Political

Essays concerning political philosophy and viewpoints

Truth in Poetry: 15

Problem: Trump and the Republican Party

Trump and the 20% or so of the American population that adulates him is not a new problem in the United States.  Of course, there are racist issues, xenophobic tendencies, conspiratorial thinking.  But there is also utter sociopathy, paranoia, fanaticism, and just pure, unadulterated greed.  There is also stupidity.  There is not ignorance, because ignorance is self-correcting. 

            This brings us to the problem.  Trump was allowed to take office and those who support him, support him knowing who and what he is.

            In order for Donald Trump to have taken office, there was a decades long movement to undermine good government policies.  The undermining of these policies has allowed for a minority to take control of this country.  This is part of the problem.  In a functioning and fair, and healthy governing system, Donald Trump would not have stood a chance.

            However, there will always be the fringe minority, the “deplorables” of any country.  These people are the cost of a civil society but the majority must not let them overtake the country.  People who support Donald Trump have no place in a civil society, and yet to be civil, there must be a place for them. This is the catch-22.  However, all opinions must be allowed, but all opinions cannot be considered respectable, much less accepted.

            Religion, fear, and greed all play a part in the debacle that the Republican Party has become, and in the once unthinkable idea that someone such as Donald Trump could become president.  While we cannot rid our society of people who would stand in the way of social and political progress, we must never, ever let them become philosopher kings.

Solution: Civil Responsibilities, Individual Responsibilities, Realism

            It would be much easier to simply state that education is the answer.  It would be much more comfortable if we could just make policy changes in the government, or regulate the billions of dollars that unconscionable corporations and individuals poured into both political parties for dubious reasons.  But these solutions, however much they are needed, are short-sighted for this particular problem.

            A solution to Donald Trump is more opaque, less ideological perhaps.  The United States has something very good, worth fighting for.  But we must always keep that in mind.  We often get derailed.  We often lose track of what it is that is important.  With that in mind, we must concentrate on changing anything and everything that allowed for Donald Trump.  This ranges from accepting everyone’s opinion (which we mustn’t do), to “agreeing to disagree”.  This includes calling out and facing people who would undo those ideals this country supposedly stands for.  This includes holding people responsible, especially politicians and religious leaders who allowed this atrocity as well as those who would undermine the basic ideals of the concept of democracy.

            This also includes facing realities.  As a country we must face certain realities that are beyond ideological beliefs.  We must realize that ideologies fall short, and that reality is what counts.  While we may want “things to be different”, we must agree on a direction, how we want them to be different.  In short, we must decide on what kind of society we want to live in, and then work (not wish) our way towards that goal.  We must give up John Locke and look towards John Stuart Mill.

            Donald Trump is a wakeup call.  His followers have always been here and unfortunately those sorts of people will always exist.  The rest of us allowed this to happen because of apathy, or laziness, or indecision.  We allowed this because we were too caught up in our own personal battles.  We were too busy buying the latest gadget or checking our “feed”.  We turned our heads instead of facing reality.  We got what we deserved: the Republicans and Donald Trump.  The Republicans, Donald Trump and that ilk are correct about one thing:  freedom does not come free.  But none of us can be free from our responsibilities to never allow another Donald Trump.

Truth is Like Poetry: 13

Problem: Militarization of Society

Someone, somewhere, said something like: war is simple-minded, stupid, and immoral.  But sometimes it’s necessary.  The attitude behind such a statement is that military machines are necessary for society, but should not be central to the concept of society.  Eisenhower actually coined the phrase “military-industrial-complex” when he said in his farewell speech: “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex.”

The problem is that the militarization of society has occurred.  In short, our societies have been unjustifiably influenced by the military industrial complex.  Partially out of fear.  Fear introduces profiteering, military build-up, the introduction of laws giving the military more and more power.  But also out of greed.  People with a vested interest in the militarization of our societies have a greater and greater say in its laws and policies.  Unfortunately, violence pays and there’s always someone looking to make a buck.

As our societies become more militarized they become more fearful, leading to xenophobia, and a larger fear of the world itself, often times of our own countrymen and neighbors.  This leads to further phobias about anything that seems ‘out of the ordinary’.  Boogiemen are seen everywhere and conspiracies become accepted and normalized. A vicious cycle starts.

Corporations use the military as a profit-cow, and governments use the military as an easy way to bolster support, and to veil actual issues that they do not want to or cannot address.  This leads to a less civil, less peaceful, less desirable society in which to live.

