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9/29/2017

Player Protest Not Aimed at Flag

Donald Trump has unwittingly raised issues about patriotism that he doesn’t seem to understand when he tweets about honoring the flag and the national anthem.  Along with many others, Trump appears to believe that the flag in and of itself contains some sort of intrinsic value.  A patriotic symbol is just that – a symbol.  It stands for something, but does not possess worth, nor deserve honoring on its own merit.  It has no life.  It has no inner or outer value or status.  Flags and anthems do not themselves have records of community service or military service or patriotic sacrifice, although they may represent such.


The flag and the anthem do represent some of our history, our deeds and our life as a nation.  Much of that life deserves to be honored and perhaps revered.  But a flag is not that which it represents; it is at most a reminder of that which makes a nation worthy of respect, honor, praise and celebration, even of sacrifice.  To imbue and infuse the flag or the national anthem with an intrinsic power, value or life, is to make animated idolatrous objects of inanimate objects, transforming them into something they are not able to be. 
What makes such idolatry a problem is exactly what Donald Trump has done in attempting to punish or disparage people who will not “respect” (“worship?”) those lifeless objects. For that very reason, it is appropriate to call Trump to account for undermining a fundamental right of all Americans granted under the First Amendment:  the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.” 
There seems to be a tendency in this country to make patriotic symbols, songs, and relics into something they are not meant to be: a test of patriotism.  One problem: symbols mean different things to different citizens, and people with different backgrounds.  Trump wants the flag and the anthem to represent something that he considers patriotic.  He wants the flag to symbolize victory in wars, a history full of triumphs, and certainly the bravery and courage of men and women (maybe?) in the military.  He certainly wants it to represent unfettered capitalism, earning of much profit, the triumph of making contracts and developing land into thriving businesses and enterprises.  Perhaps he even believes that the flag represents the freedoms and liberties that he enjoys as a rich white man.  Clearly, Trump does not recognize that national symbols may represent a much different reality to others.  He obviously cannot relate to many of the players in the NFL who have negative feelings about some of the history that the flag represents to them, not all of it in the past. 
Another problem is the inadequacy of a symbol itself to inspire.  Take the national anthem.  It supposedly represents bravery and honor in battle, and the inspiration of seeing the flag survive the “rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air.” Our national anthem is one more attempt to make the flag into an idol, a living breathing entity with power to inspire even though it has nothing to offer except its inanimate presence.  In contrast, those embroiled in the background battle itself receive no mention.  Further, our national anthem makes no mention of American humanitarianism, our many worthwhile institutions, or our beautiful land.  Our anthem glorifies an object that survives a battle, and glorifies war as somehow positive and uplifting.  ‘America’ and ‘America the Beautiful’ are much more reflective of the national character than what was chosen as our “national anthem.”
Right there is my argument with the Donald and many of his followers.  The focus of this nation’s patriotism needs to be on the People, not on the flag or the anthem, nor on statues, slogans, fables, or even on the wars we have fought and sometimes won.  We need to stop making war and victory in war the over-whelming theme of our symbols, but instead, need to emphasize our constitutional mission of making life better for people -- ourselves and others.  When our symbols of national pride fail to represent our national character, and our fundamental democratic and humanitarian values, they deserve to be questioned as to their validity.  But more to the point of the current protests, it is our government that needs to be called to account for those actions and policies that undermine that character and that Mission.   
So, here we are in a conflict that is as old and as enduring as our country.  And it comes down to racial attitudes, for that is what has blemished our history from our beginnings through 241 years right up until this very moment in time.  Whether we like it or not, our progress and our underlying values; our victories and our feats of strength and bravery do not erase our failures and our flaws, or the facts of history.
We have still within our systems and our institutions a built-in discrimination against certain groups and certain beliefs.  And we not only maintain those institutional and moral flaws, we are, as a nation, being led down a road that embraces discrimination, unequal justice, lack of equal opportunity, and built-in restrictions for those who are of different ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds, or sexual orientation; plus those with physical or mental limitations or characteristics that we consider ‘not normal’ or ‘unacceptable.’  Like it or not, we are still a nation full of biases, discriminatory attitudes, and values, even hatreds, that belong to a slave-owning mentality.  And Donald Trump is leading us to “make American great again by using the bully pulpit (and his Twitter Tweets) to support and characterize neo-fascists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis as “good people” and as part of his ‘base.’
We have made progress in certain areas, but we are finding, under Trump, that we have reverted to a neo-fascist, white supremacist, nationalistic fervor and fever that has been kept underground for some time. You may be, as I was, shocked to learn that the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified more than 915 groups classified as ‘hate groups’ in the United States, and this number is growing. We are also finding that discrimination is still evident in our systems and institutions where extremists are not necessarily present, but where ordinary white folk and others keep alive in our culture and its organizations and institutions -- by their denial, their apathy and their aversion to change -- the very discriminatory rules and attitudes that we think we are overcoming (like allowing failing schools in inner cities). We aren’t, we haven’t, but we must.
There is a deep divide in this country about race, immigration and justice (as there has always been) between people of color and those classified as “white.”  That divide has manifested itself in many ways, but began its awful journey with the institution of slavery under which we developed concepts that have never left us, such as:
§  Superiority of one race (white) over other races (mainly dark-skinned)
§  The smug and subtle concept that black and brown are colors associated with dirt, unworthiness (blackballed, black-listed, black-hearted), ignorance, animalistic nature, and that such black people will never progress beyond a certain level (welfare queens).

