Where’s the Outrage?

The passage I excerpt below is from Paul Revere And The World He Lived In by Esther Forbes. The book was published in 1942 and won a Pulitzer prize. I can’t recommend it enough. It makes you feel as if you are living in Colonial Boston. 

What I found of note in the passage is the fleeting luck-of-the-draw nature of what must have seemed core beliefs to the man in question. The subject, Governor Thomas Hutchinson (above), was forced out of a Colonial Massachusetts he has lost control over not long before the American Revolution. As the author notes in Revere, in many respects Hutchinson just came around at the wrong time.

From the book— 

“No man ever loved Massachusetts with a greater intensity than did Thomas Hutchinson. He had written her history, fought for her boundaries, re-established her currency, seen to it that her courts and judicial system were kept to a high standard. He had honestly believed in the centralization of power, and that the centre should be in London. The side which one did not, and yet their grandchildren ( two of Paul Revere’s  were to be dying within the century for the centralization of power in the Federal Government. Hutchinson lost everything by backing the wrong system at the wrong time. His houses, wharves, horses, coaches, great estates, even the tomb of his wife on Copp’s Hill, were confiscated. His name became an anathema. Hutchinson street would be renamed Pearl….and yet if the other side had won, Thomas Hutchinson would undoubtedly be regarded as one of you greatest patriots.”

Belief in British control of the colonies, and in a model of government that placed that control in London, meant nothing after the Revolution. Most of the talk and agitation meant to either keep the colonies under British governance, or, for that matter to free them, had little bearing on the final outcome of the struggle.   

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Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Evil-doer Jesse Helms died a few days ago at age 86. Senator Helms worked as hard and as long as he could to make life even more difficult for black folks, gay folks, the poor, and anybody else he did not like. Despite this, I find no satisfaction in his passing.

For one thing, Mr. Helms got the best of his foes. He served five terms in the United States Senate and left this position on his own terms. He was never defeated for election. He lived a long life and yet he never paid any price for his misdeeds.

When somebody like former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond lives to be 100, you realize that “what goes around comes around” is only true if good people work to make it happen. Otherwise, evil goes unpunished.

I also think there are deeper reasons to simply move on from the death of somebody like Helms. If you react to the death of a Helms in the same hateful way he conducted his life, you’ve allowed wrongdoers to define your actions. Aren’t things lousy enough already?

While it’s a lot to ask one to completely discipline personal thoughts, it is our public actions and reactions that will be observed and judged by others. Being glad someone is dead is simply the wrong course. It does nothing to harm the person who has passed. It only alters our own character.

I rarely criticize Republicans and people on the far-right in my blogging. I feel doing so would serve little purpose for what I want to accomplish. When I write as “Texas Liberal” you can guess what I think of Helms.

There are always going to be wrongdoers. I have only so much time for blog posts. I don’t want bad folks to take up all my time. The issue is the words and deeds of people open to taking the right course in life. It is these people I want to concern myself with.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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A basic concept of democracy is “majority rules.” We accept that whoever gets the most votes in an election wins. (Except, strangely, in elections for President.) It seems only fair.

It is difficult to define the word majority so it retains real meaning. A majority is arbitrary and fluid. A winning coalition in one election may flop in the next. And elected legislative majorities are in fact elected by what turns out to be a minority of the people.

These conditions, while contributing to the incoherence and illogic of political life, provide hope and opportunity for politically committed individuals. When most don’t take part in public life– as depressing as that may be– the contributions of those who do take part are multiplied.

No election ever involves everyone. People under 18 years old can’t vote. Many states impose restrictions on the rights of those convicted of crimes. While these limitations on who may vote may have public support, this does not change the fact that we dilute the concept of the majority by disenfranchising some people before elections are even held.

Many choose not to vote. Presidential elections draw only between 50 and 60 percent of those over 18. Midterm elections for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S Senate often draw just one-third of possible voters. In odd-year elections, important municipal offices in large cities are sometimes determined with turnouts of 20 percent or less.

