For some time now, Republicans and their tea party supporters have been salivating over the prospects of what they will do to the Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections to be held this coming November. In fact, they have become so full of themselves that they have actually begun to say what they really believe.
This past week, Senate Republicans even stopped pretending that they care about the deficit, stating clearly that while aiding the unemployed or preventing massive teacher layoffs is simply not affordable, there can be no limit to the cost of providing tax cuts for the wealthy and affluent.
This example of Republican transparency is exactly why it is now time to fear the consequences of a Republican victory in November.
Beginning with the first days of the Obama administration, Republicans took on the role of the party of “No” opposing federal red ink with a ferocity not heretofore seen in American politics. Two weeks ago, in their response to President Obama’s weekly radio address, the Republicans, represented by Senator Saxby Chambliss, devoted his entire time to the evils of government debt, calling it “one of the most dangerous threats confronting America today.” He went on to say, “At some point, we have to say enough is enough.”
The second most powerful Republican in the Senate, Jon Kyl of Arizona, when asked last week about President Obama’s desire to allow Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire, answered “You do need to offset the cost of increased spending. And that is what the Republicans object to. But you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.”
So, let me get this straight, it is not alright to provide $30 billion to extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans but it is okay to continue to provide $650 billion in tax cuts for the rich!
The day after this staggering description of what the Republican Party calls deficit reduction, Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, confirmed that the Senator from Arizona was representative of the official Republican Party position: “There is no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject.”
As I look back over the Bush years and focus on the economy, somehow the word “vibrant” simply fails to come to mind. Even before Republican apologists in the Bush administration finally admitted that a recession had reared its ugly head, the economy had already been weakened by deteriorating job growth and its ugly step brother, reduced family incomes. But the really scary part here is that Republicans still believe that cutting taxes generates revenue.
One only has to look at the administration of Republican President Ronald Regan to understand that this is just simply not true. When he boasted that his tax cuts would reduce deficits, he actually caused a near economic collapse by nearly tripling the federal debt. Conversely, when Bill Clinton raised taxes on incomes on the wealthy, conservatives beat the drums of economic disaster. What actually happened however was an economic boom and an almost unprecedented swing from deficit to surplus. Then the Bush tax cuts arrived on the scene, turning that surplus into a nagging deficit, even before the ultimate crash of 2007-2008.
In describing the Republican view of economics, Paul Krugman, noted economist, blogger and columnist for the New York Times wrote, “We’re talking about voodoo economics here, so perhaps it is not surprising that belief in the magical power of tax cuts is a zombie doctrine: no matter how many times you kill it with facts, it just keeps coming back. And despite repeated failure in practice, it is, more than ever, the official view of the G.O.P.”
It is that last sentence in Dr. Krugman’s statement that really makes me scratch my head. After this theory of reduced taxes = increased revenue has failed repeatedly, how is it that the Republicans and their tea party allies continue to believe this drivel?
I have come to the frightening conclusion that the party of “No” really does not believe what they say when they scream for lower taxes and spending cuts. It is entirely possible that the far right in this country have taken the position that deliberately creating an economic crisis is the way that they can ultimately destroy a democracy that has produced Social Security and Medicare, two venerable institutions that drive those who admire the likes of Glenn Beck and Dick Armey into a foaming-at-the- mouth frenzy.
If it is possible to do so, maybe we should be thanking Senators McConnell and Kyl for their unbridled commitment to the economic theory of less equals more. It is now abundantly clear, that if Republicans have the kind of electoral victory they are expecting this November, the deficit will become even larger than it is now because the newly elected will pass the kind of budget cuts that will destroy any economic recovery that has taken place over the past 18 months.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Eternal Question: Do I have Value?
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they begin to wonder exactly why they are here on earth, what is their purpose, why were they born? It can come at any time of life. While just starting out on life’s journey, meeting with a crisis in midlife, or even faced with the negative aspects of aging—losing parents, loved ones and special friends to the ravages of time. But no one is spared from these thoughts at some time or another in their life. Moreover, one’s own mortality is always a hard concept with which one must deal at some point in life.
For me, the most recent and powerful moment when I thought about the value of my own life was just this past week as I recovered from surgery.
