Category Archives: Politics

A Party Without Solutions

I try to consume political media from a wide variety of sources, including news and opinion journalists. To me it is a firm truism that no person, party, or faction has a complete truth and as such I am always looking for new points of view, new ideas and solutions to the problems and challenges facing out nation and our world.

Finding liberal or progressive writers, commenters, and podcasters with proposed solutions is scarcely any trouble at all but the converse is not true for conservative thought. When I read or listen to conservative writers and podcasters it very quickly becomes evident that there is a real dearth proposed solutions. This is not to say that there aren’t things that the GOP and conservatives want to enact or achieve but it seems to me that everything on that list, be it ‘constitutional carry,’ tax reductions, or a lax regulatory structure, is something that they desire regardless of any current condition.

Instead when I read or tune into conservative media it is often about their state of  ‘siege.’ It’s endless vitriol, attacks, and frankly whining about the unfairness of the culture, exaggerated and imaginary dangers of ‘SJWs’ eradicating Christian culture, or pitiful attempts to re-play the cold war and depict every progressive proposal as the rebirth of Stalinism.

As a country, a society, and as a species we face serious challenges, stagnating wages, crumbling infrastructures, racial strife, rising authoritarianism, spreading mass murder, and climate change and yet one half the American political system offers nothing but platitudes.

This is terrible time and I fear it could become much worse before it gets better.

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Thoughts on Religious Liberty

I am a big proponent of individual liberty. We have but one life here in the vast cold and unsympathetic universe and absent harm to other we should be free to live our short allotment of years as we see fit this included adhering to whatever spiritual or religious standard that we might adopt to give our years some sort of meaning.

Recently I listened to an edition of the podcast The Ezra Klein Showand his guest was conservative columnist and critic of popular culture Rod Dreher  If you know anything of Dreher’s writings and work then you know that one of his major themes and one he returned to quite often is that religious liberty, particularly for socially conservative Christians, is under assault with a coming Orwellian nightmare that promises to crush all dissent from the majority opinion. His opinion, if I hear and read it correctly, is that the ‘Culture War’ has already been lost and that protecting the rights of Christians as a beleaguered group under assault from a majority intent on eradicating that Christian thought is an essential role for government.  Well know cases that need protection or are examples of this crushing mindset include the bakeries that refuse to created wedding cakes for same-sex couples, pharmacies that refuse to dispense medications for some purposes, schools that are citizen for terminating the employment because of an employee’s private life, employers demanding exceptions to insurance regulations, and hospitals the refuse to allow certain medical procedures. In Dreher’s opinion each of these cases has at its core a deeply held, critically important test of religious conviction and a state that seems determined to crush religious beliefs where it conflicts with the greater culture. (There is an argument to be made that this religious belief defense is nothing but a cover shielding a deeper and hostile bigotry but true or not that is not thee point I am discussing today.)

A critical element common to all of these cases, and an aspect that I think is far more important, is that in none of these examples are we witnessing the convictions of religious individuals. Each and every one of these cases is an organization, a fictitious person, and often a licensed non-profit, insisting that the rules that apply to other corporations and company do not apply. It is important to note that the creation and protections of fictitious persons, companies, and non-profits, are an act of the state. It is a set of laws created outside of any religious sphere crafted with a secular intent for a secular purpose.  These laws, regulations, and structures in the commercial and profit driven world exist to help shield the assets of entrepreneurs to foster economic growth and stability. They, in effect, say, you John Smith, can create a business and we will treat that business as a person, it’s taxes will be separate from yours, it’s liabilities will be separate from yours, and it’s action will be separate from yours but under Dreher’s argument the companies get all these benefits granted by the culture and the law while also claiming a special protection based upon the creed of it’s owners, despite that business being a separate entity.

Moving into the issue concerning non-profits this becomes even more egregious. Non-Profits are specially licensed and sanctioned to serve a public good, receiving carved out protections backed by the secular state because their mission is defined as something that is intended to benefit society as a whole and not a particular isolated segment or population. It is a perversion of that intent to allow non-profits to discriminate. In South Caroline the governor has petitioned and received a federal waiver that permits a federally funded Christian foster agency to not only refuse to place children with same-sex couples for adoption but also allowing the agency to refuse to place children with Jewish homes because that is a ‘violation’ of their Christian beliefs.

Individuals have the freedom to believe what they wish, but not legal and financial support from secular society.

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Election Concerns

I am very concerned about the 2020 election cycle.

