I lost a friend

November 15, 2012

I lost a friend last Sunday

In 2011 I met a remarkable man who I quickly became proud to call my friend. Our friendship began after he responded a few times to the question I always close my columns with: "What do you think?". He shared his opinions candidly and didn't always agree with me. He was always respectful...even when his feedback sometimes began with: "you're full of baloney" (while using another word). I learned to value his opinions whether he agreed with me or not because he always made me think more deeply about the issue at hand. He even made me change my mind a time or two...which is a real achievement:-) He called one day to invite me to his home for a general discussion meeting with he and a few of his friends on a topic I had recently written about.

He told me the names of the other invitees, all of whom I knew. I called one of them and asked about him and this meeting. I was told my soon to be new friend was severely disabled with Muscular Dystrophy and was no longer able to get out. As a result of his desire to stay connected intellectually he liked to get a few friends with different perspectives together in his home to debate ideas of mutual interest.

I accepted the invitation, and I remember leaving my home on the day of the meeting feeling sort of proud of myself for so generously sharing my time. Little did I know just how wrong I was because it turned out he was the generous one for sharing the little energy he had remaining to allow others to be exposed to his passion and wisdom.

I walked in the front door of his home and met my soon to be friend. He was completely wheel chair bound and only had a little use of his hands. He welcomed me with his gravelly sounding voice and big smile and I almost instantly forgot he was disabled. It was obvious his mind was clear and he was very smart. He sat at the head of the dining room table and asked me as the newly invited guest to sit at the opposite end. Four others joined us that day and the discussion began. My friend orchestrated the discussion in order to draw divergent opinions out of all attendees. What he did not want, it became quickly clear, was some polite politically correct banter. He wanted to see and hear passion for positions backed up with credible facts. BS was quickly detected by him and called out. The two hours or so flew by and I remember leaving his home feeling personally enriched in ways I couldn't have imagined as I left my own home earlier that day.

Thus began a friendship mostly shared by computer and phone for the next year or so. He initiated most of these interactions via telephone or email to provide feedback on one of my recent articles. Sometimes he liked what I wrote and sometimes he did not...and either way, he said so as directly as possible. I learned very quickly to never discount his criticism because almost always, in retrospect, if I had thought of things from his perspective I would have written a better article. I even began occasionally to send him draft copies of articles and asked for his thoughts. Again, he was the prefect foil. He read every article carefully and told me his immediate reactions. I deeply valued both his ideas and perhaps even more, his candor.

I learned my new friend, now in his 80s, had been a very talented artist for his entire life...this despite first beginning to suffer from MD in his early thirties. He worked as a commercial artist in Chicago for most of his career after emigrating to America from Belgium as a young man . His home was filled with beautiful paintings he had created. After one look at his work it didn't take an art critic to understand how talented he was.

I only went to his home for a few of these gatherings but every one was a pleasure. Then about two weeks ago I received a phone call from my friend to inform me he did not expect to be able to communicate much longer. He told me he could no longer even use his hands and had to take so much pain management medication he could no longer function mentally. He was quite lucid that day and I can only imagine he had to skip his medication in order to have our last conversation. He ended the conversation by telling me goodbye and thanking me for our friendship. I cried to myself but never let him know it because he would have called me a sissy!

My good, kind, smart, and talented friend, I know you are now in warm sunshine with a few of your favorite disagreeable pals, and canvas and painting supplies close at hand. I hope you have a glass of Belgian beer and some of those great Belgian cookies on the table beside you. You are greatly missed pal.

To: Al Van Cleven who is free at last from the shackles of MD, and his loving wife Bonnie, who inspired all who knew them with her loving care. Nobody could have have done a better job of taking care of a loved one.

Mike Tower

Congratulations Mr. Obama

November 11, 2012

Election 2012: To the victor go the spoils

Dear President Barack Obama:


Congratulations to you and your supporters for your victory Tuesday.

I did not vote for you because I do not agree with many of your past actions.

I speak primarily of my disappointment in your inability or unwillingness to

reach across the table to attempt to develop bipartisan solutions for our

nation's many problems. I clearly remember you responding to Eric Cantor's

attempt to have the GOP participate in the development of what came to be

known as Obamacare. You said: "Eric, you lost, we won ... get over it." This

was the defining moment in which you drew a line in the sand that

essentially said no Republican ideas would be accepted.

Of course, the Republicans didn't help in any way to encourage uniting our

nation's leadership, either. The GOP leaders in both houses, as well as the

tea party, made it quite clear their only ongoing purpose was to make certain

you were a one-term president. The tea party and its no-compromise, no-

new-taxes battle cry served only to exacerbate the resulting gridlock.

So we stand as a nation much deeper in distress today than we were four

years ago. Nearly $6 trillion has been added to our future generation's debt,

and we continue to borrow nearly 40 percent of all we spend.

Under your leadership, our nation has created millions of new private-sector

jobs. Unfortunately, this new job creation has barely kept up with population

growth. We still have between 23-25 million Americans either unemployed or underemployed. Meanwhile, in our weakened economy, and

understandably, the numbers of Americans receiving Social Security

disability benefits and food stamps has reached staggering new levels.

