Why did it happen?

Yes, I'm disappointed with the results of the election.

I have my own thoughts as to why things turned out the way they did.

One of the main reasons, I believe, has to do with the economy.  Pundits say that Donald Trump tapped into the deep seated conviction, primarily of white blue collar workers, that they have been treated unfairly.  Their jobs went overseas.  They were not able to obtain jobs that allowed them to keep their middle class lifestyle.  Someone must be to blame:  immigrants, documented, undocumented, and CITIZENS, make easy targets.

I agree with them.  Someone is to blame.

There are the politicians who lacked the vision to support educational efforts that would enable those who have lost their jobs to compete in a new economy.  There are the politicians who lacked the vision to see the opportunity in an economy no longer based on fossil fuels but on renewable resources.  There are the politicians who hold to the old economy because they are afraid to tell the truth to their constituents.  There are the politicians who, simply put, are afraid to lead.

There are the education systems that devolved into teaching for the test and not for competence. There are education systems that forgot how to instill values without resorting to one brand of religion or another.

There are the major corporations, lacking any sense of civic responsibility to their employees and the communities left reeling in the aftermath.

There is a culture that no longer valued education the way it did in the post World War II years that sent millions of veterans to school and created a generation of businessmen, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, that values the superstar basketball player over the high school physics teacher, that does not insist that an educated electorate is to be prized.

Finally, there are the citizens themselves.  Those who refused to admit that they no longer had the skills to make it in a new economy and refused to take responsibility improving their lot by means of education.

What's the big deal about education?  A well rounded education, easily obtained or not, gives the individual the tools, not only to earn a decent living, but also to learn to think critically, to have a sense of curiosity about the world, to learn to discern truth.

So we ended up with two candidates, but with flaws.  We decided with our emotions on which was the more flawed.

One had a career in public service.  She had made some mistakes, was not the most likable or approachable, but was clearly competent to take on the job.  You don't have to like your President.  But that doesn't mean you can't go the extra mile and decide for yourself whether her flaws were so significant and verifiable that she didn't deserve the office.  There's that critical thinking thing again.

The other had no background in public service.  By one measure, he lied once every three minutes he was on the campaign trail.  He kept the fact checkers busier than they've ever been.  He scapegoated immigrants, insulted women, threatened to put his opponent in jail.

Over fifty newspapers endorsed one of the candidates.  Only two endorsed the other.  But newspapers are languishing.  Readership is down.

One candidate had her party solidly behind her.  The other found his party seeking to distance themselves from him.

So I'm disappointed.  I'm disappointed that it was even close, so close that the electoral college is being challenged.  How was it close?  Did we think change was so important that we were willing to allow a campaign that resembled a demolition derby more than civil discourse?  Were we more willing to accept the easy lies rather than the difficult truths?

I've done my best to keep an open mind.  It's been easy for me.  Either way, I don't really have a dog in the hunt.  I'm white, male, and sixty-seven years old with retirement savings for which I am more grateful than I can express.

I also know that we live in a world that disputes facts, truth.  I remind people that you can have your opinion, but you can't have your own facts.  But that's what happened.  People chose their own "facts".  They listened to the big lie.  They went for the outsider in the White House, but re-elected the same Congress.

I've tried to speak truth here.  I hope I've given you something to think about.

Until next time.

Our Times

In retirement, I have a lot of time to think about all kinds of matters.  This election cycle has given me much to ponder.  I need to organize my thoughts.  Hence this post.

First, I find myself struggling with these propositions:

1. There appears to be a new third rail in American politics (or does that make it a fourth rail after Social Security?).  I'm thinking of the military, service personnel, and veterans.  I think there is a tendency to think of them as interchangeable.  The military = service personnel = veterans.  I think that is dangerous and would like to develop that thought.
2. I am concerned about a growing nationalism that I see in the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and, to a lesser degree, other candidates for President from the GOP.  Again, there is a tendency to conflate love of country, patriotism, and nationalism.  I believe we should start to grow beyond all of these.  That probably makes me some kind of "one-worlder".  I'd like to develop that topic as well.  
3. You can hardly talk about a growing sense of nationalism without engaging the immigration issue as well.  The anti-immigrant sentiment that is one of many drivers to the conservative ideology needs to be addressed.
4. I am concerned that education has become devalued by a large segment of our population.  I think I know when it started and I'd like to do something to shed light on this issue.
5. I am concerned that the same campaigns mentioned before have given voice to a segment of our population whose overt racism is suddenly more acceptable than it has been since the 1960s.
6. I am concerned with the degree to which religion has co-opted political discussion.  Barack Obama had to prove he was a Christian.  Ted Cruz wants the US to be a Christian theocracy.  Throw in Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson to the politicians who want our cultural life to be dictated by Christian Evangelicals.  Yet, the United States is apparently undergoing a process of secularization, following what has happened in Europe.
7. What happened to conservatives that I could respect while disagreeing with them?  people like Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, Everett Dirkson, Howard Baker, even Ronald Reagan at his best.  Where have they gone?  We find conservative commentators like David Brooks and George Will throwing up their hands in dismay at the current crop.
8. I find the whole environment-global warming-climate change debate tiresome and frustrating.  If ever there was an indication of the stranglehold that big business, particularly the fossil fuel industry, has over our political discourse, this is it.

