Category: Views

Inauguration 2025

There are now reports that some Democratic members of Congress are planning to boycott the inauguration. It is totally understandable why they would consider passing up what, under normal circumstances, would be a celebration of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. 

Suggestion:

Democrats and other patriots could transform it into a protest. They could carry signs reminding the American people that Trump is an ethical nightmare and a criminal. They can even cause a peaceful disruption when he attempts to lie about preserving and protecting the Constitution.

One could also follow up the inaugural ceremony by remaining at the Capital after Trump leaves to pay tribute to the law enforcement officers who were injured or died as a result of the January 6th insurrection that he incited. And they could also incorporate a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr., whose holiday coincides with Inauguration Day.

War: Nuclear Weapons

Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons frighteningly reminds us of the necessity to ban all nuclear weapons immediately. No nuclear weapons, means no threat of mass destruction.

Suggestion:

Since this menace threatens the existence of all nations, the United Nations General Assembly should implement this disarmament with no veto being allowed from the Security Council. Any nation not complying would endure a complete trade blockade.

Going through the General Assembly is necessary because all five Permanent Members of the Security Council have veto power and possess nuclear weapons and have no interest in giving them up.

A further caution: The reaction of the joint Senate and House address by Zelenskyy (12/21/2022) was eerily similar to the vote to attack Iraq. Standing ovations are good but must be tempered with restraint to avoid MAD. So far, Biden has skillfully managed to walk the tightrope. Let’s hope this continues.

Affirmative Action

Chief Justice Roberts, author of the majority opinion in the case of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, eviscerating the use of race-based factors for consideration in college admissions, left a loophole in his legal reasoning. Roberts tried to limit how a school could go about considering those factors in its admissions decisions. It could no longer be on the basis of an applicant’s race, of course, but possibly in how those racial factors — such as, discrimination — impacted him or her as an individual.

Suggestion:

In application forms include an optional essay question, one that will allow schools to justify their admission and enrollment decisions based not on race per se, but on an individual’s experience of racism. For example:

Please explain whether racism has impacted your development as a person, impacted or inspired your courage or determination, or motivated you to seek any goal in any aspect of your life. 

AI innovations

Whenever you hear about corporate AI innovations, you will probably uncover an anti-labor motivation. The most recent and obvious proof of the potential impact of AI on jobs is the current struggle by writers and actors to get a fair, job-securing contract.

America’s Promise

This country was launched under the bold premise of equality as penned in the Declaration Of Independence and established through the adoption of its Constitution to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Has we lived up to this unprecedented promise? We call our national experience exceptional, implying we are on the right path. But are we?

Langston Hughes: Let America Be America Again

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech (Steve Harwood video)

Suggestion:

Be an active citizen. The welfare and progress of this country depends on the participation of all its people. Here are a few guidelines:

Civic Duties & Responsibilities

Bill of Rights: FDR and more

In his State of the Union address delivered over the radio from the White House on Jan. 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered a blueprint for the future of the United States. He proposed a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed:

“The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.

“The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.

“The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.

“The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

“The right of every family to a decent home.

“The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.

“The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

“The right to a good education.”

Suggestions:

To this visionary list, we should add:

The explicit right to vote and to be free from discrimination in the voting process.

A guarantee of equal legal rights for all U.S. citizens regardless of sex.

The right to marry whomever one chooses regardless of sex, race, ethnicity.

The right to be free from the threat of armed violence, which would require sensible regulation of all weapons.

Right to privacy in all communications unless an individual is explicitly offered (mandatory default option for all communications would be NO) and chooses to opt out of this right or is served with a search warrant.

Birth Warning: Plastic Interference

A 2023 study of chicken embryos suggests that sufficient concentrations of tiny nanoplastic speckles interfere with the earliest stages of development, by getting stuck to stem cells from which tissues and organs usually emerge. This may lead to organ deformity and defect.

Suggestion:

Make high priority the significant reduction in the use of plastics industrially, commercially, and on the individual level.

10 Ways to Reduce Plastic Pollution

Tips to Use Less Plastic – Green Education Foundation

COVID-19 has made plastic pollution worse – here are 4 things we can do

Blockchain/Crypto Currency

Blockchain technology is slow, it provides no means of transaction rollback, making it useless for the vast majority of real-world situations, it is easily subject to abuse and fraud, and crypto currencies enforced scarcity makes them useless as a means of commerce.  There was literally no reason for them to exist at all outside of hype and maybe the desire to do crimes and not get caught — and even that is an overblown aspect of crypto currencies.

The 5 Biggest Problems With Blockchain Technology Everyone Must Know About

The Top 6 Problems With Blockchain Technology

Business: Lingua franca

With the economy being more globalized than ever and the constant need to address competition through innovation, one important aspect of education has not received enough attention: the study of foreign languages.

There are the obvious advantages of learning a foreign language, such as enhancing the appreciation of other people and cultures, finding employment in businesses and organization with international exposure, and improving travel experience and dating opportunities.

However, as to improving business climate and opportunity, learning a foreign language offers several significant advantages to individuals and businesses. It can:

Increase memory power and lengthen one’s span of attention

Demonstrate perseverance and ability to do challenging work

Enhance decision-making abilities and problem-solving skills

Demonstrate ability to tolerate risk and criticism

Enhance general communication skills

Improve self-confidence

Boost creativity

Suggestion:

To improve their pool of innovative prospective employees, ask employers to add “Two years of college-level foreign language education required” as a required qualification.

