#1016 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday October 30)
Good morning,
RUNNING A COUNTRY LIKE GENERAL MOTORS
It seems that for a number of years, China has been able to expand its manufacturing base, further its interests in Africa, South America and its neighborhood in Asia by building ports and railroads, and pursue military advancements without constraint. It is able to do so without debate or discord. The government states the objective and it is policy. This is, after all, what totalitarian regimes are able to do.
Our government, one of democracy, at least for now, encourages debate and disagreement. Its processes are slow-moving, in order to preserve the status quo while issues are being resolved, and allowing time to review and consider next steps. This inherent “messiness” of democracies mean they often will have a hard time keeping pace. That said, there is more going on today than simply taking more time to make decisions and contemplate the advisability of taking the bold moves necessary to advance our national objectives. Our legislators have gone a step further by simply choosing not to address some of our more “wicked” problems. This reluctance to compromise is caused by the twin, but related, problems of maintaining ideological purity and avoiding the risk of losing reelection.
We avoid addressing the budget imbalance and the nation’s expanding deficit. We have not made meaningful inroads at controlling the stranglehold on our news, interactions, and information delivery held by the Internet titans. We aren’t meaningfully enforcing antitrust laws to serve both consumers and competition. We allow social media to erode our civility, increase anxiety among youth, and materially increase suicidal ideation, self-harm and depression. We accept schools that do not adequately teach literacy, numeracy, history, critical thinking, or citizenship.We are seemingly kicking the can down the road on the myriad issues we face, for want of taking a position that might risk reelection.
Back in the 80s, American car manufacturers similarly were caught not planning for the future. The styles, technology, and options they offered were behind the times. The products they were offering were not the products people wanted or ultimately purchased. A commentator of the time observed that the CEO of General Motors was managing for profitability in the short term, rather than the longer term. Why would the CEO choose to reinvest in innovation and prepare for the next generation of vehicles 20 years down the road? After all, short term profits might diminish for a time and the CEO’s bonus might not be as great for a while. Neither were dependent upon the company’s long-term performance. There was little accountability in the immediate term for bad decisions that were made. And no one really cared about the long-term implications, as they did not expect to be around 20 years in the future, when those bad decisions might come to roost.
Our lawmakers are behaving like the worst of corporate America. They are managing for the next quarterly earnings report rather than for the future. There is no ownership of the issues. There is no accountability. There is no sense of urgency. Most importantly, some of the decisions that would have to be made might result in some sacrifice in the short term. Most lawmakers know that they won’t be around when there is a reckoning for their having failed to address the important issues of our time. Leave it to the next guy…
JOHN KELLY
The big news last week was Donald Trump’s longest-serving Chief of Staff, Four Star General John Kelly, confirming that Trump is unfit for office and fits the definition of a fascist. He joins Mark Milley, another member of the Trump administration and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who shared the same conclusion weeks ago.
Mr. Trump responded not by denying his authoritarian ambitions, but by calling Kelly a “total degenerate,” a “LOWLIFE,” and a “bad General.” [his capitalizations]
One would think the opinions of those closest to him should matter in these closing days of the election campaign and people should take note. Yet, I fear no one really cares anymore. Instead, the election may well be decided by whether one favors trans-gender surgery for prison inmates, whether one objects to the use of various pronouns, whether one believes the lie that Joe Biden encouraged cross-border criminals to come to America in order to increase the number of Democratic voters, or whether one believes the lie that Democrats favor abortions through the ninth month of pregnancy and even after birth. Oy…
TEXTING AND TRANSLATION
I’m not sure about the rest of you, but trying to discern the meaning of some text messages is becoming increasingly more difficult. It’s bad enough that punctuation and capitalization have fallen by the wayside, to me indicating a lack of attention, intention, or interest (good morning, Jesse…). But now, with people dictating their messages, it’s becoming more difficult to ascertain the meaning of the author. Either they are not enunciating clearly or Siri is just sloppy. But messages like, “OMG God is the best of your reservation for the third before the ball” have me pondering the true meaning, much like a Talmudic scholar, for hours…
As our former supreme leader would like to say, “Covfefe!”
AND THIS…
“The future isn’t what it used to be.” —Anonymous
No, it doesn’t seem to be, does it? The future used to be a seen as a time of wonder, where everyone had their personal jetpack, most diseases were eradicated, poverty was non-existent, the Moon was a holiday spot, and we lived in a kind of Eden, where our greatest challenge was what to do with our free time. Mounting deficits, global climate change, conspiracy theories over the advances, the seeming rupture of our shared foreign policy consensus, the banning of books, and the rise of authoritarians offer a different future than we would have imagined. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, “the future times, they are a-changin’.”
But it’s not too late to do something about all of these challenges. The future is not yet written. Nothing is inevitable.
VEGAS, BABY!
I’ll be in Clark Country next week with ballot curing and election watching. It’s all hands on deck…
Have a great day (and VOTE!),
Glenn