Today’s letter contains many interesting and important details. My main comment is that the administration and democrats need to keep working ( much better) on getting information about the impact of their proposed policies and passed legislation to the American people in a clear and concise manner. Tweets and other informal methods are not enough. Perhaps it’s a daily WH press release addressing actual results backed up with statistics; similar to the NYT tracking of the pandemic which many of us see everyday because we are concerned about the number of cases locally, nationally and globally. Dr Richardson is right to point out that the news media ( even the best most professional organizations) seem to over emphasize problems and under report progress. This style sells….and won’t change. So, for example, I would like to see a daily report issued by the WH that shows dollars allocated for specific projects being funded by the infrastructure bill and dollars spent to date. The new Gateway Tunnel is a huge multi billion $ project that has been stalled awaiting federal funding for years; it was single handedly abruptly halted by then R-NJ governor Christie who thought it was too expensive for NJ taxpayers. His very unpopular decision was widely criticized at the time for its lack of vision and it crude self serving catering to the Republican mantra of “no taxes= no new expenses”. Christie, after years of support for trump in which he sought a major role in the trump WH… but got shown the door by trump at the behest of Jared Kushner…is now testing whether he can begin a new chapter in his less than effective political career. Oh, and lest we not also forget, the ambitious Christie was at the center of the laughably inept “Bridgegate” that sought to strong-arm democratic leaders in the area near the George Washington Bridge to support him. Remember that one? ( I really wish that a movie would be made about it… it could be a great comedy similar in style to “American Hustle”! ).
Yes… so, here’s the point of my comment: the democrats are doing good things…the results need to continuously tracked and clearly shown, daily. That’s it. If the WH would take a clue from the NYTs and create a simple to follow chart depicting “State by State, Infrastructure Projects receiving federal funding and dollars spent to date” the American people could follow along as the money is being spent and progress is being made. This would help us all keep our focus on what really matters: results.
Bill boards with accomplishments and names of those who voted against it.
A fairly inexpensive way for the DNC to get the word out. Instead of daily bombarding my email with pleas for more and more money, show me how my donations are actually working!
Republican Accountability Project (accountability.gop) has done billboard campaigns in an effort to call out those in their party that spread the big lie and/or were “involved” in Jan 6. Your idea for the Dems to keep the naysayers in front of the voting public similarly. 👍
I agree! After reading Eric's comment - the billboard idea popped into my mind too. Seems to me that would be an excellent way to get the point across - not just that one, either!
Yeah - how about making a LIST of senators & reps that DID NOT vote for these measures & posting them and putting them in newspapers, and online! Why does it appear to be so hard for Democrats to do anything beyond grab a mic outside the chambers?????
Better still, target the campaign precisely. If a yokel in Texas who somehow managed to get elected to the GOP caucus, and then subsequently voted like a trained seal against the infrastructure bill, and THEN takes credit for it, he should be called out in as many ways as possible in media and social media.
The template creates itself.
His quote about whatever service he is now “providing”.
His name prominently shown below the quote and spanning it.
His picture.
Then the death cut - a terse but well highlighted statement explaining his vote.
Use the same format every freaking time some fool who thinks the voters are dupes pulls that stunt. Issue a press release, stating that this will be Democratic policy going forward. Show a mock up of such an ad.
In time this will become a symbolic yoke around the necks of these arrogant sellouts. A Republican will drop the brag line and people will wait for the response to come swiftly and mercilessly.
There are endless ways to back this up. Publish a nationwide count of all miscreants caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Create a “Hall of Shame” award for the most egregious, bald-faced hypocrisy.
Make it consistent, well-organized and long term, until this disease is stamped out.
For God’s sakes, Dems, get mean. Policy alone will not sink the slime ball portion of America.
Get mean.
Be clever.
Have fun with it.
Who remembers a sober tweet from the Administration that the economy is booming? By all means do it, but capture the nation’s attention first.
EXACTLY! What a great idea. And every time one of the republiscums publishes an ad boasting about how his state will benefit from this bill, immediately post another ad showing that they voted AGAINST it!
It will be hard to overcome the 24/7 sound of hysteria from Fox News about how badly Biden is doing.
Half the country is sitting in front of Fox listening to anti-Biden propaganda for many hours a day collecting pensions, Social Security and on Medicaire. (This is the same half that "hates" Socialism).
The other half is working for a living and no time to read HCR's letter every day. No Socialist chair sitting for this half.
30% of humans prefer autocracy. You will never change that kind of brain. It's the other 70% that need to be reached with facts and be INSPIRED to VOTE.
One wonders why the DNC and DCCC don’t tout the accomplishments the party has made in the very ad spaces these GQP hypocrites are using. Even without a declared candidate we need people to know these republicans are working against them.
Grace, I live in Virginia tho’ not in Rob Wittman’s district. I am thinking of writing a very short letter to the editor of our local newspaper asking a simple question: Why is Rob Whitman touting the benefits of the infrastructure law when he didn’t vote for it?
He’s touting it because the bill is immensely popular, but he was afraid to vote for it because of scary former guy and crazy base. He belongs to the wuss caucus.
"...take a clue from the NYTs and create a simple to follow chart depicting “State by State, Infrastructure Projects receiving federal funding and dollars spent to date” the American people could follow along as the money is being spent and progress is being made. This would help us all keep our focus on what really matters: results."
Splendid idea. Okay to send to my senators, Murray and Cantwell, plus representative Larson? With proper attribution, of course.
I think you have such a good point. Throughout covid, our governor has had bi-weekly (now weekly) press conferences answering questions of all kinds plus making statements along with his team about the status of covid in the state. It's easy for government to feel removed from our every day lives, and consequently, to feel skeptical of what's going on "down/over/up there." I listen to these press conferences and feel quite connected to our state government as a result. I had hoped that Biden might do something like this when he became president as our country so needed to hear positive and factual messages from our leader. Still hoping.
AND proclaim it far & wide - even, pray tell, on Fox & OAN etc! Tweets just dont do it - especially if for the many people (surprise) who do not "follow" twitter!
President Biden was in Minnesota yesterday to talk about how local items in the infrastructure bill will improve the lives of folks here in Minnesota. At the dog park last night, the conversation was all about how the President’s motorcade really hosed up traffic near us- and what a great job Biden is doing in general.
If I’m honest, I was more than a bit shocked about how complimentary everyone was being, given what the polls have been saying about Biden’s approval ratings nationally. I live in a second ring suburb of St. Paul, barely 10 miles from our capital. My city is racially more diverse than most suburbs, thriving economically, and leans Republican according to recent voting tabulations so I expected to hear Fox style rhetoric from my fellow dog owners. Nothing. Not one snarky BS remark from anyone. What the hell?
Walking back to my car, I reflected on yesterday’s LFAA, with its dire warnings about the looming loss of our democracy, and wondered, yet again, how it is that some folks, like those I was chatting with, choose to see reality in politics, and so many others push lies and vicious memes to thwart democracy.
Its a question that comes up every day for me, and while I understand there are no simple answers, I remain mystified by how willfully greedy and racist so many of my fellow Americans are. We basically live in heaven on earth. With a change in policy, we reduced child poverty and food insecurity, lowered unemployment to unbelievably low levels, will improve the infrastructure of the country, and maybe you can even grab that TV you’ve been lusting after because the supply chain is moving again. As an artist, I can tell you that the economy is booming- I make and sell high-end bead woven jewelry, a luxury item if there ever was one. I have had record sales at every single art fair this year and my fellow artists are also doing quite well. So why is it that an average Republican- like my immediate neighbor- wants to burn it all down? How is it that anyone, like the jackass from Virginia, can vote against a bill, then take credit for the benefits? How and why, why, why do people choose to be such hypocrites? No answers, I know. Gads!!!
After my last art fair this coming weekend, I will start volunteering with my state representative’s campaign and do more work to get out the vote. Liz is doing a great job and I’m looking forward to working with her again. i have already contacted Senators Klobuchar and Smith and know they will vote the right way on voting rights- should the bills come up in the Senate. And I will apply to more art fairs-might as well make money while I can. More to give away and there is a lot at stake in 2022. Like the future of democracy in America.
Am reading Anne Applebaum's ""Iron Curtain" and finished Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste". Both provide insight into human behavior that challenges humanity. "Iron Curtain" closes with chapters on collaborators with the Stalin Russian Communist Party. Essentially everyone in the Soviet universe was a collaborator at some level though a majority were resistant, unenthusiastic or apathetic. They just wanted to go about their lives with the least conflict, risk of losing their jobs, or criticism from neighbors or party loyalists.
Listening to a female national leader in overturning Roe v Wade, reminded me of Communist Party leaders. She claimed large majority support for overturning Roe v Wade, turning all abortion controls over to states, and letting state legislators do away with abortions. This method of saying with a smile that everyone agrees with the one party state is exactly what the Communist Party did. And, the Soviet citizens just went about their lives without saying or doing anything to dispute this.
There is an answer: Your neighbors want a party in power that will do everything it can to make sure white Americans retain their systemic advantages over all other Americans.
Thank you Shelia. Your post helps me feel more hopeful. I don't understand why Biden's ratings are so low. If I can understad what's going on, why can't other people???
"And such legislation is popular, so popular that, right on cue, Republicans who voted against the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill are advertising its benefits to their constituents as if they were responsible for it."
Republicans have some nerve! They have become such blatant liars that they can't help themselves. Fraud, deception, and disinformation have become their raison d'être. Duplicity runs through their individual bloodstreams so deeply, that they no longer know the difference between truths and falsehoods. How can they look at their children in the eyes and teach them right from wrong -- a morsel of ethics or morals? What a bunch of Grand Old Phonies!
I also wonder this. What has happened to these people? They can't really believe what they say. Can they really be so afraid of the trump party that they will sell their souls?
Their audacity never fails to amaze me. They are afraid because they have promoted guns, hidden behind the 2nd amendment, and taken NRA blood money. The founding fathers would not have hesitated to remove (or rewritten) the second amendment after the first school shooting. SINCE 2020 AND DURING A PANDEMIC WE HAVE HAD 34 INCIDENTS OF CHILDREN SHOOTING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL. And they are afraid for their families? I say BULLSHIT. They have the power to make their families safer but won't?
I'm with you on this. My next door neighbors lived 5 miles from Oxford High School for 30 years before moving here. Devastating. The Shootings Must Stop, and it is up to those legislators to do it NOW.
This is from my neighbor's friend in Oxford, Michigan:
"Taught in that building for a number of years. I know and love people who work there. One of the victims is from our neighborhood. Not sure about the teacher and others since names have not been officially released. Can’t say enough about our first responders. They are terrific! I have had first hand experience. My son-in-law is an ER doc at one of the hospitals where they took some of the children. We are connected in so many ways. Our hearts are broken. Please keep our community in your prayers.
Meanwhile,
10 children/1 teacher shot in 5 minutes. What type of weapon is capable of that firepower and why is it available to the general public?"
That is certainly the question. Everyone laments all the shootings and then acts as if there is nothing to be done. The veteran who we were discussing this issue with yesterday has blocked us.
Your question is to the point and any answer should have us horrified. Mind you, to me, it is still unfathomable to have any type or make of gun available to the general public! The second amendment should be made null and void in the 21st century. Haven't enough children died?
The NRA used to be all about gun safety for hunters. And hunters for the most part remain the biggest opponents to semi-automatic weapons. But they all left their father's NRA decades ago.
Of course, they have promoted guns, so that they can let the rabid peons do the dirty work. Yesterday one of my friends posted a meme about getting certain kinds of battlefield weapons and large magazines out of the hands of people of ordinary civilians. I added my thoughts and right on cue, a person, (usually a male) chimed in about what a well-armed rural progressive he is because his R neighbors are too and of course, his technical knowledge of weapons is superior to mine. He is a veteran which he seems to think gives super patriot status and superior understanding of things like Jan 6th. Also I don't know what I am talking about. He had an interesting phrase "social safety" to describe his position. He got chewed up by my spouse and me in terms of both the Founders (spouse) and me with events like the school shooting in Michigan yesterday. I know plenty of people who have served in the military and most of them do not own guns or if they do, they have hunting rifles. I also know many people of my age group who have not been in the military, but have worked long and hard to make their area and the country a better place for everyone.
What a great point! And now Lara Logan is comparing Fauci to a heinous Nazi German. I watched the tape of her saying it. The two men sitting there while she said it didn't even flinch. I looked into their eyes and they looked dead. They keep reaching lower and lower and lower.
Where is the courage of our parents' generation? I believe it will reappear in the generation that is approaching voting age. My grand daughter will be 18 a month before the 2024 elections...
Apparently they actually fear for the safety of themselves and their families. There are statements to that effect from resigning election officials saying these things. And Representatives in Government give off the record statements to the effect that they are afraid of voting for anything trump does not like. It is as if he is a mafioso ruling from where ever he happens to be living. I read numerous press accounts using the phrase "kiss his ring" when reporting on Republicans going to Mar a Largo. He even talks like a mobster. Hitler had a mob too. It is unbelievable the mob that trump has created.
One of the popular myths says that the reason trump finally decided was after the roasting Obama gave him at the Press Corps dinner. So yeah he hates to be mocked.
In one way or another each of us for our own life situation are toast if he ever gains Office again.
I think that the Republiscum party has tickled the collective amygdalae of people who are by nature (that is, hardwiring on how they view the world, not in any political sense) "conservative" that are also afraid of BIPOC, GLBTQ+, and immigrants with the blatantly racist messaging. If you're talking about the general population, that is. I believe the elected Republiqans are terrified that their cushy positions of power will be threatened by the reactionary wing of the party for not being reactionary enough (and to some degree, legitimately concerned that there is a personal and family safety risk from the rabid followers) that some are deciding to either go along, or get out of their elected positions.
