PREDICTING THE FUTURE IN 2023

         

 “It’s hard to make predictions, particularly about the future.” Yogi Berra

The Twilight Zone, an anthology television series created by Rod Serling in the late 1950s, had a major influence on my early view of the world. The episodes that most fascinated me dealt with the show’s protagonists finding ways to predict the future. The greedy actors, attempting to score ill-gotten gains from profiting off future events, always ended up badly.

Moving forward to December 2022, the emerging new year brings forth an avalanche of crystal ball gazing experts in domestic and foreign policy matters, finance and new cultural trends. Unlike the Twilight Zone, our modern prognosticators are looking through hazy crystal balls. Their conjectures can simply be useless, or worse, dangerous. This commentary will examine the limits and advantages of attempting to predict the future as we move forward in a complex world.

Using data to predict future events is not unlike predicting the weather. The broader the category, the easier it is to get it right. (It will rain tomorrow and be sunny the next day.) Conversely, more precise forecasting is difficult. (Where will the hurricane make landfall?) The time and money spent on learning how to interpret present data to predict future events is all about gaining results that are more focused and accurate.

Investment forecasting is especially fraught with erroneous results. Few investors predicted the devastating market crash of 2008 or the two years of upheaval caused by the pandemic. The outliers who correctly read the tealeaves and bet against the herd made millions. The rest of the herd went over the cliff and has been slow to financially recover.

Past failures do not discourage the financial press from making predictions for the New Year.  This December, the Wall Street Journal, BARRON’S and the financial cable networks have all published their forecasts. Most pundits are calling for at least a mild recession in 2023 and a continuing rise in interest rates until inflation is under control. Oil and gas stocks remain in favor, but are undergoing volatile swings. Picking individual stocks for the year will likely be less successful than ancient efforts by the Oracle of Delphi.

Many investment advisors believe those stocks that have fallen the most in 2022 will be winners in 2023. Unexpected moves in the Ukraine conflict, China reopening or interest rates will have an immediate effect on stock prices that will require a nimble approach.

Predicting world events occurs on two levels. Similar to investment gurus, international journalists enjoy speculating on future world events. Each year, the renowned Economist magazine publishes an entire issue on The World Ahead. These attempts at prediction tend to be broad in nature.  For example, this year the Economist is naming the war in Ukraine as the primary force shaping the future. It believes that energy prices, inflation, interest rates, economic growth and food shortages all depend on how the conflict plays out. The Economist forecasts a grinding stalemate as the most likely outcome in 2023.

On other issues, the Economist believes an unseen benefit in the Ukraine war will be a world acceleration toward renewable energy sources. It sees China at an economical peak with India on a mission to catch up. The Economist speculates that a China-Taiwan conflict is more likely over the next 12 months.

The second level in predicting world events involves a more serious exercise than the impressions of journalists. Policymakers routinely make highly consequential, difficult-to-reverse decisions. They depend on information provided by national security specialists. There is no situation where leaders would not want better visibility into the future.

Ironically, use of statistical forecasting, a tool used by meteorologists and management consultants, is resisted by those security agencies that could benefit from statistical analysis. Policy experts are more likely to rely on their own professional acumen and experience to provide analysis. They are comfortable in providing a “story” to policymakers and in avoiding more narrow statistics. They believe it is better that a given analysis be “believable” with a good narrative than be “probable” with mounds of boring statistics.

Only in 2015 did the CIA begin defining probability ranges in its work product provided to national policy makers. The change has been slow to catch on.  Moreover, world leaders like President Biden have a long history of relying on their hunches, based on a good story to back it up, rather than on calculated odds determined by statistical analysis.

Last year, the Biden administration got it right in predicting when Russia would invade Ukraine. Nevertheless, when it comes to truly novel questions like Putin’s use of nuclear weapons or his desire to end hostilities, all experts and observers are left scratching their heads. Relying on analysis regarding Putin’s subjective intent may be as dangerous as playing “Russian roulette.”

On a personal level, predicting events that effect our lives supports the development of critical thinking skills. It requires us to draw upon prior knowledge and experiences as well as observations to anticipate what might happen.  It is another tool to aid in escaping “herd-mentality” in order to reach our own valid conclusions.

PICKLEBALL HAS CONQUERED AMERICA

 

Normally, new cultural phenomena are the invention of the young. Popular music, fashion, successful restaurants and celebrity are all determined by what those under 30 say they are.  Baby boomers, once the darlings of advertisers, have now been relegated to the AARP Magazine. Moreover, if you are not actively engaged in the metaverse, crypto currency, TikTok, fantasy sports, online sports betting or edible cannabis, you are a dinosaur not participating in the newest cultural trends.

Those of us born in the decade following WWII have not gone down without a fight. We are not ready to be relegated to the senior citizen centers. We boomers have discovered a new cultural phenomena of our own, as big as Woodstock, bell bottoms, disco and leisure suits.  Our generation may have made a fine mess of the world, but we will not pass into history without leaving one final imprint on society. It is called pickleball, and it is sweeping the country by storm.

Three fathers, on an island outside of Seattle, Washington, invented pickleball in 1965.  They wanted to amuse their bored children over the summer months. The dads used wooden paddles, a wiffle ball and lowered the family badminton net. Within a week, they had developed a set of rules, and pickleball was born.  The concept caught on, and private courts began appearing in Washington State, where the little known sport remained a curiosity for decades.

Aging baby boomers like to brag that age 60 is the new 30. However, arthritis, heart attacks and knee/hip replacements taught us otherwise. We found it more challenging, if not impossible, to compete in the group sports we loved in our youth. Through word of mouth pickleball exploded in popularity across the country as 69.6 million boomers ages 58 to 76 became acquainted with the sport. In 2022, it was adopted as the state sport of Washington. Also in 2022, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association named pickleball the fastest growing sport in the United States.

What explains this rapid growth? A pickleball court is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. It can be played indoors, utilizing basketball courts or outdoors where two pickleball courts fit nicely within the parameters of an existing tennis court. It is mostly played with four competitors (doubles) keeping exertion moderate and chance of injury low. Pickleball is ideally suited for individuals with widely varied skill sets and fitness levels. Lastly, the buy-in for equipment is not expensive, and the sport provides an enjoyable social experience for all those who participate.

To keep the game fun for everyone, the rules require an underhand serve. To prevent “spiking the ball,” there is a “non-volley zone,” an area that can not be entered unless the ball bounces inside the zone. These regulations keep young and powerful people from dominating the game.

There are now an estimated 35,000 courts in the U.S., more than double the number from five years ago. Professional sports figures, including Lebron James and Tom Brady, are endorsing equipment manufacturers and licensed leagues around the country.

The pickleball phenomena has captured the attention of Southwestern Pennsylvania. This summer, a Pittsburgh grandmother, Meg Burkardt, arrived at her local North Park pickleball courts looking to round out a foursome. She noticed that the three male players she encouraged to join her were in great shape, but she was the most experienced player on the court and had no trouble winning her matches.

