Welcome Afghan Refugees

We Must Welcome Afghan Refugees

Help Those who Helped Us

 

With all of the hand wringing and teeth gnashing surrounding the blame game over the end of the war in Afghanistan, the GOP leadership fails to addresses the humanitarian disaster caused by the swift Taliban take over. 

 

President Biden choose to follow his predecessor’s deal with the Taliban to end the war and withdraw American troops from the war-ravaged country. Biden’s administration did not foresee the swift collapse of the Afghan military and government and plan for evacuation of U.S. personnel before the current chaos ensued. They could not safely evacuate the thousands of Afghans that worked with our troops, much less their families before the collapse.

 

We have seen the ensuing madness at the airport in Kabul with Afghan civilians chasing a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, clinging to its side like Tom Cruise, as it taxied down the runway. The desperation on their faces was patent.

 

We have been able to secure an agreement with the Taliban to allow all foreigners to leave safely. No so clear is Taliban willingness to let Afghans who worked with us leave for America.

 

Those Afghans who have made it out and all those who might be allowed to leave in the future are coming to America on special visas to their new home. They will start out at processing centers on U.S. military bases. One of those is our own Fort McCoy, near Tomah.

 

Governor Evers issued a proclamation welcoming those who come to Fort McCoy. He recognizes our obligation to those who helped our soldiers and diplomats to keep them safe from Taliban retaliation.

 

While the Republican National Committee ghosted its previous praise for the former President’s deal with the Taliban, it has searched in vain for a unifying message about the incoming refugees. The alt-right GOP base has beat them to it. They proudly waive the white nationalist flag and tell us more people of color are not welcome here, their prior service to American efforts notwithstanding.

 

One of the former president’s chief white nationalist advisors, Stephen Miller, sought to frame the issue on Twitter. “It is becoming increasingly clear that Biden and his radical deputies will use their catastrophic debacle in Afghanistan as a pretext for doing to America what Angela Merkel did to Germany and Europe,” Miller wrote.

 

Newsmax’s Stephen Cortes picked up the cudgel. “The very last thing America needs right now is a swarm of migrants from a battle-torn wasteland,” he tweeted. 

 

Not to be outdone, Fox’s Tucker Carlson told us, “[i]f history is any guide, and it’s always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country, and over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions. So first we invade, and then we are invaded."

 

Our own TV Channel 12 interviewed a woman who lives next to the Wisconsin military base where the refugees will be housed on Tuesday. While recognizing the need to offer a safe haven to those who sacrificed to help us, she clearly was concerned about the influx of “foreigners” about to become her neighbors. She took a classic “not in my backyard” stance expressing her concern for the upcoming changes.

 

On August 17, GOP Congressman Tom Tiffany, whose district includes Fort McCoy, tweeted that bringing Afghan refugees here was too dangerous and reckless and suggested they should be sent to a third country where they could be vetted before being allowed to enter the U.S. On the 19^th, Tiffany tweeted that the Afghan refugees are coming from a very dangerous country, the implication being that the refugees pose a threat to our country. 

 

Like the Hmong and Laotians who helped us in Viet Nam, we owe a debt to those Afghans who risked their lives and the lives of their families by helping us during this war. Those previous Asian immigrants also came from war-ravaged countries and have skin tones different from most Anglo-European Americans. They were welcomed as they settled among us after that war. We thanked them for their service and helped them make new homes here. 

 

We need to put aside our fear of those who look different and speak different languages and pay our country’s debt to them by welcoming each and every one and making them feel safe.

CRT Misinformation

Combatting CRT Misinformation

Facts and Truth Win

 

When I see a coordinated campaign of misinformation, I start looking for motivation. The coordinated campaign to ban the teaching of systemic racism in our public schools is but the latest example. 

 

A conservativ writer, Christopher Rufo, picked up on an established law school course called Critical Race Theory, concocted a campaign to sweep K-12 public education into the maelstrom created by the Black Lives Matter movement by accusing public school teachers of indoctrinating youngsters that all white people are racists. He developed a series of talking points, all inaccurate, about how this was a Marxist conspiracy designed to pollute young minds. He set up a strawman caricature of the actual CRT course and it was off to the races. 

 

Many extreme conservatives, lacking a positive message or platform, resort to oppositional messaging designed to scare and get their followers to join in the fray.

 

Ad hominem attacks are the most common. This is a debate device which ignores the content of an opponent’s argument and attacks the opponent’s character. Labels like “Socialist.” “Godless,” “Marxist,” “morally bankrupt,” “leftist,” “liberal,” or, one of my favorites, “lefty gadfly” are just some that folks who cannot debate the issues based on fact throw into their comments. 

