A Reason to be Outraged

I understand why protesters chanting “Not My President” are upset, worried and angry. On the other hand it’s an unproductive exercise in that it won’t change behavior of our elected officials. That’s not to say they should “get over it” as Trump supporters would have it. Instead their actions should be directed at accomplishing specific goals.

One of those goals could be preventing the worst of Trump’s cabinet appointments from being confirmed by the Senate. Of those named so far his nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama for Attorney General certainly qualifies as one of the worst he’s likely to select.

The Attorney General is responsible for many areas of law and one is prosecuting Civil Rights cases. Sen. Sessions, once US Attorney in Alabama, has a history of racist behavior that is so bad he was once rejected by the Republican controlled Senate when nominated by Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship. Thomas Figures, a black assistant US Attorney in Mobile, said that Sessions had repeatedly referred to him as “boy.” Sessions admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act a “piece of intrusive legislation.” Gerry Hebert, a former Department of Justice employee who worked in the Voting Section, told Congress that Sessions had called the NAACP and ACLU “Communist-inspired” and “un-American,” and labeled the white civil-rights lawyer Jim Blacksher “a disgrace to his race.”

Sessions was elected to the US Senate in 1996 and hasn’t shown any effort to reform. He frequently earned an “F” rating from civil-rights groups like the NAACP and praised the Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act in 2013, saying, “if you go to Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, people aren’t being denied the vote because of the color of their skin.” If ongoing voting discrimination wasn’t a problem in his home state of Alabama they wouldn’t have tried to close 31 DMV offices, mostly in majority-black counties, after instituting strict photo-ID requirements to vote. We don’t need a man who doesn’t believe in the goals of the Voting Rights Act in charge of enforcing civil rights.

So instead of lashing out and expending energy to no avail we should listen to former congressional staffers who agree that the best way to get our legislator’s attention and cause them to act as you wish is to call their local offices and speak to the local staff member about your concern. That means we should all be calling our own US Senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, urging them to reject Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. They both have offices in San Antonio. Sen. Cruz’s office number is (210) 340-2885 and Sen. Cornyn’s number is (210) 224-7485.

If you truly want to make a difference, calling those offices and getting your like minded family and friends to do the same is the most likely way to accomplish this worthy goal. Keep those numbers handy because Donald Trump is likely to offer other poor choices for important cabinet posts and you’ll want to call our Senators about them too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette November 25, 2016

Progressive Agenda Still Marches On

Don’t let anyone tell you that Trump’s win is a sign that the Republican Party’s agenda is broadly supported. Clinton had over 800,000 more votes but unfortunately they weren’t cast in the “swing states” so Trump got their electoral college votes. Trump won in those areas due to voter frustration with the status quo, especially in rural areas, that he recognized and spoke to. As Bill Clinton famously said 20 years ago “It’s the economy stupid”. Some voters were turned off by his mocking a handicapped journalist or his bragging about getting away with sexual assault but others were just so fed up with an economy that isn’t working for them they simply ignored anything but his promise to make their lives better. Unfortunately we Democrats chose a candidate who, while I believe she deeply cares about all of us, didn’t know how to articulate a message of hope and understanding.

Here are a few examples that show America is moving toward a more progressive future regardless of who just won the presidential election. Residents of California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada all passed measures legalizing recreational marijuana which will now be legal under state law in eight states with over one-fifth of the US population. Arizona voters rejected legalization in a close call of 52-48; which likely means advocates will try again soon since public opinion continues to trend against prohibition. Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota passed or expanded access to medical marijuana, making it available in three-fifths of the US.

Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington elected to raise their state minimum wages to at least $12 an hour by 2020, with Washington’s going up to $13.50, and indexed to inflation thereafter. In Arizona and Washington the same measures also mandated employers offer paid medical leave which has been part of a growing progressive push in recent years.

Virginia voters rejected an effort by the Republican legislature to enshrine its anti-union “right-to-work” for less law into the state constitution so there is hope a future Democratic legislature can repeal the law.

