Can we rebuild our sense of community?

I started this essay a few days before the massacre of school children in Connecticut. Looking it over again this morning, I'm glad I didn't finish it because the ground is shifting under our feet and maybe, just maybe, the shaking has brought us to our senses. Well, maybe not ALL of us, but enough to break out of the mental and emotional prison that has built up over the past thirty years.

What got me thinking about all of this was an interview last week on MSNBC of the father of a black teenager killed in Florida by a man who didn't like the loud music the kids were playing in their car. The man told the kids to turn it down, they didn't, so he shot them. The father of the dead boy was asked how African-American parents prepare their children to live in a racist society where they are in danger wherever they go. The father's reply got me thinking about how impotent our elected representatives in the national Congress are today compared with decades past.

The father of the slain teenager said he thought America was better than that now. He recalled growing up in NYC during the 70's when civil rights was the topic of the day and everyone made an effort to do the right thing. His son had friends of all colors and nationalities, so he hadn't had "that conversation that every African American parent dreads" with him. When asked about Florida's "stand your ground" law and millions of residents with concealed carry permits, the grieving father said that the federal government used to step in when states "got too far out of line."

That reminded me of how President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock in 1957 to guard the first few black students at the high school. Each student was assigned a soldier to accompany him/her throughout the day to classes. Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 actually meant something, and the federal government intended to enforce the law of the land.

As devastating as it would be for his own political party, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He knew his party would "lose the South for a generation." The following decade, even under Republican presidents Nixon and Ford, we saw an explosion of progressive laws, especially those protecting the environment. Acid rain from factories in the midwest was killing trees and making people sick in New England, so we had to control that for the benefit of the common good. We could do things like that back then. We thought of ourselves as one nation, and we would no more harm our neighbors in other states than we would our neighbors next door.

When I taught American history in the 1980's, I used Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s Cycles of American History because it was so obvious. I'd draw a long wavy line across the blackboard with the progressive eras on top and conservative backlash eras on the bottom. Every 30 years like clockwork, the mood of the country would shift. I'd walk five steps forward and two steps back to explain why the conservative cycles were necessary. People need time to adapt to change, try the new rules on for size and adapt them as necessary.

After the explosive changes of the 60's and 70's, it was time for two or three steps back. During the Reagan era, people stepped back to take a breath and digest all that had happened to our society. It was during this needed pause that the conservatives regrouped and solidified their agenda. Presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley said the other night on TV that the Roosevelt Era actually lasted until 1980 when the Reagan Revolution stopped it dead in its tracks.

One of the new "free market" groups that grew out of the frustration of conservatives during the 60's and 70's was the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) With strong financial support from corporations, ALEC is able to host conferences where they bring state legislators together with lobbyists and officers of private companies to write model bills which then go back to the states for debate and votes. If you can picture the "alumni" of these ALEC get-togethers as tadpoles turned into huge, angry frogs obsessed with having their own way, you might better understand why the U.S. House of Representatives last night had to leave town without voting on a tax bill. The ALEC graduates in the House truly believe the government has no business helping individual citizens and should dismantle all the public programs that make up our social safety net. Cut out food stamps and child care tax credits, but don't annoy the billionaires who might want a new yacht for Christmas.

Now shift that focus to the state level. Although Missouri has not received the national attention that Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Virginia recently have, we face many of the same issues – especially high levels of corporate political spending that can, if left unchecked, tip the balance of power away from our citizenry. ALEC's destructive power is most obvious when it comes to public education in Missouri. In fact, Missouri gets the top grade in ALEC's "Scorecard" for moving away from support for public education. Whether it's workers' rights, pension funds, environmental regulations, photo ID laws, or "repealing Obamacare," the end goal is the same - moving power and wealth from the many to the few.

Look at this link to one of ALEC's web pages.

http://www.alec.org/2012/12/alec-unveils-legislative-priorities-for-2013/

Then compare ALEC's list of legislative priorities with those of the new Speaker of the Missouri House, Rep. Tim Jones. The list might be reworded or shuffled around, but the goals are the same. Rep. Tim Jones is the co-chair of the Missouri delegation to ALEC meetings. He held a "get acquainted" event in the Capitol building last spring and encouraged members to attend. His plan now is to remodel the historic Capitol building to put offices for Republican legislators in the areas currently set aside for the public and the press. There seems to be no end to this man's drive for power. He could very well end up an ALEC "alum" in the U.S. Congress if we don't stop him at this level.

So what is giving me this glimmer of hope that we might actually be able to unite for the common good again? Reactions to the Connecticut massacre by individuals all over the country, even owners of stores that sell assault rifles and private equity firms who are selling their shares of gun manufacturing companies, make me believe there might be a chance to revive what we've lost in recent decades - a sense of community and caring for our fellow citizens.

President Obama said it better than any of us can.

"These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."

Enjoy some holiday cheer next week. Then get ready to storm the barricades.

Susan Cunningham

December 21, 2012

Observations on the November 6 election

Good morning. I mean a REALLY good morning ! Like you, I'm still digesting the election results and trying to make sense of what happened. I worked at a polling station out here in rural Franklin County where the residents lean Republican regardless of what the issue is or who is running for office. I call them "chronically uninformed but happy with themselves voters." They know they are right and God's on their side. And please don't mess up their day with facts.

As an election judge, my job is to make voting as easy as possible for ALL voters. We don't discuss politics and no one sees the ballots that they push into the opti-scan machines. There was only one man who gave away his "secret" vote when he said "Come on, Mitt" as he slipped his ballot into the scanner. I, of course, smiled, gave him a sticker and thanked him for voting. As he left in his heavy duty overalls on his way to work, I couldn't help but think that life for him would definitely NOT be better under a Romney administration.

The only really boisterous voter we had was a woman with a Florida driver's license and her Florida voter's card who insisted that she be able to vote in Missouri since she "used to live here" and now has moved back. I asked her if she had registered in MO since I couldn't find her name in our database. NO, she said. She said she read online and called an 800 number and someone told her all she needed to vote was proof of where she lived. She brought a utility bill for that purpose. I explained to her that the person she spoke with must have assumed she was registered in MISSOURI, not Florida, when she was given that information. Her response, in a loud voice, was "But I'm a registered Republican in Florida and an American citizen. I should be able to vote." Of course I couldn't do anything for her even if she said she had been a registered Democrat in Florida, but her haughty behavior certainly didn't help either. I was thinking this was SO typical of Republicans. "But I'm SO SPECIAL, who are you to get in my way?"

I finally got her on the phone with the county clerk who told her basically the same thing I had told her. You have to be a registered voter in Missouri to vote in Missouri. She left, thank goodness, and didn't come back.

Voting in these rural precincts is kind of like a beef and noodles church dinner. Most of the people coming and going know someone else coming and going. We get all the latest news of whose husband died recently, who had hip surgery (which is not going well) and who won't be able to make it to the Ladies Aid Turkey Dinner. If Norman Rockwell were alive, he'd be busy sketching these scenes of community and comfort.

My favorite voters are the first-timers. I get the silly shivers when they tell me they are nervous about voting and afraid they'll screw up. Actually, their young ears and eyes are much better than the majority of voters in our precinct, so they make fewer mistakes. I wish I had thought to bring a little momento to give them in honor of their special day. But I did thank them and let them know the future of the country depends on them.

The most common mistake (other than making big check marks instead of filling in the bubble next to the names,) was misreading the instructions for the presidential race. It said to vote for "one pair" meaning president and vice-president. Several people voted for two pairs thinking they were to pick a pair of pairs (or a peck of peppers) I guess. I was very understanding and gave them a clean ballot to start over. Sadly, one woman chose not to revote because her husband was hollering at her. Here was a little woman with her oxygen tube shuffling around the best she could, and her husband commanded her to "Go get in the car, woman !" I couldn't help but ask him please not to holler at her, but he wasn't impressed with my suggestion. I can only wonder what that poor woman endures at home.

I haven't drawn many conclusions about the vote in Franklin County or Missouri yet, but the one thing that stands out is that Franklin County chose Romney (62.2% to 35%) but voted for McCaskill and Nixon by small margins. All the rest of the statewide races went to Republican candidates.

The Missouri tally was similar as far as Romney winning, but McCaskill and Nixon took their prizes by large margins. [Obama 44.3 Romney 53.9] [McCaskill 54.7 Akin 39.2] [Nixon 54.7 Spence 42.5] Does this mean that there are some Republicans in Missouri who actually paid attention and knew how awful Akin and Spence are? Of course Akin had the whole "legitimate rape" thing dragging him down. But, if Republicans were wise enough to see through Akin and Spence, why weren't they able to figure out how dangerous Romney would be as president? A man who won't show you his tax returns has something to hide, and it ain't pretty. End of story.

When I went to bed at midnight, it looked like Rex Sinquefeld's boy wonder, Shane Schoeller was going to be in charge of our future elections as Secretary of State. Hallelujah, he's not. I could see us on the national news with stories like those in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and other places with Republican Secretaries of State making it harder for people to cast their ballots. Oh, great. Just what Missouri needs. As if having the lowest tobacco tax in the nation isn't bad enough. Jason Kander won the SOS office 48.8 to Schoeller's 47.5. THANK YOU, Missouri voters for protecting what is left of our democratic system.

