Thoughts on US Policy
Given that we are unable to gather in person to remember my brother John, it is hard to convey the wonderful person he was and all he did for me. Johnny was my big brother, who went before me and made a way for me. Johnny was also my best friend. And though he was mentally retarded from birth, more than anyone else, he was my best teacher.
Continue reading “A TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY”
Amid these challenging times, it strikes me how lessons learned climbing mountains over 14,000 feet might be applicable to getting through this pandemic. Mountain climbing, like this pandemic, is a long, hard and often lonely slog, with much that is out of our control.
When I first began climbing mountains over 14,000 feet nearly 25 years ago, I quickly learned three things mountain climbers do frequently and almost by instinct.
Continue reading “LESSONS FROM MOUNTAIN CLIMBING”
While our “leaders” in Washington and across much of corporate America have earned a torrent of disdain for what they have done and failed to do, given that such would produce little good, let me suggest as we wait to come out of this health crisis, we begin to look across the valley and set our sights on how to rebuild our economy. While politicians in Washington franticly enact one short term stimulus package after another, strategic investments should be funded to not only stimulate the economy in the short term but provide long term benefits for generations to come.
Continue reading “STRATEGIC INVESTING FOR A SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY”
While many news outlets and the Trump Administration have been quick to repeatedly tell us the US economy is doing “Great”, data on what is undergirding the economy, and how most Americans are really doing, indicate that the economy really isn’t doing so “Great” after all. Sure GDP growth is doing pretty well, jobs are being created, and wealth is growing through gains in the stock and real estate markets, but the facts are that Trump and Republicans in Congress have spiked the punch bowl with $1 trillion per year of deficit spending, the Federal Reserve has been injecting roughly $120 billion per month into the banking system to keep interest rates from rising, and all while a great many people remain financially insecure and struggling.
Continue reading “IS THE ECONOMY REALLY DOING “GREAT”?”
I’ve never been one of the sharper pencils in the box, but something that has perplexed me over the last three years is the support so many friends and colleagues have extended to Donald Trump and his policies. The Trump supporters I speak of are intelligent people of good will, whom I respect. And yet, one question continually confounds me: If you saw a man abusing women and children or an elderly person somewhere in public, would you not step in and do your utmost to stop it? I’m confident everyone I know would. And yet, for reasons apparently beyond me, people continue to support Trump despite a wealth of speech and conduct that runs counter to the values they espouse, and clear evidence that he drives policies that hurt millions of innocent people. Here are a few examples for your consideration.
Continue reading “COMPASSION IN GOVERNANCE?”
Mindful of the many sincere prayers, songs and wishes for “peace on earth” not far in our rear view mirror, it is with sadness that I submit that the risks of war are growing and at an accelerating pace. With our nation beset with current challenges and our daily lives filled with so much to do, dismissing the possibility of a war somewhere over the horizon seems a very natural response. And yet, if we consider the growing tensions between the US and Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, the proliferation of advanced technologies and the dysfunctional process with which Trump handles foreign relations, it is not difficult to discern the risks growing beneath our feet.
One thing about Faustian bargains, where we consciously choose to turn from the moral beliefs and values that define us, in favor of something we desire in the short term, is that they always end in tragedy. Just as Faust sold his soul for worldly pleasures, selling the moral basis of our lives to achieve short term goals, even noble ones, inevitably results in long term consequences far more dire then we ever imagined and leaves us broken and filled with regret.
Given the gravity of a Kavanaugh appointment to the Supreme Court, and the abysmal way the confirmation process for him was rammed through the Senate, I am left with no choice but to speak out against the abuse of power by Trump and Republican senators that have done his bidding. As a conservative, a Christian, a Republican, and someone who believes that aborting a child is a great tragedy, it is particularly difficult to advocate against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, but I must. Given the gravity of appointing him to the highest court in our land, for decades, to both those yet born and the future of our nation, here are my reasons:
One of the best investments we can ever make is not some great stock or real estate opportunity, but investing in preschool for our children and the children in our community. While investing in preschools probably sounds rather mundane, sometimes it’s the not so impressive or grand opportunities right under our noses that produce the sweetest and most lasting fruit. Research from distinguished universities not only confirm what we’d intuitively believe about how quality preschool experiences help children during their school years, they underscore benefits far beyond what most of us might imagine.
As a Republican of 40 years, it is not only painful and deeply troubling to witness how dramatically divisions have cut into the fabric of our country, but how fellow moderate, pragmatic Republicans have caved in to the ideological hard-right. Given what has become an all too common tendency among so many of us to stridently lurch to support or denigrate Trump, perhaps it would be worthwhile to take a step back and ask ourselves: “What does it mean to be a Republican?” What are the core values we stand for, and let those values guide our judgments, words and votes on the policies and people leading us.
Continue reading “WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A REPUBLICAN?”