Better is never better for everyone. It always means worse, for some.
–Commander Waterford in “Faithful,” from The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 1, Episode 5, and from the novel by Margaret Atwood. Episode written by Dorothy Fortenberry
There’s much to unpack in that line, and I am not sure whether I believe it. I’m trying to think of something in which better would be better for everyone. We Idealists spend lots of time trying to imagine a world that is better for everyone. I like to think that ending homelessness, hunger, and poverty would be better for everyone. I suppose a case could be made that for those currently in power, it would be worse. They would have less money somehow, but I’m not entirely sure how. They would certainly lose much of the power they have now. It would make it more difficult for them to tell the rest of us what to do all the time. We would no longer be their wage slaves, forced to choose between working for them or facing those conditions. I suppose in the short term it would be worse, but we would inevitably reduce crime by lessening desperation, and people would generally be less angry. The wealthy would be safer.
Equality and Equity may not seem to be better for everyone. Those at the top feel like they would be forfeiting their superiority. I’m not convinced they are superior to the rest of us, but they certainly have the power to force many of us into positions we would rather not occupy. Equality and Equity would reduce that power. Justice usually accompanies these two, but I’m reluctant to decide what justice is in most cases.
Perhaps it’s the lust for power that separates those who have so much of it from those who have so little. I, for example, have little interest in telling anyone else what to do with their lives. I should like for them to pursue what interests them. I would like them to be free to explore the world, the ideas that have helped to get us to the place that we have enough for everyone, their own ideas, and their own identities.
I understand, then, I suppose, why some people are opposed to my Idealistic World. It will mean less for a few and more for many. Since the few have the power, they’re not likely to accept any such arrangement.
The purpose, however, of our Democratic Republic is to give power to the many. It is intended to rescue us from the power of the few. We evicted a King in favor of having a President who would be elected by the majority of us. And there are people now who would like very much to change that.
“Now I’m awake to the world. I was asleep before. That’s how we let it happen. When they slaughtered Congress, we didn’t wake up. When they blamed terrorists and suspended the constitution, we didn’t wake up then, either. Nothing changes instantaneously. In a gradually heating bathtub, you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.”
― Margaret Atwood
This is, of course, fiction… for the moment. One of the horrifying aspects of The Handmaid’s Tale is its close resemblance to the world we already inhabit. Margaret Atwood, and the producers of the show, have shown us a dystopian nightmare that quite nearly began on January 6, 2021. Had that insurrection been successful there’s little room for doubt that those who seized power would have enacted laws similar to those in Gilead. They have already stripped bodily autonomy from half the population. They would like to tell us who can marry whom, now. They have corrupted Christianity, which was never the law of the land in America, to be a weapon of hatred instead of a religion of love. They declare homosexuality an abomination. They are working to keep those who choose to explore other genders than those of their physical bodies as far from society as possible. Rapists are seldom punished. There are always questions about what the woman did to deserve what happened to her. The answer, by the way, is nothing. There’s nothing a person can possibly do that makes them deserve to be raped.
Right now, in America they are banning books. Reading is illegal in Gilead. The offense was originally punishable by the loss of a hand. In their kindness, those in power reduced the penalty to a finger. One can work more efficiently with the loss of a single finger than the loss of an entire hand, after all. And a Commander’s Wife loses her finger for reading The Bible. Fascists frequently turn on their own. Ask Mike Pence.
While we are certainly perilously close to becoming Gilead, it’s vital that we realize we’re not there yet. I’m not, in any way, minimizing the danger we are facing. One of my friends, however, was shocked when I said we’re not there yet. She’s sure we are. Interestingly, she made this comment on Facebook, in response to one I made that she must have… read. She used either her phone or her computer. I assume she still has all her fingers. In America, in September of 2022, she wasn’t breaking a law. Had Offred (or June, which is her real name) made such a comment, the consequences of her words would have been swift and merciless. We’re not Gilead… yet.
A case could be made that I ought to be careful about what I wish for. (Yes, I ended a sentence in a preposition. My late father is hovering over my shoulder telling me to take the corn cob out of my butt.). Gilead, after all, has no homelessness, poverty, or hunger. Neither do prisons. If one is willing to sacrifice freedom, some of the challenges in life can be eliminated. We can simply discard the poor. They can be executed and used for animal feed in Gilead. Jonathan Swift suggested serving them as a delicacy at the tables of the wealthy in the 18th century… except he was kidding, at least as much as someone with an 18th century corn cob up his butt could kid.
Among the reasons people can be convinced that Gilead is a good idea is that it removes our need to find out, for ourselves, who we are. My father told me once that George Bernard Shaw said, “Most men would rather dig a ditch than think a thought.” I assumed he was right. I was accustomed to Dad always being right. For the life of me, though, I can’t find that quote anywhere, and I’ve read my share of Shaw and done my due diligence Google searches. So, if it wasn’t Shaw, maybe it is best attributed to Dad. Whomever said, there’s more than a little truth in it.
Introspection is difficult. It is frightening. When we begin to consider all the sorts of people we could be, it’s not unlike losing ourselves in the stars when we stare too long at the night sky. I’ve actually become uncomfortably dizzy while stargazing. While many of us find this exhilarating, there are plenty of us who prefer to keep our feet firmly planted on terra firma. We cling tightly to the old and familiar. Questions are frightening. If something seems to be working for us, we don’t want to change it.
I used to get fucked behind a dumpster just so I could buy a sixth of Oxy and a Happy Meal. I’m clean now. I’ve got a safe place to sleep every night and I have people who are nice to me.
— Ofglen in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1, Episode 5, “Faithful”
Fascist authoritarian dictatorships have their value, too. I will, however, die before endorsing one. Freedom has to exist before anything of value can be accomplished.
The question now is how to save us from the Gilead we are about to become. The first step needs to be to protect what freedom we still have. As of September, 2022, we can still vote. That fundamental right is under attack all over the country. We need to keep those who threaten that right out of office. I know it’s easy to be cynical and tell me that all politicians are corrupt, and voting is useless. I won’t subscribe to that interpretation of our world. It takes away the only weapon we have in this fight. It’s tempting to endorse violence, but violence means killing, and killing makes us into what we oppose. I won’t advocate that.
We need to open our minds to more than one idea. We need to consider things we haven’t before. That doesn’t mean we have to accept them. I won’t accept Gilead, but I will try to understand how our world might become that way so I can try to keep it from happening. The only tool I have is my words. My body is worthless. My influence is less than insignificant. I realize that. And I will keep trying anyway because to do otherwise is to surrender.
Dad also told me that Albert Camus said, “To believe you can change the world is insanity; failure to try is cowardice,” but I’ve never been able to find that line, either. I think Dad just didn’t want to take credit for his best lines, so he pretended someone else said them realizing that, since Google wasn’t a thing yet, I would probably never know. I don’t believe for a moment I can change the world. I will always continue to try. I’m secretly hoping you can do it.
I joined the Patreon of one of my heroes, David Gerrold, last month. It cost more than I can possibly afford, but I wanted to make an investment in myself and in this show. I may eat more ramen for a while, but I hope to be a better writer. One of our assignments was to describe our Ideal Audience. You’re probably in these words.
My Ideal Audience
My great writer’s dream is that an up-and-coming politician, uncorrupted by the influence of lobbyists, corporations, or PACs, reads my work or listens to my show and decides to pass laws that help that unrepresented majority of us who hope only to make it to our next paycheck. They change the world. Everyone has a place to live. Everyone has all the medical care they require. Education is free for everyone forever. Food is considered a human right and not a luxury for the chosen few. I don’t know this reader or listener’s name, or gender, or age, or sexuality, or ethnic background, and I couldn’t possibly care less. They’re my Ideal Audience.
I find that my actual audience is made up of kind and caring people who respond favorably to my Idealism. They are compassionate. They are empathetic. Some of them have both of those qualities. A few of them have a few extra dollars a month they contribute to my Patreon every month so I can make it to next month. That’s probably more times that I’ve said month than I’ve said in the last… month. Most of them are older people. I’m unaware of any children who listen to my work, and it’s not written for them. I taught Elementary School for 29 years. I’ve done my bit for kids. I’m talking to “gr’ups” now. A few of them are in their 30s. They seem to be a diverse group. I don’t target any particular group.
I have a surprising number of Conservatives supporting my show. I write with them in mind. If I can avoid pissing them off, I might be able to get them to rethink some of their ideas. One of them actually said, on more than one occasion, I’ve given him “something to think about.”
I write for an audience that is at least as intelligent as I am. I assume they’re familiar with Shakespeare, the classics, and current popular culture. If they’re not, Google is readily available.
Finally, my audience is Seymour’s Fat Lady:
“This terribly clear, clear picture of the Fat Lady formed in my mind. I had her sitting on this porch all day, swatting flies, with her radio going full-blast from morning till night. I figured the heat was terrible, and she probably had cancer, and — I don’t know. Anyway, it seemed goddam clear why Seymour wanted me to shine my shoes when I went on the air. It made sense.”
J.D. Salinger in Franny and Zooey
I feel a little like one of the underground broadcasters in Harry Potter when Voldemort has taken over. I’m sending out messages hoping someone will hear them and do what I can’t. I’m Piglet, sending out his message in a bottle in “Piglet is Entirely Surrounded By Water.” I’m Josh Lyman in The West Wing yelling at the President that Bartlett needs to listen to him. Josh was having a nervous breakdown at the time, however, and I try to remain calm. And interestingly, Bradley Whitford played Josh Lyman in The West Wing, and he plays Commander Lambert in The Handmaid’s Tale. Elisabeth Moss played Zoey Bartlett in the former show, and stars in the latter. That makes the show strangely more personal for me. I was friends with both of them two decades ago, in the way that we all become friends with fictional characters. That adds to my catharsis. Connections add to the power of an experience.
I hope my connection with you is sufficient for you to help in what ways you can. The midterms are coming. This is not the time to sit them out. Even if you are a very small animal like me, you can still vote. If you don’t do it now, there is a very real possibility you won’t have the right to again. Gilead is coming for us. Let’s stop them while we still can.
WILLY: Oh, yeah, my father lived many years in Alaska. He was an adventurous man. We’ve got quite a little streak of self reliance in our family. I thought I’d go out with my older brother and try to locate him, and maybe settle in the North with the old man. And I was almost decided to go, when I met a salesman in the Parker House. His name was Dave Singleman. And he was eighty-four years old, and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states. And old Dave, he’d go up to his room, y’understand, put on his green velvet slippers — I’ll never forget — and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you know? When he died — and by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston — when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that. In those days there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it’s all cut and dried, and there’s no chance for bringing friendship to bear — or personality. You see what I mean? They don’t know me any more… If I had forty dollars a week — that’s all I’d need. Forty dollars, Howard. Howard, the year Al Smith was nominated, your father came to me and… I’m talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk! You mustn’t tell me you’ve got people to see — I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit!
Willy Loman and I have much in common. We both spent our lives doing what we thought was the best thing a person could do. For him, it was selling. I was never any good at selling. I don’t think Willy was either, but I know that about myself, and I don’t think he did.
I spent my life teaching Elementary School because I thought it was the best thing a person could do. It was a chance to change the world by influencing future generations. I earned enough money to support myself in a modest fashion, and, at the height of my financial success, I owned a house. Well done, me!
Funny, y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive
— Willy Loman
Funny, you know? After all the classrooms, and the students, and the meetings, and the years, you end up worthless either dead or alive.
Willy at least had life insurance. I had a policy once, I think, more than 30 years ago, but I know nothing about it today. When I die, no one gets anything. My nephew might want the computer he built for me back. I hope someone will wipe it entirely clean before anyone sees its contents. On the other hand, I’ll be dead, so what of it? I have a TV. It might get you $20 at a generous Thrift Store. It won’t cover the cost of getting rid of all my books, and movies, and music that no one else will want since you can get them all now on your phone and they require no physical storage space.
After 29 years of teaching, the government for whom I taught has decided I’m not worth the money it costs to pay rent in the cheapest place in town. Forget utilities, ignore groceries, perish the thought of even owning a car, no money for entertainment of even the cheapest variety, and to hell with the dog.
Willy thought life was about being well-liked. I never did. On the other hand, for reasons passing understanding, I seem to be. I say this because it’s only the fact that people love me that keeps me alive, both financially and psychologically.
I’m alive because my best friend’s boyfriend is renting me his old place for half price, which is the very maximum I can afford and still make it to the end of the month. I’m a liability to him. He could sell this place, pay off all his bills, and have enough money in the bank to live comfortably for quite some time without ever setting foot in a workplace. I’m screwing up his life simply by being alive. He would never say that, because he’s a kind man, but that doesn’t change that objective fact.
And that isn’t enough to sustain me anyway. I have another friend, who I really ought to call a Patron Saint in my Gratitudes if I can get her permission to do so, who sends me grocery money every month. The state of Arizona believes I deserve $20 a month to buy groceries. And then they cut it off, apparently, this month. I didn’t even get that. If not for my friend, I would live off nothing but ramen and pretzels.
The generosity of my landlord and my friend still isn’t enough to sustain me. I couldn’t pay for my phone (one of The People on The Porch tells me I could get a free phone service, but I’m too scared to try.), my cigarettes (yes, I know I shouldn’t smoke. I’m working on that. Life is stressful when one’s existence is a liability. Giving up an addiction of more than 30 years is more difficult than you probably think. It doesn’t go well for Speedy Shine when I go too long.), any of the streaming services that are much cheaper and infinitely better than cable, or the ability to do anything extra. I bought a DVD rack a couple of months ago, and my guilt is still overwhelming. I nearly ran out of food because I did that. It was $50 on Offer Up.
With Patreon and Anchor, I make enough to make it to the end of the month. If I stopped doing my show, I would be psychologically and financially ruined. Every time I lose a supporter, I go into a depression for at least an hour or two. Speedy Shine has to remind me that I’m worth loving. He gives me kisses sometimes, and he knows how to cuddle better than any living being I’ve ever encountered.
There is always a lot of talk about who deserves what. I hate all of it. I spent my life doing what I thought was right, and today I have no sense of independence. I depend on far too many people just to survive. And the minute I say that, you can be absolutely certain that someone is saying, “Well you should have…” or “Well, you shouldn’t have…” Those words always make me angry. And since anger is caused by fear, I must ask what I fear. What do those words make me fear? They make me fear that people will suffer. They will be homeless. They will be hungry. I don’t like that. And why do they suffer? They suffer because of Judgmental Bullshit.
We have convinced ourselves that there is only one right way to live, and it’s ours. Those who don’t conform to our standards deserve to suffer. No. They don’t.
I don’t know why someone made the choices they did at any given moment. Maybe I would have made a different decision. Maybe, in those circumstances, I wouldn’t have. There’s really no way of knowing. As it turns out, I’m not God. Are you? And, if you think you are, could you please send me a little of whatever you’re smoking? It’s obviously better than what I can get at the Dispensary.
My best friend of 13 years, who I know better than nearly anyone on the planet, frequently makes decisions that mystify me. She dates men who don’t make her happy. I know this because I’ve spent 13 years hearing about them. She knows they make her unhappy, but she continues dating them for years after she knows this. Is that the decision I would make? No, I don’t think so. So, shall I decide that she deserves to be unhappy, and should I therefore make no effort to help her? No, I don’t think so. She’s no better off for that. I love her, so, even though she makes decisions I don’t understand, I do all I can to help her. And she’s saved my life more than once.
If I can’t understand her choices when I’ve known her so well and so long, how am I supposed to understand the choices of a stranger? How does it help me to pass judgment on the homeless. “If they didn’t want to be homeless, they should have…” Are you kidding me? How do you know why they made the choices that inevitably wound them up in a place where they have no shelter for the night? And who are you to pass judgment on them?
