#619 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #44. Four years later, Barack Obama, the expense of "Citizenship"

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UPDATE Sep. 8: If you wish to watch the President Obama speech, here’s a link provided by a friend.
Watching and listening to President Obama’s speech tonight at Charlotte I kept thinking back to one of the last campaign events we attended on October 13, 2008, at Macalester College in St. Paul MN.
The event was a campaign rally, and the featured guest was Michelle Obama. We were guests of the Paul and Sharon Miller family of Northfield, whose daughter Natalie had been chosen to introduce Michelle Obama at the rally.
As I recall, Natalie was chosen to introduce Michelle because of her family message: a need to do something about access to health insurance for all in this country. Natalie made her case well in the introduction of Michelle Obama at Macalester that day. The largely student audience was with her.
Health insurance reform with access for all was a top priority need.
Natalie’s parents had good reason to be very proud. She did a masterful job, far better than my attempts at photography that afternoon. Here are a few that more-or-less turned out that afternoon.
(click to enlarge.)

Natalie greets Michelle Obama as she comes to the podium October 13, 2008


The Millers and Grandma after the speech, October 13, 2008


Similarly, Michelle Obama was outstanding. Natalie watched the speech with the rest of us.

Michelle Obama October 13, 2008


Michelle Obama October 13, 2008, Macalester College St. Paul MN


Natalie and Sharon Miller, October 13, 2008


I don’t remember the specifics of Michelle’s message, but I do know that the general message to the students was “cell phones up”: “if you want Barack Obama to win, you have to get out and go to work”.
Cell phones went up that afternoon, and as we all know, people got to work, and President Obama won by a landslide.
It was a cooperative effort.
But it was not long after the election that I began to notice something that has dismayed me during Obama’s entire first term:
The ink had hardly dried on the newsprint of the reports on the 2008 election, and Obama’s friends were criticizing him for what he hadn’t done, or done enough of, for their particular issue.
It was if they had hired him to do their bidding: “don’t bother me for any effort on my own part. I have my own life to live.”
There were few “cell phones up” after the election, or in the subsequent, so far, 3 1/2 years.
My small e-mail list knows that I started noticing this attitude problem even before the President took office: “I voted for you, now it’s your problem. What are you going to do for ME?”
Passage of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – in early 2010 was one of the signal accomplishments of any President and Congress in any time, but there was wailing and gnashing of teeth…even among Obama’s supporters: “too little”; “the wrong stuff in the bill”, etc., etc., etc.
In 2010, a good share of those people who elected Obama stayed home from the polls, with the resulting landslide of the angry tea party types in the 2010 election.
To me, the troubling fact of 2010 was solely that: Democrats did not vote.
Which leads to the present day:
I was at a meeting this evening and got home just in time to watch the entirety of President Obama’s speech.
I felt the speech was, from Obama’s rhetorical standards, good, but not great…
UNLESS one looked at the content of what the President was saying to every one of us.
As I translated what he was saying, I’d summarize it this way: “This Job Wasn’t, and This Election Won’t, Be Easy…I Need Your Help For the Long Haul.”
The cost of citizenship is far more than just voting for one person, then expecting him or her to do our heavy lifting.
Get on the court.
For other posts of a political nature at this blog, simply enter Election 2012 in the search box and click enter. Especially note yesterdays, here.
UPDATE: September 7, 6 a.m. My favorite blogger, Just Above Sunset, summarizes what was said about the most politically newsworthy item of the day, most every day. Here’s his summary of what was said about last night at the Democratic Convention.

#618 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #43. Why I’m strongly supporting President Barack Obama for Reelection, and the Democratic Party in the November election.