Clint Zweifel and Chris Koster were able to pull out victories too. Cole McNary's name didn't do him any good against Zweifel, and Koster trounced Ed Martin. Maybe some of those super pac funded apparachiks will find other ways to make fools of themselves from now on.

As I've been writing this, the dark gray sky has turned to bright blue, and clumps of white clouds are peeking out from behind the big oak tree outside my window. Mother Nature certainly got our attention last week, so now maybe we'll listen to her complaints about how we're treating her. We have a Democratic president and a Democratic governor for another four years. No excuses. Saving our beautiful planet MUST become a top priority.

Onward, upward and FORWARD,
susan c

The boy from Hawaii, my President

I'm reading David Maraniss' new biography, BARACK OBAMA: THE STORY. Maraniss spent four years traveling to many different countries to find and interview people who knew our President as a child. This first volume, 570 pages of text, takes the story only to Obama's years as a community organizer in Chicago and his decision to attend law school. Maraniss is researching the second volume, and I look forward to it with great anticipation. I first heard Sen. Barack Obama speak in person at his announcement rally in Springfield, IL, in February 2007. Despite the bitter cold and gusting winds, 17,000 people showed up to cheer for him. I remember thinking that, finally, we had a leader who could bring black and white Americans together for a unified purpose. Hope springs eternal.

The next time I met Sen. Obama was at a campaign stop in Union, MO, during the summer of 2008. It was a rainy day for a picnic in the park, and when I found a shiny new 2008 penny in the pavillion parking lot, I knew it was a sign. So when my turn came for the Senator to serve me a hamburger, I gave him the penny and told him he was going to win in November. Looking straight at me as if we were the only two people on Earth, he asked my name. When I reached up to hug him, he leaned over the counter full of hot dogs and hamburgers and met me half way. I turned to a friend who was taking photos, patted my chest and said, "Be still my heart." The Senator's face lit up with that luminous smile of his, and I remember thinking that this is a man who sincerely cares about others.

So why am I sharing this story with you? Because there have been so many lies about him spread by deceitful and selfish people that I want to share some facts about Obama's early years. I know facts don't matter to people who hate from the core of their being, but at least some of us will remember what the little boy from Hawaii was like as a child and see some of those same traits in our President.

I also feel a special connection to our President because my husband's maternal ancestors shared the same last name as Obama's maternal ancestors, and both families were from Southeast Kansas. Madelyn Payne married Stanley Dunham after World War II and from this union was born a daughter, Stanley Ann Dunham. She was named Stanley because her mother particularly adored Bette Davis and a character named Stanley that Davis played in a movie. Mr. Dunham had great hopes for making it big in business and moved the family several times before ending up in the Seattle area.

Friends of Stanley Ann's from Mercer Island High School remember a very bright young lady with a sharp wit, an honor student who was program director of the French Club, who worked on the yearbook and belonged to a service club called the Mercer Girls. Coincidentally, she was also an avid basketball fan. At five foot six, she was slightly taller than average, had a bright smile, eyes that twinkled when she talked and "a wonderful laugh that started deep in her throat." (p. 129)

Stanley Ann's parents were not overly political, but they were open to new ways of thinking. They often attended the University Unitarian Church in Seattle and sometimes the East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue. Her father liked meeting new people and asking a lot of questions, a trait he passed on to his daughter. Throughout her life, Stanley Ann always looked for the good in people wherever she lived regardless of how they treated her. She saw the world through the lens of the anthropologist she would some day become and recognized the universal needs of people everywhere.

Stanley Ann would have preferred to attend college with her friends in Washington, but her father had a job offer in Hawaii he couldn't turn down. She enrolled in the University of Hawaii and met Barack Hussein Obama from Kenya in a Russian class. Maraniss describes Obama Sr. as so intelligent and charismatic that groups of students showed up wherever he was discussing the topic of the day. Stanley Ann was captivated by him and the two became very close fairly quickly. When Stanley Ann told her parents she was pregnant and wanted to get married, they were not happy about it. But Madelyn had run off and secretly married Stan Dunham when she was still in high school, so what could they say? Between semesters, the young couple flew from Honolulu to Maui and were married in the county courthouse on February 2, 1961.

The couple couldn't afford to maintain a home together, so Obama Sr. kept his small apartment, and Stanley Ann continued to live with her parents. When she gave birth at Kapi'olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu on August 4, 1961, a funny story circulated around the hospital that "Stanley had a baby." Maraniss interviewed a journalist who was friends with one of the doctors who delivered babies at that hospital and who had heard the joke from colleagues. For the record, the doctor who delivered the baby was David A. Sinclair. Coincidentally, that journalist would become a lifelong friend of Stanley Ann's and later a teacher in the school Barack Jr. attended. On the birth certificate, the mother's race was listed as Caucasian and the father's African. So Barack Hussein Obama II was born a hapa meaning someone who is half one race and half another. Hawaii, our newest state, was, and still is, full of hapa people. (p. 163)

Within a month after the birth, mother and baby were long gone from Hawaii and back on the mainland with friends on Mercer Island. Stanley Ann, who was going by just Ann at this time, registered at the University of Washington that fall. Maraniss offers several possibilities about why Ann left. The most likely one is that Ann found out her husband already had a wife and children in Kenya. When she asked him about that, he told her it was the custom for the husband to just say he divorced a wife and that was all that was necessary legally. That may have been legal in Kenya, but it wasn't in the U.S. Barack Obama Sr. later married again in Kenya and that wife described in long interviews how the man deteriorated because of his drinking and abusive behavior. It was a car accident that finally claimed the life of the man who fathered the forty-fourth president of the United States.

Keep in mind this young mother was still only 18 years old when she flew to Washington State with her tiny baby. Friends describe Anna Obama (as she was listed in the Polk directory) as "so confident and self-assured and relaxed." (p. 176) The neighbor who often babysat Barry, as he was called then, remembered him as being "very large and very curious and very alert." (p. 177) That fall, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama received a B in Modern Government and an A in Introduction to Man. (For those who aren't old enough to remember, human beings were grouped together as "mankind" back then. So it was natural that an intro anthropology course would be called Intro to Man.) By the following summer, with a GPA of 3.75, Ann was ready to return to Hawaii. Her husband left that summer for Harvard. In January 1964, Ann filed for divorce on the grounds of grievous mental suffering, was granted custody and did not ask for child support. The boy's father was granted visitation rights, but, for all practical purposes, it was Barack's grandfather, Stan Dunham, who played the father role from then on.

In Miss Kazuko Sakai's kindergarten class, Barry was described as being calm and observant, if a bit shy. Because of his size, he was placed in the back row. One of the student teachers described how, when there was a commotion of some sort, he would "crane his neck and smile, but he wouldn't get involved."

By this time, Ann had met and married another foreign student at U of Hawaii, Soetoro Martodihardjo, an Indonesian who went by the nickname Lolo. He dropped the last name and became Lolo Soetoro. Already a college graduate, Lolo was a trained geographer with a specialty in mapping and map interpretation. Barry was two and a half when Lolo entered the scene. Ann finally graduated in August 1967 and prepared to join her husband in Indonesia.

Ann and Barry arrived in Jakarta in October 1967. He was barely six, and his mother was almost 25. Despite being considered in the professional class, Lolo could afford only a little house with no air-conditioning, four rooms, a primitive toilet and a white iron fence around the front yard. The backyard was a veritable zoo with chickens, coskatoos, snakes, turtles, two biawaks in a pond and a small ape named Tata. Neighbors recall Barry in the front yard jumping up to see over the fence at passersby. His mother spent her first few days introducing herself to her neighbors. One of the few neighbors who spoke English was a woman who worked for the World Council of Churches. Some of the people Maraniss interviewed for the book remember little Barry as a big eater who wasn't afraid to try new food and who loved playing with the neighbor children.

Ann asked around about the best school for Barry and a Catholic one was recommended. So Barry was enrolled in SD Katolik Santo Fransiskus Assisi which was three blocks from their house and had an enrollment of just over 200 students. He entered first grade in January 1968. Since Barry was the only student who couldn't speak Bahasa Indonesia that first year, he was placed with a teach who understood English. Most of the neighbors and his fellow students assumed Barry was Ambonese, a darker skinned group of Indonesians. Barry was registered at school as a Muslim because his step-father was nominally Muslim. Lolo was not particularly religious, but the form required something to fill in the blank. Ann was a spiritual humanist who taught her young son a "disdain for ignorance and arrogance." (p. 217) By the end of the first grade, he knew the stories of the Bible and how to sing national songs. His best subject was arithmetic which didn't require as much language ability.

Barry offered to clean the blackboard and run errands for the teacher. Because of his size, he was given the task of lining the students up before class and before recess. He was a generous teammate on the playing field. Again because of his size, he could reach a ball ahead of the other students and then give it to a smaller student to throw back to the infield.

In another example of young Barry's generous nature, Maraniss describes how, as a third-grader, Barry helped another boy whose father had been assigned to Australia for four years. Although an Indonesian himself, the boy did not understand Bahasa Indonesia. Barry brought him one of his English-language correspondence workbooks from Calvert School in Baltimore and helped the new student convert the English words to Bahasa.

