Obamacare Celebration? Just Crickets

I'm starting to wonder what's the incentive of creating thoughtful policy to address complex problems. I say that because I'm watching the last few months of responses to Obamacare aka the Affordable Care Act.

Despite website glitches, Obamacare signed up 6 million people to health insurance and Medicaid in 3 months. That's roughly 2.5 million on health insurance markets set up by states and the federal government and the rest of the people who are now covered on Medicaid package. In a year, these numbers will *probably* be in the tens of millions of Americans.  This one policy will save the lives of thousands and improve the quality of health for millions of Americans.

Political capital? Celebration? National media attention? As a result of this policy, the Dems are being threatened with losing seats in the House of Representative as well as the majority in the Senate. Republican-leaning states are continuing to block healthcare markets being set up in their states and the attorney generals are trying to stop Obamacare by finding new chinks in the armor, filing lawsuits, and trying to drown the law in a sea of litigation. President Obama's approval rating is at an all-time low.

Immigration reform, climate change, class inequalities are important issues that need thoughtful leaders creating detailed policy with experts. Yet, I don't know if any of these problems can be addressed in this political climate when the incentive is on loud, monosyllabic slogans

Let's remember some of the GOP's policy suggestions to our most recent problems:

1. Energy: Drill Baby Drill!!!
2. Healthcare: Kill Obamacare!!!
3. Immigration Reform: No amnesty!!!
4. Gun Reform: Keep your hands off my guns!!!
5. Kids being slaughtered by gunmen in schools: Good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns!!!
6. Economy: Tax Cuts
7. Class Inequalities: Cut taxes
8. Corporate Corruption: Cut regulations and reduce government intake...oh hell, cut taxes!!!
9. Global Warming: Al Gore sucks!! (or some variation of a personal attack)
10. Women's Rights: Who's What?!?
11. Raising Minimum Wage: Job Killer!!
12. Abortion Rights: Baby killer!!!

Dems can't beat the brevity of these slogans posing as policies because they're shackled to some basis of facts. But I think that rational is becoming a tired excuse for the incompetency of marketing and touting successes by the left-leaning and moderate politicians.

Over the last six years, Dems have been unable to take advantage of any accomplishments. It's almost easy to think that Obama has done nothing.

Obama's Record

1. Saving the Auto Industry from Bankruptcy (saving a few million jobs FYI)
2. Stopping Economy from Collapsing (like it has in many European countries)
3. Al Qaeda War: killed Osama Bin Laden
                             killed almost every single No. 2 and major lieutenant in terrorist org
4. incentivizing boom in Green Energy and alternative energy, while expanding drilling
5. Repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell
6. Wall Street Reforms: 1000 times stronger restrictions than what others wanted to do.
7.  created Consumer Protection Agency: reducing corporate abuse against citizens
8.  credit card reform
9. withdrew everyone from Iraq!! WE GOT OUT OF IRAQ! WE ARE NO LONGER IN IRAQ!
10. Obamacare: 6 million covered in 3 months.

Yet, some times it feels like Obama administration has been a complete failure. His successes are glossed over and the national attention quickly moves to the next crisis. This lack of focus could thwart the growth of  Obamacare.

ACA can still be hurt. Yes, it would be very difficult to repeal. But enough damage can be done to ACA it so that it doesn't work at its optimal level or it leaves millions without insurance. Misinformation can scare enough young people and citizens of Red States to stay away, so that the marketplace is left anemic in the long-term. And Republican consultants will celebrate this stunt 'victory' of lies with a new wave of candidates selling more odious, ignorant, and malfeasant viewpoints.

Dems need to do better. You know what, forget Dems....well-informed people -of any political persuasion- need to do better by speaking out. We need many more voices putting the facts forward repeatedly again and again. And these 'truthers' need to have the intensity as the Machiavellian Right-wing, which has grown so cynical in its tactics that they border on treasonous behavior.

When one party decides to intentionally sabotage the health, job security, and income of all Americans for political gain, there should be some repercussions. But it seems like Democrats are the most vulnerable. If this happens, then the worst and most destructively cynical behavior will be rewarded by a GOP sweep in the House and Senate. And everyone will be punished.

Love Letter to the Tea Party

Dear GOP Tea Party Members,

I wanted to thank you for distracting everyone from Obamacare and the numerous glitches its had in in the first few weeks. If it wasn't for this massive, pointless, smokescreen people might have called the ACA into question. Instead -when faced with the prospects of the entire government being deadlocked indefinitely- most rational people focused on the greater priority. This default crisis will be a Red Bull speedball for getting disaffected Dems to donate money and vote in 2014. Rest assured, we will bring this up again and all throughout 2014.

Your complete lack of strategy was only highlighted by taking an unbending hardline stance against a bill that passed 2 years ago, implemented, and approved by the Supreme Court.  Also your dickishness, made even me stand up for a change and say 'no.'

I don't think I've ever seen a national party stick their collective mouths in their butts and bite down at once. May we all look back at this rabid, crap-eating feast and laugh at your incompetence soon (shall we say Thursday, lunch?)

Three cheers to Speaker John "Custard" Boehner and Senator Ted "Il Duce" Cruz for their brinkmanship. Nice to know that there really isn't a ruse to that blank, swollen look on your face: you just really are that intellectually constipated.