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UPDATE 10:30 p.m. CDT September 5, 2012: Watch or read President Clinton’s address if you can. Link is here. This is a long speech, very on point.
Useful information resources if you are interested: Republicans should stop talking about the Moocher Class from Bloomberg News here and Economics for Voters here.
See postnote at the very end as well.
Two months from today – Wednesday, November 7 – we Americans will wake up and learn what we decided on November 6. I use the word “decide” deliberately. The word “decide” differs from “choice” in its finality. Decide is directly related to words like suicide, homicide, etc.*
As I reflect back over 50 years of eligibility to vote – I always vote – I see this as the most important election of my life. It is an election with huge long term consequences, especially for the people who think that buying the Republican siren song will serve them well.
I enthusiastically support President Obama for these reasons:
1. President Obama inherited the disastrous consequences of, particularly, 2001-2009 policies, and took on the task of getting the nation back on an even keel. He has succeeded beyond all odds. Against all odds, he advocated working together – negotiating and compromise. This was a major strength, in my opinion, even though some of his friends thought he’d sold out, and his enemies considered compromise a weakness to be exploited.
2. From day one his Republican adversaries made their number one objective making Obama fail. They announced this publicly and from the very beginning, they played it out in all of the ways they could muster in both U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate and Republican-controlled state-houses and legislatures. [Update Sep 8: How they did this is shown here.] They have tried to disappear the consequences of their own being in control of the government in the disastrous years of the first decade of the 21st century.
3. The Republicans failed in their efforts to make President Obama fail. Today, we are not where we’d like to be, but by any measure we’re far better off than we were four years ago when we were on the verge of collapse. By most any measure we remain an exceedingly wealthy country. There seems to have been one overriding objective of Obama’s enemies since he took office: to keep unemployment above 8%. They considered this is a winning number.
4. Unfortunately, people’s memories are very short; and we tend to be short-sighted. I am very concerned by the combination of very big money and the absolute lack of honesty in the media advertising onslaught to come in the next two months. This is the first election where, it appears, there is almost no interest in fact-checking, and lying is expected and accepted. We are seeing the reality of Newspeak (George Orwell’s 1984). Both sides manipulate information, but the Republican propaganda machine has been perfected, is far worse, and is far better financed than the Democrats. It is a dangerous development.
A little history:
Four years ago, September, 2008, no one, including the then-George W. Bush administration, could deny that our United States was on the verge of financial and industrial and real estate collapse. The reckless policies of the 2000s were coming home to roost.
As a nation we had lived on a credit card, where debt didn’t matter. As many know, life on a credit card is easy and fun…until the bill comes due. The people who gave us the credit card in the first place are now blaming Obama for the consequences.
2008 – four years ago – was a frightening time. For the first and only time ever, in 2008, I took steps to try to get my small 401-k account insured against the free-fall then occurring in almost the entire Financial and Big Business sector.
Here’s my graphic of who has run things in Washington since 1977: President, Congress, Senate (each has their roles, as set by the Constitution of our country); and their own internal rules: Congress 1977-2011001. I think this division of powers (and responsibilities) is important to understand.
We are the ultimate ‘politicians’, and we are reflected by whom we elect to office. Before you judge the current situation as “their” or “his” fault, consider reflecting on the recent past preceding 2009 and your personal role in it.

Minnesota State Fair Sep 1, 2012

Minnesota State Fair Sep 1, 2012

Then there’s the matter of political parties and the other offices.
I’ve always been Democrat (DFL, Democratic-Farmer-Labor), or at least so inclined. I’ve always felt that the Democratic Party has most in common with the ordinary people of this country, people like myself, or what is called the 99%. This year more than ever is a year to vote Democratic…unless you’re very wealthy and have only an interest in greater wealth.
But it isn’t that simple. My political hero and in a direct way mentor was former Republican Governor of Minnesota Elmer L. Andersen. I have had a great deal of respect for other old-line Republican lawmakers.
Elmer L. passed on eight years ago, but were he still alive he would have suffered the fate of moderate Republican leaders by being purged out of the Republican party, or at least made irrelevant by a more radical right wing.
Today’s Republican Party is a radical version of Republicanism, and until the moderates regain some control of the party activities, it is not a party to be trusted.
In many ways, todays Democratic Party resembles the old moderate Republican structure. Progressives don’t like to hear this, but I think I’m pretty accurate. The Democrats represent the center.
Those who vote Republican just because they’ve always voted Republican are making a huge mistake, in my opinion.
Those inclined to vote for certain losers or solely on their own specific single issue(s) just to make some point or stay true to their own ideals are making a mistake. Third parties as often hurt the so-called “lesser of two evils” than helping the third parties cause. In a diverse society, single pure ideological issues are easy to promise and almost impossible to attain.
On November 6, vote, and vote well informed.
* – NOTE: There is an “end-game” referendum aspect to this particular election. For many years an oft and publicly stated goal of powerful anti-tax leader Grover Norquist and his acolytes has been to shrink the size of government (at least the aspects of government he doesn’t like) till it can be “drowned in a bathtub”. How to do this? Very simple (it’s already been done). Make the government seem unwieldy and dysfunctional and unresponsive, de-fund it (the big tax cuts of 2003), make the citizens angry at it because they can’t get services they need, and they see the gridlock in Congress…and use this frustration to take over that very government. This strategy is very close to paying off for Norquist and his ilk. If he succeeds it will be a day most of those voting for it will come to regret…but by then it will be too late. Sure, this is speculation, but it is informed speculation from watching the political propaganda process for over 40 years.
POSTNOTE: I write often about political topics. This is #43 in the last several months, all of which relate to 2012. To see a list of the others, simply enter Election 2012 in the search box and click enter. A list will come up. The 42 previous posts relate to an assortment of topics. There will be many future commentaries as well. Check back once in awhile.

