Listen To The Wave

Listen. Listen fully and deeply. Hear the deafening silence. The near-total silence of the Big Red Wave. The Big Red Wave that did not happen. Instead, listen to what else we can hear. The excuses. The finger-pointing. The sounds of the blame game.

The voters listened well. To the lies. To the hypocrisies. To the threats of violence. And the majority of those voters – whether labelled as Republicans, Democrats, or Independents – said “No Thanks. Let us not go down that road.” But are the politicians listening?

Democracy won on November 8^th, even as it took a week to confirm that victory. It thankfully survived another battle, gained another day in pursuit of its unmatched gift to the human race. It remains fragile in the face of those who would do it harm. But (so far) it bends, yet remains proudly unbreakable. This is what a vote counts for. No extra, unneeded drama. Block out the distractions. Just mark an “X” (or fill in an empty bubble) on a sheet of paper. Along with millions other citizens. That is the true weapon of choice against those who would subvert our Democracy, distort our proud though imperfect Heritage, disregard our Rule of Law.

The Big Red Wave proved to be the trickle of a small pink stream. Label our recent past as an aberration in the course of our 600 year journey that began in the tiny hamlet of Jamestown. Past is past. Move forward. But who is listening? And to whom are they Listening? 

©   2022   Randy Bell                         https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Election 2022 Priorities

 Another election is once again upon us: the non-presidential midterm election of 2022. Historically, lacking the “star power” of a presidential contest, midterm elections do not draw the attention or participation of many voters. Hopefully, that will not be the case with this midterm. This election is probably the most consequential midterm of my lifetime, a needed referendum on the current state and future direction of the country.

In a typical election, men and women run for office by identifying various programs and priorities they promise to deliver – even though the many levers of government preclude any one representative from accomplishing much on his/her own. They are also likely to demonize their opponent as the devil incarnate, while they alone can save the country from total collapse. Buzz words (“socialism”) and sounds bites (“save social security”) will dominate the political rhetoric; true debate or meaningful, constructive dialog will be banished.

Election 2022 has a different call to citizens than picking a list of political actions and programs. While these are important, there is a more pressing need to (re-)affirm who our country is, what it stands for, and what it values. Because we, as a country, have lost our best sense of ourselves, and who we are about. There are two overriding issues we, the voters, need to address in this election: 1) reaffirming our Constitution and its foundation of the rule of Law that guides us; and 2) protecting, in fact enhancing, the accessibility to, and power of, our vote.

In 2022, we need to clarify whether we will return to a respect for Truth, Honesty, and the Law as fundamental to retain our Constitutional Republic. We accept that politicians will stretch the truth in order to benefit themselves. But over the last six years, outright lying, obfuscation, and endless delays in accountability have become the standard. “The Big Lie(s)” of unsubstantiated “facts” and opinion has made the most implausible seemingly plausible; political posturing has replaced Integrity within many of our American institutions. The bedrock principle that “no man or woman is above the Law” has been shuffled out the door in favor of rampant, unchecked illegality. The stability of Judicial Precedent has been shattered. “For the good of the individual” is replacing “For the good of the Country” as the basis for public service. The equal ability to partake in the country’s economic, religious, and personal opportunities has become questionable. The baffling, increasing violence that surrounds us daily is testament to our division and frustrations. The discord reflects our continual difficulty in trying to balance our Individual Rights versus our Community Responsibility.

As a result of our discord, Trust in our governmental institutions and public servants is at an all-time low; Trust in each other is too often non-existent. This lack of trust makes finding solutions to our many problems near-impossible. We argue incessantly; we do not listen to each other. We do not converse; we yell at each other. Hardened partisan speeches promote our separation and a one-sided view of our Constitutional principles. Yet the strong-minded men who wrote that Constitution realized that they were dependent upon the practical tool of Compromise. Their lesson to each of us is that without Compromise, there would not have been a Constitution. Without that Constitution, there would have been no United States of America.

The right to vote, through which the right to have a say in our government actions and the individuals selected to deliver the will of the people, is one of the primary gifts of American citizenship. For nearly 250 years that right has been expanding to include increasing groups within our electorate. Yet over the last four years we have seen one of the greatest assaults on voting rights since Reconstruction. At times, the right to vote was limited by law: e.g. restricting voting to property owners, or only to men. In other times, it was restricted by actions: e.g. paying poll taxes, requiring literacy tests, subjected to violence and intimidation. With the 1965 Voting Rights Act, most of the overt legal limitations were ended; thereafter, we chipped away at ending the action-based limitations. What we see today are limitations that are “tactically” based. These are the tricks misused to benefit one political party/candidate over another. We see polling stations set up in intentionally inconvenient locations with inconvenient hours; reduced time frames and/or sites for early voting; more technical requirements for obtaining an absentee ballot; restrictions on providing food or drink to people in long lines waiting to vote; dubious challenges to voter rolls. These and other tactics are specifically designed to discourage targeted groups from being able to make their voting intention count. They are all justified as “needed steps to prevent voter fraud” – would-be solutions to a problem we do not have in any meaningful or consequential quantity.

