Thoughts on Campaign Conversations to have following Meet the Press this morning

 

 

Relief Bill - Authoritarianism in Action: They missed a big opportunity on Meet the Press this morning when discussion of the relief bill came up. Trump’s Chief of Staff said the President has a 1.3 trillion-dollar package that the Democrats are keeping from the American people by not agreeing to Trump's terms.

What is really happening is that Trump is unwilling to negotiate with the Democrats in any way. This is the leadership model he uses and will use for the next four years if re-elected. No negotiation, no listening; his terms his way. It is a clear expression of authoritarianism, which can, in the right clothing, with the right clean up, look like good, strong leadership - but this is misleading.

      Good leadership brings all the pieces to the table and puts together a solution that works for everyone – A win-win or at least an attempt at it in the best form possible. Donald Trump offers no such solutions for the American people. He offers his solutions and his only will he accept, even if he says otherwise. This is the discussion that needs to be held publicly.  The one around Donald’s leadership style. Authoritarianism versus leadership. What the vision of our founding fathers was for presidency in the United States and how has this developed over the years leading to the ability and ease with which the current administration continues to subvert this role? For an interesting article discussion on the historical development of the presidency check this Washington Post Article interview with Ray Raphael who wrote “Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive” Here is another good piece on the Presidency from US History.org. *

       Corona Virus - Leadership skills: the American public needs to understand that Donald’s leadership (or lack of it) on this one event is not the issue. What is being revealed here is Donald’s lack of leadership skills across the board. Because he cannot negotiate, listen to or compromise on anything that involves communication with those who do not agree with his views, he cannot provide leadership here. The leader of a free country voted into office and governing a diverse population needs the ability to delegate and use the skill and expertise of the people on his team for the good of  all the people in times of crisis as well as times of calm. It is a learned, embedded skill. Instead, Donald spent months (of precious activation time) trying to wrap his head around medical matters so that he could appear to be expert in them. Rather than acknowledging a problem and turning to experts to provide swift solutions he doubted the voices around him and spent precious time trying to bring himself up to speed in an area where he had no real knowledge because he wanted to be the one to appear knowledgeable and hold the limelight at the microphone and have the people hail him as an expert and a hero. (Good and honest managers attract and retain good responsible honest people around them and then let them do their jobs.)  His lack of knowing and sensing what was the true issue, lack of ability to listen to chosen experts and lack of ability to coordinate his team and to inspire and bring people together are lack of true leadership skills seen in every area of his administration. The corona virus just hit us all at once instead of in little pockets of areas one at a time as do his other actions and decrees that take away benefits and freedoms from the people. Here, with Covid 19, his lack of leadership skills is more evident because it is widespread and single-pointed in time.

      This conversation needs to be held with the American people. What are true leadership skills and how will they benefit us as a country? Someone who retreats from a crisis and does not believe what experienced experts are reporting and then replaces them all to match his personal beliefs is a person who does not have the skills to guide a nation through any crisis except perhaps for one where he can put his finger on the button and order his troops to war. Leadership skills need to be discussed. Authoritarianism versus Democratic.  People need information to begin to re-assess their own perspectives and we need to consistently repeat and repeat the information over and over and over…. No one has called this behavior out consistently in this repetitive manner. Let’s get on it right away. There are two months left.  We have already seen the efficacy of Donald’s repetition of whatever he wants his base to believe. It works. So let’s use this one successful tactic he has given us from his own arsenal and go for it. Keep repeating ideas and skills to your friends and family. Don't talk Trump, talk leadership skills. Talk the ideology of authoritarianism versus democratic leadership. Ask people what they want the most. Fast relief from pain (authoritarian action) or a cure for the illness (democratic process)? 

             The Rule of Law – Rescue or Repression? The Thin Blue Line, the Law and Order issue:

Again – this sits well within an authoritarian style of government. What you cannot control you suppress, repress and destroy. Every dictatorship on earth has done just that. The solution to problems of racial inequity will not be solved by restoring law and order through suppression of the many voices of American citizens being expressed through civil protest. There is no question Donald Trump wants to outlaw protest. We need to explore motivation honestly here. Everything he does is pulled together within the thread of establishing an authoritarian regime. {Violence is an issue and part of this plan to move us toward a "friendly dictatorship" form of government  – and that just erupted again when Trump support protesters interacted with social justice protesters. Social justice people died at the hands of Trump supporters. This is a violent administration that wants to use images of military dominance to support it - check the pictures and then look at Hitler's rally images} Use of the ideology of Law and Order further puts the country in danger due to escalating the confrontational elements between law enforcement and freedom of expression and putting the police on the line as enforcers rather than protectors. The answers lie in the leadership qualities and skills that Donald Trump does not possess nor does he fill any part of his government with people who have those qualities to stand in for him. The Law and Order mis-ideology needs to be discussed, dissected and explored in public conversation. Peace is not restored through law and order. Peace is restored through addressing the issues.