I hope to explore these (and perhaps more) topics in the days and weeks to come.  I'm sure the presidential race will find its place in my musings.

Something to get you started:  Will McAvoy on the greatest country in the world

Abortion -- Where I Stand -- What I Believe

There's a part of me that says I should keep my mouth shut about this topic.  Why?  I lack two X chromosomes.

Having said that, there's some ambivalence in my thoughts.  I don't think that abortion is completely morally neutral.  There are many circumstances that can serve to "justify" the act:  poverty, ignorance, rape, incest, mother's health/life.  Convenience, not so much.  "Not in our plan", not so much.  I have a real problem when the reason for an abortion is that one or two people do not want to take responsibility for their action.

But, I absolutely believe that a woman has the right to make decisions about her own body and health.  Unfortunately, the decision to abort affects a woman and another, incipient life.

Of course, this debate would not occur if we lacked the technology to provide safe abortions to women.  Basically, we perform abortions because we can.

Proud to be

The politicians these days, of course, have to include some kind of national pride talking point in their discourse.  How can you get elected if you're not proud to be an American?

But let's stop and think about that for a moment.  

Usually, we take pride in an accomplishment.  I'm proud of the job I did.  I'm proud of my daughters (although it's arguable to consider how much of what I've done resulted in the persons they are as adults).  I'm proud of  a song I wrote or an essay I composed.  Those are all examples of the pride that results from doing.

But what about those instances when we have pride from being?  I'm proud to be an Episcopalian.  I'm proud to be from Alabama (sort of).  I'm proud of the Alabama football team because I am a fan.  And, of course, with apologies to Lee Greenwood, I'm proud to be an American.

What is it that causes that pride?  I'm an American, not because of anything I've done.  I simply was born in America.  In many respects, it's a matter of luck.  What causes national pride?  Are the accomplishments of the country the source of the pride?  I didn't win World War II.  Other Americans did.  I didn't land on the moon.  Other Americans did.  I inherited the benefits of our revolution and constitution.  I've played no role in defending my country.  Just what is the source of that pride?

I think we should take a different path.  I think we should turn away from pride.  Pride in one's country eventually leads to an ugly nationalism.   I think we've seen that for some time.

At one point we proclaimed that it was our "Manifest Destiny" to conquer the continent.  Who decided that it was God's will that we should subjugate the native peoples and take the land that was their home?  Was it God's will that we should wrest Texas from Mexico?   When we made the "Louisiana Purchase", weren't we really buying land that France had claimed for its own, but in fact, again, was the home of the native peoples?

Because of the place of my birth and rearing, at another time, I suppose I could have boasted of my role in the South's failure in the Civil War.  But wait, we usually don't boast of failure.

_________ and the Constitution

In December 2012, I wrote an entry to this blog called "Newtown and the Constitution".  Now, almost three years later, I find myself experiencing the same emotions, over and over again.  I could write the article with "Chattanooga" or "Charleston" or "Texas" or...you get the idea.

We can wait no longer.  If the second amendment is the major obstacle to taking some kind of action to restrict gun ownership, then we need to revisit that amendment.

I'll repeat my argument from earlier.  The amendment process was created so that the constitution could reflect the changing moral vision of the country in response to changes in the world around us.  So former slaves became citizens, women were given (almost) full rights as citizens, and individuals born on US soil were granted citizenship.  Alcohol was banned; then alcohol was made legal.

Our moral vision and the world were very different in 1781.  We had a very primitive technology available to us in firearms.  Whether rifle or pistol, "flintlock" was state of the art.  It allowed the shooter to discharge one shot at a time, before rearming the mechanism, during which time, the shooter could be disarmed.    Furthermore, the second amendment specifically couches the right to bear arms in the context of maintaining a militia.

