Reconciliation
Reconciliation
February 28, 2019
Phoenix, AZ
After almost three weeks in Arizona, I am going home tomorrow, thankfully. Not that I don't find it pleasant here and the weather has surprisingly turned back to what I expected it to be when I first agreed to this trip, but I guess it is just time to move on. The Newport Beach Scrabble tournament awaits. It is somewhat ironic (as it was in San Francisco and as it is in LA) that my fall back position is to hang out at coffee houses, go to Scrabble clubs (three this week!), study my Scrabble words in front of political TV and monitor my email for any signs of actionable work activity. Day after day. Wash, rinse, repeat, sigh. While opportunity continues to percolate hither and yon, a more aggressive approach to financial responsibility (and solvency) needs to accompany this sleepwalk toward responsibility. Checking my emails will not pay the bills!
As many of you know, I unplugged from television while in San Francisco in late 2016. There was really no need to have access to 700 channels or more of television because I had neither the inclination to watch that much television, and following the election, I found myself only drawn to political/news/commentary TV with the ever withering hope that this long national nightmare I sense we have been living in since November 2016 would somehow reach its inevitable cinematic climax and revert back to "normal". And most of that stuff is readily available on my Sirius XM radio and You Tube clips and podcasts of measured and respectful news outlets, so there was little point in paying for "access" to Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton's sexual tension, fifty three cupcake competitions or the rest of television's inanities.
Since being in Phoenix, dogsitting at Barbara's house, I have access to the millions of channels once again and I dabbled in a few episodes of True Detective, High Maintenance, caught a few movies but took a deep, deep dive BACK into watching morning til night coverage of the last few weeks of political folderol. It's mostly exhausting, repetitive, hyper-sensational, inertly partisan and impossible to tear myself away from. As an INFP in the Meyers-Briggs spectrum, I am endlessly searching for reconciliation, any signal that political peace and civility can be restored amongst us. I look for common ground, common sense, common decency, logical explanations for why two hopelessly divided political parties behave the way they do and why "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" (You Say Potato I Say Potato) seems to be the only song anyone is singing these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIYS9EQWkXg
Yesterday was a particularly interesting illustration of that with the super contentious testimonial and revelations of Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee. A particularly interesting exchange came near the end of the hearing when Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib asserted that Repunklican Mark Meadows committed a racist act by trotting out HUD administrator and former Trump company "token" black employee Lynne Patton as incontrovertible evidence that Donald Trump was not a racist. This lead to a "I Know You Are But What Am I?" exchange eventually interrupted by (my guess, fellow INFP) committee chair Elijah Cummings, who asserted, among other things that he and Meadows were good pals, despite what you might think, and let's all settle down and hug it on out (which reportedly Tlaib and Meadows did in the House today). Beyond that Cummings called for civility, appealing to all of our better angels, imploring us all that we are better than this and for everyone to take a clear-eyed focus on the fact that we are all on the same team and all looking to achieve a common goal, of a better democracy for our children than the one left for ourselves - I think how he put it was "cmon' now!". (This did not stop Meadows and shirt-sleeved pathological Dexter look alike ranking member Jim Jordan - who probably went shirt-sleeved for the entire hearing in the event he had to break out in full Incredible Hulk outrage at any moments notice - from petitioning every imaginable committee known to man to investigate Cohen perjuring himself as a result of yesterday's testimony). But for a moment during that interchange, I truly felt that perhaps Meadows and Cummings could engage in a full body hug declare all of this silliness over and come to an understanding of what is going on in our fraught government right now and move beyond it. Ultimately, no such luck, but I suppose, like any good reality show, it's what keeps us watching. Of course, nothing short of an anvil falling on Jordan's head in the near future would be a satisfying ending to his reign on "Survivor Washington Island", but that perhaps is just an inkling of my own partisan leanings despite what felt like an unequivocal 7 hour snarl he seemed to be wearing yesterday.
