Showing posts with label Jazzman Chronicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jazzman Chronicles. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 2020

CORONAVIRUS: WHEN THE DUST SETTLES


JAZZMAN CHRONICLES:  CORONAVIRUS CRISIS




WHEN THE DUST SETTLES


By Jack Random


When the dust settles, if the dust settles, there will be time for recriminations.  There will be time for blame-seeking and there are plenty of villains in this story who richly deserve their portion of blame.  So much so that anyone remaining in the current administration should face criminal prosecution for their culpability in this deadly coronavirus crisis. 

As important as accountability may seem, however, it is not the first order of business after we bury the dead and mourn their passing.  It is not the second or third order of business.  In fact, after the dust settles it will almost seem irrelevant.  Let the historians grapple with the question of blame.  Let the history books draw the obvious conclusion that this American president was grossly and deliberately negligent in the execution of his fundamental duty to protect the American people. 

The more pressing matter once the dust settles and the dead are placed in their final resting places will be:  How do we reorder society?  How do we restore the social bond?  How do we redefine the relationship between society and government?  How do we rebuild our institutions so that they function in a global crisis?  How do we reinforce those institutions so that no elected president can dismantle them at a whim? 

It is a daunting task that lies before us.  Those who believe we can safely go back to normal have not appreciated the critical nature of this crisis.  More than a game changer, this event is an earth changer.  It fundamentally changes the lives of all human inhabitants on the planet.  Because humans are the dominant species, it alters the lives of all inhabitants from domestic pets to farm animals to wildlife.  In the wake of the coronavirus nothing on earth remains the same. 

I do not pretend to be an expert on social change though I am certainly as qualified as our president.  I offer these concepts not as prescriptions but as topics for discussion.  We will need a great deal of discussion to reach consensus and avoid the kind of deep divisions that could tear the nation apart.  Regardless, whether it comes by peaceful means or by violent eruption, whether it is for better or for worse, change is coming and it will transform every aspect of society. 

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS

The one thing we should be able to agree on is the one thing we cannot agree on due to the political divide.  If we are to begin to reach consensus on the path ahead it must begin here:  The administration of Donald Trump was desperately unprepared for a global pandemic.  The New York Times has chronicled and documented the inadequacies of our national response.  [1]  If you’re a supporter of the president, you may not like the Times but it remains the best and most objective journalism left on the planet after years of bloodletting reporters. 

The president wants us to remember one thing and one thing only:  That he cut off travel to and from China at the end of January.  Had that action been more aggressive (it was compromised) and the first in a series of aggressive actions, we would be witnessing a different story. The story we have is obvious:  The president was more concerned with the stock market, his pending trade deal with China and his reelection campaign than he was with the pandemic. 

Was he warned?  Yes.  Repeatedly.  How did he respond?  He threw a fit and attacked anyone who expressed a different opinion or in any way criticized his actions. 

Our government was deliberately and forcefully unprepared.  This administration fired the agency charged specifically with pandemic preparedness.  This administration cut funding to all health related agencies, including the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization (WHO).  It was not an oversight that allowed our emergency supplies of critical materials, including masks, gloves and respirators, to be depleted; it was the result of deliberate action or willful neglect. 

That the president has announced his decision to cut all funding of the WHO in the midst of an ongoing pandemic is beyond appalling.  It is a crime against humanity. 

The Trump administration’s actions and inactions are derelict of duty and those responsible must be held to account.  In the future, even if it takes a constitutional amendment, we must be fully prepared for such critical events.  We must not allow any administration to attack or diminish that preparedness. 

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Traditionally, we have defined the limits of free speech with the example of crying “Fire!” in a cinema.  Americans prize free speech as well we should but too many on the worldwide web as well as Fox News, One America News and other media outlets have abused that freedom to a dangerous degree.  They denied the science behind the danger of the coronavirus.  They presented false evidence that it was nothing more than the common flu.  They encouraged their viewers and/or readers to assert their independence by gathering in large groups, discarding social distancing recommendations and refusing to wear masks or shelter at home.  How many lives have been sacrificed in the name of free speech?  We can be sure it was a significant number.  We can also be sure that there will be and should be great pressure to reign in the dissemination of false and dangerous information at a time of pandemic. 

No American can be pleased with any curtailment of free speech but the irresponsibility of these corporate media entertainment entities masquerading as journalism must have consequences. 

THE END OF PRIVACY

The right to privacy is also a dearly important value in American life.  We have witnessed a constant attack on this right in proportion to the advancement of technology.  Facebook and other social media outlets know more about us than we know about ourselves.  Aldous Huxley warned us about a Brave New World.  Now we are witnessing the transformation of a society that values convenience over all privacy concerns. 