When spectators began asking for photographs, she became annoyed that she was not included.  It was only later that she learned her fellow players were Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The story went viral on Twitter and social media. If a grandmother could hold her own with three professional football players, baby boomers clearly had a sporting activity they could embrace.

Washington County has bought into pickleball in a big way.  It seems that every tennis court in the area is another opportunity for two pickleball courts to pop up.  A Washington Park Pickleball Club has been formed and is supported by the county and the City of Washington. The club currently has 80 members with others eager to join on a waiting list. Club members have exclusive use of four courts at Washington Park, four mornings each week.

In May of 2022, the club sponsored its first tournament. Ninety-seven players from across the area participated. The effort will be expanded in 2023 with a grant from the County’s tourism office helping to defray costs. The purchase of high quality portable nets will provide 16 courts for use in the tournament.

Where does pickleball go from here? I am sure that culturally conscious young people will continue to join the craze with Tik Tok pickleball videos and new fashion statements based on the sport. Inevitably, confrontations have appeared as pickleball has spread. Die-hard tennis players are not happy with the invasion (literally) onto their turf. The sound of balls striking paddles has become the new annoying “leaf blower.” As a result, many retirement communities now require that softer balls be used.

With professional leagues and television contracts, pickleball is here to stay. The sport’s mantra, “one more game,” will follow baby boomers into their graves with a smile, thankful for a life better lived because of pickleball.

A RETURN TO A YULETIDE OF JOY

In 2020 and 2021, our holiday season was bleak on many levels. Because memories are short and gratitude fleeting, this commentary will review what we have survived. Moreover, it will make a case that December 2022 should mark a time for reaffirming yuletide joy.  I will also relate two occurrences that reestablished my faith in the holiday spirit.

The Pandemic.  In December of 2020, the first vaccines were slow to reach the arms of citizens as the Trump administration focused on the election loss and left the final steps of mass vaccination to the beleaguered states. The overall picture was grim with understaffed hospitals, community lockdowns and school closures. January 2021 became the deadliest month of the pandemic with more than 95,000 virus related deaths reported in America.

In December of 2021, the country was eager to get back to a normal holiday season. However, the omicron variant was spreading faster than the delta strain.  Public health officials urged all Americans to scale back their Christmas plans and stay home to protect themselves and others.  

For this holiday season, festive events, travel and family gatherings have returned. While numerous sub-lineages of the omicron variant are circulating, none has been designated as a new variant of concern. Public health services have upgraded the capabilities for quick detection and information sharing.  In December 2022, while indoor masking is recommended for the vulnerable, the impact of the virus on our lives is greatly reduced.

The Political Climate. On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.  The mob was seeking to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the results of the November election.   More than 2,000 rioters entered the building, many of whom vandalized, looted and assaulted Capitol Police officers. Five people died either during or after the event.

By December of 2021, 19 Republican state legislatures had passed 34 new laws that made it harder to vote.  Lawmakers in four additional states had pre-filed at least 13 bills for the 2022 legislative sessions that would make it harder to cast a ballot. Donald Trump’s Republican allies doubled down on their allegiance to the former president.  Many political observers placed the United States on a list of democratic countries that were quickly backsliding into an “illiberal democracy.”    

This year, following the November 2022 midterm elections, there is a new optimism concerning the vitality of America’s democratic republic. The voters worked around voting limitations and rejected extreme contenders. Moderate candidates were elected to hold the line against election deniers and authoritarian government. 

This December, the losses, legal setbacks and embarrassments to the former president are piling up. At the end of the month, the January 6 Committee will release its detailed report explaining Trump’s insurrection to the American people. Many of the January 6 insurrectionists have been tried, convicted and sentenced to jail.

Commissioner Larry Maggi’s Christmas Party.  The first of my personal holiday shout-out goes to Commissioner Larry Maggi. As with many other traditional events, the Maggi Christmas Party returned this year after a two-year absence. Make no mistake; this is a political event, filled with Democrats and other individuals who have supported the Commissioner over the years.

What makes the celebration unique and heartwarming is that Republicans are invited to share the holiday spirit along with Democrats. The two Republican Commissioners were in attendance along with many other reputable Republicans from around Washington County. In Maggi’s remarks to the crowd, he stressed the importance of the County’s political adversaries celebrating the joy of the season as one community dedicated to good government. If only this seasonal bright spot could flourish and be replicated around the country.

My Observer Reporter Newspaper Carrier.  Newspaper carrier, Willard Smith, has earned my gratitude and a special acknowledgment this holiday season. I am sure that his job description (if he even has one) is very basic and does not include making his customers happy every time they open the front door to begin a new day. Previous carriers would deliver the paper sometime during the day, somewhere on my property, often requiring a search under porches and shrubbery.

Willard Smith delivers the paper in a timely fashion and on my front porch no matter the weather or time of year. No wet newspapers that are impossible to read. No long searches on a cold morning. No phone calls to the OR to get a replacement paper.

For Willard “delivery” is not what is most convenient for him. He has formulated his own job description to do the right thing so that he can do his job well. His example could form the basis for a study on how to improve customer satisfaction by learning the purpose of a job, not simply the mechanics. We all know workers like Willard who make a point to go the extra mile. Remember to acknowledge them this holiday season.

There is always the possibility that another virus will send us back to the deepest days of the pandemic. American politics remain fraught with an ugly strain of cultural nativism and unwarranted conspiracy theories. However, we will learn from our past public health and political missteps. In the meantime, individuals from a Commissioner to a newspaper carrier give us gratitude. Enjoy the season.

 

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UNIVERSAL BROADBAND IS THE NEW POST OFFICE

 

Certain historical benchmarks have made American democracy unique in the world.  Two of the most important that explain our rapid rise as a nation were the build-out of a nationwide public education system and the post office. Both were treated as necessities in a young democracy. 

In the case of the post office, the mission was to provide the growing American public with affordable and universal mail service. Early on, Congress recognized the role of the post office in expanding commerce and in binding the nation together. A series of statutes mandated post office obligations that included geographic scope, range of mail products, access to service, frequency of delivery and uniform pricing.

In today’s modern society, universal broadband connectivity has become the newest mandate that a democratic republic must provide for its people.  This means that anyone, anywhere, regardless of geographic location, socio-economic status, race, or gender has access to affordable internet services and devices. Federal, state and local governments have recently begun working together to institute this important project. The following commentary will explain why universal broadband deserves our support. It will also describe successful efforts to implement this goal in Washington County.

The post office was never about turning a profit. In 1860, $600,000 was spent to carry mail and newspapers to a developing California, but the agency collected only $119,000 in fees. The payoff in postal delivery to isolated communities was measured through improved literacy and civic spirit. In 2021, the post office may have reported a $4.9 billion dollar loss, but everyone gets their mail.

Today, more information is exchanged electronically than by paper. While broadband is replacing the post office in importance, recent research has found that as many as 42 million Americans are still without access to high-speed broadband internet. Moreover, only 72 percent of households in rural communities reported having access to broadband at home, compared to 79 percent in urban areas. 

