What Is to be Done?

There is an old story about a frog and boiling water. If the frog is dumped into boiling water, it jumps out immediately. But if the frog is placed in cold water and the water is then heated to boiling, the frog dies. We are all relatively insensitive to gradual change, but we will react in perceived emergencies. A lot of people liked and supported what they saw Hitler, Mussolini, and General Franco doing in the 1930s. Small numbers of people saw what was going on and where it was likely to go. By the time Fascism had become full strength in Germany, Italy, and Spain, it was too late. By the end of World War II, the German and Italian people had paid a very heavy toll for the acceptance of Fascism. The Spanish people were, in some sense, “lucky.” Franco continued his modified Fascism for decades after the war and the country was never drawn into the terrible destruction of the World War. That is not to say that the destruction and waste of the Spanish Civil War in the ‘30s was not catastrophic. One point that is good to remember about that period is that conservative Christian groups and Capitalists were usually in support of the Fascists.

Let us look at some genuine facts about the United states today. First, we have by far the largest investment in military power in the world. Second, we deploy our military power everywhere in the world in a way that no other country can claim. Third, we have now elected as president of the United States a man who knows nothing about government or international relations except as they relate to his world-wide real estate investments. Fourth, Trump’s administration is beginning to look like a very sinister group of individuals who will take apart much of the Federal government and isolate us from the rest of the world. The question, I guess, is whether the water is boiling yet.

The problem is not just a Federal problem either. Consider what is going on in North Carolina. The Republican governor who lost the election refused to concede for several weeks. Then, when the issue was finally forced and the Democratic opponent was pronounced governor-elect, the state legislature set about passing laws that would strip the new governor of substantial power. Part of the problem in the US today is that very many states have fallen into extremely conservative hands. This is one reason why it is impossible to secure a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

Did all of this begin way back in 1960 when John Kennedy was elected? It’s unclear but one thing is clear today. Republicans do not want a two-party system; they want a one-party (Republican) system --- and that is final. From the time when Nixon was elected and with the brief exception of four years under Jimmy Carter, the Republicans held sway in Washington until 1992 when Clinton replaced George H. W. Bush. And the Republicans refused to back off; instead, they plagued the Clintons for eight years with numerous personal attacks. Republican resentment and attacking became even worse when Obama became president. They even openly said they intended to make him a one-term president (which failed). The Republicans, in other words, have no interest in governing or serving the people of the United States; their sole concern is power and using power to make rich people richer and crush the small people who are helpless to defend themselves. How ironic that this group of people think of themselves as the Party of Morality.

The “Trump Administration” is growing into an absurd collection of cabinet members who are all antagonistic to the very departments to which they are assigned. This is how you proceed to take apart the Federal government --- something Republicans have wanted to achieve for years. Does that really matter? Does the Federal government actually do good things? Well, how do you like your food? Should meat packers be able to market anything that crawls across the packing house floor. Maybe food inspection isn’t a bad idea. Of course, the Federal government helps create good roads for us to drive on, but I suppose it would be better to let private individuals build our roads and then charge exorbitant tolls for driving on them. The Feds help provide good education and health care (as well as food) to our children. And then there is the issue of civil rights. The Federal government attempts to set a standard for respect of human rights that is national in its scope. We are Americans; this is who we are. Well, guess again. Republicans would prefer to allow local control over who is viewed as human and in possession of rights. In their world, you shouldn’t bother to leave California if you are LGBT, and if you are African American, stay away from the South unless you are just trapped there.

Enough about the destruction of our nation from the inside. Here is a possible scenario and, while I am sure it will sound far fetched to many people, it is something we should ponder seriously. Trump’s administration continues to rub China the wrong way. China becomes increasingly aggressive until there is an outright act of war. At that point, North Korea, Iran and even Russia join China in an alliance against the United States. The question then is whether the rest of the world is willing to back the US or whether they are more likely to hang back and see what happens. I have my money on hanging back. Why? Because the rest of the world is warranted in being skeptical about the US abuse of military power and about the political situation in the US. The prospect of a nuclear war is still there --- after all these years --- perhaps even more so today than decades ago. It would not be a pretty picture.

