Category Archives: Politics

Democratic Debates – 2

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Kamala Harris won the ‘remember me’ contest with her impassioned description of being bussed to school. It also pointed out something about Joe. Joe is an old school politician. His career was in a time when legislators were collaborators and in public, at least, dialogue was polite. Make no mistake, Joe is a seasoned politician but his perspective on the realities of Congress does not match the Congress of the 21st century. Today party politics is a dirty business devoid of statesmanship. What counts is raising lobby money and voting a hard line in an effort to beat the other party.

Donald doesn’t help. He provides no reasoned leadership to help balance the agenda of Congress. Congress is no more sophisticated than dodge ball. One could legitimately say that the Federal government is in disarray – including the Supreme Court who, similar to the political parties, produces decisions that don’t help the nation.

Many sociologists blame all this dysfunction on the high speed shift of world politics, technology, the Internet, morphing economics, and an over extended era of out-of-date mores. In the gap between yesterday and tomorrow, plutocracy and authoritarianism grow like nasty weeds in the garden of democracy.

It is a good sign that 15.3 million people viewed debate number one. The electorate has a degree of awareness that the 2020 election is not just another election. With a single election, a broken government must be repaired and a new leader must be found to steer the ship of state into the troubled waters of tomorrow.

Simultaneous to the time of the election, Congress must, must create a new economic direction. At the moment, the only concept on the table is the Green New Deal. It will restore honest jobs and wages to a lean working class; it will set an agenda for technology; it will redirect energy resources away from fossil fuels; most importantly, it will focus the nation’s attention on a war greater than any in history: climate change.

22 republican senators face reelection in 2020. Even more important than defeating Donald – if that can be imagined – is to take the Senate out of the hands of republicans. Republicans need time to reflect on how the world has shifted the concept of conservatism – else they will only increase the pain of dealing with rapid change.

Ancient Mariner

 

Democratic Debates – 1

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Mariner watched the democratic debates tonight, the first of two to cover all the candidates. Mariner is eager to see the viewer ratings. Likely, most citizens did not want to suffer pontification for two hours plus analysis for another two hours. Nevertheless, this is everyone’s job as a citizen in a democracy. Voting is the single most important responsibility for every citizen. These electoral activities are how the voter learns who is who and what they represent.

Mariner was impressed with the honesty of the candidates. It is refreshing to hear positive contributions to the reality of the US in this moment of history. It was refreshing not to hear rebuttals to Donald – a psychological need of Donald always to be the topic of the airwaves regardless of logic, truth, contribution or value.

It is obvious that the Democratic Party has moved to the left to deal with issues, if not caused by Reaganism, that are radical and never experienced until the 21st century.

It was good to hear that new candidates to office are aware of climate change as a world-shaking reality that will alter every nation’s role around the world.

There was a small tribute to the role of unions. Mariner felt it was an old world view. If unions are to play a representative role in the future, they must not be a club of members but a partner in the shape of corporate accountability to the citizenry.

Mariner agrees with MSNBC that Julián Castro, among the ‘other language’ candidates, made a good case for his continued candidacy. Other than that, Elizabeth Warren held her own to pursue another day.

Tomorrow, it is another debate with four campaign leaders on the stage.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

Reparation Revisited – the Native Americans

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Readers raised the question whether the US owed the Native American reparation. Setting aside the fact that Europeans arrived on the Atlantic shores and proceeded with a policy of genocide, some may contend that the Native Americans received reparation via the establishment of indian reservations. This is as rewarding as saying the Japanese Americans that were forced into internment camps during WWII were pleased about the fact they were put in prison.

Andrew Jackson’s order to relocate the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears) is more demonstrative of the fact that reservations were no reparation. The land for reservations was the poorest that could be had. During the Trail of Tears, 4,000 men, women, and children died and included Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw that were relocated under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. For centuries the original Cherokee land occupied the entire area from the Mississippi River in the West to the Blue Ridge Mountain in the East. There was pressure to claim those lands to find gold and expand farmland for those who weren’t Native Americans.