In addition to the on going interference from Russia there is little reason to suspect that other hostile foreign powers will not try to also influence the election. The Administration has made it clear that it intends to do as little as possible on the issue and there are a number of the countries that would seek the advantages of influencing the contests, and not just the presidency. While the 438 individual elections of the House of Representatives is a logistical challenge it would probably be more advantageous of a foreign power to try and effect the balance of powers in the Senate. Given the nature of our system and of the Senate there’s a lot of bang for the buck in influencing those elections.

Beyond interference there is also the very real possibility that we could have an election where the results are outright rejected by one of the parties, and of course I mean Trump. It is not the man’s nature to ever admit a loss, or a failing, or a failure.

Trump made no bones at all before Election Day in 2016 that he would consider a loss to be the result of a ‘rigged’ election. It is one thing for a candidate who had not got their hands on the lever of government to reject a result, but it is quite another thing to possibly have a president refuse to accept defeat in an election. The 2016 contest was decided by a handful of votes in just a few states and even then Trump refused to accept the actual numbers, insisting that his 3 million popular vote floss was a result of fraud, what may he do if this time it is a few thousand votes in a few states that elects his opponent?

I really doubt he would meekly accept the loss and leave, as he should.

What happens in that constitutional crisis, a type we in this country have never experienced? In confronting Trump core supporters the Republican Party have shown all the spine of amoeba. In such a hypothetical I have grave concerns about their ability to due their duty.

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Thoughts on the Mueller Report

Yes, the report has been out for months and the reporting on the report has been extensive but I finally found time to read portions of the document myself and of course I have thoughts.

First off the mainstream media has been pretty much spot on about the report and what it contains. Some of the most explosive though ignored passages are taken verbatim from the document.

Second, the conservative media has done a disservice to their readers and viewers by making light of the reports serious and credible allegations. It is a display of power and partisanship over all principle.

Third, it is an established fact that the Russian government interfered with our 2016 Presidential election not out of a prankish goal of making things harder and more muddled for Hillary Clinton, whom Putin despises, but out of a clear preference for the election of Donald Trump. The intelligence operation to influence the election was broad, well funded, and sophisticated and began well before anyone suspected or feared the Trump would take the nomination. To be clear the Russian interference started in the primary with the clear goal of securing the nomination and eventually the Presidency for their candidate of choice, Donald Trump. This instance is far beyond the allegation that Senator Edward Kennedy sought support and assistance from the Soviet Union, an allegation supported by a single uncorroborated source.

Fourth, the evidence does not support with a degree of certainty that rises to criminal charges that the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russians to win the election. The facts support that the Russian interfered, including offering illegal assistance to the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign gladly accepted the assistance, knowing it came from an adversarial foreign power, but the evidence is thin that the two organizations plotted or planned together to win the election.

Fifth, on the subject of Obstruction of Justice the Mueller report reached no definitive conclusion other than that they could not state unequivocally that Trump did not commit obstruction and left that question to the political process.

 

To me it is clear that Trump, his inner circle, and perhaps more are compromised by a foreign power, and that’s without getting into the cash corruption of foreign agents and the President’s business holdings.

It is also clear that the loud conservative voice screaming about ‘Rule of Law’ during the Clinton administration are in fact hypocrites. It is a patriotic duty to secure our elections and be certain that the process reflects the will of the American people and not foreign interests, a duty the GOP is refusing to accept.

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Hypocrisy Exposed

The truth is what I am about to say is pointless, those who agree with me will at best quote Die Hard  with the line ‘Welcome to the party, pal’ and those who disagree I think can never be persuaded but here goes anyway.

When the GOP pursues voter I.D. laws across the country their refrain is  that the actions are required to protect the sanctity of our elections. That these laws and changed to election systems are necessary to prevent voter fraud because nothing can be more important the safeguarding out election. It is outrageous that some voice suggest that the true purpose of these changes are in fact to suppress vote totals that may favor the GOP’s electoral opponents.

Of course at the time there was already plenty of evidence that ‘safeguarding election’ had nothing to do with the GOP’s intent. Absentee ballots already a rich source for vote tampering, see North Carolina’s 9th district as an example, and a source of votes that favors the GOP never seemed in need of protection. Now we have even greater proof that the GOP’s concern has always been victory over principle.

Naturally I am referring to Russia’s interference in our 2016 Presidential election and the Intelligence community’s assessment that they plan to continue attempting to influence the outcomes of our electoral processed. These are cold facts. Russian had a preferred candidate in the 2016 Presidential campaign, they orchestrated a sophisticated intelligencer operations stretching across many front and achieved their goals, and their preferred candidate now sits in the highest office of the land.

Even before the Mueller Report was completed and published Russian interference was a known fact and the GOP did nothing.

When the GOP controlled both Houses of the congress and could have passed laws taking sole credit for ‘safeguarding our election’ they did nothing.

