21st Century – The Age of Chaos

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Dear friend Robert.

All old codgers remember the days… We remember the innocence of youngness. We remember how Grandma washed clothes with a scrub board, Dad cleaned the furnace and Mom ran the wringer washer. We remember in our young years walking innocently through many wooded areas searching for adventure, critters and newly discovered creeks where no child can roam today without parents. We remember food rationing, gasoline rationing, and blackout drills during the big war. We remember music and culture as it was then. We remember school days, friends, and dreaming about the future. The days were filled innocently with rocket launches, thousands of comic books, the Poor Soul, and Enoch Pratt Library. We remember afternoons spent downtown at the Laugh Movie and eating at Read’s and Neddick’s. These memories will never disappear. Our growing years are locked in our memory forever. Even more, we old codgers are our memories!

Thinking back that far, we cannot deny that today is quite different. But until the Viet Nam War and Ronald Reagan, middle-American culture sustained the nation. The culture was firm enough to sustain context as each generation and every worldly change came along. Things changed but they changed without threatening the basic character of the nation.

As the mariner writes posts for “The Blog of the Ancient Mariner,” he reflects on change in a culture which no longer sustains a stable national gestalt. For most readers, the mariner points out substantive shifts in the world that are not typically the fodder of daily awareness. Sadly, because there is no common core in society, change is helter-skelter, e.g, tossing out liberal arts under the pressure of a slipping economy and an oligarchic, every man for himself, philosophy of life; tossing the baby out with the bath. There is no plan for the future. Consequently, change is more an experience of “progress” with a large wake of trashed values. Chaos is existential: live for today; who knows what tomorrow may bring?

The mariner has confessed many times that he is an incarnation of the Old Testament prophet Amos who railed against the laxity of reverence to God and the slipping morals of society. No one liked him either. The mariner also confesses that he is an incarnation of Chicken Little, a child’s avatar for angst. Apologies for the compound effect of being a raging goat herder and a squawking chicken.

You make a valid point that the mariner is quick to judge but does not offer tasks and solutions for his readers. He will make amends. One must note that chaos often doesn’t have solutions. In the midst of global warming, population growth, keeping the Earth sound as well as safe and historic shifts in political power and economy, solutions are hard to come by. The only advice the mariner can offer is to vote wisely, vote spiritually, and vote for the return of stewardship and compassion. Also, do not waste food or water, support those institutions and charities you believe are important to manage change. No matter how ragged and abused, US democracy still works. The people have the power to reign in chaos.

Ancient Mariner

Liberal Arts – A Lost Art

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MOUNT PLEASANT, IA. — Melodies seeped through doors and floated down the hallways last week inside Old Main, the grand, three-story home to Iowa Wesleyan College’s music department.

Despite renovations and fire, this 160-year-old building — the second oldest on campus — has retained its beautiful, historic wrinkles. So the music made here beneath a tiny gold dome isn’t trapped within modern, acoustically sealed studios.

Old Main exhales the sound of its aspiring virtuosos into the world at large.

It’s an apt metaphor for how Iowa Wesleyan music graduates in turn have educated generations of music students around southeast Iowa and beyond.

And it helps demonstrate why beloved Old Main has been a symbol at the epicenter of this college’s financial crisis.

Iowa Wesleyan President Steve Titus announced last month that half the college’s major programs (16 of 32, including music education) would close as the college sheds jobs: 22 of 52 faculty and 23 of 78 staff, for a projected $3 million savings.

Sociology, history, pre-law, studio art, philosophy of religion and communication are among the other programs to be scrapped.

Titus and the board of trustees — which voted unanimous approval — more or less have been able to sell the plan with another statistic: Only 52 students out of about 600 at the United Methodist Church-affiliated school (less than 9 percent) are enrolled in the majors to be cut. And 17 of those students will graduate this year. Popular programs such as business administration, education and nursing will forge ahead. [Kyle Munson, Des Moines Register, Feb 16 2014]

 

What draws liberal arts to the forefront of the mariner’s mind is Fareed Zakaria’s latest book, In Defense of a Liberal Education. Zakaria is one of mariner’s favorite authors. His books are lucid, insightful and easy to read. Zakaria says  liberal arts education is more important than technical training or job-based education. He writes:

“Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning – precisely the gifts of a liberal education.”

