The Devil Made Me Do It

 

African American comedian Flip Wilson’s tv show aired in the early 1970s. We laughed as Wilson’s characters shirked personal responsibility with the excuse, “The devil made me do it.”

As mindful, Constitutional patriots know, self-governance is reliant upon choosing orderly self-restrain. Buried among the lofty ideals the nation aspired to, is the assumption that free people would act reasonably.

“Please allow me to introduce myself; I'm a man of wealth and taste” (The Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil). 

Historically, Conservatives advocated smaller government. President Reagan said the most terrifying words were, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Senator Rand Paul claimed, “I want a government so small I can hardly see it.” At the heart of this philosophy is the idea that one is freer under smaller government. Berlin called this ‘negative liberty.’

At the heart of Conservative politics is the idea that if we accept our individual responsibility we’ll need fewer laws curtailing bad behavior and, thereby, have smaller government, and thus more individual freedom.

“Pleased to meet you, Hope you guess my name. What’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.”

But like fiscal responsibility, individual responsibility seems to have gotten lost in post-Reagan America.

Despite resigning from office, Unicameral Senator Grone now claims that although he surreptitiously took photos of a female staffer under his direct supervision “I did nothing wrong…” “I’m not gonna let the Democrats attack me and embarrass my family and my wife.” Reading this, I heard Wilson’s character Geraldine claim, “The devil made me do it.”

Testifying before the January 6th Committee, White House aide Sarah Matthews explained the moments that lead to her resignation. Pointing towards the televised insurrection, Matthews argued for the President to intercede. “A colleague suggested that the president shouldn't condemn the violence because it would be ‘handing a win’ to the media…”It’s wasn’t about doing the right thing: the devil made me do it.

In the groping accusations against Charles Herbster, his lawyer, “… pointed out that if it did (happen), the incident would have only lasted seconds, which he argued was not worthy of a two-day deposition.” Ah, the devil made me do it.

“I shouted out, ‘Who Killed the Kennedy’s’ when after all, it was you and me.” 

When President Clinton was dealing with fallout from his liaisons with an office intern, liberal friends rushed to his defense. A prominent local Democrat wondered aloud, “I don’t understand the fuss; it was only (oral sex).”

Too often office seeking officials act just like us. The difference is they’ve asked to lead us. Officials live in a fish bowl of scrutiny, distrust, and hyper-partisan paranoia. The public cheers as gotcha-media pushes them off the pedestal of public trust and then bemoan they can’t be trusted. Conveniently, amnesia creeps in when “their team” acts the same way.

Perhaps the devil makes us do it? 

If the law is broken, regardless of party affiliation, officials need to be held accountable.

But elected officials should be held to a higher standard of behavior. It’s not about laws as much as about doing the right thing under pressure.

 “Just as every cop is a criminal. And all the sinners saints. As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer, cause I’m in need of some restraint.”

Policy ebbs and flows, character is more important than policy. Simply NOT breaking a law is too low a standard. Although one may have a right to do something, it does not mean it is the right thing to do. Accountability and personal responsibility need to come back into style.

Inevitably, like me and you, everyone will stumble. How we respond defines our character.

While praying with Clinton during his struggles, Jesse Jackson fathered a child out of wedlock. "I fully accept responsibility and I am truly sorry for my actions," Jackson said. "This is no time for evasions, denials or alibis. No doubt, many close friends and supporters will be disappointed in me. I ask for their forgiveness, understanding and prayers."

 “So if you meet me, have some courtesy, Have some sympathy, and some taste. Use all your well-learned politesse…Or I'll lay your soul to waste.”

North Omaha, a Cardboard Box, and the celebrity...

It’s probably been two decades now, but for one reason or another; three of us started an infrequent lunch club. It probably began at some civic function when someone said, “We should go to lunch sometime” and I said, “I’ll put it together.”

