So, I asked myself, what next?
May 2017
This commentary has been hatching for a while, and so you will find much of it relates to past events, already well dissected by others. But deciding to write often requires a trigger, and I think it was the recent story about Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News host that did it. My neighbour gives me the Sunday edition of the New York Times in hard copy. I am an online subscriber to the NYT, but there is something about having that Sunday edition that is both satisfying and engaging.
And there it was, a story about Mr. O’Reilly having had some $13m paid out by Fox in settlements with women making sexual harassment claims, yet continuing in his role on presenting the news. It didn’t help that President Trump weighed in by commenting that “He’s a good person”. Yes, he did lose his job in the end, but that appears to have been the consequence of falling advertising revenue resulting from consumer pressure, and not because of concern expressed by Fox over his morals: anyway, I’m sure he will find his $25m payout will soften the blow.
And then, I started thinking.
Do I want to live in a country where rich exploitative men peddle lies and grope women – and get away with it? Do I want to live in a country where poor people, Caucasians and African Americans, migrants of so many different backgrounds, live miserable lives, their jobs disappearing, while CEOs pocket salaries in the tens of even hundreds of millions of dollars? Do I want to live in a country where middle class liberals fuss over their concerns about the niceties of political correctness, and choose to ignore the plight of the people they don’t see, and whose culture and birthright they happily appropriate for themselves? Do I want to live in a country where fat, lazy, narrow minded men manipulate governments to ensure that outdated religious principles are sustained, and women relegated to the position of chattels and slaves?
This was a great country, a welcoming land of opportunity, a nation founded away from the dead hand of aristocratic Europe, a country that established the principle that all should be entitled to life, liberty and happiness. Yes, I know it was for men back then, but governments and courts made sure that those rights were those of all people, men and women. This country was proof that democracy didn’t have to mean oppression by the majority, that the rule of law and the pressure from civic associations and pressure groups could protect minorities and allow space for different religious persuasions and varying ideologies. The land of the free.
The land of the free? No, perhaps it wasn’t just Bill O’Reilly. There was United Airlines, whose ‘re-accommodation’ of a passenger sitting in his seat ready to fly from Chicago to Louisville reminded us all that airline travel is another place where the rich travel at the expense of everyone else. First class travel for a few, with nice meals, comfortable seats, leg room, and no challenges over baggage. Back in economy, space is shrinking, meals only at a cost, charges for baggage in the hold, and now even for carry-on items, and all this just a few rows behind the privileged few.
What we saw in that moment when a seated passenger was removed from the aircraft was the exercise of control, dialogue replaced by force, the police as the agents of the company, the company using violence to achieve its ends. It was a mirror reflecting what is taking place around us. The rich and powerful control the government and its agencies, using their power to achieve ends that benefit them at the expense of everyone else. Violence exacted by the few over the rest of us.
In many ways air travel is a microcosm of the state of America today: those at the front don’t see the conditions behind them, the glaring disparities in treatment; if you look across the country, you realise those at the top don’t see those lower down the socio-economic scale, nor do they understand the pressures they face. Make American great again? Many of those who voted for Donald Trump were asking to be seen, to be recognised, and to get something back: their pride, a decent income, a good education for their children. Sadly, no-one told them the November election was just another trick, exploiting their very real concerns to put in another government of millionaires and privileged (largely white male) ‘representatives’, whose primary concern is to look after themselves at the expense of those who elected them. Same people in the front of the plane, same people in the back!
So, I asked myself, what next?
For the past few weeks I have been trying, alongside others, to pressure Senators and members of the House to do the right thing. Does anyone really believe that digging coal for power stations is going to save America? That global warming is a hoax? That the country’s rotten health care system can be saved by letting access be managed by avaricious private health insurance companies. That whatever their situation pregnant women should just have babies, and that’s that? That we should kill the golden goose of immigration, and even kick out those who today keep this bloated and arthritic system going? It’s a hopeless and discouraging task. Should I give up, leave, abandon the country as it sinks deeper into exploitation by the few and greater misery for the majority?
Next up? Donald Trump’s first 100 days.
He’s the one who had the biggest inauguration crowds, ever. The biggest electoral college victory in years, and this despite millions of illegal voters. And now we are about to read about how he had issued more executive orders than any previous president, ever. How is reforming the tax system, the health care system, created jobs everywhere, and how he has already chopped out mountains of unnecessary government regulations. How he has overcome fake news by the media, how leakers have falsely accused him and his people of contact with Russia, and how he has transformed NATO, built a new relationship with China, addressed the challenge of North Korea, and bomber ISIS silly. He’s dealt with the very, very bad in most areas of life, and he has already made the USA very, very great, really great again.
Perhaps I am doing a poor job of making things clear. As he runs around the country on another barnstorming tour, a substantial number of Americans will see they have a strong, successful President. I nearly said “many, many” Americans; but that would make a joke out of something very serious. He will be believed by very many people, that he’s doing a great job.
On the other side, those worried about what he has done (and some things are very consequential, from a new right wing Supreme Court justice, rolling back environmental protections, and onwards), and the lies he had managed to perpetuate, we need to worry about ex-president Obama coolly collecting a $400,000 speaking fee in the next few days. If Trump rallied his supporters by pointing out that Hillary Clinton was dishonest, Obama has provided more grist to his mill. I’m not worried about the ethics or the justice of what Obama is doing: quite simply I am worried about how it will be (and already is being) used.
Today I am having to confront the fact that the battle to save this country looks almost unwinnable right now. Am I going to give up? No! But not to give up means asking myself, ‘what next?’ And I’m not sure I know the answer.
Then I stopped. It was good to have a rant, but I needed to take a deep breath, step back to gain some perspective, and think again.