By the way Speaker Boehner, I hope you can sit back and marvel at how Senator Cruz just split your caucus in two, caused a permanent rift in the GOP majority between Tea Party members and moderates, as well as crippling your leadership. And this is a fellow Republican who did this to you. Wow. Knifed in the back by a friend. To paraphrase what Julius Caesar said to another Senate chamber: 'ain't that a bitch?'

Anyway, I'm looking forward to spanking that ass again. And soon. Stay sweet. No, as a matter of fact, stay bitter. I like your hearts black, like the American people like their presidents.

Love,

B. Hussein Obama

The Default and Death of the Republican Party

The death of the Republican Party has been anticipated for a long time. What wasn't anticipated was that in their death throes they would try to dismantle, muck-up, and freeze the American federal government to the point of creating a global panic.

Apparently we're a few days away from defaulting on our debts. The nation is at a historic crisis point. The causes of the impending catastrophe isn't due to war, lack of money, or civil insurrection. It is a pre-planned and initiated drama aimed at satisfying a small group of radicalized followers whose disdain for a sitting president and opposition party has blocked out any rational thought as to the greater good for their own country.

Throughout Obama's presidency, Republicans in the House of Representatives have threatened to shut off funding for the entire government because of disagreements on individual bills. Rather than going through the process of election and majority rules, the GOP has now pivoted to suicide bomber tactics. They intend to destroy themselves in the hopes of causing damage and pain to others. It's not clear if they have dreams of getting to a GOP heaven with 67 virgins who look like Ann Coulter, but they certain do love using their manufactured disaster to visit the Elysian fields of Conservatism: Fox News.

The Default Crisis has been great for TV news ratings and stirring outrage on both sides at the expense of crippling our ability to regulate, tax, pay debt, and function as a federalized government. What is sad is that we have been heading toward this point in our history for a while. For many decades a small group of radical Conservatives have associated America with their way of thinking exclusively. If there's dissension then it can't be American. Despite this unbending belief, the country has changed in the last 30 years. Their demographics are dwindling. The party for people who think like Old White Men is running out of members and they can't find a way to convert a significant portion of women and non-Whites over to a philosophy steeped in xenophobia, isolationism, misogyny, and bigotry. Despite all the flags and country music, a vast majority of the younger generation isn't buying into the idea that one party holds the exclusive rights to Patriotism and Americana. In response to this, the patriotic Republicans are going to burn down America. This act of willfulness they claim is out of love, in the same way that an abusive person beats, burns, and kills their battered partner and then says 'why did you make me do that? You know how much I love you, right?'

They've dug the hole and intend to get out of it by going deeper: now some members are threatening to impeach Obama for the default. The very destruction they've worked to bring about is -in their eyes- a sign of Obama's treason. He should have given into their demands. Even though he was twice elected by large margins, even though Dems maintain control of the Senate and many states in the union, it is Obama who must bend to the will of 30 House Republicans. And if he doesn't then the country will fail and, at that point, he will be responsible for the crisis they created. It's Mad Hatter logic.

The GOP claims it wants government out of our lives...except when it comes to a woman's vagina, or illegal immigrants, mandatory sentencing, Black teens being illegally stop n' frisked, or unarmed people of color being killed by law enforcement officers and vigilantes. They are fine with government taking a very violent and coercive role in the lives of Brown and Black people, invasive procedures against women to humiliate them away from having a right to choose abortion, denying basic civil rights of privacy to all, splitting up families through deportation so that children are abandoned, adding more rules to make it more difficult to vote for minorities. It makes sense when their ideal America looks like a 1950s TV sitcom.

But other than your body, health, and mental well-being, the GOP want government out of our lives so we can be free to...enjoy unregulated water supplies and breathe in toxic air, eat genetically modified food, work below the minimum wage, have employee benefits stripped away, and plunge 300 million citizens into the hellmouth of unregulated casino capitalism.

The Default crisis isn't an aberration. It's a long-term cancer that continues to pop up in manufactured disasters by a few people who are losing their way and losing the country. I just hope the majority of people don't let an angry few take everyone down with them.

The death of the Republican party has been diagnosed but it's not the shifting demographics. The cancer of hate in their body politics is too far gone to salvage its remaining virtues. Their perspective is too warped on memories to see the present reality. In short, the patient's condition is terminal and there's no need to linger. For the sake of our children and all future generations, the Republican party can commit itself to one last patriotic deed: to die.

Why the US is Involved in Syria (and everything else)

Let's put this question to bed: the United States is in charge. We wanted it, we demanded it, we killed, coerced, and stole for it. And now we're the world's police. This didn't happen by accident. That was the plan all along. Yet, when things get dangerous, there's always a section of the population that asks that petulant and naive question: who made us the world's police? The answer is simple: we did.

There's an on-going genocide in Syria. A brutal dictator is using all of his weapons -including sarin gas- to kill dissidents. Hundreds of thousands have been murdered. A decision must be made by the US government, and while I don't know what should be done it's absurd to say that America can sit this one out. The US government has manufactured an untenable situation where almost all international business and diplomacy must cross before the president's desk. The plan was brilliant and now this country is reaping but the fruit and frustration from it.

