Truxit

Perhaps it is my own limited understanding of the British political system, or perhaps not appreciating the British mentality, but I have yet to comprehend why a non-binding referendum, which resulted in an essentially even split, couldn’t be revisited.  

It is generally accepted that pre-referendum polling gave the Brits a false sense of the outcome and, therefore, affected negatively the non-“Brexit” vote tally (sound familiar?).  Still, Parliament had to provide an official vote to carry out the supposed “will” of the people as reflected in the referendum. Nothing was etched in stone.

They (Parliament) chose to ignore the reality that more than half of their nation did not want to leave the EU. Likely it was significantly more.

They probably should have initially required something like a 60% margin to effect a “Brexit” from the EU instead of a simple majority vote.  Yet they weren’t bound by lack of foresight.  They could have started a second referendum effort. Now here they are, plowing ahead like lemmings trying desperately to get to the sea.

We in the USA are not as fortunate as the British when it comes to making bonehead mistakes on a national scale. The stability that our Constitution affords us by strict guidelines also hobbles the avenues of repairing those mistakes in a fashion that doesn’t require nationwide radical surgery.

As a Nation we need to step back to see what’s happening in America. Not back into the stratosphere to view ourselves like so many confused ant colonies. Just far enough not to be bogged down in the details of Donald Trump’s confounded presidency and the obvious efforts to find some way to get him out.

Donald Trump does have his supporters.  However, the number of them that fit his definition (those that would stand by him as he pulled out his Smith & Wesson and shot that Ohio tourist who was checking out the stores on 5^th Avenue) is not politically significant.  Bizarre…yes, but politically relevant…no.  Republican leaders don’t seem to understand that.

The significant majority of Americans either knows or senses that we, as the body politic of the most powerful nation on earth (both economically and militarily) made a colossal boo-boo. The reasons at this point are only valuable for the next Presidential election cycle. The question is what do we do now?

The complexity of that mistake is exacerbated by the rest of the Federal Government (primarily the Republican majority in power) vying to seek out their own self-interest under the circumstances, even if it conflicts with the obvious.  Communications in this digital age of the who and why is so voluminous and so saturated with bias that unless something extraordinarily clear is uncovered (i.e. indisputable crimes) the political class will likely resolve nothing.

Do not expect impeachment or a functioning Federal Government. Neither those who find advantage in Trump continuing in Office nor those who want him out will do anything more than to make us all float helplessly in muddy waters.

So what can we do?

Stepping back away from the minutiae, we need to begin our own Truxit. Given the restrictions of our Constitution, it will need to be a nearly four year effort done in two major steps. First, the neutralizing of Donald trump, like sour cream on a hot wing. And second, his removal from office, which will likely be his decision not to seek reelection, making him a lame duck President in two years.

This can be done simply by voting in Congressional Democrats, giving them the majority in both the House and Senate following the 2018 elections. Forget about the candidate…vote the Party.

No, my Conservative friends, the world will not come to an end. However, for the remainder of Trump’s Presidency we will have balance. The appetite for stability will win out over the binge consuming of confusion. The war over Conservative vs. Liberal can start all over again in 2020, but at least we will have some reason to believe it will be underwritten with competency.

 Truxit needs to be a clarion call for all but the blood thirsty 5^th Avenue spectators.  Let’s show the British what we can do.

Score Another for Putin

‘Why’ has continually been the unstated question.

The news coverage on the Russian intervention into the 2016 US Presidential election and its possible connections to the Trump campaign has blanketed the Nation for months and the end is nowhere in sight. However, acceptable reasons for the Russian intervention have been absent.

Rather than speculate on a purpose for the political “attack” by Russia, the reason for Russia’s foreign policy has been discounted as business as usual.  1960s logic such as Russia is our enemy, Putin is evil, or why wouldn’t they (?) answer nothing.

Also to suggest that Putin merely wanted to undermine Clinton’s expected Presidency understates the motives of an authoritarian government in power for seventeen years. A handicapped Clinton might have been solace, but no prize. Now Trump…he was a prize!

Putin (et al) did not decide to cyber attack the US election, nor infiltrate Trump and his inner circle to gain “assets” as part of some grand scheme to ultimately befriend the US. The sensibility of such an assumption within the context of 200 years of western history defies logic.