The “last mile” problem is significant.  Private internet providers often refuse to extend service to sparsely populated areas where user fees cannot cover the cost. Moreover, before the pandemic there was an ongoing political debate over whether the necessity of broadband justified government spending in a private market.

Following the pandemic, which caused unprecedented death, isolation and economic damage, the eyes of elected leaders were opened to the need for universal broadband. First, it was clear that broadband provided easy access to governmental and financial services with no need to visit a brick and mortar facility. Second, vital emergency services were available online. Third, when businesses were closed, broadband video conferencing expanded opportunities in the work place. Fourth, on-line medical appointments (telehealth) became indispensable in providing healthcare for rural and elderly populations. Fifth, universal connectivity fostered equality by providing information sources to everyone. Lastly, broadband provided the means for isolated students to access ongoing learning opportunities.

In May of 2022, the Biden administration launched a $45 billion dollar “Internet for All” initiative to bring affordable high-speed broadband to everyone in America by the end of this decade.  The President called for a “whole-of-government” approach.  To participate in the program, states were required to submit a letter of intent to unlock planning funds.  Each participating state was guaranteed a minimum $100 million allocation.

Shortly after the federal program was publicized, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced the state’s readiness to deploy more than $100 million in federal funds to bring broadband to underserved areas.  In a rare act of cooperation, the Governor and the State General Assembly worked together to create the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to distribute the funds.

As reported in the Observer Reporter in June of this year, the Washington County Commissioners approved separate contracts totaling nearly $5.4 million to bring high-speed internet to West Finley Township and Bentleyville. These actions will provide internet services to nearly 1,000 new customers in those areas within the next two years. In October, the commissioners disclosed another phase of the initiative. Ten separate projects will connect 5,000 new customers in southern and western parts of the county.  

Commissioner Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan announced, “The focus of our initiative is to offer equitable access to broadband in underserved regions of Washington County,” Commissioner Larry Maggi added, “Community growth, economic development and broadband expansion are all positively linked.”

It is noteworthy that Washington County did not wait several years for the new federal and state broadband funding to filter its way down to the county level. To their credit, the Commissioners immediately earmarked $30 million for broadband projects. The county received these funds in pandemic allotments from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act. This will permit Washington County to be in the vanguard of providing internet service to its citizens. 

The success of broadband implementation in Washington County is another example of competent civil servants working with visionary elected leaders to achieve positive results. The commissioners have praised the  efforts of John Timney, Executive Director of the Washington County Authority. Mr. Timney has demonstrated that a well-organized local government can respond to a challenge much faster than federal and state agencies.

Thanks to Timney’s well-laid plans and the support of the commissioners, Washington County will become a national model in providing universal broadband to the residents and businesses that need it the most.

GET READY FOR THE 2023 ELECTIONS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY

 

“Your day-to-day involvement with local government matters far more than a referendum on the White House every four years.” Michelle Wu

Next year will permit most of the country to recover from a demanding 2022 midterm election season. Pennsylvanians will be spared another eleven months of continuous campaign ads.  However, there will be little time to turn away from politics in Washington County. In 2023, the Commissioners and a majority of the other county officials will be standing for election. What makes the 2023 election season of special interest to local voters is the subject of this commentary.

To understand what is at stake, four groups of election players must be considered. First are the traditional Democrats, led by minority Commissioner Larry Maggi.  His position in winning reelection next November is the most secure. However, if his party is unable to elect another Democrat to serve with him, his influence will remain limited, outflanked by two Republican Commissioners. The Republican majority in  voter registration makes a Democratic sweep highly unlikely, unless Democrats are able to reverse recent trends.

Second are the traditional Republicans, led by Commissioner Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan. Four years ago her party gained control of county government for the first time in decades. Her political future appeared secure. Diana Irey Vaughan is a stanch conservative, but she believes in practical leadership over right wing ideology. Today, an insurgent group of Republicans who seek to remove her from office have weakened her position.  If she runs for reelection, the Republican Primary for Commissioner will be a raucous affair.

Third are the local MAGA Republicans, self-styled as “patriots.” This group’s leaders now manage the county Row Offices. These elected officials show no allegiance to Commissioner Irey Vaughan notwithstanding that she was instrumental in placing them in office four years ago. They plan to run their own slate of candidates who favor the positions of the former president.

The insurgent complaint against Irey Vaughan is that she has not replaced many political appointments and county civil servants with MAGA Republicans. Most importantly, Irey Vaughan never supported the local “stop the steal” movement, which includes replacing all of the county’s voting machines.  Lastly, Irey Vaughan has backed the county court system and the President Judge through several contentious disputes regarding court administration.

Fourth are the individuals in key positions appointed by Irey Vaughan and other long-serving county civil servants. These employees have faithfully kept local government running like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, they have a short shelf life if MAGA Republicans gain majority control of the commissioner’s office. These positions include County Solicitor, Budget Director, Chief of Staff, Director of the Planning Commission, Director of Elections, Director of the Chamber of Commerce/Tourism Agency and many others. The replacement of these employees, responsible for running important functions, with inexperienced MAGA partisans would cause chaos in local government.  

Republicans in favor of good government should be careful what they wish for. If they replace Irey Vaughn and terminate other key employees, local government will implode. Voters should recall that right wing Republicans captured the Allegheny County commissioner’s office in the early 1990s and attempted similar radical changes. Without dedicated non-partisan employees in key positions, Allegheny County’s municipal bond rating went down and surplus county funds disappeared.  Businesses lost confidence, and basic services could not be delivered. Living and working under such conditions became undesirable.

Another historical example when zealotry was permitted to trump local government will emphasize my point. It takes us to Florence, Italy near the end of the Renaissance. Jerome Savonarola was a Dominican Friar who denounced what he and other religious extremists considered corruption and despotic rule.

In 1494 with the help of the French King, he was able to expel the long ruling Medici family from Florence.  The friar instituted a scorched earth, puritanically Christian campaign to reverse all of the secular beauty that Renaissance artists had brought to Florence. In his famous “bonfire of the vanities”, priceless manuscripts, paintings and sculptures that Savonarola deemed immoral were burned in the public square.

Savonarola's divine mandate soon became a fiasco, and popular opinion turned against him.  Citizens came to understand that the Medici family knew how to govern and that the friar, steeped in religious fervor, but with no leadership abilities, did not. Within five years, it was Savonarola who was burned at the stake and the Medici’s were welcomed back into power.

This tale of those with extreme political views gaining power in local government could easily be repeated in Washington County.  MAGA supporters were recently elected to lead the local Republican Party.  The new Party leadership immediately announced plans to “clean up Washington County” and to “dismantle the Democrat cabal.” These goals are head scratchers in that Republicans have controlled county government for the past four years.

One of the first acts promised by MAGA Republicans, if their commissioner candidates win in November, is to "metaphorically burn” all of the county voting machines on the courthouse steps and return to paper ballots. Local MAGA Republicans have other current policies they are against with few positive plans for governing Washington County.  Like the Florentine friar and his supporters, our local MAGA Republicans are a radical political experiment that we should avoid at all costs.

 

 

 

 

REFORMING CRIMINAL JUSTICE

“Our criminal justice system treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent.”