I made a set of decisions that wound me up being entirely dependent on the kindness of strangers. How do I know which ones were wrong? Did I make a decision that caused me to become diabetic? If I did, what was that decision? How would you suggest that I go back and change it? Q isn’t coming by this afternoon to offer me the opportunity to change a moment in my life. And when he offered it to Captain Picard, it went very badly for Jean Luc. Marc Antony offered me an opportunity in “Horace’s Final Five.” You might want to listen to that to see how well that went. (It’s Episode 50 if you’re new here.)
“Well, you should make more money off of your podcast!”
I would love to do that, but I’m not a marketer, and I don’t want to spend any of the little time I have left in an effort to become Willy Loman. I’m not getting on Discord and Twitch. I don’t understand them, and I don’t have the mental capacity to learn anymore. If someone wants to be in charge of marketing my show, I will be happy to split with them any extra money they make for me. It turns out no one is offering to do that. So, as Kenny Loggins is singing right now, “This is it.” He and Michael McDonald seem much happier about that than I am.
Willy Loman had big dreams. All of them were failures. I avoid big dreams. I can fail perfectly well without them, and I would prefer to save the accompanying disappointment.
I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.
We live in a world controlled by money. It works out well for some, and it’s a curse for others. It’s not the world I want. I work to change it, nearly every week on this show. I don’t get anywhere.
What a proposition, ts, ts. Terrific, terrific. ‘Cause she’s suffered, Ben, the woman has suffered. You understand me? A man can’t go out the way, he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something. You can’t, you can’t — You gotta consider, now. Don’t answer so quick. Remember, it’s a guaranteed twenty-thousand-dollar proposition. Now look, Ben, I want you to go through the ins and outs of this thing with me. I’ve got nobody to talk to, Ben, and the woman has suffered, you hear me?
BEN: What’s the proposition?
WILLY: It’s twenty thousand dollars on the barrelhead. Guaranteed, gilt-edged, you understand?
BEN: You don’t want to make a fool of yourself. They might not honor the policy.
WILLY: How can they dare refuse? Didn’t I work like a coolie to meet every premium on the nose? And now they don’t pay off? Impossible!
BEN: It’s called a cowardly thing, William.
WILLY: Why? Does it take more guts to stand here the rest of my life ringing up a zero?
BEN: That’s a point, William. And twenty thousand — that is something one can feel with the hand, it is there.
WILLY: Oh, Ben, that’s the whole beauty of it! I see it like a diamond, shining in the dark, hard and rough, that I can pick up and touch in my hand. Not like — like an appointment! This would not be another damned-fool appointment, Ben, and it changes all the aspects. Because he thinks I’m nothing, see, and so he spites me. But the funeral… Ben, that funeral will be massive! They’ll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire! All the oldtimers with the strange license plates — that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realized — I am known! Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey — I am known, Ben, and he’ll see it with his eyes once and for all. He’ll see what I am, Ben! He’s in for a shock, that boy!
That’s what comes of deciding that money matters more than people. I understand the choice Willy makes. (If you’ve never read or seen Death of a Salesman, Willy kills himself after this discussion. It’s more than 70 years old, so I’m not going to listen to whining about Spoilers.) It’s a decision I consider every night before I go to sleep. It’s one Speedy Shine convinces me not to make. No one gets $20,000 if I die, but lots of people will be financially better off in many ways. If the world really is all about money, it’s difficult to conclude anything apart from the idea that world would be better off without me. The government even gets to save $1363 a month.
Is it just possible that there is something that matters more than money?
LINDA: Forgive me, dear. I can’t cry. I don’t know what it is, I can’t cry. I don’t understand it. Why did you ever do that? Help me Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can’t cry. Why did you do it? I search and search and I search, and I can’t understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home. We’re free and clear. We’re free. We’re free… We’re free…
All the quotations in this episode are from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
There is an innumerable quantity of reasons to be upset about the world. Freedom is under attack. Democracy nearly ended a year and a half ago. Rents are spiraling out of control. The world is perilously close to nuclear war. If you’re upset, I promise I understand.
Each of us has our own set of problems about which to be upset. I walk the diabetes tightrope every single day. My depression is a threat to my very existence. I will never be loved romantically again. My dog still tries to eat my furniture. You surely have your own, some of which are probably worse than mine.
I won’t pretend there are no reasons to be sad.
On the other hand…
“It’s very important to remember that there are good people in the world who are doing good, in lots of ways. Goodness exists, even when it can’t be seen. So do beauty, and love, and the light of faraway stars. The good will show itself in time.”
— Nanea Hoffman
Somewhere on this little planet in one of the billions, or perhaps, trillions of galaxies that make up our universe, at this very moment… right… now… a baby is being born. It’s taking its first breath. All of the world, in all of its beauty and wonder, is beginning in front of this new life.
A few minutes ago, a child heard Mozart for the very first time, and she experienced a joy that will make her into an Artist. She’s learning about the miracles human beings can create simply with our minds and our hands. Some time in the not-too-distant future she will create something of lasting beauty that will change someone else’s life.
“No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.”
— George Chakiris
An hour ago, a boy just got his first real kiss, and he’s reeling in ecstasy, wondering if his lips will always feel so oddly chapped as they do right now, and whether she will text him today. He’s excited to be alive.
Yesterday, an old man like me just got a dog that will love him unconditionally for the rest of his life. He’s cuddling with him right now. The dog feels a contentment it never experienced before. It’s warm, safe, dry, and loved.
“I still believe
In the Goodness
Even when it’s hard to find”
— Sara Niemietz and WG Snuffy Walden
Last week a painter sold her first canvas, and she feels like a real Artist for the first time in her life. Her dreams seem real, and the flame of her creativity has been ignited. In less than a year, she’ll be having her first show at The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. A hundred years from now people will continue to gaze in awe at her painting.
In August, a new teacher will step in front of his class for the first time. His career will span more than 25 years, and children still unborn will remember him for the rest of their lives. One of his students will grow up and make a difference in ways the teacher never imagined, and it will be because of what the child learned in his class.
“I see your head Is hanging low low low Doing all you can To keep the spark inside your soul Wish you could see You like I do You’re original You’re powerful You’re something new Can’t wait to see Just where you go I do believe You’re gonna let them know”
–Niemietz – Taylor
A couple of weeks ago, humanity gazed deeper into the universe than we ever have before. We’re learning more about the beginnings of life as we know it than we ever could have known before. We’re gaining a deeper understanding of our origins. By gazing into the past, we are creating a better future. Thirty years ago Voyager 1 showed us our place in the universe from 4 billion miles away. Carl Sagan helped us to understand.
Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
Sometimes, for the preservation of our own mental health, we need to think about the possibilities that life still holds. Love still exists, even when it’s hard to find.
I believe in The Power of Love. Love is the only reason I’m still alive.
It is the love of people who know me that has saved my life from the best efforts of my diabetes to kill me on nearly two dozen occasions.
It is Speedy Shine’s love that gives me that gives me the strength to fight the depression that threatens my existence more often than I like to admit.
It is the love of my best friend and her ex-boyfriend that allow me to have a home. I would survive as a homeless person for less than 48 hours.
It is the love of a friend from so many years ago that allows me to eat well enough to survive.
It is the love of The People on The Porch that gives my life purpose so I can feel that I can make a difference even while I’m not capable of doing anything to earn a living. Their financial assistance keeps me from complete poverty, and their attention to my work makes me feel that I’m living instead of merely surviving.
It is the love of my Facebook friends that keeps me from feeling entirely alone, even while I do all I can to avoid leaving the house. They allow me to feel some connection to the rest of the world. They help me to control my fear of other people.
I believe it is love that will finally save us from losing our freedom. I believe love is stronger than hate. I could be wrong. I remind myself of that several times a day. But I will hold on to my belief in the power of love until the stars grow cold.
Love is my religion.
My true religion, my simple faith is in love and compassion. There is no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine, or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are – these are ultimately all we need.
— The Dalai Lama
Of course, I’m an atheist, so how can I have a religion?
A great Rabbi was once asked, “Why did God create atheists?”
The Rabbi said, “Atheists are the most important example for all who believe in God. When an atheist is moral, and good, and kind, and compassionate, it’s not because he believes God commanded him to be so, nor because he fears any kind of punishment for being bad. An atheist performs acts of righteousness because he knows it is right to do. And where is God in this? If He is in the atheist’s heart, or guiding him, it doesn’t matter. The atheist helps regardless. He helps because he believes there is nobody else, no power that can or will act without his own deeds. So when someone is in need, in our times of crisis, you shouldn’t say, ‘I’ll pray for you, ‘ or, ‘May God help you.’ Rather, in this moment, you should be as an atheist. Believe there is no God who can help, and say, ‘I will help you.’ In this way the atheist is closest to God, and so must we be as well.”
Captain Kirk taught me, in April 1967, when I was not yet five years old, that the three most important words are not, “I love you.” The three most important words are, “Let me help.”
Where is the love in your life? I promise there is some, even if you can’t find it at the moment. I know mine isn’t what you probably want, but you have it anyway, even though we’ve probably never met and almost certainly never will. If you’re a human being, I want you to find happiness, meaning, and love in your life. I want you to have enough to eat, a warm bed in which to sleep, and somewhere to handle your bodily functions in a sanitary way.
I’m willing to bet you feel the same way about nearly everyone. On the other hand, I just turned a straight, and the player to my left rivered a full house, so I should probably not be gambling so much right now. Perhaps you are battling the Hatred that is poisoning your soul, and if that’s the case, I hope you win the fight. It’s not helping you to feel any better, I promise you. It’s hurting you. It’s hurting the object of your Hatred. No matter how well deserved that hatred is, take a break from it for just a little while. It will still be there when you’re ready to come back.
Sometimes we need to lose things in order to learn not only their value, but also their weight. Loss is a brilliant teacher that way; it can show us what’s important simply by creating space where it once was.”
— Mark Groves
It was 111 degrees here today. My best friend loaned me the courage to leave the house, and she took me out to lunch. I put my dog, Speedy Shine in the backyard with two trays full of ice cubes, and lots of water, and I filled all his toys with that cheese spread you get from PetSmart. I told him I loved him, and I would be back soon. I was gone for just over two hours, and when I returned, he jumped on me for nearly 5 uninterrupted minutes. It was as though I had been gone for a year. And there was an extra jolt of love from both of us.
And even in the middle of the summer, I couldn’t help but remember this Christmas story from what is, in my view, the greatest series ever to appear on television.
“Every year, when I was little, Daddy told me a story about The Great War. How on Christmas Eve an English soldier started singing “Silent Night,” and from the other side of the trenches, the German soldiers joined in, and then they crossed the enemy lines and vowed not to fight each other the next day. But the sun rose, and their commanders told them to charge, and they did. I don’t know why that story makes me feel hopeful. Maybe it’s that Good Will exists. Even if it’s small and weak, there’s a chance it may grow up one day.”
— Barbara Hall in “I’ll Fly Away” Season 2, Episode 11, “Comfort and Joy.” 12/11/1992
That’s been with me for just shy of 30 years. It will be with me until I am no more. And now it is with you.
Search for the Goodness. Seek the Kindness. I promise you, no matter how dark the skies, there are little lights of love still to be found.
These are the images of the children killed in the Texas shooting massacre.
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
First, it’s the second amendment, not the second commandment. The Constitution was written with the ability to change it as circumstances warrant. How do I know? Because they did it 10 times right off the bat. That’s called The Bill of Rights. It’s been done successfully 17 more times since then.
Second, the first 12 (or 13 if you take out the hyphen in “well regulated”) words make its intention clear, particularly in historical context. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” Everyone needed to be soldiers then because there was practically no national defense. I absolutely promise you the Red Coats won’t be invading your town tomorrow night.
Finally, I think we can all agree that you don’t want your neighbor to keep a nuclear warhead in the back yard. We’re willing to accept some limitations, but we disagree about what those limits should be. We can debate that later. Someone could do an entire podcast around just that one subject. Not a single show, mind you. They could do hundreds of episodes. I can’t solve that in the brief time available to me here.
“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”
Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares – 9 years old. She would have been 10 in June, but she can’t debate that. I still can.
I agree with your statement completely. Guns commit zero homicides, at least not yet. (Let’s see what the automated future brings. I should have asked The Time Traveler.) It is always people who kill people. You know what they use to do that a lot of times? They use guns. Could they use rocks, or sticks, or knives, or chain saws to kill someone? Why, yes. Yes, they could. Strangely enough, I’ve never heard of any of those weapons used in mass killings. I wonder why that is…
“More people are killed by cars than by guns. Do you want to ban cars too?”
Makenna Lee Elrod – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
The primary function of a car is to move people from one place to another. The primary function of certain types of guns is to kill people. Vending machines kill an average of 13 people a year. I don’t want to ban those. I don’t want to ban anything unless its primary function is to kill people. I understand why the military needs them. I wish they didn’t, but that’s not the world in which we live yet. I fail to see a reason a law-abiding citizen needs something primarily intended to kill people. If they do, I would love to be sure they’re not planning to use it for that purpose before we let them have one.
Can people still get guns even if we make it more difficult? Absolutely. That doesn’t absolve us from making an effort to slow them down a little.
“We need a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun.”
Jose Flores Jr. – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
First, the law enforcement that showed up at Robb Elementary School have destroyed that argument. A few excerpts from the timeline published by ABC News will provide evidence. For reference, Steven McCraw is the Director of The Texas Department of Public Safety.
11:30 a.m. — 911 receives a call saying there was a crash and a man with a gun at the school, McCraw said.
11:35 a.m. — Three city police officers enter the school through the same door that Ramos used and are later followed by four other officers, McCraw said, putting a total of seven inside the building. Two officers receive “grazing wounds” from Ramos, McCraw said.
11:37 a.m. — Gunfire continues, with 16 rounds being shot in total, McCraw said. It’s unclear who fired the shots.
12:50 p.m. — Officers open the doors with keys from a school employee, enter the classroom and kill Ramos, McCraw said. Shots can be heard over the 911 call.
It was an hour and 20 minutes from the time of the first 911 call to the time the good guys with a gun took out the bad guy with a gun. There were several more 911 calls from children who were actively being murdered while 19 armed police officers stood in the hall. And there are 21 dead bodies.
Second, the good guy with a gun scenario almost never occurs anywhere. It’s unbelievably rare. Does it happen? Yes. Yes, it does.
In a 2014 report, the FBI examined 160 active shooter incidents that took place between 2000 and 2013.
The report found that in five of those incidents, armed individuals who were not members of law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the shooter, leading to either the shooter being killed, wounded or taking his own life.
By contrast, 21 of the 160 incidents ended after unarmed citizens “safely and successfully restrained the shooter,” the report stated.
“Most of the time, if you’re talking about a civilian stopping a mass shooter, it’s the unarmed guy without the gun because they’re right there,” Donohue said.
Eliana ‘Ellie’ Garcia – about to turn 10 can’t debate that. I still can.
What would you have schools do in the event of a fire? Should hundreds of students try to get through a single door? If there’s only one door, a shooter can stand by it and shoot down the kids one by one as they try to escape from the only exit available. Is our love of guns so deep that we’re going to blame the deaths of children on the number of doors in their schools? Doesn’t that feel just a little pathetic to you? It does to me.
“We need to arm the teachers.”
Irma Garcia – a teacher at Robb Elementary School can’t debate that. I still can.
I taught Elementary School for 29 years, from 1987 to 2016. I dealt with more than 1,000 students in that time. I did everything I could to help them. I loved them. Any teacher will tell you that our students become something like our own children.
In that time, I had several students who, had things gone just a little differently, could have been school shooters. If one of them had come into my classroom, and I was armed, and trained to use a gun correctly, and I had time to reach it, I still don’t know that I could have shot that child. If I could, I feel sure that I would hesitate for some time before doing it. This gives him (it could be a female, but it rarely is) ample opportunity to take out the most important target, the only person capable of offering any significant resistance. That would be me.
