Reform

The American experiment of a democratic republic has survived only because it has reformed several times.

 

It is time for this old, imperfect but necessary workhouse of governance to heal itself, if you will, rebuild, again. 

 

The system is under attack from within. The oft quoted line from Friedrich Nietzche’s Twilight of the Idols, is appropriate here, “Out of life’s school of war-what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

 

We’ve reached what should be the terminus of “professional politics.” It is time for the rise of servants. 

 

The nation is in an imbroglio. We’ve permitted it. For too long over the last two centuries we watched and gave sanction as the public service of governance morphed into the business of government. 

 

I don’t think the founders saw the running of a nation as a career path. We are divided, distracted, poorly governed, and a long way from a careful, creative, efficient national ship of state. The desires of human ego, caprice, and the power of money chasing money and influence has weakened us, perverted law, justice and our national character. 

 

The evidence is before our eyes. The ideals of the founders are stained by those without principle, bereft of honor, who fail to serve but who seek to perpetuate power for their own ends. 

 

The most miserable are thieves. The office occupied by Lincoln is now disgraced by an historically diabolical fool. The legislative branch is incapable of addressing fundamental citizen needs; as much time is spent on fund raising as doing the people’s business and it’s lost the ability to negotiate, compromise, and rise above party demands. The supreme court has been politicized and some justices have been bought. 

 

Both major parties are in disarray. The federation that had been the Republican party is captive to people who do things that are anathema to what had been the values of conservatives, libertarians, “business Republicans” and national security mavens.

Democrats remain a big tent that has become a rumble arena. They lack a unified vision, a cohesive national organization, and suffer the greatest weakness, being a minority with no big stick, no power, no influence. 

 

I see no evidence now, but a successful political movement, or party direction, should be REFORM. Reform of how government works. Reform as to how the national legislature listens to citizen’s needs, makes them priority, passes legislation addressed to voter’s well-being and interests and that are not bought by special interests, lobbyists and the big money influences who hover around the public trough like pigs in a feeding frenzy. The seasoned journalistic mantra has survived because it is true, “follow the money!”

 

It is perhaps impossible to elect and then stand up a government dedicated to serving the safety and security of citizens when the very selection process, the election, has become a money guzzling industry of its own. Campaigns are not about the heart and soul of America, they are machines designed to package and sell a product. It is imperative that Reform comes to campaigns. The greatest reform would be to limit campaign spending, funding and advertising. Advertising is not the truth, it’s a snow job. 

 

The people who are attracted to such palaver, are not the kind of people America needs in tending to our governance. The rise of the public servant, dedicated citizens, term limited, restricted from the perks, (privileged insurance, insider trading, fortune building PACs, etc.), freed from spending most of their time raising money, and willing to learn and work. 

 

The majority of those residents of the federal legislative class have, in the last years, failed to demonstrate they can serve the interests of a nation being caved out by industry and job losses, opioid epidemics, a middle class being squeezed, epidemic homelessness, unaffordable medicine and living standards, decisions between paying rent or buying medicine, infrastructure in deterioration, children failing to learn, being harmed by social media and algorithms, communities savaged by nature and fire being delayed in rebuilding, vital research being eliminated, or the rise of an authoritarian cult of personality that aims to bring down and destroy the federal system while practicing larceny and grand scale corruption in front of our eyes. Such a system demands Reform.  

 

Democrats and Republicans hold the blame. Newt Gingrich unleased a cancer that made it wrong to negotiate or compromise or work out a deal. What had been two centuries of horse trading, jawboning, scratching each other’s backs, politicking over poker, or at dinner parties gave us the nation that healed from civil war, extended freedom , liberty and voting rights, answered the call of two World Wars, helped build the peace, bring international stability, create a middle class, host the best universities and research in the world, create miracle medicines, put humans on the moon and lot more. 

 

The last Democrat to occupy the White House evinced perhaps the quintessential Washington “know how,” but in the bubble of power, his own sense of his self and the advice of those around him, caused him to commit the all too typical Washington sin, failure to elevate the common good, the commonweal over your own interests. 

 

I know that age and experience provide wisdom and insight, but there comes a time when another generation needs to lead. That is part of the Reform that is needed. 

 

Power does corrupt and we need a period of reform that reminds us where the power truly dwells, or should. In you and me. We hire, we fire. We need to get back to basics. 

 

It is time for a mood, an appetite and a season of reform, in government, in how we select those  who come to serve. 

 

The nation has experienced lows, and been desperate periodically over the last 250 years. Below is a brief overview of when and how periods of reform have saved us to stumble on. There are matters we need to visit again, or to draw from. 

