JERSEY POLITICS

Leave it to my home state to create a political scandal more entertaining than the Good Wife. Being born and bred in New Jersey I did not think anything could surprise me about politics in the Garden State.  My Great Uncle was a State Senator in Jersey City in the 1930s.  A time of backrooms full of cigar smoke, when money was passed under the table to form political alliances.  I inherited his “Tycoon” pocket watch.  If only watches could talk.

  The Chris Christie debacle does surprise me.  Governor Christie grew up in the rough and tumble world made famous by Boardwalk Empire and the Sopranos. Not as mobbed up as in the past but still tough as nails.  Opponents do not end up in dumpsters anymore, but those on the short end of the ballot box have all the political gravy taken away from them.  Former allies become enemies quicker than in the Roman Forum.  Christie not only knows the rules of New Jersey politics, he has used them to his advantage better than anyone else in recent memory.

The baffling thing about the Christie crisis, where his staff intentionally caused traffic havoc on the George Washington Bridge for four days, is that the pay back was focused on voters and not politicians. Christie is too politically astute to sanction such an action on the front end of a presidential run. This was a bad idea from his subordinates, made worse in the execution.  His Port Authority appointee and high school chum, who took the fifth rather than answer questions, has always been a rouge political operative. His top aide, who was fired by the Governor, has the look of a follower who got caught up in a ridiculous scheme.

          There is no question that if Governor Christie has understated his involvement in the decision to cause the massive traffic jam, he is toast on the national stage.  Even If he is able to maneuver out of this mess and resume his quest for the Republican nomination for President, the issue of his vendetta style of politics will continue to haunt him.

 Iowa conservatives will find it difficult to relate to a New Jersey Politician who governs through power calculations and not ideology. After all, most of their forefathers from the Corn Belt supported prohibition and did not try to turn it to a political advantage.  They would not have lasted a week in Jersey City in the 1930s.  Nor will they approve of New Jersey politics as it exists today.

FAITH IN GOVERNMENT

For those of us who view life with a broad brush, what would constitute a good year in 2014?  An accelerated economic recovery?  Progress in the Mid East and a lowering of tensions in the Far East?  Immigration and tax reform?  My vote, by a mile, would be a restoration of the people’s dwindling faith in the political institutions which form the basis of our constitutional republic.

          Many events in 2014 are either pre ordained or beyond our control. The churn of the economic cycle will guarantee that our economy makes progress in 2014, no matter what political party is in power.  On the other hand, international events, despite America’s diplomacy, are largely loose cannons and not subject to influence.  Immigration and tax reform are but pawns on the partisan political battlefield.  And therein lies the problem.

          Those matters over which our political institutions do have control are not being addressed.  The national debt, saving Social Security and Medicare, growing inequality, serious jobs programs, education reform, physical and mental health programs, gun violence, replacement of an aging infrastructure and the above mentioned immigration and tax reform issues are permitted to stand unattended and get worse, year after year, decade after decade.

           The last 5 years have been singularly abysmal in addressing these problems.  The transformative election of President Obama has become a lightning rod sending the minions of ideologs of all stripes to the barricades.  Congressional and presidential approval ratings are rightly at all time lows. The middle class with its common sense and balance on most issues is by some accounts restless and discontent.  By other accounts the middle class is disappearing.  By all accounts it has lost faith in the ability of its political institutions to make rational decisions for the good of the country.

          Liberal progressives on one end of the stage and conservative populists on the other will rarely be happy with how government works. For both extremes ideology trumps incremental change and compromise.  There is nothing wrong with this as long as those on the left and right are seeking to move the middle by a degree or two and the middle controls the agenda.   I myself am a progressive and believe my voice is needed to balance the other end of the political spectrum.  What is new and troubling is that the majority of patrons in the audience, the middle class, believe they are not being well served.  In fact they are often shut out of the national political process, a dire development for our republic.

