Consider This . . .

Posted on November 18, 2016 by skipper

The last post did a short analysis of the causes and voting behavior of the electorate’s response to the candidates. In this post, we look forward – not so much about the cabinet and key players in the White House, which looks neither republican nor democrat but certainly a team who will fumble as the weight of running a democratic republic falls upon them. We must give them time to fumble and see how they recover.

The Guru still is contributing to the mariner’s thoughts so our focus will address – in the looong view – well rooted troubles evidenced by the election and the consequences that will occur if they are not addressed.

Consider religion –

Guru blames our religious difficulties on Puritans and other fundamentalists who relocated in America because their practices did not fit well with a rapidly liberalizing Church in Europe. Even today, employees of Planned Parenthood may be shot, burned off the property, forced by a government who ignores the US Constitution to dismantle financial support, lay debilitating regulations upon them and otherwise ostracize Planned Parenthood from their presumed right to pursue basic human rights. When was it that Protestants stopped slitting open the length of every Quaker’s nose just because they were Quakers?

The current fundamentalist unrest should not even be an issue. The nation was clearly founded on freedom of religion. The pettiness is not really religious; it is the belief that because our money references God, the nation is a theocracy – just the conflict our founders wanted to avoid. If this conflict cannot be put to rest, the conservative theocratic movement will keep our politicians from dealing with tough issues through politically democratic compromise. The tea party folks came close to bringing down the US for good. Further, throughout time since the beginning, religious practices have changed as society changed – but not without questionable abuses of religious doctrine in defense of tradition. It is not enough to be an American Citizen and be safe from beheadings and genocide by ISIL; we owe our own nation loyalty to its premise of freedom for all citizens. Being citizens of the only nation in the world that defines itself as ‘freedom for all citizens’ requires even the religiously devout to – in this nation at least – be loyal to that principle. Religious faith is relevant or it becomes destructive if not meaningless.

We need all three branches of the Federal Government and state governments as well to deal successfully with international politics, greed-based corporatism, scientific knowledge that may leave us on a pile of extinct species before we may want to do that and a planet that is pretty much fed up with us. The new world of governance cannot be held back by regional faith; virtually every issue will require international agreements involving many faiths, cultures and races.

Consider economics –

The United States is founded on principles never before used to run a nation. US citizens were required to manage themselves. True, there was a republic but that was for serious things like war, taxation, balance of national economy, and dealing with other nations. In practice, citizens believed in freedom – the principle that everyone could pursue a successful life without oppression; they were free to believe independent religious beliefs – the principle that ethnicity and prejudice would not interfere with the pursuit of happiness; and they believed in loyalty to their fellow citizens to support the principles of freedom of faith, freedom of opportunity, and the personal and cultural loyalty to believe in freedom for everyone. In other words, citizens had to believe in their nation’s principle and manage themselves as keepers of freedom.

Freedom includes citizen wellbeing. If one citizen takes from another unjustly, or prevents a citizen from opportunity, or fair exchange for labor, in public discourse protects a citizen’s equal rights under the Constitution but consciously interferes with citizen freedom as a shared right, to a just and fair economy owned by everyone, then the US concept that everyone has freedom to pursue life and liberty has disappeared. Mariner does not suggest every citizen be equal in assets but taking more than is deserved, necessary or leveraging dishonestly is not in the interest of the US – which depends on each citizen to be loyal to the right of equality and freedom.

Corporatism is the belief in profit above freedom; Corporatism provokes class prejudice; Corporatism is free of allegiance to freedom, compounded by guaranteed protection as a human participant, a corporation is a double-barreled abuse of the founding fathers’ intentions.

Consider Globalism.

The mariner groups several diverse movements under this term: corporatism, technology, biological progress through medicine and chemistry, protection of the biosphere, and competition by war for greedy and ideological reasons. All these activities have one thing in common: they are not based on the concept of nationalism; they are not based on one nation’s philosophy of government; and by definition, globalism cannot be allocated to nations individually.

If the reader thinks it has been a hard row to move humanity from 1760 to 2016, prepare for even more from 2016 to 2272. A person alive today cannot fathom what civilization will be like 256 years from now.

One wonders what events, provocations, inventions and changes in principles of governance will be required – either collaboratively or with great conflict – to achieve insights and rules that achieve solutions to global issues humanity has never experienced – let alone survive in the process. The triangle of strength and success written by Os Guinness[1] and resurrected by Eric Mataxas[2], that is, “Freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith; faith requires freedom” is the only tool set available. Considering advancing historical eras by government ideologies, The United States is the beginning of a new, common governance that may be the only ideology capable to take on Globalism:

Freedom, if you can keep it.

