What pride should dwell in this, our legacy?

 

                                                                (Note: Watch Paul and George move to look over John's shoulders)

At this time of upheaval and change, I’ve been thinking about events that shaped modern America. Psychologist Erik Erickson writes the 8th Life Cycle is to reflect on one’s legacy.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help in any way (The Beatles, Help).

My awareness began with Kennedy’s assassination. Whether it’s remembered or conceived, my earliest memory is JFK’s funeral.

The bullet threads the 1960s including the deaths of Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, four Kent State students, and 58,220 causalities associated with the Vietnam Conflict.[1] Despite living in the shining city on the hill, violent death accompanied our youth.

As Vietnam ended, the corruption of Richard Nixon and Watergate watered the seeds of cynicism and mistrust toward government and each other. We stumbled from Ford to Carter amid malaise and gas lines towards a new day in America.

But now these days are gone I'm not so self-assured.

In 1980 Beatle John Lennon was murdered. We couldn’t imagine that the Dreamer had died. Our dreams of a better world withered.

Although Iran Contra exacerbated declining trust, the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and democracy expanded in Eastern Europe. For a while, we “danced on the wall.”

The late 80s contrasted the collective hopes of Live Aid, Farm Aid, and starting families; against the devastation of crack cocaine, gangs, and AIDS.

Meanwhile, supermarket tabloids out- sold newspapers and created the conspiracy industry. Society was warped by celebrity and reality tv including a White Bronco, Kardashians, televised preachers, and Jonestown. We gasped as credible reports of pedophilia were lodged against Michael Jackson, myriads of Catholic Priests, Olympic and football physicians, and the Franklin Credit Union investigation.

Then came cable’s 24/7 news cycle and the pithlessness of ‘gotcha politics.’

I was at the Ranch Bowl when images from Paris depicted a mangled Mercedes and death of a Princess. For a while, hope turned to tragedy.  

On September 11th the nation was instantaneously transformed and once again we wept. The nation quivered between anger and fear as the War on Terror took American troops to Afghanistan, Iraq, and eventually Pakistan.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways.

Somehow, it seemed, through the fault of no one in particular, we changed. The rapid pace of technology brought out the best and worst of us. Favor towards marriage equality moved quickly while pluralism turned some towards bitterness and resentment.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down.

On January 6th, President Trump’s failed coup defined him, his followers, and national politics. The world looked on in horror as Americans held their breath. Sandwiched between ideological divides, everything became political. Otherwise mundane medical issues such as masks and vaccines were woven into shadowy caverns of conspiracies fed by manipulative news outlets, feckless blogs, and social media.

My independence seems to vanish in the haze.

All the while our kids grew up, little league games gave way to graduations and diapers. Full houses downsized to empty nests and the America Dream teetered on nightmares of division, unfettered anger, entitlement, and identity politics. And yet we prayed for our kids and pondered the society we’ll bequeath them.

What is our legacy?

Are we defined by fear and anxiety, a $28 trillion dollar monument to mismanagement, and manipulated societal division? TV depicts street altercations with spilled blood and tear gas while apologists line up to excuse insurrection and lies. Strangely, we fund charities and readily assist after natural disasters while too many refuse to act toward the common good.

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

When I look for leadership, I am drawn to Dr. Fauci who side-stepped politics to  navigated a pandemic, Congresswoman Liz Cheney for punching a bully in the nose, and Senator Amy Klobuchar for articulating Midwestern common sense while others spewed deceit or complied with silence.

Help me get my feet back on the ground.

What pride should dwell in this, our legacy?

I am inspired watching a palsied student willing his uncooperative body towards class, or watching the sunrise over Iowa’s bluffs bringing the unwritten day. Friends and colleagues offer kindness while my wife steadies our home. But my greatest hope comes from our children and students who remain nonplussed by American pluralism.

I know that I just need you like I've never done before. Won't you please, please help me?

---

[1] https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics

 

OWH December 2021 B                                                                      Rick Galusha

Senator Fisher’s recent Op-Ed, opined that seating more than nine judges on the Supreme Court places the blame squarely on President Biden. I agree that stuffing the court is a bad idea. However, it did not happen in a vacuum. Both parties have ‘dirty hands’ in undermining our trust.

For generations, our system of self-governance relied on accepted traditions and the institutions they safe-guarded. The Senate was once the legislative chamber of decorum and well-mannered jousting of ideas. Between Watergate and the modern era, this faded into rank partisanship and succumbed to the strategy of “no.”

Gallup reports trust in institutions has been steadily falling. I recall the pre-political-team era of getting things done, policies addressing shared long-term interests, trusting elected officials to do the right thing over the politically advantageous thing, and, regardless of political affiliation, condemning bad behavior and lying.

In the Federalist Papers (1787) James Madison ponders that the legislative branch may be too powerful, thus overshadowing the executive branch. As the world became smaller and more complex in the late 20th Century, the Presidency became more powerful while the legislature faded. After the Constitutional debauchery of Watergate, the legislative branch made overtures to rebalancing power with the White House.

And the men who spurred us on, sit in judgment of all wrong. They decide and the shotgun sings the song.

However, instead of living within the constraints of rules and traditions, officials moved the goalposts by changing the rules and traditions to assure short-term victories over long-term good governance. Among these bad ideas include the reckless spending of MMT, voter ID, ending the Electoral College, and McConnell’s ideological imbalance on the Supreme Court.

In 2013 Harry Reid (D) lowered the vote threshold for Federal judges in the Senate from 60 to 51. The traditional threshold of 60 meant that judges would have to secure votes from the opposing party. Since Senate majorities rarely achieve 60 sitting Senators, it meant that judges tended towards moderation.

