The Leader and the Demagogue

The Leader and the Demagogue

What a contrast we saw yesterday between the healing and unifying words of President Obama and the divisive and self-serving words of Ms. Palin.

No one is accusing Palin of being criminally culpable for the shootings in Tucson. That would be ridiculous. All they’re asking is that she tone down the rhetoric and not add to the crazy atmosphere. She failed miserably. As CREDO reports her response to the 250,000 signatures asking her to tone it down: “She released a video in which, carefully reading from a teleprompter, she lashed out at all of us who dared to question her use of violent imagery, calling us ‘reprehensible.’ Rather than signaling a willingness to change her language going forward, Palin controversially labeled our calls to renounce violent eliminationist rhetoric as "blood libel" — a term which itself invokes a long and violent history of anti-Semitism.”

In his speech at the Tucson rally Wednesday evening, President Obama asked us to remember the victims, live up to their expectations of us, and not turn on one another. It was one of the finest moments of his Presidency. We indeed must live up to what is the best in America and reject the divisive and sometimes violent rhetoric that is poisoning our political debate.

Here are links to three of the best of the commentaries.

Sam Stein’s “Obama Re-introduces the Human Element to the Giffords Tragedy”

Jeremy Rifkin’s “Will we heed President Obama’s cal for a more empathic society?”

Mark Green’s “Her Candidacy is Over --- Palin’s "Brainwashing" and “Joe Welch” Moment”


Finally, here is the link to the Huffington Post’s full coverage and analysis.

And after we've reflected on the tragedy and prayed for the victims and their families, let's have a reasonable discussion as a nation on what measures we can and should take to prevent this from happening again. 

Political Violence

This weekend’s tragedy in Tucson points out once again how hate speech and “Second Amendment” rights have distorted and are now on the verge of seriously damaging American democracy.

Yes, the murders and the attempted assassination of Representative Giffords were the actions of a deranged man…but the deranged man was legally carrying a concealed weapon, that had been legally obtained. Guns, concealed or otherwise, have been carried to political rallies before - including one where President Obama was speaking.

Until Saturday, these guns have only been used to attempt intimidation. A line was crossed Saturday.  In hindsight, it was bound to be crossed at some point. The right mix of permissive gun laws, virulent political speech and a mentally unstable person came together in Tucson and six people are dead.

Giffords was apparently the target from alleged findings at the killer’s home. She was also famously targeted by Sarah Palin’s cross-hairs as one of 20 representatives that needed to be defeated. In announcing the map, Palin issued a tweet urging her supporters "Don't retreat. Instead — reload!"

After the murders, a Palin aide denied that they were actually meant to be cross-hairs. Not sure how this is consistent with the tweet. A strong denunciation of violent rhetoric and an apology by Sarah Palin would help us believe it.  In fact, a strong denunciation of all hate-filled, divisive or violent speech by all political leaders would be a good start to regain civility in the national discourse.

In another twist of this sad story, "U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, who was killed in the Tucson shooting rampage, appeared to have been an innocent bystander Saturday, but was the target of death threats in 2009 when he emerged as a central figure in Arizona’s bitter disputes over illegal immigration." [Los Angeles Times article on Chicago Tribune website]

Marty Kaplan posted an excellent article yesterday. “The Vitriol in our National Bloodstream” shows some of the right-wing reaction to the sheriff in charge of the case decrying “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.”

Kaplan notes Reagan's quote that "Government is the problem" but concludes: "He was wrong. The problem is bad government, and the job of every generation is to make it work better, not to drive a stake through its heart….Killing government is the mission of an assassin. The vitriol in our national bloodstream is the crackpot notion that killing government is the mission of the rest of us.”

CORRECTION: This post originally indicated nine dead.  That was incorrect. Six were killed,

111th Congress' Accomplishments

With a flurry of activity in its closing days, the Democratically-controlled 111^th Congress closed its session with a record of accomplishment unmatched since the 1960’s. After the concession on high-end tax cuts and the 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, several pieces of long-delayed legislation made their way through the Senate: ratification of the New START treaty, repeal of DADT, and funding for the First Responders Act.
Earlier in its two-year term and often in the face of obstructionist tactics by Republicans, the 111^th Congress had already succeeded in pushing through:

$814 billion stimulus for the economy
Rescue of the American auto industry
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform& Protection Act
Health-care reform
Extension of insurance for a million children under SCHIP
Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention ActBloomberg News in an December 22^nd article noted: “The 111th Congress made more law affecting more Americans since the “Great Society” legislation of the 1960s.” The article summarizes the session’s accomplishments and points out the impact of the legislation - for example, 3.3 million jobs created or saved by the stimulus. Democrats realize that it will take years for the public to recognize the accomplishments. Perhaps Representative Louise Slaughters’ statement (quoted in the Bloomberg article), best sums up what happened in the November elections. “What we did was work, and our reward was, ‘Get out of here,’” said Representative Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and outgoing chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. While Slaughter won re-election, five of her New York colleagues were among Democrats defeated.

With the Republicans now controlling the House and having a larger minority in the Senate, it’s hard to see the 112^th accomplishing much. I guess the good news is that Democrats still control the Senate and can block the more misguided of the Republican legislation coming to the floor. And, as a last resort, Obama can veto it. Hopefully there will be some bipartisanship over the next two year but the early signs aren’t encouraging.

Peace on Earth

"Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will." [Luke, 2:14]

The message of Christmas is one of hope, peace and unity. 

What generates more hope than a newborn child, whose story is still to be written, whose whole life is still in front of him?

The other day my brother Dennis forwarded the story of the World War I Christmas Truce between German and British soldiers on the western front.  What a great story!  Jennifer Rosenberg summarized it well in an article on the truce: "In one of the truest acts of goodwill toward men, soldiers from both sides in the southern portion of the Ypres Salient set aside their weapons and hatred, if only temporarily, and met in No Man's Land."