The middle class are correct in concluding that small groups of the ideologically motivated are directing the play.  Moderates see their elected representatives buying into these small ideological groups by courting the large pools of campaign financing and politically active supporters available at the fringes.  When being elected becomes the goal rather than governing, it is impossible for the majority of Americans to benefit.  For example it has become increasingly unlikely for a moderate republican or democrat to win a federal election because the fringes control the primaries.  The result is do nothing political institutions, with brief periods of crisis management and brinksmanship.

What is to be done?  Middle class voters should remember that faith in political institutions without action is dead.  Don’t wait for that hated political pollster on the telephone with his loaded questions.  Go out and make some noise.  Moderate voters must help moderate candidates take back the primaries.  Working on a campaign must receive the same priority as the Cub Scouts or PTA.  Independents must join a political party and vote in the primaries.  The middle class must shout down the noise coming from fringe cable and radio programs. It should insist that their political actors represent their broader interests and not waste the people’s time presenting angry soliloquies designed to encourage a tiny base and to inflame the opposition’s tiny base.

A word about state and local political institutions. For the most part, both are healthy and thriving.  State governments must deal with balanced budgets and are much closer to the social problems that require attention.  Local government must deal with fixing the roads and removing the snow and garbage.  Politicos find it difficult to draw battle lines around such tasks.  Moreover, the closer voters are to their political institutions, the easier to elect officials with shared practical goals.

The Majority of Americans, who want to see progress on important national issues in 2014 need to stop becoming irrelevant and to take action.  Circulate a petition at the book club, quilting circle or grange meeting.  Tell your elected representatives what you expect them to accomplish in 2014.  There is little that can be done about the economy or the Mid East.  On important domestic issues progress can be made.  Moderate Americans can take the country back from the fringes and again control the national agenda.  What a hopeful wish for 2014.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE MAYOR

In my view, there has not been a great deal of press coverage concerning Washington Mayor, Brenda Davis during the past year.  This would, no doubt, be considered good news for the Mayor because the public is most interested in missteps and gaffes and not the day to day administration of city government.  On the other hand, Ms. Davis deserves hardy congratulations for her body of work and public encouragement for the difficult decisions yet to come during her tenure as Mayor.

          Recently I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with the Mayor, in my role as a representative for Wash Arts.  We were seeking help and advice as we worked to get back on our feet.  Mayor Davis struck me as living and breathing her position as Mayor.  She has grown from “a lady in the room” to a presence, sure of herself and her role in the community.  Her knowledge of municipal law and suggestions on how to improve the relationship between Wash Arts and the City were impressive.

          Of the four stages that a new public official must pass through: getting elected; learning the bureaucracy; performing her daily functions; and planning for the future, Mayor Davis has clearly accomplished the first three.  How she handles the fourth will determine whether she will be remembered as a good Mayor or a great one.

City-County cooperation on cost sharing (municipal services) and cost saving (procurement of supplies) must be pushed by the City.  Municipal contracts must be negotiated that are reasonable and respect the new realities of pensions and health insurance.  The unique features of the City of Washington in terms of location, history, and opportunity must be marketed.  Last of all Washington County is undergoing rapid and significant change.  The City must demand its fair share of the economic expansion and not be left behind.

All of us living in or near the City can help the Mayor achieve these goals.  We must understand the issues and offer our support. Mayor Davis is the right official for the job and will succeed if we have her back.

THE CHALLENGE OF INEQUALITY

 

The presenter at the Peters Town Hall Speaker Series, Ms. Zanny Minton Beddoes, gave an over the moon talk on Tuesday, December 3.  As an editor for the Economist, she took her audience around the world, in explaining the state and interconnectivity of the international economy.  Being British and working for a British publication, she could step back from the myopic view of the American press and place world economic events in context.  If a transcript of her talk is available I would urge anyone interested in world events to read it.

Ms. Minton Beddoes ended her lecture by explaining the social forces she believes will shape the future and gave us her acronym: “dead drunk under the influence”.  She uses this ominous phrase to help remember her four horseman of social change: debt, demographics, unemployment and inequality.