§  The equally subtle constuct that darkness bespeaks a criminal nature; white supremacists declare that these are people who are lawless, who will commit crimes as part of their predatory, animalistic nature.  And our criminal justice system backs that up with harassment, violent handling of demonstrators of color, unjustified killing of black or brown persons who threaten the person or authority of police, and the unequal treatment received in the courts where African American men are sentenced far more severely than their white counterparts, often for the same crime.

§  Central to white supremacists is the axiom that black and brown people are less than full persons or citizens and they should be denied the vote whenever and wherever possible, or their votes should be minimized by gerrymandering them into small districts that have little clout anywhere
§  The preservation of symbols of oppression that keep “history” alive: from guns to the confederate flag, to statues of generals on horseback to the arousal caused by the singing of “Dixie” –  some are protesting their existence and want then taken down; others are fighting to keep them displayed somewhere so that Southern history is preserved. But “the history” lives on in the removal of the confederate flag from the statehouse by Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina touted as something that might bind-up the wounds of the past, while ignoring all the statistics that showed clearly that state’s neglect of African Americans in almost every meaningful category of life (see my Blog titled: “Flag Removed: One More Detour?” posted on 7/12/2015).
Well, I’m all for preserving history, but not if that history leaves out a slew of basics, like:

§  the Civil War was fought over maintaining slavery of Africans who were bought and sold at market-places; or, that

§  the economy of the South was built on the backs of those slaves who experienced horrendously de-humanizing conditions, like having their families split apart, being refused an education, being whipped for the slightest ‘offense,’ slave women being used as concubines, men being made into “boys”, and finally, the listing of slaves as 3/5’s of a person so they could be counted in the U.S. census without being declared citizens. 

§  after the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect, the growth of Jim Crow laws did everything possible to keep former slaves from becoming full citizens who could vote, own property, attend good schools.  Those freedmen could easily get lynched for whatever the white establishment declared to be an offense against (their) society and their Jim Crow laws (many of which were unwritten but nonetheless ‘enforced’ by the KKK and others).   
So, let us come back to where we started: the denunciation of the protests of NFL Players ‘taking a knee’ during the national anthem and pledge of allegiance to the flag.  Trump wants them fired for showing such disrespect to those symbols.  And so do others, according to some recent polls.

I come down on a side that we hear little about.  I want the players, and all the rest of us to be able to protest injustice and bigotry, an over-abundance of violence, the killing of innocent people and the denigration of democratic values and principles such as free speech and freedom of the press, without threats of reprisal.  I personally want the right to express grievances in peaceful demonstrations but still have the support of others for the citizenship, patriotism and personhood of those who are protesting in the spirit of our American Revolution and our Constitution.    
In other words, let us give up the absurdity that there is only one way to react patriotically to the facts of our history, and to our behavior as a nation and as a community.  Like so many of our Founding Fathers, I want the choice and the right to be a revolutionary, a protestor of the loss of primacy of law replaced by the whims of leaders who worship power and control (otherwise known as ‘Law & Order”), and the cult of ‘might makes right’. 

