sonora2sonoma

Hey, Republicans!

After listening to a radio talk show discussion this morning about recent Republican electoral losses in the California State Legislature, I have some observations:

As I see you scramble to account for your electoral losses in the last election, just like you did the last time this happened, messaging keeps coming up as a prime suspect. “Messaging is the problem,” you say. “We need to change our messaging,” as if you think that repackaging will fix the problem. I’ve got news for you! If you define success as the demonstrable conveyance of a message to its recipients, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your messaging.

One need only consider two of your signature legislative priorities to discern your message. Both the recent tax cuts for the rich and your persistent attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act make it perfectly clear what your message is: You only care about the wealthy, the connected and the enfranchised! What is communicated is that you use your power to protect the interests of these people at the expense of everyone else.

When seen in this light, it’s no mystery why your message was rejected!

Merely changing the delivery system won’t fix your problems because it’s not the messaging that’s confounding your efforts, it’s the message itself! If you want to remain relevant in today’s world, with its changing demographics, you need a new message that addresses the needs of the majority of your constituents—not just the wealthy and powerful.

The reason you got stung in the election is because your campaign was based on lies disguised to create the impression that you stand for things that, in reality, you oppose. If you want the support of those who have rejected your message, change your message.

But you won’t succeed in this effort through message change alone; real change requires action! If you want the appearance of inclusivity, you need to become more inclusive. If you want to be perceived as caring about peoples’ needs, you first need to actually care about them; words mean nothing unless they’re accompanied by actions.

The Affordable Care Act is a popular program because it helps those who need help; stop trying to take this away from the people who need it the most! While the economy continues to improve, wages have been stagnant for decades; support tax changes that benefit the middle class and the poor, not the rich! It isn’t that complicated!

Tim Konrad

Whether one approves of the current occupant of the White House or is utterly repulsed by him and everything that issues forth from his oval orifice, the time to stand and be counted is nigh upon us.

The choices are starkly different, though it might not seem so if you listen to the latest Republican talking points on their sudden embrace of the protection of pre-existing conditions despite the fact of their multiple simultaneous efforts to undo the provision in the country’s courts. While physicists have now noted that sub-atomic particles can, under certain conditions, exist in two separate spaces simultaneously, I’m aware of no such correlate in the social sciences and, frankly, I seriously doubt conservative think tanks run that deep anyway. If they did, one would hope that little chestnuts like the deliberate destabilization of the social contract might raise a few eyebrows.

What continues to astound me is how the Republicans seem to have altogether lost any sense of decency, dignity or probity in their failure to find some line of demarcation–some level beyond which they are unwilling to descend–in their support of the viral nonsense emanating from this careening caravan of calamity. I’m beginning to suspect maybe they never had a Rubicon to begin with and what we’re seeing now is the revelation of their true nature. If so, that is not only unspeakably sad but also extremely scary! Regardless of their motives, the damage these people are doing to the country, to the planet and to the future prospects of the young people who will be left with the mess they’re creating for them is simply awful!

What is at stake here is more than the integrity of certain public officials, more than the integrity of the nation as a whole, even. What is really at stake is the integrity of our entire enterprise—the integrity (to borrow from the dictionary) of soundness, of solidity—the integrity of being unimpaired or sound in construction. The misogynist, race-baiting xenophobic rhetoric coming from the divider-in-chief is antithetical to this integrity and gives it a foul taint that will endure for decades.

One can only pray that enough of us are sufficiently awakened at this point to deliver a sound repudiation of this insanity at the ballot box come next Tuesday.

November 5, 2018

What used to be a title denoting a section of a Walt Disney amusement park, Fantasyland had now become synonymous with the portion of the American political demographic described as the “base” of trump’s support.

Comprised of scalawags & profiteers, religious fanatics, xenophobes, Nazi-sympathizers and other like-minded idiots, these folks are pinning their unrealistic hopes and dreams on the ad hoc utterances of a person for whom a promise is nothing more than a sound bite, a means of securing immediate approval and adulation. The fact that he will say anything if it gets him approval in the moment either doesn’t faze them, goes unnoticed, or isn’t regarded because of the magical thinking that goes hand in hand with a fantasy-based viewpoint. That is why trump was correct when he said he could shoot someone in Times Square and get away with it.

Whether it’s denying the extent of GOP losses in the recent election or maintaining a false narrative about the immigration problem, siding with the Saudis by condoning a heinous crime or rejecting his own government’s frightening analysis of the economic effects of climate change, the trump-suckered faithful will lap it up, no questions asked.

