Republicans Weren’t All Wrong

Yes, those Republicans who claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen were right.  It was stolen by 81,268,924 registered voters who selected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Donald Trump and Mike Pence.  Republicans were also right in their suspicions that some of those 81,268,924 people didn’t really vote for Joe Biden.  Yes, some of those folks didn’t so much vote for Joe Biden as they were voting to not allow Donald Trump a second opportunity to embarrass America.

Many conservatives were right in claiming the mRNA vaccines were rushed too soon into production.  Yes, messenger RNA strands have only been studied as a drug delivery mechanism since 1987, which represents a mere 30+ years of development.  > Dr. Katalin Karikó and her collaborator Dr. Drew Weissman >published a paper titled "Cationic liposome-mediated RNA transfection in 1989.  "Yup, only three decades of development is a real rush job.  Actually, their research was founded on experiments with liposomes and mRNA that were discovered in the early 1960s, only 59 years ago.

Conservatives who think climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by liberals who falsely believe the earth is round, rotates on its own axis, and travels around the sun, may be right.  The hoax theory has a basis in real science.  First, our earth is not round, it is an oblate spheroid where the North and South Poles are slightly flat, and we have a bit of a bulge at the equator. Don’t we all?  The earth doesn’t properly spin on its axis, it wobbles.  Don’t we all?  Lastly, the earth doesn’t travel around the sun because, as we all know, the sun is a chariot of fire that is driven across the sky by the Sun God Helios.  However, those conservatives who believe that Donald Trump drives that chariot each day from Mar-a-Lago to San Francisco, and the golden rays we attribute to sunlight are just reflections from his blonde mane, are just plain unsalted nuts.  Real legumes.  Donald Trump would never go as far as California to shed light on anything.

Sun God Helios

As to climate change, the earth’s climate is always changing.  We should not be concerned that 17 of the 18 warmest years ever recorded in the earth’s 4.5-billion-year history have happened since 2001.  The suggestion that high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which began during the Industrial Revolution, are anthropogenic (man-made) is open for debate.  Yes, only 98% of actively publishing scientists believe that the earth is getting warmer.  The other 2% have published contrarian studies that nobody has been able to replicate, or which contain obvious errors.

Republicans who believe the January 6, 2021 demonstrations at our nation’s capital were peaceful expressions of free speech are also correct.  From midnight to 9:00 a.m. on January 6th, the attendees were peaceful.  After 9 a.m. however, things began to deteriorate.  That thousands of attendees at Trump’s rally were merely tourists, I must also agree.  The definition of a tourist is a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure.  Many of those folks looked like they were enjoying the hell out of themselves.  They were just like tourists in any other theme park.  They got to try their skills at the climbing wall that used to be part of the outside facade of the capitol building.  They were allowed to pepper spray others at random.  They also got to act like children screaming at the top of their lungs.  They got to throw things and beat up Capitol Police.  I’m sure, many took pleasure in all of this.

The Rock Climbing Event at the Capitol Tourist Attraction

You now have to ask yourselves; would I be a good fit for such a party?  Do I have what it takes to be a good conservative Republican?  To help you answer this nagging question, I have a short one-question quiz.

Which of the following is true?

1. The Covid vaccines contain tracking microchips, the blood of Satan, the DNA of aborted fetuses, and will make you magnetic so you can no longer go near your refrigerator.
2. Donald Trump won the 2020 election, is secretly running a parallel government from Palm Beach, Ron DeSantis is his VP, he is running the Pentagon using a donated Twitter account, and is using his newly formed Space Force to eliminate his enemies with lasers.
3. We only use 10% of our brains, George Washington had wooden teeth, you swallow eight spiders a year while sleeping, a penny dropped from atop the Empire State Building will kill you, Trump’s November 10, 2018, Veterans Day military parade will never be forgotten, and Twinkies have no expiration date so they could save you during a zombie apocalypse.
4. All of the above.