The coronavirus has added a new and critical layer to the assault on privacy.  Once the pandemic took hold, it became necessary to track the person-to-person contacts of all individuals afflicted with the virus.  South Korea developed a program or application to be installed on an individual’s mobile phone.  If all individuals are required to install and activate the app, it is a simple matter to trace all contacts by a given individual. 

There is great pressure to use such an app in America.  Google and Apple are engaged in a joint effort to develop contact tracing technology for mass use.  It would enable us to resume our normal economic activities much sooner.  It is a tradeoff most Americans would make.  The catch is that once the application is installed and used, it will be difficult to disable it when the pandemic threat is over.  We must make every effort to limit such a bold invasion of our privacy and potentially our freedom of movement to the duration of an emergency event. 

ZERO RESET: DEBT CANCELLATION

Nations, individuals, businesses and civic organizations will be confronted with debt levels beyond any we have seen since the Great Depression.  If nations allocate funds to pay down the extraordinary debt it would simply transfer the harm and extend the crippling effect for decades. 

I propose a new approach.  This is an extraordinary event at a time when the planet can least afford it.  We need extraordinary measures to address it.  It will require accepting that fundamentally our global economy is an abstract concept, the invention of brilliant minds but an invention nevertheless.  There was a time when our monetary units were based on the concrete values of gold or silver.  That time is long past.  Now our money is based on a promise, an implied contract governed by a complex set of rules and overseen by institutions that determine monetary policy. 

If all parties agree, we can reset the debt of all nations, all businesses and all individuals at zero.  We can achieve this by simply moving the decimal point in all accounts.  Those with less debt or no debt would be given credit accordingly.  Under the circumstances created by this crisis debt will be so pervasive that nearly all parties should readily agree to comprehensive debt cancellation.  The world economy must be empowered to start over. 

END OF MONEY

This has been coming for a very long time.  Money is dirty.  It is exchanged from person to person.  It is a carrier of disease.  It enables those who operate under or beyond the law.  Even criminals now have an option in crypto currencies on the dark web.  Under normal circumstances advocates of privacy and civil liberties would fight back hard against such measures.  It enables government and financial institutions to know and regulate everything individuals do with their money.  However, these are not normal circumstances.  Money spreads disease.  It must come to an end. 

CONTROL OF THE NET

As a corollary to limits on free speech, the internet is the most prominent disseminator of false information.  We have long resisted all efforts to curtail regulation of content on the worldwide web.  We have always known that false and misguided messages and information have the power to do great harm.  For example, the use of false information from bad actors on the international stage may well have placed the most incompetent individual ever to rise to power in the White House.  During the pandemic the web has hosted rumors that the coronavirus is a hoax created by the Chinese and propagated by the Democrats to damage the president and that the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the common flu.  During a global health crisis there must be a way to eliminate false messages that result in a significant loss of life. 

ROBOTIC WORK FORCE

As presidential candidate Andrew Yang warned us, the robots are coming for our jobs.  After the pandemic it is coming far faster than even he imagined.  Robots do not get and cannot transfer a virus to others.  Robots can continue to produce essential goods and services when humans can no longer safely do so.  Society must find jobs that humans can do at home or in safe working environments.  In the meantime, a guaranteed sustaining income is an excellent idea. 

GLOBAL PROTOCOLS

The American government was not the only government to respond poorly in the early stages of the pandemic when it mattered most.  The Chinese seemed more concerned with their own trade and economic interests than alarming the world that a deadly disease was headed their way.  There were early reports of a strange new coronavirus in Wuhan province but they abruptly ended when the alarm should have been sounded.  Indications are the Chinese government ordered their epidemiologists to cut off communications to their colleagues around the world. [2]

This should never happen again.  We cannot trust an authoritarian government to place its own interests above the interests of the world on matters of global health.  There must be stern and punishing consequences for such unconscionable behavior. 

SHARED SCIENCE

When medical research and development is placed in the hands of private profit-motivated corporations the only incentive is to protect useful knowledge and innovation, including medicines and vaccinations, from all others.  While the profit motive may be powerful in pushing research forward, withholding critical information from general knowledge in a time of pandemic is deadly.  It is supremely unethical.  When lives are at stake, knowledge must be shared in the interest of the human race. 

NURSING HOMES

With this deadly virus victimizing so many nursing homes and senior facilities, it is time to rethink how we treat our elders.  There is no easy solution here.  As an elder, I would rather be in my own home or the home of my loved ones for as long as humanly possible.  In light of what has happened in our old folks homes, we must ask ourselves:  Is it really wise to concentrate the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens in relatively confined and restricted spaces?  We must find a new way. 

HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

One of the first things I noticed as the pandemic guidelines began to take effect is that the emergency rooms at the local hospital had fewer visitors.  The last place you want to be with a highly contagious virus on the loose is anyplace where sick people gather.  I’ve heard reports that the local clinics and urgent care centers were turning down people and sending anyone with flu symptoms straight to the hospital. 

It has become clear that neither our clinics nor our hospitals are designed to respond effectively to a pandemic.  Hospitals have made adjustments as we go along.  They need to be able to separate those who might be infectious from those who have other health concerns.  Clearly, the entire system needs to be rethought and redesigned.  This will require massive funding. 

REMOTE VOTING

Enabled by a Supreme Court decision, Republicans in the Badger state of Wisconsin gave their citizens a grim choice:  Participate in democracy and risk your life or stay home and stay safe.  No one should ever have to face this choice again.  All elections must be by mail only until technology is sufficiently developed to protect the ballot in online voting. 

WORKING AT HOME

Many Americans who work in non-essential jobs have continued working at home during this pandemic.  Many have become familiar with online tools for communicating with their fellow workers.  This trend is compelling and will continue. 

FARMWORKERS

During an epidemic it is critical to maintain essential services.  Beyond the healthcare industry and the traditional first responders, the food chain begins not only with farmers but with farmworkers.  It is time to recognize that we need farmworkers especially in a time of crisis.  We need to protect them from illness by providing gloves, masks and sanitizers.  We need to value them by granting them citizenship and paying them decent wages.  During a pandemic they deserve hazard pay. 

VIRTUAL SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

In the wake of the pandemic, the viability of large-audience events, including concerts, plays, cinema, dance and sporting events, is in question.  It will certainly be a long time before such events are allowed again.  If they are allowed, they will have to be phased in and those who wish to attend will have to be warned of the experimental nature of large-group gatherings.  It may well be that such events will not be permitted until an effective vaccine has been developed. 

In the long run I believe that large gatherings will give way to smaller venues.  Eventually, as technology advances, sports and entertainment may become virtual events.  We will still need actors and athletes as the basis of virtual recreations but the events themselves will be virtual.  Art museums and galleries may also become virtual.  The phenomena of virtual viewing is already in process and is becoming more realistic all the time.  The development of virtual gathering and audience participation will come soon. 

These are but a handful of the changes that are coming.  We are in the beginning stages of what Huxley called a Brave New World.  It is up to us to engage the process of transformation so that the changes are not as destructive of individual freedom and civil liberties as Huxley and fellow visionary George Orwell foresaw. [3, 4]

We have not yet defeated the coronavirus.  All efforts must now be concentrated at slowing its deadly spread and mitigating the harm.  We must all do our part in this battle.  We must maintain social distancing, wear face coverings and honor the call to stay at home as much as humanly possible not only for our own health and well-being but for the safety of all.  Indeed, we must do what we can for the survival of our species. 

When an effective vaccine is developed and disseminated to the world, we must be ready for the changes to come. 


1. “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.”  By Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear, Mark Mazzetti and Julian E. Barnes.  New York Times, April 11, 2020. 

2.  “China is Avoiding Blame by Trolling the World.”  By Shadi Hamid.  The Atlantic, March 19, 2020. 

3.  Brave New World.  Aldous Huxley.  Chatto & Windus 1932.

4.  1984.  George Orwell.  Secker & Warburg 1949. 


JACK RANDOM (AKA, RAY MILLER) IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, A SERIES OF COMMENTARIES ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS.  HE HAS WRITTEN NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, POETRY, ESSAYS AND CHILDREN’S STORIES. 

Wednesday, March 04, 2020

The Hillary Roadmap to Losing in November


A LONG & WINDING ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE




THE HILLARY ROADMAP TO LOSING THE WHITE HOUSE


By Jack Random



No one exemplifies the definition of insanity (trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result) than the Democratic Party. 

On the Monday before Super Tuesday the Democrats in coordination with mainstream Democratic media (MSNBC, CNN) staged a rare and impressive display of party unity in an attempt to derail the Bernie Sanders train to the presidential nomination.  To a large extent their efforts succeeded.  If not for California the Sanders campaign would be on life support. 

The irony is: We have seen this act before.  The party is repeating the same pattern of behavior that culminated in losing the presidency to the most unqualified and ill-suited candidate for high office in all of American history. 

Congratulations, Democrats!  You’re doing it again. 

Perhaps the most unpopular nominee in party history, Hillary managed to win the nomination by capitalizing on her association with former President Barack Obama.  Without a direct endorsement, that association was good enough to win a dominant share of the African American vote.  She swept the South and used big money donations and free media promotion to run up an insurmountable lead.  By the time we got to the California primary it was all over. 