Mariner doubts anyone then or now claims that exile to useless internment camps (reservations) was reparation. In a recent post travelogue, mariner noted the poor state of reservation economics; the average Native American has assets averaging 10% of the rest of the US population.

Taking into consideration the displacement of Neanderthal by Homo sapiens, the propensity for invasive genocide throughout the ages, the desire to eradicate via multiple terrorist wars in Africa and the Middle East, humans are of the same propensity as the black plague, jackal, hyena, Komodo Dragon, and of course, our predecessor, the chimpanzee.

Food for thought: For those without money, plutocracy is a form of slavery by deprivation without constraints or interest in a person’s whereabouts or bodily wellbeing – for now.

Ancient Mariner

 

About Reparations

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This is a knotty issue. The idea of reparation has existed since the Emancipation Proclamation. Every decade or so the issue is raised to a level of public awareness and becomes an issue in US governments, especially the Federal government. Reparation is an unusually complex idea that doesn’t fare well in politics. In part this is due to the mechanics of political discourse which seek compromise through procedural bargaining; reparations are not something that can be resolved with bargaining. The idea exists or it doesn’t. This post is, in part, a review of arguments during a Hearing before Congress on Juneteenth Day (June 19th).

Even more complex is the fact that three clearly distinct social functions are forced together: racism, economics and citizen parity. Can racism, today still a major social conflict, be reconciled with money, that is, will racism disappear among whites because the blacks received some money? Is slavery’s $75 billion contribution to the US GDP an investment that deserves reconciliation? Is it fair to poor whites that, because one is black, the blacks get a leg up on surviving in a plutocratic age?

In Congress Wednesday, most debates centered on whether today’s blacks can represent black slaves in the first place. Inevitably the three aforementioned social functions cloud the rationality of that debate. One witness’s testimony stated, “If I receive reparation, it means I am still a slave.” Ta-Nihisi Coates, a respected black journalist, made the case that American history is a continuous flow that encompasses all that has transpired in the nation. Senator Mitch made the common case that none of us alive are responsible for slavery and that introducing reparation would be disruptive. Coates jumped on that argument citing:

“But well into this century, the United States was still paying out pensions to the heirs of Civil War soldiers. We honor treaties that date back some 200 years, despite no one being alive who signed those treaties. Many of us would love to be taxed for the things we are solely and individually responsible for. But we are American citizens, and thus bound to a collective enterprise that extends beyond our individual and personal reach.”

Coates also made the point that throughout history even to the present, blacks continue to suffer injustice often in brutal and savage ways – implying that, in a cultural way, slavery still exists.

. . . .

As mariner alluded to in the first paragraph, debating (a) was there an immoral act; (b) whether there is financial culpability; (c) whether accountability for slavery has a statute of limitations; (d) the impact of reparation on life in a contemporary plutocracy and many other lesser opinions, mariner senses that these arguments are disparate – pieces from a larger puzzle that don’t fit together in the space of reparation.

The puzzle that accommodates these pieces rearranges their relationships.

Today’s racial war began with a profiteering invasion of Africa for the sole purpose of establishing slavery in the US. There was never any intention by the pirates to reimburse their native countries. There was never any intention of equality for slaves. The Civil War ended ‘legal’ slavery and destroyed a southern economy that was based on slaves as chattel. Intense animosity remains to this day sustained by differences in color, culture, financial class and political identity. In other words, the conflict associated with African blacks is not over. The Civil War is over; actual ownership of another person as chattel is over; but a tribal war between races continues to this day. Is it possible to apply reparations when the war hasn’t ended?

While it may seem irrelevant to dialogue today, the original sin was against the nations of Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Should there be reparations to these African nations for profiteers spiriting away 75,000 citizens? Reparations can be negotiated for this because that chapter of history is complete. All that remains were it desired, is to settle on an amount.

