Some Minor Cynical Musings About The 2016 Presidential Race

First, Ohio Governor John Kasich will become the 16th Republican presidential candidate today, a fact that is basically irrelevant to South Dakota. Granted South Dakota's Republicans will conduct their fantasy politician drafts, create a few office betting pools, and make a few donations to their favorite candidate. South Dakota will, however, support the Republican nominee, whoever that may be, with about 63% of the vote. 

Second, Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination. To win the presidency, however, she faces several, for lack of a better phrase, demographic obstacles. 

In my cynical moments, I wonder if the American electorate is willing to elect the nation's first female president immediately after electing the first African American president. Further, since 1952, there has been only one time when a two-term president was succeeded by a member of his party. 

Finally, Hillary Clinton is nearly 14 years older than Barack Obama. The last time Americans elected new president of the same party who was that much older than the predecessor was prior to the Civil War when James Buchanan replaced Franklin Pierce. Both were Democrats. Since then, when Americans have elected someone more than a decade older than the previous president, the new president has been of a different party. By the way, Democrats who support Bernie Sanders need to remember that he is six years older than Hillary Clinton.

A Post Wherein I Ask Random Questions

This first question needs a bit of a set-up

Kevin Woster profiles Steve Hildebrand's and Rev. Steve Hickey's efforts to take on South Dakota's usurers. These paragraphs illustrate the importance the issue has for Hildebrand:

“In my 30 years of political activity I’ve never done anything this important before,” he said.

But wait, that job as an upper-level campaign official for Barack Obama in 2008 was kind of important, wasn’t it?

“I love the president and I think he’s phenomenal,” Hildebrand says. “But in those candidate campaigns you end up putting your faith in the candidate to do it. In this instance, I’m doing it. ”

Given that Hickey plans to leave South Dakota for Scotland and that President Obama's popularity with South Dakota's dominant Republican party is likely near -20%, an obvious question arises: How many mass mailing and other media soundbites will include the phrase "the same people who brought you the socialist Muslim Obama now bring you more assaults on free enterprise"?

Second, Cory takes umbrage at the idea that incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Thune is unbeatable. While I concur that Democrats cannot give Thune a second free pass, I am still left with a simple question: Do the Democrats have a viable candidate?

On the national level, this Ezra Klein tweet prompts a simple question: Is Klein right?

I just don't believe Donald Trump is 100% serious. I honestly think he's the greatest performance artist of our age.

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) July 13, 2015

Finally, Pat Powers posts that "Daugaard says he doesn’t think there is a consensus on any approach to education funding. . ." Does this mean that South Dakota's Republican leaders' repeated and likely future decisions to do nothing about education funding do not represent a consensus?

If We Can't Have Barabbas, Give Us Cliven Bundy . . .

. . . or a few Occupy Wall Street folk.

6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. (Mark 15:5-11 NIV)

It may be a more a sign of my cynicism than it is an accurate theological observation, but I doubt the chief priests had a difficult time persuading the crowd to demand Barabbas' release. The assembled throng likely found it easier to side with a man who said something like "Let's kill a few of these Roman S.O.Bs before pushing them back into the ocean" instead of a person who enjoined carrying the Roman soldier's pack an extra mile.

My cynicism colors my view of the Cliven Bundy affair. The gist of his non-Fox News supporters seem to be he's a crackpot without a legal leg to stand on. The Fox clips I've seen seem to cast him in the role of martyr standing up to the federal government otherwise known as the evil of evils.

I have little sympathy for Bundy. He's a millionaire rancher who grazes cattle on land he doesn't own or pay rent on. It would take a large number of the apocryphal food stamp recipients buying champagne and lobster to match Bundy's free ride.

On the other hand, if a group of Occupy folks squatted in every Koch brothers' office across the country, I'd take more than a little joy in any discomfort the billionaires were caused. Even though they would not have a legal leg to stand on, I might even complain about how the force the police would use to remove the occupiers.

The disconcerting thing about the Bundy affair is both sides will take the wrong lesson. The fringe right will likely grow in their certainty that one must face the federal government with force never thinking about the fact that federal government has more people under arms and far better weapons. The left will likely push for new regulations and policy solutions forgetting that difficult situations make bad law. Perhaps both sides should see Cliven Budy as a mirror that reveals their indefensible political biases.

