Michael Gerson Sees Hope For Some Progressive Ideas

that are opposed by mostly old religious white men.

The most priceless quote is:

"And where did this urgent assertion of moral principle come from? Not from the advocates of “family values.” On the contrary, James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family (now under much better management), chose to side with GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama against his highly credible accusers. “I have been dismayed and troubled,” Dobson said, “about the way he and his wife Kayla have been personally attacked by the Washington establishment.”

"It is as if Dobson set out to justify every feminist critique of the religious right. Instead of standing against injustice and exploitation — as the Christian gospel demands — Dobson sided with patriarchal oppression in the cause of political power. This is beyond hypocrisy. It is the solidarity of scary, judgmental old men. It is the ideology of white male dominance dressed up as religion."

The lesson for advocates of progressive ideas is that you have to just keep making your point and letting the generations absorb it.  And eventually, if the point has a reasonable spot in the moral landscape, societal opinion will galvanize on the point and permanent change will happen.

Link to Gerson column

Depressing Descriptions of Reality

David Brooks wrote a thought provoking column yesterday.  It was not an optimist piece particularly when you add in Thomas Egan's column today.

1st Egan's point.  We are a nation of opinionated ignorants.  That is why Donald Trump can get away with telling on average 5 lies a day.  He says it and his supporters believe it.  That leaves me speechless so I will just put in the link.

Link to "We're with Stupid"

As I have written before, we expect our leaders to lead.  My original purpose in writing this blog was to promote governing from the middle taking the best ideas from the Right, Center and Left to solve problems in the interaction of government and the citizens.  The U.S. has not moved in that direction.

And as Brooks writes, that is the fault of our government leaders in both political parties have they have obfuscated the legitimacy of the other political party's point of view to the point where large bodies of citizens believe their point of view is the only legitimate one.  Since no one is perfect, policies are complex in how they interact with the citizenry, this is a prescription for frustration and failure to move the country forward in a productive manner.

What Brook's focuses on is the roots of belief in the political parties.  The GOP has become a slave to the mantra that each person has to be free to maximize their economic condition.  The Democrats have become a slave to the mantra that each person has to be free to maximize their right to personally be treated fairly by society.  The result is a hyper focus on identity politics that has no roots in communal well being.  Political parties used to share common values respecting the roots that belonging to a community generated.  That loss of sense of community and belonging has been replaced by splintered identities.  Politicians created this situation and Brooks is not sure how we get back to that better place.

That is my take away 24 hours after reading the column.  The column is a complex thought and well worth reading.  So I will put in a link in now.

Link to Brooks Column

I can't really put a finger on how society got here.  Economic conditions (globalization and technology) certainly created stress on segments of society and a complex web of issues created a serious separation between rural and urban voters in how they prioritize their thoughts that determine how they vote.  I want to blame Mitch McConnell for saying he wanted Obama to have a failed presidency.   That goal and how he accomplished it certainly laid the foundation for where we are today, but he is a politician and that thought did not materialize out of the ether, it had to have some basis in reality that I cannot identify any more.

I long for a government that understands its responsibilities to govern well and produce a steady state of the nation.  That means agreement on certain basic goals and they compromise or experimentation at the state level to figure out the best way to get to those goals.

Who are the Great figures of History?

I really enjoy perusing the NYT Book Review.  It is a great way to provoke thoughts that get you out of the here and now.

I missed the original book review, but saw a short blurb on a new book about Michelangelo.  And I had the thought that he was certainly one of the top 10 people who ever lived.  Which started me thinking who else would be on that list.  So I started to create one in my brain, and I have come up short.

Einstein would be on the list.  Freud would be on the list, perhaps.

After that, it gets a bit jumbled up.

What are the criteria?  My 1st one is that there has to be no question that the person lived.  So that leaves out all the people in the various bibles, because I am not sure any of them really lived.  So I guess any creationists reading this will sign off now.

My 2nd criteria is the person had to have a dominating influence on much that has happened since their being alive in their discipline.

My 3rd criteria is what they did has to stand head and shoulders above what others did.

So after Michelangelo, Einstein and Freud, where can you go?

It does seem like Thomas Jefferson would deserve some consideration, but what in the documents that founded the U.S. were ideas that were his alone?  What about the reliance on the Magna Carta and who was responsible for that? I don't think it was any one person.

And while there were other U.S. politicians responsible for the great ideas that form U.S. Democratic ideals, I don't think any of them individually rise up to the level of the 3 have already named.

Similarly, the great composers get all mixed up in my mind and while collectively Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky belong on the list, I cannot say a single one of them does.

On the Evil side, Karl Marx, Lenin, Hitler, Napoleon might belong on the list, but I am reluctant to put them on it.  And if they are not on it, how can Churchill, FDR or Lincoln be on it.

Since it was the writing of books that started this, what about author's.  I know there is a generation of Americans who might put Herman Hesse on this list, but he doesn't have the permanent stature that I was thinking of when I started this.

