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Email Exchange With a (gasp!) Republican


Reading time – A while   .  .  .

A while back my pal Dan Wallace and I had an email exchange and it occurred to me that you might like a peek inside the back-and-forth with a slightly right of center Republican and bona fide smart guy.

DW

Jack,

Read to the bottom of the story.  You’ll find yourself agreeing.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/08/19/letter-paul-ryan-donald-trump-488877.html

Dan

JA

Just read it – thanks for sending this – it’s spot on.

The piece confirms all the insanity I’ve read about Trump. Other than the angry people who delight in his hatred, those who know anything about him and his pathological behavior already know enough. But will that be enough for America?

He continues to get billions of dollars in public attention. It’s always that way – we humans love a freak show. We love the outrageous. We love movie special effects of things blowing up far more than we care about anything that requires mental energy. We have far less interest in learning than in being entertained. Could it be that Sesame Street trained generations of Americans to expect that they would always be informed through drama, songs and rhyme so that now we collectively are unable to think for ourselves or hold a complex idea in mind? I read an article a couple of years ago about how young people – I think this was about college age students – seem to have an increasingly difficult time holding two conflicting ideas in mind at the same time. What does that say about our culture and our society and the America we are shaping with our bumper sticker and 140 character communication? Frank Luntz must be very proud.

I’ve wondered over the past few months about the political considerations that are driving Republicans to line up with Trump instead of doing what is the obviously right thing to do, like your clothespin idea – to put one on your nose when you vote for Hillary because Trump must never become President. The question now is whether leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are vertebrates and are able to stand up and be counted when it counts. I have my doubts.

DW

I think McConnell is a dope, and I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.  I don’t think Ryan is a dope, and I have a lot of sympathy for him.  But I still think he’s handling this completely wrong(ly).

JA

Be fair, now:

McConnell is a slimy, conniving dope.

Ryan is also scheming (he’s the guy with a budget plan that had no numbers in it; he’s the guy who won’t privatize social security but whose plan would privatize social security), but he has that pleasant, schoolboy face and a soft voice. Not a dope. Just spineless.

The Republicans engineered this travesty over the course of 40 years and, to mix metaphors, they are reaping what they sowed. Both of these boobs was a part of making that happen, so I haven’t any sympathy for either of them.

On the other hand, I have lots of sympathy for you and me, because everywhere I look I see Trump’s face and reporting and commentary about him and it’s intolerable. Should either of us acquire narcolepsy, we can just imagine 4 years of Trump’s pathological attention grabs from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That oughta keep us awake. And very anxious.

The more I look, the more I don’t like Hillary. The choices this year are simply dreadful, but the imperative that there must never be a President Trump overrides everything. We can survive Hillary. I’m not at all confident we can survive Trump. So, pass me some clothespins.

DW

Yup. 2016: The Year of the Clothespins.

Note: I asked Dan for a description of his bona fides so that you might understand where he’s coming from and why you might be interested in his views. Here is his reply:

DW

Before going off to the Harvard Business School and launching into a 30-year career consulting, raising capital and running businesses, I spent 5 years doing political work with what used to be known as Moderate Republicans.  This is a species that has since become extinct, which is to say that when Chris Christie is being described as a Moderate Republican, hell has indeed frozen over.  I mean people in the Chuck Percy/Everett Dirksen mold.

I did most of my work for Slade Gorton, a highly respected member of the US Senate.  He and the other candidates and officials I worked for believed that it was pretty much none of the government’s business who was praying to whom, when and where, and what was going on behind various bedroom doors.  They believed in prudent spending, which is to say that they thought spending money we don’t have is to be frowned upon, and that when confronting even something that seems like it really ought to be done, it is worth asking why the Federal government (which really means taxpayers other than the ones who are going to benefit from whatever it is) should pay for it.  And as members of the Greatest Generation or early Baby Boomers, they believed that the world is a dangerous place in which America needed to remain a strong and vigilant force for good.  They were probably a little naïve about the degree to which, other than our role in WWII, we really have been a force for good, but their beliefs on this front were pure and their intent honorable.

I believe that this set of principles actually reflects the views of a large middle swath of the American people.  That, of course, simply means that like anyone else, I’m convinced I’m right and that everyone else secretly agrees with me.  But at best, I just barely squeezed inside the left edge of the Republican tent.  Even in the early 1980s, when I did my political work, I could already feel the party picking up the tent and moving it way to the right, and I’ve been shivering in the rain ever since.

Is Dan shivering in the rain alone? I don’t think so.

