A Short Story - and Extended Thoughts on Democracy

I started writing this short story a couple weeks ago. It is not finished. But I wanted to get it out in this form. When you get to the end of the this part of the story, I will do some explaining....

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Bursting the Bubbles- 

A Short Story

Barry A. Lehman

October 2018

The bubble burst last week. Most of the bubbles I have ever believed in are now gone. The sight of the National Guard patrolling Lake Street was the final one. There were no riots  or disturbances of any kind in Minneapolis.  Sure, there were protests, but all had been peaceful. We lived up to Minnesota Nice.

But under martial law, all protests were banned. A national curfew was imposed for 7 pm to 7 am local times. All stores and malls were to close at 6 pm with everyone off the streets by 8 pm. I know it makes no sense, but I am only reporting. We were told it was an "essential national security measure." The subversive forces were everywhere and only this kind of strict control would save democracy in the United States. The last election proved we were in great danger.

That last election was only six-weeks ago. It was a record-setting turnout. All ages, all groups, all political views showed up at the polls as never before. The result was seen as almost revolutionary- a peaceful, election-based revolution as has never  been seen before. Even the most Republican states were swamped by a "blue" Democrat wave. On a national level it wasn't even close.

Progressives and liberals like myself were overwhelmed with joy. Our months of grass-roots work, door-to-door canvassing, local advertising and mouth-to-mouth persuasion had been victorious. Democracy proved itself. "We the people..." meant something. It was in good, American tradition. What a light to share with the world.

The first bubble to burst came a week after the election. A statement was released through the White House: The election was null and void. It had been compromised by foreign powers, subversives, who had hacked the election system and turned the election against the party in power in the government. There was no choice but to invalidate the election. There would be a new election, but only after the problem could be investigated and the security promised for a fair election.

Unfortunately that would take at least into the late spring of next year. Therefore, using extraordinary powers, the President declared a state of emergency and asked Congress to pass a War Powers Act freezing all Federal and State elected officials as they had been on election day. It was also requested that these officials terms would be extended until six-weeks after the successful conclusion of a free election.

 Debate was heavy and partisan. The declaration and emergency powers act were passed. Attempts to block it were taken to the Supreme Court but to no avail. The Court refused to be involved due to the "extreme nature" of the threat to the United States.

Protests started almost immediately after the original White House statement. Large cities and small towns were swamped by angry voters. Local election officials attempted recounts to show there was no interference. In some states they at least were heard, but the Federal actions overruled them all. Things stood. As things deteriorated the FBI and Justice Department issued the results of their investigations. A number of well-known national figures were implicated in the hacking. According to the information, they knew it was happening and in fact had helped the "subversives" gain access.

The riots began in some cities not long after the night that the news channels reported that some of these national leaders were being arrested under the War Powers Act and being held in secure locations. Citing Lincoln's actions in the early days of the Civil War, the President and Congress suspended the writ of habeas corpus. The leaders would stay in prison.

Thus came the inevitable increase of violence. Supporters of the executive and legislative actions began to disrupt protests. The protestors were often arrested; the disrupters managed to escape. Local police forces were being stretched thin. The Guard was nationalized and the Reserves mobilized. Finally, protests themselves were banned due to serious "public safety hazards."

The final bubble of the American experiment was gone.

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Well, after I had written this fictional account on Saturday (Oct. 20), I was surfing around Facebook and was struck by a post from a  group I follow known as The Christian Left. They had cross-posted an article from the Washington Examiner about a CNN interview with reporter and author Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. The post said:

Carl Bernstein: Trump preparing to call midterm elections 'illegitimate' if Democrats take power

Bernstein said Sunday that Trump has discussed ways to challenge the results of the midterm elections if the GOP's grasp on power slips. Bernstein said his sources relayed this information to him on Friday, warning that Trump has talked about a disruption campaign if the results are close but have the Democrats taking control of the House or Senate.

 I am not a prophet or prognosticator. I don't know whether Bernstein's sources are real or not. I do know that my personal awareness of history and the direction of autocratic leadership toward a fascist-type of control is real.

I do not believe this can truly happen. Or at least I want to believe it can't happen. I still have trust in our American democratic institutions. But there is a very disturbing undercurrent to Mr. Trump that undermines some of my hope.

Democracy, history tells us, can be a very fragile process. It is easily challenged by difficulties in the world, a concerted effort of propaganda and half-truths twisted into anti-democratic principles disguised in other half-truths and populist language.

My conservative friends, the few who still follow me or talk to me, will say I am being crazy, over-reacting, making a mountain out of a molehill. I hope so. But when I hear Mr. Bernstein's reporting, I wonder if, even now, I am underestimating the power that seeks to manipulate our democracy into un-democratic ways.

It is two weeks until the election. I pray my fears are over-blown and will look silly in December.

Not Being Trumped

The President is coming to town tomorrow. I'm leaving for the day.

What a mess the downtown will be all day. Streets closed starting at 8:00 am. Rolling closures later after his plane lands and he travels into town. More tickets handed out than there are available seats in a relatively small venue.

Someone suggested I should go see him to actually hear him in person. I must admit I did think of that for a moment after it was announced he was coming. My news-based, political science-major curiosity would have been interested.

But I didn't think I could remain civil- or that my blood pressure could take it. He is a mean, uncaring, self-centered narcissist. His language at the rally the other day about "evil" democrats as the "enemy" is bordering on a very dangerous approach to American politics.

What have we become? My God, what have we become?

So I'm leaving town for the day. Too close for comfort.

Where Have You Been, Pilgrim?

Hi All,

Yes, it's me again. The postmodern Pilgrim is back. When I posted Tuesday for 9/11 that was only the third non-Tuning Slide post since Easter. A bunch of things happened back in March and April, not the least of which was an injury my wife had which took a while to heal and then I went back to work full-time.

In addition I just decided I was more than fed up with the politics going on around me. I stopped writing about it. My wife and I also stopped watching the news way back in January and only watched the local news for the first time last week when we were facing some serious, possibly tornado-producing storms. I also rediscovered last winter the joy of lots of reading. Books galore have been devoured- 60 already this year. (No, the sidebar is not quite up-to-date.) I would sit outside most evenings, enjoying summer, and reading.