Life wasn't all fun and games, however, and the young boy was exposed to hardships and cruel life-changing events all around him. "A man without a nose. A baby who died from evil spirits. Barefoot farmers in barren fields." He was learning that life was often unpredictable and cruel. (p. 223) Maraniss offers the opinion that the years in Indonesia taught the future president about the gulf between the rich and the poor, "a condition stark and constant, unavoidable even in the life of a little boy." (p. 244)

When Lolo's job situation improved, the family moved to a better neighborhood and Barry enrolled in SD Besuki, named for the street it was on. His new classmates were sons and daughters of lawyers, bankers, doctors, members of Parliament and government officials. This is the school that people who dislike our President call a Muslim training ground for terrorists. Not true. In fact, the myth that Barack Obama was from Muslim roots is just that - a myth. The truth is that his Kenyan grandfather converted to Islam in order to get a better job but did not follow its precepts. His life was actually more directly shaped by Christian missionaries. Barack Obama Sr. was not a Muslim but an atheist. Lolo Soetoro was born and raised a Muslim but was not religious. In fact, the first time the family visited Lolo's family in Yogyakarta, they went to church on Christmas Eve. SD Besuki in the early 1970's was a public elementary school considered among the academic elite. The students were a mix of Christian and Muslim, and the holidays for both religions were celebrated. One of Barry's classmates interviewed for Maraniss' book, Dewi Asmara, told the author that all the students mingled and didn't know about the Muslim-Christian dichotomy. (p. 238)

Barry's mother was keeping busy studying Indonesian culture and was beginning to doubt that her second marriage would continue for many years. She had given birth to a daughter, Maya, who would spend most of her young years at her mother's side. But the 10 year old Barry was taken back to Honolulu to his grandparents to continue his education. He was Barry Obama again and could go back to speaking English. It was only because of his grandparents' connections that he was admitted to the most prestigious school in Hawaii, Punahou. Tuition for a fifth-grader in 1971 was $1,165, three times as much as a semester at the University of Hawaii. Although Barry did well on the entrance exam, his family could not have afforded the tuition. His grandmother's boss at the bank where she worked was on Punahou's board, and Stan's boss at the insurance company where he worked was a wealthy alumnus.

Ann Obama Soetoro returned to Honolulu the following fall to continue working toward her PhD in anthropology. As it happened, her advisor was Alice Dewey, granddaughter of the famous educator and author, John Dewey. With the help of student grants and a part time job as a handicraft instructor at the Bishop Museum, Ann was able to complete her course work. She, Barry and Maya lived in a small apartment five blocks from Stan and Madelyn.

One of Barry's teachers at Punahou recalled the young man as being very courteous and well behaved. He said Barry always had a smile and was nice without being obnoxious. Outside of school, the young man's passion was basketball, and he and his Choom Gang friends spent every minute they could at the school courts. Despite some teenage pranks and good times, most of the boys in Obama's social group went on to become successful professionals.

One of the Gang remembered how "Barry had the ability to project cool...that calm, almost nonchalance. It was part of the image thing, not just him but just generally in Hawaii...." (p. 298) "Growing up hapa, living with white relatives but appearing black and being treated black by society at large, he learned by necessity how to navigate in different worlds and mastered the distinct vocabularies required to connect and thrive in each of them." (p. 302)

The Punahou basketball coach, Chris McLachlin, was probably as much of an influence on Obama as anyone outside his family. The Coach allowed no excuses and drilled in the players' heads that they always had to have Plan B. If someone's car broke down on the way to practice, he'd better have another ride lined up. No excuses. The boys had to perform to the best of their ability. Period.

Obama was not an eager student but did well in his classes. He obviously preferred basketball and hanging out with his friends. The campus library had a good collection of books by African-American authors, and Obama checked them out and read them all. He later recalled in Dreams of My Father that he found those black authors "trapped in despair or anger" particularly when reaching back to the violence of the period of slavery. "There was no violent history in the white blood that ran through Barry Obama. His skin color defined him to much of American society, but his personal history was different, without the same emotional baggage. He had no female ancestors raped by white slave owners. His African father came to America of his own volition, on scholarship, part of a freedom movement in Kenya.

My hope as I write this on November 2, 2012, is that Barack Obama wins a second term as President of the United States of America. My hope for the future is that historians will describe how badly this President was treated by segments of the population and that those stories will be shocking to readers in decades hence.

Susan Cunningham

Pacific, MO

Do you really want "smaller government"?

As I've been watching the news about the meningitis outbreak and deaths caused by contaminated medicine from a facility in Massachusetts, I can't help but think about the politicians who keep pounding the "small government" theme in their campaigns. I wonder how many voters actually think through what that means.

I, for one, am more than happy to pay as many FDA inspectors as it takes to monitor the medicines our doctors use. I'm also very glad the FAA made sure the airplane my kids and grandson flew on last week was inspected for safety. The life of my 10 year-old grandson is worth any price. Isn't yours?

And what about food safety, police and fire departments on call, the road repair crews that protect us and our vehicles. What is all of that worth to you?

How much is it worth to you to know that the FBI and other intelligence agencies are tracking people who want to blow up buildings in our country? I think that's worth a king's ransom.

Closer to home, I'm thankful there are good teachers who care about our kids and do everything they can to help them succeed despite the lack of basic necessities in some of their families.

The next time you hear someone complain about "job killing regulations," think about what that really means. Someone wants more profit and less accountability. I don't think it's about killing jobs. I think it's about potentially killing innocent victims.

Susan Cunningham
Pacific, MO

Religion as a transformative tool

I want to pull together several news items and see what pattern emerges.

A 14 year-old Pakistani girl is shot by men who call themselves religious leaders because she has the temerity to say out loud that girls should be allowed to go to school.

A Georgia Congressman says everything he needs to know when it comes to how he casts his votes in Washington is found in the Bible.

An Arkansas man running for a seat in his state legislature authored a book that includes calling for disobedient children to be threatened by a court with the death penalty if they don't behave properly. He cites Deuteronomy 21.

A leader of Muslim extremists in Libya is sending fighters to Syria to help the insurgents there. When asked if his goal is to establish an Islamic state based on Muslim religious law, he answers, "Of course" as if it's a silly question.

Fifteen hundred Christian pastors declare on "Freedom Sunday" that it is the responsibility of religious leaders to inform their congregants about political issues including how to vote. They hope to force a court case over the IRS rule against non-profit organizations, including religious groups, from participating in partisan politics.

The pastor of a small church in Missouri, who also happens to be the leader of the local tea party, invites a state senator and county commissioner to host a fundraiser for a candidate for the U.S. Senate inside the church.

A man hoping to be the next vice president of the United States says life begins at conception and he will do everything he can to enforce laws that uphold his belief.

I think I see a pattern here. Do you?

We hear about religious wars in countries far from us and condemn them. But we don't see the symptoms of a spreading infection in our own democracy. History shows that the "enemy within" is always more dangerous than something we can identify as "other." It's not a bad thing to be watching for foreign terrorists among us, but the real dismantling of our political system is happening right under our noses. In fact, we may be unwitting co-conspirators.

The good news is that younger Americans see what's happening and refuse to participate. A survey of the under-30 crowd conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released recently shows that more and more young people are not affiliated with any kind of institutional religious group. This is not to say they don't think of themselves as religious or spiritual. What it does say is that they are really turned off by the use of religion in politics, especially when religion is divisive and used as a cudgel to enforce obedience.

For more opinions on what is happening slowly but surely in our country, read Tim Townsend's article on page one of the October 14th issue of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. We are living in one of those periods that historians call "transformative." What we will be transformed into is the question.

Susan Cunningham
October 15, 2012 

Democrats are finally discussing progressive values

I'm watching the DNC convention on CSpan in order to enjoy every minute and not be distracted by commentary. As much as I like the political chatter on MSNBC, I think I can decide for myself which speeches are priceless and which are "not so much" as Rachel Maddow would say.

The videos and short talks by unknowns are as fascinating to me as the longer speeches by the firebrands and the First Lady. I'm watching for words and phrases that reflect progressive values and give voters an honest look at why Democrats are a better choice at the ballot box this November. There have been times when I might mix and match GOP and DEM candidates on a ballot, but not any more. Today's Republican Party has been hijacked by extreme free market true believers who would rather destroy our country than give an inch of ground.

Coincidentally, I read George Lakoff's The Little Blue Book yesterday, so I was watching the convention speeches looking for and taking notes on what the underlying message themes are. The first few speeches were mostly a list of things that have already happened and high praise for President Obama. But, as the evening progressed (pun intended,) I couldn't keep up with the note taking and was blown away by how effectively the connections were made between our beliefs and our goals.

Short summary of the differences between a progressive worldview and a free market one:
(paraphrasing from Lakoff)

Progressives believe that a democratic form of government depends on citizens caring about each other and taking responsibility for themselves and others. The moral mission of government is to protect and empower all citizens equally. The mechanism for accomplishing this is through what we call the Public, a system of public resources necessary for a decent private life and robust private enterprise. (You know the list.)

Free market conservatives hold the opposite view - that democracy exists to provide citizens with the maximum liberty to pursue their self-interest with little or no commitment to the interests of others. They believe there should be as little of the Public as possible, allowing only for the necessities such as roads, a standing army, courthouses for record keeping, etc. No one should have to pay for anyone else's needs or opportunity for advancement. Citizens are free to sink or swim on their own abilities or lack thereof.

