All’s Fair is Love and War and Politics, Right?
The View from the Middle
Last night I was sitting on my back porch discussing the issues of the day with two friends who are often opposed to my political positions. Yes, some of my best friends are liberal Democrats. During our discussion, the subject of the condemnation of Melania Trump’s shoes came up. In case you missed this ludicrous story, Melania was resoundingly denounced by the lame stream media for wearing high heel shoes as she boarded Air Force One for her trip to the Hurricane Harvey disaster area. I brought it up to demonstrate the new low to which the media has dipped in their desperate effort to criticize anything Trump.
Believe it or not, one of my friends argued that this was a legitimate story because, “All’s fair in love and war and politics” and if your goal is to destroy our sitting President then even this piece of trivia was worth highlighting. Like most people, he hadn’t heard “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would have said. Melania got off the Air Force One in a pair of tennis shoes. Most people will, in fact, miss the second half of this story because, as usual, the lie or distortion appears on the front page but the correction and or clarification appears on page 15 of section Z.
Two points became clear to me after I heard this “all’s fair” comment. First, while this cliché’ may be very clever, it is not true. People who want to rationalize their own lying, cheating and abusive behavior use it. I’m sure Hitler was a big fan of this saying as is ISIS as they burn people alive in cages. Even in war we have rules and you would think that love would deliver even purer motives. 1st Corinthians says, “Love is patient and kind. It does not boast and is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs.” It also says that love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth and it always protects, trusts, hopes and preserves. It says nothing about deception, demonization and ridicule.
People ask me why I defend Trump so much. After all, he’s not a politician (that’s actually a plus for me) and he often says things that make me cringe, and I will criticize him when he does. I defend him because he is under relentless attack from Democrats, the lame stream media and “the swamp” who wake up every morning with the goal to condemn whatever he does, no matter what! These are the kind of people who will resort to denouncing Melania’s shoes. These people will even figure out how to criticize her change into tennis shoes when she got to Corpus Christie.
Trump denounced the violence in Charlottesville, on both sides. How dare he?! Even if it was absolutely true, he should have only criticized the Neo-Nazis, KKK and white supremacists. Then when he actually does condemn all of those parties by name. “Sorry, it’s too late!!” his critics will chant. Antifa has been escalating their violence for eight months and we finally got Nancy Pelosi to condemn their violence. That was eight months after the start and three days after the most recent event in Berkley, but that’s not too late? And that’s just Pelosi. What about Schumer? Clinton? Obama?
It is obvious that the leaders of this “Trump can NEVER do anything right” campaign will do anything to distract, disrupt and hinder this President’s efforts. They would rather see him fail even if that would have devastating consequences for our country, than see him succeed and have the country prosper. Why? Just follow the money, and the power. The American people may suffer tremendously if we handicap our President to these unprecedented levels, but the leaders of the “Hate Trump” thug groups will do just fine.
My other friend, interestingly, suggested that there were selfish, evil, corrupt and narcissistic people on both sides of the political spectrum and that we should come together “in the middle” (his words, not mine) and work to actually find solutions to our problems. I must agree with that wisdom.
So, when you see the unhinged, unbalanced, hyperbolic reports on either side of the political argument, reject them!! Let me even appeal to Obama fans out there who complained that he had obstructionist elements in his path. Is what you condemned before now commendable because the shoe is on the other foot? Is it OK to lie, cheat, distort and demonize to further your side’s argument? If your answer is yes, then you can wrap yourself up in your “All’s fair” blanket, but recognize that we’ll never resolve any of our issues if we play with this divisive, selfish and even inaccurate philosophy.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Lincoln - With Him or Against Him?
Abraham Lincoln – Are You With Him or Against Him?
The View from the Middle
Abraham Lincoln once pondered that only about 10% of our country held extreme political views. He suggested that 90% of Americans are ideological moderates who are fundamentally good and fair people who can disagree without resorting to hate and often compromise for the greater good. To be fair, he also implied that the radical 10% was evenly split between the fanatical right and the rabid left. I tend to agree with Mr. Lincoln, which always makes me feel safe.
In an effort to support the 16th President’s position, let me be so bold as to speak for the 90%, to which I think Lincoln not only alluded, but also identified with. I will unequivocally denounce the Ku Klux Klan, the Neo-Nazi’s and all white supremacists groups in this country and around the world. Any group that denies equal justice and opportunity for any other group not only violates the spirit of our country as expressed in The Declaration of Independence, but also the letter of out laws as laid out in our Constitution.