Bryan Stevenson

Fear of criminals and being soft on crime has been a Republican go-to- election issue since the race-baiting “Willie Horton” H.W. Bush commercials during the 1988 presidential campaign. Famously, Republican Bush attacked Democrat Michael Dukakis for permitting convicted murders to receive weekend furloughs from prison.

The campaign use of the criminal justice system again reappeared in the most recent Senate race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz.  Lt. Governor Fetterman served as chairman of Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons and called for prison reform.  Oz repeatedly claimed, in attack ads and statements to the press, that his opponent wanted to release criminals from prison making Pennsylvania less safe.

It is interesting how contradictory Republican positions have been when it comes to proposing legislation on criminal justice or in taking actions while in office. During the 2016 presidential primaries, many Republican candidates advanced positions on criminal justice. Their conservative proposals were designed to save taxpayers from paying for expensive prison systems by limiting prison time.

Former President Donald Trump weighed in with prison reform signing into law the 2018 First Step Act. This legislation reduced penalties for crack cocaine offenses and afforded prisoners more opportunities to obtain an earlier release by participating in programs designed to reduce recidivism.

At the end of his term, Trump pardoned a woman sentenced to life after her conviction for cocaine trafficking. (The President’s friend, Kim Kardashian championed her cause.)  In addition, Trump pardoned numerous close allies whom committed crimes in support of his presidency.

Politics aside, criminal justice in America suffers from major systemic problems that require the attention of both political parties. The truth is that it was a concerted bipartisan effort that built our out-of-control prison-industrial-complex in the first place. For several decades, both political parties championed long sentences for minor drug offenses. The over-building of prisons in rural areas became a common pork-barrel project.  How the damage might be repaired is the subject of this commentary.

There is a general consensus that America imprisons too many people for far too long when compared to the rest of the world or even our own history. There are now more people serving life sentences than the total number of prisoners held in U.S. prisons in the early 1970s. Blacks represent 35% of those in state prison for drug possession even though Blacks make up only 13% of the population and use drugs in the same numbers as other racial groups.

High unemployment and government assistance rates, loss of tax revenues and decreased job mobility among former prisoners results in a loss of $87 billion to our annual GNP. The total cost of the American criminal justice system is nearly $1.2 trillion each year. Children of parents who are incarcerated are more likely to live in poverty and suffer from mental health issues.  As an example of the cost to society, states spend more on those sentenced to 10 or more years in prison than they do on K-12 students over 13 school years. 

What is to be done? Experts agree that there are four possible justifications for putting people in prison.  First, is “punishment,” the price for ignoring society’s rules. Second is “incapacitation” or removing from society those who would do us harm. Third is “deterrence,” making would-be criminals think twice before breaking the law. To address these three goals reformers are now examining what the lawbreakers deserve. They ask the question what is a proper criminal sentence. Many beleive that mandatory sentencing laws often do not fit the crime and are out of proportion to the criminal offense.

The fourth justification for jailing individuals, “rehabilitation”, has drawn the most attention of criminal justice advocates. Correctional institutions have done a poor job of “correcting” their populations. The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics establishes that following release, two-thirds of prisoners are rearrested. While in-prison programs need improvement with updated social science models to reorient those with criminal intent, many believe that preemptive childhood programs are the true answer.  This would include heavy investment in education, housing, health care and jobs.

To combat criminal justice abuses, there is a vocal, progressive contingent that has called for the abolition of much of the criminal justice system. However, most Americans are not in favor of emptying the prisons or defunding the police. In fact, minorities living in urban areas have often called for more police as gun violence escalates.  

There is still much that can be accomplished. The criminal justice system can double-down on rehabilitation efforts. Jail sentences for petty crimes and small-scale drug dealing can be eliminated and replaced with diversionary programs like special drug and mental health courts. Solitary confinement can be eliminated as a punishment tool. The present system of cash bail, which insures that many low-income defendants will languish in jail before having their day in court, can be reformed. Public safety involving the mentally ill can be shifted from the police to qualified mental health professionals. Violence intervention programs to deal with urban gangs can receive more adequate funding.

President Biden has proposed numerous criminal justice reforms.  These programs have little chance of gaining traction in the upcoming divided Congress. It will be left to state and local governments to enact improvements that will make a difference.

 

 

 

 

IN SEARCH OF FELLOWSHIP AND RECONCILIATION

 

“A country is the sense of fellowship, which binds together all the citizens of that territory”

Giuseppe Mazzini

Following a trip to Italy, the celebration of my father-in-law’s 100th birthday and the midterm elections, my thoughts have focused on the importance of fellowship and reconciliation. Fellowship is defined as a community of interest, activity, feeling or experience. It entails the quality of being sociable toward others. Reconciliation is defined as the restoration of friendly relations. When viewed in a political setting, both terms sharply contrast with our present state of engrained tribalism.

Fellowship and reconciliation are established tools for improving social relationships with others. With the holidays approaching and COVID on the wane, Americans will be engaging each other within the larger context of a perilous and bleak world. Rather than anger, fatalism and increasing violence, there is an opportunity to reset the parameters of social interaction. Moving toward fellowship and reconciliation will increase our tolerance of others and place the focus on understanding others rather than being right.

My approach in addressing fellowship and reconciliation will be to discuss several personal encounters. I believe both of these positive ideas were covered up by the social isolation of the pandemic and by misinformation. As a result, there has been the tendency for people to favor information that confirms their personal beliefs, without investigation. If encouraged, human nature is just as likely to favor a return to fellowship and reconciliation.

The Battle of Monte Cassino. My recent trip to Italy included a visit to the historic Benedictine Monastery on the towering hill of Monte Cassino. The monastery was the parent house of Western monasticism and a valuable center of the arts and of learning.

During WWII, the steep hill was located in a strategic position, defended by the Germans. Despite an agreement not to destroy the ancient buildings with their valuable artwork, carpet-bombing by the Allies decimated the monastery. Following four attempts to take the high ground, losses for the Allied forces numbered 105,000, and the Germans suffered 80,000 casualties.

After the war, the abbey was rebuilt as a symbol of peace, following an international appeal.  Contributions were received from all nations that fought in the battle. New stain glass windows were designed to honor each nation that lost combatants, including one non christian window dedicated to Jewish Allied soldiers. The word PAX, inscribed over the main gate, is a reminder that in war “all is lost, in peace, all is gained”.

It is impossible to walk above the clouds of Monte Cassino and not feel the power of fellowship and reconciliation that exists in the face of so much death and destruction. Surely, even the extremes in the American political system can focus on the democratic nation we all want without encouraging the violence that took place on this Italian hilltop.

The American Cemetery in Florence. We visited the American WWII Cemetery and Memorial in Florence, Italy. While much smaller than Normandy, it is a moving tribute. Between the two entrance buildings, a bridge leads to the burial area where the headstones of 4,392 of our military dead are arrayed in symmetrical curved rows upon the hillside. Simple crosses next to those with the Star of David mark the graves. Solders from South Dakota are buried next to comrades from New York, Georgia natives next to those from California.

