Just the Way it is....

People have some deeply held convictions.

Convictions that they allow to influence all they see, know and feel.

I've said before that I live at a kind of crossroads.  People show up who need a shoulder for a little while then they make their way to whatever.

I think my last brush with so-called "romance" was the most stark example of that.

Oh lord!  We're not going there again!  No worries...

But it did show me just how deeply divided otherwise like-minded people can be.  The sin of ideology I call it. 

A sin that takes one small aspect of someone's makeup and inflates it into a lifestyle.  A insular cocoon of circular logic and prejudicial perspectives impenetrable by anything that threatens the ideology.

We are what we are no matter what...That's just the way it is...

No, that's the way you want it.

The saddest part of it all is that the world quickly goes from a wide vista of opportunity to tunnel vision.  Creative thought, compassion, insight is all framed within a narrow view.

I've looked at the other side.  Tried to understand what it was that was so different about me and them.  Spoiler alert, it aint much.

What I found wasn't a pack of rabid savages.  Just fear.  Fear of losing what never really existed.  At least not without acknowledging what the real cost of their utopian vision was.  A vision that wasn't their own by the way. 

We tend to divide ourselves into tribes based on...whatever...

Far more scholarly authorities than I have written a mountain of tomes on the subject.  You've no doubt already seen their work.  I won't bother to rehash it here.

We live in a society that recognizes that we tend to seek out only that which supports our own world view.  The dangerous part is that the media has seized on that premise and eschewed objectivity for a tantalizing revenue stream that preys not on facts but fears.

Conservatives do it.  Liberals are no better.  So long as the other guy is the boogeyman we are sufficiently distracted to cede our own power to propaganda and rhetoric.

The propaganda feeds the machine.  The machine pumps out endless rhetoric and red meat. 

There is no compromise so long as the machine is churning.

Your heroes?  Your pillars of democracy?  They're the face of the machine.  A construct to divide otherwise like-minded people.  To keep poking that sore spot until you wretch and scream in pain.

The drug?  The cure?  Throw a bone to salve the wounds they created.  Just enough relief to keep the faithful working toward their own destruction.

We are in this country literally in the grip of mass scale Stockholm Syndrome.  I don't care what color the map says your state is.  Neither side will ever do anything to upset the machine.

Examples?  Glad you asked...

Obama claimed to fix Student Loans.  Nothing really happened and millions are still indebted to a corrupt system that enslaves borrowers for debt that should never have existed in the first place.

Trump promised prosperity with protectionism the result of which has nearly bankrupted thousands of small businesses and farmers who suddenly find no markets for their goods.  Multinational corporations can care less.  But Mom and Pop?

The saddest thing is that all the time we were waving our banners and wearing our MAGA hats we were surrendering our own power in favor of a fantasy.

A fantasy that will deprive you of life, love and occupation should you identify with the wrong side.

Nothing will change so long as we continue to exist in a fog of ideology political or otherwise. 

This is the true challenge to the evolution of the human race. 

To resist the urges of the lizard brain.  We are where we are because of what we allowed to happen.

This is on me, you and those that came before you. 

But if you're committed to your ideology, have no fear.  Reason has no value and facts are malleable.  Enjoy the appearance of a civil society and the shiny chains you've made for yourself.

Some of us knew but nobody cared to do anything about it.

Crybabies? Time to change the diaper and move on

Look I get it....

Your guy won our gal lost.  I'm OK with that mostly because there isn't anything anyone can do about it now.  Unless you're literally an advocate of the very anarchy that was suggested by the Trump camp if he lost, we really need to move on from this.  

For the most part nobody's voting rights were denied, nobody is even suggesting it.  At least nobody anyone is listening to.  By the way, around 121 million votes were cast for Trump and Clinton combined.  Allowing for around 5 million "protest" votes for the third parties that leaves us about 160 million short.  

Dead serious here.  So, if you didn't even bother then shut the hell up.  You're entitled to your boycott, abstention or whatever you rationalized it as but now you get to live with the trappings of that choice which means I don't care about your opinion as far as this election goes.

That said...

We've got to give the guy a chance even if it means choking down some bile.  Still, I know why they're in the streets.  The reality now is that we're going to have to live through a rubber stamp across 3 branches of government. for at least the next 2 years.  