Even a chipmunk brain like Trump’s would eventually be forced to understand that, other than cooperation regarding nuclear weapons, the US has nothing to gain from building a relationship with a country that is top-down corrupt. Russia is tiny relative to the US (see Pennyfound: http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2017/01/manchurian-candidate.html ).

Conversely, Russia has little to gain from the US. So what is Putin’s long-term objective?

Russia today is the product of unregulated capitalism injected into a totalitarian government. The net result has been the systematic extraction of limited wealth held by the people and government into the hands of a few (popularly known as the Russian Oligarchs). Since Putin’s election in 2000, they have succumbed to Putin’s KGB-style of governance.  By using raw fear (of violence, disenfranchisement, or both), Putin has forced the Russian Oligarchy to give up political power (and a few $billion for himself) in exchange for safety.

When Jared Kushner or the Trump boys interact with Russian billionaires (i.e. Russian Oligarchs without political power) they are effectively dealing with V. Putin. Trump (et.al.), dealing for years in the smoke filled backroom world of real estate finance and thinking he was running with the big Russian wolfhounds, has probably been, as stated by former CIA Director John Brennan, on a path to treason without even knowing it.  

Russia’s interests don’t lie with the US, they lie with Europe. Putin knows that further secure advancement of his Country and his own power (and wealth) is in Russia having control over Eastern Europe. The great anathema for him is an expanded European Union and NATO. His foreign policy to date makes no bones about his desires. Georgia and Ukraine (including the Crimea) are obvious first steps.

The United States has been a critical adhesive in European unity for more than 60 years. Without it the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe might not have been broken when it did.

Putin is smart enough to know (and Trump dumb enough not to know) that by weakening that relationship, he hopes to find that taking aggressive actions in Eastern Europe might be met by only token resistance.  Even just the threat of expansion could equate to economic leverage for Russia over European natural resource markets or in relieving sanctions.

Trump has presented himself as no fan of the Western European nations and now European leaders are openly distancing themselves from Trump’s America.  Putin is scoring points and Trump doesn’t even know he’s out on the court.

Even with a Trump Presidency (and before the conclusion of Russian investigations) these two actions could help turn things around:

• The US Congress should pass a joint resolution supporting the European Union on both economic and territorial grounds.
• The damned stupid Brits (like the damned stupid American electorate?) should have a second Brexit referendum (the first was non-binding) to confirm the first, even if they required a 60% majority to change course.

In the interim, Americans need to flip Congress in 2018. It is so important!

Fox & Fiends

If in trying to nail something down you keep hitting your fingers with the hammer it’s time to give it up.

I have been diligently watching Fox & Friends weekday mornings for three reasons; first, to get a different prospective on the previous day’s political events, second, because our President has publicly declared it to be his news source of choice, and, third, because a significant majority of self-defined “Conservatives” view it as true information.

I have to stop…my fingers are all swollen.

It isn’t simply that I disagree with most of the premises they base their reporting on. I do, but that’s precisely why I’ve been following Fox News. I have watched a variety of other Fox News programs as well.

I’ve been troubled why I am someone who always thought of himself as a centrist finding myself pushed further and further to the Left. So I assumed I was falling prey to confirmation bias and I thought an ample dose of Fox News would even things out…at least a bit.

Instead what I’ve discovered is that Fox News generally, and Fox & Friends specifically, completely distorts the news they cover.  They do this by grossly altering conclusions by careful editing.  Oh sure, you knew that already?  No, you only assumed it.

 I have determined the “gross” part of this undermining intention of Fox News by using my DVR to capture pieces of news (notably interviews and testimonies) compare them to other news sources and then compare those to online transcripts.

Fox News is a travesty and moral crime upon the American Public.  I am disgusted.  

Although competent news persons have been jumping the Fox ship with abandon, it hasn’t resulted in any change of course for the producers and directors of that news network. Nor has the obvious fiddling with either the truth or multiple scandals had any affect.  

The only pressure to bear should be on any remaining actual TV journalists (Wallace, Baier, Smith e.g.), who could more effectively deliver a Conservative view not buried in bullshit if they joined those who have already left. Of course, that would require they place integrity on equal footing with money.

I have to assume that Rupert Murdock and company continue to allow the manipulation of reality because it is so tied up in the ratings (and associated dollars). They appear to have a monopoly on self-interested, ignorant (by choice) white Americans. It is just so sad and appalling that such a large sub-set of this Nation can be so easily exploited as to let this happen.