Teachers make very little money. They are counselors, and parents, and friends, and social workers, and drug enforcement agents, and guardians for their students. I promise you they don’t do it for the money. They do it because they want to make a difference. I know many teachers. I know very few who have the necessary killer instinct to kill a child without hesitation. It’s simply not in most of them. This is why we have law enforcement officers who are trained to do this.
19 trained law enforcement officers in protective gear took an hour to do anything except keep parents from trying to rescue their own children, but you expect a school teacher to be Rambo?
“It’s a mental health problem.”
Uziyah Garcia – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
First, the mentally ill are substantially more likely to be victims of crimes than we are to be criminals. (Yes, I’m mentally ill. Depression is a mental illness. I don’t, however, present a threat to anyone other than, perhaps, myself.
People with a mental health disorder have a significantly higher risk of becoming victims of violence compared to the general population (1–6). Previous research has focused largely on violent crimes such as physical assault, aggravated acquisitive crimes, violent threats, and sexual offenses in this population. Fewer studies have observed rates of victimization of non-violent crimes such as theft, robberies, or threats in this population for which the elevated risk compared to the general population persists (2). Significant differences between male and female individuals have also been described in the general population and among people with severe mental illness: men are more often victims of violence overall while women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence and sexual offenses (3, 7).
Second, I agree we need to do more for people’s mental health. People are suffering from mental illnesses. They need help. We provide very little. Most of it isn’t covered by insurance. Getting an appointment with a psychiatrist, or a psychologist, or a therapist can be exceptionally difficult. It’s impossible if you don’t have any money. Those with the least money are the most likely to suffer from depression, and there is little help available to them.
Finally, if it’s a mental health problem, let’s enact some laws that will help with people’s mental health. Shockingly enough, the first one I would suggest would be UBI. Reducing desperation reduces crime. I’m more than happy to entertain any other ideas to help people get the mental health services they need.
We have a pretty good handle on what causes people to become school shooters. There’s plenty of research on this.
There’s this really consistent pathway. Early childhood trauma seems to be the foundation, whether violence in the home, sexual assault, parental suicides, extreme bullying. Then you see the build toward hopelessness, despair, isolation, self-loathing, oftentimes rejection from peers. That turns into a really identifiable crisis point where they’re acting differently. Sometimes they have previous suicide attempts.
What’s different from traditional suicide is that the self-hate turns against a group. They start asking themselves, “Whose fault is this?” Is it a racial group or women or a religious group, or is it my classmates? The hate turns outward. There’s also this quest for fame and notoriety…
I don’t think most people realize that these are suicides, in addition to homicides. Mass shooters design these to be their final acts. When you realize this, it completely flips the idea that someone with a gun on the scene is going to deter this. If anything, that’s an incentive for these individuals. They are going in to be killed.
It’s hard to focus on the suicide because these are horrific homicides. But it’s a critical piece because we know so much from the suicide prevention world that can translate here.
I am absolutely in favor of more mental health facilities, counselors, therapists, and social workers who can make a difference in the lives of those who suffer from any sort of mental illness. They should be free of charge and free from stigma. Would you like to propose some funding for this?
“We need automatic weapons to protect us from feral pigs.”
Amerie Jo Garza – just turned 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
I recognize the feral pig problem is significant. They cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage every year. This is a national problem that will require a national effort. Traps are being designed that have been shown to be remarkably effective. Drones are taking out many swine. I understand the need to solve the problem. I submit this is not the only tool available for that purpose. If that is the purpose of having the gun, then let’s license that gun for that purpose only. There are plenty of ways of handling the legal issues. Switzerland does licensing in similar ways.
“Everyone in Switzerland is required to have a gun. They have fewer gun crimes.”
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
No. Everyone in Switzerland doesn’t have a gun. Switzerland has many steps in licensing citizens to own guns.
In 2000, more than 25% of Swiss gun owners said they kept their weapon for military or police duty, while less than 5% of Americans said the same…
The Swiss government has estimated that about half of the privately owned guns in the country are former service rifles. But there are signs the Swiss gun-to-human ratio is dwindling.
In 2007, the Small Arms Survey found that Switzerland had the third-highest ratio of civilian firearms per 100 residents (46), outdone by only the US (89) and Yemen (55)…
Switzerland makes getting a concealed carry permit extremely difficult. There are only rare circumstances in which a gun is allowed outside of the home. Licensing is a longer process. Psychiatrists are often consulted. There are many people not allowed to own a firearm in Switzerland.
In contrast, America’s licensing is quick and requires no proof of one’s ability to use a gun properly or responsibly. A 13-year-old can buy a gun in America. He can’t buy a beer, a pack of cigarettes, or a lottery ticket. But, in America, it’s perfectly legal to sell him a gun. I won’t play them on the podcast, but I’m going to drop some links to some videos in which this happens in the transcript.
“They have strong gun control laws in Chicago, but Chicago has lots of crime anyway.”
Xavier Javier Lopez – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
In a 2017 report, the Chicago Police Department disclosed that the majority of illegal guns used in crimes came from outside the city limits as well as from across the border in Indiana. “The Chicago Police Department has consistently traced close to 60 percent of its crime guns to other states,” the report explains. “The data speaks for itself, but additional gun offender surveys and time to crime recovery analyses indicate that states with lax gun laws like Indiana and Mississippi are a primary target for gang members and their gun trafficker source buyers.”
Interestingly, if you look at the rest of the world, no one else comes close to America for having mass shootings, in general, and school shootings specifically. It’s difficult to keep guns from showing up everywhere when they can be obtained in so many places so easily. Chicago is a big city. There are many other causes of violence there. Adding guns to the mix is likely to increase gun deaths. It’s ridiculous to assume that stricter gun laws cause more gun deaths. It’s more reasonable to assume things would be even worse with more lax laws.
“Before the Holocaust, Hitler disarmed all the citizens of Germany.”
Tess Marie Mata – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Weimar Republic passed very strict gun control laws in an attempt both to stabilize the country and to comply with the Versailles Treaty of 1919 – laws that in fact required the surrender of all guns to the government. These laws remained in effect until 1928, when the German parliament relaxed gun restrictions and put into effect a strict firearm-licensing scheme. These strict licensing regulations foreshadowed Hitler’s rise to power.
If you read the 1938 Nazi gun laws closely and compare them to earlier 1928 Weimar gun legislation – as a straightforward exercise of statutory interpretation – several conclusions become clear. First, with regard to possession and carrying of firearms, the Nazi regime relaxed the gun laws that were in place in Germany at the time the Nazis seized power. Second, the Nazi gun laws of 1938 specifically banned Jewish persons from obtaining a license to manufacture firearms or ammunition. Third, approximately eight months after enacting the 1938 Nazi gun laws, Hitler imposed regulations prohibiting Jewish persons from possessing any dangerous weapons, including firearms…
The Nazis sought to disarm and kill the Jewish population. Their treatment of Jews is, in this sense, orthogonal to their gun-control views. Nevertheless, if forced to take a position, it seems that the Nazis aspired to a certain relaxation of gun registration laws for the “law-abiding German citizen” – for those who were not, in their minds, “enemies of the National Socialist state,” in other words, Jews, Communists, etc.
So, right off the top, that interpretation of history is not entirely correct. Hitler disarmed only those he intended to kill.
Second, there are more guns than people in America. How did you think we were going to disarm everyone? Have you ever heard anyone saying they’re going to take all the guns in America? I haven’t. I don’t believe it’s even possible.
Finally, the intent of this argument is in line with the idea that we need guns to protect ourselves from the government in the event it turned Nazi on us. The United States has the most powerful military in the history of the world. Do you really think your AR-15 is going to protect you from bombers? Drones? Nuclear weapons? If the government decides to come for us, guns will be all but useless. They don’t even have to present you with a target at which to shoot before killing you.
“You can take my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
Maranda Mathis – 11 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
First, once again, no one is coming for your guns. What we would like to do is make it more difficult for psychotic or dangerous people who are likely to shoot up schools, or supermarkets, or movie theaters, or night clubs, or concerts, or churches, or synagogues, or mosques to get guns.
Second you are statistically more likely to have a gun in your cold dead hands if you own one than if you don’t. Suicides are much easier with a gun than without. They do little to protect your family.
In 2015, David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and Sara Solnick, an economist at the University of Vermont, analyzed national government surveys involving more than 14,000 people and reported that guns are used for self-protection in less than 1 percent of all crimes that take place in the presence of a victim. They also found that people were more likely to be injured after threatening attackers with guns than they were if they had called the police or run away…
In a study published this June in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers followed more than 26 million adults in California for up to 12 years, keeping track of whether they purchased handguns and if they died by suicide. They found that men who had purchased handguns were then more than three times as likely to die by suicide — primarily gun suicide — compared with men who hadn’t bought handguns, and that women who’d purchased handguns were more than seven times as likely to die by suicide as women who hadn’t bought handguns. As the researchers concluded, “ready access to firearms, particularly handguns, is a major risk factor for suicide.”
So, yes, you’re more likely to die with your gun in your hand than without it, Mr. Heston.
“They should have armed guards at schools.”
Eva Mireles – 4th Grade Teacher can’t debate this. I still can.
The armed guard plan didn’t work for her. Robb Elementary School had one.
The school district police officer who was working that day wasn’t on campus around this time, contrary to previous reports, McCraw said Friday. The officer drives to the school “immediately” after getting the 911 call and approaches someone at the back of the school who he thought was the gunman. As the officer “sped” toward the man, who turned out to be a teacher, McCraw said the officer “drove right by the suspect who was hunkered down behind” a vehicle.
Do we really want to teach our children that it’s normal to see an armed guard at their schools? Do we want to make our schools into prisons? We could have guard towers. We could have fences. We could have attack dogs.
Or… we could keep dangerous people from getting guns.
“Criminals don’t obey laws.”
Alithia Ramirez – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
If we follow this idea to its conclusion, it seems there is no reason to have any laws at all. Why bother to have speed limits? People still speed. Why bother to have DUI laws? People still get drunk and drive. Why bother to make murder or rape illegal? Or kidnapping? People still do these things. Perhaps it’s because we can keep them from doing it more than once. Perhaps it’s because making something illegal sometimes will stop some people from doing it.
“How dare you politicize a tragedy right after it occurred?
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
First, we have more mass shootings than we have days in the year. There would be no days to discuss it if we have to wait until there isn’t a mass shooting.
Second, it’s a deeply political issue because we won’t take any action beyond talking points and thoughts and prayers.
The shooter who murdered my beautiful butterfly Dylan carried an AR-15 assault-style weapon into Sandy Hook Elementary.
In approximately four minutes, he shot 154 bullets, killing 20 children and six educators. Five of those bullets hit Dylan, and in an instant, my little boy was gone.
But in the time it took the shooter to reload, 11 children were able to escape. If the sale of military-style assault weapons had been prohibited, just think how many more children could have survived. Perhaps Dylan would still be alive today. Perhaps more people would have escaped from the horrific mass shootings in Parkland, Boulder and so many other communities.
Finally, it’s already and always political. Governor Greg Abbott tell us: “There are thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the owning or using of firearms, laws that have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people in peaceful communities. In Uvalde, the gunman committed a felony under Texas law before he even pulled the trigger. It’s a felony to possess a firearm on school premises, but that did not stop him, and what he did on campus is capital murder.”
You’re right, Governor. That law didn’t stop him. But we’re all replaying the incident over and over and searching for solutions. What could have been done to keep this from happening? And so we enter the land of “What if?”
What if the security guard had been sitting in his cruiser in the parking lot when the shooter approached the school carrying an AR-15? The officer could have arrested him, then and there, and charged him with a felony before he even got to the building. He’d already broken the law. There was no need to wait for him to commit additional crimes. There are 21 people who would still be alive in that scenario, and it’s not an unlikely one.
School shootings are political issues whenever they occur. They should be discussed in that context so that we can begin to take action to avoid additional slaughter. They should be discussed every day until we’ve solved this problem.
“We need to put God back in schools.”
Maite Rodriguez – 10 years old can’t debate that. I still can.
Whose God? Which God? You’re madly in love with the second amendment, but have you read the first? Let me remind you of it. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The very first words in the very first amendment to the very same Constitution that protects your right to own murder machines tell us that Congress can’t make a law that establishes a religion. So, we can’t pass a law that chooses one God over another. Even under the broad auspices of Christianity, there are significant disagreements about how God is to be understood, or worshipped, or what God wants us to do. Mormons, Lutherans, and Catholics will all be more than happy to tell you why each other are wrong. I don’t know to which version of God you would like us to pray.
I’m not a Christian, but if I were, I wouldn’t want the government to tell my daughter (if I had one) how and when and to whom or to what to pray. There are few things more deeply personal than how one relates to whatever it is we call God. I would want that to be something I work out with my children. Wouldn’t you?
I’ve seen precious little evidence that religion does much to promote moral behavior. I know a few Christians who are some of the most moral, most kind, most compassionate, and most loving people I know. I admire them for that. I know, however, many more who are filled with hate. Here are the words of Pastor Greg Locke:
“If you vote Democrat, I don’t even want you around this church. You can get out. You can get out, you demon. You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. I don’t care how mad that makes you. You can get as pissed off as you want to. You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation…. You cannot be a Democrat and a Christian. You cannot. Somebody say, ‘Amen.’ The rest of you get out! Get out!… I ain’t playin’ your stupid games…. I’m sick of it. Everyone wanna talk about the insurrection? Mmmm. Let me tell you something: You ain’t seen the insurrection yet. You keep on pushing our buttons, you low-down, sorry compromisers, you God-hating communists, maybe you’ll find out what an insurrection is.”
I’m having a hard time finding the love in those words. I can’t locate the kindness or compassion. All I hear is hatred. No… putting God back into the schools is not the answer.
“I blame the parents!”
Alexandria ‘Lexi’ Rubio – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
There are, undoubtedly, bad parents in America. There are bad parents everywhere. Was Sue Klebold one of them? She is the mother of Dylan, who was one of the shooters at Columbine.
“So I examined and I questioned and I blamed, and to this day I do it still — occasionally I fall back and think, “If I had done this, if I had not done this.” But over time, with all the research I was doing into behaviors and losses due to suicide, I really began to see that these things were things within Dylan’s brain and his thinking, and that I might’ve in some way inadvertently contributed to his perception of something at a given moment, but I did not believe and still don’t believe that I caused this or caused him to have this perception of himself and his worldview.”
If it is the fault of the parents, what would you have us do? Shall we issue licenses to those we deem worthy of parenthood, and then decide all others are not allowed to have children? Shall we force unlicensed mothers to get abortions? Shall we force them to have the child and then instantly take the baby away to be given to licensed parents? Who is going to decide what makes a good parent? I’m sure as hell not smart enough to do that. And whatever set of criteria you invent, I feel sure I can show you parents who check every box and are still rotten, and parents who miss nearly everything on your forms and are still excellent.
No. Blaming the parents is no answer.
“Thoughts and prayers…”
Layla Salazar – 11 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
They accomplish precisely nothing. If prayers were going to get God to prevent this from happening, it wouldn’t have happened. I think about it a lot, too. That’s good. You’re thinking about it now. That helps only if the thought provokes us to do something to change this. I’ve done this podcast. What can you do? That’s the value in thought.
“…what about the Teacher that propped the locked door open to get a cell phone? Nobody wants to say this set a lot in motion. Maybe the shooter couldn’t get in. Maybe he would have been delayed the few precious minutes for the cops to confront him outside. Maybe?”
Jailah Nicole Silguero – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
Okay. What about her? Should we arrest her for breaching a school security protocol? Okay. Go for it. Now, are any of the 21 victims going to be back in school in September? No. So… what’s your point? I see no solution in that argument. It’s little more than a feeble effort to shift the blame in this atrocity.
