To Do and Not To Do   


Harry T. Cook

By Harry T. Cook
1/2/15
 

Here follows a message to the incoming Congress of the United States of America, the legislative branch of a democratic government that, as we are given to understand, is "Of the People, By the People and For the People."

 

It is well-known that all too many members of the political party coming into enhanced control of both houses of Congress are poised, in effect, to repeal President Obama himself -- along with his Affordable Care Act, as well as the progress in cutting CO2 emissions and the extension of the hand of fellowship to five million or so aliens who crawled under the fence or swam ashore to reach America. Sounds to me like a compliment to our nation, but who can fathom the vortices of xenophobia that drive such politics?

 

There is talk about "reforming entitlements." Beware of reformers -- "uplifters," H.L. Mencken called them with lip curled. When they say "reform," they mean "get rid of" or simply amend a thing out of existence. And, by the way, Social Security and Medicare have been and are being bought and paid for by their recipients. As such, they are not "entitlements." They have been earned.

 

That said, may the power of an unknown but wise and beneficent deity guide the 114th Congress to legislate constructively by:

  • Making improvements -- including sufficient funding and measures to control overcharging by physicians, surgeons and hospitals -- to the Affordable Care Act with an eye toward universal health care minus the byzantine maze put in place by for-profit insurers for the sole purpose of inflating said profit;
  • Funding the countless public works projects that must be undertaken to rebuild and restore the nation's infrastructure: its railroads, its electrical grid, its highways, byways and bridges -- all in dire need of renewal and repair, thus creating tens of thousands of long-term jobs and making the nation safer and more secure;
  • Forgetting about the Keystone pipeline and its tar-sands oil, the transport and eventual burning of which can only increase CO2 emissions, driving up the global temperature to a point at which parts of Earth become uninhabitable;
  • Taking up in an adult, nonpartisan manner the conundrum of American public education from prekindergarten to college, using a portion of the Peoples' tax remittances to replace or renovate school buildings, to recruit the brightest and best for the teaching profession, to take care that adequate funding will pay them wages commensurate with their education and the critical jobs they have;
  • Figuring out how to re-rail the partisan train wreck that Congress has become, helping its members grow up and put the needs and aspirations of the nation at the center of the legislative task rather than party advancement;
  • Rethinking the entire taxation system in this country so that those who have much should not have too much at the expense of those who have too little, and raising the income ceiling for Social Security deductions to a level that would be more just and, at the same time, make whole the system itself;
  • Raising tax rates for those at the top of the wealth pyramid by requiring all income of whatsoever kind to be taxed equitably so that needed revenue becomes more justly exacted from taxpayers -- taxes being the price of membership;
  • Prohibiting states from raiding public pension funds to make up for huge corporate tax cuts, which causes inordinate wealth to flow from the 99 percent to the 1 percent by reducing promised retirement benefits to fatten the dividends of elite investors;
  • Concentrating on the goal of turning raw nationalism into reverent and humble patriotism, thus setting an example for other nations on the planet;
  • Repealing all laws the effect of which disenfranchise people for the sake of partisan gain: first-time youthful voters, minorities who lack the kind of transportation that is frequently required to get to the polls and the aged whose life experience surely entitles them a say in their own governance.

 

You ask if I am living in a dream world, if I am out of my mind to expect this or any Congress to behave in such a way. No, I am not out of my mind. And, yes, I do dream a lot about what my country could be and do if it got its collective thumb out of its mouth and buckled down to do not what is expedient but what is right.

 

This came over me recently as I stood along a parade route, watching for two of my granddaughters to march by in their school band. Near the beginning of the parade, military veterans came along, and among them was member of the Greatest Generation, older by 15 years than I at 75. But there he was and on he marched -- albeit slowly -- in a vintage uniform now too large for his shrunken frame. I removed my hat in his honor.

 

That was no dream. Where he served and how in the Second World War, I do not know. But he served in a cause that helped preserve freedom and democracy. Neither should now be mocked by the cheap recklessness of a political party that was given commanding power by less than a third of the American electorate in November.

 


Copyright 2015 Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.
 


Readers Write
Re essay of 12/26/14 And Now On to the Future: Hope and Determination
 
 

Robert Halsey, Bibra Lake, Western Australia:

Thank you for your eloquent descriptive outpouring. Scary but true. You sound like the Delphic oracle. Here are some thoughts of an Indian millionaire and philanthropist, Ratan Tata: "Nothing can destroy iron, but its own rust. Forget everything and run, or face everything and rise."

 

Bev Shapiro, Shelby Township, Michigan:

You have verbalized my ongoing concern regarding my four grandchildren and the state of the world we are leaving them. I fear for their future and the future of my children as well. While I often think of hope as a wasted emotion, (hoping doesn't make things happen, action does) it is really all I have to offer me any comfort. Which is maybe what hope is for.