Almost all elections are won by candidates winning just a fraction of the eligible population. These candidates cannot claim they are backed by a majority of all people or even of all potentially eligible voters.

This absence of a majority can also be said to apply to successful “mass” political and social movements. Turnout in the four elections won by Franklin Roosevelt was generally around 60 percent of eligible voters. Almost all black voters in the South were excluded from the ballot. Many of those who voted did not vote for Roosevelt.

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Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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We’ve heard for a long time about the refusal of Republicans to ask Americans to sacrifice anything for the Iraq War.

It is clear that only soldiers and their families—plus the contractors who die “off the books“— are being asked to contribute to our “war effort.”

On the other side however, we could ask when will Democrats ask Americans to conserve energy and scale back in this time of rising fuel prices?

We are living unsustainable lifestyles. Other nations are having big problems with food prices because of our demand for ethanol.

The simple argument would be that the parties are afraid to risk votes by asking anything of the people.

I wonder if our leaders don’t care what people are doing because they don’t see any viable middle class future for our nation. Let the people do as they want as power and wealth gravitates to the few.

The refusal of either party to ask anything for any sacrifice is as large an insult as can be imagined. It conveys the people have nothing of value to offer except reflexive patriotism and tax dollars.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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In Revolutionary Characters–What Made The Founders Different, author Gordon Wood says the following about Thomas Jefferson—

Jefferson’s faith in the natural sociability of people…lay behind his belief in minimal government….Jefferson would have fully understood the Western world’s recent interest in devolution and localist democracy….For Jefferson, there could be no power independent of the people, in whom he had absolute faith.

I find myself tending more in a belief in democracy for its own sake. People must have a say in how they are governed. I don’t know to what extent the root of my belief in democracy is faith in the people. I don’t find I need that faith to believe in democracy.   

There is a strain of nihilism my view. The people must govern whatever the outcome. Safeguards must exist for the protection of minority groups in society. But in the end, if a society as a whole pursues policies that lead the end of that society, so be it.

People are born to be free. What they do what that freedom is another question

Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Scott McClellan, former Press Secretary under George W. Bush, wrote a book with a critical eye toward his the president.

McClellan is a turncoat– Just like his mom.

McClellan’s mom, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is well-known here in Texas because she has run for office as a a Democrat, Republican, and as a third-party candidate. Strayhorn served as Democratic Mayor of Austin and as a Republican Texas State Comptroller. She then ran for Governor in 2006 as an Independent against a Republican incumbent. She dropped and changed party affiliations to suit her ambitions.

If McClellan had a real problem with President George W. Bush, he could have resigned in protest.  Instead, he is making big money with a book. He has no loyalty to either President Bush or the American people.

Above you see a picture of some apples on a tree. This reminds us that the apples do not fall far from the tree. In this case, though, they are root and branch the same rotten fruit.

Here is what it says in Matthew about trees and the fruit they bear:

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Here is some information about apple trees.

Tags: Books, Ethics, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Shame on us. Shame on us, Progressives. At no time in history, at least not that I know of, has there been a more energized progressive movement. Yet, progressive institutions like the Rockridge Institute, are struggling to the point of closing their doors. We all have to do better.

I understand that we are in hard economic times. I also understand that Senator Barack Obama, has sucked up a lot of the progressive money for his campaign. Still, we have to support our think tanks. The Republicans have what seems like a thousand think tanks and all of them are flush with money. We have to have progressive institutions that continue to educate our candidates, study the issues, and come up with progressive solutions.

I call on the big blogs to do more. They have the resources. Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, FireDogLake and Huffington Post… We all need you to help us to support these very important institutions.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts, Party Politics by ecthompson
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I recently read an article in the North Padre Island Moon about a new political action committee called Island United. North Padre Island is part of Corpus Christi, Texas.

A purpose of this political action committee is to encourage island residents to vote as a block in order to influence the outcome of elections for the Corpus Christi City Council and Mayor of Corpus Christi.