In the state of Mississippi, a fantasyland candidate has a reportedly good chance at winning a Senate seat in tomorrow’s runoff election, made more likely because that state was entertaining more than its share of fantasy-based ideas long before trump came along. Were it considered appropriate to apply DSM diagnoses to social groups, the Mississippi GOP would certainly qualify for distinction in the Axis II division.

By expanding the boundaries of Fantasyland, it is no longer necessary to leave home in order to indulge in mind-numbing distractions—now anyone with an incurious mind—and a strong stomach—can enjoy this benefit in the comfort, if not the safety, of their own home. But you’d best be quick about it; this window of opportunity, like a prolonged Bear market, won’t last forever.

It would be convenient to be able to summarily deny the existence of anything one might find objectionable, were it not for the annoying blowback one would receive from others in their orbit not similarly unburdened with reality. But the false equivalency of reality with alternative reality only works if everyone agrees with the ruse; if one party objects and insists on throwing facts into the mix, the whole construct falls apart.

In similar fashion, Fantasyland only works as long as enough people support the notion that trump is capable of leading the nation. Reality can be persistent, as anyone who’s ever had a guilty conscience can attest. Sooner or later, the truth (the real truth, in this case) will come out, and, when it does, we will be hearing many feeble and pathetic excuses for why this or that Republican lawmaker went over to the dark side.

When that day comes, it will be interesting to see what the likes of Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Lindsay Graham have to say for themselves. Interesting, that is, like having to go to the dentist can be interesting.

Tim Konrad

Common sense and decency succumbed to politics and expediency yesterday in the US Senate as 50 misguided senators voted to approve a mendacious alleged rapist to a seat on the Supreme Court, a move that will cast a shadow of illegitimacy over subsequent rulings by the decision-making body for decades to come. It is hoped the victory will become a pyrrhic one once the public comes to realize the enormity of the insult this decision represents to the integrity of the Court. Thanks to the mostly Republican senators, led by Mitch McConnell, who made this travesty possible, the validity of future Supreme Court decisions has become nothing more than political opinion and no longer representative of the will of the majority of the American people. This day will be looked upon by future generations as a turning point in the dismantling of the American democracy.

October 7, 2018

Petaluma, CA

The “Me First” Movement

My 75^th birthday will forever be marred by the spectacle of a sneering and insolent Brett Kavanaugh debasing his senate confirmation hearing, his face twisted up in self-righteous indignation as he professed his “innocence.” That image invaded my dreams and will forever be etched in my memory as a reminder of the white privilege and misogyny that permit him and those of his ilk to do whatever necessary to further their self interest, no matter the cost to society. That face has become the symbol, for me,  of the “Me First” movement, born of white privilege and racism, emboldened by Ayn Rand and furthered by people the likes of Paul Ryan, to whom nothing remains sacred in the quest for MORE—more money, more power, more control, more advantage, more, more, more, more, more—the insatiable desire that animates their thinking, their beliefs and their actions—that leaves in its wake the spoiled hopes and dreams of the poor, the sick, the elderly, the migrants, anyone of a certain color or ethnic identity or suspected religion—have I left anyone out?—with utter disregard for what might evolve from their decisions beyond the next quarter’s profit statements. It is the rot at the heart of the American dream, the little hidden secret no one wants to talk about, the bane of our existence, and , it is now clear, it is the engine that impels the Republican Party’s frenzied drive to appoint this disappointment of a man to a position of power, to accede to the demands of a petulant and petty man-child disguised as a leader,  to abandon all hope of democratic process, to forget to pretend they still care about those constitutional principles they claim to hold so dearly, while twisting them with a perversity so intense that their original meaning and intent are obscured if not forgotten altogether. In their eagerness to appoint Kavanaugh, McConnell & Co. display a lack of awareness or concern about the hypocrisy, the irony, the utter indecency of what they have set about to do . . . and all in the hopes that by so doing, they will receive still MORE of what they so fervently desire.

Discounting the damage they are doing to the constitution and to our democracy, what about the effect on the environment of their refusal to acknowledge global warming? What about the world they are leaving for their children, you might ask? Are they as oblivious to their actions as to not be able to perceive, at least a little, the consequences for the environment of their decisions and policies? Haven’t they noticed the increasingly severe weather patterns? The glacial meltdown? The sea rise predictions? No problemo, mi amigo! That’s easy to fix when you’ve got alternative facts! Repeat something often enough and it becomes real, right?  If that fails, we’ve got a handy-dandy little backup plan!  If everything goes to hell in a handbag, it doesn’t really matter because Jesus is coming and we’ll all be swept up in the Rapture! Maybe that’s what we deserve when we elect children, or more properly, failed adults, to positions of power.