“Stop making schools gun-free zones. They’re a soft target.”
Eliahana ‘Elijah’ Cruz Torres – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
I addressed part of this already when I answered Governor Abbott above. There is more, however.
The NRA doesn’t allow guns in their meetings. The world’s largest collection of responsible gun owners knows better than to allow people to carry weapons inside. Is the NRA a soft target now?
What is a better solution? We’ve already agreed there is little to be gained from making our schools into concentration camps with armed guards in towers. Shall we issue guns to 11-year-olds too? I can’t imagine what could go wrong with that idea.
“It’s all the violence in video games and music and TV and movies.”
Rojelio Torres – 10 years old can’t debate this. I still can.
There is remarkably little evidence to support the idea that violence in media contributes to mass shootings. I don’t like violent video games, either, but I prefer shooting pixels to shooting people. The Godfather is an incredibly violent movie that I’ve seen dozens of times. I’ve never shot up a school. Neither have most of the other people who’ve seen it. And I’m not going to advocate changing a single frame of that film. Freedom of Expression is an essential right. It’s why you and I can disagree publicly. I can’t tell you not to say what you think. You can’t tell me not to say what I think. (For more on this, you might listen to Episode 152: “Little Boxes.”)
In 2015, the APA Council of Representatives issued a resolution based on a task force report about violent video games. The resolution noted that more than 90 percent of children in the United States played video games, and 85 percent of video games on the market contained some form of violence. The task force’s review of relevant research found an association between violent video game exposure and some aggressive behavior but insufficient research linking violent video games to lethal violence. However, some recent research hasn’t found any link between violent video games and aggressive behavior.
Blaming violent video games for school shootings by white perpetrators could be a sign of a larger racial issue where African American perpetrators are assigned a greater degree of culpability for their crimes, which could lead to unfair treatment in the justice system, Markey said.
History shows us the good guys are never in favor of censorship. Repressive authoritarian regimes, however, love it.
So… what can we do?
I don’t have the answers. I have some ideas. Others will have better ones. I would love to hear yours. (480) 331 – 9822. Leave me a message. I’ll play it on the air and discuss it with you.
These are some of the things that make sense to me.
First, let’s acknowledge reality. We live in a world with guns. We will never be rid of them all. It simply can’t be done, unless you switch universes. The Alien Universe Selector isn’t likely to be dropping by this weekend, so we need to figure out how to live in a world with guns.
Doing nothing seems like the height of cynicism to me.
There have been 27 school shootings this year. There have been 119 school shootings since 2018, when Education Week began tracking such incidents. The highest number of shootings, 34, occurred last year. There were 10 shootings in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018…
Doing nothing accomplishes nothing. This has to stop.
Why couldn’t the 19 heavily armed officers who were wearing protective gear go into the room and stop the killings for nearly an hour? They say they were outgunned. I’ll be the first to admit that I know nothing about guns. These officers, however, certainly do. They use them. They are trained. And they knew enough to know they were outgunned. How could that have been avoided?
Maybe we could make it a little more difficult to obtain guns that fire so many shots so quickly. We could also tax the ammunition to the point that it becomes impossible to buy a thousand rounds before you go out to kill people. We could use the tax money to run responsible gun ownership classes.
We could insist, as most other countries do, that anyone who wants to own a gun is highly qualified, responsible, and not likely to use it to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
The assumption of the NRA is that any action that might limit the number of people who can easily obtain weapons is an effort to take all of your guns. I am not advocating you turn in your guns and disarm yourself. I’m not saying no one should have guns.
I’m trying to find ways to keep our children alive. I’m looking for reasonable solutions we can implement. I’m looking for more than thoughts and prayers. There are things we could do. I don’t believe I’m an authority on what we should do, but I am willing to make some suggestions. I hope someone else has better ones. I’m not willing to say that children need to die because we have a Second Amendment.
I have frequently been accused of emotional manipulation. I try to make you feel something so that you’ll be moved to take some sort of action. I don’t deny that. All of Art is an attempt to appeal to your emotions. I’m not a lawmaker. I’m an artist. This isn’t a Harvard Debate. It’s a podcast. And I’m going to give you some facts that I believe will make you feel something.
Miah Cerrillo told CNN on Friday that she dipped her hands in the blood of a dead classmate after the shooter left her classroom and wiped it on herself to play dead in case he came back.
Imagine that was your child. Imagine your daughter covering herself in her friend’s blood to try to save her own life. What kinds of nightmares will that child have from now on? How can we let this happen?
“The cop said: ‘Yell if you need help!’ And one of the persons in my class said ‘help.’ The guy overheard and he came in and shot her,” the boy said…
“He shot the next person’s door. We have a door in the middle. He opened it. He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said, ‘It’s time to die,'” the boy recalled.
We’re all relieved the boy lived to tell the story. We’re all sickened by how he must be feeling. We’re horrified at the deaths of his friends. What if this were your child? Would thoughts and prayers be enough?
The formula for this podcast is to start in the darkness, to acknowledge its existence, and then to guide us toward some light. It’s difficult to find light when looking at the specially made caskets for 10-year-olds in Texas. I’ve seen pictures of some of them. One has a Superman logo on it. Another has a TikTok emblem. Where is there hope? Where is the light? How can we Shine?
You’re the Hope. So am I. The dead in Uvalde have no voices anymore. I wouldn’t dream of speaking for people I’ve never met. For all I know they were universally opposed to any form of gun regulations. They were from Texas. Texas likes its guns.
But I know they didn’t deserve to die. I’d be willing to bet every dollar I will ever make from my show that none of them wanted to die… aside from the shooter, who was almost certainly suicidal.
We can light our candles by supporting candidates who will actually try to do something more than thoughts and prayers while they cash their NRA checks. We can remind each other that even in this impenetrable darkness of death and despair, there is still love in the world. We can be that love. We can remember to love the children still in our lives. I never had any of my own, but I worked with more than a thousand children in my time. When I think how easily any of them could have been among those at Robb Elementary School, I can remind myself how lucky I am that today nearly all of them are still alive.
Mass shooters can kill many people. We can love many more. We can put more love into the world. We can try to find ways to help people before they become mass shooters. We can try to keep guns away from them. And we can open our minds to any ideas that might help.
The world hasn’t ended just yet, no matter how much it may feel that way. We can still act. We can still search for ways to save those who are left to us. That’s what I’ve done tonight. I hope you’ll do the same.
I love you. And I love the children in your lives. I want to keep them there forever. Let’s see what we can do to make that more likely.
I recognize that much of what I’m about to write (or, if you’re listening to the podcast, say) is due to seeing the world through the lens of clinical depression. I see the sadder parts of the world with greater clarity, and I become uncharacteristically cynical. Normally, I eschew cynicism. I think it does nothing to move us closer to solving problems. It usually gives us a reason to throw up our hands in despair and accept the unacceptable. Nevertheless, today, probably because the chemicals in my brain are malfunctioning, I am feeling cynical.
My feed is filled with opinions about what two multi-millionaires did on television last night. Because they are celebrities, everyone feels the need to discuss their behavior.
And I’m frustrated by that.
Week after week, I discuss ideas that might help us to change the world. I discuss the evils of hunger, poverty, insufficient health care, and homelessness. I talk about the existential threats to freedom. I discuss the value of Love and the Joy of having Enough.
Since I’m not a celebrity, and I never will be, and I don’t have celebrities on my show, (although a good friend pointed out that I did have Sara Niemietz on my show once, and that’s true, and I was ecstatic to have a chance to talk to one of my heroes for more than an hour!) I am fortunate if I can get even a single like or comment on my ideas. I have begun posting them in writing, for those who don’t want to listen. And all of this is largely ignored.
Next week, (which, by the time you read this or hear it, will be last week… Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny used to have a good time on Saturday morning discussing this issue) I’m going to talk about the possibility of alternative universes. Science tells me that if we could create human-made wormholes, we might be able to travel to such places. Instead of putting our money and our greatest minds into the work that needs to be done to make this possible, we are inventing new and more efficient and effective ways of killing one another, and we are concerned about who embarrassed himself or someone else. We live for click bait and blood. We live for hatred.
So, today, I am depressed. I want to live in a world where ideas are not only more important than celebrities, but they are also more interesting.
Please, I beg you, don’t tell me in the comments which celebrity was right, or why they are more important or more interesting than trying to create a better world. I already have seen that in abundance.
Perhaps there’s nothing to say. Perhaps this is just the world in which we are all required to live.
So today I am depressed.
There are real problems in the world today. Children are dying in Ukraine. Children here in The United States are going to bed hungry. Income Inequality continues to rise. Someone you love is sad today.
And there are real Joys in the world today. Children are being born at this very moment, their lives just beginning. Children here in the United States are meeting their puppies for the first time, finding a love they never knew existed. People are getting jobs that pay them more than they need to make ends meet, feeling successful and fulfilled. Someone you love has a reason to celebrate today because they have earned something valuable to them.
These are the places I would prefer to focus attention.
On March 27, 2022, on National Television at the Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face. (I realize the people who will hear or read this during its first run will know that, but I hope to create Art that will last through the ages, and, frankly, it’s so entirely unimportant that I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the time this is published in April, it has already begun to fade from the public consciousness. Ten years from now the moment will probably have faded into the mist of trivia. It really ought to.) What was the result of this behavior?
Social Media was filled with opinions.
“Chris Rock was insensitive to tell a joke about a woman suffering from alopecia losing her hair.”
“Will Smith committed assault on National Television.”
And from those two camps sprang pages and pages of subgroups of more opinions. Sensitivity was a big topic. Standing up for your spouse was another. Violence on television was a third. The list went on and on.
It was discussed as though it was a topic of great importance. I’m sorry. It’s not. It’s two millionaires behaving badly. If this happened in the house next door, it would receive no attention. Spousal abuse and domestic violence are important problems that are rarely addressed, and they receive scant media coverage. Since these are celebrities, we are enthralled and anxious to tell everyone what we think.
What is the cause of this? I suspect I may be a part of the problem because I participated, actively, in public education for 29 years. Somehow, despite my best efforts, I have helped to produce a society that values celebrity over ideas.
In 1967, Andy Warhol told us, “In the future, everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” And that fame is vital to us. What’s trending is where you must focus your attention because everyone else is doing that. You can’t afford to be left out. In 2022, many of us hope to “go viral.” This has nothing to do with the quality of your content. It’s about what amuses people for a few seconds.
We have developed a media that garners ratings by creating divisions. Compromise in Congress is tantamount to taboo. This will be covered by the media, and the voters will decide you’re not sufficiently devoted to your own team. You will lose in a primary. I heard somewhere that in Congress reelection is at 92%, even though only 28% of us are happy with the job they’re doing. The attitude is “He sucks, but he’s on my team.” We have to be Republicans or Democrats. We have to be liberals or conservatives. The slightest move to the right or left can be political suicide. Journalism sold out for the ratings.
In the infancy of mass communications, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress. Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of airtime set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news. Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better. Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say that taxpayers will give youthe airwaves for free and for 23 hours a day you should make a profit, but for one hour a night you work for us. And now those network newscasts, anchored through history by honest-to-God newsmen with names like Murrow and Reasoner and Huntley and Brinkley and Buckley and Cronkite and Rather and Russert – Now they have to compete with the likes of me. A cable anchor who’s in the exact same business as the producers of Jersey Shore.
— Will McAvoy, The Newsroom, “The 112th Congress,” 2012, by Aaron Sorkin
How do you feel about the fact that children are sleeping on the street tonight? What do you think we should do about that? I’m interested in your opinions about that.
How do you feel about the fact that a person whose sexuality is different or whose gender is subject to change is likely to be assaulted for having the audacity to vary from the norm? I’m interested in your opinions about that.
How do you feel about families all over America being forced into bankruptcy because someone got cancer or any of the hundreds of other illnesses that can bring lives to a sudden and painful end? I’m interested in your opinions about that.
The fact that someone is annoyed with me now for even suggesting that the Slap in The Face wasn’t important is a serious contributor to my depression. Again, I recognize that much of this is chemical. That, however, does nothing to minimize or mitigate my feelings.
For me, The Real Slap in the Face is the one to those of us who want to change the world. I’m not close to being alone in this. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are smarter, stronger, and more charismatic than I am who are trying to end poverty, get everyone enough money to live, end the bureaucratic labyrinths one must navigate to get any assistance, renew and revitalize public education, and save us from the nightmare of out-of-control health care costs. They are doing plenty of things to try to make a difference. I’m ridiculously small. Others are going to be more successful. But that doesn’t mean my cheek doesn’t sting right now.
I want you to know that since you are listening to this podcast, or you’re reading this on Word Press, you are actively helping to defeat my depression. You’re saying that my ideas are worth considering. You’re telling me that I’m not singing an aria in an empty cave. And because so few people do what you’re doing at this moment, you’re more valuable than you believe. I thank you deeply, sincerely, and humbly.
There are those who would suggest I relax and get some Prozac or some other medication that would straighten out my brain chemistry. It’s kind of you to think of me. Thank you. And that’s not the solution I think will help me. As opposed to muting my response to the inequities of the world, I would prefer that we change the world into one where liberty and justice for all is more than a mindless chant.
I know I can’t hope to do that, but maybe you can. I have a friend who is getting involved in politics. She was instrumental in helping The Yang Gang get started. Perhaps she can help. You may have friends who will benefit from listening to or reading this. Perhaps you could pass it on. Maybe one of your friends knows someone in Washington or in your state’s capitol who might be able to change a bad law or write a better one. If nothing else, maybe we can get one more person to the ballot box to vote for someone who can change something. I don’t know. What I know is I just can’t give up yet.
Even my worst depression won’t allow me to buckle under to cynicism for long. I can still hope.
I need to begin this evening with a gargantuan disclaimer. I’m not a scientist of any sort. I’m not an astronomer, in particular. I’m certainly not a mathematician. I have no expertise of any kind in what I’m discussing tonight. (If I’m wrong about something, please feel free to correct me at (480) 331 – 9822.) I watched some YouTube videos. And, that’s almost the point. What I’m describing tonight is as simple to learn as it is staggering to contemplate. Is time travel actually possible, especially into the past? Is ours the only universe? If there are other universes, can we go to a different one we might like better? (I’ll be out looking for the one in which Valerie Bertinelli makes dinner for me.)
Tonight I’m going to bring you an old, not very intelligent, man’s exploration into ideas that move beyond our world, and yet are a part of the very fabric of our existence. I’m going to avoid pseudoscience. I’m going to eschew the supernatural. I’m going to limit myself to science that can be easily accessed in popular culture. It’s more than enough to make me wonder, as the person for whom I made this episode asked, “Why are we fighting in the sandbox instead of harnessing the sky?” (I wish I had written that line. I suspect there’s a universe in which I did. I might consider trading the Valerie Bertinelli Dinner Universe for that one.)
In 59 years, I have experience of only this single universe, at least as far as I know. I have traveled only forward in time. I have existed only on this insignificant rock tumbling through this tiny bit of space.
Much of what follows will approach The Impossible. Whenever I think of The Impossible, though, I am reminded of all the Impossible Things that have turned out to be true.
It was obvious, at one point in history, to anyone who bothered to look around, that the Earth was flat. You never see the horizon bend the way you would expect if you were a small bug on a large rubber ball. It’s almost invariably a straight line, which is what you would expect if you were a small bug on a very large table. It was Impossible for the Earth to be round. Then, a couple millennia ago, there comes along a guy named Eratosthenes. He uses “sticks, eyes, feet, and brains” not only to prove that the Earth is round, but to calculate the diameter of the Earth, and he was fairly close to correct. Carl Sagan explains this brilliantly in the first of the videos I am adding to the show notes. I urge you to watch it.
