Month: December 2018

Christmas is over, but the warm glow remains. Seeing family and friends, eating and drinking, going to church, and those presents!

Yes, those presents. I am pretty sure that nothing I gave and nothing I received was made in this country. Maybe some candy and some books, but that’s about it.

I wish I could go into a store or an online retail site and see “MADE IN THE USA” on the box or on the label or in the item description. I would gladly pay more for the privilege of buying something that my neighbor down the street or across the country has made. I know that there are artists and artisans and craftspeople in this country making all sorts of wonderful things, but how about those day-to-day items that we all need throughout the year?

When I was growing up, it was very difficult to find something that was not made in this country. Now it is very difficult to find something that is. All we do is resell what others have made.

Surely this has to bother someone other than myself?

And take a close look at what we are buying. So many of the products we import are poorly constructed and likely to end up in a landfill within a few years once they’ve stopped working or have broken just from normal use. We accept the inferior just to save a few bucks, and then end up buying the same product over and over again.

Our major retailers will explain that products MADE IN THE USA would be too expensive for most Americans to buy, particularly the lower class and much of the middle class, and that they have no choice but to import the cheapest products available just to compete and stay in business.

Unfortunately, there is some truth to this statement. When you are paid so little that you need to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, then every dollar has to be spent to obtain the greatest short-term return.

Everything in this world is interconnected. Once we begin paying everyone a livable wage regardless of what they do, then we can all afford to buy a higher quality of goods. Once we can afford a higher quality of goods, then it makes more economic sense to make the goods in this country. We need to demand the option to buy MADE IN THE USA, and we need to choose that option whenever we can. By doing so we support our neighbors and our nation, and this should be important to all of us.

We need to begin designing and manufacturing our own products to a higher standard than what we are currently willing to buy. MADE IN THE USA should once again stand for the best design and the best utility and the best quality. Otherwise what is the point?

It is true that we now live in a world economy and need to compete in some market segments with third-world countries and third-world labor costs. This does not mean that we have to do so across the board, which seems to be where we are at right now.

Much is made these days of how important it is to be a patriot, to hold on to those traditions that made this country great, to honor our veterans and first responders who have sacrificed themselves for us.

What kind of patriots are we if we choose to buy and sell inferior imported products to each other instead of buying and selling higher-quality products that we make ourselves? What traditions do we uphold when we wave American flags that are made overseas? How do we honor those who have sacrificed themselves for the rest of us when we support the economies of other countries and not our own?

As Americans we have a choice. Are we willing to accept being second-rate and repeat the feel-good statements that pass for patriotism and do nothing other than criticize one another, or are we willing to step up and work together in order to regain our greatness? Make America Great Again should not just be a slogan on a hat but a way of life.

For some reason, we Americans have this deep need to shop, to buy, to find the best deal. Like an addiction, this need has to be satisfied whenever the urge strikes. Take Thanksgiving, for example. Stuffed with turkey and gravy and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie, the urge strikes us, and we leave our family and friends for the mall or department store. When we arrive, we are greeted by clerks and managers who have had to leave their families and friends in order to serve us.

Why do we do this to ourselves and to each other?

Aren’t holidays supposed to be a celebration, a time shared with the people most important to us?

One can certainly question the humanity, or lack of the same, of those corporations whose upper managements have made the decision to force their employees to sacrifice their holidays to go to work to sell, sell, sell. I am certain that all these corporate types who made the decision to put sales and profits over the well-being of their employees are not out working but instead are home with their families and friends, or on vacation somewhere enjoying their holidays.

But really, shouldn’t we question our own humanity first? Is our need for stuff so great that we have no feelings for what we make others do to satisfy our addiction? Are we really that selfish?

There are a few services related to our collective health, safety and security that need to be provided on a 24/7 basis. Policemen, firemen, medical personnel, the military, etc. need to work or be on call at all times. This is an accepted part of their jobs, something that many of us probably take for granted.

I am sure that there are those among us who see shopping on Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year’s Day as their God-given right as Americans. Apparently spending time with family and friends is down on their priority list, or maybe shopping is considered to be a family activity, up there with going to church, just a new way to pray.

I would suggest, however, that holidays should be respected and all of us given the opportunity to enjoy them as a shared celebration.

Therefore, Congress must extend all federal holidays to all Americans, with exceptions only for the services mentioned above. All businesses must remain closed so that their employees can enjoy their holidays. In addition, normal opening times must be followed on the day after a holiday. No more of this 12:01 am Black Friday nonsense.

This should be Federal law. The “Holiday Protection Act” or something like that.

Moreover, in the interest of religious fairness, if the Christians can have Christmas designated as a Federal holiday, then the Jews,the Muslims, and the Hindus should be able to have one of their religious days designated as Federal holidays as well. We would all benefit from more holidays anyway, and perhaps in this way we would become a bit more tolerant and understanding of each other.

We can always go shopping another day.

