I am putting this in a blog because it is all opinion. So leave now if you don't want to hear it. And based on my news posts on Facebook, you can probably guess the tone. But I will ask you to consider your principles. Read on at your own risk.
Principles. Those pesky things that guide us when all else fails. For some, they are intertwined with religious values. For others, less so to varying degrees. I ask you to consider your principles. What makes you believe in this country, the US of A, in democracy, in We the People. What makes you go vote, or not. What makes you get up on a Sunday to go to church. What makes you volunteer. What makes you do your job each day. Do you have those in mind?
How does the current government administration mesh with those values? Wait, don't confuse policy with principles. Policy is about how we practically enforce principles and it can look many different ways. I am not asking about affirmative action in college admissions, or "welfare" reform, or immigration policy. I am asking do your core principles mesh with the core principles of the actions - Executive Order, or House Bills, or Senate Investigations - of the current administration in power.
My answer is no. I live in hybrid world. My spouse, one of my children (maybe two), and my work environment scream "Trump! Make America Great Again!" But my gut, my historical knowledge, my concern for the future cry, "No!!!!" Not just no, but hell to the F*****G NO! This A**HOLE doesn't know WTF he is talking about. (Pardon the crudity.)
Granted, I am a Universal Coverage fan. I admit this upfront. Not necessarily Single Payer, Medicare for all though. The ACA is flawed, and states like Texas that didn't expand Medicaid are part of the problem and the promises of a panacea were ridiculous. That bias claimed, AHCA or TrumpCare, is not even a health plan. It is a tax cut disguised as as a health plan. It is mind boggling at best and malicious at worst. It will hurt the most vulnerable among us - the elderly, the disabled, the young. Maternity care will be pre-existing. But the rich will have more money.
Granted, I am not a Trump fan. I want America to succeed so in that sense I want him to succeed but otherwise, I would be okay if a random heart attack hit him after a steak dinner (with ketchup). But then Pence would be President, and have you seen Handmaid's Tale? Did 45 really fire Comey in the midst of an investigation that may involve his campaign? Really??!! I am no Comey fan, so I don't know that I mind but I do wish he had done it 3 months ago - back when Trump thought Comey was doing a good job.
Granted, I am a "progressive" whatever that means these days. The Trump tax "plan" and it's support of the wealthy and corporations makes my stomach churn. They are blowing up the lessons our society learned from the Gilded Age and the Great Depression and for what? So Trump Co. and Kushner can create a kleptocracy? It is disgusting on so many levels.
What is your answer? Are you pro-life? Then how do you support an administration that would cut the sick and elderly out of healthcare? Are you pro-America? Then how can you disregard our Founding Fathers, the Constitution? Are you pro-"little guy"? Then how can you support the tax "plan" Trump proposed?
I honestly don't understand. I know good, hard working people whom I suspect supported Trump. How do they sleep at night knowing they unleashed this fungus into our system. It will be pervasive like a fungus, like any good pharma ad will show you. And some just don't seem to think - or want to think. They claim those of us who are upset are socialists or hysterical as they argue policy about which most don't understand. When do you sound the alarm? I worry that my progressive echo chamber drowns you out but I honestly don't see what there is to support or why you are screaming from the rooftops.
Now is the time act. Contact your representatives. I think they have all lost their minds in some sort of Tea Party Haze. Again, this isn't about policy. We can argue later about the merits of tax cuts, of the 10th Amendment later. Those are valid concerns. This is about the FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY at stake. Maybe that is hyperbolic. But that is from the heart.
And that, dear friends and those who have read this far, is why I wrote this.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Mea Culpa
A lot has happened lately in the realm of policy and politics. I have yielded to the easy temptation of "Share" when reading the news - mea culpa. I've been busy: STAAR prep, working on a second Masters, life. I am trying to respect those who don't like politics, which was the intent of my blog, but old habits die hard. I don't know that it is so much I use Facebook differently, but rather that I hold my personal life much more closely. So I am less likely to share personal items and more likely to share ideas. I am kind of nerdy after all.
Now that the disclaimer is issued, here are some questions after 3+ weeks of reading the news:
1. Where is our government policy going?
Clearly, anti-government people are running the show. I have theories about how this came to be but nothing terribly original and none of it answers the questions about what will replace it. This is the 21st century, and it is built upon internationalism and globalization. The genie doesn't go back in the bottle. If you gut the infrastructure (not just roads and bridges infrastructure), we risk not have resources and responses in place to face challenges and changes. People have a love/hate relationship with government - they love it when it works for them, and hate it when it doesn't. Nothing will change that. Just remember that the intent of the Constitution in 1787 was to create something that operated off of a big picture not a local one. Politics begins locally, but national politics needs vision and that has been consistently gutted since about 1981.
2. Where is our foreign policy going?
I don't know if Trump's foreign policy is the Art of the Deal writ large, or the spontaneous eruptions of a spoiled brat. In some ways, I admire it because for years the U.S. has played by rules other countries did not. How do you like us now? However, what is the end game? Is there one?
3. Where is Congress?
They are MIA. I dislike President Trump and voted against him. (Not that I was a Hillary fan - more of a reluctant Bernie fan.) But Trump alone can be checked if there is will from Congress. Congress needs to respond to real problems with the stagnation of the middle class and with healthcare. If they don't, all the tax policy and government destruction in the world won't fix things. And they need to have a heart and soul, which clearly the Republican party prayed away in their pursuit of fundamentalist legislative purity. (True religion is widows and orphans, healing the sick, and caring for the poor - but too often those people have the wrong religion, ethnicity, or made bad choices so they don't count. The unborn matter, but once you are born you are on your own - it is called individualism.) Democrats are equally bereft of a compass, taking money from corporations and kissing the same rear end that poops on the middle class, the working class, the sick, and the environment. Dems especially deserve blame for ushering in the age obstruction with the nuclear option and executive orders rather than actually governing. After all Congress is only about the people in DC - sarcasm off. Now, the Repubs seem to hope they can tame the wind to their own purposes while the Dems are busy staring at their hands like they did nothing wrong.