In between World War I and World War II the plan began to take shape on several different fronts. While it's highly unlikely there was a grand conspiracy, the results of several different initiatives in politics and economics has triggered the 'American Century" and the continuous power vacuum that we fill with our money and influence.

THE DOLLAR

The dollar is an international currency. Who made this happen? We did. We encouraged second and third world countries to back their currency with the US dollar. This improved our power and economic muscle during the Cold War. I have a friend who works in bank investigation around the world and he put it best: shit gets done faster with the dollar.

At the beginning of the millennium there was a strong push to supplant the dollar with Euros. The EU was riding high and there was buzz there many countries would switch over. The US government had a quiet, sustained freak-out. The word got out through the World Bank (whose board and staff is mostly American) that there would be repercussions for switching to the Euro. Suddenly all that talk about dropping the dollar faded. Many governments not only have to do with the international organizations financing but private corporations like Goldman Sachs which in some countries holds more 'dollar power' than the US government. The overall trickle down effect is that the dollar is what brings in the bulldozers, builds the bridges, swapped in for government bonds to finance new roads and infrastructure.

The dollar not only works for legitimate financing but is the currency of international black markets. One of the largest Black markets is the international drug economy. The number one purchaser of drugs is the United States, which is only 5% of the world's population. We pay the largest suppliers -Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Dominican Republic- with our dollar, which has the unintended consequence of making these countries awash billions every year. This trickles up from the Black market as 'dirty money' is washed through real estate, construction, and many dummy companies.

The US consumer enjoys the enormous benefits of having stability and sustained purchasing power. You will almost never hear of a shortage of anything in this country. Our gas costs $3 a gallon which is unbelievable until you notice that gas almost everywhere else costs $4-5 per liter (must smaller amount than a gallon). We can go to Wal-Mart and pick up a package of 20 tube socks for $4 because our money goes a lot further in sweatshop countries.

MILITARY

By now it's a well-known fact that the US spends more on weapons than the rest of the world combined. But what's further chilling is that we supply a large section of the world with their weapons. Most countries know that if they want high-quality weaponry and the latest technology, they need to purchase from the US. And we help facilitate this by offering military aid contingent upon them buying from American companies.

It's not a coincidence that the Egypt gets $1 billion in aid. Some Americans may think that it's outrageous that we're paying for their weapons. But we're paying and subsidizing their weapon purchases because they buy from us. So for a $1 billion 'strings attached' aid the Egyptian military then becomes dependent upon US expertise, consultants, and weapons that runs into the billions for them to pay. In short, military aid is a money-making bonanza for American corporations. We then tax those US corporations as well as their employees. These workers go out and spend their paycheck for products, which we tax again. What starts off as aid, becomes a money-making opportunity that infuses the American economy on every level.

For every $1 in military aid we give to a country like Egypt or Pakistan, their government will probably end up spending several dollars to keep their software updated, pay for American consultants, and to keep the arms race going.

DIPLOMACY

Besides the UN, there is the the World Bank, World Trade Organization, G-20. There is a network of diplomatic and economic international organizations. Mostly started and run by Westerners powers who are funneled through Western Europe and American educational institutions and gatekeepers. Even if an aberrant 'other' makes it through they've had to have been schooled, trained, networked in a very small circle of accepted universities and think tanks. Even for a US citizen, there are only about 10 or 15 universities to go through to get into these international organizations. You won't find someone born, raised, and educated in -for instance- Montana making their way up the ladder in the WTO; not because there aren't perfectly capable people in Montana or any number of other states but because that's not within the accepted gateways. And as far as other countries are concerned, the US has a monopoly on the gates and pathways to these international organizations.

CULTURAL POWER

The US's cultural hegemony is a 'soft power.' The persuasive power of culture, though, has much more effect on the people of the world than even our weapons. When it comes to the system TV networks and cable, that's a US creation that is now in every country. The few chosen internet and social media giants have headquarters in California in the tech-regions. On a disproportionate level, American corporations are trendsetters for the platform and distribution models in TV, film, and internet. We then fill these channels with a glut of content from our new products to over 60 years worth of Americana that is flying around the world all the time. From "I Love Lucy" to "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" many countries supplement their channels with syndicated American products. There's not even a close competitor to US cultural power. It's a blowout.  Once again, the term 'America' is misleading because it's not the whole country. It's LA and New York as the major pipelines with Silicon Valley as the technological factory pumping out new smart phone models, phone apps, and content.

TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT

American corporate, financial, cultural, and diplomatic interests dominate every corner of the globe. This gives us a stability and security unheard of in any country in the world. The media says we should be scared of China, but check each category and ask where does it hold an advantage internationally? Their military, culture, technology, and even currency lives in the shadows of a much smaller country. Granted, China has bought a lot of our debt, but not out of a sense of reverence or kindness. The reason why the Chinese government buys American bonds is because they are the most stable thing to invest in, even more so than their own economy which is based on a real estate bubble that can't sustain itself. In order to keep its rapacious growth, China has continued a construction boom to pay out money. Now they're forcibly trying to move people into these hollow cities to keep the economy going. The only fear about China is that if they fall, they're big enough to trigger a worldwide recession. But their growth is largely internal and unsustainable.

