Republicans Know How to Exercise Power

I have to compliment Senator Mitch McConnell, he knows how to use power. When there was a Democrat as president and a vacancy on the Supreme Court 9 months before a presidential election and 11 months before a new president would take office McConnell used his power as Senate Majority Leader to stop even the consideration of the President Obama’s nominee. His argument was that the people should be allowed to speak. It didn’t matter that his action was unprecedented. The people spoke and nearly 3 million more voted for the Democrat. Nevertheless a Republican won due to the anti-democratic Electoral College votes and it didn’t matter that it was hypocritical to still prevent even a hearing let alone a vote.

Now only 5 months from an election in one third of the senators who will vote on the new president’s Supreme Court nominee will stand for election he’s pushing hard to assure that a vote is taken before the people have an opportunity to speak again. Democrats just don’t have the idea that when you have power you’re supposed to exercise it. Obama had overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate and failed to use his power to push through a robust Affordable Care Act. Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi allowed the Republicans to amend and twist the bill into a pretzel without ever committing to vote for it. That’s one of the reasons Republicans and Trump have been able to whittle away parts of it in an attempt kill it without taking blame for breaking the parts that even Republican voters like.

Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership failed to use the power of their offices to twist arms that needed twisting and it was just the Affordable Care Act. We didn’t get the forceful stimulus bill we needed, nor the environmental protection bill that would have put a real dent in climate change, or an immigration bill that might have prevented the tragedy we’re seeing at our southern border today. In fact I would argue that Obama’s failure to use the power inherent in the office is the very reason we have Trump as president today. I believe that if he had used his power in concert with the congressional leadership Democratic voters wouldn’t have sat on their hands in 2010 and Republicans wouldn’t have taken control of both houses of Congress. If he’d been the strong leader we needed voters in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida would have turned out to vote for another Democrat in 2016 and the winner of the most votes would have also won the Electoral College vote.

It’s important that Democrats get out and vote in November so we can take back the Senate and the state legislature. It’s also important that our Democratic leaders use their power to do the people’s will. Failure to use your power is a lot like failure to use your muscles. Democrats have allowed their power to atrophy unlike Mitch McConnell who doesn’t even blink at his own hypocrisy. McConnell uses his power to get anything and everything he can accomplished.

Neither Franklin Delano Roosevelt nor Lyndon Johnson were perfect, but they did great things for this country because they understood both the need and the method for exerting power. As we now know winning elections isn’t enough if you aren’t going to use your power to get things done. Understanding the use of power is one of the key attributes I will look for in every candidate in future primary elections.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 13, 2018

Science Fiction and the Consequences of Wrecking Our Environment

Writers of what is often termed literary fiction tell a story about what is called the “human condition”, love and loss, revenge and overcoming adversity are just a few of the themes. Science fiction often does the same thing cloaked in a far off future but sometimes it examines the potential consequences of today’s actions or choices. Over the last 40 years post-environmental collapse stories such as the movies Mad Max, starring Mel Gibson, in 1979 and Waterworld, starring Kevin Costner, in 1995.

Neither movie spends much time on how things got to be the way they are, instead they address what life is like after civilization breaks down. Both movies offer worlds where violence is used to gather and control scarce resources whether it is oil or fresh water and run by warlords with no compassion or sense of decency. Neither movie ends on an especially hopeful note.

If, like me, you accept the scientific consensus that global climate change is occurring and that man’s activities are responsible the vast majority of it then you’re likely to have been frustrated by the slow pace of official action by the Obama administration to stem the tide. Now that Trump is in office the slow pace has been reversed starting with the appointment and confirmation of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt earned his chops as a conservative hero by suing the Environmental Protection Agency to benefit polluters.

In a recent CNBC interview, Pruitt stated that he does not agree that carbon dioxide is the primary driver of the global warming revealed by the temperature records over recent decades. The American Meteorological Society, your favorite TV weatherman is probably a member, wrote him a letter calling out his scientific ignorance and urging him to reconsider his “...stance on the science, and then help lead the nation and the world to consider, first, options for action, and then the course to be followed.”

Trump has taken direct actions that are contrary to the need to get off fossil fuels before it’s too late. Just over a week ago he approved the Keystone XL pipeline which will allow the transmission of dirty, caustic tar sands from Canada to refineries in the United States. Tar sands are much less efficient to process into gasoline, diesel and other petrochemicals due to the contaminants it contains making it much more energy intensive to refine and therefore raising the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.

Then in what he claims is an effort to restore coal mining jobs Trump signed a bill which reverses the Stream Protection Rule, an Obama era regulation that prohibits coal mine operators from dumping mining waste containing arsenic, mercury and other harmful chemicals into nearby streams. So not only does this bill give wealthy coal mine operators the right to contaminate our water supply it encourages the burning of a fuel that wrecks the climate.

Scientists say that if we don’t get our act together soon and cut our C02 and methane emissions the climate will take an irreversible turn around 2050 and by 2100 human life in much of the world will be unsustainable. You and I won’t live to see that but today's young adults and their children almost certainly will.