Censorship

If Florida Republicans want to ban books, then all books should be in play. The first to be banned according to the language of their legislation should be one of the most published books in history, the Bible. It contains almost all of the topics right-wingers and so-called conservatives want to prevent children from seeing. The Bible writers relate tales of rape, abortion, woke ideas like love neighbors and being kind, slavery (the escape from Egypt, for example), sleeping with animals, homosexuality, and so on.

In addition, other books, in fact almost all books, have references to sexual identity in some manner, one of the major topics to which advocates do not want children to be exposed. Any book, for example, that mentions a mother or father, or a boy or girl, and so on, should be banned because that is referring to sexual identity. Reading and even speaking the pronouns He, She, Him, Her, His, Hers are also suspect for the same reason.

Florida atheist petitions to have Bible banned in Broward, Miami Dade County schools

Civic Duties & Responsibilities

­Duties

Obey the law

Pay your taxes

Serve on juries or as a witness when summoned

Protect the Nation (and others)

Responsibilities

Be trustworthy and honest

Respect the opinions of those who disagree

Follow what happens in govt. and politics via trustworthy media and research sources

Communicate with government officials to influence their actions

Vote in elections

Volunteer to help others

Protest if you think government actions are wrong

Run for office

Climate Change: Reparations

The evidence is overwhelming that the developed world is responsible for major portions of the human-induced climate and ecological devastation occurring in the world.

Suggestion:

Immediate substantial cut by at least 50% in the use of fossil fuels AND massive reparations. This will require developed nations footing all the bill for these changes.

Constitution: Allegiance and obedience

After leaving office, many members of the Trump administration and staff have written books, conducted interviews, and even testified about the crimes and misdemeanors they witnessed in the White House. Some have also spoken about how they batted down Trump’s election lies—but they never went public with all the threats he posed during their tenure when it could have made a difference. The country needed courageous whistleblowers, but never got them.

Suggestion:

Prospective government office holders and staff members should be required to memorize their oath of office, and once in office periodically be tested to see if they still remember it and asked whether they are still upholding that oath.

To Avert January 6, We Needed Whistleblowers—and We Never Got Them

Americans Rarely Resign on Principle

This video speaks volumes on the serious political consequences of the cowardice of RepubilCON leaders and how they have abandoned their oath to defend the constitution and remained instead in their positions (!coarse language):

Anti-Trump Republicans, this is your fault, too

Constitution: Fatal Flaw

During the Constitutional Convention, most states wanted representation based on population, but a few small states wanted equal participation by state. A proposal initiated by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut became what is known as the Great Compromise. It created the Senate, in which each state gets two members, regardless of population. However, growing disparities in the populations of US states established a vocal minority with growing, unintended political power — far more political power in far fewer hands proportionally than they had during the Great Compromise.

Suggestion:

Allocate one seat to each state automatically to preserve federalism, but apportion the rest based on population. This change may be possible through legislation without changing the Constitution.

Start with the total U.S. population, then divide by 100, since that’s the size of the current, more deliberative upper chamber. Next, allocate senators to each state according to their share of the total; 2/100 equals two senators, 3/100 equals three, etc. Update the apportionment every decade according to the official census.

The Path to Give California 12 Senators, and Vermont Just One

Constitution: Second Bill of Rights

In his State of the Union address delivered over the radio from the White House on Jan. 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered a blueprint for the future of the United States. He proposed a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed:

“The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.

“The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.

“The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.

“The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

“The right of every family to a decent home.

“The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.

“The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

“The right to a good education.”

Suggestions:

There is of course much work to do to implement FDR’s visionary list. While we are at it, the following should also be added:

The explicit right to vote and to be free from discrimination in the voting process.

The guarantee of equal legal rights for all U.S. citizens regardless of sex.

The right to marry whomever one chooses regardless of sex, race, ethnicity.

The right to be free from the threat of armed violence, which would require sensible regulation of all weapons (A well REGULATED Militia…).

The right to privacy in one’s home and in all communications unless served with a legal search warrant or explicitly offered (mandatory default option for all actions and communications would be NO) and chooses to opt out of this right.

COVID Masks

Why is it so difficult for a person to wear a COVID mask in a closed setting? So-called personal freedom in this context is NOT as important as 1) actually helping to protect oneself from the possible harm cause by a serious disease and 2) protecting the health of family members and other people. People in other cultures have been wearing such masks to help avoid contracting and spreading disease without complaint. (BTW, the cases of cold and flu dropped while masks were required.) This individual freedom thing is so stupid and selfish. Do you actually like the idea of extras millions of people dying and even more millions suffering long-COVID, not to mention that this disease and future such diseases cost and will cost the economy billions in lost revenue and increased prices and taxes. I, for one, do not like the inflation that the disease caused.

Cult: Exiting

Many of us are concerned with the emergence and growth of the Donald Cult and its trickle-down idiocy. Ever more frequently, we have come to wonder how to handle this subject when engaging in a conversation with a stranger, a friend, or even a relative.

Suggestion:

Start with the normal greetings (how are you doing, I missed talking with you, etc.). Move onto typical subjects of commonality such hobbies, hiking, cooking, and so on to help build a conversational bridge.