Rather than try to create reparation that cannot be defined, perhaps the primary effort should be to end the war. Mariner is of the opinion that paying out some cash to end white responsibility is a cop out. End the war. End racism. There is no amount of reparation that would equal the end of the race war with blacks. The economic parity isn’t a payback, its equal pay for equal work; equal opportunity for education, medical care and other opportunities assumed by white people without notice.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

Speaking Generationally

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If it weren’t so depraved, it would be funny. Donald has fired his pollsters when the polls show Donald is behind Joe and other Democratic contenders. He calls the polls ‘fake polls.’

Joe Biden presents an interesting choice for President. Like Hillary, he clearly represents the status quo establishment. He has a smoother personality and he isn’t a woman so that may help with those voters who switched or stayed home in 2016. Mariner’s wife is quick to point out that men don’t like women’s voices – it has nothing to do with politics.

Those with the most to lose in the coming election are the recent generations known as millennial and z (born after 1980). Wages have been suppressed for forty years; housing is limited and too expensive; jobs do not have long term residency (note the term ‘gig’ which means working as a contractor without benefits); taxes are more exorbitant for lower income workers; tech data gathering diminishes competitive retail pricing; climate change will be expensive and destroy job markets; the education industry is in shambles because of high cost, irrelevant methods, political constraints, lack of trade/business schools and disappearing union training; finally, the whole benefits package will disappear if health and insurance are not deeply restructured.

How can a young person win? Who can they vote for – even if their local representative or senator wins, what about the destructive nature of war between political parties and the influence of capitalistic lobbying?

It is common knowledge that the US, indeed the whole world, is changing rapidly and completely. New concepts for money, privacy, longevity and personal independence are emerging. An eighteen year old voter, new to a world that changes day-to-day, has a lot at stake.

As parents of the millennial and z generations, the silent generation, baby boomers and generation x can help out by seeing to it that three things are fixed as rapidly as possible: gerrymandering, Electoral College and election financing. Amos would throw in elimination of the Senate but that’s another war for another time. If the older generations can repair the voting process, that will be a big help to the youngsters.

Ancient Mariner

 

Put a Stamp on it

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A good friend of mariner’s suggested a way to express dissatisfaction with Donald. She said that from this point forward, she would place her American Flag postage stamps upside down until Donald was gone. How insightful – a rebellion with postage stamps. Mariner endorses her energy and commitment. One without animosity, a public statement of dissatisfaction that mariner finds more influential than the base’s crudity. Mariner encourages all his readers to join in this subtle, expressive gesture.

The antithesis of mariner’s good friend is Mitch McConnell. He really doesn’t care about the ethics of governance; he doesn’t even care for Donald. As he comes to the end of his career, his ‘upside down stamp’ is very conservative Federal judges. He likely will not survive his next campaign; the last one was close and polls show he is not popular even in Kentucky.

One must understand that the Republican Senate stands between the past and the future. There are several bills passed by the House that will go nowhere in the Senate. The House Democrats have lived up to their promise to pass legislation that will redirect the Federal government to pay attention to the electorate and not to moneyed interests or antique conservative concepts. The GOP Senate, i.e., Mitch, has taken no action on even one bill.

What adds insult to injury is that the Senate, no matter which party dominates, does not represent the public citizen proportionately. The founding fathers incorporated a republic philosophy into a democracy by allowing each state two senators, population notwithstanding. This won over states to support the new federal government but that was when there were only 13 states and a population of 2.5 million. Today, with 50 states and 325 million citizens (2017), grotesquely unbalanced between states, the Senate has lost any ability to fairly represent the republic, let alone a democracy.

Oh well. Mariner has ranted about the weird Senate and Electoral College before. Everyone should think deeply about what America means to them when they vote in 2020.

