We are pretty low right now and seemingly heading lower. I know we are better than this, but the President sets the tone, words matter as any child is taught and knows, and this is where we are.
this guy says it better than me
Showing posts with label Words Matter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Words Matter. Show all posts
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Saturday, November 18, 2017
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 That loss of sense of community and belonging has been replaced by splintered identities.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.
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.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Just Wondering, Is the GOP Imploding?
That's a strong statement and no matter what happens, I don't expect the Democrat's to capture hardcore GOP voters without an Economic message that will appeal to them.
But, when I read newspapers in GOP districts from states that expanded Medicaid, I see GOP congressman discussing their concerns that TrumpRyanCare doesn't create a system that will work for the working poor and lower middle class when it is fully implemented. Because these peoples jobs almost certainly do not last forever, and may or may not provide them with health insurance, they move on and off of Medicaid over time. TrumpRyanCare would not cover them once they left the rolls in 2020.
Meanwhile, hard core Conservatives who dominate the alt-right media channels are against anything that falls short of a full repeal of ObamaCare and a return to misery for many that the pre-ObamaCare generated.
Reading the WAPO today was like reading war stories with words as the weapon of choice.
It is too much too hope for, perhaps, but is it possible the GOP cracks up over the American Health Care Act, aka TrumpRyanCare, and cannot be stitched back together before the 2018 election and the voters actually decide they want to throw the bums out and elect a Democratic Congress?
Maybe that thought will make my dreams more pleasant tonight.
But, when I read newspapers in GOP districts from states that expanded Medicaid, I see GOP congressman discussing their concerns that TrumpRyanCare doesn't create a system that will work for the working poor and lower middle class when it is fully implemented. Because these peoples jobs almost certainly do not last forever, and may or may not provide them with health insurance, they move on and off of Medicaid over time. TrumpRyanCare would not cover them once they left the rolls in 2020.
Meanwhile, hard core Conservatives who dominate the alt-right media channels are against anything that falls short of a full repeal of ObamaCare and a return to misery for many that the pre-ObamaCare generated.
Reading the WAPO today was like reading war stories with words as the weapon of choice.
It is too much too hope for, perhaps, but is it possible the GOP cracks up over the American Health Care Act, aka TrumpRyanCare, and cannot be stitched back together before the 2018 election and the voters actually decide they want to throw the bums out and elect a Democratic Congress?
Maybe that thought will make my dreams more pleasant tonight.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
The Importance of Being Able to Trust Your Government
I had to answer some questions about what I what I thought about the presidential election and after I finished I realized that I was depressed in a way in the aftermath of the election. Then RSL and I went to a movie last night. On the way, she told me that she had to let a rant go and I shouldn't say anything to interrupt her.
Her main point was that she could not trust anything representatives of the incoming government say and that meant she could not watch the nightly news and would have to read various publications to find out the truth. While there has always been a truth to that condition, it is especially important since we have a President elect that sees lying as a tool of manipulation to get what he wants. And we have a GOP Congress that has used words to camouflage their real intent for 20 years or so. So you cannot trust the GOP's words, you have to follow their actions which makes watching the TV news worthless.
So why is it important for people to able to trust their government? I think the answer to that question leads us back to civil order and the condition that people must be able to trust their government if they are to support that government. If that condition is not met, people are unnerved, in distress emotionally and there is the potential for civil disorder if a critical mass of such people form a group.
That is why words and truthfulness matter. If leader's words promote a lack of order it can communicate to other people that they will be able to get away with things that appear to be in sync with those words. No where is this more true than with the reality that people in authority (police and random white males) are murdering black males of all ages on a semi-routine basis all over this country. And I can only see racist behavior, supported by an unmeasurable but fairly widespread basis of fellow white people, as the root cause of this rampage. Nothing Donald Trump or GOP Congressional legislators has said could be considered supporting punishment for white people who murder black men. And now in 2 days we have a star football player shot dead in front of a gas station at 3:45 p.m. by a businessman after a traffic incident and a lone juror wants to find the S.C. policeman who shot an unarmed Walter Scott in the back innocent.
Civil Order is at risk because words matter. Policies matter. Every citizen deserves to be treated with respect by both representatives of the government and each other. When representatives of the government use words to encourage discrimination they reduce trust in government by those who will be subject to that discrimination and those who disagree with the government.
P.S. I forgot to mention the movie we saw last night, Loving. It was about the true story of how Virginia in 1958 still had a law that they enforced forbidding interracial marriage. Many of the arguments used in support of that law are being used today by various GOP politicians and supporters to justify their positions on a number of issues. Fortunately, the Supreme Court in 1967 ruled the Virginia marriage law unconstitutional. I wonder if the Robert's Court would do so once Trump gets done with his Supreme Court appointments over the next 3 years. That is enough to make me distrust this incoming government and I am generally not a cynic.
Her main point was that she could not trust anything representatives of the incoming government say and that meant she could not watch the nightly news and would have to read various publications to find out the truth. While there has always been a truth to that condition, it is especially important since we have a President elect that sees lying as a tool of manipulation to get what he wants. And we have a GOP Congress that has used words to camouflage their real intent for 20 years or so. So you cannot trust the GOP's words, you have to follow their actions which makes watching the TV news worthless.
So why is it important for people to able to trust their government? I think the answer to that question leads us back to civil order and the condition that people must be able to trust their government if they are to support that government. If that condition is not met, people are unnerved, in distress emotionally and there is the potential for civil disorder if a critical mass of such people form a group.
That is why words and truthfulness matter. If leader's words promote a lack of order it can communicate to other people that they will be able to get away with things that appear to be in sync with those words. No where is this more true than with the reality that people in authority (police and random white males) are murdering black males of all ages on a semi-routine basis all over this country. And I can only see racist behavior, supported by an unmeasurable but fairly widespread basis of fellow white people, as the root cause of this rampage. Nothing Donald Trump or GOP Congressional legislators has said could be considered supporting punishment for white people who murder black men. And now in 2 days we have a star football player shot dead in front of a gas station at 3:45 p.m. by a businessman after a traffic incident and a lone juror wants to find the S.C. policeman who shot an unarmed Walter Scott in the back innocent.
Civil Order is at risk because words matter. Policies matter. Every citizen deserves to be treated with respect by both representatives of the government and each other. When representatives of the government use words to encourage discrimination they reduce trust in government by those who will be subject to that discrimination and those who disagree with the government.
P.S. I forgot to mention the movie we saw last night, Loving. It was about the true story of how Virginia in 1958 still had a law that they enforced forbidding interracial marriage. Many of the arguments used in support of that law are being used today by various GOP politicians and supporters to justify their positions on a number of issues. Fortunately, the Supreme Court in 1967 ruled the Virginia marriage law unconstitutional. I wonder if the Robert's Court would do so once Trump gets done with his Supreme Court appointments over the next 3 years. That is enough to make me distrust this incoming government and I am generally not a cynic.
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