Although this sounds harsh to us, this emphasis on individual freedom and responsibility has a moral underpinning in the minds of radical conservatives. Fortunately, there are fewer of these true believers than we are led to believe, but they have been successful at selling their ideas by using the right words and phrases.

Lakoff says we learn about being governed by the kind of family we come from. The idealized conservative family is structured around a strict father who is the natural leader and who metes out favors and punishment as needed. He teaches that the world is a dangerous place and uses tough love to teach his children self discipline. This self discipline is the most likely path to financial and social success.

Based on this philosophy, people who have prospered deserve their prosperity and should not be punished with taxes or have to pay taxes to support those who are not morally disciplined enough to become prosperous. Issue areas of concern include a free market with maximal privatization, sexual morality controlled by a strict father, harsh punishment in the courts and a strong military.

For progressives, the values of empathy, social responsibility, and excellence lead to a concern with issues of safety nets, public education, public health, humanitarian foreign aid and a nurturant society rather than a punitive one.

What we progressives have been doing is allowing the radical conservatives to frame the issues we debate and then trap ourselves by always rebutting instead of initiating the conversation. For example, we've been forced to discuss health care in economic terms instead of in moral terms. Lakoff says even using a term like "single payer" implies that the most important frame of reference is economic - who is going to pay? He much prefers "Medicare for all" because it reflects the value of caring for each other. There are many more examples in this little book, and I hope many of you will buy it, read it, and practice using progressive frames of reference in your conversations, emails and letters to the editor.

Back to the convention speeches - - of course Michelle Obama made my heart sing, but I already admire her so much it would have been hard for her to let me down.

When she said "the truth matters," we all knew the folks she was bringing to mind. But she didn't do it as a criticism of the other camp; she stated it positively as something we really think is important. This should definitely be one of our recurring themes this fall.

She recalled visiting with citizens all over the country and "seeing the very best of the American spirit." She knows that children need unconditional love as a foundation to support them through the lessons of life. She said she and the President "value everyone's contribution and respect everyone."

"Being president doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are." Wow. I hope voters with minds open enough to think about that will compare the candidates honestly.

The First Lady said we are all guided by the values and life experiences that make us who we are. Because President Obama came from a family that had to struggle to survive, he thinks about those families today and the dignity of going to work every day even though the salary may not be huge and other, less experienced workers, are promoted out of turn. It's not about how much money you make but how much of a difference you make in the lives of others that counts.

She said the President cares about doing the "right thing," not just what's politically helpful. He doesn't divide the world into "us vs. them" but looks for the best in everyone. (Some of us hope he's learned how to be a little more discerning about the people he trusts, especially when it comes to finding middle ground on important issues.)

The First Lady's big finish came with a challenge to us to look back at the hard work and accomplishments of our ancestors and to see what they built as ours to make even better and to pass on to our children and grandchildren. "Doing the impossible is the history of this nation." We owe something for the exceptional opportunities we enjoy and shouldn't be timid or discouraged when there is so much more to do. If we've been fortunate enough to do well, we should not "shut the door behind us." Those are the values that made it possible for the good things we've accomplished as a nation, and it is our job now to keep working for justice, equality and to give everyone a "fair chance at the American dream."

More later on useful phrases from many of the other speakers on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. Watching it on CSpan gives the best feeling of being there in person.

Something larger than ourselves

I drive back and forth on I-44 a lot because most of the people and events I enjoy are at least 20 miles from where I live. I also transport dogs that have been rescued from puppy mills which takes me to Rolla and back to Sunset Hills at least once a month. To make the drive seem less mind-numbing, I listen to audio books on CD's. I like mysteries where the murder or act of treason happens quickly and the rest of the story is about evaluating the clues.

  The story I have been listening to recently took place in the summer of 1914 while tensions were building in Europe and the enlightened, highly civilized Englishmen of Cambridge anguished over what would become inevitable. They knew that war kills more than bodies. It kills the spirit as well. In one of the scenes, a young female pacifist asks how men can brutalize each other and then go home and enjoy light conversation at tea time. They are never the same. They have to pretend to be, but they're not. She speaks of the veneer of civilization being stripped off and the ugly truth about human nature being exposed. I thought of my neighbor's son who just graduated from high school and who will be leaving for Marine basic training next week. I've said it before and I'll say it again, high school ROTC programs should be banned. Those children are not capable mentally and emotionally of committing their lives, literally in some cases, to a cause they don't even understand.

The story about England and World War I began on a beautiful summer day at a cricket match. It was one of those days when the soul believes God's in his heaven and all's right with the world. An innocence so palpable that it hurts to watch. The peaceful scene is shattered when the brother of one of the college professors comes to tell him that their parents have died in an auto accident.

  I thought of that scene from 1914 last Sunday as my young neighbor played with his three-year old nephew in their back yard. His girlfriend watched with those innocent eyes we all remember from our own youth. The boy's mother was busy tending flowers, and I heard him call something to her. The giggly laughter of the toddler, the young man calling "Mom," and the perfect summer's day became the photograph of one moment of happiness that the family will cherish when the future becomes reality. That innocent, passionately patriotic young man will soon join the ranks of those who know what horrible things human beings are capable of doing to each other.

The young men of England went off to a war they believed couldn't last more than a few months or a year at most. They signed up because it was the honorable thing to do. With centuries of English history behind them and a belief in the superiority of their way of life, they knew God was on their side and they would win handily. Four years later, most of the men of the Cambridgeshires were dead or so badly broken that they lay in hospitals back home staring at the ceiling. Young women answered the call to duty as well and drove old ambulances that constantly broke down or tended to the broken bodies of English and German soldiers.

  In one scene, two English soldiers stomped a German POW almost to death before the chaplain intervened. His anger boiled over as he berated the Englishmen for falling into the devil's trap. "For God's sake, if we are no better than that, why did millions of men die?" he asked them. What was the point of war if not to defend the honor of England and a higher form of civilized behavior toward our fellow human beings. Even in the midst of slaughter, there are norms of behavior we must not grind under foot.

  When the chaplain was asked if he'd go back to teaching theology when the war was over, he replied that he couldn't do something that was so detached from reality any more. All the soldiers could talk about was going home, but they knew the home they left no longer existed. England had changed. Everything that made life beautiful had changed. Art, society and faith had changed forever.

I've been thinking a lot about honor lately. Maybe my British ancestry is trying to connect with me as I watch young soldiers coming back from wars no one understands. I'm asking myself why young people are always the ones to be sacrificed for the crippled egos of a few powerful men. They think they are doing the honorable thing, and we, as a society, fluff and puff over them to keep that illusion alive for them. But it's all lies, and we know it deep down. Maybe that's why we have to overdo the flag waving and funeral processions. Maybe if we line the streets and watch the casket carried to its final resting place we can push the nagging truth a little further down and swallow it again.

My childhood was molded by World War II, which was really just a continuation of World War I, but with more destructive weapons. I grew up being reminded that England was my homeland and must be saved from Naziism. There was a clear enemy and lines of battle. Wars up to that time involved tens of thousands of men dressing in uniforms to identify themselves as being on one side or the other and then trying to kill anyone in the opposite uniform. Even though it seems insane to us now, that kind of war was at least honorable in the sense that there were rules of engagement. When one side finally called it quits, the war was over and a there was a sense of finality.

  In 1945, we celebrated by banging pots and pans with heavy spoons and hugging anyone close enough to grab. That was the last war with a clearly defined beginning and end. What we have today are young people dressed in military garb heading off to places they had never heard about until they signed up to "defend our freedom." The war in Afghanistan is entering its twelfth year - longer than WW I and WW II combined - but the "enemy" changes costumes as the opportunity to kill presents itself. There are no clear battle lines any more. Even the purpose of the war changes year by year. And there certainly won't be anything like a surrender, a recognizable ending, and no celebration of victory.

I started this essay intending to link how we fight wars to how our society has changed. I can't offer a cause and effect connection, but I do think our society has become less honorable in the sense that there are no civilian rules of engagement anymore. Maybe I'm looking back through rose-colored glasses, but I remember being raised to think of myself as representing all the people with whom I was connected. We were told to behave honorably because our actions reflected on our families, our neighborhood, our school and our religious group. I can still hear my father saying, "Don't forget you're a Cowburn. Don't do anything to shame us." When we were heading on school buses to watch our team play another school, our teachers would tell us to behave and not to dishonor the school. I wonder if teachers talk that way anymore. Maybe they do.

Somewhere between then and now, we seem to have lost that sense of owing something to others. Maybe I'm just too sensitive to the TV ads that urge us to enjoy life, pamper ourselves, and "look out for number one." Maybe the Emily Post stuff of my day was a little silly, but I miss seeing people behave with respect and courtesy toward each other on TV. We've come to accept violence toward each other as the norm. Some company in Texas has produced a video showing us how to react if someone with a gun tries to shoot us at work or at school. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Why are we learning how to hide from someone trying to kill us instead of learning how to prevent those mass murders? And how do we know who the enemy is?