The results are in.  If you took the test above and selected any answer, you may proceed to submit your application to replace Tucker Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight.  You may have to change your name.  To clarify a bit from selection #3 above, certain conservatives are the only humans who use but 10% of their brains as they need at least that much to just walk and breathe.  You don’t swallow eight spiders a year, it’s more like fourteen.  Twinkies have a shelf-life of 25 days and if you eat one after the 25th day you will become a zombie and won’t have to worry about your sugar intake.  

If you have already forgotten the Trump military parade of 2018, you are forgiven.  It was postponed to 2019.  If you forgot the 2019 military parade, you are also forgiven as it was canceled and never took place.  As with most things TRUMP, it is all best forgotten.

What Happened to Our Middle Class?

I am a proud American. I was born in a Navy hospital at the end of the last war this country fought and won. I watched as the nation prospered when the soldiers came home with the G.I. bill that helped them buy their first homes. They came home to a post-war economy that had to be rebuilt with American labor for the new peacetime era. Labor unions provided a balance where fair wages were provided for an honest day’s work and corporations still made profits.

I had an “I Like Ike” sticker on my little red wagon. It didn’t matter that my parents were registered Democrats, they liked the Army general who led our nation to victory in WWII. Eisenhower had seen the impressive Reichsautobahn system in Germany during the war. He was but a 28-year-old Lieutenant in 1919 when he was part of a convoy evaluating our existing highway system. That convoy would take 62 days to drive 3,200 miles from Washington, DC to the Presidio in San Francisco. Much of that road trip was spent on, as Eisenhower would describe, “a succession of dust, ruts, pits, and holes. As president, he signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which would build 40,000 miles of divided highways that would link all American cities with a population over 50,000.

Before and After WWII Highway System

The middle class in America flourished. With a single income, families could expect to own a home, a car, provide a college education for their children, and take vacations each year. In 1956, I took one of those vacations with my family, and we drove on the existing roads before the Interstates would be built. That trip took over a month as we crossed the country through the south, down into Mexico, up the California coast, across the northern plains, up into Canada, back into the U.S. at Niagara Falls, and down the eastern seaboard where I saw our nation’s capital for the first time.

It was a good time to be a middle-class American. I grew up in a G.I. Bill home. It was a two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,175 sq. ft. house (816 sq. ft. living area) with a garage sitting on a 10,200 sq. ft. lot. We had one car and eventually two. My brother and I were able to complete college educations without accumulating any debt. I spent four years in the Navy before beginning a 35-year working career. I am into my 14th year of a comfortable retirement.

Typical GI Bill Home 1940s

My life, as related in the paragraph above, would have been entirely different if I had been born into the “middle-class” decades later. Now, you need two income providers in a family just to make ends meet. Savings are generally too low to cover a loss of income for more than a couple of months. A family of four will typically be facing over $65,000 in student loans with two children in college. The starting salary for those college graduates in 2020 will average $55,260.

When I graduated, I could expect about $47,000 less than that 2020 figure. What I actually made, was considerably less. As an E-3 in the Navy in 1968, my monthly payment was $137.70, which works out to $1,652.40 a year. That of course included “3 hots and a cot.” I also had free medical and dental and a clothing allowance to keep me in uniforms.

So, what happened to America’s middle class over the years. For one, labor unions have been marginalized. College educations have been moved out of reach for many and will involve a burdensome debt for those lucky enough to get one. In a recent article in Vox, they gave the example of a teacher in New Jersey who was married to a carpenter. Between them, they made $160,000 which places them solidly in the “middle-class.” While this may sound like a lot of money, their expenses for things like housing, medical, debt payments, child care, and a $150 monthly contribution to a retirement fund, means their savings account averages only $400 and a family vacation involves juggling credit card debt.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that, while the wealthy are expanding their affluence, the rest of Americans have seen stagnant wages for the past 40 years. Raises seem to be pegged as “cost of living” bumps in income which translate to the status quo. For many, these raises are pegged to inflation but not the actual cost of living. Rent and not homeownership is the norm with 30% of household income going to pay that rent. Now that middle-class membership entails two incomes and childcare for two will run over $25,000 a year, or about 35% of a median family income.

