Racist WH and GOP

Dear editor:

In the face of today’s racist, hateful remarks coming from the White House and GOP members of the House and Senate, I offer the following from three great American Republican Presidents.

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels—men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American. We draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world.' 

Ronald Reagan

Look how far we have dropped in civility. 

Socialism a Dirty Word?

Dear editor:

Socialism, a word being bandied about by the President and his GOP minions in accusations against the Democrats in Congress, is an absolute misuse and misnomer of the word.  Does anyone using that word know the meaning of it (certainly not the President), and has it ever existed successfully in the United States?  Are  parts of it good or bad?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word socialism means: “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration.”  Once again, has it ever existed successfully in the United States?  Do any of our laws and actions fit this classic definition?  YES!

To name a few, there’s Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, FHA loans, the FTA, FAA, our airports, VA loans, our highways and bridges, the building and administration of Hoover Dam, the building and administration of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the WPA (which put millions to work during the depression), FICA, Unemployment Insurance, and a progressive tax system.  Have they all been perfect in their execution?  Of course not.  But they all have one thing in common, as they fit the classic definition of socialism and they represent efforts to improve the financial life of our country and its citizens.

Also, let’s not forget the quasi-governmental corporations that our federal/state/local governments either own, administer or control, such as the U.S. Postal System, Conrail, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, utilities, transportation systems such as MARTA (Atlanta), BART (San Francisco) and the New York Subway System.  Under a pure capitalistic society these would not exist.  All of these entities effect our daily lives and are

socialistic in nature.

We have a system that mixes many models of economy with an effort to find the middle ground that in one way or the other fits our financial needs, whether they be socialistic or capitalistic.  Have we been 100% successful yet?  Of course not.  We have to find small solutions and adjust what exists already.  Accusing people of being Socialists, especially when we don’t know what it means, when our government is successful using many forms of it, is not the answer.  The President and the GOP must stop scaring the public by misusing the word.  They have to find a better, more honest way to try and win elections.  Only immature children use name calling to win an argument.

In Search of the Truth

 

Dear editor:

The president’s staff tries very hard to cover up for his well-known gaffes, made up facts and plain bold face lies, but they can’t keep up with him on a daily basis.  His personal lawyer, Rudy Guliani tried his best in a TV interview by stating, “Truth isn’t truth.”  His press secretary Sarah Sanders has said “Facts aren’t facts.”  But Donald J. Trump outdoes their efforts and has really made it difficult with his Christmas trip to al-Asad air base in Iraq.

He told service members there that he was proud to secure them a pay raise of “more than 10 percent” after years of stagnant wages. “Is anybody here willing to give up the big pay raise you just got?  You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years.  And we got you a big one.  I got you a big one.  I got you a big one.”  This must have surprised the service members in attendance, since military members have seen a pay raise in each of the last 10 years, ranging from 1 to 3.9 percent, according to the Department of Defense. Doesn’t he realize that they already know what the truth about their pay is?

Just this past August Congress passed, and President Trump signed a pay increase for 2019 of 2.6 percent, which was slightly larger than last year’s 2.4 percent.  He forgot??  Didn’t he check before flying to Iraq and making up his own numbers? (Oh yes, …truth isn’t truth and facts aren’t facts.)

According to Trump, many people (unidentified) wanted the raise to be smaller, but he fought for a double-digit raise. They said “You know, we can make it smaller.  We can make it 3 percent. We can make it 2 percent” I said “No. Make it 10 percent.  Make it more than 10 percent.” (If you’re going to lie, lie big.)  On Wednesday he used the phrase “in more than 10 years” four times.

Trump’s lies (made up on the spot) were not the first ones he’s uttered about the military.  Trump has claimed the military budget he signed was the biggest ever—it isn’t—and he’s taken credit for passing a law that allows veterans to use private doctors if they can’t get quick care through the VA.  That law was actually signed by Barack Obama.