The feeling of fellowship, of diverse Americans giving their all for a shared purpose to save democracy, is overwhelming. At the next contentious holiday gathering, consider these soldiers before expressing what you oppose and before condemning the positions of others. Take time to listen rather than post angry missives on the internet.

A Family Spiritual Discussion. As we celebrate my father-In-law’s 100^th birthday, I often recall a family gathering at my home when he was in his eighties. Before dinner one evening, this evangelical pastor sat down with my catholic cousin, my Hindu sister-in law and my agnostic self to discuss all things spiritual.

The ideas put forward by each of us found common ground with which we could all agree. I often wish the conversation were recorded. The experience taught me that religious beliefs and political orientation do not need to be all or nothing propositions. Rather than defend individual religions or philosophies, our discussion went deeper into how spirituality could make our lives better. Each of us was rewarded with new ways of looking at the world.

The Midterm Elections. Lastly, the recent elections and their aftermath deserve attention when discussing the possibilities for fellowship and reconciliation. Only weeks ago, the outlook was grim. Trust in national institutions, including our voting system, was at rock bottom. Populist nativism and extreme progressive views dominated the national mood.

The midterm elections have produced some sorely needed fresh air. According to voter polling, sixty percent of Americans believe that the MAGA movement was threatening America’s democratic foundations. Practical, moderate candidates were elected to office from both political parties. The electorate has shifted from favoring media-attention-grabbers to those who want to get stuff done. In the words of columnist, David Brooks: “The fever is breaking.”

To move forward we must all learn to think for ourselves. We must pursue civility and promote good citizenship. We must take part in civic activities that benefit everyone and celebrate elections. Only then will fellowship and reconciliation return to referee our inevitable disagreements.

THE ALLEGORY OF GOOD AND BAD GOVERNMENT

 

“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth” Picasso.

We recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Italy that touched on many of the unique sights this country has to offer. Late October weather delivered cool evenings and warm cloudless days. Our tour group trekked from the Amalfi coast along the Mediterranean Sea to Venice on the Adriatic. All bucket lists were satisfied. Those searching for history, artwork, other worldly photographs, religious imagery, ever-changing regional food and wine, or simply seeking to be enveloped in the homeland of their grandparents were all well rewarded.

On this trip, I looked forward to returning to Siena in Tuscany where I planned to search out a series of three fresco panels painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in 1338-1339. This magnificent work located in Siena’s governmental council hall has become known as the “Allegory of Good and Bad Government.” It was commissioned to remind the nine magistrates who governed the Medieval Siena Republic of what constituted proper conduct as they made their executive and legal decisions.  My goal was to determine whether this ancient allegory held lessons for our modern democratic society following a tumultuous election.

As luck would have it, the fresco panels were under renovation and off exhibit. Nonetheless, I learned a great deal about the paintings and the governance of Siena in the fourteenth century. For hundreds of years, this small city-state was able to maintain its status as a democratic republic in the shadow of larger principalities who sought to dominate Siena’s politics, banking and trade. The Battle of Montaperti fought on September 4, 1260 between Florence and Siena saw the more powerful Florentines routed. It was the bloodiest battle fought in Medieval Italy with more than 10,000 fatalities. Each year, Siena commemorates this victory as an important holiday.

Lorenzetti’s “Allegory of Good and Bad Government” is a reminder that good government is characterized by Justice, Concord, Peace and Wisdom while bad government is animated by Division, Avarice, Fury, Vainglory and Tyranny. When good government reigns, all is well. When bad government plagues society, the Tyrant usurps the power of the people, and the citizens suffer.

The majestic figure in the middle of the “good government” panel, dressed in Siena’s colors, personifies the republic itself. Lorenzetti labels him Commune. He is telling the Siena citizens that they, not a king or tyrant, must rule themselves. Justice is enthroned and looking up at the figure of Wisdom, who actually supports her impartial scales.

Concord (or harmony) holds a rope that originates from the scales of Justice that binds her to the citizens, making them all compatriots of the republic. The republic is safeguarded by Security, whose banner reads: “Everyone shall go forth freely without fear.” Finally, we see Peace. She looks serene and confident that the republic is safe. The painting demonstrates the fragile nature of liberty. The precarious balance between state and society, between the political elites and the citizens.

Bad government is displayed on another panel. The Tyrant, not the Commune, rules over the people. He has horns, tusks and crossed eyes. Justice now lies helpless at his feet, in chains. Her equitable scales are destroyed and unable to keep government fair and accountable. 

Around the Tyrant, Lorenzetti paints the vices that animate bad government. Avarice is the old woman behind him, clutching her strongbox and a fisherman’s hook to pull in her fortune. Vainglory carries a mirror. Lorenzetti warns us against narcissistic leaders guided by ego and vanity. On the tyrant’s right, we find Cruelty.

Treason is represented as half lamb, half scorpion. It lulls the people into a false sense of security and then poisons the republic. Fraud is painted  with the flighty wings of a bat. On the Tyrant’s left, Division, who is clothed in Siena’s colors, chops her body in half with a carpenter’s saw. Fury attacks with the weapons of the mob: the stone and knife.

In the remainder of the fresco, Lorenzetti shows us the inevitable effects of bad government. The civic ideals celebrated elsewhere in the room have now been destroyed. The once beautiful city is falling to pieces. The countryside is barren; its farms are abandoned and in flames. In the sky above, the winged figure is not Security, but Fear. Her banner reads: “None shall pass along this road without fear of Death.”

Words cannot do justice to these amazing paintings. They can easily be viewed online to contemplate the power of the allegory.  These 800-year-old images are familiar to us today and bind us to history. We see what  democracy looks like. We experience the effects of good and of bad government in our world, just as Lorenzetti did in his life.

There are lessons here for American democracy that should be considered. Preserving liberty through many generations comes at a price.  Citizens must do more than simply vote once a year. We have to disrupt our own lives with civic activism so that we can prevent the amoral accumulation of power by those who would betray our values.

Last Tuesday, the American people were challenged to raise justice up and to support a constitutional republic over ongoing political tribalism and violence. On November 8, voters chose the path taken by Siena. They rejected the tyranny of election deniers and authoritarian government. Democracy is now on track to achieve a balanced recovery.

   

 

LOCAL WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORY IS FASCINATING

 

As we face the vicissitudes of daily living, it is easy to lose sight of the rich history that surrounds us in Washington County. It is true that our community has gained some well-deserved notoriety from the Whiskey Rebellion and from the archeological rock shelter at Meadowcroft with its colonial village. There is much more to consider. 

Recalling local history and local traditions based on the past help to strengthen our community connections. Numerous local individuals who helped to facilitate the modern transformation of southwestern Pennsylvania reflect the grand scheme of historical change.

Southwestern Pennsylvania was critical to the founding of Colonial America. The area played an important role in the French and Indian War, American Revolution and Civil War. It was an indispensable gateway to the opening of the western frontier. Decades later, the glass works, steel mills, railroads and coal mines were ushered in during the industrial revolution.  These new industries offered employment to thousands of immigrants seeking to live the American dream.

