A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

What has happened to the America I grew up in and thought I knew. We went to Church or Synagogue, pledged allegiance to our flag, were watched closely by the entire neighborhood for any signs of disrepair or disrespect, served our nation, and sacrificed and saved for the greater good. Yes, there were plenty of social and economic concerns to keep us occupied, but it appeared to me at least that elected officials cared, were wise and kept the greater good always foremost in their thoughts and actions.

No more! Politics has lost all of its root meanings from the ancient Greeks; it is now a composite of people who put self before service, ideology before the greater good, and the office holders seem more interested in re-election than reflection and collecting contributions over contributing.

Is this harsh? No, actually I think it is rather mild. Perhaps we have too many lawyers in office rather than people who literally left their businesses, secured their farms, and marched off to the State, City or Nation’s capitals to do the people’s business. Where is Mr. Deeds now that we need him?

This may sound condescending to some, but I think ordinary people of good will and selfless ways can point out with clarity what paths need be taken to put things on a firmer footing, to create jobs, to ensure that we don’t measure our abiity to respond via FEMA to a natural disaster by “finding dollars” in some other place. Well, we can find these dollars if we must easily enough initially by reducing foreign commitments and put America first while we call in some professionals with shared values to help in a more sustained way.

Is this too theoretical for the TOTS reader? I don’t think so. I have seen some pretty decisive declarations of what is wrong even if I would not employ or impart innuendo or blame unless it was actually warranted. It is not too hard to make a case for corrective action as is and, my brothers and sisters, this can be done simply via some rather simple declarative statements that do not require excessive analysis. For example, why don’t our elective officials live up to the intent and spirit of the City Charter in terms of roles, relatonships and responsibilities? Why are the linch pins of our long and short term strategies literally swept under the political rug. IN SUBSTANCE no meaningful plan of any time frame is possible, no tax relief in the short term, or capital spending in ther long terms, is possible without taking responsibility for a broken school district or a downtown area that has not be provided with appropriate services for new and existing residents to make them safe and secure, or to place the City’s flag in signage indicating receptivity to visitors and security for residents or critically, an absence of rhetoric, a release of the past indiscretions and a commitment to future growth and development of a commercial base. Does anyone with an ounce of common sense think we can attract a tax base or not lose a valued existing small business base without a multi-dimensional and aggressive plan to sustain the community.

Before looking outward for some guidance and direction, I suggest we consider our existing Mr Deeds prototypes and stop villifying or condescendingly treating our neighborhood associations and our true heroes such as Habitat for Humanity and Community Enrichment Zone folks. They make a major difference and of interest and importance to me is that they are faith based. That has nothing to do with the separation of church and state. What that reflects is that Habitat creates a needed shelter for potential Hurricane Irene refugees when the existing churches, schools, and yes, City fail to think this through properly. It is not rocket science, it is common sense. The Community Enrichment Zones are extraordinary ordinary citizens who clean up neighborhood garbage and plant community gardens. I mention just the tip of the giving iceberg for both. God Bless each member and frankly, he does. Take it from someone who has wrestled and continues to question the role of faith in the life of family and community. That means doubt, but doubt is not dishonor.

Being somewhat of a academic by training and inclination, I find it necessary to cover some ground that I think travels well from the national down to the local level. Consider these points; disagree if you must, but consider them nonetheless.

We can simplify the two party system as it stands today as largely composed of a conservative party and a progressive party. Of course there are shades of gray, but this idelogical taxonomy has led us to a dangerous crossroad in our journey toward national health. The problem with many progressives is that they are inflexible towards areas such as entitlements, social welfare, and social engineering. These have proven to be incredibly expensive and unwise; expensive due to many factors including inefficiency and unwise because it isolates and thwarts the growth and development of people who would otherwise attain more by less reliance and more self-reliance. Any member of a racially, economically, or culturally deprived group is actually fighting against great odds and is to be admired and supported.

The conservative elements are equally problematic. You have representatives who actually sign over the vested power given by the electorate to someone called Grover who promotes an anti-businessed based logic; well actually more of a wild man’s fantasy called “no tax increases anywhere for any reason.” Then you have the belief that, as they stand now, corporate America are job creators; well, partially correct, but these jobs are invested in low cost margin areas. So here is the conflicts roots and it gets so much worse.

Both major groups collect insane amounts of money from individuals, unions, corporations, and special interests. This is used largely for the ongoing practice of running for election and not doing the job you were elected for. We have that locally as well. Consider what dribble you hear from both sides of the political spectrum in New Rochelle and season with your own observations. You have a recipe for malfeasance, malfunction and mischief. Bob Cox is a major voice in the City because he literally has a bully pulpit to talk about such things. Yes, blogs can abuse the privilege but to my personal knowledge, Cox is open to all viewpoints and if he or his correspondents are not challenged, then shame on those who take offense but do not confront.

