Month: May 2020

My memories of Minnesota are innocent ones, wonderful summers spent as a child with my grandma and aunt at their house in Minneapolis, and weeks-long canoe trips as a child in the boundary waters between northern Minnesota and Canada. Later on I would spend a few weeks with my aunt in a small cabin in the Minnesota woods, with a hand pumped well in the kitchen, a root cellar under the floor, an outhouse out back, and fields of sumac from which we made sun tea and juice.

As a child, I was oblivious to the fact that Minnesota had practiced lynching 100 years ago, and that Minnesota would develop over time into a state with such an underlying fear and distrust of people of African-American descent that any white supremacist would feel right at home. One cannot get much further north in the continental United States than Duluth, Minnesota. Racism has spread everywhere like uncontrolled cancer.

Having grown up in Marquette, Michigan, a very northern city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, my exposure to people of color was limited to a few Native Americans, a few black men stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, and a few black college students studying at Northern Michigan University.

Once I transferred to the University of Michigan in downstate Michigan, I was exposed to many more black college students and the existence of a separate black subculture. Being a shy young man from a small wilderness town, I can’t say that I made too many friends in general, but I could have had a black girlfriend if I hadn’t been such a social incompetent. I don’t remember her name, but she really liked me. We all have missed opportunities, and she was one of mine.

During the course of my engineering career, I became friends with our black warehouse foreman Yves, who was from Haiti, and with a cute young college intern named Zakia, whose parents were from England. I called her my Princess of Wales, she called me her Boo. A 25 year age difference was a critical factor in our just being really good friends.

Later on, I spent much of a summer travelling to various Caribbean islands, working with the local construction crews, most of which were made up of black men. My job was to instruct them on the installation techniques for the products my company was providing for various jobs. Even though I didn’t spend enough time at most of the projects to develop good friendships, it was a great experience and reinforced my general impression that a friendly smile and a respectful manner transcends a lot of perceived differences.

It is incredibly sad to see the horrible state of affairs in Minneapolis right now that has resulted from the callus brutality of four police officers. The brutality that ended in the murder on a busy street in broad daylight of a black man already secured in handcuffs and laying helpless on the ground could not have been a more graphic display of how our racist past lies just under the skin of our society, ready to burst forth in hatred and cruelty, and how so many of us are so ready to embrace this ignorance without shame or remorse or a moment’s thought.

This illustrates in the starkest of ways why “Black Lives Matter” is such a profound plea that white people need to understand and accept how much racism still exists within our country.

There are many things that we as individuals cannot change right away. We cannot eliminate racist, sadistic, heartless police – only the police can do that. We cannot eliminate the economic and medical disparity that exists for all the poor – Black, Latino, White – only society as a whole can do that.

What we can do as white people is to make a concerted effort to develop empathy and try to understand what it has been like for people of African-American descent to live in this country as a feared and disrespected minority, generation after generation after generation.

I came to realize not too long ago that in 1957, the year I was born, there were still such things as whites-only drinking fountains, hotels, restaurants, etc. The entire civil rights movement has occurred within my lifetime. In many ways things have changed for the better, but we are a few generations away from being able to come together as one people. The old ways of thinking need to die with those who think them before we can truly be free.

In the meantime, each of us can reach across the color divide and make personal connections. Share your stories, share your photos, share your recipes, share your beer and barbecue. If I were a black person, I think that I would be appreciative and relieved to find out that my white neighbors wanted to be part of my life in a positive and friendly way, and I would be happy to reciprocate.

The point is that it is hard to hate a friend.

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The extent of our country’s social and political failings has been starkly brought to light by our pathetic response to the coronavirus. Right now we are a sad people.

The U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, but has nearly 30% of the Covid-19 deaths. This one fact documents for the world the fundamental failure of our society. Unfortunately, we ourselves don’t seem to realize the profoundly negative significance of these statistics.

Our political system has failed to protect us. Just like the 9/11 terrorist attack, advance warnings of impending disaster were ignored by our federal government, the disaster that could have been avoided occurred unimpeded, and our response has been to blame the Democrats, the Republicans, the Chinese, anyone else but ourselves. Our strategic stockpiles of PPE were hopelessly inadequate, our domestic testing procedures failed miserably, our travel restrictions were instituted too late, and we wasted at least a month pretending that everything was under control when there were actually no controls or plan in place.

Our economy has failed to protect us. We are being told that no one realized the extent of our reliance on foreign countries to supply us with raw, partially-finished, and finished goods, but in reality our large corporations knew, the commerce department of the federal government knew, and anyone who shopped in Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Wayfair, Overstock, etc. and bothered to read the labels that identified country of origin knew. At some level we all knew, but from what I can tell, very few of us were concerned.

