Frightening Historical Parallels

While Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler and no Benito Mussolini that doesn’t mean he’s not a fascist. Merriam Webster dictionary defines fascism as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

Trump most certainly exalts “white” people over all other races even though race is really just a social construct. His rhetoric and actions, such as not naming permanent leaders of numerous departments and agencies which would require Senate confirmation thus allowing him to name people as acting leaders so he can put anyone he wants in those leadership roles, show his autocratic philosophy. Under Trump the middle class has shrunk and the rich have gotten richer, especially the very richest. Trump showed his desire to forcibly suppress opposition when told Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, that they should “get rid” of journalists as they met in public at the G-20 conference of world leaders in Osaka, Japan.

Similar to Hitler who vilified Jews and other minority groups, Trump has vilified immigrants from non-northern European countries. His policy of separating children from their parents when migrants seek asylum at the border is horrendous. Keeping both parents and children in unsanitary conditions without access to showers or toothbrushes would violate the Geneva Conventions if they were prisoners of war. Japanese-Americans and Jewish-Americans, many of whom have family members who suffered in concentration camps during World War II, have protested at Trump’s camps complaining that the conditions are reminiscent of those concentration camps.

Prior to World War II the German ocean liner St. Louis sailed out of Hamburg with nearly 900 Jewish refugees seeking visas to enter the United States. They were not admitted on the grounds that they needed to wait their turn as the roughly 27,000 slots available to Germans and Austrians had already been filled and so were the slots for the next several years. By 1945, just six years later, 254 of those roughly 900 passengers had been murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust.

The Trump administration is using the same rhetoric all over again to deny entry to migrants from countries south of our border. I’m all for waiting your turn in line but when the line stretches 20 or more years as is sometimes the case I think it’s time to revisit the rules that make the line. Several former asylum seekers have already been reported as murdered after being sent back to their home countries.  We’ll probably never know just how many of the deported asylum seekers are killed by the very drug lords and criminals they were fleeing the first place.

The examples above are just some of the frightening parallels between the leadership of present day United States and Germany of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. I don’t know about you but I don’t want another stain on our nation like that of the ill-fated voyage of the St. Louis or the Japanese internment camps.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 19, 2019

Political or Violent Revolution

A week ago yesterday we celebrated Independence Day, the American Revolution, led by wealthy, educated elites in order to wrest control of government away from a distant despot and take it into their own hands.

This Sunday France will celebrate Bastille Day, their own revolution against the rich and powerful despots of the late eighteenth century. Workers in the cities and small farmers in the countryside resented the privilege and wealth bestowed by the accident of being born in to certain families. The triggers were the rising prices of bread and other staples exacerbated by crop failures and government on the brink of bankruptcy driven by the country’s participation in a war of choice, the American Revolution.

The seeds of revolution in our country have been planted once again and are growing even now. One famous rallying cry of the American Revolution was “No taxation without representation”, unfortunately many Americans, including Texans, once again suffer from it due to partisan gerrymandering. In some states 60 percent of voters can turn out for the party that ends up with just 40 percent of legislative seats because the other party had the opportunity to draw legislative and congressional maps that provide a near permanent advantage to that party regardless of the will of voters.

In the United States today three white men, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, own more wealth than the poorest 50% of the population combined. The Walton Family and the Koch brothers combined own about the same amount, while Bezos, Buffett, and Gates started with little and made billions, the Walton’s and Koch brothers inherited their wealth and use it to exert political control, gain privilege, and protect and increase their wealth.

Grocery prices have risen noticeably over the last year or two, other living expenses have as well yet most workers have seen little if any increase in their wages. Trump’s tax cut put little more in the pockets of you and me while lining the pockets of the already fabulously wealthy. At the same time it further exacerbated the national deficit even as the nation still bears the expense of the unnecessary war of choice in Iraq. Climate change is bearing down on us like a freight train, last week Anchorage Alaska had a record high temperature of 90 degrees – that’s 5 degrees above the previous record, there was massive flooding in the Great Plains last month wrecking crops and killing livestock, and the Arctic ice cap is showing signs of record shrinkage. As climate change worsens crop failure and livestock losses will cause further shortages and price increases. With the vast majority of Americans living paycheck to paycheck there’s not much room in the budget for increased costs.