We’ve been here before. Nixon. McCarthy. Gerrymandering to ensure one group steps over democracy to keep control of the legislature. So many backward steps, and yet the momentum does keep moving us forward, fitfully but effectively. African American rights. Women’s rights. LGBT rights. This is a better country than it was, so why is it so divided right now? Sadly, we know the answer: while there has been progress in many areas, for many working Americans conditions today are worse, not better, than they were thirty years ago. Republicans and Democrats have left farm workers, blue collar workers, and increasingly clerical workers behind. People of different backgrounds, people of different religious affiliations, people of different sexual preferences all under increasing pressure. The ‘melting pot’ is a pressure pot, and this is not a multicultural society.
Make American great? We must stop pandering to rich businessmen and the jingoistic leaders to be found in the ranks of billionaires and the armed services, and look, instead, to creating a better life for the rest of the country. Another ‘New Deal’? I don’t know, but I do know that many deserve a ‘Better Deal’.
To achieve that, we need to help those in leadership positions to understand more clearly what has happened, and galvanise them into wanting to make changes. If right now those at the front of the plane don’t see those at the back, then let’s help them. As an example, every senior executive, every manager working in one of the airline companies, every member of Congress and the government should be required to travel at the back of the plane for the next six months, without free meals or free baggage. Let’s have all the important leaders of the country travel with the rest of us, not in private jets. When the Secretary for Education travels, have her in Row 32, seats A, B and C (the other two seats for her security detail). To use the word of the times, that will be ‘great’ for all of us, as you can be sure that anxiety over her safety will ensure ours.
It’s just an example, perhaps a silly one, but the issue is real. I think I am talking about restoring a sense of our common humanity, about caring for one another, about community. When I moved into my home six years ago, there was still a sense of community in our street, with an occasional get together for events like July 4th or New Year’s Eve. Now the increasing extremism in politics has driven a wedge into our cul-de-sac, and we avoid each other for fear the bitter differences between political parties will colour our interactions.
I am still trying to work it out right now. However, I am certain of one thing. We must take the steps that will make sure we see each and every person living here as part of the same inclusive community. All of us should be doing something, however small it might seem, to take us down the path to a society where we all enjoy life, liberty and happiness, mutual respect, and care for one another. I know some of the gains in recent years will be rolled back, but only for a while.
Then there was another news story.
The NIH posted a release notifying Encepheal that it has been awarded a research grant of just over $300,000 to allow it to test some novel potential pharmaceuticals, drugs that might be able to stop cocaine addiction. Encepheal is a start-up, launched after successful participation in a competition where entrepreneurs were invited to pitch ideas on how some NIH patented compounds might be taken through to commercialisation. I am one of the initial directors of this company, a mentor for the three young people who have just been awarded a major research grant. I was delighted.
It was more than just a story about getting a grant. As far as I was concerned, it was about three people working hard for nearly two years to take a step past having a good idea to reaching the point where they obtained some of the money needed to test and develop a drug. They are passionate about what they do; they want to make a difference for the millions of people who become addicted to cocaine at a cost to their own lives, their families, and the broader society. The team have prepared pitches, given talks, written about the issues. They raised a little money from some friends and family that had kept the business alive, but no more than that until now. Despite the hurdles, they have shown persistence and determination to achieve something that they hope will make the world a better place.
What’s next? I realise that people like me need to nurture, support and advise young people like the team at Encepheal, people who are going to make a difference. Yes, we have been in difficult straits before. However, each time a new generation steps forward, and turns things around. I constantly meet young people who care, who want to contribute, who have already moved past the stereotyping of people based on race, religion or sexual preference. They are inclusive without having to think about it, because they already accept the diversity around them. They can see so much of what is wrong with the country today, and they want to do something, anything, to change it.
Not every one of them, of course. There are some who are swept up by the idiocies of Ayn Rand, and the appeal to selfishness. There are some who accept the nonsensical interpretations of Adam Smith’s comment about the hidden hand in the market (poor man, he must be turning – no spinning – in his grave at the way in which his words have been distorted). There are some who think it is all about monetary success, egged on by vacuous and glitzy entertainers and overpaid business ‘leaders’. Sadly, many of these young people will find the world in which they are living in twenty years’ time has not given them the dreams that the ideologues have spun for them.
It is our role – those of us who are older and for whom being directly involved in changing the world is a less likely option – it is our role to work with that younger generation, to offer ideas and advice, to explain and to mentor. We will be rebuffed some of the time, but every time we do give the support and help that will make them better people we are making our own contribution to ensure a better world for every member of humanity.
And for myself? I think I am at another of those transition points. In the past I have been a teacher, a public servant, a trainer, a CEO; for several years in Australia I conducted moderated discussions, some with students, and some with an older group. For the past six years, I have talked another group which acquired the name ‘The Oval Table’ (I guess the reason is obvious), and we have explored ideas and concerns. I have been trying to write. This is my latest and last blog. I am not a regular blogger, and these odd contributions have been few and far between. I tried to write some non-fiction, that was indulgent but scarcely worthwhile. More recently I have been writing detective novels, and that has been fun; but they are also second rate, enjoyable for me, and perhaps a way of filling time as much as anything.
I am going to give myself the luxury of thinking time. I won’t abandon writing detective novels, as it is all too enjoyable! I have committed to the first two appearing later this year: my challenge is to make them at least readable. So, I asked myself, what next? I don’t yet know, but I sense I am about to start in yet another direction in my life, and when I find out what it is, I’ll let you know. For now, I hope friends, Oval Table participants, and anyone else who cares will feed me with ideas. Please write and advise.
What’s next is just around the corner …