I am not in favor of making idols out of flags, statuary and symbols.  The NFL players are not disrespecting the flag or the anthem; they are expressing a grievance and displeasure with the failure of this administration (and others of the past) to address inequality, lack of equal opportunity, police violence and the patent injustices of the justice system.  They believe that ‘Black Lives Matter’ and that those lives should not be allowed to be snuffed out or devastated by police or by ordinary citizens who keep covert rules and norms alive in our institutions that extend all the way back to slavery. 

Kneeling is a sign of respect.  The player protest grows out of a respect for their brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers, who have had their lives made less than whole by people who still pledge their allegiance to follow that “partly human” - ‘3/5’s of a person’ – phrase in the Constitution as applied to slaves of the past and to people of color in the present.    Player protests (and many others) are not against the flag and its pledge of allegiance, or about the national anthem.  It is about the 240+ years of bigotry and racism that has plagued our nation’s character and behavior.  It is about lives that matter but that have been, and are still being, singled-out for disruption and punishment beyond the norm for the white establishment. 
Let us at least get it straight that protests are not against inanimate objects; they are against human entities that ignore, challenge and deny the basic rights of a group of citizens simply because they are not of European ancestry.  It is a protest against government that consciously rewards rich white people, and that consciously and concurrently denies travel to this country from Muslim countries, bans trans-gender people from the armed forces, retracts hundreds of regulations that protect citizens (such as young women on college campuses), leaving them with no avenues of appeal.  It is about the violence displayed by neo-Nazis and white supremacists against peaceful protestors in Charlottesville; it is all about the delay in bringing to justice the young white male who drove his car into that city’s crowd of protestors killing a young woman.  It is about not just the attempted repeal of Obamacare, but about the attempt to wipe away coverage for millions of people who now have health care under Obamacare but will be without it under any brand of ‘Trumpcare', because the Republican Party is all about radical Right-wing ideology and not about healthcare for poor people.
This protest is mainly about unequal and destructive treatment of people of color. Trump talks a good game, but his actions speak louder than words:  like not going to Puerto Rico until weeks after the devastation there; like not calling for immediate justice for the Nazi executioner driving that death car in Charlottesville; like not condemning the perpetrators of violence in other cities and suburbs like Ferguson and East St. Louis; instead always coming down on the side of law and order which means on the side of whites while condemning the criminal character of the inner cities and of certain immigrants (Mexicans for one). 

The destructive treatment goes on and on, with little done about any of it, except to excuse those who spend their time promoting such bias and discrimination.  Those that kill innocent black men (and women) keep getting away with those killings, and Donald Trump sits idly by ready to tweet something about the NFL player protest which he may have purposefully planned to divert public attention and anger over his stance on DACA, and his ‘threats’ to North Korea.  He Tweets, but does not act to overcome the deaths and denigration of people of color. 
The player protest is also one of sorrow that there are still many people of color who have given up on voting because they cannot see what good it will do to keep electing people who will not do what needs to be done; to vote for people who do not care about them. 
The protests are against representatives of the people, not against inanimate objects that in themselves have no power to do anything but be symbols.  If Trump and his minions want citizens to respect the flag, the pledge, the anthem and our Constitution, then he and his administration, including Congress, must take actions that correct the overt wrongs, violence and inequities, the overt discriminatory acts and behaviors, as well as the covert acts of restriction, denigration and denial that exist within our institutions.  Let us insist that legislators and administrators ‘take a knee’ to reclaim and rejuvenate their oaths of office to protect all the People (including protestors) and to secure the People's Welfare, with equal justice for all as our patriotic Mission.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

9/17/2017

Fundamental Manipulations

Since January 22nd of 2017, many have been asking what can we do about the ego-maniacal, undemocratic, unqualified, unsophisticated, inept and narcissistic boor occupying the office of President?  More fundamentally, what can we do about a system that has been captured and re-constituted by oligarchs who are using that system to their utmost advantage and enrichment just as Donald Trump is doing right now as we speak?