From the inception of the United States, the keystone that differentiates it from all other countries is that it provides a liberal arts education. This emphasis on broad knowledge and thinking skills produces a nation known for its free thinking, creative, and even futuristic society. The edge the nation holds among nations is the ability of its workforce to capture the latest ideas, to innovate new solutions, and to sustain a free-thinking culture – until now.

The failure of small liberal arts colleges is a bellwether. The small liberal arts college is most vulnerable to financial issues. One cannot blame students for seeking job-enhancing education. For forty years, the nation has been losing jobs for a shrinking middle class, computerization, manufacturing moves to less expensive labor markets and, since 2005, the American economy. In addition, larger institutions have the ability to compete in a dollar race with other institutions because they have large trust funds, government subsidy and a formidable advantage over small colleges in tuition from thousands of students – a tuition that inflates beyond inflation every year.

It may be a romantic notion. Perhaps it’s time to move on to dollar-efficient training of students for jobs that do not require wisdom or creativity. Fareed quotes William Bennett while Bennett was interviewing North Carolina’s Patrick McCrory:

“How many PhDs in philosophy do I need to subsidize?” Bennett asked – a sentiment to which McCrory enthusiastically agreed. (Ironically, Bennett himself has a PhD in philosophy, which appears to have trained him well for his multiple careers in government, media, nonprofits, and the private sector.)

As liberal arts education declines, so will the free thinking element of US democracy. Disappearance of liberal arts is indeed the bellwether behind a significant number of news headlines today. Exclusive boundaries are growing stronger around increasingly narrow minded groups. One example is the creationist battle in Texas for dominance in history books. Because the Texas School Board orders so many books, publishers tend to appease the board even though the history books are bought across the country. Another example is Congress, where virtually nothing creative or inventive occurs – only ideological bickering and blockading of each group’s legislation. This close-minded attitude has been creeping into mainstream society for decades and becomes more established as jobs, income, and pragmatism become the cause for education.

Our national jewel, free thinking and problem solving wisdom, will evaporate. We will be as any other nation that constrains individual discovery to promote fiscal efficiency and nationalistic objectives.

Liberal arts remain a conundrum for the United States. Without the wise insight proffered by a liberal arts education, where will we find those leaders who will sustain a liberal arts education?

Ancient Mariner

Abortion

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The mariner lives with a number of neighbors who advocate every aspect of the abortion issue from “no abortion under any circumstance” to “no one owns my body but me.” As he visits with one neighbor or the other, he must remember to whom he is talking regarding their conservative/liberal stance on any number of social issues.

The fetus is emerging as a viable living being about which more and more can be determined before birth; medicine is on the verge of applying gene therapy for certain genetic deficiencies. The increasing ability to interact with the fetus reinforces the pro-life idea that the fetus is indeed a living being. The pro-choice side believes that no one has the right to impose physical use of a female’s body against her will. It may be that violating a woman’s use of her own body is tantamount to torture or slavery. In recent decades, the use of birth control devices and pharmaceuticals has become more acceptable than in the past but religious advocates and pro-lifers still cast a wary eye lest conception occurs first. The use of contraceptives eases the situation of women who choose not to be pregnant. A significant majority of unexpected pregnancies occur in situations where contraceptives are not considered necessary, e.g., younger girls or older women presumed not to be fecund, rape of any kind, ignorance, or negligence.