Then Hillary took her corporate friendly policies and an attitude of entitlement into the general election.  She won big on the coasts but she lost the rust belt where the good working people of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin abandoned her by the busloads.  They didn’t believe she represented their interests.  They had good reason not to believe her.  Her record did not support her promises. 

If this all sounds familiar it should.  Joe Biden is Hillary without the pantsuit or the political acumen.  On some vague, hard-to-define level, old Joe is certainly more likable than Hillary.  But he represents the same failings.  He represents a party that gives only lip service to the memory of Franklin Roosevelt.  He represents a party that loudly proclaims:  We’re not as bad as the other guys!  Yeah.  Well, maybe you’re not but there’s not a whole lot to get excited about. 

Hillary thought that argument would win her the critical states by default.  She was dead wrong.  She didn’t even bother to show up. 

Old Joe Biden goes on the stump and delivers every platitude and cliché known to the American history books:  Four score and seven years ago, our father who art in heaven...  Ah jeez, you know what I mean. 

Old Joe has challenged a man who dared question the job his son took in Ukraine to a pushups match.  His Democratic challengers have been exceedingly polite in not bringing up that crooked deal.  The first rule of politics is not to engage in behavior that has even the appearance of corruption. 

Do you think the Trump campaign or Trump himself will ignore the Hunter Biden story?  How do you think Old Joe will respond this time?  By challenging the man in the orange mask to a dual at sundown? 

Trump rode to the Republican nomination in 2016 largely on the strength of free publicity delivered by mainstream media.  Despite the fact that Bernie Sanders draws crowds in the thousands, his events rarely make an appearance on any newscast.  The blitz of Old Joe the comeback kid during and after the South Carolina primary was topped only by the open adulation and coronation before, during and after Super Tuesday. 

The only difference between the bumbling Joe before South Carolina and after South Carolina is that now he’s louder and more assertive.  How long will he get away with a stump speech that consists of the preamble to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and an occasional Robert Frost quotation?  How long will the media be able to pretend that Old Joe has got his Mo back? 

How long will the Lib Media get away with ignoring Biden’s record of being on the wrong side of the issues?  Biden chaired the committee that skewered Anita Hill and secured Clarence Thomas a place on the Supreme Court.  Biden sponsored the notorious crime bill that led directly to the mass incarceration of minorities.  Biden forcefully sponsored and supported every American industry killing Free Trade deal from NAFTA to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Biden voted to repeal the critical Glass-Steagall regulation that protected consumers from reckless Wall Street speculation.  Biden voted for the bankruptcy bill that made it harder for ordinary people to cancel their debts to unscrupulous banks and business interests.  Biden failed to oppose the Keystone Pipeline and supports fracking.  Biden supported the Iraq and Afghan wars with all his heart.  Biden was an author and sponsor of the Patriot Act, an act that stands alongside the Alien and Sedition Acts as an assault on civil liberties. 

The only time Biden remembers the workers, the environment, equal rights, women’s rights or civil liberties is election time. 

If I sound a little disillusioned, I am.  Four years ago, faced with the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, I warned everyone who would listen that Hillary Clinton was not only the wrong candidate to defeat Trump.  She was precisely the wrong candidate.  She suffered a severe credibility gap with working people.  She was saddled with enough baggage to supply the Olympic track team.  And she alienated the beating heart of the party: The Bernie Brigade. 

Yet all the party operatives and all the “liberal” media pundits went down the path to defeat with smiles on their faces.  Hillary couldn’t lose.  Until she did. 

Now they’re doing the exact same thing all over again. 

And now I’m sounding the same alarm and I hope it’s not too late.  If not for California standing up to all the media hype and Democratic machine propaganda, it surely would be. 

Biden is not the candidate they’re pretending he is and no amount of money or propaganda can sustain such an illusion from now to Election Day. 

Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist or Social Democrat, is the man who can take us home.  He’s as genuine as an old pair of Levi jeans.  His only interest is to deliver a government that represents the common folk.  Biden talks the talk.  Bernie walks the walk. 

If the people are allowed to hear his ideas, they will embrace them.  They know by raw instinct he’s right.  Bernie’s Medicare for All will provide universal healthcare while saving the nation $450 billion per year.  It will also save 68,000 lives per year.  [1, 2]  Bernie is dedicated to a Green Economy, a national minimum wage, labor union protections and a foreign policy that works for peace.  Bernie wants an immigration policy that legalizes people who are already here and contributing to our society.  Bernie wants an end to the private prison industry.  Bernie wants access to quality education, including college or trade school, for all.  Bernie wants our most promising students to be free of unconscionable debt. 

