Populism and the Electoral Fix

Populism or Fix?

In one of my Constitutional history courses I remember the Professor asking us what one thing in the Constitution most threatened freedom and democracy.  Most picked the various references to slavery, some the 10th Amendment; etc. He then astounded us all by naming the Electoral College! 

And then he proceeded to present the followng argument.  This was in 1974. 

This  is why those who ignore history are fated to repeat mistakes over and over again.  The electoral college was part of a compromise to entice the slave states to join the union; part of the 3/5 compromise.  Because the south had fewer people, even in 1789, the states were reluctant to join a union that already was showing signs of not agreeing with slavery.  So a deal was struck to count each owned slave as 3/5 of a man for representative purposes AND for electoral college purposes.  The result?  The south dominated the Presidency really until the Civil War. One main reason for the Civil War is not just that Lincoln was anti-slavery but he was from the NORTH! 

The truth is one man (women  couldn't vote then) one vote was NEVER part of our Constitution for slavery's benefit.  And that slavery system was the most brutal in human history!

This "compromise" of dubuous worth, was smashed with the Civil War.  But the electoral college, that should have been overturned by the 13th Amendment, was left in (probably to give something to the south).  This was the mistake that could imperil us all!

The result today is an critical  imbalance between smaller populated states and larger populated states.  The winner take all aspect is critical here, along with the minimum electors for example for Wyoming, whose electors  stand for a few people while in California an elector stands for thousands.  So once again we have elected a President who did not win the "popular vote"; what other vote is there? 

And this will become a norm in the future.  The electoral college once again is in a sense being used by white supremacy to continue its sick hegemony in the United States.

In response to the dangers of populism the writers of the Constitution at first proposed to only allow members of state legislatures to vote for President (this method nearly was made part of the Constitution- it continues in the case of neither candidate getting a majority, the House picks the President, the Senate the Vice President...there is an anachronism for you!)  , since the popular vote is too subject to populist whim: interesing since this  system benefited a populist candidate! 

And we are not going to get over it, because this has been planned for years by Republicans, who realized long ago that the population was getting more diverse, especially in urban states, and they do not stand a chance if it wasn't for the electoral college. 

It was just reported that in California BOTH houses of the legislature have a 2/3 majority of Democrats versus a dwindling Republican minority.  This massive imbalance of power is a direct result of a Republican Party who nationally is now governed by a white supremacist who is the opposite of diversity.

In a diverse state, which is the procursor of where the United States is going, the ONLY way for the white minority to prevail is to cheat democracy.  If you don't think it works, look at Apartheid in South Africa, that for years continued a white small minority in power with electoral gimmicks and tricks.  That resulted in decades of repression and near civil war. 

Finally, the 2016 turnout was the lowest on record, which again is a product of voter suppression laws and a deliberate strategy by the Republican  party to rig the thing using low turnout and target "battleground states" to get the magic 270 electoral votes.

It worked, but your candidate now has the problem of NO mandate!  And we are in for it!

The gravest threat to our freedom is the electoral college!!!!!  My professor was a prophet!

It's Called Public Administration

It’s called Public Administration.  And it’s called urbanization and suburb development.  

And what these concepts have done is change the way American’s live. 

“The City in History” by Lewis Mumford, written in 1961, is a work that describes in wonderful literate detail, the development of our urban and suburban lifestyles.

It’s an old book but one of the best I’ve ever read to describe the development of the way we live today in America and in fact, around the world.  I read it long ago when I was getting a Masters in Public Administration.  

Essential to his discussion is the fact that urban and suburban planning by professionals  is essential to life as we know it.

Sounds different from the myths of populism,  right?  We live with a mythological vision of American life that is still stuck in the 19th century.  We continue to wish to find a place back on the farm in an agrarian setting where “rugged individualists” are the heroes. “The Waltons” always comes up as an example of this yearning for the "simple life".   

Our movies, our television dramas, still resort to this convention; that we are happiest with the simple life, on a farm, independent of others with our faithful (God always is involved) family.

Problem is this bucolic vision was just that; a vision.  Even in the frontier, we had to gather together into villages and towns for survival.  The problems of septic cleanliness itself, required village and town development; treated water is the single biggest reason for live expectancy.  

In short, you lived alone in the mythological single family farm, you usually died early and often.  Being down river from a farm means drinking fouled water; and you die.  

Only in banding together was there a chance to survive and a chance to have a decent life.  Only in finding a way to keep from getting cholera could you survive in the 1800s.  

And we have been doing that for hundreds of years.

The fact is in the United States urbanization is the norm.  The vast majority of people live in urban settings with all the hierarchy and infrastructure that is necessary for a healthy lifestyle.

And that means, in sharp contrast to the myths of the rugged individualist, planning and government is a given.  Government bureaucracy is necessary for life itself.  

What we have today, with the phenomenon of the Tea Party, Trump, and modern conservatism is a mythological problem.  A political movement, populist and often delusional, is trying to push us into a reality that is impossible to achieve.  We cannot survive without the bureaucracy they hate so much!

It screams at us to be angry because our government doesn’t work to put us back in the ideal small, agrarian community, where men were men and women were (well slaves).

And there are guns (in the 1800s gun ownership was far below what it is today; ordinary people simply could not afford them) and there was the ideal of the rugged individual and true “freedom”.  

And a gun culture in an urban setting results in a killing field, making areas of cities so dangerous that even the police won’t go into them; a nightmare.

Fact?   Well, the fact is that the bucolic agrarian life never existed in the first place.  The first thing the white Europeans did when they colonized the “New World” was build a fort; that’s right,  a fort.  

And the next thing they did is die in great numbers because the infrastructure they needed to live was back in England.  Only the Indians, who rescued more than one colony, showed  the colonists (who would soon became their killers), how to survive in the hostile New World.

And towns and villages is how they survived, where the WE not the ME was essential to survival.  The towns and villages, soon to become cities, were the way the West was conquered, NOT the small farms.  

Lewis Mumford and other writers of public administration teach professionals how to administer urban and suburban entities.  There is a skill set that provides the government that allows business to prosper, children to grow, and public safety to exist.  It is a skill set.  You need experts to make it work!

Today with the renewal of populism in Trump and the right wing Tea Party types, we see a call to renounce professionals, experts it you will, as somehow part of an elite or establishment that represses freedom.

Fact is it  is exactly the opposite.  Freedom is NOT Free!  It requires planning, safety and infrastructure that allows at the most base level, water that is safe to drink so we all don’t die of dysentery; public safety that fights fire and yes, stops the bad buys from stealing your house.   

Trump constantly tries to persuade  us to mis-trust experts.  

It is no accident that he is a real estate developer.  

Real estate developers have to deal with government regulations all the time.  And often they do everything they can to cut corners to make more money.  Trump is renowned for this.  And sometimes buildings fall down and burn down because of code violations.  And we as home buyers want and need legal protections when we buy a home.  

So there is a tension between public administrators and developers like Trump.  There is a tension between the pubic interest to have safe housing and charlatans who try to rip us off.  

Urban planning and regulations are there are will stay there no matter how much we wish for a return to the “good old days”.  

Trump’s populism is self serving, he is fooling a whole lot of people with a promised reality that is simply not possible.  The elite is NOT the problem.  Our idealism is the problem; it lives is an unreal place.  We NEED experts to help us navigate an increasingly complex urban infrastructure.  

“The City in History” is a great read.  It proves again and again that we NEED professionals to build and maintain urban and suburban centers that are safe and healthy.

Without them, in Trump’s world, we will have chaos!

"Sorry"

“Sorry”, and a shrug of his shoulders.   That was Donald Trump’s pathetic apology to Megan Kelly when she confronted him with her anger about his sexist comments during her moderator debate duties.  She crossed him and he accused her of being on her period.