It is the treatment of unexpected pregnancies that is an issue all its own. Hard line pro-lifers refuse any interpretation other than carrying the fetus to full term. Less adamant but still pro-life, some may allow abortions for the mother’s life, rape or, for a few pro-lifers, extreme deformity or incest. At first glance, the reader may think that the definition of exceptions may offer a better opportunity for negotiation; this is unlikely. Pro-lifers will claim that any exception can be stretched. In the gay marriage debate, it was popular to suggest that humans could legally marry a plethora of non-human animals and even non-living objects. Pro-choice advocates will raise social and economic arguments, e.g., “Who will pay for raising unwanted or unaffordable babies?” “Must a woman carry a fetus she does not want?” A recent case where a stepfather raped his 10-year-old stepdaughter is a classic example of social circumstances. A pro-life friend of the mariner would not consider any solution except full term delivery citing the fetus was innocent and had standard human rights to exist. Many who have less extreme views on both sides wrestle with the future impact of the heinous event versus abortion of the fetus. The mariner was asked, “Do two wrongs make a right?” Definitions of right and wrong are sorely overlooked. The oblique question shows that a logical foundation for debate is missing.

One argument the mariner will cast aside as irrelevant is the case where a fetus was considered for abortion but in the end was not aborted. “This person grew up to be [insert a wonderful leader].” Had the fetus been aborted, some other wonderful leader would play the role. This argument is both hypothetical and unpredictable.

That the abortion issue is irreconcilable is a shame. There is prejudice on both sides that has nothing in common with the opposite side. Then there is the law, which is inadequate to mediate differences. Abortion or no abortion is an intimate event. Yet, it is important to many people as a prerequisite to deciding church versus state issues, growing population, personal and government expense, medical and insurance policies, and class privilege.

Eventually, it may be that a legal procedure will be developed that assures the best interest of the fetus before abortions can be authorized. Such a procedure will require endless haggling over the wording but it moves the debate away from the “all or nothing” standoff between pro-life and pro-choice; it also lessens the tendency to mix church and state. In the end abortion, like euthanasia, will become a case-by-case court issue – or if one can afford it, a discreet arrangement.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

Keeping Up with the World

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Some readers may be interested in why the world is the way it is today. For example, the Atlantic magazine has a truly insightful article about ISIS, its driving principles and interpretation of the Quran. See:

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

For a thorough, apolitical review of all aspects of global warming, population and impact on the biosphere, Live Science is an excellent source not only for global warming but a full rainbow of scientific insights about the world today. See:

http://www.livescience.com/topics/global-warming/

In order to produce both volume and profit in livestock corporations, animal abuse is rampant – including human animals. See:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+oliver+chicken+farmers&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=FB1EA7E99500750DC9B2FB1EA7E99500750DC9B2

A few books are benchmark publications that bring to light the subtle phenomena that shape our lives. For example, a book everyone should retrieve from a library is The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. It is an entertaining read recounting Kolbert’s travels around the world with scientists and researchers. She discusses how viruses and bacteria are carried around the world affecting everything from frogs to bats. The book focuses on human activity that destroys the biosphere. There is an alarming account of the huge number of extinctions that have occurred since 1900 and what that means to human survival.

The Road to Character, a new book by David Brooks, PBS commentator, is an introspective review of his life by comparing the lives of others against his own life. Brooks discusses foibles and successes and how others overcame their shortcomings to become people of high character.

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, written by Doris Kearns Goodwin, was published in 1977 but is a tour de force of Johnson’s personal and public life. Many today can recall (and observe) the cultural shift engineered by Ronald Reagan. Fewer remember the “guns and butter” policies of Johnson. Johnson launched the greatest cultural shift since FDR – including the Civil Rights Act. Goodwin was an intimate friend to whom LBJ revealed his inner struggles and his aspirations. Good for a summer long read.

Zealot: The life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Asland, is a fascinating study of the time of Jesus – without focusing on the Christian ramifications of Jesus. It is a sociological look into that time; it provides a fresh perspective by which to understand Jesus and his role as a proselytizer and as a zealot. Reza Asland is a world renowned expert on world religions and has published several important works. For what it’s worth, Fox News vehemently denounced this book and assassinated the character of Asland.

