POLITE SOCIETY

In today’s New York Times, there were two editorial columns concerning the connection between the shooting in Arizona last weekend seriously wounding Congresswoman Giffords (which involved the death of six people, including a federal judge) and the violently inflammatory rhetoric that the coddling of the political right has permitted. The column by Bob Herbert hit all the right notes. The column by David Brooks was shameful, but in a career of expressing shameful opinions this was no surprise.

The sorrowful Mr. Brooks is unhappy that the media, the monolithic left wing media, has the audacity to link the actions of a maniac in Arizona with the rantings of numerous political maniacs from his side of the political spectrum. After Sarah Palin, that strong frontierswoman in Gucci, was able to publish a map with the locations of left leaning Congresspersons placed in “cross-hairs” of a gun site and still be found on the crosshairs of the political radar, speaks volumes about the level of our moral sensitivity. It is incomprehensible to me that any candidate aspiring to national political office would not have been hounded off the political stage just a few short years ago for such a gesture and shows how far down the road to political oblivion we have gone. The tactic of the old right was to scare the public with minority violence. Remember the first Bush campaign and his smearing of Governor Dukakis with the likes of Willy Horton? They have graduated from deploring the violence to encouraging it. But the accusation Mr. Brooks is making is more profound than his acting the flack for an airhead cheerleader from a backward state with gun-sized fantasies.

He wants to decouple the act of Jared Loughner, the young man who brought a gun to a political meeting in Tucson and opened fire on an innocent crowd, almost assassinating a member of Congress, from all the political gun talk and violence talk that the right wing has been so free to cast about at least for the past ten years. Sorry, Mr. Brooks, your efforts are not only wasted, they are demeaning. Having taught a class in Holocaust studies and published in that area for twenty years, his column immediately made me think of another kind of decoupling that many, particularly on the right, also attempt. That is the decoupling of anti-semitism and the Holocaust. Two thousand years of vitriolic talk and accusation mounted by church and throne in Europe and somehow there is little or no connection between the murder of millions of Jews and all that rhetoric. While we are decoupling political rhetoric from violent acts, maybe 9/11 was actually the end product of a joyride that a few dozen crazy men decided to take in order to get their names in the history books. Forget all the hate and violent talk spewed into their heads by their local Sarah Palins. What an image – the lovely and demure Ms. Palin among bearded and wild-eyed imams. At least, they are the genuine article. She is a cardboard figurine propped up by a cadre of amoral flacks and now we can add David Brooks to that list.

The $2.3 Trillion Magical Misery Tour

This coming semester (Spring 2011) I am again going to teach Medical Sociology. This is both an exciting opportunity to orient students to a fascinating field and a sobering occasion indeed. During the next five months I will have to live and breathe the grim statistics and sobering tales of the American health care (non)system. I have written about this subject on a number of occasions before and do not want to repeat myself; however, repeating oneself is surely one of the greatest pleasures life can afford.

This time I want to get personal with a number of tales that would surely provide enough fright for any number of juveniles arrayed before the campfire during dead of night. It all started a number of weeks ago when my endocrinologist (yes, I have one - he monitors my levels) suggested that I call my regular physician and set up a schedule of appointments in such a way that either one or the other saw me every six months. That sounded like a plan and last week I called my regular physician at St. John’s Clinic here in Springfield to complete the arrangements. Seems like a fairly simple transaction, no? Well, no.

The phone rang a couple of times and the cyborg on the other end quickly asked if I could be put on hold. No sooner had my internal assent been translated by my vocal cords, before I was enjoying music composed by the same folks who are subcontracted to build penitentiaries. My sentence, however, was not commuted as the few minutes turned into an eternity of anguished anticipation. In such circumstances, I never hold for more than a minute or two. I redialed immediately and cyborg gave me the identical greeting, asked the same question, and I foolishly gave the same assent, but with the proviso that, “I will not stay on hold forever.” Forever was definitely the key word. In fact, forever in some religious dispensations promises salvation, albeit at some indefinite time, but in this case salvation never came. I hung up and redialed and this time said in a rather stern and demanding tone that I would give cyborg my name and number and when the gracious moment arrived, I would be sitting anxiously by the phone awaiting undeserved condescension. Cyborg, however, would hear of no such arrangement, and again came the dreaded request: hold! At this point, I was enraged beyond description, filled with such emotion that my health was certainly not a beneficiary of the circumstance. But the health care system does not function to preserve YOUR health. It is the health of the system that is the subject of its prime directive. I was about to call St. John’s administration when I gave cyborg one more chance. This time through gritted teeth I said, “If you don’t take my name and number, the next call I make will be to St. John’s administration.” Wonder of wonders. Cyborg said, “How can we help you?” I was nonplussed. A few seconds ago cyborg was so busy that there was no time to jot down my name. Now we are all ears. The appointment made, I hung up thinking that with such genius in charge of the system what could possibly give us a second thought about the quality of our health care.