 

 

The antebellum period, before the civil war was an age of reform. Enlightenment ideals and religious renewal empowered reformers. 

 

1820’s to 1860: 

Abolitionism sought to end slavery.

Women’s Rights were put on the agenda. The Seneca Falls Convention empowered the suffrage movement.

Temperance was a huge public movement, in response to epidemic alcoholism and the destruction of families and lives. 

Education Reform laid the foundation for free public education and to raise the education of citizens to cope with economic changes

Prison and Asylum Reform raising the idea of rehabilitation of criminals and to set up state hospitals for the mentally ill, taking them out of prisons.

 

 

Political machines, monopolistic trusts, huge economic inequality, along with the disruptions of rapid industrialization and the growth of cities threatened America in the Gilded Age  

 

1870’s to 1890’s

            Civil Service Reform ended the corruption of the spoils system, winner take all. A merit base civil service was created.

            A Populist movement demanded economic relief, agrarian reform, regulation of the railroads that essentially stole land and extorted towns, the direct election of US Senators. 

 

Government became a tool to stop the excesses of industrial capitalism, to eliminate political corruption and to widen access to the political culture. It was the Progressive Era

 

1890’s-1920’s

The cornerstone was Teddy Roosevelts trust busting, shifting the federal government from a hands-off approach to being a regulator of the economy. Breaking up monopolies, trying to protect free market competition and to prevent the uberwealthy from having outsized control and influence on politicians. The “Square Deal” prompted federal regulation and oversight, the beginning of consumer protection, food, drug and meat inspections, labor rights, trying to block anti-union corporate leadership. A department of Commerce and Labor to police working conditions. 

            Women’s Suffrage-the 19^th Amendment giving women the right to vote. 

            States were given the right to referendums and recalls. 

 

Franklin Roosevelt’s handling of the Great Depression brought a massive expansion of the federal government’s role in all aspects of business and life. It was the age of the New Deal

 

1930’s-1940’s

Economic-Social Security and unemployment insurance 

Labor Rights-National Labor Relations Board

His programs revolved around Relief, Recovery and Reform

            Many job creation programs were started 

            Economic Recovery and Industry programs were begun

            Finance and Banking reform, with new programs

            Housing programs were launched 

 

Faith groups, political leaders, grass roots organizations contributed to the historic Civil Rights Movement attacking systemic racial segregation and discrimination.

 

1950’s-1960’s

            The Civil Rights Act of 1964—no discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

            Voting Right Act of 1965-banned literacy tests and provided federal oversight of voter registration.

 

More recently there have been attempts to reform political campaigns and to make government more transparent. 

 

1970’s forward…

            The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), something I used as a journalist. 

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), an attempt to stop the influence of big and dirty money in politics. 

            The Environmental Protection Agency, now in the midst of being gutted and perverted.

 

            This is by no means exhaustive in detail but it’s a snap shot to demonstrate how we periodically return to the aspirational goals and objectives that launched us and that has provided a kind of moral road map of how to make it work, fairly and honestly. 

 

            We are in a state of failure. We have our own personal behaviors and ignorance to blame. The politicians we have elected are not the cause of our illness, but they are reflective of who we are, what we value, the level to which we pay attention, what we really care about. 

            In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Cassius says to Brutus

                        “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in our selves…”

 

            Put another way, as Pogo paraphrased Navy Commodore Perry,

                        “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

 

            

 

      See you down the trail. 

             

Bruce Taylor-One of a kind!

 

    This corner of the cyber world, the old blogosphere, has lost one of its longtime creators, and one of the truly gentle places in the world, ODDBALL OBSERVATIONS, curated by the Catalyst. The world itself has lost a wit, and one of the best old school broadcast journalists. This writer has lost one of his oldest friends, a mentor, Bruce Taylor.

   His granddaughters left a goodbye on his old blog. The pictures are worth the visit, even if you never read him.

Oddball Observations, the final post, here.

    We met in 1969 when he was assigned to "break me in" to the competitive radio news wars in Indianapolis. I had been hired to the staff of WIBC "THE VOICE OF NEWS" a 50 thousand watt powerhouse legacy radio station. Bruce had been a television news anchor and news director and one of the fastest writers and editors in the biz. He was an old pro, I was a new kid from Muncie where there were only two radio stations. 

Cris Conner, Tom, Bruce with feet up

    No matter the pressure, or demands of a story or location he never lost his cool or his wise cracking. We became friends for 57 years.

    Two things to know about him. He loved music, all kinds, and he had a knack for for getting himself to the right place at the right time.