In spite of today's ongoing wars, there is hope.  Maybe mankind can still bring about the peaceful Kingdom of God here on Earth.  But it will take hard work by all those of good will coupled with a general raising of consciousness to understand that prayer of Jesus at the end of His life: "I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one." (John 17:21)

So, if some of us believe in a Virgin Birth, the Resurrection and the Transubstantiation of bread and wine, we can also hope for a transformation of the world to one of peace and unity. 

It won't come easily or automatically. We will need to work at it ceaselessly and keep up our hope.  As another of my heroes once sang: "War is over if you want it. "

Peace.  And have a merry, hopeful Christmas.

Plus and Minus

There are some +'s and -'s to the tax cut compromise working its way through Congress.  And there are a number of ways it can be improved.

Plus
Unemployment benefits extended for 13 months
Middle class tax cuts extended for 2 years
Decrease in the payroll tax (Social Security)
The above will help grow jobs since the people receiving them will spend the money and stimulate the economy.
Possible approval of START treaty by Senate
Possible passage of DADT

Minus
1/3 of the tax package goes to rich Americans and corporations - this will add $300 bilion dollars to the deficit without, if history is taken into account, any "trickle down" to create jobs.
The additional debt adds to the potential for a decrease in US bond ratings (Moody's)
It provides a validation of the disastrous conservative vision of the economy that led to the current mess in the first place
If the high end tax cuts are not allowed to expire in 2 years, they will lead to cuts in social services and entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, further eroding the social safety net of the country and dragging us back to pre-(1930's) depression conditions.  That's really the point of these tax cuts, isn't it?  Or as the very conservative Grover Norquist said: "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." 

How it might be improved
Make the time period for the high end tax cuts expiration one year instead of two
As a minimum, set the estate tax rate back where it was in 2009: 45% on estates worth 3.5 million dollars or more.

The Senate passed the compromise package today but it still needs to get through the House.  Perhaps it can be improved there.  Or perhaps the version the House passed can be taken to committee and reconciled with the Senate bill.  Let's hope so.

What would John Lennon think?

John Lennon was killed 30 years ago on December 8 and the world has been the worse for it ever since. 

I remember hearing about it while watching Monday Night Football.  Howard Cosell announced that "this news hit me like a ton of bricks" and told the audience that John Lennon had just died of the gunshot wounds inflicted earlier in the evening. 

I remember going to a memorial to celebrate his life and music on the campus of Louisiana State University.  Somewhere in the archives of a Baton Rouge TV station there is some news footage showing our two (at the time) young sons in matching shirts wandering through the crowd.

I remember all the great music and the peaceful and loving presence that he was.

Besides being one of the most popular rock song writers ever, John Lennon was an icon to the love & peace generation. Through his music he influenced us all.

How much does an artist reflect his times and how much does he inform it? In John’s case, it was heavily weighted towards the latter. The Beatles burst on the pop scene in 1962 and in time they “came to be perceived as the embodiment of progressive ideals, seeing their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960‘s.” [Wikipedia article]

Indeed.   In the late 1960‘s, John’s songs became more overtly political. “Give Peace A Chance” released in 1969 became an anthem of the anti-war movement.   His 1971 song Imagine not only envisions a world at peace but also with no countries, no possessions, nothing to kill or die for, no need for greed or hunger...”a brotherhood of man”.

Of course that kind of idealism will get you some unwanted attention.  In the run-up to the 1972 elections,  the FBI assembled around 300 pages of files on John Lennon, part of President Nixon's effort to deport Lennon to silence him as a critic of the war in Vietnam.    In a 2006 NYTimes op-ed piece on a recently released documentary and the ongoing domestic spying abuses, Adam Cohen wrote “ 'The U.S. vs. John Lennon' would be a sobering film at any time, but it is particularly so right now. It is the story not only of one man being harassed, but of a democracy being undermined.”

 So 30 years after his murder, what do you think John Lennon would make of the current American scene?

The growing and seemingly unending sinkhole of the Afghanistan war...

Denying unemployment benefits and blocking a nuclear arms treaty until the richest Americans can have a continuation of their tax breaks...

The State of Arizona cutting Medicaid funds for organ transplants for the neediest...

The hounding of Wikileaks for airing the dirty laundry of US diplomacy...

The dividers and haters and liars...

Strange world and strangely worse than the '60's because back then we could still hope for change.  And there were still people who could make you feel that hope.  Rest gently, John, but we sure could use you now.

Boehner McConnell and Chicken Crap

It was hilarious to listen to John Boehner call Thursday's House vote to extend middle class tax cuts “chicken crap”.

No Mr. Boehner, what is chicken crap is the Republican obstruction of any meaningful legislation whether it is national defense (START), help for the unemployed (expiring unemployment benefits), or stimulus for jobs creation.

What is chicken crap, Mr. Boehner, is Mitch McConnell’s letter signed by 42 Republican Senators that they will block any legislation that is put forward before the tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of the country is extended.

What is chicken crap, Mr. Boehner, is standing in the way of legislation that will help this country emerge from the recession and placing politics above the good of the people so that the right wing can limit President Obama to a single term.

What is chicken crap and totally counter-intuitive, Mr. Boehner, is demanding deficit reduction while also demanding that the highest impact item on the deficit - the extension of the Bush high end tax cuts - be passed.

The argument for the high end tax cuts is that this will spur the economy - well it hasn’t ever done this since this misguided “trickle down” economics first raised its ugly head in the Reagan era. As Warren Buffett pointed out in an interview with ABC last month: "The rich are always going to say that, you know, 'Just give us more money, and we'll go out and spend more, and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you.' But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on."