Call them what you will (bigots, racists, supremacist), I condemn them all. But while I castigate the extreme of what some might call the right side of the political spectrum, let me do the same for the other extremists. I denounce any group or individual who encourages the murder of our law enforcement officers. No collection of humans is perfect, but I believe the VAST majority of our police officers are just trying to keep us safe and deserve our respect. When I hear people chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” I must condemn that strenuously. When I hear these chants, I wonder why our police officers would even do that job for the piddling amount of money we pay them, and how our lives with really be without them.
I will also admonish anyone who will deny others the right of free speech. The Supreme Court has defined free speech very broadly and would definitely agree with Patrick Henry (or Evelyn Beatrice Hall) who declared that while, “I disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This, fortunately, includes racists and Neo-Nazis. I say “fortunately” purposefully, because I believe that the best rebuke to bigots, or racists or Neo-Nazis is their own words. The 90% will never be convinced by the ugly, malicious, absurd lies of these monsters. In fact, they may even enlighten some of their own extreme followers as they spew their vitriol.
Of course, I also disavow any group or individual who hates white people just because of the color of their skin. While it has become fashionable to demonize Caucasians, especially older white males, I have found no race, gender, creed or age group that has a monopoly on nobility or evil. All people have the capacity for decency and wickedness and have proved that time and again over history. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit to that undeniable truth.
Now, as polar opposite as these groups are, what could they possibly have in common? Prejudice! When you peal back these ugly onions you find that they all need to get their following to hate some other group without real cause. They must convince the 90% to leave the truth and their senses behind and prejudge scores of people according to their preconceived, erroneous and often imaginary notions.
Don’t be persuaded by the malignant dribble spouted by these extreme groups. Denounce all of them. As Americans we want and need more dialogue, not less. We need more understanding, empathy and forgiveness, not less. And certainly we need more real compromise, and not the childish obstructionism we see in Washington. Get on the side of Abraham Lincoln who resolved one of our country’s greatest challenges by listening, even to his rivals, and looked for the good in people, expecting to find it. If we do the same, as with Abe, we will surely find it!
The View from the Middle
Abraham Lincoln once pondered that only about 10% of our country held extreme political views. He suggested that 90% of Americans are ideological moderates who are fundamentally good and fair people who can disagree without resorting to hate and often compromise for the greater good. To be fair, he also implied that the radical 10% was evenly split between the fanatical right and the rabid left. I tend to agree with Mr. Lincoln, which always makes me feel safe.
In an effort to support the 16th President’s position, let me be so bold as to speak for the 90%, to which I think Lincoln not only alluded, but also identified with. I will unequivocally denounce the Ku Klux Klan, the Neo-Nazi’s and all white supremacists groups in this country and around the world. Any group that denies equal justice and opportunity for any other group not only violates the spirit of our country as expressed in The Declaration of Independence, but also the letter of out laws as laid out in our Constitution.
Call them what you will (bigots, racists, supremacist), I condemn them all. But while I castigate the extreme of what some might call the right side of the political spectrum, let me do the same for the other extremists. I denounce any group or individual who encourages the murder of our law enforcement officers. No collection of humans is perfect, but I believe the VAST majority of our police officers are just trying to keep us safe and deserve our respect. When I hear people chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” I must condemn that strenuously. When I hear these chants, I wonder why our police officers would even do that job for the piddling amount of money we pay them, and how our lives with really be without them.
I will also admonish anyone who will deny others the right of free speech. The Supreme Court has defined free speech very broadly and would definitely agree with Patrick Henry (or Evelyn Beatrice Hall) who declared that while, “I disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This, fortunately, includes racists and Neo-Nazis. I say “fortunately” purposefully, because I believe that the best rebuke to bigots, or racists or Neo-Nazis is their own words. The 90% will never be convinced by the ugly, malicious, absurd lies of these monsters. In fact, they may even enlighten some of their own extreme followers as they spew their vitriol.
Of course, I also disavow any group or individual who hates white people just because of the color of their skin. While it has become fashionable to demonize Caucasians, especially older white males, I have found no race, gender, creed or age group that has a monopoly on nobility or evil. All people have the capacity for decency and wickedness and have proved that time and again over history. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit to that undeniable truth.
Now, as polar opposite as these groups are, what could they possibly have in common? Prejudice! When you peal back these ugly onions you find that they all need to get their following to hate some other group without real cause. They must convince the 90% to leave the truth and their senses behind and prejudge scores of people according to their preconceived, erroneous and often imaginary notions.