Ancient Mariner

 

Good and Bad

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֎ A number of polls suggest that Democratic voters now consider climate change to be a top-tier issue, as important as health care. Perhaps even more remarkably, the party’s presidential candidates seem to be taking that interest seriously. Jay Inslee has staked his candidacy on the issue; Beto O’Rourke has used a climate proposal to revive his flagging campaign; and Elizabeth Warren has cited the warming planet across a wide set of her famous plans. Three cheers for the electorate.

– – – –

֎ Forget Donald’s public display of attention-getting rhetoric. His real damage is occurring in his cabinet – which isn’t eager to have attention brought to it. Every sector of the cabinet is on a destructive warpath against civility, science, housing, environment, business regulations, domestic fairness and Obama. NPR did a special report on Donald’s war against the poor. Mariner provides an exegesis below but he seriously encourages the reader to visit the NPR article. (https://www.npr.org/2019/06/11/730639328/trump-wants-to-limit-aid-for-low-income-americans-a-look-at-his-proposals?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20190611&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews&utm_id=39748169 )

Food aid

Trump Signs Farm Bill, Backs Rule Sidestepping Congress on More Work for Food Stamps

◾ The Department of Agriculture has called for stricter enforcement of a requirement that able-bodied adults work, volunteer or get job training for at least 20 hours a week to continue getting their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, after three months. 750,000 SNAP recipients will likely have their benefits cut off.

 

Payday loans and Debt Traps

◾ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed rescinding an Obama-era regulation that would require payday lenders to determine whether a borrower has the ability to repay the loan. That regulation was intended to prevent low-income borrowers from becoming saddled with ballooning debt because payday loans can carry annual interest rates of 300% or more.

 

Trump Administration Considering Changes That Would Redefine the Poverty Line

◾ The Office of Management and Budget is considering whether to recalculate the official poverty line using a different inflation measure.

 

Fear of Deportation or Green Card Denial Deters Some Parents from Getting Kids Care

◾ The Department of Homeland Security has proposed limiting the ability of immigrants to get green cards if they receive government benefits, such as SNAP or housing aid. Social service providers have already seen a big drop in immigrant families signing up for assistance, including Medicaid and SNAP, because of fears that it could hurt their efforts to get green cards or become citizens.

◾ President Trump signed a memorandum May 23 calling on federal agencies to enforce a law requiring those who sponsor green card holders to reimburse government agencies for the cost of any public benefits used by the immigrant.

 

Housing

Proposed housing Rule Could Evict 55,000 Children from Subsidized Housing

◾ The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a rule that would deny housing assistance to families with one or more members who are undocumented immigrants. The administration notes that those in the country illegally are not eligible for housing aid, although HUD now prorates rental assistance for such “mixed status” families to take that into account. By HUD’s own estimate, 55,000 children who are either citizens or legal residents could lose their housing as a result of the move. Critics call the proposal “cruel” and are waging a vigorous campaign to block it. HUD Secretary Ben Carson defended it, saying that “it seems only logical that taxpaying American citizens should be taken care of first” and that the change would provide more aid for needy Americans. However, HUD’s own analysis concludes that the rule would lead to fewer people getting housing aid and to an increase in homelessness. The public comment period for the proposed rule runs through July 9, but House Democrats are trying to prevent HUD from enforcing such a rule.

◾ The Agriculture Department is expected to propose a rule later this year similar to HUD’s proposal, to restrict the use of rural housing assistance for households that have one or more members who are undocumented immigrants.