 Answers have been in the form of resistance and action, some of which have led to positive outcomes such as the recent departure of certain key advisors in the White House, chief among them: Steve Bannon. While such outcomes are satisfying, they do not resolve fundamental problems that now infiltrate our system of governance.  Here are just a few examples, in brief, that go to fundamentals of our Constitution, like free speech, the right to vote, immigration and naturalization, and the general welfare of our citizens:
  • Citizens United decision by the SCOTUS granted free speech rights to corporations as individuals so that money donated to third party PACs could be seen as unlimited free speech in the form of unlimited contributions.
  • Another decision by SCOTUS invalidated section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which had allowed the federal government to pre-inspect the voting requirements of certain states who had violated freedom to vote in the past, in respect to certain minorities and other groups.  That one decision prompted several states to move quickly to put laws and procedures in place that made it much harder for members of some groups (known to favor Democrats when voting) to gain access to their constitutional right to vote.
  • Attempts to repeal the ACA and to substitute abominable healthcare legislation that would reduce coverage for millions of Americans (22 million according to OMB estimates). Moreover, planned reduction of Medicaid to a bare-bones program affecting more millions, including persons with disabilities, children and persons requiring long-term care, was also part of that repeal, and now a part of the 2018 Trump Budget proposal.  Savings from the minimization and destruction of the ACA and Medicaid will be used to enrich the richest 1% in our nation.
  • The undoing of DACA by another of Trump’s Executive orders, putting thousands of young “Dreamers” in jeopardy of being deported to other countries and societies.  To many of those young people, those societies are ‘foreign’ because they have spent most or all of their young lives in this country with parents who brought them here without official permission or documentation.  Just one more assault upon immigrants as a group.
One might ask:  How did we get to this point of diminution and destruction of constitutional fundamentals? 
(1)  It can be fairly stated that a major catalyst is that the overall management of government is no longer in the hands of independent and democratically-minded representatives.  The election system we have now is a result of years of neglect, dubious legislation, and unfortunate SCOTUS decisions.  It seems clear that we are now under the control of an election system that does not reflect the concepts of fairness, equality or an outcome that can be proven to be the “will of the people.”  In fact, the pernicious attempts by one Party to control voting and office-holding at every level of society has served to do just that, but has done no good for the 99% of the people under their political control. Here are examples of schemes perpetrated mostly by right-wing Republicans (along with some Democrats) that limit the participation of voters who tend to vote for Democrats:
  • Rampant gerrymandering of districts has produced “safe districts” for many congressional Republicans, which is why Republicans generally reject any attempts to have districts re-drawn by non-partisan groups.  An LA Times article from October 11, 2016 indicates that the GOP made their move in 2010 when Republican-controlled statehouses redrew congressional districts to give the GOP all-but guaranteed seats, which by 2014 swelled the House majority to 247, the largest since President Herbert Hoover.  A gerrymandering of congressional districts, completed six years ago, sought to secure a Republican House majority for years to come by packing Democratic voters into fewer, often urban and minority districts and giving Republican candidates comfortable majorities in the ones they control. But those tailor-made districts yielded a new crop of hard-right, often uncompromising Republican members of Congress, running safely in mostly white, older and rural districts, where Trump’s support is strongest.”
  • ”From Reuters: “When Republicans won full control of 21 states in 2010, they promptly adopted measures that required voters to show one of a restricted set of photo IDs issued by... government. Government studies have shown that these laws can prevent or deter significant numbers of poor and minority voters from voting. By 2015, 13 states had adopted what the National Conference of State Legislatures considers a “strict” voter photo ID law, including seven Southern states formerly subject to federal oversight under section 4 of the Voting Rights Act that was declared unconstitutional by SCOTUS.” 
Overall, at least 99 bills to restrict access to registration and voting have been introduced in 31 statesThirty-Five such bills saw significant legislative action (meaning they have at least been approved at the committee level or beyond) in 17 states. (BrennanCenter.org)
  • “Super PACs are a relatively new type of committee that arose following the July 2010 federal court decision in a case known as SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission. Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates, and their spending must not be coordinated with that of the candidates they benefit. Super PACs are required to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or semiannual basis – the super PAC's choice – in off-years, and monthly in the year of an election.”  [Opensecrets.org (Center for Responsible Politics)]
    • “As of August 23, 2017, 2,394 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $1,791,027,147 and total independent expenditures of $1,061,703,002 in the 2016 cycle.”  Of these, over 50% are Republican or Conservative, mainly supported by the richest among us.  Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited contributions from wealthy donors, contributed $22.3 million – nearly doubling the $11.8 million they had spent at this point in 2014.