Value to humanity and purpose of life go hand in hand when we reflect on how we both individually and collectively benefit society. Our specific talents, the ones that we are born with and that make us the happiest, must be recognized first, by ourselves, so that they might then be utilized to the benefit of those around us. If you took a moment right now and thought about it, you would probably come to the conclusion that the most successful people in the world are those who have identified their talent and have maximized it for the well-being and happiness of others. Striving for that perfect place, that perfect job, that perfect service, is what helps us all to live relatively happy lives. But before we can become the most benefit to society we must discover that special talent that we were born to use.
Believe it. Most people in our society are helping others every day, using their specific talents, regardless to the fact of whether they realize it or not. Whether they choose to accept that the job they are performing is important or not is directly related to the way they were raised and the attitudes of those around them. Some tasks that are done for the benefit of others may not appear on the surface to be important or even relevant, but can you think of what this world would be without those personal talents?
Some years ago, I worked as an accounts representative for a large industrial chemical company that specializes in the development and manufacture of cleaning products. It was my task to work with a network of distributors in my assigned sales territory, helping each of their sales forces to have knowledge of our product line and to then sell our products to their end user clients. One of the distributor sales reps that I worked with had as a client, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland which is right outside of Washington, DC.
NIH had asked my colleague to come and address the staff of custodial and housekeeping personnel that cared for Building #10 on the NIH campus. Building #10 is the actual NIH hospital where there is not only a great deal of medical care provided, there is also a great deal of medical research taking place. My colleague asked me if I would like to use this opportunity to share product information with the more than 200 custodians that would be present and of course I agreed immediately.
On the day of the presentation, I sat in the audience with the 200+ custodians as one vendor after another paraded across the stage attempting in their allotted time of five minutes, to extol the virtues of their respective products. I quickly became aware of the fact that at least half of the audience was asleep and the other half did not care. I did not know what I was going to say when it became my turn, but I knew it would not be a sales pitch.
As I walked out onto the stage, I still did not know what I was going to say. And then, it occurred to me exactly what I would say. I asked each of the audience to stand up, stretch and shake the hand of the person next to them. At least, they were now all awake. Then, when they had all resettled into their seats I asked them to close their eyes and to imagine Building # 10 seven days from that day. I asked them to imagine that within that seven day period, not one of them had reported to work and that NIH had been totally unsuccessful in replacing any of them. Consequently, during those seven days, not one trash can had been emptied; not one patient room had been cleaned; not one bathroom had been cleaned; not one hallway had been mopped, waxed or buffed; not one operating room had been cleaned, mopped or disinfected.
As this vision took shape in their mind’s eye, an audible response began to develop. Some of the audience chuckled while others almost gasped in horror. After about 10 or 15 seconds, I asked them to open their eyes and when I felt I had their full attention, I said to them, “Never again let anybody treat you as if your job is not important or has value. Never again let anybody ignore you because it is their position that you do not play an integral part in the cleanliness, safety or success of this institution. You are all important—terribly important and my job is to provide you with the cleaning tools and resources you need to help keep the patients who come here healthy and safe.” I walked off to a huge round of applause and there have been few moments in my professional life since that day when I have felt as good about what I do as I did that morning.
I can ask you the same question today about those hardworking folks in NIH? Are any of them less important to society than the corporate executive or the doctor that we hold so reverently in our lives? This person goes to work every day, doing the same job, and the impact of what they do may have more influence on our lives than members of our own family. Their value to the overall good of society cannot be diminished by the title of their chosen profession. They are, just as anyone is, using the talents (reliability, strength, determination and for some humility, to name a few) that they have been given. They are of great value to humanity. They are no less important than the lawyers and other professionals who benefit financially from our problems. They make our everyday lives easier and safer and provide each of us with more time to devote our talents to the rest of humanity.
As I have spent this past week resting (and yes, working from home), it has become clearer to me than ever before, that all of us, each and every one of us, has an impact on humanity. So, to those of you, who sincerely dislike their job or how you spend your free time, change it! You have every right and responsibility to do so. Conversely, if you are happy and fulfilled at what you do, then you will increase the joy and goodwill of those around you.
In past blog postings, I have written about the cruelty and visceral nature of the political environment in our country today. It is time to change that. It is time to build a society in which people are allowed and even encouraged to be nice to one another.
