Christmas Tree

The tradition of a piney Christmas tree is one of the most lovely parts of the season.  I love the smell that envelops the house when the tree comes inside.  I chose this year's tree on Friday night and on Saturday morning we brought it inside.

T helped me to secure it in the stand and then she cut the mesh off so that the branches could unfurl.

Lights were added.

On Sunday evening, T put hooks on the ornaments and I hung them on the tree.  Each year, the ornaments bring on a flood of happy holiday memories.  When the happy task is complete, the tree is lovely.

Presents have been added and more will join them before Christmas morning. All of it is a sweet-smelling reminder of the many blessings we enjoy.  That’s happy!

Putting the Kibosh on Kavanaugh

As I understand the rules of the Senate, it requires 51 senators to be present in order to make quorum.  And quorum is required in order to move forward with all Senate business, including the matter of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

That being the case, McCain’s absence, though obviously regrettable, opens a political door for the Democrats.  I don’t mean to be cavalier or grossly political, but politics is the business of power and opportunity and without Senator McCain, the Republicans cannot make quorum on their own.  Vice President Pence can cast a tie-breaking vote but he cannot make quorum.  And without quorum, the nomination is stalled.  
In my mind, the path is now clear for the Democratic leadership in the Senate: hold the line on quorum until after the November 6 midterm election.  It presents the risk of seeming obstructionist (quite frankly because it is obstructionist) and some of the Democratic senators standing for re-election in states that lean Republican (Joe Manchin in West Virginia; Joe Donnelly in Indiana; Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota) may find the strategy problematic and risky.  But for each of those senators there are some facing re-election in competitive states (Claire McCaskill in Missouri; Bill Nelson in Florida; and Jon Tester in Montana) who could benefit.  All of them can claim to be taking action to hold the line against Trump corruption and a Supreme Court nominee determined to support presidential power even in a circumstance where the president is an unstable, corrupt, tyrant.

As I see it, we are in the political battle of our generation and all strategies and tactics must be on the table. So I am calling on the Democratic leadership to take the risk and lead.  This is your move, Senator Schumer, and I’d like to see you be decisive.

Real Life Conversations with KO: Free Trade edition

The backstory:   I haven’t been a regular shopper at Cost Plus World Market since I lived in California more than 30 years ago (and the store was still called Cost Plus).  When one opened in my corner of New Jersey, I was very excited about it and went on opening weekend.  I texted my sister about my excitement.

Me: Cost Plus opens today.  I am v. excited.  Show mama the cheaply produced imported goods!

KO:  Enjoy them now before the trade war starts.

Oh, the comforts of the dismal science.  

Focus on the Not Normal

It’s nearly impossible to keep pace with the insane political developments  coming out of the Trump White House.  It’s tempting to shout about all of it; all of it is horrifying.  I’ve certainly been guilty of that.  It’s tempting to throw up your hands and laugh hysterically about some of it, and I certainly have been guilty of that as well.  But I’ve come to believe that we need to separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on the Trump actions and developments that are not normal.  

For one thing, some of these developments are a real and genuine threat to our republic and our national interest.  For another, these not normal events are becoming more frequent and to the degree that we do not intervene or criticize them, we are at risk for a republic that will collapse.  

The not normal list is long and getting longer:

- The lies, even about matters on which there is clear evidence.  Not normal.

- A president refusing to release his tax returns. Not normal.

- A president treating the office as a chance to line the pockets of his business interests.  Not normal.

- Presidential family members who have neither been vetted nor received security clearance serving in vital positions, with access to secure information. Not normal.

- Foreign interference in our elections, elections which are the cornerstone of a representative democracy, and a party in control of the White House and Congress absolutely refusing to take action. Not normal.

- A president who makes broad policy pronouncements without consultation with experts or even his advisors or Cabinet members, idiots though some of them are  —— most recently, protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum announced via an all-caps press release and a series of tweets celebrating the ease of winning a trade war.  Not normal.

- The persistent name-calling as a political tool.  Not normal.

- It’s one thing to disagree with the free press but Trump is actively working to create distrust of the press.  Fake news, alternative facts…..call it what you will.   This behavior is a threat to the republic.  Not normal.

- On the same note, Trump’s persistent efforts to discredit American institutions without any facts to support his claims of bias or ineptitude….the Courts, the FBI, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Not normal.

Democrats understand the threats this president has created but they cannot stop Trump on their own.  The future of the republic demands leadership against Trump from a few principled Republicans.  Working together, Democrats and Republicans can place our nation back on firm footing.  But the clock is ticking and though I am typically a political optimist, I fear we are close to the point of permanent and lasting damage to our republic.

One Year In

I have a searing memory of Trump’s Inaugural address last year, which presented his dystopian view of America and, in hindsight, gave us a glimpse of the political year he would bring us: blustering lies and bold attempts to turn back every piece of progress that the Obama Administration had managed to secure from the last eight years of a begrudging and polarized Republican party.

In the days immediately after Trump’s ugly January 2017 speech, my students and I studied Jefferson’s inaugural address in 1801, the product of another election that bitterly divided the nation.  In his address, President Jefferson emphasized all the things that bound the nation together and he organized a vision of continued unity, with both political parties, the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans, working together in the national interest.  Sparks between the two sides would still fly, but with a measured, thoughtful leader at the helm, the nation didn’t just survive.  It endured.

I keep thinking of 1801 as I assess the year that was 2017 and the year that 2018 is shaping up to be.  I continue to believe that we are living in an era of party change; I think that the Republican party is in the midst of a spectacular smash-up.  But as the party crashes, the nation is experiencing collateral damage that may endure far longer than I anticipated when Trump won the presidency in 2016.  His first year was a wake-up call to the notion that though the presidency isn’t particularly powerful as conceived in the Constitution, it has become very powerful indeed.  It was a reminder that checks and balances in the form of legislative power only work when the legislature is prepared to fulfill its responsibilities.

We don’t have that kind of Congress right now.  Republicans, so polarized that the only thing that unites them is their fear of losing power, have yielded authority to a president that they know to be ill-informed, racist, and self-absorbed.  The current shutdown, an unprecedented event when one party has control of both the executive and legislative branch, is evidence that the GOP has boarded the Trump Train and won’t get off even as it derails.

A party willing to jam through a tax plan that only 30% of the nation approved of can’t pull together a budget plan.  Why?  Because they are torn apart on what to do for the Dreamers and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  This, even as DACA and CHIP enjoy the support of north of 80% of the American public.  The only thing more irrational than that sentence is today’s Republican party.  

If there is hope for a future it’s got to come from within ourselves.  In a government built upon the nation of “We the people,” it’s well-past time for the people to suit up and require our government to govern in our interests and to do it well.  It’s not easy because we are often an ill-informed citizenry, taking greater joy in name-calling and the news of Kardashians, when we should be doing the hard work of asking difficult questions and informing ourselves.  I have long believed that the people get the government that they deserve.  I believe that the current mess reflects that painful reality.  We must demand better of ourselves as citizens so that we can demand more of our government and leaders.  It won’t be easy but it is not impossible and it is the only path forward.  Greatness must lie within the people; only then can we find the leaders we deserve.

Amaryllis Tuesday: January 2

As has become my happy tradition, I received an amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  I planted it on the 31st and set it in a sunny spot.

It will be a few weeks before I see growth, but in the midst of the current cold snap, the amaryllis is a lovely reminder that patience will be rewarded and that change can be a beautiful thing.  In this year that will bring changes to my world, that’s a timely and useful reminder.