News flash to Joe Scarborough: The nation is not shifting to the right. Only the righty extremists are moving that way. The vast majority are shivering in the rain with Dan. Think: Charlie Christ, Richard Lugar and so many others.

It’s way past time for tent relocation.


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Lesson


Flight 93 National Memorial

Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, PA

Reading time – 54 seconds; Viewing time – 1:54  .  .  .

I fly a lot and often think about the people on those four airplanes on that awful day, September 11, 2001. Most often I think about those on United Flight #93.

WTC AttackThere had been victims of terrorists before then, like those on the USS Cole and in the Marine barracks in Lebanon. And there were victims of terrorists on that very day aboard the airplanes that were flown into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. Each time they were hapless victims, either because they were scared into being compliant or they were simply blindsided. Not so for those on United #93.

The USS Cole is towed into open sea on Oct. 29, 2000 Photo: DOD by Sgt. Don L. Maes, U.S. Marine Corps

USS Cole is towed into open sea, Oct. 29, 2000 Photo: DOD, Sgt. Don L. Maes, U.S.M.C.

Todd Beamer’s name and face are in my memory, but more than those are his words: “Let’s roll.” He was telling his fellow passengers and, unknown to him, this entire nation, not to be victims. He was telling us to take action. And I tell myself that very thing, in part because of his words and actions.

[Ed. note: Check the PS below – it’s not in the video.}

We have fought back as a nation. That there haven’t been far more attacks is noteworthy and great thanks go to the good people who have prevented them. Still, our people have died in San Bernardino and Boston and Fort Bragg and Orlando and survivors still grieve.

Todd Beamer

Todd Beamer

In the face of so much suffering, others have heard the call and stepped up. Like Bill Badger, who stopped more killing at the Tucson Safeway store where Gabby Giffords and others were shot by a crazy in 2011. And Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, who stopped a murderer on a French train in 2015.

Whatever happens there are always lessons, and one of the lessons of 9/11 is to step up. To take action. To refuse to be a victim. Always, the imperative is, “Let’s roll.”

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PS: There are people who volunteer to do dangerous things for the rest of us.

Almost 14% of the people who died in the World Trade Center buildings were first responders who charged into those burning buildings in order to save the people inside. It’s on us to make sure that Congress honors our commitment to the surviving first responders – all of them – in order to ensure they get the medical support they earned through their courage and selfless dedication. Tell Congress there’s no weasel room on this: tell them to do the right thing.

Our military people were once accused of awful things, yet they are now held in the highest esteem. Regardless, in each case they were far from home and doing the enormously hard and dangerous things of war because we sent them to do so for us. Some never got thanked and some still wait for the medical support they were promised.

Please read John Calia’s post and then do as he invites. Let’s roll.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

“Nuthin’ There”


BellyReading time – 1:11; Viewing time – 2:46  .  .  .

Caution: Contains snark. Sensitive readers and viewers are advised to either have an adult present or to stop whining and grow up.

BREAKING NEWS

In what is being hailed as a stunning piece of investigative journalism, our CYA News reporters Ben Dover and Simon Simon broke the story revealing that Donald Trump has no navel. He is completely without a belly button.

Their primary contact spoke with our reporters on condition of anonymity – we’ll call him “Bob.” Dover and Simon report that Bob said that Trump was born with the usual abdominal accessories but in his late teens had elective plastic surgery to remove his navel.

Bob explained, “Donny and me used to hang out together in those days, especially at the beach in Glen Cove. Lotta rich girls there. Anyway, he wasn’t getting any attention – couldn’t seem to get to first base with any of them. He decided that if he did something really different he might be able to, you know, start something. He came up with this crazy idea and told us that we wouldn’t believe how great this was going to be. ‘It’ll be amazing – the best,’ he said. So off he goes in a private jet to Mexico.

“When he comes back he had no belly button. I mean, the bandages came off in a couple of weeks and bingo, nuthin’ there. Me and Billy were amazed. So were the girls. Donny got constant attention from the girls on the beach after that. I guess it worked.”

Our reporters attempted to reach candidate Trump for comment on this CYA News story but they were refused. All they could get was a telephone comment from a Trump spokesperson identifying himself as a “very high level, very important person”, saying, “You’re why all Americans hate and distrust the press. You’re a disaster. From now on you’re barred from attending any Trump rally or press conference. You’re fired!”