Two weeks ago I ended the full-time work schedule and have decided to see what I can do again with this blog. I will probably do some political blogging, and perhaps even find some of the videos, etc. that I used to like posting. It will not be the attempt at daily posting that I did for most of the 15 years of this blog. But I am planning more time at my various "offices" (aka- coffee shops) to write posts, the Tuning Slide, music, and get back to World War II.

That is my focus of attention for the next couple years. We are in the midst of the 75th anniversary of the events of World War II. Five years ago I wrote about my dad's journey with the 10th Armored Division in Europe in the series, Following the 10th Armored. (Link in sidebar.) Since then I have been doing more research, reading, and digging and am about ready to start writing again. The first in this new series will be posted next week. As I will expand on then, I am afraid of losing the history of the 2nd World War. I fear we must remain aware of the great sacrifice we as a nation made at that time and are in danger of having it undone.

I have been overwhelmed by the history I have been reading and I want to connect that to what my Dad faced. It will be for me a search for more connection with him, but also to bring that now-fading story to life.

In short, I am back. Let me know what you are thinking. The pilgrimage continues.

pmPilgrim

Literal or Serious (3)- What is Success?

I had originally just planned on this being two posts from last Friday and Saturday. Wednesday I realized that these are answering the questions raised by a friend a few weeks ago that I have not been able to put into words. I was challenged to be as specific as I can about what Trump policies I disagree with. Because so much of what we have seen is wrapped in his language, tweets, and rhetoric, I really had to start with the first two that set out some of the ideas.

One thing I have seen asked of liberals like myself is

Do you want Trump to fail?

The inference being that any good, patriotic American wouldn't want the President to fail at what he wants to do. To wish for him to fail would be to wish ill to the country.

I don't agree with that argument.

It assumes that I agree with the direction he appears to be taking the country. It assumes I agree with his ideas, politics, and plans. It assumes that if the President fails, then the country has failed.

Over the eight years of the Obama administration there were many Republicans and others who wanted Obama's policies to be stopped. They took some of them to court and won. Others never happened because Congress didn't agree. In other words, they wanted his agenda, and therefore his plans and directions, to fail.

That is where I am today.

Let me start then by saying if Trump's policies do result in a even stronger economy than we have had growing these past three to five years, then I am with him. I want him to succeed. If his policies provide safe and fair immigration and security, then I am with him. I want him to succeed. If his health care policies provide good, positive access to the health system for Americans, then I am with him. I want him to succeed.

But if he does succeed at those,

• I don't want it to be at the cost of who we are as Americans. 
• I don't want it to undermine the system of social support that has been around since at least the mid-1930s. 
• I don't want it to result in hatred and racism becoming more prevalent, further dividing us as a nation. 
• I don't want it to be because he was unwilling to stand up to American values against white supremacists and Russian hacking. 
• I don't want it to be at the expense of the first use of nuclear weapons in nearly 75 years.

If his policies result in those things, then yes, I want him to fail, and fail miserably. We will be a better nation if he does. That does not mean I am against our country. Much the opposite.

• I want him to fail at those so that we may remain a strong and vibrant nation, offering hope, and opportunity, even to those who were brought here as children and have made America a better place because of their contributions. 
• I want to see children feeling safe at schools, not because we have turned their buildings into locked and armed institutions, but because we have become willing to stand up to the false god of guns as a national symbol.
• I want to see the middle class be given the opportunities to benefit from the advances we as a nation make and not simply receive some crumbs thrown out to them while fanning their fear and dislike of immigrants or others.
• I want to see him challenge his friends in that upper 1% to give of themselves like many in the middle and lower classes do on a regular basis. Yes, many do, but they are being given some incredible advantages in the new tax law that should bring with it greater responsibilities. And not just to shareholders or in one-time bonuses in place of real salary increases.
• I really do want him to face Russia and say in no uncertain terms that meddling in our elections is NOT the way we want. The hell with collusion. This was, and continues to be, an act of aggression against the basics of who we are.

We do not blindly follow any President. The GOP didn't blindly agree and follow Obama or Clinton. Democrats did not blindly follow either Bush or Reagan. We don't have to! We can debate and disagree. And yes, when it comes to specific policies that we feel are detrimental to the health and welfare of our country, we can hope he fails.

This is called democracy!

(I think there will be one more of these in the next week.)

Literal or Serious? (2)- True Believers

Yesterday I wrote about the statement that has been given as a way of "explaining Trump", at least from his supporters side. (See below for the whole post.) I said then:

Trump's critics take him literally while his supporters take him seriously.

The obvious inference is that when Trump speaks, don't take him literally- but take him seriously?

I talked then about how I might not often take him "literally" but I do take him very seriously. In fact, personally, I find the distinction quite difficult to understand. I believe many of his supporters do take him literally. For one, I have talked to enough of them who do believe what he says about, for example, his famous campaign line, "Lock her up!" or his recent agreeing with someone yelling out at a rally that not standing for him at the State of the Union was "treason." When he said it they believed it. Literally and very, very seriously.

But the other reason I think this is a false understanding and even a "straw man argument" is simple. Many of his staunchest supporters, his unshakeable 30% are Evangelical Fundamentalist "Christians". If there is one thing that Evangelical Fundamentalists believe beyond anything else is....

the literal, word for word interpretation of the Bible. They are well schooled in knowing when to literally believe something literally. And that is when it fits their beliefs.

• They believed that Obama was literally going to come for their guns. They took it so literally they were serious about it. 
• They believed that Obama was born in Kenya. Literally! It was not just some crazy right-wing extremist idea. When Trump said it, they believed it.
• They believed some crazy-ass conspiracy theory that Hillary was supporting some pedophile ring out of a pizzeria. Or worse, that there was some uranium-selling deal she fostered through her emails. Fox News said it, they believed it.

That is just the tip of the iceberg I am afraid. There is a very strong undercurrent like this running around the country. Trump feeds it. He himself may not believe all this shit literally, of course. But he has enough people convinced that the FBI is the "bad guys" and the our judicial system is out to get him that it is a literal understanding. Trump's critics don't take that literally. Many believe he is just throwing things out as a smoke-screen or diversion.