Listening to the eulogy for President George H. W. Bush, remembering the too-recent eulogy for John McCain, and anticipating the eulogy for President Jimmy Carter, I am struck by their shared commitment to country and the greater good. Each man in their own way sacrificed their personnel interests for us, and each paid a price for doing so. And I am sure that each would do the same again, even knowing the price to be paid.

Where are our great leaders now? All I see are loud talkers, special-interest sell-outs, clever politicians eager to appeal to our worst impulses. We’ve wasted the last 25 years mired in the politics of partisanship, meanness and pettiness, an addiction to power instead of principle. The character of the American people has been damaged by this political environment. One only has to read comments posted on-line on virtually any subject to see just how base and cruel many of us have become.

We were once global leaders, champions for peace and tolerance and democracy. We helped to rebuild Japan and much of Europe, and made it possible for China to become an important part of the world. We worked to end the cold war and foster a better relationship with Russia. To a great extent, we all shared in a better life.

Where is this spirit now? We’ve abdicated our role as a global leader. We’ve lost our ability to design and manufacture even the simplest of goods, like nails and screws and toothpicks. Our middle class is shrinking while the richest of us accumulate all of our wealth. We fight among ourselves over the pettiest of issues and declare one another as the enemy. We use the harshest of language to degrade and belittle each other, and then tell ourselves how clever we are.

We have lost our way. We are under attack on all fronts, from foreign influence in our elections to theft of our intellectual property, including secrets relating to our military and weapons development. We are ignorant of our history, unable to follow the simplest of logical discussions, focused on being entertained instead of becoming enlightened. Fat, dumb, and not very happy.

So I ask again, where are our great leaders? Pelosi? Schumer? Ryan? McConnell? Trump? I don’t think so. Obama? Not so much. The Clintons? Please.

Much is being made of all these newly elected Democrats, as well as a few who failed in their election bids but impressed with the closeness of their failures. Are any of these people going to become statesmen and stateswomen? Do any of them have a vision of what we as a nation could and should become? Or are they just angry and self-impressed, self-righteous without benefit of a cause?

And the Republicans, what have they shown us? A return to a fictional past, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, an unwillingness to provide balance to President Trump’s worst impulses, contempt for those who sit across the aisle.

We all want America to be great again, but we’re not going to get there following the path of the last 25 years. Each of us needs to reset our values and preconceptions, listen more and talk less. We need to remember who we once were and decide together who we want to be.

Eulogies can tell and show us what it takes to be great, but that in and of itself means nothing. It is up to each of us to receive the message and accept the challenge. Our collective greatness starts within each one of us.

Any thoughts?

 

 

(previously published November 22, 2018)

The Latinos are coming! The Latinos are coming!

Whatever your feelings about immigration and immigrants, this country has a problem with controlling its borders while remaining the world’s beacon of freedom and opportunity. This is a difficult balancing act and easy to get wrong.

Right now, we have groups of people approaching our southern border, determined to essentially bypass our border controls and immigration laws and enter our country. Once allowed in and given a hearing date, most will probably disappear into our cities, never to be heard from again unless they commit a crime and are caught.

I am sure that some of these people would qualify for asylum status due to threats, political and otherwise, that make continued life in their homeland a virtual death sentence or something nearly as bad. The rest are basically wanting to immigrate to this country for the opportunity to have a better life for themselves and their families. We must acknowledge as well that some are leaving behind a criminal past that they fully intend to resume once they are here.

A billion people and more, from many countries around the world, would like to live in this country. We don’t have room or opportunities for all of them. Our long-term challenge is to help these other countries develop their own opportunities for their own people so that their own people don’t feel so compelled and driven to leave home and come here. My general impression is that most people would prefer to stay in their own country with family, friends, and familiar customs if they feel safe and can achieve a basic standard of living. We should be helping to make this happen.

For the short term, however, we need to address what is happening right now. We must find a way to manage these groups of oncoming people in a humane manner that prevents all but the most deserving of asylum from forcing themselves into our country.

President Trump is right to want to deny asylum to anyone who does not respect our laws and wants to enter our country where there is no border control. We need everyone to come in through the front door, not breaking into the cellar.

The courts are right that President Trump does not have the unilateral authority to change the applicable immigration laws to accomplish this. Laws are passed by the Congress, the legislative branch of the government. The executive branch has the responsibility to carry out laws once passed.

Given the pathetic state of our partisan politics, and given my healthy skepticism, it is hard for me to imagine our senators and representatives working in a non-partisan basis to change this one thing that is urgently needed right now.

However, this is what they must do. Learn to work together to change one thing at a time.

Forget about funding the wall, forget about protecting the dreamers, forget about chain migration. Return to these issues later. Right now, address the issue of how we handle people who want to claim asylum or wish to immigrate so that we protect our best interests and prevent our country from becoming a free-for-all destination for the world.

Any thoughts?