Clearly the only people in the nation who understand global economies are those who run corporations. Its relatively simple from a business point of view. You maximize profits while minimizing costs. Unfortunately for us, if this process is in conflict with how the decision makers see government and regulations, the money never gets really put back in our economy but there is no sparing of personal gain on the part of business leaders. It would be nice if tea party folks and Grover advocates saw this clearly, but don’t be hard on the vast majority of tea party folks (be hard on Grover though). They are you and me but as in all grass roots movements, they are becoming infecting by political leaders who sense opportunity and gain for themselves.

So we are more and more turning to political theater. Locally we get the City Hall on the steps manuevering and nationally, the intrigue over the scheduled date of the Presidents speech in the Capital to the nation on job building. Both are signs of the tragedy of our times because both should have been non-issues. But, in our times, such matters become issues while people languish on unemployment lists, or wait for disaster relief, or see their homes default. Look closely, you cannot help but to see that elephants are interchangeable with donkeys.

Here it stands… clearly we need a new paradigm of governance coupled with a return to the individual virtues of social and community living and service. In the former case, you cannot ignore the realities of what has been done and, for the most part, done for the right reasons. Our earliest forefathers put us on the industrialization track and manufacturing and trade flourished. During the great depression FDR created a social welfare society and it was necessary but to some degree rescued by WWII. Most of you recall LBJ’s contribution called the Great Society where landmark work was done both in the economic and social arenas of our great nation.

Yet, in 2011 we have to face up to the fact that these competing forces, coupled with the technological revolution around the Internet and embellished by both the emergence of new foreign powers and globalizaton, have never been reconciled. Fact is you cannot jerry rig one to the other so Pelosi and Boehmer cannot independently co-exist, but must interdependently co-exist by the emergence of a new paradigm for running a country; one which takes the best from both and match merges them into a workable model for governance. And, we all have an important role. I remember trying to convince some people that social narcissism is a major player in our growth and development as a society. We overconsume, “we deserve it” to excess, we marginalize savings. That needs to be turned around. We need to resurrect responsibility, a savngs mentality and critically a primacy of the community interest in governance.

Rodney King once said, “can’t we all just get along.” He had it right. Makes more sense than focusing on most of the nonsense we see dominating our senses and psyches on television or in the press. We should really focus on asking why our political society pulls together a bi-partisan team of experts such as comprised the Simpson-Bowles committee on key matters such as the deficit and then throw it largely aside and a few years later convene a fractious group of bi-party legislators who, if they find any common ground whatsoever, will find it in the Simpson-Bowles work product.

So what do we need to do? Begin by calling for the body politic to put vox populi first and foremost. Reach out, demand, demonstrate, it doesnt’ matter. It is now happening all over the world and we have a history as a great nation of doing just that. It can and should be non-violent. It is fitting that Martin Luther King’s monument is shortly to be dedicated. What a downpayment on his legacy if we were able to follow his example and peacably demand focus where it belongs. Yes, we can revert our manufacturing base to comply with our distinctive competency areas such as in technology skills. We can and should create a national infrastructure bank to support vast job opportunities to rebuild our decaying structure while adding the newer greening technologies. We can stop this foolishness in education that appears to oblige college education for all young people and really commit to a 21st century technical education base. We can find the fat in government, we can trim, rework and reposition and orchestrate entitlement programs and reduce our 70,000 or so pages of tax codes down to a very manageable number. Maybe that would reduce enrollment in law schools and yes, I cannot deal with the pettifoggery and self-interest of attorneys whether it be on school boards, legislative arms of government, or whining for clients on television by suggesting to people in pain that they will chase any ambulance that allows for a buck on suffering. All you need to do is reflect on how much these people made and are making on the pain of 911 victims and families.

You cannot murder, incarcerate, or otherwise downshift the poorest among us. Americans don’t do that. So we will have to and should come up with a workable integration of social welfare into the fabric of our governance. This should not be social engineering! Too much government is telling too many people what to do, where to do it, how to do it, and who to do it with. I am particularly concerned about the lack of attention given to areas such as single parent households and, sadly, what I see as the institutionalizing of religion in all communities. When our faith leaders of all denominations get off their butts and take to the streets and become active in the affairs of the overall community; not focused on any particular ethnicity or congregate but as shown by King, on all of the people, we win.

We need to do, to build, to substitute optimistic thought and deed for defeatist and negative action. As individuals we must demand a place at the table. The community must have a strong voice. Locally, I would go so far as to say, Iona is not going anywhere so if there is no substantive thought or inclusion given to the voice of the community, all of the greater community should join the neighborhood and demand parity, common sense, and action. I will leave it at that,

Warren Gross