Donald has not acknowledged the validity of the issues raised by protesters nor promised to address any of their concerns or needs or expressed any honest condolences over the killings of black people and racial inequities in the country. Not acknowledging issues that he is not prepared to handle (anything that opposes his views) is another authoritarian leadership trait exhibited by Donald Trump. What does that say about the leadership currently installed in the White House and its ability to lead all the people of this country, not just its own base and those who agree with Donald's agenda?  The job of a president is to bring us together; those who agree and those who disagree with whomever is voted into office, and take care of the entire country. This is supposed to be a democracy - a free and open society with self-rule, not the rule of  someone's version of "law and order." This concept needs to be discussed and explored in public conversation. We must make space for one another, not repress and deny one another. All must be heard - all - on both sides, and all views must be discussed and dialogued together - all views. Once we are all heard we are not divided. We may disagree, but we are not divided. Humans have a basic ability to hear and understand one another. This builds trust and a strong country where we can act together in spite of our differences. That is role of leadership. 

Basically, we need to spend time taking apart the issues to have a discussion around the leadership qualities and traits we may be looking at living with for the next four years. Exposing authoritarianism and the lack of true leadership and management skills that have dominated both Trump’s presidency and businesses and are changing the face of democracy in this country is an important conversation. Donald Trump’s changeability and inconsistency needs to be re-visited. His constant shedding of advisors and changing of leadership positions must be continually re-highlighted. The issue of how quickly someone falls out of favor and is terminated has created gaps in our leadership at very fundamental levels. The fact that so many of this administration's former leadership team members have expressed dissatisfaction with what they are seeing happen in the White House needs to be remembered verbally and re-visited and talked about consistently as we face the future together. The lack of stability all of this creates which has led to the inability to muster forces in the face of a national health crisis, or any crisis is the danger – not specific issues over which we can argue but conversation around exploring the leadership qualities that have governed in the last four years and the ones that we will choose to govern us for the next four years. Are they truly authoritarian? What does that mean to different segments of our population and what do the terms democracy and authority really embrace? What is healthy authority and what is not? What is a healthy democracy and what is not? Why are we drawn to what we are drawn to and how will our inclinations expressed in our votes make our country truly strong from the inside as a whole, a true leader in a free world that honors the dignity and human rights of all people?  Let's take a closer look and remember we are all eating at the same table.

*            AUTHOR	ushistory.org
TITLE OF PAGE	The Evolution of the Presidency
TITLE OF PROGRAM	American Government Online Textbook
URL OF PAGE	//www.ushistory.org/gov/7a.asp
DATE OF ACCESS	Sunday, August 30, 2020
COPYRIGHT	2020

 

Dzhokhar: Facing the Enigmatic Truth?

Michael Thurston/Agence France-Presse 

— Getty Images

Okay – I’ve heard about how upset we are at Rolling Stone for putting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on their cover from every corner. Facebook posts, street protests, news articles and reports, even people actually talking about it!

But here – here! Listen – read – think for a minute about a point of view other than one that agrees with the particular emotional, and understandable, general public reaction. Let’s talk about another emotional reaction we are not as quick to face.

This kid’s face – this kid’s face – could be any of our children’s faces. His is not a hardened, easy-to-hate looking face. He was a student at our own UMass Dartmouth. He could be anybody’s son. That is the corker here.

We have seen countless faces of the victims, honored and mourned the lost, fundraised and supported the recovering. There is a huge effort going on to heal. And it will continue. But part of healing is dealing with the root cause, while healing the resulting damage.

We do not want to take a second look at the face of terrorism. We do not want to see an innocent looking young man’s face, look to see where this madness and pain came from and how it can hide so well behind the mask of normalcy. We do not want to be made to look at causes and roots so that we become more aware and better able to intervene and prevent. We do not want the responsibility of caring for society and our own safety and health by being involved and proactive when and where we are able to see risk. Let the “professionals” do that we say…and yet, the professionals do not walk the streets every day. Change does not come about from professional intervention, it comes from personal recognition. It is when the people on the street wake up and get involved and take responsibility for their future that we as a nation, town or community, change.