If the conversation turns to the Donald or Donald-like activity/view, instead of challenging interlocutors directly, ask how they first heard or got into contact with Trump and/or with that activity/view. Listening carefully, let them expound. This way you get to understand the origin and development of their notions. Then start unpacking it and respectfully respond with your own understanding and your own data and personal examples of how you would react to such ideas.

Debt Ceiling

The United States first implemented a statutory debt limit in 1917. This was an attempt to control expenses as the country entered the first World War. Conservative Democrats and most Republicans frquently threaten debt limit extension as a means of limiting spending an progressive policies.

Suggestions:

Instead of using the term “Debt Ceiling,” use phrasing such as “Pay Our Bills Measure.” This more accurately describes and explains the issue, which is to allow the US Government to pay for debt obligations on expenses already enacted and accrued.

It would be best to eliminate the ceiling altogether, since the limitations severely hamper the implementation of government policy.

Democratic Constitutional Republic

Republicans often claim that the US is a republic and not a democracy. They use this argument to justify minority control of our institutions, primarily the Senate and House when they have majorities, and all presidential elections via the Electoral College.  They believe that democracy implies “one person, one vote” which, if true, would keep them out of power. 

Response:

The underlying premise of our polity starts with the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.”

After the defeat of the British, the Founding Fathers worked out the details of our to-be-democracy and decided that it should take the form of a democratic constitutional-republic (even though it was limited at the time to being just free white males who could vote). However, the Founding Fathers were also concerned with protecting minority rights. These were not minority rights as we understand it today—protections for trans people, immigrants, etc., but the rights of the opulent.

Accordingly, many of the Founders did not believe that the United States should be a direct democracy, which is how they understood happened in ancient Athens. They thought that that was very unstable and risky. Therefore, they established through the Constitution that elected officials would serve as representatives of the people, indirect but still founded as a democracy empowered by the will/vote of the citizens. Our government is not a republic as happened in ancient Rome. That “republic” which consisted of three parts (consuls, senate, and assembly) had only the assembly as a body elected by eligible citizens. Our Founders opted for means election based on the votes of citizens—walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Democratic Resistance: Nonprofits

Saving democracy is more important than any individual nonprofit’s cause. In a sense, the entire structure nonprofit sector serves entrenched interests by dividing groups of citizens along multiple, competing interests. 

However, taking the example of religious organizations that have become blatantly political despite being legally obliged to be apolitical, nonprofit organizations should direct their members to become more political.

Once the nonprofit sector is collectively mobilized in this fashion, two or three prominent corporations that donate to malevolent causes could be targeted for boycott and therefore make resistance much more effective.

Drought: California

As is most of the western region of the United States, California is in a once-in-twelve-hundred-year drought. Overall percentage of water use in the state, is: 50% environmental (maintaining habitat within streams and wetlands), 40% agricultural, and 10% urban, though use varies by locality. California may need to accommodate another 10 million residents in the next 20 years without taking additional water from sustainable agriculture or the environment. Groundwater drilling increases the salt and toxic mineral content of the soil and tapping aquifers lowers ground level significantly. Desalination is too expensive and polluting. Dams have major environmental impact, besides the fact there is currently less water per rainy season to store. Improving the drought situation will take a concerted effort in every sector.

Suggestions:

Agriculture and Husbandry

Plant less water-intensive crops, reduce meat and dairy production, switch to insect farming, etc.*

*Growing almonds accounts for 10% of the water use in the state. The entire agriculture industry in California represents only 1.8% of state’s GDP ($50 billion vs. $2,780 billion)

Bottled Water

Restrict/prohibit water from being diverted for export by bottled water companies.

Conservation

Require water-neutral development for major new real estate developments and industrial projects, convert lawns via xeriscape, etc.

Farmland

Convert unfarmable land such as the west side of the San Joaquin Valley to solar production in order to create new manufacturing, installation and maintenance jobs and to reduce the over-allocation of the state’s water supplies.

Fracking

Restrict/prohibit fracking which uses millions of gallons of fresh water every year which in turn pollutes aquifers.

Land Preservation

Promote watershed restoration to reduce fires, erosion, and other changes caused by climate change and develop scientifically-based flow standards for the Delta and major rivers for how much water is needed to keep them healthy.

Pollution

Reduce effluents that contaminate waters.

Recycling

Increase water supplies through safe recycling.

Taxes

Increases taxes on industries that heavily use water.

Elections: Getting Rid of Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party. The concept is based on the fact that political affiliation of a citizen is public knowledge. Why is one required to make that information public?  Actually, one is not required — one can register as “Independent” and not state which party one prefers.

Votes are considered private, yet voting habits can be predicted by looking at public records showing under which party an individual has registered.  It takes away the privacy of voting if other people can make good predictions about how one will probably vote based on one’s voter registration.  No one is allowed to see another person’s vote — why should they be able to see what party that person prefers?

Suggestion:

Make voter registration private and/or stop requiring people to state a party affiliation when they register.  That would plug a huge security leak in voting privacy rights and make it impossible to gerrymander a district based on public voter registration records.