I call most in the cult the “oppositional-defiant” losers I knew from 8th or 9th grade when I worked at schools. Some matured by 10th or 11th. For some it was who they were, likely from toddler time. Some became sociopathic. Sort of like trump…
They are willingly and deliberately evil. They think tfg or worse (ha) will be back in charge and the gravy train will never stop - for them. They have no compunction whatsoever about claiming Dem successes as their own. And the cult baas…. And the MSM yawns
It balls to outright lie like Wittenhouse has. He's learned from the best liar, and clearly has the same morals as the best liar. They all have No. Ethics.
I have wondered about the children, especially when I saw Rittenhouse’s pics and his parents, all decked out with their assault weapons. Peas in a pod. The Tara Westover’s are rare.
The Biden administration and Democratic Party leaders GET THE MESSAGE OUT! Start NOW! DAILY!!! Someone(s) from the administration needs to shout out the good news in sound bites daily! We have the pulpit so USE IT! Do whatever it takes to remake the messaging -NOW!
Yes, yes, yes. Get on those Sunday morning shows; sit down with newspaper editors; do the tweets, the Facebook, and any other outlet. And the rest of us can write letters, make calls, and speak out. Any Republican who voted against the infrastructure bill and yet attempts to take credit for it should be called out by the Democratic party in that state.
President Reagan polled a dismal 35% at the start of 1983. After the economy significantly improved, with an ‘it’s morning again in America’ campaign slogan, he decisively won re-election in 1984. Though past history provides no assurance concerning the future, like lightening it is possible to strike twice.
Reagan inherited a ‘stagflation’ economy from Jimmy Carter: 10 % unemployment and. 12% inflation. Also, Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan had triggered a deeper Cold War. Uncharacteristically, Actor Reagan, who thrived on popularity, backed Paul Volcker’s continued policy to squeeze inflation out of the economy with high interest rates and high unemployment. Short-term this cost Reagan and Republicans politically—specifically in the 1982 House elections. Then a sharp economic upturn (and “Star Wars”) and a 1984 electoral triumph.
President Biden inherited a horrendous national and international mess from Trump. By any reasonable yardstick, Biden’s record, in less than a year, has been extremely good. Contrasted with Trump, it has been remarkable. The Delta virus (and now the African virus), global supply problems, and a short-term spike in inflation are some of the curve balls with which President Biden currently is dealing.
All of these are manageable short-term issues. The American public, even more than in Reagan’s early years, has a short fuse when it comes to its perception of the economy and how its affecting their personal situation. Moreover, the naysayingTrumpites and the media relish highlighting flash points rather than positive trend lines in the economy, employment, and coping with a vexing pandemic in the face of anti-vaxers and anti-maskers.
I am confident that, by mid-late 2022 it will be ‘morning again in America. Indeed, I have wagered $1,000 in my investors club that inflation will be 2% or less by November 2022 (which astonishes my wife, who knows that I am not a gambler). President Biden has gotten essential physical infrastructure legislation. Now he must get to the finish line with a game-changing social infrastructure bill and then persuade congressional Democrats to do what is necessary to enact the John Lewis voting rights bill.
As Churchill once phrased it: “It’s not the end. It’s not the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.”
Keith, You are a truth teller, now a gambling man and poet. Here is another poet with an 'American Lyric'. From a portion of In This Place (An American Lyric)
Amanda Gorman - 1998-
Tyrants fear the poet.
Now that we know it
we can’t blow it.
We owe it
to show it
not slow it
although it
hurts to sew it
when the world
skirts below it.
Hope—
we must bestow it
like a wick in the poet
so it can grow, lit,
bringing with it
stories to rewrite—
the story of a Texas city depleted but not defeated
a history written that need not be repeated
a nation composed but not yet completed.
There’s a poem in this place—
a poem in America
a poet in every American
who rewrites this nation, who tells
a story worthy of being told on this minnow of an earth
to breathe hope into a palimpsest of time—
a poet in every American
who sees that our poem penned
doesn’t mean our poem’s end.
There’s a place where this poem dwells—
it is here, it is now, in the yellow song of dawn’s bell
Did you happen to catch her interview a few weeks ago? I don't recall the program, but she told the interviewer that she has a lifelong (since childhood) dream of becoming POTUS someday. She said she was living her life with that in mind, because she wanted to be deserving of the office. I added her inauguration poem to my art journal, on a background of bright yellow with a red satin ribbon tied at the top.
No, Ellen, I wasn't aware of that. It is a fascinating note regarding the poet, Amanda Gorman. My first question about it was whether she set that goal as a spur to being her best? As she was a child when imaging herself as the president, perhaps, it was both a fantasy and a real possibility in her mind if she worked hard enough to attain the highest position of service. Some children want to be president of the United States and some want to be a fireman. Wonderful variety in minds of children.
As I recall, she set this goal at a very young age. She said that everyone in her family knows about her goal (for her it's a goal, not a dream) and that they support her. She was addressing the question of fame and fortune and all the media attention, saying that she knew she could not succumb to it because it would deter her from her goal. I don't think she mentioned her planned path forward - as to when and how she plans to enter politics, just her focus on being the best person she could be. Her poetry certainly speaks to the goodness of her heart, in my opinion. And her delivery! Wow. She's older than she looks - in her twenties, I think.
Love Churchill’s, well, anything. Above quote is awesome, but he nailed us when he said that Americans always do the right thing, after they have tried everything else. Will history write that we waited too late to rise up?
Jeri Also love Churchill. Of course, since he was half American,, his screw ups were as spectacular as his successes. He did save England and, perhaps, Western civilization. While he was judged poorly by his sixth grade teacher, he did manage to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Makes one want to follow his CCC example: cigars, champagne, cognac.
Jeri Actually Churchill was acting like Great Britain was still a great power. When he was insisting on his ‘grand strategy,’ it was General George Marshall who burst his bubble over Churchill’s insistence that the Allies invade Rhodes: “I will not sacrifice a single American soldier to take that damned island.” Also, Churchill was stunned, while in Potsdam, to lose the British election and be ousted ass prime minister. As for the empire, it was already being lost and Churchill’s involvement in the horrendous famine in India in 1942-1943 accelerated the process. Overall, Churchill, during WW II, was my hero warts and all. His six volumes on WW II (which I called ‘How I won WW II) was a marvelous read.
My husband was the Winston lover. He lived long enough that his triumphs sort of covered his disasters. I will always love his writing. A fav always “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”
Woohoo Keith. Celebrated my birthday yesterday and a fervent wish for the pursuit of life, liberty, unity, abundance, and peace was def on my mind when the birthday cake candles were lit and song was ringing.
Christine Happy birthday. My first few birthdays were during the Great Depression, so our country looks a lot rosier now, except that we had trumpet vines rather than Trumpites back then. My wife and I are facing one of our greatest pandemic challenges—one daughter is having her 50th next week and was looking forward to a grand gala with a ‘cast of thousands’ and all the trappings. Awaiting a maskless moment, she will be handing out goodies at school to her fellow teachers, dining with us oldies and her brother, venturing into NY to see a James Bond exhibit at Spyscope, and receive a new IPad with bells and whistles.
Let’s all celebrate our country’s birthday on July 4th when IT’S MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA.
Just another comparison. We also had two major energy crisis (the most memorable during Nixon and a second during Carter), the Iran Hostage crisis, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, Kent State massacre, and the ignominious end of Vietnam which lead to eight years of puppet Reagan. Sort of makes the hand wringing of today seem a bit over the top.
Amazing professor, thank you. The only news I heard discussed yesterday was the omicron variant, the school shooting, and inflation. Horrors and more horrors.
Your distillation shows rays of hope, on many fronts. So for the umpteenth time, simply, thank you.
“Biden’s plan has once again illustrated the power of supporting ordinary Americans.” This ordinary American wants the Democrats in Congress, and state governments, and the news media to start shouting this from the rooftops. We will join them.
They are too busy with celebrity nonsense, holiday recipes and decorations, just like last year as the country was under siege. They did make time to mention Melania’s disgust with Christmas decorations though. So glad that witch is gone…
Start shouting. Many will hear you, Suzette. Can you hear me? I’m hearing more and more people decisively joining the groundswell and tide turning for democracy.
Inflation and the media are often cited as culprits responsible for Biden not receiving the credit he more than deserves for turning the state towards the needs of the American people. His and the Democratic Party's messaging don't take second place to those accusations. There are still other aspects of life in the USA that cannot be left out of the Blame List.
As the pandemic rages on with a new variant, Omicron COVID, in the house a good deal of the stress and uncertainty in the hearts and minds of many Americans have not abated. However much the Biden administration moves the state toward the needs of the people, the president cannot catch a break.
The following are excerpts from a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association.
'It found that stress levels are holding steady from recent years, and despite many struggles, U.S. adults retain a positive outlook. Most (70%) were confident that everything will work out after the coronavirus pandemic ends, and more than three-quarters (77%) said, all in all, they are faring well during the coronavirus pandemic.'
'However, behind this professed optimism about the future, day-to-day struggles are overwhelming many. Prolonged effects of stress and unhealthy behavior changes are common. Daily tasks and decision-making have become more difficult during the pandemic, particularly for younger adults and parents. As each day can bring a new set of decisions about safety, security, growth, travel, work, and other life requirements, people in the United States seem to be increasingly wracked with uncertainty.'
'U.S. adults are struggling with daily decisions, especially millennials' (25 – 40 year-olds)
'For many, the pandemic has imposed the need for constant risk assessment, with routines upended and once trivial tasks recast in light of the pandemic. Many people ask, “What is the community transmission in my area today and how will this affect my choices? What is the vaccination rate? Is there a mask mandate here?” When the factors influencing a person’s decisions are constantly changing, no decision is routine. And this is proving to be exhausting.'
'According to the survey, nearly one-third of adults (32%) said sometimes they are so stressed about the coronavirus pandemic that they struggle to make basic decisions, such as what to wear or what to eat. Millennials (48%) were particularly likely to struggle with this when compared with other groups (Gen Z adults: 37%, Gen Xers: 32%, Boomers: 14%, older adults: 3%).'
'Hispanic adults reported the highest levels of stress, on average, over the past month related to the coronavirus pandemic (5.6 vs. Black adults: 5.1; Asian adults: 5.1; non-Hispanic White adults: 4.8). Moreover, Hispanic adults were most likely to say they are struggling with the ups and downs of the coronavirus pandemic (61% vs. 51% of non-Hispanic White adults and 51% of Black adults) and that they don’t know how to manage the stress they feel due to the pandemic (43% vs. 33% and 34%, respectively).
'This unequal burden of stress on Hispanic adults was not surprising, considering findings from the survey that shine a light on racial and ethnic disparities in relation to the impact of the pandemic. Specifically, Hispanic adults were more likely than non-Hispanic White adults to know someone who had been sick with or died of COVID-19 (sick: 64% vs. 46%; died: 42% vs. 25%).' See link below.
Perhaps, it is difficult to look kindly upon government when the pandemic doesn't end. Wasn't Biden and Fauci supposed to fix it?
It's not all about covid, what about happiness? One problem in America is never the whole story. Bloomberg had a lot to offer in an Opinion about where has happiness gone in the USA.
'A long-running University of Chicago survey found that overall happiness has been very stable since the mid-1970s, but that the percent of people saying they were “very happy” took an unprecedented nosedive around 2016 — when the current era of political and social unrest began.'
'The timing lines up fairly well with the heightened political unrest coinciding with Donald Trump's presidency, which is consistent with Blanchflower and Bryson’s 2020 data. Of course, it’s also plausible that unhappiness drives political events. Even with the causality running both ways, it seems clear that politics and social unrest are bound up closely with the mood of the nation.'
'There are other indications of a long-term decline in Americans’ emotional well-being, especially among the youth. A recent analysis of language patterns in books found more phrases associated with depression since the 1980s. Meanwhile, numerous studies show that young people are growing more socially isolated and disconnected, reporting fewer close friendships and engaging in fewer romantic relationships.'
'And then there are the behavioral trends. Young people have been among the hardest hit. Alcoholism and opiate abuse have also soared in the past two decades, giving rise to a sharp increase in what economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton call “deaths of despair.”
'In other words, while lots of attention is focused on the mental health consequences of Covid-19, it’s the longer-term rise in U.S. unhappiness that should worry us more. The disease will eventually vanish, but whatever was afflicting Americans’ mental health before Covid is likely to remain a problem.'
'So what can be done to make Americans happier? Rates of psychotherapy and antidepressant use have risen strongly, but while these probably help to some degree, they've failed to stem the tide of dissatisfaction, depression, loneliness and self-destructive behavior. More fundamental solutions are called for.'
'The obvious place to begin is economic support. The success of the Covid relief bills showed that giving people cash is a viable policy for increasing material security throughout society; hopefully, programs like President Biden’s child tax credit will increasingly be used to relieve the burdens of poverty, precarity and the bewildering complexity and risk of modern life. Cash benefits could also compress the differences between social classes, making marriage a better proposition for the working class — positive family relationships are one of the key correlates of happiness. National health insurance would also take a huge burden off of many people’s minds.'
'Beyond economic programs, the country needs to address the root causes of unhappiness. Here we’re mostly waiting for psychologists to untangle exactly what’s getting Americans so down, but already we can start to see two likely culprits — social media and politic partisanship.'
