The Union Future

by David Brooks

DEC. 18, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/opinion/david-brooks-the-union-future.html?comments#permid=13630253

This is really quite an amazing column.

The title and first paragraph lead one to believe that Mr. Brooks, of all people, is intent on starting a serious conversation on how to address the horrific income and wealth inequality in the US, and the possible role of Labor Unions in that process.

But then, very quickly, Mr. Brooks reverts to character and concentrates on lambasting public sector unions, one of the favorite targets of some of the more odious GOP Governors. The little snipe, almost as an aside, at the Teachers Unions is just a warm up. He then has the audacity to blame the Police Unions for the racial tensions, which are really the remnants pervasive racism in the Us in general.
Unions, just as any other large organization, needs to be controlled so as not to abuse their power. But this kind of baseless and one-sides bashing of Unions is not only silly, it is downlight disgusting. There is a strong correlation between the decline of Labor Unions and the ever increasing wealth and income disparity between the 10% and the 90%.

The US VW subsidiary took the initiative to implement the labor representation in management boards customary in Germany. The GOP dominated state government in Tennessee prevented that - it would set a bad precedence which might actually improve the lives of middle class workers again.

Obama Announces U.S. and Cuba Will Resume Diplomatic Relations

By PETER BAKERDEC. 17, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html?comments#permid=13613462

It's about time!
The cold war has been over for 25 years, and even before that, clinging to a completely idiotic no-contact policy vis-a-vis Cuba was completely counter-productive. This policy catered to the left-overs of the terrible Batista regime, who had found refuge in the US. We pontificated about the terrible human rights violations of Castro's Cuba, but the Batista regime was at least as bad.

The blokade made sense while the Siviets were trying to use Cuba as a forward base for their military and spying operations, but by the time that was no longer an issue, the Batisata Cubans had managed to co-opt our right-wing fanatics to perpetuate and non-sense policy.

Congratulations to Obama for having the courage to end this rediculous policy. There is something to be said for being a lame-duck President with nothing left to loose. In this and the immigration policies, he is (finally) showing courage to do what is right rather than what "the Right" insist on.

The Rise of ‘Welfare Chauvinism’

by Thomas B. Edsall

DEC. 16, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/opinion/the-rise-of-welfare-chauvinism.html?comments#permid=13613928

Contrary to many of the other comments, I found this to be a interesting and well written article.

I agree that the US political system has (at least) one major disadvantage compared to European parilamentary systems: our two party system offers little in the way of new ideas to enter the politican process - any "new ideas" are quickly subsumed by one of the the two major parties and then quickly become irrelevant and invisible in the actual legislative process, or serves only to further throttle any real legislative action, as in the case of the Tea Party.

Globalization and technologigal change are, indeed, difficult problems for stricly national governments to deal with, as by definition these issues are "global". The ability for multiple new parties to gain visibility and power in Europe allows for issues to become focused and new ideas to be tried out. These new political parties, like UKIP in Britain and AfD in Germany, also serve as a safty valve for resentments by agrieved population groups - they thus feel visibly represented in the political process and are less likely to seek extra-democratic routes to power.

The EU is another effort in Europe to deal with the "global", trans-national nature of many of todays pressing problems, at least on a large regional scale. Although a work in progress, the EU is at least a step in the right direction to reduce national emnities and social conflicts among nation-states.

We’re Always Still Americans

by Thomas L. Friedman

DEC. 9, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/opinion/thomas-friedman-were-always-still-americans.html?comments#permid=13547213

It is disheartening that Americans always feel that they must, at all times and under all circumstances, wrap everything in "American exceptionalism" ("...we are a beacon of opportunity and freedom...") even when describing facts which paint a completely different picture of America and Americans. This need to immediately frame the discussion in the context of the supposed "American exceptionalism" prevents us from truly appreciating the depravity to which we, too, are capable of descending, and prevents an HONEST self-examination.