We were told repeatedly that it was Impossible to fly. Gravity, Newton told us, forbid human flight. As Blood, Sweat and Tears observed, “What goes up must come down…” Simon Newcomb told us, in 1903, “… aerial flight is one of the great class of problems with which man can never cope.”
Gravity is the force of attraction between any two objects that have mass. The heavier the mass, the greater the attraction. Earth is the largest mass in the neighborhood. We’re all attracted to it. There is child’s explanation of this to be found in the show notes, here:
Science certainly forbid space travel. And then Science learned more, and it corrected itself. We found escape velocity. Science corrects itself frequently. It will do it again. Many of us have experienced flight over Earth. A few of us have experienced space flight. A dozen of us have been to the Moon. It’s now commonly accepted that this is not impossible.
Space and time seem to be independent of one another. That’s the way I experience them, at least. The space between my fingers and the keyboard has nothing to do with time, except to the extent that I can measure the number of seconds it takes to move my fingers from one key to the next. And yet, it turns out that space and time are not separate. They are connected in what is called Spacetime. Spacetime is bendable. It isn’t fixed. It’s more like a waterbed than a wooden table. The heavier something is, the more it warps space, just the way a bowling ball will warp your mattress. You and I exist in more than 3 dimensions. We exist in length, width, height, and time. The first three are generally enough to locate someone on Earth. The fourth is required to find something in space because everything is in motion. There’s a link to another children’s site in the show notes that will explain that for you.
A black hole occurs when spacetime becomes so warped by a heavy object that it creates a singularity, or a place in the universe where the laws of physics that you and I take for granted simply break down and space and time are no longer related. Einstein said they would be unlikely to exist. And then, on September 14, 2015, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detected them and verified their existence for the first time. And it was an extraordinary bit of good luck because two black holes, 1.4 billion light years away, were racing around each other, and the light ended its 1.4 billion year journey to Earth just two days after we activated LIGO. What if we’d waited another week to flip that switch? Today, we even have a photograph of a black hole in Galaxy M87. All of this and much more can be found in the simple video in the show notes in which Brian Greene explains black holes.
We believe black holes may cause something called Wormholes. We’ve haven’t been able to verify their existence… yet.
These are holes in the fabric of spacetime that allow us to travel to extremely distant places in very little time. The 186,000 miles per second speed limit is irrelevant to getting somewhere if you go through a wormhole. There are several types of wormholes.
Einstein Rosen Bridges are a type of wormhole that can’t be crossed. A black hole, where anything can enter but nothing can escape, to a white hole, where everything can escape but nothing can enter would take infinite time to cross because of the singularity at its core. A white hole is a place where time runs backward. It’s something like a Big Bang. The stuff coming out of a white hole won’t be the stuff that went into the black hole.
Traversable Worm Holes might have been created at the very beginning of The Big Bang. They could be connected by Cosmic Strings. The nearest Traversable Worm Hole, however, that we would be likely to find appears to be about 26,000 light years away. This means it will take more than an hour to get there, and, as it turns out, humans don’t have that kind of patience. I can barely get people through a 30-minute podcast.
Manmade Wormholes would need to connect two different parts of spacetime. We would have one somewhere near Earth, and the other would be wherever we put it. I’m not sure how we could move it where we wanted it, but it appears to be possible. It would also need to be kept open because gravity would try to close it. This could be done with something called Exotic Matter. This is a set of theoretical particles that have a negative mass. Gravity pulls things toward it. Exotic Particles are like me. They push things away. Manmade Wormholes also must have no event horizons because then we would become spaghetti if we tried to cross them. (The fact that “spaghettification” is a real word is excellent evidence for the existence of The Flying Spaghetti Monster.) They must be big enough that we can traverse them safely. You can travel back in time with a wormhole, but only from the future back to the time when the wormhole was created.
I am dropping a video explaining wormholes in the show notes:
But what if we wanted to travel back in time? I would love, for example, to go back in time to Flagstaff in 1986 to correct a massive mistake I made at my own toga party. (If you want to hear that story, you’ll have to talk Chris into asking me about it for a Fred’s Back Porch Interview.) Since I hadn’t built a wormhole yet, I could never get back there. It’s possible there’s even a way around that. It’s called a Tipler Cylinder.
This is a cylinder that spins at a few billion rotations per minute. (For reference about how fast that is, if you’re old enough, you might remember that records sounded funny at 78 RPM.) You also need material that has a mass of about ten of our suns, or a just a couple of neutron stars. The cylinder also needs to be of infinite length. These are problems that our understanding of physics tells us we can’t possibly overcome. The physical laws of our universe prevent that. In short… It’s IMPOSSIBLE!!!
Today.
Let’s remember, though, that in singularities, the physical laws of our universe break down rather promptly. And, our understanding of these laws has its own set of problems. While Einstein and Newton did a magnificent job of explaining the very large things that create gravity, all of that seems to break down when we get to the scale of the very small. This is called Quantum Mechanics. The laws of gravity stop working when things are smaller than an atom. As microchips grow ever more miniscule, we are moving toward what is called Quantum Computers which will be much more powerful and efficient than the one on which I’m writing this. They are likely to lead to the AC, or the Automatic Computer, about which Asimov writes at the end of this podcast.
Wormholes might not lead us only to far distant places, they could, potentially, also take us to alternative universes. There is no telling what the laws of physics might be in other universes. This is called The Multiverse Hypothesis. We once believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. It turns out it wasn’t. Then we believed the Sun was the center of the universe. Oops. It’s not. Then we believed our galaxy, The Milky Way, was the center. Nope. Our understanding expanded, just as “our universe, itself, keeps on expanding and expanding, in all of the directions it can whiz…” (That’s from “The Galaxy Song” in “The Meaning of Life,” by Monty Python, 1983) In the same way, we may conclude that our universe is not only not the only universe, but that it may not be the center of the Multiverse, either.
If we could go back in time, or it we could visit other universes in which all possible outcomes occur, what we could accomplish as a species is, essentially, limitless. This show spends an enormous amount of time trying to find ways to end poverty, homelessness, and hunger. I keep trying to work out health care so that no one dies for a lack of little green pieces of paper and linen or a lack of digits on a computer somewhere. If there are other universes, I feel sure there’s one in which we’ve conquered those problems, Valerie Bertinelli wants to cook me dinner, and I wrote the line, “Why are we fighting in the sandbox instead of harnessing the sky?”
Did you ever hear the theory of the universe? Where every time you make a choice, A brand new planet gets created?
Did you ever hear that theory? Does it carry any sense? That a choice can split the world in two, Or is it all just too immense for you?
That they all exist in parallel, Each one separate from the other, And every subsequent decision, Makes a new world then another, And they all stretch out towards infinity, Getting further and further away.
— Sting, from the song “It’s Not The Same Moon” from the album “The Last Ship”, 2013
There is also a universe in which everything you wish had happened, or might happen, does happen.
What would it take for us to accomplish this? We need our best and brightest minds working on the science that will help us to understand this universe well enough for us to begin to answer many of our questions. We would need to spend the money to build the technology that is this universe’s way of understanding itself.
Instead of spending trillions of dollars and many of our greatest minds on finding new ways to kill one another, what if we spent those resources on expanding who we are and who we could be? We don’t need to defend ourselves from one another in every possible universe. I, for one, would like to live in one where everyone leads with love.
I’ll bring this to an end with one of the most interesting ideas I’ve heard so far about the endlessness of humanity. It’s called The Omega Point. “The real essence of life is the software, not the hardware,” as Frank Tipler tells us. It’s the idea that at the end of time, the entire universe will become one gigantic computing machine. The Omega Point is the ultimate limit. It is beyond space and time. It is, essentially, God. You and I will be resurrected in Time by super beings when all of us have become powerful computer emulations.
Isaac Asimov dealt with this in my favorite of his short stories, “The Last Question.” The last question to be answered, trillions of years in the future, is whether entropy, or the loss of all energy, can be reversed. This is the conclusion of that story:
Matter and energy had ended and with it space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer [technician] ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.
All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness. All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected. But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships. A timeless interval was spent in doing that. And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy. But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer — by demonstration — would take care of that, too. For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program. The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done. And AC said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” And there was light –
Government is the source of more problems than I can count. If you want to do something, you almost certainly need a license of some sort. If you live here, they’re going to take your money in the form of taxes. If you want to have a voice anyone in government hears, you need to have a lot more money than either you or I have. Things are set up to benefit the wealthy and oppress the poor. Government is a bureaucracy constructed to ensure nothing ever really gets done without jumping through more hoops than all the animals Barnum and Bailey ever trained. A single mistake sets a person back for months.
California, for example, said they were covering my Medicare until December, even though I moved to Arizona in October. Arizona, therefore, while they were perfectly willing to pick up my Medicare, denied the request in November because California hadn’t sent the form that said they were no longer covering it. This is why Social Security took $510 from my Disability this month to recoup their losses from December, January, and February. Arizona sent the proper form to Social Security. It takes 90 days to process that, so I’ll get $170 a month less on which to live until June or July. I’m not alone in this. I feel sure it happens to millions of others, and all of us search frantically for the means to survive while the bureaucrats process paperwork. I’m never moving again. The only way to get me out of this place is in a body bag.
Any efforts to pass laws that help us take years, and they can be stopped by a single voice, usually one paid for by those who have the money to deny the rest of us the chance to join the pursuit of happiness that is supposed to be one of our inalienable rights. Government is the problem, isn’t it?
Americans, after all, rugged individualists. We hear so often about those who made it all by themselves. They didn’t need government to become successful. They are self-made successes. We should all aspire to such greatness. They did it all alone, didn’t they?
Did they? From where did they get the education they needed if not from our schools? How did they get where they needed to go if not on the roads we built? From where did they get the currency they needed to exchange for the goods and services they used to become successful if not from the government that printed it? Who kept them safe if not our police departments? They almost certainly benefitted at some time from our fire departments, our paramedics, our hospitals, and our concept of freedom that allowed them to live without the fear of winding up disappearing in the middle of the night for speaking out against our government.
All of us are standing on the shoulders of 200,000 years of human development. I didn’t invent paper, nor the printing press, nor the computer on which I’m writing. I didn’t invent the language that allows us to communicate. I’m using the products of human progress. I’m not doing this alone. There are billions of people who came before me to allow me to write this. The government and The People On The Porch provide me the funds I need to exist. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos didn’t do it alone, either. They couldn’t possibly do it alone. They made use of (or, if you’re of my frame of mind, exploited) the benefits of the advancements of our species.
We humans have done extraordinary things. We have increased our life spans dramatically. My mother is 91, and I expect her to live for quite some time to come. It’s not unheard of for people to live for a century because of our advances in medicine.
We’ve also made health care into a logistical nightmare, but now an insurance company can’t deny you coverage because of a “preexisting condition” – a term they invented to avoid insuring diabetics and others that are likely to cost them more. For all the problems inherent in The Affordable Care Act, that’s one part it got right. They can no longer say, “You’ve outrun your coverage; die in peace.” Government allowed medical insurance to exist. That was a problem. Government kept them from denying coverage. That was a small part of the solution. The government is a tide that goes out but comes back in. It moves in waves, and, like the ocean itself, it does as much damage as it does good.
“We have to say what we feel; that government, no matter what its failures of the past, and in times to come, for that matter, government can be a place where people come together, and where no one gets left behind. No one… gets left behind. An instrument of good.”
— Toby Ziegler in “The West Wing: He Shall, From Time to Time” Season 1, Episode 12, by Aaron Sorkin
Our Founding Document, “The Declaration of Independence,” tells us that all men are created equal. That’s an ideal, not a fact. Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than I am. That’s a fact. He was created one way, and I, another. I am a better writer than a child who will never be able to use language. That’s a fact. I was created one way, and he, another.
“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality…”
— Atticus Finch, “To Kill A Mockingbird: Chapter 20” by Harper Lee
Will you find corruption in our courts? Of course you will. Only hours after Atticus gave that speech to the jury, the court failed to deliver justice for Tom Robinson.
But this is an example of the idea upon which our country was built. It’s the idea that we all matter. It’s the idea that all voices count, even those who spout ridiculous things. Last year, for example, when I was in Surprise to see my mother, my nephew and I were staying at a hotel. We went downstairs for a drink, and there we met a woman who spent 45 minutes explaining to me that there are Lizard People from another dimension, or reality, or planet (she wasn’t sure which) who are living here now. And I want her to be allowed to vote. Because, as Toby Ziegler told us above… no one… no one is left behind. I don’t have to agree with you to want you to have a say in how this life we share is governed. She may be right. I would be willing to bet everything I will ever earn for the rest of what’s left of my life that she’s not, but I could be wrong. I remind myself of that constantly. I think I’m right, but I could always, always, always be wrong. So could you. So could she.
There are times when all the world’s asleep The questions run too deep For such a simple man…
I said, watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re acceptable Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable
— Supertramp, “The Logical Song” from “Breakfast In America, 1979
Instead of giving in to the cynicism that tells us it’s too late, that the American Oligarchs have already taken over, and that there’s nothing more to do but live in a dystopian nightmare, we can encourage one another to believe in an idea. The Cynics, you see, can be wrong, too. We can believe in the idea of liberty and justice for all. Our flag lies limp on its pole now, hanging its head in shame, but a good wind can come up at any moment to make it fly in all its tri-colored, star-spangled glory again. We can begin by protecting voting rights. We can continue by creating a Health Care System that allows us the medical attention we need without bankrupting us. We can reach for the stars by providing a Universal Basic Income that ensures all of us have enough to survive. We can end poverty. We can reduce the nightmare of income inequality. We can do anything we choose to do if we can be United.
The oligarchs want to pit us against each other. “They’re not from America, and they’re stealing your jobs. They’re the source of the problem. She’s a woman, and instead of staying home and raising children, she’s out in the workplace, making you replaceable, and reducing everyone’s income. She’s the source of the problem. They have different sexual orientations than you do, and they’ve destroyed the moral lives that are the heart of this country. They’re the source of the problem. That guy is a Socialist who wants to give away your hard-earned money to someone else for free. He’s the source of the problem. This guy is a fascist who attacked the country on January 6. He’s the source of the problem. This guy likes the football team you hate. You just KNOW he’s the source of the problem.”
Sorry. I don’t buy that. There is no Them; we are all Us. We’re all the source of the problem. I can, and do, disagree with many people. Even more disagree with me. But I won’t turn that disagreement into hatred. Neither should you. Instead, I want to understand those with whom I disagree, and I hope to make them understand me. I want to find a way to solve the problems. I’m not interested in blame. I’m interested in solutions. Don’t tell me why we can’t unless that’s your preface to the answer I want to hear: how we can.
In 1940, our armed forces weren’t among the twelve most formidable in the world, but obviously we were going to fight a big war. And Roosevelt said the US would produce 50,000 airplanes in the next four years. Everyone thought it was a joke. And it was, cuz it turned out we produced 100,000 planes. Give the air force an armada that would block the sun…
Over the past half century, we’ve split the atom, we’ve spliced the gene, and we’ve roamed Tranquility Base. We’ve reached for the stars, and never have we been closer to having them in our grasp. New science, new technology is making the difference between life and death, and so we need a national commitment equal to this unparalleled moment of possibility…
— Sam Seaborn from The West Wing, “100,000 Airplanes” Season 3, episode 11, by Aaron Sorkin
A President of The United States was once asked to define America. He answered, “One word – one word: Possibilities.”
There’s little we can’t do if we work together. One person can’t defend the country, but millions of soldiers with 100,000 airplanes can. One person can’t cure cancer or diabetes, but thousands of scientists working together and separately can, and I believe, someday, they will. One person can’t reshape our economy to relieve the afflicted. But a government that truly represents the diversity of America can. One person can’t explore strange new worlds, or seek out new life and new civilizations, but together we all can boldly go where no one has gone before.