BREAKING NEWS

This just in: Hillary Clinton has denied having ever sent an email at all and she said that the story about a private email server in her house was actually a hoax designed to mislead “a vast right wing conspiracy”. Her spokesperson, Huma Abedin, has referred all requests for comments to her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, claiming that, “He probably knows lots more than anybody else about sending sensitive stuff through an unsecured email server.”

Stay tuned to CYA News for further details on both of these breaking news stories as they become available.

That’s all the breaking news for now.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

¿Que es, Presidente Peña Nieto?


Pena Nieto and TrumpReading time – 0:43  .  .  .

Point #1 – It’s still true and it is as true in Mexico as it is in the United States that all politics is local and everything is political.

Point #2 – Of the Mexican people and people of Mexican ancestry it can reasonably be said that Donald Trump’s approval rating is on a par with their view of dysentery.

Point #3 – Presidente Peña Nieto serves at the pleasure of the Mexican voting public. And he’s not very popular – he has a 23% approval rating.

Question: Presidente Peña Nieto, what are you doing hanging out with Donald Trump? What’s in it for you politically to conference with someone who has spent 14 months vilifying the Mexican people?

Surely, conducting the meeting privately gives you cover to report the content and results any way you wish. You can describe the proceedings anywhere from a milquetoast, “We had a productive discussion,” to, “I pinned his xenophobic ears back, told him the people of Mexico aren’t building any border wall and to go back to the dark, slimy place he came from.” Likely, that last would play well in Mexico. Actually, it would play well in much of the United States, too.

But a joint news conference? And you let Trump take questions?

Really, Señor Presidente, why did you invite that meeting and allow that circus to ensue? What was in it for you? ¿Que es, Presidente Peña Nieto?

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

It Isn’t About Your Message


Housefly.Reading time – 1:54; Viewing time – 3:17  .  .  .

The 2012 general election generated a lot of forward looking comments from pundits and political operatives, like:

The Republicans will have to change their messaging if they are going to appeal to Latinos.

“Severely conservative” Mitt Romney will have to pivot to the center in order to attract independents.

Republican candidates have to stop saying things like, “A woman’s body has a way of shutting that down [in cases of rape],” and “[Pregnancy from rape] is God’s plan.”

This year those statements are being modified only slightly by saying that Trump will have to change his messaging if he is going to appeal to Latinos and African-Americans. Like Romney, he’ll have to pivot to the center in order to attract independents. He’ll have to stop demeaning women and he’ll  have to refuse to align with hate groups if he is going to attract anyone but the hair-on-fire pissy people (my description, not a quote).

The important point, though, is that all that “how to win elections” word torturing is completely misguided, wrong-headed and even dishonest.  It seems to say that all that matters is the manipulation of the message and of voters.

To which I say, “Nuh-uh.” What is important is not the crafted messaging of an appeal to African-Americans or a pivot to the center or avoiding saying stupid stuff. What is important is what candidates would actually do. And however you dress up Trump’s piggy statements, it’s clear that even with lipstick, he will continue to be a pig and he will do what pigs do.

Charles Blow recently wrote, “Trump is an unfiltered primal scream of the fragility and fear consuming white male America.” Surely, there’s much we can learn from that. More critically, though, Trump’s frivolous comments about the use of nuclear weapons abandons common sense and even survival. In a real crisis, what would he do?

This election is about many things including what’s already been mentioned, as well as voter disenfranchisement, big money poisoning of our politics and the millions of good paying jobs that Congress continues to say “It’s all about” but consistently refuses to take action to improve. It is about these substantive issues and is not about focused-grouped, misleading messages.

TO OUR POLITICAL CANDIDATES (not just Trump) – News flash: It isn’t about your message.You need to understand that Latinos don’t care what you say about immigration reform; they care about what you would do about it. Americans don’t care how you flap your lips about Medicare, Social Security, jobs, climate warming and terrorism; they care about what you would do.

If you’re all about the hot air of your finely honed, misleading messaging, then all you are is a manipulator and we will sniff you out. You may have had your way with us for a while, but if you’ve been dishonest with us, we will swat you like we would an annoying housefly and flick you away.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Baggage Claim


Woman-with-emotional-baggageReading time – 43 seconds; Viewing time – 1:44  .  .  .

It’s time to admit that things are out of hand and are causing us great harm. Specifically, we have politically motivated emotional outbursts masquerading as policy statements and thoughtful commentary. These outbursts are as common as dandelions in spring and are just about as useful. We are all burdened by the weight of the dysfunctional behavior that gets dumped on us daily and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta recently announced that this burden trumps all others and is causing spinal injuries and brain traumas, especially to our seniors and young children. Something must be done.

