reactions too. It is all good- if we can share some thoughts about the events that affect us, and continue to exchange ideas in respectful ways.

PLANS:

It just so happens, this is the 100^th essay I’ve published since I began doing this blog. It’s kind of strange that this landmark number falls right on the New Year. Believe me; I didn’t plan it that way. These essays have been read over 3500 times and they have been seen in over two dozen counties around the globe. It has been seen on every continent, except the Antarctic. (The blog site keeps track of all this for me, and I’ve enjoyed tracking it) This widespread viewing is not a testament to my writing by a long shot- but it is a testament to the reach of the Internet and it demonstrates the power of this global network connected to our homes, our businesses and our person. It also informs us that movements, causes, and ideas can travel very fast, and that change can happen when just a few determined people have a message the world is ready to hear.

I have really enjoyed the process of writing. My goal when I began doing this was to share some thoughts with anyone who might care to read them, but more importantly to exercise my own brain by writing. For many years I’ve been very regular about exercising my body with consistent visits to the gym. But over the last two years I wanted to make sure that I gave my mind a little more work to do in order to keep it in shape too. I know these aren’t the typical blogs, with one-page or half-page attention grabbers. These take a few minutes to read and they don’t feature many catchy graphics. But I wanted to do something that really got into a subject area for more than just the “quick bite” most of us experience in our media.  For those of you who have read them, I thank you so much.

I plan to change my “blogging” habits this year. From the time I began doing this in March of 2010, I have been pretty consistently doing one of these a week. This year I’m going to reduce the frequency of these essays to around one every couple of weeks or so. The new job I began this summer has now expanded and I will have many more responsibilities than when I began. So I’m giving myself a little more room to stretch in my new professional role. I hope in doing that, I can be more thoughtful and better in what I present in this blog- and you won’t have to put up with me every week. Another reason to cut back a bit on this is to revisit some of the other activities I enjoy, but didn’t engage in so much while I concentrated on the writing. I want to get reacquainted with my old love of photography and get back to working on my painting. I have no particular talent in these art forms- but damn, I love doing them. I also want to work on my archery, a new interest I took up last year.  And, just like doing this blog so regularly the last two years or so, I’d just like to do some other things I enjoy too. There is only so much time in a day or a week, and I think we should all do the things that make us happy. I am so lucky to have several interests that I enjoy and the wherewithal to pursue them.

As I plan for the year to come I know that sometimes the best-laid plans can get left by the side of the road. We never know when events, opportunities, or unexpected setbacks put us on a course we didn’t see coming. That was the case for me this last year. Fortunately the unexpected changes I went through were good ones. The lesson for me is that we need to be open to new things, open to new challenges and (forever) open to learning. Learning new things, and experiencing new things is the key to longevity and happiness. I don’t want to ever feel stuck in a life that holds nothing new. 

I am planning to have a great year- but I’ll take whatever comes from 2013. I hope you have a great year too. I’ve written quite a bit about the idea of “community”, because I believe when we act as a community we all prosper. I rely on the community of my family and the community of my friends- but I continue to believe in the greater community we all share. Perhaps this will be a year when the value of “community” will return for all of us.

Happy New Year!!

Thanks for looking in.    

Christmas Card

I'm not sure exactly why, but I've had a very difficult time writing a Christmas message this week. Perhaps the rigors of the difficult political climate we've endured over the last year, with so many people marginalized or blamed for our problems; or thoughts of the constant struggles of economic hardship for many families has finally caught up to me. Perhaps I'm feeling the numbness of sorrow mixed with outrage over the senseless deaths in Newtown just week ago that will surely mare the Christmas season for those families, and many others for years to come. Perhaps I'm just having a week when words don't come to me so easily as they do other weeks.

So I thought I'd just share a simple song of hope this Christmas season. I considered John Lennon's Christmas song: So This Is Christmas (War is Over). I decided not to share it because the video imagery is very difficult to see, particularly this week. Even though the message is good, the video contains many vivid images of child-victims of war and violence. Instead I selected another iconic John Lennon song: Imagine. It isn't a Christmas song per se, but it is a song of hope and speaks of imagining (maybe even creating) a more peaceful world.