In my many years living in the middle-class, my major debt was only my mortgage. Credit card debt was never seen as an alternative to a higher standard of living. Today, household debt is pegged at around $14.3 trillion with much of that on high-interest credit cards. My generation was able to work hard, save for the future, enjoy a good life, and retire with dignity. Today, that dream has all but evaporated for the new “middle-class.”

When I graduated college in the 60s, after-tax savings were around 11%. In 2007 it had fallen to 3.6%. In 2016, the median debt for someone of retirement age was $31,300. Some of this debt is in a mortgage but some are also in student loan debt for themselves or their children, and credit card debt is common, especially for someone who may have had periods of unemployment. Some mortgage debt is also onerous as any who perhaps refinanced around the time of the housing bubble when home values got over-inflated, and equity was withdrawn.

Income inequality is a harbinger of our nation’s future as a little debt begets even more debt. High levels of income inequality are linked to economic instability, financial crisis, debt, and inflation. For the wealthy, wealth and assets generate more wealth. Access to education and better healthcare aids the wealthy in their pursuit of more wealth. The “non-wealthy” struggle to get an education and the burden of healthcare and childcare make it difficult or impossible for them to even tread water.

Income inequality is no longer the exclusive realm of women, minorities, and immigrants. It is no longer a comparison of the traditional poor compared to all of those above the poverty level. The gap between even the upper middle class and the wealthy has widened to a chasm. Government bailouts of large industries may have saved some big corporations but not much of that largess made it to the average worker.

The social stability inherent in a strong middle class is all but a memory. Most societies with a healthy middle-class have higher levels of social trust in their governments, lower levels of crime, better health, and generally, and they would rate their lives as satisfying. With the loss of our middle-class, we find higher crime rates, declining health, and a severe distrust of government. Recent events with the last election and the pandemic have highlighted the lack of trust many feel with our government.

In 2017, three individuals in America owned half of the net worth of half of the country. In June of 2021, the top 1% in America controlled $41.52 trillion while the bottom 50% controlled only $2.62 trillion.

In their 1975 hit, Rich Get Richer, the O’Jays lament about income inequality and the conflict between the “super-rich” and the “super poor.” They took some inspiration for their lyrics from Ferdinand Lundberg’s book, America’s 60 Families, written in 1937. In his book, Lundberg asserted that 60 interlinked American families controlled mainstream media, the U.S. economy, and had unchecked influence over American political institutions. At that time, his list included the families of Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford, Vanderbilt, Mellon, Guggenheim, Whitney, Du Pont, and Astor. [aside, Lundberg also wrote Imperial Hearst and sued Orson Wells charging that Citizen Kane was an unauthorized adaptation]

Wealth is not inherently evil. Our capitalist society is founded on the acquisition of capital. When all the playing field is level, this is a fair and equitable means of rewarding hard work and enterprise. When, however, the game is rigged in favor of a few, then it is time for a change. I have several friends who claim to be independent in their political thinking, but I find much of what they support is biased in the name of limited government where an unregulated capital free-for-all would be a survival of the fittest. To them, welfare is for a bunch of lazy freeloaders trying to force others to support them. While I will agree that there are those who would take advantage of any government dole, I would not criticize anyone while we are still playing a game rigged in favor of the wealthy few.

Yes, when access to higher education is equitable, childcare is affordable, wages for a 40-hour workweek exceed the cost of survival, and healthcare is available for everyone, I would support a rethinking of our welfare system. When the very wealthy start paying taxes on all of their income, perhaps we can afford to provide enough social services to make America great in the first place. Our last president could be the poster child for hiding income, undervaluing property for tax purposes, overvaluing the property for loan purposes, and basically gaming the tax system to better his financial position at the expense of others. It should not be the case that once you accumulate enough wealth to afford to have a team of lawyers on retainer, that you are allowed to pick and choose which laws you will obey.