Other cable news sources (MSNBC, CNN e.g.) are not innocent of bias or intent. But nothing compares even remotely with Fox News. There should be a picket line at their studios on the Ave of the Americas 12 hours a day, 7 days a week…to replicate a funeral dirge for the death of American truth.

Impeach: Not a Low Hanging Fruit

The “friends” down at Fox Cable News have had a point. It does happen.

They have implied or inferred directly that the rest of US news media has been in the midst of a feeding frenzy. Pieces of Donald Trump are being carved off (mostly by Trump himself) and being tossed in the water. The desire for more and bigger chunks of the Donald have become so compelling that judgment is becoming warped.

 This is even true of journalists with laudable reputations for objectivity. Those who see Trump’s clumsy attempts at governing as de facto proof of his scurrilous nature became apoplectic as a result of recent events, beginning with the Comey firing.

Take the constant use of the crime Obstruction of Justice. It has been used to describe Trump’s firing of Comey, an action he took which itself violates no law. It is the intent to stop the Russian investigation, they say, that satisfies the scrutiny of Trump, and his intent was just so blatant…maybe too blatant.  

Trump literally admitted it in a TV interview, had his Deputy Press Secretary proclaim it, requested it of the Director of the FBI (on multiple occasions), and bragged about it to the minister of a hostile foreign nation. Can the red meat get any juicier for the frenzied sharks below?

It is fools flesh for the predators. They might as well be chomping into old tires.

It will not be hard for Trump (and his more grounded advisors) to argue that he fired Comey precisely because he wanted a more thorough investigation of the Russians and the exoneration of the Trump presidential campaign. The truth need not apply. Conjecture is just that.

Without physical proof of intent the Republicans will never move a finger toward impeachment for fear of alienating themselves from the Trump faithful.  It has always been reasonably argued that Nixon would never have had to resign or face impeachment if the tapes had not existed.

It won’t matter if Trump continues to trash good people, let slip National secrets, or any other bone-headed actions. As long as he can move a pen across a piece of paper he will remain GOP strong, or so Republican leaders think. But that’s the real danger.

Donald Trump is the Chevy Vega of politicians.  It didn’t matter that the Vega, introduced in 1970, had a host of bad technical reviews, blew rings like popcorn from its ill-conceived aluminum engine, and virtually rusted on the showroom floor.  It was successfully marketed as the answer to a gas starved nation.  Like Trump, what the Vega buyers got should have been a surprise to none of them. The Vega lasted eight years (1970-1977) before the Nation finally figured it out.

We can’t wait eight years, or even four to address the problem.

It is possible that the complexities of Trump’s business world, with all the illicit transactions common among people of Trump’s breed, will surface and have him undone. However, the transactions by themselves would take years to confirm his participation in illegal activity.  You would need people to turn on him and testify. Possible, but again it is no low hanging fruit.

The best approach is to begin to speak to the obvious. Trump’s mental capacity to govern needs to part of the public debate (see this blog at http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2017/05/underneath-cracks.html ).  If he continues to decline, evidenced by paranoid behavior, increasingly erratic communications, and further isolation then pressing Mike Pence, his chief of staff, and Congress to take action under Article 25 Section 4 of the Constitution is in order.

The next best result is to install a Democrat majority in both the House and the Senate in 2018 to neutralize the Executive Branch, which is about to snap in the unsuppressed wind that is Donald Trump.

Even the owners of Chevy Vegas got rid of them when they became obviously unsafe to drive. The Constitutionally empowered leaders of this Nation should do no less.

Underneath the Cracks

Donald Trump is ill.  This blog and a few other sites have argued that the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder from a distance, a practice effectively banned after the 1964 Presidential election, needs to be constructively reconsidered.  What we are seeing evolve before our eyes is the progression of a high profiled individual with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) descending into a state of paranoia.

Running for a political office may top a list of ideal pursuits for someone with a NPD, however performing in that office, especially as a President, may be the worst possible position for someone with a NPD to hold.

It is both terrifying and sad simultaneously, but in no case should sympathy for the victim (Trump) be the primary response.  Nor should expressing diagnosis be restricted. This is the President of the United States and protection of the Office (dare I say it) trumps everything else, including the President himself.