Coincidentally, a few days later something happened to create that second thought. The billing office of St. John’s Clinic called and wanted to discuss an outstanding bill in the amount of $115.14. I immediately opened my checkbook and found that I had written a check for that amount at the beginning of November. Billing office cyborg stated that, yes, the payment was received but that other amounts due had claimed it. I asked what amounts those were. In fact, they were the amounts created by the lab tests and my routine check by my endocrinologist. Those had happened a number of weeks after the payment had been mailed so I asked how the payment could have been misapplied. Cyborg became silent and had an “Er. . .” moment when it then became clear that the later amounts had not even been billed to me yet. So, when I asked what amount was outstanding, it turned out that nothing was outstanding. All of this was from a call placed to my home after 7:30 P.M. from a hospital billing office which had informed me during the course of this Kafkaesque dialogue that St. John’s gives patients only 20 days to pay all accounts in full unless other arrangements are made. Ah yes, nothing can beat the charity of a Catholic hospital system.

In this country we spend $2.3 trillion (and more given that figure is from 2008) for a really first crass health system. A little anesthesia never hurt when you are picking someone’s pocket.

LESS GOVERNMENT?

Less Government!!!! This is an idiot’s mantra shouted from housetops and on the lips of many a hysteric. In fact, in a recent editorial in the local Springfield paper, a comment was made about a politician that for whatever other flaws he might have, at least he advocated less government. This betrays an appalling lack of understanding of history and/or politics. Embedded within this complaint are elements that are partly true but mostly false.

First, a bit of humor. Those who have seen the movie Amadeus which showcases the life of Mozart might remember a scene when a small minded minister convinces the Austrian emperor that Mozart’s music is wonderful but contains “too many notes.” The theory proposed was that there are only so many notes the human ear can assimilate. So the emperor orders Mozart to reduce the number of notes in his music. Mozart replies something to the effect that there are just as many notes as he requires and asks in frustration which notes should be sacrificed.

Similarly, with the argument about the size of government, less government as a political slogan is mindless. There should be just as much government as needed to conduct public business. You might then ask: what is its business? Well, for starters we all assume that the government will ensure a safe supply of drinking water, a police force, schools, firemen, libraries, roads, bridges and sidewalks, courts and legislatures, elaborate systems of record keeping, enforcement of regulations to ensure the safety of food, consumer products, and the conditions in restaurants, etc. In a modern, fast-paced and complex society, the list is quite long. The services provided and the rights safeguarded are many. So which of these are you willing to forego? None you say. That isn’t the issue you say. We want all these things and more but we want them delivered more efficiently with less waste of our precious tax dollars. Now that is certainly an intelligent complaint. Why not “Honest Government” or “Efficient Government” as a demand? Most of us could get behind that.

Calls for “less government” are as sensible as children calling for “less parenting” or felons calling for “less justice.” Remember, the author of that 18th century riddle “Government governs best that governs least” was Thomas Paine, probably the most radical of American revolutionaries. Paine denounced religion as a human invention and supported the French revolution. How about “less cherrypicking” the quotes of 18th century radicals.

It is not too hard to find the motive behind these calls for less government.  Cui Bono - to whom the good? - is still the best question to ask when wanting to get to the bottom of something.  Those who do not wish to be regulated, those not wishing to pay their fair share, those who think that in the delirium caused by starving government of power their fondest wishes will come to pass.  They are playing a fool's game.  All that will be achieved will be the creation of a momentary vacuum which will be filled by an increased power and sovereign entity even more difficult to control.  But it is obvious that were we to judge the efficiency of government by the general level of public education and sophistication, those presently in charge of providing that basic service have much to answer for. 

Nuts on a Velvet Cushion

OK. There is something creative and kinky about wearing hardware as a fashion statement. The Today Show this morning (September 9, 2010) had a short segment about women creating jewelry from some of your favorite items in the hardware aisle. My favorite accessory in the “DIY Haute Couture” line was a belt made of out of a pulley and rope. Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with giving Home Depot a seat at the fashion runway, but is simple youthful exuberance all that is going on here?

The American Middle Class, bless its plaque filled heart, is being further softened up for what MadTV brilliantly satirized as “Lowered Expectations.” Over the past 20 years, the productivity of the American worker has increased but real wages have declined. Now that the biggest bubble of those last 20 years has burst (in real estate), the economy has hit the skids, at least for those in the bottom 80%. Those at the top have never had it so good. The levees of our economy have collapsed and, except for those who live in the most exclusive neighborhoods, we are all trying to keep our heads above water.