To some degree, I have learned the need for nice from my wife who is one of the nicest and sweetest human beings I have ever known. In the beginning, I assessed this niceness from her as something weak, something that would make others think that she was fodder for their frustrations and anger. While I have shared with her strategies on how to dissuade people from trying to take advantage of her, she has never stopped being nice to people—even nice to me when I probably least deserve it. Her reasoning seems to support the belief that we are in constant contact with other people a great deal of the time, so our impact should be an epidemic of mass proportions—ensuring that it is a good epidemic of courtesy and kindness.
Common courtesy is one of the most beneficial methods of promoting a community that is healthy and balanced. When someone greets you in a pleasant manner, when the door is held open for you—even if only for an instant, your life is impacted in some special way. This just means that your value to humanity is as simple as making another person’s life nicer.
This is a time of crisis in our country and crisis demands something from each of us. And that something is that we not only recognize that we have talents but that we accept the responsibility of doing something with those talents for that is what counts in the final analysis.
It is also critical, that as we move together as a nation that we demonstrate daily our understanding of what it means to be a human being with all the responsibility that entails. It is imperative that we then transform that understanding into action—leading by example—living up to what has been bestowed upon us as part of an overall effort of making our country and our planet a better place. Doing this will require a group effort. For the greatest benefit however, the best place to start that is within ourselves, letting others help us while reciprocally helping them on the road to happiness and fulfillment each of us so rightly deserve and that society so desperately needs.
For me, the most recent and powerful moment when I thought about the value of my own life was just this past week as I recovered from surgery.
Value to humanity and purpose of life go hand in hand when we reflect on how we both individually and collectively benefit society. Our specific talents, the ones that we are born with and that make us the happiest, must be recognized first, by ourselves, so that they might then be utilized to the benefit of those around us. If you took a moment right now and thought about it, you would probably come to the conclusion that the most successful people in the world are those who have identified their talent and have maximized it for the well-being and happiness of others. Striving for that perfect place, that perfect job, that perfect service, is what helps us all to live relatively happy lives. But before we can become the most benefit to society we must discover that special talent that we were born to use.
Believe it. Most people in our society are helping others every day, using their specific talents, regardless to the fact of whether they realize it or not. Whether they choose to accept that the job they are performing is important or not is directly related to the way they were raised and the attitudes of those around them. Some tasks that are done for the benefit of others may not appear on the surface to be important or even relevant, but can you think of what this world would be without those personal talents?
Some years ago, I worked as an accounts representative for a large industrial chemical company that specializes in the development and manufacture of cleaning products. It was my task to work with a network of distributors in my assigned sales territory, helping each of their sales forces to have knowledge of our product line and to then sell our products to their end user clients. One of the distributor sales reps that I worked with had as a client, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland which is right outside of Washington, DC.
NIH had asked my colleague to come and address the staff of custodial and housekeeping personnel that cared for Building #10 on the NIH campus. Building #10 is the actual NIH hospital where there is not only a great deal of medical care provided, there is also a great deal of medical research taking place. My colleague asked me if I would like to use this opportunity to share product information with the more than 200 custodians that would be present and of course I agreed immediately.
On the day of the presentation, I sat in the audience with the 200+ custodians as one vendor after another paraded across the stage attempting in their allotted time of five minutes, to extol the virtues of their respective products. I quickly became aware of the fact that at least half of the audience was asleep and the other half did not care. I did not know what I was going to say when it became my turn, but I knew it would not be a sales pitch.
As I walked out onto the stage, I still did not know what I was going to say. And then, it occurred to me exactly what I would say. I asked each of the audience to stand up, stretch and shake the hand of the person next to them. At least, they were now all awake. Then, when they had all resettled into their seats I asked them to close their eyes and to imagine Building # 10 seven days from that day. I asked them to imagine that within that seven day period, not one of them had reported to work and that NIH had been totally unsuccessful in replacing any of them. Consequently, during those seven days, not one trash can had been emptied; not one patient room had been cleaned; not one bathroom had been cleaned; not one hallway had been mopped, waxed or buffed; not one operating room had been cleaned, mopped or disinfected.
As this vision took shape in their mind’s eye, an audible response began to develop. Some of the audience chuckled while others almost gasped in horror. After about 10 or 15 seconds, I asked them to open their eyes and when I felt I had their full attention, I said to them, “Never again let anybody treat you as if your job is not important or has value. Never again let anybody ignore you because it is their position that you do not play an integral part in the cleanliness, safety or success of this institution. You are all important—terribly important and my job is to provide you with the cleaning tools and resources you need to help keep the patients who come here healthy and safe.” I walked off to a huge round of applause and there have been few moments in my professional life since that day when I have felt as good about what I do as I did that morning.