Mars Mission

I have no problem with NASA trying to send a person or two to the planet Mars. They might even make a good movie of it. Expensive --- but great PR for American technology. Perhaps it is just an extension of the historic age of exploration --- round the world sailing, invasion of new worlds, climbing the highest mountains. It seems like something that we have to do.

What really burns me up is the ridiculous nonsense about finding a future home for humanity. If that's the real reason, don't put a penny into the project. First of all, do you really think that they are talking about re-locating all 10 billion of us humans? Of course not. The seats will go to the billionaires instead. Second, if we are really seriously going to trash this planet (which seems more and more likely all the time), then why should we have a second chance with another planet. Since Mars is far from a natural human habitat, we would be even more likely to trash our chances there. Third, if we are really such great human beings that we can engage in space travel and space conquest, why don't we put all of this intelligence to work here on Mother Earth and find a way to live sustainably?

So, for heavens sake, NASA and Gov, please stop talking about going to Mars as if that is a salvation plan.

What Is an American?

In the previous post, I suggested that there are two cultures in America with very different views --- one “urban” and the other “rural”. This was painting with a very broad brush indeed and I admit it. Clearly, not everyone who voted for Trump lives in a rural area nor did everyone in the rural areas vote for him. But when you look at the voting map of the US by counties, it is clear where the majority of votes lie in both camps. For my own state of California, the state map shows blue for Clinton, but the county map shows that Clinton supporters fill a narrow swath along the coast with just a few inland bastions. Look at the country as a whole by counties and it is clear that rural America was Trump country and urban America voted for Clinton. Why is that?

There were many times during the last rugged year of electioneering when either Obama or Clinton faced the antagonism toward immigrants, women, or just plain racism and said, “That is not who we are.” And we urban liberals agreed with them; that is not who we are. But now that we have lost and Trump has won, we have to ask precisely what Americans really are. What should America mean to us and to the rest of the world?

The sad truth, I think, is that there are strong differences between urban and rural concepts of being American. Indeed, one of the peculiar consequences of that is the rural preference for state government against the urban preference for a national government. (Hence the Tea Party and other aspects of hating “big government”) Oddly enough, though, to the degree that we weaken the national government, we discard any uniform concept of being American in favor of just belonging to a local cult. The South, which has largely never given up on the Civil War and calls it the “war of northern aggression”, would really prefer to just be “Southerners” and let the Yankees be whatever so long as they don’t try to disrupt Southern life. Northwestern timber families would like to continue their lifestyle of cutting timber and forget the poor spotted owl or any other nationally promoted problem like saving the redwoods. In Appalachia, coal mining families would be happy to see Americans continue to burn coal indefinitely even if that means thousands of people on Pacific Islands not only losing their homes but even their nations. So one thing is clear, rural cultures and desires differ widely from one rural area to another but all agree that they should be able to do their things without intervention from outside. It is the urban dweller who worries about the environment being destroyed, world temperatures increasing out of bounds, and rising ocean waters. In a way, there is no consistent idea of what an American is in rural culture. Rural and urban Americans both largely vote for their self interests, but urban Americans share a more uniform view of self interests than rural people. Where rural people come together is in their Christian practice, their need for social and religious conformity, and their exclusion of people from the outside (the “other”).

The odd thing about this election is that I do not believe Trump represents the rural culture so, while rural people massively voted for him, I think they will be very disappointed in his performance. Trump, actually, represents the worst aspects of the urban culture. He is a bully, a cheater, a con man, and an abuser of women and other vulnerable people. And he is even proud of it. What, then, did rural people think they were getting by voting for Trump. In my opinion, they thought they were getting what they have thought Republicans would give them over every election in the past thirty years --- a take down of Washington and destruction of our national government.