Elections: How Democrats Win

  • Highlight Democratic values: Democrats prioritize issues like healthcare, social justice, climate change, and equality. By communicating these values and how they align with one’s personal beliefs, Democrats could attract voters who share these values.
  • Discuss policy proposals: Democrats have proposed plans to address issues like income inequality, access to affordable education, and gun control. It’s important to discuss these policies and how they could benefit people’s lives.
  • Emphasize Democratic leadership: People who value Democratic leadership could be swayed by highlighting Democratic leaders’ records and accomplishments, such as passing the Affordable Care Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the American Rescue Plan.
  • Contrast with the opposition: One could compare and contrast the differences between Democratic and Republican policies to explain why Democrats are better for their communities.
  • Explain the importance of voting: Often, people don’t see the importance of voting. By explaining how their vote can influence major decisions, and reminding them about their civic duties and their right to vote, one could convince others to vote for Democrats.
  • Democrats need to change how they deliver their message. Keep policy proposals clear and simple. They also need to adopt more populist approaches: town halls, fire side chats, touring, and other activities to get closer to people on their terms and issues. They also should be more “hip” and micro-adopt strategies suited to each of their varied constituencies.

Environment and Jobs

There is a major invasive plant problem in the U.S., and the country is being overrun. This is an important reason why nowadays there are many fewer insects, birds, lizards, amphibians, and so on. It is an accumulated Silent Spring.

Suggestion:

Create an Environment Conservation Corps.  Make America Beautiful again by rebuilding the environment. Build a road or a bridge, and depreciation starts Day One. Restore a forested wetland, and the value appreciates year by year.

The creation of a Corps would also help with youth training and employment. For example, this could be incorporated into a type of national service. In addition, this could be an opportunity to train the general workforce to mitigate employment disruptions caused by advances in AI and other types of technological economic innovation. There are centuries’ worth of work to do and undo, so this represents a significant work-creation endeavor. Moreover, this work can be done locally nearly everywhere on the planet because of the accumulated man-made destruction.

Government: Not a Business

Every now and then, the country gets the notion of putting a businessman in the White House on the theory that “America should be run like a business.” This is totally wrong.

Response:

Businesses exist to make a profit for their shareholders. The preamble to the Constitution spells out the purpose of our government: to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”  There is not a word about profit. In fact, the federal government is the only US government legally capable of operating at a deficit.

Few would argue that the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, police department, fire department, libraries, parks, and public schools are of no social value, and yet they could not exist and also cover and protect the majority of the population if they were required to be profitable.

Why Government Should Not Be Run Like A Business

An Example of Why Gov’t Can’t Be Run Like a Business: The Postal Service

Health: Nutrition

Experts say one’s diet should include a healthy protein, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit. But rather than ration those ingredients, it might be easier – and healthier – to mix and match colors. Not only does this rainbow-driven strategy fuel the body for its best performance, but it might help it prevent diseases or lower disease risk.

Suggestion:

Eat the rainbow for good health

Homelessness

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the burden of dealing with the issue of homelessness has fallen mainly to a few so-called “liberal” municipalities: San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Richmond, while neighboring communities contribute less to the solution and/or actively try to deter the homeless in various ways. A single municipality or county cannot be expected to be able to solve this problem. Once a homeless population is “chased” from one location. They often move on to another location, often in another city.

Suggestion:

I believe we need to consider implementing, widening, and strengthening the power and scope of regional governance, for example, a supercharged ABAG in the Bay Area.

Tackling Homelessness: New Approaches

Mayor weighs charging other towns if their homeless people move to Oakland

Immigration: Benefits

Immigrants, regardless of their status, place of origin, skill level, language proficiency, or time in country, contribute significantly to the country ever since its foundation and into the present day. Immigration is an important part of the American identity. 14 percent of the United States population is foreign-born. That’s approximately 45 million immigrants, more than any other nation.

Without immigrants and their children, the United States would soon begin to experience demographic decline. The number of US-born workers with US-born parents is declining. Immigrants extend the sustainability of federal retirement programs by slowing the rise in the ratio of retirees to workers. Without a growing workforce, the US economy would begin to lose its dynamism and leadership role in the global economy.

Immigrants are net contributors to job creation and wage growth. Unskilled labor fills a gap in farms and factories that America’s aging population doesn’t satisfy. Immigrant business owners have created millions of American jobs through major corporations and countless small businesses. In the most recent analysis, nearly 45 percent of firms on the Fortune 500 list were founded by immigrants or their children. Foreign-born entrepreneurs drive business creation through the thousands of small mom-and-pop stores that line our communities. Immigrants start businesses at a higher rate than the U.S.-born Americans.

In areas requiring lower-skilled workers, automation and outsourcing have inflicted more damage in wages than immigrants themselves, as it simply requires less manpower to perform certain tasks. These lower wages, however, deter American born workers from taking jobs in these low-skilled fields, hence requiring migrant workers to fill the vacant positions. Overall, however, incorporating migrants into the workforce, regardless of their skill level, increases consumption, spending, and investing, which leads to an increase in GDP and the economic growth.

Furthermore, with the contributions immigrants make to Social Security, they secure the health of the fund for ageing Americans, ensuring that the contributions they made from their own wages make their way back to them in retirement. Even undocumented immigrants pump about $13 billion into Social Security each year, contributions they likely won’t be able to use.