Trump is the ultimate result of the swing to the right wing that has been going on in the Republican Party for years; and this is fueled ultimately in the age old stimulus of hate and racism. 

You see America did a very bad thing, it elected an African American President.  And that was against the old guard, white supremacy standard  that have plagued this country for over three hundred years. 

I think President Obama and all of us underestimated this.  Certainly “Black Lives Matter” has not.  They see it everyday, as more people of color are gunned down, or jailed for having a broken tail light.

For years conservatives have patiently worked to create this climate of fear and racial hatred.  It has been toward one end, eliminating democracy behind a fascist dictator.

And in Trump, an unlikely candidate to be sure, they have found their man.  Violence and hatred personifies his campaign.  His rallies usually deteriorate into slugfests, with an outnumbered person of color (always outnumbered, white supremacists are too chicken shit to ever act without a huge numerical advantage) getting the crap beaten out of them.

But there is more.  I have a friend who works for a Tea Party Republican in the California legislature.  His Facebook posts are constantly laced with well “researched” attacks on Democrats, but more, on government itself.

For some idiotic reason, Tea Party Republicans think no government is best government:  Not local government, or smaller government, NO government. 

Just a passing understanding of the Weimar Republic failure in the 1920s in Germany will cause alarm here.  It is exactly the same technique Hitler used to destroy democracy in Germany, attacking government itself especially democratic institutions that were depicted as constantly failing.

That is echoed in Trump’s constant charges that America is in decline, that government doesn’t work anymore.

Government doesn’t work?  What political party has blocked every piece of legislation that the African American President has offered.  This always had as its aim, the destruction of the legitimacy of the President and more, the destruction of faith in the democratic process; especially when a person of color is involved.

And they succeeded.  A majority of Americans today feel the country is going in the wrong direction even with record job creation and a recovery from the worse conservative caused recession since the Great Depression.

By doing what the then minority leader of the Senate said right after Obama was elected, blocking everything the President tried to do, the public has been fooled into believing the non action of the government is the President’s fault, not the blockading Republican Party.

And a by-product of this, conveniently, is the destruction of faith in democracy itself,  opening the door for the election of an authoritarian dictator:  Donald Trump.

Conservatives have been working on this for over forty years: beginning with the Prop 13 “Revolution” and culminating in Donald Trump.  It all has been planned by super rich right wing fanatics (the Koch Brothers) and others who will do anything to protect their super rich status; including the destruction of our democracy.

And my friend, whose present cause is slyly using public pension funding woes (caused by the conservative recession of 2008) to defeat a tax measure in Redding that would fund police and fire protection.  He is using the same old bait and switch tactic that Prop 13 used, creating anger in the public at “spendthrift Democratic programs that actually help society” by cutting funding and dramatically reducing their effectiveness.

Prop 13 was so successful in doing this to public education; Prop 13 destroyed the K-16 free public education system in California so effectively that now Charter Schools, Corporate run in an undemocratic way, are wrongly seen as the salvation of public education.  What they are is a mean spirited form of re-segregating the schools, again white supremacy wins out.

So, the trick is, con the public into mis-trusting public institution’s by cutting funding through tax cuts, then inserting private alternatives (private prisons come to mind here) that are run by profit making corporations that use social need to make profits and greatly decline the public trust, safety and confidence in their government.

Conservatives depict themselves as “muckrakers” who are just trying to save public money.   They depict themselves as heroes, working for the betterment of all, saving the public’s money against greedy teacher’s unions and liberal fanatics. In truth, they are working toward a common goal, ending democracy and establishing a totalitarian fascist dictatorship.

If you think I am exaggerating, go to a Trump rally!  Watch and listen to the cues.  American is half an inch from fascism. 

The Fairness Doctrine

“In response, the FCC began to reconsider the rule in the mid-80s, and ultimately revoked it in 1987, after Congress passed a resolution instructing the commission to study the issue. The decision has been credited with the explosion of conservative talk radio in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. While the FCC has not enforced the rule in nearly a quarter century, it remains technically on the books. As a part of the Obama administration’s broader efforts to overhaul federal regulation, the FCC is finally scrapping the rule once and for all.”

So the Fairness Doctrine finally died, and with it democracy itself.

The Fairness Doctrine was an attempt to regulate political speech on radio and T.V.  

It did not apply to newspapers or magazines.

And conservatives hated it.  

Their excuse for screwing up the country every time they got control was the liberal media.  You can hear echoes of that in Trump’s rants about the unfair media.

What we don’t hear about is the fact that corporations own the media.  And corporations are no friend of liberal democrats.

In fact, the Trump phenomenon is a product of the Fairness Doctrine being gutted.  

We had an example of it yesterday.  Trump, who was sagging in the polls, decided to try a Hail Mary and take the foolish offer of a meeting from a politically crippled Mexican President.  So off he flew to Mexico to act Presidential.  Meanwhile Hillary Clinton was meeting with the American Legion,  a tradition that both Presidential candidates do every election.  Usually the American Legion speech is well covered by the media, since it is a major foreign policy speech.

We didn’t hear hardly a thing about Hillary’s speech; which was surprising well received by the American Legion.  

What we saw was a corporate media cover the Trump circus all the way to Mexico and back.  Meanwhile not ONE new policy change was forthcoming from Trump.  He went to Mexico, lied as usual to the sucker President (claiming they did not talk about the wall while the President of Mexico tweeted that they did and Mexico was NOT paying for it).  Then Trump turned right around, after sounding almost diplomatic in Mexico, and fed red meat to his racist rabid supporters.  

In short, he got a full day of “breathless coverage” blocked Hillary from any publicity at all, and “won the news cycle”.  We got absolutely nothing new policy wise from Trump…It was an enormous con!

He also has not bought any real political advertisements to speak of. Why is that?   

Usually this would be a death knell, but without any shred of the Fairness Doctrine left, there is no regulation of balanced and fair coverage of the Presidential candidates.  Trump, an entertainer, figured out a long time ago, that he could dominate the daily news cycle in the absence of any Fairness Doctrine with his lies and bullshit.

And there is nothing any of us can do about it, except turn off the T.V.  

I have a good friend who is a Democrat text me last night asking, “Do you have MSNBC on?”

The reason was Trump was making his Immigration Announcement, which as it turns out was the SAME policies he has been spewing out for over a year…no change, nothing.

It was all a con!    

Meanwhile Hillary goes to the American Legion, makes a major foreign policy address and receives practically no coverage at all.

Look, Trump won the primary doing the same thing.  He is using the huge hole conservatives put in any kind of fairness in political coverage, with greedy media giant corporations, some who are very conservative (Fox and Disney come to mind), who are working openly to elect Trump.  

Democracy requires that all sides can communicate their positions to the public.  Currently the media is fixed to only carry the most conservative messages.  It took a Trump to figure out that he doesn’t even have to buy political advertisements, all he has to do is be a showman, drive up cable T.V. ratings, and even MSNBC carries him 24-7.

And sure enough, the polls are tightening as we hear nothing but about Hillary’s emails and the Clinton Foundation and Trump, Trump, Trump.

The problem is this:  One sided news coverage prompted by political agendas that drowns out the opposition can lead to dictatorships.  That’s right, fascist dictatorships.

How do we know?  Look at Nazi Germany.  The first thing Hitler did when he took power was to get the Reichstag to pass a law making negative press coverage of his actions a CAPITAL offense; that’s right the death penalty.   The second thing Hitler did was burn down the Reichstag, ending even the sham of democracy.