Several fascinating examples of local history have struck me as having national, historical importance in the development of America. This commentary will discuss these events.

The National Road.  I never grow tired of driving Route 40, the original National Road, with its abundance of old homes, taverns, tollbooths and historical battlegrounds. The National Road was built between 1811 and 1834 to reach the western settlements. It was the first federally funded road in U.S. history, built to connect the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. Thomas Jefferson believed that a trans-Appalachian road was necessary for unifying the young country. In 1806, Congress authorized construction, and by 1818 the road was completed from Cumberland to Wheeling. Wagons hauled produce from frontier farms to the East Coast, returning with staples such as coffee and sugar.

To avoid difficulties in construction, the original route proposed by surveyors bypassed established towns such as Uniontown and Washington. Local residents were angered by the choice of route. Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, as a former representative in the Pennsylvania Legislature, exchanged letters with local politicians and President Madison. Eventually, Madison decided on a route that included both Washington and Uniontown.  

Forts & Blockhouses.  One of my favorite pastimes as a child in rural New Jersey was going into the woods to build forts with my friends. Local county residents may not be aware that the locations of dozens of frontier forts and blockhouses surround them.  The forts provided protection for settlers from attacks by hostile Native Americans when Washington County was the western frontier.  

Known locations include the following: Dillow’s Blockhouse (Hanover Twp.), Beeler’s Fort (Robinson Twp), McDonald’s Stations/Fort (Robinson Twp.), Burgett’s Blockhouse (Burgettstown), Vance’s Fort (near Cross Creek Village), Hoagland’s Blockhouse (southern Smith Twp.), Cherry’s Fort (Mt. Pleasant), Reynold’s Blockhouse (north of Cross Creek Village), William’s Blockhouse (Mt. Pleasant Twp.), Rice’s Fort (13 miles from Ohio River), Miller’s Blockhouse (Donegal Twp.), Wolf’s Blockhouse (5 miles west of Washington,  Rt 40), Roney’s Fort (Findley Twp.), Ryerson’s Fort (near Green County), Campbell’s Blockhouse (east of Ryerson), Lindley’s Fort (north branch of Ten Mile Creek).

The large number of facilities tells us that before the Revolutionary War, community defense on our frontier was serious business. Pitched battles were documented at several of the locations.

The Underground Railroad.  The efforts of my Quaker abolitionist ancestors have always drawn me to the history of the Underground Railroad. Luckily, Thomas Mainwaring, a local professor and historian, has written an excellent study of the Underground Railroad in Washington County. (Abandoned Tracks, 2018, University of Notre Dame)

Professor Mainwaring establishes that the Scots-Irish Presbyterians of Washington County were among the first in western Pennsylvania to establish an antislavery society. Washington County views on slavery were in sharp contrast with those of Fayette and Greene Counties where sympathies were with the South. Because of Washington’s location, the local flow of escaping slaves was minimal compared with central Pennsylvania where Maryland provided a steady stream of slaves seeking freedom.

Washington County’s most famous abolitionist was Dr. Julius LeMoyne. By 1840 he had become a nationally known figure in the movement to aid escaping slaves. When the first national anti-slavery party formed in 1839 (the Liberty Party), Lemoyne was recruited to run as Vice President in the 1840 election. He refused with the reasoning that the movement was a religious enterprise and should abstain from politics.

Mainwaring identifies sixty Underground Railroad sites in Washington County ranging from the extremely well documented to the highly unlikely. Separating the myths and legends from the historically accurate proved to be a colossal task. The book’s appendix examines each of the possible local Underground Railroad sites in scholarly detail. Fourteen sites earned five stars for convincing proof from several independent sources.  Eleven sites were graded with four stars for only one primary source.

Civil War Generals. A friend who comes to Washington County by way of Belmont County, Ohio (St. Clairsville) recently provided my last item of local history with national significance. He shared with me a self-published book on the Civil War generals of Belmont County that I found fascinating.  No less than eleven generals, ten Union and one Confederate, were born in Belmont County. Perhaps this should not be surprising in that more than 300,000 Ohioans served in the Union Army, more per capita than any other state. In addition, Generals Ulysses Grant, William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan were from Ohio.

 

 

REPUBLICANS ARE MISREPESENTING CRITICAL RACE THEORY

 

The latest flashpoint in the ongoing cultural wars over how and what public school students should learn is the concept of critical race theory (CRT). Critical race theory is a way of looking at our history of racism with the goal of restructuring imbedded discrimination. It is an academic construct based on the well-documented understanding that systemic racism is a social, economic and cultural historical fact. CRT is directed against racism in institutions and long-standing practices, not individuals or white America as a class.   

Right wing elected officials and their supporters will back any action, which denies that racism is common and systemic. Many Republicans seem to believe that racism will end when the nation stops discussing it. Attacking CRT has become their latest method to accomplish this goal. They claim that CRT is an ideological manifesto that seeks to demonize white people in the past and present for developing or supporting systemic racism. In fact, CRT is simply a factual recognition of historical events that have led to numerous long-standing institutional examples of systemic racism. Adherents of CRT believe that by acknowledging and discussing systemic racism we can move forward as a nation in a positive way.  

The concept of CRT has existed since the early 1960s when Derrick Bell, an African American Harvard law professor (born and raised in Pittsburgh) developed the idea as a reaction to the civil rights movement. His aim was to move the country toward a culture based on racial equity by examining the root causes of white supremacy.

For decades, the theory remained a little known discussion point, debated only in academic circles. CRT broke into the mainstream with the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Right wing commentators exploited the post Floyd nation-wide demonstrations as a way of introducing critical race theory to a white audience suspicious of the Black call for justice. It became the right wing symbol of an aggressive new ideology to malign all white people. In fact, the theory was neither new, nor aggressive. Nor was it designed to paint all whites as racist.

Since 2020, CRT has become a major talking point in Republican political campaigns around the country. The hope is that this “dangerous concept”, misrepresented on Fox News and other conservative media, will sweep them into office. Remarkably, no public school in America had critical race theory as part of its curriculum. Nonetheless, states governed by Republican legislatures have now passed laws to prohibit discussing CRT. Predictively, these misplaced legislative efforts have been expanded to limit how teachers can present racism in any context and to curtail racial and diversity initiatives in education. 

Republican efforts to ban CRT and related anti-racist programs offer no better example of how systemic racism continues its long saga in American education. A recent history on the teaching of race in America (Teaching White Supremacy by Donald Yacovone) illustrates the enduring tradition of racism presented in public school textbooks.

The author examined hundreds of school texts distributed by the nation’s leading publishing houses from the early nineteenth century to the 1980s. He found that public education promoted white supremacy by saying little about slavery or portraying it as a positive institution that helped lift “savage” blacks into the realm of civilization.

The most popular history and civic texts taught three prevalent themes to young students well into the 1960s. First, that white superiority and Black inferiority were an acceptable part of American culture, including accounts of the nation’s past. Second, that the Civil War emancipation was a cleansing event that marked the end of further wide-scale racism in America. Third, that reconstruction provided white students with an easy explanation for ongoing white privlege. The argument was that during reconstruction African Americans failed to take advantage of an opportunity to progress and therefore could not complain about their unequal status.