Immigrants are often exceptional inventors and creators that drive innovation. They’ve experienced challenges and adversity that forced them to come up with new solutions and often take a more difficult path than others. It may also make them more empathetic, finding a better solution from the customer’s perspective.

Immigrants are disproportionately likely to hold STEM degrees as compared to the native-born workforce. What’s more, immigrant entrepreneurs are responsible for more patents per capita than the native-born population.

American culture is a blend of the world’s customs, rituals, and traditions introduced through each wave of migration. Immigrants have played an out-sized role in the development of the American performing arts. Our food scene has become a cornucopia of world flavors because it integrates just about everything introduced by these newcomers.

There are an estimated 2.8 million immigrant healthcare professionals, playing a vital role on the front lines of disease-born crises. In fact, approximately 28 percent of physicians and surgeons are immigrants. Health aids (25 percent) and nurses (15 percent) are other medical occupations with a large percentage of foreign-born individuals.

Since the Revolutionary War, immigrants have been a vital part of the United States military and the nation’s defense. Military service has been a way for many foreign-born individuals to give back and earn a path to citizenship. Since 2002, over 139,000 members of the military have been naturalized. Unfortunately, naturalizations have fallen in recent years. In part, this is due to the suspension of recruitment programs like MANVI, which allowed certain immigrants to enlist if they had skills considered vital to the national interest.

Suggestions:

1. Re-enact the DREAM Act.

2. Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently residing in the country who do not have felony offenses.

3. Institute guest worker programs by industry that can provide a path to citizenship for participants via a lottery and yearly quota system.

4. Require businesses to prioritize the hire of American citizens and permanent residents and comply with stringent regulation of treatment for the immigrant workers they do hire.

Benefits of Immigration Outweigh the Costs

America’s slowest population growth since Great Depression

Kurdistan

The Kurds will have a very difficult time achieving and maintaining a viable state because the area they inhabit contains most of the region’s lakes and is the source of its major rivers, such as the Tigris and Euphrates. Their neighbors will probably not cede control.

Living Life

We all have a very short time on earth.

Suggestions:

Listen, learn, and be humble.

Examine Confucius, Siddhartha Gautama, Socrates, the “sermon on the mount” and the good Samaritan parable, More, Kant, Kierkegaard, Darwin, Marx, Dewey, Lu Xun, Malraux, Camus, Hemingway, Rawls.

Living as a self-authentic human being, learning about the universe, and using that knowledge to help others seems to be just right.

Music: For What It’s Worth

There are of course many great, meaningful, and entertaining songs, but two songs that most touch my being are “For What It’s Worth” written by Stephen Stills and performed by Buffalo Springfield and “I’d Love to Change the World” written by Alvin Lee and performed by Ten Years After.

Both songs summarize in just a few words the chaos and uncertainty experienced by the nation and especially the youth like myself in the sixties and early seventies. The first song was written in reaction to local clashes between police and youth in Los Angeles. The release of both songs coincided with the growing counter-culture, civil-rights, and anti-war unrest, and so its significance grew broader with time. While the words of Lee’s song seem somewhat regressive, they are actually a short catalog of the contrasting themes society faced at the time and sadly we still face today.

Suggestion:

Sit down for a few minutes in a comfortable chair or couch in a low-lit, quiet room and play Buffalo Springfield and then Ten Years After. You may see what I mean.

Palestine/Israel

The responsibility for resolving this issue should have been with the Europeans. For centuries these nations discriminated against and mistreated their Jewish residents. This mistreatment frequented led to extreme horrors that culminated during World War II. European nations should have reformed their policies and behaviors after the war and fully compensated their Jewish populations for this suffering and loss. Instead, the UN vote to create the state of Israel resulted in another extreme transgression, the displacement of Arab occupants and loss of their lands and homes. The current state of Palestinian-Israeli affairs continues to be a wholly unacceptable stalemate.

Suggestion:

Based on their original responsibility for this situation, I propose that Europeans nations provide most of the funds to build international airports in the West Bank and Gaza, a seaport in Gaza, and a railroad connection between the West Bank and Gaza. This could create a more sustainable economic and socially cohesive situation for the Palestinians and make a Palestinian state more realizable. I estimate that this would cost about $80 billion, which is a small amount considering all the economic and military costs spurred by this issue.

Pandemics

The COVID-19 death toll is probably 30% larger than reported. It has been underreported for a variety of reasons: fewer primary care physicians, less access to health insurance, more people dying at home, and political motivations.

The handling of pandemic was overly politicized by national/local jurisdictions preventing effective containment of the disease. An effective approach requires serious global coordination. Unless a disease is controlled everywhere, mutants can develop and return to areas of containment.

Suggestions:

Have the UN and WHO establish/strengthen guidelines and means for assessing global health threats and the sharing of information.

Give the WHO authority to implement across international boundaries quarantine measures and coordinate access to necessary medical equipment and supplies.

Establish guidelines and resourcing strategies to development and disperse vaccines and other necessary medications to prevent and control outbreaks.

Pledge of Allegiance Revamped

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Bellamy, a Baptist minister who believed in the absolute separation of church and state, had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

Original version:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1923, the words, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1954, in response to the unwarranted fear of communism, Congress added the words “under God.”

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Suggestion:

Change the Pledge to: “I pledge allegiance to the Constitution and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Politics

Nothing in politics is inevitable unless we allow it to be.