I can ask you the same question today about those hardworking folks in NIH? Are any of them less important to society than the corporate executive or the doctor that we hold so reverently in our lives? This person goes to work every day, doing the same job, and the impact of what they do may have more influence on our lives than members of our own family. Their value to the overall good of society cannot be diminished by the title of their chosen profession. They are, just as anyone is, using the talents (reliability, strength, determination and for some humility, to name a few) that they have been given. They are of great value to humanity. They are no less important than the lawyers and other professionals who benefit financially from our problems. They make our everyday lives easier and safer and provide each of us with more time to devote our talents to the rest of humanity.
As I have spent this past week resting (and yes, working from home), it has become clearer to me than ever before, that all of us, each and every one of us, has an impact on humanity. So, to those of you, who sincerely dislike their job or how you spend your free time, change it! You have every right and responsibility to do so. Conversely, if you are happy and fulfilled at what you do, then you will increase the joy and goodwill of those around you.
In past blog postings, I have written about the cruelty and visceral nature of the political environment in our country today. It is time to change that. It is time to build a society in which people are allowed and even encouraged to be nice to one another.
To some degree, I have learned the need for nice from my wife who is one of the nicest and sweetest human beings I have ever known. In the beginning, I assessed this niceness from her as something weak, something that would make others think that she was fodder for their frustrations and anger. While I have shared with her strategies on how to dissuade people from trying to take advantage of her, she has never stopped being nice to people—even nice to me when I probably least deserve it. Her reasoning seems to support the belief that we are in constant contact with other people a great deal of the time, so our impact should be an epidemic of mass proportions—ensuring that it is a good epidemic of courtesy and kindness.
Common courtesy is one of the most beneficial methods of promoting a community that is healthy and balanced. When someone greets you in a pleasant manner, when the door is held open for you—even if only for an instant, your life is impacted in some special way. This just means that your value to humanity is as simple as making another person’s life nicer.
This is a time of crisis in our country and crisis demands something from each of us. And that something is that we not only recognize that we have talents but that we accept the responsibility of doing something with those talents for that is what counts in the final analysis.
It is also critical, that as we move together as a nation that we demonstrate daily our understanding of what it means to be a human being with all the responsibility that entails. It is imperative that we then transform that understanding into action—leading by example—living up to what has been bestowed upon us as part of an overall effort of making our country and our planet a better place. Doing this will require a group effort. For the greatest benefit however, the best place to start that is within ourselves, letting others help us while reciprocally helping them on the road to happiness and fulfillment each of us so rightly deserve and that society so desperately needs.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
We the People.........
As they relate to the history of our country, those are the three most powerful words ever written: “We the People.”
That set the tone for the country we eventually became.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
When our Constitution was being written, I am certain there were myriad choices to begin this document, yet it was these three words that were chosen, “We the People.”
Throughout our history, these words have served as a foundation for our way of life and for the way we govern ourselves. We were among the first to put on paper the notion that government comes from the consent of the people—from those who are being governed. As our country grew, both friend and foe alike observed with interest and sometimes with jealousy, the development of what some have called, the “Great Experiment.”
Of course, there had been other attempts at populist governance before, namely the democracy of Athens and even the Roman Republic, but they were unable to sustain themselves as either stable or enduring testaments to self governance. Athens eventually descended into war and oligarchy while Rome became an empire with one man ruling all while rendering the Roman Senate impotent and unable to assert its own authority.
But somehow, in spite of ourselves, this democracy has endured. Let there be no misunderstanding however, we have not always gotten it right and we have had numerous setbacks. The treatment of Native Americans by those who arrived on these shores from Europe is a massive stain on our history that will never be completely eradicated. One reason why the stain will never go away is because to a large degree, that mistreatment persists to this day.
So, we have had setbacks but there has always been just enough of us to recognize the evil that continuously tries to pull us all back into the abyss of hatred, racism, bigotry and separatism. We have somehow managed to stay just one step ahead of what divides us because of our right to petition for a redress of our grievances, our right to speak and assemble freely, and most importantly, our right to vote.
When we could stomach no longer the horror of slavery, We the People voted into office those who wrote and then led the fight to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments. When we finally faced up to the inequality towards women, we elected those legislators that would ultimately pass the 19th Amendment.