Today we resist however we can. In 2018 it is imperative that we vote out Trump’s Republican enablers in Congress and demand strong action in order to save our grandchildren and great grandchildren from life that English philosopher Thomas Hobbes would likely describe as “nasty, brutish and short”.

Published in the Seguin Gazette April 7, 2017

#donthecon meets Tax Reform

Now that Trump has ordered Speaker Paul Ryan to put aside Trumpcare they’re moving on to “tax reform” also known as Tax Breaks for Millionaires. Fortunately for the rest of us failing to take away healthcare for millions of Americans makes this scheme a lot harder as one of the fig leaves they had planned to hide the budget busting effect of the tax breaks behind has been removed.

They’ve also run into trouble with big retailers like their corporate sponsor Walmart over Trump’s desire to apply a tax on goods at the border. The plan was to raise taxes on imports and use the money to both rebate exporters and lower taxes for millionaires. Walmart which imports 70% of its merchandise from China alone isn’t happy about that as you might imagine and has sent their army of lobbyists off to the halls of the Rayburn House Office Building with the message that they won’t stand for import tariffs. Of course the fact that it would have set off a trade war wasn’t enough.

Even Republicans in Congress can’t agree on where to focus the tax breaks. Some want to lower the top corporate tax rate, some want to lower the individual rate for top earners and some want to lower the rate charged on international businesses. Between the bust on saving billions by letting low income folks be sick and die and the Walton family putting their foot down has left the hapless Republicans in a bit of a tight spot.

Some talking heads in television and radio land suggest Speaker Ryan should reach out to Democrats for assistance passing a tax reform bill. I doubt Ryan’s ready to try that yet as it’s only two months into the Trump presidency and he’s probably going to  try to get his right flank, known as the “Freedom Caucus”, to march in step. Of course, since the Freedom Caucus is the group that sank Trumpcare he’s welcome to try.

#donthecon is more in tune with tax breaks for millionaires like himself, you can tell because during the presidential campaign he made big promises about healthcare but never put forth a plan whereas on taxes he’s actually put pen to paper and made concrete proposals. Basically his tax plan is if you’re a millionaire or billionaire you deserve a tax break, the little people like us, not so much.

One of the proposals being floated is to eliminate all itemized deductions except for home mortgages. While that would certainly streamline tax forms it will surely hurt those of us with large healthcare expenses not paid by insurance. Last year I was able to deduct $7750 in un-reimbursed healthcare expenses which saved me $1938 in taxes. Under the Trump/Ryan tax plan as proposed I’d lose that deduction and I’d be certain to pay higher taxes even if they lowered the overall rate a few points.

Are you ready for a tax plan where just like Trumpcare the benefits go to the wealthiest among us?

Published in the Seguin Gazette March 31, 2017

The Cost of Trump's Fossil Fuel Agenda

2016 was the hottest year on record and as we’re experiencing right now, 2017 is already showing signs of another record setting hot year. Trump and his Republican enablers continue to deny the existence of global climate change. Trump even claims it’s a hoax perpetrated by China of all places. Apparently he hasn’t seen studies proving the Arctic ice cap is shrinking or the massive crack in the Antarctic ice shelf Larsen C that once it breaks loose will make an iceberg the size of the state of Delaware. Republicans in general deny that the carbon dioxide we’ve been spewing into the atmosphere for the last hundred years can affect the global climate but the numbers don’t lie. Our auto and power generation emissions have increased for decades and as the rest of the world’s economies have grown so have their emissions.

Even China, the world’s greatest polluter, recognizes the problem. Earlier this month China’s energy agency vowed to spend more than $360 billion on solar and wind and other renewable energy projects by 2020 in order to cut smog levels and carbon emissions while creating 13 million jobs in the process. While Republicans roll back efforts to build a clean energy economy in the United States, an industry that could employ ten times as many people as coal and gas generation China is taking advantage of the situation to be seen as a clean energy leader in the Third World. Chinese leaders recognize the opportunity to exert soft power and bring more countries into their sphere of influence.

Instead of moving forward on clean energy Trump promises to bring back coal mining jobs which is a fools errand if only on the grounds that coal is too expensive compared to the alternatives now available in form of natural gas. Wind and solar energy projects are now often competitive on cost with even natural gas so why even bother with coal? Of course one way to make it cheaper is to eliminate environmental rules regarding the waste from coal mines and that’s just what he’s done by rescinding the Stream Protection Rule which would have made it tougher to dump mining waste into nearby waterways.

The Republican energy program relies on fossil fuels thus damaging our environment through polluting our air and water with mercury, arsenic and other toxins. Their fossil fuel agenda also costs the economy in terms of the lost opportunity for job creation. The Trump/Republican energy agenda also harms us through our loss of international influence both in the developed and third world. The only beneficiaries of their agenda are the billionaires in the fossil fuel industry who finance their political campaigns.