There is no point in recounting the events that began Tuesday (May 9th) as jaw dropping news is surfacing so fast that the news media is having difficulty catching its breath. Watching it is like watching a pinball in action, you barely have time to consider a bell or buzz or light before the ball streaks across the table to set off another. Certainly you have no ability to look up and assess the score.

It is worth considering what to expect next in order to be prepared to formulate a reaction and reduce the shock.

As predicted in this blog, the Trump Presidency was destined to be opaque, logically one of the most opaque in history. Of course, that could be true of anyone who fashions himself an authoritarian leader (even in a democracy). However, Trump’s NPD exacerbates his need to continually isolate himself from opinion that contradicts his personal “reality”.

He cannot accept responsibility for anything that doesn’t exact a laudatory response. Further, he cannot express his opinion or observations in any way that doesn’t include superlatives or hyperbole. 

It isn’t just quirky behavior why Trump persistently adds adjectives such as the most, the greatest ever, and unbelievable (among many others) to describe even the most mundane of aspects of life (chocolate cake e.g.). He is expressing his “unique” ability to know more than the receiver of that information.

That same behavior accounts for the knee jerk responses he makes without any consideration of the consequences.  It isn’t that he doesn’t believe there are consequences; it is simply that because his opinion is flawless (to him) then the events that result from his words or actions are also without flaw. Any contradictory responses from any source (internal or external) are, in his world, wrong or even corrupt…big league. Think crowd size, Jersey City Muslims, or wire tapping.

This is not a choice for him, nor is it some contrived scheme on his part. In fact, it could be argued that he’s not lying, which implies intent. The man has a NPD, and it explains everything.  It also provides a clear window to view the oncoming storm.

The high visibility and high content nature of the American Presidency will become debilitating for The Donald. Out of necessity he will need to isolate himself from the Press (i.e. the American people), and his circle of insiders will continue to shrink.  It isn’t loyalty he seeks (needs), it’s receipt of positive affect, which he’ll happily take from anyone, friend and foe alike.

As he cannot mentally incorporate his own fallibility into the whirlwind which is his Administration, he will become more sullen and more erratic in his communications (as if you thought that possible).

It will consume the running of the Federal Government. The Republicans may have had a sigh of relief that the newly appointed Special Counsel is proceeding as a criminal investigation. That will take much (if not all) of evolving events out of the public arena, but no matter. Trump will continue to spiral toward characteristics associated with paranoia and the spectacle will continue.

I am disturbed by the media, the events as they are presented, and their lack of cojones to address Trump’s mental capacity.  It’s as if the news persons of America are watching a tornado passing but only reporting the various objects they see twisting in the air: …we are now seeing a Chevy Camero missing its side view mirror, there’s a cow looking unfed, there’s a loblolly pine losing its bark, there’s a Kenmore fridge with food spilling out, and so forth.  We really never hear about the damned cyclone, and, astonishingly, they’re constantly surprised with each new object they see.

A Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a real and relatively rare mental condition.  It resides at the end of a spectrum of narcissistic behavior in which all individuals are on. Donald Trump may be removed from Office by impeachment and Senate conviction as a result of his confounded incompetence and his financial complexities, but that would take a painfully long time to accomplish.

The proper place to remove Trump from office is Article 25 section 4 of the Constitution to create the least anxiety upon the Nation. However, that cannot happen until the nature of Trump’s mental condition merits open discussion.

Just Add Water

Some of our relatives passing through from the beach stopped for an overnight respite.  They left with us some consumables not suitable to continue the journey.  Among those items was a half-gallon bottle of Mott’s apple juice “beverage”.  It was labeled for “tots”; however since they had no “tots” with them the appeal must have been the 40% less sugar prominently shown on the container. Understandable, but...

When I later tried some after they were gone, the taste encouraged me to investigate further. What Mott’s did to achieve their sugar (and calorie) reduction was simply to add (40%) more water to the reconstituted apple juice, which they proudly explained on the back label. They also, as an aside, added a premium price.

This, of course, begs the question; why doesn’t the consumer buy the less expensive 100% apple juice and just add their own water, getting more for less?  Why are so many people willing to accept a explanation when it blatantly works against their own best interest? There is a lesson in here and I couldn’t help but find it Trump related.