This "enhanced interrogation" scandal is but the latest of a continuing stream of actions by Americans which are anything by "exceptional" in the positive sense:
Slavery; the Civil War; racial discrimination for 100 years after the Emancipation Declaration, continuing to this very day; McCarthyism; assassinations of Presidents and other leaders; the Vietnam War; the "Axis of Evil"; the lies and deception surrounding the Iraqi WMD; NSA; Abu Ghraib atrocities; Guantanamo; and the list can go on and on.

This compulsive need to cloak these kinds of events and facts with "American exceptionalism" (which supposedly makes all these issues relatively unimportant) only shows the fragility of America's and Americans' continued belief in their own "essential goodness" and "exceptionalism" - we are scared to admit to ourselves that we are potentially just as stupid and evil as any other country. Such delusional behavior prevents real and lasting solutions.


Response to ConcernedCitizen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/opinion/thomas-friedman-were-always-still-americans.html?comments#permid=13547213:13551640

Yes, agreed - that is certainly the image of America I had when I immigrated here over 50 years ago, and is, in many ways, still true. However, more and more, especially when the military and perceived "national security" are involved, Americans now switch to a hyper-patriotic mode, the "love it or leave it" syndrome, which prevents us from learning important lessons from some of our more dramatic failiures (Vietnam, and most recently, Afghanistan and Iraq) - and the enhanced interrogation scandal is certainly one of those failures.
Even beyond that, however, politician and opinion-makers like Mr. Friedman, use the "exceptionalism" argument much more broadly in order to avoid hard truths about where we are no longer "the biggest", "the best", "the richest" etc., in order not to have to make difficult political and policy decision. Up until recently, and even now, it is not unusual to hear politicians pontificate about how we have the best medical system (even after ACA that is still laughable), or that The American Dream is still alive and well (not - France now has greater upward mobility than the US).
So, in many ways, "American exceptionalism" has become a cop-out for not facing tough issues....

• Flag

Class Prejudice Resurgent

by David Brooks

DEC. 1, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html?comments#permid=13473389

The Ferguson tragedy has been misappropriated, primarily by the media and some among African American leaders, to stoke the still very real racial divides, especially black-white, in the US.

I agree with Mr. Brooks that this racial tension is, at it's base, a socio-economic divide, which accentuates the racial divide. At some level both the racial and the socio-economic divide will always exist. There are many, many social and political policies to be discussed and implemented which could mitigate these divides (most of them, btw, vehemently opposed by the GOP). Inciting and organizing witch hunts against police officers, as in Ferguson, fueled by ignorance and willful misinformation, is NOT a useful policy in this regard, indeed is counter productive, like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Most police shootings occur in conjunction with the police protecting the poor and disadvantaged (disproportionally black) from other poor and disadvantaged (disproportionately black). Our veneer of "civilized society" is very thin indeed, and as we see in Ferguson, can quickly degenerate into anarchy, with looting and arson. Wholesale demonizing of the police, that thin blue line between a semblance of order and complete anarchy, especially in poor and disadvantaged areas, is completely counter productive, especially for the disadvantaged. 

Identifying and rooting out the few bad cops is absolutely necessary, but officer Wilson was NOT one of the bad cops.

Should The Times Have ‘Left It Out’ — and What, Exactly, Was ‘It’?

By MARGARET SULLIVAN DECEMBER 1, 2014 2:57 PM

http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/should-the-times-have-left-it-out-and-what-exactly-was-it/?comments#permid=13473216

"It" is the publication of news about Officer Wilson's marriage, including an image of the marriage license.

I have commented on the original post of the article, that I question the need to "report" on the marriage of Officer Wilson at all.

Officer Wilson was already being pilloried in the media, based mainly on early misinformation by the media (for example, that he could not have known that Michael Brown, the "unarmed innocent 18 year old child", had just robbed a convenience store - false, we now know that officer Wilson was responding to a call about that incident, including a description of the subject -- and that thus Wilson must have been just one of those racist pigs out to hurt African Americans, whereas in reality he had just finished a call helping a mother get her sick young child - truly a child - to the hospital).

In that context what possible benefit was there to public ANY details about officer Wilson's personal life, including his recent marriage, which in any way shed more light on the events surrounding Michael Brown's shooting. The entire piece, in my mind, was completely irresponsible and bad journalism.