Well, there is good news. Air Canada has found a way forward and all we have to do is to follow its lead and apply it to our pathological politics.

The cure is simple: Charge politicians a fee for the emotional baggage they attempt to get us to carry. That’s right: We stop enabling their craziness and instead make them pay for their dysfunctional doo-doo.

The fees need to be steep in order to get their attention and cause them to reconsider the narcissism, denial, rationalization, projection, antisocial personality disorder* behavior and outright lies they intend to spew on us. And, like the Air Canada model, they must be required to pay in advance of their spewing.

  • So, go ahead – read the article. Betcher gonna like the idea.
  • * “Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others.”  – Psychology Today

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

America Through the Looking Glass


Antique Looking GlassReading time – 37 seconds; Viewing time – 55 seconds  .  .  .

You’ve heard comments about the multiple Trump bankruptcies and failures, but to really understand you need to read the meaty account of them in Newsweek, Donald Trump’s Many Business Failures, Explained by Kurt Eichenwald. As you read it, keep in mind that Trump has told us repeatedly that he’ll be the greatest president ever because he’s such a great businessman and a winner. Eichenwald’s essay puts the lie to that nonsense.

Trump wants you to believe that he knows things that you don’t know, and he’s right. You don’t understand, for example, that failure is success. You just don’t get that a lie is better than the truth and that innuendo, insult and slander are hallmarks of personal greatness. All of us but Trump missed the fundamental life lesson that fraud is the calling card of great virtue. To any sane person, it’s craziness.

But the true craziness of our time is not Trump and his dishonesty; it is that 30 percent of the American electorate is so enraged that they support him and cheer anything he says that feels like a “f**k you” aimed at others. They are so enraged by all the lies and sellouts over so many years by those in power that they mindlessly latch onto Trump’s permanently raised middle finger.

What have we done?

For a fuller understanding of the Trump alternate universe, take a look at Katy Tur’s piece on the Marie Claire website and you’ll see that life around Trump is life through the looking glass. Can that possibly be good for you or even for Trump’s 30 percent? Could America as we know it survive that?

Thanks go to ABS for the pointer to the Newsweek piece.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Green is the New Black


Green is the New BlackReading time – 1:52; Viewing time – 3:37  .  .  .

Many Democrats are angry and some even hate Hillary Clinton. The negatives tend to cluster around two things: trustworthiness (actually, the lack of it) and her disastrous position on ____________ (fill in the blank with your key issue). That has led many Democrats to proclaim with a righteous fury that they will not vote for her and they certainly won’t vote for Trump, so instead they will either abstain from voting or will vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. To explain why that’s self-defeating, let’s look at the math.

Votes for Trump will be from “the base”, plus those Republicans who put clothespins on their noses (thanks for the visual, D.W.) and vote for him only because his name is not Hillary Clinton. Clearly, all of those will be votes against Clinton.

Next point: Jill Stein doesn’t have even a remote chance of becoming president, so a vote for her won’t get her elected. In that sense, votes for her are wasted.

Finally, making the assumption that Democrats who abstain from voting or who vote for Stein would have voted for the Democratic candidate had that been someone other than Clinton, then those abstentions and votes for Stein will be votes against Clinton, which is exactly the same as a vote for Trump.

So, the math says that if you are a disaffected Democrat and either abstain from voting or vote for Stein, you will assure that America is endangered by a sociopathic President Trump. There, I said it: President Trump. How did that feel in your gut to read those words? Really scary and black?

If you fail to vote for Clinton and instead abstain or vote for Stein, Green will be the new black.

Yes, the DNC played unfairly with the nomination process. Absolutely, there are things about Clinton that don’t comport with your ideas about how things should be and assault your sense of right and wrong. I get it. Overriding all of that is this simple imperative:

There must never be a President Trump.

On August 7, 2016 Bill Maher put into perspective the issues you have with Clinton, saying, “There’s no room for boutique issues in an Armageddon election.” Armageddon election! That’s exactly what we have when a presidential candidate speaks glibly about using nuclear weapons.

Want to feel a bit better about holding your nose and voting for Clinton? Here’s some help.

Ezra Klein has an ordinary size human head, but tucked inside is a brain the size of Delaware; he is monstrously smart. His recent Vox article is about Hillary Clinton and her “gap” – the difference between how people who know her feel about her, versus the feelings of those who don’t have first-hand experience. This piece is enlightening and is a must-read, unless you’re dedicated to being frustrated and angry about Clinton. I double-dog dare you to read it.