Thus, our friends at NBC are there making life a little more pleasant by demonstrating that as every penny of savings and equity are eaten up, women do not have to go about unadorned. They can galvanize their admirers with items that are themselves galvanized. The hardware store is replete with all kinds of rings, chains, spokes and spools in many sizes and shapes. Minnie Pearl step aside. Your dowdy image is in for some stiff and steely competition.

Doesn’t anyone else find this depressing? I thought diamonds were a girl’s best friend. Turns out that all along those blokes who worked themselves into a lather mortgaging their sweat for that matrimonial rock, could have saved a great deal of trouble. All they needed to do for their true love was trot down to True Value and buy their baubles by the pound.

However, the big surprise comes much later. Get ready all you little tykes. When your grandma loses her last little bit of private health insurance and slips off to those faux pearly gates, your inheritance is going to be one large screw.

The 14th Amendment – Racial and Political from the Start

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Ah, you gotta love the Republicans. The 14th Amendment was passed by the required 2/3 vote by an overwhelmingly Republican Congress in 1866. The Civil War having concluded with the defeat of the South, that defeat put the slavery question to rest and should have also put to rest the relative constitutional position of the states vis-à-vis the federal government. Alas, some bad ideas never die even when they are buried under the bodies of 600,000 slain soldiers.

So, the present Republican leadership in our Congress, playing on racial and ethnic prejudices, wants to reverse the impact of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment as that has been understood for 150 years, this, ostensibly, as a remedy for “furriners” coming to this country and having children who immediately qualify as American citizens. Illegal immigration is certainly a problem with which the federal government needs to deal; however, for the past 30 years administrations both Democrat and Republican have feared the electoral repercussions of offending one or another voting bloc and left the situation to deteriorate. Reagan did attempt some reform and in the process gave amnesty to 6 million people who had entered the country illegally at that time. Amnesty is no longer a viable option because Republicans have recognized that their racist postures over these 30 years have so alienated many groups that the future does not bode well for their electoral prospects as the racial and ethnic composition of the U.S. will shift over the next 40 years.

Of course, when the amendment first passed the freed slaves were grateful to Lincoln and his party and that gratitude was expressed in voting patterns well into the 20th century, until the Great Depression and the emergence of the New Deal. Those polarities have reversed. African-Americans have been abandoned by the party of Lincoln, which has bleached itself of every progressive element that it may have ever contained to become the spokesparty for plutocrats, the avaricious and the retrograde. The 14th Amendment was passed to guarantee the civil rights of slaves who had been freed and were subject to imposition of disabilities that would have reduced them once again to a kind of functional slavery. It should not be forgotten that generations of slaves born in the United States were not considered citizens, their lives and labor forfeit to generations of people who believed owning other people was perfectly consistent with the idea that “all men are created equal endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

Why is this attempt to undo the spirit of the American ethos such vile hypocrisy? For two basic reasons. First, the vast majority of Americans living today are citizens by virtue of the fact that their immigrant forebears, both legal and illegal, gave birth to children on this soil automatically making those children and their progeny American citizens. That was their dream and apparently the dream is still alive. The argument that terrorists are exploiting one of this country’s virtues is laughable. 10,000 people are killed by guns in this country every year. All Osama needs to do is make large contributions to the NRA, sit back, and watch the fireworks. Second, this attempt on the part of Republicans to rewrite the Constitution for their electoral convenience smells to high heaven because it is consistent with their attempt to disenfranchise certain groups in general. So many African-American men are in prison (11% of all African-American men between the ages of 30-34) that disqualifying felons from voting can be the difference between victory and defeat in many political races in this country. It is not that felons ought to vote. Elections can just as easily be stolen by trolling voter registration lists for felons and then disqualifying many eligible voters in the process. (That exactly this tactic was used in the Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 is easily documented.) What Republicans are doing in this recent maneuver is an attempt to disqualify voters at a more strategic juncture – the very point of citizenship itself.

See Also: http://www.truth-out.org/connie-schultz-blame-babies62011

Sweden - Socialist Paradise?

I have been in Sweden for a week and a half and am about to depart in the morning. The purpose of this trip was attendance at the International Sociological Association meetings where I gave two papers and otherwise hobnobbed with my fellow wizards. But the experience of Sweden and, in particular, Göteburg, is what I wish to discuss.