(Above is a Padre Island sand dune though I’m not sure how you’d prove otherwise if I’m making its location up. Here is information on sand dunes).

Some North Padre Island residents feel a divided vote weakens the clout of the community at Corpus Christi City Hall.

Here is the full article.

Please click here for a political map of Corpus Christi.

The presumption of this political action committee is that highly localized issues should be the guiding factor in how residents of this area cast votes for city council and mayor.

Given  that island voters have a history of differing opinions on who should be elected to municipal posts in Corpus Christi, this seems to be a tenuous assertion.

What are factors beyond North Padre Island issues that could impact how residents vote for council and mayor?

1. How will candidates for city office administer to Corpus Christi as a whole? Just as no man is an island, we can also say that not even an island is an island.

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Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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A recent article in The Economist magazine discussed the origins of human morality. Here is the full article.  The following excerpt has to do with the differences in how liberals and conservatives think.

… Liberal teenagers always felt more stress than conservatives, but were particularly stressed if they could not decide for themselves whom they spent time with. Such choice, or the lack of it, did not change conservative stress levels. Liberals were also loners, spending a quarter of their time on their own. Conservatives were alone for a sixth of the time. That may have been related to the fact that liberals were equally bored by their own company and that of others. Conservatives were far less bored when with other people. They also preferred the company of relatives to non-relatives. Liberals were indifferent. Perhaps most intriguingly, the more religious a liberal teenager claimed to be, the more he was willing to confront his parents with dissenting beliefs. The opposite was true for conservatives.

Dr Wilson suspects that the liberal package of individualism and confrontation is the appropriate response to survival in a stable environment in which there is leisure for learning and reflection, and the consequences for a group’s stability of such dissent are low. The conservative package of collectivism and conformity, by contrast, works in an unstable environment where joint action, and thus obedience to their group, are at a premium. It is an interesting suggestion, and it is one that plays into the question of how morality actually evolved.

This mix of seeking time alone and sometimes finding myself in a confrontation matches some of my own experiences. Its also the case that family has not been the center of my life.

Like anything that deals with many people, these findings are generalizations. Still, they appear to hold some truth.

Any thoughts?

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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The painting above is Twilight In The Wilderness.

It was painted by Frederic Edwin Church in 1860.

Here is what it says about this painting in the book American Art and Architecture by Michael J. Lewis—

Church did not fragment his colors into intense local passages but subordinated them to an overall chromatic scheme…As with a musical composition, there is a dominant key signature against which contrasting harmonies resonate.

That’s right!—Life is a few broad themes. Individual events take place within the broad themes. These broad themes last through time.

In the 1796 Presidential election, John Adams won nine states and Thomas Jefferson won seven states.

All nine states Mr. Adams won in ‘96 were carried by John Kerry in 2004.

Of the seven states won by Mr. Jefferson, George W. Bush won six of them in ‘04.  (Pennsylvania was the only state to switch, as it were, from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Kerry.)

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Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Imagination and hope are at the core of liberal politics.

To work for a better future you need first to imagine that better future.

This is why I find the message and the campaign of Barack Obama to be of substance.

While I believe that Senator Obama is discussing specific issues, the bottom line is that policy experts can always be hired.

In politics, the specialist should work for the generalist.

Politics is about policy. But it also about representation, choosing sides, and a vision of the future.

Senator Obama represents a future I want to be part of.

Don’t shy away from voting your hopes.

Don’t let people tell you that imagination lacks substance.

Hope and imagination are things we should never allow anybody to denigrate. They are among the best aspects of our humanity.

Here is the link to the Obama campaign.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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There have been three black United States Senators elected in post-reconstruction America.

Just three.

Here is who they are and here are some reasons as to why there have been so few.

Ed Brooke was a Republican elected from Massachusetts  in 1966 and 1972.  He was defeated in 1978 by Paul Tsongas who went on to a notable career himself. Mr. Brooke was part of the moderate to liberal wing of the Republican party that does not so much exist anymore. The decline of moderate Republicanism is a big reason why Democrats are so strong in New England and New York state today.