When the President makes an open invitation for foreign powers to help his re-election the GOP does nothing.

Of you can find ‘statement’ and ‘deep concern’ but talk is cheap and character is revealed by action or in this case inaction.

It has never been about electoral integrity, integrity has never had anything to do with the GOPs actions. It is about power, pure and simple.

These are not the actions of patriots.

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Recalling Clinton’s Impeachment

With the never-ending discussion of Trump’s actions and the desire by some to impeach him I find myself thinking about the most recent Presidential impeachment. In particular I have been thinking about August 20th 1998.

Mind you article of impeachment did not pass from the House until December of 1998, but in August of that year the currents were flowing fast and the prospect of putting the President on trial in the Senate loomed over everything. But August was a busy month in 1998 and world events did not take a pause while American politics descended into warfare. On August 7th 1998US Embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania killing over 200 people and injuring more than 4000. Al-Qaeda, led by the terrorist Osama bin Laden, carried the deadly attacks proving the organization to be more than a run-of-the-mill terrorist association. On August 20th President Bill Clinton operating on actionable intelligence about bin Laden’s location, launched missile strikes into al-Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan in a attempt that failed by a few hours to remove the terrorist from game board.

What does this military action have to do with Clinton’s looming impeachment?

Also on August 20th 1998 Monica Lewinsky returned to court continuing her Gran Jury testimony. Unlike the Mueller investigation Ken Starr’s office leaked like the Titanic after it’s impact and from numerous secret sources, including Grand Jury testimony information spilled freely.

The missile strikes taking place on the same day that Lewinsky returned to the Grand Jury sparked endless accusations that Clinton had ordered the strike to push the political mess off the new cycle. My conservative friends, and full disclosure at the time I was still a registered Republican voter, asserted that it was simply beyond any credibility that the Intelligence and Lewinsky’s testimony were mere coincidence certain that Clinton had ordered military action for mere temporary political position. It was quite a few years later that the evidence, now declassified, verified that indeed such a coincidence had taken place.

What does this have to do with Trump?

For all his failings and personal issues Bill Clinton still behaved more or less as a typical President but the same cannot be said for Trump. One has to look at his abuse of ’emergency’ declarations and tariffs to see that this president dis not bound by convention. Should the House move to impeach Trump, something that couldn’t be pushed off the news with an outrageous tweet, I cannot be certain that this man would not launch a few missiles to distract but rather initiate something far more serious to take over the news cycle. With the GOPs abandonment of all pretenses of responsibility and principle in their defense of Trump even such a blatant abuse of powers I can’t honestly give them the good will to expect that this would provoke the conservatives to hold him in any measure of responsible.

I think it is very possible that starting an actual impeachment of Trump will cost real lives, it is imperative that every other option be explored before that trigger is pulled.

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A Bitter Anniversary

Today, June 4th, 27 years ago the Communist Government violently put a peaceful democratic student-led protest in Tiananmen Square. The official count of how many were killed places the number at an impossibly low figure of 300, counting soldiers, civilians, and ‘ruffians’ while Amenity International place the figure at 1,000 and for a brief time Chinese Red Cross puts the number at 2,600. What is clear is that overwhelming military force was used to disperse, suppress, and punish people desiring freedom.

Such is the brutalism of dictators and Juntas. We need to take a moment and remember those who died for freedom they deserved but never received and curse those who mistake sadism, brutality, and murder for strength.

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The Fascinating Conservative Response to HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’

For the last four weeks I have been utterly engrossed by HBO’s production of Chernobyl  a dramatization of the Soviet nuclear disaster. I remember the news surrounding the event quite clearly and the series has from all accounts been a fantastically accurate portrayal of life within the Soviet Union.

For those unaware, Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant located in Soviet Ukraine that operated 4 reactors and during a safety test reactor number 4 exploded. Because Soviet reactor design did not include containment vessels the explosion spread highly radioactive debris around the facility and spewed radioactive particles into the atmosphere contaminating terrain from the Ukraine into Western Europe. The series pulls no punches depicting the horrific deaths by radiation poisoning; the herculean efforts to contain and clean up the disaster, and the search for the reason why a reactor thought impossible to explode nevertheless did explode. With a fantastic cast, deft direction, and superb writing the series is quickly becoming an ‘event.’

On social media and at conservative website I have been watching with interest as a sadly predictable reaction spreads through the waters on the right; ‘see, ‘socialism’ kills!’ The truth f the matter is that all audiences bring their own filters when they participate in any art. Part of the skill in receiving critiques is being able to correctly attribute what is a flaw in a piece versus what is a perception created by the critiquer’s own filters but it is still fascinating the lengths some will go to in order to avoid what is plainly in front of them.