The first thing Trump has done, as he demands that Hillary have a press conference (knowing full well the email faux “controversy” will be brought up by Fox and Friends) is to exclude certain newspapers from even his rallies that don’t follow his party line.   His “Fairness Doctrine” is to exclude those medias that don’t pay him blind attention:  like Fox News.   

With the Fairness Doctrine he could not have done that.   The Fairness Doctrine demanded equal time for example if one political candidate attacked the other.  There was a rebuttal time, similar to what you see when the President gives the State of the Union (by the way there is NO requirement that happen anymore because the Fairness Doctrine is totally gone). 

What we have  now is publicity control by those who seek to destroy our democracy.  We have lost the principle of equal time for opposing viewpoints.  

So as you drone away watching Fox, or even MSNBC, you are watching political whores, who will sell out democracy for a ratings uptick.

And we have nothing to protect us from this; we allowed the Fairness Doctrine to die, and our way of life will die with it.

The Reckoning!

When Is It Treason?

I was the early spring of 1865.  President Lincoln had won re-election in the midst of the Great Civil War.  By this time almost 500,000 Americans were dead nearly 1 million wounded.  1 out of every 5 families in the United States had lost a loved one to the war.

After the war a scourge of illness and even starvation killed thousands more.

And Lincoln told the peace negotiators at Appomadix to allow a mule and a firearm to the surrendering Confederate soldiers.  He allowed Jefferson Davis to flee to Cuba and Robert E. Lee to retire to his mansion in, of all places, Arlington, Virginia.  

And then John Wilkes Booth and a bevy of conspirators killed Lincoln.  

They did it as a conspiracy, not as a spur of the moment thing.  Their aim was to kill the entire Lincoln cabinet, and they nearly accomplished their goal.

Their aim was to restart the Civil War, upend the peace agreement, and continue the killing.  

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The entire south had committed treason after all.  And Booth wanted, even was begging with his heinous act, to goad the north into enforcing the Constitituion and come down hard on the south.  His dream was the "south would rise again" and defeat the north.

Of course this was impossible, since by now the Union Army was quite simply the strongest Army on the planet, armed with the most modern weapons and understand what would be the near downfall of mankind: total war.  KInd of like today.

If any of you out there think in your wildest 2nd Amendment fantasies, that you could defeat the U.S. Army, Marines and Navy you are nuts!

The arming of the south and its ability to still betray the constitution through treason was what Booth was trying to instigate.

And he nearly accomplished his goal.  Vice President Johnson  had to endure an impeachment trial for continuing Lincoln's conciliatory position, deciding to not enforce the Constitution and quite frankly hang a third of the southern states traitors. 

Booth quite literally enforced what many foolish Americans today call 2nd Amendment Rights, with means rebel against the United States using guns.

Donald Trump basically did the same thing yesterday.  He evoked the Second Amendment and encouraged people to take up arms against their government in a flat treasonous act!

Nothing more nothing less.

I hear it all the time as an excuse for the lack of effective firearm laws in the United States.  In a democracy, with plenty of peaceful ways to push your political agenda, I hear more and more we need the 2nd Amendment to defend ourselves from our government.  "We need the 2nd Amendment to protect ourselves from our government".  That folks is treason!  Read the damn Constitution quoted above.  Every time you quote your 2nd Amendment Rights in connection with resisting the legal force of the United States your are committing treason!

This is EXACTLY the same thing that John Wilkes Booth said...the same thing.

It is treason folks.  And once again we pass on enforcing the Constitution because "it was a bad joke", or "he really didn't mean it" or whatever.

Fact is Trump, like Booth, was encouraging violence against the United States (have you forgotten that his target is the former First Lady of the United States and there is strong federal law that makes what he said a federal felony).  

It is also treason!

Suicide

Statistics show that violent crime overall has dropped precipitously in the past two decades.  Statistics and observation show that the public’s perceptions of violent crime, including terrorism, is that Americans are at great risk.

In Redding, my home town, the homeless population is perceived as an occupying army, full of violent thugs, who steal and menace.  No data supports that assumption.

It’s fear folks and its being manipulated and propagandized to make you vote and act a certain way.

We have an African American President for the first time in American history, and the calls for action because of run away crime and violence have never been so shrill.  Just yesterday the slogan of Donald Trump changed in one day from Make America Great Again to Make America SAFE Again.  Note  the words.  A small change you say, right.    WRONG!
In 1968 I was a college senior and watched in horror as the country blew up.  The Democrats had destroyed a divided Republican Party in 1964 in the greatest landslide in American political history.  In four short years, thanks to the Vietnam War, and the race riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King,  Richard Nixon was elected President running on a platform of white backlash to the wave of perceived violence within and outside of the United States.

The facts that America was winning the Vietnam War and the violence over M.L. King was constrained was completely lost in the propaganda war Nixon slyly used to convince the nation that there was a clear and present danger to the “law n order” of the United States.

And last night, predictably, here came the “Make America Safe Again” a cynical propaganda response to the Police shootings of late.  Again, they are doing it again!  Why, because it works!

And what was the result of the “law and order” campaign of 1968 and 1972?  Well there was Watergate for one.  And a retrenching of white supremacy that resulted in “A New Jim Crowe” that culminated in rather than a "war on poverty" but a “war on crime” and a “war on drugs”.  And millions of people of color went to prison.

Bill Clinton was able to stem the tide of conservative racial manipulation by becoming a war on crime warrior, passing a host of laws that were  intended to stop the “crack epidemic”, but actually incarcerated a generation of young men of color.  In a very real sense the Jim Crowe laws that the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Rights Acts had intended to end was reborn in even more severity.  In short, white supremacy won. 

Today we see the end of this logic in the “Black Lives Matter” movement.   Racial justice has been reduced from stopping discrimination in hiring and housing to stopping the killing of people.  The difference in context is glaring; in effect civil rights and justice has moved dramatically backward in the face of “law and order”.

Law and order worked to stop the small tide, weak but growing, that was painfully ending Jim Crowe and white supremacy.  It worked then, it will work now.

Why?  Because all white people know in their souls, in the very pit of their stomachs that people of color KNOW.  They know how they have been brutalized over the centuries.  They KNOW what happened to Native Americans.  They know that America was not built on Manifest Destiny of spreading democracy but on stealing land and enslaving people.  They know in their bones that a mammoth injustice has been done and there may be a reckoning.

And it is the reckoning that scares the death out of white people. 

The irony of course is that pure white people are ceasing to exist in America.  In a few short years people of color will outnumber Caucasians.  In fact, this is already the case if you count mixed race people (like myself).
In short, Americans wind of being hateful and afraid of THEMSELVES.
It is not an understatement to say that the split personality of America lies behind our internal struggles to define ourselves.  Our President has written a book and often refers to his mixed race background.  He also has talked about the internal struggles this dichotomy has brought. 

The diversity of America that grows by the day clashes with its white supremacy and law n order legacy.  It is behind the Trump candidacy, thrusting a political novice into running for the Presidency. 
I have remarked on the whiteness of his Vice Presidential running mate.  This may sound inappropriate but I am not so sure that Trump did not do it on purpose. 

This election is all about white supremacy and race.  It is being manipulated into a reaction against the “black guy” in the White House (note why do we call it the white house?) and now guess what, law n order will be the marching orders.  It is not an accident that Trump headed up the birther movement. 

Is this racial politics?  Am I talking racial politics?

You bet I am, because I am old enough to have seen it done in 1968 and 1972.  I have seen the most massive incarceration of Americans since slavery.  I have seen efforts for social and economic justice destroyed by the fear of Americans to face THEMSELVES!

That’s right, face ourselves.  We refuse to acknowledge what is right in front of us when we look into the mirror.  The problem is rather than reach out and love ourselves we once again give into the merchants of fear and hate.