  • A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in public policy.  Many think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax exempt status. While many think tanks are funded by governments, interest groups, or businesses, some think tanks also derive income from consulting or research work related to their mandate.  In some cases, think tanks are little more than public relations fronts.”  (Sourcewatch.org)
    • “there are twice as many conservative think tanks as liberal ones, and the conservative ones generally have more money.”   Many of them devote their efforts to out-think and out-maneuver the Democratic Party (and any other more liberal entity). Many of their ideas have been incorporated into the platforms, budgets, and policies of the Republican Party.  Their influence has moved the GOP farther to the Right.  But what must not be forgotten is that these entities get their operating cash from oligarchs who are intent upon the takeover of our government and institutions -- like the media and schools -- and they gladly “pony-up” large sums of money to maintain that takeover.
  • Paid lobbyists and contributions to congressional candidates and incumbents (and other campaigns) are crucial to the control of legislation, and thus of how government functions. While it is difficult to know exactly how many lobbyists there are, Wikipedia offers the following:
    • A report in The Nation in 2014 suggested that while the number of 12,281 registered lobbyists was a decrease since 2002, lobbying activity was increasing and "going underground" as lobbyists use "increasingly sophisticated strategies" to obscure their activity.  Their analyst estimated that the “actual number of working lobbyists was close to 100,000 and that the industry brings in $9 billion annually.”
 It is difficult to know how many lobbyists are related to conservative issues and how many to liberal or progressive issues, but one thing is clear:  those oligarchs who desire the top lobbying professionals can afford to pay one or more of the top lobbying groups to advocate for their political or economic or socially conservative points of view.
(2) A second major cause is the lack of legislation that would truly benefit the working people of this nation.  But, more specifically, the blocking of legislation intended to address the welfare and protection of the People has played a major role.  And, finally, the many proposals of destruction of social programs and offices of government that are intended to address the basic needs of the People --like food stamps, Medicaid, Social Security, the EPA, community block grants and community action programs --represent a major portion of the 160+ programs that will receive budget cuts in the pending Trump Budget Proposal.
o   “The Trump Administration's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal proposes massive cuts across virtually every major department and agency, with the exception of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.”  Overall, the budget outline “reallocates $54 billion from civilian programs like the EPA, which faces the largest percentage cuts, to defense-related projects and border security.” (Time.com)
  • The inability to solve or resolve real problems in a forthright and competent process is also part of this lack of meaningful legislation.
    • Legislative Committees unable or unwilling to use proven and professional problem-solving techniques;
    • lack of witnesses before committees who are actually affected by the legislation being discussed; lack of data collection for informed sponsoring of problem-solving legislation
    • witnesses called who represent corporate America, but rarely represent working Americans living with the rigors, inequities and exigencies of everyday life
    • continuous attention to made-up issues that appeal to certain voters or contributors
    • inattention to the views of constituents in home districts;
    • lack of inclusion of opposition party in the legislative process
    • lack of substantive debate
(3)  Government has become overly-identified and obsessed with the needs of Business and the economy, with austerity measures for reducing deficits, balancing budgets, protecting manufacturers and financial entities, the stock market; and, with schemes for aggrandizing a small group of wealthy citizens and corporations, protected by a system of “law and order” rather than one of protection and safety for all citizens. 
  • We are now under the control of an oligarchic value system that is contrary to the democratic values of our Republic.  We are allowing elections to be controlled by a small group of billionaires and millionaires, and we are at the mercy of employees of rich corporations that desire a government entirely created and managed to their advantage.  Among those employees are lawyers, lobbyists, think-tankers, PAC managers, bought politicians, and unexpectedly, the non-voters, occasional voters, un-registered voters, and eligible citizens who don’t vote because they see no connection of politicians to their lives.  Non-voters are included here as “employees” because by their non-participation they contribute greatly to the ultimate control that the oligarchs have accumulated.  The oligarchs actually depend heavily on that non-participation.
As a result of these underlying manipulations of our fundamental democratic values, our mission has been changed, our purposes are questionable, and our rights and freedoms are in danger.  We must, above all, return to progressive democratic values by taking a fresh look at our fundamental document: The Constitution of the United States.  What does it say about our mission?  What purposes are revealed there for us to accomplish?  What values are important to maintain and defend as defining concepts for our way of governing?  And finally, what actions are crucial for citizens to take?  More on these questions in future postings. 