Last week Trump unveiled his much anticipated “tax plan”.  I worked in the tax field for 32 years and this one was different.

Every Administrative proposal for a new tax bill has looked like a novelette, which might still appear modest next to the 75,000 page US Tax Code (not counting regulations).  Trump’s was one page, double spaced with 13 lines of proposed changes, the rest being general intent and hyperbole.  Even then, with all its vagueness, it still made me gasp.

One reason I was so taken aback was that earlier in the day a fine, conservative friend of mine had come up to me and said “did you see how Trump’s going to lower our Taxes…how do you like that!?!”.

Now I’m confident he hadn’t read the Trump tax page, rather he probably heard discussion on talk radio or some other Conservative media source. Still, after seeing what our President had presented, I couldn’t get my friend’s sense of glee out of my mind.  I couldn’t help but see him holding up that bottle of Mott’s saying “Oh Wow…look!! Apple juice AND 40% less sugar!!!”

Who’s to blame, the Administration or the eagerly duped taxpayer?  I find myself angry at both. Yes…angry, which is something I don’t like to be.

Explaining taxes is very tough. Trying to explain (to name a few proposals) that taxing S Corporations at 15% benefits ordinary individuals unequally and is a colossal windfall for the very rich (like Trump, who manage their businesses as private enterprises), or that there is no such thing as “Death Taxes” (rather Transfer Taxes - Estate and Gift - that only affect the very wealthy), or that retaining the mortgage interest deduction while eliminating other itemized deductions and raising the standard deduction primarily benefits those people owning mega-mansions would probably result in blank stares and head scratching.

Instead of seeking to understand, Conservative taxpayers (who may also be socially Liberal) will eagerly shoot themselves in the feet because they have bought, swallowed, and digested the argument that taxes, per se, are bad…period.

Let me speak to that. You believe that taxes are bad because you think they only benefit some gargantuan government that does little good for anyone and always seeks to repress the productive individuals in our society.  Yes?  Let me point out that the size of government(s) is what it is at any given time and that in a free, relatively democratic nation you (you damned fool) ARE the Government.

You view taxes as if you lived in a feudal culture where the Lord’s henchmen collected from you daily. The fact is that in a dynamic economy the Lords don’t collect their treasures from you by taxing; they accumulate the wealth made possible by a free, large, and expensive Nation and make you pay for it, either directly or through debt. Your debt!!

The only thing they’re afraid of is that you might figure it out - that taxes are potentially the great equalizer. 

Through wealth redistribution we could fund those aspects of the economy that benefit growth, infrastructure and technology e.g. (see http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2016/12/why-you-should-care.html).  Instead you vote as requested, to exempt the mega wealthy from possibly paying back a large portion of that wealth, preferring to allow them even greater advantage with each tax bill.

You willingly allow them to add water to your apple juice and somehow feel you should pay them for it. 

Come on Conservative America. You may be dumb, but you’re not completely stupid. Read the damned labels.  Allow taxation on those who can pay it and still remain wealthy.  Hang Grover Norquist in effigy.  It will create jobs by taking stagnant wealth and putting it to work. It will curb and reduce debt. It complements the fiscal responsibility you’ve always advocated.

The battle should be on what we are going to spend America’s income on, not where it’s coming from.  

The Lonely Center

Too often I’m saddened to leave an encounter with one or more of my Conservative friends without having some discussion about public issues.  On occasion one of them might preface conversation by declaring the doors to those topics closed.  Maybe it’s with some good reason. Experience has shown that anger is often the first by-product of sharing opinion.

There was a time (in my lifetime - maybe even in the lifetime of my dog!!) when public issues were mostly just that – public. People were less inclined to take a difference of opinion as a personal attack.  It wasn’t that heated exchange was not possible or opinion stubbornly held, but it wasn’t so defining as to personality or character.

There was also a great center where lots of folks had blended values. Certain socially “liberal” adherence combined with fiscal “conservatism”, for example.  Or perhaps relatively strict religious ethics combined with progressive entitlements.

This blend of opinion was not due to a blatant disregard for natural law or well being, but simply recognition that human beings are essentially flawed and that knowledge is often short on the facts or tardy in the understanding of evolving history.  The net result of this recognition (with interaction) can be political self-deprecation and change. Hopefully, it was change for the better.

