In support of Israel

 Dear Friends and Family,

The rally for Israel was canceled today out of safety considerations.

These are remarks I would have like to have heard at the rally.

Today is Simchat Torah, the celebration of the completion of the reading of the Torah, and the start of reading the Torah again, from the beginning. This circularity of time, the hallmark of Judaism.

It is fitting that we are gathered hear to today in solidarity with Israel. The Torah reminds us that hatred towards Jews, and the cruel and wonton murder of Jews is as old as biblical times. The Torah teaches that in each generation, amalekites will arise, to cowardly attack from behind, in order to slaughter the most vulnerable, defenseless Jews – the young, the infirm, and the elderly. From Haman, to Hitler to Hamas, the pattern repeats.

So far, 700 innocent civilian souls have been slaughtered by Hamas, and an untold number of civilians and soldiers in captivity, undoubtedly undergoing the most inhumane, brutal torture. Right now, because of the unprovoked and unprecedented murder of innocents, the civilized world stands in solidarity with Israel.

Yet if past is prologue, voices will soon ring out, condemning Israel, for the loss of Palestinian lives, cruelly used by Hamas as human shields, for propaganda purposes. Some in the media are already laying the groundwork for anti-Israel sentiment. Some are no longer reporting the loss of human lives in Israel, but instead are reporting the combined loss of lives of Israelis and Palestinians. This morning, on CNN, Thomas Freidman, a reporter for the New York Times, blamed Israel, not Hamas, for the current conflict. Mr Freidman proclaimed that the number one person he would indict for the war between Israel and Hamas is a member of the right wing Israeli government.

What Mr. Freidman does not understand or accept is that anti-Semites do not murder Jews because of some provocation. Anti-Semites murder Jews, because they are Jews, because they hate Jews.

This will be a long battle. It will be violent and bloody. Undoubtedly the images coming from this war will be disturbing. This time the Jewish community around the world must speak with one voice in support of Israel to give it the time needed to fully accomplish its mission.

In biblical times it was God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm that defeated the enemies of Israel. This time it will be Israel’s mighty hand and outstretched arm that will rid the world of the scourge of Hamas, relegating it to the dustbin of history alongside Haman, Hitler, and all others who sought the destruction of the Jewish people.

Am Yisrael Chai. Israel lives, and it will always be so.

                                What To Do About Trump

Sadly, our country is once again bitterly divided.  This time because of felony charges brought against former President Trump.  The most serious of which are willful retention of national security documents, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Democrat leaders and Republican leaders have competing narratives in framing the significance of the charges. Democrats state, no one is above the law. Republicans state, targeted prosecution. There are facts supporting each narrative, and no leader has come forward to provide guidance on a wise and reasonable way forward.

Unlike in other instances where allegations, or investigations, or charges were brought against Trump, the current charges are serious, and substantiated by a wealth of concrete evidence. Eye witnesses, and recordings of Trump himself, verify that former President Trump knowingly kept the country’s most important State secrets, and deceptively avoided returning these documents when subpoenaed by the DOJ. These top secret, classified documents, in the hands of our adversaries could imperil the lives of our service members and put the nation at risk.

And no, despite the former President’s assertions, the Presidential Records Act (PRA) does not give ownership of the highly classified Department of Defense documents to the former President. The PRA relates to those documents created by the former President during his time in office, not to documents created nation’s government agencies.

On the other hand, there is good reason for die-hard Trump supporters to be suspicious of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the intelligence agencies, because of past efforts to undermine his presidency in his first term in office, and his candidacy for a second term in office.  The first half of his presidency was dogged by allegations of Russian collusion.  Ultimately Special Counsel Mueller vindicated Trump of this allegation. The Mueller investigation found no evidence of communication between anyone and Russian officials to undermine Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign. The Steele dossier which formed the basis for the FBI’s investigation of the Russian collusion theory was discredited as bogus opposition research, paid for by the Clinton campaign to frame the Trump campaign.

The intelligence community nefariously tipped the scales in favor of the 2020 Biden campaign.  Three weeks before the 2020 election day, the New York Post published a devastating front page story about emails from a Hunter Biden laptop, which implicated a pay for play corruption scheme involving Joe Biden when he was Vice-President.  Shortly thereafter 50 members of the intelligence community signed a letter stating that the NY Post article had all the markings of a Russian disinformation scheme.  Later, after the election was over, various news outlets verified the authenticity of the laptop and its emails.

Every prosecutor has discretion regarding investigating and charging a crime. Without debating the comparability of the ways in which Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump mishandled classified information, there are glaring ways in which the norms of an FBI investigation were not followed when it came to Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton was never placed under oath when interviewed by the FBI, notes were not taken during the interview, Clinton deleted thousands, of what she deemed personal emails, without FBI oversight, and was allowed to get away with destroying potential evidence from her work blackberry, before the FBI had an opportunity to examine it.

Yes, what Trump did was egregious and outrageous and worthy of prosecution. Yet in the court of public opinion there are many who think that there is a double standard when it comes to Trump, and that, well, the charges are trumped up. The country is already divided and this will only add to the divisiveness.

A wise Attorney General would have considered the effect on the country of the prosecution, particularly in view of the past misconduct on the part of the DOJ and FBI towards Trump, and the devious manipulation by the intelligence community to defuse a damning allegation against Biden in the 2020 election.

A wise course would have been for the special counsel to release a report, with documentation, on all the facts of Trump's outrageous and dangerous behavior. Then, leave it to the public decide if such a man is worthy of being elected President. Particularly since, despite Trump’s reckless behavior, no harm came to the US. None of the top secret documents were ever disseminated, let alone fell into the hands of the nation’s enemies.