And so the reckoning, ironically, will actually happen.  The destruction of America will not be from outside or from colored thugs; it will be a suicide!

White Supremacy

We don't even start the conversation in the right area:  white supremacy.  We dodge that term, whites, or part whites like me, sweep it under the rug.   
          
Then we read history, not the white supremacy doctored history, but the indigenous people's history, the African American, Asian American history, the NAACP history.

And we find the truth; Manifest Destiny was NOT the spreading of  the democratic dream to the world, it was a land grab and an economic cheat that used slave labor and stolen land to build an economic super power.
In short, our ancestors were either victims of this crime or perpetrators.

Most of us, like me, walk around with both coarsing through our veins.  So we are conflicted from the start.
So what do you do, hate your country?  Or do you hate those who point out the lies?  Or do you ignore it all.
That would be the choice most Americans take.  They ignore, they make excuses they look the other way.
Only a few years ago, many took a more active role and attacked anyone who talked about the lie, jailed them, even worse.
Today it is the culture of silence.  The culture of white "backlash" that supports Trump.  It is angry, that is the usual excuse, because amazingly white middle class men finally have figured out they are getting screwed.

They are angy at the "Blacks" the "Thugs" and want to "Make America Great Again".

Amazingly, they completely ignore what has happened to people of color in our highly unfair ecnomic system.  The standards of living of Native and African Americans have declined MORE than middle class whites.  Some African Americans have improved their lot, but from what?

From the grinding poverty of Jim Crowe America; that is an improvement?

In short, white suemacy is white rich man's supremacy.  And it is firmly in control.  Look at the Republican Party's ticket.

So look the other way, ignore.  But in voting for white supremacy you are cutting your own throat!

The Truth

It is difficult for some of us to deal in facts.  The fact is in 2007-08 the country was headed to a Great Depression.  And President Obama, following the lead of President Bush, took steps to head off what would have been a disaster.

And today, Trump is traveling all over the United States promising to make America Great Again.

Look, Bush got us into the mess by deregulating Wall Street, and starting the "Ownership Society".  Remember that?  The idea was to make loans so easy to get that anybody could buy a home they could not afford.

And the vultures moved in, selling liars loans.  Also Bush fought a war with a tax cut; an unbearable burdern for any country.

He was taking emergency steps to bail out the whole mess when President  Obama took office; but the recession was Bush's.

Now Trump promises a return to 1955. Really....

In 1955 the United States was the only country left standing after WWII.  The reason we stood alone in prosperity was because the rest of the world was still rebuilding.

And it made us lazy.  For example, rather than rebuild our infrastructure to provide mass transportation for all, we decided on a car culture that is right now killing us.  Europe did not have that option, it had burned up its meager oil reserves in the war.  So they built bullet trains, we built freeways.  Today, this is killing us.

Moreover, after WWII Europe and Asia's medical community had been decimated.  The only way they could take care of their already reduced and sick population was with socialized medicine.  So they did, creating a basic medical coverage for all. 

In the United States we continued the privatization of medical and prescription care; based on a private insurance system tied to employment.  This worked because in the 1950s we were operating at full employment, with jobs for everyone who needed work. 

If Europe would have tried to adopt America's system, it would have led to widespread pandemics and death for millions.

So America became more unfair and inequitable in its Medical delivery system, Europe and Asia not so.

Today the country that wins; most efficiently uses its  human and natural resources.   The United States never had to do that, Europe and Asia did, and  so we are at an enormous political and economic disadvantge.

Our people do not know how to share or sacrifice for the public good.

And here comes the reckoning!

Godless Communism?

Putting "In God We Trust" along with "under God" that is in the Pledge of Allegiance were a product of a Red Scare that afflicted the United States from 1945 on.

The Republican Party, who had effectively walled itself off from the Presidency, and the Congress for that matter, for nearly twenty years because of the Great Depression, was desperate for ANY method to gain back some political power.  And what better than the "godless" Soviet Union"?  

So the great con began, painting the world as a struggle between godless Communism and Conservative Values:   Liberty (let corporations do anything they want, hate union; etc).  

Meanwhile the Soviet Union was rebuilding for forty years following WWII.  Americans were duped by BOTH parties that the Russians were this powerful force who threatened to destroy the west.  The TRUTH was that the United States was by far the strongest nation on the planet, both militarily and economically.   Fifty million plus died in WWII, about 400,000 of them Americans.  

Absolutely none of the United States infrastructure had been touched by the war.  All of Europe and much of Asia was in shambles.  

So America had no peer, nobody even close; save itself.

And the fear mongers  went right to work, to "Make American Great Again", to protect from godless Communism by lurching to the right, adopting God in everything.

For what?  Do you really think God smiles when we put HIS/HER name on a dollar bill, or line up kids to salute a flag (idol) and say "Under God"...what about the false idols part?

Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple to send a message, and the United States put GOD on currency?  

And the Cold War was a con, and we now spend more money on defense than all the world combined, and WE are the greatest single threat for world annihilation than anybody......

Reap What You Sow

This letter to the editor "Clinton's  bad Decisions.." is indicative of the "con" about Hillary Clinton that goes on and on: These are the facts:

The conservatives have been conspiring against the Clintons for over thirty years for one reason; Bill Clinton broke the Reagan revolution. President Reagan gave cons hope that a sea change had occurred in American politics. He won two Presidencies and his hand picked successor, George H.W.  Bush, won election as a "bell-weather" of a more conservative America. Then the economy happened and the "trickle down" economics really did wind up being the "voodoo economics" that George H.W.  Bush warned about. And the Republicans lost the White House that they figured they had for a generation.

2. So, in reaction, the conservative conspiracy (and there is such a thing) embarked from day one on a campaign to discredit, embarrass and destroy the Democratic Party and Bill Clinton. Now Clinton provided some ammunition in one area, philandering. But American politics up until that point had left politician's private lives alone. A glaring example was Reagan himself, whose Alzheimers was covered up the last two years in office, as his wife basically ran the country. The Democrats left it alone when a scandal that the President was incompetent would have adversely affected Republican chances to hold on to the White House; and as it turned out, that is exactly what happened. 

3. So one after another unfounded allegations came forth: Whitewater: whiff; Foster suicide whiff; Travel gate whiff. And finally the old standbye, Bill's stupid habit of messing around, they nearly hit a home run. However, remember there was an impeachment but no conviction; and Bill finished out his term at all time high popularity levels. 

4. So they turned on Hilarie knowing she might try to someday run.

And the con continues. None of these allegations in this hate piece are true. Benghazi? Really, 15 investigations, millions of dollars spent and a whiff? And emails, really...really...Mrs. Clinton is charged with committing a crime when nothing is there, she is pillared for not following policy regarding emails that was not in effect when she was Secretary of State.

In short, the forces of the right whiff and whiff and whiff. 

Meanwhile in an insanity beyond measure, the cons decided to form a tea party in reaction to, horror of horrors, a BlACK PRESIDENT! And that leads us to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, two candidates that are ripping the Republican Party apart.

The reason for this is not hard to figure out: when you run a political party based on conspiracies and got you politics, eventually it will turn to the dark side. And that is exactly what has happened. You REAP WHAT YOU SOW!

It's the Establishment's Fault

Oh, bullshit...That's right bullshit.  All this talk about the establishment and the reaction to Washington is double speak because we REALLY are fighting mad because people of color are in positions of power more and more; AND the gays are taking over the world.

All this talk about the establishment is baloney.  The reason for the anger is race and sex!

People on the right are upset because they feel threatened by the increasing diversification of America.  And they support a billionaire who represents privilege and the 'establishment' more than anyone?  And when you point out this contradiction the scream, "We don't care, we don't care, we believe the way we want to believe!"