A decision will be made by President Obama on how to proceed with Egyptian unrest and a Syrian civil war. While we don't want to be involved, it's unrealistic to think that our involvement isn't already predetermined. Whether American citizens like it or not, we are involved. And if America enjoys the fruits of this intrusive system then we will also must be responsible for the labor.

African Americana: A Social Satire

AFRICAN AMERICANA

At the end of last year I was asked in a small Brooklyn museum to write a piece about Obama and race. I remembered my stint as an Obama staffer in the 2008 campaign and all my traffic stops with the local Cleveland police force. I decided to try my hand at a social satire blending my memories with some cultural archetypes. What came out of that was "African Americana."

Even though it was just a workshop production on a blank stage I was so happy that Jesse Phillips-Fein (curator of the Obama to Occupy Festival) asked me to join in on the parade of shows at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX).

Fortunately someone recorded the show and -with the permission of all those involved- I put it on youtube. Even though "African Americana" went up in January 2013, it feels like it happened years ago. It was nice to get this web clip this weekend from the talented videographer, Denae Hannah.

A month later I adapted "African Americana" into a full-length play "Obama-ology" which was workshopped at Red Shirt Entertainment. I'm looking to keep this satire going because, unfortunately, it's all too relevant these days.

Sneaking Suspicion About Obama and What We Bought Into

I like President Obama. He's a good man, a generous soul, and he seems like a good father/husband. He rose up from meager beginnings to become a successful scholar and Senator. But at what point does my liking of Obama stop discounting the consistent, underwhelming, frustrating, and outright hypocrisy.

From keeping Gitmo open (which he promised to close), to giving us a watered-down health care bill that's actually just a insurance-bill with penalties to average citizens for not signing up with corporations (he campaigned against this), to expanding a drone war that kills countless civilians in other countries while violating other country's airspace, and now an unprecedented spying with no checks and balances, it seems as if we are living in a new age of Orwellian logic.

It isn't that President Obama is totally at fault. Many of these things were started under the previous administration. But he campaigned specifically and deliberately against these various tactics for an entire year. Not only has he not closed them, he has boldly expanded almost every policy and practice that violates basic Constitutional rights.

What makes us credible as an educated Republic is that there's consequences for lying, committing perjury, and breaking the law. These consequences apply to both our friends and adversaries. If there are no punitive results for breaking laws, then people in power will continue to become more brazen in their defiance to following any procedure of justice.

The call for justice doesn't mitigate President Obama's accomplishments. He's been exceptional in some areas of his job and a steady force of leadership over five years. But these are offenses against the Constitution.

Are these offenses okay because he's a Dem, Black, because the previous president was so awful, because we're so scared/beaten down/ cynical, because we just care about getting a job, because he's an outsider and needs to 'prove' himself to the military industrial complex? But when do we get that president that campaigned 2008, that so eloquently spoke on freedom? When do we get that president who invoked the names of Kennedy, MLK, and Gandhi instead of this ultra-conservative technocrat?

 At what point does continual, habituated disappointment turn to national sorrow at a man lost, a promise unfulfilled, and a dream deferred?

When Romney Calls...

This year it's not uncommon to hear my mom arguing with someone on the phone. These are perfect strangers who are calling up. You see, my mom lives in Florida which means she gets a call from either Obama or Romney campaign every time she blinks. I have been in the house when the campaign callers ring and she clearly states she's voting for Obama.

Her reasons for voting for Obama are simple:

1. she's retired and lives on a fixed income and a variety of mutual funds
2. Dow Jones stock market has doubled in the last 4 years, which means more money for her.
3. she's also gotten a tax break from Obama, which means more money.
4. Obamacare has closed the donut hole for prescription drugs. She used to spend over $10,000 just on prescription drugs. That has gone down by 25% since Obamacare was passed
5. the donut holes will be completely closed by 2014 and her costs will probably go down 30-40%
6. And personally likes people who tell the truth and have some integrity.
7. She sees Obama as having integrity and living up to his claims to a) improve the economy b) improve health care c) improve our image abroad. And although things haven't been perfect, she has physical and numerical proof (i.e. more money) of the change.

Obama people take calls, solicit information and then leave you alone. And I should know: I was an Obama campaign staffer in 2008 and had to train people on how to make phone bank calls.

The Romney people apparently are operating on a different script. When they call my mom and get the information that she's voting for Obama this -inevitably- starts an argument. They hit her with a bunch of statements which aren't true and have been completely disproven but which Romney campaign continues to put forward. This speaks to their lack of integrity. When confronted with facts, the person over the phone denies them but -unable to break from the script- just reiterates the same talking point again. This pattern extends straight up to the top with their candidate.

When the Romney volunteer begins warning my mom that she's going to have Medicare cut by Obama -which is also not true- she tells them how much money she's saving. These aren't her opinions. These are facts of more money in the last 2 years. The Romney volunteer REFUSES to believe this. Just flat out refuses to hear it.

Here are some of the things said:

"You won't be able to get a mammogram when you turn 75!" the Romney volunteer screamed. 

This isn't true but she screeches this continually over the phone. I wonder how many uninformed voters in Florida start to believe this just because of the volume and intensity of the lie.

"You're being BRAINWASHED by MSNBC!!" the Romney volunteer said.

She said this to facts my mom reported about her own medical costs.