Lincoln understood the importance of healing steps when the country was even more torn apart than today. There were many in his party that called for punitive action against the secessionist states. His second inaugural address was his vision of how to put the country back together after the North defeated the South. Here is the last paragraph of that address. They are such wise words:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

America Awakens to the Danger of Cancer Culture, part 4

 

The Progressive focus on racial disparities emphasizes our differences rather than our commonalities.  America no longer viewed as a melting pot, instead as a collection of racial groups each denied their fair share of the American pie.   Inevitably, cooperation turns to competition between racial groups.  Each group vies for beneficial government policies, advantages, and resources.  The result is antagonisms between racial groups of the kind currently played out between the black and Asian communities.  Hate crimes against Asians are disproportionately committed by Blacks.  The absolute number of hate crimes committed by Blacks is greater than committed by Whites.  Quite extraordinary given that the white population is four times the size of the black population. 

The hostility is triggered by economic disparity made tangible by the large number of Asian owned businesses in black communities.  The hostility echoes the Black anger towards Jews embedded in the black power movement of the 1960s and 70s.  At that time it was the Jews who owned small businesses and apartment buildings in Black communities.

In the views of the poor living outside of America, America is not a racist society but a land of opportunity.  Voting with their feet to answer the question: is America an inherently, irredeemably, systemically, racist society.  The poor’s answer: A RESOUNDING NO!  The worldwide immigration demand so strong, a decade of life passes for each legal immigrant to get their golden ticket – permanent residence in America.  All told, there are 48 million immigrants in the U.S.  This is four times more than any other country in the world 

Legal immigration is not the whole immigration story.   Every year millions of migrants from every part of the world risk life and limb for a life in America by travelling overland from Central and South America.  From the outset of their long trek, the shadow of death is ever-present in the harsh and unforgiving terrain along the route and the looming presence of the Mexican Cartels who control these migration routes.  The fortunate migrants pay exorbitant smuggling sums, and may suffer sexual and physical abuse along the way.  The unfortunate ones become either a part of the Cartel’s Human Trafficking business, or are left along the route to fend for themselves.

Such is the draw America holds for the huddled masses of the world yearning to breathe free.  They come from every corner of the world, comprised of every race; ethnicity; skin color; and religion.  Drawn to America because they see the American Dream alive in America as only an outsider living in a corrupt, totalitarian country does.  They come believing if they work hard and play by the rules they can go as far as their talents, ambitions, and a spoonful of luck will take them. 

And you know what, evidence supports that.  Black immigrants earn 30% more than native born blacks.  Immigrants from Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Jamaica do particularly well.  Asian Americans are the immigrant stars.  Their average income level is the highest in the nation.  Immigrants are much more entrepreneurial than native born Americans, starting businesses at twice the rate.  40% of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or son of an immigrant.  My own story pithily summed up by using Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s question and answer format for describing the American Dream.  Question: what does it take to go from a salesman to the head psychologist for the City of Los Angeles?  Answer: one generation. 

America is an immigration magnet because of its uniqueness as a country.  All other countries formed on the basis of a shared nationality.  America formed by universal ideas that transcend all nationalities -- everyone is inherently equal and free to live their lives as they see fit, constrained only by the principle decent people live by, treating others the way they want to be treated.  So America’s welcome mat is open irrespective of national origin, race, gender, or creed.

Despite all that is good about America, some in America advocate Progressive policies, and an anti-American view that America is fundamentally flawed and racist.  This is not the first time America flirted with Progressivism.  Each time the idealism of the Progressive imagination gave way to the realities of Progressive policies.  

As before, it it true today.  Progressive Mayors and City Councils are awakening to the need for more police when increased crime followed their reduction in police force resources and manpower.  Citizens have initiated recall elections against District Attorneys for no cash bail policies after offenders, released without bail, committed acts of violence.  Parents are seeking changes in schools to eliminate any teaching of concepts which suggest that a child’s skin color defines their character.  Even residents of States are voting with their feet in rejecting Progressivism.  Population in States favoring Progressive policies is shrinking as residents relocate to non-Progressive States.  Most ominous for Progressives, the decrease in the Black and Hispanic support for the Democrat Party as it increasingly embraced Progressive policies and ways of framing issues.  

All this gives me hope that this time too, Progressivism shall pass and they will be voted out by Centrists in next year’s November 22^nd  election.  That way we can return to living our lives the way we see fit, rather than on the basis of uniformity in how we think; act; and talk, the hallmark of Progressivism.       

 

America Awakens to the Danger of Cancer Culture, part 3

A major dividing line between Progressives and Centrists is the issue of individual responsibility.  Are people responsible for their fate in life, or do social forces determining life’s fate?  The divide is not either or, but rather which view is primarily used to organize American society.  Is it best organized by creating a society that emphasizes individual choice with the nuclear family as the basic unit of society?   Or best organized by an all for one and one for all view, where, it takes a village, is the basic unit of society?

America, founded on the principle of individual freedom, created a government and legal system emphasizing individual responsibility and free choice.  One of Government’s primary duties is to ensure the individual’s inalienable rights to life and liberty, enforced through a justice system protecting individual rights from government and/ or individuals attempting to deny them these rights. 

Progressive perspective reshapes the justice system into emphasizing social forces over individual responsibility.  Justice, blind to an individual’s station in life, is replaced by a societal perspective, where combating the ills and inequities in society form the structure of the judicial system.  Some of the extreme recommendations flowing from the Progressive perspective are disquieting and disturbing to Centrist America -- defund the police or reimagine them as social workers, require reduced or no bail with less or no regard to a person’s behavior or criminal history, and eliminate the penitentiary system.  All these recommendations logical consequences of believing the criminal justice system is the instrument of a corrupt society.

There is fascinating research showing that babies’ are born with a built in sense of fairness which undergirds a moral code based on individual responsibility.  Babies as young as three months distinguish between selfish and greedy, fair and unfair behavior.   When given a choice, babies prefer to gaze at a puppet who acts morally than one who is selfish or greedy, in the same way they prefer to look at pictures of their mother rather than of a stranger. 

The importance of individual responsibility underlies the angry reactions when criminals released by Progressive D.A.s commit violent acts or when police are restrained by Progressive mayors from acting when rioters attack others and/or loot and burn community businesses.  These reactions transcend party lines.  They don’t see people who are victims of society.  They see people who lack decency and a concern for others.