Lennon was an artist in every sense of the word- a musician- a poet- and a dreamer. This year more than any in our recent past it might be good to devote this Christmas season to imagining a better world- and maybe doing some small thing to make it happen.

I will be spending a quiet, peaceful holiday with my family. They are the foundation in my life, and I hope all of you can say the same about your family. The best times of my life are the times  when we are all gathered together. Even though we do that often, Christmas is a special gathering and one we all enjoy most of all. All the best to you during the Holiday season.

Happy Holidays!
Thanks for looking in.

Catholic Social Teaching & The Fiscal Cliff

One thing I admire about the Catholic Church is its teachings on social issues and social justice. The Church is a global entity and there is much to be critical of in both its doctrines and its practices in modern times, and throughout its history. But, there are a few areas where I could not agree more.  The Church has a long history of developing its teachings on social justice, and a quick review of the evolution of those teachings shows that they have changed over the years, but never in a way that varies much from the core values they have always reflected. Much of the Church’s doctrine in this area comes from the thoughts and writings of early intellectuals like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Hippo. In spite of some evidence to the contrary, the Church has always professed its allegiance to helping the poor, and often done remarkable work to aid the poor.

As I was listening to some political pundits on a Sunday morning talk show I got to thinking about the connection between the big issue of the day (The Fiscal Cliff) and my recollections about Catholic Social Teachings. (On a side note: in my youth I would have been at Sunday Mass during this hour instead of watching TV, but my relationship with the Church has obviously changed) Nonetheless a relationship between these two issues was crystal clear in my mind.  “The Fiscal Cliff” is the name given to a set of government events all scheduled to take place on January 1^st. These events are: 1) The Bush tax cuts on all incomes will expire and old (higher) rates go back into effect, 2) The payroll deduction tax break we got three years ago will vanish, meaning that paychecks will have more taxes taken out, and 3) Massive program cuts will go into effect automatically, based on an agreement (placed in law) - known as the “sequester”. The sequestered cuts were put into place by the Parties themselves to put political pressure on both Parties to get a deal and avoid having to go over the cliff. The sequestered cuts are horrible news for both Parties; there will be massive cuts to social programs Democrats like, and monumental cuts to military programs Republicans like. Many believe that failure to resolve our fiscal problems and going over the cliff will lead to another recession.

The Congress and the President have had about a year and a half to resolve the fiscal issues they created the last time they haggled over the debt ceiling but, of course, they are waiting until the last minute. As of now both sides have shown little movement towards arriving at a compromise. The president wants higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans (among other things) as part of his solution, and the Republicans want to preserve tax breaks for the wealthiest and cut social programs and Entitlement program spending as part of their solution. Both sides seem pretty stuck on their point of view, so little progress is being made as they watch the days pass by. The President believes he should not give up his core position because he won the election campaigning on this very issue, while the Republicans believe their position reflects their constituent’s beliefs and Party doctrine. This is all fairly simple to understand- it’s just that neither side will give in and make room for a deal. All the national polls favor the President’s position and indicate the Republicans need to give in. But they probably won’t.

As the pundits were going over this ground in their panel discussion they began to talk about why the public so overwhelmingly supports the idea of taxing the rich more. That’s when the Catholic teachings hit me. One of the panelist mentioned that over the last thirty (30) years middle-class income has been stagnant- the middle class has not advanced at all. During the same thirty years the wealth of the top 2% of Americans has increased almost 300%. It struck me that our desire to see the rich taxed more is a matter of social justice. The Catholic Church has a saying that “there can be no Peace without Justice”. That is an incredibly profound and accurate statement. I don’t think it is possible for humans to accept peace or negotiate in peace as long as fundamental injustice rules the day. The income disparity in this country today is at its worst level of “unbalance” in our history, and it is fundamentally unjust. I believe this truth was reflected in the results of the last election- many voters connected with the President's message on tax increases for the rich.