SHAME ON YOU.  SHAME ON YOU.  In the 1930s and 40s America was more racist than it is now.  But people really got hurt, not faux hurt, by the depression and the war and pulled together for the common good.  You know sacrificed and stopped belly aching and trusted the New Deal that saved our ass.

People on the left are upset with Wall Street, but have no problem with their pension funds and investments that are with Wall Street.  They too talk the talk, but the walk is it is all Washington's fault.   This mess we caused!

It is not all Washington's fault.  WE are the problem.  We are lazy, don't read, let media inform us with literally no effort to do anything about it.  Let's take Fox News and Right Wing radio for a second.  Millions use that as their source of news, period.  And Fox, licensed as an entertainment network by the way, works overtime to create the anger in the populace.  Fox News, owned by a multi of-billionaire, who Hates YOU!

That's right, he hates you!  The right has an establishment, Trump is one of them, and they literally are playing all of you like toys!

And we, the American public, refuse to accept reality:  1.  The climate is changing as we are beginning to suffer from it.  2.   We continue our insane infatuation with cars and trucks refusing to move back to trains.  3.  We refuse to acknowledge that we are a collection of communities, but go to our houses with our guns and shut the world out.  Then we react with anger, like spoiled children, EXPECTING THE SAME ESTABLISHMENT THAT HAS SCREWED US TO ALL OF A SUDDEN HELP US?  Trump is a billionaire for Christ's sake!  4.  And we vote for conservatives who lie to us, swindle us, cut programs for us and our children and get rich on our stupidity.  If Governor Snyder could have done the swindle with the water in Flint, potentially killing hundreds, without a qualm, then what do you think he will do for you?  He hates middle class and poor people...they all do!

It used to be we, the middle and lower class, at least had a healthy skepticism for the rich.  And their sometimes were retributions.  The rich lived in gated communities and didn't travel much during the Depression..because there were some who tried to literally kill them.  And they were punished.  The marginal tax rate was 90% for a long time. Only when Reagan came along was it change...and we lost our way, forgetting who the real enemy is.  

Does this mean we vote Democratic blindly.  Of course not.  But you will find the Democratic Party is not the party of your parents.  It has become much more inclusive.  And you cannot be a democrat unless you accept that, which means you finally come to grips with the sickness that has afflicted this nation for centuries:  white supremacy.  The Republican Party is now the party of white supremacy.  

That is what this is all about!

If you can look in your hearts and realized THIS is the core of your anger, and realize their are strong forces that have for years been USING that to manipulate you, we all will be better off.

The problem isn't  Trump or even Clinton....the problem is US!

The Con of "Both Are To Blame"

Here we go again...the old conservative sop, "Both sides are to blame for the political mess we are in".

In President Obama's Inaugeral I remember( the establishment press does not)  him stressing (as he did in the first Inaugeral) that we were one nation, not blue not red, but one people.  

He has been criticized by many pundits for being naive by reaching across the aisle.  

This article lists only one accomplishment by Democrats that showed a willingness to help the middle class, a big on:  The ACA.

But it was passed with NO Republican support, none.  The single payer didn't have a chance because the Deomcratically controlled "Blue Dog" democrats refused to give the votes to pass it. The Democratic Party was debating itself.   The Republicans were united in complete opposition, reflecting that fact they are bought and paid for by the medical oligarchy.

Remember Scott Brown?  That made the Senate impossible for single payer or anything else progressive for that matter. And only through a legislative maneuver was the ACA saved and passed, in a weakened form, because Scott Brown was the 41st vote, that gave the Republicans a fillibuster that would have killed the ACA.  

And who lost?  The middle class.  Who remembers this? Nobody.  The only reason I remember is the Master in Government and I was trained to remember stuff like this.  

In this article, the conservative author lists several Republican efforts that hurt the middle class and one from the Democrats.  But both sides are equally to blame?

This is the con and it has been planned and is being executed by Trump, Cruz, et al.  It has been planned by the establishment of the Republican Party.  The establishment candidates that are left in the Republican field will not condemn Trump even after his rhetoric caused violence and injury in Chicago.  They won't because THEY ARE IN ON IT!

Republicans expect the public to forget that THEY have blocked the Democratic agenda for the past eight years.  The Recession recovery was cut by nearly half by Republican filibusters in the Senate, that is the core of the misery of the middle class in this country right now.  But Republicans in their cynical way know Americans have notorious short memories, except when they are riled up by a demogogue (enter Trump).  They know that anger works especially stupid uneducated anger.  Never mind history..just feed them red meat.

The Republican Party is in on this...all of it!

So now they depict themselves as champions of the maligned middle class?    

Cons like this author trump out bullshit that everybody is to blame for Trump, when the REPUBLICAN PARTY IS TO BLAME FOR TRUMP. And who is behind the Republican Party who is really bankrolling them?  The corporate plutocrats who quite simply are trying to completely take over the country!  

The conservative liar author makes the amazing statement that Hillary Clinton, the presumptive nominee of the Democrats has been "wounded and weakened" because allegedly she has not paid attention to the middle class.

Bullshit.  Mrs. Clinton (why do we call her by her first name and call the male candidates by their last) has been wounded by a campaign attacking her honestly over a meaningless email server and a Benghazi attack that has been investigated 15 times with no result other than the lies the Republican Party has propagated.

The server I have written about here before.  It is a non issue that the Republican Party is pushing to weaken her.  They only seek to weaken her because she is running for President and is a champion of the middle class!

And it is now both Parties faults?  Really?  The Democratic Party passed voter suppression laws in the south and north that have succeeded in repressing minoritity and middle class voters?  The Democratic Party has fueled the anger in the nation by name calling of minorities and immigrants and attacking with big mony every progressive effort with millions of dollars?  What party has done this?  

READ for Christ's sake READ.  Remember!  

I think it is interesting that Republican efforts to steal this country are based on short therm memory ability from their voter base who are all in the dementia ridden 60 and 70s age group.  

I think they sometimes plan their strategy on the fact that many of us CAN"T remember!

The Republican Party will own the chaos that will ensue if a Republican wins the presidency.  There will be a civil war eventually because once the middle class figures out they are getting screwed violence will be the order of the day.

And Trump will start WWIII by accident, since he is an idiot.

This is NOT both sides share the blame...the blame is clearly on the damnable Republican Party!

Don't be So Glib!

Ok, take a deep breath and read...that's right google Eisenhower, or post World War II economy.  You will see the obvious, the United States was the ONLY country on earth that emerged from WWII with its economy intact.  No American city was bombed, our casualty rate was the lowest of any of the combatants; while ghastly still way lower.  25 million Russians died, 17 million Germans.  Japan was on its back, with atomic fallout sprinkling down into its ruins.

And America, why we manufactured everything.  We were the world's recovery and our economy boomed.  And we paid for WWII partially with a high tax rate on the rich, plus a booming economy that drove tax proceeds through the roof.

And that was Eisenhower's doing.  Bullshit...it was the world's recovery and America was the engine, and you have to count Canada and Mexico too.

If you don't believe me look it up, Google post war Germany or Russia.

Americans are famously xenophobic and isolationistic.  We sit behind two vast oceans and watch the rest of the world pass by.  We almost waited too long in 1941, almost lost the whole thing.

But WE did not prosper because of US perfection, we prospered (and still do) by our manufacturing sector being untouched by war, being left alone with government controls, to do what it does best; invent and make things in large quantities.  

So don't be so damn glib, we have been lucky...

Ask Alabama in 1866...or Georgia...how is it to be bombed and occupied?   Good for golf?  

READ HISTORY!

Put Down Your Middle Finger

"Many Trump supporters believe that Obama has changed the country in destructive ways – which I believe is true."