◾ HUD has proposed that the operators of federally funded homeless shelters be allowed to determine which services transgender individuals can use. Operators could base their decisions on their religious beliefs, among other factors. Critics say that if the rule is adopted, transgender individuals could be kicked out of shelters or forced to use ones that serve a gender they do not identify with. HUD Secretary Carson had assured lawmakers at a congressional hearing May 21 that he did not anticipate eliminating Obama-era rules that protect transgender individuals from housing discrimination, and lawmakers were angry to see the proposed rule on a list published by the administration the following day. Details of the rule are expected to be made public later this year for comment. About 1 in 5 transgender individuals experience homelessness at some point in their lives, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

 

Shots – Health News

Federal Judge Again Blocks States’ Work Requirements For Medicaid

◾ The administration has approved waivers allowing eight states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, although legal challenges have blocked such efforts in Kentucky and Arkansas. The administration argues that the requirement will encourage people to join the workforce, but opponents say that instead it will deny low-income families much-needed medical aid. About 18,000 Arkansas residents lost their Medicaid coverage when the work requirements went into effect in that state last year.

 

Census citizenship question

GOP Redistricting Strategist Played Role In Push For Census Citizenship Question

◾ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has proposed adding a question to the 2020 census asking whether an individual is a U.S. citizen. The administration says that it needs the information to help enforce the Voting Rights Act, but opponents believe that the real motive is to diminish minority representation. Civil rights groups argue that the question will discourage immigrant and noncitizen households from participating in the census. The result would be an undercount, especially in areas with large immigrant populations. Opponents of the change say low-income communities would be harmed because the census numbers are used to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid, including many safety net benefits. They’ve challenged the citizenship question in court. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in June.

 

Overtime pay

Labor Department Rethinking Obama-Era Overtime Pay Rule

◾ The Department of Labor has proposed increasing the wage level below which workers would automatically be eligible for overtime pay on time worked over 40 hours a week. The Trump administration would raise the current $23,660 a year threshold to $35,308, which would make an estimated 1 million more workers eligible for overtime. However, the Trump proposal would replace an Obama-era rule that would have increased the level to $47,476 and covered four times as many workers. That plan has been blocked in court, in part because of strong opposition from small businesses, which say it would impose a big financial burden. The public comment period on the Trump proposal ends June 12.

 

This is just the wellbeing of the poor. Obviously sympathy has no place in governance of the public. A similar litany of Donald’s cabinet can be written for banks, the environment, public land and parks, taxes, corporate regulation, humane farming and an isolationism that diminishes the nation’s wellbeing among nations.

Ancient Mariner

The State of the Nation

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There’s an oft-told story about Albert, a seasoned old timer, who one day decided to go to the large shopping mall nearby. He walked to the large water feature in the atrium at the center of the mall, stripped naked and climbed into the water where he sat fully content. Needless to say, some people were offended by this and immediately reported Albert to mall security. Albert was swiftly removed and turned over to the police charged with indecent exposure.

The next day, Albert was back in the pool. Again people reported him to mall security. Albert was removed from the pool but mall security felt sorry for this somewhat addled old man and just put him back on the street.

The next day, Albert was back in the pool. But things were changing. A few weeks later two shoppers passed by the water feature. One of the shoppers was new to the mall and immediately noticed Albert in the pool. The seasoned shopper said, “Oh, don’t pay any attention. That’s just Old Albert – he sits in the pool every day about this time.”

The moral of this story is that the electorate prefers acquiescence rather than remedy.

There is an actual medical account of a middle-aged man who suffered a severe accident that destroyed his normal brain such that he could no longer think. Scientists were interested in his case because a small part of his brain, where habits reside, still functioned. His wife adapted to his odd behavior except for one thing: Her husband made bacon, toast and eggs every morning before his accident. It was a habit he could still perform – about seven or eight times a day. He had no memory, just habits. But he rapidly was growing too fat. His wife managed the situation by removing the bacon from the refrigerator. Unable to think his way past this dilemma, he stopped making breakfast.

What we learn from this story is that generally the electorate doesn’t need to think to be comfortable.

Does anyone have other stories describing the electorate? We elected Donald Trump for Pete’s sake.

To the indolent electorate, take some vitamins, electorate. There’s an election looming.

