Armistice Day 2021 (aka Veterans Day)

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POSTNOTE Nov. 12: This mornings e-mail brought a powerful lesson from the end of WWI from Heather Cox Richardson.  You can read it here.

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The annual observance of the end of WWI, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 is today.  I wasn’t around then.  Most places it has been and continues to be called Armistice Day.  A good article on the day can be read here.

In the U.S., since the early 1950s, Armistice Day has been called Veterans Day.  Veterans for Peace, of which I’m part, still remembers the day as Armistice Day.  The 2021 observance is in Minneapolis this year.  Details are here.  The event this year is in northeast Minneapolis.  I will probably attend, as I have, most years.

Personally, my most memorable day observance was in London, in early November, 2001, two months after 9-11.

We arrived in London about November 3, and the first day took a walking tour which included Westminster Cathedral, where preparations were under way for Armistice Day.  The three photos below, at Westminster, explain more than any words I could offer.

Preparing for Armistice Day.  London, at Westminster, Nov. 4, 2001

As can be noted, Armistice Day is a big deal in England.

But the most significant event for us was on November 11, 2001, at Gatwick Airport, while we were awaiting our flight home.  We were seated in the waiting area, and 1100 hours came, and there was a brief announcement on the intercom, calling for two minutes of silence in the airport in commemoration of those who had died in war.

How does one describe total silence in a very busy airport?  All I can say is that there was total silence, not so much as a babies cry did we hear.  Had I not experienced it, it would have been unbelievable.

The next year I attended my first Armistice Day observance at Ft. Snelling near our own airport.  The event was small and respectful and sponsored by the Vets for Peace, which I was just beginning to know.  I told the story about Gatwick for the first time there.  And every Nov. 11 I think of that morning in England.

Armistice Day emphasizes peace.  Always keep that in mind.

POSTNOTE: We were in London two months after 9-11-01.  The timing was due only to the fact that the trip had been scheduled and tickets purchased before 9-11-01.  The impression of England and the English at that tense time is overwhelmingly positive.  London was a welcoming place.  The photos above catch the feeling.  In so many ways, we all need to get back to the kind of gentleness that we experienced there, then.

Dog Tags. U.S. Army 1962-63

COMMENTS also at end of post.

from Sean: The below is a note from Mark K.  Mark was the head of school at AOS before he retired a few years ago. He was passionate about Veteran’s day, military service and gratitude for the former and appreciation for what many people served to protect. The amazing and beautiful USA. Flag duty was a BIG deal for the 4th graders!

We have so many problems but we can work through them if we honor and embrace our history and our respect for each other. We must remember how we became the greatest nation on earth. (I won’t lie – the last sentence was hard to write when I think of the current and recent behaviors of our elected officials).
Anyway, I share this because of a love and an aspiration for that which I hope we can achieve. If we all do our part, honor those who serve, and remember why they serve, and risk so much, we will all be better for it. We can all serve – today – for the greater good. I never served in the military and candidly I do regret that, but I am so grateful for those who have, and do.
Happy Veteran’s Day, God Bless.
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from Mark, via Sean:

Rummaging through the box of old newspaper clippings, I came across a yellowed article about my great uncle, Seaver Rice. Born in Saranac Lake, New York, in 1892, Uncle Seaver was the middle child of five Rice boys. Serving in different branches of the United States military, all five boys were veterans of WW I. Published in the Massachusetts newspaper the Stonebridge Press on Veterans Day in 1987, the article by Patricia Allen tells the story of Uncle Seaver being the last surviving member of a group of comrades who served together in WW I. In part, the article says:

Only one glass was raised.

On Saturday, Seaver Rice kept a 49-year-old pact to offer a toast to remember his World War I comrades of the 13 Club. The club of World War I veterans living in Southbridge was formed in 1939… The group met every Veterans Day for nearly 50 years. Patterning the 13 Club after the 13 colonies, the group formulated a charter to guide them… It was also decided in the charter that the last surviving member would drink a toast to the others.

Rice, 95, became the last surviving member of the club after the death of Howard W. Boal two weeks ago.

While he raised his glass for the now-deceased 12 members, his toast went beyond the boundaries of the circle of friends and even of the war itself. He toasted a country he loves passionately and fervently.

“This is to the country I fought for. Here’s to America. May she always stay in the right path,” he said, after which he brought the glass to his lips and took a hearty swallow.

Seaver’s solo voice embarked on one verse of “God Bless America.” From a memory completely unscathed by the detriments of age and sickness, he recited “In Flanders Fields.”

With a shaky hand and voice, but with powerful, heartfelt emotion, Rice completed his final and solitary mission for the war from his room at the Providence House Nursing Home.

Uncle Seaver passed away three months after the article was published.

Today, Veterans Day, is a day to remember and to show gratitude to those who have served our country in the line of duty. My grandfather was a veteran of World War I, and my father was a veteran of World War II. As has been my custom for the past thirty-six years, I will wear my father’s dog tags in his honor; I also will wear my grandfather’s pocket watch in his honor.

Today we do not glorify war, but we do remember—and thank—those who have sacrificed so much for the countries and causes in which they believed. Furthermore, we remember with gratitude and compassion the families and friends who have suffered because of war. Thank you, veterans—past and present—for what you have done for us all. And let this Veterans Day truly bring us all together as a unified nation in the spirit of my Uncle Seaver, and point us all in the direction of healing.

from Fred: Thank you, Dick for this very touching reminder about “Armistice Day” as we old timers still call it.

Dave and I were at breakfast in Woodbury with another friend on Weds when a man walked over to us. Our friend, who was wearing a baseball cap with vet info on it,  served in Japan during the early 60s, copying Chinese Army radio traffic. Turns out, this stranger was also in Japan, stationed about 100 miles to the north. He handed our pal a silver dollar-sized brass piece with an enameled US flag on it.
He topped off the encounter with a story that you, as a US Army vet might have heard before. “After high school I wanted to go into the Marines so I signed up and took the test. They called the next day to say I had been rejected [he paused]. They said I was too smart.”
Happy Armistice Day to a true Veteran!
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from Steve: You and I grew up when it was common to see men and women in uniform. The men in my family were among them. My dad and four of my uncles served in the navy, the army, or the coast guard. There was little question of their mission or commitment. Even after VE and VJ Day, we were reminded of a military pride when pardes on Memorial Day, Armistice Day, the 4th of July, the Aquatennial, and even in small town Homecomings included marching units and military bands. I was proud to see my dad marching in those parades, but worried later that he’d be sent away again when he was reactivated during the Korean War. The current US military presence is meant to be a peace-keeping effort, to reduce or end conflict even in regions far from our geographic boundaries where the mission is less easily understood. Regardless of their mission, the women and men in uniform, those who serve them, and those who wait for them to return deserve our support and our encouragement of the policies and practices that will bring them home again soon.
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from Molly:

Hi Friends,
In commemorating the day, a few thoughts:
-My generation had our parents’ generation totally engaged in World War 2. So many parts of all their daily lives were affected by the war effort, in addition to all those who served both in the military and on the home front…
The contrast with today’s fragmentation over so many topics now is dismaying, saddening, and downright scary–as the “me first” & “tear it all down” (rather than “let’s fix this”) attitude needs constant countering.
-So many of my generation and those a bit younger also served–in Viet Nam and Afghanistan and other places–we still owe these vets a lot of support of various sorts. And explanations…
-The concept of some sort of National Service is an idea which I wish had been carefully developed and pursued…it might have led to more people having a feeling of  enough investment in this country to really working to improve it, and move us more towards the ideals of the founding fathers (and mothers,of course).
Enough sermon. A blogger that I follow linked to the attached a few days ago… one of the amazing stories of WW2, and of very different groups working together for the common good. Veterans’ Day post
Blessings of the day to each of you. And, of course, a virtual big hug.
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from Juel:

 A lovely poem, so true

This poem was shared with me – it makes you think – thought I’d pass it on to people who might appreciate it.

A lovely poem, so true

Where Did The Country Go Wrong 

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And ‘tho sometimes to his neighbours
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew whereof he spoke.

But we’ll hear his tales no longer,
For ol’ Joe has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer
For a Veteran died today.

He won’t be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won’t note his passing,
‘Tho a Veteran died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young,
But the passing of a Veteran
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician’s stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Veteran,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever-waffling stand?

Or would you want a Veteran
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Veteran,
Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Veteran,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind
us We may need his likes again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Veteran’s part,
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honour
While he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A VETERAN DIED TODAY.”

PLEASE, If you are proud of our Vets, then pass this on.

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Dick in response: I pass along the above in its entirety.  I note the swipe at “politicians”, who at least till now are elected by citizens in this country, and thus represent all of us at our best and at our worst, rather than as a separate class of characters.

POSTNOTE:  I come from a family full of military tradition, including a grandson presently in the Marines.  I understand and appreciate the military from the service level, including my own.  Recently I sent a few people a memory about my Uncle Frank, killed on the USS Arizona Dec 7, 1941, with a poignant commentary from his father, my grandfather Bernard, in Feb. 1942.  You can read it here: Bernard Frank and John Grabenske.

I note that my time with the Army began right after my graduation from college, which was 60 years ago, in early December, 1961.  Like all young people back then, I had a draft card, and was subject to the draft.  The Vietnam era had begun, but was as yet unknown to most of us.  Personally, I decided to volunteer for the draft, mostly to get it over with, and began my two years in January, 1962.  I didn’t like the Army, but never have I regretted the time in service.  I’d support mandatory service for all young people, but I’d much rather it be something other than military emphasis.  “Thank you for your service” should mean any community service….

 

One year ago…

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Joe Biden was announced to have won the U.S. Presidency Nov. 7, 2021. Election Day was actually Nov. 3. You know how these things work in the U.S.  The false narrative will remain forever, that the election was stolen….

Millions of words have been shed before and after Nov. 3, 2020, and it appears they will continue.

To my knowledge, there has never been a post-election year like the last twelve months.  This is not good news.  So be it.

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How do we move forward?  How do we deal with what is past?  There are endless opinions.

I can only speak for myself.  Truth be told, I write these pieces for myself, first, trying to clarify where I stand, personally.  How to be, in these crazy times?

Most of my career, perhaps my entire life, my orientation has been towards resolving conflict.  This makes me part of the American “tribe” I label the “We’s”.  The opposing tribe, which I call the “Me’s” has difficulty framing things as issues to be resolved, rather winning and dominance is the sole objective.  Resolution – compromise – is to be weak.  Of course, within the “we’s” there is the same problem.  We all have our number one priority, and a “we” with an unnegotiable top priority is as difficult to deal with as a “me”.  We hear about all of these every day in the news spin of our choice, wherever we seek news.  In my opinion, we cannot survive this absurd division.  I have in front of me as I type plenty of the most recent ‘evidence’.  So what?  On we go.

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We each have to approach this huge problem in our own ways.  I try to do this in these periodic postings.  Following I offer a couple of recent ideas from others to at least consider, and to keep exploring others.

If we can’t learn to work together to resolve issues, we are all part of a vanishing experiment called democracy.  There are infinite “yah buts”, but none of those will ultimately matter if we don’t get a grip.

For starters, here are those couple of ideas just picked up by keeping moving in life.  We all come across things like these in abundance, we just need to notice and pay attention.

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Sunday I went to Church as usual.

The weekly Basilica newsletter offered a few ideas, open to everyone.  You can read Ben Caduff’s column here: Basilica Ben Caduff Nov 7 2021.

Sunday’s Gospel (I’ve added it within page 2 of the above) was the well-known parable about the widow’s mite.  As Sunday’s celebrant/homilist framed the text, the widow was probably a beggar – there was not much of a safety net back then.  Her tiny offering at the Temple shamed that of the rich.  She was the hero of the story, her sacrifice recognized.  As I heard the message, Jesus elevated the status of the “ignored or disdained” (the homilists words) of his day, such as the beggar woman.  The advice to we in the pews was to use more “words of gentle encouragement”, and less of “disdain”.  The Priest, an elderly hero of mine, is no pushover.  He’s fully capable of standing his ground.  But he’s had years and years of experience of dealing with assorted non-negotiables and difficult problems in his work:  lots of practice in the field, so to speak.  The word “relationships” comes to mind.  The quoted words are his; the rest is my interpretation.

(it is, of course, a very short leap to attach labels to the widow and the rich who don’t talk in terms of “mites”.  “Widow” might be a synonym for loser, socialist, ‘taker’, etc; “rich”, a deserving, capitalist, ‘maker’….  These days of instant and graphic communication  and division, most political time and money is invested in building contrasts – “freedom” (them interfering with us), rather than community (we working together).  Actually, in my opinion, this describes pretty well the attitude sets of today’s two major tribal parties.)

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I also keep thinking back to the post I did last Saturday, titled “L6“.  I intentionally didn’t expand on what L6 meant – encouraging people to actually read the book for the answer.

Well, I don’t know who will read, or has read, “Premonition” by Michael Lewis, though it is excellent primer on the history of one of the great catastrophes of American history.

Still “teasing” you:  “L6” came, in the book, as a chapter heading, via a California technology entrepreneur who served as Governor Gavin Newsom’s economic advisor.  He was a man who “had created three different billion-dollar health care technology companies. and then went on to serve for three years under President Obama as the country’s chief technology officer.” (p. 229).

L6 ultimately identified by the entrepreneur with the key to contend with the pandemic was someone whose only paper qualification had been as an obscure county health officer.  (There’s lots in the book about this person, but you have to read the book to learn more.)