That all being said, I will tell you if it isn't a secret, I am a Democrat. I am a leftist. I am pretty far left. I might be a socialist, because I don't mind high taxes in exchange for good social services and infrastructure even if the US bureaucracy effs it up more than gets it right. I campaigned a little for Bernie in 2016 until I felt that the political Hilary juggernaut made campaigning for Bernie a waste of my time, despite my convictions. I held my nose and voted for Clinton, because binary choices, as they are, seem just awful in retrospect. I am still for Bernie, but I could be for Beto or Kamala or Elizabeth too. I am pretty left.
However, when it comes to discourse, I am squarely in the center and won't get out of the funk I am in until we smack ourselves back into the reality of what is going on in our time. If you say the sky is blue and I say the sky is spirochetes - a flexible twisted bacterium that causes syphilis, which is demonstrably not a color, how can we come to any reasonable discourse as to how to move forward together? We cannot even agree on whether the sky is a color or a bacteria? Where do we start?
To that end, I invite anyone with a different point of view from me who is willing to engage in reasoned debate to come forward to find reconciliation. Anyone? Anyone! This means not spouting State Television talking points, begrudgingly holding on to easily disprovable POVs from conspiracy theory sites to discuss how we can move forward and agree on something, nee anything. This isn't about winning the argument, but to see beyond the argument...here are some examples:
1) Even if climate change is not real, wouldn't jumping on the use of renewable energy and cornering the market on it now being an amazing economic opportunity that creates new jobs, cleaner air and water and awesome new technological advantages as a model of future energy use when all natural resources are inevitably used up? If every square inch of unused and remote desert in California and Arizona or West Virginia could supply the entire countries energy grid, while offering imbedded fossil fuel companies first financial crack at it to alleviate their entrenchment (and lobbying power) of the status quo), why not give it a try?
2) If Russia hacked our elections and plan on continuing to influence them, shouldn't we do something about it despite who might benefit from the outcome of their efforts? Like I have said before, I don't care if Trump gets elected to ten more terms as president (well i care), but having the specter of an enemy's influence over it seems wrong. Would those calling the Russian investigation a Witch Hunt with zero merit (it could have been China or a 400 pound guy in a basement) feel the same way about this investigation if their political party had lost because of it? Why not band together against the common enemy (Russia) and punish them for their activity and head it off at the pass then sticking our heads in the sand and pretend it didn't happen just because we are happy with the outcome?
3) Engagement of the concept of country over party. We are all in this together. Continuing to create an endless zero-sum tug of war of red team/blue team only weakens us and makes us further susceptible to enemy attacks and worse. Perhaps we can't agree on every social issue, but can we agree to disagree on the ones we are so antithetically opposed to and work on the ones where we put the country first and like Tliad and Mark did, hug it the fuck out?
4) Celebrate the value and harmony of diversity, freedom and opportunity. We've all got it pretty fucking good here. If you bristle at being called a racist or a homophobe or a xenophobe (or worse), let's talk and think and honor what makes our country awesome - everyone in it. Take a freaking cue from "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and realize that we are stronger together than torn apart and the reality of our country is that it is diverse but at the same time amazingly assimilated into one set of exceptional values. This is the place where generation after generation of people from other places come to find an amazing place to prosper and find a better life for themselves. To declare that day over rips away the essence of why people come here in the first place and takes away the "x" factor that makes it such a great place to live. What makes me a proud American, is that everyone around me, despite their creed, religion, color, gender or who they are, is all excited to make the best life they can here. Wouldn't it be nice for all of us to get back to how our families arrived here and why and celebrate that with the people waiting to join us now?
I could go on about reconciliations (immigration, right to life, marriage equality, income equality, homelessness, social services/entitlements) but I thought I would start with the four most aspirational - clean resources, autonomy, national pride and self-celebration.
I am a positive person and I want us all to be. Watching the human blood sport that defines our government and the way they interact these days disgusts me. Even if I am on one side it rooting for the values I hold dear, that doesn't mean I am not willing to compromise for the greater good and hug it the fuck out.