 

Communication moves a lot faster today than even a couple of decades ago. Within minutes, we know about beheadings in Iraq, or a tsunami in Japan, or a volcanic eruption in Peru, or a giant explosion in China, or denying funds for America’s infrastructure and the jobs it would provide, or the disappearance of the Monarch butterfly. We know more about what is happening in real time. The added responsibility is to know why these events are happening. One can no longer speak blindly from old prejudices and unfounded privilege. Every day is a day at school maintaining our education about what is really happening and, knowing why, make the right decision to improve the plight of our real-time world.

Ancient Mariner

The Great Barrier of Nationalism

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In the last post, Today is Earth Overshoot Day, the mariner wrote of global issues that are ignored by governments around the world. Water and minerals have reached an end game and face inadequacy during this century. Food is both abused by waste and unavailable to millions because of political obstruction. Ecosystems of all kinds are wantonly destroyed to increase profit. One-third of the Gulf of Mexico is a dead sea because of the toxicity flowing off the Mississippi River. 90% of Monarch butterflies have disappeared. Coral reefs around the world are dying. Coral is the bottom of the food chain; without coral whole species of fish and mammals will disappear. Much of Micronesia will vanish beneath the sea in 50 years. Although we know deforestation of great forests is not good for our atmosphere, yet the clearing continues.

The mariner knows he sounds like Chicken Little but the ramifications of not caring about our planet or ourselves already are measurable. While there is a futile attempt by multiple nations to limit Carbon Dioxide, that effort miserably falls short of functional change, let alone actually modifying global circumstances. Still, governments feign ignorance about global warming and converting to alternative energy now and deny passing legislation to prevent profit taking at the expense of everyone’s biosphere.

Why is each nation so reticent to join with others to avoid terminal catastrophes for humanity? The answer is nationalism. The twenty-first century presents issues that can only be solved if the world politic changes its priorities. These priorities are not nation-sensitive. The type of government does not matter be it communist, socialist, capitalist, authoritarian, monarchy or tribal. In every case, the wellbeing of the nation, its economy, its culture, and its advantage among nations, are the first priority.

The one new nation that has evolved without nationalist priorities is corporations. Focused on profit as a first and last cause, corporations glean unfathomable amounts of cash and assets from the world economy. This cash is used to grow and acquire more assets or it is parked in long term investment. Corporate profit is sufficient to take serious steps toward global rejuvenation but does not for the sake of profit. If the sums stored away by corporations were taxed for the benefit of global issues, relatively simple issues like fossil fuels could be bought outright – diminishing the pressures against Earth’s biosphere in short order. Although the solution is simple, the process is tangled in worldwide nationalism – nations who benefit from their corporate contributors.

Operating largely outside the jurisdiction of nations, corporations are in effect today’s pirates – not roaming the seas but roaming the Internet that allows rapid reorganization and fast-dollar marketing and to move to nations that are more amenable and enable larger profits. The Trans-Pacific Partnership in Congress right now will make participating corporations virtually impervious to nation-based human rights and labor law. Corporate payoffs to legislators and kings are huge and difficult to resist.

To a small degree, one can understand greed as a goal. Certainly, it is personally rewarding. On the other hand, fairness is a tangible factor. If one makes a mess in a friend’s home, one pays the price of cleaning the mess rather than leaving it for the friend. Somehow, governments have forgotten fairness. Some of this forgetfulness can be attributed to outdated government concepts. The founding fathers of the United States left fairness to the individual so that there can be freedom for all, freedom to pursue happiness, etc. This liberated the new country from the abuses of colonialism but it provided no structure for fairness. If one could pick a single issue why the US and State governments are broken, one would have to say the governments don’t enforce fairness – hence the ease with which the US has become an oligarchy and allows the fast-buck, under-taxed marketplace.

Humanity has been unfair to Mother Earth. All of human history has been an expansion of skimming Earth’s riches but not cleaning human mess, not restoring or respecting what Earth has given toward our arrogant sense of success. Not only has humanity been thoughtless, humanity has been wanton. Without Earth, there would have been no success; without Earth now, there will be no humanity tomorrow. A respected ecologist has put the end 600 years from now.