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I maintain there is a latent L6 in all of us.  “L6”, as I understand it, is someone 6 (or so) levels down from the top.  The person is usually some obscure, unpublicized and unnoticed worker who not only has a great idea, but the courage and passion to pursue it against all odds, and the patience to stick with it in obscurity.  Having already succeeded is not a criteria.  As the entrepreneur described the person needed to help solve the huge problem of the pandemic: “we need the most kick-ass public health guru…”  And they found that person, L6.

A person had finally been noticed who fit the bill.  (Doubtless there were others, too – but this is the example hi-lited.)

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It will not be easy to get L6 out of my mind.  I thought to myself, was I ever an L6?  Actually, possibly, maybe on more than one occasion, but it won’t be written down or recorded anywhere.  Someone further up the food chain got the credit, but perhaps I helped nudge one or two things along.

The ball started to roll.

There are millions of us like this.

An individual cannot change society all by him or herself, but it needs to start with someone, and this can easily be someone not handicapped by all of the problems that go with being in power.

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Where do you fit in?  What is your story?

L6

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On November 2 I said I’d report back about the election on the weekend.  I have decided to fold my comments on that into the Tuesday blog, here, about mid-point in the blog, the paragraph “My School District Results”.

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Yesterday I watched/listened to the Colin Powell funeral in Washington.  I did a recent blog about Gen. Powell and Robert Gates.  Both men made a positive difference in this country, I feel.  This is a time of personal reflection for me: looking back, looking ahead.

This past week, I noted that it now over 600 days since the Pandemic first began to interfere with my life.  Day Zero was March 6, 2020.  Storm clouds about Covid-19 were already gathering.  March 5 we had been to two events: the Minnesota Orchestra, and in the evening, a fundraiser for a climate change advocacy organization.  At both events there was a sense of uncertainty, but still all-in.  March 6,I stopped by my daughters to recommend an upcoming Orchestra event I’d noticed in the program.  She advised that it was time to start to lie low.  Her warning was just a little early for me.  She gave us masks she’d made.  The following Sunday, March 15, 2020, I ushered at the last Mass for many months at Basilica; on Tuesday, March 17, I was going to meet Kathy, my Irish friend, for breakfast in then still open restaurant.  But Tuesday morning, the restaurant closed, along with most everything else.

My story is one of hundreds of millions, including yours.  At the beginning, and in the middle, and even now, no one could predict the end nor the immense loss of life and other disruption of what we thought of as ‘normal’ lives.  The stories continue.  Disruptions of all kinds.  Crazy times.

This week I spent my time reading a second book about the Pandemic: “The Premonition” by Michael Lewis.  I finished it yesterday.  I’d recommend it to everyone, as I earlier recommended “Preventable” by Andy Slavitt.   Here are the dust jackets for both books.


There are numerous books, articles and endless opinions about the Pandemic which we’ve all lived within.  I think I got lucky in finding out about these two books, hearing the authors speak about the book, and reading both from cover to cover.  Andy Slavitt was administrator of Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Obama administration , then returned as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration.  Michael Lewis is a well known author who tells an absolutely riveting story from the viewpoints of people very few of us have ever heard of – the unsung heroes to the national disaster we’ve lived through – and many have perished from….

L6?  Why this odd title?

You need to read “The Premonition” to figure out why I picked those two letters.  (if you want to cheat, next time at a bookstore go to p. 230, start at the end of the page and read the paragraph there.  I contend we all can be an “L6”.  It’s a tough job.  We all have to do it for national survival.

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In the first line of this post, I say it is now over 600 days since the Covid-19 Pandemic began in the U.S.

The two books pictured above provide a huge amount of food for thought, not only the history, but where each and every one of us – the L6’s – fit in, not only in this crisis, but in every event of significance that affects our community.

These are books that are not for entertainment; rather for reflection.

Make the investment, and take the time.

POSTNOTE: In at least one instance, one book crosses into the other.  Lewis mentions Andy Slavitt in the last paragraph of pp 237-238; Slavitt mentions Victory over Covid-19 at pages 99-101, 109, and 116.  If you read these references and wonder why I refer to them here, just ask….

Election Day 2021

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PRE-NOTE: An outstanding book about the Pandemic, “The Premonition” by Michael Lewis.

A year ago – actually it was November 3, 2020 – was the general election for the United States.  Today is the off-off-year election (duplicate word intended).

If there is an election today in your town, vote well informed.

I early-voted last Friday at the local library.  It was quiet.  There were perhaps a half dozen of us voting at the time.  Process was smooth, as it always is.  Everybody working was polite, as I have come to expect over many years of voting.  I’m guessing there will be near 70,000 eligible voters  in my district today.  I predict the usual small percentage of potential voters actually voting – perhaps 10%.  This is strictly a guess.

The local election this fall is totally public school related: four school board contests, three incumbents (among nine candidates) vying to continue on the Board; two important property tax levy referendums.  I wonder how many of we citizens will even vote, and how many of us understand the implications of our vote (or non-vote).

These will be the only votes I can cast this year for elected representatives.  There is abundant background noise elsewhere about today, but those names or issues are not on my ballot.

For me, in addition to having voted myself, I’ll be watching to see what the voter turnout is tomorrow, and what/who wins.  My benchmark for comparison will be the local vote two years ago, which is recorded here: School Board 2019.

The distinction between local candidates is pretty clear, but you need to work to find it: unstated on the ballot, but central, are things like vaccination, masks, diversity, support for the school referendums or not, community of interest….  The kids most directly affected don’t qualify to vote.  The big people have to do that.

Here is a chart, presenting all the 2021 candidates and access to what is known of their stand on the issues.

(The election in 2019 was “non-partisan”, and best as I can tell, less than 10% of eligible voters actually went to the polls – unfortunately pretty typical for such local issue elections, regardless how important they might be.  We are a generally prosperous district with lots of school age children.

I suspect that “non-partisan” is only a charade, though it will be reported as non-partisan again in the official returns.)

Four of the candidates this year are very obviously and definitely running as a team, probably informally, with virtually identical bright red signs appearing together as a team everywhere in the school district area.  This is no accident.  All that is missing is the partisan label.  I don’t think you’ll find them listed on the internet as a team, though I did see them so listed a week or so ago – I looked.  That reference was taken down.  Their lawn ads only give the most minimal information about them – their names.  I’ll show a photo of typical signage in my end of the week blog. The lawn sign team quite obviously is organized by someone to get out their vote.

The other five candidates have only very minimal signage here and there, all individual, none uniform.

The difference between the candidates is stark, and who will be elected has consequences for us.

Vote well informed.  Stay tuned.  I’ll write some observations perhaps Saturday or Sunday.