Then there are sports, but other than Michael Jordan, few star athletes are global or will persist for generations.  If this list were limited to Americans, I would put Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan on it.

So I am 7 short of my desired number and for the moment I will leave it at Michelangelo, Einstein and Freud.  If you have any candidates, leave them in the comments section.

P.S. one week later.  I would put Leonardo da Vinci on this list.  So we are up to four.

And Bill Gates/Steve Jobs would merit consideration as a duo.  Although while they had vision, they obviously had to hire a lot of people to create the products that changed the world.

P.S.S.  Benjamin Franklin definitely belongs on the list.  Discovery of Electricity, creation of the Post Office, and many other things.

P.S.S.S  I will now add Aristotle and Sir Isaac Newton.

So the list now consists of Aristotle, Sir Isaac Newton, Michaelangelo, Lenonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Einstein and Freud.  And my son who was visiting as I wrote this put forth Confucious.  I do believe he is worthy,  so now we have 8.   My son thought I was being too critical about Evil people and said I should consider Ghenkis kahn but after reading about him I deem him not up to the high standards of this list.

Democrat's Need to Ignore the Hillary Blasts

Democrats need to look forward.  They need an economic message that rewards work, encourages work, and offers hope that the world will be a better place.  That is what motivates voters to go to the polls and vote for a person.  Let King Donald waste his time and energy on the past, but Democrats should not get drawn into his trap.  People want a positive campaign.

What did or did not happen in 2015 - 2016 is done and past unless laws were broken and that is for the Justice system to figure out.  Candidates and people already elected need to focus on making government work for the people and come with policies that will help that message and reality.

How I Went from Supporting the GOP to being a straight Ticket Democratic Voter

First, how I was/am a Conservative. I respect the need for the military and honor and support veterans. I respect and honor 1st responders. I believe in individual liberty and freedom of the press and religion. I do not want tax rates to make the U.S. uncompetitive on a global basis, but I want a balanced budget when the economy is near full employment. That is the time to pay down your debt, so you have dry powder to counteract recessions, when there is a need to borrow to support deficit spending.

I voted for Ronald Reagan twice and George Bush Senior. I have voted for every Democratic candidate for President since. Why?

I felt that the gap between the rich and the poor was growing too big. I felt that the poor were not getting the education or health care they needed. I felt that the deficit spending from supply side economics was inappropriate and only the Democrats believe in a balanced government fiscal status.

More recently, I can add to that list of reasons the I am a Conservative Liberal or Centrist. While I still believe all those things in the 1st paragraph, I also believe in Universal Health Insurance because without it, we all pay for everybody through our health insurance. That is because the Reagan Administration passed a law requiring hospitals to serve anybody who shows up regardless of whether they had health insurance or not. The hospitals had to recover those costs somewhere and did so by charging those with health insurance more. And because the Health Insurance Companies must be profitable, they charge policyholders higher premiums to cover the uninsured. ObamaCare was designed by the GOP focused Heritage Foundation as an alternative to a Single Payer Plan. ObamaCare is the GOP solution to the problem of the uninsured, but the GOP has no current policy that will solve the problem of the uninsured. How could I ever vote for them?

I also believe in Science. CO2 in the atmosphere traps solar energy heating the atmosphere. That was proven in 1852 long before anyone could create a false conspiracy, which is what the climate deniers claim. Scientists have replicated that test repeatedly over the last 165 years and no one has disproved it. A good chemistry teacher could do it in a High School Chemistry lab. We have to start to reduce carbon emissions. Cap & Trade was a GOP idea on how to use the market to manage down carbon emissions, but now the GOP disowns it. How could I ever vote for them if I care about trying to keep sea levels constant? If the ice all melts, sea levels will rise somewhere between 20′ and 100′. I don’t know how they estimate that so I don’t know how high an elevation my descendent’s should live. I am currently 35′ above sea level, but my access road to higher ground is only 20″ above sea level.

Finally, while I respect what the police do for us all, I also want the police to respect people of all races. People with darker shades of skin pigment should not fear being stopped by the police. Yet, numerous African American men have been murdered by policeman who do not suffer any consequences for their actions. If I was an African American, I would most certainly move to somewhere I felt safe and I would not carry a gun, even legally, because as we saw in Minnesota, that can get you killed by a policeman, who fears for their safety just because they do. Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter.

Which brings me to sensible gun control. Hunters do not need semi-automatic weapons. Police should not have to fear people possessing concealed pistols. The GOP is a prisoner of the NRA. As someone who has been repeatedly appalled by the gun carnage in the USA where 38,000 people died last year from gun violence, I want sensible gun control, but I know the NRA GOP will not allow that to happen if they have political power. How can I vote for them if they believe that?

Thomas Friedman Outlines How Trump is Dangerous to all Man Kind

I couldn't say it better.

Link to Friedman "Connect the Dots" and it is not Russia related