Our mission was to find out-of-the-way restaurants for lunch. Our group consisted of Curt the architect, Ann the politician, and me. We’d been doing the lunch and talk-thing for a while. If someone couldn’t make it, the other two would go. This particular tale revolves around a North Omaha joint called E.P.’s Soul Bowl.

The Soul Bowl was located at 24th and Grant Streets.

Curt and I took off on our culinary adventure for some authentic soul food. When we spied our destination we parked along the curb, or kerb for our English friends. When we walked into the restaurant, there was no sitting area. Instead it was a 16’ square. There was a traditional counter all the way around the three sides of the area. On top of the counter was fencing from counter-top to ceiling. “Looks like its takeout only” we said with a laugh. I asked the woman behind the counter if there was anywhere to sit down and eat.

“You can sit in the field next door. I’ll give you a couple of folding chairs.”

We quickly ordered our fried catfish, greens, and a strawberry soda. Grabbing the chairs we went out to enjoy the spring sunshine.

Curt and I sat down and began talking. Pretty quickly the gal behind the counter came out with a big cardboard box. “You can use it for a table.” We hadn't reached the grumpy old man phase in our lives yet so, okay!

There we sat, in the grassy field on north 24th street; two folding chairs, a really big cardboard box, and the sort of sunshine and low humidity that lasts only a few weeks in the Midwest. It was a glorious day: what could go wrong?

Well, we were in a low socio-economic area and didn't exactly fit in. Having grown up on 24th & Kansas Avenue, it wasn't much of an issue. But I'd be lying if I said the absurdity of the situation never crossed my mind.

A huge black car slowly passed by on 24th street. It paused and then continued slowly down the road. “Hmmm,” I thought.

The car slowed even more and turned slowly into an alley and circled back, parking in our field.

“Hmmm, not good” I thought. Very slowly a massive African-American man got out of the car. Curt and I watched the man as he opened the back door. Abrownish man dressed like someone caught between a Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keefe painting, bedecked in silver and turquoise got out of the car. He paused to help a very attractive woman get out of the car.

“What in the world? This is pretty strange.”

“Dude thinks he’s Doc Severinson” said Curt.

I sssshed Curt.

Slowly a bit smile emerged from under Curt's busy mustache. He began to laugh.

“Man, be cool.”

“It is Doc Severinson” said Curt.

"What? No way.”

“Go see”

As the threesome walked into the Soul Bowl, I followed them and introduced myself. Sure enough, it was Doc Severinson (the noted bandleader for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show). Pleasantry's were exchanged.

“Nice to meet you. What are you doing in town?” I asked. He was in town playin with the Symphony.”

Come to find out, when Doc traveled, he liked to get out of the celebrity bubble and do his own version of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, long before it became a show.

Satisfied with the brief celebrity encounter, Curt and I returned to our box and folding chairs in the sunny field to wait for lunch. Pretty soon the catfish arrived. The restaurant-woman brought out a bottle of hot sauce. “Good thinking” I thought.

Except, she didn’t bring the sauce for us.

 Behind her came Doc and his entourage, each with a folding chair. And that was how Curt and I ate soul food on a cardboard box table one sunny spring afternoon in a north Omaha grass field with one of tv’s most famous trumpet players.

 (For younger readers, insert the name Questlove, drummer for The Roots, and producer of the film A Great Day in Harlem, who appears on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, and you'll understand the story better).

 

Winning at all costs has made a loser out of you & me

 Play the video as you read the Editorial

                                                     Bob Seger, Beautiful Loser 

As Americans begin to grasp the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturning Roe v Wade, now is a good time to discuss making laws through "venue shopping."

While all three branches of government have ways to create laws and enforced policies, the traditional method is passing legislation through both congressional houses and being signed into law by the President.

Our form of government was designed to be slow and dependent upon informed political discourse. Civil debate forces compromise and moderation. When the courts create law through decree, the parties are not forced to work together: thus becoming increasingly extreme. Many mistakenly believe America is a (direct) democracy. Our model of self-governance is a Constitutional Republic; also known as an indirect democracy.