      In college he fell in love with jazz and one of his favorites was Dave Brubeck featuring Paul Desmond. 

         That's a young tv reporter Bruce on the far right, with Desmond and Brubeck.

He had a way of getting a story with an angle or fact, or something that others did not or had missed.

 

         He was not only fast, he was a terrific writer. Here's an exchange of letters with Jane Pauley.

        

           

The greatest thing about Indianapolis for Bruce was meeting Judy, the love and the light of his life. 

In the early 70's they moved to Arizona and he returned to television news and a great career. Over the decades we made plenty of visits. For several years they were ex-pats living in Mexico before returning to his beloved Arizona.

Born in North Dakota, Phoenix became too warm for him so they ended up in the highlands of Prescott Valley, that he chronicled so lovingly over the years in his posts. 

Aside from vacation trips, Bruce and I connected at major political events and conventions. Those stories could fill a book. Let me tease you with one; his late night attempt to get Governor George Wallace to whistle Dixie.

Bruce was a raconteur and voluminous reader. He and Judy were gourmets, widely traveled. When they landed back in Prescott Valley they had a used book store, the perfect venue for the reading couple and their beloved cats. 

A few years ago a few of us, who worked with Bruce and had met over the years surprised him for a major birthday.

    Lana and I were lucky to explore Arizona with Bruce and Judy and endlessly

discuss politics and ideas, books and film and always the wry smile and bonhomie.

It wasn't that he didn't take things seriously, but it never seemed to get under his skin. Maybe it was the Viking heritage, or the years of seeing what life delivers from the view of a journalist, seeing it all, whatever, he could and would crack wise, no matter what. But, as he might caution, you never know what comes next.

He lost his beloved Judy in January. A light went out.

     Bruce carried on, though I could hear in his voice he was stunned, the motions seemed empty. 

    He remained committed to his blog. For most of his life he had been writing and communicating and it was what he did. He thought of Oddball Observations as a place to share his take on life, his own piece of the action. It was a kind of everyman's retort to the increasingly less civil conversation, the brutality and hustle and pomposity of the modern world. In an age of slick social media influencers he gave his readers moments of beauty and grace, the continuing adventures of his baking and inventing food creations, or Judy's beautiful culinary presentations. He accented the highlights of a joyful life, a contemplative place. And there were his Friday Funnies, old school, corny, sight and word gags, and always the cats. His or others. Cats were king creatures and he found them fascinating. 

    He had what he called a slight stroke. He told me he didn't think he was long for this world, but he puttered and baked and cared for his readers, until it all stopped. 

    The road ran out on a big life, a big love. I told Gayle, who he called the BAD, (beautiful, artistic daughter,) when he was under hospice care that if he had a lucid moment to tell him "Tom thought he was going to extremes to avoid buying him a drink." I think he would have appreciated the wise crack.

     God bless you old buddy!  Slainte' 

     Please visit his old Blog.  It was one of a kind.

     See you down the trail.

Harbingers of Spring

 

      A beloved California poppy and a few of his/her/its cousins lifted my spirits and changed my mood as I ambled the bluff walk.

     I noticed I wasn't the only ambler. Reminding us, it's always a matter of perspective. Sometimes a change a view is good medicine, "magic" as by-passer uttered while I paused for a photo.

   See you down the trail. 

  

 

The Madness of King Donald

      It is time for all media especially those legacy news interviews and analysis programs, major newscasts, front page of news sites and newspapers and cover stories in magazines to begin discussing the implications of a president who is, to put it insensitively, crazy. 

     This is not about mental illness or stigma, or the challenging life of those who suffer, but it is about the world that must suffer the consequences of a petulant narcissist who is damaging lives and what can or should be done about it. 

    It is past time to seriously address the abnormality and danger of our status. If you are not interested, enjoy the photos and click away. Otherwise we will explore this historic crisis just ahead.

OUT AND ABOUT

   A friend who was, among other careers, a human development psychologist, says it well. 

    "Trump has made the USA as narcissistic as he is. On the world stage we now have allegiance for no one and will use, manipulate, extort, bully and coerce our adversaries and allies alike for our own self interest."

    Now we have seen the 9th international military action of this young administration. This does not account for the 148 people who have been murdered in the 43 airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean and  Eastern Pacific all without evidence or proof of wrong doing. They are extrajudicial killings ordered by the  president. 

    Please understand this is not about policy or politics. It is not even about his incompetence or lack of character.

    When in American history has a President behaved as this man? We can argue power and politics, and have in this space, this is about insanity. The Rubicon in my analysis was when he began putting his name on buildings, and hanging his face on banners, and talking about naming airports and terminals.