Will he get everything that he proposes?  No.  But he will get something.  All newly elected presidents get something.  Obama got Obamacare and it clearly wasn’t enough.  If Bernie gets Medicare for All or something like it, we will all be significantly better off.  Bernie will get a lot more than that because the people will demand it and congress will respond.    

Don’t believe the same old hype.  The candidate to beat Donald Trump is Bernie Sanders. 

Jazz. 

1.     Improving the prognosis of healthcare in the USA.  Prof Alison P. Galvani, PhD, Alyssa S. Parpia, MPH, Eric M. Foster, Burton H. Singer, PhD, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick, PhD.  The Lancet.  February 15, 2020.
2.     Multiple studies show Medicare for All would be cheaper than public option pushed by Moderates. By Igor Derysh.  Salon, February 20, 2020. 

Saturday, February 08, 2020

BERN BABY BERN: BERNIE OR BUST!


LONG & WINDING ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE




BERNIE OR BUST!


By Jack Random



In the much awaited trial of the president Democratic members of the house took aim at Donald Trump’s manifestly crooked dealings in Ukraine.  In response, the president’s defenders took aim at Joe Biden. 

Both were previews of the campaign to come.  The prosecution of the president was a three-day, 36-hour attack ad against the presidency of Donald Trump.  The defense was an attack ad against Joe Biden via his son, Hunter Biden. 

The mainstream of both major parties presumed that the coming presidential election would be a match of elders, a contest between the corrupt incumbent against the entrenched Democratic challenger.  The smear machines are revved and ready.

Not so fast. 

Bernie Sanders may be elderly but he represents the young.  He brings the vitality, energy and resilience of the young to a stodgy old process that embraces structural conservatism. 

The old politicos had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that a non-politician without governing experience could win a presidential election by exploiting the flaws in an antiquated and eminently inequitable system.  They are having the same trouble with Bernie Sanders. 

In so many ways Sanders represents the existential threat that Trump posed but has not delivered.  Trump plays the game and makes no excuses.  Sanders tells it like it is. 

With his rise in the polls and his victory in the Iowa caucus (where I come from the one who gets the most votes wins) the operatives and dealmakers of the Democratic Party are beginning to panic.  They miscalculated badly by having Hillary Clinton deliver her attack against Bernie.  To this day they don’t seem to realize that Hillary is not popular among the majority of Democratic or independent voters.  Hillary holds the political class.  She can’t hold a candle to Bernie when it comes to political activists. 

Next they managed to persuade Elizabeth Warren to deliver an attack designed to weaken Bernie’s appeal to women.  It backfired.  People saw through the staged maneuver and moved to Bernie’s camp.  Warren may not recover. 

Now, just like the last campaign, the party is working overtime to find ways to stop the Bernie train.  One by one the surrogates step to the camera to deliver a tired old speech:  Bernie can’t possibly beat Trump.  Bernie’s a socialist.  Bernie is too far to the left.  Bernie’s a radical with radical ideas. 

Maybe they believe it.  Maybe they’re just doing their party’s bidding.  They seem to forget:  Hillary was the mainstream moderate who lost to Trump.  Why would they be so eager to try it again? 

After the impeachment trial Joe Biden is damaged goods.  Act One of the trial that wasn’t a trial was an attack on the president.  Act Two of the trial was a counterattack on the integrity of Biden.  The attack ads are already written.  When Biden calls out Trump for his dirty dealing in Ukraine, the forces of Trump counter with Burisma.  How much was it Hunter Biden made?  More in a month than working people make in a year?  What were his qualifications again? 

In the age of Trump it is not enough to be clean.  You have to be above the appearance of wrongdoing.  The old school politicians know this and Biden fails the test.  

When the Democrats finally accept this fact they will look to another option: anyone but Bernie.  There was a time when I would have included Warren on the list of unacceptable presidential candidates to the Democratic machine.  To all appearances she took essentially the same positions as Bernie but something changed along the line.  The party decided they could work with Warren.  Apparently they don’t feel the same about Bernie. 

Why?  Bernie is the most consistent candidate in the field.  Whether you label him a Democratic Socialist or a Social Democrat or an Independent, he believes now what he believed decades ago and he’s held his ground. 

Little noted in the mainstream cable media that looks more and more like a subdivision of the DNC there was a diversion of response to international crises in recent months. 

First came the coup in Bolivia.  Bernie condemned it as a coup and called for an international response.  Warren, Klobuchar and Buttigieg took the standard line, condemning the victim and supporting the usurpers.  It was an insult to democratic values and democracy itself.  Warren came around but only after Bernie led. 

Second came the events that threatened another forever war in the Middle East, this time with Iran.  The candidates tripped over themselves condemning the assassinated Iranian commander.  Only Bernie took a more measured perspective, stepping back from the precipice of war and condemning targeted assassination as an instrument of foreign policy. 