 

Meredith S. Grider, Louisville, Kentucky:  

I think you are right to worry. I worry, too.

 

Tom Richie, Anderson, South Carolina:

Wonderful!  So good!  In my opinion, such a comprehensive/thoughtful statement of the state of our disunion.

 

Euni Rose, Southfield, Michigan:  

I have spent the better time of the last 20 or so years trying to repair my world, and I refuse to stop now. My daughter, son-in-law and grandkids know me as a crusader whose causes have causes. I can only hope that my grandkids will find the courage to repair their world when their time comes, making a life for themselves in the process. I will use your essay to spur them on. Giving up is not an option.

 

Jonathon Hines, Charlotte, North Carolina:  

Your essay sets a high standard for the older generations. And, yes, we should be very concerned for our grandchildren and their future children. In other words, we should clean up the mess we have made -- or allowed to be made. Good New Year's resolution.

 

Carol Bendure, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan:

When I read your essay early this morning I came up with an answer. I will make several copies of your essay and share it. When one does not have great writing skills we so appreciate those who can express our thoughts so eloquently.  The Roosevelt Bill of Rights would go a long way toward reducing violence, which is a main concern of mine. Please keep writing.  I always start Friday morning reading your essay even before the New York Times.

 

Sharon Tesner, Macomb Township, Michigan:

I, for one, still hope for better things.  I hope that otherwise reasonable adults will soon come to a place where compromise is a reality, and things will improve for all.

 

Nicholas Molinari, Brick, New Jersey:  

Thank you for your extraordinary essay. In many ways, I agree with your every sentence. Unfortunately, in other ways, I must disagree. Why disagree? Because I am convinced that humanity is in at least a temporary stage of devolution. If I am correct, there is virtually no hope for the happy future of your grandchildren, despite your love and support for them. Alas! There is no joy for me in such a prognosis for the future in general or for the future of millions of other American grandchildren! In this nation, a totally clueless and/or macho electorate has just empowered a totally Republican Congress, despite the obvious fact that today's Republican Party is philosophically opposed to the very ordinary citizens who voted for them and thereby for intellectual obscurantism. I chastise the multitude of no-show would-be voters who sat on their butts -- finding voting too inconvenient- in equal measure to the moronic and masochistic majority who decided that Plutocracy is better than Democracy, and perhaps Fascism will solve all of their problems! Truly I agonize with you and for so many other grandparents who want the principles of our Founding Documents to be realized here-and-now, or at least in the future, near or distant. There is for me a minimal relief that I do not have children or grandchildren for whose sake I'd be emotionally invested in that future. I have discovered that the only real benefit a pessimist like myself can garner is: I'll never be disappointed!

 

Blythe Franks, State College, Pennsylvania:  

When I think about what grandchildren I may ever have, it worries me that I may not have enough time to right the wrongs committed during the lifetime of your generation before I have to turn to those committed by my own. I guess I have more determination than hope.

 

Fred Fenton, Concord, California:

We can, we must do better as a nation. If instead of endlessly repeating "this is the greatest nation on earth," our leaders would speak the truth as you do, they might foster "hope and determination" in us all. 

 

Beverly McFall, Schaumburg, Illinois:  

You may be too overoptimistic about this older generation you write about. I'm part of it at 77 years of age, and I personally share your vision but find few resources at my disposal to do much. Earlier in my life in another city and state, I was always writing my congressman and going to PTA meetings and the like. It felt good but didn't seem over all to do much good. I dread the next two years as the Right crucifies Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren even as they prepare to crown a new king for themselves. I know what the kids mean when they say their vote doesn't make a difference, so why vote?

 

Rusty Hancock, Madison Heights, Michigan:
I am constantly amazed by the very people who purport to stand for God, family, and country and their seeming lack of concern for the state of the world their children and grandchildren will grow up in. I am closing in on your age. You and I will not have to live in the world we are creating, or perhaps we are seeing it being created by others, since I would like to think I have a bit more concern for the earth than the crowd that proclaims climate change to be a myth. No matter how much they are convinced that "it's all a matter of opinion" and theirs is just as good as, if not better than, yours, they will still have a hell of a time balancing their checkbooks as long as they are of the opinion that 1+1=3. If it were only that, it wouldn't be so bad, but unfortunately some of these people run the banks, so to speak, and they are insisting that we all use their flawed arithmetic. I keep hoping that our fabled ability to pull together in crisis and solve the insoluble will kick in someday before we've hit the tipping point, climate-wise, because the USA has always been far better at solving problems than preventing them. I've always wondered why that is...  I suppose it's because we're so concerned about interrupting individual rights that we wait until the last possible second before intervening. You can get away with that up to a point, but we're fast approaching that point. 

What do you think?
I'd like to hear from you. E-mail your comments to me at revharrytcook@aol.com.