Preserving our democratic foundation, and protecting – and expanding – our right to vote. These are reasons that Election 2022 is so important. We should not be unduly fighting over specific policies and programs; these will continue to come and go as they always have. Rather, we should put our focus – and vote – on the character and integrity of our candidates. Who among them consistently tells us the hard truths; speaks and acts in the positive; is capable of playing well with others; is informed and knowledgeable about the issues facing us; is consistent in their opinions yet able to adapt to new information. Versus those who spout knee-jerk reactions; speaks in the negative; does not play well with others; accepts and/or promotes lies.

These are the overriding issues that we face. Over the last decade, the American Ship of State has taken quite a beating attempting to navigate its way through many stormy waters. The story is told that shortly after the last session of the Constitutional Convention concluded, Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Pennsylvania State House when he encountered one Elizabeth Powel.  Ms. Powel asked Dr. Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a republic or a monarchy?”  Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Can we keep it, as Dr. Franklin challenges us to do? We need to vote accordingly, as if our future as a country depends upon it. Because it does.

 

©   2022   Randy Bell             https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Supply And Demand Upended

As we drive around in our cars these days, one cannot avoid seeing the large gasoline station signs that tell us – usually in large, bold, brightly-colored numbers – what today’s gas price is per gallon. Inevitably, it is a bigger number than the day or so before. We drive past, likely shaking our heads in disbelief, discouragement, and a host of other thoughts and emotions at yet another thing taking control away from our daily life.

Yet you know what we do not see? Plastic shopping bags wrapped around the nozzles of the fuel hoses, accompanied by a cardboard sign that proclaims “No Gas.” We are used to this scene because on various occasions (e.g. hurricane destruction of refineries, Russian hackers blocking a major gasoline distribution line), demand for gas temporarily exceeds supply. The typical results are long lines at filling stations, different strategies for locating which stations have gas available, refilling the car at every opportunity, all while paying increases in price, And then, seemingly miraculously, everything goes back to “normal” within a couple of weeks. The refineries are back in production, the delivery trucks are making their rounds, and truck and automobile drivers are back to their old driving patterns. All is well.

This time it is inexplicably different. We have plenty of gas for everyone. Big Oil says these double-digit price increases are due to breaks in the gas supply because of the war in Ukraine and sanctions levied against buying Russian oil. But the amount of our imports from Ukraine and Russia is near-negligible, and we are drawing down significant quantities from our Strategic Oil Reserves to help offset those losses. And the backdrop to our story is that the U.S. has been a net exporter of oil the past two years, and over half of our imports come from Canada – not Russia.

Do I over-simplify our current situation? Admittedly, yes. But it seems that one must over-simplify to begin to understand the current rules of the road we are driving under. We all understand the principle of “supply and demand” in a free marketplace environment. When demand exceeds supply, something is deemed “more valuable” and the price is raised to take advantage of that scarcity. (I am not exactly sure why scarcity should drive price, but I accept that that has been accepted marketplace practice for near-eons.) Yet some societies have made exceptions to this principle by passing anti-gouging and/or price control laws effective in times of crisis, thereby not allowing profiteers to take undue advantage of the citizenry during short-term disasters. Problematically, price gouging creates a “bandwagon” effect: one store, one vendor, starts raising prices when there is panic in the streets, and so another sees an opening to increase his/her profits, and so on and so on. Pretty soon prices are exploding everywhere.

In the case of Big Oil, we have an extended supply chain of links engaged in bringing gasoline to the pump. The original driller; ongoing pumping at the wellhead; transport to the refinery; refining of the oil into its varying products; transport of gasoline to a regional distributor; distributor transport to the local filling station; sale of the gas to the ultimate consumer – the automobile drivers. That is a lot of links in the chain of transactions, starting from under the ground and ending in a car’s gas tank. EACH link in that chain has its own cost and profit demands to meet. Each link raises its prices on top of the prior link’s raise, thereby creating a compounding effect on prices. Add up all these increases, throw in price manipulations by commodities brokers and other financial hangers-on, layer the cake with the demands of national economies who are dependent on oil revenue (e.g. OPEC countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela), and you have a marketplace that has little to do with the actual oil on hand. The current record-breaking revenues for the oil giants, and all these other integrated inks, confirm that their hunger is being fed quite well.

Against this formidable, multi-pronged and ravenous beast, the individual car owner has little chance in affecting a resolution to this current inflation crisis. Ditto the farmer, the school system, the emergency responders, the truckers, the American family, etc. – all trying to survive these new economic demands affecting their personal and professional lives. Lives built upon a foundation of gasoline. But let us be clear. There is plenty of gasoline in barrels to meet our fuel needs. Whether we are paying $2.50 or $6.50, there is gasoline available to keep us moving. But if we are not careful, fulfilling the price gouging pump will be at the bigger cost of losing our potential to bring our economy back to a more normal, post-pandemic time. We do not have a supply problem. We do not have a demand problem. We have a price and profit problem. 

©  2022   Randy Bell              https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com