#616 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #41. Labors Last Day?

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UPDATE Tues Sep 4: This long post, Just Above Sunset, entitled “Another Labored Day”, pretty well describes the tension existing on this Labor Day, Sep 3, 2012.
click on photos to enlarge them

An annual tradition at the Minnesota State Fair: the free photo calendar at the Education Minnesota booth.


Last Friday I was at a very stimulating conversation about the future of my teacher’s union: the one for whom I worked full-time for 27 years, representing public school teachers.
One of the group, a retired teacher from a metropolitan area suburb who still substitutes regularly in his old school district told of a conversation he had with a young teacher who thought unions and work rules like contracts were no longer relevant. The youngster had better use of his money than to pay union dues. Unions only got in the way.
His wise colleague, who had had a great part in making a decent contract and working conditions for the young teacher, thought a bit and responded.
“Everything looks great for you now”, he said. “Try to think out 20 years, when your career is well along, and one year things aren’t going quite so well. There’s no union any more, and no rights such as you now have under law and contract. Your Principal calls you in and says ‘ sorry, we don’t need you any more. We have somebody who’ll cost less and is fresher than you are’. And there you are, fired at a most vulnerable time in your own life. What will you think then?”
Our conversation continued.
There was no closure on how the young teacher responded. There didn’t have to be. It is a common scenario.
The siren song of “I/Me/Now” easily trumps “We/Long Term” today. I see this shortsighted individualism in many quarters, in many ways.
The campaign to demonize unions has been successful. It’s been going on for years. Newt Gingrich memorialized it in his 100 words GOPAC literature in 1996, but destruction by use of code words preceded him, and is very much alive and well today.
(Newt’s list actually lists 128 labeling words, 64 that are good words, 64 that are evil. One of the evil words is “unionized”.)
The same week of the conversation came a Republican Party mailer inveighing against the local Democratic candidate and made four false and demonizing assertions, two of which were as follows:
“SCHOOLS THAT SERVE TEACHER UNIONS FIRST – KIDS LAST
Putting teacher unions before kids by blocking common sense solutions to improve our children’s education.”
“FORCED UNIONIZATION
Mandating that workers and small businesses, even in-home child care providers, become union members and pay costly union dues.”
Labeling.
Saturday, I walked by a booth at the State Fair which claims to put children first, but whose main objective is destruction of any union rights. At the end of this month this bunch says it is going to roll out a well financed movie presumably advancing its claims.
I haven’t lost hope. I care a great deal especially since we have many grand kids in Minnesota public schools.
But it is the youthful employees who think they don’t need a union who’ll have to rethink their self-righteous arrogance. Failure to do so will have big consequences for them.
They are the one who’ll wonder, in 20 years, why they were fired, and why they had no recourse.
And nobody – not teachers, not administrators, not students, not parents, not taxpayers, not business – will benefit by the destruction of labor unions.

A conversation about the future, August 31, 2012

#615 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #40. Four years after Peace Island

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Today, September 2, 2012, is the fourth anniversary of the first day of Peace Island, “Hope in a Time of Crisis, A Solutions-Driven Conference”. Peace Island was a remarkable and exhausting Tuesday and Wednesday running at the same time as the Republican National Convention just two or three miles down the road in downtown St. Paul, September 2-4, 2008.
Earlier today, I received word that my committee colleague who helped organize that Conference, Verlyn Smith, passed away on Friday, August 31, 2012. Susu Jeffrey, who originated the idea of Peace Island, commented “Oh, the loss! What I liked so much about Verlyn is…just himself, this large, gentle presence with the thoughtful, often humorous, comments.”
Indeed.
Verlyn’s memorial service will be next Sunday, Sept. 9, at 3 p.m. at Grace University Lutheran Church, 324 Harvard St., Minneapolis 55414. He was a retired Lutheran Pastor and his last call was at Grace Lutheran. Here’s the only photo I have of him at the Peace Island Conference. He’s the man seated at the right. (click to enlarge a bit)

Verlyn Smith (at right) Sep. 3, 2008 at Peace Island. Speaking is Ray McGovern, in background is Coleen Rowley.