Don’t be persuaded by the malignant dribble spouted by these extreme groups. Denounce all of them. As Americans we want and need more dialogue, not less. We need more understanding, empathy and forgiveness, not less. And certainly we need more real compromise, and not the childish obstructionism we see in Washington. Get on the side of Abraham Lincoln who resolved one of our country’s greatest challenges by listening, even to his rivals, and looked for the good in people, expecting to find it. If we do the same, as with Abe, we will surely find it!
Monday, August 14, 2017
Charlottesville, Arguing over the Unarguable
Charlottesville, Arguing Over the Unarguable
The View from the Middle
Abraham Lincoln once made a profound statement on the perspective and motives of people. He said, “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you certainly will.” I’m certain that Honest Abe would find himself a frequent defender of Donald Trump against those groups who have already decided that they will oppose, resist and demonize everything that the President says or does.
Let’s take a look at what President Trump actually said about the dreadful violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this last weekend that lead to the tragic death of Heather Heyer. He said, “(he) Condemns in the strongest possible terms “this” egregious display of bigotry and violence on many sides.” There is much to defend in this statement. I also condemn bigotry and violence no matter what its source.
But some people only heard the last three words and took that as some sort of endorsement of the white supremacist groups. Of course, I think that is ludicrous and I applaud Trump taking this opportunity to denounce ALL hate groups who deny equal opportunity and justice for anyone.
According to ABC News, there are over 900 hate groups in America today. They identified 130 different Ku Klux Klan groups (started by the democrats, by the way) and 100 white nationalist groups, but they also identified over 190 black separatist groups as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Zionist and even “general” hate groups (whatever they are). We should rebuke ALL of these hate groups at every opportunity, and Charlottesville is one of those opportunities.
I will come out right now and condemn all of these groups, including the white supremacist group whose name defines prejudice. I will also condemn The New Black Panther Party when it says that they want to, “kill white babies”. I denounce Louis Farrakhan when he spews anti-Jewish swill and any group that would like to deny freedom of religion to peace loving Muslims.
The President just now reinforced his message against bigotry, racism and violence and specifically condemned the Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan. Do I think this will be good enough for the “never Trumpers” or the “I just hate Trump” people? I doubt it.
At this point, if you can’t accept Trump’s overall message of unity, love for each other and the denouncement of hatred, bigotry and racism with specific condemnation of the Charlottesville white supremacist groups, I must refer you to Honest Abe. Check your bias at the door. Pretend that Barack Obama said these exact same words, which is certainly NOT a stretch, and you just might have to agree with this position, as I do!!
The View from the Middle
Abraham Lincoln once made a profound statement on the perspective and motives of people. He said, “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you certainly will.” I’m certain that Honest Abe would find himself a frequent defender of Donald Trump against those groups who have already decided that they will oppose, resist and demonize everything that the President says or does.
Let’s take a look at what President Trump actually said about the dreadful violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this last weekend that lead to the tragic death of Heather Heyer. He said, “(he) Condemns in the strongest possible terms “this” egregious display of bigotry and violence on many sides.” There is much to defend in this statement. I also condemn bigotry and violence no matter what its source.
But some people only heard the last three words and took that as some sort of endorsement of the white supremacist groups. Of course, I think that is ludicrous and I applaud Trump taking this opportunity to denounce ALL hate groups who deny equal opportunity and justice for anyone.
According to ABC News, there are over 900 hate groups in America today. They identified 130 different Ku Klux Klan groups (started by the democrats, by the way) and 100 white nationalist groups, but they also identified over 190 black separatist groups as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Zionist and even “general” hate groups (whatever they are). We should rebuke ALL of these hate groups at every opportunity, and Charlottesville is one of those opportunities.
I will come out right now and condemn all of these groups, including the white supremacist group whose name defines prejudice. I will also condemn The New Black Panther Party when it says that they want to, “kill white babies”. I denounce Louis Farrakhan when he spews anti-Jewish swill and any group that would like to deny freedom of religion to peace loving Muslims.
The President just now reinforced his message against bigotry, racism and violence and specifically condemned the Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan. Do I think this will be good enough for the “never Trumpers” or the “I just hate Trump” people? I doubt it.
At this point, if you can’t accept Trump’s overall message of unity, love for each other and the denouncement of hatred, bigotry and racism with specific condemnation of the Charlottesville white supremacist groups, I must refer you to Honest Abe. Check your bias at the door. Pretend that Barack Obama said these exact same words, which is certainly NOT a stretch, and you just might have to agree with this position, as I do!!