The Tea Party, remember them ?  The Tea Party was organized and bankrolled by rich Republicans as a counter to the evil Obama Stimulus package that saved us from a depression and later the ACA, that saves thousands of lives a year.  But it was "destroying America".  Many of my Republican friends  who give way to hate, say that even today.  Fox News, whose boss helped start the Tea Party, stokes that hatred everyday!

Look, these are policy differences.  Democratic systems exist so these "mistakes" can be rolled back.  Its the Tea Party that gave birth to Trump, a former Democrat and a master salesman who knows an opportunity when he sees it.  This was done on purpose by rich conservatives who, blind wih white supremacy hatred, wanted a non-Party way to weaken the black President.

The statement, "We are giving the middle finger to Washington" is not very far from raising your right arm extending it and ranting Heil  Hitler....once the genie is out of the bottle you can't put it back!

It's Fascism pure and simple, attacking democratic government for the ineptmess that the Republican  party caused.  The obstructionism that recently was demonstrated by the Republican vow to now even consider a Supreme Court appointee is at the core of the public's anger with Washington.

That is EXACTLY what the National Socialists did over a ten year period in Germany.  They went from a small, insignificant portion of the Weimar Republic by using a simple technique; divide and conquer, lie, scheme and get rich corporatiions to bankroll you.  Sound familar?

And now conservatives who let the genie out of the bottle are trying to stuff it back in, while Trump and Cruz take the ball and run with it; using Fascism to gain more and more power.

The perfect storm is that the Democrats are considering nominating a aging socialist as their candidate, creating the perfect storm of radicals opposing each other; winner take all.  And this reminds us of the Weimar Republic, that included a strong socialist/Communist component that made the perfect foil for Hitler.  All the ingredients are present in our nation that existed in Germany in 1933.

That's right winner take all.  If you think for one minute the radical right will play nice if they win the election you are crazy.  Because this movement is based on two things; money and fear.  The money was put up to start the fire, to discredit Obams and stop the black guy, the fear is the tool that once unleashed just grows and grows with widespread repression and violence the result.

And Trump is no mad man, neither was Hitler (his depiction as a madman were propaganda).  Both know exactly what they are doing, both rode the tiger of fear anger and scapegoating, but once in power had to deliver else they fall victim.  Hitler used the power to kill 55 million people!

So Trumpism is not just a threat to conservatism,  his political expedient fascism is a threat to us all.

And everytime, everyday I Iook at Jan's father's picture in our living room, in his Army uniform, as a Jew having just defeated fascism in World War II; I wonder what did we fight WWII for if;  we are going to elect a fascist?

Stop raising your middle finger and start realizing you are feeding a beast that will kill us all.

Another Kid With A Gun

Another example of the proliferation of guns and kids...These were children and another tragedy of a kid, admittedly a gang member whose school records indicate a messed up soul.

After a career dealing with "at risk" youth (I coached and taught at the Jr. High right next to Grant), I know what the "mean streets are". I also know that the perpetrator of this act was lost, shuffled from home to home, and a mess.  He was crying out for help and the system didn't or couldn't listen.  

Everyday we throw away young people in a system that puts materialism first and people way last. Everyday we read about yet another tragedy in a gun culture out of control.

And eveyday we hear about the sancity the   2nd Amendment which must be preserved ; which originated as a tool to put down slave rebellions. That's right a little known fact...the 2nd Amendment was intended to allow states to raise armed militias to put down people.

It is being used for that again!

Actually, in a sense, that is what happened in the Grant area; one more African American was gunned down by a deranged person; the gun culture represses African Americans again. You see the more violence African American demonstrate,  the more the white supremacists can say, "Look, they are animals, keep the guns coming". I remember kids talking about "popping people", of the willingness to use violence, "whoopings", to solve everything. And of course violence just leads to more violence in a cycle of revenge and lunacy.

The gangs rule the streets and their primary tool is violence. And the enforcer is the gun.  

I always was depressed by the place; by the hopelessness of it; of the violence. That is why we left; a young man mad at the Vice Principal barged into the press booth at Grant High's stadium and fired blanks at the Vice Principal as a warning that next time it would be the real thing. My wife was in the booth (three months pregnant) , I was coaching, and we decided that more peaceful grounds were best for our family.

So we left after two years; and we left a lot of good friends, including Mike Albergeni.

We ran home and wound up at a school that was every bit as socio-economically repressed, but White , poor and Native American. But the violence was not so centered on guns (barely).

Montgomery Creek was one area that saw senseless shootings all the time. And I took a couple guns off kids who were showing them off to friends.

Always guns, always damn guns and kids who are too immature or too screwed up to have them.

And this is not a public health issue? And the damned 2nd Amendment, that was absolutely passed by slave owners as a method to put down slave revolts, continues as some kind of god head....sacred?

And it is used by politicians to continue the system of white supremacy that is destroying this country.

Originalist?

Not to speak badly of the dead: but Scalia was a bigot plain and simple. Conservative thought does not include bigotry. But, by pleading arguments of the past, especially when the segregationist and racist traditions lurk there, conservatives often resemble the bigots that wrote the Constitution.

Fact is this article is spot on. The Constitution had a fatal flaw in it from its inception: slavery. Slavery was, in 1890, not the behemoth it became by 1860. But in that time frame, slavery made the United States a world economic power house.

Why? Well two things: 1. Labor that was not free to the slaveholder, but was free after paying for the chattel. And, labor that was separate from any labor complications; labor relations, recruitment; etc. 2. Endless land acquisition through genocide to the land owners. 

If you just look at the Cherokee for example. They went to the Supreme Court and won rights to their land and the case was simply ignored by President Jackson. So vital agricultural farmland that became the heart of the cotton producing south was basically stolen at little cost. This was going on in 1860 when the nation erupted in war over the expansion of slavery into the west. Again, a huge economic advantage other world competitors did not have. 

So a strict Constructionist like Scalia and other conservatives, by interpreting the Constitution in 1890 terms is supporting a brand of racism that cost America 600,000 lives and millions of African American and Native American lives and culture.

It was in short a human tragedy of incalculable proportions.

And Republicans want to go back to it!

The Reckoning is on us. We shall not go back, war will happen first....another Civil War!

A Rich Man's Sport?

A rich man’s sport:  I have an inferiority complex about golf which is hard to believe since I LIVE on a golf course, marshall there, belong to the Men’s Club and have played golf all over the world (at least western world).  

But I still tense up when I go into a pro shop and see my fellow golfers buy thousand dollar sets of clubs, or buy $150 wind shirts.

My father decided to take up golf when I was about eleven.  He bought a beginners set from Spiegel.  He got Dick Reese to give us some discarded clubs from Sequoia School, many with wood shafts (vintage 1940 something).

And the first time we played was at Lake Redding, a nine hole course in Redding.  We teed off on a Easter Weekend at 6:00 am.  Dad told us he wanted to get an early start.  Truth was he was avoiding the crowd because they could play; we couldn’t.

Ironically we met  Rod Curl on the tee, and played with him.  Rod was a Native American who also decided to take up golf, being a baseball player for the gambling of it.  He admitted golf was more fun than pool, which was a source of income for him.   Rod Curl went on to start in the PGA!

 Ironically that same day my future football coaches teed off in front of us.  They belonged to the Country Club, but came to Lake Redding because it was a holiday weekend and couldn’t get a tee time.

And they hit the ball so far!  I remember marveling how they did that; as it turned out on a short 225 Par Four; Lake Redding is a nine hole almost executive course.

And from that day on, even though my love for golf grew to the point of addiction, the inferiority stayed for two reasons:  1.  golf is naturally humbling.  2.  golf is a rich man’s game.