The real serious stuff is not what Trump says in his daily mega-tweets. It is what he wants to do to significantly change the social support structure of our country that we have been building little by little over the past 85 years and others that go back to the beginning of last century. He plays loose with facts, but who cares. He said it, it must be true.

Broadcast and cable news has had a very difficult time dealing with this. He is so good for sound bites, they all know it helps their ratings. Whether it's MSNBC yelling on the Left or Fox and others on the Right, they love the hype. The evening news shows, just as dependent on sound bites and good video, have the same issue.

Fortunately the print news has, overall, done a great job of trying to do the digging and publishing. The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian have broken stories and dug into the depths they are taking this all very seriously and doing some difficult work. (Go see the movie The Post to see how the print media, esp. the Washington Post, stood up to a previous president who wanted to shut them down.)

It is time those of us on the Left do take Trump seriously and stop egging on his insane posting and statements. It is time for people like Stephen Colbert (who I enjoy at times) to stop making jokes that only serve to make him look like a buffoon we don't have to take seriously and instead focus on what he is doing.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a contemporary of Henry David Thoreau once wrote

Your actions speak so loudly that we cannot hear what you are saying.

 Trump, so far, has been able to hide some of his actions by the loudness of his words. Let's move from that and see that his actions get more of the light of day they deserve.

Literal or Serious? (1)- An Excuse?

One of the comments I heard during the last Presidential campaign and in the first year of the Trump Presidency was that

Trump's critics take him literally while his supporters take him seriously.

The obvious inference is that when Trump speaks, don't take him literally- but take him seriously?

Seriously? But I do understand.

When he said that Mexico sends us the bad people (and maybe a few good ones), I knew what he meant and I took him seriously. He was playing to the crowd who didn't like Hispanics! I didn't think that was a good thing- but I took him very seriously!

When he said that we need to prevent immigrants from Muslim-majority countries entering the United States, I knew what he meant and I took him seriously. He was playing to Islamophobia and the fear of terrorist attacks, which there have been very few of. I disagreed with his presumptions and prejudice- but I took him seriously.

When he said he was elected to be President of Pittsburgh and not Paris and that we need to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreements, I knew what he meant and I took him seriously. He does not believe that global climate change is real (or of human causation) and we should not burden our country with trying to do anything about it. I disagreed with him- but I took him seriously.

It is clear that he is good at hyperbole and speaking to a clear constituency. It is clear that he may say things that sound over-the-top, but that he is clearly telling his supporters and all of us what he means. The news media in general loves sound bites and he is an expert at giving them what they want. Twitter is the new headline maker. But they get hung up on the ridiculous, self-serving ways he says it and the real meaning does get lost.

Through it all, he is serious. I take him seriously. Some feel he is a sloppy communicator. I don't think so. He really does know what he is doing and is enjoying every minute of the spotlight and attention.

Which is why I don't like what he wants to do. He makes it clear in many ways.

• Cut Medicare and Medicaid.
• Huge tax cuts that in the long run will help the top 1% and hurt the rest of us.
• Huge budget deficits. I know, people talk about the "Tax and Spend" Democrats. The Republicans are, for sure, different than that. They just Spend without adding to the taxes, lining pockets until we are bankrupt as a nation.
• Talking about "due process" when he has been known to make statements undermining such due process.
• Increase the "nanny state" the GOP has hated for years by taking choice of food purchases out of the hands of SNAP recipients, replacing it with this year's idea of a "Harvest Box."
• He plays a game of nuclear chicken with North Korea and wants to increase nuclear arms when we don't need any more. We still live in an era of "mutually assured destruction" if they start flying.

Don't take him literally? Take him seriously? I am not sure he is able to tell the difference himself. If he says it, I am afraid he believes it. Many of his supporters outside of D.C. do often take him literally. That's why they voted for him remember? "He speaks his mind. He let's us know what he's thinking."

In the midst of all that, then, we are being given a bunch of bullshit to hide the depth of what is happening. So I for one am willing to not take the specifics of what he says literally.

But I do take him seriously. He is deadly serious! Which is why I am scared to death.

Overwhelmed and Procrastinating

• I am about 60% through writing a new Christmas story.
• I am about 30% through writing the first post on the Spirituality as Resistance series for Advent to Epiphany.
• I have nothing written on next week's Tuning Slide.
• I am sitting here at my computer in my coffee shop "office" scrolling Facebook and checking my calendar for the fifth time.
• In other words- I am stuck.

At the same time:

• The tax cut [sic] bill, a potential major step toward ending support programs like Social Security and Medicare, is aiming toward passage.
• Trump re-tweets a British extremist right-wing anti-Muslim video.
• Garrison Keillor is fired.
• Roy Moore is leading the polls again.

I stare at the computer screen and see the story I'm working on and wonder how I can even continue. Is there reason for "joy to the world" at Christmas 2017? Evangelical "Christians" support hateful groups and people, ignoring the very "morality" they have said they stand for. How can I proclaim the birth of a Savior they would ostracize in a way that challenges their status quo?

So I start writing here. I get the feelings down in pixels. And I sit and stare some more.

I guess I am in the perfect place to be thinking about Advent. I was not originally planning on writing this preview of the series. But what better way to get started. This is the world before Advent. This is the world into which he was born. It is clear that I am not ready for Christmas. I am still too broken, weighed down by the sad and bad and hateful news to hear any good news. I need these next four weeks to be ready.

If I stay stuck in my procrastination, nothing will change in me. I may not be able to change the way the world is going, but I do know that God can change the way I see the world and my place in it. Is this how people of faith felt before the first Advent? Has the world really changed all that much in these 2000+ years? Have we?

Hope. Love. Joy. Peace.

They are coming.

May I be ready to hear them.

Sad, Afraid, Speechless, Stunned, and Hopeful

Those words present the wide-range of feelings and reactions I continue to have over the news stories that never end. Tonight it was Charlie Rose. Last weekend it was Al Franken. Add that to Roy Moore, seemingly countless entertainment celebrities, legislators on all sides, even an NPR news executive. The biggest name continues to be Donald Trump, but he is not alone.