The early thinkers in the Catholic Church developed the notion about the injustice of accumulating wealth while others suffered. Those thoughts were first published in an encyclical letter by Pope Leo XIII, in 1891- Rerum Novarum.  This encyclical advocated for Distributism while at the same time condemned the pure capitalist and pure socialist ideologies of the day. Distributism holds that property ownership is a fundamental right and that the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the general populace, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (pure Socialism), or by accomplished individuals (pure Capitalism). Distributism therefore advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership, and according to some economists, maintains that such a system is key to bringing about a just social order. It basically recognizes that income and wealth should be fairly distributed in a fair and just society. Governments achieve this, and manage it through fiscal and social policies.

The idea of economic justice (promoted by Catholic teachings) is at the heart of overwhelming public opinion supporting higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans.  Unfortunately the issue of taxing the wealthy more is the primary stumbling block in resolving the fiscal cliff. I’m not sure how many Catholics are aware of the Church’s teachings on this matter, but these teachings can inform the voting public and those making critical decisions. My guess is that many Catholic voters in the U.S. are unaware of the Church’s position. I say that because (for example) the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared the Paul Ryan budget proposals “immoral”, yet many Catholics supported Ryan's candidacy for Vice-President. My point here is that many people of faith profess to vote their moral (faith based) conscience, but in reality tend to pick their positions based on more secular, political  beliefs. For my money making decisions based on secular thinking is just fine- it’s the way I do it. But there are a great many among us who use their religion to guide them in these matters-they just don’t  do it very consistently.  

I’ve never understood how devout Christians can cling so tightly to extremely conservative ideas. In the last thirty years Christianity and conservatism have become almost synonymous. In a country like ours there is tremendous diversity of ideas, and a great many issues over which to disagree. I know that it is impossible to attach comprehensive, all-encompassing labels (religious and political). For instance a good Catholic could never support the more liberal causes having to do with reproductive choice, but could easily support liberal social and fiscal programs if they go by the Church’s teaching on economic justice.  Often candidates and party policies embody mostly liberal or mostly conservative platforms, thus creating a difficult conflict for the faith-based voter in a secular government. Still I see in the story of Jesus (The New Testament) a great deal more material dealing with the poor and the down trodden, and social justice, than I see about sexual or reproductive matters. That says something to me about where the emphasis of Christian teaching lies, and why I never understood the connection between conservatives and Christians. Conservatives of today are all about shrinking the programs that address the issues Jesus spoke about. It is the opposite of Distributism. They tend to focus on some punitive form of accountability (fairly or unfairly applied) more than on the aspects of charity Christians preach.

Today as we stand at yet another manufactured crossroad of fiscal crisis, the core values we hold as a people should give us the guideposts by which we decide such important issues- not political motives driven by greed and favor for the rich. Whether those guideposts are planted in our path by religion or by our unique human conscience, I think we should look deeply into ourselves and our beliefs to arrive at a place marked by social justice. I hope our leaders can do the same.

Thanks for looking in.

Speaking Truth to Power

Our current gun culture simply ensures that more domestic violence disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead…Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it…What I believe is, that if he didn’t possess/own a gun, he and Cassandra Perkins would be alive today.”                   Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports Columnist

Speaking truth to power is never easy. Power doesn’t want to have the truth spoken. Power wants to control the message and never have it' message challenged. Power will often vilify and punish those who have the courage to speak real truth. Eventually truth wins. Eventually those who try so desperately to convince us that evidence, common sense, and our shared experience isn’t real, will succumb to the truth. It sometimes takes a very long while, but I always have faith that truth wins in the end.

Just a little over a week ago Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, and the mother of his child. He then proceeded to the Chiefs facility where he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in the presence of his Coach and the team’s General Manager. Sports writer Jason Whitlock wrote an article criticizing the Chiefs organization for going ahead with a game the next day in the face of this horribly tragic event. His column went on to urge a serious conversation in this country over gun violence. The quotation above is part of that column. On the NBC Sunday Night Game that same weekend, sports announcer and commentator Bob Costas made a statement during the half-time show quoting Whitlock’s column and adding comments of his own favoring a real debate in this country over gun control.  As you might guess, Monday morning brought a torrent of criticism and downright hatred aimed at both Whitlock and Costas. The National Rifle Association (NRA) issued a strong statement against both men, and the right-wing talk radio machine ratcheted up to full strength crazy. They referred to Costas’ statement as a “rant”. On and on it went, as it always does. 

