Donald Trump is Our President-Elect – Now Stop Whining!

Donald Trump will be our President! We need to learn to accept this because he has been elected democratically by a system that is defined in the Constitution. 

Back in July, Michael Moore published an article warning that Donald Trump would be our next President. Many of us take Mr. Moore only half seriously. He doesn't fit our image of what an "expert" might be, could be, or should be.

I had been making a similar argument for some time and my friends didn't seem to accept the argument. I really didn’t like their position any better. 

It has been much too easy to express our outrage with Donald Trump and think that he is such a nutcase, such a buffoon, such a fool that there could be no way that the American people would vote for him. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have had over the years with educated, smart people who were privileged to have access to many great books filled with intelligent ideas and written by authors who, like them, had very little experience with working class middle Americans who are sandwiched between our glorious coastlines.

Not being charismatic, I have gotten used to not being listened to, and I don’t talk to enough people anyway to make a difference. Michael Moore, on the other hand, has a much larger sphere of influence and guess what – most did not hear his warning either. The fact is that, even if people would have heard the warning, they would not understand it. Bernie Sanders might also be mentioned here.

Chris Offutt's essay in the November edition of Harper's Magazine offers a helpful insight into some of how many American's might think. While Offutt's opinion does exhibit his bias against Donald Trump, it is essential that we learn how others might see the the very same world and understand elements of our culture that we might not consider in the same manner.

Elections have become incredibly ugly in this country, and we are quite sick of listening to all the crap. We want to sink our heads into the nearest hole to avoid it. Donald Trump, very wisely, just kept pressing the hot buttons of Democrats and they, in turn, responded with their high and mighty, righteous, intelligent disdain. Common conservative folk reacted to this and rebelled – they mustered the energy to show up at the polls hoping to bring about change – any change. They might even be willing to see what Trump can come up with after the dust (dirt) raised in the campaign has a chance to settle. Is Donald Trump as crazy as he seems, or might there be some light beneath the bluster he used to successfully win this election? 

Hillary Clinton could not help but to be seen, in contrast to Donald Trump, as a representative of the status quo. I do not think that it is the fact that she is a woman that has stopped her ascent to the Presidency. Of course, I realize that I may be wrong on this (but hope not). This is too easily be an excuse to avoid being more introspective about our understanding of the society that we live in. Democrats are now going to have to find a way to conceptualize their faults, quit thinking that their occupation of “higher ground” entitles them to have things their way – especially since nobody really understands the complete picture and how the elements fit into some useful perspective. They need to focus their attention and energy on a positive and all inclusive approach (not just political targets such as Hispanics, African Americans, and the "poor". 

Perhaps the real solution to this problem is that we need campaign finance reform. The economic boom that is experienced by the media in terms of advertising revenue, and all the money floating around campaigns and politicians has corrupted the election process immensely. It needs to stop! There needs to be a very low, and very hard ceiling on campaign spending. Candidates need to be forced to be economical in communicating their platforms so that they cannot afford wasteful, meaningless babble (too often just bullshit or lies anyway). The media needs to take more seriously their responsibility to report on who the candidates are, what they represent, and report that information both deeply and honestly (oh sure, and how is that going to happen?). 

The American people need to realize that their inflated egos, laziness, mean spiritedness, and general stupidity will not fix itself. We need to stop thinking that it is someone else that is wrong. We need to open up our minds and participate in a dialogue that does not involve an attitude of narrowly defined right and wrong. We need to learn to respect those who think differently in order to earn their respect. We have to learn to compromise with one another before we can expect our political representatives and leadership to do so. We need to lead from the ground up – our representatives need to be made to realize that their privilege to lead depends on their constituents (not the other way around) – thus, they might lead their peers in the legislature (that's what leadership is all about).

Road Rage

How many of us have been guilty of some degree of aggressive driving? Certainly we all share the pressure of trying to live our lives as well as we can. This involves meeting goals, making deals, fulfilling promises, responsibilities, and obligations – often for things having to do with social relationships and not because of our own desires. Ugh!