She believes that debt is not an immediate problem for the large western nations, including the United States, but remains the scourge of Southern Europe.  On demographics and aging populations, she reminded the audience that more elderly Asians are in diapers than are infants.  On unemployment, she believes the number of young unemployed in Southern Europe and the Mid East could easily lead to political instability.

It was Ms. Minton Beddoes comments on inequality that most interested me.  She believes this may be the greatest problem facing our country.  She presented statistical evidence that the United States has regressed back to the gilded age of the robber barons when it comes to income inequality.  She is concerned that America’s urban areas will be divide between the “haves” in walled off splendor and the “have nots” with substandard housing, education and social programs.

Ironically, the day after the above lecture was given President Obama made inequality a major focal point for the remainder of his term in office.  He gave a speech, agreeing with Ms. Minton Beddoes, that the rapidly growing deficit of opportunity is a bigger threat than the fiscal deficit.  The President stated: “The basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed” and that Americans should be offended that a child born into poverty has such a hard time escaping it. 

Hopefully the Republican Party will not seize on this policy initiative to call the President a socialist (or worse). His words echo the recent views of Pope Francis and other world leaders and could form the basis for political resolve on both sides of the political aisle.  In this holiday season, how could anyone disagree that each child who goes to bed hungry or is denied a good education or the elderly homeless person who dies from exposure is a more important story than the stock market results?  But the daily news cycle shows the opposite to be the case. 

The President has placed inequality at the front of the news cycle.  Now is the time to press ahead and to propose positive policy initiatives.  People’s frustrations with the “do nothing Congress” could quickly be reversed by attacking head on the frustrations that many citizens encounter in not being able to make ends meet, no matter how hard they work.  He can begin by vetoing any reduction in food stamp allotment and working to replace reductions in important social programs cut by the automatic sequester last year.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE POLICE DEBATE

I found the public meeting on Monday evening involving the future of the East Washington police force to be a fascinating display of town hall democracy in action, with a rousing debate on both sides of the issue.  The citizens who attended on this blustery night were overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining the police force.  The mayor and several council members supported the citizenry.  Other council members believed that a study recommending the outsourcing of the police function to the City of Washington deserved consideration.

The discussion centered on the tradeoff between keeping a more visible police presence that is manned by part time, underpaid police officers with minimal supervision versus replacing it with a less visible police presence manned by a full time, better paid and better equipped police force. While I really do not have a dog in this fight, and see merits to both positions, I came away from the meeting with several thoughts I would like to share. 

First, I think it is important to remember that the part time, underpaid and less supervised model is arguably what led to the serious problems which necessitated the study in the first place. Changes are clearly in order to avoid similar occurrences.  These changes could certainly include keeping the police department in place.  One need look no further than Pittsburgh for an example of a large police department with inadequate accountability.  Size alone is not the issue.

 Unfortunately while there was discussion and individual testimonials, at the meeting, to support the premise that “more boots on the ground” on East Washington’s streets have lowered the crime rate compared to comparable communities that have outsourced this function, no data was presented to validate this view.  It would also be helpful to know how many Pennsylvania communities, similar to East Washington, maintain their own police departments.

Second is the notion that East Washington would lose its identity if it no longer has a dedicated police department.  In my experience this is not a foregone conclusion.  I have lived in Blackridge, in eastern Allegheny County which takes great pride in not being Churchill, Penn Hills and certainly not Wilkinsburg (even though the area is made up of all three).  Blackridge maintains its identity through a thriving Civic Association which holds activities all year long to build a sense of community.

 Another example is Buena Vista, a community in Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County.  The residents here keep their separate identity and are not known as residents from Elizabeth and certainly not from McKeesport.  Neither of these communities, nor many others across the State, sacrifice their uniqueness in the absence of a dedicated police force.

With our without a police department, municipal services will continue to get more expensive over time.  If East Washington is compelled to hire full time police officers in order to address administrative shortfalls and problems from the past, then salary, pension and medical insurance costs will grow quickly and consume more of the budget.