Scary

November 30, 2018

Dear editor:

Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the U.S., with the number of anti-Semitic incidents increasing nearly 60% in 2017, per a report from the Anti-Defamation League earlier this year.  So many go unreported in the news that the country doesn’t recognize this rise of hatred, that has its roots going back over 2,000 years. 

In Europe, French Prime Minister Phillippe said earlier this month that after a decline over the past two years, the number of anti-Semitic acts jumped more than a scary 69% in the first nine months of 2018. Nearly 20% of 18-34 year old respondents in France said they had never heard of the Holocaust, per a CNN poll.  An amazing statistic considering the number of French Jews deported to concentration camps by the Nazis during WWII.

Many other Europeans are not aware of the Holocaust, and ant-Semitic beliefs are still widespread among residents of at least seven European countries, according to the poll taken in September by CNN.  A combined 1/3 of respondents said they knew “just a little” about the Holocaust or had “never heard of it.”

When it comes to knowledge of the Holocaust, Americans don’t fare much better.  According to a survey of Americans earlier this year, 11% had not heard of the Holocaust or weren’t sure they knew of it.  And more than 40% did not know what Auschwitz was—perhaps the most infamous of the Nazis’ concentration/killing camps.  To go to Auschwitz (which I have done) is the saddest and moving experience one can have.  Going thru the holding facilities, the gas chamber and human ovens is a sight you can never get out of your brain and heart. 

To not be aware of the systematic murder of 6,000,000 Jews just 75 years ago is absolutely amazing.  We aren’t talking about ancient history.  What are we teaching in our schools?  Ignorance such as this if allowed to grow, will only see a murderous repetition of not only Jewish people but of any religious, racial or nationality minority.

IT'S NOTHING NEW

Dear editor:

So many people are acting amazed at the horrendous story that came out of Pittsburgh last week. They stand shell shocked that a massacre of Jewish people in a synagogue (or anywhere) could happen. Evidently they don’t know the history that preceded it, from ancient times forward.

All thru history we find Jews being massacred. In 66CE Agrippa II exterminated all the Babylonian Jews in Transjordan. Then the Greeks slaughtered the Jews in Damascus, 50,000 Jews in Alexandria and 20,000 in Caesarea Maritima. Skip forward to the Crusades. When Urban II ordered the First Crusade, the only infidel in Northern Europe known to the crusaders was the Jews, who were considered the enemies of Christian society.  And so, in Trier on the first day of Passover in 1096 the Hebrews were offered conversion or death.  Most committed suicide with the balance being massacred.  In March 1096 a large army of Crusaders attacked the Jewish communities of France and Lorraine.  They were given the choice of baptism or death, and when they refused they were slaughtered.  The crusaders massacred Jews in the Rhineland and as they proceeded along their route they became more and more violent, murdering Jews in ever increasing numbers.  This continued in town after town as the mob of murderers rampaged thru Europe. Of course history contains massacres such as these all thru the centuries. There isn’t a country in Europe that at one time or another hasn’t exiled all Jews living there. And don’t forget the “Inquisitions” that killed thousands in many countries, including Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Everyone knows (or should know) of the “Final Solution” (Holocaust) planned and executed by the Third Reich of Nazi Germany during the 1940s.  While 6,000,000 Jews were killed, Hitler did not hit his goal as planned at the Wanasee Conference in January 1942, which listed country by country, the expected total evacuation (killing) of 11,738,684 Jews. There are many deniers of the Holocaust, BUT IT HAPPENED. In 1939, Hitler closed all ports to keep out “unwanted persons” and to stop Jews from escaping from his future plans. But he did allow 900 Jewish refugees to embark aboard the MS St. Louis from Hamburg.  All had visas for Cuba. Upon arrival in Cuban waters the ship was not allowed entry. It then sailed up the US coast, begging President Roosevelt for the right to disembark in the USA. Because of politics, the upcoming election and the “America First” movement in the country (sound familiar?), they were turned down and the ship returned to Europe, landing in Belgium.  Many were accepted in European countries but approximately a quarter of them died in Nazi death camps. This is all just a smattering of examples.