Ancient Mariner

Today is Earth Overshoot Day

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Many may not know this term. It is the day of the year that humanity requires more of the Earth’s resources than Earth can provide for that year. In 2015 that day fell on August 14. From now until December 31, humanity is borrowing against future years. An example is the use of aquifers – water stored deep in the Earth. We are rapidly draining aquifers dry. What will happen when we have drained all the water? It took hundreds of thousands of years to create aquifers; humanity is draining them dry within 200 years. The chart below shows that earlier each year, humanity consumes more than the Earth can provide:

The latest population projection shows that by 2100, 85 years from now, the number of humans will grow from 7 billion+ to 12 billion+. That number is approaching double today’s population. Ecological resources are a global issue. It is larger than one nation, or the many international coalitions. It affects every nation on every continent. Every day the world dickers with economic and military wars, and ignores bellwether changes like global warming and creating dead seas that used to provide large quantities of life, global issues loom closer. Solving global issues will require every nation’s participation and will take decades to accomplish.

On a more imminent topic, the United States and most of the temperate climate nations will be affected by the strongest El Nino since 1950 – the first year records were kept. Southern California likely will get the rain it needs, albeit via heavy storms and flooding; Northern California and the top tiers of states all the way to the great lakes will be drier and warmer through the winter; the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley will have drier weather, perhaps even drought-like. The South, coast to coast, will have much wetter weather again via large storms. A second jet stream will come from Alaska and pass over the Great lakes into New England and the Middle Atlantic states.

The degree to which this strong El Nino will disrupt agriculture or cause flooding is still unknown but NOAA advises “above average” changes to our weather patterns. A tip to how much above average is in the name given by the cable weather channel: Godzilla El Nino. Crudely bilingual but a tip. If one remembers 1997-1998, El Nino produced snowstorms in New England that fell in feet per hour, rainstorms across the South that fell in inches per hour. Iowa and Missouri flip-flopped from very cold to very warm to very cold again.

Many planetary events have heightened profiles. In the mariner’s opinion, global warming is an indirect cause of stronger weather patterns and may, along with a weakening magnetic field, exacerbate plate tectonic activity. Because of the Sun’s cycle, scientists predict a small ice age in mid-century. Times they are a-changing!

Where will we put another 5 billion people? Not on islands or seashores – they will be underwater.

Ancient Mariner

The Candidates for Nomination

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The mariner is watching the early campaign for President with dissatisfaction more than anything else. The press is chasing easy news with Donald Trump. There is little substantive interpretation of what all this folderol means and no one seems to know how republican candidates respond to democratic intentions. So far, the republicans simply are bickering among themselves. It is true that the republicans are stretched across a broad spectrum of conservative ideology; real primaries likely will not unify easily behind one candidate – except perhaps the empty mind of Donald who, at least, speaks what he really feels. The mariner thinks Donald’s popularity is due to the phenomenon of honesty and lack of beholding to lobbies and money. Certainly, an aphrodisiac or perhaps a long needed rain falling on a drought-stricken voter desert.

In the long run, however, Donald is a deal-making pragmatist at best and an impulsive decision maker who will not fare well in international affairs. The mariner often is reminded of Cesar Chaves.

On the democratic side, the contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders seems to mirror the ideological struggle on the republican side. As far right as candidates like Rubio and Scott are, Bernie is to the far left. It would be a fascinating measure of the state of our culture if Bernie actually wins the nomination to run against a bona fide republican nominee. It also would be scary.

Almost unmentioned are old school republicans and democrats sitting in the midst of new ideological intensity. By the way, Hillary is one of the old schoolers. First, old schoolers are survivors; second pragmatists; and third hide behind the mundane party line. Ideology isn’t really their game. Just give them their paycheck and campaign funds. Bernie’s original intention, the mariner believes, is to keep Hillary as far left as possible but he has been surprisingly resilient and is approaching Hillary’s poll numbers.