Of course it isn’t a rich man’s game!  But tell those kids at Hiram Johnson that.  I remember when I was recruited at Stanford for football, not golf for sure, and how in awe I was of the Stanford Golf Course.  I must have shot 120, whiffing many times, and I was a much better golfer than that.

Golf should not be a rich man’s game, and since Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer it has morphed into a middle class game.   Yet, poor kids from disadvantage areas do not get anywhere near the access to courses that rich kids fo.

 But still we see Hiram Johnson, a poverty plagued area, having a team that can’t break 50 for nine holes.  They compete, they learn to love the game, but the wall of privilege and wealth is very clear.

But somewhere in me, and in them, lies the desire to “show them”, to compete and beat them by working and practicing and winning.  

Or am I just rich now and don’t know the difference?  

Recovery on Cobb Mountain

The stark reality of global warming:  In America we tend to believe strongly, that our technology can overcome everything.  The "winning of the west" included gold mining with water cannons, coal mining open pit, and clear cutting.  The result was pouring CO2 into the air in unbelievable volumes.  And the next result was nature reacting in an ecological way, proving the delicate inter relationship of the atmosphere.  

The atmosphere that is barely 100 miles high in total.  The atmosphere that reacts like a greenhouse.  Every time in world history CO2 has flowed into the atmosphere the ice has melted and the seas have risen; while the temperature has exploded.

We look on the world as our plaything.  We always think the poor and ignorant "overseas" or in "Latin America" deserve what they get as the ocean rises and swamps their home.  

But nature doesn't play favorites.  Hiding inside our air conditioned cars and homes from 80 degree days in February and the drought just continues as the high from hell fed by pollution won't go away, is NOT working.  Get out of your cars get into nature and you will see it everywhere:  the dead trees the 1/2 die off of every living thing in the world, the oceans fouled with plastic.

And the citizens on Cobb Mountain are in the bulls eye.  And yesterday they found Judge Scalia dead, changing the makeup of a Supreme Court that just delayed the President's action to more control the coal industry's wanton destruction of earth, we get another chance to stop the destroyers.  

Another chance to save our planet.  Another chance to cool our planet.  Another chance to be protectors and not destroyers as was so beautifully depicted in the movie "Avatar".

We all rooted for the indigenous peoples in that movie as they fought against the brutal destroyers of climate.  We cheered as nature won.

Nature is winning now.  The Great Mystery is reckoning the sins of our wanton destruction of environment and yes culture.  The ruins on Cobb Mountain are its evidence and yet another scream at us to WAKE UP!

Recovery on Cobb Mountain?  It depends on more than just the inhabitants of Cobb Mountain....

The Perfect Storm

Ok, everyone celebrate...the outsiders won!  And the Republicans voted for a racist and xenophobic narcissistic billionaire who is the very opposite of income equity.  (By the way please stop using income equality, there is no way that is ever going to happen...equity maybe, equality no).  And the Democrats voted for a socialist who promises everything.

Both are living in a dream world.  And both could potentially wreck their party's chances to win the Presidency. And if both are really nominated the prospects for a Civil War explode.  

As America tries to at least discuss the worst income inequity in our history, caused by the Global economy, the two parties fly to opposite poles.  

So this means it will be winner takes all in November.  If Trump wins he promises to end immigration reform with walls, attack mercilessly in the Middle East, and believe me he will not increase taxes on the rich or corporations.  HE IS CORPORATE AMERICA!

And Bernie...well...he promises everything will be free.  He does at least promise to increase taxes on the rich, but his grasp of corporate power is limited at best.  In short, Bernie's heart sounds like it is in the right place, but he won't be able to deliver.  If you thought the grid lock was bad with Obama's idealism running into conservative roadblocks, just wait for Bernie.

So by stupidly voting the way we are, we are only increasing the chances of ineffectual government to the point of violence in 2016.

It is time adults take command of the ship.  We need to elect a moderate who can forge some kind of new coalition with the other side.  We have a majority of Red States in this country people, who thanks to gerrymandering are not going to change.  We have a minority of populated Blue states who, take California for example, are not going to change due to demographics. The majority of people in the country are Blue.  But the electoral college does NOT work that way, witness 2000!  

How on earth by electing more extreme candidates will this work?  I have often warned about fascism on Facebook (an oxymoron).  But the threat is real.  In a clash of corporate power, with the way our government is organized, the potential for a right wing take over of government is huge, with disastrous consequences.

Elect Trump and Bernie and you have the perfect storm......

The Public Education Fix We Don't Talk About

We politicize our teachers and education. That is one of the first things I was taught in graduate school. And boy was the Professor right. For some reason we long ago decided to make education not a profession but an area of political disagreement. So we continue to kick it around like a football, depending on what political philosophy wins at the ballot box.

The conservative revolution of Reagan and others brought us accountability and a "crackdown" on education. What it really meant was an underfunding of public education and efforts to use private sector analysis to "fix" the system. Prop 13 was passed because of the inflation post Vietnam and gutted public education. It also thrust it upon the state to support. And the state legislature took over without a clue how to run school districts. 

And the teachers organized a union to finally attempt to protect themselves from this madness. Right now the Supreme Court stands poised to strike a blow at unions, not allowing agency fees to be charged for reasonable costs of negotiating for non-union teachers. If they rule as expected, this will strike a blow to the power of teacher unions to function and weaken protections for teachers.

Oh, I just spoke the phrase that this article is all about. Tenure has been depicted by conservatives and minority groups as the REASON for education's failures. It is the teacher's fault is a common refrain.

And the state has a drastic teacher shortage. Young teachers are dwindling in number. People don't want to go into teaching because it is too hard work for too little pay. 

And we continue to politicize it, leave it to local school boards, and buy every snake oil politician's "solution", never listening to the professional educators who actually know.

A simple template to begin to fix this:

1. Depoliticize it. Eliminate ALL local school boards. Regionalize school administration and localize the running of schools as much as possible to local SCHOOLS and districts. Consolidate schools into larger districts, 10,000 students maximum. Continue the Superintendent on down administration, but add at EACH school an administrator of instruction, using master teachers who become administrators to supervise instructional improvement. These administrators would have the power to recommend permanency, or fire as need be. Streamline the due process for teacher removal, but the instructional administrator would be an integral part of it. 

2. Pay teachers a beginning salary nationwide of $100,000 going up to $150,000 in steps over 35 years. Allow bonus still for advanced degrees, of at least $20,000. In short, pay teachers for what they do.

3. Site based management with parent site councils would be the rule. The federal government would run the whole thing, with an expansion of the Education Department to allow regional school administration in all areas. The federal authority would be supreme in all areas under the 14th Amendment. 

Ending school segregation and instructional improvement in poverty areas would be top priority. Abolish county departments of education. Consolidate the fiscal administration of school regionally using an economy of scale model. Modern data collection and communication make local control of finances obsolete and opens the door for segregation and racial discrimination. 

4. Why centralize you probably ask? Well, site based instructional leadership has been proven to be the most effective way to improve instruction. Sound contradictory? Actually it is not. Federal authority with regional fiscal management, leaving the day to day operation of the school to the site.

Note, INSTRUCTION is the point, not a new "fix it" play every few years. A common core of curriculum can only be done by federal authority. And local school board and state control only leads to more segregation and unequal opportunities. And finally, abolish Charter Schools...put magnet schools into all districts to afford the school choice that will drive instructional improvement. Call them Charter Schools if you like, but they would be administered by the District they were in. Too often Charter Schools have been a haven for the unscrupulous. 

Sounds like a typical liberal solution.. Not really, it just approximates the approach most every other governmental system in the world has long since adopted. Our local, provincial approach, heavily politicized on all levels, is the problem.....NOT the solution...