    Trump is becoming more delusional, a captive of the narcissist personality, a disorder he suffers and increasingly displays. This is from the American Psychiatric Association.

    "Many people may be familiar with the casual use of the term narcissist, referring to a person who is very self-centered, boastful and hungry for attention and admiration. However, narcissistic personality disorder, a condition described in the DSM-5-TR*, is more severe, persistent and problematic.

Narcissistic personality disorder is complicated and nuanced. It is defined as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (sense of superiority in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and occurring in a variety of contexts (APA 2022; see symptom list below). An estimated 1% to 2% of the U.S. population has narcissistic personality disorder (Weinberg & Ronningstam, 2022)."

    As someone who has reported on American politics and governance since 1968 I've seen no limit of debates and arguments about policy, legislating, the arm wrestle over war powers, quality of leadership and etc. It has been absurd watching media and national political analysis put the actions of the Trump regime into a frame work as though this is just another policy cycle. 

    From the beginning this regime has broken things; mores, values, alliances, history, policy, stability, the economy and lives. It's not only that he lies, or that he and his gang are incompetent, corrupt, operating by his whims, unrestricted by his lack of preparation or capacity. We are living under a sick and delusional man who has taken the world to the brink of complete disorder. 

    Criminals, including police killers, are pardoned. US citizens are assassinated, our military is killing people in the name of all of us, under his orders. We are changing the nature of our very being under his intentional divisive directives. 

  When will all of this be lifted to a point of priority discussion. This is not politics. This is consequence of a human being with a clear record; he has lived a life of corruption, racism, venality, vulgarity, bullying and deceit. (That he got elected is a discussion for another day.) Now even some who put him in office are bailing, he has one of the lowest approval ratings in history, but now he has escalated his reach and has turned this nation into a lawless pariah. Perhaps we should excuse our desire to keep things normal and simply acknowledge the insanity is taking over the American soul. Have you seen the size of the warehouses he wants to convert into detention centers? The inmates have taken over the asylum.

    These are not normal times. There is nothing normal. We must be honest and begin the discussion, no matter how painful, fraught and challenging it may be; what are we to do about the madness of the tyrant. This is a new and frightening time in US history. 

    He talks about Trump derangement syndrome. It's real, he is deranged and the world is suffering, that's the syndrome. 

     The world has been here before, even in the lifetime of some who remain with us. It's time to deal with the truth. These are not policy debates, these are the actions of a madman, belligerent, aging, sick, and caring about and obsessed only with himself. What could go wrong? Ask yourself what kind of people offer such fealty and serve such a man? What could go wrong? 

    It's time to make this discussion page 1, lead story, framing all of his actions by reference to his illness. We must persist until the cancer is excised. 

    See you down the trail.

An American Statesman-Lee Hamilton

Lee Hamilton 1931-2026

     Any list of the greatest to serve in the US Congress will include Lee Hamilton.

     Hamilton served with distinction from 1965 to 1999 and during that tenure was chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and after leaving congress co chaired the 9/11 Commission. Presidents and potentates sought his advice. He was universally admired by Democrats and Republicans. He was considered one of wisest and most even dispositioned to serve in US History.

   He was presented the Lifetime Contributions to Diplomacy Award by the American Foreign Service Association. He was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Despite his renown and international credential he was always down to earth, sincere and a great listener.

    In 1965 I was on duty on the news desk of an Indiana radio station when the buzzer on the door sounded. As I opened it there stood a tall man, with a short cropped haircut in an open trench coat with a stack of papers in his hand. It was Lee Hamilton, newly sworn into office, back in the state delivering a "Newsletter" on the congressional session underway. That was the beginning of a relationship that became a friendship.

    Until I retired from journalism and broadcasting Lee Hamilton was a source of knowledge and information that helped me translate and report to viewers and readers events on a global scale, in the inner rooms and offices of the national security, intelligence and diplomatic realms, and in American politics. A Lee Hamilton inspired character figures into the plot line in one of my historical intrigue novels. 

    Hamilton was also a good man, a decent and admirable human being. He evinced an integrity and was a watch dog for the principles of the democratic republic delineated in the Constitution. But he was a sober eyed realist in a world that seems bent on self destruction.  As we sat in a little known chamber in the capitol dome he told me "there are things that must be done that may not look so positive in the light of day." He was discussing the options that must be available for the conduct of a sound foreign policy. He served in the depth of the cold war. 

