The Shared Elizabeth Warren Native Heritige Uncertainty

Senator Elizabeth Warren, candidate for the 2020 Presidential race, has a perplexing identity problem.  A native of Oklahoma, where Native American heritage abounds, has believed she has Cherokee heritage.  This belief was given to her by her family based on oral history.  I can relate and hope people can understand that family stories, often undocumented, impact most all of us.

My own family, specifically on my maternal side, has a somewhat detailed oral history.  I first heard the story from both my mother and her dad.  Stan Worthen, native of Wyoming and nearly lifelong resident of Utah, shared a detailed history.  He claimed his grandmother was a "full blooded Cherokee Indian squaw".  These were his words.  His own appearance, an olive complexion my mother shared and his small, wiry frame and high cheek bones suggested plausibility of this story.  He described his English immigrant ancestors as having met her as a young woman who migrated to the Wyoming area via the trail of tears, hooking up with Mormon migrants along the way.

I have long forgotten her name, but he indicated that both state and Mormon Church records ignored those of native heritage because of their "lesser" status.  His people never converted to the LDS church so they were further excluded from these records. But this heritage was much discussed with pride within the family, especially because of the Cherokee reputation for "high culture"; meaning, having or accepting many of the cultural attributes of Anglo settlers; the creation of villages, a non-transient agricultural economy and later, a written language.

Very late in my own life, I explored my genetic roots via Ancestry.Com and their DNA testing.  In a home filled with art depicting Native and Cherokee images and a fair amount of "Indian" jewelry and crafts, I was astounded at the DNA report.  No Native blood at all.  Lots of English ancestors and blood, but no trace of American Indian heritage.  My family story and our discussions were much like Senator Warren's family story.  Frustrating for me too that no one on my maternal side were still with us to better understand this disconnect from scientific evidence.  I gather than Senator Warren has the same verification dilemma.

I've not decided if she is my candidate, but she seems like a trustworthy leader and I am hoping people will cut her some slack on this issue.  She's never claimed tribal participation and has apologized to Cherokee Nation leadership.  Let's judge her on her overall character, accomplishments and brilliant policy recommendations to make our lives better.

Its Time For Capitalism Compatible With Democracy

America's grand experiment is failing under our current version of capitalism and subsequent economic system.  Major reforms must be initiated and our industrial/commerce leaders cannot and will not undertake these reforms.  They must come from our citizenry through government action.

Several major elements of the current failed marriage must be dramatically reformed.  l. Capital's influence on government. 2. Capital's regulation.  3. Capital's focus on their long term social sustainability.  Let's begin to examine possible reforms.  But first, what needs fixing?

Capitalism needs a social conscience.  Current business school training neglects giving its graduates an understanding that capitalism can enjoy long term life with products and services that not only do no harm to our environment and citizens, but actually uplift both without or with minimum damage and the responsibility to provide solutions to damage they create.  Additionally, students need a better understanding of the benefit to a commercial enterprise if consumers they serve are economically enhanced.  A consumer given increasing buying power through better wages and benefits and products that improve their lives are proven to provide a longer product and shelf life to the goods they consume. 

Currently the focus of the business schools seems to be empowering and rewarding investors, especially with short term gains and company performance quarter by quarter.  That focus needs to shift toward long term growth and long term customer relationships.  Certainly investors need to be rewarded in order to be attracted.  But that has proven to be best achieved through happy and loyal repeat customers and happy and loyal employees serving them.  These two sectors are currently ignored or at least neglected in the interest of short term rewards for investors and owners.

A major part of the long or at least longer term success of a company is its relationship to the geographic area it resides in and usually serves.  That proven enhancement is largely lost in today's marketplace.  The idea of good corporate citizenship is diminishing, except perhaps in the area of corporate philanthropy in support of the arts and  charities where they are rewarded with federal and sometimes state tax breaks for their generosity.  Altruism needs to be restored conjoining tax incentives.

First, we must address corporate influence on government and legislation, particularly regarding campaign finance.  The dogma of money being speech must be reversed.  It has overpowered citizen power and influence on government and legislation.  The right to lobby must be constitutionally maintained, but the money part must be completely removed.  This includes corporate advertising of their position on government and legislative issues; this must be removed.  If not removed, then there must be some mechanism built into campaign/advertising regulation to equally empower consumers and citizens to message their positions on an equal basis. Thus, Federal Communications  as well as Federal Election Commission statutory law must be totally reworked to bring equitable balance to the power of consumers and citizens with that of corporations regarding their influence on regulators and legislators and access to media to tell their story.