Third and most recently: the Trump administration’s dead-in-the-waters proposal for peace between Israel and Palestine.  Once again Bernie took the lead, calling out the proposal for the farce that it is.  He took the opportunity to call for an end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of two viable states, guaranteeing Palestinian self-determination as well as mutual security.  To her credit Warren followed suit with her own condemnation of Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories.  Buttigieg talked in his usual doublespeak but criticized the deal as one-sided.  Biden engaged in similar talk, criticizing the deal but emphasizing a long-standing loyalty to the state of Israel. 

More and more I am left with the conviction that Bernie is our best hope both at home and in foreign affairs.  He stands ready to make the fundamental changes that our times demand.  Moreover, he is the best candidate to expose the failures of the Trump administration.  For while the Trump years have seen a dramatic decrease in the unemployment rate, well-paying middle class jobs have been transformed into low-paying service jobs.  While the corporations and the wealthy have made a fortune, the rest of us still wonder how we’re going to make it to tomorrow. 

Bernie has been saying it for years:  It’s time for a political revolution.  It’s time to fundamentally transform an economic and political system that works extremely well for the ones at the top but not so well for the poor and the working people. 

I have not given up on Elizabeth Warren.  She remains my first choice as an alternative to Bernie.  But my confidence has been shaken not only by her politically reckless attack on her progressive rival but her stops and stumbles on policy and events in the daily news.  I fear she may be too anxious to modify her policies to please the party. 

Andrew Yang remains an intriguing choice and one that I would not only support but work for were he to win the nomination.  It would take a tsunami for that to happen. 

The other candidates, including Joe Biden, would be a major disappointment to anyone who believes as I do that the next president must enact historic change.  Would I vote for a Biden, a Buttigieg or Klobuchar, a Bloomberg or Steyer over Trump?  Of course.  But would I work for them, write for them, contribute and serve as a warrior for the cause? 

No, I would not. 

I am old enough to know that change happens.  Sometimes it happens when you don’t expect it.  Sometimes it happens overnight. 

But for now:  It’s Bernie or bust! 

Jazz. 

JACK RANDOM IS A WRITER LIVING IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.  HIS WORKS INCLUDE EIGHT NOVELS AND THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

The Progressive Divide: Warren Vs. Sanders


LONG & WINDING ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE




THE NOTORIOUS PROGRESSIVE DIVIDE

By Jack Random



On January 14 of the new year 2020 six candidates took the stage in the last Democratic presidential debate before the Iowa caucus.  In the absence of Andrew Yang, it was the first all-white debate.  It seems the African American vote has gone all in for Joe Biden. 

Objectively, neither I nor anyone else will ever fully understand why black voters overwhelmingly prefer Biden over Cory Booker or Kamala Harris but the margins leave no doubt.  If Biden prevails and becomes the Democratic nominee he will owe it all to former President Barack Obama. 

For me the most poignant moment in an evening only slightly more entertaining than a constant drone was when moderator Abby Phillip of CNN pointedly asked of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg:  Is it possible that black voters have gotten to know you and have simply decided to choose another candidate?

It was clear from the mayor’s expression he was stung by the question.  It rang true despite the candidate’s claims that blacks in his town support him.  It did not help his cause that Ms. Phillip is a black woman.  The mayor was stung again later in the debate by the same moderator who noted that his healthcare plan would automatically enroll individuals who do not want insurance. 

Buttigieg is a master of the old debate ploy used to avoid any answers that might not serve his interest:  deflect and pivot.  After witnessing the practice a few dozen times it becomes obvious even to his most ardent supporters. 

Mayor Pete’s performance was flat in keeping with a presumed non-aggression pact among the moderates.  He is competing with Biden and Amy Klobuchar but all three refused to engage.  It is in a sense understandable with Buttigieg.  He is counting on Biden to stumble.  It is not understandable with Klobuchar.  She sits in a distant third and desperately needed to pick up ground before the impeachment trial took her and her fellow senators off the campaign trail. 

With Biden the bar has been set so low he could take third place in a second grade speech contest and the press would call it a triumph.  I understand that the senator overcame stuttering as a child.  I get that his age is catching up to him.  But we should never elect a president out of sympathy. 

The fireworks of the night belonged to the progressive candidates:  Senator Elizabeth Warren vs. Senator Bernie Sanders.  Until recently it was considered logical for these two to eventually unite their followers against a decidedly more moderate field.  Warren and Sanders stand for universal healthcare in the form of Medicare for All.  They are both antiwar and believe that military spending should be substantially cut to make way for progressive programs and a Green New Deal.  Both are solid supporters of taxing the elite to improve the lives of common citizens.  Both are pro labor and believers in Fair Trade.  While there are differences in policy and emphasis, their commonalities are far greater than what separates them. 