On the bright side.  Republicans are just as eager to appear relevant as Democrats.  Trump's election was only a mandate for the elimination of the electoral college.  An institution that in the last 20 years  has managed to subvert the popular vote twice.  

Oh, and to those of you out there jubilant in your "victory" I'll say this.  The will of the people has as much relevance in New York as it does in New Albany Mississippi buddy.  

The electoral college was a concession to another group of "crybabies" in the southern states back in 1787.  Those "crybabies" went on to comprise membership in the Confederate States of America by the way.  You know, the guys in the gray uniforms.

Making the Electoral College as outdated and clumsy as the three-fifth's rule.  Google that to see where this abomination of democracy came from.  

So today we have the popular vote functioning as little more than an "also ran" for no other reason than making 200 year old slave owners happy.   The result is that barring Satan himself on the ballot there will always be the same few states that determine who wins the presidency making everybody else sloppy seconds.

That's an argument for another time, however.  Suffice it to say the only other mandate in this election was for whomever occupies the Oval Office to close the chasm of division brought about by 35 years of ideological civil war.

To that end I offer hope...

There was actual support for many of the social and infrastructure programs offered up by Democrats over the past 6 years from a Republican dominated congress.  It was just that one nagging thing that wouldn't let them move forward.  

The guy in the oval office.

They didn't like him because...Who cares, we all suspect what it was and the barbs and birthers all lead back to the realization that the last 50 years may not have been as socially progressive as we'd hoped.  Maybe that three-fifth's rule is still fresh in their minds too...

If the election showed us anything it was that regardless of whom you voted, that shit just had to stop.
Look no further than the images of Trump's face this week.  It's been blank, contemplative and just a bit fearful.  There was no evidence of the fiery threats or xenophobic tirades.

The demonstrations in the streets of America may have been largely viewed as the tantrum of a petulant child but they were something else as well.  An indication that any move toward the fascist dream of the far right would not go unanswered.

Trump does not want to be the president that goes down in history as starting another civil war.

So take heart "crybabies"  It's not as bad as you think.

Despite the rhetoric, nobody is going to allow the US to descend into a 21st century version of Nazi Germany.  For one thing, there's no money in it.  For another, it literally doesn't have "popular" support.

 How long do you think this country would put up with anything that curbed its access to the McRib or 65 inch TV's anyway?

What I'd also suggest is instead of boiling in your own rage that you find a way to make lemonade out of lemons.

One thing I know for sure, especially living in a RED state, is this; The purse strings get a whole lot looser when the Republicans have the White House.  The other is that political rhetoric is just that.  Valueless, baseless diatribe.

Republicans don't want to live in a police state any more than Democrats do so don't expect armies of "Jack booted Thugs" anytime soon.

From my own experience I can tell you that while I supported Obama, My personal fortunes only suffered under his administration.  Still, I had to think of someone other than myself when I voted.

Trump would be wise to do the same... and so would you.

If it's at all true that "Joe Six Pack" made his voice heard you have to address that.  There are far too many living on the fringes to spend any amount of time waiting for the payoff of a "higher purpose."

That's a condemnation of both sides.  Yes, one more than the other but both are to blame.  If the possibility of bipartisanship is dead so is this country.

...and news flash...Canada doesn't want you...

Think about that the next time you fire off an angry tweet.

The Inauguration that may never have happened

January 21st 2013 was not only the observance of Martin Luther King day but also the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.   Mainstream conservatives must now at least acknowledge the legitimacy of his agenda but some on the right still question whether he should have won a second term. 

Consider the endorsement of RNC chairman Reince Preiebus for a plan in a number of Republican controlled state legislatures to change how their votes for the electoral college are counted.  The plan already adopted by a few states would change the electoral college voting from a winner take all approach to a one that would divide electoral votes based on popular vote percentages. 

There's a belief by some in the GOP that if such an accounting change were in place today we may well have seen the inauguration of a President Romney instead of a second term for Obama.  Barack Obama captured 51.1 percent of the popular vote but under such a change could have lost the electoral vote thus  echoing the election of 2000.  An outcome the popular electorate would rather not repeat but the President's opposition would welcome.  