A Minor Musing About Character And Critical Thinking

I think it was this P&R post about character combined this DWC comment about MBA's inability to think critically that caused me to remember this anecdote told by a business guru. (I have no direct knowledge about the veracity of the story.)

According to the business guru, a toothpaste company was trying desperately to increase sales. They tried new packaging, researched new formulas so that they could claim to be "new and improved," and conducted several new advertising campaigns. Nothing worked. Finally, at a frantic meeting of all department heads, the head of the division in charge of the toothpaste tubes suggested making the hole in the mouth of the tube bigger. Everyone harrumphed approvingly and made it so. Sales and profits increased. The guru pointed to the suggestion as an excellent example of critical thinking.

Americans, of course, use too much toothpaste, We use too much of everything. I'm hard pressed to see why surreptitiously getting folks to use even more is critical thinking. It certainly doesn't exemplify good character, unless one believes that caveat emptor means only the customer should act with character; yet it seems to be good business.

Critical thinking and character have been divorced for too long; a reconciliation is in order. The problem, however, is that divorce was not amicable. Those in the critical thinking camp view those who emphasize character as impractical, and those in the character camp erroneously assume that they will be listened too by repeating the word "character." If the posters lining the walls and classrooms of many South Dakota schools are any indication, these advocates need to learn how to think more critically about crafting a message.

P&R asserts that one should pick character over intellect. He may be correct in ideal world in which both qualities are abundant. Right now, it seems necessary to emphasize both. Critical thinking is necessary to create opportunities, but character is necessary to remind everyone that the fact that one can do something doesn't mean one should.

A Minor Musing About The Political Imact Of Photgraphs

This is not an original thought: photographs are powerful political tools.

From this afternoon's reading on the interwebs, there seems to be a lot of debate about the advisability of Democrats nominating Hillary Clinton in 2016. (Do we really have to start talking about 2016? No I'm not being hypocritical. I just want to talk about he photos.) I have included the photographs from five posts below.

Photograph A:

Original Caption: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured in October, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington. . . .[no credit given]

Photograph B:

Original Source: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images


Photograph C:

Original Caption: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacts during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on February 14, 2013. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)

Photograph D:

Original Source: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GettyImages

Photograph E:

Original Caption: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses the Vital Voices Global Awards ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington on April 2, 2013 Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

Let's take a quiz: What are two photos that accompanied the posts contending Hillary Clinton would be a terrible candidate in 2016? If you guessed A, B, or D, you have earned an "A." Photograph A hints at an age problem. Photograph B, admittedly, is relatively neutral but it too seems to emphasize wrinkles. Photograph D gives off a weird lecherous vibe that will confirm the worst for those who would never vote for her.

As I said at the start, this is not an original observation, but reading these posts in a short time span and seeing the photos made it obvious that every photo on Facebook or Flickr is a valuable political tool. Every cellphone in the crowd has the potential to sink a candidate. No wonder so much of our politics has become scripted and lifeless at best.

A Minor Musing: Some Easter Cynicism

I'm sure AT&T is only trying to get subscribers and not make social commentary with this ad. The little girl, however, sums up America's basic philosophic sentiment: "We want more." Perhaps it was written by some young hipster whose has irony as his or her primary language.

If so, it's not the first time our desire for stuff has been mocked.

Americans may have laughed with Carlin, but we haven't seemed to change our views.  Last weekend, Lifehacker urged readers to embrace minimalism. The post got 96,000 hits over the course of the past week. Friday's post about the psychology of clothing already has 104,000 hits.

That's why this exchange between Cardinal Dolan and George Stephanopoulos seems to indicate an epidemic of cognitive dissonance.

CARDINAL DOLAN:Easter is always a time for renewed hope, a sense of promise and – and – confidence. But this year's special because this – of Pope Francis. As we watch him – and it's clear to me that the world is watching – you got it, he brings us back to the simplicity, the sincerity, just the raw basic goodness of the Gospel.

