Elections, All Day Everyday

Once upon a time in our nation's history, two men would stand on something (a stump maybe?) at election time and give talks about how they felt about issues of the day. Then there would be a vote of the people and one was elected. Bingo! That was pretty much it.

Today it's grotesquely different, and I think, unsustainable.

If you want to win an important election today, you start years ahead of time. First, work against all census efforts that might hurt your candidacy and discourage voter registration for the same reason. It's important to have a governor of your persuasion in office and it may be necessary to redistict the area you wish to serve so that as many of your potential constituents are of your party as possible. (Florida is one of the most brazenly sliced up states in the Union.) And that's just for starters. A complete election manual for aspiring congressmen would be as thick as the Manhattan phone directory. It would cover the pre-game tinkering, the election itself and the all important post election battle, should the contest be close. Remember Gore v. Bush?

Let's think for a moment about pre-game activities. Of course, you will most likely want to purge the voter registration rosters of any undesirables like former prisoners or those who may have moved recently and not told the voter registration people. If it helps, move to permit servicemen and women a ballot that requires minimum authentication. Then it's time to scare as many potentially hostile voters as possible. Spread word that the police will be looking for scofflaws at the polls, or people behind on child support payments, or that people might have to pay a fee for something, anything, to discourage turnout. Pass a law, if possible, that will require picture IDs be presented along with voter registration cards. Maybe even send in State Police troopers before elections for some reason to intimidate people in certain districts, especially minority areas. Use robo calls too, to spread misinformation about polling sites being moved or just plain lies and innuendos. (Remember the ad featuring a pretty, white gal suggestively asking Harold Ford, a black congressman of quality and experience to "Call me up sometime, Harold" in order to fan latent racism wherever it could be found.) Get lots of people out to demonstrate near certain polling places. Tie up your opponent's telephone lines on election day. Whatever it takes.

This would also be a good time to line up some Texas zillionaires to run major dirty trick projects, like the Swift Boating of John Kerry. Look for a possible third party candidate who might siphon off a percentage point or two from your opponent. Ralph Nader elected G.W. Bush, you may recall. Maybe have another mogul challenge your opponent's citizenship or produce "evidence" that he went to grade school with Charles Manson. Alert friends in the media to make sure whatever you do has "legs." Slice up the rolls and send something to every segment to split off as many people, one by one, as possible.

The actual campaign itself is a thing of amazing complexity, requiring 18 hour workdays from hundreds of staffers who organize turn out, make sure that people not of their candidate's persuasion are stopped at the gate and that the crowd is in a state of screaming frenzy when the great man or woman finally arrives to speak. The event has to be picture perfect for the next news cycle or friendly newscasters will have to use file footage of a more telegenic previous event (by mistake, of course)to make things look wonderful. What a bizzness!

Now for the post game effort. Of course your candidate has teams of lawyers in all iffy counties and states to challenge voter tallies, demand recounts and round up friendly judges. These teams will be able to field busloads of outraged citzens acting "spontaneously," to intimidate vote recounting sites and posture for the press. Like riot squads, they should be prepared to deploy anywhere on a minute's notice, complete with placards, banners, etc. The objectives here are to delay the declaration of a winner as long as possible. If your party controls the Supreme Court, see if you can drive the case to Washington.

Regardless of the outcome of your election, when someone has finally won, delay state certification as long as possible. It will weaken the winner politically and financially before he/she even gets seated and sworn in. Never stop. Every move will disgust some future candidate and demonstate that any candidate must have boat load's of money. Then get some rest quickly and prepare for the next cycle. It's only two years away and there's lots to be done.

What I've described above is democracy run amok. The process is weakening our country and wasting huge amounts of money and legislative energy. Campaigns should be financed by the federal government and restricted to a period of 6 months at the very most.

Route 6666

Many years ago, a good friend invited me to lunch with him and an older friend of his, someone he thought might want to hire me. My friend's friend was wealthy, polite and extremely well connected. He was also a dominant trustee of a prestigious local hospital. In talking about hospital problems, he dropped a bombshell about the cost of indigent care; he was opposed to it. "If they can't pay for services, they shouldn't get them. That's the way it should be, survival of the fittest, natural selection." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Needless to say, the power broker and I never got together again.

