Category Archives: Politics

Politics

The Preventable Invasions

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Samain                                                                         Moving Moon

Torture. Dick Cheney. George Bush. Especially Cheney. The Torture Report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence–which I have not read–has not raised huge protests or expressions of outrage around the world. I heard this on NPR this morning while on the way to breakfast.  Made sense to me. Why? It’s just not news.

That’s different from it being very important. The report is hugely significant for our democratic culture, significant in a way very similar to Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA. We allowed (and were prevented from allowing, too) erosion of our personal liberties, especially relative to personal privacy.

Torture and the Prism program connect at a critical point, the invasion of personal space. Obviously they are very different, one physical and the other cybernetic, but in the focus on an individual, on penetrating domains normally forbidden to others, except those who love us, they are remarkably similar.

In the name of fighting a War on Terror we followed Nietzsche’s keen insight. We fought the monster and while doing so became the monster ourselves. The abyss not only stared back at us, it flowed into our actions as a nation. I blame Cheney, more than any other.

And, I also believe, with a columnist for the New York Times that he should be pardoned. As should anyone else identified as creating this regime of terror and personal degradation. Seems strange to do, but I agree that it is probably the only way we will get acknowledgment that these things were terrible and that they were done. The hope is that such an action will inoculate us, at least for a while, against allowing these things to happen again. May it be so.

Faith and Spirituality, Family, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Writing

The Last Presentation

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Samain                                                                                     Moving Moon

A piece on social justice I’ve been writing , a presentation for Groveland U-U on December 14th, has been harder than usual. Usually such presentations form over a period of time, I write them, present them and forget them. This has been my pattern for the 22 years of occasional presentations there.

Two key elements have made this one more difficult. It will be my last, probably my last such presentation anywhere and certainly my last to Groveland. And, it was originally to be reflections of my years of social justice work, mostly in the Twin Cities.

When I tried to do a summing up, a sort of lessons learned, failures and successes as examples, it came out wooden. Too focused on me, too summary, not really coherent. Then, I thought, ah. What is it that creates a need in some of us to work for social justice, to attempt to move the levers of power in such a way that they benefit others?

That one felt too psychologized, too small.

What I ended up writing is no valedictory speech. It’s neither summing up nor 360 205370_10150977727553020_150695969_npsychologizing. It is, rather, about choice, about existentialist living.

It finishes with this:

We’ll end with another instance, perhaps a change that will come into your life as it already has in mine. Grandchildren.

I don’t want to say that grandchildren are at the center of my life because they’re not, though they’re pretty damned important. I do want to say that being with our grandchildren, Ruth and Gabe, 8 and 6, gives me a clear focus on the future, that is, the world in which Ruth and Gabe will grow up, in which they will have children and in which they will grow old.

I know, as you probably do, that it will be a much warmer world and one with more erratic weather and changed food production systems. It will be a world in which the current gap between the 99% and the 1% will get wider. Just taking these two instances, as I look at Ruth and Gabe and, at the same time, at that future, those gazes will inform the political choices I make now. Perhaps that’s true for you, too.

 

 

Family, Holidays, Politics

The Capital Grille

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Samain                                                                          Moving Moon

The Capital Grille. Aptly named. Could have been (maybe really is) the Capitalism Grille. Dark wood, leather, buck heads with santa hats, clocks telling the time in London, Chicago, Tokyo and somewhere else. Faux paintings of dead white guys like Hubert Humphrey, Harold Stassen (for party balance) and, oddly, one of a Hormel guy who invented a meat refrigeration unit. A large bronze eagle swoops down, behind and through its wings the kitchen is just visible. The bison head, so dark against the wood as to be invisible, surprised Kate when she noticed it, then Anne and me when she pointed it out.

The menu presents mostly steak done in various ways. I had a pepper steak, Anne a Gorgonzola and truffle topped filet, Kate scallops. It was, in its way, a fun place to have a Thanksgiving dinner. The food was good and the people watching excellent.

While we ate our rare (cool center), medium rare (warm center) steaks, thick cuts of dry aged beef and seared scallops, we tried to parse out the table across the way, three tables put together. It could have been a Mafia family. Men came forward and kissed the cheek of an older man at the head of the table. One woman, sheathed in black and affluence, older had her husband carrying a brightly colored tote. She reached in and pulled out a center piece with faux gold apples and ivy, flowers. It had small, battery operated flames for the candles. Another woman brought a potted plant. These were set in the center of the table. When their plates came, they had all ordered the turkey dinner.

A curiosity was the youngish blond on the arm of an older man. She had no ring and ran her hand across his back as she sipped red wine from a large balloon glass. What was their relationship? A date? An escort? Made me wonder.