He wants to dream like a young man. With the wisdom of an old man. (Beautiful Loser, Bob Seger)

Proposals to eliminate the mechanisms that force moderation, such as lowering the vote for Federal judges to 51, eliminating the filibuster, or ending the Electoral College are pernicious proposals in an era of dysfunctional hyper-partisanship.

In the traditional method of creating laws, up to 536 elected officials are involved (436 Congress, 100 Senators, and the President).

As Americans gained greater access to the courts, 'venue shopping' became an easier method to change or create laws. This was helpful during the civil rights era when, often, Southern States skirted Federal laws.

He wants his home and security. He wants to live like a sailor at sea.

Venue shopping is choosing to pursue or instigate a case in a Federal Court District where the plaintiff will likely lose. This allows those bringing the suit to appeal to SCOTUS.

An example most are familiar with is the landmark civil rights case, Brown v The Board of Education. In this example, the plaintiff, the NAACP, and their attorney Thurgood Marshall wanted to end segregation. The previous policy, known as 'separate but equal' was decreed in the case Plessey v Ferguson. By losing initially, Marshall appealed the case to the Supreme Court. In this venue, Marshall needed only five judges to agree with his argument.

While reasonable Americans applaud the outcome in Brown, as we are seeing with Roe, although a judicial verdict has the effect of law, court precedence can be overturned by subsequent decisions. What was achieved by court decisions can be easily lost by a court decision. 

Polling indicates voters are fed up with bickering and acrimony.

Today, as parties become ideologically extreme the intended system of forced compromise and civil debate, resulting in moderation, declines.  We want to recognize that more direct democracy will not, over the long term, produce better governance or increased rights. Instead, our nation swings from one extreme to the other, then back again.

Beautiful loser. Where you gonna fall? When you realize, you just can't have it all

Ultimately, the legislative system needs to function as prescribed in the Constitution and pass laws. This cannot happen as long as voters encourage and reward partisan division, demonize the opposition, and tolerate half-truths and lies. 

He's your oldest and your best friend. If you need him, he'll be there again. He'll never make any enemies…He'll always ask, he'll always say please

In the end, voters need to choose between supporting candidates who pursue good governance, less polarization, and moderation. Or we could continue down a path that seemingly frustrates most, elevates distrust, and gives platforms to office-seekers who increasingly seem, according to Senator Romney, moronic.

One path leads back to good governance, greater trust, moderation, stability, and a healthy pluralism: the other leads to instability, the loss of individual rights, fiscal crisis, and the weakening of America. 

Winning at all costs has made a loser out of you and me.

Beautiful loser. Never take it all. 'Cause it's easier. And faster when you fall

The Low Hanging Fruit of Popular Consensus

Turn on the video as you read the article.

                                      The Kinks, Give the People What They Want

Recent reports indicate that 8,600 voters mobilized by joining the GOP to vote in the Nebraska Republican Primary. At the same time, it appears the Supreme Court will favor State’s right over individual rights by ceding abortion laws to the individual states.  The repercussions of taking rights away from 51% of the population will be up close and very personal.

Give the people what they want. The more they get, the more they need. And every time they get harder and harder to please (The Kinks).

In a Dec ’21 poll, Schoen Cooperman Research found 85% of Americans expressed concern about political extremism. While 3 in 4 respondents report they will “absolutely” vote in the next Midterm, 80% think officials from both parties need to work together. In his book on modern American authoritarianism, Jonathan Greenblatt finds Americans are waking up to the fragility of self-governance. He found that Republicans and Democrats are increasingly fed-up with political extremism.

What issues do we generally agree on? A 2019 Heritage Foundation poll reports 69% consider “cost, access, and choice” to healthcare a “top priority.”

A poll from Harvard’s Carr Center found that Americans agree on five “rights beyond the Constitution,”

• Clean air and water, 93%
• Protection of personal data, 93%
• Quality education, 92%
• Affordable healthcare, 89%,
• Jobs, 85%

Give 'em lots of sex and perversion. Give 'em lots of violence, and plenty to hate.

