A NEW (OLD) PROPOSAL FOR HELPING OTHERS

 

 

An interesting fact of life has become more apparent to me in recent weeks.  It has broad implications that somehow slipped my liberal, big government mindset. The point is this:  The closer one human being is in time and space to another human being in solving a problem, the more effective the solution will be.

            I saw this principal at work during my involvement with the presidential campaign.  The Obama strategy of hands on, grass roots person to person contact, between volunteer and voter was worth more than any million dollar commercial.  As another example, following the perfect storm, Sandy, local outreach groups from churches and the revamped “Occupy Wall Street” organization, operating in New York City, did more immediate good than the National Red Cross or FEMA.  Third, the commentator Nicholas Kristof, told the audience at his recent lecture at W&J, that Bangladesh does a much better job of feeding its poor than India with its much more sophisticated governmental network, by simply empowering women in the local villages. Fourth, I have no doubt that our local City Mission and half way houses have rehabilitated more men in Washington County than Pennsylvania’s welfare system.  Finally, is the photo that went viral on the internet, of the NYC police officer, placing a new pair of shoes purchased minutes before on the feet of a barefoot homeless man.

            When national bureaucracies and middle men are not in charge, the slow motion reaction in solving a problem appears to magically disappear.  I could not help but think about the way we helped less fortunate people before the new deal in the 30s.  Each town of consequence had an orphanage and charitable organizations to address the neighborhood poor.

 

 The industrial revolution and prevalence of alcohol brought changes to the system.  At the local level it was obvious that booze was a major culprit and temperance organizations flourished.  The town fathers believed that there would be fewer jails, fewer orphans and fewer broken homes if alcohol were abolished.  To address the crisis they were willing to give up local control.  Unfortunately the national solution, which created bath tub gin, was worse than the problem.  After this experiment, instead of returning to and funding local self help, we began to nationalize the solutions to most of society’s ills.

            It is difficult for my liberal bones to admit that big government is often not the best solution for local disasters, personal hardships and inequalities.  While I am not advocating that fewer dollars be spent, it seems a compromise is in order.  Why not identify local groups, faith based or otherwise, in a national register.  These proven “social first responders” could be funded immediately, without red tape, when disaster strikes or a local social problem is identified.  Let the federal programs solve what they do best, systemic problems that cross local and state boarders and infrastructure too vast for the locals to resolve.

            Of course there are problems with this proposal.  The federal government and the courts are concerned with equal access to funds and with regulations to see that the dispersals are made within predetermined parameters.  For this system to work, strict rules would have to take a back seat to expediency and practical local wisdom.  Sometimes, “one bare foot at a time” is a better approach than a thousand pair of shoes locked up in a warehouse. This is certainly a new (old) paradigm for helping those people who need it most.

 

WHICH GENERATION IS MORE SELFISH?

 

I read the recent letter to the editor “Young lose their sense of morality” and was reminded of similar claims in the 1960s.  At that time the “moral majority” was convinced that the drug, music and sexual culture of the young would bring the country to its knees.  One could certainly argue that we baby boomers have brought irreparable harm to the American polity, but for quite different reasons.  Most of us cashed in our radical chips and took our turn at running things.  The result has not been all that spectacular.

I believe that the cultural tension between our youth and adults has always been a positive force in our nation’s history. In the 60s this tension lead to the end of an unjust war, an expansion of civil rights and the increased role of women in society.  Today, young people are leading the charge in social media, sexual equality and globalization.

 On a personal level, my parents were as horrified of Woodstock as I am of tattoos and body piercing. Our youth will outgrow their hedonistic and selfish tendencies, hopefully with more grace than we did.  If we old folks can tear ourselves away from the Viagra and Botox commercials, maybe we can provide a great example of unselfishness to the younger generation.  How?  By supporting the higher taxes and lower entitlements necessary to level the playing field as they begin to clash with their own children.  Generational inequality is a much larger problem facing our society than the moral indiscretions of our youth will ever be.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

 

One of the great rewards of high school football is the interesting matchups during the playoffs.  For example, the recent WPIAL class AA playoff football game between Washington High School and Shady Side Academy brought together two groups of athletes from opposite ends of the educational and economic spectrum.  After the Prexies won the contest in convincing fashion, sending the prep boys back to make their early Thanksgiving plans to exotic locales, I started thinking about the inequalities of secondary education in Pennsylvania.

Small city high schools along with cities like Washington are dying institutions.  The tax bases are shrinking and home buyers want to live where their children can attend well funded suburban schools.  The older and poorer tax payers in small cities fight tax increases which would provide adequate education. Counties like Washington insure that troubled and/or special education students (who cost more to educate and bring down success rates) will proliferate in city schools by cramming public housing and other welfare resources within its urban areas.

On the other hand, Shady Side Academy represents the most privileged students in our society.  According to its web site: “virtually 100% of our students attend four year colleges and universities.”  Prep scholarships are offered, often to large, bright students who have a fondness for football.

I am told that until recently Washington had no official weight room. Shady Side has facilities that are among the best.  Washington has disadvantages in staffing, transportation, equipment and alumni support.  Yet, somehow, with similar sized student bodies, Washington was ranked #3 ahead of Shady Side, #14 coming into this playoff game.

Some would say that it is not fair to compare Washington’s resources next to an elite private school.  The truth is I could substitute Shady Side for public schools like Fox Chapel or Upper Saint Clair and make the same argument.  Ironically, only the underfunded city schools, parochial schools and wealthy private schools have comparable student populations to compete against each other.