'Social media use is well-known to correlate with symptoms of depression, as well as other mental health problems. There are some reasons to think it’s a causal effect. Heavier social media use in non-depressed young adults tends to predict development of depression later on. And in a 2019 study, a team of economists found that when experimental subjects were paid to turn off Facebook, they spent more time with humans in real life, and became happier.'
'This isn’t a slam-dunk case that social media is causing happiness to plummet. Various different studies paint a picture of a complex relationship between social media and well-being. And social media is unlikely to be behind the rise in opiate and alcohol abuse and suicide among older Americans. But the effect of young people being constantly online — interacting through a highly attenuated communication medium, in networks that are unnatural in both shape and size — needs further study. Humans didn’t evolve to be buried in their phones all day, and we may be taking time to adapt to these strange new social relations.'
'Analyses like that of Blanchflower and Bryson — and the University of Chicago’s poll — suggest that the biggest problem for current U.S. happiness is political division and discord. Social strife began to rise with the disputed presidential election of 2000, then increased with the War on Terror and the Iraq War, and finally exploded into full-blown, perpetual open warfare in the mid-2010s. Social media, especially Twitter and much of Facebook, became a swamp of hatred and denunciation, with the loudest and most aggressive people in the country being given the biggest bullhorns.' See link below
I know I never cried over the results of any presidential election before 2016. The virus may claim my life, but more importantly than that, was the dismal unleashing of hatred, greed and destruction exemplified by mob boss trump et al.
Regarding: "'So what can be done to make Americans happier?"
I highly recommend several months doing one of the following:
1) Hauling hay from fields into barns from dawn to 10pm each day of the week (no days off)
2) Hauling watermelons from fields into 18 wheeler trailers from dawn to 7pm every day (each day of the week, no days off)
3) Working on a house building project from dawn to 8pm every day. ("")
4) Roofing a house from dawn till 10pm every day of the week, especially in Texas, especially in the summer. ("")
5) Removing invasive Honeysuckle in an old overgrown field from dawn till 8pm every day using a Stihl, 16 lb, chain saw.
6) Working in a slaughterhouse from 6am to 6pm.
7) Working in a meat packing facility from 6am to 6pm.
Any one of these activities, done for a couple of months, by any American, will convert them into the happiest person you ever met, once they are done.
Many Hispanics are already in jobs like this, today, real time, partly explaining their own sense of stress. But, once they get out of those jobs on to something better, happy days are more probable.
Anytime I think to myself "times are tough", I just think about looking at a huge watermelon field at 6am knowing the farmer is not going to pick us up until BOTH tractor trailers are packed full of them.
More people need memory references like that to calibrate their happiness indicators.
Whenever friends or acquaintances bring up the canned rhetoric so commonly used to justify current anti-immigrant sentiments, I refer them to Farm Hands, Hard Work and Hard Lessons from Western New York Fields. This is a compilation of a series of articles that Tom Rivers, at the time a journalist for the Batavia Daily News, published in that daily over the course of almost a year. Each article recounted his experiences at about a dozen different Western New York farms where, regardless of the inclemencies of weather, he worked shoulder-to-shoulder with immigrant farm hands harvesting cabbages (a back-breaking job), milking cows, picking apples –among many other hands-on jobs he held that year. I read the periodical articles then, and the book after Rivers self-published it in January of 2010. Although I haven’t visited the book since, I distinctively recall Rivers’ vivid descriptions of the lessons he learned on the fields, like the toil hard farm work takes on the human body (he lost 40 pounds by the fall!), and the respect and appreciation he cultivated for the immigrant workforce--an appreciation deeply shared by local farmers whose existence DEPENDS on the rigorous, nearly nonstop work of non-Americans.
The fact is that, without immigrant labor, OUR EXISTENCE would be perilous as well. In his book, Rivers recounts how farmers would be invariably surprised when interviewing him, a white American, for positions that had been advertised for over a dozen years without ever being applied to by anyone other than immigrant laborers! And it is not due to lack of opportunities, good salaries and other competitive incentives. Other than immigrants, hardly anyone in this country wants to toil the land.
I encourage everyone here to share Rivers’ book: ISBN-10: 0-9845656-0-4
Yes Ms. Fantastic Fern Even with all our years of adventures in the 60's , 70's,80's,90 's and turn of the century 2000, and almost 22 years later we baby boomers, are always willing to show love and compassion. Perhaps as ZYGOATS we were exposed to Nina Simone, Sandra Denny, Van Morrison, Sam Cook,
Lou Rawls, Richie Havens, Jade and Sasperela and others and here we are again but this time we need the support of millennial generation x y and Z, and thanks to whomever no more ashrams in India were no one can talk, So dance and have fun and stay forever young ! LINDA
Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, The Drifters, The Platters, Duke Ellington, Aretha...we'll do classical later. Cheers! Linda
Fern, thank you for this. As a psychiatric social worker, the reports on "happiness" are right on. In my own life, the stress I feel almost daily is the political foolishness that is taking up so much air, it's hard to breathe.
I am sharing a completely unsolicited "learning" that has helped me navigate this interminable interment in my own home! With apologies for tossing it out like this!
I keep my mornings free of TV chatter, turn on my local classical radio station, read through the various substacks to which I subscribe, take "chore" breaks from time to time, interact (a little) via comments, but basically try to enter the day with some degree of calm. In the afternoon, I tune in to my favorite anchors and while listening to them (I'm too busy to watch), I escape into the world of art. I paint, make gifts, and otherwise relax as the awfulness of the day pours from the tube...it seldom sticks or knocks me flat because I'm keeping another part of my brain busy! And in the evening, I turn it all off and read for pleasure. That's the formula that evolved for me during the transition from BC (before Covid) to DC (during Covid.) I'm sure everyone else has come up with some kind of routine or pattern that helps him or her survive with a modicum of sanity and to keep ahead of depression. Best to you!
Ellen, you have given yourself a true gift of self-care. I, too, am very careful about how much I allow to enter my conscious mind. Mornings are for Heather and reader comments. After, I walk our Labradoodle, Carlo, do chores, errands etc. Afternoons are for reading, writing, occasional iPad play before heading to MSNBC while preparing dinner, etc. Evenings are for corresponding with friends and reading. As we move into this next voting period, I will be writing for Postcards to Voters which I do evenings while listening to classical music. As much as I worry about 2022, I look forward to writing again. It's a total escape for me
After the storm, government as a gigantic salvaging operation. An essential operation. And it’s working!
Meanwhile, the captains of the pirate fleet rage at lost booty.
Predators, scavengers, their world-view begins and ends with booty. That and the incidental joys of the slaughter, rapine, burning.
Fern, thank you for the huge amount of work you’ve put in, drawing attention to this most basic issue of happiness—and unhappiness. Not to say the misery of suffering. Mass suffering, individual suffering.
I don’t expect to be understood, yet I must voice anxiety about what follows once the government tugs have towed all our salvaged vessels back to port and the shipyards are alive again with activities more useful than the building of billionaire’s bath toys the size of yesterday’s ocean liners… (Pardon the mixing of metaphor with realities…)
I must voice anxiety about what we call “normalcy”. A mythical state if ever there was one. A limbo.
What I fear is that we have created a society for consumers, not human beings. Consumers, and the body of professionals whose task is to maintain and increase consumption, while servicing the consumer. A society governed by parameters so narrow that discontent is guaranteed. A society in which “normalcy” is the ultimate product. Like so, so many of the products that now govern our lives without our realizing it, a conceptual commodity.
Like the high we get from entering a new home, from driving the shiny new car or bike we’ve just bought, it’s not just pleasure now that we get but a promise of prolonged satisfaction. A warranty accompanied by an insurance policy—and you’ve bought more than a mere product, a grand EXPECTATION.
Only, expectations are a curse on life, a curse on understanding—they have us on the anxious lookout for something that may or may not come, while blinded to both the opportunities and the dangers of reality.
Like all drugs, like “plaisir d’amour”, with eyes bigger than our bellies—Good Greed!—like Mr Greenspan and the Wolf of Wall Street, we’ve gone and bought the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the grand delusion of All-Up-Up-Up-and-No-Down.
Life’s like this:
You pay cash for its curses,
Its good things are only promises.
Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī
Isn’t THAT what The American Dream was and is all about? Isn’t the Miraculous MAGA Snake Oil, isn’t the whole MAGA Cult a natural spin-off from the core delusion? More bargain-basement pseudo-religion stealing souls and cash and selling promises. Unbelievable the trouble visited on the world, all because one poor spoiled rich man seems never to have had a glimpse, even a foretaste of genuine happiness…
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger got the point! “I can’t get no satisfaction…”
Getting back to economic fundamentals: like all that LIVES, human beings are born, grow up, decline and die. Yet we’ve locked ourselves into a system—a cult—of limitless, constant Growth in which debt is the only thing that never dies. Just imagine living in a tropical forest where everything grows and nothing dies…! The very idea is crazy.
Is it surprising that, with economics disconnected from the household, with technology disconnected from human bodies and minds, we should be so busy poisoning the air that we breathe, fouling the water on which all life depends, and destroying the ground that supports and sustains us and to which our bodies will return?
#
I wish I could write all this better, so that it conveys not discouragement, but the infinitely greater confidence and encouragement that underlie it. Nevertheless, foundations matter, clearing the ground of delusions, digging down to bedrock. And when I speak of freeing ourselves from conventions, I don’t mean throwing out baby and bathwater, I mean ceasing to take beliefs and conventions for the solid reality they are not. That could make such a huge difference.
Yesterday, I spent time distributing HCR’s letter to all the contacts I could think of (apart from a few friends who are already subscribers). I referred them to her archive, especially the letter of October 19th (plus the speech by Senator Angus King) and the letter of October 26th.
I’ll no doubt have shocked many of my contacts by “exaggerating as usual” and writing that Senator King spells it out in terms of the future of the American Republic. But… the issue is, quite simply, the fate of the world. I take nothing back.
Now, having tried to share a few things I wanted to, I’d better visit these threads less regularly and get on with living my life and doing what I can while I still can. Including—if I can—some more coherent writing. Including poems. I’ll not be any the less with you, nor will you be any the less an inspiration to me.
I found nothing at all incoherent in your thoughtful and philosophical "LONG VIEW" of life and the nature of humans. For that's how I read it - a really, really LONG view - as if you were in some space capsule looking down at the mess below! Please share your poetry, if you are so inclined. And don't be gone too long! This is rather a "happening" place to hang out!
Thank you, Ellen, but I do like to keep my feet on the ground! So I love mountains...
Greetings to Texas, where two of the Americans I've most admired come from.
And, since you asked for it, two pairs of short poems, each pair with a very different tone. Both composed against the background of the First Gulf War.
Liberation: almost word for word, my late friend from what was then Lwow in Eastern Poland, now Lviv in Western Ukraine, speaking of the morning when the Red Army invaded and he left his country forever.
theory
when virtue prevails in the world
angels prosper
and so do we
when vice prevails among men
titans arise
poppy fields
flower
and stones
fall in line
liberation
that morning
when I awoke
to find my room rumbling
the air shook
and smelled of cheap fuel
tracks crunching cobbles
in our townsquare
and goggling
from sixty turrets
little men lost
The title "just causality" refers to the name given to the action: Operation Just Cause...
just causality
just wars
just corpses
just sound effects
just
is our cause
just
don’t move
don’t think
don’t dream
of asking why
of answering
or even opening your mouth to say
aaaaaaaaa
a sensor
might see your breath
a smart steel argument
might stop it
I hold these truths
incontrovertible
my name is legion
and upon this rock
I build my
hell
the new math (rap)
when you’re enjoying the view down the barrel of a gun
Sorry these were such a mess. Poetry calls for very careful attention to layout (whether it's Baudelaire or e.e. cummings) and here you have titles and poems running into each other without a break, so what's simple becomes confusing. I can only see as far as the word "Liberation", but that's the title of the second one and there should be a good gap between it and what went before.
Likewise, "Just causality" is the title of the third item and "the new math" that of the last one...
Pity we can't do inclusions, except via hyperlink.
Peter, I was sad to read that you will not be around much anymore. I have been considering the same for me. As an example, I don't think I participated on the forum yesterday and wasn't going to today. A post, however, drew me in to comment about a couple of things that I have been on my mind. It would, nonetheless, be best for me to on the forum less often.
I am a natural questioner, Peter, and I hope that you will reply.
-1 In one of your comments, you mentioned that you wanted to teach, not formally, but to share an aspect of your learning. What is that?
-2 Why do you live in Nice?
-3 One difference I noticed between us concerned our reactions to JFK's assassination. It was a warning and startling, but my opinion of Kennedy as president, a leader, a statesman were not high. I liked his and Jackie's elegance but that quality doesn't mean a lot. My knowledge and sense of the USA even as a young person was not very high either. I was also aware of the hard edges of life for many people living here, so glamor alone, while beguiling goes less than the distance of a stone's throw. What attracted you to him?
I understood everything you wrote in this comment. There was no effort to comprehend it as our perceptions are alike.
Come, Fern, what I’m going to say now is at once serious and tongue-in-cheek, but my skepticism has naturally had me asking myself questions all my life, and I get the feeling that it is the same for you. Still, there’s a difference between putting questions and conducting an interrogation!
That said, I’ll answer you as well as I’m able to:
1. My understanding of teaching IS sharing. Seneca wrote that “good things are only agreeable when shared” and that I feel strongly. Of course, it won’t mean the literal sharing of all good things but sharing the joy and understanding gained from them.
Basically, I have found so many things—not all of them good, but all of them instructive—for which neither my upbringing nor my (good) education prepared me. Much of this learning has been negative, with unfounded beliefs being acknowledged and relinquished, layer upon layer of assumptions about appearances falling away. Positive, too, finding again and again what I’d not have believed possible—which opens the mind, because our notions of what’s possible or impossible are often mere hand-me-down notions.