Currently change has been supplanted by a unique kind of confrontation and it lives in the extreme ends of the political/social spectrum.  Unfortunately the extreme ends, fed by confirmation bias (an “echo” phenomenon), have been growing toward the center until the center is becoming a sparsely populated and lonely place, indeed.

As I have written several times in this blog, I peg the beginning of this current socio-political schism with the 1987 “repeal” of the Fairness Doctrine. It was a 39 year old policy doctrine of the FCC which required all licensed media to broadcast both sides of controversial issues.  It immerged out of WWII and the realization that limiting opinion was critical to the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe.

After Ronald Reagan ordered its repeal, the Democratic Congress immediately passed a law to make it permanent, but it was successfully vetoed by Reagan. Rush Limbaugh (et al) emerged from his slimy cocoon less than a year later.

No one could or would foresee the speed of communication that would transpire over the next 3 decades and its impact on bias reporting. Therefore no one in power foresaw the echo chambers that have come to define early 21^st century America.

Donald Trump is entirely the product of this echo-mania.  The biases that grew exponentially during the years from Reagan to Obama exploded like an algae bloom in 2015. Even though Trump committed or said many deleterious things (any one of which would have torpedoed a Presidential candidacy in the past) it didn’t make any difference.  His Presidency and Administration, as we painfully live through, are an obvious result of voters so profoundly bias that his antics are nothing more than white noise.

But apart from surviving Trump, how do we bring back the center and, more importantly, bring back civil discussion to public issues? Lip service has been given by both sides of the confrontation. They usually say we need to focus on those things we have in common.  It’s unfortunate that lip service to date has not been extended to advocacy

As was tragically obvious in the 1930s & 1940s and as we can see around the world today, authoritarian régimes have one important thing in common and a counter to successful democracies. They control the dissemination of mass communications and discredit (if not outright suppress) competing viewpoints. There is nothing new or magical in the understanding of that reality.

What is less obvious is the need Authoritarian governments have to thrive is to be planted in societies that are hardened and inflexible in their respective political philosophies. Pitting one side against another is the “weed and feed” aspect of echo-mania, liberally spread by Authoritarian leaders.

The United States is not succumbing to a 20^th century style of Totalitarianism. Not yet anyway. However, the embracing of those social divisions by Republican power brokers to be a bulwark against their fear of the “masses” is quite real.

They use bias communication to make use of “immigrants”, “socialists”,  “abortionists”, “environmentalists”, gun control activists, “atheists”(or anyone non-Christian), and “Liberals” in general as potential threats against national “safety” and American “ideals”.  In reality it is simply manipulation to retain power. If you don’t believe me, tune your radio to AM.

If leaders really wanted to end division they would reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (or something like it) as law. It would subject opinion to the light of day and make all politicians question just who to pander to for votes. Opponents to such a law would argue it was an infringement of “freedom”.  Freedom for them is to remain deep in their dark, cavernous echo-chambers like the roaches they are.

A Dirty Nation

One of those little memories I involuntarily keep that pops up infrequently is a snippet of a conversation I had with a fine friend four decades ago. He commented to me that his younger brother actually believed his car ran better after he washed it. Despite a chuckle we shared, my laugh faded quickly to silence.  The reason was because I frankly felt the same as his brother. Mind you it was what I felt, not what I believed.

Conversely and by definition, driving around in a filthy car could (or should) evoke a sense of unsatisfactory performance or pending disrepair.

Does my car run better because it’s cleaner? If my focus due to snappy appearance is on the positive nature of what I’m experiencing then, at least for me, the answer is – (probably) yes. It is a mind game we play that requires no intellect, yet the impact on real world consequences can be profound.  I’m not talking about the slight boost to confidence caused by, say, a new pair of shoes or considering your improved net worth due to a thick, freshly mowed lawn. 

The social framework of an entire nation can be positively or adversely affected by how we view foundational aspects of that framework. Right now the Trump Administration specifically and the Republican Party generally are throwing mud all over one of our classic vehicles of national success and expecting that we will all continue to feel it is purring like a kitten.

I have written for this blog several times my strong belief that of the three branches of US government the Judiciary is the most important.  Although many (or most?) don’t see it, it is also the most fragile.  The strength of the Judiciary in the United States, more over the Judiciary in any nation or society, is totally dependent on how we, as the people of this nation, feel about it. We take those feelings and apply them to the Judiciary as either trust or distrust.