Parents teach the importance of personal responsibility when raising children.  They teach their children to take ownership of their lives, and that they are accountable for the good and bad consequences of their choices.  Parents praise children for their accomplishments and hard work.  They also teach their children not to make excuses or blame others for their actions and to say they are sorry to those they harmed.

That is why parents reacted so strongly when made aware of their children being taught concepts in school going against the grain of individual responsibility.  So strong, it overcame the inertia of not attending or speaking out at school board meetings.  I had an equally strong reaction when introduced to the concept that my “whiteness” makes me a racist.   For me, racism is about an individual’s belief of the inferiority of people of color.  Now I am told racism is about skin color, the very standard I, and the dictionary, use for determining racism.  Most outrageous, as a white Jew, being defined as a racist aligns me with White Supremacists, the very group that wants to eliminate me and my kind from the face of the earth.  When White Supremacists chant, “you will not replace us”, the message is directed towards Jews as much as it is to people of color.  

Progressives use equity as the measuring stick for racial injustice by pointing out that blacks fare disproportionately poorer in key measures of wellbeing.  Blacks have disproportionately less access to healthcare, more incidences of serious medical issues, poorer quality of education, lower levels of academic achievement, shorter life spans, less access to supermarkets, higher drug usage, higher incarceration rates, and so on.

While all true, these comparisons neglect to consider socioeconomic status, which is at the root of these disparities.  Poor white communities show the same disadvantages.  Poor white children suffer the same fate as their poor minority counterparts.  A poor white child attends inferior schools, is less likely to finish high school, more likely to commit crimes, more likely to become a drug addict, have a shorter life span, etc.

Progressives do no focus on or promote programs which provide skill sets so the poor can lift themselves out of poverty.  To do so would acknowledge the poor, through individual effort, can improve their lot in life.  Instead Progressives focus on instances where an unarmed minority is killed by a white police officer.  Although touted by Progressives as evidence of systemic racism, the reality is that white officers killing unarmed minorities is so rare that calling it systemic is a libelous distortion of the truth. 

The media coverage of a white officer killing a minority does not include statistics showing the rarity of police killing unarmed minorities, or provide comparable coverage of the killing of unarmed whites.  The Washington Post for the last 6 years tracked the number of killings of unarmed civilians.  During that time period police officers across the country responded to tens and tens of millions of calls.  Of those calls, 478 ended in an unarmed civilian being killed.  Within that subset of unarmed civilian killings, 175 were white, 137 were black, and 79 were Hispanic.  These numbers are not even a blip compared to the number of civilian encounters with the police over that time period, and show no significant disparity in which skin color is victimized.

The largest beneficial impact for the inner cities would be to address the social dysfunction occurring in those areas, where the overwhelming number of homicides occur, along with all manner of social dysfunction.  There is a mantra for success in life my father shared with my son when he was 13, the age of transition from childhood to adulthood in the Jewish faith.  He said to him, “get educated, get a job, get married, and have children … in that order”.  Nothing fancy or profound, but a time tested formula used by citizens and immigrants alike in achieving success in America.   Implementing programs based on that formula would go a long way to breaking the cycle of poverty existing in the inner cities.  It will require a lot of resources and man power, and will span a generation to show significant progress.  There are pockets of such programs in existence, primarily church run.  Such programs need funding for support and expansion to cover all areas where poverty is generational.  This funding should and can receive support from both parties.  Helping the poor is at the core of American values.    

I intended to make this the final in this series of blogs.  Alas, more to talk about.  One more blog coming the end of the week.  Until then.         

America Awakens to the Danger of Cancer Culture, part 2

 

America was founded on the liberal democratic philosophy that government is created to protect individual liberty.   Government is a compact between individuals, who individually lack the power to ward off harm from others, or the strength to deal with some of the vicissitudes of life alone.  They willingly enter into a collective agreement to protect each other from others, and from Mother Nature. 

Unrestrained government power, in the wrong hands, can harm the individual, and can trample on individual freedoms.  The American compact addresses these two fundamental issues in our Constitution.  The Constitutional framework, with its checks and balances distributed amongst three government branches, diffuses and diminishes the Federal government’s power.  The Bill of Rights, added to the Constitution, to protect the individual’s liberty from being trampled on by the Federal government in areas crucial to maintaining the cohesion of civil society – freedom of speech, assembly, religion and the press; unlawful search and seizure of property; protecting the individual’s privacy from government intrusion; due process in legal proceedings;  trial by jury of the individual’s peers in criminal and civil proceeding;  limits on the amount of bail and fines the government can impose;  the preeminence of the individual or the State in any matter not expressly assigned to the Federal Government or expressly prohibited to the State; and, a catch-all phrase, an individual’s rights are not limited to just those enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

Progressivism wants to turn the Constitution on its head by making society preeminent over the individual.  Progressive’s view is rooted in Critical Theory philosophy, first developed in Germany in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.   Critical Theory is a social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole.  It does so by looking below the surface of social life to discover the underlying assumptions through which society functions.  This deep dive is necessary because people in society have no awareness of why they behave the way they do, in the same way that a fish surrounded by water has no concept of water. 

The philosophical development of Critical Theory was heavily influenced by Karl Marx’s writings on the economy and society.  According to Marx, society was structured to favor the wealthy over the workers through power and domination.  Marx’s formulation that problematic societies were those that favored the oppressors over the oppressed became the primary framework of Critical Theory.

Critical Race Theory is, Critical Theory, applied to race.  It was formulated in the 1970s by sociologist Professors in American Universities to explain the slow pace of change in America following the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights legislation.  In essence, Critical Race Theory explains the pace of change stymied as a result of the power structure in America set up to impede and ultimately stop the advancement of blacks and other minority groups.  Race and the power structure were the social constructs used to explain what was happening in America.   America and its institutions were founded to benefit whites at the expense of blacks, and by extension all minority groups finding their way to America. 