Peace Island was a rather remarkable event. In the end a total of at least 23 speakers, mostly nationally known, addressed the audience in a half dozen plenary, and several other specific sessions. Several hundred people attended one or more of the sessions.
Peace Island was so peaceful that it attracted no interest from the news media, including the alternative media from the the progressive left who, to our knowledge, never did any reporting from or even about the event.
This wasn’t due to lack of effort on the Peace Island organizing committee’s part.
Our event was just too peaceful, apparently. It was boring from a news standpoint, in other words.
The action was down the street in St. Paul, inside and outside the Republican National Convention. Paradoxically, even those committed to peace and justice seem to revel in conflict.
Peace Island covered a great array of topics. Here is a five-page portion of the program booklet for Peace Island: Peace Island Sep 2-3 08001
Our committee quite literally wrestled with all aspects of the agenda for nearly two years before it convened. We were all volunteers. Visionary with the idea was Susu Jeffrey who, with Dennis Dillon, ultimately the chair, moved the idea forward.
Others on the committee included Dick Bernard, John and Marie Braun, Rebecca Janke, Ann Lewis, Bob Milner and Verlyn Smith. A couple of us, including Verlyn, were laid low with serious illness at one time or another.
The program was solely sponsored by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP).
We early on decided that the conference would be solutions based. It is difficult to keep such a focus when there are so many problems, but the speakers generally did their best.
Perhaps the speaker with the greatest problems to confront ‘back home’ was Anne Hastings, Director of the Haitian microfinance group Fonkoze. During the summer and fall of 2008 four separate hurricanes hit Haiti causing immense disruptions and death and destruction in the tiny country. Fonkoze was a nationwide agency serving the needs of the poor, and its members severely hit. This was one and one-half years before the earthquake of January, 2010.

Anne Hastings, Joseph Schwartzberg and Bharat Parekh, Sep. 3, 2008


At demonstration on Labor Day 2008 in St. Paul MN


Massive police presence on the streets of St. Paul Labor Day 2008. Note policeman filming the protestors.


Concert at Peace Island Picnic Sep 4, 2012. This was separate from the Conference but a directly related event. In foreground is Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Pete Seeger's grandson.


Preparing a giant peace sign to be photographed from above (it worked)


Completed peace sign can be seen here.

Gunboat on the Mississippi "protecting" RNC convention goers from peace island folks


In 2008, Peace Island was scheduled at the time of the Republican Convention in St. Paul.
Today, four years later, September 2 is between the Republican Convention (in Tampa last week) and Democratic Convention (in Charlotte, this week).
Problems continue and will continue so long as people are on this planet.
Working towards solutions should still be our objective, for the ultimate good of the planet earth.
Final Thought: Reports on events like this, including mine, are almost impossible to objectively report about. They are full of emotion from one side or another.
But there are other ‘sides’ to the story. When I was scanning the photo with the armed and dangerous police along the parade route, I got to thinking about a burly uniformed Ramsey County officer I was standing behind at the local coffee shop some months ago. I had noticed his shoes and we struck up a conversation about the kinds of shoes police personnel wear. The only thing I remember from the conversation was his comment that his feet hurt when he was on guard during the Republican National Convention….

#612 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #38. Joe Biden, Pat Kessler and Niall Ferguson

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Today, I decided to attend the Vice President Joe Biden event at the Depot in Minneapolis.
I’ve attended these kinds of events before, so I knew exactly what to expect. It took an hour out of yesterday to pick up the ticket, then four hours today to drive over, stand in line, stand inside waiting for the Vice Presidents half hour speech, then drive home afterwards. I was there for the entire event.
It was a good day. I’m tired.
(click on photos to enlarge them)

V. P. Joe Biden, August 21, 2012, The Depot, Minneapolis MN


There was nothing unexpected in the vice-president’s remarks. I heard Pat Kessler of WCCO-TV report live back to the Noon News on ‘CCO that Biden was in the Cities to “fire up the troops”, or words to that effect.
Of course, motivating supporters is a totally appropriate use of time for a candidate. Kessler, who is my favorite local TV reporter on political matters, was stating the obvious.
(Like all the camera people and reporters, Kessler was “penned in” the press area, certainly not roaming the crowd. I watched Pat as he did his work, writing his notes, walking around in the ‘pen’, contemplating his thoughts.)

Pat Kessler reporting at noon, August 21.