Let’s recognize, at last, that we have more in common with our bitterest enemy than I have with the dog I love with all my heart. We may have irreconcilably different ideologies, beliefs, agendas, goals, and desires. But all of us have a heart. All of us bleed. All of us pee, and poop, and sleep and wake up. All of us require the sun to keep us alive. All of us rose from the same bit of goo 4.5 billion years ago. Your DNA is nearly identical to mine. You’re sharing a ride with me on this rock tumbling through space. You live, you love, you laugh, you cry. So do I. You’re here for less than two centuries. So am I.
We need to work with the government we have to make it the government it could be. We need it to become that place where we all come together to discuss our problems and find not the Democratic Answer or the Republican Answer, but the Right Answer.
As Russia marches, seemingly inexorably, toward World War III, and the nuclear war that would exterminate all life on Earth, we need now, more than ever, to stop fighting amongst ourselves over differences that are superficial and start finding a way out of the terror that lies ahead. There’s little point in planning for a Utopian future if we’re not going to be around for another year.
But, for today…
I woke up at 3:40 AM, but that’s because I passed out a little before 9. Speedy Shine came outside with me, did his business, and jumped immediately into my lap and fell asleep again. I don’t know why I love that feeling so much. Having him sleeping in my lap makes me feel alive, content, and at peace with the world.
I wish, so much, everyone could feel such peace. I think of it as a simple pleasure. For far too many people, it’s an all but unimaginable luxury.
There is plenty about which to worry. The chance of nuclear war grows greater all the time. This will almost certainly lead to the extinction of the human race. I think that’s a good reason to worry.
On the other hand, I don’t believe there’s much I can do about that. I don’t believe Putin is taking my calls this week. If he were, I don’t think he could possibly care less about my pleas not to continue the mass murder our species has politely named War.
The best I can possibly do is to convince, if I am absurdly successful, 50 people to believe in the possibilities that liberty holds. I might be able to get them to oppose voter suppression laws, or to support a Universal Basic Income. I can’t stop the deaths.
If our time on Earth is approaching its end, I want to find all the happiness I can before I’m gone. Worrying accomplishes nothing of value, and it keeps me from feeling the Joy I want while I can still have it.
It’s not that I don’t care what is happening. It’s that I can’t change it.
If I can’t change it, I won’t worry about it. I will hope for change. I will advocate change. I will support those who try to make the changes in which I believe.
And then, I’m going to smoke a bowl, play some music, and enjoy the feeling of a dog lying in my lap, allowing me to believe he loves me, and knowing that I love him.
I hope you find a similar sort of Peace. I love you.
My first idea was to call this episode “Preserving Democracy.” The moment, however, that I refer to our system of government as a democracy, someone will shout, “We’re not a democracy; we’re a republic,” and we’re already wasting time on semantics. I don’t want to argue about which terms we apply to the idea that our government is supposed to be about Liberty. It’s right there in our Pledge of Allegiance: “…with liberty and justice for all.” The only way it works is if we can all vote. We gave up The Divine Right of Kings by 1776. Google’s Dictionary defines it fairly well: “the doctrine that kings derive their authority from God, not from their subjects, from which it follows that rebellion is the worst of political crimes. It was claimed in Britain by the earlier Stuarts and is also associated with the absolutism of Louis XIV of France.”
Constitution of The United States
The idea of America is that we all decide who will represent us, our values, our needs, and our concerns in government. I welcome this concept. I think everyone – and by that, I mean all human beings capable of understanding what it means to vote (more than, say, arbitrarily, 12 years old) should be able to vote. If you live here, whether I agree with you or not, I believe your voice should be heard as clearly as mine. This is true whether you are a convicted felon, an illegal immigrant, a homeless person, or the CEO of General Motors. You have a stake in what happens in this country.
Why do you object to someone voting? Among those of us who have that right, well over 30% of us choose not to use it. Do you believe a prisoner serving his sentence is going to vote for the candidate who wants to legalize robbing a convenience store or something? Is there such a candidate… anywhere? If those who are currently unrepresented, or, at least under-represented, can vote, the country can more accurately reflect the will of its residents. I’m willing to bet that a large portion of us, on both sides of the aisle, would love to end poverty and homelessness.
Universal Voting has met significant opposition from its inception. Women were not allowed to vote for well over a century. Black people weren’t allowed, preliminarily, to vote, and when they were, laws were promptly passed to make it all but impossible. People have died for having the unmitigated temerity of trying to cast a vote.
A few weeks ago I talked to you about The Utopia We Could Create. (It’s Episode 137: The Utopia We Could Create: One Dear Land if you haven’t heard it) I described Ellen Hadley’s vision of a world without poverty and homelessness, with little fear of war, with help for everyone, and with information shared all but effortlessly with anyone who wants it. It’s a beautiful idea. The first step in bringing it to fruition is ensuring that everyone can vote.
While we currently live in an oligarchy, or a government run by the wealthy, we were not designed to work like this. There are many more struggling than thriving. If we let those who are struggling vote, they’re likely to elect representatives who will help to ease their pain. Those who hold power now don’t seem to like this idea very well. They’re doing what they can to make voting as difficult as possible. I’ll give you a few examples.
Politicians often use unfounded claims of voter fraud to try to justify registration restrictions. In 2011, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach championed a law requiring Kansans to show “proof of citizenship” documents in order to register to vote, citing false claims of noncitizen voting. Most people don’t carry the required documents on hand — like a passport, or a birth certificate — and as a result, the law blocked the registrations of more than 30,000 Kansans…
Some states are discouraging voter participation by imposing arbitrary requirements and harsh penalties on voters and poll workers who violate these rules. In Georgia, lawmakers have made it a crime to provide food and water to voters standing in line at the polls — lines that are notoriously long in Georgia, especially for communities of color. In Texas, people have been arrested and given outrageous sentences for what amount at most to innocent mistakes made during the voting process…
A felony conviction can come with drastic consequences, including the loss of your right to vote. Some states ban voting only during incarceration, or while on probation or parole. And other states and jurisdictions, like Maine, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., don’t disenfranchise people with felony convictions at all. The fact that these laws vary so dramatically only adds to the overall confusion that voters face, which is a form of voter suppression in itself.
Due to racial bias in the criminal justice system, felony disenfranchisement laws disproportionately affect Black and Brown people, who often face harsher sentences than white people for the same offenses. Many of these laws are rooted in the Jim Crow era, when legislators tried to block Black Americans’ newly won right to vote by enforcing poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers that were nearly impossible to meet. To this day, the states with the most extreme disenfranchisement laws also have long histories of suppressing the rights of Black people.
These are just three examples. There are many more. Many states are going to great lengths to ensure as few people as possible vote. This is in direct opposition to the ideas upon which our government is founded. If we add to this the gerrymandering that occurs in many places, it becomes clear that those in charge are more interested in maintaining power, and less interested in creating One Dear Land.
The cynic will tell you that your vote doesn’t matter. Both major parties are controlled by the elite, and there’s nothing we can do short of a violent overthrow of the government. The problem with that is, in the unlikely event they were successful, we would then have a government controlled by violent people, and I have no more confidence in their intentions to help us reclaim our liberty than I have in those who currently hold power. The odds of such a revolution working are miniscule. The United States has the most powerful military in the history of the world. There’s no military action a militia can launch that could scratch the surface. Additionally, many people will die in any such plan. I’m opposed to killing except in the most extreme cases of need.
Fortunately, other solutions are available. One is The John Lewis Voting Rights Act. “The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the law (the Voting Rights Act) to full strength, in part by once again requiring states with histories of voter discrimination to receive approval from the Department of Justice or a federal court before enacting voting changes.”
The idea is that we will have more opportunities for people to vote. More voices will be heard. Is this necessary, though?
The Brennan Center for Justice tells us:
Voter suppression remains on the rise today. In 2021 alone, at least 19 states enacted at least 34 laws that make it harder to vote, while at least 13 restrictive voting bills have been pre-filed for 2022 legislative sessions and no fewer than 152 restrictive voting bills will carry over from last year. Four of the restrictive laws that passed in 2021 are “monster” voter suppression packages that include dozens voting access rollbacks. Two of these monster laws are in states that would be covered by the version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act before the Senate (Texas and Georgia) and a third is in a state (Florida) that would have been covered by the House version of the bill. (The fourth is in Iowa).
In 1965, states and localities suppressed the votes of people of color with poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, we see insidious discrimination in new forms. We see it when a state bans 24-hour voting in response to its widespread use in a heavily nonwhite county. We see it when a state sets limits on drop boxes that make them harder to access after nonwhite voters used them in droves. We see it when a legislator says we should focus on the “quality” of voters over the quantity.
One step toward ensuring full participation in our democracy is passing the latest Voting Rights Act. There are enough votes in Congress to accomplish this, except that the filibuster keeps it from happening. The filibuster, in modern times, is explained here by The Washington Post.
The filibuster is a Senate rule that essentially requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.
The Senate is required to follow certain procedural steps in passing legislation. When a bill is brought to the Senate floor, any senator can bring things to a halt by speaking for as long as they wish, effectively delaying a vote to end debate on a bill. The Senate can vote to end debate with a three-fifths majority, or 60 of 100 senators. So any bill that has the support of at least 60 senators is, in effect, filibuster-proof, and the Senate can quickly move on to the next steps leading up to a final vote.
But most controversial legislation is passed on party-line votes these days, and it’s very rare for parties to have 60 senators. Democrats only have 50 right now.
In the modern Senate, an objecting senator doesn’t actually have to stand there and filibuster endlessly — you might remember Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) reading “Green Eggs and Ham,” or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) quoting Jay-Z and Wiz Khalifa, in the midst of hours-long speeches that brought the Senate to a standstill.
Those were examples of what was required of senators decades ago. Now, a senator can simply indicate her intent to filibuster a bill and cause it to be sidelined. That means in the current Senate, all it takes is one Republican to object to a Democratic-sponsored bill, and that bill is stopped in its tracks.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/09/what-is-filibuster/
Ending the filibuster would allow Congress to protect our voting rights. It’s not a panacea, but it’s a good step toward allowing us to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. There are dangers for both sides of the aisle. Democrats will be able to pass voting rights legislation now, but Republicans are likely to regain the majority in the 2022 elections, and changing the filibuster will give them greater power to pass legislation Democrats won’t like.
The majority of voters chose these representatives. The majority of these representatives want to protect voting rights. I’m a part of that majority, which is extraordinarily rare for a man known for holding minority opinions on nearly every issue.
If the people are accurately and faithfully represented, the people can decide how to make our country, first, and our world, inevitably, the kind of place it ought to be. We can work together to abolish poverty, to terminate homelessness, and to ensure that everyone’s basic needs are met. We need to preserve our liberty if we’re going to accomplish anything else.
Violence is unnecessary and counterproductive. We can use our voices to make a difference. I can’t make that difference alone. Neither can you. Neither can she. But, if every person moves one rock, a billion of us can move a mountain. I’m moving the tiny little rock that I can. I hope you can move a heavier stone.
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You
You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one
“No longer do we see slum conditions in any part of our country. Landlords vie with each other to offer the finest affordable housing to prospective tenants, knowing that, thanks to their basic incomes, they will be able to pay the rent regularly. Arrangements can be made for the landlord to be paid directly by the government, with the tenant receiving the rest of his basic income for his other living expenses. No one need live in run-down housing, and, as a result, slums have disappeared, to be replaced by decent, pleasant neighborhoods.
“No longer do we see the sad spectacle of elderly persons being stripped of a major portion of their life’s savings because of a catastrophic illness. They need not live in fear of impoverishment by health care expenses after they have worked long and diligently to put aside their nest-egg in order to have some comforts in their old age and leave inheritance to their children.
“No longer do we worry greatly about the possibility of war with other countries. We have come to think of ourselves as one world, working together under a common government, enjoying equal privileges, and striving toward shared goals.
“Finally, my friends, as you enter the voting booth, I ask you to think of the wonderful young people who have been growing up during these years. The counseling and care provided them has helped them to make the most of their educations, talents, and abilities and to develop into wholesome, healthy young citizens and future contributing members of the world community.
“I am confident that you, being mindful of these important advances in our society, will elect me to a second term as your President.”
— Ellen Hadley, “One Dear Land” page 247, 248
The link to the book is in the show notes.
Whether you believe what you just heard is possible, I hope you agree that it’s what we would all want for our world. The end of poverty is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Decent neighborhoods, kindly landlords, and children growing up in a nurturing environment are goals I think we all share.
Those who oppose these goals tend to use fear to dissuade us from pursuing them. The attitude is frequently that “I got mine; you get yours. If we start handing out money to lazy people, they end up getting the money YOU earned! We can’t allow that.” And this is a root cause of much human misery. As long as there are those who lack the basics of survival, there will be desperate people trying to obtain them. If we share no other goals, I think it’s fair to say that, with a few suicidal exceptions, we all want to live.
“While it’s desirable that competition should be a factor in determining the luxuries that a group enjoys, we shouldn’t let it affect its members’ access to the necessities of life. Competition must never cause any community of people to be deprived of its basic needs. If that were to happen, not only would this be an evil in itself, but it would lead to bitterness and resentment on the part of the deprived group toward those who are more affluent.” (“One Dear Land,” pages 254 and 255.)
There are lots of reasons cynics can find to persuade us this world isn’t possible. They help us to achieve nothing, however. Believing that something is possible is the first step toward making it happen. We would need some fundamental changes in our society, and, indeed, in the world for this Utopia to become a reality. There are those who will try to keep us from making these changes because they profit from the world being as it is. They can’t keep doing that forever, though. There is only so long that you can oppress a large population before they rebel. I never want to see it come to violent struggle. I don’t believe it has to, if we can convince everyone that it’s in everyone’s best interests to create a kinder, more productive, and, frankly, more beautiful world.
How do we do it?
First, let’s rid ourselves of poverty. If you’ve ever listened to this show before, you know what Universal Basic Income is. It comes up over and over. If, however, this is your first episode, I’ll take just a moment to explain. UBI is providing everyone with enough money to meet their basic needs. We ensure everyone has enough to pay rent and, at the very minimum, have enough money to eat properly, dress, and do the other things we need to do to keep living. This isn’t a handout if you are willing to accept the idea that, as I’ve said hundreds of times, There is no Them; we are all Us. This means the government is us, too. At the moment, it doesn’t really seem to be.
It seems to be an oligarchy, and there are those who have a vested interest in keeping it that way. It’s government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. It’s wonderful for those who have money. It sort of sucks for the rest of us. There was a guy whose name you might have heard before, Abe Lincoln, who told us that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The people. Not the few. I would love for us to return to that. We can take a step in that direction by working to keep free and fair elections in which everyone (that would be The People) can vote, and many more of us actually exercise that right.
The first step, then, toward achieving the world we want is reforming the government. I am not a political scientist. I’m not an economist. I’m not a sociologist. I leave that reform to those who are smarter than I am. I will simply point toward the destination: a truly representative government.
Having elected leaders who represent our interests, we now have the chance to put a UBI into place. Don’t buy into the fear that someone is going to take your money and give it to someone else. That’s what we do with money. We earn some, and then we give it to someone else in exchange for something we want, whether it’s goods or services, or simply the satisfaction of helping. The money we collect through taxes goes back to those whose money it was in the first place. In “One Dear Land,” Ellen Hadley suggests it might be done through a sales tax. Those who have more, and spend more, also pay more. There are any number of ways to pay for everyone’s well-being. I leave it to my economist friends to find them. We’re all working together to try to improve the world. That’s their contribution. It’s vital.