Look what he did on Thursday, you know. He washed the feet of – of, who, 12 inmates, 12 young juvenile delinquents, imitating Jesus at the Last Supper and washing the feet of his disciples. And he's constantly reminding us that religion is not only about faith, what we believe – you bet it is – but it's also about how we live, especially in service to the ones Jesus called –

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So this symbolism, this – not – not wearing the fur-lined cape, not wearing the gold cross, living in the – the more simple apartments, you believe that really matters.

CARDINAL DOLAN: I do. And from what I'm hearin', I – that's not part of the substance of the papacy, we know that. But it does – you know, these signs, these symbols have meaning. They wouldn't matter much to me, but from what I hear folks sayin', they matter a lot to people.

And they're sayin', "Wow, we have a pope who – who seems to d – craves simplicity and bein' with people, and the poorer the better." And as one person said to me, "He reminds us a lot of Jesus." And I said, "Well, I hope so, 'cause that's his job description." So, apparently, those things mean a lot to people.

I'm a Protestant farm boy, so I don't always understand the symbolism of the papacy. Maybe Pope Francis will succeed where humor and lifehacking have failed. Something in my cynical soul, however, tells me that raising someone from the dead was an easier task than getting Americans to follow Christ's injunction to “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt." [Luke 9:3].

A Minor Musing On Moral Failings

Over at Madville, Cory points to a letter to the editor from Representative Don Kopp of Rapid City. The local paper has not printed Kopp's missive, so I was unaware of it until I saw Cory's post. Kopp decries America's moral failings and quotes several of America's founders and General Omar Bradley.

Cory and several of his commentators castigate Kopp, but perhaps they misread Rep. Kopp.

I'm guessing Kopp like millions of others was reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion and the on-going war that was started in part for WMDs that didn't exist and resulted in the incalculable loss of life. If one wants to look at the war's effect on the debt that will be passed on to future generations, at least $1 trillion of the debt comes from that war.

Perhaps, Kopp who I am sure is a good Christian man, is bemoaning the fact that his fellow Christians in Iraq are much worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein.

On the home front, the bankers who tanked the economy still have not been punished nor does it seem any will face legal sanction. The purchasing power of the wages of the average American has been shrinking for over 30 years. Some have suggested that those who are unemployed or underemployed should consider their involuntary "leisure time" a benefit and condemn those unable to get work for not utilizing such time effectively. Such a callous attitude seems indicate moral failing.

A well-connected elite in Nineveh would have the same sort of advantages in the economic realm that today's bankers and investors have. Cory's post pointed to Nineveh’s foreign policy arrogance. Surely, a well-read man like Kopp who is able to knowingly quote august Americans, is referring to injustices and moral failings such as these.

[Update and Correction]: This post originally identified Kopp as Koop. I blame dust on the bifocals.

A Minor Musing Offering Advice To Republicans

Republicans recently announced a plan to rebrand, rebuild, and refocus.

They didn't talk with me, and they may not want my vote or my advice. I did, however, offer some unsolicited advice to South Dakota Democrats, so it seems fair that I do the same for Republicans. I believe this post will be much briefer than the missive to Democrats. This post will  hopefully be more pithy, parallel and alliterative.

First, instead of trying to guarantee a gun for every hand, the GOP should promulgate policies that will help working class Americans regain their ability to put a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.

Second, instead of protecting those who benefited from it, work to undo the damage caused by what Adam Posen describes as "a corrupt capture of a big chunk of our political and economic system where a lot of legislation, regulation, and corporate decisions were directed to maximizing the benefits for the few people in charge of financial firms."

I suspect that this advice applies to Democrats as well. They, however, do not seem nearly as beholden to the NRA nor did they run a candidate for President who was going to build a garage with an elevator.

A Question About The State Sanction Of Marriage

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be construed to indicate support of or opposition to marriage between a man and a woman, marriage between and man and another man, marriage between a man and a transgendered individual, a woman and another woman, a woman and a transgendered individual, or two transgendered individuals. IT'S MERELY A QUESTION I SERIOUSLY WANT ANSWERED.

I know I'm not the first to think of this question, but I've never seen an answer. I hope that someone provides one in the comments.

Some Christian denominations consider marriage a sacrament; others consider only baptism and communion sacraments. I have idea how the various strains of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam consider marriage. I don't know if thoses faiths have anything that they or others would consider sacraments.