Football and basketball have always been leveling fields for disadvantaged athletes and small disadvantaged public schools. This has been particularly true in Western Pennsylvania, in places like Washington and Aliquippa.  In sports, a small city school can make up a lot of ground with good coaching and a dedicated group of upper classmen. There is a great sense of community pride in seeing these kids succeed and be the best despite economic disadvantages. 

However we must not lose sight of the larger, more significant issue.  Inequalities in academics are not as easy to overcome as those in sporting programs.  All public school students deserve equal educational opportunities, across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regardless of where they live.

 

OBAMA SOLVES THE ECONOMIC DILEMMA

 

The President’s comments at the second debate struck me as well reasoned and forward looking.   He spoke often of education, jobs for the new economy, restoring a level playing field and equal opportunities for all Americans. He also spoke of the importance of free enterprise to our culture as a nation.

            It is not readily apparent why equal opportunity and free enterprise should complement each other.  While the former seeks equality, the latter empowers individuals to accumulate wealth and property.  What is the bridge between these competing goals of democratic equality and capitalism that makes our system work?  What makes a market democracy stick together when the middle class comes under economic attack?

            Understanding the answer to these questions is critical to governing over the next four years.  Radicals who would trample all free enterprise with unwarranted regulations or punitive taxes are as misplaced as tea party conservatives who would disavow programs that create equal opportunity or who insist on favoring wealthy investors at the expense of the general public. 

President Obama understands the dilemma and he has the right solution. There is a middle ground that keeps the lights on for all Americans.  When the middle class knows that the system is fair and the opportunities are real (particularly for their children as creative destruction changes the job market in the new economy) there is political legitimacy and democratic support to move forward. This is why his plans to embrace the new economy as it unfolds and to provide low cost education and job training are so important.

The President is not a socialist or pie eyed idealist.  In the spirit of Bill Clinton (as Mr. Clinton eloquently expressed during his convention address) Barack Obama is a pragmatic realist who has a clear vision for the survival of our market democracy.

           

THE COLLEGE AND CITY MUST WORK TOGETHER

 

 Conflict between college students and “townies” in small college communities has been a fact of life since the beginning of academia.  Ivory towers have always interacted at some level with life on the street.  In my college experience the friction often centered on the bar scene and the local women as the born and bred alpha males sought to defend their territory against preppy intruders.  Unfortunately for both the City of Washington and W&J, what happened on the early morning of October 5^th was much more sinister, with tragic results.

 Two college students returning to their dorms from an off campus bar at 2 a.m.  A gang of opportunistic young men walking the streets and looking for trouble.  This perfect storm resulted in a confrontation, with one of the students sustaining mortal head injuries.

            While it is certainly not prohibited to be on the streets in the early morning hours, it is not the safest of places and arguably a bad choice for student athletes to make.  This of course does not excuse the criminality of an apparent brutal robbery attempt and homicide.

            I for one hope that this incident does not evolve into a contest of finger pointing or defensive posturing. While common sense and additional anti crime measures are in order, over reaction is not. The College and City have made noticeable progress in recent years on cooperative efforts to improve the community.  As horrible as this incident was, violence should never be a reason for pull back.  Both local government and the College need to double down on positive efforts to work together for the common good.

 

SACRIFICE & COMPROMISE

The two most important words the day after the election will be sacrifice and compromise.  These two principals must quickly mutate from campaign unmentionables to rallying cries to avoid another crisis.  The fiscal cliff will send us reeling into another recession unless the country comes together under its political leadership to make tough choices.  This must be done by a lame duck Congress and the President at the end of the year no matter who takes the oath of office in January.

Our political campaigns, particularly the presidential contest, have become a feel good fantasy based on: 1) positions along strict ideological lines to keep intact each parties’ base (no compromise) and 2) speeches on how each candidate will make us better off than the other guy, to capture independents (no sacrifice).  It is ironic how these two words, which are truly the lifeblood of a democratic republic, are conspicuously absent during the long election season. American voters do not want to be told the truth during campaigns.  They want their selfish addictions fed with “campaign-crack” and refuse to face the inevitable rehab which includes higher taxes and lower benefits.  Interestingly, this is not true in Europe, where even the socialist candidates, who have been winning elections of late, recognized the need to discuss austerity measures to balance budgets and the need for compromise with other political parties.

After the voters have spoken we can all blink, shake off the sound bite hangover, and the fantasy will disappear.  Decision making, similar to four years ago when the world’s economy was falling apart, can again be based on fundamental economic principals and sound political policy.  Conservatives will get a good measure of austerity and deficit reduction.  Liberals will receive progressive tax rates, with those who have more paying their fare share.  The whole shebang will be disguised so that the compromise does not look like either side “gave-in.”  In this way, when the political rutting season begins anew three years from now, each candidate can claim their pockets were picked by the other.

Post election, sacrifice will enter the discussion and become a positive image.  There will be more talk coming from our political leaders about “what we can do for our country” and less about “I built that without your help.”  Instead of the election message that stresses giving up hard earned rewards to help shiftless welfare recipients, sacrifice will be framed in terms of our children, our elders and neighbors.  Giving back will be patriotic again so that the next generation has something solid to build on to keep the dream alive.  Like compromise, sacrifice will be a fleeting thought as the next election cycle approaches.  Hopefully enough will be done in the time allotted to make a difference.