My main concern now is with human beings’ INNATE potential, as opposed to so much hasty development on an unsound basis. Alfred North Whitehead distinguished intelligence, seen as quickness to apprehend, from ability, “which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended”. We’ve seen any amount of inability to act wisely on things apprehended and far too much action on the basis of things misapprehended. I’m not just thinking of AI…
My area of special concern is the potential for direct perception and action in work on body/mind. This explains several references to the late American osteopath, James Jealous, but my main teacher was Japanese. Jealous also put me in touch with the ecologist and philosopher David Abram whom I’ve mentioned here. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to retrace in the thread the member of this community who’d studied with him… I have a special interest as a linguist aware of the loss when oral traditions give way to literacy…
My profession is translation, working with words, which makes my criticizing teachers who are skilled professionals rather strange; it’s a matter of being present for others as a human, with everything added set aside. True equality.
2. Nice? Too long to answer. Climate. Proximity of my late sister, who lived in Mougins. Suitability for my wife, who comes from a great city. After settling here, I learned that one forebear is buried in Nice, another in a small town nearby…
3. JFK. I never spoke of being attracted to him but the shock of that murder in Dallas and the circumstances surrounding it was immense and lasting. What I may or may not have thought of his personal qualities or his politics is irrelevant. He was a man, still young. He was your President. The shock was compounded by the murder of Robert Kennedy, unquestionably a man of very great promise.
But what stinks to high heaven is how, in a country in which the President, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and too many others died by the gun, killing is seen as “normal” and everyday and all that people can do is fall down on their faces and worship the Gun God, Violence and War. A combination of stupidity, incompetence, hubris, mindless cruelty and the idiotic belief shared by the Holy Inquisition, the KGB and the Nazis, that by killing men you destroy all that they represent… In the case of Vietnam and Cambodia, understanding nothing of either country or what their inhabitants represented… Weakening nations with a millenary tradition of resisting Chinese power, just as the Second Gulf War destabilized the entire Middle East, with knock-on effects in Europe, while strengthening the influence of Iran, the regional power America had some reason to contain…
Finally, it is not affinities but differences that count for most in true relationships—both personal friendships and alliances between countries. Some English and American friends have difficulty understanding this, but that’s their problem.
Thanks, Fern, for a real conversation, one for which I am most grateful, one that will, I hope, transcend differences, just as I trust we can all respect one another despite our varied opinions. A wise American friend wrote to me saying that “We as a nation are SO FAR OUTSIDE OF OURSELVES [my capitals] that I don’t believe we are going to be able to deal with the greater problems coming at us.”
Peter, I worried about the imposition my questions at the time you caringly shared that you would be less present here. Thank you for the richness you have spread before me. There are no interrogations ahead.
Thank you, Fern, that's lovely. Apart from the unbelievably deep and resonant Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, The World is Too Much With Us speaks to me. I hope it will be the same for many Americans.
As good as the economic news is, millions of voters only care about higher prices. Jerome Powell said he doesn't expect inflation to ease until the middle of 2022. While it's grotesquely unfair to blame inflation on the Biden Administrations, that's what much of the country is doing.
This has serious implications for the 2022 elections.
Actually, that is what Fox News, One America News, and any news outlet that wants to move to an autocracy is doing.
Since Fox viewers have been trained from birth to believe whatever the white man at the front of the Church tells them on Sunday (or any other day), Fox viewers are perfect recipients of Fox special brand of propaganda against Joe Biden.
Recipients trained to believe. Perfect marks, in other words.
Let’s explore real Republican beliefs about supply-side economics. Republicans DON’T believe that tax cuts are the most important way to expand the economy. They believe that tax cuts are the best way to reward their wealthy backers. Republicans don’t care about the economy. They would happily let the government go into default, and are committed to voting against approving government borrowing and raising the debt ceiling. They voted against the Covid relief bill, and voted (most of them) against the stimulus bill. Republicans want the economy to tank.
At what point will a rift occur between Republicans and business? Default would bring huge losses to Wall Street and businesses. Part of capitalism’s success relies on stability. The Republican Party is a poster child of instability
I do not see how we will be able to wean ourselves off fossil fuels any time soon, given the reaction to a relatively mild increase in gas prices. And we should all be aware of the devastation caused by mining the minerals needed for electric vehicles. I continue to believe that most of us need to learn to live more simply.
Wait a minute now.....you mean I cannot go and take out a 10 year loan for a 10 cylinder Ford F650 jacked, diesel super pickup truck with a covered bed and drive it back and forth to the car wash?
The "Supply Chain" is the cloak behind which corporations are hiding to stiff us with price increases after we gave them gian tax cuts a mere 3 years or so ago.
Amazingly, those same corporations, have managed to blame BIDEN for price increases. Hilarious.
Biden has not raised one price in America. Not one.
Let's stop with the conspiracy mongering - leave that to the Qanon folks. The supply chain issues are real, they're not a "cloak". There is a shortage of, among other things, computer chips, which has hurt automobile and truck production. Let's stick with facts, and reality, and not make stuff up.
You are right on both of your points Mary, I’m 75 and will be driving a gas fueled vehicle for the rest of my life, maybe hybrid will fit in there, in fact it probably will. The
automotive industry is building the best vehicles in it’s history, they are safer, better built and will last far longer than the cars and trucks of my youth. As my generation age’s, we will be buying far fewer vehicles and far less often, so the baby boomers will likely stay with what they already own, and ride off into their sunsets 🌅. As to the supply of rare earth minerals that are fundamental to building the batteries for electric vehicles, they are what their name implies, rare, and the Chinese control the majority of their supply. I would ask any sane American, do you really want to be dependent on the CCP for your ability to move from here to there? I would think not. There will be a transition to a new form of mobility but it won’t be finished in my lifetime, what ever technology it turns out to be will have to address the unique needs of this nation, namely that not everyone lives in cities 🏙 and there are vast distance’s that have to be navigated and whatever we drive will have to be capable of doing that easily, just as easily as any modern car or truck can do today.
I'm with you in age and gas-powered vehicle. I try to drive less, but I live in Vermont, where transportation is the largest contributor to atmospheric carbon. I've been thinking lately about how, for much of our evolutionary history, we traveled on foot, even up to a couple of hundred years ago for most people, and of course still today for many. It strikes me as very restful. :)
I was born in Detroit and have been a motor head since I was a preteen. Vermont is the only state in the lower 48 that I have not driven. Since the plague began (and I continued to age), I have been stuck at home and have averaged less than 50 miles a month. If I lived in Paris or NYC I would walk a lot more because the things I drive to get now would be available by walking, that’s not the case in the suburbs of Atlanta which were by design built for the automobile 🤷♂️. Rapid transit has not and will never work for me, and may be the reason that I have not gotten the virus 🦠, that and a good dose of luck and common sense.
Some good news, while we're waiting for transportation to transition away from fossil fuels. The pandemic has forced us to change our commuting habits. People are working from home far more often than they were 3 years ago. Which means that one of the replacements for gas-guzzling vehicles is high speed internet. This is a good thing.
If Republicans like Wittman want to claim credit for infrastructure, we have a way of telling people he's lying. Buy billboards.
If you drive through rural middle America, you will see billboards with right wing messages. (The uterus police are particularly loud in these roadside placards, mixing cute baby photos with deceptive half-truths about fetal development.) Where are our messages? Do we know how to distill these thoughtful essays that people like you and I love so much into pithy, visually compelling drive-bys?
Because folks, if our messages don't get through to people cruising a county highway at 60 miles per hour, they don't get through.
Having worked with fellow liberals in the service of worthy causes, it doesn't surprise me a bit. So many are class president types who have gotten praise all their lives for being serious-minded, industrious and thorough--all good things, once you're in power, but not very effective at getting you there.
They think voters will reward their dry, term-paper-length policy exegeses the way grad school professors did. They ignore the fact that the professor was getting paid to read their words and voters aren't. Sadly, they're surrounded by colleagues who think the same way.
I'd LOVE to see billboards down here in "Trumplandia", though these folks in this area are all very hardened T***p acolytes. Just yesterday while out doing my grocery store run, a woman was parked next to me in a big hulking Buick SUV with side-profile pictures of T***p on every single window, save the front wind-screen. I don't think billboards would phase anyone like her, as she'd just summarily dismiss it as "fake news" and ignore it. She wouldn't be alone. Still, it might be worth it to try and reach the ones you can.
I too really appreciate this clear light on the contrast between a government for the people- vs a government for the power hungry who only want to fill their OWN deep pockets. And so much that is good that is happening under Biden’s leadership BUT the media seems to ignore it like oth here have written . I agree the Democrats need to get that news out daily ! I too detest how some republicans who voted against the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan infrastructure bill now take credit for it with their constituents . This is infuriating!
To have a government that works for the “ordinary “ citizen is such a breath of fresh air.
Steven Rattner reported corporate profits in the last 2 quarters are the highest since 1950. (wonder who is causing inflation?) Many economic numbers are heading the right direction but we judge our president on what we pay for gas.
"...food insecurity dropped 24% for families as a result of Biden’s Child Tax Credit, creating “a profound economic and moral victory for the country.” The cut and dry difference between Democrats and Republicans is clear, with Democrats focusing on the personal welfare of its citizens, and Republicans more interested in corporate health. The idea that as the rich get richer it will trickle down to those in real need is a fallacy. We can learn much from Scandinavian countries, who put people first.
Will Rogers knew that. “Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up Give it to the poor people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night anyhow…”
Reagan dealt with a crumbling USSR led by a weakened Gorbachev followed by a hapless Boris Yeltsin.
Something not mentioned today by HCR, or given much attention in the news lately, but I'm certain is in the front of President Biden's mind every single day; units of the Russian Army are massed on the border with Ukraine. They are commanded by a Russian president who is neither weak, certainly not hapless, and has shown himself to be willing and able to effectively interfere with the US political system. Indeed, who has allies, witting and unwitting, with significant influence within US political and news media hierarchy. How much would Vladimir Putin like to see Trump, or a Trump clone, maybe a son or daughter, back in the White House?
Today’s letter contains many interesting and important details. My main comment is that the administration and democrats need to keep working ( much better) on getting information about the impact of their proposed policies and passed legislation to the American people in a clear and concise manner. Tweets and other informal methods are not enough. Perhaps it’s a daily WH press release addressing actual results backed up with statistics; similar to the NYT tracking of the pandemic which many of us see everyday because we are concerned about the number of cases locally, nationally and globally. Dr Richardson is right to point out that the news media ( even the best most professional organizations) seem to over emphasize problems and under report progress. This style sells….and won’t change. So, for example, I would like to see a daily report issued by the WH that shows dollars allocated for specific projects being funded by the infrastructure bill and dollars spent to date. The new Gateway Tunnel is a huge multi billion $ project that has been stalled awaiting federal funding for years; it was single handedly abruptly halted by then R-NJ governor Christie who thought it was too expensive for NJ taxpayers. His very unpopular decision was widely criticized at the time for its lack of vision and it crude self serving catering to the Republican mantra of “no taxes= no new expenses”. Christie, after years of support for trump in which he sought a major role in the trump WH… but got shown the door by trump at the behest of Jared Kushner…is now testing whether he can begin a new chapter in his less than effective political career. Oh, and lest we not also forget, the ambitious Christie was at the center of the laughably inept “Bridgegate” that sought to strong-arm democratic leaders in the area near the George Washington Bridge to support him. Remember that one? ( I really wish that a movie would be made about it… it could be a great comedy similar in style to “American Hustle”! ).
Yes… so, here’s the point of my comment: the democrats are doing good things…the results need to continuously tracked and clearly shown, daily. That’s it. If the WH would take a clue from the NYTs and create a simple to follow chart depicting “State by State, Infrastructure Projects receiving federal funding and dollars spent to date” the American people could follow along as the money is being spent and progress is being made. This would help us all keep our focus on what really matters: results.
Bill boards with accomplishments and names of those who voted against it.
A fairly inexpensive way for the DNC to get the word out. Instead of daily bombarding my email with pleas for more and more money, show me how my donations are actually working!
Come on guys get creative!
Republican Accountability Project (accountability.gop) has done billboard campaigns in an effort to call out those in their party that spread the big lie and/or were “involved” in Jan 6. Your idea for the Dems to keep the naysayers in front of the voting public similarly. 👍
Brilliant! I edited it a bit and tweeted it to the DNC. Love it! No name used, just "sharing."
I also edited and added and sent. Time for them to find ways to communicate what is happening to help the middle and lower classes.
Glad you shared it Ellen…I hope they follow up and implement the idea.
That would require they have brains - a fact not in evidence, unfortunately.
I agree! After reading Eric's comment - the billboard idea popped into my mind too. Seems to me that would be an excellent way to get the point across - not just that one, either!
Grocery store check-out rags like "the Mirror" aimed specifically at your home state with all of the above. Out Murdock the Duck! Cheap advert!
Barbara, that is a fantastic idea!
AND make it abundantly clear that their beloved Republican senators and representatives voted AGAINST these measures that are improving their lives.
Yeah - how about making a LIST of senators & reps that DID NOT vote for these measures & posting them and putting them in newspapers, and online! Why does it appear to be so hard for Democrats to do anything beyond grab a mic outside the chambers?????
Better still, target the campaign precisely. If a yokel in Texas who somehow managed to get elected to the GOP caucus, and then subsequently voted like a trained seal against the infrastructure bill, and THEN takes credit for it, he should be called out in as many ways as possible in media and social media.
The template creates itself.
His quote about whatever service he is now “providing”.