I have no doubt that the state has a vested interest in protecting family units. I do wonder, however, if codifying the term "marriage" doesn't in some tangential way constitute the establishment of religion by codifying something that some consider a sacrament while others do not consider that same act sacramental. Shouldn't the state rename all of its "marriage" laws "civil union" laws?

HT: I've considered this question several times while traveling the grand prairie north and west of Pierre on trips to visit my mother, but the following PNR sentence in this post caused me to ask it on the blog.

Other sexual arrangements may be permitted in law - multiple partners, homosexual partners, even cross-species partners.

A Minor Musing About What Would Happen If Hollywood Reduced Gun Violence

It seems as if people of all political stripes are willing to condemn Hollywood gun violence.

I have a modest proposal. Let's have Hollywood remake two of my favorite television programs and one of my favorite films: The Andy Griffith Show, The Rockford Files, and The Maltese Falcon. The producers should follow the original scripts.

Andy Taylor, Griffith's character famously did not carry gun. Barney Fife, the character that defined Don Knotts's career, infamously was allowed only one bullet for his revolver which he repeatedly discharged accidentally and humorously.

Jim Rockford, played by James Garner, hid his gun in a cookie jar and would only "reluctantly retrieve the gun he stored there." He seldom shot the gun even when he did point it.

In The Maltese Falcon, Samuel Spade, played by Humphrey Bogart, didn't carry a gun because he didn't like them. He did, however, get a lot of practice taking guns away from Wilmer and Joel Cairo. Neither armed man could handle the unarmed Spade unless he kicked Spade while the detective was down after drinking a drugged glass of scotch..

I'll bet a tub of movie theater popcorn with extra butter that the pro-gun crowd would loudly scream liberal bias if Hollywood remade these programs and movie exactly as they were originally made. After all the gun loving characters are inept and the good guys who are competent want to avoid guns. They would contend that the series and movies illustrate and obvious liberal effort to make to make gun users look ridiculous.

By the way, law-abiding liberals might be angry that Rockford carries an unregistered gun. Good people would always follow registration laws after all.

I'll go double or nothing that the NRA would be angry because they wouldn't have any new Hollywood guns to add to their museum.

A Few Random Musings

It has been a hectic couple of weeks.

Musing one: This Ross Douthat column about the workplace is somewhat provocative:

There is a certain air of irresponsibility to giving up on employment altogether, of course. But while pundits who tap on keyboards for a living like to extol the inherent dignity of labor, we aren’t the ones stocking shelves at Walmart or hunting wearily, week after week, for a job that probably pays less than our last one did. One could make the case that the right to not have a boss is actually the hardest won of modern freedoms: should it really trouble us if more people in a rich society end up exercising it?

The answer is yes — but mostly because the decline of work carries social costs as well as an economic price tag. Even a grinding job tends to be an important source of social capital, providing everyday structure for people who live alone, a place to meet friends and kindle romances for people who lack other forms of community, a path away from crime and prison for young men, an example to children and a source of self-respect for parents.

Frankly, I have a pile of books I want to read, and I want to make homemade pastas better than I do now; I also want to learn how to make homemade sausage that tastes like the stuff my grandfather made, so a world without work sounds appealing.

Spending the past week asking for people to help judge public forum at the state debate tournament involved asking a lot of co-workers to ask their friends and family to help out, so Douthat's point about social capital is not without merit even if he too blithely dismisses drudge work that does not provide a living wage.

Musing two:  I heard my favorite response to the school pistolier bill. The bill is an effort to solve any problems in the state retirement system by giving more teachers guns and hoping they will commit suicide. Maybe I have been reading too many Steve Sibson comments on Madville, but it sort of makes sense in a tinfoil hat sort of way.

Musing three: I wish people would use the phrase "bet the question" properly. For example, "With Hagel now confirmed, it begs the question - was the Republicans' anti-Hagel crusade worth it? The Hagel fight prompts the question. Begging the question is a logical fallacy:

The fallacy of petitio principii, or "begging the question", is committed "when a proposition which requires proof is assumed without proof"; in order to charitably entertain the argument, it must be taken as given "in some form of the very proposition to be proved, as a premise from which to deduce it".[5] One must take it upon oneself that the goal, taken as given, is essentially the means to that end.

