How
glorious the greeting the sun gives the mountains. ~
John Muir
‘Tis the season for greetings and thanks. I have much to be
thankful for, including the care and support of wonderful family and friends who
have helped me surmount many challenges on my way to beginning my 8th decade
this year. Who’d of guessed my attained longevity was even possible; certainly
not my doctors when I was first diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic over 60 years
ago. Praise be.
Here’s my holiday wish list.
1) Halt perpetual campaigning for the
presidency. [Or,
create a much smaller box for politicians to throw sand at each other while
campaigning.] Exactly 242 years ago today
(Dec 16, 1773), American activists held their now-revered political
protest, the Boston Tea Party, against the British that ultimately led to the
American Revolution. Ten years after their Party, we had won our
hard-fought freedom from King George III. I venerate our independence, but there’s
one British tradition that I’d like to resurrect now in the USofA; short
political campaigns. Today, there are still 327 days left to our November
8, 2016 election and we’ve already been swamped by politicians’ campaigning and
fund-raising and media overload about it. Politicians please stop; media folks
(all of you), please stop - NOW. Take at least a 5-month break.
The full-fledged campaign season in the UK is a matter of months, not
years like in the U.S. Senseless amounts of time, effort and money are now
being devoted by the politico-media industrial complex towards a small number
of farmers in Iowa, an even smaller number of Yankees in New Hampshire and soon
everyone else. In 2012, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney eventually spent more
than $1 billion each
in their bids for the presidency. In contrast the two major British political
parties together spent less than $40 million in their 2015 national Parliamentary
elections. At this point, it’s utterly unclear what US citizens gain by
spending 50 times as much as UK voters do on national elections. Let’s be
revolutionaries again, limit US congressional and presidential elections to a
mere 6 months’ of effort. The sizeable money saved can instead be devoted to
truly productive efforts like improved K-16 education and hunger eradication
(see my #4 wish, below).
2) Put more money under the trees of
low-wage earners. The
government reported recently that average hourly wages increased only 2% over the
last year. That’s barely adequate for the more than 25% of low-wage workers who
are parents. The federal minimum wage remains a paltry $7.25/hr.; 29 states and
the District of Columbia have higher minimum wages. The federal minimum wage
should be raised to $12/hr. by Congress as a New Year’s present for these
needful 21 million workers, despite the certain hysterical cries of fact-free
Republicans’ false predictions of doomsday hyperinflation. Just do it, now.
3) Stop the inflated use of absurd
adjectives. Yup,
you read this right, this wish is entirely particular and on the tiny end of
the macro importance scale that my other 4 wishes may possess. Nevertheless, it
bothers me when I read descriptions of wine that include pompous taste
sensations like toasted brazil and hazel nuts, Meyer lemon curd and white
nectarines. Really? And now, such pretense has oozed beyond the grape to the
once-humble coffee bean. Here are 2 representative descriptions of Starbucks
and Peets coffees: notes of hazelnut (how come hazelnuts influence both wine and coffee?) and caramel with
a malty sweetness, and winey grape juice acidity with apricot sweetness.[1]
Come on, I don’t want to go to a taste-bud academy to become appraised of these
phantom tastes; I’m simply interested in enjoying a fine cup o’ Joe and glass
of vino. Stop the adjectives; just pour the wine and coffee.
4) A bigger helping of economic growth. The President and Congress should get off
their economic derrieres and initiate expenditures that can increase overall
economic growth to benefit everyone. Average yearly economic growth since the
end of the recession has been a wholly inadequate 2%. There’s no mystery about
what fiscal policies can do this; public spending on much-needed
infrastructure, education, job-training, R&D and investment. And, yo Janet
Yellen, please corral the Fed’s inflation-fearing cowboys in its meeting today
and do not raise the Federal Funds
interest Rate, which can reduce our growth prospects. The results of such
increased spending might, with a bit of luck and time, provide jobs and income
to the all too many folks who feel worried and economically-displaced,
including those who mistakenly support entirely unqualified, fear-mongering
candidates like the Donald. Jobs always
displace anxiety. Start getting us really growing again.
5) Large lumps of coal for Republicans. With
all too few exceptions, virtually all Republicans have once again been naughty and un-nice
this past year. They are fabricators of fantasy facts and full
of self-righteous hypocrisy, among other transgressions. These fear-mongering prevaricators
of military action, nativist open-door closing and disdain for regular folks'
continuing economic plight have thwarted all efforts to enact needed
environmental policies and improved economic growth (see #4, above) and equity.
For these indiscretions, Santa should place 2 large lumps of soft Kentucky coal
under the pillows of each demagogic Republican Presidential candidate and
Congressperson, and at least 4 big coal lumps for Congressional leaders Rep. Paul
Ryan, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn.
As Pete Seeger asked, “When will they ever learn?” Excellent
question. Although I’m hugely dubious, maybe they'll get my carbonic message on
the 25th from Santa and change their ways for the good of everyone in 2016. Hope
springs eternal, especially after the Winter Solstice.
I wish you a wonder-filled Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa,
Saturnalia and New Year.
[1] If these adjective-filled descriptions are appealing
to you, they respectively refer to Starbucks’ Nicaragua El Suyatal coffee and
Peets’ Las Nubes Microlote #49. Note even the beans’ titles are high on the pomposity
scale. I wonder what #48 tastes like. So it goes…