“An extreme political party [GQP] that makes it harder to vote and easier to die of gun violence is unfit to govern.” (Hakeem Jeffries)

Suggestions:

Vote, help organize, and donate.

Vote to make sure no Republicon wins public office. In spite of what they say, Republicons are only interested in power and in their own financial advantages.

Press/Journalism

The purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments. Its practices should be based a systematic process of verification aimed at finding not just the facts, but also the “truth about the facts.” (American Press Institute)

“Truth about the facts” is something in accord with what actually happened, how it happened, and why it happened.

The role of the press/journalists is to hold leaders in society (political, business, religious, and so on) accountable by challenging their positions based on verifiable facts.

For many decades, the public has received news, the product of journalism, vis the print, radio, and television. The economic model for the support of journalism has shifted resulting in the decline of print journalism and the emergence of news as entertainment and even propaganda.

Suggestions:

1. Find a way to create an independent funding mechanism such as a foundation that would be large enough to fund independent journalism and journalistic projects to serve the public good. Potential journalists would send in research proposals and via an independent board consisting perhaps mainly of other current and retired journalists receive grants large enough to fund their projects and their livelihood during their research. At the minimum such a foundation would fund investigative journalism to support the type of political check and balance alluded to in our Constitution.

2. Restore the Must Carry rules and the Fairness Doctrine to broadcast news and apply them equally to cable news networks.

3. Regulate ownership to eliminate corporate propaganda pretending to be “news” or “news reporting.” This could be done by enforcing antitrust laws to break up media conglomerates to bring back locally-owned newspapers, radio stations, and television stations. Congress should also bring back media ownership limits to where they were before being gutted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

4. Establish newspapers/online media entities own/run by foundations such as the Guardian or owned by publicly traded companies that limit ownership of shares to prevent control of information flow. (The case for ending private ownership of news media and banning hate speech)

5. Taking a cue from science and medicine the news industry could establish the a certification of “peer review” that offers a “Good Newskeeping Seal” to media outlets that subscribe to it in order to help news consumers know who’s most likely to be trustworthy and who’s most likely to be creating or repeating misinformation.

6. Avoid Legacy/Corporate Media (CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, Fox Propaganda, NYT, Washington Post, Politico, Axios, Associated Press). Instead look into more legitimate news sources: ProPublica, Ground News, Mother Jones, ResistanceLive, The Bulwark, Occupy Democrats, MeidasTouch, Daily Kos, etc.

Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy

Can American Democracy Survive Fox “News”?

America has a “Fact”, “Reality” and “Media” problem

Press: Loss of Local News

School board and city council meetings are going uncovered. Overstretched reporters receive promising tips about stories but have no time to follow up. Newspapers publish fewer pages or less frequently or, in hundreds of cases across the country, are shuttered completely.

The scope of the problem is far worse than most people realize. In the U.S., 200 counties do not have a local newspaper, nearly 50% of counties only have one newspaper, usually a weekly, and more than 6% of counties have no dedicated news coverage at all. Other media sources have been unable so far to fill the gap. Digital startups are focused on population-dense communities rather than the rural areas most often abandoned by local newspapers, while many subsidized public media outlets rely primarily on non-original content. The result is that local news coverage in the United States many Americans woefully uninformed about local developments.

One of the major reasons for this situation is that the economic dynamics capable of sustaining a profitable model for local journalism have changed. Technological and economic assaults have destroyed the for-profit business model that sustained local journalism in this country for two centuries. While the advertising-based model for local news has been under threat for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic and recession have created what some describe as an “extinction level” threat for local newspapers and other struggling news outlets.

Suggestions:

Policymakers should intervene and ensure a sustainable future for local journalism in every community in the U.S. by pursuing the strategies outlined below.

1) Provide public funding for local journalism

  • A tax deduction for personal subscriptions to eligible local news organizations might incentivize more individuals to pay for local journalism and boost the revenues of local outlets.
  • Tax offsets for eligible production expenditures incurred by newsrooms could help defray the costs associated with original reporting.
  • The tax code could encourage more newspapers to operate as nonprofits by treating newspapers’ advertising and subscription revenue as tax exempt and contributions as tax deductible.
  • A public fund for local journalism could provide grants to local newsrooms to experiment with new models and fund local reporting fellowships.

2) Address the ways large online platforms undercut the business model for local news

  • Antitrust investigation into Facebook and Google’s conduct in digital advertising could determine whether the companies’ dominance in the market is due to anti-competitive behavior and address practices in the digital advertising market that unfairly disadvantage news publishers.
  • A tax on large online platforms for displaying publishers’ content would force companies that aggregate and distribute publishers’ content to share their profits with content creators.
  • A temporary exemption from antitrust laws would give news publishers the ability to collectively negotiate with large online platforms and create a fairer, more balanced relationship between publishers and platforms.

3) Other regulatory and policy suggestions include:

  • Educating the public to explain the work of journalists and the value of local news. This means helping people to better understand the harms associated with the collapse of local news, and to develop strategies for evaluating the information sources they currently use.
  • Rebuilding local news begins with ensuring that local news organizations have the resources to hire enough reporting staff and giving them the tools and training they need to succeed. This support can range from direct government funding to indirect support in the form of regulatory, tax, and other legal changes that strengthen journalism and allow local news organizations to thrive.