The charge of systemic racism flows naturally from Critical Race Theory’s conception of America.   Systemically racist because all of its institutions were created to suppress and subjugate blacks and other minorities to the powerful, pale, privileged class.  This was particularly true of law enforcement, whose roots, according to Critical Race Theory, date back to the hunting and capturing of runaway slaves.  Further, no matter how decent whites are, they wittingly, or unwittingly, benefit from the oppressive American society.  “Whiteness”, per Critical Race Theory, is like the proverbial fish in water, not realizing they are racist and oppressors.  From these concepts, an industrial strength cottage industry of books and consultants formed.  Created to educate whites and corporations on how racism is a way of life, and the necessary rectification for America’s injustices – reparations for loss of wages during America’s slave period, and a juncture where whites are disadvantaged in educational opportunities, and in hiring and advancement; lasting until economic equity is achieved between the races.

The major flaw in Critical Race Theory, the data does not support systemic racism in America.  There are a number of data sets of police interactions with minorities and, in particular, the incidence of the killing of unarmed suspects.  The most prominent is the data collected by the Washington Post.  Beginning in 2015 and continuing through 2020, the Post collected nationwide date on police killings of unarmed suspects classified by race.  The data was clear, on a per capita basis there was no difference in the killing of black vs white unarmed suspects.  If anything there was a slight edge in the killing of unarmed whites.  Furthermore, the incidence of killing unarmed suspects in a year was miniscule in comparison to the millions of incidences in a year where police interacted with suspects.  There are over 600,000 police officers on patrol every day, 365 days a year.  The number of incidences of unarmed killings of all races, less than 100.  The number of questionable shootings of unarmed suspects is a small percentage of that, in the teens.

The appearance of rampant police murders of unarmed black suspects is a product of the disproportionate media coverage of the killing of unarmed blacks.  When a white officer kills a black suspect, it becomes national news.  Not so when it is an unarmed white suspect.  Many of those killings are horrifying and gut wrenching to watch, further amplifying the salience of the murders of unarmed blacks. 

Yes, there are racist cops.  They are the outliers, not the norm.  Reflect on the number of incidences over the last decade of unarmed blacks being murdered.  Now compare that to the tens and tens of millions of police encounters over that same time frame.  Doing the math it is impossible to believe the police are on patrol everyday hunting for black targets.

Nor is America systemically racist.  There was one such country, Apartheid South Africa.  There the whites did systematically oppress the blacks in the country.  Laws passed which restricted blacks movements, where they could live, and where they could open businesses.  All done to ensure segregation of the races and to keep the blacks impoverished.  There were no black faces amongst the police forces, or in the legislature, or any other institutions of power within the country.  By that standard, America, with all its faults and history of slavery and segregation, is a paradise by comparison.  The advancements of minorities in this country never would have happened if America’s institutions and laws were systemically racist like in South Africa. 

Critical Race Theory was considered an academic dead end and was never widespread in academic circles, or a part of the general public’s awareness, until revived by Progressives.  The thrust into public awareness, seemingly overnight, as the Progressive wing of the Democrat Party became the animating force for policy, and Progressive Professors and administrators were woven into the fabric of universities at an accelerated pace. 

Most importantly, for understanding the results of the recent November election, Critical Race Theory infiltrated the Public schools, whose Teacher’s Unions and school administrators, lean Progressive.  The opaqueness of what students learned in school, cleared when parents had a window into the classroom during remote learning.  Parents were alarmed by what they saw – white children told they were racist without realizing it, and minority children told they cannot succeed in America without the help of whites. 

The Progressive press and politicians pushed back on the idea that Critical Race Theory is taught in schools with the oft used charge of racism.   Republicans were dog whistling their white supremacist base by questioning the teaching of historical racial injustices in the classroom.  That was an unmistakable distortion of Republicans’ views.  Theirs’ was an opposition to Critical Race Theory taught in the schools, not an opposition to teaching about slavery and the great struggle for civil rights in America.  

School teachers’ unions and school administrators, and some politicians, used a slight of hand distraction, by stating that Critical Race Theory is not a part of the Public School curriculum.  Critical Race Theory is an academic subject, possibly taught at the University level, but not at the primary and secondary educational level.  What Progressives failed to mention is that teaching consists of curriculum, what subject matters are taught, and pedagogy, how the subject matters are taught.  Teachers can and do choose to teach the curriculum through the lens of Critical Race Theory in such classes as history, English, and civics.  The inclusion of Critical Race Theory concepts, like whiteness and systemic racism, are a part of the explanatory concepts used when teaching those subject matters.  Many schools have teacher development courses in Critical Race theory, and school libraries contain books written from the perspective of Critical Race theory, which can be assigned reading in the classroom.

It wasn’t racism, but parents’ protective instincts that animated their vote against Progressive candidates.  The vote was bipartisan and included a majority of independents and suburban moms and dads.  So something is happening here.  What it is I am exactly clear, and telling Democrats you got to beware.  I’m no Buffalo Springfield, but next time I am going to take a stab at explaining what’s going down.   

America Awakens to the Danger of Cancer Culture, part 1

 

                        

On Tuesday November 2^nd voters across the country used their voices at the ballot box to protest the growing cancer on the body politic – the Progressive wing of the Democrat Party.  The spotlight on Tuesday was on the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.  New Jersey was the bluest of blue states, and Virginia solidly blue.  Yet the Republican candidate won in Virginia and the New Jersey Republican candidate came within a hairs breadth of winning.  In contrast to their opponents, each Republican candidate was completely unknown in the beginning and voiced practical solutions to the bread and butter issues impacting the citizenry of their States. 

Tuesday’s results loosened the grip of the Progressive hold on the Democrat Party.  Witness, after last Tuesday's election results,  the capitulation of the Progressive Caucus, to the Democrat moderates by passing the infrastructure bill without simultaneously passing their Progressive wish list bill.  Nancy Pelosi, the wizened pol, understood the results were more sweeping than just the gubernatorial races in two states.  In Virginia it was a clean statewide sweep.   Republicans won not just the governorship but also the lieutenant governorship, and the attorney generalship.  Republicans also regained control of the State House of Representatives.  This included the defeat of the Democrat Speaker of the Virginia House by an unknown whose campaign advertisement spending consisted of a youtube video of why he was running.    In Minneapolis, the home of the George Floyd unspeakable tragedy at the hands of a few police officers, the “eliminate the traditional police”, ballot measure, was soundly defeated.  In New York City, the Democrat who ran as the law and order candidate won the mayoral race.  In Nassau County New York, the moderate Democrat candidate prevailed over the progressive candidate for City Attorney. Similar results happened in Seattle, Portland, New Mexico, South Carolina, etc.