MY SCHOOL DISTRICT RESULTS NOV. 2: School District 833 Nov 2 2021.  Everyone could vote for four school board candidates.  Three incumbents were reelected.  The 4th elected was one of the “lawn sign team”.  Compared with 2019, the turnout was heavy for a school board election – by my amateur calculation roughly 25% of eligible voters.  The lawn sign team votes for the four candidates went from 8,652 (the lowest winning vote total) to 8,140.  Two candidates one endorsed by the teachers, the other implicitly endorsed by the local Democrats, tallied a total of 12,039 votes – average of 6,000 each, splitting their vote theoretically costing one of them the election.  There were two referendum questions.  The first, a renewal, passed by 53-47%; the second failed by about 100 votes out of near 21,000 cast.   I am sure there will be lots of post mortems on this.

from Jeff Nov 6: Four takeaways from the 2021 school election results in Minnesota (MinnPost).  Actually I think the candidate Cinta Schmitz in Lakeville was an anti CRT one who won in a close election, less than 100 vote margin, and her description is typical neutral wording…..I saw the same with the Burnsville ones, I am sure this was an organized thing….prompting candidates to run and giving them the type of wording to describe their issues in a non offensive or white backlash way.

Oct 2, 2021, one month before the election in Woodbury MN. These signs, identical, came to be very common all over town. Everything about them suggested coordination, and note the absence of any substantive message other than a name on a red background.  The signs of course have disappeared.  I would surmise that internet references to them have disappeared as well. One of the four persons did win – the one open seat.

COMMENTS:

From Joyce: Very interesting observation about the identical red signs, always grouped together; yes, clearly, they are running as a team, and clearly, it is no accident that all their signs are red. This is an extremely consequential school board election.

from Steve: Good Morning, Dick. I’m generally a Rank Choice Voting fan, but it does take away the excitement of election night. The mayoral results in Minneapolis will, according to this morning’s paper, will be available on Friday. The school referenda and the charter questions in Mpls will be in tonight. Should be interesting. The public safety question will, I think, have an impact on the legislature–regardless of the decision.  I hope the referenda in both District 833 and 834 pass. The future without this recent federal money will be difficult for schools–as well as the legislature.  I’ll look forward to your thoughts on the results.

from Jeff: The election in Dist 191 (Burnsville-Eagan-Savage) is a pretty tame affair, only 2 people running for 1 seat.    The action is in Dist 196 (Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan) where like in your district, a slate of 3 candidates who are clearly of the anti science, anti diversity, and of course the outrage at CRT group…. they have different colored signs (maybe they figured that one out) but the signs are always together and their local paper ads are together as a group as well.   they have been well funded.  This I believe is yet another piece of what Dr Maclean wrote in that book we noted.   The libertarian authoritarian top of these groups appeals to white outrage and zero sum mentality to install power….I fear that ISD 196 likely will elect some if not all of them as the ads have been relentless for a local school board election.

from Jeff (2) Nov. 3: Conservative media outlets and thinktanks have ignited a groundswell of fear and anger about Critical Race Theory, vaccines and mask mandates in schools. In Minnesota, these concerns have been ignited in private Facebook groups and at rallies around the state. With school board elections on the horizon, progressive candidates have tried to push back on misinformation while elevating their desires for inclusive school environments. Good article on the right wing candidates here in Dakota county… more in-depth than what you usually see. (Article here).

None of the 3 right wingers appear to have won in ISD 191…but they finished 4th, 5th and 6th…..a Somali candidate won the most votes.      In Burnsville ISD 191, we had 2 candidates, one was Sue Said…not sure if she is Ethiopian or Somali but doesn’t wear the hijab.   In any case she easily won in a very low turnout election….like max 2500 voters….we voted at noon in our precinct and were voters 52 and 56.

from Norm (2) Nov. 3: (see also earlier comment at end):  In Roseville, the two-school board incumbents finished first and second and a newcomer defeated another new comer by the slimmest of margins to take the third seat that open.

Both referenda regarding funding for the school district passed fairly easily.

from Molly, a comment which seems pertinent to this conversation:

…I suspect several of you are familiar with [Ray Bradbury’s] writing?
(A lot of it is science fiction, but he worked in several genres…)
Peace,
Molly
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There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women’s Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme.
—Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (afterword)

Voting…Reflecting on Haiti and US.

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PRE-NOTE: My 10/28 post about Robert Gates and Colin Powell relates to this post.  Two related, important, long, articles came via two readers on Wednesday: here and here.  Another came in Friday, October 29 mail, here, “An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy”, published simultaneously in two magazines long identified as Liberal and Conservative, the Bulwark and New Republic.

Next week, Tuesday, Nov. 2, is an off-year election for local issues in many places.  Few people vote; the issues are always important.  If there’s an election in your town, Know the candidates and issues and vote, well-informed.

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Tuesday on the morning news a reporter was interviewing a citizen for a soundbite (I’m not being cynical – that’s the only reason for interviewing a person-in-the-street, in my opinion).  With so many people around, soundbites are easy to come by, and to find one that supports the reporters need.

This particular dear-in-the-headlights had voted for Biden a year ago.  She was a first time voter, though not young, and only voted for President, apparently.  She said she was never going to vote again.  Biden hadn’t fulfilled her personal issue demand – what caused her to vote in the first place.  Her sun had set on politics.

She looked…and sounded…pretty “American”.

One wonders if it ever occurs to her that her opinion is not the only version of truth; that someone like Biden has to deal with all sorts of impossible and competing priorities and opinions.  Somewhere, maybe next door, someone wants something a bit different than her.  Maybe a society has to be a team sport….

Not voting at all will solve nothing for her.  Unfortunately, she is not alone.  Lots of people share her fantasy…on all sides.

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The same morning, on my computer screen, came a message from someone posting from Haiti.

When Haiti is in the headline it usually isn’t good news.  Here was the message from the American in Haiti:

“Day 9 

When I awoke this morning I thought that I would be with daughter and son in law and my lovely grandkids tonight. That will not happen.  

We headed to airport early and made it through 19 barricades [emphasis added]. They varied in style and size. We made it about half way to our destination before [the] blockades started to appear. Burn[ing] tires, burning piles of trash, metal rods, abandoned car wrecks, broken glass, trees, etc. But the first 19 allowed us through with a simple beep of the car horn. But then [our driver looked] over about 100 yards from another burned out car in the road. There was a gap on the right that would allow us to pass, but he was aware of things I did not see. [Another passenger in our car, Haitian] also saw from the back seat. Down the window went and they asked a man of the street about the blockade and they [were] informed that this barricade was put up by a radical group and [they] would not negotiate our passage. 

So around we turned and back through the 19 barricades back to [our safe house] and another night in the safety of this compound. 

When I asked how he knew to stop at that particular blockade [our driver] said he saw the men on the other side of the barrier holding rocks and bottles to attack offending vehicles. Not worth the risk, especially with me in the car. 

On the return trip I asked how close we were to airport and he shook his head and said one minute away. So close and yet so far. So today is another day of waiting and praying for the people of Haiti. 

Please join me in that prayer.”