 

 

ELECTION IRONIES

The ironies of this election season appear beyond the pale.  In the first place Romney should be praising the President for his efforts on the economy.

 The financial system and economic healing over the last four years have been most generous and forgiving to wealthy citizens, many of whom are Romney clone Republicans.  These individuals depend on Wall Street and the favorable tax treatment of unearned income for their high maintenance sustenance.  Luckily for them, it was necessary that the first steps to recovery were to save the world’s money centers (banks, insurance companies and investment houses) and Corporate America to avoid a global collapse.  These wealthy individuals who have no job or earned income, like candidate Romney, have increased their wealth exponentially as finance and industry recovered from the recession and the stock market rebounded to new highs.  The “one per centers” who made the simple “buy low-sell high” decision to invest a few million dollars in the Dow or S&P at the 2008 lows have more than doubled their money. 

There is no question that the wealthy who do not work for a living and contribute nothing to the economy, except to buy goods and services, are much better off than they were four years ago.  And yet, these same individuals who should be thankful to the President and his policies are working the hardest to remove him.  Is it any wonder that Mr. Romney does not want to disclose his tax returns.  Not only were his taxes low because of tax loop holes including capital gains and dividend rates, he made a fortune as his “blind trust” advisors plowed his investment capital into stocks and bonds with the rising market.  I can only hope a debate question will be presented as:  “Mr. Romney, are you better off than you were four years ago and is it fair to ask you to share some of these gains with less fortunate Americans?  A second debate Question: “How has the trickledown effect of your families’ purchase of a new home with garage elevators helped the average American?”

The next irony, which is beyond my understanding, is the large percentage of white middle class citizens who insist on identifying with the Republican Party.  There is nothing Republican about being unemployed, having a family member in need of social services, having a child who is being denied a good education, not being able to obtain a low interest mortgage from a bank, or being compelled to face retirement with less social security or Medicare.

More specifically, how can any member of the middle class support a candidate who spent his earlier life’s work firing people? Who now disavows 47% of the electorate as lazy and shiftless?  No middle class in the world, outside our own white Republican voters, wants the kind of austerity measures being pushed by the Romney ticket.  This misplaced and cruel austerity policy has not worked to fix either deficits or unemployment in any other western economy. 

The last four years were necessary to build a foundation for the economy and it enriched the Romneys of America. It seems obvious that the next four years must be dedicated to bringing back the middle class, with policies that do not include austerity, except for reasonable tax increases for the wealthy.

Lastly, is the irony of foreign policy. The neocon mantra of the Bush II presidency was to strike first and hard against dictators in the oil patch to bring democracy to the masses. (Using nuclear weapons as a smoke screen and the locking in of oil reserves as a not so hidden motive) For better or worse, Bush II opened Pandora’s Box in Iraq.  Now that the Arab Spring is accomplishing this same goal from the bottom up, the Romney campaign is attacking the President for not supporting dictators and not taking steps to slow down the democratization process.

          Democracy is a messy business.  The model for Muslim countries is not that of a western democratic republic and is bound to include large majorities not aligned with our interests.  The Republican response has turned 180 degrees from attacking sovereign countries and creating democratically elected regimes to shutting off financial aid for Muslim governments elected by their citizens. This plan will guarantee the growth of anti western terror and give the neo cons someone new to attack.

Top tier Republicans are wealthier than ever, continue to scam the middle class, and are preparing for a new round of saber rattling.  The Republican scheme is to aggressively adopt the opposite of whatever policy the President presents. Maybe there is no irony at all and things remain the same.

 

THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY LEADS THE WORLD

 

If the economy is the fundamental issue in the presidential campaign, Obama has a critical ace in the hole which has not yet been played.  All of the negative campaign ads and Republican convention rhetoric about what is wrong with the economy belies an important fact that is impossible to deny.  The United States economy is healthier and doing better than anywhere else in the World.

This fact tends to be buried in the “economist speak” and technical indicators which the average voter and sound bite media would prefer not to investigate.  Those who would take the time would discover that the most recent Purchasing Management Index (PMI), maintained by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) (among other studies) clearly shows our country outperforming every other developed economy in the world. (China fell to a nine month low; Germany is in contraction, the U.S. expanded)  Expect to hear this message at the Democratic convention and in the presidential debates.

Coming out of the worst economic disaster since the great depression, Obama’s policies, despite a dysfunctional Neanderthal Congress have left us in the sweet spot.  His unwillingness to succumb to the global austerity wave (championed by the Republicans and presently destroying Europe) and a wise Fed have permitted a monetary and fiscal policy that has kept us out of a double dip recession.  If necessary,   Bernanke will provide additional stimulus in the coming months and the governments and wealthy of the world will buy more treasuries at zero interest, to insure our economy stays on top of the industrialized world.

The United States is somewhat insulated from the most recent economic slowdown by its size and unlike the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is not as tied to exports.  Germany’s economy is slowing down due to the euro crisis.   The slow but steady unwinding of our broken housing bubble has taken the necessary time to heal and is coming back to health.  Lastly, despite the Republican rants of over regulation and unfriendly business practices, our country is still considered by the international community as the best place in the world for investment and doing business.