 

Conflating things that are not alike to justify a position is another one of these devices. “A drug addict gets free needles or methadone, but my insulin costs a thousand dollars” is a current example meant to disparage one group while invoking sympathy for the other. Effective addiction treatment has nothing to do with the cost of insulin. If you want to complain about the cost of insulin, go after big pharma or support universal health care.

 

Scare tactic messaging is another common way of avoiding a debate on the merits. “Immigrants are taking our jobs,” “Democrats will take our guns,” “that government program will lead to SOCIALISM” are meant to scare people into action without understanding what is really at stake.

 

Exaggeration is another form of deflecting an opponent’s argument.  Saying, “all lives matter” in response to “Black lives matter” ignores the problems faced by African Americans at the hands of police officers by sweeping them into a bigger population. Of course, all lives matter, but not “all of us” have experienced racial profiling by police embodied in the complaints about “driving while Black.”

 

Outright lying about something one opposes is, unfortunately, all too common in today’s political debate. “Covid vaccines contain microchips that allow the government to follow your movements,” is a perfect example meant to discourage vaccination efforts. “Masks don’t work and forcing us to wear them destroys our freedom,” are among the most egregious.

 

Getting back to the Critical Race Theory debate, clearly those opposed rarely really know what they are opposing. Labels are used to invoke fear. The labels are supported by exaggeration and outright lies to bolster the ephemeral arguments made against a practice that does not exist. But, what lies beneath the vehement opposition?

 

Let me suggest that the vocal opposition to the teaching of systemic racism in our public schools is rooted in the very racism that fuels the movement to destroy public education all together. 

 

Fear that white kids mingle with “others” or actually learn about our country’s real history of white invaders’ treatment of peoples of color helped fuel segregated schools in all parts of the country. When racial segregation in public schools was declared unconstitutional, private schools sprang up to shelter the offspring of white folks from peoples of color. 

 

As people of more modest means, taught to fear the public-school melting pot, wanted access to private schools for their kids, churches ramped up religious education for their members as an alternative. 

 

As the costs of these alternatives to public education rose, those not wanting their kids exposed to the “others” or curricula they could not control, demanded their public-school taxes be diverted to private school funding. With that, GOP controlled state legislatures created “school choice,” “charter” and voucher systems that take tax dollars away from public schools and send them to private ones following the flight of white kids.

 

Current extreme conservatives are still not satisfied. Public schools still exist and teach things they do not like. They already lost trying to ban teaching about evolution, human sexuality, gender identity, same sex relationships, equality for women, abortion, stem cells, climate change and a host of other issues. This explains the vehement opposition to teaching real history. The opposition is adding more fuel to fires already burning to drive more away from public education and into the arms of the private and “for profit” charter school industry where a rosier world view and white supremacy are the prevailing norms.

 

When looking for the motivation behind the current CRT misinformation campaign, it always helps to follow the money.

This is the Way

Bi-Partisanship is the Way

Compromise is not evil

 

GOP leaders in the US House and Senate have lost their way and, unfortunately, our Senator Ron Johnson is following blindly along. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have staked out the position, “we will oppose everything” and dumped any notion of compromise. Johnson took the bait and is hooked.

 

Recent examples include McCarthy’s self-sabotage of his ability to take part in the Select Committee to investigate the January 6^th insurrection at the Capital and Mitch McConnell’s refusal to debate the bi-partisan infrastructure bill. Senator Johnson supports both positions and continues to question the validity of our elections, all evidence to the contrary. He even opposes the voting rights bills that would guarantee our right to cast a ballot.

 

As a result of the GOP leaderships’ extreme intransigence, they are in danger of losing control of their respective caucuses. Democrats are using GOP leaders’ extreme positions to carve out relationships with more moderate GOP members who see their re-election hinging on their ability to limit some of the extreme positions from the left. Ten republican senators are working on a bi-partisan infrastructure bill and have told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer they will vote for it, even if the GOP leadership opposes the bill. Rep. Liz Cheney is openly defiant of McCarthy’s leadership and other republican representatives now openly declare that Joe Biden won the last election fair and square. 

 

Our system of government depends on the ability of our elected representatives to compromise to get things done. It has worked in the past when the branches of government and the general populace have been divided. The notion of compromise as a hallmark of governmental effectiveness only works when both sides agree that government has a role in solving societal problems.

 

In our current version of divided government, GOP leaders apparently believe that government should just get out of the way and let individuals solve their own problems. It is the result of the “take no prisoners” political strategy introduced by Newt Gingrich and advanced to extremes by the cult of Trump.

 

The future of the GOP is clearly not going to find success following the Trump cult and continuing to promote the “Big Lie” that Democrats stole the last election. Those, like Sen. Johnson, will soon see their political futures end following that path. The way to political relevance with most voters is to support governmental activity that helps improve the lives of everyday Americans and makes the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. 