Some Musings About Reactions To Obama's Election

First, I want to thank Cory, Pat Powers, and Troy Jones for dealing with the vile bilge that Brad Ford published on Gordon Howie's website a few days ago. The responses are here, here, and here. (Troy's take downs are in the comments.)

I am running behind the past few days, and I have no desire to get to Howie's site, but Cory pointed to separate Ford and Randazzo posts that express dismay over recent political results.

If I may be so presumptions, allow me to off some scriptural advice to Mssrs. Ford and Randazzo.  First, remember that politics is an earthly thing, and believers should not set store in earthly things. From Colossians 3:

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

If one needs red-letter confirmation of that fact, I think that Jesus' parable in Matthew 7 will make the same point:

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

That whole thing about the 47% shouldn't be a problem. Believers have enough of their own problems to worry about. Philippians 2 points out:

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain

Working out salvation should take a whole lot of time. Besides, Brad and Ed, all of this whining about Obama's victory makes it easy to pull out those other verses from Matthew 7. You know the ones I mean, don't you guys?

5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. . . . . 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Oh, by the way on that 47% point, I know Flannery O'Connor was a woman and all, but the conclusions her short story "Revelation" does tie in pretty well with the preceding verses and some God-fearing folks' concerns about the 47% beneath them on the social ladder.

Until the sun slipped finally behind the tree line, Mrs. Turpin remained there with her gaze bent to them as if she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge. At last she lifted her head. There was only a purple streak in the sky, cutting through a field of crimson and leading, like an extension of the highway, into the descending dusk. She raised her hands from the side of the pen in a gesture hieratic and profound. A visionary light settled in her eyes. She saw the streak as a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it a vast horde of souls were tumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black[s] . . . in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once as those who, like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right. She leaned forward to observe them closer. They were marching behind the others with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior. They, alone were on key. Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces even their virtues were being burned away. She lowered her hands and gripped the rail of the hog pen, her eyes small but fixed unblinkingly on what lay ahead. In a moment the vision faded but she remained where she was, immobile.

And One More Election Eve Musing

Tomorrow's elections will change little. The differences between Obama and Romney are minimal. The latter will make me a bit more angry when I turn on the TV, but both will continue to pursue policies that erode civil liberties and expand the security state.

In South Dakota, Kristi Noem will win re-election. She will return to the Oz of Washington DC, but unlike the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, she will never develop intellect, courage, and heart.Governor Daugaard and his administration will continue their war on teachers no matter what the results on RL 16 and IM 15. They will also continue to cut the state's social safety net while enhancing corporate welfare.

Since the big elections will not change anything, one must look for some small victories.  Last night, I got a call from a young lady who got the position she wanted in her sorority. She was happy, and that joy made me smile a bit. For this year, it's the only election that I'm going to care about.

A Minor Musing About The Lack Of Both Intellectuals And Community

Some people, when they wish to describe intellectuals derisively, claim that an intellectual is someone who cares more about ideas than people. That description may be shrugged off when the world is afloat an a sea of good ideas; it's damning when there's a dearth of good ideas. Rod Dreher illustrates that the United States currently faces the latter situation:

Liberal intellectuals have their own problems and challenges, of course, and I don’t care about them. For my side, it seems to me that conservative intellectuals have become so fossilized as a class because they responded to the two devastating shocks to the Standard Conservative Model by essentially doubling down on ideology. Just say the same old things, but louder and more insistently, and rely on tribalist instincts and hive-mindedness to marginalize dissenters, and that will carry the day. That, and the fact that liberalism hasn’t come up with a dynamic and compelling vision either for the post-Iraq, post-crash world — that is, a post-1980 world in which assumptions generally shared by both parties about American foreign policy and globalized capitalism have proven inadequate to the world as it is.

Of course, the people who damn intellectuals as uncaring elitists would contend that caring communities will thrive without the highfalutin pronouncements from the ivory tower. They can rely on friends and neighbors to get through the tough times together.  Writing in the Yankton Press & Dakotan, Kelly Hertz contends that sense of community seems to be shrinking as well:

It’s also possible that the small turnout reflected that aforementioned symptom: a growing lack of community within this community. We are seemingly becoming a lot of separate parts, not a unified whole, when it comes to such affairs.