Ms. Hadley suggested, in 1990 when the book was first written, that we might have a computer system that would allow us more information about each other. This is, of course, before the internet did just that. The privacy concerns still exist, but the truth is that anyone can find out nearly anything they want about you now anyway. It’s hardly a state secret that the NSA has all our texts and phone calls. There’s little point in fighting against it. It’s best to embrace it. We can now find out about which businesses are best on Yelp, as well as dozens, or perhaps, hundreds of other places. If you want to know anything about me, the information is easily accessible on my Facebook page if you’re a friend of mine. It’s less easily accessible if you’re not, but I feel certain anyone who really tries can find out more about me than I remember about myself.
In One Dear Land, someone is murdered because of all the information floating freely out there. The murderer is dishonest, and the free flow of information hurt his business. He wants revenge. I have an entire episode about why revenge is a very bad idea. (It’s episode 132: “A Dish Best Served Cold” if you would like to listen.)
The book pioneers a religion called Infinitism. As an atheist, I reject the supernatural portions of the idea, but I like the values that spring from it. Where they have reincarnation, I would have The Veil of Ignorance. Infinitism posits that we are all going to live another life in the world we helped to create while we were alive in this one. It suggests we create a better world now so we will have a better life next time around, whether we are born rich or poor.
The Veil of Ignorance says, “Imagine before you’re born you don’t know anything about who you’ll be, your abilities, or your position. Now design a tax system.” (That was Will Bailey, in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing explaining John Rawls.) The idea is that, no matter who you are, or where you’re born, or what challenges you will face, you want the world to be as good for you as possible. Whether you’re rich or poor, you want the best life you can have. I believe in that idea. I believe in having a reasonable amount of empathy. I believe in compassion. Don’t you?
So… why have a UBI?
First, it creates better employees. The people working for you now are people who really want the job, and not people trying to make enough money to make ends meet one more month. They are likely to be more enthusiastic, more dedicated to the work, and more interested in improving. They find the job fulfilling. That’s how I, for example, felt about most of the first 20 years of my teaching career. It’s how I feel about my podcast now.
Second, UBI decreases crime. Gone are the otherwise good people who have been forced by desperation for food or a home to commit crimes to get the cash they need. Their basic needs are met. Of course, there are still evil people in the world. I don’t know that we will ever be able to stop that. I do know, though, that children who grow up in more stable households, with parents who have the time they need to give to their children, are statistically less likely to become criminals. There are no guarantees. The best we can do is increase the odds. I have an entire episode on this idea, too. It’s Episode 91: How Do We Avoid Another Columbine, Parkland, Newtown, or Boulder?
Third, employers can now pay lower wages for good jobs because people don’t need the money simply to survive. One of The People On The Porch, who is a relative of mine (although I have no idea of what the term for our relationship to one another would be), told me once that she wanted to be a teacher. I am certain she would have been an excellent educator. Why didn’t she ever do it? She couldn’t afford it. Teachers don’t make enough to cover all her bills. Her line of work is vastly more profitable. The world lost someone who might have made a significant difference in the lives of many children because she couldn’t afford to follow that passion. This is not to say that she hasn’t made a difference in her profession. She absolutely has. I just feel bad for the kids who never got to have her as a teacher. Good teachers are harder and harder to find. With a UBI, they wouldn’t be.
Another change we could make is, of course, Universal Healthcare. Just as our schools are funded by our taxes, so our Medical Care could, and should, be. No one should be crippled by medical debt. I covered this in one of my earliest episodes. It’s Episode 7: “Who Are The People Who Should Die for a Lack of Little Green Pieces of Paper?”
We could also pay for counselors for everyone, and in every area of life, so that mental heath assistance is always available. The same is true for help with budgeting, or drug abuse, or citizenship, or anything else of which we can think. We need to know help is freely available to all of us.
We could treat Drug Addiction as a medical issue instead of a crime. We should have help easily and freely available to everyone who wants it. Obviously, if drug use causes someone to commit a crime, the criminal needs to be properly tried in a court of law. If, however, we can help a drug addict before they commit a crime, aren’t we all better off?
What we have now is something between 59 and 68 million people getting some form of welfare, trapped in a system from which escape is all but impossible, and saddled with the contempt that comes with assistance.
The vast majority of people who are on welfare would rather not be. They’re happy to work and to contribute to our society. Many, if not most, of the people receiving government assistance are working. My former roommate, for example, has a degree and is being crushed by the student loans that come with it. She got that degree based on the myth that this is how one gets a higher paying job. She worked overnight shifts at Circle K because we needed the extra 50 cents an hour that she got for those high-risk times. The degree didn’t get her a higher paying job, but it did put her sufficiently into debt that she gets food stamps. She works 40 hours a week. She’s anything but lazy.
She’s more fortunate than many of the people we see when we go to DES to stand in line for hour after hour waiting for someone to ask her degrading questions about her life so they can decide if she deserves to eat for the next 6 months. Most of the others have their children with them. Why? They can’t afford daycare. How well are they going to do at whatever jobs they can get, since they don’t have degrees, when they don’t know if their children are safe?
Some of them are in their 60s. They’re too old to do many jobs, but not old enough to get Social Security.
Are there lazy people on Welfare? I’m sure there are. There are lazy people everywhere.
But, for most people, it’s not that they’re lazy. It’s that they got hit with medical bills that put them on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s that they had children when they hadn’t planned to, often because they were raped. It’s that they work 2 minimum wage jobs, hoping to earn enough to go to school hoping that someday they can actually earn money. There are as many reasons for poverty as there are victims of it.
What would $2000 a month do for those people? It would pay their rent and utilities so the money they do earn can go to frivolous things like car payments so they can go to work and pay for their cars so they can go to work.
Where would we get the money? We would get it by taxing those who, through innovative technology, for good or for ill, are eliminating jobs human beings once did. No one will need to do a Go Fund Me for technology companies when they pay these extra taxes. And you know what else? No one will need to do a Go Fund Me for the rest of us, who live paycheck to paycheck, to pay our rent and keep the heat on, anymore, either.
Is UBI a radical idea? Yes. And it’s only through radical ideas that change had ever been made.
The Founding Fathers had the then radical idea that people ought not to be taxed without representation among those levying the taxes. And things changed.
Abolitionists had the then radical idea that it’s not okay for one human being to own another. And things changed.
Susan B. Anthony had the then radical idea that women should have a few of the same rights as men. And things changed.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had the then radical idea that people should be judged by the content of their characters and not the color of their skin. And things changed.
There are many more changes this country needs to make if it is to fulfill its promise of liberty and justice for all. One Dear Land is proposing several such changes.
The most important part of any free society is the right to vote. It is our ability to make our voices heard at the ballot box that grants us what power we have. Nearly all of us feel as though we have too little power as it is. To do anything to deny any citizen the right to vote, or to make it more difficult to vote is, in my view, patently immoral.
Let’s get the talking points out of the way off the top:
We must protect ourselves from fraud.
Nonsense. Voter fraud is all but non-existent. If you’re truly concerned with that, let’s see what we can do about changing to something called block chain voting. Even a brief Google search, however, brings up many suggestions that this, too, may be insecure. Evidently this form of internet voting can still be hacked, despite the many claims I have heard to the contrary. Do you know more about blockchain voting than I do? That wouldn’t be difficult. Please call the show and tell me what you know, and whether this is really a secure and feasible idea to make elections both secure and easily accessible for as many people as possible. (480) 331 – 9822.
I have no objection to making voting secure, but I also have no reason to believe it isn’t already. The idea of making elections more secure is a solution in search of a problem.
· The Brennan Center’s seminal report on this issue, The Truth About Voter Fraud, found that most reported incidents of voter fraud are actually traceable to other sources, such as clerical errors or bad data matching practices. The report reviewed elections that had been meticulously studied for voter fraud, and found incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent. Given this tiny incident rate for voter impersonation fraud, it is more likely, the report noted, that an American “will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.”
Really? Why is that? Let’s go through the most common list. First, there are convicted criminals. There’s debate about whether they should have their right to vote restored to them once they have served their sentence. I understand that there are people who need to be locked up to keep the rest of us safe. I don’t deny the need for a prison system of some sort. But… why can’t they vote? What is it you’re afraid they’re going to do? The worst I can imagine is they will vote for people who are most likely to repeal the laws they were convicted of breaking. I have no objection to someone voting to repeal the laws against marijuana. I’ll go further and suggest that Oregon has it right. They have decriminalized possession of all drugs. Why do we need to lock someone up for possessing drugs? If they get wasted and commit a crime in which someone is hurt, by all means, arrest them. But owning something that isn’t dangerous to others is no reason for one to lose the liberty, both physical and political, that is the birthright of all people. I don’t think they’re going to find many candidates running on the idea of legalizing murder, rape, or car theft. So… let them vote. If it were up to me, they would be voting from their prison cells. They are still human beings. They deserve the right to have their voices heard.
The Founding Fathers didn’t intend, I realize, most people to vote. Slaves weren’t allowed to vote. Women weren’t allowed to vote. We’ve eliminated (at least superficially) slavery, and I prefer we don’t eliminate women. It’s fairly commonly accepted that women and Black people should be allowed to vote. I don’t think there’s anyone sitting on our Porch tonight who would seriously try to argue those folks should be disenfranchised.
Next, there is the idea that Illegal Aliens shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Please don’t, in my presence, ever refer to these people as “Illegals.” It is not illegal to be a person. When this occurs, we will be living in a dystopian nightmare. They may be in America illegally, but that doesn’t make them Illegal. It may, I suppose, make them criminals, but I am truly sickened by the idea that there are people who will go to prison or be thrown out of the country because they lack the paperwork to be here legally. Paperwork exists to ensure nothing ever gets accomplished. Or… such has been my experience. I’m sure many of you are big fans of paperwork. To me, it’s a symbol of mistrust. It’s true, it seems, only if it’s committed to paper.
Our government moves at a glacial pace. Earning citizenship can be not only prohibitively expensive, but it can also take years. All the while, people are trying to live: Mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, infants. All just trying to live their lives while they wait and wait for paperwork to be completed. There is nothing magical about the paperwork that makes them better people than before it was processed. It simply says they were patient, they persevered, they persisted, and they paid. If you live in this country, you should have a say in how it’s governed. Other countries don’t do this? Okay. Let’s be better than other countries.
The last election was stolen; this must never happen again, so we need more prohibitive voting laws.
I don’t think you really believe that. The evidence that the 2020 election was accurate is overwhelming. The myth that the election was stolen is commonly referred to as “The Big Lie.” It’s been thrown out of court more than 60 times. Ballots were counted and recounted. On The Front Porch we discuss ideas that lead somewhere. We’ve spent far too much time with that nonsense already. No. The Election was not stolen. If you have evidence to the contrary, please turn it over to the proper authorities.
I think we have addressed the most common talking points now, so let’s move on to why they’re just wrong to try to make voting more difficult. Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, a member of The Green Party, The Communist Party, or the Frat Party, you get to vote. Your voice counts exactly as much as mine. Regardless of how much I may disagree with you, I want you not only to have the opportunity to vote, but I would like you to make use of it. Democracy works best when… oh wait… I heard that.
We don’t live in a Democracy, Fred; we live in a Constitutional Republic.
Oh, aren’t you clever? You’re so much smarter than I am. You must have read a history book once. I shall bow to your superior knowledge. I am cowed by the overwhelming power and magnitude of your argument. We don’t live in a Democracy. You’re right. I’m wrong.
There’s a difference between the two. Let’s see what a three-second Google search reveals on this important bit of political knowledge.
“In a pure democracy, laws are made directly by the voting majority leaving the rights of the minority largely unprotected. In a republic, laws are made by representatives chosen by the people and must comply with a constitution that specifically protects the rights of the minority from the will of the majority.”
So, you know, voting doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not a democracy. Except… oh wait, again! Yes. Yes, as it turns out, voting does matter. “laws are made by representatives chosen by the people.” How do we choose these representatives? Do we do it by drawing lots? Perhaps by tossing darts? No? No, you’re right. We do this thing called… what’s it called? Oh, yes… voting.
Making it more difficult to vote is making being an American, being a free human being, more difficult. Why would we want to do that? Aren’t we The Land of The Free and The Home of The Brave? I know I’ve heard that somewhere before.
Let’s be brave enough to allow the people to choose their representatives. When appropriate, let’s allow the people to vote directly on their laws. Let’s make being an American the easiest thing to do. Whether we agree about anything politically, I feel certain we can agree that voting is our most basic right. It’s not to be reserved for straight, white male landowners. It turns out the person farming the land for the landlord matters, too.
See, this is the thing. All people are human. I like some of them. I don’t like others. This is true for all of us. But, I also recognize that all of us, even people I don’t like, deserve the best possible life. To get that sort of life, we need to be able to choose representatives that exemplify our interests. This would include the interests of those who have no money. That group is becoming larger all the time. The pandemic caused a massive rise in poverty. Their voices need to be included in the discussion. The voices of the rich have plenty of representation. Let’s make it as easy as possible for those who don’t have cars to drive to their polling places to vote. Let’s make it as efficient as we can for people who live on roads with no names and no power to make their voices heard. They’re Americans, too. Let’s make sure that The Newsroom’s Dorothy Cooper can vote. Oh… you don’t know her? I’ll drop a link to the video in the show notes, but this is what Will McAvoy tells us in an episode of the fictional show, “The Newsroom.”
Dorothy Cooper is a 96 year old resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been voting for the last 75 years. This year, she has been told she can’t. A new law in Tennessee requires residents to show a government issued photo ID in order to vote. Dorothy Cooper doesn’t have a driver’s license, because Dorothy Cooper doesn’t have a car. Dorothy Cooper doesn’t have a passport; a vacation abroad was never in her future.
Tennessee isn’t alone. At this moment, 33 states have proposed or already adopted the same voter ID laws that have disqualified Dorothy Cooper from the one fundamental thing that we all do as Americans. It’s estimated that 11% or roughly 20 million people don’t have government issued voter IDs and will be disenfranchised this November. Why? To crack down on the terrible problem of voter fraud. Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who is about to enter the presidential primary race, is serious about cracking down on the problem:
>Video of Perry: “Making sure that there is not fraud, making sure that someone is not manipulating that process makes all the sense in the world to me.”<
Me too. Because voter fraud is such a huge problem that during a five year period in the Bush Administration, when 196 million votes were cast, the number of cases of voter fraud reached…86. Not 86,000. 86. Here’s what that number looks like as a percentage of votes cast. .00004%. Four one hundred thousandths of a percent. This would be called a solution without a problem, but it’s not. It’s just a solution to a different problem.
Dorothy Cooper should be able to vote. No matter who she votes for, her voice is one that should be counted. She is no less of a person because she has no driver’s license. Jon Kavanaugh, a lawmaker right here in Arizona, said:
“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote — but everybody shouldn’t be voting.”
He pointed to Democrats’ emphasis on registering voters and pursuing those who have not returned ballots — tactics that Republicans have successfully implemented in other swing states — and said doing so means that “you can greatly influence the outcome of the election if one side pays people to actively and aggressively go out and retrieve those ballots.”
“Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues,” Kavanagh said. “Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”
There is no such thing as “quality” in voting, Mr. Kavanaugh. If someone is uninformed, let’s do better at getting them the facts. Even Huck Finn’s Pap should have the right to vote. (Trigger warning: the following sequence, quoted from Mark Twain, makes use of a word I will never use, myself, and that I do not wish to hear anyone else use. I decline, however, to edit America’s first great writer.)
Heather Cox Richardson, whose daily news summaries are sufficient to cover most of my news needs, showed us how much voting matters.
March 10, 2021 (Wednesday)
Today was a big day for the United States of America.
The House of Representatives passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, accepting the changes to the measure that the Senate had added. This bill marks a sea change in our government. Rather than focusing on dismantling the federal government and turning individuals loose to act as they wish, Congress has returned to the principles of the nation before 1981, using the federal government to support ordinary Americans. With its expansion of the child tax credit, the bill is projected to reach about 27 million children and to cut child poverty in half.