PEW Research found 70% are concerned about China including human rights violations. The same poll found 77% want government to focus on alternative energy (90% Ds, 62% Rs).

A well placed Republican pollster told me Nebraska’s 2d District voters, over numerous polls, support of legal citizenship for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is in the “high 70 percentiles.”

In his State of the Union address, President Biden called for greater unity noting that the majority of American support DACA. Addressing this nonpartisan issue could bridge political divides in Washington.

Congressman Bacon voted for DACA citizenship twice. “...we cannot continue to leave our DACA youth… in ‘no man’s land.' I believe we can be compassionate to these individuals and responsible for the security of our borders at the same time. Congress needs to be able to compromise and improve our border security… I have voted multiple times for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform..." (10/15/20).

Senator Tony Vargas stated, “Locally, the DACA program has helped over 3,000 young, hardworking Nebraskans contribute to and care for their communities, continue their education and help fuel our state’s economy. I will continue to stand in support of DACA, our young people, and immigrant families…” (6/24/20).

Make sure it's prime time and on Saturday night. Give the people what they want

According to the US Census Bureau (11/21), Mexico, Canada, and China are our top trade partners (in that order). While most DACA recipients come from Mexico, 20% come from nearly every nation including Israel, Mongolia, Ireland, and Italy.

As voters move towards common ground, nearly 8 in 10 Second District voters support citizenship for DACA. With that fact in mind, I call upon our Congressional candidates to pluck the low hanging fruit of popular consensus and pledge to submit legislation within 12 months of being elected to the U.S. Congress, calling for unconditional citizenship for DACA.

A vast majority of voters from both sides of the aisle acknowledge that existing immigration laws no longer sufficiently address the nation’s needs and concerns. Reports indicated 60,000 job vacancies in Nebraska. Nearly every business in our metroplex needs workers. Broken supply chains have exacerbated shortages. As White and Black birthrates continue to drop, retiring Boomers are not being replaced. Our choices are to replace jobs with technology, downsize the economy, and/or fix immigration laws.

I encourage our next Congressional candidates to work to develop a comprehensive plan for viable legal immigration legislation. Doing this benefits our economy including Nebraska employers and consumers, shores up supply chains, increases tax bases, lessens political division, and displays proactive care and concerns for the future of our community, our nation, and, importantly, our fellow man.

You gotta give the people what they want

Turn on the Video and then read the essay...

                           Paul McCartney & Wings, Listen to What the Man Said

When it comes to Hunter Biden or any other citizen, if someone has broken the law, or impinged upon a moral norm, they should be held accountable. Character is important and the importance of individual behavior cannot be understated. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan noted, when we tolerate or turn a blind eye towards deviant behavior, we get more of it (Defining Deviancy Down).  If the American people want to return to a more moral, law-abiding country, they must become more judgmental and willing to define publicly the behaviors which are, and which are not normatively acceptable.

One can reasonably wonder why a party that turned a blind eye for four years is suddenly so interested in the actions of President Biden’s son. The answer is simple: politics.

    Oh yes, indeed we know, That people will find a way to go. No matter what the man said (Paul McCartney)

At the heart of the attention being given to Hunter Biden by conservative media and its sycophantic audience is an attempt to tie President Biden into a narrative of “family corruption.” This all too apparent move towards trying Biden in the court of public opinion is a rather stilted attempt to make a moral equivalency argument between the behavior of Donald Trump and his ilk, and those of Joe Biden.

Are the two men morally equivalent?

Americans love nothing more than to criticize their President. President Truman, arguably the 20^th Century's most successful President stated, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” In other words, as it pertains to the Modern GOP and its attempt to draw a moral equivalency, we probably first need to recognize this for what it is: bare-knuckled politics, a knife fight in a phone booth.

    So don't you listen to what the man said.

Second, we want to look beyond the carefully crafted partisan talking points by asking the rather obvious question: what are the behaviors that are, or are not acceptable, coming out of the Oval Office?