We'll be fighting in the streets, with our children at our feet. And the morals that they worship will be gone.

In order to balance power, governing pits interest against interest. While changing the rules helped Reid’s effort to place Obama’s judges, by lowering passage from 60 to 51, Reid’s short-term gain opened the door for the ideological imbalance we see on today’s Supreme Court.

Take a bow for the new revolution.

Predictably, Republicans flipped the rhetoric of convenience, not once but twice, by stalling Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, and then disingenuously placing three Trump nominees on the Court. No longer does the ideology of the Supreme Court’s justices exist within a narrow range of partisan views. And since judges sit for life, it is a long-term imbalance.

Students of the Constitution, Federalist Papers, or Aristotle know, a long-term imbalance is tyranny.

Smile and grin at the change all around, Then I'll get on my knees and pray…We don't get fooled again.

The moves by Reid and McConnell were good short-term politics but inflicted long-term damage. Eventually, the other party comes into power and, consequently, governance takes a seat on the teeter-totter of hyper-partisanship as “the new boss” undoes the policies of their opposition.

Secondly, the Court has always been modestly partisan. The tradition of compromising on placing judges prevented the Court from becoming politicized. As such, we trusted that over time the courts would balance and be neutral actors addressing complex issues with an even hand.

Meet the new boss: same as the old boss.

Time was when elected officials learned that doing the right thing mattered; LBJ changed his spots and signed the Civil Rights of 1964 and the Voter Rights Act of 1965, George Bush raised taxes, Truman integrated the troops, Reagan tippled with O’Neil, and Liz Cheney stood tall when the nation needed her courage.

In an era defined by mistrust and rewarding noncompromising, traditional governance is being replaced by self-serving ideologues that run roughshod over the rights and interests of you and me. Increasingly, the many are all held hostage by the few.

Not because their ideas are better but because they are willing to damage the nation and cripple democratic principles such as the smooth transition of power or free & fair elections.

No wonder Americans’ willingness to trust others and our institutions of self-governance continue to drop.

Rick Galusha: Finding good people and avoiding extremism (OWH 12/12/2021)

Aesop tells the tale of a good-natured frog giving a scorpion a ride across a creek on the frog’s back. Despite assurances, true to his nature, the scorpion stings the frog midway, causing both to die. It’s an instructive fable, teaching we are each subject to our true nature.

I think of Nebraska voters as prairie populists. Generally, we like elected officials who go to Washington, keep a low profile, stay out of the news, defy hyperpartisanship and don’t make comments that feed into negative stereotypes.

“When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this.” — Van Morrison.

In a political landscape that rewards outlandish commentary and strict adherence to party litmus tests, stoicism goes unrewarded at election time.

For a very long time, Omaha’s metroplex has been blessed with emotionally stable, thoughtful, good candidates.

As a kid growing up, we all knew that the son of newscaster Lee Terry lived in the neighborhood. He was a goofy, but friendly enough, kid living in a long shadow. Soon enough, he was our congressman. Lee was middle-class, college-educated, spoke like the rest of us, loved Nebraska football, and had the audacity to wear a leather Disney jacket (long story). He was and is one of my oldest friends.

It was Lee who told me what a good person Kara Eastman is. As I got to know Kara a bit more, true to form, she was kind, thoughtful, engaging and sincere — a delightful person.

As the founding president of the Old Market Business Association, I got to know Unicameral Sen. Brad Ashford when he revived Nebraska Clothing Company in the Old Market. He was similarly thoughtful, informed, well-connected and has since been my friend.

I don’t know, I just like good people without worrying about their political affiliations. And, when you’re not watching cable news, you probably do too.

“When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit, I must remember there’ll be days like this.”

Of 435 congressional districts, political scientist Morris Fiorina notes that fewer than 40 (8%) flip from one party to the other. Arguably, Nebraska’s 2nd District is the most moderate and flippable congressional district in the nation.

When Don Bacon retired from the Air Force, he taught at Bellevue University. Before Don came to Bellevue, I called another kid from the old neighborhood, Maj. Gen. Rick Evans. Ricky, as Lee calls him (another funny story), gave Don high marks.

I got to know Don a bit and observed as he honed military-political skills into electability. He was, and is, someone who places high value on faith, family, patriotism and morality. His genuine kindness requires navigating between being true to his nature and the complex demands of modern politics.

“When everyone is up front and they’re not playing tricks. When you don’t have no freeloaders out to get their kicks.”

I understood Bacon’s dilemma but, like many, wanted to see more distance between our congressman and the zaniness of the radicalized right and the lies of Mr. Trump.

Like the good-natured frog, Bacon got stung by a venom-filled scorpion.

“When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss, mama told me there’ll be days like this.”

I was not surprised when the radicalized right began attacking Bacon, and Trump publicly called for a primary challenger. But I did not expect the governor’s public defense of Bacon.

Will it be a career-ending sting? Voters will make that decision.

But what’s the larger lesson?

We know empirically that when one strictly congregates with like-minded ideologues, they will increasingly spin further away from median voter’s views by becoming increasingly ideologically extreme in ideas and rhetoric. In 2008 — and again in 2020 — Omaha’s highly moderate 2nd District voted a split ticket by casting votes for a Democratic president and a Republican congressman.

“When people understand what I mean, there’ll be days like this. When you ring out the changes of how everything is. Mama told me there’ll be days like this.”

Calling moderates RINOs and DINOs is all fun and games until, as our friendly frog learned, the thought police knock on your door. History has demonstrated time and again, extremism in defense of lies, misinformation, and tyranny is no virtue. In fact, it’s downright deplorable.