In an almost complete departure from all of what has been written above, I would recommend that those of you with Netflix consider watching the limited series Maid. While the main theme is about emotional abuse, the young woman protagonist in the story also shows what it is like to need government assistance. The built-in gotchas, government hurdles, and convoluted red tape in our assistance programs are part of the subtext.

Rich Get Rich, The O’Jays, 1975

Some people have more than enough

When you got you got you got people starving

Babies crying

People living just for dollars

That's tough, tough luck, that's what they say man

I know there's got to be a better way

People living in one-room shacks

Sleeping on top of each other's backs

Now that's tough, tough luck

That's what they say

I know, I know there's got to be a better way

The rich, well, the super-rich, lord

The poor, well, the super poor 

A Brighter Future?

Pick up any newspaper (you still do that?), peruse social media, or conduct research on your favorite news Internet sites, and you don’t have to go very far to find bad news.  We see politicians trying to outdo each other as medical czars working to outlaw mask mandates, threatening sanctions for vaccine requirements, or promoting untested medical solutions. We see faux election audits, new voter restrictions designed to disenfranchise specific ethnic groups, and false claims of 2020 election malfeasance.  We would seem to be on the brink of disaster, and perhaps we are.

We watched as a sitting president held rallies that looked more like a visit to the Star Wars Cantina than a gathering of “my fellow Americans.”  We see zombie-like cult-crazed victims of the big lie now trying to justify their actions on January 6th in court trials.  We have politicians supporting the "fraud of election fraud" by joining the new Insurrection Party.   We almost get whiplash with the hard political shift to the right headed toward authoritarian rule being excused as a counter to the horrors of mislabeled “socialism.”  We further see the continuing chaos of a hopefully waning viral pandemic where predicted shortages are set to be the Grinch that steals yet another Christmas.

Star Wars Cantina

Is there light at the end of this tunnel or is it merely the headlight of another train?  I’m hoping for daylight, but I would recommend moving slowly forward to avoid the distinct possibility of another locomotive.  We recently saw what can happen when a barely functioning congress ran head-on into a once-in-a-century killer virus.  It was a time where we desperately needed a well-oiled governing body and had naught but the lumbering rusted hulk of a once-revered democracy.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

We are living in a time of self-inflicted chaos.  We are witness to former friends and neighbors being transformed into ideological enemies at the mercy of false gossip that spreads faster than a tachyonic particle.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with tachyons, they are theoretical faster-than-light particles that defy the laws of physics.  Tachyons are much like honest politicians, we’ve theorized about their existence, but no one has ever seen one.

So, what is there to look forward to?  Is there life post-Trump, post-Covid?  Well, since both are still with us and exist as major sources of irritation, perhaps we need to adjust ourselves and our expectations to the reality that both annoyances will continue into the foreseeable future.  Life continued after the Spanish flu of 1918, the Asian flu of 1957, and the Hong Kong flu of 1968.  Life will once again settle into some sort of normalcy, but it is doubtful that it will look like 2016; probably more like 1984, and not the year but the book.

The post-pandemic world will be different.  We are already seeing an altered workforce where people are being a bit more discerning about the jobs they will accept.  Supply chain shortages have hit many.  Inflation looms as gas prices climb.  Hopefully, we will see a more global future and will no longer believe that we live on an island where nationalism is its own reward.  This pandemic rocked the entire world and not just some obscure country in Africa.  This time we were forced to pay attention.

Diogenes of Sinope

The direst area of concern will be in the political arena where far too many politicians have abandoned their oath of office in pursuit of power and wealth at the expense of others.  We can only hope that there remain enough individuals of conscience to return us to something resembling normalcy.  That light we see at the end of the tunnel may just be Diogenes of Sinope, the Greek cynic philosopher with his lantern looking for an honest man.