The truth we must be most constantly aware of however is that in those darkest hours of our country’s history, it was ignorance that drove the evil. Thomas Jefferson was among the first to warn us of the dangers of ignorance; “No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”
Abraham Lincoln also warned us of the dangers: “As a nation of free men, we shall either live forever or die by suicide.” We came dangerously close once……600,000 American lives were lost as a result.
On the dangers of ignorance, no American has ever said it better than Martin Luther King, Jr. who once stated that “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Whatever the challenge, whatever the wrong that needed righting, whatever kind of progress was called for, it has been the inexorable power of “We the People” that has moved us forward as a nation. And, so it shall be again.
In President Obama’s Fourth of July Address to the nation, he talked about the many challenges that face us today: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the recession, and the energy crisis. His answer to those who have criticized his administration for attempting to take on too much too soon is that “These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.”
He goes on to say that “We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it.”
On this Independence Day 2010, I take my hope in the words of Lincoln who never lost faith in “We the People” to choose correctly. On a bloodstained battlefield in 1863, in a speech that lasted only four minutes but will forever be imprinted on the hearts and minds of us all, he said, “That this nation shall have a new birth of Freedom and that government of the People, by the People and for the People shall not perish from the earth.”
Celebrate the Fourth of July, and then let us all get back to the work of making us whole again and in doing so, say a loud and resounding “NO!” to those who would divide us.
That set the tone for the country we eventually became.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
When our Constitution was being written, I am certain there were myriad choices to begin this document, yet it was these three words that were chosen, “We the People.”
Throughout our history, these words have served as a foundation for our way of life and for the way we govern ourselves. We were among the first to put on paper the notion that government comes from the consent of the people—from those who are being governed. As our country grew, both friend and foe alike observed with interest and sometimes with jealousy, the development of what some have called, the “Great Experiment.”
Of course, there had been other attempts at populist governance before, namely the democracy of Athens and even the Roman Republic, but they were unable to sustain themselves as either stable or enduring testaments to self governance. Athens eventually descended into war and oligarchy while Rome became an empire with one man ruling all while rendering the Roman Senate impotent and unable to assert its own authority.
But somehow, in spite of ourselves, this democracy has endured. Let there be no misunderstanding however, we have not always gotten it right and we have had numerous setbacks. The treatment of Native Americans by those who arrived on these shores from Europe is a massive stain on our history that will never be completely eradicated. One reason why the stain will never go away is because to a large degree, that mistreatment persists to this day.
So, we have had setbacks but there has always been just enough of us to recognize the evil that continuously tries to pull us all back into the abyss of hatred, racism, bigotry and separatism. We have somehow managed to stay just one step ahead of what divides us because of our right to petition for a redress of our grievances, our right to speak and assemble freely, and most importantly, our right to vote.
When we could stomach no longer the horror of slavery, We the People voted into office those who wrote and then led the fight to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments. When we finally faced up to the inequality towards women, we elected those legislators that would ultimately pass the 19th Amendment.
The truth we must be most constantly aware of however is that in those darkest hours of our country’s history, it was ignorance that drove the evil. Thomas Jefferson was among the first to warn us of the dangers of ignorance; “No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”
Abraham Lincoln also warned us of the dangers: “As a nation of free men, we shall either live forever or die by suicide.” We came dangerously close once……600,000 American lives were lost as a result.
On the dangers of ignorance, no American has ever said it better than Martin Luther King, Jr. who once stated that “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Whatever the challenge, whatever the wrong that needed righting, whatever kind of progress was called for, it has been the inexorable power of “We the People” that has moved us forward as a nation. And, so it shall be again.
In President Obama’s Fourth of July Address to the nation, he talked about the many challenges that face us today: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the recession, and the energy crisis. His answer to those who have criticized his administration for attempting to take on too much too soon is that “These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.”
He goes on to say that “We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it.”
On this Independence Day 2010, I take my hope in the words of Lincoln who never lost faith in “We the People” to choose correctly. On a bloodstained battlefield in 1863, in a speech that lasted only four minutes but will forever be imprinted on the hearts and minds of us all, he said, “That this nation shall have a new birth of Freedom and that government of the People, by the People and for the People shall not perish from the earth.”
Celebrate the Fourth of July, and then let us all get back to the work of making us whole again and in doing so, say a loud and resounding “NO!” to those who would divide us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