Monday, August 7, 2017
Privatization of SS - Part Two
Privatizing SS – The Rest of the Story
The View from the Middle
A couple of weeks ago I told you a story about Jane or John Doe who started working in 1970 at age 21 and retired in 2015 making the US median income for his or her entire life. The fact is that this person would earn $1874 per month is Social Security payments from our generous yet corrupt and inept government. So, if Jane or John would die one month later, they would have paid into Social Security for his or her entire life and had $1,874 to show for it.
This whopping $1,874 monthly payment is a product of Jane or John’s SS taxes paid, AND the matching taxes paid by Jane or John’s employer. Today, that total tax paid per year is 12.4% (6.2% contributed by the employee and 6.2% by the employer).
I then calculated what an investment in an S&P 500 index fund would have produced just for the 6.2% employee paid portion over those same years. That monthly investment would have produced a nest egg of $467,989 with a monthly potential income of $3,159. If Jane would die one day after retirement, she would have almost a half a million dollars to give to her heirs vs nothing from our government.
Today, you will hear “The rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey would have said!! If Jane and John were allowed to also invest the employee portion of their SS payments, the numbers double, as you might expect. Jane and John would retire with a nest egg of almost a MILLION DOLLARS ($935,978) and a monthly income of $6.318. Again, this compares to zero nest egg and a monthly income of $1,874 from our government.
The million-dollar nest egg is NOT a projection, but just a calculation of actual results of the S&P 500 from 1970 to 2015. The $6,318 monthly income simply assumes a similar return for that index fund in the future, which is 8.1%.
So here is the bottom line. If the government had just taken Jane’s contribution and her employer’s payment and invested it in a simple index fund, she would have had almost a MILLION DOLLARS and a monthly income of over $6,000. But our government has managed to reduce these results to ZERO lump sum and a paltry monthly income of $1,874. The government steals the rest from each and every one of us.
The reason I decided to release these numbers in two steps is because they are so wildly disparate that they are almost unbelievable if exposed in one. Can there be any more evidence of the inefficiency, incompetence and corruption of our federal government. When will we learn? We need to make our government smaller, not bigger, and give the money and liberty back to the people. Remember the words of Ronald Reagan who said, “The 10 most frightening words in the English language are - I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
The View from the Middle
A couple of weeks ago I told you a story about Jane or John Doe who started working in 1970 at age 21 and retired in 2015 making the US median income for his or her entire life. The fact is that this person would earn $1874 per month is Social Security payments from our generous yet corrupt and inept government. So, if Jane or John would die one month later, they would have paid into Social Security for his or her entire life and had $1,874 to show for it.
This whopping $1,874 monthly payment is a product of Jane or John’s SS taxes paid, AND the matching taxes paid by Jane or John’s employer. Today, that total tax paid per year is 12.4% (6.2% contributed by the employee and 6.2% by the employer).
I then calculated what an investment in an S&P 500 index fund would have produced just for the 6.2% employee paid portion over those same years. That monthly investment would have produced a nest egg of $467,989 with a monthly potential income of $3,159. If Jane would die one day after retirement, she would have almost a half a million dollars to give to her heirs vs nothing from our government.
Today, you will hear “The rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey would have said!! If Jane and John were allowed to also invest the employee portion of their SS payments, the numbers double, as you might expect. Jane and John would retire with a nest egg of almost a MILLION DOLLARS ($935,978) and a monthly income of $6.318. Again, this compares to zero nest egg and a monthly income of $1,874 from our government.
The million-dollar nest egg is NOT a projection, but just a calculation of actual results of the S&P 500 from 1970 to 2015. The $6,318 monthly income simply assumes a similar return for that index fund in the future, which is 8.1%.
So here is the bottom line. If the government had just taken Jane’s contribution and her employer’s payment and invested it in a simple index fund, she would have had almost a MILLION DOLLARS and a monthly income of over $6,000. But our government has managed to reduce these results to ZERO lump sum and a paltry monthly income of $1,874. The government steals the rest from each and every one of us.
The reason I decided to release these numbers in two steps is because they are so wildly disparate that they are almost unbelievable if exposed in one. Can there be any more evidence of the inefficiency, incompetence and corruption of our federal government. When will we learn? We need to make our government smaller, not bigger, and give the money and liberty back to the people. Remember the words of Ronald Reagan who said, “The 10 most frightening words in the English language are - I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
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