Systemic racism is not limited to the United States.  Democratic forms of government do not eradicate it. In addition, CRT is relevant in nations where Blacks are in the overwhelming majority. Consider South Africa where in one election, a nation long divided into racial castes controlled by a white minority was turned upside down. After 1994, long disenfranchised people of color now wielded political dominance over the white minority.

Unfortunately, South Africa underwent immense political change while remaining on the same dismal, white dominated, economic track. Today, the unemployment rate remains at thirty percent. Thirty million Blacks live below the national poverty line. Twenty companies control eighty percent of the nation’s capital assets. Almost all are white owned.

White privlege remains as strong in South Africa as it was during apartheid. Whites control all the best schools, employment opportunities and agricultural land holdings. The Black middle class has found it difficult to penetrate into the white-managed mainstream of economic activity.

Clearly, systemic racism is a widespread, global reality. Solutions are only possible by admitting the problem exists and developing programs to break it down. In 2021, the America Civil Liberties Union released the following statement: “Our country needs to acknowledge its history of systemic racism and reckon with present day impacts of racial discrimination – this includes being able to teach and talk about these concepts in our schools.” Without this open approach, our nation is destined to perpetuate systemic racism for generations to come.

 

 

 

A WEEKEND OF REFLECTION

The weekend of September 9-11, 2022 offered some much-needed relief from a summer of rising inflation, revelations regarding former President Trump and the never-ending Pennsylvania campaign ads.  Four weekend events, each with very different circumstances, helped to place us in a more reflective state of mind.

The Death of Queen Elizabeth.  The United Kingdom is suffering through a period of economic and political turmoil far worse than the United States. There have been four conservative party Prime Ministers over the past ten years.  Each successor’s time in office has been more tumultuous than the former. Inflation is at double digits and economists predict a devastating 20% rate in 2023. Household energy bills are soaring due to dependence on Russian gas. The National Health Service is under pressure with 6.7 million patients waiting to receive scheduled care.

After observing the national outpouring of grief and solidarity following the death of Queen Elizabeth, two factors stand out. First, a nation with far greater problems than the United States was able to overcome political differences in a period of national mourning. Second, there has been an English monarchy for over 1200 years. This proves once again that institutions matter in bringing a diverse population together at a time of national sorrow.

Why are we Americans so fascinated by the British royal family? There is certainly a breath of fresh apolitical air associated with the crown. Though the King or Queen is officially the sovereign head of state, there has been no royal exercise of political power in over three hundred years. The Queen never revealed her political views.

Perhaps the major factor explaining America’s royal obsession is the love of status and celebrity. A weekend of ancient traditions and pageantry captured the airways, replacing repetitive, political talking heads. We were all happy that Princes William and Harry reconciled for the funeral. We can only hope that members of Congress could do the same.

The 9/11 Anniversary. When the media was not focused on the United Kingdom, it was covering solemn ceremonies related to the 9/11 anniversary. There is an enduring, but slowly changing impact of the 9/11 attacks on the national mood. Many Americans who are old enough to remember the day, name the attacks as their top historical event. Conversely, an ever-growing number of citizens have no personal memory of 9/11 and its aftermath.

I recently viewed a photograph of both Hillary and Bill Clinton, Republican Governor George Pataki, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator Chuck Schumer standing together waving flags, shortly after 9/11.  I reflected on whether our nation could ever again come together at a time of sadness and patriotism. Following 9/11, no one sought political advantage against the Bush presidency for the intelligence shortcomings that may have prevented the attack.  I fear that today the allure of short-term political advantage would outweigh such a national response of public unity.

Military Gains by Ukraine. Many Americans lost focus on the war in Ukraine as the summer months produced a stalemate and the news cycle moved onto other topics. That changed over this important weekend when Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive that recaptured 6,000 sq. km. from the Russians. The Ukrainian push to retake ground all but wiped out the hard-fought gains made by Kremlin forces this spring.

How this conflict will end is unknown. Last February, no one predicted that the Ukrainians could hold out for this long against the overwhelming force of a larger, authoritarian nuclear power. The fact that Russia controlled the energy supply of much of Europe seemed to make the Ukrainian cause a losing proposition. However, a new face of freedom, through struggle and sacrifice in defense of democracy, has come from this very unlikely place.

Bipartisan support for Ukraine remains strong in Congress. It continues to pass massive aid packages for the country. According to a poll taken in late August, a majority of Americans believe that the United States should continue to support Ukraine until there is a complete withdrawal of Russian troops. Ironically, the country is more united on this issue than whether Donald Trump lost the election or whether the attack on the Capitol sought to disrupt the orderly transfer of government.

The Return of Football. The weekend under discussion also saw the return of the National Football League.  The NFL has been the unquestioned sports entertainment king of attendance, TV ratings, merchandise and revenue for years. There is no sign of slowing. The NFL now markets extensively to nontraditional sports fans, weaving itself into the fabric of popular culture. Athletes have become entertainment icons, more recognizable than our elected leaders.

Whether admiration for this capitalistic juggernaut is warranted is beside the point. Where almost everything in our world today is divided along political lines, the NFL is a welcome exception. It is a sport that cuts across political, social and racial differences to unite communities. When Donald Trump criticized the NFL in 2017 for players kneeling during the national anthem, it had little effect on its popularity.

Weekends like September 9-11, 2022 are important reminders that there are themes and events that continue to unite the citizens of our country. We must take time to reflect on history. We must reflect on our place in the world and remember that sometimes democracy must be preserved with blood and treasure.  We must continue rooting for our football team alongside our hometown political adversaries.

 

 

THE DISUNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

Two recent political speeches are instructive in understanding the discouraging divide in America.  First, President Biden spoke in Philadelphia describing the upcoming midterm elections as “a battle for the soul of America.” For the first time, he assailed not only the former president but also his followers in the Make America Great Again movement. He concluded that the MAGA agenda has no place in our political process and has become a threat to democracy.

Biden supported his conclusion by describing MAGA positions that: 1) reject the results of the last presidential election, 2) would eliminate all  abortion, 3) attack the FBI and Justice Department for doing their jobs and 4) seek to restrict voter access to the ballot box. He was careful in his remarks not to paint all Republicans as MAGA supporters.

Two days later, former president Trump gave a two-hour speech in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The event was scheduled to support the campaigns of Republican candidates running for Governor (Doug Mastriano) and for the Senate (Mehmet Oz). Predictively, the speech quickly drifted off into another polemic of grievances and lies. Among Trump’s comments, President Biden was labeled “an enemy of the state” and the FBI and Department of Justice were called “vicious monsters.”

Midterm elections are usually a voter referendum on the political party of the president.  This is especially the case when the party also controls Congress. Biden’s attempt to make the midterms a referendum on a former president is unprecedented. However, there is something far more troubling than caustic political rhetoric and the sorry state of national politics. In modern times, issues that matter most in peoples’ lives are often being formulated at the state, not the national level. In deciding these issues, the individual states of our republic are drifting so far apart that Lincoln’s description of “a house divided” is now an appropriate description of America’s political future.