It’s a sad state of affairs we’ve come to, Ollie!

One thing is certain; we sure aren’t in Kansas anymore!

October 5, 2018

Petaluma, CA

Tim Konrad

I have long believed that the GOP was not acting in the best interest of the majority of Americans, and I’ve secretly feared that its followers possessed the capacity to lean more toward fascist tendencies given the right conditions. But I never imagined a move to the right the scope and intensity of which we are witnessing today. The GOP, under trump, has become an extremist organization!

I don’t say this lightly.  “Extremism,” as my revered philosophy professor in college was fond of reminding us, “is fanaticism!” Doesn’t matter whether it’s left or right; it’s fanatical. And he knew what he was talking about, having fought in the Greek underground against Nazi Germany in WWII.

Fanaticism, according to www.vocabulary.com, “occurs when someone is unwilling or unable to accept a differing point of view.” Talk to any trump supporters lately? Wikipedia describes fanaticism as “a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or with an obsessive enthusiasm.” How about that trump rally yesterday in Pennsylvania? He sure knows how to fire them up! Urbandictionary.com tells us fanaticism is driven by hunger for power and “the strong desire to be considered right.” Sound familiar?

It’s helpful to remember that fanaticism can be found on either side of the political spectrum. George F. Will reminds us in today’s Washington Post that “trump, bellowing ‘fake news’ and ‘sham’ this and ‘rigged’ that, is on all fours with his leftist, often academic and equally fact-free despisers who, hollering ‘racist’ and ‘fascist,’ are his collaborators in the attack on the constitution of knowledge.”

So, what’s the difference between an academic shouting “fascist” and me describing the GOP as “fanatical?”  There are 2 differences, as I see them: One is in the delivery.  Shouting something requires no analysis or reflection upon that which is shouted, it only requires enthusiasm and adrenaline. Describing something is a more cerebral enterprise.

The other difference has to do with intent. Calling something or someone a name is an act of labeling something, comparing it to other things with which it shares like traits. It doesn’t require much thought, knowledge of or familiarity with a thing to make such loose associations about it. Such intellectual laziness is rife in today’s political and public discourse.

On the other hand, describing a thing, an organization, etc., based upon perceived qualities and characteristics is a thoughtful undertaking that requires analysis and reflection. It involves the careful selection of terms that accurately describe and define the subject under analysis. It is a more measured response.

So while I stand by my assertion that the GOP today has become an extremist and therefore fanatical organization, what of the man at the top and his incessant lying? Jonathan Rauch, of the Brookings Institution, cited by George F. Will in the above-referenced article, says that trump’s “presidential lying . . reflects a strategy, not merely a character flaw or pathology.” Will adds, “the way to combat trump’s attack on Americans’ ‘collective ability to distinguish truth from falsehood’ is by attending to the various social mechanisms that, taken together, are the ‘method of validating propositions.”

Will, again borrowing from Rauch, continues, “modernity began when humanity ‘removed reality-making from the authoritarian control of priests and princes’ and outsourced it to no one in particular. It was given over to a ‘decentralized, globe-spanning community of critical testers who hunt for each other’s errors.’ This is why today’s foremost enemy of modernity is populism, which cannot abide the idea that majorities are not self-validating.”

The current occupant of the White House owes his ascendance to the kind of raw and rough-edged populism one sees on display at his political rallies. Not only does he thrive on the attention he receives at these spectacles, he depends on it to buttress his fragile ego. His followers find comfort from their fears and insecurities at these events through their participation in and identification with something they perceive as bigger than themselves, something that gives them a sense of belonging and a validation that someone else is the problem and der orangenfarben fuhrer is the solution. The unquestioning acceptance by his followers of whatever comes out of trump’s mouth, their conviction of the verity of their assumptions and their disinterest in thinking beyond the narrow confines of their beliefs coupled with their undiminished zeal, taken together, comprise  the sum and substance, the very essence,  of the definition of fanaticism.

October 11, 2018

Petaluma, CA

“Democracy,” said Jennifer Rubin in today’s Washington Post, “is more frail than we imagined.”  We find ourselves today at the intersection of madness and reason, darkness and light. In the words of Irish singer-songwriter John Spillane, “Will we be brilliant, or what?”

November 6, 2018

Petaluma, CA