[1] Os Guinness is an English author and social critic. Born in China, where his parents were medical missionaries, he is the great-great-great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer. He was a witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, and returned to England in 1951, where he went to school and college. He received a B.D. from University of London in 1966 and a D.Phil from Oriel College, Oxford in 1981. Guinness first stated the Freedom Triangle when promoting his book, A Free People’s Suicide. Guinness is still alive at age 75.

[2] Reference to the Freedom Triangle is resurrected by Mataxas in his book If You Can Keep it, the Forgotten Promise of American Liberty. 2016 best seller. Mariner believes this book is required reading for every American citizen.

Ancient Mariner

The Campaign in Retrospect

Posted on November 16, 2016 by skipper

Mariner, like millions of the electorate, was shut down for a few days while reasoning skills and dozens of new inconsistencies had to be rewoven into something that represented a functional reality. Guru was called in to help.
The broadest overview of the 2016 election revolved around the idea that it was time for the US to make a legitimate turn toward present and future reality. It was time to step out of the Reagan model of economy and early twentieth century social constraint. It was time to rebalance, indeed restart, the democratic model that was the foundation for creating the US Republic. It became obvious that democracy and the principles of liberty and justice were disappearing faster and faster.
More targeted were the widespread issues of race and employment. The elitists of the US have ignored the lower classes – which have long suffered, and quite severely, the loss of manufacturing, misunderstood movement of jobs overseas, influx of immigrants seen as a direct threat to any jobs that may be left. In an excellent column about the results of the election, Fareed Zakaria added urban versus forgotten rural which may be where the surprise Electoral College results emerged.
For the 2016 campaign, three prominent candidates emerged to wrestle with the unrest that was obvious among much of the citizenry: Hillary Clinton, who defended the Reagan “establishment” feeling it should continue but be a kinder and gentler government; Bernie Sanders, who championed major changes to governance that would stop the systemic abuse of democracy by republicans and special interests; and Donald Trump, who had no public service experience but had marketing and sales skills that resonated with those citizens who most desperately felt the Government had deliberately failed them.
– –
Bernie has been in government his entire life and was championed by those citizens who wanted to toss out the Establishment – replacing it with younger, more idealistic leaders. Donald was championed in similar fashion by older citizens who had lost jobs and did not share in the oligarchic wealth. His lack of experience in government, his narcissistic personality and disregard for decorum made him a perfect candidate; a good metaphor is a battering ram used to break through castle gates. His citizen base wanted the government dismantled lock, stock and barrel. Casualties be damned. Hillary carried the baggage of thirty years of Clinton management. Clearly pragmatic rather than principled, Hillary had public and private agendas which led to widespread mistrust among the voters.
The Democratic Party failed to recognize, similarly to the Republican Party, that the party had lost the support of its base. As Zakaria pointed out, the American culture displayed urban entertainment, music, movies, advertisements, and all the jobs and unshared profits; rural culture was absent and unrewarded. The democrats were pegged with a moniker: elitist democrats.
None of the three voter bases liked the other two candidates. The two democratic finalists for the Presidency would not get much voter support from the opponent’s base. From the beginning, whoever between Hillary and Bernie won the primary, the base would not receive full support from the democratic opponent for the final run. On the republican side, Donald clearly would receive little help from the republican ‘Establishment’ base but had no other republican competitors. Further, a percentage of Bernie’s base would switch to Donald because they had the same disadvantaged life as Donald’s base. The ‘silent majority’ (stressed rural populations) chose to vote for Donald – flipping the Electoral College. Hillary wins the popularity count with the Elites but rural precincts win the Electoral College.
– –
Donald swiftly is changing his platform to move to the political center. It is too early to understand what issues he actually will take a stand on to impose his platform. The people he knows and trusts are a ragtag bunch of sensationalists, racists, gofer business types and political class D ball players, e.g. Rudy Giuliani.
Guru is most concerned about the Supreme Court. Donald and the antique congress could do significant damage to the future of the US for decades. China, Russia, the Middle East and Central Banks likely have their fingers crossed on this issue.
Infrastructure may get a start but it will be a bruising experience at the state level with no compromises offered to local distribution of profit. FDR will roll in his grave.
Congress will become even more draconian about governance and liberal issues like PBS and abortion.
As far as Donald is concerned, who knows? Guru is the first to say Donald is unpredictable.