His name prominently shown below the quote and spanning it.
His picture.
Then the death cut - a terse but well highlighted statement explaining his vote.
Use the same format every freaking time some fool who thinks the voters are dupes pulls that stunt. Issue a press release, stating that this will be Democratic policy going forward. Show a mock up of such an ad.
In time this will become a symbolic yoke around the necks of these arrogant sellouts. A Republican will drop the brag line and people will wait for the response to come swiftly and mercilessly.
There are endless ways to back this up. Publish a nationwide count of all miscreants caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Create a “Hall of Shame” award for the most egregious, bald-faced hypocrisy.
Make it consistent, well-organized and long term, until this disease is stamped out.
For God’s sakes, Dems, get mean. Policy alone will not sink the slime ball portion of America.
Get mean.
Be clever.
Have fun with it.
Who remembers a sober tweet from the Administration that the economy is booming? By all means do it, but capture the nation’s attention first.
Eric, please send this to the DNC!
I tried, but I can’t find any way to do so on the website, as I am Canadian and thus have no zip code.
I edited, added to it, and sent it to the DNC.
Do you mind if I have a go? I'll attribute it to you as a LFAA follower.
You said it much better than I did - all of it!
EXACTLY! What a great idea. And every time one of the republiscums publishes an ad boasting about how his state will benefit from this bill, immediately post another ad showing that they voted AGAINST it!
Cathy, 👍🏻
It will be hard to overcome the 24/7 sound of hysteria from Fox News about how badly Biden is doing.
Half the country is sitting in front of Fox listening to anti-Biden propaganda for many hours a day collecting pensions, Social Security and on Medicaire. (This is the same half that "hates" Socialism).
The other half is working for a living and no time to read HCR's letter every day. No Socialist chair sitting for this half.
Which half will vote?
Both halves …positive results create hope and resolve. Fear will always be a problem that can only overcome with confidence.
30% of humans prefer autocracy. You will never change that kind of brain. It's the other 70% that need to be reached with facts and be INSPIRED to VOTE.
One wonders why the DNC and DCCC don’t tout the accomplishments the party has made in the very ad spaces these GQP hypocrites are using. Even without a declared candidate we need people to know these republicans are working against them.
Grace, I live in Virginia tho’ not in Rob Wittman’s district. I am thinking of writing a very short letter to the editor of our local newspaper asking a simple question: Why is Rob Whitman touting the benefits of the infrastructure law when he didn’t vote for it?
.
He’s touting it because the bill is immensely popular, but he was afraid to vote for it because of scary former guy and crazy base. He belongs to the wuss caucus.
Grace, I guess I was too subtle. I will make it obvious whybhe is doing it. Thanks for the idea.
No, I think your one-sentence version is excellent. High impact communication.
Sara, I knew you knew, but I just wanted to vent:)
Grace, I knew you knew but I also think that I need to be clearer in making my point.
And WHY doesnt the "MSM" mention that? At this point, most are no better than the naysayers at Faux!
Great idea, Sara. Do it! 👍🏼👍🏾👍
Write that letter Sara!
I vote you do it!
Good idea! Go for it!
Write the letter Sara!!
And amplify. Get others to do it as well. This could be a project for LFAA.
"...take a clue from the NYTs and create a simple to follow chart depicting “State by State, Infrastructure Projects receiving federal funding and dollars spent to date” the American people could follow along as the money is being spent and progress is being made. This would help us all keep our focus on what really matters: results."
Splendid idea. Okay to send to my senators, Murray and Cantwell, plus representative Larson? With proper attribution, of course.
I'll do that from Colorado too!
Good idea!
Keith - from your lips to the White House and the print and broadcast media.
I think you have such a good point. Throughout covid, our governor has had bi-weekly (now weekly) press conferences answering questions of all kinds plus making statements along with his team about the status of covid in the state. It's easy for government to feel removed from our every day lives, and consequently, to feel skeptical of what's going on "down/over/up there." I listen to these press conferences and feel quite connected to our state government as a result. I had hoped that Biden might do something like this when he became president as our country so needed to hear positive and factual messages from our leader. Still hoping.
And Christie is just beginning to feel Ms Karma, LOL! The dismal sales of his book offer a worthy epilogue to that comedy you note above!
AND proclaim it far & wide - even, pray tell, on Fox & OAN etc! Tweets just dont do it - especially if for the many people (surprise) who do not "follow" twitter!
President Biden was in Minnesota yesterday to talk about how local items in the infrastructure bill will improve the lives of folks here in Minnesota. At the dog park last night, the conversation was all about how the President’s motorcade really hosed up traffic near us- and what a great job Biden is doing in general.
If I’m honest, I was more than a bit shocked about how complimentary everyone was being, given what the polls have been saying about Biden’s approval ratings nationally. I live in a second ring suburb of St. Paul, barely 10 miles from our capital. My city is racially more diverse than most suburbs, thriving economically, and leans Republican according to recent voting tabulations so I expected to hear Fox style rhetoric from my fellow dog owners. Nothing. Not one snarky BS remark from anyone. What the hell?
Walking back to my car, I reflected on yesterday’s LFAA, with its dire warnings about the looming loss of our democracy, and wondered, yet again, how it is that some folks, like those I was chatting with, choose to see reality in politics, and so many others push lies and vicious memes to thwart democracy.
Its a question that comes up every day for me, and while I understand there are no simple answers, I remain mystified by how willfully greedy and racist so many of my fellow Americans are. We basically live in heaven on earth. With a change in policy, we reduced child poverty and food insecurity, lowered unemployment to unbelievably low levels, will improve the infrastructure of the country, and maybe you can even grab that TV you’ve been lusting after because the supply chain is moving again. As an artist, I can tell you that the economy is booming- I make and sell high-end bead woven jewelry, a luxury item if there ever was one. I have had record sales at every single art fair this year and my fellow artists are also doing quite well. So why is it that an average Republican- like my immediate neighbor- wants to burn it all down? How is it that anyone, like the jackass from Virginia, can vote against a bill, then take credit for the benefits? How and why, why, why do people choose to be such hypocrites? No answers, I know. Gads!!!
After my last art fair this coming weekend, I will start volunteering with my state representative’s campaign and do more work to get out the vote. Liz is doing a great job and I’m looking forward to working with her again. i have already contacted Senators Klobuchar and Smith and know they will vote the right way on voting rights- should the bills come up in the Senate. And I will apply to more art fairs-might as well make money while I can. More to give away and there is a lot at stake in 2022. Like the future of democracy in America.
I am proud that our Senator Klobuchar is such a good political brawler. And kudos for your efforts!
Am reading Anne Applebaum's ""Iron Curtain" and finished Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste". Both provide insight into human behavior that challenges humanity. "Iron Curtain" closes with chapters on collaborators with the Stalin Russian Communist Party. Essentially everyone in the Soviet universe was a collaborator at some level though a majority were resistant, unenthusiastic or apathetic. They just wanted to go about their lives with the least conflict, risk of losing their jobs, or criticism from neighbors or party loyalists.
Listening to a female national leader in overturning Roe v Wade, reminded me of Communist Party leaders. She claimed large majority support for overturning Roe v Wade, turning all abortion controls over to states, and letting state legislators do away with abortions. This method of saying with a smile that everyone agrees with the one party state is exactly what the Communist Party did. And, the Soviet citizens just went about their lives without saying or doing anything to dispute this.
There is an answer: Your neighbors want a party in power that will do everything it can to make sure white Americans retain their systemic advantages over all other Americans.
Thank you Shelia. Your post helps me feel more hopeful. I don't understand why Biden's ratings are so low. If I can understad what's going on, why can't other people???
"And such legislation is popular, so popular that, right on cue, Republicans who voted against the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill are advertising its benefits to their constituents as if they were responsible for it."
Republicans have some nerve! They have become such blatant liars that they can't help themselves. Fraud, deception, and disinformation have become their raison d'être. Duplicity runs through their individual bloodstreams so deeply, that they no longer know the difference between truths and falsehoods. How can they look at their children in the eyes and teach them right from wrong -- a morsel of ethics or morals? What a bunch of Grand Old Phonies!
I also wonder this. What has happened to these people? They can't really believe what they say. Can they really be so afraid of the trump party that they will sell their souls?
A simple, "Yes".
40 years of seeing their leader repubs sell their souls. Not a stretch. And, of course, preach like Pharisees all the while…
Something I read yesterday said they are afraid for their and their families’ physical safety so they say nothing.
Their audacity never fails to amaze me. They are afraid because they have promoted guns, hidden behind the 2nd amendment, and taken NRA blood money. The founding fathers would not have hesitated to remove (or rewritten) the second amendment after the first school shooting. SINCE 2020 AND DURING A PANDEMIC WE HAVE HAD 34 INCIDENTS OF CHILDREN SHOOTING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL. And they are afraid for their families? I say BULLSHIT. They have the power to make their families safer but won't?
I'm with you on this. My next door neighbors lived 5 miles from Oxford High School for 30 years before moving here. Devastating. The Shootings Must Stop, and it is up to those legislators to do it NOW.
Haphazard, meaningless human sacrifice.
This is from my neighbor's friend in Oxford, Michigan:
"Taught in that building for a number of years. I know and love people who work there. One of the victims is from our neighborhood. Not sure about the teacher and others since names have not been officially released. Can’t say enough about our first responders. They are terrific! I have had first hand experience. My son-in-law is an ER doc at one of the hospitals where they took some of the children. We are connected in so many ways. Our hearts are broken. Please keep our community in your prayers.
Meanwhile,
10 children/1 teacher shot in 5 minutes. What type of weapon is capable of that firepower and why is it available to the general public?"
That is certainly the question. Everyone laments all the shootings and then acts as if there is nothing to be done. The veteran who we were discussing this issue with yesterday has blocked us.
Your question is to the point and any answer should have us horrified. Mind you, to me, it is still unfathomable to have any type or make of gun available to the general public! The second amendment should be made null and void in the 21st century. Haven't enough children died?
The NRA used to be all about gun safety for hunters. And hunters for the most part remain the biggest opponents to semi-automatic weapons. But they all left their father's NRA decades ago.
Of course, they have promoted guns, so that they can let the rabid peons do the dirty work. Yesterday one of my friends posted a meme about getting certain kinds of battlefield weapons and large magazines out of the hands of people of ordinary civilians. I added my thoughts and right on cue, a person, (usually a male) chimed in about what a well-armed rural progressive he is because his R neighbors are too and of course, his technical knowledge of weapons is superior to mine. He is a veteran which he seems to think gives super patriot status and superior understanding of things like Jan 6th. Also I don't know what I am talking about. He had an interesting phrase "social safety" to describe his position. He got chewed up by my spouse and me in terms of both the Founders (spouse) and me with events like the school shooting in Michigan yesterday. I know plenty of people who have served in the military and most of them do not own guns or if they do, they have hunting rifles. I also know many people of my age group who have not been in the military, but have worked long and hard to make their area and the country a better place for everyone.
Sigh, cannot correct....people who are ordinary citizens.
With you 💯
Afraid for their families.....hmmmm. The threats don't stop Pelosi or Fauci from doing their jobs, from speaking the truth.
What a great point! And now Lara Logan is comparing Fauci to a heinous Nazi German. I watched the tape of her saying it. The two men sitting there while she said it didn't even flinch. I looked into their eyes and they looked dead. They keep reaching lower and lower and lower.
Barbara, they reached the bottom many moons ago, that's why they looked dead.
Where is the courage of our parents' generation? I believe it will reappear in the generation that is approaching voting age. My grand daughter will be 18 a month before the 2024 elections...
Their children love Goebbels/Murdoch propaganda as much as the cultists we fought when I was born…
We have that courage. The people who read and post here. And the people who are a part of the Resistance that was formed in 2017.
Apparently they actually fear for the safety of themselves and their families. There are statements to that effect from resigning election officials saying these things. And Representatives in Government give off the record statements to the effect that they are afraid of voting for anything trump does not like. It is as if he is a mafioso ruling from where ever he happens to be living. I read numerous press accounts using the phrase "kiss his ring" when reporting on Republicans going to Mar a Largo. He even talks like a mobster. Hitler had a mob too. It is unbelievable the mob that trump has created.
I don't laugh at what trump says. I shiver.
As well we should, but mocking really hacks him off. I am toast if he ever rules again.
One of the popular myths says that the reason trump finally decided was after the roasting Obama gave him at the Press Corps dinner. So yeah he hates to be mocked.
In one way or another each of us for our own life situation are toast if he ever gains Office again.
Nobody deserved a roasting by Obama more than he did. That birther crap was so far beyond the pale...
Agree. I so enjoyed it that during the worst of trump's nightmare in Office I would sometimes replay it just to keep my spirits up.
Me, too, Barbara!
I think that the Republiscum party has tickled the collective amygdalae of people who are by nature (that is, hardwiring on how they view the world, not in any political sense) "conservative" that are also afraid of BIPOC, GLBTQ+, and immigrants with the blatantly racist messaging. If you're talking about the general population, that is. I believe the elected Republiqans are terrified that their cushy positions of power will be threatened by the reactionary wing of the party for not being reactionary enough (and to some degree, legitimately concerned that there is a personal and family safety risk from the rabid followers) that some are deciding to either go along, or get out of their elected positions.
I call most in the cult the “oppositional-defiant” losers I knew from 8th or 9th grade when I worked at schools. Some matured by 10th or 11th. For some it was who they were, likely from toddler time. Some became sociopathic. Sort of like trump…
Oh, oh! A proper Latin plural! Who said 4 years of Latin was a waste of time?!? It makes my amygdala buzz in excitement!