  Be afraid. Be very afraid. That seems to be the message resonating throughout our society today. Even the political discourse has become so vicious, so outrageously dishonest that we either accept it as "the way things are today" or tune it out. We don't trust our elected officials any more. We know they will do or say anything to get elected. So we fix our gaze on some slogan that sounds real and hard and true. We want substance but settle for flim-flam that reinforces our pre-existing prejudices.

I agree with conservatives who say we've lost our moral compass, but I don't agree with their idea that we should follow them into the abyss. We can probably never go back to the sense of national oneness we felt during World War II or even the fervent but short-lived feeling of unity after the attacks of 9/11. But, if we start with our own small circle of concern for others and rebuild the moral foundation so essential for survival as a democracy, maybe we can defend ourselves against the charlatans dressed up as our friends but who will leave us broken and bleeding on the political battlefield. It may sound trite, but it's true that we need to be the change we want to see. It has to start with our own sense of honor and obligation to society.

Last night on Jennifer Granholm's political discussion TV show, she interviewed two members of the millennial generation, ages 18-30. They both said that young people have tuned out because the campaign has become so vicious and dishonest. They want to hear from the candidates how each will offer them something of value. They don't want to hear generalities about creating jobs and making it easier to go to college. So far, so good. I imagine that's what all of us who pay attention want. But, as I listened to the discussion with the young men, I couldn't help feeling a tad disgusted.

  Granholm asked them what it would take to get those young voters energized and out there to support Obama again this time, and her guests said the same thing - offer them something that will help them, as individuals, to become financially successful. Am I too naive in hoping that young Americans might look beyond themselves and see what is at stake in this election?

  Maybe it was easier for us when the enemy dressed in Nazi or Japanese uniforms and literally tried to kill our relatives. The "enemy within" is a constant theme in world history. Civilizations rise and fall based on choices the citizens make. This year is the capstone election for those who have used the power of the dollar to dismantle all the public programs and institutions that it took a century to build. One of their PAC's is called "Now or Never," and they know that's true. They are using a battlefield technique by coming at us from both directions at once. They are making it harder for citizens who tend to vote for Democrats to get their votes counted. At the same time, they are pouring millions of dollars into campaigns designed to destroy the few defenders of the common good still out there.

The story about World War I ends when a handful of English citizens and one German officer realize there was something even more dangerous than war, and that was a plot by English and German leaders to form an Anglo-German alliance and divide up the rest of Europe for themselves. The plan was to bring the Americas back into the British Commonwealth by force. The heroes of the story risked their lives to expose the plot because it was dishonorable. They believed there was something larger than themselves worth fighting and dying for. Love of country meant defending its honor.

   The players now are different, but the plot to control the world's resources is the same. The enemy dresses up in lovely TV ads assuring us that we are safe and that they are taking care of us. Once they have total control of our political system and we recognize their treason, it will be too late to stop them. We can tune it out and enjoy our entertaining diversions or we can fight for something larger than ourselves. No foreign enemy can do as much damage as the traitors among us. I'm old and tired and burnt out on all this disgusting political stuff. I don't blame younger voters for tuning out. But my generation still believes there is something worth fighting for larger than ourselves. So I'll work to re-elect President Obama because the stakes are too high to ignore.

Something larger than ourselves

I drive back and forth on I-44 a lot because most of the people and events I enjoy are at least 20 miles from where I live. I also transport dogs that have been rescued from puppy mills which takes me to Rolla and back to Sunset Hills at least once a month. To make the drive seem less mind-numbing, I listen to audio books on CD's. I like mysteries where the murder or act of treason happens quickly and the rest of the story is about evaluating the clues. The story I have been listening to recently took place in the summer of 1914 while tensions were building in Europe and the enlightened, highly civilized Englishmen of Cambridge anguished over what would become inevitable. They knew that war kills more than bodies. It kills the spirit as well. In one of the scenes, a young female pacifist asks how men can brutalize each other and then go home and enjoy light conversation at tea time. They are never the same. They have to pretend to be, but they're not. She speaks of the veneer of civilization being stripped off and the ugly truth about human nature being exposed. I thought of my neighbor's son who just graduated from high school and who will be leaving for Marine basic training next week. I've said it before and I'll say it again, high school ROTC programs should be banned. Those children are not capable mentally and emotionally of committing their lives, literally in some cases, to a cause they don't even understand. The story about England and World War I began on a beautiful summer day at a cricket match. It was one of those days when the soul believes God's in his heaven and all's right with the world. An innocence so palpable that it hurts to watch. The peaceful scene is shattered when the brother of one of the college professors comes to tell him that their parents have died in an auto accident. I thought of that scene from 1914 last Sunday as my young neighbor played with his three-year old nephew in their back yard. His girlfriend watched with those innocent eyes we all remember from our own youth. The boy's mother was busy tending flowers, and I heard him call something to her. The giggly laughter of the toddler, the young man calling "Mom," and the perfect summer's day became the photograph of one moment of happiness that the family will cherish when the future becomes reality. That innocent, passionately patriotic young man will soon join the ranks of those who know what horrible things human beings are capable of doing to each other. The young men of England went off to a war they believed couldn't last more than a few months or a year at most. They signed up because it was the honorable thing to do. With centuries of English history behind them and a belief in the superiority of their way of life, they knew God was on their side and they would win handily. Four years later, most of the men of the Cambridgeshires were dead or so badly broken that they lay in hospitals back home staring at the ceiling. Young women answered the call to duty as well and drove old ambulances that constantly broke down or tended to the broken bodies of English and German soldiers. In one scene, two English soldiers stomped a German POW almost to death before the chaplain intervened. His anger boiled over as he berated the Englishmen for falling into the devil's trap. "For God's sake, if we are no better than that, why did millions of men die?" he asked them. What was the point of war if not to defend the honor of England and a higher form of civilized behavior toward our fellow human beings. Even in the midst of slaughter, there are norms of behavior we must not grind under foot. When the chaplain was asked if he'd go back to teaching theology when the war was over, he replied that he couldn't do something that was so detached from reality any more. All the soldiers could talk about was going home, but they knew the home they left no longer existed. England had changed. Everything that made life beautiful had changed. Art, society and faith had changed forever. I've been thinking a lot about honor lately. Maybe my British ancestry is trying to connect with me as I watch young soldiers coming back from wars no one understands. I'm asking myself why young people are always the ones to be sacrificed for the crippled egos of a few powerful men. They think they are doing the honorable thing, and we, as a society, fluff and puff over them to keep that illusion alive for them. But it's all lies, and we know it deep down. Maybe that's why we have to overdo the flag waving and funeral processions. Maybe if we line the streets and watch the casket carried to its final resting place we can push the nagging truth a little further down and swallow it again. My childhood was molded by World War II, which was really just a continuation of World War I, but with more destructive weapons. I grew up being reminded that England was my homeland and must be saved from Naziism. There was a clear enemy and lines of battle. Wars up to that time involved tens of thousands of men dressing in uniforms to identify themselves as being on one side or the other and then trying to kill anyone in the opposite uniform. Even though it seems insane to us now, that kind of war was at least honorable in the sense that there were rules of engagement. When one side finally called it quits, the war was over and a there was a sense of finality. In 1945, we celebrated by banging pots and pans with heavy spoons and hugging anyone close enough to grab. That was the last war with a clearly defined beginning and end. What we have today are young people dressed in military garb heading off to places they had never heard about until they signed up to "defend our freedom." The war in Afghanistan is entering its twelfth year - longer than WW I and WW II combined - but the "enemy" changes costumes as the opportunity to kill presents itself. There are no clear battle lines any more. Even the purpose of the war changes year by year. And there certainly won't be anything like a surrender, a recognizable ending, and no celebration of victory. I started this essay intending to link how we fight wars to how our society has changed. I can't offer a cause and effect connection, but I do think our society has become less honorable in the sense that there are no civilian rules of engagement anymore. Maybe I'm looking back through rose-colored glasses, but I remember being raised to think of myself as representing all the people with whom I was connected. We were told to behave honorably because our actions reflected on our families, our neighborhood, our school and our religious group. I can still hear my father saying, "Don't forget you're a Cowburn. Don't do anything to shame us." When we were heading on school buses to watch our team play another school, our teachers would tell us to behave and not to dishonor the school. I wonder if teachers talk that way anymore. Maybe they do. Somewhere between then and now, we seem to have lost that sense of owing something to others. Maybe I'm just too sensitive to the TV ads that urge us to enjoy life, pamper ourselves, and "look out for number one." Maybe the Emily Post stuff of my day was a little silly, but I miss seeing people behave with respect and courtesy toward each other on TV. We've come to accept violence toward each other as the norm. Some company in Texas has produced a video showing us how to react if someone with a gun tries to shoot us at work or at school. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Why are we learning how to hide from someone trying to kill us instead of learning how to prevent those mass murders? And how do we know who the enemy is? Be afraid. Be very afraid. That seems to be the message resonating throughout our society today. Even the political discourse has become so vicious, so outrageously dishonest that we either accept it as "the way things are today" or tune it out. We don't trust our elected officials any more. We know they will do or say anything to get elected. So we fix our gaze on some slogan that sounds real and hard and true. We want substance but settle for flim-flam that reinforces our pre-existing prejudices. I agree with conservatives who say we've lost our moral compass, but I don't agree with their idea that we should follow them into the abyss. We can probably never go back to the sense of national oneness we felt during World War II or even the fervent but short-lived feeling of unity after the attacks of 9/11. But, if we start with our own small circle of concern for others and rebuild the moral foundation so essential for survival as a democracy, maybe we can defend ourselves against the charlatans dressed up as our friends but who will leave us broken and bleeding on the political battlefield. It may sound trite, but it's true that we need to be the change we want to see. It has to start with our own sense of honor and obligation to society. Last night on Jennifer Granholm's political discussion TV show, she interviewed two members of the millennial generation, ages 18-30. They both said that young people have tuned out because the campaign has become so vicious and dishonest. They want to hear from the candidates how each will offer them something of value. They don't want to hear generalities about creating jobs and making it easier to go to college. So far, so good. I imagine that's what all of us who pay attention want. But, as I listened to the discussion with the young men, I couldn't help feeling a tad disgusted. Granholm asked them what it would take to get those young voters energized and out there to support Obama again this time, and her guests said the same thing - offer them something that will help them, as individuals, to become financially successful. Am I too naive in hoping that young Americans might look beyond themselves and see what is at stake in this election? Maybe it was easier for us when the enemy dressed in Nazi or Japanese uniforms and literally tried to kill our relatives. The "enemy within" is a constant theme in world history. Civilizations rise and fall based on choices the citizens make. This year is the capstone election for those who have used the power of the dollar to dismantle all the public programs and institutions that it took a century to build. One of their PAC's is called "Now or Never," and they know that's true. They are using a battlefield technique by coming at us from both directions at once. They are making it harder for citizens who tend to vote for Democrats to get their votes counted. At the same time, they are pouring millions of dollars into campaigns designed to destroy the few defenders of the common good still out there. The story about World War I ends when a handful of English citizens and one German officer realize there was something even more dangerous than war, and that was a plot by English and German leaders to form an Anglo-German alliance and divide up the rest of Europe for themselves. The plan was to bring the Americas back into the British Commonwealth by force. The heroes of the story risked their lives to expose the plot because it was dishonorable. They believed there was something larger than themselves worth fighting and dying for. Love of country meant defending its honor. The players now are different, but the plot to control the world's resources is the same. The enemy dresses up in lovely TV ads assuring us that we are safe and that they are taking care of us. Once they have total control of our political system and we recognize their treason, it will be too late to stop them. We can tune it out and enjoy our entertaining diversions or we can fight for something larger than ourselves. No foreign enemy can do as much damage as the traitors among us. I'm old and tired and burnt out on all this disgusting political stuff. I don't blame younger voters for tuning out. But my generation still believes there is something worth fighting for larger than ourselves. So I'll work to re-elect President Obama because the stakes are too high to ignore.