There is mounting pressure for change, in the past the United States has managed that through the electoral process choosing Teddy Roosevelt, his nephew Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson to manage the necessary adjustments. Will this nation choose another visionary leader to guide us through the critical transition or will it take the kind of upheaval seen in the latter part of the eighteenth century?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 12, 2019

New Gilded Age or New Era

The period from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until just after the turn of the century is known as the Gilded Age, it is the time of big railroads, big banks, and big steel. Men like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Mellon made themselves wealthy by monopolizing trade and corrupting government then built grandiose homes and earned the appellation robber baron. Economic inequality reached historic levels and children starved while Morgan and Mellon decided where to build their next 75 room mansions. Teddy Roosevelt earned a reputation as a trust buster through his efforts to curb the most egregious excesses of such men. Roosevelt didn’t attack all trusts or monopolies, only those he felt took excess profits and failed to provide good, efficient services or high quality products. While his public face was that of a protector of the common man he was very much a supporter of capitalism who believed that strong government provided necessary balance. Economic inequality continued to increase through the Roaring 20’s proving that Teddy Roosevelt didn’t go far enough.

Just two decades after Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency the national economy took a nose dive into what became known as the Great Depression. It took reformers like Teddy’s nephew Franklin Delano-Roosevelt and his vice-president, Texan John Nance Garner, to push back against the avarice of the robber barons’ successors and set the stage for the rapid growth in the middle class after the end of World War II. Roosevelt and Garner were forced to compromise with southern Democrats and withhold some of the protections and benefits from domestic help and farm workers, who were often minorities, in order to pass their legislation. Those left out were unable to fully enjoy the benefits of the vibrant economy.

Two decades later another reformer was needed and Texan Lyndon Johnson took up the banner to expand those benefits to the grandsons and grand-daughters of slaves and other minorities. Like all reformers before him he also had to be pushed by those who suffered under the existing system and he had to accept compromises in order to move forward.

While each of these great reformers efforts were necessary they have never been enough and soon after LBJ left office the legislation and regulations that protected the middle class were weakened or reversed. It has been 50 years since LBJ and once again economic inequality has reached record levels with just three men holding as much wealth as the bottom 50% of Americans combined.

In 2020 we have an opportunity to elect a reformer who will turn back the tide of avarice that threatens the fabric of our society and prevent another Gilded Age or Great Depression. I hope you watched the two nights of Democratic presidential candidate debates and recognized that some of them will move us forward while others just offer the status quo. Sanders, Warren, Harris and a few others offer a chance to restore balance to our economy. Biden, Hickenlooper and the rest would happily settle for scraps off the table of the new robber barons of Facebook, Amazon, and Apple.

Democrats Must Do Better Than Biden

I’m convinced that Donald Trump can be beaten in the 2020 election by several of the potential nominees. Recent polling even shows that Joe Biden can beat him here in Texas. Biden currently has the highest national ranking among Democrats who are running for the nomination. I’m just not sure he can actually win because this will be an election much like 2016 where turning out voters is more important that persuading so called swing voters and Biden isn’t that inspiring to the folks who too often don’t vote.

I don’t see him getting support from the people who we need to get to the polls in Texas in order to win a majority for president or possibly more importantly providing the coat tails to win the federal and state legislature. His support is primarily older voters who already turn out to vote in most elections. The people Democrats need in order to win the majority in the state and federal legislature are the young and minority voters. Many of those voters find Biden too middle of the road and his recent statements claiming that Republicans will work with him as well as telling business executives that not much will change just prove he’s not the change so many were looking for when they voted for Obama then Trump. That’s not to say Biden won’t get the nomination or even win in 2020 but if he does I worry he’ll end up with a Republican controlled Senate which will prevent him from achieving even slight reforms and that will lead to another Trump like president in 2024 as voters continue to look for change.

Even if Biden wins and gets to work with a majority in both houses of Congress his own statement that not much will change suggest his administration won’t provide the push to move forward on climate change, social justice, or any of the other reforms our nation so sorely needs. Yes, it would be more minority friendly, more LGBTQ friendly, less reactionary, and a better international partner but that won’t be enough for people who don’t see our government as responsive to their needs. It won’t be enough to inspire them to vote again in 2022 and 2024 and if they do vote it won’t keep them from turning to another charlatan selling snake oil in the hope that they’ll shake things up.