I claim no Latin expertise. It was suggested by Spellcheck.
"Grand Old Phonies!" Yes! Thanks fot that Roshawn.
They are willingly and deliberately evil. They think tfg or worse (ha) will be back in charge and the gravy train will never stop - for them. They have no compunction whatsoever about claiming Dem successes as their own. And the cult baas…. And the MSM yawns
Republicans and Trumpists part fools from their money.
It balls to outright lie like Wittenhouse has. He's learned from the best liar, and clearly has the same morals as the best liar. They all have No. Ethics.
Rowshan, Perhaps, they have trained their children to be Trump's puppets as they are themselves.
I have wondered about the children, especially when I saw Rittenhouse’s pics and his parents, all decked out with their assault weapons. Peas in a pod. The Tara Westover’s are rare.
😔
😛
Perhaps.
The Biden administration and Democratic Party leaders GET THE MESSAGE OUT! Start NOW! DAILY!!! Someone(s) from the administration needs to shout out the good news in sound bites daily! We have the pulpit so USE IT! Do whatever it takes to remake the messaging -NOW!
Yes, yes, yes. Get on those Sunday morning shows; sit down with newspaper editors; do the tweets, the Facebook, and any other outlet. And the rest of us can write letters, make calls, and speak out. Any Republican who voted against the infrastructure bill and yet attempts to take credit for it should be called out by the Democratic party in that state.
Kamala has a strong voice, use it, so do others. It’s now or never
She does have a strong voice--and she's largely ignored by the media, unless she buys pots and pans.
Yes. Absurd, isn't it? Especially when she used her own funds to purchase it!
President Reagan polled a dismal 35% at the start of 1983. After the economy significantly improved, with an ‘it’s morning again in America’ campaign slogan, he decisively won re-election in 1984. Though past history provides no assurance concerning the future, like lightening it is possible to strike twice.
Reagan inherited a ‘stagflation’ economy from Jimmy Carter: 10 % unemployment and. 12% inflation. Also, Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan had triggered a deeper Cold War. Uncharacteristically, Actor Reagan, who thrived on popularity, backed Paul Volcker’s continued policy to squeeze inflation out of the economy with high interest rates and high unemployment. Short-term this cost Reagan and Republicans politically—specifically in the 1982 House elections. Then a sharp economic upturn (and “Star Wars”) and a 1984 electoral triumph.
President Biden inherited a horrendous national and international mess from Trump. By any reasonable yardstick, Biden’s record, in less than a year, has been extremely good. Contrasted with Trump, it has been remarkable. The Delta virus (and now the African virus), global supply problems, and a short-term spike in inflation are some of the curve balls with which President Biden currently is dealing.
All of these are manageable short-term issues. The American public, even more than in Reagan’s early years, has a short fuse when it comes to its perception of the economy and how its affecting their personal situation. Moreover, the naysayingTrumpites and the media relish highlighting flash points rather than positive trend lines in the economy, employment, and coping with a vexing pandemic in the face of anti-vaxers and anti-maskers.
I am confident that, by mid-late 2022 it will be ‘morning again in America. Indeed, I have wagered $1,000 in my investors club that inflation will be 2% or less by November 2022 (which astonishes my wife, who knows that I am not a gambler). President Biden has gotten essential physical infrastructure legislation. Now he must get to the finish line with a game-changing social infrastructure bill and then persuade congressional Democrats to do what is necessary to enact the John Lewis voting rights bill.
As Churchill once phrased it: “It’s not the end. It’s not the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.”
Keith, You are a truth teller, now a gambling man and poet. Here is another poet with an 'American Lyric'. From a portion of In This Place (An American Lyric)
Amanda Gorman - 1998-
Tyrants fear the poet.
Now that we know it
we can’t blow it.
We owe it
to show it
not slow it
although it
hurts to sew it
when the world
skirts below it.
Hope—
we must bestow it
like a wick in the poet
so it can grow, lit,
bringing with it
stories to rewrite—
the story of a Texas city depleted but not defeated
a history written that need not be repeated
a nation composed but not yet completed.
There’s a poem in this place—
a poem in America
a poet in every American
who rewrites this nation, who tells
a story worthy of being told on this minnow of an earth
to breathe hope into a palimpsest of time—
a poet in every American
who sees that our poem penned
doesn’t mean our poem’s end.
There’s a place where this poem dwells—
it is here, it is now, in the yellow song of dawn’s bell
where we write an American lyric
we are just beginning to tell.
As a musician, "a nation composed but not yet completed" rings true for me, and gives me hope. Thanks for sharing this work.
I see her yellow coat and red hat and beautiful face and amazing grace.
I can hear her voice reading this poem. Thank you. I love the phrase "palimpsest of time", too.
Love this
Did you happen to catch her interview a few weeks ago? I don't recall the program, but she told the interviewer that she has a lifelong (since childhood) dream of becoming POTUS someday. She said she was living her life with that in mind, because she wanted to be deserving of the office. I added her inauguration poem to my art journal, on a background of bright yellow with a red satin ribbon tied at the top.
No, Ellen, I wasn't aware of that. It is a fascinating note regarding the poet, Amanda Gorman. My first question about it was whether she set that goal as a spur to being her best? As she was a child when imaging herself as the president, perhaps, it was both a fantasy and a real possibility in her mind if she worked hard enough to attain the highest position of service. Some children want to be president of the United States and some want to be a fireman. Wonderful variety in minds of children.
As I recall, she set this goal at a very young age. She said that everyone in her family knows about her goal (for her it's a goal, not a dream) and that they support her. She was addressing the question of fame and fortune and all the media attention, saying that she knew she could not succumb to it because it would deter her from her goal. I don't think she mentioned her planned path forward - as to when and how she plans to enter politics, just her focus on being the best person she could be. Her poetry certainly speaks to the goodness of her heart, in my opinion. And her delivery! Wow. She's older than she looks - in her twenties, I think.
I hope she dances all the way to The White House!
She DANCED that poem!!
❤💛❤💛❤💛
Thanks for sharing and reminding of this.
Love Churchill’s, well, anything. Above quote is awesome, but he nailed us when he said that Americans always do the right thing, after they have tried everything else. Will history write that we waited too late to rise up?
Jeri Also love Churchill. Of course, since he was half American,, his screw ups were as spectacular as his successes. He did save England and, perhaps, Western civilization. While he was judged poorly by his sixth grade teacher, he did manage to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Makes one want to follow his CCC example: cigars, champagne, cognac.
Yes, he did realize that he won the battle but lost the war (for UK) that is. The empire slipped away on his watch
Jeri Actually Churchill was acting like Great Britain was still a great power. When he was insisting on his ‘grand strategy,’ it was General George Marshall who burst his bubble over Churchill’s insistence that the Allies invade Rhodes: “I will not sacrifice a single American soldier to take that damned island.” Also, Churchill was stunned, while in Potsdam, to lose the British election and be ousted ass prime minister. As for the empire, it was already being lost and Churchill’s involvement in the horrendous famine in India in 1942-1943 accelerated the process. Overall, Churchill, during WW II, was my hero warts and all. His six volumes on WW II (which I called ‘How I won WW II) was a marvelous read.
My husband was the Winston lover. He lived long enough that his triumphs sort of covered his disasters. I will always love his writing. A fav always “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”
Another Churchillian favorite: “Madam I am drunk and you are ugly. Tomorrow I’ll awake sober and you will still be ugly.”
Woohoo Keith. Celebrated my birthday yesterday and a fervent wish for the pursuit of life, liberty, unity, abundance, and peace was def on my mind when the birthday cake candles were lit and song was ringing.
I also agree fervently with your comments!
Cheers!
Christine Happy birthday. My first few birthdays were during the Great Depression, so our country looks a lot rosier now, except that we had trumpet vines rather than Trumpites back then. My wife and I are facing one of our greatest pandemic challenges—one daughter is having her 50th next week and was looking forward to a grand gala with a ‘cast of thousands’ and all the trappings. Awaiting a maskless moment, she will be handing out goodies at school to her fellow teachers, dining with us oldies and her brother, venturing into NY to see a James Bond exhibit at Spyscope, and receive a new IPad with bells and whistles.
Let’s all celebrate our country’s birthday on July 4th when IT’S MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA.
Abundant joy, love, peace, nature, singing, dancing and sweet music in your ears -- Happy Birthday dear Christine!
Happy belated birthday!
Happy Belated Birthday, Christine!
Just another comparison. We also had two major energy crisis (the most memorable during Nixon and a second during Carter), the Iran Hostage crisis, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, Kent State massacre, and the ignominious end of Vietnam which lead to eight years of puppet Reagan. Sort of makes the hand wringing of today seem a bit over the top.
It’s appropriate, considering the behind the scenes evil of which so many are not aware.
Finally. An informed optomist. I feel better already. Think I'll go buy a couple of books.
Amazing professor, thank you. The only news I heard discussed yesterday was the omicron variant, the school shooting, and inflation. Horrors and more horrors.
Your distillation shows rays of hope, on many fronts. So for the umpteenth time, simply, thank you.
I watched Heather on FB Live yesterday and felt heartened, except for her concerns about voting rights.
“Biden’s plan has once again illustrated the power of supporting ordinary Americans.” This ordinary American wants the Democrats in Congress, and state governments, and the news media to start shouting this from the rooftops. We will join them.
If I could “like” 1,000 times, I would. So totally agree with your statement.
They are too busy with celebrity nonsense, holiday recipes and decorations, just like last year as the country was under siege. They did make time to mention Melania’s disgust with Christmas decorations though. So glad that witch is gone…
Start shouting. Many will hear you, Suzette. Can you hear me? I’m hearing more and more people decisively joining the groundswell and tide turning for democracy.
Inflation and the media are often cited as culprits responsible for Biden not receiving the credit he more than deserves for turning the state towards the needs of the American people. His and the Democratic Party's messaging don't take second place to those accusations. There are still other aspects of life in the USA that cannot be left out of the Blame List.
As the pandemic rages on with a new variant, Omicron COVID, in the house a good deal of the stress and uncertainty in the hearts and minds of many Americans have not abated. However much the Biden administration moves the state toward the needs of the people, the president cannot catch a break.
The following are excerpts from a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association.
'It found that stress levels are holding steady from recent years, and despite many struggles, U.S. adults retain a positive outlook. Most (70%) were confident that everything will work out after the coronavirus pandemic ends, and more than three-quarters (77%) said, all in all, they are faring well during the coronavirus pandemic.'
'However, behind this professed optimism about the future, day-to-day struggles are overwhelming many. Prolonged effects of stress and unhealthy behavior changes are common. Daily tasks and decision-making have become more difficult during the pandemic, particularly for younger adults and parents. As each day can bring a new set of decisions about safety, security, growth, travel, work, and other life requirements, people in the United States seem to be increasingly wracked with uncertainty.'
'U.S. adults are struggling with daily decisions, especially millennials' (25 – 40 year-olds)
'For many, the pandemic has imposed the need for constant risk assessment, with routines upended and once trivial tasks recast in light of the pandemic. Many people ask, “What is the community transmission in my area today and how will this affect my choices? What is the vaccination rate? Is there a mask mandate here?” When the factors influencing a person’s decisions are constantly changing, no decision is routine. And this is proving to be exhausting.'
'According to the survey, nearly one-third of adults (32%) said sometimes they are so stressed about the coronavirus pandemic that they struggle to make basic decisions, such as what to wear or what to eat. Millennials (48%) were particularly likely to struggle with this when compared with other groups (Gen Z adults: 37%, Gen Xers: 32%, Boomers: 14%, older adults: 3%).'
'Hispanic adults reported the highest levels of stress, on average, over the past month related to the coronavirus pandemic (5.6 vs. Black adults: 5.1; Asian adults: 5.1; non-Hispanic White adults: 4.8). Moreover, Hispanic adults were most likely to say they are struggling with the ups and downs of the coronavirus pandemic (61% vs. 51% of non-Hispanic White adults and 51% of Black adults) and that they don’t know how to manage the stress they feel due to the pandemic (43% vs. 33% and 34%, respectively).
'This unequal burden of stress on Hispanic adults was not surprising, considering findings from the survey that shine a light on racial and ethnic disparities in relation to the impact of the pandemic. Specifically, Hispanic adults were more likely than non-Hispanic White adults to know someone who had been sick with or died of COVID-19 (sick: 64% vs. 46%; died: 42% vs. 25%).' See link below.
Perhaps, it is difficult to look kindly upon government when the pandemic doesn't end. Wasn't Biden and Fauci supposed to fix it?
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/october-decision-making
It's not all about covid, what about happiness? One problem in America is never the whole story. Bloomberg had a lot to offer in an Opinion about where has happiness gone in the USA.
'A long-running University of Chicago survey found that overall happiness has been very stable since the mid-1970s, but that the percent of people saying they were “very happy” took an unprecedented nosedive around 2016 — when the current era of political and social unrest began.'
'The timing lines up fairly well with the heightened political unrest coinciding with Donald Trump's presidency, which is consistent with Blanchflower and Bryson’s 2020 data. Of course, it’s also plausible that unhappiness drives political events. Even with the causality running both ways, it seems clear that politics and social unrest are bound up closely with the mood of the nation.'
'There are other indications of a long-term decline in Americans’ emotional well-being, especially among the youth. A recent analysis of language patterns in books found more phrases associated with depression since the 1980s. Meanwhile, numerous studies show that young people are growing more socially isolated and disconnected, reporting fewer close friendships and engaging in fewer romantic relationships.'
'And then there are the behavioral trends. Young people have been among the hardest hit. Alcoholism and opiate abuse have also soared in the past two decades, giving rise to a sharp increase in what economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton call “deaths of despair.”