On its surface the plan seems reasonable and in theory would be a more accurate representation of the popular vote on the electoral college.  All things being equal, that would be true until you factor in the work by largely conservative legislators to gerrymander entire districts to their advantage.  The results of which have diminished the voting power of traditionally Democratic leaning populations by reapportioning them into smaller or more conservative leaning districts.

Remember that electoral college electors are selected by political parties and not popular vote.  Population is the only commonality with the figure determined in the same manner as the number of  representatives to the House from each state.  Using election voting percentages per district to assign electoral votes could effectively negate the popular vote of a state while still appearing to be reflective of it.

Perhaps it is indeed time to rid ourselves of the electoral college as its weaknesses appear to be the latest target for abuse by those who seek to invalidate the popular vote.  

                             

Raincheck on the Fiscal Cliff

Article originally posted on Technorati as Raincheck on the Fiscal Cliff

If your thoughts have been occupied by the "fiscal cliff"  like a bad New Year's hangover there is some relief, at least for now.  Today's passage of HR-8 (The Tax relief Extension Act) provides among other things a 1 year extension to Federal emergency unemployment benefits as well as a permanent extension of tax cuts for those making less than $400,000.  Both measures that could keep the economy from slipping back into recession in the near term. 

Still, on both sides of the aisle this last minute bipartisan agreement comes up far short of the "Grand Bargain."  Spending cuts are only "deferred" for two months leaving plenty of debate for the incoming 113th congress.  It seems the only part of a comprehensive overhaul of government spending cuts and revenue increases that either side can agree on is the name.

To most Republicans on the hill, a "Grand Bargain" must include severe cuts in funding and tighter eligibility requirements for "entitlement" programs including Social security and Medicare.  Any new government program must have a corresponding funding source either from cuts in other entitlements or quantifiable revenue streams otherwise known as tax increases.  With most of the House Republicans still adhering to the Norquist pledge they're going to need different shorthand for "revenue." 

Republicans also chafe at the prospect of "overburdening" the well heeled with a bigger tax bill for fear of hurting job creation.  It is large, not small business that drives the economy in the conservative view.   Increasing taxes on them can only result in economic retaliation.  If it sounds familiar it is indeed the theory of trickledown economics from the Reagan era.

To most Democrats in congress, a "Grand Bargain" encourages investment in social programs, protection of entitlements and increased taxation on high earners.  Incidentally, what constitutes a "High earner" has been a major bone of contention during the haggling over the fiscal cliff.  Tax loopholes long employed by businesses to shelter income as well as subsidies to large corporations like big oil would also be eliminated under the "ideal" democratic plan.  

All of this under the banner of "tax fairness" which asks more of those who have "benefitted the most"  to help those who have not.  Of course bearing the label of "tax and spend" democrats makes their proposals subject to increased scrutiny from their Republican counterparts. A condemnation seemingly validated by funding sources that often look more like a sidewalk shell game than a legitimate revenue stream.  Republicans often cite President Obama's$700 billion Medicare savings plan as a revenue source as an example. 

Where republicans now argue the need for "fiscal responsibility" in funding social programs,  Democrats are quick to remind them of their lack of the virtue in recent history.   A 4trillion dollar price tag for the Iraq war and 1.2trillion for the Afghan war to date has only added to the balance on the national "credit card."  Numbers republicans refuse to address and democrats love to remind them of.

While disaster has been averted for now expect little in the way of increased cooperation going forward.  The deal passed Tuesday night by the House was born more of self-preservation than magnanimity.  None in congress wanted to bear the heat of a constituency thrown back into a crippling recession born out of legislative inaction. 

The logjam of the "Fiscal Cliff"  is born once again out of political dogma.  Where Democrats believe in government being a catalyst for economic growth Republicans see it as an impediment.  Not since the Civil war has a congressional body been so divided by ideology and put the fortunes of the country in such peril. 

If you require evidence, look no further than the close  of Tuesday night's House session.

Amidst impassioned pleas to act on a Senate bill that would authorize 60.4 billion in Sandy relief, the Republican leadership decided instead to end the session.  Cries of "Speaker!, Speaker!" left hanging in the air as the Speaker pro tempore Steve Womack (R-Ar) quickly left the chair, his only response a shrug and outstretched hands.

Fanatical ideology still holds the reigns of congress.  It remains to be seen if progress can replace it.