Why were we all here instead of at home with a football game on in the background? (not the Rose Bowl. I know now. That’s New Years. So take back my male creds.) Had others had their families dwindle in number until cooking at home just didn’t make sense? (our case) Perhaps others were tired of turkey? Or, perhaps others didn’t have time for a full meal at home.

Whatever it was, we filled this hall, a celebration of wealth earned the old fashion way, through stock dividends, ate our steaks and our turkey and scallops in sight of each other, but still separated. I wonder what we were thankful for?

 

 

Music, Politics, US History

Strange Fruit

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Samain                                                                           Moving Moon

Ferguson. A situation where any decision would have been met with anger and disappointment. I don’t pretend to know the facts well enough to evaluate the grand jury’s decision. It is clear however that the black community, after a recent string of publicized police related deaths, will question the conclusions.

Look at this from the perspective of Ferguson’s black community. An unarmed teen-ager is shot down in the street by a white police officer. The government and most of the police force is white. There have been high visibility instances this year of other police related killings of black people. Too, this sort of violence, violence sanctioned by those in power is not a new thing, not at all.

Considering the inherent violence in the enslavement, sale and servitude of Africans early in our history, a violence only ended by a great spasm of violence, and even then not truly ended but substituted for by Jim Crow laws, the Klan and structural racism, it is important to understand that the situation looks very different from within the black community. The assumption there is not on behalf of the police, or the benevolence of the government, rather it is fed by what Billie Holliday called Strange fruit. And understandably so from my vantage point.

Art and Culture, Holidays, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

So Did the Divine Right of Kings

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Samain                                                                                    New (Moving) Moon

Holiseason has begun to gain strength. Thanksgiving preparations are underway in millions of households across the country. Tickets have been bought; cars checked; phone calls and e-mails made. America’s festival of gratitude has a lot of momentum. Yes, the earliest Thanksgiving (at least the one projected back into the founding history of the English colonies) has a negative image. Perhaps deservedly so, I don’t know the history well enough.

Since Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday though, the family focused day has united Americans of diverse backgrounds and religious orientations in a secular celebration of extended family and friendship. Whatever form of Thanksgiving works for you, it is a day to remember the blessings we each have in our lives. No matter how great or how small they may be.

Of course, there is the dark pall of Black Friday, a habit so twisted in its mercantile logic that Best Buy tried to come out the good guy by saying that they were letting their employees go home to sleep.  Not many sales, the spokesperson said, were made late at night anyhow.

Ursula Le Guin gave a wonderful speech at the national book awards last night. I heard it on NPR today. She made several striking points and I’m embedding her speech in the next post, but she took a cut at capitalism that sunk the knife in deep. We live, she said, in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So, she went on, did the divine right of kings.

Whatever your plans I hope they include gratitude for the gift of life and for the wonder of this earth on which we live. What a privilege it is to be alive now.

 

Politics

A Head Scratcher

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Samain                                                                                     Closing Moon

If you read my election day post (see below), you’ll know I tagged two major problems with democracy: the tyranny of the majority and volatility. This article from Slate by Jamelle Bouie  provides the best explanation I’ve seen for this volatility and it’s a head scratcher: The Disunited States of America.

It’s a head scratcher because it posits an identifiable demographic reason for our apparent swings from Democratic influence to Republican. In summary older, white voters who now vote Republican 57% to 43% show up both in the mid-term and Presidential election cycles. The younger, more diverse demographic only shows up in Presidential election years. This age-based divergence in participation is of long standing, but the partisan nature of both groups is not.

The effect of this phenomenon is to produce Republican gains in both Senate and House races in the mid-term elections, only to see this process reversed in Presidential election years. This means we will likely sway from a Republican controlled Senate to a Democratically controlled one, neither in a strong position, presided over by a Democratic President for some time to come.

The House is in firm Republican hands for now due largely to gerrymandering, a successful strategy called REDMAP. See this article from PBS: GOP Gerrymandering. The demographic influence identified by Bouie tends to reinforce this control.

Anyhow, if you’re interested further, read the article. It does not bode well for our democracy over the next decade or so at least.

Politics

Tyranny and Volatility

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Samain                                                  Closing Moon

Glad I was in deep space with the coming of the Formic Wars yesterday. US politics are a mess. I’m not referring mostly to the Republican victories, but to the system as a whole right now. Yes, I’m unhappy about the Republican tilt, but I’m more unhappy about the volatility in our political life at all levels, especially Congress.

Democracy has two primary weaknesses. The first is the tyranny of the majority, seen so well during the days of Supreme Court sanctioned slavery, then Jim Crow. The second is its potential volatility, resulting when political sentiments careen wildly, often due to voter apathy and narrowed factionalism. Tyranny of the majority is self-evidently bad, but the second is more subtle.