Sweden has a bad rap in the United States for being too heavily taxed and the prime suspect in that crime known as “social democracy.” It is true that taxes here are high. Not only taxes, but prices for a middle-class sociology professor like myself are just about astronomical. A Caesar salad at any decent restaurant is going to cost the equivalent of about $20.00 and bottled beer goes for about $7.00. One ride on the tram is almost $3.00, at least 30% more than comparable cities in Germany, for example. One supposes that the high prices are a result of the tax structure. The lovely proprietor of a shop selling Indian goods told me that she had to pay 25% off the top from every transaction she made as tax.

On the other hand, the streets are clean and street crime is a non-issue. What is more the people enjoy a very healthy lifestyle and few are as extremely obese as Americans. Coming in by train from Copenhagen, I faced across from a Swedish professional woman who was quick to praise the many social services that were available to people in the country, especially child care. She had children who were in kindergarten which had a very active program and which could keep children until she got off work. In addition, the children were fed two nutritious meals. A woman came in every day and cooked for the class and prepared homemade bread and rolls. Her child does not eat prepackaged meals filled with preservatives and additives, but homecooking and that in a public facility. She beamed when she told me this and that childcare was a worry with which she did not have to contend. Children in the country receive the equivalent of $200 per month from the state paid to the parents and when they reach age 16, the money is paid to them directly. University education is basically free if a student can qualify.

Politically, Sweden is a neutral country so its politics are unusual. The defense budget of the country would not be nearly as burdensome as is that of the United States. Since crime is so low, there are few people in prison taking that burden off the budget as well. In fact, Sweden incarcerates 75 out of every 100,000 people, while the United States incarcerates approximately 750 out of every 100,000 people, ten times as many proportionately. There is an increasing amount of racial and ethnic diversity since Sweden welcomes immigrants from Africa and many foreign nations making its mix something fairly interesting.

Göteburg is a medium sized city (350,000) on the western coast of Sweden and is the second largest city after Stockholm, the capital. People are friendly and the extensive public transportation system makes getting around very easy. I heartily encourage a visit to this interesting place, but save your pennies because it is not inexpensive, especially for Americans who will find that as time goes on their money may not go as far overseas as it has in the past (nor will it at home). Sweden is an example of a working social democracy which is feeling the same pressures that all nations are contending with during the world-wide economic crisis. Forces in this world are attempting to dismantle every bit of human connectedness and feeling, but if people are aware that this happening, possibly they can take steps to prevent it.

Spilled Ink

It is a metaphor for so much of what is wrong with our society: a deeply embedded structural flaw is hemorrhaging national treasure, but, instead of providing any benefit, it is fouling the landscape. The ongoing calamity, the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from the explosion and sinking of the rig Deepwater Horizon, demonstrates every day that the Obama administration is not in control of events and that the American people are not in control of their government. As of this writing, British Petroleum has “slowed the leak” but work continues. Up to this point, the term “leak” does not do justice to the colossal scale of the environmental catastrophe that already has taken place and which may be further exacerbated. Estimates run as high as 70,000 barrels of oil a day gushing out of that mechanical wound. At the higher end of the estimate, it would be an Exxon Valdez sized oil spill every four days. Even moderate figures mean millions of barrels of oil fouling the Gulf.

The response of the government provides an opportunity to evaluate its priorities and the credulity of the American people. We live with a legitimating legal dispensation that finds it entirely proper to invade foreign nations, bomb villages with mechanical drones sometimes killing dozens of innocent civilians, waterboard foreign nationals without any legal process, incarcerate its own citizens to the point where even a small quantity of illegal drugs can result in twenty year sentences creating the largest prison system in the world, foreclose on hundreds of thousands of homeowners pushing them into the street, deny veterans the medical care they have earned and so desperately need – all this and yet –

Our government is incapable of reflecting the outrage of the populace when a foreign oil company plays fast and loose with American lives and America’s landscape. Now we know what it feels like to live in a banana republic, helpless before the dictates of foreign corporations. Where is a Congress that sweeps into action denouncing these smug, self-satisfied CEOS who care nothing about life, limb or property? Here is a little action plan for Congress. Pass legislation sequestering every bit of profit made by British Petroleum as a fund against which to pay for any clean-up and continue withholding that profit until every penny in damages is recovered. If that had been done in the first week, the hole in that dyke would have been plugged then and there even if the fat-faced Board of Directors had to go deep sea diving to do it themselves. Instead of outrage we get tears. Congressman Melancon of Louisiana got emotional when thinking about the catastrophic damage done to the natural beauty of his home state. Our sympathy is with him but it is not tears of sympathy that are needed now. Nothing will wash that black stain out of the Gulf for quite some time to come. Unfortunately, it is small compared to the stain on America’s honor and intelligence which this episode has so sadly revealed.