But Yankton isn’t alone in dealing with this affliction, for this is what our 21st century society is becoming.

I'm hardly an intellectual, but I don't get out much, so I won't comment on the Yankton situation. It seems, however, that the entire country is becoming a bit more isolated at least economically:

Rising income inequality has led to a growing number of Americans clustering in neighborhoods in which most residents are like them, either similarly affluent or similarly low-income, according to a new study detailing the increasing isolation of the richest and the poorest.

A report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center said the percentage of upper-income households situated in affluent neighborhoods doubled between 1980 and 2010, rising to 18 percent. In the same time frame, the share of lower-income households located in mostly poorer neighborhoods rose from 23 percent to 28 percent. The percentage of neighborhoods that are predominantly middle class or home to a wider mix of income levels shrank.

Communities are losing cohesion and rich and poor are becoming more segregated. Although the country may be less racially segregated, Mitt Romney is currently polling at 0% among African Americans. The only cohesive group seems to be intellectuals who are increasingly tribal but have have few ideas. In short, the only segment of the population that has community is one that should be providing ideas. It's good to know they are failing together.

A Minor Musing On Generational Conflict And Ironical Politics

Noreen Malone takes a shot at Paul Ryan contending that Ryan "was voted the biggest brownnoser in his high school class" and that Ryan is the politician GenX deserves:"

It’s an economic philosophy that is driven by, in a very different way, the same self-interest and self-regard that was endemic to those GenXers who identified more strongly with Slackers than Dockers. Both mindsets were a response to the early ‘90s recession that many GenXers graduated into, but while those then-twentysomethings were busy staring at either their navels or copies of Atlas Shrugged, the country entered a decade of unparalleled post-war prosperity. So what’d you do with that, GenX? Bought stock in Pets.com and perfected your CD collection? Cooool.

So add Paul Ryan—along with the Internet boom/bust, rigorously documented mopey slacking, and I dunno, glowsticks?—to the list of things GenX can count as its legacy. He might not be the politician they want to represent them, but he just might be the politician they deserve.

I've seen several articles and blog posts contending that baby boomers  have squandered the legacy that the Greatest Generation bequeathed them, but this is the first return salvo that I have seen.

The United States Constitution reflects regional conflicts. Over the past 225 the nation has developed the tools to deal with regional disagreements. These generational conflicts seem to have the potential to be more divisive especially given the current budget woes and battles over entitlement spending. I can remember the slogan "never trust anyone over 30," but that was during the Great Society debate when the nation believed it could have both guns and butter. Now, the Republican neocon wing seems to want to wage perpetual war to avoid maintaining a societal safety net. Democrats, meanwhile, pay lip service the safety net and support every defense project that will bring Washington bacon to the congressperson's home district.

Malone continues:

This, GenX, is what you get if you are too cool to actually, like, do anything. This guy becomes your standard-bearer. You cannot, unfortunately, run for the White House ironically.

She may be wrong on that account; people have run for the White House cynically or because they believed it was their turn to run. Ryan certainly seems to know how to use cynicism; his budget makes all sorts of claims but offer no specific cuts. Compared to that cynical political activity, a truly ironical politician might be a God-send.

A Minor Musing: Pop Culture And Religion Edition

Alyssa Rosenberg illustrates how Hollywood movies can best deal with characters who have faith:

In The Avengers, when Black Widow explains to Captain America that Thor and Loki are basically God, Cap’s response is a nod to his religious belief as part of what makes him an avatar of a certain kind of American traditionalism. “There’s only one God, m’am,” he tells her. “And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” The movie doesn’t spell out whether he’s a professing Christian, in part because there isn’t another really opportune moment to discuss theology, but the trail is there for people who want to follow it. In Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart’s Snow White says the Lord’s Prayer in captivity. When she lies in a near-death state, the Huntsman’s (Chris Hemsworth) response is prayer, an attempt to speed her into heaven and to find solace for himself. And Elizabeth Shaw, the hero of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, is a Christian whose scientific exploration is directly motivated by her faith. The symbol of her Christianity, the cross she wears around her neck, becomes something that’s traded back and forth, a totem of trust between characters who have little other reason to see each other as sympathetic.