Consider the following divergent public policies on abortion, gun control, immigration and voting rights recently adopted by various states:

·      When all the states have responded to the Supreme Court overturning of Roe, it is expected that half will have eliminated or severely curtailed access to abortion.

·      Mississippi now bans all abortions, vaccine mandates, the teaching of balanced racial history and transgender students participating in sports based on the gender with which they identify.

·      California adopted a law that protects people who come to the state to get or facilitate an abortion against legal actions filed in states where abortion is banned. The Governor is dangling California tax credits in front of companies that are seeking to move out of conservative states that limit reproductive, gay and transgender rights.

·      Connecticut has expanded access to abortion by allowing physician assistants and certified midwives to perform them.

·      In 2020, ten liberal states adopted new restrictions on the purchase or carry of firearms.

·      Twenty-three conservative states now allow “permitless carry” which removes all restrictions on gun owners being armed in public.

·      California has defacto legalized undocumented immigrants by being the first state to offer Medicaid and health insurance available for poor citizens to all immigrants, regardless of status.

·       In Texas, the Governor has authorized the state police to return unauthorized immigrants back to the border. He is working to withhold payment for undocumented children to attend Texas public schools.

·      Twenty-nine states have expanded access to voting by mail while thirteen states have restricted it.

There are many other examples ranging from climate change, to the Affordable Care Act, to public health issues. Not since the Civil War has the tenth amendment of the Constitution (reserving to the states the powers not delegated to the federal government) become such an important factor in American politics.

The impact of states’ rights is bound to get worse. In 2020 there were thirty-seven states in which one political party controlled both the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature. When partisanship prevents congressional action, individual states can move quickly to pass legislation opposed by half the nation. Moreover, the conservative Supreme Court has signaled its intent to follow up on the abortion decision by handing back other critical policy and cultural issues to the states.

What is to be done as America becomes more disunited? At some point, there will be a realization that there is no path toward reconciliation. There will be an admission that the United States is no longer a cohesive citizenry capable of moving forward as a nation. A new arrangement will be required that matches political form to political substance.

Partial defederalization, perhaps similar to the European Union model (a political and economic union of sovereign states) could serve this purpose, though it is fraught with difficulties. Blue states do not want to disadvantage poorer Americans living in conservative states. Red states, despite their attacks against national government, benefit more from federal programs and the distribution of tax dollars.

The alternative is to employ something in short supply — compromise. It should be possible to restore national political equilibrium if Congress radically changes the way it does business. The two political parties can no longer be more extreme than the voters they represent. Primary elections and gerrymandering must be reformed.

Catholic Ireland adopted a national, middle of the road, abortion policy. All of Europe passed sensible gun control, health care, education and climate change laws. These “United States” can do the same.

 

 

 

DOING GOOD IS COMPLICATED

 

“Everything sucks is not helpful. The relevant question is what can we do?” William MacAskill

As the summer winds down, what is left of the dwindling print press has focused on a positive topic to counter all of the bad news splashed across the headlines. Prominent articles on “altruism” or “the art of doing good” were featured in Time magazine (cover, August 22) and The New Yorker (essay, August 15).

One would think that such a topic would be a straight forward, uplifting examination of individuals and organizations devoted to improving the world. Alas, it turns out that practicing altruism is complicated. When a group of confirmed altruists get together, the debates are intense with conflicting positions.

One reason altruism is getting attention can be traced to the 35 year old Scottish philosopher, William MacAskill, credited with forming the modern movement on the subject. Mr. MacAskill has just published a new book on altruism titled What We Owe The Future. The book is expected to be a best seller. In the spirit of altruism, all proceeds will go to his organization dedicated to helping others.

Mr. MacAskill has spent his life agonizing over the threshold question of how one individual can do the most good for humankind. Years ago, he made his own calculations and determined that he would limit his income to twenty-six thousand pounds ($31,000.00) each year and would give the rest of his earnings away. Ironically as his organization called “effective altruism” (EA) has gained a worldwide following, his fund raising activities far outweigh his income.

Two issues complicate the life of an individual dedicated to altruism. First, how does one determine what activities will actually do the most good? Second, how does one reconcile being an altruist with living a healthy lifestyle, free of angst and depression, in a world so full of inequality, death and destruction?

The first question has caused heated battles within the altruism community. Traditionally, many philanthropists would favor giving to a favorite university, library or local causes in the community. The new view is that effective altruism is evidence-based to determine the best ways of helping others. Under this thesis, local giving may be seen as a personal indulgence to gain recognition rather than true sacrifice for the sake of the world’s neediest.

The modern altruism movement considers all human lives to have equal value.  A thousand dollars might buy one scholarship in Pennsylvania, four eye surgeries for children in Portugal or five thousand doses of deworming medicine in East Africa. When measured in what altruists call “quality-adjusted life years,” the deworming charity was found to be a hundred times more cost effective than the sight-saving eye surgeries. The Bill Gates foundation has used this approach in its decision to eradicate malaria. It has been determined that the most cost effective way to save human lives, anywhere in the world, is in the manufacture and distribution of insecticide treated anti-malaria bed nets.

Mr. MacAskill and his EA organization have come to favor a breadth of interlocking causes. Fifty percent of its funding goes to global health and development projects with the highest potential to save human life. Ten percent is dedicated to building the movement and for research. Animal welfare is a major issue in the altruism community and receives funding to promote development of alternative proteins to reduce demand for animal products. (Although MacAskill warns that giving to a clean energy charity will do more good than a lifetime of not eating meat.)  Lastly, programs are funded to support the relatively new concern for future existential risks. This includes threats like climate change, artificial intelligence, pandemics and genetic engineering.

When MacAskill first heard the call for altruism to address long-term risks, he was not sold on the idea. He felt there were too many real problems in the world facing real people to fanaticize about future apocalypses.  As the pace of scientific discovery quickened, his views changed.  He now believes “the world’s long run fate depends in part on the choices we make in our lifetime.”

This brings us back to MacAskill’s new book What We Owe The Future. It is a polemic on the moral imperative to take all necessary steps to influence the long-term future. He believes that humanity is in the early stages of development with three possible outcomes: extinction, billions of future unhappy lives or billions of future flourishing lives. The prescription for success is not an easy sell. It entails an individual duty to live a life of conscious self-denial along with financial contributions to the causes he champions. The conclusion is that a single person can make a difference in saving lives today and transforming the lives of thousands in the future.

Learning to live a balanced life while serving both present and future humanity is also complicated. MacAskill has undergone his own transformation over the years. Early on, he was often depressed and agonized over small decisions like what products to purchase and where to cut corners to give more of his savings away. Today, he is no longer overwhelmed by the magnitude of the world’s problems. He takes time off to enjoy life and prioritizes sleep, exercise and meditation. MacAskill now beleives it is possible to be comfortable and well-rounded while continuing to do the most good.