I’ll vote for whoever is the Democratic nominee in 2020 because none of the candidates can be worse than Trump or for that matter anyone who could possibly win the Republican nomination. I simply fear that having a “moderate” win our nomination and then the presidency invites disaster for the future of our nation. Next Wednesday and Thursday on NBC the public will have a chance to hear from twenty of the candidates and I hope that readers will take that opportunity to begin getting to know the candidates.

Wednesday, June 26, will start at 8pm and the candidates on stage will be: Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Rep. John Delaney, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Rep. Tim Ryan, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

The following night, Thursday June 27, also starting at 8pm, the lineup will be: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Kamala Harris, former Vice President Joe Biden, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Michael Bennet, author Marianne Williamson, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 21, 2019

Trump Administration Most Corrupt in a Century

Even putting aside the numerous corrupt and criminal actions by the current occupant of the White House such as obstruction of justice as documented in the Mueller report and violations of the emoluments clause by receiving large amounts of money from various foreign countries and businesses through his hotels the Trump administration is without a doubt the most thoroughly corrupt since at least Warren G. Harding was president from 1921-1923.

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price was run out of the administration for using tax payer funds to pay for charter flights to various speaking engagements but wasn’t prosecuted. Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin got a slap on the wrist for doing the same thing to the tune of over $800,000 and is still a Cabinet member. Former Texas governor and now Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, has been investigated for using $56,000 in taxpayer money to pay for charter flights that could have been made on scheduled airlines for far less.

Before resigning in December, Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke was being investigated for possible self-dealing involving a developer working on a project near land in Montana owned by Zinke and his wife, Lola. The question is whether Zinke used his office for financial benefit; the Interior Department’s inspector general referred the matter to the Justice Department. He also spent thousands of dollars of public money on charter flights that he could have made on regularly scheduled airlines for a few hundred dollars. In addition friends and campaign contributors of Zinke were awarded a $300 million dollar contract to rebuild the power grid in Puerto Rico even though their company consists of only two people and the company has no experience with such a large scale project.

Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was under investigation by the inspector general of his agency prior to his resignation. The inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency said that former Administrator Scott Pruitt wasted nearly $124,000 of taxpayer money on excessive travel, including first-class airline tickets. Pruitt had EPA staff help his wife, Marilyn, seek employment with an annual salary of more than $200,000. Just three months after Pruitt was sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Pruitt used agency staff to contact Chick-Fil-A about his wife becoming a franchisee. Pruitt paid just $50 a night to stay in a Capitol Hill condominium linked to a prominent Washington lobbyist whose firm represents a long list of fossil fuel companies like Exxon.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spent about $45,000 refitting his office, including $4,000 for new blinds, more than $8,000 for a dishwasher, and nearly $32,000 for a dining-room table. In March 2018, Congress asked the GAO to investigate the spending. While the blinds were found to be acceptable the table and dishwasher broke the law.

In February, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) refused to certify Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s financial disclosure statement because he hadn’t sold a stock that he claimed he had. Ross insisted the error was simply a mistake. His claim might have been more believable if the OGE hadn’t already had to warn Ross about inaccuracies in previous disclosures, and if he hadn’t also been caught lying to the press about his finances.

Late in the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump began using the slogan “Drain the swamp” to represent his purported intention to stamp out corruption and self-dealing in Washington. From the examples above its pretty clear he didn’t mean what he said.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 14, 2019

Mexico Tariff Foolishness

Barring some last minute deal that Trump’s negotiators make with Mexico which at least appear to reduce immigration to the United States next Monday everything imported from Mexico will go up in price by 5%, that’s an extra $180 that the average American family will spend to buy the same beer, avocados, laptop computers, and automobiles. Some other items that will cost more due to Trump’s trade war with Mexico include televisions, phones, medical and surgical instruments, refrigerators and air conditioners, dates, figs, and pineapples. If nothing changes Trump promises that the tariff will increase another 5% every month until it reaches 25% or an extra $900 for those products. Remember that tariffs are taxes so this means Trump is raising your taxes as much as $900 each year.

Compare that $900 tax increase to the income taxes you paid this April 15 versus last year. For the few non-billionaires who actually noticed a reduction in their federal incomes taxes this year most or all of it will be offset by the increases in the price of goods we’re paying on items imported from China and perhaps Mexico. Trump’s argument is that the manufacturers will see it is in their interest to move manufacturing back to the US to avoid the tariffs but that hasn’t been the case when exchange rates shift and it hasn’t noticeably caused the return of manufacturing jobs from China. Instead two things have happened, offshore manufacturers simply moved to another low wage country that isn’t subject to the tariffs or they bring manufacturing back to the US but in highly automated form such that hardly any jobs are created.