In what should have been a non-issue, one largely contrived by CNN, the two senators engaged on whether or not Sanders told Warren that a woman could not win the presidency in a conversation that took place in 2018.  Warren said he did.  Sanders said he did not.  Since it was a private conversation we can presume it was not meant for public consumption.  That Warren made it so is questionable in itself.  She persisted to the point of confronting Sanders on stage after the debated ended.  Refusing to shake his hand she said:  “I think you called me a liar on national TV.” 

When it was picked up by a hot mike and broadcast on CNN it became clear Warren wanted a confrontation.  Both Sanders and Warren being honorable individuals, one would have assumed the incident was a misunderstanding.  It is not beyond question that a 76 year-old man and a 68 year-old woman might misinterpret a remark. 

Now it has become a critical issue dividing the progressive front of the Democratic Party.  Now it becomes an issue that could damage both candidates and open the door to yet another Democratic compromise, probably in the form of old Joe Biden, that will likely lose the White House.  From a progressive point of view that would be a disaster. 

Those who have observed electoral politics over time recognize a pattern.  The guardians of the left are notorious for attacking their own. 

Sanders’ supporters are certainly intense.  In their zeal to boost their candidate they played the cards they had.  They argued what many think but rarely express:  That a woman would be less likely to win against Trump.  I don’t believe that.  Maybe they don’t believe it either.  Hillary Clinton lost not because she was a woman but because she was weak on trade policy, because she came with a ton of political baggage and because her weaknesses played to Trump’s electoral college favor. 

Elizabeth Warren has made a stand and in so doing she has forced us to do the same.  We can stand with Warren or we can stand with Bernie.  We can no longer hold out for one or the other to win the progressive mantle. 

As one who has defended Warren against what I considered unreasonable attacks, I can no longer stand by her.  Bernie’s been with us far too long to believe now that he is anything less than honorable.  Bernie was quick to call a coup a coup in Bolivia.  Warren floundered.  Bernie took the lead in condemning the unwarranted and ill-advised assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.  Warren wasted time taking the standard mainstream line condemning the victim.  That she eventually found her way to Bernie’s reasoned opposition is commendable but Bernie was already there. 

Strange there was so little discussion of Soleimani’s assassination.  Strange there was no mention of the events in Bolivia or subsequent events in Venezuela.  On matters of foreign policy, military spending and congressional authorization to engage war in foreign lands, Bernie was clearly the best informed and the most principled. 

Warren slips to a distant second on my list of progressive preference.  She needs to back off her attack on Bernie.  Unfortunately, it does not appear that she will. 

It occurred to me in observing this debate that there was very little to engage the curious or challenge the public mind.  Tom Steyer, the newcomer to presidential debates, repeatedly looked into the camera and delivered his prepared appeal.  It did little to persuade.  Steyer may be a good man.  He may have the nation’s best interest at heart.  But he has offered no compelling reason to believe that he is the man to lead the nation in a new direction.  Others can take the lead on climate change and no one believes that term limits is the solution to our problems. 

At least billionaire Mike Bloomberg has held public office.  Neither Steyer nor Bloomberg has managed to make the case that there is anything greater than personal ambition behind their candidacies.  There are far better ways to spend their money and there are far better candidates for their causes.

We have moved on.  The preliminary debates are over.  The senators have been called back to Washington to serve as jurors in the trial of the president.  The strange ritual of the Iowa caucus begins in a few short weeks on February 3rd.  After that: New Hampshire February 11th. 

Then the schedule slips into overdrive.  On February 22nd Nevada will introduce racial minorities, including a significant Hispanic community, into the race.  On February 29th South Carolina will introduce African Americans. 

The whole contest should pretty much be decided by March 3rd when California votes along with thirteen other states.  Past that date there will be no pretenders. 

At this juncture, the most likely scenario is that Joe Biden wins the nomination and loses the White House.  I don’t like it but there it is.  On the other hand, anything can happen. 

Jazz. 

Jack Random is the author of the Jazzman Chronicles and Hard Times: The Wrath of an Angry God. 

Sunday, January 05, 2020

ANOTHER STUPID WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST






ANOTHER STUPID WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

By Jack Random


“The stupid endless wars, for us, are ending.”

Donald Trump, Twitter:  9 October 2019


Of all the lies Donald Trump delivered on his twisted road to the White House the most insipid, nefarious and damnable was the one that promised no more “stupid wars” in the Middle East.   