Missouri was one of a dozen states with no limit on direct financial contributions to candidates this year voters chose to impose such limits in a landslide. Voters in South Dakota made it the first state to give voters campaign-donation vouchers to give to candidates in an effort to level the playing field and empower grassroots campaigns, and also imposed other campaign finance restrictions. Texas really needs to pass both of those measures if we really want government “of the people, by the people, for the people” instead of corporate control of our legislature and executive offices.

Maine voters chose to make theirs the first state in the nation to adopt instant-runoff voting, where voters rank their candidates in order of preference, and last-place finishers are eliminated sequentially until someone has a majority, with the goal of preventing a candidate from winning simply because multiple opponents split the vote. Had that been in place in Texas in 2006 Rick Perry might not have won the Governor’s election that year.

And voters in Florida rejected a sneaky bill that sounded like it supported home solar panel installation but in fact did just the opposite.

I’m confident that in the long run we’ll move forward on these and other important issues. 2016 is a setback but not a defeat. Be ready to counter attack.

Published in the Seguin Gazette November 18, 2016

America's nightmare now begins

And so begins the national nightmare, my daughter and 20 million other Americans will likely lose their health insurance. I have friends who think this is a good idea because their health insurance premiums went up and they blame it on the Affordable Care Act. While it may be true in part since under the prior model they had the benefit of getting deep discounts because their insurer didn’t have to cover people who weren’t born as healthy much of those increases were due to the continuing rise in the cost of health care especially drug costs so they’ll be really surprised when their insurance premiums hardly change.

The Republican mantra on the Affordable Care Act has been “Repeal and Replace” but they’ve had four years to offer a replacement and instead simply tried to repeal it 70+ times. People who have survived cancer and other severe illnesses will once again have to fear losing their health insurance because of lifetime caps. Parents like me will worry that their college age children won’t be able to get health insurance they can afford because there will no longer be the requirement that those children can stay on their parent’s plans until age 26.

We all know, including Clinton and Obama, that the Affordable Care Act is flawed but that’s what happens in a system with 535 cooks in the kitchen. It’s important to get dinner started cooking anyway and adjust the seasoning on the fly otherwise it won’t be ready when it’s needed. Clinton had numerous ideas for improving the program, Republicans not so much.

Many of the talking heads are suggesting that Clinton didn’t speak to the needs of the while working class especially those in rural areas. That may very well be true, she certainly didn’t speak to the concerns of many millennials and the progressives in the Democratic Party who supported Bernie Sanders. I’m especially frustrated with my friends who said they agreed with Bernie but thought Hillary had a better chance to win. They said she’s been attacked by the Republicans for 30 years and nothing stuck. No she was never convicted, or tried or even indicted but in the court of public opinion she was trashed and that is what voters remembered. Some of my high school classmates believe without any evidence that she and her husband are responsible for dozens of murders. That’s what 30 years of Republican attacks have done to her reputation.

There is no question that this was the year of the anti-establishment candidate and we in the Democratic Party had the chance to choose one but instead selected a middle of the road candidate and we got a middle of the road performance. Don’t blame me for any of what happens over the next four years I proudly voted for Bernie.

Published in the Seguin Gazette November 11, 2016

Armed Protesters Handled with Kid Gloves

Late last week the Bundy brothers and five of their anarchist brethren were found not guilty of conspiracy in their armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon last year. We may never fully understand how such a crime can go unpunished since there was live television coverage of who was involved and what was done. Federal prosecutors are at a loss to explain it but I suspect that the charge of conspiracy to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs was the problem.

The trial lasted for six weeks that alone tells me that the prosecution got deep into technical issues of the charges given that no one disputed that the men were there so there was no effort to break alibis or use forensics to prove their presence. It would seem the jury viewed the term conspiracy very concretely and since the Bundy gang didn’t verbally discuss preventing wildlife refuge staff from entering their offices there was no conspiracy.

One of the Bundy gang testified that they organized some friends and supporters telling them we’re going to take over the wildlife refuge for awhile until the feds give up and turn it over to the state of Oregon to manage and we’re going bring our guns so they don’t arrest us right away. How would you as an employee react if you found dozens of armed yahoos at your work place and they stopped you and demanded you identify yourself and checked you for weapons? Are you going to just continue on to your desk and start work? I don’t think so.