Should we expect a President’s behavior to transcend the standards set for the rest of us? Obviously, the answer is yes.

Since the early 1940s, the American President has had the most powerful bully pulpit in the world. What an American President says, what they do, and how they interact signal American intent to the rest of the world. It is a signal indicative of a nation that political conservatives will argue is a beacon of freedom emanating from a shining city on the hill broadcasting American Exceptionalism throughout the globe.

    Soldier boy kisses girl. Leaves behind a tragic world.

When Trump lost the popular election in 2020, an election which has been repeatedly upheld by the American court system, as well as all 50 states, and affirmed by Constitutional standards in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, members of the Modern GOP, as opposed to traditional and more reasonable Republicans, continue to attack the very foundation of American self-governance by undermining our trust and faith in elections. There is no greater assault on our self-governance model than the corrosive effects of destroying the institutions on which our nation stands. 

    The wonder of it all, baby
    The wonder of it all, baby

In the end, Hunter Biden should and needs to be held accountable to the laws of our nation. However, this issue, as a national story, packaged with political aplomb, is merely a cascade of repeated mantras that gives feel good harbor to a rudderless political movement:  a wishful means to an end in which Modern Republicans hope to wash away and divert attention from the sin of excusing the inexcusable.

Don't Be Cruel (to a Heart that's True)

Play the video as you read the article

                “For every complex problem there is a clear and simple solution.

 And it is always wrong“ H.L. Menken

There is perhaps no more difficult political subject than transgender sexuality: especially when it comes to young children. Recent legislation in Iowa, Utah, Florida, Indiana, & Texas and references to the “transgender agenda” by Nebraska gubernatorial candidates Jim Pillen and Chuck Herbster make the topic worth examination.

Have you noticed competing campaigns focus on similar issues? Politicians poll issues to identify topics that stimulate the base and build voting blocs. Through campaign ads, we can infer conservative voters are focused on inflation, the complexities of pluralism, and expanding rights.

I met her in a club down in old Soho where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca Cola (The Kinks, Lola)

At the heart of our model of self-governance are free speech and civic debate. I remind students their grandparents founded modern-day rights movements. It is through discussions that the language and norms develop for society to operate.

While slow and often painful, the arc of moral justice has progressed.

At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 1 in 20 white males could vote (5%). It took 80 years for all white men to get the vote. Passed after the Civil War, the 15th Amendment failed to assure black men voting rights. Omaha’s trial of Standing Bear in 1879 recognized some rights for Native Americans.

Scholars peg the late 19th Century as the era when the Irish became “white.” In 1920, the 19th Amendment recognized women’s right to vote. And despite Henry Cabot Lodge’s blistering speech in 1896, over the 20th Century, Eastern European and Mediterranean Roman Catholics were accepted into the national tapestry.

In 1948 Asian-American rights were expanded under the 14th Amendment. And after 100 years of violent oppression, The Voter Rights Act (1965) afforded voting rights to Blacks. Finally, in 2015 the Supreme Court assured marriage equality nationwide.

Well I'm not the world's most passionate guy but when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lola

There are two aspects of the so-called Transgender Agenda I want to examine. 

Politics: Some claim the Transgender Agenda is driven by “woke Marxists.“ The recent flurry of legislation and campaign ads signals that many Americans grapple with transgenderism. While Polls indicate Americans are largely supportive of LBGTQ+ rights, political campaigns focus on activists whose views are louder and less moderate. Consequently, partisan discussions over-serve far-left and far-right views in order to stir up anxiety and motivate voter opposition.

While this may make good politics: its divisive governance.

Girls will be boys and boys will be girls. It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola

People: As we cradle our babies, intentionally or not, parents dream of that child’s future. Some friends had a child with severe autism. The mother described it as a process of learning, mourning, and readjusting. Despite the unexpected challenge that autism brought her family, their love never failed but their life plans changed.