And so the need to understand and perceive, to look at this face once again and acknowledge it could be anyone’s child. To become familiar with the story behind the face. To be able to see the disgruntled, the lonely, the overwhelmed, the angry and in pain before they are at the point of explosion; and to be able to bring some healing, relief and help to those in silent screaming need before they seek self-expression and self-destruction through the destruction of others.

Look at his face. Pray for his soul, that it may not leave this earth in the same maniacal torment that expressed itself on April 15^th. And let us learn. Learn how to see lonely, unhappy, overwhelmed people and young people. Learn how to defuse the human bomb before it expresses itself in outward violence, mass shootings, terrorism and murderous hate. We have a lot of societal growing up to do and responsibilities to learn. Let’s not shy away from the reflection needed to assimilate the lessons being taught by these increasing incidents of mass violence. Incident response always includes a review process for the purpose of improved prevention. This is more than friends and relatives shaking their heads and saying they are shocked and don’t understand how this could be the person they knew. It involves the community, not just the family. And the first step is learning to see where we have been blind. Looking at what we don’t want to see; the simple young face of a boy who could be anybody’s son, and yet he killed and maimed many people. We need to be learning the signs and developing ways to defuse wounded souls before they explode, and then be willing, when it is our turn, to use what we have learned to relieve, heal and change the course before harm is done.

Let us look at Dzhokhar’s face once again with sorrow and compassion for the whole of society’s pain, both perpetrator and victims; read the story, search for answers, and make some changes in how we live our daily lives – not those of fear and self-protection – but changes of love and compassion that reach out and prevent the need for violent expression in others. Let us face and deal with the root of these horrible happenings and not turn away so quickly that we do not learn from them anything more than fear. Let’s fight terrorism on two fronts, inward and outward – through protection and prevention for all from any future instances, and by early recognition and compassionate intervention  for those who would be the source.

The Politics of Words

            …or, thoughts and observations on political debates and advertising

Beware, Beware, oh gullible voting public

Who know not how to think and judge
By deeds and accomplishments,
But give more creed to words of speed
Produced to prick your consciousness.
By means of shock and emotion
Your votes are spoken
reactions to verbiage, not always true,
But mass produced
And pushed before your eyes
To dull your mind’s ability to recognize
What is happening versus what you are told.

 

Beware, beware, oh gullible voting public

Of half-truths pushed across the internet
By those who seek to spread
Their own reactive dread
To that which they oppose
For reasons that are theirs, not yours.
They know us well,
Those who push their agendas till
They’ve won our emotional opinion
Or sotted our critical thinking
With apparent facts un-verified,
To keep us all from using
Eyes and minds of our own choosing.
 

They know we are but mortal frames

Who do not want to toil and pain
To dig through piles
Of information and facts
To sift out for ourselves
Truths upon which to act.

But rather let them spoon feed us

With stuff that pleases our political tongues,
Like hungry hurried shoppers in the store
Not looking at what there is inside
The wrapper they grab to buy,
And then wondering why
They are still hungry or sick or tired
When they’ve eaten what is easily bought-
Pleasing their eye, without any thought
Expecting it to fill
When it contains nothing real.

Forty-Seven Percent

I am not opposed to viral video, homespun news and citizen dispensed information traveling from point to point across our country and our world. While there is exaggeration, outright lying, distortion of information, and opinions presented as facts, there is also the opportunity to look for elements of value and truth among the information thrown out for public offering.

I welcome hearing the opinions of our present and potential leaders when they are uncluttered by carefully polished rhetoric. We have the opportunity to connect with their inner intentions and drives, understand what makes them tick and review the beliefs and values that motivate their speech and actions unadorned by political “dress-up. “

Why should it be so unacceptable for Mitt Romney to believe that 47 percent of Americans feel like victims that deserve a hand-out? If this is the political foundation from which his actions will proceed, he needs to be able to be honest and open about it. Many other people in the country feel exactly the same way. These are the voters he wants to appeal to – those who share his beliefs and will support his actions as a leader that result from those beliefs. This is the type of information we need to hear to make a good decision about how to cast our vote. Obama expressed his concerns about the percentage of the population that would choose to defend and segregate themselves rather than face the discomfort of accepting those who are different into the areas where they live their lives during his first presidential campaign. These “unguarded comments” are crucial and important and real information about people we are being asked to choose to lead us, and both revelations made huge swells in public opinion whipped up like tidal waves in a small fish bowl.  We all have our own opinions about what we think will work and what we do not want to live with in this country, and we all have the right to vote on them.