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Haiti is seen as a tragic place.  I’ve been to Haiti – twice.  In some senses, today’s United States is an even more tragic place, with people like the lady on the evening news, noted above, who squander the bounty all of us have inherited as American citizens.  So selfish that they will not bother to participate unless they get their way, exactly as they define it.

January 6, 2021,  is to me proof enough of how close we came to disaster in our own country; and many of us keep marching along to ruin.  Forever, Jan. 6 is symbolic of our own “barricades”.  Many of us apparently still believe that revolution is the only answer; winning the only option.  Too many Americans seem to buy the fraud that we need to be governed by some strong men; that this is a struggle between strong and weak.  I tried to write about this in The Teeter-Totter a few days ago.

The hoodlums in Haiti are no different than our own, and their odds of long term success are as slim, but on they march with their own particular narrative.

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But even in the dismal message from Port au Prince, I see a bit of silver lining.

On Day 9 somewhere in Port au Prince, Haiti, 19 barricades would let travelers through; one would not.

I keep thinking of the “tourists” in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, and the faux armies in the American woods drilling for their own invasions being planned sometime, somewhere; the government “leaders’ and police and others who incongruously support them – all of them less civilized than those manning those 19 barriers the correspondent recounted on Day 9.

POSTNOTES:  1) I plan to send on some thoughts next Tuesday on the one year anniversary of the 2020 election and its aftermath.  How about your addition to this post?  Just e-mail me before November 2.

2) I live in the United States, of course, but I’ve paid close attention to Haiti for the past 19 years (see link below).

There were two inspiring trips, in 2003 and 2006, both study trips.  2003 immediately preceded the American-Canadian-French backed coup d’etat, overthrowing a democratically elected government.  The second was in a time of political tension, almost certainly supported from outside.  First trip, I met people who were later imprisoned, some later killed, assassinated by gun and poison, exiled, too.  Someone didn’t like their existence, apparently.

All in all, I found Haitians, from the most impoverished, to be great people doing their damndest to make a life against all odds – imposed barriers, often built from outside – threats to life and property, impediments to actually voting, disinformation, etc.  Theoretically, in Haiti this was easier to do.  The average citizen is deeply impoverished and more often illiterate, unable to read and write the official French language.

The Haiti I saw was working within Democracy.  People, largely illiterate, had risked everything to just stand in line and cast their vote.  They walked to the polls – no cars.  Their experiment worked against all odds for some hopeful years.  For sure, it wasn’t perfect, hardly.  What else do you expect when your friends are really your enemies.  Best that your leader be a dictator whose loyalty is to himself and to his patrons, the rich in other places.

Haitians did and likely still do great things against overwhelming odds.  I’ll take any one of them over any home grown American insurrectionists or sympathizers any time.

Haitians know the struggle from having lived it for their entire history.

VOTE.  Well informed.  For all the candidates most moderate and understanding that we are a country of all, not just some.

As for “praying for the people of Haiti”. pray for US, that this nation “of, by and for the people” all of us, “shall not perish from the earth”.

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I was introduced to Haiti in early 2002.

In between and after I’ve paid attention to Haiti in various ways to the present.

Since 2003 I’ve maintained an internet presence about Haiti.  If you’re interested, here.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Jeff: not voting is part of the plan of the extreme right Koch/Tea Party wing of the GOP….voting rates in many states have declined alot, they did go up in 2020 because of the polarized election but from the 1960s till today many states are down particularly red states ….the minority can control if less turnout.

response from Dick: I agree with this analysis.  It doesn’t change my opinion that this emphasis on winning in the short term is disastrous for everyone, including the supposed “winners”, in the long term.  We all lose.  The solution has to be every one of us.  And it has to be a long term commitment.

Robert Gates and Colin Powell

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PRE-NOTE: I’m composing and completing this on Thursday afternoon, October 28, 2021.  As I write, the endless chatter is about whether or not or how much or who will make the President Biden package succeed or fail…while President Biden is enroute to Glasgow for CAP26.  When I click publish on this, I won’t know what decision is finally reached.  What I will be thinking about is the woman I mention at the beginning of my next post, at this point unpublished, but scheduled probably for Saturday morning.

Today is a retrospective and political reflection, for whatever its worth.  We, all of us, are “politics”.  We deserve credit…or blame…for anything that happens because of actions we take on our watch.  There have been many on-watch before us.  This comments on two of these people.

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October 17, I watched an excellent Sixty Minutes segment featuring Robert Gates, powerful insider and career – dare I say? – ‘bureaucrat’ who at one time or another advised eight U.S. Presidents.  This would go back to Reagan.

The following morning the news came that Colin Powell had died.  Powell’s career went back to before Vietnam, well over 50 years.

There is abundant information readily available about two men and thus I’ll not go into that at all.  Personally I had positive feelings about both men, as true leaders.

Both men, indeed all leaders of whatever gender, local, state or national or international, are subject to being ‘lightning rods’ for most everyone, makes no difference if the reaction is positive or negative to whatever it is that the leader has led on.

Back in the distant past, one year ago, I came across a lawn sign in Minneapolis that pretty well spoke my personal truth about leadership.  It speaks volumes for itself.

Political lawn sign seen in Minneapolis August, 2020.

People like Colin Powell and Robert Gates, and many, many others, fit this lawn sign to a tee.  They were people who had to make decisions that were always wrong to some, right to others, neutral to still others.  Somebody had to decide.  They made mistakes, and they even were willing to acknowledge that their decisions might not have been correct.

This morning I was noticing at my coffee place that there were perhaps 20 of us there with me, most patrons, a few others, staff.

I could say, honestly, that I actually ‘knew’ only one of those 20 people, and that person only in the very limited context of the coffee shop.  I thought to myself, what would happen if something happened in or around our mutual space that required a decision.  If it had to be an instant decision, someone would likely take the lead, and the rest would follow, no consideration of second guessing later.  Pick your issue, pick your leader.  Afterwards decisions will be made about wisdom or lack of the leader in dealing with the crisis.

Then expand this to the huge kinds of issues that we constantly ‘grade’ our leaders on.

In my youth, President Harry Truman had to make the decision about whether or not to drop the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It is a decision that will forever be second-guessed.  It is my understanding that when Truman ascended to the Presidency at the death of Franklin Roosevelt, that he wasn’t even fully aware that the bombs were ready to go, or perhaps, even, that they were being developed.   This was in April, 1945,  Hiroshima was bombed August 6, Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.  Germany surrendered in May, 1945.  Truman got the credit…and the blame, it seems.

I cannot conceive of the stress placed on Harry Truman at that point in his “The Buck Stops Here” administration.  He had to be the functioning adult in the room, and part of that was to take the shots afterwards, from the people who had their own feelings and their own agendas.

In the end analysis, we, the people, are always the one who have the responsibility for the decision makers we elect.  As long as we are a democracy (and that is in question, now, in our country), every one of us who votes (or does not vote at all) for any and all offices share the credit or the blame for a society which works, or not.