Puerto Rico

Another year, another hurricane disaster. Do we really care? The United States has refused to make Puerto Rico a state for the past 125 years. For the past ten years, we have denied Puerto Ricans statehood despite the option winning a majority three times in plebiscites.

Suggestion:

Americans should be honest and say that Puerto Rico will never rank high enough on our list of priorities to spur meaningful political action.  We have a responsibility to decolonize that goes beyond merely asking what Puerto Ricans want and pretending that our government will listen. As long as statehood remains a nonstarter, we should support the other legitimate option: independence.

Religion: Jesus was liberal

Some right-wingers say they love Jesus, seeing him as their personal savior and claim they want to re-make the U.S. into a “Christian” nation. However, when one reads the New Testament, one wonders which texts they’re reading.

Suggestions:

Read the gospels in the New Testament from the beginning to the end.

Religion: Jesus was Woke

Reparations: The “New World”

Two major demographics deserve significant redress for centuries of atrocities: the descendants of the First Peoples to the hemisphere and the descendants of slaves brought here without consent. Subsequent immigrants should have acknowledged this. Instead, many have over the years disregarded the rights of these people and unjustly and even cruelly treated them.

For those who ask “Why should I pay. I didn’t do anything to harm these people,” I say we are all continuing to benefit from the suffering and burdens imposed on these innocent people.

Suggestion:

To partially make up for these egregious transgressions, I suggest the equivalent of a one-time levy of 5% of the net worth for each household in the country. There are over 128,000,000 households less the approximately 18 million households that are descendants of the First Peoples and of slaves. The total national net household worth is over $100 trillion. Accordingly, example one-time levies would be $37,000 for a household of $750,000 net worth, $500 for a household of $10,000 net worth, and $5 billion for a household of $100 Billion net worth (no shirking for the rich). This would come to about $100,000 per descendant.

Of course, $100,000 does not make up for all the suffering imposed on the descendants of the First Peoples and of slaves. Rather, it should approach the scale some have proposed–a minimum of $1.5 million per descendant for these genocides. I believe, however, the amount I am suggesting is more politically and practically realizable.

The payment could be divvied up in different ways and/or staggered a bit but not too long. Some portion of payment could be translated into improved education, job training, and healthcare. This would help redistribute wealth in the country and also stimulate the economy. (see also Taxes: Wealth Redistribution)

Additional legislative measures should also be applied to guarantee equitable treatment in other economic and social issues.

U.S. Net Worth Statistics: The State of Wealth in 2022

The Black-white wealth gap left Black households more vulnerable

Calculating Reparations: $1.5 Million for Each Slave Descendant in the U.S

Science: Research to Market

As many scientists and engineers who have discovered a promising new technology have found, it is very difficult to bridge the divide between a basic research discovery and a viable product or marketable technology. This gap is often referred to as the “valley of death.” Many companies don’t even try because of the risk to their business model and cost. Only about 8 percent of non-manufacturing companies introduce new products or process innovations per year. Manufacturing companies are slightly better, with 22 percent per year reporting innovations in their products or processes.

Suggestion:

Follow the QB3 model.

QB3, one of four research institutes founded in 2000 by Governor Gray Davis of California, is designed to bridge the chasm between the lab and the marketplace and help convert technological discoveries into marketable products or processes.

Operating as a partnership among the University of California, state government, venture capital, and industry, QB3 promotes structured collaborations among campuses, disciplines, academics researchers, research professionals, and students. It fosters research partnerships by identifying potential opportunities for collaboration and funding support, developing platform technologies, and assisting partners with intellectual property and technology transfer issues.

Second Amendment

There are thousands of gun-related killings and deaths and hundreds of mass killings every year. There are nearly 400 million guns in the U.S., some 120 guns for every 100 Americans. Half of the privately-owned guns are owned by 3 percent of the population. Using their guns, whites have massacred Native Americans and stolen their land. They kidnapped Africans, shipped them as cargo, and then enslaved, lynched, imprisoned, and impoverished Black people for generations.

The Second Amendment has been misinterpreted to mean gun rights are absolute. They are NOT. Just as some speech can be curbed, so can gun ownership. If not limited, that would mean that anyone (even non-citizens since “citizens” are not expressly mentioned in the amendment) could own, for example, a cruise missile or a nuclear weapon in the U.S. Also, a major reason to create this amendment was to appease slave-owning states, which allowed slave owners to arm slave patrols.

The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment

Suggestions:

1. We should thereby enact sensible gun regulations such as implementing thorough background checks, funding effective mental health screening and treatment, banning assault and military-style weapons, requiring liability insurance, funding CDC research on gun violence health impacts, improving gun-safety training, etc.

A modest proposal to address gun violence: Mandatory national no-fault insurance.

2. Call mass shooters, and those who inspire them, terrorists.

3. Give assault weapons and ammunition to every adult (women, minorities, legal immigrants, LGBTQI+, ministers, medical professionals, liberals, cashiers, the mentally ill, etc.)

Statehood: 55 States

The next time there is a federal Democratic governing trifecta, we need to immediately make the structural reforms necessary to sustainably ensure fair, representative elections moving forward. Minority rule cannot stand. The most critical reforms are to ban gerrymandering, expand the Supreme Court, and admit new states.