The bill, which President Biden is expected to sign Friday,(UPDATE: Biden signed it on Thursday) is a landmark piece of legislation, reversing the trend of American government since Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cut. Rather than funneling money upward in the belief that those at the top will invest in the economy and thus create jobs for poorer Americans, the Democrats are returning to the idea that using the government to put money into the hands of ordinary Americans will rebuild the economy from the bottom up. This was the argument for the very first expansion of the American government—during Abraham Lincoln’s administration—and it was the belief on which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the New Deal.
Unlike the previous implementations of this theory, though, Biden’s version, embodied in the American Rescue Plan, does not privilege white men (who in Lincoln and Roosevelt’s day were presumed to be family breadwinners). It moves money to low-wage earners generally, especially to women and to people of color.
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) called the child tax credit “a new lifeline to the middle class.” “Franklin Roosevelt lifted seniors out of poverty, 90 percent of them with Social Security, and with the stroke of a pen,” she said. “President Biden is going to lift millions and millions of children out of poverty in this country.”
Republican lawmakers all voted against the bill despite the fact that 76% of Americans, including 59% of Republicans, like the measure. Still, the disjunction between the bill’s popularity and their opposition to it put them in a difficult spot. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) tweeted positively about the bill this evening, leaving the impression he had voted for it. Twitter users wanted no part of the deception, immediately calling him out for touting a bill he had opposed (although he had been a Republican co-sponsor of the amendment about which he was boasting).
This is why we need to have the greatest possible number of people voting. When we have more voters, we can pass legislation that actually helps people. Those who are opposed to helping the poor are going to need to defend their votes in upcoming elections. Voting is how we hold our representatives accountable.
Our representatives decide who will be able to vote. They decide who will be able to stave off, for one more month, the plunge into a poverty from which there is often no escape. They decide who will be the judges that interpret our laws, and who will be the people who enforce them. Their decisions directly affect your life. You need to have a voice in choosing who will make those decisions.
Even if you entirely oppose all of my political views, I think we agree that we must protect our ability to vote. It’s all the power we have. Vote against all of the programs I endorse if that’s your wish. But let’s allow this to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Isn’t that the least we should have if we’re to be called a Free People?
If it were up to me, we would scrap the Electoral College, which has more than once robbed the candidate with the most votes of the Presidency. If I had been a Trump voter in Arizona in 2020, I would have felt disenfranchised because my vote didn’t matter. More Arizonans voted for Biden than Trump, so slightly over half of the votes in Arizona counted, while the rest were irrelevant. Who is better off for this? I would prefer that every vote counted equally. My one vote in Arizona is worth as much as someone else’s one vote in California, although they have five times as many electoral votes as we do.
I have read that part of the reason we continue to have the Electoral College is because of the legacy of slavery. A national popular vote would have kept slave owners from getting votes on behalf of their slaves. This was unacceptable at the time. Slavery is, however, at least ostensibly, gone. Perhaps the Electoral College could follow it. As it stands, I am more certain that either a Republican or a Democrat will be elected President in 2024 than I am that Valerie Bertinelli will not be inviting me to dinner before then.
I did an entirely unscientific and informal survey on my Facebook page. It offers me nothing beyond what the few friends who commented thought, but those were the only people with whom I was concerned anyway. Most of them thought that most people need to be able to vote. There were a few who brought up age as being a requirement, and a few who wanted it limited to citizens and withheld from those currently incarcerated, but there was some debate about why those in prison cells shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Some believed violent criminals shouldn’t be allowed to vote, as it would be a fitting punishment. I’m not sure if I agree with that. It will require more thought.
A good point was made that, at 16, many of us are working already. If we’re working, we’re paying taxes. If we’re paying taxes, we should be represented. There was something in American history about “taxation without representation.” If memory serves, we fought an entire war about that idea. It seems reasonable to let someone vote at 16. The consensus was that 12 is too early. That’s a topic about which I would love to hear more. You might leave me your thoughts at (480) 331 – 9822. I promise I won’t answer the phone. Just leave me a voicemail, and I’ll play it and respond on the air.
There was a suggestion that “People who incite or engage in insurrection against the United States government and its citizens” shouldn’t be allowed to vote. I think that’s an interesting idea. It’s as though they have already decided voting is not how a government should be run, so I think that may be a valid point.
No one found any value in voter suppression laws. They are being proposed all over the country. My state, Arizona, has proposed nearly 2 dozen bills to make it more difficult to vote. We can speculate about why. I have a Facebook friend who constantly contends the Republicans can win only by cheating. I would like for Republicans, Democrats, and any other political party to win by convincing the greatest number of people their ideas are the best ones for running our nation. And I would like voting to be an easy right to assert. Vote by mail. Vote by dropping off a ballot in a conveniently located collection box. Put voting booths everywhere. Set them up inside Walmarts. Let’s find voters where they are, and let’s listen to what they want.
In this way, we can save our country. In this way, we can allow more people to… Shine.
While I still have you, I wanted to mention something entirely irrelevant to this episode, but that gave me a bit of joy this week. These are just a couple of moments collected from my Physical Front Porch.
The mother who lives two doors down from me just told me she listened to an episode of my Podcast. That made me unreasonably happy.
Her 11-month-old son has a fever. He’s perfectly happy, she tells me, but she took him to the doctor to be safe. I told her I hope he gets better soon.
My next-door neighbor believes I’m famous. I find that amusing. I don’t believe it will ever be true.
This is my life now. I think there’s something lovely about it. It’s quiet. It’s simple. It’s mine. I hope yours is the same. Let’s vote to make sure that happens for everyone.
I left a voicemail a few hours ago, but I didn’t have time to explain myself properly. I’m going to do that now.
First, I’m asking that you help the Senate to pass legislation that will keep the President from sending unidentified federal agents into cities in unmarked vans to kidnap protesters from the street. This behavior is the beginning of fascism. The officers refuse to identify themselves. They have no badges. They can’t be identified. The protesters are not told for what they are being arrested. They are not being read their Miranda rights.
We must act to keep the President from violating our civil liberties. This isn’t a matter of inconvenience. This is about the right peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. BLM is protesting about the unreasonable police brutality we have all witnessed repeatedly. They are advocating for change. This isn’t simply their right. It’s their moral duty.
Please support Bill S. 220.
While you’re at it, I need to ask you to help your constituents, in general, and then this constituent, specifically.
First, between 30 and 40 million Americans are now unemployed. This is not our fault. The pandemic has made many of our jobs impossible to do. We are not lazy. We are not wealthy. We need your help.
With the provisions of the CARES Act expiring soon, many of us will be facing eviction because we can’t pay rent. Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I am not threatened with eviction, myself, but only because my landlord is my best friend’s boyfriend. I’m safe from homelessness, but I haven’t been able to pay them all my roommates and I owe them for months. I’m living off of their charity.
We are also about to be unable to buy even the most basic groceries. When the Unemployment some of us (but, by no means all of us, particularly in Arizona) are getting runs out in the coming days, we will be unable to survive. Whether we ought to or not, we live in a world in which money is essential to survival. We have set up a system in which one is forced to work by the threat of homelessness and starvation. While a permanent Universal Basic Income that frees us from these chains would be ideal, I would be satisfied with granting the American people… ALL of the American people… an income until the end of the pandemic. Then we can go back to work and earn money again.
It’s unreasonable to assert that we should all have been better prepared. 40% of us can’t afford a $400 emergency. Here is a link to support my claim.
There’s no way we had 3 months of savings. I’m among those who don’t even make it paycheck to paycheck. I’ve eaten more than my share of ramen.
Please support legislation that will bring real relief to Americans, and concern yourself less with the corporations who have the money to buy their will. I promise American Airlines won’t need a GoFundMe to pay rent next month. I’ve had to do 4 in the last 3 years. I will never do another. It’s too humiliating.
And, now, for a personal request.
My name is Fred Eder. I taught elementary school for 29 years, the last 12 of which were here in Arizona. I quit my job in 2016 because I couldn’t do it anymore. My health was shot. What I loved about teaching was gone. My efforts needed to concern tracking data that proved absolutely nothing of value about my students or their abilities, filling in information and uploading “artifacts” (don’t ask what they are… no one knows) on a website to prove that I could teach, and creating bulletin boards of nonsense about our Plan, Do, Study, Act curriculum. I couldn’t have 4th Graders perform Hamlet anymore. In fact, I couldn’t even have them read any real literature anymore.
I wasn’t allowed to show them that reading is the most exciting and rewarding experience a human being could have anymore. Instead, they learned Reading is something you do to pass a mind numbing test on a computer that may or may not work on any given day.
No more Sherlock Holmes mysteries to grab their attention, stretch their vocabulary, and engage all of their critical thinking skills to figure out what happened to Helen Stoner’s sister, Julia, who died alone in her own bedroom, with no evidence of violence or poison. No more watching the gears begin to turn in their heads when we learn that Helen is now being forced by her stepfather to move into the same room in which her sister died. The stares of wonder when they read that Julia heard strange low whistles for a few nights before she died were confirmation that I was getting through. The terror they felt in watching Julia stumble from her room, dying, gasping about “… the band… The Speckled Band…” showed me they were experiencing catharsis. The fact that many of them went home to download and read the rest of the story before we could finish it in class because they were desperate to find out why Helen is now hearing the same low whistles in the middle of the night in the very bed in which her sister died, told me they were becoming readers. I felt great.
I’m sorry those days are passed. I will always miss them.
I pulled what was left of my retirement, lived on it for a while, and then got a job selling DirecTV for a few months before I returned to teaching Defensive Driving. I wasn’t getting wealthy, but as long as I had roommates and food stamps, I could survive.
Then came the pandemic. I haven’t worked since March 15. My company can no longer do classes safely. They hoped to open again in August, meaning I might have a paycheck as early as September 15. With the pandemic spiking in Arizona, that’s incredibly unlikely.
I applied for Unemployment once some time ago. The website and the letter I got told me I didn’t make enough to qualify. I let it go. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t earn any more money. I begged my friends for charity.
Then, for reasons passing understanding, I received a check for roughly $2500 from the state for unemployment. I was ecstatic. I received only one check. The ecstasy soon turned to intense frustration I began sharing to my Facebook page.
I reapplied. And this is where it gets interesting. I wrote this on July 16 as a Facebook post:
Aside from the fact that my brain is shutting down at a frightening rate, I am a reasonably intelligent man. I have a Bachelor’s Degree, and people let me teach Elementary School for 29 years. I’m at least as intelligent as the average person.
And yet…
The Unemployment Office and the hoops through which I am required to jump are beyond my ability to comprehend.
I filed a claim several months ago. They told me I didn’t make enough money to qualify. Several weeks later, for reasons passing understanding, they sent me a big check. Yay!
Then they didn’t send anything else.
So…
I got on the computer with both of my roommates to file another claim. I had them help me make sure I did it right. It took quite a while, but the site said I could have Unemployment. Yay! They sent me a letter telling me I’m going to get Unemployment. They sent me a card they would fill with some money. How awesome.
I’ve had the card for a week. Every morning, I call to see if there is any money on it. There’s not.
Today we tried calling Unemployment to ask what’s happening. Yes, I know that was a waste of time. I’m more likely to talk to Valerie Bertinelli than to a human being at the Unemployment Office.
They did have numbers to Press to give you information about your claim, though, so instead of throwing my phone across the back porch, I pressed the numbers.
The computer says there is no claim.
We got back on the site today and did it all again.
Here’s my point:
If I can’t figure it out, and my college educated roommates, one of whom is young enough to understand computers properly, can’t figure it out, how do they expect those with less intelligence than ours to be able to get help?
If we’re going to defund the police, perhaps we could direct some of the budget to hiring sufficient staff to make the system work properly.
But, this wasn’t all. It was far from it.
This is a second Facebook post from last Sunday:
Adventures in Arizona Unemployment
Sunday is the day you have to return to the Unemployment site to beg to get back some of the money you have been paying in for 4 decades.
This week it decided I needed to have a new PIN. They have a tab for that. Click.
Now it says you have to use the site you’re actually using and start over. Click back.
You’re not allowed to click back. You have to start over. Close Chrome. Start again.
Click File Weekly Claim. Enter SSN. Done. Enter PIN. Done. Need to reset PIN.
Click reset PIN.
You can’t reset PIN online. You must call. Obviously they aren’t open on Sundays.
I call that number 3 times a day. I can’t even get into the queue to begin waiting countless hours. Due to the Pandemic, we have no space left in the queue. Please try another time.
If this were just for customer service because my phone or computer isn’t working, I would blow it off. This isn’t that. This is the only money I can get.
How many thousands of others are going through this? I make almost 300 a month from my podcast now. I’m incredibly proud of that.
I’m working on getting a voice over company to hire me for a project. It won’t be much, but if I land the gig, it’s a little more.
None of the people desperately trying to make the website work caused the Pandemic. None of them collapsed the economy. By definition, none of them just decided to quit working. And yet…
None of us can pay rent. None of us can buy groceries.
Well, I suppose I could go down to the Unemployment Office. Oh, no, sorry. That’s closed.
You can’t do it online because the software doesn’t work.
You can’t call because there aren’t enough people to answer all the calls.
You can’t go to the office because they want you to do it online.
I would be homeless right now if my landlord wasn’t my best friend’s boyfriend.
I would be starving if not for the little bit I get in food stamps.
I would be roasting if not for my roommates who help keep the electricity on.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I just have basically 0 financial value.
How is this okay?
I’m told by several people I should have a donate button on my page. First, I don’t know how to do that. Second, what have I done that means I should become a beggar? How does that make me look in the eyes of those I love? And most people are worse off than I am.
Something needs to change. Immediately.
I had quite a few responses from that post. People offered advice. Among the ideas my friends suggested was writing to my elected representatives. That’s why you’re getting this letter.
A few days later, that post was followed by a third one:
The Further Adventures of Arizona Unemployment
I had to reset my PIN. This can be done, the website says, only on the phone. I called.
The first time I was only on hold half an hour. A human being actually spoke to me. She took my SSN and said I could establish a new PIN. I asked her to wait while I ran inside to try it.
She asked me to do a survey. I said I would after I managed to make my PIN work. I also asked if I was ever getting any Unemployment. She said they are just very behind, but I would.
I arrived at my computer. I typed in the azui.com address. She sent me to the survey. I gave it a 3 out of 5. The call disconnected.
I went to the Establish PIN tab.
I entered the information.
What I entered didn’t match their information. I can’t do my PIN on the internet. I have to call.
I used language I won’t use on the internet. (Or in an email to a Senator)
I came back outside to call. I pressed all the right buttons. I waited for 35 minutes. A recorded voice told me they were full and to call back tomorrow.
I’m writing to all of my elected representatives today. I hope to receive at least a form letter in return.
Meanwhile… I live off of almost $300 a month between Anchor and Patreon. My podcast is paying me, but not providing enough even to pay rent.
And I’m one of the lucky ones.
Arizona Unemployment doesn’t work.
Then, and this is really the infuriating part, one of my friends made this comment:
It looks like You’re on the wrong site . You need to be on the new one https://pua.azdes.gov/vosnet/Default.aspx Once you get your login figured out, use this link… not the old des one
Seriously? I was on the site I was supposed to use. It was the site to which I was sent by Arizona’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Portal who sent me the email saying I was qualified. There are two different websites, and only one of them actually works? How is anyone supposed to get the money we need to survive the pandemic?
I’m asking now for your help. My Social Security Number is ### – ## – ####. I would like for you, please, to see if you can expedite my Unemployment Claim. I am living in abject poverty. I believe you can help. I’m asking for you to do that.
Fred's Thoughts 