This reality is without regard to our Constitution.  Every banana republic has a constitution, but a constitution is not worth a poop if no one (or simply the most powerful) pays it much heed.

It is easy to observe the consequences of a distrusted judiciary in other nations. Whether the dirt that reigns upon a court system is caused by corruption, bribery, intimidation, propaganda, or any number of other factors the resulting penalty to those affected by that system is a decline in the rule of law. The result is government rule by force, i.e. fear.

We not only see this in other nations, but directly consider it when we travel to places where we cannot be confident that our safety is secured by a foundationally strong court system.  A person might have pause to consider the outcome of being a crime victim or falsely accused in Turkey, Algeria, Cameroon, Burma, or Paraguay. Even more modern systems such as in Italy or Brazil can suspend comfort.

Even though the American Judiciary is not flawless, nearly 250 years of general consistency and independence has allowed us to take it for granted. The flaws that occasionally surface are of individual actions that are self-serving, usually at a local level; a rogue Judge Roy Bean in a Mississippi county, for example, especially as it is affected by local prejudices.

However, the people of this Nation hold the Judiciary so sacrosanct that any corruption held to the light of day cannot hold. The fact that we frequently hear politicians howl over decisions made by the Courts is testimony to its independence.

Critical to the underlying foundation of this Judiciary is the Constitutional processes that form its body.  When Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, the Republican Senate majority made an extraordinary decision.  They chose to make the seating of a Supreme Court Justice subservient to the tides created by a political election.  Their obvious political intensions were hardly masked by their “let the people decide” justification.  Don’t insult me.

Whether intentional or unwitting, the “Founding Fathers” designed the Judiciary to specifically remove it from the political arena.  It seems if Mitch McConnell had his way we would elect nationally Supreme Court justices with all the political bullshit that would accompany such elections.  Try to imagine a Donald Trump as a Supreme Court Justice for life.  McConnell and the Senate Republicans did more than just roll the dice to stop Merritt Garland from a Senate confirmation in favor of their own choice, they crapped all over the hood of the Judiciary.

It is critical at this point that there is bipartisan participation in the choice of a Supreme Court justice.  Maintaining a 60 vote minimum is one way to accomplish that goal.  Doing so would clean the dirt created by McConnell and his supporters.  Aside from being the final arbiter for all legal decisions in this country, the Supreme Court represents what the American Judiciary stands for.  The day we accept a standard of filth in the running of that Court is the beginning of the breakdown of America’s most cherished institution.

Damned the Torpedoes

Buckle up.

In response to a provocative missile launch yesterday by North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reiterated in staccato political speak that we are no longer interested in diplomacy in dealing with the North Koreans.  Of course we have not had diplomatic relations with North Korea for decades. However, as everyone knows, the diplomacy aspect of the Korean Peninsula problem is with the Chinese.

So what does it mean? A proclamation that we (the US) will no longer "talk about North Korea" is effectively announcing the planning of military action.

The likelihood that this posturing will lead to actual military conflict is enhanced by a President who is mentally obsessed with short-term popularity. He is fully aware, for example, that waning opinion of George W. Bush in 2001 was reversed by 9/11 and continued to rise dramatically up to Bush's "mission accomplished" speech on the USS Lincoln in March 2003.  You know the rest of the story. I don’t believe Trump cares about the rest of the story.

There is good argument that increased diplomatic pressure on the Chinese, to the point of threatening economic relations between the US and China (which nether country wants), is in order to compel China to neutralize North Korea. This would include allowing the Chinese to use military measures over the North Koreans. However, the negative global aspects of Trump/Tillerson starting a unilateral hot war on the Korean Peninsula are profound.

American leadership today in comprised of self-serving amateurs. Don't be surprised if their personal interests guide our Ship of State directly toward oncoming torpedoes.

Another Death in Vietnam

My brother Bobby was killed in Vietnam. We didn’t know it at the time, for that matter nether did he. It took 43 years for the herbicide that entered his body at age 21 to end his life. The Agent Orange causing the particular lymphoma that killed him was just as reliable as the bullets, bombs, accidents, and illnesses that took the lives of the 58,220 Americans that were recorded as dead “in-country” during that military engagement.

There’s undoubtedly no accounting of what the real number of Americans lost was, any more than the incomprehensible number of non-Americans who died with them and since. There’s also no telling when it will end.