 

Our local “conservative” elected officials would do well to dump the extreme GOP rhetoric as well. Supporting baseless election fraud conspiracy claims and trying to ban the teaching of America’s real history does little to advance an agenda that helps people have better living conditions. Saving money while cutting services to the elderly and infirm does not advance the public good. Ignoring public health crises while claiming the mantle of personal freedom does little except increase infection rates and early deaths. Suppressing legal voting by citizens of color does violence to the very fabric of democracy.

 

Moderating extremist views and looking for ways to work with those with whom you don’t agree will move us forward. If we sit down across a table with a good cup of coffee, we will find common ground on issues of concern that impact everyone and find solutions that work. If our current crop of elected officials can’t find that path, they will need to let those who can show the way, or voters will choose their replacements.  

On The Importance of History

 We Learn from History

Let’s not repeat previous mistakes

 

Our legal system, like many others around the world, is a social construct designed to maintain the status quo. Ours came from Anglo-Saxon England and started as rules established by Kings to maintain order, punish violators, and provide mechanisms to resolve disputes. What developed over time, was a series of decisions that came to govern resolution of current disputes. If a past decision was based on a previously established rule and was based on a certain set of facts, a current dispute with similar facts should be resolved in the same way. Order is maintained and affairs become predictable. 

 

The rules and decisions of Kings gave way to written laws passed by Parliament and written decisions based on them were handed down by courts to punish violators and resolve disputes. The written decisions became the precedents used to resolve later disputes. The goal was the same, maintain order and predictability.

 

As English colonial expansion spread out of their island kingdom, the English legal system followed. Parliament and the King sought to maintain order and make sure that the colonies continued to support the homeland by passing laws governing the affairs of colonials. They were enforced in the colonies by appointed governors who appointed magistrates to resolve disputes and were backed up by standing English armies in local garrisons. 

 

We all know how that system ended here. Colonials in the Americas rebelled. The legal system tried to keep order but became largely ignored and military force failed to bring the rebellious colonials back in line. 

 

Our ancestors started to create a “more perfect union,” declaring our independence from the Crown and deciding that rule by monarchy should be replaced here by a democracy where laws were passed by elected representatives and disputes resolved by judges appointed by an executive with the “advice and consent” of popularly elected senators.

 

We would not know about these basic tenants of our form of self-government were it not for the study of history. Studying history is important so we know where we came from and how we got to our present state of affairs. It is critical so we do not repeat some of the mistakes all societies make as they develop. Hence the old saying, “those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.”

 

There is another old saying that comes to mind, “history is written by the victors.” 

 

No one likes to be cast in a bad light. Americans are no different. We don’t want to be seen as having created our “more perfect union” on the backs of enslaved Africans on land stolen from those people who were here long before our English ancestors invaded. We don’t want to be remembered for the genocide and forced relocation of indigenous populations as white people moved from East to West in pursuit of our “manifest destiny.”

 

What we did as the victors was to write a history of slavery and the treatment of indigenous peoples that did not make us look so bad. Africans became inferior beings that needed discipline and were better off as slaves here than they had been in their homelands. Indigenous peoples became savages to be conquered or “Tonto” like helpers to white saviors. When gold or oil were discovered on lands the “savages” had occupied for millennia, we just stole the land and moved the original inhabitants to reservations for their own good.

 

If we jump forward a couple of hundred years, the descendants of those enslaved Africans and displaced indigenous people have been joined by those of us who have studied the real histories of our ancestors’ mistakes. What came out of that collaboration is something called “critical race theory” which is merely a vehicle to keep us from making some of those same mistakes our ancestors made by studying a more accurate version of our history and learning how racial distinctions became embedded in our institutions.

 

Right wing extremists, recognizing that knowledge is power, have organized a public campaign to get school boards and states to ban teaching about the accurate American history to perpetuate principles of white supremacy that form the core of their platform. 

 

We need to recognize that our system of government made mistakes and that our legal system was complicit in them. In the desire to maintain the status quo, our Supreme Court approved of slavery. It approved of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It approved of how we treated indigenous peoples. Racial segregation was enshrined in “separate but equal” schools. Poll Taxes and literacy tests prevented newly freed slaves from voting. Labeling a social practice “legal” does not make it right.

 

We have not yet become “a more perfect union.” The study of our real history and the lessons it teaches may just help us get there.

Our Road Trip - Part Two

Our Road Trip -Part Two

 

My last column chronicled the first part of our Great American Road Trip towards the East coast with family. When that column was submitted, we were still in Kitty Hawk, NC on the Outer Banks.