Second, capital regulation must be restored.  This included SEC regulation which must protect investors and consumers from fraud and abuse.  Insider trading and management manipulation of stock and bond pricing, buying and selling must be tightly regulated with harsh punishment for infractions proven.  Further, offshoring of manufacturing and assembly must be rebalanced to reward businesses which create domestic American employment and restrict offshoring to supply of products and services in the foreign countries they are marketed in.  Tax law must be completely reworked in order to redistribute wealth on a more equitable basis, eliminating wealth hoarding and providing for upgrading of our physical infrastructure to a level appropriate and necessary for quality of life and commerce in the 21st century.  Question- is being a billionaire necessary? Millionaires seem quite comfortable.

Regulation of businesses which create monopolies documented to harm competition through unfair practices and drive prices up must be totally overhauled.  Trust busting must be restored in industries proven to abuse consumers and impose on them unfair pricing.  Justice Department prosecution of corporate crime must be restored and expanded.  Economies of scale with increased corporate size and market share increase sometimes advantage the consumer, but there are many industries where the consumer pays excessive prices to create excessive profits; example, the cable/satellite TV industry.

Thirdly, long term social sustainability can be enhanced through empowering employees with greater ability to collectively bargain for improved wages, working conditions and benefits.  Corporate anti-organizing initiatives are poorly regulated and must be closely scrutinized by regulators with criminal punishment where infractions are documented.  

Corporate boards must be reworked via regulation to include workers, local community representation and gender/ethnic representation reflective of American demography.  Likewise, via regulation, managements of corporations of size must reflect that demography.

Entrepreneural innovation has been a hallmark of our economy and must be encouraged with fair regulation and incentives to produce capital to finance new endeavors. Let's be sure that it remains the centerpiece of our American economic system.

I Remove The Silent From My Life

This is a time in my 82 year life that I regret, but your silence moves me to act, since you aren't.  Who are you?  Those in my life and sphere of contact who observe the fascism being introduced into our democracy and say and do nothing.  You watch silently, maybe with regret for the vote you cast in 2016 but are unwilling to renounce this putrid stench coming from the White House and Congress.

I don't care if you consider yourself liberal or conservative, if you are silent and do not publicly condemn the hate, sexism and racism being spewed daily from Trump supporters and enablers, you are now rejected.  I want no contact with you until you renounce this destruction of our fragile grip on democracy.

My life is now too short to share my existence with those complicit with the Trump fascist regime. I have enough old age pain already to add to my daily struggle to grasp some of the youthful energy I so enjoyed in my life.  I no longer can tolerate your silent complicity with fascism.  Calling this horrific regime fascist is no longer a fringe assessment.  Scholars, social and political scientists have now publicly expressed their conclusion that this is what we are experiencing in such numbers, irrespective of their ideology, that the conclusion is inescapable.   Many in the media are reluctant to use this term at the moment for fear of being called "fringe", but many are now going public with this assessment.

I've read enough history of fascism, some of it on our own continent and now much of it right here on Main Street to know this is not the kind of life I want to live nor the kind of life my grand and great grandchildren might have to live if you and I , now, right now, don't publicly and loudly condemn this outrage.

You can rationalize all you want that there is nothing you can do to change this situation, or by simply ignoring what is going on around you and sealing yourself in your own protective cocoon, but until you voice the outrage happening to others, I reject you.

What happens to others matters.  It matters in your life in ways you apparently do not understand.  If you choose to be oblivious to children ripped from the arms of their parents, Muslims denied the opportunity to become Americans, desperate migrants met at the border with armed military, gay and trans people denied their rights, women treated with predatory and rights- denying policies, you have renounced your own humanity.  Now, with innocents slaughtered in their house of prayer and peace and public officials assaulted with bombs, you simply cannot any longer remain silent as observers to horror visited on others.

It seems that since fascism seems not yet to directly impact your life, you are in denial of its presence. This is typical of the conservative mindset.  Until it directly impacts you or someone close to you, you deny it exists.  But I assure you, as the people of Germany and Italy ultimately discovered, silence only empowered fascism and it ultimately not only impacted, it ruined millions of lives.