Here is a Time Magazine article from 1971 pondering if President Richard Nixon would consider replacing Vice President Spiro Agnew on the ticket with Senator Brooke.

Carol Moseley Braun is the only black woman to have served in the Senate. She represented Illinois. Ms. Moseley Braun defeated an incumbent Democrat Senator in a primary in 1992 and went on to win the General Election.

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Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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With the Iowa Presidential nominating caucuses due up on Thursday, here is an explanation and a history of the modern caucus process. The source is the Congressional Quarterly Press Guide To U.S. Elections, Volume I.

Does the caucus system exclude the public to the benefit of ideologically extreme and unrepresentative individuals? Or does the caucus system rightly allow for well-informed party activists to have a strong say in who will win Presidential nominations and help build strong parties after the caucus is completed?

Read the following and see what you think.

From the book—

In the current primary-dominated era of Presidential politics, which began three decades ago, caucuses have survived…The impact of caucuses decreased in the 1970’s as the number of primaries grew…Previously, a candidate sought to run well in primary states mainly to have a bargaining chip with which to deal with powerful leaders in the caucus states. Republicans Berry Goldwater ( photo above) in 1964 and Richard Nixon(photo below) in 1968 all built up solid majorities among caucus state delegates that carries them to their parties’ nomination. Hubert Humphrey did not compete in a single primary state in 1968. [Read more →]

Tags: Election 2008, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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I once met Ethel Kennedy and her son former  Congressman Joe Kennedy. This was in 1992 and took place at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Kennedy is the widow of the late Senator Robert Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968.

I got into the Kennedy compound by paying $250. The event was a fundraiser for Joe Kennedy.

Congressman Kennedy won 83% of the vote in 1992 and did not need my $250. I had a friend who was a fan of the Kennedys’ who wanted to go and it seemed that it would be interesting to go to the Kennedy Compound.

And so it was.

We flew from Cincinnati , where I lived at the time, to Boston and then rented a car for the drive to Cape Cod.

We were brought into the compound on a yellow school bus.

Once inside, the first thing I saw were some people who looked like regulars in the Kennedy Compound. They appeared to be laughing at the people in the bus.

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Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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With much discussion of the relative youth of Senator Barack Obama, who is 46, here is a list of U.S. Presidents who have taken office in their 40’s with their exact age and the year they were sworn in. Also included are the more notable aspects in the careers of our youngest Presidents to the point of reaching the White House.

The links are to the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. The information on the Presidents is first-rate and well worth taking time to review and study

James Polk, 49, 1845

Polk served two years in the Tennessee House, two years as Governor of Tennessee and 14 years in the U.S House. For four years Polk was Speaker of the U.S. House.

Polk was an aggressive President in terms of territorial expansion of the United States. He acquired Oregon by treaty and much of Mexico by force in the Mexican-American War. He was not very helpful if you were a slave or a Native American. Some say Polk was too quick to go to war with Mexico.

Franklin Pierce, 48, 1853

Pierce served four years in the New Hampshire House, four years in the U.S. House and five years in the U.S. Senate.

Pierce is considered one of our worst Presidents for his inability to deal effectively with the tensions between the North and South. 65 year old James Buchanan did little better as Pierce’s successor.

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Tags: Election 2008, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Recently I read the Paul Laurence Dunbar novel The Sport of the Gods. This short book, published in 1901 as Mr. Dunbar was dying of tuberculosis, is about a black family that has moved from the South to Harlem. As you might suppose, it is a bleak tale.

Mr. Dunbar, who died at age 34 in 1906, was once termed by Booker T. Washington as the “Poet Laureate” of the Negro Race.

Mr. Dunbar was known as a “dialect poet.” He added black “dialect” to his poems. This was not “proper” English. Mr. Dunbar did this to gain acceptance as a poet. Mr. Dunbar did not always want to write in that form, but found it difficult to find equal praise for his poems in standard English.

This is what happens when your work is defined by people, who, whatever they might claim, do not at heart care about you as a human being and do not care about your aspirations in life.