I admit to sadness, but no surprise at the Franken disclosure. Just when many of us liberals and progressives were beginning to get out of our Trump Funk (It only took a year!), we get knocked back by the awareness that this is not a liberal or conservative issue. We have tried to do that in the past, especially since many of the conservatives being accused have been "paragons of family values." (Liberals- being liberal- have always been accused of these kinds of immoral values.) But when it comes right down to today's news, it makes no difference.

Everyone seems to have clay feet! Which should not surprise anyone who is a person of faith or spirit. If we are honest, we would be the first to admit the awareness of what Paul says in Romans 7:

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (NIV)

Unfortunately too often the religious right seems to forget that this applies to them as much as anyone else. They try to hide their human failings behind the righteous life they claim to live. That does not excuse it, however. The actions are still wrong. Period! End of discussion.

But this post isn't about that side of the issue. What has struck me most powerfully over these past few weeks since the Weinstein revelations became top news is the pace at which this has happened. Think about it. Before Weinstein things were normal. White male privilege was firmly entrenched from Hollywood to the White House to Alabama. Sexual harassment was the order of the day.

And then suddenly it wasn't.

A couple years ago we were amazed at how quickly opinion about, and acceptance of, same-gender marriage changed. It was almost like whiplash. One day it was wrong. And then suddenly it wasn't.

The same thing has just been happening from a different direction. This time it's women who are taking their power and running with it. They are not backing down. They are calling sexual abuse wrong! They are standing up to power, white male privileged power, and saying, "Enough!" They are advocating for change in some very basic issues in our society.

We are even hearing more about Bill Clinton and a little about the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. These were earlier skirmishes in what has become this major move forward. In other words, these are not just things that are happening now. FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy were guilty of a number of things that we know about- and many that we don't. People are saying "No!"

The powers that be don't like it. Those who benefit by the system the way it is will fight back. They will build walls, figurative, metaphorical, and real, to keep others out. Some of the fights will be symbolic; others will be for real progress for real people. The fight over health care and the tax bill are examples of fights that will occur on many different fronts.

Perhaps this is a natural outcome of the Trump election. The dark underbelly of American culture and politics took the spotlight. Trump flaunted it, reveled in it, put it into 140 characters or less every day on Twitter. We could no longer pretend that it wasn't there. We began to realize that the system can perhaps best be described by the WW 2 acronym: SNAFU. Systems Normal, All Fucked Up. (Usually credited to the Marines. Not a surprise there.)

But it doesn't have to remain that way.

Resist. Move ahead. Become an ally. Speak up. Stand with the victims.

In spite of the stunned and fearful reactions of some, I actually find hope in the breaking down of this patriarchal system of abuse and worse. Maybe we will be able to make significant and world-changing movements.

I pray that it is so.

Rule of Law...

or law by ruler?

I continue to be gobsmacked by the news that comes out of the White House.

• Talk of pardoning himself and others for something that didn't happen?
• Constant updating of security clearance forms.
• Attacking the Attorney General you appointed because he followed the law.
• Wondering why the "beleaguered" AG wasn't investigating "Crooked Hillary"?
• Suggestions being floated that Rudy Guiliani could replace Sessions as AG. 
• Reported attempts at finding ways to discredit independent investigator Mueller.

This on top of all kinds of other issues from suggesting that the courts are not to decide on his orders, the incredible chaos and insensitivity to people's health needs in trying to repeal and "replace" the ACA, and, well, you get the idea.

 The lack of respect for the rule of law in all this is beyond belief. Although perhaps not. There is always an undercurrent of law by the ruler or ruling party. Admittedly the GOP is having great difficulty with their own use of that. They have been co-opted and overwhelmed by Trump and the basic support he has. They have also been trapped by their own rhetoric over the last 8 years into taking some seemingly extreme positions.

Sadly, the Dems aren't in any better shape. They haven't figured out how to be a loyal opposition with appropriate and helpful ideas. At this point they are in the same position as the GOP. All anyone can do it bend to whatever the wind is that drives Trump. The GOP going with it; the Dems tacking away from it.

Meanwhile the country is caught in the crosswind.

I hope someone comes up with some clear and hope-filled answers soon.

Overheard in the News: Draining Swamps

32% believe Donald Trump has made the swamp worse,
24% believe he is draining it, and
35% believe he has done nothing to change the political culture.
-Politico

Yes, that was the popular campaign promise. That awful swamp of politics we call Washington, DC, was going to be drained of its toxic elements.

It seems only his unshakeable base of about one-fourth of the population believes he has been able to do that.

Some even think he may be the swamp monster himself. His recent flurry of toxic tweets may have made it even worse.

I took a very brief look at a few of the "drain the swamp" ads from last year still on You Tube. In light of what we have seen in the past five months, they look even more chilling than they did at the time. I would say that any time Trump attacks someone with a particular "sin" it may be that he is trying to get attention away from himself.

That is a swamp of a whole new toxicity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Noun: an area of low-lying, uncultivated ground where water collects; a bog or marsh.
• synonyms: marsh, bog, muskeg, quagmire, mire, morass, fen; quicksand, bayou
• Verb: overwhelm or flood with water.
• synonyms: flood, inundate, deluge, immerse

 Yes, maybe we have been swamped by a deluge of Trump.

Sadness, Concern, Dread - and Patriotism

I have always loved the Fourth of July. Like many of my childhood friends, and my  generation, I am the son of a World War II veteran. We were raised with a deep, almost genetically-based patriotism. It was not a political statement at that time, or at least I didn't see it that way. It was an awareness of how lucky we were to be born in this nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal." Patriotism meant loving our country for what it has given us- and more importantly- what we could do for our country.

That was a long time ago now. Half a century and more. But the Fourth of July- Independence Day- has never lost it's shine and excitement for me. Even in the midst of the Vietnam-era divisions, many of us remained deeply committed to the patriotic ways, although it soon became a political statement and not a healthy way of life. It became a point of contention as if to seek for greater exercise of freedom- the very fundamental of our country- was unpatriotic. But the flag leading the parade, a Sousa march, Fourth of July fireworks continued to make me feel a sense of hope.