My main reason for writing this is to point out to you and your followers, to

Republicans and their followers, and even the wingnut extremists in both

parties, none of you has been given an overwhelming mandate by your

fellow citizens to run the nation your way.

President Obama, you received slightly more than 50 percent of the overall

votes, and your opponent, Mitt Romney, received slightly less. However,

when you remember only about half of eligible voters bothered to vote, each

candidate received around one-quarter of the support of all eligible voters.

Think about this: Nearly 75 percent of eligible voters either voted against

each candidate or didn't bother to express an opinion with a ballot.

This is a long way from being handed a mandate in which you, President

Obama, once again will be tempted to say to the opposition in D.C.: We

won, you lost, get over it.

The Republican lawmakers and party leadership must understand that they

also did not receive a mandate. Certainly those in the tea party who have

tried so hard to take control of the Republican Party must learn that they

have even less of a mandate from their fellow citizens.

Mr. President, it is the wish of the vast majority of Americans that you

actually stand up and provide critically needed leadership to foster a true

spirit of bipartisanship in Washington during your last four years in office.

Please remember that even though you have no majority mandate, you

have been entrusted with the responsibility to lead by encouraging both

sides to join together to take the actions that are so desperately needed by

all Americans.

The vast majority of Americans are very worried about their families' futures.

They are worried about the staggering debt and continuing borrowing, our

lack of jobs, stagnant wages, increasing prices for everyday staples, and

most of all about the frozen dialogue among our elected leaders, which

provides no helpful solutions.

You have been elected by a small minority of citizens as the leader of

America for all Americans. It is my prayer and plea that you will stand tall

now and do your job. I believe most Americans will honor you and the office

you hold, however, you will have to earn our respect, and your place in

history, by your actions and results — not just your inspiring rhetoric.

You and your party cannot adequately repair the many problems we face

unless you find a way to engage and unite both parties in a shared quest to

patch up the good ship America we all sail on together. 

Good luck, and may God bless you, Mr. President, and all of the citizens of

the United States of America.

These are my opinions. What do you think? 

Mike Tower

Please visit:  Citizens Against Politics As Usual

American Red and Blue Monkeys or frogs

   
   October 29, 2012

   They're adept at controlling the loyalists

Recently I read about an experiment in behavior conditioning using monkeys as test subjects. Researchers place five monkeys in a room. A banana is hung from the ceiling on a string and a strategically placed ladder allows the monkeys to reach the banana.

Almost immediately, one of the monkeys will attempt to get the banana. As soon as this happens, cold water sprays all of the monkeys, causing the ladder climber to quickly abandon the attempt.

Soon after, one of the four remaining monkeys will make another attempt, and again they are all sprayed with cold water. After the second or third attempt, the other monkeys will protect themselves from being drenched in cold water by not allowing any other monkey to climb the ladder.

Researchers then replace one monkey with a new one. The new monkey almost immediately tries to get the banana and is attacked by the other monkeys. This process repeats until every one of the original monkeys is replaced. Interestingly, from then on, no monkey will ever attempt to get the banana again, even though none have been sprayed with water. They have been conditioned!

For some reason, this reminded me of extreme party loyalists from either side, who find it impossible to compromise and probably don't even know why. Many of them cling desperately to their party loyalty without stopping to honestly examine the actual behavior of those they elect.

Their elected officials proclaim that they rigidly follow their party's professed values, even while evidence suggests otherwise. To maintain loyalty, they simply conduct endless polls to learn what their followers want to hear, and then make certain that all answers and rhetoric match up with the polling results.

One strategy both parties share is to inflame the passions of loyalists by waging war against the opposite party. Loyalist "monkeys" will then fight to the death defending their party without a shred of reasonable valid evidence.

Many likely don't even remember when or why they chose their party affiliation. They say they are Democrats because they are for the small guy/middle class and against the wealthy, etc. Or they say they are Republicans because they believe in smaller government and freedom for all citizens to either succeed or fail on their own, etc.

Meanwhile, the elected officials from either party all work for the exact same special interests.

Of course, it's easy to see how we arrived at this frozen partisan impasse. The special interests, and our elected officials trying desperately to remain in power, have developed the perfect strategy to control their loyalists. They spin their web of deceit by playing on all Americans' shared fear for their families' and nation's future. Both parties have become experts at deflecting this fear into ineffective anger at the other party's leaders and followers.

Meanwhile, the American economic decline, which actually began nearly 60 years ago, is slowly and relentlessly crushing the middle and lower classes, and our nation's future.

Politicians know that admitting the severity of our challenges and both parties' culpability will kill their chances of retaining power. Instead, they choose their self-serving strategy of denying responsibility, blaming the other party and dividing our citizenry.

This may help explain the behavior of some who actually bother to vote in national elections. However, what about the 45 percent or so of eligible voters who, for decades, have chosen not to bother exercising this sacred privilege?

This astounding lack of participation reminded me of a fable concerning frogs. As the story goes, you can place a frog in a pot of cool water and slowly bring it to a boil, and the frog will just allow itself to die rather than try to get out.