9/02/2017

Houston Problem Runs Deep

“HOUSTON, we have a problem!”  The tragedy of Houston is much on the minds of citizens of all areas of the country, as it was for residents of New Orleans during the devastation of Katrina, and for residents of eastern states during Sandy.  We applaud the neighbor-to-neighbor assistance, help, bravery and caring that has been the most inspirational aspect of this dire situation.  But we grieve and blanch at the scenes of devastation and loss that pervade that area.  We have contributed to the Red Cross as much as possible, but we know that it will take many more private contributions and the dedication of governmental resources to heal this region over time. We pray that those children and adults affected may find the way back to a stable status and to a life that brings its own measure of happiness. 

We visited in New Orleans several years after Katrina hit there.  We saw new modern alternative energy homes built at the initiation and sponsorship of movie stars, we heard of special efforts to bring back musicians who had been affected by the storm.  Progress had been made, the city was alive and vibrant, but some people had never recovered, and the lack of flood insurance meant they had a minimal chance of doing so.  Government help, whether in New York and New England for damaging floods there, or in New Orleans, or in Houston, has been both good in some respects and bad in others.  But, without government help at all levels, the devastating effects would be much worse, rescues would have been many fewer, and recovery much slower.. 

However, the problem of which we speak goes deeper.  There is the problem of flood insurance that few can afford.  There is the loss of lives because of several reasons, one of which is the inability of official or unofficial responders to get to all those who were trapped.  That was also a sad story in New Orleans where people died in their top floors and attics because no one could get to them.
 
There is also the problem of budget cuts, especially at the federal level, that will reduce the ability to respond from that level.  FEMA faces a $ 875 million cut in the 2018 proposed Trump budget even while Trump promised $1 million of his own money in aid to Houston residents. The AP raised the following question: “As the death toll from Hurricane Harvey reaches 47 and damage estimates approach record-setting levels, the need for financial assistance for the victims has become frantic. But will the tragic scale of the storm affect a proposed $876 million cut to FEMA’s future relief funding?”  Will Trump deliver on his promise of $1 million of his own fortune to help?  His record on this score is not good.   Remember, if you will, part of the $875 mil in cuts was meant for building the Wall on our Mexican border. 

But, there is something far deeper here that can definitely get lost in the tragedy of this event. That is, the inability of government to fully protect and defend its People.  Government (as well as the private sector) is unprepared at all levels to deal with these disasters in the manner that will produce optimum results.  FEMA doesn’t have enough resources.  Local governments do not have enough resources (and sometimes no emergency plans) to deal most effectively with these disasters.  Just how long have we had the opportunity to address these natural disasters with modern implements?  Almost a century perhaps.  In all that time, what has government (and the private sector) done to learn lessons from these events and experiences?  What is it that we need, based on all the emergencies we have faced?  Another cabinet department to deal with emergencies only?  Maybe; but I doubt it
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Of course, there is a reserve emergency fund at the national level to enable people to recover from such natural disasters, and the AP did report preliminary discussions in the WH to add substantial amounts to that reserve fund. Apparently, a decision has been made to send lawmakers an initial request for a $7.9 billion down payment toward Harvey relief and recovery efforts.  “The request, expected to be swiftly approved by Congress, would add $7.4 billion to rapidly dwindling Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid coffers and $450 million to finance disaster loans for small businesses.”  Republican leaders are already making plans to use the aid package, certain to be overwhelmingly popular, to win speedy approval of a contentious increase in the federal borrowing limit.

So, why can’t they also address the sticky issue of flood insurance and come up with a public option much like we should have had in the ACA?