4. Where is the oversight of the people?
Corruption in government has been bad for some time, but the Trump era is taking it to a new level. The movie Idiocracy or Wall-E will become prophecy if we don't wake up soon. Talk to people with different views. Think about your biases and opinions. You can hold a bias as long as you recognize when it causes you to dismiss an idea that might be productive or when it causes you to believe a lie. That knife cuts both ways, right and left. (See Berkely or Middlebury, or Ted Cruz, or every ridiculous meme that circulates.)
In the meantime, life goes on. As my father-in-law said, there will be a before Trump and an after Trump. I am indeed living history, yet history doesn't go on hold for STAAR, or course work, or a household. So forgive me if I "Share" too many political stories.
Now that the disclaimer is issued, here are some questions after 3+ weeks of reading the news:
1. Where is our government policy going?
Clearly, anti-government people are running the show. I have theories about how this came to be but nothing terribly original and none of it answers the questions about what will replace it. This is the 21st century, and it is built upon internationalism and globalization. The genie doesn't go back in the bottle. If you gut the infrastructure (not just roads and bridges infrastructure), we risk not have resources and responses in place to face challenges and changes. People have a love/hate relationship with government - they love it when it works for them, and hate it when it doesn't. Nothing will change that. Just remember that the intent of the Constitution in 1787 was to create something that operated off of a big picture not a local one. Politics begins locally, but national politics needs vision and that has been consistently gutted since about 1981.
2. Where is our foreign policy going?
I don't know if Trump's foreign policy is the Art of the Deal writ large, or the spontaneous eruptions of a spoiled brat. In some ways, I admire it because for years the U.S. has played by rules other countries did not. How do you like us now? However, what is the end game? Is there one?
3. Where is Congress?
They are MIA. I dislike President Trump and voted against him. (Not that I was a Hillary fan - more of a reluctant Bernie fan.) But Trump alone can be checked if there is will from Congress. Congress needs to respond to real problems with the stagnation of the middle class and with healthcare. If they don't, all the tax policy and government destruction in the world won't fix things. And they need to have a heart and soul, which clearly the Republican party prayed away in their pursuit of fundamentalist legislative purity. (True religion is widows and orphans, healing the sick, and caring for the poor - but too often those people have the wrong religion, ethnicity, or made bad choices so they don't count. The unborn matter, but once you are born you are on your own - it is called individualism.) Democrats are equally bereft of a compass, taking money from corporations and kissing the same rear end that poops on the middle class, the working class, the sick, and the environment. Dems especially deserve blame for ushering in the age obstruction with the nuclear option and executive orders rather than actually governing. After all Congress is only about the people in DC - sarcasm off. Now, the Repubs seem to hope they can tame the wind to their own purposes while the Dems are busy staring at their hands like they did nothing wrong.
4. Where is the oversight of the people?
Corruption in government has been bad for some time, but the Trump era is taking it to a new level. The movie Idiocracy or Wall-E will become prophecy if we don't wake up soon. Talk to people with different views. Think about your biases and opinions. You can hold a bias as long as you recognize when it causes you to dismiss an idea that might be productive or when it causes you to believe a lie. That knife cuts both ways, right and left. (See Berkely or Middlebury, or Ted Cruz, or every ridiculous meme that circulates.)
In the meantime, life goes on. As my father-in-law said, there will be a before Trump and an after Trump. I am indeed living history, yet history doesn't go on hold for STAAR, or course work, or a household. So forgive me if I "Share" too many political stories.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
What the.....???
NYT Interview with Trump, partial transcript. Huh? The dude is nuts. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/donald-trump-interview-new-york-times-transcript.html?emc=edit_nn_20170406&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=71241221&te=1&_r=0
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Bannon and Ivanka: Who are they?
WaPo reveals that Bannon, for all he wants to destroy the administrative state, has gotten rich with the globalized system. What a hypocrite.
And WaPo has a good podcast on the role of Ivanka, and who she is.
And WaPo has a good podcast on the role of Ivanka, and who she is.
Trump and Russia - Connections
WaPo has a good opinion piece on the role of Devin Nunes and how he derailed the House investigation into the Russia question as well as the threat from Russia. The best by WaPo is an interactive graphic that explains the Trump and Russian connections. I encourage you to look at it.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Sanders and Pinocchios
WaPo gives Sanders 3 Pinocchios for saying that the Dem insistance on 60 votes for Gorsuch is not a fillibuster. It also corrects the idea that Dems have much choice. Sanders has a habit of generalizing and overstating. Just saying.
Resistance School
Interested in changing the direction of the country, or opposing Trump agenda, or promoting progressiveness? Resistance School provides 4 one hour sessions that you can live stream, or watch afterwards. I will probably check it out to see what it has to say.
Nunes and the no good meeting
NYT broke that Nunes met with 2 WH staffers to get the incidental wiretap info and the WaPo provides a good analysis of the situation. Oh what a tangled web we weave......
Isolation of Tillerson
WaPo reports that Sec of State Tillerson is isolated, and frankly, the dude sounds weird. And it is killing off the reputation of the U.S. These people want to destroy the country. Seriously.
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