Ancient Mariner

 

The New World

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It’s difficult to write insightful responses to the world scene when the world scene is completely uprooted from what one would call ‘status quo.’ Mariner is reminded of a trip through Dallas on its interstates on a Friday at rush hour. There is no trip through Dallas on a Friday during rush hour. Here in the United States, Donald’s mythological perception of himself is similar to pushing in the clutch to release any productivity from the gears of governance. Further, he is a life-long bully, capable only of punching back at reality but never able to reconcile it.

But there is more. An entire planet exists outside the myopic world of US television. In the spirit of representing Amos, the world is lost; no one knows how to replace the world of 1964 with a new cultural, economic and political reality. Conservatives do not accept that Reaganism is over. Britain does not recognize that local economics has moved on to international economics. The Middle East is struggling with religious differences that the western world reconciled in the eighteenth century. Africa is struggling with even more primitive political circumstances because of the arrested development caused by colonialism in the nineteenth century. China is feeling its oats without accommodating civil rights. Russia is constricted by an economic authoritarianism that the US should pay attention to as a future of its own economic philosophy – one that leads to an inability to compete as an equal in the new international marketplace.

But there is hope. As fragile as the American experience may be at the moment, there are built-in procedures in the Constitution that allow the United States to redefine itself – if the political state of things had perceptive representatives with vision beyond their own careers.

But there is more. The planet Earth is not a political being. Earth is its planet and no species has any rights beyond survival of the fittest. Frankly, Homo sapiens is not a willing participant. Earth will deal with this insurgence. Climate change sounds innocuous but it is a real and present influence on the future of humanity.

Add to this uncontrolled mix the influence of technology. It is impossible to foresee the future of human life – in the day-to-day perspective at least – where the description of ‘job’ will change and the view of capitalism and socialism will change dramatically, and the reverence for planet rules will be more respected.

It is a journey to say the least. Mark the year 2021. It will not be over but the direction of what a new world looks like will be in view.

Ancient Mariner

 

Our Democracy at Work

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AT&T maintains a formidable presence in Washington. The company spent more than $15.8 million on Washington lobbying last year, and its lobbying spending in the first quarter of 2019 put it among the top two dozen companies, according to a POLITICO analysis of disclosure filings. AT&T has 17 in-house lobbyists and also retains nearly 30 outside lobbying firms, according to disclosure reports.

Readers need to know that AT&T owns:

•HBO and Cinemax, as part of Home Box Office Inc.

•TBS, truTV, TNT, Studio T, and TCM, as part of Turner Entertainment Networks

•Adult Swim and Cartoon Network, as part of the TBS, Inc. Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media (AYAKM) division

•CNN and HLN, as part of CNN News Group

•The websites Super Deluxe, Beme Inc., and CallToons

•DC Entertainment

•DC Films, including all of the “Batman” movies

•Turner Broadcasting International

•Turner Sports, including the website Bleacher Report and the rights to March Madness and NBA playoffs

•The CW (50%)

•Warner Bros. Animation

•Hanna-Barbera Cartoons

•Fandango Media (30%)

•Warner Bros. Consumer Products

•Warner Bros. Digital Networks

•Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures

•Warner Bros. Pictures International

•Warner Bros. Museum

•Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank

•Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden

•Warner Bros. Studio Tours

•Warner Bros. Pictures

•Warner Animation Group

•Warner Bros. Family Entertainment

•NonStop Television

•New Line Cinema

•Turner Entertainment Co.

•WaterTower Music

•Castle Rock Entertainment

•The Wolper Organization

•HOOQ

•Blue Ribbon Content

•Warner Bros. Television

•Warner Horizon Television

•Warner Bros. Television Distribution

•Warner Bros. International Television Production

•Telepictures

•Alloy Entertainment

•eleveneleven

•Warner Bros

Is democracy threatened by this? What happened to antitrust regulations?

 It is an age of corporatism unbridled by a government that still thinks only in terms of the printed page. How will AT&T influence our opinions not just for entertainment but for news and an understanding of reality? This is too much control over a public’s perception of the issues of daily life.

Ancient Mariner