We have driven faster than might be completely safe because we had a late start and needed to be somewhere by a given time. We have driven when we were tired, stressed, or distracted by a plethora of possibilities. We have driven because there was nobody else to do it.

All of these circumstances involve calculated risk. Probably more have been bad bets than we realize and luck has been a bigger factor than we think. Once we get beyond these challenges, we do not spend any time in retrospective analysis. We forget about them.

These are the factors that contribute to road rage.

Statistics are getting worse and we need to increase our awareness:

• Two-thirds of all traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving
• More than a third of aggressive driving incidents involve a fireare
• Teenage boys (under 19) are most likely involved
• Half of drivers on the receiving end of aggressive driving incidents admit to  aggressive responses
• Every year over 30 murders and nearly 2,000 injuries are caused by road rage

(Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

More: CBS News: Sunday Morning: "Trying to put the brakes on road rage" (May 29, 2016)

Just who do we think we are?

In the news today are stories dealing with slavery and health. Millions of people worldwide are affected while here in the United States we go about our business as if none of this happens. Our daily conversation is about tv shows, beach reading, and Caitlyn Jenner. We’re concerned about our children’s self-esteem, an odd array of issues that might have some negative impact upon the highly controlled comfort of our daily existence.

Today, however, it is big news that a new treatment for malaria will finally be available. This new vaccine has been in development for 30 years and will have a relatively small effect on the containment of the disease.  But, we lose a half a million lives to malaria each year. Those are lives just as important as our own,  just as valuable as our own,  just as significant as our own – but not as privileged as our own. Most of those lives are lost in Africa, most are not important consumers of the goods and services that enrich the better educated, wealthier, and luckier societies on this planet.

At the same time, we continue to struggle with other quite dramatic issues of inequality. Human trafficking is another topic that is reported on daily. It’s a $9 billion a year industry with about 27 million living in slavery around the world today. It’s a hundred and fifty years since slavery was legally outlawed in this country, but we haven’t figured out how to totally resolve issues of racial prejudice.

Our so-called advanced civilization is capable of all sorts of creative and imaginative endeavors. We have space travel, ubiquitous digital technology, fine arts, literacy and health standards (sort of) and many other measures to make ourselves feel good about ourselves. We have God on our side to justify our opinions and outlook. But, we cannot find a way to live in a way that respects our fellow human beings.

Our luck in having been born in the right place, in the right family, with the right opportunities, and the right privilege does not give us the right to ignore and disdain those who find themselves trapped by geography and political history.

Winter at the Navy Recruit Training Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois - 1966

My departure to Great Lakes Recruit Training Camp from Buffalo on February 3^rd, 1966, marks the first, last, and only time that I volunteered for anything in the Navy. There were 30-40 of us at the induction center and, just as we were about to leave for the train station, they said that they had a handful of airplane tickets and would any of us like to fly. My hand was raised in a millisecond. Upon arrival at Chicago's O’Hare airport we learned that we would have to wait for transportation to Great Lakes. We were directed to an out of the way corner – on a lower level as I recall and told to sit on the floor while we waited. Many long hours later we were transferred. I think that we arrived at Great Lakes at about the same time as the guys who took the train.

On the day that I departed for Great Lakes, Illinois, there was 43 inches of snow on the ground in Buffalo from storms in the preceding days. At Watertown, N.Y. (on eastern end of Lake Ontario) there was over 100 inches of snow with food and water being brought in by National Guard helicopters. So, you might understand why I might have wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was not unusual for trains to be stranded or to be without heat, etcetera.

As I recall, the temperature in Buffalo that day was near zero while at Great Lakes it was 30 below.  My first “rude awakening” in the Navy came when they took away my extra heavy wool socks and substituted their ultra-thin nylon socks that neither wicked away moisture nor provided any insulation. Then they introduced us to the concept of standing “at ease” outside in ridiculously cold temperatures while waiting to get into the mess hall – waits that were commonly 40 to 50 minutes.