Upton Sinclair once said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." I think this clearly explains Republican intransigence but I have to wonder how long Republicans can persist in lying to the American people given that record setting high temperatures are likely to be set again in 2017 and beyond. I suppose if Exxon became a solar or wind energy company Republicans would overnight become firm believers in global climate change and clean energy advocates.

Trump Delivering on Promises is Double Edged Sword

Trump is delivering on or at least signing documents that appear to deliver on many of his campaign promises. He made promises to the evangelical Christians and ultra-conservatives which he’s delivering on with his nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a justice on the Supreme Court. Not only is Gorsuch a man in the mold of Antonin Scalia which Trump promised his nominee would be, he’s also the mind behind the Hobby Lobby v. Burwell decision with gave corporations the right to be exempt from laws that offend their shareholders. Frankly I’ll believe that a corporation has religious rights when I meet one in church.

One of the defining reasons to incorporate your business is to protect yourself from legal responsibility for actions and liabilities of the business. If you incorporate your business you have created a legal entity with the rights and responsibilities to engage in business and if the entity is sued the owners are not a party to the lawsuit in most cases. Gorsuch’s decision bridges the gap between the owner and the corporation enabling the owner to claim that the business shares their religious convictions and therefore should be exempt from providing insurance coverage the provides contraception. In my view bridging that gap pierces the “corporate veil” which protects shareholders and may one day come back to haunt businesses due to the loss of protection offered by it.

Trump also recently announced that his administration would “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches from engaging in political activity at the risk of losing their tax-exempt status. Such a repeal of the law would require approval by Congress. Currently certain tax-exempt organizations — in this case, churches — are not allowed to openly endorse or campaign for political candidates. If they do, under existing law, they risk losing the benefits of their tax-exempt status. Should Trump get his way he’ll be able to honestly say he’s delivered on another campaign promise to evangelicals who have chafed under this restriction for quite some time. There are even organizations of lawyers who among other issues have repeatedly attempted to get this restriction overturned so his success would be met with great joy in some circles. I have to wonder though if it isn’t a double edged sword in the sense that it will also embolden and empower churches which take opposing views on many issues dear to the hearts of the evangelicals Trump seeks to reward for their support during the election. How will they feel when an Imam at a nearby mosque calls for followers to vote for a candidate opposed by their church?

Nominating Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education is an indirect reward to the evangelicals who supported Trump in that she’s a strong supporter of school vouchers which she and others want to allow parents to use in order to fund their child’s tuition to private religious schools. This is a very contentious issue since having the government directly fund religious education seems to violate the First Amendment by favoring religion with our tax dollars. I know a lot of very religious folks feel strongly in favor of this because it would either save them a lot of money they’re currently spending or would enable them to send their children to such a school. I have to wonder if even more voters won’t be up in arms when they learn that those funds must also be provided to members of other faiths and they see a news story about a taxpayer funded madrassa right here in the United States just like in Afghanistan.

Trump Would be Pillager-in-Chief

Now that it’s pretty clear who the major party candidates will be in November let’s compare their resumes. Trump claims to be a billionaire though he hasn’t disclosed his tax returns so we can’t really know. He said he couldn’t be bought because he was self-funding his campaign but that’s not true now that he’s won the primaries he’s begging for dollars the same as every other candidate.

Trump’s experience is all in real estate and entertainment where he became a household name through is “reality” show “The Apprentice”. His experience with government has been as an applicant for licenses for casinos and permits for construction projects. He’s never held elected office or even an appointed one like Planning and Zoning Commissioner.

Last Sunday the New York Times ran a well researched and documented story on Donald Trump’s financial dealings in Atlantic City. When Trump talks about it he says he hit it big there brags about how much money he made. What he doesn’t say and the story reveals is that he ventures in Atlantic City were an unmitigated disaster for everyone but him. Whether they were an investor, supplier or construction contractor almost everyone lost money by dealing with Donald Trump.

Whether it was one of four bankruptcies or self-dealing Trump always won and everyone else took a loss. After a couple of Atlantic City bankruptcies and a downturn in New York, Trump used shareholder money to pay his personal debts while receiving $450,000 a month for personal and household expenses. He delayed paying for construction work on his hotels for 3 years or more and then only paid 30 cents on the dollar yet he walked away with millions personally. The Times quotes Sebastian Pignatello, a former Trump investor, as saying: “He drove these companies into bankruptcy by his mismanagement, the debt and his pillaging.”

Clinton has served eight years in the United States Senate where she served on the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Environment and Public Works, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. She then served four years as Secretary of State. As the first lady of Arkansas and then the United States, Clinton has studied and advocated for better education, the availability of health care to everyone and improving the lives of women across the world.

Clinton’s life and government service haven’t been without controversy yet even after the Benghazi Committee wasted a shade less than $7 million on hearings they have found exactly nothing. Of course if you’re a conspiracy theorist there’s always the tragic suicide of her friend Vince Foster that you can let yourself be distracted by.

In the end the choice is clear we can vote for someone prepared to be the commander-in-chief or someone prepared to be the pillager-in-chief.