Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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The American Flag – Hijacked by Conservatives?

American flagDon’t get me wrong, there is no other country to which I would want to be a citizen. If I were to move to another country, I could not imagine giving up my United States citizenship. It would be an impossibility for me. Having said this it feels to me that this country currently has so many problems that are not being addressed it saddens me. Our general attitude of exceptionalism is one of them. It can be debated if our country was ever exceptional, but I certainly do not feel like it is at this time. Unless, of course, you consider hogging most of the world’s resources and bullying countries around the globe with our military as being exceptional. Another significant problem seems to be that as a nation we are becoming more and more splintered along economic, religious and political lines.1

I live in the Second Congressional District of Missouri. I mention this because this district is ultra conservative. They have elected a couple of the lamest politicians to ever walk the face of the earth let alone take the oath of office. Specifically that would be the incumbent, Ann “there is no climate change problem” Wagoner and Todd “legitimate rape” Adkins.

I bring up  the conservatism of this district as Continue reading “The American Flag – Hijacked by Conservatives?”

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Take George Washington Off the One Dollar Bill

I believe it is time to remove George Washington from the quarter coin and the one dollar bill. While we are about it, I think we need to tear down the Washington george-washington-one-dollar-billmonument. The monument, besides glorifying this man, is unabashedly phallic.

I suppose it would not be out of bounds for you to ask me why I have come to this conclusion. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are considered the founders of the Democratic Party. Jefferson-Jackson Day is a Democratic Party fundraising tradition across our country. The Missouri Democratic Party has decided to change the name of it biggest fund raiser from the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner to the Harry S. Truman Dinner.

Let’s parse this for moment.

The objection expressed during the local NPR news story was that Jefferson and Jackson both were slave owners.   Nearly 30 percent of our presidents have been slave owners, a total of 12 of the 44 individuals. Of the first 18 presidents, 13 owned slaves. This is not an attempt to excuse, but we are all a result of the time and place our lives pass through. Norms also change with time and place. Continue reading “Take George Washington Off the One Dollar Bill”

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Flags, Deflection, Guns, Rationalization

In order to confederate battle flagget through life we all have certain psychological defense mechanisms that we use more or less depending on the person and the situation. A very common one is rationalization which is defined as:

‘Rationalization is the cognitive distortion of “the facts” to make an event or an impulse less threatening. We do it often enough on a fairly conscious level when we provide ourselves with excuses. But for many people, with sensitive egos, making excuses comes so easy that they never are truly aware of it. In other words, many of us are quite prepared to believe our lies.’ 1

When psychologists talk of defense mechanisms, they are typically speaking of the individual. However, humans practice defense mechanisms as a group. While there are many areas that we practice rationalization, a frequent one in the United States is gun violence. Whether the killing is en masse or an individual, we continually hear comments Continue reading “Flags, Deflection, Guns, Rationalization”

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Unions Are About Fairness

unionNicholas Kristof recently wrote an editorial, The Cost of a Decline in Unions

On the whole I believe unions to be a necessary component of our capitalistic system. The individual worker has very little power in dealing with large businesses or large government entities. When they do have power it is when there is a tight labor market, but those seldom seem to last very long.

It is always dangerous to generalize from one’s personal experience to make points about larger issues, but here I go. I have seen union membership be required when the union did little for the worker. They were in place, gathered their dues, and that was about it. At the other end I have seen unions so intent on justifying their existence that they frequently went to the extremes. They did not realize that sometimes good is good enough. There is, of course, a MLK holiday. The union for the outfit I worked for in Memphis managed to wrangle another holiday, the day of MLK’s assassination. It always struck me that they filed all too many grievances, and generally tried to maintain an attitude of the union versus management. Frequently what seems to happen with unions in place is an overly structured workplace.   The company and the worker lose some ability to do the work creatively. In the past the union managed to create jobs that were perhaps unnecessary. I had a roommate in Rhode Island who was a union fireman. His workday consisted of going in at 11 p.m., Continue reading “Unions Are About Fairness”

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Madder Than a Baptist Finding His Favorite Liquor Store Closed

GUNI really surprised myself as how quickly I went from wandering around REI Christmas shopping to madder than a Baptist finding his favorite liquor store closed.

The REI here is St. Louis is in one of the richest parts of town. The parking lot is full of Beamers, Mercedes and Teslas in addition to the expected Subabrus, Toyotas and Hondas. We were walking towards the front of the store to check out. Robin never noticed him, but there was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, walking around with a 45 strapped to his waist. He was obviously not store security. He did not look like a plains clothes police office in his Australian outback hat. I had to turn around and walk towards the back of the store as my impulse was to walk up to him and say, “Unless you are carrying a badge, you are one stupid mother f***er.

I do not want to live in a society where people can walk around with lethal weapons strapped to their bodies. I consider concealed carry laws an atrocity beyond words. I have lived 63 years and I can think of only one situation where I might have wanted a gun. Instead I turned around and confronted the man verbally which was enough. It is insane to have to worry about accidentally triggering some mental case with a gun tucked away somewhere on their body. If I verbally abuse you, flip you off, or cut you off in traffic it is more insanity to have to worry about a weapon.

My personal opinion is that anyone that is willing to carry a weapon, openly or otherwise, in a situation where the need for it approaches an infinitesimal small percentage is not sane enough to carry a weapon.

 

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 1,394

yeah I know you did not ask!

What about next time Congress has some “must pass” legislation, instead of slipping a rider that benefits only the fats cats and decreases our democracy, we tact on riders to benefit all of us.  Perhaps something to reform the student loan program, and make college affordable; perhaps something that will help bring good jobs back to America;  perhaps legislation to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century; perhaps a realistic minimum wage; perhaps a tax code change to decrease the wealth gap; I could go on an on, but you get the idea.