Author: dennis

As far as I can tell, Elizabeth Warren is the only one fighting against corporate control of Congress.  Here’s her latest battle.

Warren wants Obama to fire Mary Jo White, head of the SEC, because she refuses to require corporations to list their political contributions.  Warren thinks corporations should be accountable for their political contributions.

White says Warren is naive, and that if a corporation revealed who they were funding, that might lead to protests against the corporation, which would be bad for business and thus the investors.  (What a horror!  People protesting because corporations are buying politicians!)

I was, and still am, really, a great fan of Obama’s.  What a class act.  But he supports Mary Jo White and her decision.  This is a man who promised to reduce/eliminate the lobbyists.  But he took that money from Wall Street, and Wall Street bought itself another president.

Sigh…

No way I’d want to see Trump as president, but he made some very good points about taxes.

He is a wealthy businessman, and took advantage of the tax code, just as every businessman, and probably most individuals do.  (How many homeowners refuse to take the mortgage interest deduction because it’s an unfair tax subsidy to the middle class, and oh, by-the-way, greatly benefits the banks lending that money?)

He makes the point that the loopholes he used were put there by the government, and they benefit the upper 1%, and the reason they’re there is because that upper 1% provides the funds that the politicians in charge need to get elected.

The implication being, is there any chance that a politician, who is part of that political establishment, will fight to change that?

This isn’t about Hillary.  It’s about any politician who is part of the current system of elected officials funded by large political contributions.

There is hope!

And it’s Facebook and it’s ilk.  Campaigns, such as Sander’s, Johnson’s, Stein’s, and, yes, Trump’s are funded in a large part by small individual donations.

Do you know what that means?  If one of those politicians gets elected, then, that politician will be beholden to his/her supporters, and they will be us!

I was very excited about Obama’s campaign.  He was funded by small donations, and those small donations gave him the support he needed to upset Hillary and win the Democratic nominations.  I gave!  I figured we owned him!

But major disappointment.  At the last minute he accepted large donations from Wall Street, to help him ensure victory over Romney.  He then failed to keep his promise to weaken the influence of lobbyists, and continued the Bush policy of bailing out the banks rather than the individuals hurt by the mortgage crisis.

Heavy sigh.

But still, there’s hope!  I give to small donation campaigns (Johnson/Weld this time).  It’s only a matter of time before we start getting politicians funded by small donations.  And they will change the laws that game the system towards the 1%.

Pondering the polarized debate of today, I was wondering how we got there.

I think a key moment was depicted in one of the movies about Louisiana politician, Huey Long.  The movie started with him making deals, and you saw him talking with white business folks about how to keep the negroes in their place.  And then it shifted to him talking with the blacks, about how’ll continue to make their lives better.

He worked on both sides, he tried to help both sides, but his conversations with each were private.

Then they introduced TV into legislative proceedings, and when forced to talk so that everyone would hear, well he just couldn’t do it.  He was a skilled politician who understood each audience, and couched his words accordingly.

Imagine if you’re friends with a couple, Bob and Sue, going through divorce.  You’re friends with each, and you can sit down with Bob, and listen to his complaints about Sue, and be sympathetic and be there to support him.  And you can sit down with Sue as well, and listen to her, and be sympathetic.

But what if everything you said to Bob was with the knowledge that Sue was listening?  And visa versa?  How awkward would that be?  You couldn’t say things like, well Bob was a bit of a jerk that time, or it’s annoying when Sue does that.

Well you just couldn’t do it.  You couldn’t keep both as friends, you couldn’t keep the dialog with both.  You’d have to wind up in one camp or the other, and either Bob or Sue would like your support, and the other, Sue or Bob would feel you were the enemy.

So what’s a politician to do these days?  The ability to talk to both sides, to understand both sides is gone.  One can’t get the rapport of one side without totally annoying the other.

The problem is magnified by a media that is listening to every word, looking for any slip, any comment that might annoy a lot of people, and shining a harsh, readership increasing, spotlight on it.

I suspect this is why our politicians, and our debate, is so polarized these days.

The VP debate was refreshing.  There were two civilized individuals presenting the classic Democratic and Republican positions.  I suspect that, if these two were representative of our congress people, that they could talk to each other and reach compromises that best serve all Americans.

But those two classic positions are very frustrating.  I was taken with Pence’s fiscal responsibility, with a record as governor similar to both Johnson’s and Weld’s.  But his social stands….

Kaine, on the other hand has the compassionate social values I value, similar to those of Johnson and Weld, but left his state further in debt than when he found it.  (Despite me getting yet another speeding ticket in Virginia!)

So if I had to choose between these two, well it would still be very frustrating.  I want a balance budget and I support a woman’s right to choose.

If only there was a third party that embraced these ideas…

“It all depends on whose ox is getting gored.” — Wilbur Beach, my grandfather.

