Which Turn on the U.S. Political Road?

an old and less traveled road

between Templeton and Cambria

recovery or precipice

     Wise analysts remind us we should never say never in politics. What is true today can change in a flash, or a tweet.

      During decades of reporting, I considered politics the greatest American spectator sport. It is not so great anymore, but we are all governed by the tawdry game. The great parties are in tatters, unsure of their future. Citizens demand a better system. The nation is divided, depressed, angry and must make hard choices. 

      Politics has become a profession, attended to by an industry of consultants and specialists; opposition researchers, analysts, pollsters, communication directors, fund raisers, etc. and it all comes down to money. Consequently the government we have given ourselves has been commercialized. Follow the money. It is all about money. H.L. Mencken was right "In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advanced auction of stolen goods."  The complete quote will follow below in this post.

      Regardless, we must live with and endure the consequence of the government and those we elect to govern and those who feed, fuel and whisper in their ears.

into the woods we go

     Despite the invocation of the seasonal cliche' this election is the most important ever, the November mid-terms will have significant impact on where we head. It is the starter's gun for the 2020 Presidential election and the life altering fall out that follows. The mid-terms also have a more immediate importance to this presidency, the investigations, and the discord in America.

the big circus

     What does it mean to be a Republican? What does it mean to be a Democrat? I've posted previously on the irrelevance of such, though those who self identify, and those of us who live under their rule will pay attention as both parties try to find either their soul and/or a standard bearer. Who will be their Presidential candidate?

     Before we look at the possible choices and scenarios-

the democrats right turn

and its consequence

    Here are some unknowables, but worthy of pondering. What if Al Gore or Gary Hart had won the Democrat nomination in 1988 instead of Michael Dukakis? More importantly, what if Jerry Brown or Paul Tsongas would have won the 1992 nomination instead of Bill Clinton? 

    Gore and Hart had Washington experience and were wiser in the wonky ways of budgets, defense programs, technology and yes social entitlements. But, the big chip is the 92 nomination of Slick Willie over more liberal candidates of Brown and Tsongas.

     Clinton and his DLC, Democratic Leadership Council, were all about moving the Democrats toward the right and steering away from the leftward lean of the 60's, 70's and 80's. 

    John Kerry might have been able to move the party back to the left. The death of Ted Kennedy also created a lack of a leftward steering wind in the party. But Clinton's tenure and later Hillary's influence pushed the Democrat party right and into the laps of big money, big business and resulted in NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagall, and tried to rewrite Democrat ethos. 

    It also allowed Republicans to abandon their once centrist views and to pander to the right wing, one issue zealots and their kook fringe. As we know they fed that cousin they kept under the basement stairs until it got strong enough to eat and dismember the traditional Republican party. Remember the slew of old line Republicans who retired or who got caught up being "primaried" by the Tea Party/Liberty Caucus?

     People who consider Barack Obama a liberal are caught in this kind of psychological optical illusion. It was created by the Democrats move to the right and the Republican move to the extreme right, populated by self-centered philosophy, that in turns makes Obama look liberal by comparison. That or people simply don't know what they are talking about, and are disconnected from history and knowledge. Bernie Sanders may be liberal, Barack Obama was not. Clinton was a major enabler of big money influence in and on government. Clinton took the Democrat party to bed with forces liberal Democrats and old Democrats warred with.

     Since Clinton the U.S. "center" has moved right and we even have populations that cheer and celebrate bully authoritarianism. 

the hard scrabble trail ahead

     Both parties now face a challenge and who they select, and how they do it will have influence on the nation as well as the parties, long beyond the 2020 Presidential race.

the democrats

      The Democrats are at odds, more so than usual. Modern Democrats have frequently resembled a knife fight or rumble but now they have deeper issues. It is my take they must also resolve generational leadership issues as well as determine what they believe. Is lashing together coalitions to take precedence over advocating social agendas, defense policies and etc? 

       Soon we will begin to see the Democrat talent show as we watch a leader emerge. Who will the Democrats turn to? At this writing the list of potential contenders is long.

--Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

--Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

--New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

--Conn. Senator Chris Murphy

--Former NY Mayor Bloomberg

--Former Atty. General Eric Holder

--Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe

--Former Mass. Governor Deval Patrick

--New York Senator Kirsten Gillenbrand

--New Jersey Senator Cory Booker

--California Senator Kamala Harris

--Mass. Senator Elizabeth Warren

--Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders

--Former Vice President Joe Biden

And there are others who have been getting attention.

--Montana Governor Steve Bullock

--Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro

--Col Governor John Hickenlooper

--LA Mayor Eric Garcetti

--Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley

--Washington Governor Jay Inslee

--Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz

   The debates, forums, town halls and speeches will provide a context for the nation to watch a tone, policy and approach begin to emerge. That will help to shape and form what this new iteration of the party may become. 

   I suspect one of the toughest matters for Democrats is how to absorb, accommodate or perhaps dismiss the kind of insurgency we see in candidates who identify with Democratic Socialism, non traditional or radical approaches.

   I anticipate more of that in the years ahead. By nature of this force, Democrats may steer again toward liberal thinking. 

the republicans

     The Republican party is in tatters. The speaker of the House resigns from government because he cannot discipline the party and especially the disruptive liberty caucus. The Senate is playing footsie with the occupant of the White House as crazy and malicious as he is. They are in the sway of a Shakespearian tragedy. They have sacrificed their decades of value on foreign policy to lay down with a Russian stooge.

      Think how the world would be so much different and the enmity in the US so much less if John Kasich, or Marco Rubio or even Ted Cruz had won the nomination. Speculate even if one of them had defeated their reviled Lady Hillary.

A much different reality emerges.

       The nation watches to see if the vestige of traditional Republican values will find a standard bearer to rise up and fight what even his staff refers to as the vile and mad idiot.

       Republicans could begin the road to redemption if someone challenges Trump. Possibilities?

--Ohio Governor and former Congressman Kasich

--Arizona Senator Jeff Flake

--Texas Senator Ted Cruz 

--Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse

    Our culture has a tendency to mythologize. People often look a little better when time works as a lapidary. Politics has always been rough, but we seem stuck in a phase where a sense of vision is lacking, where principle is discarded for expediency and where money rules. Perhaps these internal fights in the two major parties will lead to something better.

We can hope.

     "The state-or, to make matters more concrete, the government-consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to seek out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting 'A' to satisfy 'B'. In other words, government is a broker in pillage and every election is a sort of advanced auction on stolen goods." H.L. Mencken

   See you down the trail.

     

      

ROCK COOL? -THE MEANING OF LIFE-KNOWING PARENTS-WHAT'S NEXT?

WHAT'S IN THE CARDS?

    Speculation and politicking has begun though Attorney General Eric Holder says he won't leave office until his replacement is confirmed.

      Who's in line to replace the most liberal member of the Obama government? What's next for Holder, the Supreme Court?

       There's been a not so silent pressure on Justice Ginsburg, the eldest of the Supremes, to step aside. She's been quoted recently as saying she has no intention of going. A logic being voiced is that if she goes now, Obama can replace her with another liberal, but if she waits and if the Senate majority changes, the President's nomination would face trouble. Pundits have a new political wrinkle to toy with and about which to exhort. 

      It will be interesting to watch as Holder has been one of Obama's closest associates.

-MEASURING THE HOLDER RECORD-

      The Holder record is mixed and a source of controversy.

He was strong on enforcement of civil rights, pushed for same sex unions, voting rights, a change in drug sentencing laws and pushed for what he called a more fair criminal justice system.  At the same time he approved NSA snooping of American phone records even those not charged with or even suspected of a crime and he approved and directed the use of subpoenas at journalists. He was part of the brain trust that has made access to some government records more difficult, if not impossible, at the same time as putting a chill on leaks and even conversations between reporters and government employees. 

      These last matters are key in what I consider to be among this administration's failings.

       The debate over the confirmation of a new AG will likely be another circus.

CONNECTING

     An unexpected benefit came to mind as I reflected on the recently concluded Roosevelts-An Intimate History aired on PBS. I gained what I can best describe as a sense of awareness of my parents. 

      Writer/director Ken Burns and writer Geoffrey Ward delivered a series that is a rich immersion into the times and mood of America then. Seeing it in such vivid detail gave me a setting from which to better understand and "know" my parents.