No, this is not a routine disagreement between conservatives and liberals that has been going on for 242 years.   This is not normal. This is a radical  transformation and dissolution of our democratic republic with a very recognizable similarity to authoritarian fascist takeovers that you have read about in Spain, then Italy and German and more recently in Argentina and Chile.  If you are not informed about this history, shame on you.  Your ignorance is not excuse.

And I am not asking you to change your life in order to speak out in some way; write about it, speak about it, attend a vigil, go to a counter rally, vote for Democrats to intervene in this dynamic.  But continue to live your life as you see fit.  These acts or more resistance will not materially impact how you chose to live.  But in resisting in some way, even a small way, you will potentially preserve the way of life you cherish.   And you show you give a rats ass about what happens to other fellow Americans, even those you might choose not to interact with.

I hope to hear from those of you formerly in my life of your regret about silence. If not, goodbye.

9/27/18 A Day Of Supreme Injustice

The Kavanaugh Senate hearing is inscribed in stone as is the name of our Supreme Court.  A day of exceptional injustice.  Let us count the ways:
l.  It is confirmed that in spite of decades of work by millions in America, women are still treated and regarded as second class citizens in this patriarchal society.   Christine Blasey Ford was treated as unapproachable by old, white, Republican men with their deferring to a skilled, temperate female prosecutor hired to ask her questions because they were simply unable to empathetically treat her as an equal.  They knew their misogyny would be on full public display.  If you are unaware, Ms. Ford was an accuser of Brett Kavanaugh for an act of sexual violence against her.    The majority party controlling the committee and hearing were fearful complete due process in the form of routine fact gathering by the FBI might disadvantage the male Supreme Court nominee over his woman accuser.

Ms. Ford's testimony was lauded for her quiet, measured and humble recounting of the details of the sexual attack.  She in fact did it convincingly and with grace and composure.  Kavanaugh's testimony was lauded by his supporters as powerful, confrontational, full of rage and tears of either rage or self pity.  They wanted a strong, alpha male performance from him and got it, with abundant denial of any possibility that he engaged in sexual assault, excessive drinking or behavior out of character with his upper class, elite and superstar youth defined by hard academic work, athletics, service and church.
Ms. Ford would have been castigated had she exhibited anger and rage about the assault on her person.  Patriarchy required that Ms. Ford present herself in a ladylike fashion.  She did so as a deeply wounded person. 

Had the performance styles reversed with Ms. Ford  testifying with anger, confrontation, rage and tears, she would have be judged poorly in the one on one  contest set up by the Republicans.   Had Kavanaugh been quiet, measured and totally under control emotionally, he would have been judged as wimpish and judged poorly.  Ironically, had he comported himself as you might wish a judge, with those characteristics, he would be less likely to be confirmed for the appointment.   Stereotypes of male and female behavior prevailed both among the testifiers and the male Republicans seated on the committee.  The arc of justice for males and females in America has barely moved in my many decades of life.  Real men are expected to be aggressive.  Real women are expected to be passive and submissive.

2.  Accusation and denial of sexual assault were treated as equal by the committee.  This was not a court proceeding where there is a presumption of innocence for an accused.  Women accusers with credible stories about their abuse must be believed in non-judicial proceedings.   The woman accuser was treated with no deference compared to the accused though the risk and impact on her life and that of her family has been and will be much more extreme than the on the life and family of the very privileged accused, Kavanaugh. The accuser was not given fair play with the denial of testimony from corroborating witnesses to the assault event.  Ms. Ford will not benefit financially or socially by coming forward with her story.  She will be vilified in some circles as was the case with Anita Hill, an accuser decades ago.  Ms.  Anita Hill suffered greatly for years following, while the accused has enjoyed decades on the highest Court of our land with much social advantage.  A similar future is not expected for the very courageous and temperate Ms. Ford.

The very worst possible outcome for Kavanaugh will be remaining on the Circuit court for a life time appointment and life among Washington D.C.'s elite. It is likely he will be elevated to the Supreme Court, whose decisions therefore will be tainted by his lying background and myth making about his extraordinary intellectual skills.