Suggestion:

Democrats should campaign to admit 5 new states, for reasons moral, political and practical—as one part of a larger anti-corruption, pro-democracy, pro-equality reform platform. Both the campaign itself and the follow-through will be critical. While Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are the most often discussed statehood candidates, there is no reason to exclude the other 4 territories from the agenda on the same grounds. This would be a boost in representation of marginalized, underrepresented groups who deserve to have more seats at the U.S. policymaking table.

Guam/Northern Mariana Islands (which would likely be combined as 1 state) and American Samoa are overwhelmingly Pacific Islander & Asian American. The U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia are overwhelmingly Black & Hispanic/Latino. These groups are grossly underrepresented in the U.S. Senate (and to a lesser extent, the U.S. House). Geographically speaking, island populations also deserve this larger role in the policymaking of the world’s largest economy and 3rd most populous country, considering their unique circumstances within the climate crisis that they are not responsible for.

Also see: Puerto Rico

Taxes: Wealth Redistribution

There is a sort of a myth in America that shows respect for those who can pull themselves up by there boot-straps. It is particularly present in right-wing rhetoric. The rich and their right-wing followers often use such phrases to say that the poor and middle class should lead their lives accordingly. If that is so, I believe the rich rich should lead by example. It should not be allowed that the children of the rich inherit the full wealth of their parents. After all, these children should also be allowed to prove that they, too, can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Suggestion:

No one in this should be allowed to inherit more than twice the lifetime median income of the ordinary American adjusted to inflation. That currently would be around $6 million. Depending on how the taxes collected are used, this proposal could serve to fund needed economic and/or social projects and stimulate the economy.

While my suggestion runs into some practical issues of implementation, here is an interesting collection of approaches to wealth redistribution that go a long way to attain my goal. These approaches can be found at the following website showing recent New York state legislative proposals:

14 Tax-the-Rich Revenue Proposals 2020

Taxes: Why and How

The legitimate object of government is “to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves. (Abraham Lincoln, July 1, 1854)

* * * * *

To facilitate … the performance of [government] duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. (George Washington, September 19, 1796)

* * * * *

Taxes … are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. . . .

Taxes are the price we all pay collectively to get those things done.

To divide fairly among the people the obligation to pay for these benefits has been a major part of our struggle to maintain democracy in America.

Ever since 1776 that struggle has been between two forces. On the one hand, there has been the vast majority of our citizens who believed that the benefits of democracy should be extended and who were willing to pay their fair share to extend them. On the other hand, there has been a small, but powerful group which has fought the extension of those benefits, because it did not want to pay a fair share of their cost. (FDR, October 21, 1936)

Imperative:

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. (FDR, October 21, 1936)

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government, July 1, 1854

FDR, Address at Worcester, Mass. October 21, 1936

War: Afghanistan Withdrawal

Our mission in Afghanistan should have solely been to pursue Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda leaders and focus on ways to prevent future attacks. Instead, it morphed into a perceived anti-muslim occupation and a nation-building effort. We attempted a hearts-and-minds campaign that never could put any roots in a country that we never understood. The souls of Afghanistan are just too hardened as history attests. President Biden realized this and has acted appropriately, not easily. Waging the war was ugly and costly, ending it would be likewise. Nevertheless, we cannot keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Twenty years was too long. We have great difficulty improving the rights and livelihoods of our own citizens, let alone those of a distant nation. Now that we have left, it behooves future leaders to make earnest efforts to consult with and enlist our allies, nations in the region, and the UN. We need to create a framework to monitor and improve Afghanistan through aid and diplomacy effort to mitigate future threats, pressure Afghan leaders, and preserve social progress made during the intervention. In addition, we need to assess more accurately future threats and attacks before we act rashly to avoid long, blood-and-treasure-draining ventures.

Woke means Awake

The MAGAT, many of his cult, and their corporate and political supporters, who willfully reject facts and what is right to do, are morally asleep. To be “Woke” indicates intellectual honesty, being alert to the injustices in life, and is a badge of honor.

If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people―their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties―someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”

― John F. Kennedy

Women’s Rights: Lysistrata Moment

Women’s reproductive rights (access to contraception and sex education) are a health, economic, and political justice issue, plain and simple.

States that limit women’s health access often enact laws that suppress the aspirations of the poor.

Many so-called pro-lifers are really hypocrites because they only advocate to protect un-born fetuses and rarely advocate for support for the child and the mother after birth.

Many so-called pro-lifers are not opposed to the death penalty.

Many so-called pro-lifers do not support political, economic, and social equality.

The rich and powerful (including many so-called pro-lifers) will continue to obtain abortions elsewhere.

Suggestions:

Increase health-care access. Increase access to sex education and contraception. Ban the death penalty. Support political, economic, and social and political equality.

Label such pro-lifers as “Forced Birthers.”

For a response to the Dobbs decision, in addition to marches and voter-registration drives, there should be a work strike (“Week Without Women”) and even a Lysistrata-type boycott across the country.

The Washington Post is very worried that American women don’t want to marry Trump supporters

Wordle

Shouldn’t a game centered on five-letter words have a name with five letters? Shouldn’t this name be for a six-letter game?

Suggestions:

Words, Wordy, Wordo (could double as a label for a fan of the game), Wordl, WordX, WordZ?

My first and to date only “Wordle” game