When, finally, we were able to eat, or fuel up – to consume the necessary calories to provide needed energy (body heat!) –  there was barely time to warm up before we had to rush off to the next scheduled torture. Immediately after lunch, we were always scheduled to be in an overheated classroom where the indoor heat was around 80 degrees. After freezing outdoors and then loaded with carbohydrates, a peaceful nap would have been the appropriate activity. Instead, we would find ourselves taking a test – the outcome of which might cause us to be “set back” for a couple more weeks of boot camp punishment.

They would project two questions at a time on a slide screen, with the slide projector 

allowing about 6 seconds to read the questions and fill in the multiple choice answer sheets. I can’t tell you how many times I would snap out of a doze to find myself 2-3 screens behind and needing to guess at a half dozen questions. This was really scary because I hated boot camp more than just about any experience that I had had in life – certainly to that point at least. I had no idea how I could possibly survive if I had to spend another minute at that place. Yet, it was impossible not to fall asleep during these important tests – and not just one time. You might think that the realization that one would have after snapping out of such a dozing experience would be enough to prevent it happening again. Well surprise, surprise! It might happen two or three times during a single exam. Had we been fighting a war in trenches dug in the floor of old, stuffy, overheated buildings in northern Illinois during the coldest of winters, there is nothing that would have prevented me from being killed many times over.

Vietnam era Navy boot camp was meant to be preparation for the challenges of the war in Vietnam and the Cold War. It had been modeled on World War II practices with very little understanding of the value these practices might have 20 years later. The idea was to break a recruit down, and then rebuild the "man" with strict military discipline and esprit de corps. 

Prior to increasing our military forces during this time, the Navy’s boot camp had taken 3 to 4 weeks less time. The program was stretched to greater length without any significant understanding of how that time might be filled. Another problem with this concept was that the implementation of the plan was left in the hands of small-minded, power hungry, people who had been extracted from tasks they were incompetent at and given another where they would further demonstrate their inadequacy. The discipline of psychologically breaking a person, and then reconstructing that person into a stronger individual with the capacity to perform with military precision is not a simple task to leave in the hands of idiots.

I came out of boot camp in far worse physical shape than I had entered. I had been an athlete and could do all the push-ups, sit-ups, etc. that were required. I was a good swimmer and athletic enough for whatever they threw at us. Well, not really – that silly goose-step marching that they wanted us to do in order to look a certain way was just not natural. After 11 ½ weeks, I had such horrible shin-splints that I could barely walk. I think that my legs hurt for nearly the whole time that I was job training in Pensacola. 

The summer in Pensacola seemed like R & R after winter in Great Lakes.

Memorial Day

It seems that every year I get all worked up about Memorial Day. The news media, as well

as online social media, always seem to be filled with confusion about what Memorial Day is all about. It is not just that there are so many veterans groups that are screaming for attention, but that there is a reason that we have two holidays – Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Memorial Day is a national holiday that began as a day of remembrance for soldiers killed from both sides in the American Civil War. It was originally called Decoration Day and folks went to cemeteries and placed flowers and small flags on the graves of family, friends, and community members that had been killed during wartime. Memorial Day is held on the last Monday in the month of May.

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day to commemorate the cessation of hostilities between the forces of the Allied nations against Germany during what was known as the Great War (later World War I). The fighting came to an end at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. A year later, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11, 1918 as Armistice Day. In 1938 it officially became a national holiday.

The initial intent of Armistice Day was to remember the devastation of war and the losses of life. It was meant to be a celebration of peace. In 1954, following the conflict in Korea, and after the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history during World War II, Congress changed the name to Veterans Day and it became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

It is understandable that some confusion might arise from the way that these holidays have had their names and definitions evolve. However, historically, each has a clear role in calling attention to specific themes. Memorial Day is meant to honor those who have fallen while in the service of our country. Veterans Day, although inclusive of the dead, is meant to honor those that serve, or have served, with the goal of world peace.

Memorial Day has always had special meaning for me because I am named for a family

member who was killed during World War II a year before my birth. Being named for an uncle that I would never meet or know, who died as a soldier. This has always been something that I have recognized as an honor of the highest order. Although buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Italy, a tombstone stands in the cemetery near the family home where I grew up. Throughout my youth, it was a solemn annual event to visit the grave of this man to place a pot of geraniums and a flag. A visit to the cemetery 40 miles south of Rome remains on my personal “bucket list”.