3. The Republican majority on the committee failed to provide the routine background investigation on  the event, its players and witnesses.  Why the rush?  There is no timetable for such a nomination. They failed to provide all necessary background documents as is routine for such proceedings in congressional committees.  Why?   The only plausible explanation is that they did not want all the background facts to be known on the fitness of Kavanaugh for this lifetime appointment.  Though Kavanaugh's testimony was an eruption of raw, raging anger and self-pitying tears, he was subjected to far lesser scrutiny on both his public record and his character as is routine in such nominations, immensely important factors for any reasonable body to deliberate on his fitness for this appointment.The only plausible explanation is that the majority did not want full scrutiny to jeopardize this highly ideological, right wing elitist.

In sum, this process and outcome was damaging to a very frayed democracy and presents a dismal future for justice in our badly damaged system of checks and balances.

Allow me to ask those who saw both Ford and Kavanaugh's testimony.  Who exhibited the judicial temperament we hope for in nominees for the highest court in our land?  The answer is obvious.

Delaware's Elections Task Force's Failure of Imagination

On September 11, 2018 a task force empowered by legislation passed a couple of years ago to replace decertified voting machines, unveiled its choice.  The process was absent any meaningful voter/citizen participation and input about its new machine it hopes will record and count our votes correctly.  It is called the Express Vote xl from the infamous voting systems manufacturer, ES&S.   Any consideration of un-hackable paper ballot voting systems, such as voting at home or polling place based paper ballots and scanners were completely ignored.  The techies at the Commission got their toy; Delaware voters got potentially screwed.  And a former Vice Chair of the Deldems was their lobbyist, selling us out in terms of voting cyber-tampering security. Below is a presentation I made at the announcement meeting.  It at least evoked about an hour of very robust discussion, but concluded with a unanimous vote to recommend this vulnerable, brand new (certified in July 2018 by the EAC) system cyber security experts across the country have researched and deemed unreliable.  It now goes to the legislature for funding.

Task Force, your process completely failed to engage Delaware voters.  It was secretive, minimally publicized and without voter input.  

First, the process undertaken several years ago to replace our voting system was flawed from its inception.  It was non-transparent, late, devoid of citizen participation and education on potential voting method options before you jumped to machine purchases.

You failed take advantage of an historic opportunity provided by our need to replace an unrecountable 22 year old voting technology.  Our legislature’s task force creation bill chose machines over methods.

You bypassed  an opportunity to inform your electorate on voting options used successfully elsewhere and engage our voters in a public discussion about those options, cybersecurity and their preferences, such as paper ballots at home or at polling sites.

Instead, the task force bill treated this historic event as just another routine purchase of machines, failing to imagine a different future. Again, machines over methods.

Second, we voters were poorly represented in the task force meetings with sporadic and spotty participation of our elected officials.  This was their fault and they share the shame. Hardly any voters were involved.  The minutes revealed no robust discussion over potential future voting methods to be explored.

As the process ensued, our elected officials were denied a voice in the selection process on an absurd premise that they would have a conflict of interest with scoring and choice.  This was an abrogation of their responsibility.   You legislators and commission members provided no public forums to engage voters in discussion of election technology options. Worst of all,  we were denied expert outside opinion on cyber security research and voting system vulnerabilities.

Third. Missing also was any public discussion about the decade long history of technical malfunctions leading to protests and lawsuits all over the country.  You were in denial about to the emerging public crisis about Russian intrusion into the country’s voting systems.    It was as if that issue just bypassed Delaware while raging all over the country. You dismissed the return to paper ballot voting in many jurisdictions, a foolproof defense against tampering and cyber intrusion. Your indifference to this solution led to no paper ballot system vendor bids.  Task force, you own this malfeasance.

You have chosen to approve untested new voting technology.  You have subjected Delaware voters to needless risk that our votes will be  not properly counted and recorded.  The solution, at least temporarily, was right in front of you, paper ballots in some form, either filled out at home or at polling sites.  You denied us this solution for 2018.

You ignored the expert advice from a dozen or more university research organizations and a hundred or so cyber security scholars, who LOVE technology and are not owned by the vendors who have a record of lying, misrepresentation and non-transparency.  That advice is to provide voters with unhackable, countable paper ballots  until cyber secure, proven and risk limiting auditing techniques are available with confidence.

You own the shame of malfeasance and arrogance. Worst of all, you failed to engage your imagination.  You chose machines over methods.