February 28, 2019
Phoenix, AZ
After almost three weeks in Arizona, I am going home tomorrow, thankfully. Not that I don't find it pleasant here and the weather has surprisingly turned back to what I expected it to be when I first agreed to this trip, but I guess it is just time to move on. The Newport Beach Scrabble tournament awaits. It is somewhat ironic (as it was in San Francisco and as it is in LA) that my fall back position is to hang out at coffee houses, go to Scrabble clubs (three this week!), study my Scrabble words in front of political TV and monitor my email for any signs of actionable work activity. Day after day. Wash, rinse, repeat, sigh. While opportunity continues to percolate hither and yon, a more aggressive approach to financial responsibility (and solvency) needs to accompany this sleepwalk toward responsibility. Checking my emails will not pay the bills!
As many of you know, I unplugged from television while in San Francisco in late 2016. There was really no need to have access to 700 channels or more of television because I had neither the inclination to watch that much television, and following the election, I found myself only drawn to political/news/commentary TV with the ever withering hope that this long national nightmare I sense we have been living in since November 2016 would somehow reach its inevitable cinematic climax and revert back to "normal". And most of that stuff is readily available on my Sirius XM radio and You Tube clips and podcasts of measured and respectful news outlets, so there was little point in paying for "access" to Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton's sexual tension, fifty three cupcake competitions or the rest of television's inanities.
Since being in Phoenix, dogsitting at Barbara's house, I have access to the millions of channels once again and I dabbled in a few episodes of True Detective, High Maintenance, caught a few movies but took a deep, deep dive BACK into watching morning til night coverage of the last few weeks of political folderol. It's mostly exhausting, repetitive, hyper-sensational, inertly partisan and impossible to tear myself away from. As an INFP in the Meyers-Briggs spectrum, I am endlessly searching for reconciliation, any signal that political peace and civility can be restored amongst us. I look for common ground, common sense, common decency, logical explanations for why two hopelessly divided political parties behave the way they do and why "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" (You Say Potato I Say Potato) seems to be the only song anyone is singing these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIYS9EQWkXg
Yesterday was a particularly interesting illustration of that with the super contentious testimonial and revelations of Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee. A particularly interesting exchange came near the end of the hearing when Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib asserted that Repunklican Mark Meadows committed a racist act by trotting out HUD administrator and former Trump company "token" black employee Lynne Patton as incontrovertible evidence that Donald Trump was not a racist. This lead to a "I Know You Are But What Am I?" exchange eventually interrupted by (my guess, fellow INFP) committee chair Elijah Cummings, who asserted, among other things that he and Meadows were good pals, despite what you might think, and let's all settle down and hug it on out (which reportedly Tlaib and Meadows did in the House today). Beyond that Cummings called for civility, appealing to all of our better angels, imploring us all that we are better than this and for everyone to take a clear-eyed focus on the fact that we are all on the same team and all looking to achieve a common goal, of a better democracy for our children than the one left for ourselves - I think how he put it was "cmon' now!". (This did not stop Meadows and shirt-sleeved pathological Dexter look alike ranking member Jim Jordan - who probably went shirt-sleeved for the entire hearing in the event he had to break out in full Incredible Hulk outrage at any moments notice - from petitioning every imaginable committee known to man to investigate Cohen perjuring himself as a result of yesterday's testimony). But for a moment during that interchange, I truly felt that perhaps Meadows and Cummings could engage in a full body hug declare all of this silliness over and come to an understanding of what is going on in our fraught government right now and move beyond it. Ultimately, no such luck, but I suppose, like any good reality show, it's what keeps us watching. Of course, nothing short of an anvil falling on Jordan's head in the near future would be a satisfying ending to his reign on "Survivor Washington Island", but that perhaps is just an inkling of my own partisan leanings despite what felt like an unequivocal 7 hour snarl he seemed to be wearing yesterday.