REFERENCE SECTION

Definition of an existentialist:

‘To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.’
– Pema Chödrön
A spot-on description of one who experiences an existential world. Pema Chödrön is an 80 year-old Tibetan monk and US citizen. Pema is a Buddhist nun and follower of Rinpoche Trungpa Chögyam. Meditation is central to Chögyam. Dozens of websites, many with videos, are available.

About civic duty and self-governance:

‘. . . So it’s not the role of the government to solve all our problems through legislation. But they [problems] must be attended to nonetheless.
And here’s the problem: The less the culture attends to these things, the more the government will attend to them and the less freedom there will be. The greater the role the government plays, the more it crowds out the culture’s role, the role of the people – and the true freedom of the people.’
– Eric Metaxas

From Metaxas’s book about the unique role of self governance in the creation of the United States and relating to the bonded relationship between the three principles of the Golden Triangle: (Os Guiness, author): The Golden Triangle of Freedom, or freedom, virtue, and faith. This triad of cultural goods is mutually reinforcing. “Freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith; faith requires freedom.”
Ancient Mariner

We will Live Forever or Die Trying

Posted on November 13, 2016 by skipper

The mariner was re-reading a few of the more interesting articles in back issues of magazines. One from The Economist (August 13 2016) provoked thoughts about how culture would change if we lived a lot longer and how the economy and international relations would change and….

To share some thoughts with the reader, part of the article is copied below:

“Humanity must avoid the trap fallen into by Tithonus, a mythical Trojan who was granted eternal life by the gods, but forgot to ask also for eternal youth. Eventually, he withered into a cicada.

The trap of Tithonus is sprung because bodies have evolved to be throwaway vessels for the carriage of genes from one generation to the next. Biologists have a phrase for it: the disposable soma. It explains not only general senescence, but also why dementia, cancer, cardiovascular problems, arthritis and many other things are guarded against in youth, but crammed into old age once reproduction is done with. These, too, must be treated if a long and healthy life is to become routine. Moreover, even a healthy brain may age badly. An organ evolved to accommodate 70 or 80 years of memories may be unable to cope when asked to store 150 years’ worth.”

There are other social points made in the article. If the reader is interested, see: http://www.economist.com/printedition/2016-08-13 Page 14.

Using these thoughts as a springboard, one can take off running in many directions. The mariner provides a few:

How will family life change? Today, children typically are born before parents are forty; later adult partnership has a few awkward adjustments which may have to be taken seriously on a cultural level and dealt with differently than the present decorum provides. Will a lifespan become two or three life spans? The Economist says having children at 100 could be possible.

Today, one of the serious issues that confront us is the economics of older workers; not just at age 65 or 70 but the prejudice against the middle-aged worker – say someone approaching 50. If workers lived healthily beyond 100 or 120, should they be bumped off the first team so younger blood can move up the ladder?

Retirement is a growing problem today. Depression, boredom, lack of personal value and raison d’être are psychological traps even if one lives only a decade into retirement. How about living 50 or 60 years?

The economic side of the retired lifestyle is an even larger issue. Is a retiree required to carry a pension for self support? Where does the money come from to live another 100 years?

Sociologists say that a neighborhood has a span of 60 years. Built in 1960 as a new, upscale neighborhood with lots of young people, new houses and streets, and a bustling social culture – in 60 years it will be old houses, old people, lots of rentals and a slip in economic class. What if the neighborhood has to remain dynamic for 100 years?

Will there be senior pro sport leagues? Where does Roger Federer go to play when he reaches 50 given medicine will keep him young enough not to lose that step most athletes lose around 30?

Will hotspots like Sandals move their fantasy advertisements out a few decades? What do healthy 120 year-olds fantasize about?

Malthus[1] would be in a frenzy if he heard people would live virtually forever. He believed that overcrowding would force humans back to primitive cultures because resources would become scarce. Well, how will we manage excessive population when people won’t die?

Presented a bit tongue in cheek, actually these questions will require immense change in H. sapiens’ arc of life.

Joseph Campbell isn’t here to help us make a new one.

Ancient Mariner

[1] — Thomas Malthus, 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population.