Meanwhile US manufacturers like Harley Davidson actually moved some production to Europe so as to avoid retaliatory tariffs imposed by EU nations. Some small US manufacturers have even gone out of business because the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods increased the cost of the materials they used to make their products making them uncompetitive with similar products made in other countries not subject to the same tariffs.

American farmers, especially those growing soy beans, have taken a real beating from Trumps China tariffs. China retaliated by raising tariffs on agricultural products so Chinese buyers found alternate sources of soy beans leaving American farmers with huge surpluses no one wants. Trump’s solution is to give $19 billion in aid to mid-West farmers but that doesn’t come close to making up the price difference so now we’re seeing higher than normal rates of farm bankruptcies in the mid-West. At the same time Trump’s effort to insulate himself from the ire of farmers increases the federal deficit.

In 1930 as the Great Depression was getting wrecking the lives of most Americans, Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariffs into law exacerbating the damage. Among economists today there is some debate on just how much those tariffs hurt America but there is broad consensus that they did hurt and not help. More than a dozen Republican Senators are ready to vote to disapprove the Mexico tariffs, if they can must 18 they can put a stop to it. John Cornyn has spoken against the tariff but he hasn’t committed to voting against it. He’s up for election in 2020 and it’s likely to be a close race so now would be a good time to call him and let him know you want him to stop the madness and vote against the Mexico tariffs. You can call his San Antonio office at 210-224-7485.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 7, 2019

Freedom of Reproductive Choice Left and Right

While the rate of abortions is the lowest since the early 1970’s before the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized it and about half the peak rate which occurred in 1984 Republicans aren’t satisfied. Several state legislatures have recently all but outlawed abortions. Alabama’s new law is the most restrictive only allowing exceptions "to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother," for ectopic pregnancy and if the "unborn child has a lethal anomaly."

You can tell a lot of the legislators passing such bills a truly ignorant of human reproduction. Republican state Sen. Clyde Chambliss, who pushed Alabama’s bill stated on the Senate floor that there is a "window" of time between conception and when a woman knows for certain that she's pregnant which he believes to be seven to ten days. Reality is that most women don’t know they’re pregnant for six to eight weeks and often longer.

Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ohio all passed bills prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, that’s six weeks. In other words by the time a woman even knows she’s pregnant these lawmakers have eliminated abortion as an option. In Missouri the governor signed into law a bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions in the cases of rape or incest.

Some state legislatures controlled by Democrats are expanding abortion rights and access. In Maine new state law will allow nurse practitioners to perform abortions, expanding the possible number of care providers in the state. Nevada’s legislature voted to reverse some restrictions. Vermont's legislature recognized “as a fundamental right the freedom of reproductive choice," including “rights to choose or refuse contraception or sterilization or to choose to carry a pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to obtain an abortion”—and its Republican governor won’t veto the bill.

The Illinois state House has passed a bill that, like Vermont’s, affirms reproductive freedoms and also repeals some restrictions on the books in the state. Massachusetts is considering the ROE Act, which would remove some restrictions, including a parental permission law for teens and a waiting period that isn’t currently being enforced anyway, as well as expand rights to abortion after 24 weeks in case of serious fetal abnormalities and create a safety net to ensure that abortion is treated like other medical care for women who don’t have other health coverage.

Research from around the globe shows restrictive laws don’t actually seem to reduce abortion rates. Instead, they are linked to unsafe abortions, which put women at risk of serious health problems and even death.

States that emphasize abstinence-only programs have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and teen birth. In 2003, California lawmakers instead passed the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act which forbade public schools from promoting religious doctrine or bias against people, and said that all sex education programs had to be medically accurate, age-appropriate and comprehensive. By 2005, California’s teen pregnancy rate was 75 per 1,000 teens, a more than 50 percent decline that dwarfed the corresponding national decline of 37 percent.

To this day, a large minority of teen pregnancies tend to end in abortion. But with California’s decline in teen pregnancy rates came declines in both teen births and teen abortions. Abortions, in particular, dropped from 76 per 1,000 teens in 1988 to 26 per 1,000 in 2005.

If Republicans really wanted to reduce abortions they’d improve sex ed in our public schools, instead they just pander to religious conservatives.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 31, 2019