'In other words, while lots of attention is focused on the mental health consequences of Covid-19, it’s the longer-term rise in U.S. unhappiness that should worry us more. The disease will eventually vanish, but whatever was afflicting Americans’ mental health before Covid is likely to remain a problem.'
'So what can be done to make Americans happier? Rates of psychotherapy and antidepressant use have risen strongly, but while these probably help to some degree, they've failed to stem the tide of dissatisfaction, depression, loneliness and self-destructive behavior. More fundamental solutions are called for.'
'The obvious place to begin is economic support. The success of the Covid relief bills showed that giving people cash is a viable policy for increasing material security throughout society; hopefully, programs like President Biden’s child tax credit will increasingly be used to relieve the burdens of poverty, precarity and the bewildering complexity and risk of modern life. Cash benefits could also compress the differences between social classes, making marriage a better proposition for the working class — positive family relationships are one of the key correlates of happiness. National health insurance would also take a huge burden off of many people’s minds.'
'Beyond economic programs, the country needs to address the root causes of unhappiness. Here we’re mostly waiting for psychologists to untangle exactly what’s getting Americans so down, but already we can start to see two likely culprits — social media and politic partisanship.'
'Social media use is well-known to correlate with symptoms of depression, as well as other mental health problems. There are some reasons to think it’s a causal effect. Heavier social media use in non-depressed young adults tends to predict development of depression later on. And in a 2019 study, a team of economists found that when experimental subjects were paid to turn off Facebook, they spent more time with humans in real life, and became happier.'
'This isn’t a slam-dunk case that social media is causing happiness to plummet. Various different studies paint a picture of a complex relationship between social media and well-being. And social media is unlikely to be behind the rise in opiate and alcohol abuse and suicide among older Americans. But the effect of young people being constantly online — interacting through a highly attenuated communication medium, in networks that are unnatural in both shape and size — needs further study. Humans didn’t evolve to be buried in their phones all day, and we may be taking time to adapt to these strange new social relations.'
'Analyses like that of Blanchflower and Bryson — and the University of Chicago’s poll — suggest that the biggest problem for current U.S. happiness is political division and discord. Social strife began to rise with the disputed presidential election of 2000, then increased with the War on Terror and the Iraq War, and finally exploded into full-blown, perpetual open warfare in the mid-2010s. Social media, especially Twitter and much of Facebook, became a swamp of hatred and denunciation, with the loudest and most aggressive people in the country being given the biggest bullhorns.' See link below
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-08/how-happy-is-america
I know I never cried over the results of any presidential election before 2016. The virus may claim my life, but more importantly than that, was the dismal unleashing of hatred, greed and destruction exemplified by mob boss trump et al.
And it's not over yet.
I cried over W, I saw the handwriting on the wall…
Fern, absolutely great post. Thanks.
Regarding: "'So what can be done to make Americans happier?"
I highly recommend several months doing one of the following:
1) Hauling hay from fields into barns from dawn to 10pm each day of the week (no days off)
2) Hauling watermelons from fields into 18 wheeler trailers from dawn to 7pm every day (each day of the week, no days off)
3) Working on a house building project from dawn to 8pm every day. ("")
4) Roofing a house from dawn till 10pm every day of the week, especially in Texas, especially in the summer. ("")
5) Removing invasive Honeysuckle in an old overgrown field from dawn till 8pm every day using a Stihl, 16 lb, chain saw.
6) Working in a slaughterhouse from 6am to 6pm.
7) Working in a meat packing facility from 6am to 6pm.
Any one of these activities, done for a couple of months, by any American, will convert them into the happiest person you ever met, once they are done.
Many Hispanics are already in jobs like this, today, real time, partly explaining their own sense of stress. But, once they get out of those jobs on to something better, happy days are more probable.
Anytime I think to myself "times are tough", I just think about looking at a huge watermelon field at 6am knowing the farmer is not going to pick us up until BOTH tractor trailers are packed full of them.
More people need memory references like that to calibrate their happiness indicators.
:-)
So well illustrated, Mike!
Whenever friends or acquaintances bring up the canned rhetoric so commonly used to justify current anti-immigrant sentiments, I refer them to Farm Hands, Hard Work and Hard Lessons from Western New York Fields. This is a compilation of a series of articles that Tom Rivers, at the time a journalist for the Batavia Daily News, published in that daily over the course of almost a year. Each article recounted his experiences at about a dozen different Western New York farms where, regardless of the inclemencies of weather, he worked shoulder-to-shoulder with immigrant farm hands harvesting cabbages (a back-breaking job), milking cows, picking apples –among many other hands-on jobs he held that year. I read the periodical articles then, and the book after Rivers self-published it in January of 2010. Although I haven’t visited the book since, I distinctively recall Rivers’ vivid descriptions of the lessons he learned on the fields, like the toil hard farm work takes on the human body (he lost 40 pounds by the fall!), and the respect and appreciation he cultivated for the immigrant workforce--an appreciation deeply shared by local farmers whose existence DEPENDS on the rigorous, nearly nonstop work of non-Americans.
The fact is that, without immigrant labor, OUR EXISTENCE would be perilous as well. In his book, Rivers recounts how farmers would be invariably surprised when interviewing him, a white American, for positions that had been advertised for over a dozen years without ever being applied to by anyone other than immigrant laborers! And it is not due to lack of opportunities, good salaries and other competitive incentives. Other than immigrants, hardly anyone in this country wants to toil the land.
I encourage everyone here to share Rivers’ book: ISBN-10: 0-9845656-0-4
ISBN-13: 978-0984565603
Mike, In a snap, just perfect work for arthritic knees and feet. Maybe, I'll do a pirouette for you later! 🤸🏻♂️
Yes Ms. Fantastic Fern Even with all our years of adventures in the 60's , 70's,80's,90 's and turn of the century 2000, and almost 22 years later we baby boomers, are always willing to show love and compassion. Perhaps as ZYGOATS we were exposed to Nina Simone, Sandra Denny, Van Morrison, Sam Cook,
Lou Rawls, Richie Havens, Jade and Sasperela and others and here we are again but this time we need the support of millennial generation x y and Z, and thanks to whomever no more ashrams in India were no one can talk, So dance and have fun and stay forever young ! LINDA
Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, The Drifters, The Platters, Duke Ellington, Aretha...we'll do classical later. Cheers! Linda
Fern, thank you for this. As a psychiatric social worker, the reports on "happiness" are right on. In my own life, the stress I feel almost daily is the political foolishness that is taking up so much air, it's hard to breathe.
Gasping all the time
I am sharing a completely unsolicited "learning" that has helped me navigate this interminable interment in my own home! With apologies for tossing it out like this!
I keep my mornings free of TV chatter, turn on my local classical radio station, read through the various substacks to which I subscribe, take "chore" breaks from time to time, interact (a little) via comments, but basically try to enter the day with some degree of calm. In the afternoon, I tune in to my favorite anchors and while listening to them (I'm too busy to watch), I escape into the world of art. I paint, make gifts, and otherwise relax as the awfulness of the day pours from the tube...it seldom sticks or knocks me flat because I'm keeping another part of my brain busy! And in the evening, I turn it all off and read for pleasure. That's the formula that evolved for me during the transition from BC (before Covid) to DC (during Covid.) I'm sure everyone else has come up with some kind of routine or pattern that helps him or her survive with a modicum of sanity and to keep ahead of depression. Best to you!
Ellen, you have given yourself a true gift of self-care. I, too, am very careful about how much I allow to enter my conscious mind. Mornings are for Heather and reader comments. After, I walk our Labradoodle, Carlo, do chores, errands etc. Afternoons are for reading, writing, occasional iPad play before heading to MSNBC while preparing dinner, etc. Evenings are for corresponding with friends and reading. As we move into this next voting period, I will be writing for Postcards to Voters which I do evenings while listening to classical music. As much as I worry about 2022, I look forward to writing again. It's a total escape for me
This is an extremely important share, Fern. Thank you for digging.
After the storm, government as a gigantic salvaging operation. An essential operation. And it’s working!
Meanwhile, the captains of the pirate fleet rage at lost booty.
Predators, scavengers, their world-view begins and ends with booty. That and the incidental joys of the slaughter, rapine, burning.
Fern, thank you for the huge amount of work you’ve put in, drawing attention to this most basic issue of happiness—and unhappiness. Not to say the misery of suffering. Mass suffering, individual suffering.
I don’t expect to be understood, yet I must voice anxiety about what follows once the government tugs have towed all our salvaged vessels back to port and the shipyards are alive again with activities more useful than the building of billionaire’s bath toys the size of yesterday’s ocean liners… (Pardon the mixing of metaphor with realities…)
I must voice anxiety about what we call “normalcy”. A mythical state if ever there was one. A limbo.
What I fear is that we have created a society for consumers, not human beings. Consumers, and the body of professionals whose task is to maintain and increase consumption, while servicing the consumer. A society governed by parameters so narrow that discontent is guaranteed. A society in which “normalcy” is the ultimate product. Like so, so many of the products that now govern our lives without our realizing it, a conceptual commodity.
Like the high we get from entering a new home, from driving the shiny new car or bike we’ve just bought, it’s not just pleasure now that we get but a promise of prolonged satisfaction. A warranty accompanied by an insurance policy—and you’ve bought more than a mere product, a grand EXPECTATION.
Only, expectations are a curse on life, a curse on understanding—they have us on the anxious lookout for something that may or may not come, while blinded to both the opportunities and the dangers of reality.
Like all drugs, like “plaisir d’amour”, with eyes bigger than our bellies—Good Greed!—like Mr Greenspan and the Wolf of Wall Street, we’ve gone and bought the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the grand delusion of All-Up-Up-Up-and-No-Down.
Life’s like this:
You pay cash for its curses,
Its good things are only promises.
Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī
Isn’t THAT what The American Dream was and is all about? Isn’t the Miraculous MAGA Snake Oil, isn’t the whole MAGA Cult a natural spin-off from the core delusion? More bargain-basement pseudo-religion stealing souls and cash and selling promises. Unbelievable the trouble visited on the world, all because one poor spoiled rich man seems never to have had a glimpse, even a foretaste of genuine happiness…
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger got the point! “I can’t get no satisfaction…”
Getting back to economic fundamentals: like all that LIVES, human beings are born, grow up, decline and die. Yet we’ve locked ourselves into a system—a cult—of limitless, constant Growth in which debt is the only thing that never dies. Just imagine living in a tropical forest where everything grows and nothing dies…! The very idea is crazy.
Is it surprising that, with economics disconnected from the household, with technology disconnected from human bodies and minds, we should be so busy poisoning the air that we breathe, fouling the water on which all life depends, and destroying the ground that supports and sustains us and to which our bodies will return?
#
I wish I could write all this better, so that it conveys not discouragement, but the infinitely greater confidence and encouragement that underlie it. Nevertheless, foundations matter, clearing the ground of delusions, digging down to bedrock. And when I speak of freeing ourselves from conventions, I don’t mean throwing out baby and bathwater, I mean ceasing to take beliefs and conventions for the solid reality they are not. That could make such a huge difference.
Yesterday, I spent time distributing HCR’s letter to all the contacts I could think of (apart from a few friends who are already subscribers). I referred them to her archive, especially the letter of October 19th (plus the speech by Senator Angus King) and the letter of October 26th.
I’ll no doubt have shocked many of my contacts by “exaggerating as usual” and writing that Senator King spells it out in terms of the future of the American Republic. But… the issue is, quite simply, the fate of the world. I take nothing back.
Now, having tried to share a few things I wanted to, I’d better visit these threads less regularly and get on with living my life and doing what I can while I still can. Including—if I can—some more coherent writing. Including poems. I’ll not be any the less with you, nor will you be any the less an inspiration to me.
I found nothing at all incoherent in your thoughtful and philosophical "LONG VIEW" of life and the nature of humans. For that's how I read it - a really, really LONG view - as if you were in some space capsule looking down at the mess below! Please share your poetry, if you are so inclined. And don't be gone too long! This is rather a "happening" place to hang out!
Thank you, Ellen, but I do like to keep my feet on the ground! So I love mountains...
Greetings to Texas, where two of the Americans I've most admired come from.
And, since you asked for it, two pairs of short poems, each pair with a very different tone. Both composed against the background of the First Gulf War.
Liberation: almost word for word, my late friend from what was then Lwow in Eastern Poland, now Lviv in Western Ukraine, speaking of the morning when the Red Army invaded and he left his country forever.
theory
when virtue prevails in the world
angels prosper
and so do we
when vice prevails among men
titans arise
poppy fields
flower
and stones
fall in line
liberation
that morning
when I awoke
to find my room rumbling
the air shook
and smelled of cheap fuel
tracks crunching cobbles
in our townsquare
and goggling
from sixty turrets
little men lost
The title "just causality" refers to the name given to the action: Operation Just Cause...
just causality
just wars
just corpses
just sound effects
just
is our cause
just
don’t move
don’t think
don’t dream
of asking why
of answering
or even opening your mouth to say
aaaaaaaaa
a sensor
might see your breath
a smart steel argument
might stop it
I hold these truths
incontrovertible
my name is legion
and upon this rock
I build my
hell
the new math (rap)
when you’re enjoying the view down the barrel of a gun
one two
take your cue
talk before the triggerman talks to you
if he tells you one-and-one
makes three
just agree
for two-and-two
makes war
two three
don’t you see
god up in his heaven says you-don’t-see-me
but i see you
says the triggerman
i see you
so one-from-two
is you
three four
close the door
Thank you so much. You paint a gripping scene, fraught with feeling and layered so one must re-read, think, and re-think!