Just Like 1932

I offered this response to an article by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER who was decrying how conservatism is dying because of the civil war in its ranks:

You are finally beginning to realize that conservatism is dying, or is almost dead.  It is dying for two reasons:  1.  Ideological purity that is its mainstay (no tax pledges) rushes headlong into the reality of a middle class that is bleeding out.  Flint Michigan is a telling example.  The numbers of people in desperate need are increasing every day as the gap between rich and poor affects even the most strident conservative.  This is particularly true of senior citizen conservatives who are watching in horror as they have to keep working to supports their children and grandchildren who are unemployed.  Couple this with an epidemic of dementia that leaches life savings away.  

What we are seeing is wealth draining out of the middle class; in short, they are bleeding out in front of our eyes.

This runs headlong into a conservative philosophy that allows no tax increases and as you so eloquently declare is the welfare state gone bad.

2.  Except we need the welfare state.  The conservative core principle is that self reliance and Liberty is essential to a vital economy.  This relies on opportunity for those who are willing to work hard and succeed.  Savings from this work ethic will then lead to a secure retirement and happiness.

This is not happening.  Almost all of my senior citizen friends (I am in my late 60s) are quitting the golf course to take part time work, or having their children live with them because they are out of work.  This is going on everywhere.

And they turn to Trump, who makes them feel good, gives them platitudes that in the end mean nothing (illegal immigration is not the culprit in job loss).  Other pretenders who became cost cutting austerity governors have promised the Reagan approach would lessen the pain.  It only made it worse!

I still think Flint Michigan is a textbook case of conservatism not fitting the modern economic paradigm. Neither, I would argue does traditional liberalism.  The ACA is a vivid example.  Private medical insurance as a model to reform medical care for all is not getting it, as rates go up.  A single payer looks better all the time, and that would be the democratic socialism you talk about.

In short, the answers will be difficult and painful to find.  The answers may indeed NOT EXIST!  

There are simply too many losers in today's global economy.  How we deal with this, given our gridlock in Congress, will determine whether our Republic will survive as a democracy.

What we are seeing in the Republican Party is the utter and complete failure of conservatism to even approach modern economic reality.  Flint Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, all conservative "reformist" states are bleeding out right now.

And the greying population keeps electing conservatives who promise the standard cut taxes and spending will fix it all, and it doesn't work over and over again.

The austerity simplistic answer does not work in a global economy.  It doesn't work in socialist democracies either; witness Ireland and Greece.  

Reagan's approach does not work in a global economy.  His simple approach, to cut the marginal tax rate of 90% to like 30% worked to stimulate the economy in 1980, but we did not have a global economy in 1980.  Jobs that have gone overseas will not come back no matter how much you cut taxes.

What results is less revenue for states and that means cuts to social welfare programs that are more and more needed by the white middle class elderly.  

The middle class was gutted by the recession of 2008, retirement funds were lost, housing valuation plummeted.  And they have not caught up.  Add this to the dementia crisis that drains retirement savings and eliminates inheritances for adult children and you have the perfect storm.

Dementia is a ticking time bomb in the baby boom generation that could plunge us into a Great Depression with no end.  

That is why the Republican Party is at war with itself.  That is why the Democratic Party is seeing Bernie surge.  People are scared and bewildered.

Just like 1932!

Beware Those Who Protest Too Much

Beware of those who protest too much!  

 

Ranching and logging interests have, in Northern California particularly, loved to complain about the bad ole Federal Government and its treatment of "public lands". 

 

The "public lands" they are complaining about are national forests, game preserves and BLM lands that private interests desperately want to get their hands on to "develop"; i.e. plunder.   

 

Up until about 1900 the private interests in this country had their way with practically everything. And the bison herds were massacred, the Native Americans likewise, and forests and mining plundering went on at a never ending pace.

 

In Northern California this resulted in watershed disaster, the birth of the Central Valley Project and reclamation projects aimed at repairing a century of mis-use.  The San Francisco Bay, if mining interests would not have been stopped, was filling up with sediment and would have ceased to be a viable port; no more San Francisco Bay!   

 

That is how bad the watershed damage was during from 1849 to 1910.  

 

After WWII there was a housing boom that virtually cut all the old growth forests of America down.  The only old growth timber left was in national forests and other preserves that Teddie Roosevelt established in the early 1900s.

 

And from 1940 to 1980 loggers attempted to cut even those areas down.

 

Clear cutting was used extensively in Northern California because it was very profitable and the mountainous terrain made "scientific logging" difficult. I have even had some argue with me that clear cutting is scientific logging!   

 

I remember as a child going for rides through the forests and marveling about the deep growth of trees seemingly endless against the sky.

 

What I didn't know was the logging companies purposefully left strips of timber along all the highways, giving the impression that the deep forest still existed.  In fact, when viewed from the air, the companies had disingenuously created corridors of trees lining the highways, leaving thousands of acres of clear cut where motorists could not see them.  

 

If you doubt this, google Hwy 44 in Northern California on Google Earth and look at the highway from space...you will see thousands of acres of clear cut...these areas were logged over twenty years ago!

 

In short they lied and deceived and cut all the damn trees down.

 

And when they ran out of private land timber, they turned on public lands, just like the protestors in Oregon are now demanding access to public reserve lands.

 

But his time the American public was on to them, and through a burst of new respect for what was left of wild lands in America, stopped the plundering.

 

So, the logging interests took their ball and went home. They purposefully moved operations overseas, putting cut timber on barges and shipping it overseas for milling in Asia.  They also automated the plants that still existed, laying off thousands.   In short they created the lie that it was the government's fault for running out of timber when it THEIR fault. They shut down plants prematurely like petulant children putting all the blame on the government.   

 

And Northern California suffered immensely.  Men and women who had devoted their entire working lives to the logging industry were laid off, many times just before their retirement dates; leaving long term employees with nothing save their social security.  Just to add to the angst wood products industries killed pensions for everybody, leaving thousands who earned them with nothing.

 

The logging companies blamed the federal government for their years of deceit; and the public bought it.

 

Today in Northern California you can still get hurt if you point these facts out to former loggers.  They blame the Democrats and the environmentalists for their unemployment and poverty.  The Democratic Party has almost ceased to exist in what was a former bastion of working class liberalism.  Former union men vote Republican with the mistaken belief that it is the Democrats fault.  

 

In point of fact, the logging companies are to blame for their predatory and disingenuous behavior that over logged the land and then ruthlessly blamed the government for the whole thing.  It is a huge con job!  

 

Ranchers joined in this con, blaming the federal government for not allowing them to have jurisdiction over public lands, that many of them were grazing their cattle on for ridiculously low leases from the same federal government they professed hatred for.  In short they wanted their cake and eat it too.

 

And the public bought most of this con as well.  Ranchers and logging interests blame the federal government for everything.  And it seems to be working, unless you dig a little into the facts.

 

Look, the reason the logging industry tanked in the 1980s was clear cutting; they cut down all the private land timber then wanted to cut down all the public land timber as well.  And today, what you hear is the federal government is "mismanaging public timber whenever there is a fire". The logging interests incredibly say "trust us" we will "scientifically log" public lands if only the government lets us do it...

 

These are the same guys who clear cut almost all the private timber down in the United States, hid the damage behind walls of trees around highways, then laid off thousands in an effort to force the government to give them the rest of the old growth forests.

 

A similar reason the ranchers are angry is they want to overgraze lands that they barely pay for, or they want to purchase public lands so they can use the mining rights for fracking.

 

Either way, it is private interests plundering the remaining publicly owned land in the United States for selfish private interests whose history, if you look at it fairly, if full of deceit and greed.

 

Don't buy it, they are lying to all of us for their own selfish gain!