Unfortunately, the middle class and working poor have gained little in economic standing over the past five years.   Voters should listen to the experts to learn why this is the case, which has little to do with Obama or Fed policy.   Many economists have referred to the “new normal” following the recession of 2008.  This structural rewiring of the economic landscape includes higher unemployment, lower inflation and wage growth, lower housing values, lower investment rates for retirement accounts and the need for restructuring of entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security.  The factors making up the new normal cannot be switched on or off by an election or new political party in the White House.  No single act or politician caused the new normal.  It is simply a worldwide fact of economic life following a disastrous recession.  Because of Obama’s well conceived policies, the United States is doing better than any other country to avoid the worst consequences of the new normal.  Better to crest the wave of the new normal with adept programs and stimulus than to wipe out and be one of the austerity competitors strewn across the beach.

 My view is that the Administration that has kept our economy on top of the industrialized world throughout the storm deserves the opportunity to fix the boat over the next four years as its policies begin to show tangible results.  Those who look to history will discover that Republicans have never been invested in or successful at providing the leadership necessary for such economic challenges.  Conservatives will simply throw the new normal into the same garbage bin with climate change, Darwinism and the Rise of China and claim it does not exist.

 

 

APOCALYPSE NOW

Apocalypse Now

Apocalyptic themes seem to dominate our popular culture.  I am referring to that body of work that is concerned with the end of civilization due to an existential catastrophe.  Any subject that threatens humankind is fair game for the next movie, summer best seller, video game or television series.   Large meteors hurtling toward earth, nuclear winter, anti matter, alien attacks, virus contagions and invasion by intelligent apes, robots, zombies or vampires have all entered the apocalypse genre in recent years.  But why are we so fascinated with these doomsday scenarios of death and redemption?

 

My view is that because we have no idea how we got here or what our purpose is, our ultimate demise gets all the attention.  It is interesting that all popular apocalypse stories (yes, I am a fan) can be broken into four component parts.  First there is the genesis of the problem, external or manmade; second, zero hour when all hell breaks loose; third, the immediate aftermath/ struggle; and finally redemption with hope for a brave new world.

 

One type of scenario is framed with a socialist worldview.  Formally hostile governments are able to avert disaster by calling on global cooperation.  Decisions are made for the greater good to blow up asteroids or defeat aliens.  The plot ends with global sharing and equality for all.

 

The more likely story line follows an individualistic, libertarian point of view.  Governments and organized science cause the problem.  Our powerful institutions can do nothing right following zero hour.  Urban folk are the first to bite the dust.  The survivalists in the woods become the heroes, living off the land and learning to adapt.  They admire the immediate aftermath with less pollution, more wildlife and little noise.  After the struggle is resolved there are fewer, happier people and no one pays taxes.

 

The truth is that apart from popular fiction, apocalyptic events have profoundly shaped our past and may well determine our future.  Most scientists believe that the impact of an asteroid or comet bombardment 65 million years ago lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs and the eclipse of mammals.  The last ice age permitted migration of humans out of Asia into North America.  The black plague hastened the end of feudalism in Europe. Of more recent vintage, the Spanish flu epidemic directly lead to advances in the biological sciences.

 

Religion and myth were certainly responsible for the earliest apocalyptic literature.  Many tribal cultures including the formulators of the Old Testament saw calamitous events as the wrath of God “thinning the herd” following unacceptable behavior. Early myths across the populated world chronicled a great flood as purifying the earth so that a better world could follow.  (This ancient thought was sadly still in play after the recent destruction of New Orleans following hurricane Katrina)

 

The Book of Revelation continued the apocalyptic tradition in the New Testament.  The Roman landscape was not a healthy or pleasant place for a Christian in 100 A.D.  Better to hasten the end of the world with a final conflagration between good and evil and move on to a better place.  Over the past 2000 years many self proclaimed prophets have predicted the end of days, only to have the sun come up the next morning.

 

Apocalyptic themes also dominate the environmental sciences in the here and now. The four horsemen of this all too real scenario are climate change, famine, state failure, and migration.  None of these topics are sexy enough to have spawned best sellers, video games or television programs.  They have gained no religious credibility because there is no biblical reference to back them up.

 

These real dangers to mankind are open to dispute and slow to unwind.  Scientific prophets talk in terms of decades if not centuries.  Popular apocalypse themes require instant gratification, with a billion casualties in the first episode.  Moreover, the nearly impossible always trumps the highly plausible in both religious and entertainment circles.

 

In the end (no pun intended) we all want to believe that mankind can survive whatever the elements or the bestselling authors or the politicians can throw at us.  Personally, I would feel safer if more attention were focused on what the scientific prophets are telling us.  They may not have a blockbuster movie or the bible to back them up (Al Gore doesn’t count), but there was some awful strange weather this summer and the polar bears look a little thin.

 

The adaptability of the human race should prevail so long as environmental science and common sense are permitted to determine our future. Unless that is, the newest and largest particle accelerator creates a black hole and snuffs us out in a millisecond and the story starts over ….”In the beginning”.

 

 

 

AUGUST NIGHTS

This August is turning into a pleasant surprise. Scrunched between a scorching July and the inevitable back to school rush and football addiction has been glorious weather that makes one want to sleep on the porch.  With Congress in recess, business slow and light traffic as many go on vacation, it may be the best time to literally smell the roses.

Unexpected cool mornings, hot afternoons and pleasant evenings do not seem like normal August fare.  Many days are something to hold on to, particularly when the light is fading and the hot misty air fights a cooling breeze for your attention.  When the skin is still salty from the earlier bright sun but it feels like a sweater might soon be in order.