A mother shared the challenges of psychologically mourning the loss of a daughter while learning to love her transgender son. I knew a family whose son, from a very early age, dressed in his mother’s clothes. I don’t recall them offering me Karl Marx’s book Das Kapital, but I witnessed their soul searching when life threw them a curveball.

Admittedly, trans-sexuality is vexing. The National Institute of Health estimates less than ½ of 1% are transgender. Politicizing already challenging lives for votes seems unnecessary. Why be cruel when the issue calls for compassion? This issue is hard but only a bully punches down.  

Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man. But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man. And so is Lola

Riding the Train with Freddie Hubbard

 

Although not as well known as Miles Davis, among jazz fans, trumpeter player Freddie Hubbard is a well known and highly respected player. He'd apprenticed his way up the jazz hierarchy playing with fellow Indianan's Monk and Wes Montgomery as a teenager. His early career included stints with Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, J.J. Johnson, and the legendary John Coltrane. Recording with the prestigious Blue Note Records, Hubbard's debut solo album included McCoy Tyner. 

In 1978, as a college freshman, I attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie. For Thanksgiving break, I decided to take the train from Laramie to Denver to Omaha. I'd ridden trains throughout England and Scotland when I was 16 so I was looking forward to my first extended American train trip.

 I walked the mile from campus to the train station downtown. As one might expect in late November, it was snowing fiercely. Upon arrival, there were other passengers in the waiting room. What made them unique in this setting is six of my fellow passengers were black and one was a white fellow. They were clearly traveling together. I sat down and soon enough a conversation broke out. As we talked I realized this was Freddie Hubbard's band - who'd played the night before. Like me, they were taking the train to Denver.

 The white guy was from Sioux City and had gotten hooked up with Freddie's band while he was running sound for Herbie Hancock. He was the road manager/ sound guy. "Of course I knew Tommy Bolin" he said. That was all it took to get my complete attention. 

While we sat in the station he told me stories of Tommy from their days in Iowa. He shared a conversation he'd had with one of Tommy crew regarding Bolin's death in Miami a few years earlier. Again and again, he repeated the question he posed to the crew member, "But why didn't you call an ambulance?" For those that perhaps don’t know, Bolin replaced Joel Walsh in the James Gang and then moved on to replace Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple. After recording two studio albums, Private Eyes and Teaser, at London’s Trident Studio, Bolin died from a drug overdose in July 1976. He’d been struggling with drugs but was in Miami opening for Jeff Beck.

 As we boarded the train, they'd reserved a couple of private rooms on the train rather than sitting in general seating. I was invited to join them. Soon enough the train pulled out of the station on what was a chilly and snowy November day.

 Soon enough the train began to meander through the mountainous terrain of the Medicine Bow and Routt National Forest region. About 20 minutes into our trip there was a knock at the door. It was Freddie. Clearly, he'd been scouting out the train and he said to the band, and their soundman, "Let's jam!"

The band made its way to the cocktail car which, at about 8 a.m. on a Wednesday, was empty. Inside the car was a broken-down piano. The band sat down and soon enough Freddie put the horn to his lips. The drummer used his sticks against a desk-like fixture like you probably sat at in High School or Junior High. The piano player improvised around the broken piano keys. I was close enough that I could have reached out and touched the piano keyboard if I’d wanted to. As he played, a couple of porters wandered in, did a double-take, and decided to hang around for the impromptu concert.

As the train rose up hills and down into valleys, snow began to fall, and soon enough the pine trees were covered in fresh snow. Being one of three guests sitting in on the practice, Freddie would play, make eye contact, and smile at what few audience members he could. The private concert was a walkthrough of the band's brand new album, Super Blue. The album would eventually rise to #6 on the Billboard Jazz charts (I had to look that up). As the band played, the large train windows behind them depicted heavy snow falling across a moving mountain landscape. It was better than one could ever have imagined.

Eventually, we got into Denver. As we left the train Freddie gave me his home phone number and said, "If you're ever in Hawaii, give me a call." I never made it to Hawaii but the ride from Laramie to Denver was an once-in-a-lifetime experience.