Actually, I can understand why rural people want this to happen. I grew up in Cook County, Illinois (home of Chicago). State politics was always dominated by the rural communities in Illinois and liberal urban dwellers were oppressed. No wonder then that Democrats turned to national government to address and solve urban issues. Those we called “down-state Republicans” had no sympathy for urban issues. As a result, urban dwellers have been relatively happy with the direction of national government, while rural dwellers are rather steamed about it. Also, consider the era of civil rights in the South. It was our national government that intervened and walked little black children to the front doors of Southern schools. Urban dwellers looked to the rights voiced in our Constitutional Amendments and forced rural dwellers to conform to a national identity. But that was a political victory and not a cultural victory. Rural culture remained simply where it was and rural people became oppressed.

Some Reflections on the Trump Victory

I was shocked watching the election returns coming in on Tuesday evening. But the fact is that we were warned by any number of commentators that Clinton did not have a slam-dunk victory ahead of her. And, wow, it came true.

I am embarrassed for my country that “we” have elected a man as president who is not only poorly qualified but also who has all kinds of strikes against him in his personal, social, and business behaviors. And we have chosen this man against a woman who is very well qualified in terms of her experience with governing and whose “crimes” are miniscule compared to his.

For me, it is a complete irony. As a boy in the 1940s I took pride in being an American. Today, I really would not like to be identified as an American. Americans have abused their military power around the world, their economic power around the world, and they have proved themselves (by almost a majority) of being incompetent to select a qualified leader. What I wonder, seriously, is when the rest of the world is going to do something about what is going on in America — and what they will do. Of course, the world pretty much stood around and watched Hitler destroy Europe before they decided they should do something about it. So I won’t hold my breath. But, seriously, I am really concerned about our relationship with the world and, in particular, when the rest of the world is going to have to say, “Look, you’ve gone too far. We are going to put an end to this.” I do not think the end game is going to be pretty.

Meanwhile, many Clinton supporters have taken to the streets to protest a Trump presidency. Unfortunately, I think much of this is misguided. What we have here is really a radical fracture in American culture. Trump may have taken advantage of that but Democrats are equally guilty of not recognizing the real division. For generations, Democrats and Republicans have managed to control that fracture and to keep Washington moving in the directions appropriate to America’s urban dwellers. American culture, as such, has moved slowly toward an “urban culture” that has little to do with traditional rural culture. Rural culture is pretty solidly Christian, moralistic in some sense, and tends strongly toward a kind of exclusionist mood, protecting itself from outside intervention. Both parties, I would say, (yes, even the Republicans) have tended to let “majority rule” carry the day and the rural folk have swallowed this for a long time. The social world that majority rule has produced is not at all the world these folks want and they are pissed. I don’t want their world and they don’t want my world, and that is the real fact of the matter that we all face today.

The real problem is not Trump but, rather, it is figuring out what to do about this collision of cultures. There is really no easy solution. But in particular, there is no political solution. The rural culture has used politics this time in order to express their hatred and fear and disgust, but politics as such is not going to solve this problem. In all honesty I can’t imagine what, if anything, is going to solve this problem except attrition. What the urban culture hopes is that “millennials” will move away from rural culture and produce a dominant urban culture that eventually retakes political power. I honestly do not care whether that new political regime calls itself Republican or Democratic so long as it expresses the values that I admire --- care for other people, advancement of education and training of the young, a sense of right in being what you are, protection of those who are vulnerable, control over those who wield economic power, and modesty in our relations with the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, we are a political people and we do have a national government and Donald Trump will be our president for the next four years if the Electoral College votes for him (and I have little doubt they will). I think that we need to do everything possible to make Trump’s presidency a success, meaning that we need to work with him to urge a continuation of intelligent social and environmental programs. What we should not do is what Republicans have consistently done throughout Democratic administrations and that is simply refuse to cooperate and do anything constructive for the nation. What we need to do is to express our real value that the role of government is to govern and not just to fight over personalities and power. So the Republicans now hold the power; we need to help them use that power for good deeds. I know that is a real challenge, but it is a challenge we must embrace.