Over the last several years I have had the added joy of being able to play in our local Fourth of July concert. To stand with the trumpets and play the closing section of "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a musical moment of patriotic joy; to play the Army field march takes me back to learning if from my Dad and I think of his service and sacrifice; the noise of firecrackers and the crowd having fun is what it is all about.

Last year, however, I had a moment in the middle of the concert that caught my attention. It was, of course, in the midst of the presidential election campaign. Donald Trump was ready to be nominated. I had the thought, "What if he wins? Is this our last truly free celebration of our independence?" I pushed it away, not out of denial, but of the hope and trust in our American way to do the right thing.

Trump did win. So far we have not lost our American way. I think we are still free. But the signs are not as hopeful as they were a year ago.

• We know that the Russians in some way or another have worked at hacking our election- the very foundation of our democratic process. (I still do not believe there was actual, active collusion between the Russians and Trump. I am not so sure of some of his campaign staff, however.)
• Fake news through social media and perhaps even the Russians has brought a division and an ongoing and escalating attack on the integrity of our freedom of the press- another basic foundation. 
• The President himself continues to take strange and seemingly irrational actions against anyone who may disagree with him. 
• Last week a commission has requested all voter data from all 50 states, including information that may not be public, potentially threatening the rights of privacy of our electoral process.

As a result of all this ongoing chaos in our national politics I almost started crying in the midst of the "Armed Forces Salute" the other night at a concert rehearsal. That's where we start with the Caissons Song. As I was thinking of Dad, sadness and even dread started to well up. What I am seeing in the things going on appears to be as great a threat to who we are as a nation than anything since the Civil War. Some of the very basic elements of American freedom and democracy are being challenged in the name of security. The advances in science we have enjoyed are being called questioned. Care for the poor and the elderly are being attacked.

Underneath those is the even deeper question that got Trump elected in the first place- the increasing losses of a healthy middle class. Instead of working on these together and developing new and creative plans for making a difference, we are expanding and exploiting the differences in the name of political gain. Add to that the just as deep issue of racism and the rise of white supremacy taking advantage of the divisions- and we have a difficult time to be living in.

This is not the country I grew up in. These are not the ways of greatness. They leave me with a sense of dread that I have written about here before. The courts have shown some ability to slow down some of the more troubling aspects. People have taken to the streets in mostly peaceful protests, interrupted only by, as usual, a small handful of those who are there only to make trouble.

There is not much I can do about any of this in action. I can write these words; I can talk to friends who may not agree with me and make sure I listen to them as much as I hope they will listen to me. I can, in my actions on a daily basis show that I am one who wants things to be different.

In the end I have to maintain my personal hope in the institutions and history that have allowed us to get to this 241st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The great American Experiment of freedom is still a work in progress. I pray that it continues to be alive and filled with hope. I cannot- and must not give up on that hope.

THAT is what patriotism is all about.

Declining Level of "Presidential"

Tweeting is a very poor way to communicate with the nation. It becomes even less so when it is mainly used as a way of being mean, nasty, and generally way of attacking your opponents in ways that resemble bullying.

After a recent mean and extremely nasty tweet the responses from many were notable at attempts at being some level of nice. "That tweet was below presidential level," is a pleasant way of saying that was not what we expect our president to do.

My impression is that the level of "presidential" in the current White House started low and has only continued to go downhill. I wonder if it has as much to do with his personal attitude that if you disagree with him you are not worth considering? As things have continued to build against him and things don't fall into place as he would like, he escalates.

It does not appear that things will change.

I am deeply saddened.

Overheard in the News: The Middle Class

Was watching the bottom line on the TV at the workout center as I was doing my leg presses. Saw an interview happening with Juan Williams, one of their political commentators. The info on the screen said:

How the Democrats lost the middle class.

Sadly, as a lifelong Democrat, I had to shake my head in dismay at the truth of the statement. Yes, the Democratic Party has lost the support of the middle class. Democrats have become so adept at pulling defeat from the jaws of victory, that I fear at times for a two-party system. (Exaggeration, of course, for effect! But perhaps only a slight exaggeration.)

What the GOP has managed to do in the meantime is get their message so wonderfully wrapped in supporting the middle class that they look like the saving grace for those who are in the middle.  They can spin their policies like a top and come out looking great. Even when most of the evidence points in other directions. They continue to repeat promises that they turn around and forget to do.

And the Dems continue to think they know how to get through this. The leadership often looks and sounds as unreliable as the GOP. Everyone sounds like a politician saving their own skin- or their party's ideology.

In reality neither party at this moment in history is doing anything that truly helps the middle class. What they both ignore is that if we did pay appropriate and caring attention to the needs of the middle class there would be an improvement in the economy, the national morale, and the outlook for the future.

• That will not be accomplished by giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy in some trickle-down fantasy. That is taking money from the middle and lower classes. 
• Neither will that be accomplished by greater focus on only the poor, taking money from the middle class. What made America great was the middle and lower classes working together to produce a society, a culture, and an economy for all. 

 Until we start thinking in those terms on a more regular basis, we will get nowhere important or significant and only continue to run in circles.

That Reminds Me Of...

Couldn't help but notice that yesterday's video of the President's Cabinet meeting looked exactly like the old camp and group exercise:

Okay, everyone. Let's make Donald feel good by everyone saying something nice about what he has done.

No Excuse Zone

I have no excuse for not posting much in the past few weeks other than the Tuning Slide series. But I do have some reasons. Not that I need to explain to you, my faithful reader(s?) but since I am feeling guilty and am avoiding doing what I should be doing, here goes.

• Top reason is simply that I have been editing and formatting the two years of Tuning Slide posts into a new book. I did one last year of year one. Well, I decided to put year one and year two together in one book to give to this year's Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop students. That has been taking my time.

•  Next reason is I have also been busy with some ethics committee stuff for a presentation two weeks ago. 

• Third reason is that I have gotten fed up (pun intended) with my overweight and out of shape-ness. That means I have spent some more time in the gym working out. I am trying to keep from falling into making things worse. An extra hour or two a day does take away from my writing. 