That was then.  This is now.  Trump stands poised to take a desperate dive into war that so many failing presidents have resorted to before him.  George HW Bush had his little war in Panama and his Gulf War prelude to the War in Iraq.  Bill Clinton had his wag the dog excursion into Kosovo.  George W. Bush dove headlong into the quagmire of Afghanistan and the and the ongoing disaster in Iraq. 

True or not, it is commonly believed that Americans will rally to a president at war and Trump is due to forget his campaign promise and take the dive.  Whether it is his doing or that of his neocon Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the US carried out airstrikes against an Iraqi militia killing 25 soldiers.  The bombings were a tragic and potentially catastrophic mistake.  They were not sanctioned by the Iraqi government.  In fact both Iran and Iraq condemned the action. 

Trump and company justified the strikes on two grounds:  First, it was in retaliation for attacks on US bases in Iraq, one of which killed an American contractor (otherwise known as a mercenary).  Second, the militia is connected to Iran and that apparently is justification enough. 

Whatever the justification, thousands of protestors assaulted the American embassy to express their outrage.  It seems the people of Iraq do not have warm feelings for the nation that attacked their homeland without provocation.  It seems the Shiites have warmer feelings toward their Iranian neighbor than they do for the military superpower that attempted and ultimately failed to occupy their country.  It seems there is some animosity when you terrorize a nation, kill tens of thousands of their people and wound countless soldiers and civilians alike. 

The retaliatory bombing campaign came at the same time the Iraqi government was once again on the brink of collapse.  Its security forces have killed an estimated 500 citizens who have risen in protest against the government. 

America’s recent and sudden withdrawal from northern Syria has left the region in turmoil.  Russia has regained control of her client state, Turkey is emboldened in its desire to crush the Kurdish independent movement and the Islamic State is regaining momentum.  Both the Kurds and the Iranian supported militias have played a crucial role in fighting the forces of ISIS.

Now our naïve president has been sucked into the escalation of American forces.  It begins with a few hundred marines but where does it end?  The Iraqi government has condemned the American bombing campaign as a violation of national sovereignty.  Legislation is being proposed to demand withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.  What will our president do then? 

Trump continues to view the conflict as one between Iran and America but he fails to understand that the vast majority of the Iraqi people are against us.  We cannot be drawn into another prolonged war in the region.  But rather than pause to reflect on the consequences of our actions, our fearless leader chooses to take the most provocative action possible short of launching a full-scale attack:  He orders the assassination of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad international airport. 

We are diving headlong into the most stupid war in an era of stupid wars.  It is the supremely stupid war because we have already proven the stupidity of endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Now we are proposing a regional war with enemies on all sides:  Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Islamic State. 

It is the most stupid of stupid instigations to war because it legitimizes targeted assassination as a weapon of war.  One wonders if Pompeo warned the president about the dangers of this action.  Even warlike nations have always been reluctant to employ assassination lest the enemy replies in kind. 

We can disregard all the testimonials that Qasem Soleimani was an evil man.  He was a military man.  He followed the directives of his government.  The Iranians do not believe he was evil, the Iraqis do not believe he was evil and we did not believe he was evil when he was one of several commanders leading the fight against ISIS. 

The dehumanization of our adversaries is always prelude to war and this war has all the markings of a supremely idiotic, massively destructive mother of all Middle East wars. 

The president has lied and deceived us far too many times to be believed in a matter so crucial as war.  The president claims an attack on American forces was eminent.  There is a difference between eminent and inevitable. 

If we grant the accounts that the Iraqi-Shiite militias with strong ties to Iran have staged several attacks on American bases, the fact remains that only one American mercenary was killed in those attacks.  Twenty-five Iraqis were killed in the American retaliatory bombing.  And that was before the assassination of commander Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader. 

When you are operating in a foreign nation, there is a code of conduct and proportionality is a part of that code.  There is a process for settling disputes in other nations.  We could have and should have filed a complaint against the accused militias.  Instead we bombed them.  We killed twenty-five and wounded some fifty others.  We could have and should have consulted our allies in Iraq before assassinating the commander of the Revolutionary Guard. 

The White House has warned members of congress that it expects retaliation within weeks.  That is an understatement of epic proportions.  We have escalated our involvement by sending thousands of troops to the region.  We have made yet another stupid war all but inevitable. 

Congress must rise to stop this insanity.  Barbara Lee, the only member of congress to vote against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, stands poised in the lower chamber.  Bernie Sanders stands ready in the senate. 

To any candidate who desires to be president:  Now is the time to demonstrate your mettle.  If you do not stand up against this war now, you do not meet the minimal requirements for assuming the office. 

Jazz. 


JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, WASICHU, NUMBER NINE, GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION, PAWNS TO PLAYERS, GRAND CANYON ZEN GOLF TOUR AND OTHER WORKS (CROW DOG PRESS).