Not only were they found not guilty of conspiracy; the judge instructed the jury that without conspiracy they couldn’t find the gang members guilty of weapons charges either. How do you think a bunch of armed Latinos would be treated here in Texas if they decided to take over the Alamo and chased out the park rangers? Those folks would be lucky to walk out alive, let alone walk out of a courtroom as free men.

The saddest part of this farce is that while the trial was going on hundreds of unarmed protesters in North Dakota were being arrested by police in military body armor carrying automatic weapons. The peaceful protesters supporting the Standing Rock Sioux weren’t violating federal laws or attempting to take over a federal facility. The protesters are there to prevent the builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline from destroying sacred burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts. Just as important to the members of the Standing Rock Sioux they are trying to prevent contamination of the Missouri River which is the only source of safe water in the area.

The Sioux have an 1851 treaty supporting their claims while the Bundy’s had nothing. It remains to be seen how the protest will be resolved and how the arrests will be adjudicated but if there is any justice in this world it will turn out even better for the Standing Rock Sioux than what the Bundy’s got away with.

Published in the Seguin Gazette November 4, 2016

Rigged Election Just Another Trump Falsehood

Whether or not you agree with Mr. Trump on immigration, the economy or just about anything else there is one thing that should frighten every American whether a patriot or not. Trump’s repeated and apparently serious remarks that he will only accept the validity of the election results on November 8 if he is the winner ought to put fear in the heart of us all. His claims that the election is already rigged against him without a single reference to why he believes that or offering a sliver of evidence should cause anyone who believes in Democracy and the peaceful transition of power to disavow him.

Confidence in the validity of election results is the cornerstone of our democracy and while Texas Republicans claim, also without evidence, that the only way to insure the integrity of the vote is to require a limited number of photo ID’s in order to vote they haven’t offered any evidence of voter impersonation fraud either. In fact, as reported by the Washington Post, there have only been 31 credible cases of voter impersonation fraud since 2000 with over 1 billion votes cast in that time. Even the Republican Secretary of State in Ohio, Jon Husted, who is on record pushing the voter impersonation fraud story, has admonished Trump for has baseless claims.

Not only is there no evidence that voter impersonation fraud is wide spread as Trump asserts it would be a remarkably inefficient way to steal a presidential election or even a gubernatorial election. To insure a change of result in Texas someone would have to motivate and coordinate hundreds of thousands individuals to vote twice or 50,000 to vote 5 times each. Now can you honestly say that a conspiracy of that magnitude could possibly be kept quiet? If you can, I’ll send you a roll of tin foil because you need more than just the tin foil hat you’re already wearing.

As for computer hacking to swing the election that too is a bridge too far since such a conspiracy would require simultaneous intrusions into the voting systems in a dozen swing states most of which like Texas use different systems or at least different versions in various counties. Then because most are never connected to the internet and therefore not able to be remotely accessed hacking would require conspirators on the ground at many counties in many states. Again it is unimaginable that such a conspiracy could be kept quiet.

Since we should therefore be comforted that our electoral process is secure from perfidy and anyone running for office or leading a campaign should know it; the only purpose a presidential candidate of any party can have for making such baseless claims is to cause the chaos and disruption that would start a civil war.

Most of you have seen pictures of Syrian or Iraqi cities and read about the millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of dead civilians there. Imagine major cities in the U.S. torn apart on the basis of false accusations of a stolen election and consider the damage such careless remarks could do here. Trump’s comments bigoted comments on various ethnic and religious minorities suggest he’s preparing to offer scapegoats just like Europe once did to Jews and Gypsies.

I had planned to write a positive column on the benefits of Democratic Party policies but “The Donald’s” unacceptable claims are too dangerous to ignore.

Published in the Seguin Gazette October 28, 2016

Voting Matters

Some people vote for a candidate and some vote against one, other people look at the candidates and don’t bother to vote at all. That last group is the one I find most disturbing because they aren’t taking advantage of this nation’s heritage and the sacrifices of those who have gone before to secure their right to choose their leaders.

The excuses for not voting are many, including: “I just don’t have time”, “I forgot” and “My vote doesn’t matter”. The first two would seem to be a matter of time management but in reality all three are forms of “government doesn’t affect me”. If those who don’t bother or get around to voting understood just how much our government affects our lives I suspect plenty of them would be motivated.