• Number four is that I have also upped my trumpet practice time. There goes another hour per day. 

• Finally, I have absolutely no idea what to say about what is happening in Washington. At least without using words that are not safe for a family-friendly blog. My mind is completely out of sorts with the shenanigans, the insanity, the complete idiocy of the actions of the President. When I'm not angry, I'm sad. When I'm not sad I am afraid. Most of the time I am just flabbergasted that the GOP congress hasn't stood up to his bullying, gaslighting, abusive personality.  

Perhaps one of these days soon, after the Tuning Slide book is off to Amazon, I will get back into the swing of things. Until then, my apologies for being so out of it. I am working on it!

Struggling- But On the Road

I realized last week that I am still in the recovery mode from last year's election. I am not as stuck as I was in November and December, but I recognized in a discussion last week that I have not gotten back to the energy and excitement that I had before that. To watch the ongoing circus of tearing apart the nation we have built over the past 25-40 years is downright scary. It is like the current administration (and GOP leaders) see it as their mission to undo absolutely everything progressive and hopeful for anyone not in the 1%.

In the midst of all this I have continued to play trumpet and have worked hard at my improvisation and overall skills. As I look back at it, that was all that kept me going some days. This weekend I have been at the UW-Eau Claire annual Jazz Fest. I have listened to some great music, reconnected with a number of musical friends and mentors, and found my groove beginning to fall into place.

I am a work in progress. I don't want to ignore the world around me that looks like it is being undone on a regular basis. Nor do I want that undoing to pull me down.

Music!

Thanks be to God for such a wonderful gift!

Trickle Down?

For over 30 years the theory of trickle-down economics has held sway in some areas of US politics. It ends up with such statements as "We have to give the tax-breaks to the job creators so they create jobs." I keep thinking that there is more than a little BS in this idea.  A few of my reasons:

• One of the Great American Capitalists, Henry Ford would disagree. 
• Or at least his idea that he should pay his workers better so they could buy more products would say so.
• The gap between top and bottom income in the country might disagree.
• The gap has never been wider with a smaller "middle class" than has existed since the "middle class" became a reality. That means the ones at the top- the job creators- are not using their money to create jobs.
• The profit statements of many corporations could disagree.
• As profits keep going up for many big corporations, these profits are not being turned into new jobs. They are going other places, some of which are admittedly important. But the jobs are not being created.

The right-wing economists would come up with all kinds of reasoning why it hasn't happened yet.

• Regulations
• Uncertainty
• Democrats
• Obama

I would argue that if it hasn't happened yet, after 30 plus years, I see no reason why we should continue to believe that it will happen at some unforeseeable place in the uncertain future. 

And no, I am not joking. I fear that trickle-down economics is the joke.

Just Some Thoughts....

Headline:

• Trump moves decisively to wipe out Obama's climate-change record

Thought:

• Why does it appear that at every turn the actions seem to have one goal in mind? 
• Erase all indications of the work of the President of the United States for the last eight years.

Headline:

• Trump: House panel should investigate Clinton, not me [on Russian ties]

Thought:

• One form of gaslighting is when you accuse others of what you are guilty of after you have been accused first.

And these are just from today.

Oh my!

An Interlude- Dark Night Reactions and Actions

Time for another interlude post in the Dark Night of the Soul.  It has gotten darker for me.

We were sitting in a diner the other evening, the evening the circuit court upheld the stay in the immigration ban. Fox News was on the TV and, while the sound was off, the trailer and closed-captions weren’t. You could see in the faces where some of the news people were going. At the same time the trailer was telling of an Iranian official calling it the “blessed ban” because it proves that the United States hates Muslims.

“The judiciary will save us,” my wife said. The separation of powers that is a basic of our governmental life will hold Trump accountable.

“Unless there is a terror attack by someone from one of these countries before it is resolved,” was my pessimistic response. “Then it will all be the fault of these, as Trump calls them, ‘so-called’ judges.”

“Yes,” was all she could say.

I put my forehead in my hands and wondered if I could give up news for Lent this year?

I am tired. Sick and tired. Sick and tired of being sick and tired. This just can’t be happening.

Corinna Barrett Lain, a professor at University of Richmond School of Law, had an opinion column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last Monday. It started this way:

Let me guess — you are physically and emotionally exhausted. You aren’t sleeping well. You find it difficult to concentrate.

And you are stressed by a torrent of events: attacks on the press, the appointment of a man associated with neo-Nazis as chief strategist to the president (and now as a member of the National Security Council), the endorsement of torture, a ban on all refugees and citizens of select majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States, the firing of the acting attorney general who refused to defend the ban, a Holocaust remembrance statement that omitted any reference to Jews, fights with our neighbors and closest allies, and most recently, denigration of a federal judge.

So. Many. Things. It’s enough to suck the lifeblood out of us — and that may be the point. (Link)

These are what have been called “shock events.” They are things that happen too fast for us to process them and cause us to become worn down. We can’t keep up with the seemingly endless series of “shock events” that make us forget the one that came before. It feels like being buried alive.

There are two types of “shock events” and both cause disruption and change. The first is the event that comes out of  nowhere, the “black swans” of history. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are two examples. They cause things to happen because they are so raw and unexpected. Wise (or cunning) politicians can use these type of shock events to get change to happen- quickly. The Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, whether actual or turned into more than it was, could be seen as one as well. This is where my concern about the next potential terrorist attack comes from. Under current settings, such an event could easily turn into a need to set up some form of martial law, extreme police measures or the like in order to protect national security. Fingers will be pointed- at Democrats, at liberals, at judges, at Muslims. It could be very devastating to American democracy.

Which leads to the other type of “shock events.” These are purposely done in order to keep people off-balance. That exhaustion Professor Lain spoke of comes easily from a string of events, any one of which is unsettling, which when taken together become overwhelming. Like a dark night without end.

I had been doing well until this week, until now when it all piled up again. Last week in the post on the Dark Night I talked about the series of conversations I was having with a supporter of Mr. Trump and his policies. I felt positive about the way we had both handled it.