We need to take sides.  Colin Powell and Robert Gates were, in my opinion, positive leaders.  People whose example is good to learn from.  They showed up.

Enough said.

Women

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PRENOTE: Last Thursday I had a unique opportunity, which I want to share.  An organization I’ve long been part of has a Third Thursday Film each month, and the offering was the film “Worth”, a 2020 Netflix release starring Michael Keaton as Ken Feinberg, about compensating the survivors of 9-11-01 victims.  The ‘drill’ for Third Thursday is to watch the film first, then join on-line discussion about the film.  The guest, Thursday, was Ken Feinberg himself, who was played by Michael Keaton in the film.  The conversation was an outstanding hour plus and the conversation can be watched on-line at the Global Solutions website, here.  DO WATCH THE FILM FIRST.

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October 17 my friend, Kathy, asked me to send a copy of an obit she had read, and wanted to send on to someone.  She thought I knew the person who had died.   I’m still not certain, since the single contact would have been over 40 years ago at a meeting.

I followed through, and it occurs to me that this is an obit well worth reading, even though it is probably the longest newspaper obit I have ever seen.  You can read it here.  Take the time: Nina Rothchild (click to enlarge).  About the only observation I will make about Nina Is that she came to be noted at a crucial time in the women’s movement, long, and still, evolving but particularly evident in the 1970s.

I’ll take the risk of making a few observations, but mostly it would be nice to hear from women, perhaps using Nina’s story as a basis for conversation, perhaps not.

Just yesterday, after a memorial service for a deceased teacher union staff colleague, three of we former staff, all men, recalled the impact of Title IX in our work, particularly in the later 1970s and 1980s.  (My personal career in teacher union work was 1972-2000.)

Most of our members were women, then; but almost all of the public education managers – Principals and such – were men.  This extended to Union staff.  Anyone can fill in the abundant blanks.  You pick the occupation.

I’m a family historian, and a number of years ago I came across what I felt was a remarkable photograph from the 1940s. It included my grandmother.   It was remarkable not only in that the photo was entirely women, but on the back of the photograph every woman was named by someone with legible handwriting.

But what was most remarkable of all was that every single one of the 20 or so women were identified as “Mrs. so-and-so”, including one woman, I found later, who was not married, or at least my source said, no one had ever seen or even heard of a husband of the woman in the tiny town.  The women pictured were likely part of a church organization and thus, in a sense, all activists.  But their first name, in effect, was “Mrs”, and the person who wrote their names was probably also a woman.

It was intriguing.

Much more recently I came across a newsletter dated November, 1963, of a state peace and justice organization which still exists.  The newsletter was publicizing a group of speakers for an annual event recognizing the founding of the United Nations.  “Whoever speaks of and for the United Nations speaks for Man” read part of the article.  Then the 15 speakers were listed.  Four were women, three of them “Mrs.”, one “Rev. Mrs.”  (Two of the women had their given first name, the other two, their husbands name.)

Among the men, four were identified as “Dr.”, the rest simply listed by first and last name.  (It was duly noted in the same newsletter article that there were eight “women who worked on the committee and hanged appointments between the speakers and the schools….“. Seven of the eight were Mrs [husbands first name]; the eighth, Ola, was apparently a single woman.)

I could go on and on.

Earlier this month, at Church, I was intrigued by a phrase in the Gospel reading from Mk 10:2-12 – the one where Moses had the law that a man could divorce his wife; but “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  It occurred to me, and I wrote my Pastor afterwards, about the current contradiction in terms: “We – none of us – know what God really thinks.  God is a construction of our own beliefs (plural) often fashioned to fit our own construct.  This has always been true in every society, every belief system for all of human history.”  I have no problem believing in God, but I draw the line at humans defining what God thinks about marriage, divorce, even “life”, or anything at all for that matter – all of which are meddle’d in by the self-proclaimed Moses of our times, who usually are men, regardless of denomination.

The business of male and female has a pretty long history, as we know.  About half of us are men, half of us are women.  Change is happening but very slowly.

Have at it.  I’m glad Kathy alerted me to Nina’s obit.

POSTNOTE:  Last night (Sunday Oct 24) I stayed up long past my usual bedtime to watch the MSNBC Special “Civil War (or who do we think we are)“.  It had far too many ads – the price one pays for television – but the program was outstanding food for thought, regardless of one’s point of view.  I hope it is available to others. Here’s the link to MSNBC.  I have no other details about whether or when it will be rebroadcast.  Do take the time.  This is our collective problem as a society.  Avoidance won’t solve it.

COMMENTS (more at end of post)

from Fred: Your comment about mid-20th century women being identified as Mrs. instead of their given name resonates. Over the years, I’ve spent many hours trying to the first names of even prominent women.

Example: Mrs. A.T. Anderson of Minneapolis was one of the founders of the Minnesota Suffrage Association and a state leader in the Temperance movement. There were more than a few Anderson in Mpls at the 20th Century’s turn. After many dead ends, I lucked out (don’t recall exactly how but it had to do with finding her husband first) and found her.

Now AMANDA Anderson is rightfully known through that article I wrote for MN History on the MWSA.

from Jeff: I watched some of that Civil War documentary as it is an area of interest to me, however I watched it a few weeks ago on a streaming format.  I just looked it is on Peacock….and since I do not pay for that service, it is on the free version and able to be viewed still ….

I am reading “Robert E Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause” by Ty Seidule…..the author is retired military and former history professor at West Point who was raised in Virginia and has written an excellent dissection of the Lost Cause  in a very personal way weaving in his own experience with the history.  I expected a dispassionate historian discussion , quite the opposite it is both informed and factual but also intensely personal …recommended.
As to the knowledge of God, it’s good to see some of the apostasy is rubbing off…..
There is an excellent piece on today’s Israel in todays NY Times… talk about men thinking they know what God has ordained…oy vay.
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from Steve: As usual, thanks for the note and thoughts. I did have the chance to meet Nina Rothchild. Her husband, Ken, was president of the MN Historical Society’s Board while I worked there. He and the Society’s director, Nina Archibald, were instrumental in getting the legislature to appropriate money for the new History center. Ms. Rothchild was quite a woman. A real inspiration, and not just for women. Nina Archibald was another influential person in the arts and politics of the 1980s to 2000. When she retired from the Society, I think she served as an interim director of the MN Opera Company. She was quite a remarkably talented and brilliant person.

 

Invitations

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Tonight, October 19, Vets for Peace, 21st Peacestock, on Zoom.  Details here.

Fresh Energy is a recognized leader in climate change, and J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director, goes to CAP 26 in Glasgow.  She has a zoom session on October 20.  Pre-registration required.  Details here.

Global Solutions MN has two interesting sessions, details for both sessions here.  October 21 Third Thursday movie discussion, featured speaker Kenneth Feinberg, the person subject of the film Worth,  watching the film before the talk is important.  It is available on Netflix; October 26, Forum on Immigration.  Details at the website, brief.  Registration requested.