My only passing thought of the coming election is the raucous blue jays fighting the more conservative (red) cardinals for the limited supply of peanuts provided for their pleasure.  No sign of bipartisanship anywhere.  Only the libertarian squirrels seem interested in stowing away any bounty for the winter.

While the days are growing shorter, the light holds almost to nine.  A double feature with no intermission compared to a December evening.  The pink in the sky seems to linger forever, like it wants to be painted on canvas before the night takes over.

I sometimes feel guilty for accomplishing little and enjoying the slow August pace.  Then I remember that they have been doing the same thing in the Southern Mediterranean for thousands of years.  Maybe all that Washington needs is a central piazza with a fountain that magically appears each August.  Outdoor communal enjoyment before everyone hustles back inside for homework and Monday Night Football.

SOMEBODY ELSE MADE THAT HAPPEN

"If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen," Obama said in July in Roanoke, Va.  Only in America could this statement elicit responses in this Newspaper and elsewhere like:  “We're entrepreneurs. We're risk-takers. We put everything on the line.  This president is looking at small business owners as the next pocket to grab out of."

Small business owners simply have not earned a special seat in our grand experiment of American capitalism in economics or as a constitutional republic in political organization.  These businesses exist because of what came before.  The rest of the world cannot get off the boat fast enough to invest capital in a country where small business and entrepreneurs are given an economic climate and political/ social freedom that exists nowhere else.  This is why many of our first generation entrepreneurs are immigrants.

Try and start a restaurant in India, Russia, an Arab country or Asia.  The hurdles are so enormous including no ownership of land, layers of bureaucracy, bribes and lack of legal systems or regulations that almost all small businesses survive only in the underground economy.  Unless, of course, your cousin is the local elected official or runs the local bank, in which case you are a large business.

Try and start a retail store in a small Africa town.  The roads are none existent to get product in or out.  You will be solely responsible for providing power and communication.  The local social system will view you as a show off, not the back bone of the community.

Take your savings and borrow more to develop a farming operation or mine in the third world.  If you have any success you will be nationalized and persecuted.

Before small business owners begin to view themselves as modern day pioneers and economic martyrs they need to take a history lesson.  The American experience in general and the federal government in particular have enabled small business to flourish.  Regulations against monopolies, subsidies, preferential tax treatment, and protectionist trade policy have all played a part.  Each business owner should be overcome with gratitude that: “Somebody else made that happen.”

MID SUMMER ELECTION FOCUS

One would assume, as the summer winds down, that thoughtful independent voters who have not yet focused on the presidential election or decided on a candidate, will begin to do so in the coming weeks.  Hopefully, as each voter completes their due diligence, they will avoid political commercials, cable news shows and political gossip from friends and family living on the ideological fringes.

 For the undecided voter, picking a president should not be an emotional response (like cheering for the Steelers) or one based on faulty or biased advertising (like buying breakfast cereal). To aid rational decision making, there are numerous unbiased journalists who will be giving assessments of the candidates.  Moreover, several one on one debates will be held before the election.

The candidates, both candidates, deserve measured consideration of their respective records and positions.  Behind the nastiness there are real issues.  I will leave it to others to explain the Romney position.  My view is that Barack Obama deserves to be reelected President, not because he has been an unqualified success, but because given the hand he was dealt, he has been a just, practical and dependable leader.

Obama’s policies, early and often, staved off total economic catastrophe and have avoided Europe’s fate.  He has advocated a sensible plan for increasing revenue and decreasing federal spending.  He has largely disengaged the United States from Iraq and set a firm time table for leaving Afghanistan.  He has kept terrorism at bay, both at home and internationally.  He has shifted our military strategic concerns to the Far East.  Significant progress has been made regarding gay rights and immigration. Most important, the President has passed landmark legislation that finally addressed one of the country’s greatest social problems: healthcare.

 I would argue that Obama’s policies, like those of many other great but beleaguered presidents will pass through three stages before being recognized as the right thing to do.  First, such policies are ridiculed by the political opposition; second, they are opposed by other branches of government; third, given the test of time, they are regarded as brilliant statesmanship. 

Is the economy improving? Very slowly and certainly not on an election friendly timetable for the President.  It is also true that all the troops will not be home by November.  Those who sought to defeat Lincoln at the end of his first term argued he had not yet won the Civil War. Sometimes great presidents and good timing are not destined to dovetail on Election Day. Too many factors are beyond the control of even the most powerful leader in the world.   This is no reason to reject a great president who will only get better. 

POLITICAL DRAGONS ARE DANGEROUS BUSINESS

One must admire Rep. Jesse White’s tenacity.  He is like an energized hobbit, nipping at the heels of the Commonwealth’s dragons. Unfortunately, the dragons pay him little attention or respect.

I agree with Mr. White’s recent commentary that the last minute selective ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin (the Philadelphia bedroom counties) was political chicanery of the highest order.  However, his own attempts to selectively carve out Washington County from the court mandated, constitutional and long overdue tax reassessment process was also pure political theater.  One might question how a small county elected official could author and introduce an unconstitutional selective ban regarding county assessments on the one hand and fight vehemently against a selective drilling ban on the other, but hey…a constituent vote is a vote, even if you are 0 for 2 on the legislation.