Finally, it goes much deeper still.  Yes, we do have a problem, and it goes to something that prevents us from dealing in a fundamental way with what you and others, have experienced.  We have a government—and an agency responsible for our environment: the EPA -- being run by people who actually deny the existence of climate change, of environmental crisis, of the importance of being in on a world-wide pact – the Paris Accords.  That Agreement actually brought the whole world together to work on the attack upon our planet by human beings and business enterprises being their most thoughtless, greedy, stupid and uncaring.  They are poisoning our planet and ignoring the causes and the consequences.

If we continue to regard each of these climate events as separate occurrences, unrelated to a systemic problem that most likely causes all of it, we shall be buried by the consequences.  Just as certain animals are becoming extinct, and just as other planets may once have nurtured life forms that died out as the planet over-heated or was made unlivable (by gasses or chemicals, by bacteria or viruses -- by whatever might be unrecognized and uncontrolled), we could face an atmosphere that becomes unfriendly to human life.
 
The rub is this:  extinction or unlivable conditions or poisoned water, air and food seem a long way off, the time to deal with such events is not when they are happening; the time is right now.  The future is the present, because it is now that the remedies and solutions and actions must take place or the problems will be beyond the reach of those immediately threatened by them.  We are called to act in the present to save the future for others.

This is the epitome of a contractual society: acting on behalf of others who will not have the ability or opportunity to save themselves.  It is a concept that applies to the welfare of human beings: a contract we have with unknown people to protect and defend them even though we don’t know if they ‘deserve’ that help.  Can a government that denies the imperative of social responsibility for one another, supported by wealthy industrialists who also deny any responsibility for their communities or their neighbors – ever understand and act on that unsigned social contract?  It is very doubtful.  Can a government that denies a need for food stamps or flood insurance options, or health care as a right not a privilege or social security as a necessity for retirees, or who deny the necessity of Head Start or of Meals on Wheels for children and Seniors – can such a government even be trusted to address the saving of our planet?  I doubt it very much.

The answer to “Why?” Is disturbing.  They cannot allow their ideology to be compromised, even with human lives and life at stake.  Take another example to see this clearly.  Trump has put aggression and toughness at the top of his definition of leadership.  He desperately wants to prove that he is an authoritarian leader.   Despite the findings of science that a nuclear war would be fatal to much of our civilization and to much of our environment, depending on the power of the bombs used, Trump insists on acting very aggressively toward Kim Jong Un and North Korea.  He has threatened ‘fire and fury as never seen before.’ 

So, no matter what scientists say will happen to human life and the life span of the planet, Trump is willing to put authoritarian leadership – a staple of the Right-wing – very high on his priorities list to be seen as more important than life itself.  He is a damn fool, crazy enough to place all of our lives on the sacrificial altar of Fuhrership.  Ideology before People – that is Trump – that is the Republican Right-wing – that is the Alt Right and that is Fascism.

Yes, we do have a problem, and its name is Trump/McConnell/Ryan/Alt Right/climate change denier/Myron Ebell/EPA.

In stark contrast, without regard to worthiness, or differences in social class, race or political or religious creeds, citizens of Houston (and elsewhere) reached out to people in peril and in need to fulfill the responsibility that belongs to us all: the responsibility of caring for people, no matter what differences may exist.  If ordinary human beings can do that in times of crisis, they can do it in other critical times as well.   
Instead of being inspired by the beneficent actions of people helping people, this Trump administration will continue to place partisan political and conservative economic ideology plus de-(con)struction higher in priority than the general welfare of the People.  Watch carefully how this prediction will come forth out of his Tax Reform proposals and his proposed budget.

We, the People, must continue on a different path, for we know the mission, we know the purpose, we know the way that our democracy must progress: toward the light of freedom, equal opportunity and justice for all.  And we know what it takes to fulfill that promise – to survive the bad and to rejoice in the good.  We know it takes grit, determination and hard work, but we know too that survival and progression depend on the help and benevolence of other resources – our families, our friends our neighbors, our fellow citizens, and on government that is dedicated above all else to the welfare, protection, and fulfillment of individual potential and aspiration by providing a myriad of opportunities for all our People. Let us not waver in our commitment to one another.  It is the bedrock on which our nation grows in moral strength, in greater unity forged from diversity, in a meaningful purpose of community service that can be shared with the world.  Thank you Houston for reminding us that there are some fundamentals that we must re-capture if we are to survive.