    Though he was born in Florida, he was a pure Hoosier, imbued with common sense, a questioning mind, and bedrock virtue. He was also a hoopster. He led his team to the state finals in 1948, when Indiana High School Basketball was legendary. He was injured, but tried to play until forced to the sideline. They lost the championship. He won, what is considered by Indiana basketball aficionados and purists, the greatest award,The Trester Award for Mental Attitude.

    One of my favorite memories with Lee was the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. The Indiana delegation, staying in Buckhead, hosted a party one night. I was there with the media as we mixed with the political stars and delegates. It wasn't long before Lee, Frank O'Bannon, soon to be Lt. Governor and eventually Governor, and this writer found ourselves at one of those little basketball games using a miniature ball and a bright score board. O'Bannon had been a good player in his day. So here we are, three guys, long beyond their prime getting very serious about who was hitting the most shots. An evening passed filled with many chuckles and stories of games and anecdotes. I can't recall who won, but I was happy not to have been last.

   Back in that Cold War era, my late investigative colleague Ben Strout and I worked months to expose a KGB officer, posing as a cultural attache, who was seeking to infiltrate staff of important US officer holders before an upcoming summit. Lee's congratulations, after the exposed officer was recalled, was a point of immense pride.

    Those who were in attendance will attest to the brilliance of a remarkable evening. I was president of the Indianapolis Press Club and we hosted an evening conversation with Senator Richard Lugar, a brilliant foreign policy light and power in his own right, and Lee Hamilton. It came as the USSR was collapsing, the wall coming down, a new world order being established. Those hours of those two men, off the cuff, both with first hand experience, chatting and debriefing each other was one of those moments than can occur only once. The brilliance of the analysis that night was beyond your imagination. 

  And so it is, Richard Lugar, joined in eternity by his friend Lee Hamilton.

Stars in the firmament of wisdom, decency, and the dying breed of Statesman. 

   See you down the trail. 

He’s nuts, he’s not speaking for us, he needs to be gone

 

The speech at Davos should be the breaking point. Everything about it is a warning signal. Everyone with an interest in tomorrow needs to engage the conversation of how can he be removed.

WHAT HAS COME BEFORE

 

His deceit, divisive plans, retribution and revenge are warnings enough, but they’ve been normalized. That’s a bad sign. World leaders, repulsed by him, attempt to placate him with phony praise. That’s a bad sign. Republicans joke about him, but dare not speak against him. That’s another warning and it bespeaks the cowardice and lack of character of the republican party who have willingly allowed him to sodomize the GOP. They will be remembered as quislings but that is of little help to the rest of the world now.

 

His ignorance, wrapped in his arrogance, his instability abetted by sycophants, possibly the least qualified and oddest assortment of administration players in history, leave us all exposed to dangerous potential.

 

How many times have people said if only Hitler had been  removed, how many million lives could have been saved? The same is said of Joseph Stalin, and for that matter about tyrants throughout history. 

 

WHEN WARNINGS ARE IGNORED

He was dangerous enough when he decided not to govern a United States, but to champion the grievances of MAGA. When a man says “only he can do,” you have there a neon warning. This unfit and unqualified man is where he should never be. When a leader seeks revenge and retribution, you live in a dangerous nation. A leader who orders extrajudicial murder is an outlaw. When a man who has evinced racist characteristics repeatedly, turns an army of masked agents and thugs loose to terrorize people of color, including US citizens, you are getting a full on warning this man has to be stopped.

NOW THIS

 

And then the speech at Davos. Has a world leader ever been so incompetent, intellectually bankrupt, abusive, threatening, incoherent, foundering, deceitful,  or embarrassing while looking and acting like a carrier of catastrophe? 

 

Watch it, or read it, or view as many clips and analysis as you can. The world can have no clearer warning, no more obvious signal, Donald Trump is a clear and present danger, full stop. 

 

It’s time for America to begin to pull him away from power and to begin a national conversation about the ways that can be done. When a man says the only thing that can restrain him is his own morality, when that is said by a cheat, fraud, sexual predator and malignantly narcissistic vulgarian, with his record,  it’s the most obvious warning sign the cosmos can offer.

WE OWE IT TO A FUTURE

 

Donald Trump is not to be trusted. He is not well. He is not rational. He must be stripped of power. 

See you down the trail. 

Sun Kissed

 

I'm confident we need national therapy. The history we are making is offensive, brutal and in our faces, loud and ugly.

I went looking for a few moments of distraction. Trying to capture those few precious seconds when fractions of a subject are bathed in sunlight to the point of illumination.

I wish you could have been here to see it for real, glistening, shimmering, dancing in the light. Anyway, here's a few kisses from the sun.

Take these and a couple of deep breaths and be strong.

Resist.

See you down the trail.