Whatever the virtues and failings of the first two movie, the careful integration of the characters’ beliefs into moments of emotional strain or the world opening up, is very smart. This is the way that a lot of people live their faith: it informs their decision-making as they make their way in the secular world. These aren’t niche movies, meant only to speak to a very faithful minority who view themselves as embattled by the secular world. They’re meant for hugely mass audiences, and their characters’ Christianity is self-confident, both in that they don’t have crises of faith, and that it doesn’t have to be the only element that defines the characters’ personalities. It stands on its own. This strikes me as a smart way forward for people outside of Hollywood who’d like to see more Christian characters in mass entertainment, and for people in Hollywood who’d like to give their characters religion without writing solely religious stories.

Part of the reason Prometheus doesn’t work as well is that Shaw’s religion is the only thing we know is her motivation, but the movie doesn’t flesh out the relationship between her belief and her work as a scientist, and doesn’t bother to establish any consistency in her worldview. If a character’s going to be faithful, what we see of that faith should be consistent in and of itself, and consistent with the other things a character uses to make decisions and to evaluate the world. People of all religions should want to see smart depictions of faith, whether it’s a minor part of a character or their main motivation. And folks who want to create good religious characters need to spend time thinking through theology. Belief is a complicated thing, and getting it right is an essential part of worldbuilding.

Rosenberg seems to underestimate the difficulty inherent in the effort to daily live with the ambiguity of being in the world but not of it.   More importantly, her Snow White and the Huntsman example illustrates the fact that too many seem to see faith as something necessary only when one faces existential crises.


Rosenberg is certainly right to focus on "the relationship between faith and [an individual's] work or secular life.  Further, she provides a useful reminder that people of faith should not expect every film that has a religious character to turn into a religious film.

A Minor Musing About Expanding Government Power

The local blogosphere on both the right and the left is hashing out Obama's immigration executive order; the local tea party is concerned about the rising numbers of corporations that are being crucified.  After all, some on the far right believe corporations are people whose life begins at the moment of incorporation.

The imperial presidency is a perpetual danger.  I wish the right had expressed more concern about the abuse of executive orders when George W. Bush expanded their use.  I also wish the tea party folk were more concerned about torturing actual human beings rather than the use of a hyperbolic metaphor about a corporation.

Meanwhile, both ends of the political spectrum should be worried about the government's seemingly insatiable demand for citizens' data.  Forbes reports,

In the second half of 2011, Google received 6,321 requests that it hand over its users’ private data to U.S. government agencies including law enforcement, and complied at least partially with those requests in 93% of cases, according to the latest update to the company’s bi-annual Transparency Report that it planned to release Sunday night.

That’s up from 5,950 requests in the first half of 2011, and marks a 37% increase in the number of requests over the second half of 2010, when Google received only 4,601 government requests and complied to some degree with 94% of them. And compared with the 3,580 requests for its data it received from U.S. agencies in the second half of 2009, the first time Google released the request numbers, the latest figures represent a 76% spike.

More alarmingly, the article continues, "Whether firms like Facebook, Microsoft, Comcast, AT&T and others have seen a parallel rise in requests can’t be determined."

Other governments are also increasing their requests for data:

Total government requests for users’ data from outside the U.S. have also been increasing steadily, spiking sharply to 11,936 in the second half of 2011 compared with 9,600 in the same period last year and 8,959 in the second half of 2009. And the number of foreign requests may be growing even faster than they appear to. Because mutual legal assistance treaties allow some countries to pass on their requests through U.S. government agencies, some portion of those foreign requests are lumped together with the U.S. requests.

Thankfully:

Google has a far lower rate of complying with foreign requests, however. It only fulfilled 64% of U.K. requests and 45% of German requests, for instance, and complied with none of the requests from Russia or Turkey.

Most of these requests probably claimed the information was necessary for national security, so the political right will smile, nod, and go along with these warrantless searches even though those information requests are as unconstitutional abusive executive orders.  Pat Buchanan had a broken clock moment when he asserted that the U.S. should be a republic not an empire.  Critics of a President as emperor should should be vigilant and condemn all imperial actions even if the actions institute policies the critics support.