"He's flip flopped because he hasn't done all of things he promised," the Romney volunteer said. 

This isn't flip flopping. It's an incomplete agenda. The Romney campaign counters with flip flopping because that is the very label that seek to shed.

The Romney volunteer may switch to the economy and warns of socialism. My mom lets them know that she has more money than ever because her income relies on the most capitalistic system in America: the stock market. And the market is booming for smart investors.

The argument circles around the same 4 or 5 talking points the Romney volunteer has been given. They can't speak personally to these claims because they aren't based in any objective reality. The volunteers are often old women warning of danger and fear. My mom speaks personally to her experience as well as from facts she reads in non-partisan papers.

What is clear is that the two campaigns embody the candidate. While Obama campaign may remain subdued and perhaps too polite, they are factual, quick on the point, and have some basic decorum of respect. The Romney volunteers often argue with her, make claims which have been fact checked as false, ignore actual numbers, and then abruptly hang up (only to call again later).

If we are obsessed with 'winning' as the key indicator of this election then Romney stands a chance. I used to debate and I know the aspects of 'winning.' There were student debaters who would say anything and completely lie to win a round. I often had problems with these debaters because I had to balance my own arguments while correcting their arguments, without making myself seem petty. It's a tough task but it's one that Obama has to do in the next debate. If my mom can do it, Mr. President then so can you. So do it!!

Eastwood'ing It: Fall Predictions and Ramblings (Sans Chair)

I recorded this in my backyard two weeks ago when I had a free moment. Maybe this will be a time capsule for failed or successful predictions and hopes.  And yes, I know, I say 'ah' too much. But I'm new to the vblogging stuff. I intend on getting better.

Real Stories and the 2012 Election

I have stories. I didn't ask for them or seek them out. I have stories that were given to me by people who often think they don't count. These were personal stories that people told me as they struggled with their lives.

After the first night of the 2012 DNC convention, I feel overwhelmed. The organizers have brilliantly focused on personal stories and how they have been changed. It made me think about how the banners and parades DO have an effect on people's lives. It made me remember all the people who have directly been effected by policy decisions made over the last 10 years.

1. I remember a woman I worked with in college in 2000. She was a single mother who had a laser-beam intense focus for her job. She was naturalized citizen raising a family on her own. Her dedication to her job was so extreme that she developed carpal tunnel syndrome. At first she wore a wrist brace. Then a more extensive brace. By the time graduation rolled around she was taking days off because her condition had degenerated so much. President Clinton passed a bill to ensure greater health care coverage for people with work-related injuries that would have covered her. When Bush got into office, he repealed this bill in his first 100 days. That's when I first became of the direct impact of policy on a person's health and ability to live and work.

2. One of my friends was diagnosed with a rare and insidious form of breast cancer last year in 2011. This was the kind of cancer that kills and she didn't have proper health care coverage. But because Obamacare she was able to get rare and expensive treatment at Bellevue Hospital. If it wasn't for new, expansive cancer programs funded by the government she would be dead. And yes, she works a job, pays her taxes, and deserves a chance.

3. Last month I met a man in Clifton, PA. He's in his 50s and worked a job in a warehouse while dealing with serious health issues. His job had safety violations that he reported to his boss. Since he wasn't in a union and had no recourse, the company fired him. His company fired him for reporting on a safety issue that was jeopardizing the lives of many workers because they wanted to keep a clean record with OSHA. I sat there as he made phone calls, desperately seeking another job. He's a warehouse worker in his 50s, with a daughter, a bad back, and no other experience.  I wonder what he's supposed to do, where is he supposed to go?

4. My Dad no longer has a donut hole in his Medicare coverage. He has suffered several strokes and has had to deal with ridiculous health care laws. Obamacare in under a year has changed his life. He no longer has to worry about coverage and paying thousands out of pocket on a technicality.

When his wheelchair broke, my mom spent weeks arguing on the phone with insurance companies. He depends on this wheelchair. But the insurance company deemed it 'not a necessity' on their calendar and schedule. A friend had to go out and find a broken wheelchair, repair it, fix it up for them, and bring it over.

5. I have a friend from school who lost his father. He died of a heart attack. His father went into the hospital for chest pains but the doctors told him how much it would cost to do the full set of exams. He was unemployed and unable to pay. Instead he went home to sleep it off. He died in his sleep from a preventable heart attack because he was scared of getting a huge medical bill.

6. My mom was sexually harassed and underpaid for most of her career at work. And at the threat of being fired, she had to keep quiet. Eventually she persevered but not without many nights of tears and prayers. No woman should have to be vulnerable and scared because of their gender. The pay gap is real. The inequality is real. Policy does matter.

Romney/Ryan ticket = Obama re-election

When I heard that Mitt Romney had selected Paul Ryan as his VP running mate, I did a little dance. In my head at least. On the outside, a smile burst over my face. I literally exhaled in a giant sigh of relief. On the inside I was spiking the ball in the end zone and doing the funky chicken. I was leaping through fountains of champagne. I was reciting the 'hardest' Kanye West lyrics I could think of to the kitchen table, which was a stand-in for Romney.

BALL SO HARD!!!

"Suicide doors on the private jet/Ya know what that means: I'm fly to death."