The bottom line is political power or rather the lack thereof in the local shire.  Pennsylvania’s political dragons, located along the eastern corridor, are not big on social media and spend most of their time, resting in their lairs.  When the time comes for action, usually in the wee hours of the morning, a short flight over the capital and a snort of flame gets the job done. Clearly the dragons do not want Harrisburg addressing county reassessment problems in the hinterlands of Washington County.  More clearly, these ancient power brokers do not want oil rigs obstructing the view from their mountaintops.

The Court (judicial) wizards, while often slow to act, have traditionally been an effective balance against the dragons.  They understand the fundamental justice of equality in taxation and fair play when the dragons must run for office.  Sometimes a dragon or two actually end up in the dungeon.  Mr. White would do well to align himself behind the shield of law offered by the Court wizards.

 Political dragons have long memories.  The hobbits of the world should beware.  If you are not going to slay a sleeping dragon, make sure you do not become the next meal.  Otherwise, bide your time, move your way up the food chain and hope for a bigger sword.  It might help to be legally and ethically consistent along the way.  Sometimes the good in doing the right thing good does win out over the evil of political expendiency.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS UNITE !

Our country has an insidious and growing upward mobility problem not garnishing a great deal of attention.  Generational inequality is affecting our young professionals and is making their lives a mess.  The group is too busy working to complain a lot.  Because they are our best and brightest achievers, they do not receive a great deal of sympathy.  I am not discussing the unemployed in their 20s, which is a different issue.  My focus is the well educated professionals in their early 30s, who are reaching their career goals after years of academic rigor.

 While many of these young professional and business graduates have earned a degree and landed a job, the American dream of starting a family and buying a home is often elusive if not out of reach.  The recession has insured that starting salaries and yearly raises are low by historical standards.  Student loans are eating up a larger share of income.  Low mortgage rates are offset by onerous borrowing requirements.  Moreover, child care costs are a large impediment to working and having children.

When my contemporaries were “starting out” in the 70’s, tuition and student loans were low and the first marriage, home and child were no brainers.  The culture told us that as baby boomers, we were entitled to become masters of the universe.  The cooperative economic stars aligned to make it so.  The fact that at the end of our management tenure we drove the bus over a cliff, with billions of surplus assets on board, has not stopped us from insisting on our “just” rewards.

 The economists report that in today’s America, as many as 100 million Americans live in households that are earning less than their parents did at a similar age. In 1980, a year at college or professional school cost in the range of 12 per cent of median family income.  Today the cost is 26 per cent. Pell grants cover an increasingly smaller portion of the cost.

Apart from education, our political and economic systems have dedicated a majority of public resources to those receiving AARP magazines.  There are a lot of us baby boomers, we vote and no politician is about to challenge us.  What is clear is that there are fewer and fewer resources to address systemic non elderly needs.

I believe there are three paths to attack this intergenerational inequality our young people (professional and otherwise) are facing.  First, they need to organize.  “Occupy Wall Street” does not speak to the problem.  Help Us “Un-Occupy Your Basement and Give You Grandchildren” does.  Forming AAYP (American Association of Young People) with a magazine, 30 million members and a few lobbyists would help.

Second, we baby boomers must give up our selfish view on entitlements.  If we want our social contract to be passed to the next generation, we must recognize we will not live forever, even with double hip and knee replacements.  The universe no longer revolves around us.  We need to support rational cuts to retirement benefits, higher taxes on unearned income and reasonable health care end of life policies.  It is time to give back and get out of the way.

Third, our political leaders must adopt modern civilized positions on the cost of education and child care.  The world’s most advanced democratic societies provide both at little or no cost.  After all, our young people are not asking for it all like we did.  They simply want our boomer generation to tidy up its mess and to give back what our parents gave to keep the American dream alive.

THE VOTER ID LAW IS A CONSERVATIVE HYPOCRACY

The Pennsylvania voter’s ID controversy is getting more ironic by the day.  The conservative establishment who thought up this affront to our most basic of liberties must now explain the economic burden of this unfunded new legislation.  Not only is the cost born by county taxpayers, it is significant.

An action filed in Allegheny County, not by representatives of the elderly, poor, or minorities, was brought by the fiscal watchdog, the County Controller. It turns out that the unfunded mandate for the state’s new voter ID law will cost Pennsylvania’s local governments about $11 million to implement. New procedures must be drawn up, poll workers must be trained, and those impossible to comprehend provisional ballots brought out of the dusty closets.

Only the most jaded of conservatives could justify this additional financial burden on the counties, when education and social services are being slashed to the bone.  No sane elected official can possibly believe that protecting our citizens from phantom voter fraud is more pressing than education, mental health or the environment.  I am waiting to see how the Corbett gang and its followers will philosophically explain deregulating our air, water, and ground resources to save money on the one hand while regulating our poorest citizen’s right to vote and mandating local government to spend tax payer dollars on the other.

POLITICAL THOUGHTS

Does Governor Corbett really believe that no one will notice (or care) when he places his ineffective crony on the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas, a position that court administrators agree should be left open to save public dollars, at the same time that he is cutting education and social services to the bone?

Donald Trump will use his “birther” expertise during the Miss Pennsylvania controversy and determine she was born in New Jersey.

When the majority of Americans come to understand that social democracy looks like

Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and Johnson’s “Great Society” and not a communist five year plan, the political discourse will gain a more rational footing.

Governor Walker’s victory in Wisconsin was more a vote against the misuse of recall elections than an affirmation for tea party positions.