I wondered how much time Kessler’s piece would get on the WCCO-TV evening news. Back home I watched, and he got about three minutes, only perhaps a minute of which was about the event in which I had invested five hours of my time. This is not a criticism. He was doing his job. And he does it well. He always seems fair, and cares about getting his information right, and conveying it in as objective manner as possible.
But if TV news is where people get a lot of their political news, they certainly get no depth of coverage at all. Maybe 20 minutes of that half hour news program is advertising; the rest divided into the traditional “news, weather, sports” with perhaps some special features thrown in (the State Fair is coming up and ‘CCO will do the news from there….)
Back home, I picked up the mail which included, this day, Newsweek’s August 27 edition, with President Obama on the cover, and the cover article, “Hit the road, Barack. Why We Need a new President” by Niall Ferguson.
I’d gotten a preview of this article the previous day through two commentaries challenging Ferguson’s methodology and his interpretation of facts. You can read them here and here. UPDATE Aug 22: Another one, from Business Insider, came today and is here. And another, here.
Because Ferguson is a writer of some prominence, and because Newsweek remains a magazine of some credibility, Ferguson’s printed words get credibility that apparently they don’t deserve. Likely very few of the Newsweek readers get the benefit of a critique of Ferguson’s objectivity. The choice is to accept his opinion or not.
Back to the Depot and V.P. Biden, I think most of us felt it was time well spent. But it was tiring.
Well before the invocation opening the gathering, I struck up a conversation with a lady who was sitting on the floor near the media platform.
She was surprised that there were no chairs (it is the usual for these kinds of events).
At the same time, so far as I know she stayed till the end, and she was a supporter. It was just too tiring.
I ran into one fellow I knew and we had a good conversation about things political; and it is always interesting to just people watch at events like this. I become aware of how diverse the scrum is that goes by the name “Democrat” at such gatherings. (And you also notice people who are quite obviously not Democrat, but they are at such meetings for reasons of their own.)
In the long line before entering the old Depot, I got to thinking about the time in 1960-61 when I first came to Minneapolis, via the Soo Line, for a student union conference at the UofM Farm Campus in St. Paul. I was a college senior at the time, and I’d never been on a jaunt like this before. The bustle of the twin cities was new to me.
Where Joe Biden was speaking was where I and my fellow students had debarked from the train from Valley City ND over 50 years ago, sometime during the transition period from President Eisenhower to President Kennedy. A memory from that era is here: Politics 1960 vs 1996001
Things have really changed….

The line into the refurbished Milwaukee Road Depot August 21, 2012


There’s about two months till the election.
Get engaged.

Message t-shirt seen at the Joe Biden event


Portion of Milwaukee Road Route Map 1954, seen at the Hotel which now occupies the former Depot.


The old smokestacks from the days that the Depot welcomed coal-burning steam engines.

#611 – Dick Bernard: A couple of Union Reunions

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Friday evening, enroute home from a trip to my home state of North Dakota, I stopped at a freeway restaurant for a cup of coffee with a retired teacher friend from Anoka-Hennepin Education Association days.
Kathy gave me the below photo, and asked if I would scan it for her. It wasn’t labeled (a usual malady for photos – hint!) but we basically came to consensus that it was probably taken at the 1989 NEA Convention (New Orleans) in an expression of solidarity for the students who had occupied Tienanmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
(click on photos to enlarge)

AHEA Delegates to NEA Convention, probably 1989 in New Orleans


It was common for these kinds of actions at union gatherings. Most of we union members and staff had a keen and sincere sense of justice. Indeed, that is why I became active as a union leader in the late 1960s, then staff member of the Minnesota teachers union (MEA/Education Minnesota) for the rest of my career.
Sunday night came another event: a retirement celebration for Lee J., a union staff colleague for many years, who said he’d been in the profession either as teacher or staff for 40 years.
It was a great celebration, with a great number of family, current and retired colleagues and friends.
Lee likely went home pleased and proud last night.
I’ve never been much of a ‘dress for success’ kind of guy, but last night I decided I needed to choose an accessory for my evening ‘ensemble’. It is below:

I don’t recall where I got the button, but occasionally it adorns me like a piece of jewelry. It is something to be proud of. (People who know me would chuckle at the ‘thug’* part. No matter. I care about Unions.)
There were the usual memories last night, spoken and unspoken. We were regaled with the never-ending “grapefruit tree” grievance which, at one point, snared me for a time though I was nowhere near the teachers district.
After the event, I recalled to Lee the time, I’m guessing it was 1984 or 1985, when he was still a teacher and local leader, that he and his family borrowed my meager apartment in Hibbing for free accommodations for a summer vacation. My place was nothing fancy, that’s for sure, but for Lee and Becky and their two young kids it worked just fine.
Today is not the best of times for Unions generally, public employee unions in particular.
It seems that working for economic and social justice is viewed as a threat.
Newt Gingrich’s infamous 100 words from 1996 includes among the 64 repulsive words, “Taxes” and “Unionized”.
(Actually, Newt’s list emphasizes 64 “optimistic and positive governing words”, and 64 “contrasting words”. He didn’t invent the language, but to this day if one looks carefully at this list of words, one can identify the theme of most every campaign for or against…. These days, these words are called ‘dog whistle’ words – you are either supposed to have reverence for, or be repulsed by certain words. Much like a Pavlov’s dog reaction. It is not healthy for us as a society.)
Those who buy the nonsense of Newt’s words, especially from within the dwindling middle class, will rue the day they chose to buy the propaganda that certain words represented good, and others, evil.
It’s been 40 years since I started my union staff career, and a dozen since that career ended with my own retirement.
To Kathy and Lee and to all who have toiled in the often thankless task of seeking justice for working people, thank you.
And to the younger folks who need to take on the duties going forward, be mindful of the fact that what you now take for granted came at great cost in time and energy by people just like yourselves, too busy, but committed to justice.
What was gained, can be lost.
* – I can’t say that I know a true “union thug”. Doubtless they exist somewhere, but they’re rare. Closest call I had was once talking to a management representative who negotiated with Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters on occasion. He said Hoffa was a really decent guy, but he knew what he needed for his members, and that was that.

#608 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #37. The Minnesota Primary Election, and Romney's VP Choice.

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We woke this morning to the announcement that Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his VP-designate. More on that at the end of this post.
The more important and immediate issue is the Minnesota Primary Election which is Tuesday, August 14 – that’s three days from now. All of the information is accessible here.
It is easy to overlook the Primary Election.
It is a dangerous – and exploitable – oversight.
In 2008, the last Presidential year, there was a Primary election, and about 10% of the eligible voters went to the polls. Three months later, nearly 80% of the eligible voters cast ballots.
The Primary elections determine who will be on the general election ballot. It is important to know who is running for all of the offices. This will vary by where you live. There are some dangerous (in my opinion) choices out there, just hoping that sufficient people will vote them onto the ballot by sloppy voting, or not voting at all.
My general rule: if one of the established parties has endorsed one of the candidates, at least you know that person has passed a pretty rigorous test within the party, the person deserves support.
In the case of Judges, which are non-partisan, be very cautious before voting against an incumbent. We want an impartial judiciary, and in recent years the judiciary has been made a playground for people who do not have the interests of everyone at heart.
Minnesotans have three days to learn.
Look and Learn. Again, here’s the portal.
Regarding Romney and Ryan:

The selection is not all that much of a surprise. Romney is playing to the Tea Party fringe of his party – the fringe that is in control of what passes for the contemporary Republican Party.
Ryan is one of the Ayn Rand’ians, at least in core philosophy.
I would submit that even those who revere Ayn Rand would rue the day that her policies rule this country. Once they walk with rose-colored glasses into Ayn Rand’s world as reality, they will change their tune, but it will be too late….
April 18, 2011, I went to the first movie of the Ayn Rand Chronicles, Atlas Shrugged. I wrote about it here. It was a dismal, depressing film.
I predicted, then, that Part III would come out just in time for the 2012 elections.
I was wrong. But Part II is scheduled for release in October of this year, just in time for the 2012 elections.
One of Romney’s rumored alternate choices was former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He’d hardly be an improvement on Ryan. This morning’s Minneapolis Star Tribune had a major op ed piece on Pawlenty’s ‘accomplishments’ as Governor for eight years. I lived in this state for all of those eight years, and the column catches those years perfectly. We will suffer long from what was left behind.
Perhaps readers will fill me in on the other also-rans in Romney’s stable of possibilities.
Be wary, be very wary.
Directly related: here

#607 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #36. Personal Responsibility

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Thank you for stopping by.
Evidence is that an important Election is coming soon. The first lawn signs are sprouting along our streets. Important parts of local parades are political units supporting candidates. Etc.