Our people are failing to protect us from ourselves. A few parts of the country have been able to moderate the spread of the coronavirus through lengthy stay-at-home periods, but the rest of the country does not seem to think that this is important. Many are resuming their normal way of life without concern for basic protective measures like wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. The federal government has issued science-based recommendations for safely reopening our economy, and far too many states have promptly ignored the recommendations in favor of placating a minority of selfish, ignorant people who have no concept of social responsibility.

Here is what is going to happen. The country’s economy will open up and people will go back to work. People will continue to become sick with the coronavirus, but 95% will survive with minimal symptoms, with others surviving after suffering through the illness and recovery. We will need to protect our most vulnerable citizens such as older people and those with underlying health issues by limiting their involvement in society, because otherwise they will become infected and many will die. We will experience a second wave of coronavirus later in the fall and we will try to downplay it, but in the end the deaths due to coronavirus will certainly exceed 150,000 and may approach 250,000 before we develop improved treatments for the most vulnerable and possibly a vaccine for all of us.

So if we are the greatest nation on earth, with the world’s best health care system, why are we so pathetic, and why are we not doing something about it?

There is a difference between making a deal and making a decision. We need leaders who have mastered the art of the decision, not the art of the deal.

At best, a deal benefits everyone involved in a fair and balanced way, with all parties following through with their obligations – the classic win-win scenario.

At worst, a deal unfairly benefits the party that has the most power, and is agreed to by the weaker party only because they have no other alternative. More often than not, the more powerful party ultimately reneges on their obligations, making the deal even more one-sided – the classic win-lose scenario.

We have a president who boasts about making win-lose deals, and who has shown through his business history of bankruptcies, unpaid bills, tax avoidance schemes, and broken promises that he is always ready to renege on his obligations. He’s even written self-congratulatory books about the success of his business methods.

However, the presidency is not the boardroom. The presidency requires decisions, not deals. This president’s art of the win-lose deal has lead to winners and losers in most of the actions that this administration has taken. This president’s brazen, intimidating, and insulting style has provided entertaining cover for his actions, most of which have benefited the very rich and the large corporations at the expense of the poor, the middle class, and small businesses, not to mention threatening the environmental health of the country and destabilizing important international relationships that have served to provide political and economic stability for seventy-five years.

We need to move beyond the art of the deal. It has not served us well. Instead, let’s begin to practice the art of the decision, more specifically, the art of the good decision.

The art of the good decision begins with justifying its need. There must be a clear understanding of the anticipated outcome of the decision, what improvement over the status quo is intended to be achieved.

The art of the good decision must be based on unbiased facts and data, without the influence of partisanship, preconceptions, or constraints. Having unbiased facts and data is required to accurately understand the status quo, to develop of a plan of action intended to achieve the anticipated outcome, and to have a basis by which the success of the decision can be measured.

The art of the good decision requires that it be timely so that the conditions to be addressed by the decision do not change before the plan of action can be put into effect. A delay in making a decision makes it much more likely that the anticipated outcome will not be achieved.

Finally, the art of the good decision also requires a recognition that facts and conditions are always changing and evolving. Adjustments to the plan of action may be required during implementation. What is certain is that all good decisions must always be revisited to ensure continued relevancy and to address unintended consequences.

We have a president who makes self-serving decisions that are more like win-lose deals. His anticipated outcomes are intended to benefit his power base, manipulate his supporters, and support his personal agenda. His decisions are not based upon having the correct facts and data or on having a clear understanding of the status quo, and more often than not are full of personal bias, ego, and retribution. Even his best decisions rarely have a well thought-out plan of action, often involve significant delay, and as a result are unlikely to achieve the anticipated outcome.

To be fair, the president is not alone in his inability to make good decisions. This failure transcends party affiliation, and seems to be seen as a virtue by many in whom we have placed our faith and trust.

The art of the decision is appreciated and mastered by few; the art of the good decision is mastered by fewer still.

A Covid-19 vaccine cannot come soon enough.

The misery around the world caused by this pandemic has only just begun. Some countries simply do not have the necessary resources to control the spread of the virus, others lack the political will to do so. Pakistan, Brazil, the Philippines, India – their slums will run rampant with sickness and death. Everyone will be infected, and only the strong will survive.

Even in countries that initially controlled the virus, such as South Korea and China, once the basics of control such as wearing masks and social distancing are relaxed, the virus returns.