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Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts, Race by Texas Liberal
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I watched this evening’s Democratic Presidential debate.

From a conventional standpoint for a liberal, you can say this is a good group of candidates. Or at least they are good at saying what they feel primary and caucus voters want to hear. Or, maybe what they are saying reflects a slight shift to the left  in the country that has been discussed of late.

Still, I persist in the belief that none of the Democratic candidates have substantive answers to the issues of climate change and the global economy as it effects American workers. I feel these are the most important issues by far. Either they don’t know what to say or the solutions are so off-the-table at the moment that they can’t be politically discussed.

I’ve been a supporter of former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina to this point because of his focus on economic issues as they impact the poor and middle classes.

I have to admit that in my heart I want to move to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

However, I’m not there yet.

Here is good column by Roger Cohen of The New York Times discussing the positive impact Senator Obama might make in other parts of the world as President of the United States. I know I very much agree with Mr. Obama’s assertion that we should talk with all nations. What does it hurt to talk?

Tags: Election 2008, Other Political Thoughts, Party Politics by Texas Liberal
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Despite a number of important ballot issues and at least a few open City Council seats in my home town of Houston, voters in Houston and Harris County turned out at only around 10% of registered persons.

Here are some questions I have based on this terrible turnout. They are questions that would apply to any low turnout election—

1. Does a political entity such as a city or a county exist in the most meaningful regard of a shared sense of citizenship when so few people vote? No wonder conditions in Houston are so awful for so many people.

2. Are candidates elected by so few people legitimately elected? Why should office holders not vote the way large donors and more affluent voters wish them to vote, when little counter pressure is exerted by an involved public?

3. Don’t you imagine elected officials hold the public in contempt over such low turnout?

4. If you accept Aristotle’s premise that society existed before the individual, to people delegitimize their very existence by failing to take part in politics? Do “the people” truly exist in a political sense when turnout is so bad?

5. If county and city services would be temporarily suspended unless municipal elections generated at least 75% turnout, do you think people would then vote? I bet a 75% threshold would be met if folks were told police, fire and water service would be stopped until enough people decided they were really part of our society.

The above picture is of people voting in Haiti in 2006. Imagine that people can line up and possibly face violence to vote in a poor place like Haiti, but people in Houston and Harris County and elsewhere in America will not come out and vote.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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What goes around comes around” may be true in a collective sense over the long haul. If we continue heating the Earth, we may all suffer the effects of global warming. (Though the global poor will suffer first and suffer more.)

But what goes around is most often not the case for people who do bad things in public life. As an example, longtime segregationist wrongdoer Strom Thurmond lived to be 100. He spent his 100th birthday as a United States Senator.

Bad people in public in public life only get what they deserve if the public makes sure that they do at the ballot box. That’s the only way. Larry Craig type scandals arrive only so often. (And Mr. Craig is still in the Senate.)

It’s up to you to do the work of democracy.

Tags: General, Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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Cities, counties and states are proposing regressive sales tax increases at the ballot box next week to fund various initiatives, close budget shortfalls and reduce property taxes.

This according to a report in USA Today.

You’d think these proposals would come from Republicans. Sales taxes are regressive flat taxes where the poor, the wealthy and everybody in-between pays the same. This is in contrast to a progressive income tax.

Yet such proposals are on the ballot in Democratic-leaning Maryland, New Jersey and Cook County, Illinois. Chicago is in Cook County.

If this is proposed tax policy in places where Democrats are in control, what hope do we have for fair taxation?

The progressive income tax is at the heart of the income redistribution and funding of social programs that stand at the core of liberalism. If Democrats are not on board with this, who will be?

Raising sales taxes to fund property tax cuts is simply redistributing income upwards.

Please click here for an article relating the benefits of the income tax. 

Hopefully voters around the country will reject sales tax increases and demand a fair and progressive income tax to meet the needs of society.

Tags: Other Political Thoughts, Tax by Texas Liberal
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