July 11, 2012 Ramsey County Fair parade


The Minnesota Primary Election is next Tuesday, August 14. (Is there one in your town? Here’s where to start.)
Three months from now, Wednesday, November 7, 2012, we’ll wake up to the results of the 2012 election. We’ll learn our collective decision, as we do every two years. We’ll vote, informed or not, or we won’t vote at all, which is its own form of voting. (The word “decision” is not a passive one. Decide, suicide, homicide…there is a sense of finality with a decision.)
Political conversation is very difficult in our society. August 4, at a 50th wedding anniversary luncheon, I heard the following snip of conversation: “he won’t talk about politics or religion, but he’ll talk about anything else….”
I didn’t know them, or “he”, but I would completely disagree.
We live, at our peril, largely isolated from other points of view, even from next door neighbors. In many ways we’re involved in a deadly Civil War where for one to win, another must lose…and we’re all in the same country. We all lose.
Civil conversation and a sense of mutual responsibility and cooperation is essential for our society to thrive.
In the end, we’re individually accountable for the results whether we voted, informed or not, or didn’t vote at all Nov. 6. There is no “they” to blame. “They” is each and every one of us.
It is important work to really understand the candidates and the issues on which you’ll vote November 6.
Every individual needs to know the offices, the candidates and their positions on the issues; what they’ve ‘pledged’ to whomever; where their beliefs might get in the way of representing all of us…. This will take effort. Candidates cannot have personal conversations with everyone. Even in a single legislative district there are over 20,000 potential homes to visit. It cannot be done. But each of us have ways of reaching them…and noting if they respond, and how.
There are Forums; there are position papers. If the candidates are already in office, there are records.
We’re a very diverse society. No candidate can or should be expected to subscribe to each of our own views on everything. It is impossible. But we can discover if they are essentially owned by a particular constituency or bias. This does not work.
In my opinion, political advertising, ubiquitous and often obnoxious, is of zero value as far as “informing” is concerned. This will be especially bad the next three months. It is legal and it will not go away this fall. Mostly it will be targeted against, which isn’t productive. It is possible that as much as 2 1/2 billion dollars will be spent on election advertising this year alone. And that’s only for President of the United States. UPDATE Aug. 10: here’s a longer discussion of this issue of dishonesty in politics.
Each of us has within his or her power the ability to manage the impact of big and essentially anonymous money, much of it from hugely wealthy donors: refuse to fall for the lies.
As for the two constitutional amendments on the ballot in November: get to know what they mean, really. At minimum, think of the long-term implications of them for you and your family. Once passed, they’ll be almost impossible to reverse, which is a main reason for their being proposed.
Consider that both were passed with all votes from members of one party, and no affirmative votes from members of the other party in the state legislature. They by-passed the Governor. These are not innocuous “common sense” proposals. They have a very dark side, including for those who think they’d favor them.
Three months is not a long time.
You and I are the chief shareholders of this place called the United States of America, and we are the ones who will decide its direction three months from now.

Part of the Parade Community, Cottage Grove, June, 2012


NOTE TO READERS: I write frequently about political issues. Simply stop back once in awhile, and type Election 2012 in the search box, enter, and the list will come up, most recent first.
Directly related: here

Betty McCollum unit, New Brighton Stockyards Day Parade August 9 2012

#606 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #35. Speaking as a Liberal

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In yesterday’s post about Hubert Humphrey, with a quotation from President Kennedy, I defined the word “liberal” from a liberals point of view.
I’m liberal, probably always have been, but as I said to the same friend who gave me the Kennedy quote yesterday, liberals, including myself, in many ways are the most conservative people I know. If you wanted a carefully run government, you’d not go wrong, on average, with a liberal in charge of things. We’re prudent and careful and caring.
Of course, there’s another long-time and carefully cultivated view of “liberals”.
For many years, there has been a concerted campaign to demonize the very word, ‘liberal’. It even predates Newt Gingrich’s famous 100 words which made their appearance in 1996 and have been flogged by the right wing ever since. “Liberal” joins other evil words like “unionized” and “taxes” and many other hate words on Gingrich’s list.
It is interesting to note that “conservative” does not appear on Gingrich’s good list. An oversight, perhaps?
The campaign has worked, but there are downsides to simply winning. There are costs.
A month or two ago a good friend gave me a copy of Rush Limbaugh’s magazine, in which Limbaugh (or whoever writes his stuff) took a shot at demonizing “liberals”.
I don’t have a problem sharing Limbaugh’s work, “Nailing the Left”. You can find it here: Limbaugh June 2012 Libs001
Of course, being Limbaugh, this piece of work lacks even the tiniest sense of objectivity (it is not, shall we say, “fair and balanced”.)
But it helps explain how some otherwise fine folks I know go almost hysterical when considering even the possibility that “liberals” might possibly become a governing majority.
Of course, I’ve read Limbaugh’s rant, but I read it a tiny bit differently than he intended.
Doubtless in each of the examples he uses, one can find abuse – an awful example used to exemplify the lot. I’ve seen this tactic over and over.
But on balance, each and every one of those items, and many others which Limbaugh doesn’t even mention, are good policies which have made this nation a much better place.
I don’t see in that list, for instance, Social Security. Likely a pretty fair share of Limbaugh’s loyal base, and subscribers to his newsletter, are on Social Security, and hardly would consider it a ‘liberal’ program, though it would not exist were it not for liberals. Of course, there’s a move to dismantle Social Security, but only for the next generation….
But why bother arguing? There’s no need for consistency in making arguments to people who have already made up their mind.
To paraphrase Fox News: “I report, you decide.”
I’m liberal, and proud of it.
Related, here.
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#605 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #34 Hubert H. Humphrey: Working for compassion is not a task for the meek….