      Karl and Mary Helen were born when Woodrow Wilson was President. Teddy Roosevelt died when they were youngsters. FDR and Eleanor were huge characters on the public stage during their young adulthood. 

     They were active in politics. Dad was a combatant in the South Pacific and later worked for the post war government before going into private business. Mom remained a political activist. She was a business woman before my birth and returned to work when my youngest brother was in high school. She remained committed to issues of workplace fairness and equality. They were among the survivors of the war, depression and the accelerated changes and adjustments in the world from WWII forward. They were of the Roosevelt era. 
      My mother met Eleanor as she was assisting a friend who had suffered from polio. In the reception line at a women's event Mrs. Roosevelt asked my mother and her friend to meet her for a private conversation.  In that chat Eleanor took an interest in the well being and treatment of mom's friend, as well as an interest in my mother, at the time a young army wife. That moment had an indelible imprint on my mom and was a kind of measurement by which she judged all public figures from that time forward. 
     The PBS series is a rich compression of history and culture both fascinating and highly informative. The connection with my parents was an unexpected joy.

CHEERS

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

   Terry Gilliam continues as a master of surreal artistic movie making.  The American born Brit and one of the Pythons delivers another dazzling visual and mind tickling treat in The Zero Theorem. 
   Oscar winner, Christopher Waltz is superb as a neurotic data cruncher who awaits a call that he thinks will give his life significance and meaning. He waits as he undertakes trying to solve a mathematical and computer based theorem. From the opening scene, Gilliam serves up his psychotropic wonderment and you simply take a ride through a fantastic world that throws a few bon mots about the nature of existence, the meaning of life, love, intimacy and such.
   If you like Gilliam's work you'll enjoy this in what he considers the completion of the trilogy of films including Brazil and 12 Monkeys.

THROWBACK ROCK COOL

    The mid to late 60's had not yet turned to the "summer of love" and the arrival of FM rock.  It was the last of the era of  AM "hit radio" when this was a "cool" promotional shot.

    Pretty young ladies, a Jaguar XKE and radio personalities just hanging out in the middle of the antennae field-something we did every day, right? In a year the ties were gone, the hair was longer and cool was morphing into groovy.
     I wonder where I got those shades?

     See you down the trail.

RICH MAN A JAILED MAN & CALIFORNIA SNAPS

JUSTICE TASTES LIKE PRISON
FOR A ONE PERCENT MOGUL

     The Associated Press and the Sacramento Bee report the fall of a food industry tycoon and one of America's super rich.

     Frederick Salyer was one of the most influential and powerful men in the agriculture industry, but is headed to prison, convicted of price fixing and lying to consumers about the quality of his tomato products.

     US Attorney Benjamin Wagoner says, "This is a tremendous fall from power. He was one of the richest and most influential..."

     Salyer was accused of bribing buyers for companies such as Kraft Foods and Frito Lay to pay inflated prices for his products which were then passed along to consumers.

     Federal Prosecutors say Salyer told his workers at SK Foods to lie about the quality of his product, the mold content and whether the product was organic. Government records say moldy tomatoes were processed into paste, pasta sauce and salsa.

     Salyer's tomato farming-canning empire dominated 14% of the market.  The AP says Salyer is from one of the West's oldest land and farming dynasties, going back generations. 

     The government found that Salyer and co-conspirators manipulated the price and quality of millions of pounds of tomatoes, paying bribes of up to $100 thousand.

    Government records indicate Salyer tried to move some of his fortune to Andorra, a small nation between Spain and France. He made a down payment on a condo there. He is under house arrest at his Pebble Beach mansion. The wealthy captain of industry has been sentenced to six years.  

     I wonder if he'll eat the prison tomato sauce. I also wonder if Banking and Wall Street regulators or US attorneys have the same verve as the team that brought down Salyer. US Attorney Wagoner says he hopes the conviction will send a message to the agriculture industry to keep fraud out. Fraud-Investment banking?  Hey, Mr. Attorney General Holder, are you listening? 

CALIFORNIA ODDS AND ENDS

This beauty graced Main Street in Cambria's West Village.

   Wasn't the original color either black or green?  What do you think of this upgrade?

  Sometimes a sun dappled day at a winery is not complete without paella.  

Good night sun.

  Do you see those fresh oranges, hiding away?

 Odds and ends indeed!

     See you down the trail.