I rarely write about politics on this blog. I know who I am voting for in the 2012 elections: Obama and any Democrat. Seriously. You got a Dem? Put on the ballot. It doesn't matter whether they're dead of alive. They have my vote.  There is no question about these last two elections and it's not because I'm Black. My confidence is based on having a pretty good memory of GOP policy in the 1980s and what it did to most Americans and what Bush's policies did to the nation and world at the turn of the millennium. But I respect other people's beliefs. Furthermore, I don't really have a desire to change other people's minds about politics.

But the Ryan announcement brought out the old news/politics wonk in me. I grew up consuming CNN and the NYTimes. My favorite show as a kid wasn't "The Simpsons." It was the British House of Commons "Questions to the Prime Minister" on C-Span every Sunday night. On more than one occasion my sister had some choice words for my turning the channel away from Sunday evening shows to sights of old cantankerous British men sitting on 1970s lime green shiny seats bellowing at each other in, often in sarcastic football cheers and shouts that followed surly exchanges...

Yayayayayaya...OHHHH!!!

I could wake up to that in the morning and it would still make me smile.  It's the low rumbling sound of democracy and discourse. It is the music of freedom and the bombastic boom bravado that each person has a right to in a free society.

And all these years of watching and consuming politics has given me an instinctive feel for certain political maneuvering. I don't always have that gut, instant reaction but when I do it's often right.

I remember being in my friends car in LA in 2000 when Gore announced Joe Lieberman as his running mate and me slapping the dashboard in frustration. My friend asked what my problem was and I blurted out 'GORE JUST LOST FLORIDA! AND THAT MEANS HE LOST THE ELECTION." Three months later on election night I just shook my head as the whole thing boiled down a fundamentally flawed campaign and bad decisions.

In 2008 I was driving back from Miami and listening to newcomer Sarah Palin on the radio. Without the visual, I just paid attention to her words and delivery. The gut reaction kicked in...

Small, mean, empty. Vicious 'bully' pleasure in attacking, but probably can't take it. 

When I got home the pundits were praising Palin based on how she looked and performed on TV. Everyone was ensorcelled by the instant image. She cast a 48-72 spell over the nation. But the delivery of the words stuck with me. Even on the radio, I could feel her smiling with delight at the small-minded mean jabs written into the speech. This wasn't presidential or even vice-presidential. This was a high school cheerleader with a platform to stick it to the 'nerds' and 'non-jocks.'

So the dance I was doing in my head over the Ryan selection was also another instant reaction moment. This time it was joy and relief. It has nothing to do with Ryan as a man.

I've only heard Ryan speak once on TV and my instant reaction was:
Nice guy.
Doesn't get out much.
Talks to people only in his circle.
Pampered Bureaucrat.

And there was another image that popped in my head when I thought of Paul Ryan: a hydroponic plant.

A living thing sustained by artificial means, growing in the basement, but utterly unable to handle the natural elements. Ryan's mind has been locked in the cellar of some conservative think tank, being fed history through an artificial tube, and mistaking the hot lamps of Fox News from the bright August sun of national presidential campaign that will be nothing short of relentless.

I don't think he'll managed the attack dog role with as much unbridled glee as Sarah Palin. And he seems like a clean-cut professional. But Ryan also comes across as incredibly sheltered and naieve in his opinion on how things actually work outside of his immediate life and existence. When you think about great leaders -regardless of the party affiliation- they've usually faced some huge challenge and were forced to go outside of their comfort zone.

Rich old white guy selects younger, whiter-looking Midwestern guy to appeal to...
Blacks? No.
Latinos? No.
Women? Hell no!
Older voters? Not with his budget plans.

The Ryan pick shores up the GOP base at the expense of all other voters. It's a catastrophic mistake that  almost gift-wraps the election for Obama. He just lost women and older voters and, without that, the GOP can't win any of the swing states. In fact, Dem politicians might be able to win a few House seats back on the Ryan pick.

Instead of the election being a referendum about Obama's middling economic performance, it will be about Ryan for a few reasons: 1) we're sick of talking about Obama and the economy 2) Obama's actual policies are very mild 3) most people still blame Bush for the economic collapse so Obama attacks on go so far 4)Ryan is the new story, the media will focus its attention on over the next month. And this is bad, awful, very terrible, not good news for the GOP.

Paul Ryan's politics represent the bottoming out of a delusional think tank fantasy. They are not only impractical but downright scary when applied to reality. He lists Ayn Rand as a hero. I loved Ayn Rand too. When I was 13 years old. I was immature, rebellious, and had no concept of social structures.  Ryan is 43. What's his excuse?

 To understand how bizarre and scary his 'deregulate social services' idea can be it takes a bit of a perspective. You have to go back to before Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid existed. You have to look at the poverty numbers for elderly and remember the stories of senior citizens eating dog food and dying from perfectly treatable disease because they couldn't see a doctor. To know what America was like before Social Security you need to just think about that seniors went from being at the highest risk for living in squalor to being relatively stable and middle-class within a few generations. This didn't happen by accident. This happened because Americans said 'that's enough. I don't want my mother to work her whole to be eating Purina One out of a can in a slum house. Do something!'