Why we can't win the message game

Everyone seems to be caught up in Olympic stories of one kind or another, so I guess my brain is thinking along those lines too. One of the commentators last night said that maybe the reason Michael Phelps didn't win the really long contest but is winning the shorter ones is because he didn't train for the more demanding one. Not being much of a swimmer, I wondered how a person could be fit enough to win short races but not ready for the longer ones. What would Phelps have had to do differently? How many more shoulder and chest muscles does a swimmer need to go the distance? Then I switched channels and watched some MSNBC political stuff for awhile. One of the commentators on that channel described how the lies in Mitt Romney's TV ads get wired into voters' brains as fact. For example, one of the ads takes out of context something President Obama said about how public institutions and government agencies help provide support for entrepreneurs and family businesses trying to expand and compete for customers. The Romney hired guns took one line out of that speech and turned it into a campaign theme. "What do you mean I didn't build my company? How insulting." Of course that's not what President Obama said, but it doesn't matter. The punch line is picked up by right wing radio, and it goes out to millions of listeners. The right wing blogs pick it up and slice and dice it until it's embedded in people's minds. Then Faux News delivers the final tap of the hammer to be sure the idea is tightly sealed in the brains of people who don't bother to check the facts. So what do Democrats and the MSNBC program staff do? They research the companies mentioned in the Romney ads and reveal "the truth" about how much government assistance they received and repeat over and over how much our public education system helped prepare those managers and workers to be successful. All true, but irrelevant to the majority of voters. We Democrats like to know we're right and feel good about being on the side of truth, justice and the American Way. But that and a buck fifty will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, nothing more. There's a story in one of the really good books about the American war in Vietnam that recounts a meeting of a North Vietnamese general and an American high ranking officer many years after the American withdrawal from that country. The American told the Vietnamese general, "You know we never lost to you on the battlefield." To which his Vietnamese counterpart replied, "That may be true, but it is also irrelevant." I've thought a lot about that statement in recent days and months as Democrats carefully explain just how awful the economic situation is for the majority of American families and how we came to be in such dire straits. I love charts and graphs as much as the next person, and I read all the analyses churned out by incredibly smart scholars and writers. I'm convinced that the Republican Party, or at least its present heavy hitters, have a well-thought-out strategy to dismantle all public institutions in our country and open even more investment opportunities for the already super rich. I know the Bush tax cuts and two unfunded wars were part of the long term plan to bankrupt the country and allow them to claim we can't afford any of the programs that help individuals survive. We can afford billions for military hardware that even the Pentagon doesn't want because the money goes to private companies. But heaven forbid we should use general revenue for some kid's insulin or inhaler. We are well on our way to becoming the Corporate States of America, and all the polite presentation of the facts won't amount to a hill of beans. The Corpublicans have trained for the long distance game. They started decades ago and know that this is their best chance to complete the total disintegration of what is left of our communal consciousness, our sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves. Their ideology is based on individual self interest, every man for himself, and if you don't survive, that's no one's fault but your own. Theirs is a much easier story line to sell. Who doesn't love a winner? Heaven forbid we should criticize millionaires. After all, don't we all aspire to such wealth and power? Isn't that why so many people buy lottery tickets? What would you do with a hundred million dollars? It's fun to imagine. And the Republican masters of messaging know this. They appeal to our least evolved levels of need. God, guns, guts and glory. We've got it all right here in Branson, Missouri. Join the chorus. Let us sweep you up into the fantasy of self-certainty and righteousness. You deserve that extra Mercedes and Mediterranean cruise because you're one of the chosen. God loves you but has questions about that guy who washes your car. If God had chosen him too, why would he still be washing cars? The reasoning is simple. Let the circle be unbroken. I hope President Obama and Vice President Biden can break through the wall of lies and vitriol coming from the Romney campaign and his supporters. One thing I know for sure - all the charts and research articles in the world won't matter to them. A friend of mine told me at church the other day that she tried very politely to ask her sister why she was going to vote for Romney. The sister said she didn't want to talk about it because she knew the conversation "would deteriorate." I would really like to know how highly-educated people who aren't particularly wealthy can support a corporatist who will sell them out to the highest bidder the first chance he gets. It's too late for Democrats to train for the long distance race. We should have started supporting liberal talk shows and unabashedly liberal candidates years ago instead of thinking that our "friends across the aisle" would be reasonable. VP Biden said it right: This is NOT your father's Republican party. They really don't give a damn about you or your family's survival. How do we make that clear to voters? If they think the employment situation is bad now, just imagine the "Offshorer-in-Chief" in the White House. And David Koch on the Supreme Court. Dick Cheney's dream of a total grip on power by a handful of insanely immoral plutocrats will finally come true. I guess I'll watch those Olympic athletes again today and hope some of their drive, courage, passion and persistence rubs off on me. It's going to be tough this fall as we stretch to reach the finish line. Our opponents will use every dirty trick in the book and outspend us by millions of dollars. This is not a contest for the faint of heart. We’re competing for nothing less than the future of our democratic form of government.

ALEC, AMEREN and YOU

ALEC, AMEREN AND YOU While Missourians are struggling to pay their electric bills during the worst heat wave since the 1930's, their state legislators who belong to the American Legislative Exchange Council are partying at a Five Star hotel in Salt Lake City. And our electric company, AMEREN, is paying a portion of the cost of that party. Why? Because ALEC's corporate lobbyists write legislation our ALEC members in Jeff City will carry back and try to pass next spring. Several dozen companies have dropped their membership in ALEC recently because of ALEC's extreme position on a variety of different issues. ALEC is behind the attacks on the EPA (see www.alec.org/EPA's Regulatory Train Wreck: Strategies for State Legislators.) ALEC is also pushing states to require the teaching of climate change denial as a legitimate scientific theory in our schools. (see www.alecexposed.org.) As if their allegiance to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries weren't dangerous enough, ALEC pushes laws that cripple local governmental authorities when it comes to protecting us from pollution and other environmental hazards. So why is AMEREN supporting a lobbyist group that works directly against the best interest of Missouri citizens and its rate payers? How many millions of dollars does AMEREN spend on lobbying, and why should we give them even more money to work against our health and safety? The ALEC meeting this week is being held at the Grand America Hotel which boasts "lavish amenities" including a full-service spa, a lobby lounge featuring a harp serenade, afternoon tea service and down comforters in the suites which range from 700 to 880 square feet in size. Recently, a local St. Louis man died in his mobile home because he couldn't pay his air conditioning bill. His home was probably no bigger than one of the luxurious suites our state legislators and their families are enjoying in Salt Lake City. How can legislators who make aroung $40,000 a year afford such vacations? AMEREN customers indirectly subsidize the "Missouri Night" dinner and reception. This is what passes for economic justice today. The next Speaker of the Missouri House, Rep. Tim Jones of Eureka, is co-chair of the Missouri delegation to ALEC. What are the chances that he and the other ALEC members will protect Missourians from exploitation by a monopoly utility company? Tell the Public Service Commission to JUST SAY NO to yet another rate hike. STATEMENT READ BEFORE THE MISSOURI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION HEARING ABOUT AMEREN'S REQUEST FOR A RATE INCREASE, JULY 26, 2010.