Plains Pops: Monday Morning Musings At NFL National Debate Tournament Edition

Item 1: Blogging will be sporadic all week.  Further, it will probably be sloppy because I'm reduced to typing with my thumbs on my phone.

Item 2: I spent about 12 hours in a van listening to sports talk radio on Saturday.  When the programs' hosts weren't analyzing how and why either the Celtics' "Big 3 or 4" or the Heat's "Big 3" would be broken up, thy were asking questions about the future of horse racing.  A couple of analysts pointed out that horse racing doesn't get big TV crowds.  If people can spend an hour a week watching the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour, I can't understand why people wouldn't watch horse racing for an hour a week.  Watching horses run is more exciting than watching someone muck a bad hand.

Item 3: If the Common Core backers really want students to read more non-fiction, they should do more to promote debate classes.  During the course of this week, students in congressional debate, public forum debate, and the supplemental debate event will be arguing about U.S. involvement in Syria, governmental efforts to reduce obesity, the wisdom of U.S. efforts to support the Eurozone, and stand-your-ground laws.  All of these issues are covered in this morning's papers.  If the the Common Core's goal is truly to raise reading proficiency, competitive debate is an invaluable tool.  If the goal is merely to raise test scores, competitive debate is slightly less helpful because good arguments are rarely reduced to the bubble test level.

Item 4: I know this complaint is not original, but I am getting tired of the Google, Apple, Microsoft product wars.  Religious wars have been conducted with less acrimony.  Google's Blogger is no longer compatible with Microsoft's Explorer, and Apple will no longer install Google Maps on its devices.  It might be easier for a Roman Catholic to take communion at a Lutheran church than it will be for a Google user to use Microsoft or Apple products.

A Minor Musing That Reveals Me To Be Heartless And Cynical

I'm not sure what to make of this William D.Cohan article about Steven Ridley, a former investment banker.  I guess I'm a heartless ass, but I have no sympathy when Cohen writes:

He then explained why he was so unhappy. “Like everyone there, I worked my ass to the bone, working mind-numbingly boring work,” he continued. “15 hour days were a minimum, 16-17 were normal, 20+ were frequent and once or twice a month there would be the dreaded all-nighter. I worked around 2 out of every 4 weekends in some form. I was never free, I always had my blackberry with me, and thus I could never truly detach myself from the job.”

What about the perks, the lavish lifestyle? “These are the objective facts, contrary to what any ’baller’ wants to tell you,” writes Ridley. “The only models were Excel models, the only bottles were Coca Cola, which I drank a lot of to stay awake.”

Ridley after all made enough money "to pursue his passion for singing."

On the other hand, this conclusion resonates:

. . . . Wall Street is no longer a fun -- or necessarily lucrative -- place to work.

And guess what? This is the best news to come around in a generation. Now, instead of being sucked into Wall Street by default or after digesting a fantasy about fame and untold riches, maybe our best and brightest graduates will pursue their passions. If they do, we will all be better off.

I wish I had Cohan's confidence, but I suspect that greed and "he who dies with the most toys wins" mentality is so entrenched in the American psyche that future Ridleys will just look for the next "get rich fast" career and the cycle will repeat itself.

In addition to being heartless, I must be cynical.

A Minor Comic Book Geek Musing About Education

Last evening, young Ms. Plainsgirl, home from college for a brief visit, and I went to The Avengers.  She believes the Hulk to be the coolest Avenger.

I too identify with the Hulk, but the mythology teacher in me holds a strong affinity for Thor as well.

In the Marvel Universe, the billionaire industrialist, the secret government agency, the last vestiges of the greatest generation, a male and female spy who may or may not be dating, the Norse thunder god, and the large angry guy all unite to save the world.

It made me want to go live on Earth-616.* Here on Earth Prime/1218/0000 the billionaire industrialists like Bill Gates or the Koch brothers, the angry members of the tea parties, and national and state government officials like Arne Duncan, Dennis Daugaard, and Melody Schopp all seem intent on weaking public schools to the point that they no longer serve any real purpose

I guess that makes American teachers on this Earth mutants like the X-Men.

*I know the movie universe and the comic universe differ; there's only so much geek I'm willing to do for the sake of this comparison.