I wonder how many of the 20 million people who now have health insurance but didn’t before the passage of the Affordable Care Act think who runs our government doesn’t matter. I wonder how many of the 750,000 Texans who have been denied the opportunity to enroll in Medicaid due to the intransigence of the Republican leadership of this state think who runs our government doesn’t matter.

In 2011, Texas cut public school funding putting tens of thousands of teachers out of a job and more importantly damaging the education of our children by over-crowding their classrooms. My daughter, who just graduated from high school in June, remembers how things changed because the Republican leadership refused to use the “Rainy Day Fund” that had been saved for just such an occasion. She’s very clear that those running our government affect our daily lives. My daughter will definitely vote in November and she’ll vote for the candidates who will work to make her life and the lives of her friends and family better.

Donald Trump’s claims to the contrary, those that didn’t have a job from 2001 to 2008 are much more likely to have a job today. People who had to work two jobs back then to make ends meet are 27% less likely to need to do that now. Those same workers on average earn more per hour and work an hour less per week than they did 20 years ago. More jobs were created during just President Obama’s first term in office than during George W. Bush’s two terms. Obama’s second term isn’t over yet and there have already been 8 times as many jobs created during his time in office than the entire time Bush was President. That also means the Affordable Care Act hasn’t killed jobs regardless of what our Republican officeholders would like you to believe.

Whether it is health care, education, or employment chances are your life or the lives of your loved ones has been affected by those who control our government. Your vote does matter and it matters to you and the ones you love. Be sure to exercise your right to vote. Be sure to vote for the candidates who have a record of making lives better for us all. I’m sure you know who they are by now.

 Published in the Seguin Gazette October 14, 2016

Introducing Tim Kaine

Whether or not you watched the Vice Presidential debate this week there’s a lot about Tim Kaine you probably don’t know. Like Hillary Clinton while Kaine was still in college he began working to make other peoples’ lives better. Kaine, a Jesuit educated Catholic, spent a year in El Progreso, Honduras working with Jesuit missionaries. Kaine ran the school which taught carpentry and welding. He expanded enrollment by recruiting new students in the village. He has often said that his time in Honduras helped him answer the question “What do I do with my life?”. Kaine says he learned from those missionaries that faith is about more than words or doctrine — it’s about action and that lesson turned his life toward public service. Kaine is also fluent in Spanish as a result of his work in Honduras.

Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, Kaine began 17 years of work representing people who were denied housing due to their race or disability. Among other things he sued Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company for redlining, in other words they were denying home loans to people of color just for being people of color. Tim Kaine was also a founder of the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.

While serving as a Richmond city councilman and later as mayor Kaine earned a reputation as a conciliator who brought the city together. He was chosen as mayor by other mostly black city council members due to his efforts to improve the lot of their constituents. Rather than take the easy road of past mayors who viewed the job as largely ceremonial and let the city manager handle day to day operations Kaine approached it as a full time job. Among other accomplishments he worked to create a magnet school and opened three other schools during his tenure. Tim Kaine was also instrumental in an effort that "won broad political support" for reducing the city’s homicide rate by 55% during his tenure in office.

Kaine later ran for and won a term as Lt. Governor, then won two terms a Governor of Virginia where he shepherded funding for new public schools, passing the largest bond package for higher education construction in Virginia history. Kaine was also a forceful advocate for expanded pre-Kindergarten access. During his tenure as governor, Virginia earned Forbe’s magazine rating as the best state for business. At the same time Virginia became a one of the country’s best places to raise a child.

As Governor, Kaine used his executive authority to restore voting rights to thousands of formerly incarcerated individuals. Later as a United States senator, he helped introduce the Voting Rights Advancement Act to fight voter suppression and repair the damage done by the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision, which gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act and disempowered millions of voters across the country. In the Senate Kaine co-sponsored the Protecting Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act to overturn the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision and restore contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act. He also introduced legislation to provide women access to affordable, FDA-approved, over-the-counter birth control pills.

Like Clinton Kaine has made a life of fighting for the less fortunate, for civil rights and to make everyone’s lives better, we deserve his leadership as Vice-President of the United States.

Published in the Seguin Gazette October 7, 2016