Government did do something. Tremendous and drastic to address a serious problem. And, for the large part, it has and continues to work. That doesn't mean Social Security is perfect and couldn't use tweaks. But deregulating it would leave people at the mercy of the financial market and trade. These are the same markets that bankrupted entire continents in a matter of hours in 2007. These same markets evaporated billions of dollars in college funds, endowments, and grants in a cloud of numbers. And these are the same markets that were bailed out, never apologized, rolled over, and continued making billion-dollar bonuses. These are the markets that Ryan thinks will 'fix' Social Security.

Of course, Ryan will be given better coverage this first week before people start really digging in. But then they'll turn and begin digging into his beliefs. This will be around September, which is when the public opinion will solidify about Rep. Ryan. October will be the debates and then November is the election. So pretty much there is one strong month that will focus on Ryan. September was the month that broke Sarah Palin. And September will be the defining month for Ryan and Romney. Dem operatives will probably let Romney/Ryan have their convention and post-convention bounce. Because that's as good as it's going to get for the GOP.

In September Bill Clinton, Obama, and every friendly Dem politician will be sprinting across the country talking about Romney's tax returns, Bain Capital, and Ryan's budget. Congressional Republicans will be be responding to tax return and economic fairness questions. These are not the questions the GOP wants to focus on.

GOP operatives are going to try to define Ryan in a strong light. But they've been trying to do that for Romney for the past year and look how far it's gotten them. What makes anyone think that image/myth creation work the GOP couldn't do for Romney with a 12-month head start, they can pull for Paul Ryan in 6 weeks?

Long-term the Ryan pick is equally promising for Dems. The GOP base is shrinking. It needs a desperate restart before it loses the next two generations of Americans. Ryan's pick is a crowd-pleaser for Fox News and a non-starter for most voters. The only thing they'll remember about him is his Rand-style budget that's a hatchet job on the middle class.

Congratulations Romney: you just made a game changing move. Unfortunately it's for Obama.

And although the White House is too cool and professional to admit this, I bet I wasn't the only one doing a touchdown dance in my head this weekend.

Gay Marriage: A Buddhist/Christ Perspective

This is not 'the' Buddhist perspective but merely 'a' perspective from someone who has a deep respect for Christianity and Buddhism. Yesterday, history was made when a sitting US president expressed his support for gay marriage. President Obama created another historical moment in his first term by stating the obvious: gay people are the same as everyone else and should be allotted the same rights.

His 'evolution' on this issue wasn't so much as an upward progression as just stepping back and allowing the decaying walls of political prejudice to collapse under their own weight. His leadership on this issue isn't as heroic as some left-wing pundits will make it seem nor is it as obvious to just say he's following the poll numbers. But President Obama looked at the untenable political, cultural and ethical position and refused to hold it any longer.

It is the same shift that President Kennedy was forced to make with the civil rights movement. Kennedy knew the situation of continued discrimination was absurd, obviously unjust, and going against basic concepts of America. But he wasn't in a rush to help out Blacks. If civil rights leaders would have taken another 10 years to set out demands, then I'm sure President Kennedy would have been fine to let the discrimination continue for another decade. But the issue came to a boil under his presidency due to outside circumstances, increasing violence, media attention, and an organized movement demanding change. At that point Kennedy was merely simply stated the obvious: Blacks are equal and the time to pretend otherwise has ended. Some times leadership takes the form of just stating the obvious. And that is when the greatest violence can erupt. 'The obvious' often triggers 'the delusional' fears of those who see themselves as guilty of benefiting from discrimination.

The backlash against school desegregation that started under President Eisenhower spilled out across the country as White parents were forced into seeing the obvious. The courts, the president, and even the legislative branch finally agreed that it was time to muster up and to be willing to look at what was always there: there is no inherent difference in nature and therefore should be no difference in government policy. Segregationist clung even more desperately to their delusions of the glorious past. When that failed to work, racists switched tactics from the halcyon bigoted past to the dystopic equalized future. Race wars, mongrel children, and white kids 'infected' with lower intelligence all became a part of a whisper campaign to get people to fear the future.

Generations later we see the same tactics played out on gay rights. The glorious past of hetero-normative marriages never existed and it certainly didn't exist on the premise of discriminating against same-gender couples. We will see a backlash against seeing each other as equal that will  be phrased in foreboding signs of God's judgment against greater freedom. It will be the same excuses and same logic used in past arguments against liberty for all.

Conservatives will insist that marriage has always been between a man and a woman. This is an outright lie. Marriages in many ancient cultures have been between same genders. These cultures seemed to exist just fine for hundreds -and in some cases- thousands of years.  No smiting, no asteroid-inflicted apocalypse to signal some spiritual deficiency. Those ancient societies collapsed and reformed as societies often do. There seemed to be no reign of fire for Ancient Greeks, Native American tribes, African empires for allowing gay marriage. There extinction was almost always due to warfare, greed, and human factors.  But let's pretend for a moment. Let's pretend that it's true for the purpose of analysis that  'marriage has always and will always be between a man and a woman.' The reasoning splits for this historical and spiritual lie off into several contradicting points, as illogical reasoning often does.

The first and most crude reasoning is that God wants it that way. This is kindergarten logic that's spouted mostly by Christians on this issue but is used by all religions when it suits them. It supposes that one side knows what God wants over another. How they came to this conclusion is anyone's guess. But God -the very definition of infinite love and light according to every religion- wishes to exclude a particular group from His presence. God wishes for some people to remain in darkness and pain. If this were true then that voice of exclusion contradicts the very definition of God. It would be impossible for one to both 'be infinite love' and exclude at the same time.