Libertarian is the New BlackBTW: Everything said here also goes for disaffected Republicans who are thinking of abstaining or voting for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate. Each of those voting options is a vote for Trump. Good Republican friends don’t let their friends do that.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

I Got It Wrong


Declaration of IndependenceReading time – 2:39; Viewing time – 4:08  .  .  .

I’ve long lamented the lack of a clear vision for America from our leaders and our candidates. They promote various programs, laws and policies but never seem to connect them to a clear statement about the kind of country we want, effectively swatting at symptoms with a ready, fire, aim methodology, which has brought us to our current condition.

Then it came to me. It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

And it’s in the Preamble to the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity  .  .  .

It’s the whole thing. The Big Picture. The reason. The why. It isn’t a slick campaign bumper sticker slogan, like “Shining city on a hill” or “Morning in America,” so those passages from long ago take a bit more effort to remember and they aren’t neatly organized into a single, focus-grouped focal point, but instead have a number of points. Still, the intent is pretty clear. Our problem seems to lie in the wrong-headed efforts that do not lead to that intent.

For example, the Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933 as a barrier to bank failure in order to prevent another Great Depression. One of its provisions prohibited any combination of business practices from among three financial functions that included commercial banking (home mortgages, savings accounts, etc.), speculative investment banking and the insurance business. That worked pretty well until 1999 when the Newt Gingrich Congress sent a bill to President Bill Clinton that repealed Glass-Steagall and he signed it into law. That led to things like collateralized debt obligations, derivatives and a number of other financial products that pretty much nobody understood, not even the smart guys. It was Las Vegas style gambling with your money but without your consent and you never even held the dice. The result was the 2008-2009 economic meltdown that nearly crippled the entire world economy. The removal of the Glass-Steagall restrictions did, indeed promote the general welfare, but only for already rich people. It didn’t promote the general welfare of the country or of most of its people. It was classic congressional action that was absent of focus on the vision.

Another example is our election system that puts candidates on their knees begging for campaign contributions from, say, the NRA. That does a great job of promoting the general welfare of the gun industry, but it most assuredly doesn’t insure domestic tranquility.

Billions of dollars of subsidies go to the fossil fuel industries each year and that is great for the welfare of those companies. But the subsidized use of their products is starting to cause the streets of Miami Beach to flood. It’s causing severe storms in some areas of the world and drought in others and is slowly but at an increasing pace choking the planet. Without question that is an assault on our unalienable right to life, yet we continue the subsidies and fail to promote an all-hands-on-deck sustainable energy strategy that would support our citizens’ right to life.

So, I got it wrong. There most surely is a vision. We just have a remarkable facility for losing focus on it.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Salve for the Bern


TortoiseReading time – 77 seconds; Viewing time – 2:37  .  .  .

I know you’re more than disappointed. You’re angry, disturbed, frustrated and wracked with despair. You know what’s wrong and you know what will fix it. You have a vision of how America should be and you want change from the hateful, harmful, even suicidal path we seem to be on. The urgency you feel is real and you want that change to happen right now. And the hope for reform that you invested in Bernie is dashed.

Well, buck up, Bubba, because true and lasting change takes time.

Gershom Gorenberg, writing for Moment Magazine about the disenchantment some have with Israel, has advice that applies to our society, our politics and our hopes that we placed in Bernie:

“I can best define despair in politics as unrealistic pessimism. History gives evidence that dedicated, organized people can bring about political change. The creation of Israel is, in fact, one example. The civil rights movement in America is another. I’m certain there were people who told Martin Luther King, Jr. in Birmingham not merely to move slowly (we’ve all heard about that), but to give up hope: “Look, Reverend, Jim Crow is entrenched policy. America’s promises are a sham. Give it up.” King didn’t. To bring about political change, you need to keep two conflicting recognitions constantly in mind. One is that it’s urgent. It must happen today, because the situation is intolerable. The other is that transformations require a very long march.

“When you despair, you exempt yourself from the slog. Declaring that nothing can be done, you stop asking what you can do. You become an un-indicted co-conspirator in the status quo.”

The hare never wins the race. In the fight for reform, we must be the tortoise. Bernie’s campaign may be over, but the fight for reform goes on. So, one thing we tortoises can do is to vote on November 8 and encourage everyone we encounter to do the same.

Pass this along to other disappointed people youThe work goes on know – they’re feeling let down, too, and need your help to rekindle their flame of hope instead of giving up. That’s what you can do, because giving up is not an option.

Thanks go to Steve Sheffey for the Gorenberg quote.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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