What gall these traitors have

Every election in a democracy like ours is important, but this November voters will decide whether to defend our precious experiment in self-government or deliver the final blow that kills it. Otherwise good and honest people like Larry O'Neill of Kirkwood ("Thin skinned politician, July 21) have been convinced by clever and well-funded slogan campaigns that President Obama is at fault for all our country's woes. I give Mr. O'Neill the benefit of the doubt because his criticisms of our President are almost word-for-word from Republican websites and television ads. One of the many corporate-funded anti-Obama groups is aptly named Now or Never. That says it all. The handful of powerful families and corporations out to destroy what's left of our "one man, one vote" society know this election is their last chance for total control. On the night of President Obama's inauguration, a cabal of schemers and plotters met to lay out their plan to overthrow the duly elected government that "we, the people" had chosen. Their plan was simple - obstruct, thwart, criticize and ridicule every attempt by President Obama and the Democrats in Congress to pull the country back from the total collapse that was imminent in spring of 2009. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spelled out the Republican plan that spring: Make Barack Obama a one-term president regardless of the cost in pain and suffering to the American people. "Starve the beast" of public funding for anything that helps individuals directly and repeat ad nauseum the lie that prosperity trickles down when the wealthy have more money than they know what to do with. What is amazing to me is that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have been able to accomplish all that they have, including the so-called "failed stimulus." Ask any of the teachers, police officers and firefighters who were able to keep their jobs because of the Reconstruction and Recovery Act if the stimulus failed. Look at all the highway and road construction going on and ask yourself where the money came from for those good-paying jobs. Half of the Recovery Act was for a tax cut for all of us so we would have a few extra bucks to keep some of our neighbors working. But keeping our jobs and helping our neighbors doesn't fit into the Republican plan to bankrupt us so we'll be thankful for whatever crumbs they throw us. They know our civic spirit is the only thing left standing in their way. The American auto companies have paid back, with interest, all or most of the money we lent them to save as many jobs as possible. Ask the auto workers and millions of families that benefited from the ripple effect of that money in the economy if President Obama is too "thin skinned." I'd say he's handled himself admirably despite the traitorous attacks on him personally and professionally. Instead of blaming the President for not creating more jobs, we should be asking why corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash waiting for November's election. The "job creators" have had extra money to burn for over a decade now, so what are they waiting for? That's the question voters must answer.

Why is it so hard to raise the minimum wage?

read with interest the excellent article from the Columbia Tribune about the minimum wage in Missouri and nationally. It gives an historical perspective and compares what the minimum wage would be today if it had kept up with the peak rate which was in 1968. Hard to believe, but $1.60/hour in 1968 was pretty good income. When I worked at Woolworth's as a teenager in the 1950's, I was paid 75 cents an hour. The same argument that employers use now was used then. "If the minimum wage goes up, we'll have to lay off people or close up shop." Well, Woolworth's finally did go the way of the dinosaur, but it wasn't because they paid their employees too much. I was disturbed to read in this article that the head of some economic policy dept at Mizzou is also the chief economist for the Show-Me-Institute which is the core of Rex Sinquefeld's privatization scheme. SMI's goal is to dismantle everything "public" and shift control of our lives from elected representatives to King Rex and his business buddies. They've made pretty good inroads into buying our "elected representatives" and it seems they are also infecting our public universities. The last sentence of the article sums up the entire ideological discussion in America today. What kind of standard of living "should" people have? "Should" is the key word here, so I looked up the definition. It is the past tense of "shall." It implies duty or obligation. I remember a discussion I had with a co-worker back in the 1970's who was claiming that her father, a factory worker, deserved enough income to afford a decent standard of living. I wasn't sure about that. After all, if her father wanted to make more money, why didn't he go to college and get into some kind of work that paid better? Her point was that her family had the the same needs as that of any other family, regardless of income or status. I was looking at the discussion top down and she was looking at it bottom up. To me, that has come to signify the essence of the difference between what we call conservatives and liberals now. No matter how powerful the top down argument is, the "need" point of view is the way we "should" be looking at the minimum wage debate. There is a strong economic argument to be made for paying workers a little more. As Lara Granich of Jobs with Justice says in the article, people earning at that level are not putting their money into Swiss bank accounts. They spend it locally which helps even more people pay their bills. But the "should" argument need not be cast aside just because the temper of the times is all caught up in "what's in it for me?" There is a moral imperative at work here. Human beings deserve the basics to survive just by the very fact that they are human. We hear a lot about "freedom" these days, and I'm reminded of the wry, satirical comment by Anatole France that "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." What good is freedom if you are starving? I asked a Tea Party cheerleader from my neck of the woods what a person is supposed to do who doesn't make enough to feed a family, much less pay rent and utilities. He said we should turn to our families and churches. How quaint a notion. And how totally out of touch with reality. If someone's family is also starving, they are not much help, now are they? And the churches and food pantries are overrun with applicants, many of whom are just now using up what little savings they had and have maxed out their credit cards. I hope everyone who can understand how humiliating it is for people who are working full time to ask for help will join in support of Give Missourians a Raise this fall. Susan C Here's the article again in case you missed it. http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/jun/23/finding-fair-price/

Can we "overcome" this time?

Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, began his pep talk Friday night by having members of the audience stand and touch each other's shoulders to make a connected force for "good government." It was pretty effective in making the audience relax and get in the mood for a political speech. Bob Edgar actually believes we can overcome the power of people like the Koch brothers, Sam Walton's heirs, and Wall Street gamblers. After Wisconsin voters chose last week to keep the governor who is working directly against their best interest, I just shook my head in dismay. Actually, I'm still shaking my head over the outcome of that election. Last weekend, my husband and I attended a wedding in Kansas, his home state and a beautiful place if you like endless horizons. The next day, we visited with his former neighbors and some old friends at one of the three fast food restaurants in town. There used to be two family restaurants, but they went broke. Actually, much of the town is dying as people are losing their jobs and homes. There are almost 100 houses for sale in a town of 3200 population. Never exactly an exciting place, at least not for about 30 years, that little town literally is dying a slow death. And I mean "literally" literally. Most of the deaths are from cancer. The sad thing is that the farmers know the chemicals they must use to get the yield they need from their crops to make a living are actually poisoning the very land they love. We talked about that a little bit. I don't preach to people who work that hard and look that tired. I know they are conflicted about what they are doing to the land, water and air around them. We talked a little about the runoff and the rivers and streams. As we drove home the next day, I was incredibly depressed thinking about those people and the cycle of death they are caught up in. I had just read the Huffington Post article about climate change and how scientists are now saying we are at the tipping point. Our lovely planet can't take any more poison. She is dying the same slow death that the Kansas farmers face. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/earth-tipping-point-study_n_1577835.html?ref=mostpopular Long before I heard Bob Edgar speak on KWMU and at the Ethical Society this past week, I had decided to hang up my spurs after this November's election. I've been spurring people to help progressive candidates for almost ten years with minimal success. I'm old. I'm tired. This my last election. And I mean it this time. Then, yesterday, on a beautiful June day, I transported three very large puppies 100 miles to the next transporter in our multi-state dog rescue system and came home feeling really, really good about doing that. As I drove back home from Altamont, IL, I played Peter, Paul and Mary on my CD player and sang "This Land is Your Land, This land is My Land" as loud as I could as I passed miles and miles of corn. I know the farmers who plant those row crops realize what they are doing to our only Mother Earth. They are probably just as conflcted about it as the Kansas farmers. But what can they do? They are helpless, aren't they? The next song on the CD was "We Shall Overcome." The Peter, Paul and Mary rendition of that old, wonderful tune from the civil rights protests is pitched exactly where my voice sounds really powerful, especially alone in a car driving an endless highway. As I sang the words, I thought about the people who overcame what was thought to be a hopeless situation in their time. I remember the civil rights protests of the 1950's and 60's although I was too young and busy to get involved. Then I thought back to the abolitionists and the women who suffered to get the right to vote. If you don't think they really suffered, get a copy of "Iron Jawed Angels" and watch it. It will change your mind in a hurry. And the labor protesters who were called every name in the book but who finally achieved what we take for granted today. Then I went back even further in my mind to the European colonists who decided they didn't want to be economic slaves to Britain any more. I can only imagine the arguments among neighbors and probably even families about the choices they had. Our history books make it seem like there was 100% agreement and cooperation among the colonists in the decision to break from England. Not true. They faced the same disagreements we are having today about what the best economic system is and what the role of government should be. I'm glad it turned out that the revolutionaries won that argument. They convinced the power and glory of the English monarchy to take their oppressive policies elsewhere and leave "the people" to their own devices. Coincidentally, the men chosen to be the leaders during those rebellious years were influenced by the European enlightenment and thought some spark of goodness resided in the souls of all human beings. Based on what some still today call that misguided belief, they set up a governmental system that divided decision making power to make it really hard for a handful of plutocrats to hoard all the wealth. Fast forward to today. We are still fighting that same battle to keep the plutocrats from hoarding all the wealth. No need to repeat the statistics from the last 30 years about median family income and depressed economic opportunities. Anyone who has read this essay to this point knows what I'm talking about. The fossil fuel companies are not only killing our planet, they are killing our hope for the future by buying elected officials who do their bidding. Drive around any large American city and look up at the shiny glass skyscrapers. Banks. Insurance companies. Stock brokers. Chemical and poison manufacturers. Oil and coal companies. They should be required to paint the skull and crossbones warning on their palaces of greed. So what's an old lady to do? I really want my grandchildren to be able to live in a healthy environment and have the opportunities they deserve to contribute their talents to the greater good. Martin Luther King Jr. said he'd been to the mountaintop and seen the promised land. Truthfully, all I've seen lately is the endless expanse of Kansas and Illinois. If there is a promised land out there in all that corn, it would have to be a field of dreams made up by a movie producer. It certainly isn't there for me to see. Bob Edgar wants us to believe we can combine our talents and resources to fight the corruption in government. He's right that the amount of money in elections is killing our chances for a healthy future. His organization is doing a good job of shining a light on groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and the other "free market" extremists. By the way, "smaller government" is code for destruction of everything with the word "public" in it. Don't fall for that charade. They use nice words to hide their selfish intentions. You can watch Bob's presentation here: http://www.mopag.info/ Frankly, I think Missouri is hopeless. We have a governor who jumps for joy at the prospect of an oil pipeline crossing our state. We have the mayor of the largest city taking money from a billiionaire who wants to destroy public pension systems and public education. We have a state legislature run by ALEC functionaries. One of the Republican candidates for Secretary of State is the same Missouri house member who pushes bills making it harder for people to vote. Think about that. The man who wants to control our elections is also the man who wants to make it harder for people to vote. We're becoming Florida and Ohio where elected officials think nothing of rigging elections. Okay, it's hopeless. What if Mitt Romney and the plutocrats take over the White House? It was bad enough when the oil company executives were invited to the White House to write our environmental policies. Just imagine what will happen to "This land is your land, this land is my land" when there is no more balance of power in government? They have the Supreme Court, the House of "Representatives" (note the cynicism) and they can block anything good that might happen in the Senate because the Democrats are too timid to change the filibuster rule. If the plutocrats are going to run the country and the states, why bother paying for salaries, health care and pensions for elected officials? We can skip the middleman and save a ton of money. Again, what's an old lady to do? Bob Edgar made us repeat several times "We are the leaders we've been waiting for." I said that over and over with conviction. I sang "We Shall Overcome" with conviction. Now if I could only convince myself I mean it. Susan Cunningham June 10, 2012

