Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs greatly, or who employ drastically different strategy or tactics. It is typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement. Guerrilla warfare and terrorism are two examples. Our armed forces will not be defeated by the Taliban. But, on the other hand, we have not been able to drive them from the field in Afghanistan. I’m wondering if we are entering an era of asymmetric economic warfare. Are we vulnerable to economic wars that we won’t lose but can’t decisively win? Continue reading Economic War Or Peace?
WHO CENSORS OR BOOS VALEDICTORIANS?
As valedictorian of his class at Bell County High School, Ben Bowling was invited to speak at the graduation ceremony. He looked for some inspirational quotes to share with his classmates and included this one, “Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.’ – Donald J. Trump.” The audience applauded. Then Bowling added, “Just kidding, that was Barack Obama.” The crowd went silent except for a few adult boos. Bowling explained it this way, “I just thought it was a really good quote. Most people wouldn’t like it if I used it, so I thought I’d use Donald Trump’s name. It is Southeastern Kentucky after all.” Bowling was unsurprised by the crowd’s reaction. He will soon be moving to the University of Kentucky for pre-med and medical school. Continue reading WHO CENSORS OR BOOS VALEDICTORIANS?
Legislators should learn from Ed
Would you encourage family members to study to become teachers or other government employees? Unless we can answer “yes”, government is failing as an employer.
Can you hear the voices of elected officials berating and blaming their employees for government performance problems, laziness, and being “thugs”? Employees are tired of it. They want respect and fair treatment. Continue reading Legislators should learn from Ed
THE ECONOMY MUST SERVE PEOPLE
“The economy must serve people, not the other way around.” That is the opening sentence of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers“. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I encourage readers to look it up on the internet. It’s easy to understand the values being taught but challenging to apply them in our lives, businesses and government. Continue reading THE ECONOMY MUST SERVE PEOPLE
PREVENTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Let’s take a deep breath, calm ourselves, and then look at violence in American schools. The facts are likely to surprise most readers. The in-school homicide rate is not rising and our schools are relatively safe places. Continue reading PREVENTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Let’s start winning
Sister Jean-Delores Schmidt is a 98 year old nun who serves as a chaplain for the Loyola University basketball team and travels with them. Defying odds and expectations, the team earned a spot in the final four of the men’s basketball tournament. During the celebration, a reporter asked Sister Jean, “What did you give up for lent?” “Losing” she replied with a smile. Think about that for a moment. Continue reading Let’s start winning
IS THE FINANCIAL END NEAR?
The cartoon made me laugh. Maybe it’s funny because it’s based in truth. Although I hope that our national litany of mini-crises and scandals will end soon, I don’t expect it. These stormy times are distracting us from more important issues, particularly our national financial situation. Continue reading IS THE FINANCIAL END NEAR?
THE HIGH SCHOOL SURVIVORS ARE RIGHT
The high school students who survived our most recent mass killing are right that it’s time for action. Now. We should begin with what we know will work and continue improving gradually. But we’re unprepared to unite behind any course of action because we remain woefully uninformed about gun violence. Let’s focus on it and begin fixing the problem. Continue reading THE HIGH SCHOOL SURVIVORS ARE RIGHT
LET’S MAKE RACISM UNACCEPTABLE
The Washington Post recently published a story (READ IT HERE) that took place where I live , Randolph County, North Carolina. It features local people but it is actually about President Donald Trump’s support of racism. Similar stories can be found in towns, cities and rural areas
all across America. For reasons unknown to me, the writer picked the story of the Trogdon family and our community to make her point: overt racist activities are on the rise; and the President of the United States has encouraged it. Continue reading LET’S MAKE RACISM UNACCEPTABLE
REREADING THE CONSTITUTION
When I’m confused and disappointed by the actions of our elected leaders, I sometimes get the urge to reread our Constitution. Here are thoughts from a recent rereading.
From Article 1 Section 4: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…” Our Congress has the authority to standardize how and when we elect its members. It seems reasonable to conclude that Congress could prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
From Amendment 14 Section 1: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.” Legislative districts are created by state law. Here in North Carolina, the Legislature’s stated purpose in gerrymandering the districts was to elect Republicans to 10 of the 13 seats even though nearly half of voters actually vote for Democrats. They achieved that goal. The law that created gerrymandered districts seems to deny equal protection to citizens who disagree with Republicans.
From Article 2 Section 4: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Bribery would apply if a President accepted a bribe. Would it also be bribery if a Presidential candidate or his team agreed to not implement sanctions on Russia in exchange for information useful to their campaign?
The US Supreme Court has received gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The lower courts are so politicized that news reports generally include whether the judges were appointed by Democrats or Republicans. The implication is that a judge is likely to rule in favor of the party that appointed her or him. That is an awful but sadly credible assumption to make about our supposedly independent judiciary.
If the court rules against gerrymandering, that is likely to result in Democrats gaining seats in the House of Representatives. In addition to being the body that originates federal budgets, the House is the body with authority to impeach a President – an action which a Republican led House might be more reluctant to consider.
If the Senate had approved President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, there would be a 5-4 split of Democrat vs Republican judges. Instead, the Republican controlled Senate refused to even consider the nomination for months – in hopes of winning the presidency and getting a Republican nominee. They succeeded in that; and with the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch there is a 5-4 split favoring Republicans. What will it say about our Supreme Court if a Gerrymandering decision is decided by that margin?
The Presidential election of 2000 may well have been swung from Al Gore to George W. Bush by a party-line 5-4 Supreme Court decision that stopped the Florida vote recount. We’ll never know. Nor will we know whether the US would have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan after 9-11 under President Gore. Such decisions change our history in profound ways.
Underlying many of the suspicions, malfunctions and failures of our government is the increasingly bitter partisan divide. Note however, that political parties are not even mentioned in our constitution. Only individuals, not political parties, have a constitutional right to be on a ballot. To protect their power (and the President), Republicans are now attacking the credibility of important institutions including our FBI, CIA and Justice Department. Russian agents have effectively used social media to discredit those same agencies. How ironic is it to find Republican leadership and Russian espionage agents on the same side?
President Washington warned, in his farewell address, that political parties, “…are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” It’s an apt description of current events.
Nations succeed and become great when most of the people support them and feel fairly treated. When a large proportion feel mistrust and mistreated, nations fail. Rather than “becoming great again”, our nation is in jeopardy due to citizen mistrust of elected officials. My conclusion is that it’s up to voters to save the union. No one else can do it.