World Without Genocide has a program on Afghanistan Genocide on October 24.  Details here.

Global Minnesota has interesting programs on Cybersecurity and Sustainability Oct 25 and 28, here.

United Nations Association MN has an on-line program on October 28, United Nations Day.  Details here.

All of these programs are available remotely.  I admit I miss occasional in-person meetings, but we certainly wouldn’t have the menu of choices available here.

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Special addition: Yesterday I initiated my third campaign for small donations to TPT in St. Paul.  The intent is simple: to bundle small donations of $10 or more payable to TPT to be delivered about Nov. 15.  Details in a one page letter here. TPT #2 2021.  Make check  to TPT, send to Dick Bernard no later than Nov. 15.  

(If you don’t know “TPT”, it’s the Minnesota affiliate of Public Broadcasting.  I’ve been impressed with PBS over the years.)

 

 

 

 

The Teeter-Totter

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Prenote: I encourage you to take a look at, and participate in, the upcoming Peacestock of the local Veterans for Peace.  It is next Tuesday evening.  Details here.

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I published Louts a week ago, and a day later I was thinking about an old photo in the treasure trove at the ancestral farm in North Dakota.  It is below, and it largely explains itself.  It came to mind in reference to our present day tribal society.  So did Blessed Debt, published Wednesday.  Both have several comments which stimulate thought.  An over-arching question: Do we find a way to live together, or do we engage in a fight to the death of our democracy?  This is not an idle question.

Teeter Totter, probably in Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Rapids ND ca 1940s from Busch-Berning collection 11082-00800, State Historical Society of North Dakota

The teeter-totter (aka seesaw) would be familiar to anyone in my general age.  It would have been part of my life beginning in the 1940s.  As we know, it was nothing fancy, and the five kids visible in the picture model it well.  More about it and its companion playground items at the end of this post, but mostly I’d like to very briefly comment on it as a metaphor for contemporary political relationships generally.

The seesaw was a playground staple that required cooperation.  It wouldn’t work for a single dominant individual.  It required cooperation of two sides.  The two kids at the left in the picture had to be somewhat balanced in weight by whomever was on the other end (who was someone somewhat equal in weight to them).  Absent this parity and cooperation, it wasn’t fun.  It didn’t work.  Just like today’s politics.

In the picture, you’ll see another teeter-totter behind the first, and a kid standing astride its fulcrum point.  It appears that there is a kid to his left, and one presumes there is someone somewhat similar in weight to his right.

In both seesaws there was balance.  Good examples of joint effort.

We live in contentious times in which balance almost seems unattainable.  Our seesaw is a nation is at odds within.  To win, the other must lose.  And then both lose.  We all lose.

The balance which our entire environment needs is gone and dysfunction becomes the norm.

Challenge: There is no more explanation needed about how this applies to our society in general.  It’s in your individual courts.  Think about us – all of us – as users of a gigantic teeter-totter, each with wants and needs.  

How can we get ourselves back in balance?  This is a critical question for each of us and for our society.

POSTNOTE: The playground.

When I was a kid, growing up in very tiny towns in North Dakota, most every school had some semblance of playground equipment.  The most common devices: a swing, some kind of merry-go-round, maybe a seesaw, probably monkey-bars.  These seemed to be the usual, along with the usual running space for working off excess energy at recess.

I started first grade in 1946.  The technology, then, was primitive compared to today.  The primary materials were steel and wood.  There was no apparent attention to safety or aesthetics.  Kids could get hurt.

Over history society has refined the playground to make it a much safer space for children.  Standards were established for playground equipment.

During this week I stopped at a new community playground which has just opened near by, a community memorial to a little girl who died at less than three of a childhood disease.

I looked for a teeter-totter, and a young man there with his child pointed out the 2021 version of the wooden structure of the 1940s.  Here it is:

Seesaw at Healtheast Sports Center Woodbury MN Oct 11, 2021

COMMENTS (more comments below):

from Sonya (who lives near the ND park in the above photo, and who I asked about Teeter Totter in todays park): There are no teeter-totters at the park anymore and I’m not sure why. Maybe they were deemed unsafe. The park did buy some new playground equipment this spring, but the man contracted to install it was so busy all summer that he didn’t get it done.

from Dick: sign seen on door of local business Oct 15 before this post was published.  It is not known who put it there.  It appeared to disappear by the next day, for reason unknown.  But the meeting it advertises is probably still on, and not friendly to people its organizers think shouldn’t be voting….

POSTNOTE 2 Oct 19: I opened this post with a comment thinking about a teeter-totter Aug. 10.  A few you responded.  Most especially, I noted Mary Ellen’s, below: “The lesson I learned had less to do with physics than with human nature – that is, not to get on a teeter-totter with certain people. I appreciate your emphasis on the cooperation necessary for a smooth ride, but what do we do with the bumpers?” (Emphasis added).

What Mary Ellen – a retired teacher – observed is what we all observed, as kids.  Bullies – that is what the “bumpers” usually were – spoiled the fun for the little kids.  In fact, this is possibly a major reason that you no longer see those kinds of rides in playgrounds.  They were not so much physically dangerous (though they could hurt) as they weren’t fun when the bullies took over.

Bullying extends far beyond big louts on the playground of course.  I read recently that Republicans have introduced over 400 bills in 49 states to suppress the vote and so on.  They are not seeking to balance the teeter-totter.

We are in a hopefully brief era, right now, where bullies and their admiring acolytes are setting fire to our democracy by attempting to subvert and thus control the process of selecting our representatives in elections of all sorts at all levels.  Mary Ellen asks “what do we do with the bumpers [bullies]?”  First and foremost, we confront them I’m each and every instance; secondly, we neutralize them by voting in each and every election.  The bullies of today know they are in a minority, and the only way they can prevail is to dominate in any way possible.  Bullies are basically cowards, but they’ll dominate unless exposed and at minimum neutralized.

Teeter-totters were no longer fun for bullies when their little kid companions (and the kids parents) wouldn’t subject themselves to the bullies harmful behavior.  In my opinion, today’s bullies will deeply regret the dominance they think will give them control over the rest of us.  But we have to first of all take them on.

Just my opinion.

Blessed Debt

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There were a few interesting comments to my post on Louts.  Take a look, if you wish.  A Followup post, Teeter-Totter, will be this weekend.

As I write, Wednesday morning, Oct 13, 2021, the chatter on the television is all from or about 90 year old William Shatner, just returned from his 3 minutes in space.   This is all about privatization of space, for the already rich.  There won’t be many common folks ready to pony-up $250,000 for a seat on later flights.  Some billionaire has already gobbled up all the seats for the first moon-shot, to come some day.  It is a fantasy world “bucket list”.

Not that fantasy is restricted to the rich.  Earlier this morning I was driving home from my daily walk, past the under construction ‘woods’ of new houses.  Off-screen to the right was the advertising board for these new houses, listed for $609,000. There is a market, apparently.