So, if you please, rather than boisterous raving for our service men and veterans on this Memorial Day, silently reflect on the sacrifices made by so many service men who did not survive, or returned only to suffer from wounds received fighting to restore peace in a world messed up by political failure, the abuse of power, and economic inequity. "Celebrating" this holiday is a misnomer that feeds the notion that we are doing something right, or righteous. Memorial Day is a day of mourning and reflects a sadness is an absolute necessity for us to find a better way to live together peacefully.



  

Bah Humbug!

Bah, humbug!

There is no better way to begin my annual letter than to exclaim, as Ebenezer Scrooge might have expressed his dissatisfaction with this holiday. Christmas is the true American celebration of commercial capitalism and, thus more American than the Fourth of July. Very few of us seem to enjoy the pressure, or the expense, of this holiday – but we can’t let it go. Racing around with lists in hand, attempting to spend equal amounts relative to certain stratum classifications for the beneficiaries. Auntie said some really nice things about us back in May, while a daughter-in-law may have fallen short of goals that we secretly set for her.

Have you been naughty or nice? We all begin the year with resolutions that put us on track for all kinds of improvements and personal betterment. How many of us can remember our resolutions for this year? Oh, god! I think that I may have resolved to lose a few pounds, smile more, and work harder and here we are. Most of my clothes still fit – some may have tightened and stretched though – and I’m feeling cranky and lazy.

There is an old joke that has been going around the internet for years (and most certainly has existed for decades earlier). It poses the question: what if there had been three wise women rather than three wise men? The assumption is that the term “wise man” is a contradiction. The women would have asked directions, and thus arrived on time. They would have helped to deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made casseroles, and brought with them practical gifts.

This scenario doesn’t work for most, however. Life would be so simple if only there were just the one child to purchase gifts for. When my brother, the carpenter, became a father, my sister could not see the value of bringing carpenter tools for the son who might follow in his dad’s footprints. Oh no, she felt that the lad should do better. Instead of a hammer, she would bring the boy water colors. Instead of a ruler, she would bring the prodigy a calculator. Instead of encouraging her nephew to develop the skills of his father, she would plant the seeds for dreams.

Today, the boy has grown to be a man. His father, the carpenter, has retired with a modest pension. He led a simple life and, for the most part, has kept his sense of humor. The aunt, or the carpenter’s sister, seems to complain a lot – things are just never quite right for her. The son cannot drive a nail straight to save his life. Because of his father’s example at the work ethic, he worked hard and finished college earning a degree in philosophy – scored high in his class too. He is now unemployed with just the occasional job substitute teaching at the local grammar school.

Oh, yes – I was talking about Christmas shopping wasn’t I? The experience of a large family provides ample opportunity to observe seemingly infinite variations on the themes of life. Our level of education has given us all better lives. Carpentry is a nice stable skill and philosophers dream with a logical discipline that can only lead to a better understanding. Reality, however, does not change – neither the philosopher nor the carpenter has any idea what to get the other for Christmas.

Bah, humbug!

Frank Andrew Munsey: Father of the Pulp Magazines

Frank A. Munsey was an exceptional man and deserves his place in the history of American publishing. He was ambitious, energetic, creative, intelligent, self-sacrificing, egocentric, and

Frank A. Munsey

driven. He is well known for being the first to use pulpwood paper to control cost for the publication of Argosy magazine.  His legacy, however, is hardly limited to this single act.

Horatio Alger, Jr. , whose Ragged Dick stories starting in 1868 were well-known at the time that Munsey was growing up, wrote stories of boys and their “rags to riches” lives. These boys succeeded because of their perseverance, total honesty, and hard work. Munsey modeled his life on the influence of Alger’s writings. He would grow from humble origins to a highly successful life as entrepreneur and publisher.