Why do the newscasters on Fox News remind me of the Orie sisters?  Is there an ongoing natural evolution of obnoxious blond conservative women, perhaps nurtured by too much Rush Limbaugh during their impressionable youth?

Over the months leading up to the election independent voters will come to understand that Barack Obama has been a mainstream President with positions a little bit right of John Kerry and a little bit left of Bill Clinton.

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton have been great assets to the President and the American People.  Try and name two republican primary contenders who could offer the same support to a President Romney.

John Edwards will remain a stain on the Democratic Party until a women is nominated by the party for the presidency, hopefully in 2016.  Nothing else will wash away the horror of this narcissistic cad who fooled so many people for so long and let his libido almost destroy the election process.

If one or two Washington County Commissioners are elected to higher office in November, the deliberations of the Board of Judges to name their replacements will be the local political story of the year, maybe of the decade.

 THE MUSIC ROOM

My wife’s younger sister lives in a typical suburban home in Murrysville, PA, with her Husband and two teenage sons.   What is not typical in this middle class home is the “music room”.  Several years ago, the family added a large addition to the existing house.  For most growing families it would have been the opportunity to spread out with a family room, large screen TV, lounging furniture and maybe a pool table.  In this house, the new room is captivated by a large piano and musical instruments of various shapes and sizes.  Music lessons are given, new pieces are rehearsed and impromptu jams are known to break out.

What I have come to realize is that the music room defines this family.  Options and priorities were discussed and music won.  The eldest son is tall, athletic and outgoing.   He is the perfect candidate for various high school varsity sports.  Instead, he is an accomplished cellist and has won awards throughout his high school years.  I have heard him play at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Youth Orchestra and most recently solo, with his Mother accompanying on piano, prior to the spring school band program.  His younger brother holds out promise of being an exemplary musician on the saxophone.

While the mother teaches piano, there is no evidence that any member of the family will have a symphonic career.  The high school graduate would like to be a pharmacist. The father, an accomplished musician in his own right, is a manager in a utility company.  This is simply a family that values lives well lived, enriched by music.

Two thoughts strike me about the music room.  First, in the Victorian era, music rooms were common, as were libraries.  These rooms were places to enrich the soul and sooth the spirit, apart from the drudgery of day to day labor.  In the absence of organized sports, around the clock social media, fixed media and the internet, the music room was a welcome respite.

Second, Federal Title IX has just celebrated 40 years of making sex discrimination in school athletics illegal.  This provision has made incredible progress in women’s sports throughout our country.  Women’s programs are often indistinguishable from men’s programs.   Some would argue that Title IX has touched much more than sports, by changing the role of women in society.

Perhaps we need a mirror Title IX program for equality in the creative arts.  The provision would outlaw discrimination against our young musicians, painters, writers, dancers and sculptures.  The finite resources available for activities would go toward sports and the arts, share and share alike.  We might see more music rooms spring up in suburban America and that would be a good thing.

AN AFTERNOON AT THE BARBECUE JOINT

            When the phone call came from the local Obama campaign office, I had already grabbed my calendar.  Another organizational meeting, I thought.  But the caller had a cryptic bit of news.  The next day Washington would be visited by an unnamed “administration official”.  Would my wife and I like to attend the meet and greet?

            On Thursday we were at the iconic Hog Fathers restaurant, along with a handful of older Obama volunteers and a contingent of the young people who help staff the Pittsburgh office.  We quickly learned that Vice President Biden was the attraction, his motorcade returning to the Airport from West Virginia and Ohio.  As is typical for these affairs, the VP would be late.  We were instructed to be discreet, have some barbecue and meet new friends.

            An hour later the pack of Chevy Suburbans rolled in.  A smiling Biden stepped out and greeted the owner.  The media in attendance was corralled behind the counter and the Vice President began what he came to do.  This was no photo op.  He wanted to talk issues and find out what was on the minds of South Western Pennsylvania voters.  While the secret service bought lunch for the ride to the Airport, Biden let each of us have our say.

            I brought up the Air Force Reserve Station at the Airport.  “Do not close it” I told him. “It will give us enough votes to make a difference”.  He listened and understood the dilemma.  There are national economic and strategic concerns he informed me.  Others spoke of education, health care and the upcoming election.

            With the exception of the Mayor, no elected officials were in attendance.  I am sure some egos got bruised.  The individuals who were invited had been with the Obama campaign 5 years ago when the politicians were not.  I guarantee that we will now work even harder to paint our small part of the country Obama/Biden blue on election night.

THE EQUALITY GLASS IS HALF FULL (the vintage is struggling, young & brown)

When I look beyond the 24/7 political noise, it is the best of times to be a social democrat in the United States of America.  In my lifetime there will be more positive gains in both civil rights and economic equality than at any time in our history.  As our country becomes younger and more diverse, further social change in both areas is inevitable.  

Moreover, it is no coincidence that the deprived generation coming out of the great depression readily adopted our first large wave of FDR social democracy.  Our younger generations most affected by the 2008 great recession will likewise adopt a second wave of personal and economic equality, with a flourish we should all see coming.  The equality glass is half full and the vintage is struggling, young and brown.

  Regarding civil rights, I proudly display in my office the Vernon Jordan quote: “After Years of disturbing the unjust peace- all men are finally created equal”, below a photograph of Barack Obama.  Within a few years, our changing social structure will guarantee that this quote also applies to our first female president and to a national affirmation on gay marriage.  Our founding fathers will finally be able to smile, roll over in their graves and sleep peacefully through eternity.