The insidious plan behind the lies

The plan of the corporate toadies in our state legislature has never been clearer. Now that they see what happened in Wisconsin, they are emboldened to continue their assault on what used to be a strong middle class. Let's be clear as glass on this. These people do NOT believe government is responsible for the "welfare of the people" as stated in the Missouri state motto and in all the documents that created our national government. The Republicans have worked for years to get to this point. They do not even have to pretend to care about American families any more. They've worked their way up the political ladder for the past three decades and now have the reins of power in their hands. Under George W. Bush, they bankrupted the country on purpose with their tax cuts and two unfunded wars. Never have we gone to war without paying for it. They knew exactly what they were doing. Their plan was to bankrupt the country and then claim to care about "our grandchildren's future." They want to "starve the beast," meaning our government and public institutions. The goal is to privatize the entire system of goods and services under the flag of "free enterprise." The sad thing is that the same people who swallow the lies and repeat the anti-government mantra are also the ones who usually get hurt the most. They will have to take a job that pays less than they used to earn. They are barely hanging on financially, but they don't understand who has pulled the rug out from under them. The "free market" Republicans now in charge of our state government and much of the national government will not rest until workers have no rights, no power to complain and no choice but to work for less than a living wage. The corporate puppets in Jeff City gloat over their "success" in making life more and more miserable for the majority of Missourians. Older people who used to be able to take vacations and buy gifts for their grandchildren are now in line for menial jobs at restaurants and big box stores. I see them everywhere and want to cry. I also realize that, if the Republicans are successful in destroying the Social Security program, I may be right there in line with them. Susan C From Progress Missouri: SOME MISSOURI GOPER’S OVERREACT TO WISCONSIN RECALL RESULTS. Peter Kinder, Cole McNary and Birther Tim Jones call for renewed attacks on public workers, middle class. •Beacon: Republicans call for Missourians to emulate Walker policies, victory in Wisconsin •News-Leader: Republican candidate for state treasurer pushes for pension plan changes •Turner: State treasurer candidate: I'm going to tackle public workers' pensions

Looking behind the reality of Memorial Day celebrations

Let's celebrate Memorial Day by doing something for the veterans who are still alive, not just the deceased ones. Lots of people love parades. I do too. Lots of people like to put flags on graves. I do too. But when it comes to asking those same people to change our government policies in a way that would actually help veterans, they scream "Don't raise our taxes." My God, we can't even raise the tobacco tax in Missouri even though it's the lowest in the nation and over a dollar less than the national average. I just read in Saturday's Post Dispatch that Illinois is going to raise their cigarette tax from 98 cents a pack to $1.98 in order to fund "the state's struggling Medicaid system." The Missouri legislature not only won't consider raising taxes, they are fighting any attempts by citizens to do it themselves. Meanwhile, who suffers from this stubborn grandstanding by tea party "leaders" in Jeff City? The poorest Missourians, the ones least able to fight the corporate influence in what passes for a state government. Let's set aside for now the fact that people who smoke should pay more for health care for the poor than people who don't smoke because smokers drive up the cost of health care. That's a debate worth having at some point. Step back from the whole "we honor our heroes" thing and take a good look at exactly how we honor them. Parades don't feed them when they are homeless. Yes, there is a "feel good" moment for them and for us, but, wouldn't we give them more support by paying for their needs after we've sent them "into harm's way"? The May 28 issue of Newsweek has an article about the epidemic suicide rate among veterans. The estimate is that 18 veterans kill themselves every day. Especially alarming is the number of veterans from recent wars who have killed themselves. In fact, the "number of U.S. soldiers who have died by their own hand is now estimated to be greater than the number who have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq." One scholar who has studied this horrible reality describes in the Newsweek article how soldiers suffer "a moral injury" when subjected to repeated deployments overseas. Dr. Jonathan Shay says "a moral injury occurs when a soldier's concepts of trust and right and wrong do not survive the heat of battle." They return to civilian life "hypervigilant and trusting no one - a difficult way to live." This certainly aligns with testimony from family members who describe a son or husband who comes back from war a totally changed person. And this epidemic is not just among male veterans. One study found that female veterans are three times as likely to kill themselves as their civilian counterparts. Let's think about that concept of "moral injury." When someone suffers through an experience that completely changes his sense of right and wrong, how does he get that back? How does he put away his fatigues and change back into civilian clothes and civilian thinking? I don't know. I do know that everyone who suffers an emotionally devastating experience is never the same again. We can multiply the damage caused by our worst experiences and maybe get a tiny glimpse into the "moral injury" that soldiers have to carry with them the rest of their lives. Do we have the guts to ask ourselves who caused that "moral injury" to the 18 veterans a day who kill themselves? Who sent them to Iraq based on false information? Who stuck yellow ribbons on every tree and lamp post? Who enjoyed those first heady days of "shock and awe"? And who lost interest when the thrill was gone? Polls show that the majority of Americans don't think the Iraq war was worth the cost in lives and treasure. We also don't really care what happens in Afghanistan anymore either. The Newsweek article quotes a grieving family member as saying, "We pretend the vets don't even exist." Let's face it. Having homeless and desperately unhealthy veterans hanging around in plain sight really puts a damper on our Memorial Day festivities. We want to believe there are programs enough to help them if they'd only seek them out. We want to push the guilt away by using twisted logic and finding self-congratulatory, feel good ways to spend the holiday. Even though a recent study by the Kaiser Foundation shows that veterans would benefit greatly from the new health care reform law passed by Congress in 2010 (derisively referred to as Obamacare,) we would rather fight for our "freedom" not to have to buy health insurance than make sure veterans get all the help they need. So we'll listen to military bands playing patriotic music on TV this weekend. We'll fly our flags and pretend we care. But, heaven forbid, don't ask us to pay more in taxes to open more mental health clinics. Don't ask us to rally in support of the few brave do-gooders who are calling attention to the plight of homeless veterans. Don't ask us to demand that ROTC programs are banished from high schools where young kids get pulled into something they are not mature enough to understand. And when the Pentagon budget is raised again and again to buy weapons systems even the military says we don't need, let's join the "strong military - support our troops" nonsense because it feels so good to think we're "the greatest nation on Earth." If reading this makes you angry or upset, good. That's just a tiny sample of what many veterans feel every day, all day, all night until they don't have to feel anything anymore. Susan Cunningham May 27, 2012