There are those that are pretty insulting towards anyone with an inclination to support Johnson/Weld.  How could I, they say.

Well it’s about my oxen.  My politics are based on my life, just as everyone else’s is based on theirs.  I presume those who are 100% behind Hillary haven’t had their oxen put in danger by her.

First Ox: My Company

My parents were Republicans, so by default, without thinking much, so was I.  This continued up until the point in my life when I finally realized a long time dream, to have my own software company.

There’s nothing like trying to run a company to make you a Republican.  Or at least, a Republican as they used to be.  (We were treated like criminals in Democratic Massachusetts.)

So now, 1991, I’m finally living my dream, self employed with my own small venture just beginning.

Bill Clinton is elected, and wants to overhaul health care (great idea!) and puts Hillary in charge.  She comes up with all sorts of (good) ideas.  But how is she going to pay for it?  No problem she says, fees charged to corporations.

Well we couldn’t afford those, it would put our small concern right out of business.  And many others like us.  When it was pointed out that her plan would bankrupt hundreds, maybe thousands of small companies, she commented: “I can’t be held responsible for under capitalized corporations.”

I remember the quote.  Do you understand how scary a time that was for me?  Here’s a health care system in the making that is threatening to crush our dreams.  Force me out of my own business and back to working for some large, sufficiently capitalized company.  Everything we had been working to build would have been destroyed had her plan gone through.

She, a lawyer, had no idea about the concerns of small business. Fortunately for my small business, her plan didn’t materialize.

OK, that was a while ago, I can let bygones be bygones.  Now I’m listening to the 2016 debate.  Hillary is calm, in control, and has all sorts of great ideas for her vision of America.  But, how is she going to pay for it?

Tax the corporations.

That phrase went through me worse than anything Trump said.  She still doesn’t get it, still sees corporations as maple trees with infinite sap to be tapped.

Gary Johnson built a business from the bottom up.  He understands.  He points out that companies create jobs, not government.   (Our two person company went on to create jobs for three others.)

Well what about those large corporations?  They can afford it, right?  A recent article in the Economist, not about the election, was talking about Apple being fined for tax avoidance strategies overseas.

The Economist points out that the problem isn’t just Apple, and that many large corporations have moved around $2 trillion out of this country.  They point out that the reason companies are doing this is because our corporate tax laws are creating the incentives for them to move that money out of the country.

Consider that lost $2 trillion when Hillary says corporate taxes can fund the vision she has for America.

She is as clueless about companies and taxes as Gary Johnson is about the Middle East.

Second Ox: my son and grandchildren

I have an ox in the Middle East as well.

There is no question that there is probably no one on the planet who knows more about the Middle East than Hillary, Secretary of State.  It’s her job to know.

It was not Gary Johnson’s job.  His job was running his company, and then running New Mexico, both of which he did very well.

So no, he doesn’t understand the Middle East, or any foreign issues to the depth that Hillary does.

BUT, he has broad brush views, that would shape his policy as he came up to speed (and yes he would come up to speed if elected as every new president has had to).  He is for a strong national defense and against unnecessary foreign involvement.

Why?  because for one, he feels it hasn’t worked.  He thinks what we did in Iraq has gone terribly wrong, for example.

And how does this get to be my ox?  Well my son was in the military, and he was driving trucks down Iraqi roads with IEDs.  He’s fine thanks, and I’m proud of his service to this country, but did I sleep well those nights?

Do I want him, and now maybe not too far in the future, my grandboys going to war in foreign countries for ill conceived goals?

(And I’ve got history, I’m of the Viet Nam generation.  I didn’t go (another story) but friends of mine came back maimed, for what?)

I’d rather have Gary Johnson, who won’t deploy our troops unless necessary, than someone who will, even if she knows more about Aleppo.

A Goat: attitude

This isn’t an ox, but rather something that gets my goat.  I really hated how Hillary summarily dismissed the concerns of small business back then.

OK, bygones be bygones again.

And then she comes out and dismisses half of Trump supporters as deplorable.  She hasn’t changed.  Zero empathy for those that aren’t with her program.

I have great fear of a president that has so little regard for the issues of such a large voting block.  That has so little political skill for reaching across the divide.

Gary Johnson is in the center.  He understands the Trump supporters, and he understands the Bernie supporters, who align with Hillary.

He will not be the target of dysfunctional Republicans like Obama was, and as Hillary is sure to be.

My Heart: Bernie’s minions

Well I said I was a Republican.  True, until George W. Bush.  When the Republicans decided to woo the Christian Right, when they decided to take on all those social issues, when they decided the government should make key personal decisions for people, like whether they can have an abortion or not,

Well they lost me.  This isn’t an ox, but my personal belief in individual freedom.

I don’t want the government telling people who they can marry and who they can’t.  (OK, so this an ox as well. I hate the fact that any decision I might make to marry, at my age, is overwhelmingly influenced, and in fact discouraged, by tax, insurance, and legal regulations regarding marriage.)