Munsey was born to a farming family in remote Mercer, Maine in 1854. He had failed at running a General Store before becoming a telegraph operator and working his way to manager of the Western Union office in the state capital of Augusta, Maine. In Augusta, he was exposed to state legislators, businessmen, and their achievements. The publishing industry was active there, and Munsey was exposed to the influence, power, and wealth that might be realized.

Golden Argosy

In 1882, with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and a Horatio Alger, Jr. story in his dossier, Munsey moved to New York City. Less than 3 months later, he published the first edition of Golden Argosy. Of course, like most dreamers, Munsey’s path to success was hindered by reality. True to the teachings of Alger, Munsey’s frugality, hard work, intelligence, and perseverance (and perhaps even a little luck) allowed him to continue.

Golden Argosy had been aimed at boys and, although somewhat successful, would not sustain itself.  Boys don’t have money to spend on advertiser’s products and they grow up, thus the market for the magazine was naturally hindered. Munsey realized this difficulty and applied himself to overcome the challenge. In 1889 he began to publish a second periodical, Munsey’s Weekly, for adult readers.

Munsey's Weekly

Munsey’s Weekly soon had a circulation of 40,000 copies each week. Munsey, who was now enjoying some reward for his effort was not satisfied. He continued to aggressively work toward greater circulation and continued growth. He realized that to succeed his publications needed to have more than what he considered good ideas. Rather, he needed readers who purchase magazines and the products of the advertisers.

Munsey's Magazine

Golden Argosy was struggling and Munsey’s Weekly, although doing well, was not growing as it should. Munsey felt the growth in the newspaper business, specifically the Sunday editions, would ultimately be the demise of the weekly periodical business. He responded by changing Munsey’s Weekly to the monthly Munsey’s Magazine in the fall of 1891. He priced the magazine competitively at 25 cents and educated himself regarding the differences between the monthly and weekly periodicals. But, he was still not satisfied.

Munsey, Sept. 1899

He admired the Sunday newspapers because they appealed to the full breadth of the market. There was something that appealed to the young and the old, to both men and women, and from the bottom to the top of the economic strata. He wanted to change the character of the magazine. So, Munsey formulated a plan to make his magazine “light, bright, timely – a magazine of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout.” The price would be dropped to ten cents in the hope of meeting the means of just about everyone who could read. The hitch in the works was distribution. The American News Company was an obstacle. It was the way that periodicals reached the dealers in this country, and they were not interested in Munsey’s idea of decreasing the price in order to increase circulation. Munsey tried to go around them and solicited directly to the dealers, but he received no response – at least not directly. The dealers, however, submitted their orders directly to American News. In the end, American News decided to make the deal with Munsey and Munsey’s Magazine sold 40,000 copies the first month, 60,000 the second month, then 100,000, and progressively increased its circulation to 700,000.

Argosy, Dec 1896

Munsey maintained that the success of Munsey’s Magazine enabled the success of his entire business. Six months later, Golden Argosy became The Argosy. In its eleven and a half years, its life had been quite precarious. Circulation had dropped from 150,000 weekly down to 9,000 while most of Munsey’s energy had been going into the Munsey’s Magazine experiment. It was now time to address his original dream.

Argosy, April 1922

The new Argosy magazine would be an all-fiction magazine. In 1896, The Argosy began publishing using cheap pulpwood paper with a better quality coated paper cover. Munsey was able to keep the price down and produce a magazine that contained 192 pages of content. Circulation began to climb steadily, and by 1903 had reached a half-million.

Munsey’s success increased after this, and by his 25^th anniversary in New York he owned 2 daily newspapers and 6 magazines – The Argosy, Munsey’s Magazine, The Scrap Book, The All-Story Magazine, and The Railroad Man’s Magazine.

Munsey died in 1925, but his publishing empire continued to operate until 1942 when it was taken over by competitor, Popular Publications. His legacy of being the first to publish with cheap pulpwood paper is really just a part of the story. He was a remarkable man who was not only entrepreneur, but also writer, editor, salesman, and promoter. Perhaps most important was his steadfast determination and empirical approach to business. His ideas of the relationship between price and circulation and the relationship to ad revenue may not have been unique to the industry but he proved the theories.