Volatility brings instability in policy making, as shifts in power in legislative and executive offices cause sudden lurches in the making of laws and in executive decisions. Immigration, global climate change and American foreign policy are three important policy areas where where clear government action seems further and further away.

One party in control is not the opposite of volatility. The opposite of volatility is an electorate that makes considered choices, shows up at the polls in substantial numbers and keeps pressure on their elected officials after election day. Presidential elections are often better than mid-terms in this regard.

Art and Culture, Asia, Politics

How’d You Do?

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Fall                                                                                 Falling Leaves Moon

One other thing on Joshua Wong, buried deep in the particulars. As a high schooler about to graduate, he had to take exams for entrance to college. Ever since the Song Dynasty high stakes tests have determined social mobility and status for those not lucky enough to be aristocrats or, in the current version, of the Chinese Community party cadres.

Every one in Honk Kong wanted to know about his scores and he had to go on television to answer questions about them. Turns out he’s a middle of the score card kid. Not a future Mandarin or literati, nor a future member of the party. I don’t know this for sure, but I imagine those folks who were so interested in his scores were disappointed.

I hope Wong strikes a blow here not only for democratic freedoms, but for a society in which gifts like leadership, courage, and tenacity count as much as academic test scores.

Asia, Colorado, Faith and Spirituality, Feelings, Politics, US History, World History

Obey

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Fall                                                                                      Falling Leaves Moon

 

Students in Jefferson County, Colorado and Hong Kong reacted strongly against authoritarian regimes that would limit the teaching of history and studies focused on the homeland. This is no accident. Children and teens are acutely aware of the BS factor in adult pronouncements. They learn some of that at home no doubt, matching parents words with their deeds, but school authorities often say one thing and do another. Kids always notice. Sometimes, like reasonable human beings, they dismiss it, probably saying something like, adults will be adults, but sometimes they notice a danger to their future, perhaps even to the adult’s future.

Especially when governments, the schoolboard in the instance of Jefferson County and Beijing in the instance of Hong Kong, try to shape teaching to conform to their own ends. In Jefferson County the schoolboard wanted a more “patriotic” curriculum that emphasized the values of free enterprise and loyalty. They also wanted a curriculum that downplayed the role of protest and other civil disobedience in the shaping of American history. In Hong Kong the movement led by Joshua Wong wanted public decision making in who would be chief executive of Hong Kong. They also opposed a moral and national educational program* that had critics among Hong Kong teachers, just like Jefferson County.

Children know that their birthright is a world in which they have a voice, in which their decisions and choices matter, in which the information on which they make those choices is as unbiased as possible. In particular they oppose bias by so called “authorities.” Why? Because children instinctively know that authority shapes reality for its own purposes.

As we grow older, we become that authority. If we are wise and can remember our own youth, we will listen to the voice of the young when they say, “I’m calling bullshit on that.”

 

*”The “China Model National Conditions Teaching Manual”, published by the National Education Services Centre under government fundings, was found to be biased towards the Communist Party of China and the so-called “China model“. The teaching manual called the Communist Party an “advanced, selfless and united ruling group” (進步、無私與團結的執政集團), while denouncing Democratic and Republican Parties of the United States as a “fierce inter-party rivalry [that] makes the people suffer”” analysis by teachers, from Wikipedia

Asia, Politics

Joshua Wong

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Fall                                                                                           Falling Leaves Moon

 

Here is my new hero. He’s 17 and got his political activist credentials at 15 when he opposed the adoption in Hong Kong of a “patriotic” curriculum. His name is Joshua Wong and his efforts, which have led to the huge protests reported in the media recently, are a larger scale example of the same kind of energy seen in Jefferson County, Colorado that I reported on this week.

Joshua quotes the movie “V for Vendetta” saying: “The people should not be afraid of the government, the government should be afraid of the people.” He’s 17 and looks younger. But this kid has courage. It was his call to occupy the Civic Square, just as a democracy movement action had begun to weaken, that resulted in his arrest, then the flooding into the streets of many other Hong Kong citizens.

Saul Alinsky said, “The action is in the reaction.” How right he is. This is a perfect example.

There is some deep part of me that is moved by the bravery and leadership of individuals against overwhelming odds, and moved profoundly. A swell begins in the chest and moves up through the heart and into the eyes, bringing tears. It is a mixture of pride, anger, fear and wonder. And underneath it all beats solid resolve. If I were in Hong Kong, I would stand with Joshua. If I were in Jefferson County, I would stand with the students there.

Make no mistake. Joshua Wong is Chinese, facing down the Chinese government. He does not want to be an American, to have our history or even our institutions. He wants the chance to participate in his, to be a Chinese citizen actively supporting his country. If we can’t support that, then our experiment here counts for nothing.