Amid the Smoke of Battle

Posted on November 12, 2016 by skipper

The mariner hasn’t returned to tracking human events. It isn’t that a return to childish daily news and tragic global news is too distasteful (which it certainly is) but that this time of the year – the first hard frost – is a busy time in the gardens. Mariner has been forced to take his shop lights outside to continue grubbing in the night for buried lily bulbs like a raccoon, moving shrubs and accent plants around to improve the garden, planting new bulbs for next year and finally addressing hardscape issues like new patio features, sidewalks, lighting, etc.

Mariner is thankful for the sympathy of readers, family and friends –most are commiserating as well. But we must, whether victor or victim, don our cultural uniform and return to the fray.

Mariner consulted with his alter ego team, Chicken Little, Prophet Amos and Guru to compile a set of questions to research as we venture back to the fray. These questions are compiled blindly since they have not been vetted by exposure to media.

Will Donald appoint family to significant positions of government?

Who will run whatever TRUMP business exists in the private sector?

How much policy independence will Donald grant to Mike if any? Related, how many secretary positions will Donald leave unfilled?

How many argumentative campaign issues will Donald forego to create a broker position with Congress?

For reasons of complexity and time, mariner will pass for now on international policy and economics.

Finally, for the reason that one can stomach only so much, mariner will ignore Rudy Giuliani, nothing more than a remora fish.

For those who have suffered greatly, like the democratic advocate who worked in the White House whose mother had health insurance only because of the Affordable Care Act but voted for Donald; or the typically uninformed acquaintance talking with the mariner’s wife, confessing she voted for Donald because he said Hillary was crooked: shape up and return to action – we have a Reagan Supreme Court to deal with.

Ancient Mariner

There is despair in life.

Posted on November 11, 2016 by skipper

If the reader hasn’t experienced it, the reader has not experienced life. All humans, to be recognized as complete souls, must experience the five stages of grief: 1. Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4. Depression; 5. Acceptance.

To varying degrees of emotional strife, these five emotional reactions can be applied to many situations in life; certainly the loss of family. But these feelings emerge when a worker is fifty-five and is discharged before retirement becomes available. These emotions are felt when risk and violence emerge as a potential threat to life. And yes, these feelings emerge when one doesn’t belong and has no validating proof of personal community value. Apparently, in the election of Donald, indeed in every campaign since Bobby Kennedy, the mariner has been odd man out.

There aren’t many elections left for the mariner. Realistically, The Supreme Court will not be capable of rational decisions working in a world believed still to exist since 1985. But others must charge on. The millennials are a powerful generation. Already in their young lives they are bonded, they are not satisfied with the old fogeys. It will, however, take most of their lives to overturn a useless Supreme Court.

The mariner must press on. His mind still rebels at idiocy, racism, greed and self satisfying ignorance. Whether the ignorant accept it or not, free access to information, the sophistication required to live in an overcrowded world, and the scary environment of the Earth weighing in on survivability, will move us on whether we desire it or not. Just not today.

In an era of Donald and a Reconstructionist-minded republican government, may God have mercy on our souls.

Ancient Mariner

Withdrawal

Posted on November 10, 2016 by skipper

The mariner has not watched television one second since the announcement except for the weather ap. He has not listened to radio or even read the newspapers. He has not scoured the Internet for reactions – except for watching the stock market only long enough to know the daily values. He is lost in his gardens.

He is ashamed for that. Mariner considers himself a stalwart observer of gnashing reality – no matter the gnashing. Still, there is great apprehension over the state of affairs. Putting the power of a President in the hands of an insecure narcissist, totally ignorant of the required processes and nuances of the distribution of power except using it to get even with detractors (Donald will pull every string available to him to get the better of Barack Obama and Hillary because they belittled him; “Little” Marco already knows not to expect any favors for his “small hands” remark.)

Taken in a long, long perspective, Pence will be the most powerful Vice President in History – except when Donald wants to be in charge. That will occur at grossly inappropriate times and circumstances. Donald ignores timing, ignores advice taking longer than one minute, and will build that $@*&% wall just to prove he never loses.

But he is a loser. His base electorate, the wise, sophisticated and insightful among us, enjoyed the campaign season having the luxury of allowing anything he wanted to say as acceptable. But now he has won a term in the most visible, targeted job in the world. His base can’t help anymore. There is no shortage of bruised power brokers, politicians, NGOs and foreign nations eager to bring Donald down – and Donald has left a path littered with opportunities. Then there is the issue of Donald’s international policy fraught with shady relationships and profit schemes – profit schemes not for US citizens but for Donald.