We both were open to trying to move from stereotypes and talking points to at least a little more substance. For example:

Trump Supporter: Democrats didn’t win. They are mad that a Republican is in office.
Me: No. Much of what is happening is not because a Republican won. Many feel Trump is not qualified to be president. It’s not that Democrats lost- it is the nature of the person who won! We are afraid of what he says he will do- and what he is doing. This would not be happening this way if any other GOP candidate had won, except maybe Ted Cruz.
TS: A nod of agreement about Cruz and then of some type of understanding.

 Another discussion:

TS: What about these liberals sitting down in the middle of highways. They deserve to get run over. What they are doing is against the law.
Me: (Admittedly a little sarcastically) Yes, but so was dumping tea in Boston Harbor illegal.
TS: That’s different.
Me: No it’s not. By definition civil disobedience is illegal. If you do it you have to be willing to go to jail.
TS: Ok.
Me: But running the protestors over with a car is also illegal. (He had thought that was what the drivers should do.)

We spent time reviewing what for me is Civics 1- the separation of powers- co-equal branches of government. He didn’t know what I was talking about.

TS: The constitution gives the president the right to protect national security.
Me: Yes, but not if what he is doing is either illegal or unconstitutional.
TS: But the president is the one who decides that. Not the courts.
Me: But the courts decide if what is done is illegal or unconstitutional. That's the way our system works. We have three equal parts of the government. The president is not free to do whatever he wants. He can be challenged in court.
TS: That way the president can’t become a dictator. OK. (It was a statement, not a question!)

I was always honest about my own personal opinions of Mr. Trump and what he has been doing. I didn’t go into all the sordid details as a way of pounding my listener. I was not out to overwhelm him, I was out to listen to him and respond in helpful ways, not pushing him away. We were not debating. We were discussing the issues in real time and with honesty.

I expressed my concerns about Trump- and he responded with his. He said that what he wants most is for Obamacare to be fixed (not repealed!), that we as a country are safe, and that we regain some of our jobs that have been lost to other countries. We did not go into depth on the jobs issue, having had other events come up that sidetracked us.

I saw this as a good paradigm for what I could possibly do in my own one-on-one conversations with other Trump supporters. Unfortunately I don’t know many of those. Of the few I do know, only one couple has been open to these conversations before this. But maybe that’s good enough for now.

But as all that has gone on, we are still only three weeks, repeat only three weeks, into the Trump Presidency. We will not survive the continuing onslaught of shock events. We will be tempted to roll over and give up. Which is why I continue to write this series on the dark night.

What happens when I am not able to control the events that are causing this dark night? What am I to do to keep myself from gong crazy? What am I to do to prevent my physical and emotional energy from being sucked dry by events and situations like the past three weeks?

One obvious direction is one I have talked about many times before, and have lived for over 28 years- accepting my powerlessness and doing what I can do in my own way. Yes, but….

There is always that damned “yes, but…” In those two words I am taking back my control over things which I ultimately have no control over. Which is what I will try to get back to in the next Dark Night post. The causes of our Dark Night may be beyond our control, but if it is to have a meaning and hope, we must find the ways to keep moving forward.

But that’s next. For now let me return to Professor Lain:

How to fight back? The first step — and it is a critical one — is to recognize that the phenomenon is happening. That would explain why we have heard politicians sympathetic to Trump telling us to take a chill pill, “stay off the caffeine,” relax. We are starting to catch wind of what is going on here, and those perpetrating the chaos and invested in its success are threatened. They need us to stay distracted by the upheaval. They need us dazed, divided and confused.

The entire point of shock events is to prevent people from coming together, to prevent the democratic discourse from working.

So it is time to recognize that reality, and resist it — that’s step two. It is time for progressives to stop viewing conservatives as the people who voted us into this mess. And it is time for conservatives to stop viewing progressives as poor sports who are just mad because they lost the election.

Wake up, America. The real enemies are not one another. The enemy is the emerging autocracy of Donald Trump, and that should scare us all.
(Link)

I respond to that. It was what I was trying to do in those four weeks of conversations with a Trump Supporter. I kept trying to stay focused on the fact that we are all in the same boat. We are all Americans and we need to see what is happening to all of us. When some Trump supporters get “buyer’s remorse,” when they realize they have been hoodwinked by his promises, when things (hopefully) become clear, we need to be together! It will not be helpful for an I told you so to come out of our lips. It will need to be something we have been unable to do in this whole divisive campaign now going on for a number of years; we need to say to each other, “I understand! Let’s work on this together."

One final comment from Professor Lain, her closing paragraph in her article:

 I know you are tired, that’s the very point. But even in our highly polarized polity, what unites us is still much greater than what divides us. We are in the twilight moment, shaken by shock events and fearful of the shadow they are casting. Our task now is to recognize that fact, and come together to avoid becoming unwitting victims of the dark.
(Link)

5. Dark Night of the Soul- Purpose and Meaning

In this week’s post I want to explore the purpose and meaning of the “Dark Night of the Soul”. I’ve already talked about this in various ways, but I’d like to focus on it in a little more breadth this week. As we do this, it is important to remember, again, that the “dark night” is not dreadful and dreary, a place with no hope. As John of the Cross understood it is an exciting and possibility-filled journey.

Oh, night that guided me,
Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined
Beloved with lover,
Lover transformed in the Beloved!

The journey is one that is not to get something, but to become something and someone. A person is changed as the dark night continues, if one is willing to be open to what is happening. A website called Neomysticism had this to say:

The main purpose of it all is not to attain something. Rather, there's a certain consciousness — an awareness — that grows in the person who experiences this night. This will later lead to a full awakening — living from that 'higher mind' that Jesus refers to in his use of the word metanoia. [Often translated as repentance. Literally “change of mind."] God's presence is not something you attain, but something that's already there. You just become aware of it. You realize it... often through unlearning and getting rid of obstacles. That's why the journey of true spirituality is often referred to as a path of descent. You have to become less.

The last stanza of John’s poem presents this union with God this way:

I remained, lost in oblivion;
My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself,
Leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Okay. Let’s bring this down to earth, to a way that we can understand it, not because we are less open than John, but because such poetic language needs to be unpacked. Even John wrote two books expounding on the short poem. For me, in line with what I have been writing before, I return to the Twelve Steps as developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. In particular, the concluding step, number 12:

• Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps,

• we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and

• to practice these principles in all our affairs.