As you know the NRA is willing to defend any level of gun ownership, and in fact promotes gun ownership at every opportunity. The NRA has taken the position that gun ownership is an absolute right under the Constitution and is required in order to maintain this nation as a free country. They believe that any attempt to limit gun ownership or limit the types of arms or ammunition in America sets this country on a slippery slope to totalitarian rule and the total loss of our democracy. The NRA also has shown its willingness to use any political or economic means to silence those who would question their point of view or attempt to institute changes that threaten their absolute, intractable position on guns. So it was no surprise that when Costas and Whitlock used the Belcher situation to even raise the question for debate, they were met with the full force of NRA sponsored backlash. There were calls for Costas’ firing and for Whitlock’s dismissal. The more rabid nut-balls and “ditto heads” called for much worse treatment. But we have come to expect that thick-skulled thinking from the Limbaugh and Hannity crowd. Too many of them needed a class in critical thinking, but must have skipped school that day.

Situations like the one in Kansas City and all the other gun violence cases that have populated the news lately grab our attention and hold it for a short while. Then we settle back into the constant drone of the NRA rhetoric until the next horrible and avoidable shooting. It seems we only pay attention to the sensational cases, the athlete/celebrity cases, or the when someone has the audacity to mix an important civic issue with our football. But the real tragedy of the gun issue is that affects many thousands of lives a year that most of us never hear about. Guns are the cause of a pandemic of pain and loss in this country-and we need to change that.

I won’t bore you with the volume of evidence that supports gun control. The numbers are there-and they paint an unmistakable picture of a culture that is destroying itself because it clings to outdated notions instead of recognizing the plain facts staring us in the face. Reciting those same statistics now would be a useless waste of time. Instead I simply urge people to stop believing the old lines and allow yourself to speak truth and hear truth. The truth is that we need to control fire arms in America. My position would be to simply eliminate handguns from our culture. Go ahead, keep your shotguns and hunting rifles- but get rid of the handguns. There is only one purpose for handguns -and that purpose is to shoot people. The NRA is fond of its saying: guns don’t kill people-people kill people. The real truth is: people with guns kill people. Every legitimate study proves that guns kill hundreds of times more people than are ever protected by guns. It is time to re-examine the old myth that guns keep us free and protect us from our own government? Does anyone really believe that armed citizens would be any match for the US military- the most powerful armed force in the history of man? So don’t keep perpetuating the macho fantasy that our government would fear a bunch of guys with .38s and .357s. The Constitution is rarely absolute- it is subject to new interpretations and the 2^nd Amendment is not immune from legal re-examination. That's the real beauty of the Constitution. Remember that slavery was sanctioned in Article 1 of the Constitution- but that got changed.

The power that opposes rational debate over guns is the NRA and the congressmen they own. The NRA has been able to get its way in spite of all evidence to the contrary, because they are willing to walk into a congressman’s office and threat to fully finance a campaign against them if they cross the NRA. This act of political blackmail has been effective in preventing reasonable laws controlling guns and led to 11,700 gun deaths a year in this country. It is so important to learn the truth, then speak that truth over and over until it is heard.

Guns are just the latest example of our willingness as a culture to “believe” instead of “think”. We have seen the same pattern of thinking on global climate change. Those who denied the truth are far fewer now than just a few years ago- because we’ve decided to look at the undeniable evidence of climate change. We are finally accepting the truth that giving rich guys tax breaks doesn’t create jobs, and that wealth doesn’t “trickle down”. Why? Because there is no evidence of it- it’s just the opposite. For thirty years those who had a stake in us believing falsehoods got away with foisting economic lies on us. All along there were those who spoke truth to power and were shouted down, marginalized, made fun of, or just ignored- until they couldn’t be ignored any longer.

I am not a person of religious faith- but I have unshakable faith that the truth of things wins out in the end. History informs us that every myth eventually falls prey to evidence, rational thought, and undeniable evidence of truth. Some see the truth before others and I hope they keep shouting it at the powers that be. When it comes to guns, shouting the truth before another year passes will save thousands of lives.  We should be thanking Jason Whitlock and Bob Costas for their willingness to speak truth to power, as they give all of us the courage to do the same.

Thanks for looking in.