Greetings from
The Publisher . . .
The Future Ain’t What It Used to BeI have to admit I was excited when it became clear that Barack Obama would be elected. After listening to his speech election night I wasn't as excited—I was moved. While watching I thought about my niece, Emily, in the second grade now. When I was about her age I lived in Virginia.
I remembered waiting with my mother at the train station for my grandmother to arrive, and noticing that there were two water fountains, side-by-side. One had a sign above it that read “white,” and the other, “colored.”
Being fairly new to the South I'd never seen that before. As it sometimes does, my curiosity got the best of me. Could the colored water actually taste or look any different? Part of it, I think, was about testing the rules. I drank from both when I thought no one was looking. It felt strange to me that a child could do something that some adults couldn't do.
What a different view of black people—of the world —my niece will be able to have seeing a President who is black. What an incredible change and opportunity this is for the young to see a different world.
There is a lot of hope for change right now—one poll said 85% of the population wanted change. I hope we have the patience to allow it to come about.
Some are already mustering their forces to make sure they don't get a “liberal agenda” rammed down their throats. How bad do things have to become before we can get beyond the personal agendas that benefit us and think in terms of how what we do affects all of us/US? Well, at least there's 85% of us who want something different.
And business as usual continues. Does it feel right that a lame duck President can—whether the duck's really a lame donkey or a lame elephant—lock us into the future? So right after we voted “no” on the status quo—President Bush can make a last minute agreement with Iraq defining our participation there?
And what's wrong with this picture? Pres. Bush gave the go ahead for the U.S. Ambassador to sign the agreement. The Iraqi Foreign Minister signed it also. Next the Iraqi parliament has to okay the agreement. In this country, it's a done deal. No Congressional approval is required.
I thought they were spreading democracy, not simply exporting it. Don't we really want “lame” politicians focusing on the transitioning out of town?
Some have suggested that the first several bailouts were Bush's last chance to give to his friends before leaving office.
One thing has become clear about bailouts. Don't use your private jet when going to DC to ask for one. The automakers did and are just about the only ones who were turned down, so far.
Several news reports described the automakers as arrogant and smug, expecting they should be bailed out. This is the Big Three who resisted seat belts, air bags, better gas mileage standards and clean air legislation. Humm. No wonder they're in trouble. Now they advertise some of those things as buying features. Should we be sustaining what appears to be those in their “own little world?”
Thinking like that, however, is a trap. Isn't the question, what will help us/US get the economy going? If they go bankrupt would it allow them to remove their obligation to overpriced and inefficient executives (judging by their companies) and become more profitable? Obviously labor will be affected too. How much? The bottom-line is we don't know yet.
We do hear the partisan rhetoric, of course. The auto industry, for instance, provides 1 of 10 jobs in America. But . . .
It would be nice to think that closing down the Big Three would eliminate car maintenance and repairs, but if it did maybe we should have done it long ago. We'll probably even continue to buy gas. There's lot's of jobs in those related industries, and they'll still be there.
It looks like filing bankruptcy would eliminate some jobs, but the industries are NOT all going out of business. They will reorganize. Let's give up the partisan arguments and hear more.
What we can probably all agree on is that giving money to the same executives who have resisted change and ran things into the ground isn't too smart and isn't change either. Replacing the management should be a condition for bailouts.
This all highlights our health care challenge too. Those who work in the auto industry have it. Obviously it wouldn't be a problem if we all had it. In a troubled economy, isn't the need for it more apparent?
If what really makes the economy run is our confidence in it—and getting that confidence back is a major component of getting things going again—is there a better time to relieve people of their fears about getting sick and having medical bills they can't pay? Wouldn't we all feel a bit more confident about the economy without that fear? Already there are stories about people cutting back on their medication and putting off visits to the doctor to save money. Is that what we want? Is that good for us/US? Wouldn't it be refreshing to look at this from a perspective of the health and well-being of the country and not get bogged down in a philosophical discussion? Isn't it time to think in terms of what works for people and be pragmatic?
Maybe we can even give up the idea that perception is reality. Republican campaign strategist Lee Atwater promoted that idea over and over. Did you see the TV special on him? His campaigns were not pretty, just pretty unethical, as he swayed people with lies and innuendos. One's perception makes something a reality? Life is the opposite isn't it? Isn't it about learning and correcting misperceived realities?
Atwater is dead now and his protege Karl Rove is out of power. I truly hope we can give up this approach to politics and governing. Dealing with the current realities may require a more cooperative environment.
And related to being more real, can we get science out of the doghouse? Science isn't going to solve everything. But imagine how much further along we might be without the philosophical restraints of the last eight years. Researchers, for instance, think they will be able to grow replacement limbs for our bodies. Personally, I'd settle for more hair.
Did you hear about the DNA scientists who think they can “grow” dinosaurs, a la Jurassic Park? I mentioned to a friend and she responded, “Why, didn't they see what happened in the movie?”
So far there's no evidence this research is being funded by Big Oil as a last ditch green effort to turn oil into a renewable resource—so far. Dino-oil? PETA would object.
The coming “green wave” may have several stealth industries that deserve a second look—clean coal, for instance.
There's a lot of hope out there now that we can get back to our roots and revive the economy, but it may not come overnight. If they knew exactly how to fix the economy they would have done it already. There are challenges that may require some experimentation and more than a new knight on a white or black horse.
A great majority of the Congress was reelected. So getting back to business as usual could be too easy. No doubt we've seen power corrupt. We may have to remind them what out-of-balance partisanship can do.
If a new direction—and the recovery we all want—is to be gained, it will require industry, labor, Congress, and special interests give up greed—that is, winning at the expense of us/US for their own benefit. Congress takes an oath that says they will work for all of us.
Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said recently: “I think people want to know that there is a connection between the economy of our nations and the morality of our nation. Let me give you an example. Why is Wall Street melting down? Is it because we have some really bad decisions? It's because greed and avarice and unbridled attention to profit at the top without any regard to how it is going to affect workers at the bottom . . . We really don't have a market that's based on investing in production and services. We've got people investing in what production and services might be worth. In other words, their basically just gambling.”
If we are to move ahead and actually change some things that benefit us/US as a country—as Huckabee said, it's time to look at how what we do effects others. Can we ask those at the top to give up greed while keeping ours? After the last eight years, I think the opportunity is to view the world from the perspective that we're in this together. We've seen what forgetting that does. Being able to think in broader, more inclusive terms, maybe the future we've been headed towards won't be where we end up.
Have a Great Holiday,
Steve
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