That's good old 19th century conservatism, all right. Didn't one of Charles Dickens' beloved characters say "Are there no work houses" in speaking of the poor and hungry? This brand of conservatism dies hard and it is alive and well in the Republican Party today. Andre Bauer, Lt. Governor of the distinguished state of South Carolina spoke out on the subject of aid to Haiti recently along these lines. His grandmother had told him to stop feeding stray animals because they bred, especially those that didn't think too much farther than their next meal or breeding opportunity. Hard to believe in AD 2010. I wonder if she also might have said. The Haitians are nice people, but I hear (whispering now) some of them are Catholics.

In Hector Berlioz's beautiful opera, "The Damnation of Faust" there's a spot where the Devil himself is carrying Faust down to hell on horseback. The music vividly mimics the sound of horses' hooves and a male chorus sings meaningless words representing the chaos that is part of hell. I wonder if Mr. Bauer ever hears strange music or if he thinks beyond the next speech, or if he thinks at all?

Stare Decisis

Even if you are one of those who regard Latin as the Mother Tongue, Stare Decisis is a term seldom heard, unless you are watching Senate hearings on the nomination of a supreme court justice, like say, John Roberts, the sitting Chief Justice of the United States. On those occcasions, however, that short Latin expression pops up in every other sentence. It means "decided law", one's respect for precedent and one's determination to maintain long standing judicial findings. That's important because without it, our laws might swing widely every time control of the court changed. Nominees who lack sufficient respect for Stare Decisis might legislate from the bench which is a tendancy of the dreaded "Activist Judge". A synonym for "Activist Judge", of course, is (gasp) Liberal.

The big story of last week wasn't the election in Massachusetts of Scott Brown to the senate seat held for decades by Teddy Kennedy, but rather the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision overturning decades of state and national precedent concerning campaign financing by corporations, unions and special interest groups. Henceforth, they will all enjoy the free speach privileges of individuals, as they refer to donating to political campaigns. Now you know how money really talks and corporations (including foreign corporations with US subsidiaries) may use stockholder money to support state and national political campaigns, as they see fit. Wow! Want foreigners lobbying for our judges? Stare Decisis be damned!

Can the victorious conservative justices, led in spirit by Chief Justice Roberts, be serious? Can anyone believe that what this country needs now, or anytime, is more special interest money flowing into the political process? Large corporations, and special interest groups already pay for the services of thousands of lobbyists to threaten and cajole 535 members of congress (11,500 is a careful estimate of the number, or a stunning 21.4 lobbyists for every single member of the House and Senate!). Now they will be armed with almost unlimited corporate dollars to put muscle into their work. It's an outrage and a gratuitous slap in the face to the country, especially moderates of both political parties. It wasn't a decision that had to be made either; it was a clear example of conservative activism, ideology uber alles. Thanks, once again, George W. Bush! Pax vobiscum.

"God's Work"

When Lloyd C. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, does what he calls "Gods Work" he is a cheerful worker, I imagine. Not counting any psychic reward, in 2008 he earned approximately $8,012.00 per hour (60 hr. week), according to published reports! I, for one, appreciate what he does as a successful investment banker. During the current very painful recession we've all had many opportunities to observe how important the banking system is to the world of business and the American economy. But $2.08 million a month, $25,000,000 a year (actually $25,800,000 but who wants to count the small stuff?) That kind of compensation is literally the work of the devil because of it's almost certain corrosive effect on the recipient.

Early in my modest Wall Street career, I commuted from New Jersy to New York City by train, travelling aboard especially fitted out "club" cars that were positively luxurious by the standards of the long defunct Lackawanna Railroad. It was fascinating listening to my elders joking and joshing privately about the topics of the day as we zipped through Newark, studiously ignoring the riot smoke and turmoil often visible from the windows. Some of my co-commuters had been delivered to the station by limo to save time, of course. And to save more time, they usually ate in absolute splendor either at the NY Stock Exchange or a private club where they were recognized and known. They were marvellously insulated from the struggles of the outside world until at last the weekend arrived and they could retreat to even more exclusive country clubs for 48 hours where they were able to drink (Terry, the bartrender, knew their individual preferences by heart) and play cards until they were ready to join their ladies for dinner. Some, of course, preferrd to fly to Nantucket or the Vineyard, instead. Most weren't making more than a paltry million or two, chicken feed to Mr. Blankfein. Surely he must be doing something infintely more important now then they were then, but I'm not convinced.