Many instances have happened in the USA.  I personally remember the bombing of the Temple on Peachtree in Atlanta in the 1970s. The center of Holocaust denial, which is now an international movement, is the Institute for Historical Research.  Founded in California in 1979 it disseminates denial literature and Nazi books, pamphlets, tapes and videos throughout the world.

Don’t forget what happened in Charllottsville prior to Pittsburgh. When our leadership in Washington doesn’t specifically call out and condemn any hatred, including Anti-Semitism, it is encouraging acts such as happened in Pittsburgh.

Vicious Buffoon

Dear Editor:

In my life, I have watched Franklin Roosevelt install the New Deal, Harry Truman order the atomic bomb to end WWII, Dwight Eisenhower sign the first Civil Rights bills, John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba,  Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and say, "And we shall overcome," Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill, George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing "Amazing Grace" in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Until now these were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men and were not perfect presidents.They approached the job, took to the podium, and with all the gravitas they could muster speak as appropriate to the job. They tried to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled, but they tried.

And comes now a hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. A man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

The scion of a multi-generational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

In Fifty Short Years

Why are we starting to look like a country that is a shadow of what we were a short 50 years ago? What has happened under the leadership we had during this period from good, knowledgeable, educated, experienced in world and domestic affairs?  Men, both Democrats and Republicans; i.e. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama? They inherited the workings of America’s Greatest Generation and blew out our future one way or another.  They left us an unhappy electorate and a failure to hold our head up high in the international community, The result?

The frustrated, disillusioned Americans who voted for President Trump committed the ultimate act of favoring an inexperienced, never prepared, shoot from the hip heir to a real estate fortune whose businesses had declared bankruptcy six times.  He would “drain the swamp” in Washington, he promised.  He would take the coal industry back to the greatness it had enjoyed 80 years before.  He would rebuild the cities, block immigrants with a great wall paid for by Mexico, provide health care for all and make the country’s infrastructure the envy of the world, while cutting everyone’s taxes.  Forty-six percent of those who voted figured that things were so bad they might as well let him try.  The result?

1. An average of fifty water main breaks occur per day. The power grid, roads and rails are pushing the US far down international rankings for infrastructure quality.
2. Inflation adjusted middle class wages have been frozen for the last four decades, while top 1% have nearly tripled.
3. Pay since 1975, adjusted 2016 dollars shows in 1975 average worker pay annually was $46,000 and in 2016 was $53,000.  Average CEO pay in 1975 annually was $1,200,000 and in 2016 was $15,000,000.
4. Crash of 2008 banks and bankers were bailed out, while millions lost their homes and savings.
5. In the three years following the crash the bottom 99% has improved less than ½ of 1% while top 1% has tripled.
6. For adults in their 30s, the chance of earning more than their parents dropped to 50% from 90% just two generations ago. The share of American adults in the middle class has shrunk from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2015.
7. Middle class of America is no longer the world’s richest.
8. In 2017 household debt had grown higher than the peak reached in 2008 before the crash.
9. US has the 3^rd highest poverty rate among the 35 nations in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
10. Nearly 1 in 5 American children live in a household without “access to enough food for active, healthy living.”
11. America’s air traffic control system is more than 25 years behind its original schedule.
12. Among the 35 OECD countries American children rank 30^th in math proficiency and 19^th in science, despite spending more on health care and K-12 student achievement.
13. Congress has failed to pass a comprehensive budget on time without omnibus bills since 1994.
14. There are more than 20 registered lobbyists for every member of Congress.
15. Members of both parties in Congress are required to go to the party’s office building and spend 5 hours a day in a booth and raise funds for both the party and their own reelection.

And this administration talks a pie in the sky blue streak, but doesn’t correct the problems.  “Make America Great Again?” that’s a farce.

Experts hope and believe that the country will overrun the lobbyists and cross over the moats when enough Americans see that we need leaders who are prepared and intelligent, who can unite the middle class and the poor rather than divide them.  They are certain that when the country’s breakdown touches enough people directly and causes enough damage, the officeholders who depend on those people for their jobs will be forced to act.