However, the damage has been done. A devastating blow to a nation already fifty years behind global issues. An opportunity for advancement would have been to appoint two or three Supreme Court Justices. Deliberately appointing young conservatives will set the US back at least fifty years. Further, having the entire Congress in old fogey, irrelevant hands will stop progress dead in its tracks.

The mariner believes the first 100 days will not be easy for the nation. What lies beyond 100 days cannot be predicted. Say a prayer for members of his immediate staff.

Ancient Mariner

Blame it on Fire

Posted on November 9, 2016 by skipper

The mariner visited his primary care physician yesterday. He is a delightful young man – bright, well organized, efficient and knowledgeable in his thoughts as a doctor should be. But he is more than that. In our brief encounter in that small examination room, we fulfill our medical obligations in short clips of Q&A. Otherwise, the mariner has found a fellow human being who thinks about things the same way as the mariner. In the same clipped, shorthand style, we toss ideas and obscure metaphors back and forth. And the doctor said the mariner does not need to have colonoscopies anymore. What more can a patient ask for?

Yesterday, of course, the conversation largely was about Donald. Donald had not become President yet but there were ominous signs on the horizon. The doctor and the mariner, in that clipped conversation mentioned above, were speculating why H. sapiens was unable to integrate with anything meaningful in a positive way – humans seemed to be their own worst enemy.

The doctor quickly blamed fire. “The one thing humans have that no other creature has is fire.” The mariner understood his theme and responded by rattling off several societal roles fire has played over the millennia. The doctor responded in short phrases contributing similar roles and metaphors that used fire as a central feature.

What was refreshing, even therapeutic, was sharing a common perception of reality: A reality seen through ideas, science, social history, nuances of religion, government and anthropology, and inquisitiveness about the future.

The examination was over and we proceeded our separate ways.

In just fifteen or twenty minutes, the doctor and the mariner had a fully understood discussion about how fire was the turning point of human evolution; fire was the Pandora’s box fostering all subsequent Pandora Boxes. Wikipedia was not needed. The ideologies, history, touchstones, all already were in place like a ready-to-bake dessert. Just eat.

– – – –

Having returned to the mariner’s own Pandora’s Box containing among other things a disingenuous electorate who definitely needs a Wikipedia but finds no use for it and a racist narcissist as President, mariner is giving thought to what color burqa he should wear. Black would imply defeat and retreat; red may suggest belligerence; white would mistakenly propose innocence. Perhaps plaid. Yes plaid – that will reflect the mariner’s attitude.

The mariner will not live long enough to see humanity get back on track. The thought occurs that, like a malformed creature amid evolution’s procession of creatures, humans were not expected to last too long anyway. Too bad humans will unravel the planet’s ecology and take it down with them. Blame it on fire.

Ancient Mariner

FINI

Posted on November 9, 2016 by skipper

The silent majority has decided to participate in the government it knows nothing about. For the first time, perhaps in more than a hundred years, the silent majority decided to vote. One can’t blame them; they live in the hinterland. There is little beyond a voter’s personal physical experience to provoke thought, global reality, the subtleties of grace and compassion.

The silent majority does not include the poor, disenfranchised, inventive, socially experienced, introspective or even the plutocrats among us. The silent majority is, above all, imperialistic, self centered and judgmental of all sophistication.

Pollsters and analysts are unaccustomed to counting the silent majority because the silent majority never participates. But now we have learned who comprises the silent majority.

They are racist.

They are not collaborative.

They live in the past.

They are pragmatic to a point of failure.

They deny truths about science, society, economics, accountability, and responsibility for their species.

There was a glimmering of hope that finally we would break free of the Reconstructionist fear of change to keep up with the present. Will the silent majority ever learn that you can’t go back?

Across a lifetime of participation in the democratic philosophy, the electorate has failed the mariner – again.

Sigh.

Ancient Mariner

Most Important Thing to Do in US

Posted on November 7, 2016 by skipper

Ancient Mariner

One Nation, One Race

Posted on November 5, 2016 by skipper

As the days dwindle down to a precious few the gloves are off among voters concerned about the influence of multi-racial voting. America has always been a one-race nation…. Dixie is desperately looking for ways to expunge multi-racial voters from the registered voter records. The Southwest and the conservative rust belt states make it tougher for multi-racial citizens to register. Donald’s campaign has put the racial issue at the front of his policies.

Fear not, the mariner says – once a single color nation, always a single color nation. One has only to wait until things settle down. By the Presidential Campaign of 2116, citizens again will be a single color. Color samples:

Halle Berry.jpg