The scariest combination is Donald versus Bernie – bullying versus intellect. Intellect has never fared well in the history of the United States. Considering Donald versus Hillary, Donald is likely to lose. His alienation of special subgroups will be his downfall – especially against the first woman President; women are not joining Donald with enough numbers to win. Then there are “the” blacks and “the” Hispanics.

This week, the mariner has begun to hear a speculative press. The fun of catering to empty assassinations by Donald is wearing thin. Further, the republican party is trying desperately to undermine him. Finally, the primary season will come into play despite the meddling of Fox News. Again, Donald’s style will threaten local activists and his results will diminish. The mariner hopes the real conservative will be identified early enough to speculate how well Hillary or Bernie will match the conservative candidate.

Ancient Mariner

 

Return to Iowa

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Return to Iowa

Yesterday, the mariner and his mate returned from cross-country visits with their children. It is good to see them; we see them seldom and one can see how they have changed. We cannot help but notice they have taken charge of their lives and evidence of apron strings is long gone. Still, their lives are interesting to observe, frequently stirring moments in our own memories of taking life in hand. We shall gather again this winter.

While visiting the son, two events occurred worth mentioning to readers. First, the republicans, perhaps the mariner should say Fox News, held their first debate. It was a sad affair with little of consequence emerging from the event. Four years between National elections is long enough for the mariner to forget that politicians don’t have debates. In fact, the art of avoiding answers to any question no matter how direct has been mastered by politicians. It is not a debate. Were the politicians sixteen years old, we may be able to call them debutantes – it is more a cotillion than anything else. Will it forever be that the electorate votes for personality rather than content? As the mariner has mentioned in the past, citizens get what they vote for. It is interesting that the inquisitors from Fox News posed questions based solely in conservative ideology and right-wing divisive issues. Not one question was posed in a liberal context to be countered by candidates. Where has the primary season gone? What is the US missing that we cannot match the British campaign season virtually untarnished by money and lasts but a few months rather than a few years?

The second event was the passing of The Daily Show. Jon Stewart’s last broadcast was August 6, 2015. Millions of viewers will miss him, including the mariner. It was frequently mentioned by associates that he helped us survive the craziness and incompetence of politics and news broadcasting. Yet, despite his claim that he presented “fake news,” his show became a source of truth, fact and accountability that was not adhered to by those he admonished. Jon Stewart is a man of moral strength and emotional sensitivity – a leader in our times. The mariner wishes Jon the best in his next adventure.

Also within the scope of our vacation visitation, are some experiences that may be of use to the reader. For example, driving time quickly becomes the major pastime as we drive about from one event to another. We later realized that each day should have one major event to which the family is committed. The challenge arises when there is an event during the day and an evening dinner or a secondary activity. Driving about to collect and discharge members of the family and arriving at various venues morning, noon, and night quickly transitions into a chauffeuring experience – a busman’s holiday so to speak.

Another experience is walking. Not that walking is difficult; it is that what one member considers a quick jaunt through the park may be another family member’s trip to Mount Everest. The disparate response to many different events is something to be considered. For example, Grandpa and little Becky may not respond in kind after a ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl. Taking a horseback ride may be fun to the teenagers but a fearful nightmare for Mom. Walking all day through a forty-acre garden may be a pleasant experience but everyone will know it is not pleasant for 18-month old Johnny. The reader gets the point.

Our coterie of family members is small and dividing the group by age, fitness, interest and time would have been difficult. Nevertheless, consider simultaneous events, e.g., send Mom et al to the gardens while the adventurous ride horses. This divides driving among different groups – somewhat preventing the driving vacation.

To top off the vacation, the mariner and his mate spent the last two days driving over 1,000 miles back to their small Iowa town.