Lost in the excitement and delight of Donald Trump’s failed bid for reelection in 2020 were flashing yellow lights of voter discontent for Democrats.  President elect Biden had no coattails.  Republican senatorial candidates boasted strong victories, despite polling showing close races, and won 50 seats in the upper chamber.   But for Trump’s post-election lunacy of stolen election claims, the Republicans would have won one or both Georgia Senate runoff elections, securing a Senate majority.   The GOP gained seats in the House, though Democrats were expected to expand their majority.   Instead their majority in the House became razor thin.    Just as ominously, Republicans held every state legislature, including in multiple states Biden won handily.

Ignoring the cautionary signs, the Progressives acted as if they had a legislative mandate to recreate America in their own image.  Their eyes blinded to the election results by the moral certainty of their cause.  Their goal, create a utopian society of equity, inclusion, and diversity at the expense of the principles and political philosophy of America. 

America was founded on the philosophy of liberal democracy, and the principles that follow from that philosophy.  Here the individual reigns supreme and the role of government is to enhance individual liberties and to protect the individual from those within and without America who want to take away these liberties.  Succinctly put, an individual’s rights stops at the nose of another American, and the government’s role is to make sure that happens.

Our founding fathers also understood that the citizens’ individual liberties needed protection from unchecked Federal government power over individual States and over all American citizens.  A series of checks and balances limited the central government’s power by distributing power between three competing branches of government.    Government responsibilities not identified in the constitution as belonging to the Federal government, devolved to the domain of the individual States.  A bill of rights created to restrain the government’s power over its citizens – freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, due process, and all the other rights we take for granted that protects us from excessive government power.  All of these measures put in place to protect individual liberties from the central government and have citizens under more local control (the States) as much as possible,

The central importance of the individual in the framing of our constitution can be lost as the size of the Federal government has grown exponentially since our country's founding.  Yet that is where the battle lines are brightly drawn between Progressives and moderates.

Next time, why Progressivism is a cancer on democratic values and needs to be defeated. 

Understanding Trump Loyalists, Part Two

Republicans' views on Trump as President fell into three buckets.  The “Never Trumpers”, who saw Trump as an aberration to core conservative values and principles.  The “Pragmatists”, who tolerated Trump's un-Presidential conduct, explicitly or implicitly, because of his pro Republican legislative agenda.  Lastly, the most misunderstood group, the “Trump Loyalists”.  Their attachment to Trump was unshakeable, and from whose midst sprang the Capitol rioters.      

It is perilous to the already frayed ties that bind, to define the millions upon millions of Trump’s supporters, one dimensionally, as cut from the same cloth as those who violated the Capitol building.  During another tumultuous period in our history, Martin Luther King commented on the race riots setting America’s cities ablaze in the 1960s.   MLK condemned the riots, but also the conditions which led to the rioting.  Explaining, “Riots are the language of the unheard”. 

I know, many of you cannot wrap your heads around comparing Trump loyalists to the plight of oppressed Blacks.  What possible circumstances sheds a similar light on Americans who voted for, and continue to ardently support, a narcissistic man with autocratic tendencies.  

The alliance between Trump and his ardent supporters is rooted in the changing social and economic circumstance of the white working class since World War II.  The golden years for the working class started in the aftermath of WW II.  Europe and Asia were devastated by war, leaving the United States as the only major manufacturing country for the world.  Good paying jobs were plentiful, with wages and benefits sufficient for a solid middle class life.  The backbone of the country – building our manufacturing plants and infrastructure, and producing our goods.  Ordinary people, who nonetheless received a heroes’ welcome upon returning home from war.  The Greatest Generation that saved the world from the scourge of Nazism.

By 2015 the reality of the white working class was radically different.   Manufacturing was a declining segment of the economy, the result of the great outmigration of manufacturing beginning in 2001.  Manufacturing plants were relocated outside the United States to countries with lower labor costs.  The working class did not have the skills or aptitude to transition to the good paying jobs outside the manufacturing orbit.  

As a result, the working class experienced lower, stagnant wages, and a labor pool greatly diminished.  All happening by forces beyond their control.  They were no longer considered the backbone of the country.  Instead they were considered as out of step with modern America.  No longer the solid or reliable breadwinner because of diminished job opportunities.  The psychological toll from their loss of status and dignity was great -- an increased in alcohol and substance abuse to mask their underlying anxiety and depression, and an increase in the ultimate solution to misery – suicide.

The white working class was angry.  They were the invisible class whose sufferings were ignored by political leaders from both sides of the aisle.  Democrats were focused on correcting racial inequities in health care, education, the criminal justice system, and the like. Yet the white working class experienced these same inequities.  Considered part of the “privileged white class”, they were left out of the conversation.

The Republican Party favored the very policies leading to the decimation of manufacturing – free trade and globalization.  The Republican view - the loss of blue collar jobs was the inevitable consequence of the creative destruction of the free market system.  The Republican solution - retraining for the new jobs that a dynamic economy creates.  Cold comfort for middle aged workers with a high school education.

Enter Donald Trump.  He made them feel accepted by voicing approval of the working class small town values of attending church and ownership of guns for protection and hunting.  He made them feel understood by viewing them as they viewed themselves - patriotic, regular Americans who represented the norm of what America is, and what made America great.  

He promised to drain the swamp of elitist, career politicians.  The ones who viewed the working class dismissively as racist, and unable to cope with a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse America.  The ones who no longer considered the working class as the backbone of the country. 