I believe that in the near future, increased municipal cost sharing between all Pennsylvania counties and their urban centers and between cities and their smaller neighbors will be unavoidable.  For the present, East Washington should carefully consider the options in balancing cost, efficiency and safety.  Monday’s meeting was a transparent step in that direction.

 

 

 

WHY BUY INSURANCE YOU DON’T NEED?

How do you convince young people to buy medical insurance that they do not need?  Aside from a faulty roll out of the automated system, this appears to be the conundrum of health care reform.  Young adults are not enthusiastic to save universal health care which offers no immediate advantage, when the powers that be are doing nothing to save them. 

The truth is that baby boomers entering retirement have already left their children an economy that cannot provide meaningful employment and saddled them with national debt beyond comprehension.  Now young people are being asked to be the first in line to prop up the health care system for the benefit of older and poorer Americans.  It seems like a case of adding insult to injury.

I believe there is a realistic solution to this dilemma that will quickly convince our young healthy citizens to buy into and come to embrace this needed reform.  My view is that young people do not object to the goals of universal health care, they object to the perception of unequal sacrifice and cost sharing. We need to demonstrate that progressive social and economic advances work both ways.  We must develop new programs to relieve young Americans of their educational loans, make it easier to obtain a first mortgage and subsidize jobs programs with additional training for the new economy.  In the health care area, offer young adults subsidized memberships to health clubs and wellness centers as an immediate benefit for their participation in the Affordable Care Act.  

 Lastly, we must raise taxes on older Americans so that boomers are part of the solution.  In short, make our young adults relevant again as the economy springs back to life.  Make it clear that we are all in this experiment of democratic socialism together.

 Once it is established that the goal is to help prepare young Americans for their generation to take over and not simply to drain them of resources to support their elders, the cost of universal health care will not seem so oppressive.  Looking backward, a few years from now, every young person will know someone who got sick unexpectedly and was helped by the insurance.  Eventually the young will get older and realize that to perpetuate lower cost medical care they need their children to participate in the program.  Healthcare reform will be viewed in the same vein as other entitlement programs, like social security.

In this age of social media our young people understand the concept that the more people that participate in an activity, the better the outcome.  Think of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  This culture of social inclusion and expansion must be exploited in explaining universal healthcare to our young.  After all, it was Steve Jobs and other tech entrepreneurs who convinced so many young Americans to buy products and services that they really did not need and changed the world.  In a short time our youth could not live without their smart phones and social networking.

The same result is possible with health insurance. Young adults will come to appreciate regular medical checkups and targeted programs to keep them healthy.  All Americans will be better off at a lower cost as a result.

TOO CLEAN FOR OUR OWN HEALTH ?

 

At lunch with my Wife and a few of her friends, the topic turned to the need for vigilant hand washing and latex glove changing when dealing with the outside world.  Since they were all retired elementary school teachers who spent decades with snotty nosed and coughing young children, this was not such a surprise.  Still, I could not stop thinking of a recent photograph I had seen of a healthy and chubby toddler from Mongolia, sitting on the dirt floor of his parent’s Yurt. Raised on unpasteurized milk and eating flecks of dirt and an occasional bug off the floor, there is an excellent chance this happy child will have a strong immune system and live well past 100, like many others in his country.

          Are we becoming too clean for our own health?  As a nation that spends billions on personal hygiene products, are we doing more harm than good?  What steps should we be taking to boost the immune systems of our young children?

          A recent study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests we do indeed have a problem.  The study found that among our children there is a 50% increase in food allergies and a 69% increase in skin allergies since the late 1990’s.  The most popular theory is the “hygiene hypothesis” which believes that exposure to germs and parasites in early childhood may prevent the body from developing certain allergies.

          If there is in fact a downside to America’s culture of disinfection and overuse of antibiotics, there is also a no brainer response.  Let kids be kids and permit common sense exposure to our “dirty environment.” A visit down to the farm stepping in manure and hugging goats would not hurt. Every surface in the home does not need to be as sterile as an operating room.  The occasional cold does not require massive medical intervention.  In short, moderation is much healthier than an all out assault on the germs that share our world.  And a lot more fun.