That all being said, I will tell you if it isn't a secret, I am a Democrat. I am a leftist. I am pretty far left. I might be a socialist, because I don't mind high taxes in exchange for good social services and infrastructure even if the US bureaucracy effs it up more than gets it right. I campaigned a little for Bernie in 2016 until I felt that the political Hilary juggernaut made campaigning for Bernie a waste of my time, despite my convictions. I held my nose and voted for Clinton, because binary choices, as they are, seem just awful in retrospect. I am still for Bernie, but I could be for Beto or Kamala or Elizabeth too. I am pretty left.
However, when it comes to discourse, I am squarely in the center and won't get out of the funk I am in until we smack ourselves back into the reality of what is going on in our time. If you say the sky is blue and I say the sky is spirochetes - a flexible twisted bacterium that causes syphilis, which is demonstrably not a color, how can we come to any reasonable discourse as to how to move forward together? We cannot even agree on whether the sky is a color or a bacteria? Where do we start?
 |
| Is this the color of the sky? |
1) Even if climate change is not real, wouldn't jumping on the use of renewable energy and cornering the market on it now being an amazing economic opportunity that creates new jobs, cleaner air and water and awesome new technological advantages as a model of future energy use when all natural resources are inevitably used up? If every square inch of unused and remote desert in California and Arizona or West Virginia could supply the entire countries energy grid, while offering imbedded fossil fuel companies first financial crack at it to alleviate their entrenchment (and lobbying power) of the status quo), why not give it a try?
2) If Russia hacked our elections and plan on continuing to influence them, shouldn't we do something about it despite who might benefit from the outcome of their efforts? Like I have said before, I don't care if Trump gets elected to ten more terms as president (well i care), but having the specter of an enemy's influence over it seems wrong. Would those calling the Russian investigation a Witch Hunt with zero merit (it could have been China or a 400 pound guy in a basement) feel the same way about this investigation if their political party had lost because of it? Why not band together against the common enemy (Russia) and punish them for their activity and head it off at the pass then sticking our heads in the sand and pretend it didn't happen just because we are happy with the outcome?
3) Engagement of the concept of country over party. We are all in this together. Continuing to create an endless zero-sum tug of war of red team/blue team only weakens us and makes us further susceptible to enemy attacks and worse. Perhaps we can't agree on every social issue, but can we agree to disagree on the ones we are so antithetically opposed to and work on the ones where we put the country first and like Tliad and Mark did, hug it the fuck out?
4) Celebrate the value and harmony of diversity, freedom and opportunity. We've all got it pretty fucking good here. If you bristle at being called a racist or a homophobe or a xenophobe (or worse), let's talk and think and honor what makes our country awesome - everyone in it. Take a freaking cue from "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and realize that we are stronger together than torn apart and the reality of our country is that it is diverse but at the same time amazingly assimilated into one set of exceptional values. This is the place where generation after generation of people from other places come to find an amazing place to prosper and find a better life for themselves. To declare that day over rips away the essence of why people come here in the first place and takes away the "x" factor that makes it such a great place to live. What makes me a proud American, is that everyone around me, despite their creed, religion, color, gender or who they are, is all excited to make the best life they can here. Wouldn't it be nice for all of us to get back to how our families arrived here and why and celebrate that with the people waiting to join us now?
I could go on about reconciliations (immigration, right to life, marriage equality, income equality, homelessness, social services/entitlements) but I thought I would start with the four most aspirational - clean resources, autonomy, national pride and self-celebration.
I am a positive person and I want us all to be. Watching the human blood sport that defines our government and the way they interact these days disgusts me. Even if I am on one side it rooting for the values I hold dear, that doesn't mean I am not willing to compromise for the greater good and hug it the fuck out.
Problem is, the people you most want to hug and reconcile with tend to be people who don't read, like Trump himself. So they'll never hear your plea. How do you think they keep themselves immovably committed to nonsense like climate change isn't man-made, and "illegals" are the worst threat facing our country?
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