Solution: Close lobbying loopholes, change contractual laws, military powers given back to Congress

            The military-industrial complex was created after WWII when corporations realized there was massive profits in the war machine.  This realization and the deregulation of corporations by government through lobbying in particular (starting with Reagan in particular), has allowed for the massive military build up that we have today.  Closing military-based lobbying loopholes for all corporations is necessary.

            During another Republican’s watch, W. Bush’s failed stint as a president, Dick Cheney had vested interests in Haliburton.  Others had vested interests in other corporations that were feeding the military machine. Private “security” forces such as Blackwater arose.  Contracts with the government should be limited to individuals with no associated ties to the government or people in the government whatsoever and any privatization of military should be banned.  Contracts should be open to all companies, and not just a select few.

            Lastly, over the past years, the decision to put the military into action has been slowly been given to the executive branch and taken away from congress.  This must change.  The decision to go to war, or to enact the military in any way must be solely given to civilian officials.

            Perhaps and unfortunately violence is a condition of being human.  If so, we must remember that rational thinking is also a trait of humanity.  With that in mind, we must always ask: what kind of society do we want?  A peaceful, progressive, productive one, or one based in fear and ignorance?

Truth is Like Poetry: 12

Problem: Social Disconnect

While individuals have historically relied primarily on family and tribal ties, in modern societies we have been given the opportunity to broaden our horizons because of agriculture and economic systems.  From there, technology has further allowed us comfort and lastly ease in acquiring comfort.  Now modern societies and individuals seem to be slowly losing the historic ties to one another that we’ve had throughout history.

      Today it is not uncommon to see people with a cellphone in their hands almost all of the time, or seemingly talking to themselves (and not paying attention) while on walks with their dogs and/or children, or with friends.  This lack of connection with our environments and with each other is becoming ubiquitous and as it grows our very real need for each other is forgotten.  The problem is that we actually need each other in many ways.

      First, in order to have a civil society we must ourselves act civil.  To act civil we must be responsible and courteous citizens.  These are processes that are necessary not only for individuals, but for groups of individuals.  The internet, rather than actual discussion has taken over much social discourse.  Individuals text while in the company of others.  And the longer that this goes on, the more normalized it gets. The more normalized these slights become the less connected we become with the world around us.  While these seeming slights are seen by many as little nothings, they make up a large portion of what makes societies civil in the first place: our actual connection to those around us and the environment that we find ourselves. 

      As civility wanes because of social disconnections, we are slowly slipping into uncivil practices that then become more normalized.  It is a vicious cycle.

Solution:  Clubs/family connections, social mindset change, and tech company regulation

            The solution to social disconnect must start with individuals’ decisions to live their lives in healthy ways.  Individuals must understand that the “latest fad”, the “newest shiny object” in the arsenal of our consumeristic societies is not always worth the price we pay.  This will, perhaps, happen with time, but it will need to be pushed along by individual’s understanding that they are being fenagled, fed their opinions, and are to great degree, influenced by others, especially sales and marketing.  The decision to “think for one’s self” is influenced a great deal by technical companies.

            Recently most of the social-media giants have been found out to actually be the sellers and buyers of a us as products.  Many if not most of their dealings could be considered immoral at best, and illegal at worst.  For these reasons strict regulation of what tech companies can and cannot say and do must be enacted.  Again, the reminder that this solution is not about censorship, but about the capitalistic motivations behind tech companies.

            Perhaps another solution is to create a society in which the concept of family is once again put central to society.  The family unit in past decades has been the victim of poverty, drugs, consumerism, and general malaise caused by the infatuation of money by society.  This needs to change.  These solutions are not simple nor should they be.  We have allowed ourselves to be herded and corralled.  Now we must make the decision to be free once again.

Truth is Like Poetry 5

Problem: Government

A good government (one that increases the amount of happiness for most people) must balance the desires of individuals with the desires of the society in which the individual lives; think of government as a seesaw with individuals on one side and society on the other.  The seesaw will always swing one or the other way.  This is its natural state.  It is when the natural state of the governmental seesaw is changed artificially by individuals or society that problems become inherent. 

Government is a philosophical idea, and at the same time it is defined by human limitations and so a second problem is that the essence, the ultimate goal of government becomes biased, or corrupt unnaturally by human limitations.  One might say that one of the jobs of government is to regulate stupidity, to lessen human limitations.  It has failed in this.