Sorry these were such a mess. Poetry calls for very careful attention to layout (whether it's Baudelaire or e.e. cummings) and here you have titles and poems running into each other without a break, so what's simple becomes confusing. I can only see as far as the word "Liberation", but that's the title of the second one and there should be a good gap between it and what went before.
Likewise, "Just causality" is the title of the third item and "the new math" that of the last one...
Pity we can't do inclusions, except via hyperlink.
Cheers!
Peter, I was sad to read that you will not be around much anymore. I have been considering the same for me. As an example, I don't think I participated on the forum yesterday and wasn't going to today. A post, however, drew me in to comment about a couple of things that I have been on my mind. It would, nonetheless, be best for me to on the forum less often.
I am a natural questioner, Peter, and I hope that you will reply.
-1 In one of your comments, you mentioned that you wanted to teach, not formally, but to share an aspect of your learning. What is that?
-2 Why do you live in Nice?
-3 One difference I noticed between us concerned our reactions to JFK's assassination. It was a warning and startling, but my opinion of Kennedy as president, a leader, a statesman were not high. I liked his and Jackie's elegance but that quality doesn't mean a lot. My knowledge and sense of the USA even as a young person was not very high either. I was also aware of the hard edges of life for many people living here, so glamor alone, while beguiling goes less than the distance of a stone's throw. What attracted you to him?
I understood everything you wrote in this comment. There was no effort to comprehend it as our perceptions are alike.
Salud!
Fern
Come, Fern, what I’m going to say now is at once serious and tongue-in-cheek, but my skepticism has naturally had me asking myself questions all my life, and I get the feeling that it is the same for you. Still, there’s a difference between putting questions and conducting an interrogation!
That said, I’ll answer you as well as I’m able to:
1. My understanding of teaching IS sharing. Seneca wrote that “good things are only agreeable when shared” and that I feel strongly. Of course, it won’t mean the literal sharing of all good things but sharing the joy and understanding gained from them.
Basically, I have found so many things—not all of them good, but all of them instructive—for which neither my upbringing nor my (good) education prepared me. Much of this learning has been negative, with unfounded beliefs being acknowledged and relinquished, layer upon layer of assumptions about appearances falling away. Positive, too, finding again and again what I’d not have believed possible—which opens the mind, because our notions of what’s possible or impossible are often mere hand-me-down notions.
My main concern now is with human beings’ INNATE potential, as opposed to so much hasty development on an unsound basis. Alfred North Whitehead distinguished intelligence, seen as quickness to apprehend, from ability, “which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended”. We’ve seen any amount of inability to act wisely on things apprehended and far too much action on the basis of things misapprehended. I’m not just thinking of AI…
My area of special concern is the potential for direct perception and action in work on body/mind. This explains several references to the late American osteopath, James Jealous, but my main teacher was Japanese. Jealous also put me in touch with the ecologist and philosopher David Abram whom I’ve mentioned here. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to retrace in the thread the member of this community who’d studied with him… I have a special interest as a linguist aware of the loss when oral traditions give way to literacy…
My profession is translation, working with words, which makes my criticizing teachers who are skilled professionals rather strange; it’s a matter of being present for others as a human, with everything added set aside. True equality.
2. Nice? Too long to answer. Climate. Proximity of my late sister, who lived in Mougins. Suitability for my wife, who comes from a great city. After settling here, I learned that one forebear is buried in Nice, another in a small town nearby…
3. JFK. I never spoke of being attracted to him but the shock of that murder in Dallas and the circumstances surrounding it was immense and lasting. What I may or may not have thought of his personal qualities or his politics is irrelevant. He was a man, still young. He was your President. The shock was compounded by the murder of Robert Kennedy, unquestionably a man of very great promise.
But what stinks to high heaven is how, in a country in which the President, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and too many others died by the gun, killing is seen as “normal” and everyday and all that people can do is fall down on their faces and worship the Gun God, Violence and War. A combination of stupidity, incompetence, hubris, mindless cruelty and the idiotic belief shared by the Holy Inquisition, the KGB and the Nazis, that by killing men you destroy all that they represent… In the case of Vietnam and Cambodia, understanding nothing of either country or what their inhabitants represented… Weakening nations with a millenary tradition of resisting Chinese power, just as the Second Gulf War destabilized the entire Middle East, with knock-on effects in Europe, while strengthening the influence of Iran, the regional power America had some reason to contain…
Finally, it is not affinities but differences that count for most in true relationships—both personal friendships and alliances between countries. Some English and American friends have difficulty understanding this, but that’s their problem.
Thanks, Fern, for a real conversation, one for which I am most grateful, one that will, I hope, transcend differences, just as I trust we can all respect one another despite our varied opinions. A wise American friend wrote to me saying that “We as a nation are SO FAR OUTSIDE OF OURSELVES [my capitals] that I don’t believe we are going to be able to deal with the greater problems coming at us.”
May he be proved wrong!
Peter, I worried about the imposition my questions at the time you caringly shared that you would be less present here. Thank you for the richness you have spread before me. There are no interrogations ahead.
You are a fine subscriber friend.
Avanti!
Fern
Peter, A bow to your poetry with a poem I find so endearing. From a former gardener and planter of daffodils.
[I wandered lonely as a Cloud]
William Wordsworth - 1770-1850
I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:—
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.
Thank you, Fern, that's lovely. Apart from the unbelievably deep and resonant Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, The World is Too Much With Us speaks to me. I hope it will be the same for many Americans.
Republican insanity drove me insane. Covid is hard but understandable.
As good as the economic news is, millions of voters only care about higher prices. Jerome Powell said he doesn't expect inflation to ease until the middle of 2022. While it's grotesquely unfair to blame inflation on the Biden Administrations, that's what much of the country is doing.
This has serious implications for the 2022 elections.
"that's what much of the country is doing."
Actually, that is what Fox News, One America News, and any news outlet that wants to move to an autocracy is doing.
Since Fox viewers have been trained from birth to believe whatever the white man at the front of the Church tells them on Sunday (or any other day), Fox viewers are perfect recipients of Fox special brand of propaganda against Joe Biden.
Recipients trained to believe. Perfect marks, in other words.
And Fox will blast it from the rooftops, at 90 decibels.
Let’s explore real Republican beliefs about supply-side economics. Republicans DON’T believe that tax cuts are the most important way to expand the economy. They believe that tax cuts are the best way to reward their wealthy backers. Republicans don’t care about the economy. They would happily let the government go into default, and are committed to voting against approving government borrowing and raising the debt ceiling. They voted against the Covid relief bill, and voted (most of them) against the stimulus bill. Republicans want the economy to tank.
At what point will a rift occur between Republicans and business? Default would bring huge losses to Wall Street and businesses. Part of capitalism’s success relies on stability. The Republican Party is a poster child of instability
Truer than true, they have their stash
I do not see how we will be able to wean ourselves off fossil fuels any time soon, given the reaction to a relatively mild increase in gas prices. And we should all be aware of the devastation caused by mining the minerals needed for electric vehicles. I continue to believe that most of us need to learn to live more simply.
"most of us need to live more simply"
Wait a minute now.....you mean I cannot go and take out a 10 year loan for a 10 cylinder Ford F650 jacked, diesel super pickup truck with a covered bed and drive it back and forth to the car wash?
👍 Constantly advertised and somehow has avoided being caught in the ‘Supply Chain ‘ of all things ? Hmm.
The "Supply Chain" is the cloak behind which corporations are hiding to stiff us with price increases after we gave them gian tax cuts a mere 3 years or so ago.
Amazingly, those same corporations, have managed to blame BIDEN for price increases. Hilarious.
Biden has not raised one price in America. Not one.
But, Fox News tells them so, it is so.
Let's stop with the conspiracy mongering - leave that to the Qanon folks. The supply chain issues are real, they're not a "cloak". There is a shortage of, among other things, computer chips, which has hurt automobile and truck production. Let's stick with facts, and reality, and not make stuff up.
You are right on both of your points Mary, I’m 75 and will be driving a gas fueled vehicle for the rest of my life, maybe hybrid will fit in there, in fact it probably will. The
automotive industry is building the best vehicles in it’s history, they are safer, better built and will last far longer than the cars and trucks of my youth. As my generation age’s, we will be buying far fewer vehicles and far less often, so the baby boomers will likely stay with what they already own, and ride off into their sunsets 🌅. As to the supply of rare earth minerals that are fundamental to building the batteries for electric vehicles, they are what their name implies, rare, and the Chinese control the majority of their supply. I would ask any sane American, do you really want to be dependent on the CCP for your ability to move from here to there? I would think not. There will be a transition to a new form of mobility but it won’t be finished in my lifetime, what ever technology it turns out to be will have to address the unique needs of this nation, namely that not everyone lives in cities 🏙 and there are vast distance’s that have to be navigated and whatever we drive will have to be capable of doing that easily, just as easily as any modern car or truck can do today.
I'm with you in age and gas-powered vehicle. I try to drive less, but I live in Vermont, where transportation is the largest contributor to atmospheric carbon. I've been thinking lately about how, for much of our evolutionary history, we traveled on foot, even up to a couple of hundred years ago for most people, and of course still today for many. It strikes me as very restful. :)
I was born in Detroit and have been a motor head since I was a preteen. Vermont is the only state in the lower 48 that I have not driven. Since the plague began (and I continued to age), I have been stuck at home and have averaged less than 50 miles a month. If I lived in Paris or NYC I would walk a lot more because the things I drive to get now would be available by walking, that’s not the case in the suburbs of Atlanta which were by design built for the automobile 🤷♂️. Rapid transit has not and will never work for me, and may be the reason that I have not gotten the virus 🦠, that and a good dose of luck and common sense.
Some good news, while we're waiting for transportation to transition away from fossil fuels. The pandemic has forced us to change our commuting habits. People are working from home far more often than they were 3 years ago. Which means that one of the replacements for gas-guzzling vehicles is high speed internet. This is a good thing.
If Republicans like Wittman want to claim credit for infrastructure, we have a way of telling people he's lying. Buy billboards.
If you drive through rural middle America, you will see billboards with right wing messages. (The uterus police are particularly loud in these roadside placards, mixing cute baby photos with deceptive half-truths about fetal development.) Where are our messages? Do we know how to distill these thoughtful essays that people like you and I love so much into pithy, visually compelling drive-bys?
Because folks, if our messages don't get through to people cruising a county highway at 60 miles per hour, they don't get through.
Yes, and the DNC has plenty to spend on non- candidate messaging. I don’t get why they don’t do it.
Having worked with fellow liberals in the service of worthy causes, it doesn't surprise me a bit. So many are class president types who have gotten praise all their lives for being serious-minded, industrious and thorough--all good things, once you're in power, but not very effective at getting you there.
They think voters will reward their dry, term-paper-length policy exegeses the way grad school professors did. They ignore the fact that the professor was getting paid to read their words and voters aren't. Sadly, they're surrounded by colleagues who think the same way.
Support Mad Dog, and Resistbot. Billboards work in some places, and resistbot makes letters easy
I wasn't aware of their work, but yes, yes, and also yes. As of now, they are getting my money.
https://maddogpac.com/collections/all-billboards
I'd LOVE to see billboards down here in "Trumplandia", though these folks in this area are all very hardened T***p acolytes. Just yesterday while out doing my grocery store run, a woman was parked next to me in a big hulking Buick SUV with side-profile pictures of T***p on every single window, save the front wind-screen. I don't think billboards would phase anyone like her, as she'd just summarily dismiss it as "fake news" and ignore it. She wouldn't be alone. Still, it might be worth it to try and reach the ones you can.
So are they sponsoring billboards, and in what areas ? I couldn’t tell from the link.
Yes! You wrote: "If Republicans like Wittman want to claim credit for infrastructure, we have a way of telling people he's lying. Buy billboards."
YES! Billboards! We need a countrywide Billboard Initiative.
Exactly so.
I too really appreciate this clear light on the contrast between a government for the people- vs a government for the power hungry who only want to fill their OWN deep pockets. And so much that is good that is happening under Biden’s leadership BUT the media seems to ignore it like oth here have written . I agree the Democrats need to get that news out daily ! I too detest how some republicans who voted against the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan infrastructure bill now take credit for it with their constituents . This is infuriating!
To have a government that works for the “ordinary “ citizen is such a breath of fresh air.
Steven Rattner reported corporate profits in the last 2 quarters are the highest since 1950. (wonder who is causing inflation?) Many economic numbers are heading the right direction but we judge our president on what we pay for gas.
"...food insecurity dropped 24% for families as a result of Biden’s Child Tax Credit, creating “a profound economic and moral victory for the country.” The cut and dry difference between Democrats and Republicans is clear, with Democrats focusing on the personal welfare of its citizens, and Republicans more interested in corporate health. The idea that as the rich get richer it will trickle down to those in real need is a fallacy. We can learn much from Scandinavian countries, who put people first.
Will Rogers knew that. “Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up Give it to the poor people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night anyhow…”
Reagan dealt with a crumbling USSR led by a weakened Gorbachev followed by a hapless Boris Yeltsin.
Something not mentioned today by HCR, or given much attention in the news lately, but I'm certain is in the front of President Biden's mind every single day; units of the Russian Army are massed on the border with Ukraine. They are commanded by a Russian president who is neither weak, certainly not hapless, and has shown himself to be willing and able to effectively interfere with the US political system. Indeed, who has allies, witting and unwitting, with significant influence within US political and news media hierarchy. How much would Vladimir Putin like to see Trump, or a Trump clone, maybe a son or daughter, back in the White House?
Scary.
Scary, but not afraid.