Gary Johnson, and the Libertarians in general, support individual freedom.

So, for me, what’s to think about?

The Libertarians will encourage my business to grow, to hire others, to continue the work (and it’s done some good work) it has done.

The Libertarians will not send my grandchildren off to war without a really good reason.

The Libertarians will not tell my gay friends they can’t marry, or put my pot smoking friends in jail. (Heroin is a different story, they’re not crazy.)

Of course I’m excited to see Johnson/Weld as a viable choice. Of course I encourage all to at least take a look at them.  Of course I want to see them in the national dialog, on the stage in the debates.

The Trump Card

I’m as afraid of Donald Trump as anyone.  And I live in Florida, the swingingest of swing states.

I cannot tell you how much I hate the idea that to prevent Trump I have to vote against all my self interest, to risk the future of my company (smaller than it ever was), and the lives of my grandchildren.

I have to vote against what I believe to be the future path for our country, the one that WILL continue America’s greatness. (Millenials support Johnson/Weld, and their number one job aspiration is entrepreneur.  How can Hillary bring them back with her attitude towards small business?)

That I have to vote for the dysfunctional two party system, that used to work, when both sides could negotiate.  That I have to chose between, on the one hand, fiscal irresponsibility and social justice, and on the other, well in this case, fiscal irresponsibility without social justice.

I will continue to support the Johnson/Weld ticket, I will encourage everyone to see what they have to offer.  I will understand that each of us will be voting for what makes the most sense to them, and their situation in life.

Everything I fear, I tried to describe in my last post, summed up:

“Trump doesn’t scare me; he can be contained.  What scares me is the vacuum that sucked him onto center stage.  The space he occupies held something else once, but it has vanished.”

Walter Kim, Psychedelic Trap, Harper’s October 2016

It’s a fascinating and well written first person account of a reporter covering the Republican convention.

So much of the dialog around this election is people, with one point of view, being angry that other’s don’t share that point of view.

My mother raised me to always consider the other sides of issues, and she got that from her father, my grandfather.  One of his favorite quotes was “It all depends on whose ox is getting gored.”

With this in mind, I try to understand Trump supporters.  I am not one, but I’m tired of hearing them dismissed and insulted, because I suspect, at the root of their politics, they feel their oxen have been gored.

They are called racists, but maybe their kid didn’t get into a good school because of affirmative action.  Maybe they resent that the government is helping minorities and asking the working class white to shoulder the burden.

They are called xenophobes, but maybe they are roofers who can’t get work, and see Mexicans on roofs working for less than minimum wage.  Maybe they resent that the government is sympathetic to immigrants and asking the working class white to shoulder the burden.

They are called haters, but maybe they lost their home after being sold a variable rate mortgage they couldn’t afford, by a bank that didn’t care, because it sold the mortgage to an investment bank.  And maybe they resent that when the government stepped in to help, it helped the investment banks who bought the mortgages, not the people who were sold those mortgages.

And might they not be upset that their wages have remained stagnant for decades, as the rich have gotten steadily richer?

I saw a church in Northhampton, Mass. recently with a rainbow flag, indicating support for all gender varieties, and a Black Lives Matter flag.  Note that they supported all the colors of the rainbow, and black.  The only thing missing was white.

I think Trump supporters feel as if they’re being left behind.

Well if you’re white like me, that is more middle class white, then none of those are issues, and we’ve been helped enough thank you.  So we might not get it.

But there is a very large white voting block that is affected.  Remember the old bumper stickers, that said things like “I’m pro choice, and I vote.”

Well all the non-colleged educated white people, who feel they have been left behind, are now displaying a similar bumper sticker.  It says: “Trump.”  And we’re scared.

I am very disturbed by any politician that simply dismisses the concerns of this very large voting block.  Because it’s been the dismissal of this group that has led to the phenomena which is Trump.  And if their concerns aren’t addressed by our govenment, a government for all our people, then they will be back.

For those who say the third party candidacy is a waste of time, Florida Today reported on political changes, unrelated to the presidency, that have been inspired by the Johnson/Weld push for open debates.

The organization that sponsors debates for the Florida senate race is being sued to let in the other candidates.  There is a Democrat and a Republican, a Libertarian and three unaffiliated candidates for the senate seat.  The debate commission is limiting the debate to just the Democrat and Republican, even though those two parties make up only 2/3 of the registered electorate.  The rest are third party or independent.

It is being sued to open it up to all those who have gathered the necessary signatures, and done the necessary work to appear on the ballot.

It might fail, but I’m glad to see it, because for me, the polarized two-party system is failing our country miserably.  Other voices need to be heard.

If the Johnson/Weld ticket serves only to open up future debates, then for that alone their campaign will have been worth it, especially for 60% of the people who wanted to see an open debate.