Lastly, governments are defined by laws and so it would seem to follow that any law ought to protect the “natural state” of the rights-relationship, the natural state of the seesaw, between individuals and society.  It is the concept of rights, after all, that we are discussing when we discuss the concept of government.  However, laws are linguistic and so there is the problem of interpretation, often used to create the bias and corruption mentioned above.

*see problems 4 & 5

Solution: Enforceable Law/social changes/re-establishment of separation of powers/money

First, rights are defined by law.  They are not “God-given”.  Nor can they be assumed simply because we are human beings.  That being said, any law must be written and enforced as to allow for the most rights for both individuals and society; both must compromise.  In essence, laws are amendments, and as such are changeable (amendable) but the ultimate goal, the most rights for both individuals and society, must always be the end-result.  Once in place, any and all laws must be enforceable and applicable to all individuals, the whole of society.

Secondly, law is interpretable.  Language is a tool of interpretation, and government is defined by the language that it uses.  This is where the issues start most of the time.  It is important to remember that interpretation itself is not a problem.  However, the issue is interpretation that is unnecessary, rhetorical, biased or corrupt towards an end other than the natural state, or that amendable laws are arbitrary.  This is typically caused by one or another section/part/power of the government gaining an upper hand through legal and sometimes illegal methods by re-interpreting law to their favor in lieu of the ultimate goal. To combat this inevitable problem, a true separation of powers is necessary.  This will need to be done legally and be enforceable.

Lastly and in short, unlimited lobbying and money must be taken out of governmental decision making.  The ability of the rich to control the government must be ended.

All of this may sound like a mess, but it is the nature of government.  At the base of this mess must be a platform.  What that platform is must be clear, but can change if enough individuals within a society deem it necessary (a legal majority).  Enforce laws and change society, if needed, in order that laws may be enforceable and amendable if necessary.

The Necessity of Normal

This last year was, of course, not normal. But that goes without saying…or does it. Over dinner a long time friend comes over and we hug in the doorway. We don’t think about it. We sit and talk and eat for over five hours and the time goes by quick, in a blink. Before we know it we are saying goodbye. But before we do we realize that such things are no longer normal. They need to be normalized. And that takes work.

While we sit and during dinner the normalcy of our situation slowly pours over us. It’s syrupy sensation is warm and inviting but my friend is heavy in thought even though he doesn’t say so.

“You know, I use to think that bad people were the outliers.” he says. “I thought that good people outnumbered the bad. I thought that moral people were the norm and that those that didn’t care about others were psychopaths. You know…I don’t know…like someone who does something heinous. But, I don’t know anymore.”

The conversation went silent while my friend gathered his thoughts.

“I’ve always considered myself an optimistic, a hopeful person. I’ve always thought the best, I thought that the good guys win…”

He told me a story of people on his flight acting like children because their connecting flight had been cancelled. We talked about the inevitable, about T**** and about the Republicans and the people that continue to support him.

“Is it that?” I asked.

“No, maybe. I think it was the pandemic. It just seemed like common sense that everyone would do what it took to be safe. Why the fuck not just wear a mask?!” he exclaims. “Maybe everyone, most people not everyone, is simply not that good. That’s a fucked up thing to say I know. I don’t know.”

He sits on the couch in thought and sip my scotch. Before we know it we are saying goodbye. but before we do we realize that somethings are no longer normal. They need to be normalized. And that takes work.

Something for Nothing

There is no such thing as something for nothing.  Our need for cheap goods and services is real, but the ability for companies to offer them is an illusion.  Think about this the next time you walk into a Walmart or refuse to buy quality, ethical food because it is too expensive.  Think about this the next time you hire someone.

Companies do not need to eat; they do not have needs.  People have needs, and when we demand more for less we are demanding that others give up what they need; we are demanding that others give up what they need for what we desire.

The arguments are similar and ubiquitous against this way of thinking.

“I cannot afford…”

This is true, but it is not the cost of quality goods and services that is the problem; companies do not pay living wages, we need to reevaluate our priorities, our economy is based upon a lie.  We have overextended our finances.

“That is too expensive.”

Perhaps.  Maybe you do not understand what it takes to bring “that” to you.  It might be that “that” is not subsidized by your taxes.  Chances are you do not value “that” enough to buy it or don’t realize the true cost of doing so.

“I can get it cheaper….”

Yes, it is probably true that you can get it seemingly cheaper, but at what cost?  The true costs of cheap goods and services are rarely seen or thought about.