All of that has changed.  The technology grew through repeater rifles and revolvers to (semi) automatic pistols and rifles with high capacity magazines and autoloaders.  A person with such a weapon is very dangerous, indeed.

As for a militia, hasn't that long been resolved by the armed forces and national guard?

Furthermore, our understanding of mental illness, its various conditions and their causes, has given us tools for identifying individuals who clearly should not have the "right to bear arms".

I was flabbergasted recently when I learned, following the Oregon shooting, that there are some 300,000,000 guns owned by people in this country alone.  I suspect some of them have arsenals to make up for the number of people that I know that don't own a single gun.  Am I alone or does it seem as though that number constitutes a clear and present danger to the rest of us?

I wish I knew the answer.  I don't agree with people who use their guns for hunting.  But I'll grant them their legitimacy.  As for keeping a gun for self-defense, I'm not sure a gun will actually offer protection from someone who knows what he is doing and is determined to do harm.

I lean toward complete disarmament of the citizenry.  I think that is the only way to eliminate the problem.  But I know that's not going to happen, probably not in my lifetime.

Help me feather my retirement nest!

For the better part of 30 years, I made my living exploring the mysteries of Excel and PowerPoint, those ubiquitous Microsoft Office tools.

Retired but not dead, I recently developed two PowerPoint presentations for my church, involving over 100 PowerPoint slides, charts that were linked to Excel, and Excel files that made use of multiple pivot tables.

It occurred to me that there may be other people or businesses who could use those same skills but who lacked the time to acquire the skills or the resources to have someone else create usable end products.

If I could connect with those people or businesses, then perhaps we could help each other.  I can create Excel spreadsheets based on specifications and/or PowerPoint presentations based on your needs for a modest hourly fee.

Grandfather Coleman

I had such a good response from my recent Facebook post about my grandfather, that I thought I would write a little something about my paternal grandfather, James G. Coleman, Sr.

Unfortunately, I had precious little time with him.  When I was about 3 1/2 years old, we received a call that he had died of a heart attack.  This was before any of my 5 siblings or 3 cousins on my father's side of the family had even been born.

So I am the only one of my generation to have memories of "Pawpaw" Coleman.

There are three that stand out.  One direct, the others by means of photographs.

First, the direct memory.  I remember my grandfather liked to play on the floor with me.  After a certain amount of roughhousing, he would order some warm milk for me, presumably to help me get to sleep.  Because I really have a memory of playing on the floor with him, it must have happened shortly before his death.

Second, there is a great picture that one of my parents must have taken.  It would seem that Pawpaw Coleman was given the task of putting me down for a nap.  The picture shows us both on a bed and guess which one was sleeping.  I was bright eyed and Pawpaw was in dreamland.

Finally, I know there are pictures of me with my grandfather's golf driver (or whatever it was called in those days) in my hands addressing a golf ball.  The club was taller than I was and I have no idea whether I ever hit the ball.

As it turns out, a decade later, I came across my grandfather's golf clubs in a closet or some other storage space.  They were in an old fashioned golf bag.  I asked my grandmother if I could have them and she, of course, agreed.

I would play golf with friends on the 9 hole municipal golf course close to our home.  I remember riding a bicycle to the course with my golf bag over my shoulder. 

The woods were still in reasonable shape.  I had to buy a set of irons from a discount department store.  I could only afford one-half of the irons, so I bought the odd numbers (3,5,7, and 9).  The woods were really made of wood and, if I knew where they were, they would be priceless (at least to me).  I gave up on golf around the time I was 15 or so and I don't know what happened to the clubs after that.

But that leads me to another story told by my father, James G. Coleman, Jr.  My dad would comment from time to time that he hated golf.  When I would ask him why, he told this story.  My grandfather would play golf every Saturday and my father would caddy for him.  Now, it seems that my grandfather was a no better golfer than I am (still waiting to break 100).  He also had quite a temper.  So, if he had a bad shot (and there must have been quite a few of them) he would hurl the offending club into the nearest water hazard.  My father would have to retrieve it for him so the round could continue.  

Sad to say, that temper must have been genetically passed on the Y chromosome to both my father and subsequently to me.  For dad, unruly children would send him over the edge.  For me, errant golf shots and hitting my head in the attic proved to be my undoing.