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IS THE ECONOMY REALLY DOING “GREAT”?

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.  

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COMPASSION IN GOVERNANCE?

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.  

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BEWARE OF FAUSTIAN BARGAINS

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.

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ONE OF THE BEST INVESTMENTS EVER

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.

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A REPUBLICAN?

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.  

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EDUCATION IS THE KEY

Freedom, a cornerstone of our heritage, who we are as people, and how we live out our lives, provides us with not only the blessing of being able to choose our religion and speak our mind, it also opens up before us the frequently daunting challenge of choosing where to invest our time, talent and treasure.  As our homes, cars and other things beg our attention and beckon us to invest in them, let me suggest that we continue to keep the opportunity to invest in the education of the young people in our community foremost in our minds. Daily we witness on TV, and read about, stories of racial tensions, drug abuse, crime, under-employment, income inequality, poverty, and poor health care, and are tempted to despairingly ask: “When is this going to end?” Let me suggest that there is a key capable of substantially turning around all of these and that is investing in education.  While our “leaders” in Washington remain engrossed in their ongoing political brawls, locally we can meaningfully brighten the future of the children of our community and our community at large by supporting education in any and every way we can.

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REPUBLICAN TAX REFORM

As a conservative and a Republican for over 40 years, I’m compelled to testify, without political motive, and with the best interest of our country and people at heart, that the current Republican tax plan is extremely disappointing. It is disappointing because while it purports to reform the tax code, stimulate economic growth, and help the American people, it does little more than provide a handout to those that are already wealthy. It is a Trump led con, supported by Republican “leaders” desperately seeking a “win”, who have forgotten their compassionate conservative roots and given in to enriching wealthy friends and maintaining a narrow base they’ve conned into believing their pitch.  This tax bill will add to the deficit, stoke inflation, raise interest rates, result in 13 million people losing their health insurance, put additional upward pressure on health insurance premiums for the rest of us, and ignore the very real constraints to the economy and the long term needs of our country.

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REPUBLICAN SUCCESS IN HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

Kudos to President Trump and House Republicans who had the tenacity to push thru healthcare legislation to the detriment of the vast majority of the American people.  Kudos to our President and House Republicans who were able to turn a blind eye to the healthcare needs of the people, stayed focused on their political war with Democrats, and lend an extra helping handout to the very rich and the bottom line of businesses. Kudos to Trump and House Republicans who successfully exercised their loathing of Obamacare to not only undermine it, but merrily applauded their success in approving a plan that will kick tens of millions of people off their healthcare insurance and diminish the healthcare policies of the rest of us.  Kudos to “leaders” who managed to muster the callousness to vote for the House healthcare bill knowing that it will substantially raise premiums for the vast majority of older people as well as push those with serious pre-existing conditions into health insurance pools that won’t be financially viable.

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“AMERICA FIRST”

President Trump, during his inaugural speech, reiterated with great confidence the underlying themes of his campaign: “Make America Great Again” and “America First!”  While these apparently made for an appealing campaign pitch and many voters seem to believe this is how America ought to be governed, they immediately struck me as some of the most troubling and dangerous things a now sitting President could say, let alone say so stridently.  “Make America Great Again” and “America First” are troubling and dangerous foundations for policy because they are backward looking, selfish, counter-productive, and demonstrate a withdrawal from the moral, economic and military leadership role America has in the world.

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EXPLORING WASTE-TO-ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Speech before Sustainability Seminar at University of Mount Union:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our 2nd Sustainability Seminar.  This seminar focuses on Energy Efficiency and Waste-to-Energy Solutions.  Tonight we have three top speakers, who will not only discuss their success stories in the areas of reducing energy consumption and waste-to-energy solutions, but will dispel the common misconception that reducing greenhouse gas emissions increases costs.  Quite to the contrary, I think you’ll find time and again, that reducing energy consumption and costs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions go hand and hand. I and the other speakers are not so naïve as to suggest that you do what is not in your economic best interests.  Irrespective of what you believe or don’t believe about global warming, I submit to you that opportunities abound to reduce energy consumption and costs, and companies that focus and capitalize on those opportunities will enhance their competitive advantage and sustain improved short and long term profitability.  

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