There is no such thing as something for nothing because for most of us nothing is simply not enough.

Communities

There seems to have been an upsurge in activism since Donald Trump’s presidency, and that is a good thing all in all;  activism against injustice is a necessary and missing component in the USA today.  In fact, I would argue that there needs to be more activism.  Power never travels from the top down, this and the more and more apparent power grab by corporations and the uber-rich make activism necessary.

But there are two aspects of activism that seem to be missing; aspects that works in favor of those that would have most of us bow down to their ‘expertise’, and their authority:

1) this activism is not for the good of the community as a whole.  We all have our viewpoints and opinions concerning those situations, laws and beliefs that concern us, but in order to have a well functioning community there needs to be a concern for the community as a whole and not just groups of individuals; activism needs to be aimed at the community as a whole.

2) Activism needs to be prolonged and active; action is necessary.  Beliefs without action based upon those beliefs are not much more than ideas.  There are good ideas but they do no good without action.

If we as a nation are to survive as a free, civil and progressive nation then we as a nation need to act with those ideas in mind.

 

More is Not Better

Give Me Give Me MORE | sweatglow

There’s a lesson to be learned in the idea that more is better.  First, this is an idea that has proven itself time and time again false, and yet as a society, as individuals, and as a race we continually strive for more.

More is larger, more is better; we need more and we desire more!  In fact, our society has based the concept of progress on the idea of more.  Oddly enough, it seems that intuitively we know that this is not correct; it is not right.  But we continue on.

Our current president has made a name for himself by believing, or at least selling the belief, that more is better.  The idea clearly does not work.  More seems to undermine better; quantity does not equal quality.  Rhetoric does not equal intelligence.

To move forward the concept of value needs to be redefined: both what we value and why we value it.  A self-sufficient lifestyle will do wonders in redefining what is important.  In fact, the whole concept of self-sufficiency is better because it allows us to redefine value based upon need alone.

No longer is money the measure of value; no longer can we confuse desire with need.  No longer can we continually accept that more is better.  To be self-sufficient is not simply to feed, heat and shelter yourself.  No, to be self-sufficient one must THINK for one’s self.  More thinking does not equal better thinking.  More production does not equal better products.

We can no longer define what we value with quantity.  So, what do we do?  One good starting point might be to start with less: buy less, think better about those few things that are actually important, and produce quality rather than depend upon quantity.  Perhaps we will find that more is worthy only of less thought, and less importance.

 

One More

NRA

This coming weekend I am faced with having to put a pistol to the head of my two pigs. When I talk to others about it we talk of the necessity of the killing, and how they’ve had a good life, which they have. I do not pick up a weapon lightly, and I do not kill anything with apathy; rather, I put the pistol to their heads with antipathy. I take a life, and I do it trying to be morally consistent and with respect for the finality of the act and because I live the way I do: I eat meat.

The recent slew of shootings is the opposite of respect or for that matter the understanding of the finality of death. These shootings are the symptom of, not the prelude of, the lack of understanding and dismissal of the respect that is necessary to take a life with purpose. These shootings are a symptom of how we as human beings have lost the understanding of the price of taking a life and replaced it with ignorance and fear, false empowerment and cowardice.

These shootings are allowed by apathy and a lack of antipathy for killing not because we are not capable, not because our leaders are not capable, but because we are unwilling and our leaders are unwilling to call the shootings what they are: our own responsibility. I kill my pigs, the pigs that I have watched grow and play with the understanding that I am responsible for their lives, but also and more importantly my own: I kill my pigs because I eat meat, not because I like to kill.

I remember when the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) motto was “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation”. This was almost a virtuous, an understandable goal. Now, the illustrious association prefers an excerpt from the constitution: a motto that was changed in 1977 to the one the N.R.A. still uses: “The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed.” Mr. LaPierre leads the charge against a massive majority of this country’s populace who must endure and endless stream of shootings because a minority of people scream about concepts that they seemingly do not understand: rights.

What strikes me about the motto is the allusion to rights. But rights are actually restrictions, not guarantees. The use of a constitutional amendment is important, not because it is an excerpt of the basis of this country’s laws, but because of the word “amendment”. The term amendment alludes to change, to alteration: by its very wording the constitution is to be changed: the very thing the NRA led by LaPierre fights rabidly against.

