Merry Christmas, Hanukkah,
Kwanzaa, Saturnalia and Brumalia. And, in that spirit, here's my wish list to
Santa for this holiday season.
1) A large
box of judicial equity. During the past several weeks I've been
affected, like many, by the horrible killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner
at the hands of local police. The lives of these 2 men are the latest in an all
too long line of black men slain by men in blue under highly-questionable
circumstances. Two grand juries now have independently decided not to indict
the policemen who directly caused these men's deaths. Indignation about these
jurisprudential decisions, let alone the killings themselves, has been
widespread. Always willing to jump on the opportunity to showcase
turmoil-the-making, the media has publicized demonstrations, thankfully after
Ferguson, mostly peaceably mobilizing in cities across America. Outrageously,
the Wall Street Journal ran an AP story which implied that a cause in Mr Garner's death was New York's
high taxes on cigarettes. [Mr Garner was allegedly selling non-taxed cigarettes
before being confronted and slain by cops.] OMG.
Politicians have echoed their anodyne,
incomplete statements that these men's deaths are tragic and that
law-enforcement tactics need to be modified via "retraining" police
officers. At best, such "retraining" is a necessary but hardly
sufficient remedy for these crimes. It's hard, very hard, to
"retrain" culture with an immediate
effect, which is what's needed. De-militarizing police departments and
tactics is an unstated, but needed initial step.
Why hasn't any public authority demanded
that the process and rules governing our grand jury system needs to change?
Like all grand juries, these juries' deliberations and proceedings were held
behind tightly-closed doors. Among other fundamental issues surrounding this
system, so-called experts have cited the inherent conflict of interest that
envelops local prosecutors and police interactions with police violence cases. Of
the 2,700 cases heard by grand juries between 2004 and 2011 where police
officers' actions resulted in the death of a civilian, only
41 (1.5%) resulted in charges of
manslaughter or murder being brought against the cop. Talk about bias. Grand
juries are mandated by the 5th Amendment to our Constitution. The Magna Carta –
soon to celebrate its 800th anniversary – formally created and authorized grand
juries at the strong behest of King John's nobility. Eight-hundred years is
enough. In 2015, we need crucial changes made so real justice can be ultimately
served in such appalling cases as Mr Brown's and Mr Garner's.
2) A
big package of economic growth. The US economy needs to grow faster. It
has been limping through our "recovery" since June 2009 from the
Great Recession at a paltry annual growth of 2.3%. Thus, the usual elixir of higher
macroeconomic growth has been missing, much to the detriment of the vast
majority of people. Our economy needs to marinate in expansionary fiscal and
monetary policy for quite a while. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, this resuscitative
package can take many forms but ultimately first needs to be put under the
trees of middle- and working-class Americans.
3) A present
of broader economic equity. The inequitable distribution of income and
wealth in the US needs to change in favor of the lower 80% of income- and
wealth-holders. Such a present will not only promote more economic equity, but
more growth and a greater sense of fairness for all. This gift of equity will
provide priceless benefits.
4) A
wet present followed by wisdom. In these vanishing days of 2014, I
offer thanks to Chaac, Tloloc and Zeus for the recent rains we've received here
in California. I hope this wetness continues often enough so our drought
finally subsides. But us water users (meaning everyone) and politicians (all of
them) must become wise and brave enough to enact new water-use policies that
recognize fresh water is always a limited, vital resource. These policies must raise the price of and
mandate the recycling of this necessity. Building more dams and
aqueducts isn't the answer. Water policy must require efficient and appropriate
usage at all times.
5) Large
lumps of coal to Congressional Republicans. Finally, virtually all
Congressional Republicans have been naughty this past year. These stalwarts of
mis-placed austerity and disdain for regular folks' continuing plight have
thwarted all efforts to enact any real expansionary fiscal policy to improve
growth and equity. For this, Santa should place a large lump of Kentucky coal under the
trees of each Republican Congressperson, and at least 2 big lumps for Rep. John
Boehner, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn. Hopefully,
they'll get the message from Santa and change their ways to qualify for actual presents
next year. We all hope so.
Happy New
Year!
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