Trump’s call for greater border security with Mexico resonated with the working class.  Mexico, like no other country, symbolized the how and the why of the working classes' economic decline.  Mexico benefited financially from American manufacturing plants relocating there, and from their illegal immigrants sending their earnings back to Mexico.  Dollars earned, from jobs ordinarily filled by American workers, sent home to families in Mexico.  In 2015, illegal immigrants remitted a total of 25 billion dollars to Mexico.

The pent up anger and frustration felt towards Mexico, released into wild applause at rallies when Trump gave his signature line, “We will build the wall and make Mexico pay for it”.  That was such a sure fire enthusiastic applause line, he told the NY Times Editorial Board he used it whenever he sensed the audience was getting bored.

Once elected, Trump did improve the lot of the working class.  A combination of tax cuts and deregulation led to record low unemployment and wage increases for the working class.  Not run of the mill wage increases, but substantial wage increases.  Wage increases that were two and one-half times the wage increases of the upper class. 

As promised, Trump made building the wall along the southern border a top priority.  Restrained by the Democrat party’s opposition, completion held off until Trump’s anticipated second term in office.  He also defended religious liberty and gun ownership through appointing conservative judges at the Federal level and at the Supreme court, and by actions of the Justice Department.         

Promises made promises kept.  The first politician to do so for the working class since the FDR administration.  Any doubts about Trump’s sincerity or commitment to the working class dispelled by his actions in office.  Trump was their champion and the bond between them sealed by covenants kept.

Next time, why Trump’s widespread voter fraud allegations made perfect sense to his loyal followers.  

Understanding Trump Loyalists, Part One

 The Trump years culminated the decades’ long trend of the transformation of American politics into tribal politics.  The political parties once divided by policy issues, replaced with divisions based on moral and character issues.  Democrats and Republicans who once saw each other as fellow Americans; now see each other as irredeemably flawed people.

It will take much more than President Biden’s call for unity and legislative bipartisanship to heal the nation’s toxic divide.  In truth, our political leaders, along with the media, are a big part of how we got to this perilous and foreboding place.

Political campaign strategy became less about issues and more about negatively defining the character of their opponent.  Republican opponents are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and heartless.  Democratic opponents are dangerous elitist tyrants, promising wealth distribution to gain power and control over you.  

The divisions between party loyalists grew even starker on social media during the Trump Presidency, and the news media followed suit.  They shifted completely from reporting to advocacy as part of a business decision to bolster viewership and readership.   The goal of reporting went from objectivity, to persuasion –emphasizing certain news stories and spinning certain news events, to create narratives favorable to their audience’s party affiliation.

Now an impeachment trial looms.  Sure to further inflame the passions of Trump’s protagonists and antagonists.   The trial perceived either as another illegitimate effort to silence their champion, or as a necessary step to maintain the norms of our democracy. With or without acquittal, open wounds will fester, and extremists on both sides will feel more empowered and emboldened.

Changing the tribal mindset will not be easy and will not be initiated by politicians or the news media who have too much invested in maintaining the status quo.  As naïve as this sounds, it leaves us, “we the people”, to begin the process of forming, not a more perfect union, but a union of respectful citizens.  The process begins with an essential first step, understanding the other side, from their point of view.  The Talmud (the book codifying Jewish law) states that one must judge another only after considering 49 reasons for and 49 reasons against a person’s actions.  In essence, consider both sides of an issue before drawing conclusions, or passing judgement.

Ironically that means utilizing a principal catalyst of the country’s stark divide, namely the media.   Expose yourself to media from both sides of the political spectrum,  What each side calls "fake news".  Do so continuously and with an inquisitive mind.   That way you will read or hear about stuff your side's media will not cover, or cover with a particular slant.  Knowing both sides gives the complete perspective of what is going on in the country,  Moreover, such exposure lays the foundation of common knowledge, permitting discussions of  policy differences rather than character differences.  To paraphrase Victor Frankel, there are only two types of people in this world, the decent and the indecent.  Its up to the decent in each party to do the work necessary to lower the temperature of the rhetoric so there is less heat and more light in this country we all love.    

For what it’s worth, here are some of the people I read or watch.  Television, political commentary and analysis --on the left, Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN; on the right Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.  Television, daily news – on the left, David Muir and Norah O’Donnell nightly news shows; on the right, Fox News Special Report with Brett Baier.  Newspapers for news and editorial board opinions – on the left, Washington Post; on the right The Wall Street Journal.  Newspaper columnists who are thoughtful moderate, or thoughtful partisan writers  – on the left Thomas Friedman of NY Times, Kathleen Parker and E.J. Dionne of Washington Post;  on the right George Will of the Washington Post, Kimberly Strassel and Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal. 

Next time, in the spirit of understanding the other side’s point of view, I am going to explain Trump loyalists, considered by many as very unsympathetic and indeed pathetic.  My goal is to show the human side of Trump supporters.  Till then.

 

The Relativity of Time

Now I am no Einstein.  Lord knows I can’t explain the theory of relativity, let alone give the mathematical proof for the relativity of time.  Yet, today, I will prove that time is indeed relative, but with a caveat.  My proof is outside of Einstein’s world of physics, and into the world of human experience.

We experience two worlds.  One is the world of what is -- the material world where physics and mathematics reside.  The other is the world of action -- what we do and how we choose to behave in the material world.  This is the world where values reside.  Values animate and give impetus to our actions, and underlie the choices we make.  Unlike the material world, there are no mathematical formulations to predict human behavior.  Human behavior is not mechanical or logical.  There is always an emotional component (values) that sway our choices.   We do not look to science and mathematics for our values.  Values are formulated and transmitted through language, stories, and myths. 

It is in the action world, the world of values, where the perception of time gets interesting.  There is a fascinating study by a behavioral economist, Keith Chen, on the influence of language in financial planning. 