The NRA is now nothing more than a terrorist organization belying their stated goals of protections of rights by their endless siege upon the safety and security of the persons in this country. They now hold this country hostage by disallowing amendments not only to the constitution concerning gun law, but to their obvious lack of antipathy towards killing: it seems they simply like to kill. With this in mind, I must hold a gun to kill the food that I will eat: I hate killing, but I am morally responsible for what I eat. The NRA supports the opposite: they kill because they immorally support concepts that they either do not understand or refuse to understand.

To the NRA I ask: “How many more times must we say “one more…”?
And the answer that they seem to give is: “As many times as it takes.”

 

 

Pride, Ignorance & Reality

Donald Trump's Mortgage Payoff Tip Is Genius(Trump Voters Will Not Like What Happens Next)-Washington Post  Garrison Keillor is an author and radio personality.

 

So he won. The nation takes a deep breath. Raw ego and proud illiteracy have won out, and a severely learning-disabled man with a real character problem will be president. We are so exhausted from thinking about this election, millions of people will take up leaf-raking and garage cleaning with intense pleasure. We liberal elitists are wrecks. The Trumpers had a whale of a good time, waving their signs, jeering at the media, beating up protesters, chanting “Lock her up” — we elitists just stood and clapped. Nobody chanted “Stronger Together.” It just doesn’t chant.

The Trumpers never expected their guy to actually win the thing, and that’s their problem now. They wanted only to whoop and yell, boo at the H-word, wear profane T-shirts, maybe grab a crotch or two, jump in the RV with a couple of six-packs and go out and shoot some spotted owls. It was pleasure enough for them just to know that they were driving us wild with dismay — by “us,” I mean librarians, children’s authors, yoga practitioners, Unitarians, bird-watchers, people who make their own pasta, opera-goers, the grammar police, people who keep books on their shelves, that bunch. The Trumpers exulted in knowing we were tearing our hair out. They had our number, like a bratty kid who knows exactly how to make you grit your teeth and froth at the mouth.

Alas for the Trump voters, the disasters he will bring on this country will fall more heavily on them than anyone else. The uneducated white males who elected him are the vulnerable ones, and they will not like what happens next.

To all the patronizing B.S. we’ve read about Trump expressing the white working-class’s displacement and loss of the American Dream, I say, “Feh!” — go put your head under cold water. Resentment is no excuse for bald-faced stupidity. America is still the land where the waitress’s kids can grow up to become physicists and novelists and pediatricians, but it helps a lot if the waitress and her husband encourage good habits and the ambition to use your God-given talents and the kids aren’t plugged into electronics day and night. Whooping it up for the candidate of cruelty and ignorance does less than nothing for your kids.

We liberal elitists are now completely in the clear. The government is in Republican hands. Let them deal with him. Democrats can spend four years raising heirloom tomatoes, meditating, reading Jane Austen, traveling around the country, tasting artisan beers, and let the Republicans build the wall and carry on the trade war with China and deport the undocumented and deal with opioids, and we Democrats can go for a long , brisk walk and smell the roses.

The effect of working women on society goes well beyond added income.

 

I like Republicans. I used to spend Sunday afternoons with a bunch of them, drinking Scotch and soda and trying to care about NFL football. It was fun. I tried to think like them. (Life is what you make it. People are people. When the going gets tough, tough noogies.) But I came back to liberal elitism.

Don’t be cruel. Elvis said it, and it’s true. We all experienced cruelty back in our playground days — boys who beat up on the timid, girls who made fun of the homely and naive — and most of us, to our shame, went along with it, afraid to defend the victims lest we become one of them. But by your 20s, you should be done with cruelty. Mr. Trump was the cruelest candidate since George Wallace. How he won on fear and bile is for political pathologists to study. The country is already tired of his noise, even his own voters. He is likely to become the most intensely disliked president since Herbert Hoover. His children will carry the burden of his name. He will never be happy in his own skin. But the damage he will do to our country — who knows? His supporters voted for change, and boy, are they going to get it.

Back to real life. I went up to my home town the other day and ran into my gym teacher, Stan Nelson, looking good at 96. He commanded a landing craft at Normandy on June 6, 1944, and never said a word about it back then, just made us do chin-ups whether we wanted to or not. I saw my biology teacher Lyle Bradley, a Marine pilot in the Korean War, still going bird-watching in his 90s. I was not a good student then, but I am studying both of them now. They have seen it all and are still optimistic. The past year of politics has taught us absolutely nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. The future is scary. Let the uneducated have their day. I am now going to pay more attention to teachers.