I’m all for a little more blatant honesty, not uncouth, but real, presented to us from which to make our choices.  Our current state of “political correctness” is like a disease being treated with a bland diet.  No one objects to the flavors (or lack of them) but there is nothing to sink your teeth into either. I’m for some unrehearsed rhetoric, clear choices and honest beliefs. I’m for those who have the courage to state their intentions and beliefs forthrightly for public judgment and decision when it comes time to vote.

That being said, I do have a comment or two about that forty-seven percent.

The most important of which would be to think carefully about who might be in that percentage. I have a few suggestions and I am sure you will come up with some on your own once you let the initial unexpressed assumptions wash past you. What I found is that Romney’s remark has two very distinct qualifiers in it, and the presence of one does not indicate the presence of the other.

The first is people who feel victimized.

The second is people who feel entitled to a hand out.

In all honesty, I would agree that up to 47% of the American people probably feel victimized at this point. We have been through a lot that was not entirely of our making. Lost jobs and homes, lack of health care, food and affordable education. The American Dream has suffered major blows in recent years. Large numbers of our population have been the unwarranted recipients of our recent economic struggles.

Not all of those who may feel “victimized” by various elements of our national climate also feel they are entitled to a handout.  Many are hard-working; looking for and making the most of any opportunity to re-create their dream.

Moving on to those who feel entitled to a hand-out; here I had some interesting thoughts for consideration:

1.       Farmers – for decades now we have paid them not to grow certain crops. Whole lifestyles are based upon farm subsidies.

2.       Bankers and mortgage companies– this is more recent. The banking industry now knows that we will not let them fail. This absolves them of the responsibility for making decisions for the good of the country and from bearing the consequences of self-serving, short-term profit based decisions.

3.       Some will put the Auto industry in here. Another handout, but this one has had more positive results. The American auto industry seems to be showing strength and recovery much faster than the banking and finance industries. Perhaps what was offered here was an opportunity to correct mistakes and take responsibility for their future?

4.       The very wealthy. They feel entitled to their tax breaks. These are handouts. The philosophy around tax breaks for the wealthy was that this segment of the population stimulates economic growth by creating jobs. In fact, this has not happened. The very wealthy are first and foremost committed to staying very wealthy, and are responsible for a slow market recovery (lack of willingness to invest and incur losses) and slow job rate recovery (will not hire and increase expenses.) When the economy is strong, they are a major factor in keeping it that way. They will invest and hire. When the economy is weak they are not the players to revive it. They play a defensive game.

I am stopping here, though I am sure you can add more to this list. The idea is spun and you can follow your own thread.

A final word about the poor and needy, those to whom one is supposed to readily refer when reviewing Romney’s remark. We all acknowledge there are those whose mindset is one of entitlement to handouts in this area of our population; we have been told it is so.  Many of us report to have had the first-hand experience of being behind the well-dressed person at the checkout using food stamps to buy what we consider personal “luxury” items and driving a great car at “our expense.” 

Yet particularly for our Mormon candidate, if these are the ones to whom he was referring, I have a thought, one that runs something like this: I never read anywhere in the Bible where Jesus said to give charity only to those who do not feel entitled to a handout. I do not see him rejecting supplicants or blaming them for their condition. He remarks upon a certain one’s faith or tenacity. He gives his healing to 10 lepers, remarks on the one who returns to thank, but does not condemn the nine who did not. He preached and healed so extravagantly that the rich of the day castigated him for not abiding by the “rules”. There was never any rejection by Jesus of someone who was “not worthy” to receive his gifts. There was only the importance of giving, modeled for us by his life.

There will always be those who misuse gifts. We strive to give wisely. There are no easy to follow directions on this. There is however, a very clear command to give to the poor and provide for the needy, generously. Standards and expectations apply to the rich in the Bible. They are the ones to whom qualifiers are applied. The inside of the cup is dirty, the amount given is not in proportion to the amount in store, and the public proclamation of charity is its only reward… all this is food for thought on giving where the poor and needy are concerned. I take all this to mean that God, or the essence of Love, is much more concerned with our giving, and with the unseen motivations behind the use of our wealth, than with the qualifications of those to whom we give.