Unlike English, there are languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, which lack verb tenses to distinguish between the present and the future.  In Chinese it is not the verb but the context of the conversation, among other markers, which distinguishes time periods

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Chen wondered if this linguistic difference influences people’s time perception sufficiently to influence retirement savings.  He hypothesized that people speaking languages that have no verbal distinction between the present and the future will experience the future as closer to the present, thereby creating impetus to save for the future.  On the flip side, languages which verbally distinguish between the present and the future make the future harder to relate to, and, hence, plan for.

That is exactly what Chen found when he compared the savings rate between people who spoke languages with or without a future tense.  People who speak languages with a separate future tense -- English, Arabic, Greek, the Romance languages – are far worse at saving money than people whose languages don’t distinguish between the present and the future – Chinese, German, Japanese, and Norwegian.

After factoring in people’s education levels, income levels, and religious preferences, Chen found that people speaking languages with present and future verbs were 30 percent less likely to save money in any given year.  

As crazy as this sounds, Chen replicated this finding in a clever real world experiment.  New hires at a company were required to fill out a form which included providing the percentage of their salary they would devote to a retirement plan.  One form had their current picture affixed to the top corner of the form, while another had the current picture affixed to one corner and a computer aged photo of themselves affixed to the opposite corner.  Yup, having a current and older picture to view increased the percentage of retirement savings significantly.

All of this discussion is prelude to the meat of what I want to discuss – how the underpinnings of secular and religious views influence time perception, world views, and policy prescriptions.

Until next time

School Shootings -- No Longer Ho Hum

The seminal moment establishing the enduring connection between God and the children of Israel was hearing their suffering as slaves in Egypt.  The children of Israel “were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.  God heard their moaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.  God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them … and was mindful of their suffering.”

Now our children are crying out to us about their suffering, their need for help, their entrapment in unsafe schools. Having brought them into this world we must remember our sacred covenant with them to nurture, protect and make them feel safe and secure. 

For too long, as a nation, we have not acted to make our children safe and secure. With each school massacre, platitudes of blame along political fault lines trotted out.  Democrats blaming guns and advocating for increased gun control measures.  Republicans blaming the shooters and advocating for guns in the schools to stop the shooters.  Lost in the blame game, politicians’ lack of attention to what our children are saying.

Now, for the first time in the long history of school violence, our children’s cries are so loud, so forceful, and so eloquent they pierce through the platitudes and diatribes -- impossible to ignore.  A small sample of powerful remarks by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School:

Senior student Delany Tarr

“This movement, created by students, led by students, is based on emotion. It is based on passion and it is based on pain … The only reason that we’ve gotten so far is that we are not afraid of losing money, we’re not afraid of getting reelected or not getting reelected, we have nothing to lose. The only thing we have to gain at this point is our safety.”

Senior Student Emma Gonzalez

“The students at this school have been having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives. AP Government had about three debates this year.  Some discussions on the subject even occurred during the shooting while students were hiding in the closets.”

Junior Student Alfanso Calderon

“Everybody needs to remember, we are just children. A lot of people think that disqualifies us from even having an opinion on this sort of matter…This matters to me more than anything else in my entire life. And I want everybody to know, personally, I’m prepared to drop out of school. I’m prepared to not worry about anything besides this… so that kids don’t have to fear going back to school.”

Senior David Hogg

“My message to lawmakers and Congress is, “Please, take action.  What we really need is action. We can say, ‘We’re gonna do all these things. Thoughts and prayers.’ What we need more than that is action. Please. This is the 18th [school shooting].  We're children.  You guys are the adults."

Action requires going beyond the inevitable blame that happens when looking for the causes of gun violence.  The why did this happen questions shifts the focus from ourselves onto others.  Yet when bad things happen to good people our minds ask why in order to feel in control when tragedy strikes.  The why question is so ingrained, such a reflexive response to tragedy, that the famous book about bad things happening to good people is misremembered as:  Why Bad Things Happen To Good People.  The actual title is "When Bad Things Happen To Good People".

This “when mindset” allows for a call to action.  What do I do now that this happened?  The answers to “what do I do” flows through mindfulness.  Looking into ourselves to be aware of how we see ourselves and others involved in the tragedy.    Mindful of what we and others are capable and not capable of doing, and mindful of what we might do to lessen the likelihood this tragedy recurs.

Our President made a good start to mindfulness with his listening approach.  Gathering people directly involved in school massacres to hear their stories, their needs, their pain, their anger.  To listen to what others did to lessen the likelihood of another shooting at their school.  Just as important, televising the session so the whole nation could hear the multitude of voices crying out to be seen and listened to.

Hopefully many solutions are put in place, some at the national level. Many more at the state and local level crafted to the needs and desires of the communities where the schools exist.  It is a complex and multilayered issue with no single magical solution.

 

I want to give a shout out to one solution that started locally and is gaining national traction – Rachel’s Challenge.  The program started by the father of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine shooting.  After her death, Darrell Scott heard from so many classmates how his daughter had touched them deeply with her kindness and compassion.

 

Darrell developed a program to add kindness and compassion learning as an antidote to student alienation and school bullying and violence.  His insight, schools used to, but turned away from, including character development in the school curriculum.  The heart of the program, mindfulness.  Being aware of yourself and others in your daily interactions.

 

Similarly, Russell Simmons, the hip-hop mogul, started a program for reducing youth violence through the transformative power of meditation.  Practicing meditation changes the mind from busy to quiet. Only a quiet mind is an aware mind, capable of apprehending self and others.  Violence stops when you truly see the other, not as an “other” but as someone with feelings and needs just like you.

   

God, through his actions, teaches us the importance of mindfulness.  Now let’s teach it and practice it.   

Until next time.    

    

The Ansari Aziz Rape Allegation

A few years ago my son, raised Jewish, turned atheist, married a practicing Catholic.  For my deceased father, a devout Jew who passionately believed in maintaining the unbroken chain of Judaism, the marriage would have been an existential crisis.  In contrast, I am heartened by the marriage as I know that my grandson will benefit from exposure to the wisdom of the bible and to the Judaeo-Christian values contained within.