So the result of the dark night’s pilgrimage is:

• Spiritual awakening

John described it as “all ceased and I abandoned myself.” A spiritual awakening is not necessarily, nor very often, a moment of blinding experience. Most of the time it is the result of the path of a spiritual journey that opens us to a new way of understanding ourselves and our world. What was important is no longer important. John can say that after abandoning himself he could leave his cares “forgotten among the lilies.”

As we lie awake wrestling with the night and the issues swirling around us and our country, the idea of being able to leave the cares forgotten feels unreachable. Yet, as John said, “oh happy chance” that this would be possible. After all this IS what started us on this journey in the first place- the wrestling with things seemingly too big and too out of reach for us mere mortals. One day we come to new understandings as a result of these and we realize that we have awakened from the night. We are more spiritually awake than we were when we began. It is ongoing, to be sure, but we are different.

It is now a new spiritual day- even if the world itself still looks dark and uncertain.

The second thing about the 12th Step is the natural continuation of the awakening. We have had a spiritual awakening. Therefore we:

• Carry the message

In the 12 Steps the people who the message is taken to are of course others with the same issue- alcoholism. It makes sense then that the message we carry is first to those who struggle with the spiritual issues we have faced. It is a message to those seeking direction or answers, hope or support in what feels like a time of being lost and alone.

The world of 16th Century Spain was one of great change, difficulty, and disagreement. The worst of the Inquisition was a still fresh memory; the expulsion of the Jews from Andalusia after the “reconquest” of Spain from the Muslims was complete; Roman Catholicism as a whole was in the midst of dealing with the Protestant Reformation and its own counter-reformation. St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa of Avila were tireless in living what they had discovered in their own dark nights. They carried the message by being who they were in spite of persecution and even time in prison.

A short biography of St. John says this:  

It was not long before the exemplary lives of the small community of reformed friars and nuns that had gathered around St. John and St. Teresa respectively began attracting vocations [i.e. others who wanted to join with them in their work.]  -St. John of the Cross

When we have a spiritual awakening, the world has not changed one iota. John says that the “heart lit me from inside':

It [the heart] guided and shone
Surer than noonday sunlight over me.

We have changed. Which means for us that everything has changed. That's why we carry the message. But how do we do that? Back to the 12th Step. The best way to carry the message is to:

• Practice this new way we have learned.

Practice these principles (the way of the soul and spirit) in all we do. Speaking is not enough. It is more important that we live these principles in all we do. A phrase that has come to mean a great deal to me in the past year captures the essence of this:

How you do anything is how you do everything.

There are many ways of saying it-

• practice what you preach; 
• actions speak louder than words; 
• I’d rather see a sermon than hear one; 
• faith without works is dead.

It has to do with personal integrity and self-awareness. (More on that in the next post.) We can’t compartmentalize our lives, living one way here and another way over there. At the worst that means we are being dishonest or uncommitted to anything. At best it is being wishy-washy.

Let me give an example I have wrestled with over the last few weeks. I have often said that dialogue is important in this time and place. We need to talk with each other, not throw slogans, engage in name-calling or stereotyping. (Sarcasm can take us a long way- but in the wrong direction.) I have also said that we need to learn to find ways to express support and care for each other. Liberals, like myself, for example, can be great at standing up for the least and the lost, but overlook the least and the lost among those on the other side of the issue. We end up ignoring them, calling them ignorant or uninformed. (Note: Do not tell me that “they” do the same. I can’t change them- I can only change me.) That is NOT what I preach and say I believe. How I do anything is how I do everything.

Guilty as charged.

So, three weeks ago I was given the opportunity (by my Higher Power?) to sit next to a staunch Trump supporter. He was joyous about the new president and what was going to happen. I tried to ignore him. I’m tired of this crap. He talked about what he liked about the new president’s agenda. I tried to ignore him. I made some comments back, mostly negative. But that damn still small voice kept bugging me- how you do anything…

So I began to listen. I still heard the Trump-supporting party line. But I also began to hear the both uncertainty and hope mixed in with it. This acquaintance is best described as part of the white, male, middle class- a group easily”demonized” in these very polarized and divided times. I was able to hear, for perhaps the first time, his pain, his fear, and his reason for hoping that the new administration will do something positive.

Once I made a conscious decision to listen, really listen, things began to change. I tried not to place him in a stereotyped box, even when he made such statements about “liberals” or “Muslims”. I did challenge the generalizing and engaged in some dialogue about the issues, pointing out differences between talking points and what is happening. He began to listen to me and took in what I was saying. I hope that was because I was treating him as an equal in the dialogue. The other evening, after three weeks of this weekly conversation happening in bits and pieces, I thanked him for his willingness to talk and listen. He sat back and told me what he really hopes for in this administration, also admitting his concerns, something he would have been unwilling to do when we were on “opposite sides.”

How we do anything is how we do everything. If we spend time stereotyping others, we will not see them as individuals.If we spend time seeing those with opposing viewpoints as “the enemy” we will always be at war with them, even if we agree on more than we disagree. It took some real effort on my part to move to a point of really listening. But when I managed to do that more often than not, I found myself in real conversation about some very important things. (These are not directly related to the Dark Night discussion.  I will talk about them in another “interlude” piece in the next week or so.)

What this whole episode has done is bring to the front for me the essential work of dialogue, conversation, even mediation if needed. It means that when I stand up for certain values, I have to be willing to apply those values to those I might be in opposition to! If I believe all people are loved by God and worthy of my attention, then I cannot place some people outside that love just because I disagree with them. I can’t not love them or care about them just because I might find some of what they do as immoral, reprehensible or downright wrong. I remember when the ACLU went to court to help a white-supremacy rally occur. They value free speech and civil liberties- even when it might have been unpopular with their own constituency.

For people who are seeking a spiritual way through this time, it is always, always, always fundamental that we begin with our values. What is it that I am called to do? How am I called to do it? What are my values that guide me in all these actions? The Dark Night helps those questions become clarified and answered as we become more and more spiritually awake, these ways become clearer.