Lately I am weighted with pangs of responsibility in realizing I am of the last generation of Americans to remember firsthand what we as a nation were experiencing at that time, roughly between the years 1965-1972. What should I be sharing…what should I just forget?

The historical experience of World War II was quite different, as I was taught by my father’s generation and in countless stories and films.  There was near total engagement by the American population. Even with carnage that pales all military conflicts that have followed; the unification toward a common goal resulted in a remembrance that is mostly Romantic. The somewhat unique American post-war euphoria that resulted from that Romance is the “Great” in Donald Trump’s “Great Again”.

Vietnam was essentially its antithesis.  It was ill-conceived, non-transparent, over-weighted in politics, ultimately divisive, and too easy to discount and disregard.  If it weren’t for the existence of a draft carried over from WWII and Korea, the whole conflict might have been relegated to second page news and its opposition might have more resembled our recent fiasco in Iraq.

Thankfully the lessons it left are not clouded in Romance and their relevance has never been more important than they are today in Trump’s America.

What I remember from the Vietnam War era and how it relates to 21^st century America is not the foolish ideological tools that were used by equally foolish leaders to begin and sustain the conflict. What I’m recalling is how the nation reacted to that foolishness daily and why. Such was the national response to the War that lunacy became lucid and, therefore, insulated from reason.

The presentation of the Vietnam War to the American people was insidious.  It started slowly, utilizing the undercurrent of manufactured fear of Communism to justify deaths and injuries.  Long before the devastation of the Conflict reached its height, the bullshit of falling dominos to the “Red Peril” vanished. It simply became a “them vs. us”.

News reporting on the War basically folded into the routine of people’s lives.  There was little to report daily other than the number of dead and wounded, and where in that little country it occurred. In 1968, an average of 46 US soldiers were killed every day, with 6 to 8 times that many wounded or injured…every day. The Pentagon and the White House released whatever they could to make it sound acceptable. The most common was to list North Vietnamese (and Vietcong) killed and wounded in numbers so large the accounting was not believable. But few expressed skepticism and it was hardly questioned.

You see, as a Nation, we got used to it. Protesting was considered unpatriotic and didn’t really take hold among ordinary Americans until the 5^th year of the War. Nixon was elected in 1968 by the “silent majority”.  Like Iraq, if people didn’t have someone in the conflict the news of the War was just and only that. The current day's news made yesterday's vanish into desert air.

Donald Trump has not (yet) drawn us into an extended military conflict, thankfully. His “playful” attitude regarding nuclear weapons gives pause, but for now the lesson of Vietnam doesn’t actually relate to how we are reacting militarily.  It relates to how we as a nation are reacting to the fundamental functioning of government.

If Donald Trump feels he has a mandate it is based on an irrational concept that he was elected to dismantle whatever he can and by whatever means he is able.  He has no more ideological basis for his attack on the existing US Government than Johnson or Nixon had in perpetuating the Vietnam War.  He is freewheeling and his disabling narcissism has resulted in him being surrounded only by his family and those who were loyal when anyone with a half a brain viewed him as scary clown.

The truly serious problem is that the Nation and the media have gotten used to it. His and his administration’s bizarre actions have become habitual and routine. There have been so many instances of disinformation, distasteful antics, subversive behavior, incompetence, nepotism, pandering, lying, and psychosis over the course of the election and the first few weeks of Trump’s term no one is keeping count anymore. And those are just the public ones.

Nearly any one would have torpedoed a prior administration.

Just like another death in Vietnam, the next Trump shoe to drop hardly moves the meter, and even then only briefly.

The danger is that complacency to incompetence, indecency, corruption, and (most of all) dishonesty may take many years to undo. In nations that find difficultly in thriving, these factors seem often insurmountable, especially where public division is encouraged.

We should be raging against legislators who think they can personally benefit by supporting this dangerous new “normal” and to media moguls who are devoted first to ratings.  To want and expect something better from government we need a better government, not its elimination in favor of some kind of chaotic oligarchy.

Reject any legislator who supports Trump, restore the Fairness Doctrine (ended in 1987), and seek with an open mind to understand why overall health care in the United States (and ONLY in the United States throughout the developed world) is an abject fiscal failure.

We don’t want another Vietnam lingering around for another four decades or longer.