People everywhere become tired of social isolation and rebel against social responsibility. They reach a point where memories of their old life become too strong. There is a longing to return to what once was, and eventually self-control gives way to selfishness and desperation. So people justify their actions by claiming “it’s God’s will” or “constitutional rights” or “I’m too young to die” or “I just want to have fun.”

We’ve already seen enough to know what a disaster social stupidity will lead to. Now is the time for us all to focus on acting smart and for the common good. Running around without masks, crowding together in bars and restaurants and rodeos – this is just stupid and selfish behavior. It is understood that there are parts of our country that have very little virus presence, but making the assumption that this will be the case forever is just asking for trouble. Sooner or later some asymptomatic or symptomatic person will join in the fun, and then the virus will be there too.

Our medical experts have laid out a reasonable course of action to open up our economy in a way that will minimize the uncontrolled spread of the virus. We need to listen to them and follow their advice. This is what they are good at.

We owe it to ourselves and our families and our neighbors to accept that there will be a “new normal” and to begin to act accordingly.

We cannot rely on government direction alone to dictate what we can and cannot do. Government direction that does not consider the needs and desires of the people cannot work much longer. We the American people have to decide for ourselves what our “new normal” will be, and then act accordingly.

Mask wearing and social distancing seems like a small price to pay in exchange for enjoying most of our freedoms. But we need to collectively agree that we will avoid social stupidity like the plague that it is if this “new normal” is going to work. We need to agree to hold each other accountable for acting stupid as well.

We should thank God that we live in this country where we have the space and the resources and the wealth to create our own “new normal”. We have the power to define what this country will be – let’s forget about all of this divisive red vs. blue nonsense, start thinking for ourselves, and start acting smart for a change.

There exists, within the world of Star Trek, a race of beings that behave as one entity – the Borg Collective. The Borg has one purpose – to assimilate every other race, to add their biological and technological distinctiveness to its own. “Existence, as you know it, is over. Resistance is futile.”

China is very much like the Borg – a single-minded collective that rejects individualism unless it is to the benefit of the Communist Party. The expression of alternative thought is met with the harshest of corrective action. Little by little, the Chinese, like the Borg, are spreading out and extending their single-minded collective control over more and more of the world.

If only this were a science fiction story, we could close the book and be done with it, but this is a real threat, a strategic attack that has been happening for decades. The Chinese, like the Borg, must be opposed. We must take the offensive instead of letting the Chinese dictate the terms of engagement. The world can now see China for what it is – an existential threat that strikes in many ways on many fronts, without mercy, without compassion, without fear.

What does China do?

Currency Manipulation – It is understood that China has repeatedly engaged in manipulation of its currency so that the cost of goods made in China will be so low that companies will have no alternative but to move all of their production of goods to China in order to remain competitive.

Monopolization of Supply Chains – As a consequence of its currency manipulation, China has effectively monopolized the production of many industrial chemicals, semi-finished goods, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, etc., to the point that this allows China to exert undue influence on the world’s economy, and has created a dependency that threatens the ability of corporations and countries alike to act in their own long-term best interests.

Territorial Expansion – China has extended its territorial claim to include essentially the entire South China Sea, far beyond the accepted 200 mile limit. China is ignoring the treaty limitations under which Hong Kong rule was transferred to China by England, effectively assimilating Hong Kong into Communist rule. China controls Mongolia, Tibet, and to a more limited extent, North Korea. China is beginning to exert control into Russia.

Monopolization of Raw Materials – By means of its Belt and Road lending to under-developed countries, in many instances resulting in a crippling debt that may never be repaid, China is now able to extend its control to include vital raw materials within these countries, which will eventually allow China to further control the world’s economy.

Technology Transfer and Intellectual Theft – China’s trade policies regarding access to their internal markets has resulted in the forced transfer of advanced technology to China from companies eager to gain access to 1.3 billion Chinese consumers. Chinese students are sent to U.S. universities to gain access to our most advanced research, which they then brought back to China. U.S. universities welcome Chinese money and share research without limitation under the guise of “intellectual freedom”. Chinese spies are sent to the U.S. and other countries to serve as employees in strategic industries where they have been able to steal vital information, which is then brought back to China.

Propaganda Through Confucius Institutes – China has established nearly 1,000 Confucius Institutes in universities throughout the world. It is understood that these institutes are intended to provide an understanding of Chinese history and culture, and to teach the Chinese language. However, these institutes are directed by the Chinese government, and are an effective means of influencing the opinions of college students so that Chinese aggression and human rights abuses can be explained away and ultimately accepted.

