Tag Archives: Politics

American Politics According To Alice Waters

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Alice Waters at JWU: Lecturn

ALICE WATERS  (Photo credit: Andy Ciordia)

Alice Waters, a leading light in the movement for nutritious, organic, and local food, was interviewed in the Washington Post this week. One quote would be a good meditation for all who are concerned about the human condition in America, as we approach the 2014 midterm elections.

“I’m in this very political place right now and feel like we have to collaborate in different ways to make a big impression, to change the way that we are living our lives, which is destroying our health and the planet. I certainly want to feel like I have tried to take care of this planet for the kids of this world. I really have to do something.”

Please focus your attention on the word “collaborate.”

Politicians have oversized egos. Continue reading →

Civic Volunteer Announces Bid, The Dispatch, Nov. 8

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Great story in the Maryland Coast Dispatch about Democratic candidate Judy Davis, a longtime teacher and civic volunteer on the Lower Eastern Shore. She’s also a graduate of the Maryland Emerge Program, which prepares the best of prospective female candidates for public service. See you at St. Paul’s By the Sea on Nov. 16. — John

Judy of Ocean City, MD's avatarJudy of Ocean City, MD

OCEAN CITY — Ocean City resident and career volunteer Judy Davis this week announced she was throwing her hat in the ring for the newly created House District 38C, adding another candidate to what is shaping up to be a highly contested race.

Davis, a Baltimore native, has lived on Lower Shore for 40 years and has been a tireless civic volunteer and advocate ever since. She earned her undergraduate degree from Salisbury University and a Masters from UMES before embarking on a 22-year career as an early childhood teacher and special education teacher on the Lower Shore. For the last 40 years, she has supplemented her professional teaching career with volunteer work as a children’s advocate and volunteer in numerous civic organizations.

“It’s a natural extension of my career as a volunteer and advocate,” she said. “I do feel I have the experience and the time to represent this…

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“In my years of…

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In my years of elected office in Annapolis and Washington, I’ve never seen such reckless and irresponsible behavior.” Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland

U.S. Government Shutdown Might Continue Indefinitely

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Both sides now have reason to dig in and refuse to budge. Both sides think they’re on the verge of achieving a cherished goal, if only they hang tough.

For President Obama, the Affordable Care Act is taking effect even as we speak, despite the so-called “partial” government shutdown. Health care for all has been a Democratic goal for 60 years or more. Obama has a passed bill, a signed law with his name on it. The president and Democrats believe that once Obamacare is implemented, people will decide they love it — just like Social Security and Medicare — and will refuse to give it up.

The Republicans are dead set against Obamacare, just as they were against Social Security and Medicare. Continue reading →

Shutdown Foreshadows Political Collapse In America

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Lëtzebuergesch: *Sujet:Boston Tea Party Source...

“Boston Tea Party.” Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My working title for this post was “Non-Shooting Civil War In America.”  I thought that might be over the top, if only by a little.

I don’t see immediate danger of violent civil war in America, but I think today’s U.S. government shutdown is collapse by premeditated sabotage by political failure. In other words, our regular political process for resolving differences has failed. Moreover, the failure is not accidental; it’s intentional. Congress, especially, has failed big time.

Continue reading →

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If Samuel Johnson Could See Us Now

Portrait of Samuel Johnson commissioned for He...

Portrait of Samuel Johnson commissioned for Henry Thrale’s Streatham Park gallery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read the opinion piece by Ron Pagano in last week’s Salisbury (MD) Times. Samuel Johnson said: “Patriotism is the last stronghold of scoundrels.”

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America and Maryland Coming Apart At The Seams

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Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool, during...

Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool during the 1963 March on Washington. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a few short weeks, we’ve had the following:

A joyful national coming together to  celebrate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream“ speech.

The warm, fuzzy feeling of a unifying “American Dream” was quickly replaced by spinning centrifugal forces.

We went to the brink of war, and back, in Syria.

Oh, never mind, forget war. Back to our regularly scheduled program: “Defund Obamacare.”  Or else.

Wait! Wait! A mass shooting inside America’s oldest military installation, the Navy Yard, in the heart of the nation’s capital, a mile from the Capitol building . . . But mass shootings and gun control debates hold our attention for shorter time spans with each round of crazy violence.

Back, quickly now, to defunding Obamacare. (Obamacare is a serious but somewhat flawed effort to provide access to health care for all Americans. Therefore, it must be EVIL, right? Let me know if you can figure it out. I can’t.)

The alternative to defunding Obamacare, far as the crazies on the right are concerned, is shutting down the federal government!  And defaulting on the national debt; to be followed by worldwide economic chaos.

Loud and fevered — and apparently serious — conspiracy to bring down the federal government of the USA has previously been known as Treason. What should we call it today? Political and cultural insanity?

English: Map of Maryland counties

And now. to add a touch of humor, or not, the counties of Western Maryland (depending on how you define Western Maryland) are talking about seceding from Maryland to form a new state, complete with two U.S. senators! (Just what we need, two more additions to the world’s most dysfunctional deliberative body.)

Into the midst of the debate about secession comes a guest host on a Baltimore radio show, who displays amazing ignorance of Maryland geography and politics. She blindly relocated a state senator from District 37 on the Eastern Shore, placing him not only in the wrong county, but in a whole other region of the state, Southern Maryland, which is on the whole other side of the Chesapeake Bay. Hey, it’s only mainstream media. Actual facts are peripheral.

Not surprising that voters are fed up with the way things are going. Can the center hold? It’s looking more and more unlikely.

Fragmentation is the preferred intoxication of the day. Ah, the sweet wine of liberty!  “Don’t tread on me,” reads the label. Savor the fruity overtones of anarchy, and the subtle hint of chaos.

— John Hayden

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The Next Big Thing: CORRUPTION

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English: President George W. Bush and Presiden...

President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House  Nov. 10, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People are looking for a scapegoat, and for once they’re looking in the right place. Corruption in government.

The book that everyone is talking about, inside the beltway, at least, is “This Town,” by Mark Leibovich. Here’s a comment on the book by Fareed Zakaria:

“It’s a vivid, detailed picture of the country’s ruling elite, filled with tales of ruthless networking, fake friendships and a sensationalist media. But beneath the juicy anecdotes is a depressing message about corruption and dysfunction.” Continue reading →

“America Is Splitting Apart”

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“Many blue states are moving further left, while red states are heading rightward. In effect, America is splitting apart without going through all the trouble of a civil war.”

— Robert Reich, June 8, 2013 (Read Mr. Reich’s three-page essay here.)

If you want more scary reading about the divide between red states and blue states, here’s an essay I wrote earlier this year: “America Divided.” Also see the related articles below. — John Hayden

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Too Big To Function

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This post by Stephanie Raffelock offers a concise summary of our political and economic problems. It’s a quick read, and I recommend you read it all. I want to highlight nearly every sentence. — John