Woodbury MN Oct 13, 2021

In D.C. the hearings continue about January 6; talk about refusal to honor subpoenas and what to do about that.  And talk about the national debt which is (depending on who is in control) irrelevant, or a horror, spun incessantly.  (In a side comment about Shatner’s space trip, someone got in a shot at the Obama administration, which apparently slowed down the private sectors race toward space, after trying to clean up the financial mess left in the wake of the near collapse of our economy in 2008.).

I am not an economist, but today seems a good time to try to translate some numbers to help understand reality which is, after all, where most of us have to live.

Personally, I have come to believe that Debt is essential to those who already have wealth and want to increase it.  Debt is profit.  The only question is who benefits from the debt.  I could elaborate, but won’t.

There are about 330,000,00 of us in the United States, easily, still, by far the wealthiest collection of people in the world.  There are about 7 billion of us on the planet Earth.  Last numbers I have, from 2017, the U.S. has about 4% of the world’s population and 23% of the wealth: Wealth of UN Countries.   (I was good friend of the man who generated this list for his important book on UN Reform.  He was a world class academic and extremely careful in his presentation of data.  He died three years ago, and his work lives on. More about him and his work here: https://www.workableworld.org.)

Now, to a few basics (errors are mine, help me correct them).

$3 per person gets us to about a Billion dollars.

$3,000 per person gets us a Trillion.

Surely, that’s serious money…but if you take a serious look at personal debt, now or in the past, for yourself, personally, somewhere in your history is probably a lot of debt.  It could be for that new house, or car, or college or other expenses, or whatever.  But our society has long been organized around debt management.  That’s because debt is essential to wealth of the wealthiest.  You know the refrain, “credit” seems preferred to cash in this day.

Take those $600,000 houses in the picture above.  The odds are pretty slim that their buyers will be paying cash money for them.  There will likely be large mortgages (loans).

If you’re reading this you can make lots of words out of this single picture.

A whole bunch of those Trillions we already have incurred as “national debt” were gifts from previous Presidents and their necessary enablers in Congress.   It is Congress, after all, which controls debt.  It’s in the Constitution (basically Article I Sections 7 and 8).  You might remember those huge tax cuts in 2017.  These were gifts to the already wealthy and biggest businesses; they came via Congress, signed by the President.  There was no hand-wringing by the winners, then – rather victory laps.  But the tax cuts took huge amounts of income off the books, thus leading to increase in debt….

A bit before that, 2008 and the years prior, we spent like drunken sailors on assorted wars, and dismissed the problem of debt.  “Go shopping” was a refrain for recovery from 9-11-01.

For all sorts of reasons, good and not so good (like buying that house) debt grows.  Depending on one’s bias, any particular item of debt is blessed, or evil.  Depends on how YOU see it.  Here’s one chart that seems reasonably unbiased and gives a general idea, anyway (and is the first one when I googled).  I just add it to give you an idea.  Comments?

Succinctly, there are people far more knowledgeable than I who know what debt really means in context of the fiscal health of ourselves and our nation and our world.

All of the rest are useless sound bites uttered daily.

What is your personal debt, compared with your personal wealth?  That’s the first question we should ask ourselves.

When we translate this to a nation and a world, all we are doing is adding a whole bunch of zeroes.

Be aware.

COMMENTS (also at end of post):

from Jeff: Blessed Debt: at first I thought this was a post on the phenomenon of church mortgages.  These are a separate grouping within the banking industry I discovered a few years ago.  Loaning to churches to build is an interesting business.

Debt: I am no expert, but on the national debt and the current spending of the Federal govt, the biggest portions are Defense and social entitlement spending.  The rest of budgets and debts are mostly small potatoes.  So it really is Medicare, Medicaid, other aids to people in poverty or on the borderline and the defense budget.  “Guns and butter.”  as the economists used to say.
Many say the debt, the spending is unsustainable.  I think the key thing is to watch the ratio or % of the debt to the GDP of the USA , as long as it remains in a % basis that is “serviceable”…. just like a home mortgage…then debt is not a big problem.
As long as the spending is something that provides a return ….good health care that is preventative can be very profitable for a country, child care, PreK education, reducing student debt, physical/power/cyber infrastructure all provide a good return on investment.
So like a home purchase or getting an education, they are wise.  With the caveat that you keep the spending and debt within the % acceptable for a GDP…it makes sense.
Tax cuts:  the main thing people do not understand is that tax cuts are “spending”, the govt is essentially giving money to certain groups.   When you consider that the majority of tax income in the USA is paid by the wealthiest it is clear that the tax cut spending is lavished mostly on the wealthy.   The Bush tax cuts and the Trump tax cuts were also spread over 10 years in the budget, together they amount to 3.4 trillion dollars.  That sounds very familiar to the current Biden budget plan ….3.5 billion,  which I believe will eventually come down to somewhere in the 1.8 to 2.0 trillion when the Senators of AZ and WV have given their imprimaturs.   Both the tax cuts and the biden plan are spending .
Final thought and why Republicans are fighting so hard.  Things like PreK education and child care reimbursements, and possibly dental care under Medicare would be wildly wildly popular ….much like Medicare is today.  They understand this, and understand as well this could be the start of a generational change in priorities… we have spent 40 years trying to unravel the New Deal , and this is essentially the
first step in reinstating some of that social spending again.   In the last fiscal year the defense budget was 775 billion dollars, if you spread that over the next 10 years that would be 7.75 trillion dollars of defense spending… yet no one ever sees that debated ad infinitum or being discussed as a life or death bit of spending for the USA….
Church mortgages might have been a holier discussion.
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from Fred: You and the contributors have done a nice job in linking privatizing outer space, housing construction, and national debt to the policies of the two parties. In simplified terms, we’ve been seeing recent GOP administrations adding to the debt with give-away benefits to entrenched US “haves,” followed by Democrats working to repair the damage done. Obama got the job of saving the economy from the Bush “Great Recession”. We can still recall the near panic in US financial sector and those financial houses that were “too big to fail,” and corporations that paid no taxes. The Dems, as always, worked to even the playing field with programs tailored to the working class and poor. In the past both sides in Congress worked together to divvy up the budget’s available allocations. Now we’re seeing extremes on both end of this struggle demanding the entire pie. The GOP has already won this game of give and take by refusing to play it. The current socialist side of the Progressive movement has returned to its early 20th century roots and is trying to achieve the change for which their predecessors fought. But we Old Timers remember the likes of FDR’s Brain Trust, Norman Thomas (the great socialist and the nation’s conscience), Upton Sinclair’s utopian vision for California, Henry Wallace, Wisconsin’s LaFollettes, MN’s Floyd B. (I’m a radical) Olson, and North Dakota-based Nonpartisan League (NPL). They all made splashes on the American Left—the NPL perhaps the most noteworthy—and some progress for the little guy, but not the lasting impact for which they yearned.