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This morning a friend sent me a quote of John F. Kennedy, which seems apropos today: “If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
The friend didn’t know that a few hours later I was planning to take a look at the newly dedicated statue honoring former U.S, Vice-President and United States Senator Hubert H. Humphrey.
There were a few of us at the statue about 4:30 p.m. including George and Edna from Brooklyn Center (below photo, click all photos to enlarge).

George and Edna with Hubert Humphrey, August 5, 2012


Both reminisced fondly about Hubert as an important figure in their lives. George recalled the large numbers of African-Americans who paid respects to Mr. Humphrey when he died. Hubert was a lion for civil rights, before it was popular.
Humphrey and Kennedy, liberals, were colleagues in the U.S. Senate 1953-1960. Kennedy had served in the Senate 1953-60, till he took office as President of the United States 1961-63. Humphrey was a U.S. Senator from 1949-64, and again from 1970-78, and Vice-President of the U.S. 1965-69. Before his national recognition, he had been Mayor of the City of Minneapolis 1945-48.
Humphrey was only 68 when he died; 34 when he became mayor of Minneapolis. I remarked that politics is for younger people. It requires much energy.



The basic biography of Hubert Humphrey is here, at the website of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota. Many of his memorable quotations can be found at this site as well.
In 2004 I happened across a book which mentioned a meeting with then-Senator Humphrey. It became the basis of my 2004 Christmas letter which remains on the internet here.
Here is a portion of the letter:
Early in October [2004], while reading the excellent book, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (Henri J.M.Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison. Image Books/Doubleday c 1966, 1983 pages 5&6), I came across a passage which grabbed my attention: “…compassion can at most be a small and subservient part of our competitive existence. This sobering idea was forcefully brought home to us during the early stages of this book. One day, the three of us visited the late Senator Hubert Humphrey to ask him about compassion in politics. We had come because we felt he was one of the most caring human beings in the political arena. The Senator, who had just finished talking with the ambassador of Bangladesh, and obviously expected a complaint, a demand, or a compliment, was visibly caught off guard when asked how he felt about compassion in politics. Instinctively, he left his large mahogany desk, over which hung the emblem reminding visitors that they were speaking with the former Vice-President of the United States, and joined us around a small coffee table. But then, after having adapted himself to the somewhat unusual situation, Senator Humphrey walked back to his desk, picked up a long pencil with a small eraser at its end, and said in his famous high-pitched voice, “Gentlemen, look at this pencil. Just as the eraser is only a very small part of this pencil and is used only when you make a mistake, so compassion is only called upon when things get out of hand. The main part of life is competition, only the eraser is compassion. It is sad to say, gentlemen, but in politics compassion is just part of the competition….”
I had two thoughts after reading this passage:
1) Here was a public person, well known for his compassion in public policy, relegating compassion in politics to the subordinate status of eraser.
2) I also was aware that an eraser, unused, soon hardens and becomes useless. Is this the same with unused human compassion?
Ours has become a brutally competitive society: winner take all, Losers are…losers. Compassion is, more than ever, only the eraser; its use determined by the Winner.
We have experienced, once again, the brutal polarity of U.S. elections. Once again the electoral “Super Bowl” has identified winners and losers. Once again, the U.S. population is described as split. I wonder: who qualifies for compassion? What does a ‘winner’ – and society at large – lose, in a winner-take-all society as ours has become?
What is the cost of this polarity to the United States? To the world at large?
Does a person deserve compassion as a right? Or does he or she have to qualify for it, or earn it? Do we each set up a ‘compassion boundary’, which we restrict to only certain people: family, certain friends, neighborhood, town, state, nation? Or does everyone in the world – an Iraqi? an Afghani? Someone in Darfur or Haiti? – equally merit compassion whether we know them or not? These are questions, I think, worthy of serious reflection and action.