God doesn't deal in exceptions. Humans, on the other hand, are all about exceptions and divisive rules. By deduction those voices of exclusion can't be of God but are probably of something else. Furthermore to believe that God is only speaking to some people is Old Testament logic that only some are 'chosen people.' Once again, this goes against Christian values that atonement has made everyone the chosen people. The concept of Jesus being the Son of God wasn't exclusionary. The principle of his teachings is just this: I am and the son of God AND so are are you. Once again, this is based on the principle of infinite light and love. Jesus was following this perfectly and therefore there could not be any difference between him and others. If there was even the slightest bit of exceptionalism ('I am Jesus, son of God, and you are unwashed trashed.') then all of his teachings become meaningless. Atonement means that the riff has been healed between brothers and sisters. Love extends itself because God is here and now in each person. This is important because it can be applied to any issue where one side says 'God said 'no' to these people.'

God would never say 'yay' or 'nay' because that is a dualistic mode of thinking that could only exist in a split mind that sees darkness and light. There is no darkness in Christ consciousness and Buddha-mind because where it goes, there is light. So to be present is to be light. No epic battle of good vs. evil is needed. God merely needs to exist and contradictions go away. Oneness is the natural state of all things.  God is. There is no stance to be taken because God is above stances and exceptions.

We have started off with the first, biggest, and most egregious contradictory rational that supports the  lie of 'marriage only being between a man and woman.'  This is a Buddhist debate tactic: start off with biggest error first and all others fall away. The smaller arguments don't hold up against any legal or ethical standard.

The other reasoning dispassionately states that it would be nice to help gay Americans but that has to be left up to the states. Federal government can't interfere with states and their rights. Mitt Romney began floating that trial balloon out there only moments after Obama's announcement. The federal government always interferes with states when it deals with civil rights. If the national government didn't do this then we would be living in a confederacy of loosely attached independent regions. We do not. We live in a federal system where certain protections and fundamental values must be the foundation for 'Americans.' In cases of ethical conflict we are always "Americans first' and "Floridians and New Yorkers' second. We pledge allegiance to a national government and its values. This reasoning is not only unsupported by history but it's the very crux of why we moved into a federal national government: you can't live in a country, trade, and pursue liberty if there is no community standard. Marital choice along with property rights and freedom of religion are the principles to an individual's 'pursuit of happiness.'

Another argument bridging from this last statement is that freedom of religion is being intruded upon by federal government. There is no religion that is based on denying gay marriages. Furthermore, these same-gender marriages aren't forced on to churches. They are legal contracts forged between willing parties to enter into a union. That is what a marriage is in the eyes of the federal government. All the dressings, religious ceremonies, and traditions are left up to the individual. If there isn't a religious order willing to undertake the marital demands of the two parties, then they can have their marriage at a courthouse.

The final main argument is that gay marriage some how threatens heterosexual marriages. Gay relationships no more threaten straight relationships than people eating meat threatens my vegetarian diet.  Even people eating meat in my presence does not threaten me because I know what I want. That's why I can joke with my friends who are carnivores and try to 'tempt' me with flesh. There is no allure because I know what I want. If I didn't know what I desired, then there might be temptation. If, for example, I was a militant vegan and became irate at anyone eating meat in my presence, then I probably have some lingering questions in my mind about what I'm eating. If straight people feel threatened by the presence of gays, then there is probably some internal doubt about their own status. All defenses come from feeling attacked. All feelings of being attacked come from some internal guilt or uncertainty. In that case, the issue to be resolved isn't the external conditions that shift with the situation, but the internal mindset which reacts out of guilt.

There are several more illogical reasons used to support a historical lie, but why go into all of them? It's still a lie and all of the varying contradictory rationale come from the same source: fear.

There's a famous Zen statement: let go or get dragged. At a certain point, fear protects us. At a young age it encourages competition, analysis, debate. But as we grow up, fear becomes a hindrance to progress. The same things basic stimulus I used to study as a child ($5 bonus from parents, cookies from teacher, and fear of falling behind) now seem silly. The reptilian brain only go so far in a progressive, multicultural, fast-changing culture. It's time to let go of fear.

When this country was founded most of the people were not free. Women were in bondage to husbands and fathers, Blacks were enslaved, poor farmers existed as serfs for the wealthy. The writing in the Constitution wasn't a statement of reality but a promise of the future. The founding fathers -slave owners, wife beaters, illegal brewers, and Indian killers- knew what the people were capable of taking on. They were a wild civilization living under the threat of attack by local tribes and European nations. America existed as a young ideal trapped on all sides by the fear of basic survival.

Once basic security was established it wasn't long before the abolitionist calls became too great to go unheeded. Then it was women's rights, civil rights and now gay civil rights. It is an upward spiral toward what we said this country would become. If we are to show our best face to the world, then we must know our fellow man as equal, regardless of race, religion, or orientation. There is no other way to overcome the outside darkness of fanaticism, terror, and fear except to dispel it with liberty. President Obama took one more further step toward extending the light to all people.