Regarding economic equality, it has become clear to me that modern western democracies will evolve toward universal economic opportunities and wealth leveling (both nationally and globally), in order to fulfill their potential.  Further, our next generation of leaders will adopt growth not austerity strategies during economic downturns and retain tax surpluses when the economy is vibrant, saving for the next inevitable rainy day.  In other words, the next generation will learn from our mistakes.

I have come to realize that within decades, Fox news and older Americans with deeply held prejudices will have no choir to preach to.  The moral majority is becoming the moral minority and the outcome of the cultural wars is becoming a foregone conclusion.  Like other flash points that have tried to hold up the equality train, the present brand of angry, homophobic social conservatism is losing its grip and will soon be an interesting footnote in American History.

Lastly, I have come to understand that this new landscape has little to do with the work of aging progressives like myself, or the constant political chatter.  Maybe my generation helped set the stage 30 or more years ago.  Sure, it would be nice if we could help win the next election.  But whatever the near term outcome, recession, youth and demographics will prevail in the long run.  My job is really to get out of the way and not muck it up before they take over and fulfill the destiny of this great country.

GAME ON

It is time to brush off the armor and sharpen the swords.  While not quite as bloody as the War of the Roses (white vs. red) the coming election conflagration will be much more expensive and leave a larger mark on western civilization. Blue democrats will be jousting against red republicans across the countryside.  As was the case four years ago, the readers of this newspaper are living and working at the site of the projected major battlefield in 2012.  More advertising dollars, candidate appearances and news stories will be dedicated to South Western Pennsylvania and Ohio than anywhere else in our country during the coming months.  The 2012 Presidential campaign will be won or lost under our feet.

A recent editorial in the O-R was spot on.  The blue army under the Obama banner has changed.  A term in the white house has shifted its focus from vision, transformation and the giddy confidence of youth to governance, maturity and the hard issues and reality of middle age.  The former pink cloud campaign of hope is now the dark cloud campaign of preserving the heart and soul of everything that matters to me as a citizen.  No longer cast as feel good idealism, this campaign feels more like hand to hand combat in the trenches.

The blue foundations of the conflict remain the same.  To name a few:  there can be no personal liberty without systemic justice.  Practical wisdom must trump political ideology in decision making.  Our constitutional republic can only survive if all its citizens give equally till it hurts on the one hand and receive equal benefits and opportunities from their government and institutions on the other.  There can be no more trickledown economics with the few crumbs dispersed to the middle class and poor.  Religious freedom for all, starts with separation of church and state.  In foreign affairs, our country must be admired, not feared.

For letter writers like me and concerned citizens like many of you, it is time to join the fray.  It all starts with barackobama.com/pa.  Our contributions, our work, and our vote will make a difference.

In support of Renaissance men (and Women)

     

Not long ago, my friend Gordon, a Renaissance man in his own right, invited my wife and me to tour the Di Vinci exhibition at California University.  It was a marvel.  The film clip, full scale working models of Di Vinci’s drawings and other materials introduced us to a thinker far ahead of his time.  Local residents should make plans to view this world class exhibit before it departs, on May 6, 2012.

For Di Vinci, there were no walls between art, architecture, science, medicine, anatomy, aviation and industrial process.  His mind flowed freely from one discipline to the other.   This permitted him to connect the dots on matters that would not be revisited for a thousand years.   Unfortunately, unlike Di Vinci or Newton or even Einstein, the day when one can know everything there is to know about everything, or even a great deal about many things, is over.  Even my friend Gordon, who can jump from dry bulk shipping, to game theory, to Mediterranean history gets lost on quantum physics.  The modern era is mostly about knowing everything there is to know about one thing, and only one thing, extremely well.

We do not permit our personal physician to perform heart surgery.  The pastry chef cannot prepare our brace of quail.  The man who hangs dry wall cannot repair our roof.  The roofer cannot clean our chimney.  No one would hire a family lawyer for a murder trial.  My daughter, the avian veterinarian, will not examine a cat.  Most people feel safer in the hands of a specialist. The world is complicated and there is simply too much information.

  Having said this, in a world where everyone is specializing in something, the future may still belong to those who can connect the dots and cross over into several disciplines.  The renaissance of the Renaissance man is upon us.  After viewing the Di Vinci exhibit,   I thought about an orthopedic surgeon I know.  He has a Carnegie Mellon engineering degree and graduated from Harvard Medical School.  In his spare time he helps run the Carnegie Robotics lab.  Engineering and bone anatomy make him the ideal choice.   Another example is Obama’s choice for the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim:  Dartmouth President, medical doctor and anthropologist.  Polymaths like the best -selling authors, Jared-Diamond and Malcolm Gladwell also come to mind.  These roving scientist/ journalists explore many disciplines to give us new views of our past and future.

 Then there are the new and expanding fields of cross-over academic study.  For example: behavioral economics, environmental studies, emerging country developmental studies, evolutionary psychology and medical and legal philosophy come to mind.  These disciplines require our future professionals to dive into the hard sciences and the social sciences. To learn to think like a lawyer or physician, from a philosophical prospective.  In other words, to connect the dots.

 We will continue to need specialists to know everything about a narrow subject.  We will also need the new renaissance men to pave the way to the future.  Like my friend, Gordon, they are a lot more interesting at a dinner party.