I don't know Mr. Blankfein personally; he may well be saintly, but I'm pretty sure he was smiling, at least inwardly, when he referred to doing "God's work." After all, is it really God's work to sell complex financial instruments even to sophisticated investors and then work against them? It's okay to hedge against losses, but to use your company's money to work aggressively to make money on your customer's losses is a clear conflict of interest, a big N0-N0 on Wall Street.

No wonder average Americans are so angry. They are just beginning to realize, as am I, that Caveat Emptor applies to them far beyond what they thought was the case. They know they've been plundered by credit card companies who bought and paid for special privileges to do so and now they see that their "friend at the Chase" has been actively gouging them, too. So many laws and breaks have been given to businesses of all sizes, supposedly to encourage commerce, that it's hard to keep track of all the small nicks and scratches that plague Joe Sixpack and what's left of the middle class. Households need full time controllers these days just to see that each family gets what it's billed for, that services are performed/turned off when they are supposed to, that rebates and bonus points actually materialize, and so on. "It's a jungle out there," as one famous housewife allegedly remarked to her muscle bound husband. It's also very dangerous when the public becomes as bitter, cynical and volatile as it is today, not only about banks and Wall Street, but almost all our other institutions: the church with it's deviant priests and weeping evangelists (not to mention crackpots like Pat Robertson), congressmen and senators behaving disgracefully, sports stars cheating, the Supreme Court, the Red Cross, you name it. How easily we could desend from here into the unthinkable. No wonder blowhard talk show hosts are actually running the GOP. And people are angry when a decent leader tries even to begin to transform things. What a mess, dear Brutus!

H1N1600 Virus

The H1N1600 virus is found in the vicinity of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, ground zero for political power in the USA and the western world. This disease is more deadly than the bite of a pit viper. Symptoms include a fondness for motorcades, 21 gun salutes and the politics of personal destruction. There is no cure as yet.

It is because of this terrible affliction that a U.S. senator will publicly pray for the death or disability of a colleague so he will be unable to vote, say, for the reform of healthcare system in America or a US congressman will shout "You lie." at the president of the United Staes, as he addresses a joint session of congress. It is this sickness that is causing others to question the actual effectiveness of the American Constitution, that magnificent document that represents a milestone in the efforts of humans to govern themselves.

Aside from the monumental discourtesy and poisonous partisanship, what concerns me is that these leaders of the minority party may actually believe what they are saying! Does the H1N1600 virus also afflict the brain and memory? Were these people not aware of George W. Bush's fiscal profligacy? Did they not vote for 2 wars that were largely unfunded? Did they not participate happily in an historic 3 hour vote on a very costly extension of Medicare, so as to give party leaders extra time to pressure affirmative votes from Republican colleagues? Their hypocrisy today is on a Grand Old Party scale, surely, but there is an enormous difference between then and now.

Today we are just beginning to recover from a disastrous, worldwide recession for which the minority party cannot escape major responsibility. The surplus Mr. Bush inherited is gone. Americans have lost trillions. Pesident Obama is just as much a war time president today as President Bush was then, yet the Republicans are currently refusing to participate in governing the nation in virtually any way. They have been playing the most cynical and negative game possible in the cause of pure politics amd aimed at the destruction of the current occupant of the Oval Office. They want only to regain power so they can return to alienating the world, passing more tax breaks for the rich and pretending that global warming is a fiction of some fractious British scientists. Is there any cause, in a time of war and genuine crisis that could bring them to some kind of adult, responsible participation in government? Maybe a hostile invasion of aliens? Maybe not.Is it time to dust off the nuclear option?