Like the frog, nonvoters choose to simply ignore the many problems our nation faces. They let others worry about such things. It seems easier for citizen "frogs" to occupy space in our shared pot of slowly heating water until our nation dies rather than bother getting involved.

Imagine a giant pot of water occupied by all Americans sitting on the steadily growing fire fueled by the many problems that we face. Frogs, oblivious to the danger, are in the center relaxing on their floats. The extremist red and blue monkeys, on opposite sides of the pot, are egged on by their leaders to spend all of their energy uselessly blaming "those others" for the fire raising the temperature of the water. Meanwhile, the rest of us, in the same pot, wonder what it's going to take to get us to unite and put out the fire before it's too late.

What should you do? (1) If you are one of the nonvoting "frogs," get off your butt, become informed, and vote. (2) Don't ever tell a political party what you want to hear by participating in a poll. (3) Kill the power of the parties by changing your voter registration to independent. (4) Vote out all incumbents in every primary and general election for the next few cycles.

We know our Founding Fathers never worried about a little cold water when going after the "bananas" of freedom, and they sure didn't just lay around on their floats. If they had done either, we would have never become the once great nation America used to be.

These are my opinions. What do you think?

Mike Tower   

Please visit: Citizens Against Politics As Usual

Reach me:  Mike Tower

America's Declaration of Independence

November 4, 2012

Our Declaration of Independence

When was the last time you read our Declaration of Independence? More importantly, when did any of our elected? I recently carefully read this amazing document which details how and why our founders created America as a sovereign nation over 236 years ago. Reading it caused me reflect on who wrote it, what the words really meant to the writers...and what they should mean to us today.

Obviously the Declaration of Independence lives up to its title as notice to Great Britain stating the people of America intended to withdraw from English rule. Growing friction between the Colonies and Great Britain developed over many years, mainly because the British Parliament collected taxes from the colonists without allowing them any representation, thus leading to the famous: "No taxation without representation".

Following almost a year of fighting between the 13 colonies and crown soldiers, the Declaration of Independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

According to Wikipedia, some scholars consider the second sentence in this historical document to be one of the best-known sentences in the English language, containing the most potent and consequential words in American History. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

No less than Abraham Lincoln stated the Declaration of Independence to be the foundation for his political philosophy, and he argued the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. Of course, one only has to look at how long it took to overcome the horrors of slavery and women's rights to see that our nation's leaders didn't come close to following the equality principles for everyone for a very long time. Even Thomas Jefferson, who died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration's enactment, maintained significant slave ownership at his death. However, it also seems clear, the easily understood promises of this sentence would attract millions of future immigrants to America. This famous sentence was clearly the basis for what became known throughout the world as the "American dream".

Have you ever carefully considered the real meaning of the words in this famous sentence? It seems easy to understand the rights to life and liberty; however, the pursuit of happiness is more complicated and often subject to different interpretations. More extreme liberals interpret this to mean we are all born with a divine right to be happy with our life no matter what, and only a large central government can ensure this outcome with a safety net to catch those who fail, or even fail to try. Extremist conservatives on the opposite pole, view it as absolutely only promising the right to pursue happiness. If one succeeds that is great. However, if he/she fails...that's just too bad.

As I wrote in an earlier article, most of the people I interact with, whether self-labeled as Democrats or Republicans will say they are fiscally conservative and socially progressive. When pushed for further explanation, most will say... and I believe it represents the vast majority of Americans...they don't want our nation to waste any money, but neither do they want to abandon the truly needy.

From what I learned from other writings of several of our founding fathers, it seems clear they intended the more conservative view. It seems apparent they only promised the right for individuals to have the freedom to pursue whatever activities might bring them happiness. If you failed that was simply too bad. You remained legally free to repeatedly seek rewards required for your version of happiness. However, failure which might be accompanied by unhappiness, was to be borne by the individual. Our founders promised no safety nets.

I tend to support the more conservative views because any attempt by man to institutionally protect others from their own failure always seems to have unintended consequences. When one has a safety net he/she can count on, history has proven many will make reckless and foolish attempts to achieve success, because they are protected from failure's consequences. Or even worse, many will simply not even bother trying. The net result for the latter is often "generational poverty/welfare" in which children learn from the actions of their parents it is easier to accept welfare than make an attempt to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I grew up dirt poor (as they used to say) in the 1940s and 50s. We had no government welfare programs. The only lesson most impoverished parents of my generation taught their children was...if you want more than we can provide, find a way to earn the money, or learn to do without. Should we have safety nets for the truly needy...absolutely. Should we though, provide those same benefits for those too lazy to try? I think our founding father's intended words, carefully interpreted, would say emphatically no.

Please take the time to read the Declaration of Independence our brave founding father's wrote over 236 years ago. Then ask yourself...have America's leaders somehow gone astray from the original intentions of this critically important document?

These are my opinions. What do you think?

Mike Tower

Contact Me:  Mike Tower

Please Visit:  Citizens Against Politics As Usual