Sadly, religious values and wisdom as a basis for behavior in civil society is gone, with no consensus on how to fill the void.  As with all voids, chaos and confusion reigns.  Consider the accusation of rape against the famous comedian, Ansari Aziz.  A first date with a woman, known under the pseudonym of Grace, ended awkwardly and painfully for her at Mr. Aziz’s apartment.  Kissing between them progressed to nude physical intimacy, heading towards intercourse.  Already uncomfortable with the level of physical intimacy, Grace said no to intercourse.  Mr. Aziz immediately stopped and arranged an Uber ride home for her.

At various stages of the date Grace felt pressured into sexual encounters beyond her comfort zone, and believed her nonverbal stop signals were ignored by Mr. Aziz.  Grace felt she was raped and made that accusation in the online publication Bee.net   Mr. Aziz dumbfounded by the accusation believed he never coerced or forced her into unwanted intimacy.  He perceived Grace as a willing partner in pleasure and perceived himself as a respectful partner, immediately stopping when she said no to anything further.

Following publication of the accusation, an online debate ensued regarding the definitions of sexual coercion and consent, and the responsible way to handle perceived sexual misconduct.  Grace’s supporters placed responsibility on men to tune into their partner’s feelings during sex.  Mr. Aziz's supporters placed responsibility on women to clearly voice there discomfort.   Many expressed concern that attaching the rape label to an ambiguous sexual encounter undermined the #MeToo movement.   

Lost in the debate is this simple truth.   When two complete strangers engage in the emotionally and psychologically intense act of physical intimacy, hovering close by are feelings of vulnerability and violation created by misunderstandings and miscommunication.  Mr. Aziz was unfamiliar with Grace’s body language or style of communicating.  Grace knew nothing of Mr. Aziz’s sensitivity level or attitudes towards women.  Neither knew the other’s views on sexual intimacy.  Neither knew the other’s expectation for the date -- a building block towards a relationship, or a one night stand.  Each was certain their perception of the evening was shared by the other.

In the religious world fences are built around interactions between men and women precisely because such interactions are fraught with misunderstandings and unwanted behavior.  Hence Vice President Mike Pence’s rule to always include his wife when attending a private social event with another woman, or the practice of Orthodox Jews to refrain from touching anyone of the opposite sex who is not close family. 

In the secular world these behaviors are dismissed as remnants of a patriarchal society not suitable for the modern understanding of gender equality.  Overlooked is the wisdom of creating fences to avoid emotionally painful interactions.  Instead of antiquated ideas, create fences with modern sensibilities.  Create them because, even in this modern world, communication between people is imperfect, and because, contrary to modern beliefs, fundamental human nature and basic emotional reactions are unchanged

 

Until next time 

Trump and the Politics of Branding

I recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Singapore.  While there, the eyes of the prawns were upon me -- cooked alive and served with eyes intact as a sign of freshness for restaurant patrons.  Those bug eyes disturbed the sensibilities of my kosher upbringing, so I ate mostly rabbit food as a palliative to my churning stomach.  The good news, I returned home without the dreaded vacation belly.

The bad news, I returned home to deja vu all over again -- the country in an uproar over Trump stepping on his tongue.  The pattern oh so familiar, Democratic leaders expressing outrage, Republican leaders voicing lipstick on a pig rationales, and the legislative agenda drowned out by the political noise.

Lost in the hub hub a disturbing trend, the increasing commercialization of politics.  Parties no longer defined by their philosophy or principals but by their branding.  Democrats brand Republicans as deplorable and Republicans brand Democrats as out of touch elites.  Opportunities to brand the other trumps legislative agendas, even bi-partisan ones.

Senator Dick Durbin’s actions a case in point.   After hearing the shithole comments in a private, contentious meeting with the President, the Senator could not resist the gift that Trump’s mouth keeps on giving.  He immediately disclosed the remarks to the press, creating the predictable shockwave across the country.   A reflexive action for political advantage, absent any reflection on what is best for the country or the Dreamers.

There is an important distinction between a President’s private and public comments.  Unlike private comments, a President’s public pronouncement are official views guiding policy.  Take LBJ as an example, with large disconnects between his private and public speech and policy.  LBJ’s potty mouth, positively Trumpian in private, regularly used the "n" word during cabinet meetings.   Publicly he advocated for sweeping civil rights legislation and at the signing ceremony spoke these stirring words, “Let us close the close the springs of racial poison.  Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts.  Let us set aside irrelevant differences and make our Nation whole.”

Senator Durbin, as a public servant, never considered the public good before talking to the press.  Lost, because of his act of political advantage, was movement towards a permanent bi-partisan solution for the sword of deportation hanging over the Dreamers, and impetus towards an overhaul of our outdated immigration policy.

Republicans are equally eager to play the political advantage game, with Nancy Pelosi as one favorite target.  Recently jumping on her comments after corporations announced bonuses to employees following passage of the tax reform bill.  Characterizing the $1,000 bonuses as mere crumbs, Pelosi was excoriated as a liberal elite, out of touch with employees living pay check to pay check for whom $1,000 is highly meaningful.  

The politics of advantage is a corrosive outgrowth of the extreme polarization of our two parties and the radical elements that form the base of each.  Each party is loath to support any legislation emanating from the other side lest it anger their base and provide their opponents with an advantage at the polling booths.  This was the Republican strategy when Democrats were in power, and now the Democrats are returning the favor. 

Nothing gets done in a bi-partisan way which severely restricts what either party does while in power.  Legislation addresses issues catering to the base’s views, while most Americans are middle of the road in their views.  This sets the stage for ping-ponging of governance, particularly at the Presidential level, as the party in favor loses favor with independents, where elections are won or lost.  A trend I fear is our future.

Such a downer to think about, I’ll end on a positive note.  Headed up north to visit with my mini me, now 17 months.  Last I saw him he was Mr. Destructo, taking repeated, and I do mean repeated, delight in lifting his large plastic fire engine on its head and then pushing it see which way it fell and how loud it crashed.   Clapping each time he performed the trick did not suffice for long.  Soon he began clapping prior to the performance and required all of us to join in.  My mini me definitely inherited my “look at me” gene.

Until next time.