What is the cost of lies?

That is the very first line uttered in Chernobyl  and it is the heart of the series’ theme. Time and time again throughout the series lies are central to the disaster, to the reaction to it, and to failures in dealing with the fall-out. In the first scene we are told the cost is not that lies might be believed but rather that when lies cloud the air we lose the ability to perceive what is true. That suborning fact, truth, and science to party positions will yield an inability to see what is fact and what is convenient myth. This is a story about the importance of truth and the courage to recognize it when the rewards for listening to lies are so terribly tempting. This is something more fundamental and far more reaching than ‘socialism.’

Do not get me wrong, the Soviet Union was a deeply evil government but the attempt to conflate that with American Liberalism is a lie, a convenient myth that exist solely to protect the party.

We are right now in a crisis of truth. It is never easy to disentangle self-interest from pleasing myths and lies but more than ever it is important that we do exactly that or our won disaster will hurtle down on our heads.

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Memorial Day 2019

Another three day weekend has come and gone and while it is pleasant to have the extended time away from our regular routines it is also a somber time to reflect on those men and women that died while in service to our nation.

It is important to remember that this is not simply death on the battlefield, or lives lost in wars, both wise and foolish conflicts, but the passing of people as that served their greater community. Some did lose their lives in the anger, heat, fear, and confusion of battle, some lost their lives in the miscalculation during energetic trainings, some lost their lives due to carelessness and accidents, and some lost their lives in a myriad other ways. It is a dangerous profession serving in the armed forces. During my brief time I the service and on my single deployment to the Western Pacific more than one service person aboard my ship lost their life.

More important than moments of silence, and contemplations on their service, is the duty and obligation laid upon us the civilian authority to ensure that their sacrifices are never wasted, never discounted, never expended for mere political position. We are the ultimate arbiters of our government and the Armed Forces are an expression of that government around the globe. When we vote, we are making a statement about what sort of government and its relationship to its service member. More importantly we make a different statement if we do not vote, abstaining from our duty to those serving under the colors on our behalf, and discounting their dangerous and vital mission. To not vote, to ignore the vital issues and persons of our political processes is to dismiss as unimportant the lives of everyone who stepped forward and risked everything for the chance to serve.

I hope you paid a moment to honor the service and sacrifice that has been made on your account and when an election rolls around I hope you remember that it is there, where you advance a person to use their best judgment on your behalf, that you participate to fulfill that obligation to those who no longer can.

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Political Accessories

When you get dressed for a night out or for many people just getting dressed at all, there is the core outfit you assembled, colors and shapes that reflect the mood, your tastes, and the style you best thinks fits for the events to come, and then in addition there are accessories, rings or pendants, watches, and little elements of flash that accentuate the overall ensemble but are not essential to its completion. Politics, what we believe and what we support, either with our votes or with our time, toil, and treasure, is much the same.

We have the core elements of political philosophy, those things that are at the very center of what we believe, that reflect our understanding of the world and in a very real sense our understanding of what it means to be human. (This is why all narrative art is at some level also political art because it reflects an understanding of people and that requires a judgment as to what people actually are and that is always a political judgment.) Ideally, at least in my opinion, that core political fashion should come from careful consideration and deliberative thought about what is and isn’t permissible though I suspect for many it is born from desire, from what is wanted personally rather than any carefully constructed framework. No matter the origins, the core political fashion is the driver and essential nature of a person’s political actions, how they vote, how they expend time, toil, and treasure is the only true indicator of what they believe and hold valuable, everything else is an accessory and ultimately discardable.

But what about those accessories that you own but never wear? Watches, bracelets, and accentuations that you tell people you like, that are valuable to you and yet when it comes time to choose an outfit you never select one for which those are complementary, what about those items? Your actions and your choices make it clear that those items, no matter the protestations that they have emotional value, are valueless and the same goes for political accessories.

Everyone has a grab bag of political positions, very, very few people forge a political identity solely from cool, reasoned, principles. Because so many people have this odd-ball collection of positions, some become the ignored watches and bracelets of their political philosophy, items of claimed value that never influence their time, toil, and treasure. This is a natural byproduct of the compromise that lies at the heart of political action. Politics is the realm of the possible not a lofty idealized system divorced from the realities of human frailty, limited resources, and enemy action. However if there positions that you never vote for, if your own desires and need always outweigh those of your fellow citizens as their rights as assaulted, as the freedom is abridged, then perhaps it is time to admit that those concerns really are of no importance to you, that what really matters is getting your and too bad for others who lose in the process.

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