Fentanyl Exports – China has historically been the source of Fentanyl, an opoid-like drug that has resulted in one of the worst drug epidemics in the history of the U.S. China has stated their intention to actively block Fentanyl exports to the U.S. However, it remains to be seen if China will actually follow through on their commitment, as Fentanyl abuse has proven to be an effective means of undermining U.S. society. It is understood that much of the Chinese Fentanyl production is now being rerouted through India and Mexico.

Biological Warfare – COVID-19 is only the latest example of Chinese aggression that has caused severe damage to the world economy. Now that it is clear that a virus pandemic can weaken even the strongest country, it is likely that biological warfare will become a strategic weapon in China’s quest for world domination. The source of COVID-19 may have been due to wet market activity or from a laboratory, but it is clear that China made a deliberate decision to isolate itself internally to minimize the spread of COVID-19 within its borders, and at the same time to allow transmission of COVID-19 to the rest of the world.

Cyber Warfare – China has actively pursued cyber warfare to infiltrate the computer systems of companies and countries. Most recently, a new cyberattack tool called Aria-body has been identified, which is reported to be virtually non-detectable. Aria-body allows the Chinese military to infiltrate computer networks in real time, download data, and ultimately take down computer networks as well as whatever the networks control. We can only hope that our military has capabilities to counteract this aggression, and that we are quietly hardening our infrastructure to isolate critical systems such as our electrical grid, defense strategies, government records, etc.

It is difficult to think about developing a China strategy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is what we must do. As we develop our strategy, we should learn from the Chinese – to smile, to be respectful, to be agreeable, but to never feel obligated to keep our commitments to them. And, above all, to never forget that individual freedom and expression, a democratic form of government, and a world at peace with shared prosperity are ideas and values that are diametrically opposed by the Chinese Communist Party.

The anticipation that Michael Bloomberg could become the leader of the Democratic Party and a viable candidate to compete against President Trump was thoroughly dashed during the Democratic debates by his clear inability to articulate a vision for the future, his complete lack of empathy for and understanding of average Americans, and his embarrassing level of unpreparedness for the debate stage. Regardless of what others have said, he earned his opportunity to be heard and to be seen. He was heard, he was seen, and he was found wanting.

Now it appears that the Democratic ticket will be Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. This ticket represents decades of political experience on a national and international level, and an apparent balance between the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party.

However, electoral failure is all but assured by the Democratic Party’s inability to move the discussion past the present and towards the future.

For better or worse, President Trump is going to lead this country out of the COVID-19 recession and reopen our economy during the next few months. By the time of the election in November, COVID-19 deaths will probably have tripled from their current levels, but most people who still have jobs will be back to work and a new normal will have been established.

Complaining about what President Trump and his administration says and does, stating without any factual basis that a Biden/Warren administration would have done a better job in protecting the country – this is all a waste of time and a clear demonstration that there is no Democratic vision for the future.

The Democratic Party seems to be lost.

To illustrate this point, let’s characterize their major players:

• Tom Perez – inauthentic and ineffective.
• Nancy Pelosi – power-hungry and tone-deaf.
• Chuck Schumer – powerless and visionless.
• “The Squad” – angry and undisciplined.
• Hillary Clinton – unindicted and unlikable.
• Bernie Sanders – extreme and unelectable.
• Elizabeth Warren – intense and misdirected.
• Joe Biden – unfocused and underwhelming.

It is certainly possible, and without too much effort, to make the case that Donald Trump has exacerbated the division between rich and poor, squandered more of our nation’s wealth than any president before him, fermented a civil war within our nation, and turned this country into a second-rate soap opera with him typecast as the brilliant, opportunistic, but ultimately psychotic “Great Leader”.

But there does not seem to be anyone in the Democratic Party who can make this case.

Nor does there seem to be anyone in the Democratic Party who can provide a vision of a wiser and fairer future for this country.

This COVID-19 experience has clearly shown that a great many Americans make starvation wages, have no access to health insurance, and live within a paycheck or two of economic disaster.

This COVID-19 experience has clearly shown that large corporations and retailers had no problem in selling out American workers and the security of the country by moving the production of everything to China in order to maximize stockholder profits, upper management bonuses, and political graft.

This COVID-19 experience has clearly shown that a significant percentage of Americans mistake civic duty for a violation of their constitutional rights, do not understand that American exceptionalism is based upon the collective actions of each and every one of us, and that patriotism has nothing to do with waving the American flag in one hand and a gun in the other.

These are the types of issues that the Democratic Party should be addressing now, not wasting precious time with ineffective critiques of President Trump’s words and actions.