Ancient Mariner

 

Flying

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“WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Friday the government has opened a price-gouging investigation involving five airlines that allegedly raised airfares in the Northeast after a deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May disrupted rail service.
The Transportation Department sent letters on Friday to Delta, American, United, Southwest and JetBlue airlines seeking information on their prices before and after the May 12 train crash.” (Newsday July 25 2015)
In a recent blog about the confrontation between capitalism and socialism in Cuba, the mariner demonstrated capitalist behavior by using airlines as an example: ….whereas only 4 [airlines] can mimic one another easily, coordinate hub flights to assure every flight is full, and, in order to keep profits high, slip down the slippery slope to collusion….
From a capitalist point of view, the airlines did nothing wrong by raising prices to the Northeast. It’s a matter of supply and demand. With the train option eliminated, demand rose for airlines, making a seat more expensive because supply had not changed. All’s fair in love, war and capitalism.
When the mariner was working for others, he constantly had to use airlines. For two years running, he belonged to United’s 100,000 mile club. This recognition provided easy upgrades to first class and access to the United club room at the airport where waiting was more pleasurable. Nevertheless, the mariner did not like flying because it was an experience very close to hog gestation cages. More than once, a drink sitting on the fold down tray went flying when the person in front pushed their seat back within six inches of his face. When he had a contract in Madison, Wisconsin, he calculated that the entire trip by air took eight hours door to door. It also took eight hours to drive to Madison, door to door – so he drove instead. And this experience was before TSA! On the way to a Caribbean sailing trip after he retired, the mariner stood in Orlando airport for two hours just to pass through TSA. He retired just in time.
But now he faces the airlines again. He must fly from Denver to Los Angeles and back. The mariner is not afraid of flying; he has 22 hours toward a private pilot’s license, a project that was interrupted by a career move. However, he is afraid of the airline corporations! Corporate greed is never on display more than when flying – unless you fly internationally and have LOTS of money. But that is flaunting one’s wealth – another form of greed.
This is the first post to the mariner’s blog associated with his trip to see his progeny. He will make every effort to share the good times….
Ancient Mariner

Cheap Drives Out Quality

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When the mariner was sixteen, he finished his high school education at night. He took an economics class that provided him several insights into the motives of society and individuals. He was fortunate to have an instructor that was willing to talk cultural ramifications as well as economic ones. One of the insights he gained from that economics class is that there is an unbreakable rule that cheap value will displace quality value in every case.
A simple example is the toy fire engine. In the mariner’s childhood, the fire engine was made of steel with realistic features, rubber tires, and paint that included firehouse logo, four small painted firemen and other finely traced detail. His children did not have a steel fire engine; they had a plastic, mold-stamped one with little attention to the aura of a real fire engine. There were no finely painted firemen. Plastic drove out steel. It was less expensive – at the cost of quality, detail, permanence, and material.
Reducing cost through new inventions, materials and processes is, largely, a good thing. Even in its best light, however, quality is minimized. One may say that new technology can produce better results. For example, an mp3 song is better than a 78 record – both in quality of sound and in production. The price paid for this efficient production is not in the quality of the sound but in the value of the recording as a significant, endearing purchase. At 99¢ per song, it is easily discarded or lost in thousands of other songs collected because collecting is easy and inexpensive. Even a 45 rpm collection is more durable and more revered – if one still has a 45 turntable.
Turning to more important examples, the mariner wonders if the tea party is a cheaper version of the republican party. Intellectually, it is easy to replace complex, multifaceted issues with visceral, overly simplified but “feel good” reactions. The republican party has an ideological premise based on conservative, capitalistic ideals. Under Representative Boehner, the tea party has captured the republican party and drawn it away from legitimate dialogue with democrats into a paranoid and extremist advocacy which will not stand up against an organized, middle-of-the-road campaign by the democrats. True, gerrymandering and republican governors will offer resistance but the attendance at Bernie Sanders’s events plus the low key campaign of Clinton suggest that the tea party brings a poison pill to the republicans for the 2016 election.
The phenomenon of sixteen candidates in the republican presidential campaign also suggests that the republican party has lost its rudder, its sails and its compass. That a destructive candidate like Trump can turn the useless media into a circus rather than covering serious issues is more evidence that the republican principles have been replaced by a cheap sideshow. Turning a valued election process over to the Fox network is the final nail. Cheap has driven out quality.
Ancient Mariner