These are, perhaps, guidelines for our direction as a country. If we stop to count every case, we will surely be lost in judicial array while those who are truly poor and needy are rejected along with those we have set our snares to catch as unworthy. “God with us” chose to rain on the just and the unjust alike, so that the just might have rain, and the poor might have their needs met.  

Looking Back to Isaac

I feel I must go back in time by posting this musing blog, written almost a month ago, to keep the continuity of my political flow and state of mind. As we approached the start of the school year and the season of political conventions, I was definitely disposed to be reflective. These thoughts beautifully preceed my most current comments, soon to follow, as we continue on our political journey in 2012.

The sky is cloudless and blue, the sun is sparkling on the waters of the pond as I drive by on my way to work and children are nervously and excitedly boarding big yellow buses, while our brothers and sisters to the south are bent under pelting rain and pounding winds by the voice of Isaac speaking in the Gulf this August 29^th morning.

The convergence of the remembrance of Katrina in the south, Irene in the northeast just a year ago,  the long torturous trail and uncertainty of the advent of Isaac, and the blustering rhetoric of the delayed Republican Convention has created a turbulence of thought and emotion and reflections on this clear pre-fall morning of the year.

We are entering the time of deciding, of voting, and of the inescapability of choosing sides and positions that will steer the course of our next four years of national life in America. Whose words do we choose?

Which way will bring what results? What, clearly and really, do we want? Where, honestly, do we want to go, and who, who will help to bring us there?

As election time rolls closer, we are all nervously and excitedly getting ready to board the big yellow bus of our choice while the world spins in confusion and conflict, screaming warnings and words we have a hard time interpreting even if we spend the time to listen to them. How do we choose which bus? By where it is not going, or by where it is going? It is time to make sure of our destinations as well as our drivers. Both are very important to accomplishing the journey ahead. Best of luck.

A morning of Isaac, the earth and false promises

A mourning of warning and remembering
A morning of thinking and watching and listening
A morning of fearing, or hearing
The voices that speak
In words, in winds, in rain and tears
A mourning of soul
to complete the earth whole
in a washing new birth of her years.

 A morning to contemplate these,

The voices as they speak
on earth to soul and heart,
in mind and will to impart
whatever wisdom they will bring.
A morning, a mourning
for more, or less
for whatever will bless
Each listening ear and mind.

A morning to make a fresh start

A morning to choose with the heart
Or will, or mind
Whatever the path is we find
to follow.

Political Wings

During an election year, one’s mind runs on a political track, looking and paying attention to the course of political process, rhetoric, personalities and prognosis even as we are absorbed with the duties of daily living. As we all wrestle with determinations of who will most fully represent our wishes and points of view and work toward accomplishing those elements we feel are crucial to our nation’s well-being, it occurred to me, while driving home one evening, that nature once again has a powerful hidden lesson to impart. While rhetoric heats up and political sides take positions, it is important to look up occasionally, and observe the flight of birds. After watching an evening of “Frozen Planet” I am in awe of the albatross, who, once airborne on magnificent wings comprising an eleven-foot wing-span, does not return to earth for five years once it masters the art of its flight, living and flying at sea: an epic journey for an epic bird, empowered by awesome wing-work.

And then I realized – it’s so simple really – a bird never leaves the ground unless it has both a right wing and a left wing, each in good working order. And though they will never point in the same direction, or be on the same side, both must work in coordinated effort to bring about any progress at all. The balance brought to the bird by the intentional working of both wings, guided by the body sight, brings progress, allowing accomplishment of purpose, goals and destination.

And so I thought, what if we each spent some time honoring the other wing this year, understanding and accepting the balanced view and powerful motion they bring when joined to the body of thought and heart as instruments intended for the purpose of feeding and empowering it’s life; respecting each wing’s unique contribution to the flight path of our common good, and requiring the respect of each wing for the other in expressing the direction of the whole. This is not for the birds. They already know how to fly. Time for us to use our wings….

Let us not, like the ancient mariner, take our one shot (vote) to the disparagement the whole….

The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!

At length did cross an Albatross

Through the fog it came;….

It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!

`God save thee, ancient Mariner,
From the fiends that plague thee thus! –

Why look'st thou so?' –

"With my crossbow, I shot the Albatross."
                 Samuel Taylor Coleridge