 

We finished our stay there by driving south on Hatteras Island and marveled at the wetlands that buffer the North Carolina coast from Atlantic hurricane storm surges. We saw inlets that welcomed the pirates and provided refuge from storms at sea. More seafood beckoned at seaside joints that offered views of brave para-surfers flying across the bay. The next day, we headed West stopping at Fort Raleigh and the Lost Colony that was home to some of the first European immigrants until they vanished. 

 

Then it was onward further West to Greensboro, NC and a visit with my older brother who retired there after serving in law enforcement in California, working for our father in the family business and raising his family. He returned to the area where he met his wife while serving in the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. It was good to connect with him and share family stories from our early California childhood.

 

We next trekked further west to Knoxville, TN where we reconnected with our youngest and her family and we all met up with our second youngest granddaughter and her new husband, Kevin. The interesting connection here is that Kevin now works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which is where our youngest daughter’s husband worked after receiving his PhD. While there we went to the Museum of Science and Energy which traces the history of Oak Ridge in the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear energy during World War II and after. Current work at the lab continues to provide solutions for our energy needs and the decommissioning of nuclear weapons from around the world. 

 

After Knoxville, we went to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is truly a mammoth cave and the park on top of it is spectacular. Our daughter and her family took the extended tour below ground that descends over 600 vertical steps. My wife and I took the less strenuous, old geezer, tour which only went down and back up about 100 steps. The history of the place is fascinating. The cave has been in use for thousands of years by native inhabitants of the area and then later European immigrants who settled there. It has been a tourist attraction since the early 1800s. Now a National Park, the various aspects of the cave and surroundings are being preserved for future generations. 

 

After Mammoth Cave, it was time for us to head back home. Three weeks on the road and over 3,000 miles driven is enough. 

 

We saw America on the move as we travelled. The more parks and historical sites we visited, the more families we encountered. We kept track of the license plates we saw and counted all but Wyoming and Vermont on the cars and trucks we saw on the road. We also encountered staffing shortages in restaurants and park facilities due to pandemic furloughs. Many could not fill available tables or spaces due to lack of staff. 

 

The other major issue that struck us was the condition of the highways and back roads we traveled. We went through Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois on our venture. We were struck with the quality of the roads we took. All of them, in every state we were in, had better highways and secondary roads than we find in our home state of Wisconsin. It did not seem to matter whether the states were controlled by Republicans or Democrats, they all appeared to invest in building and maintaining good roads for travelers. Instead of visiting bogus election audits in Arizona, our legislators should just get in their cars and take a road trip to see what we are missing.

 

All in all, we had a great trip. It was wonderful to reconnect with family and hug our kids. We loved visiting places where history was made and learning about the feats of everyday Americans that built this country. We have been privileged to see much of our country’s parks and monuments and hope to continue the journeys as America recovers from COVID.-

Summer Travels

Post-Pandemic Road Trips

Reuniting Family

 

One of the worst things about the pandemic over the past year was our inability to be with family. Our kids and grandkids are scattered across the country and in Canada. Travel to see them was impossible until we all got jabbed and the country in between our respective homes became safer for travelers. 

 

Now that all of us, except the youngest granddaughter, are fully vaccinated we are embarked once more on a great American road trip. 

 

We started early in the morning and boarded the Lake Express Ferry with 20 other people for the journey across Lake Michigan to Muskegon. We then drove to Ann Arbor to see a first cousin. Like the others on the ferry, I noticed that many of the others on the road were geezers like us. 

 

After a lovely dinner sharing family stories, we retired to a sparsely populated hotel for the night. The next day, we drove to Pittsburgh to see our son and his wife. We stayed with them and caught up on the news of their kids and new changes to their family business. 

 

Three days later, the four of us drove to America’s newest national park, the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. We rented a large Airbnb in Fayetteville close to the longest single arch bridge in the Northern Hemisphere that spans the river. We were joined there by our youngest daughter, her husband and their two daughters. The family stories flowed, and laughter followed. It was good to have us together once more. 

 

Our middle kid lives in Canada with her husband and they could not join us in person, so we FaceTimed with them for a virtual whole family reunion. Hopefully, we will be able to be with them later this year when the border reopens to visitors. 

 

The next two days were spent exploring the New River ecosystem which is older than any of the generations of humans who have occupied parts of the gorge etched through the steep mountains by relentless moving water. The National Park Service has done a great job protecting the space which was designated a National River by President Jimmy Carter. Now that it has joined the National Park system, more will be protected for future generations. 

 

In addition to the water and forests, we were able to explore a mining camp ghost town, Thurmond, which straddled the railroad tracks that opened the area to coal mining and lumber operations which lasted from the late 1800s into the middle of the last century. Native American histories are also preserved in the Visitor Centers that surround the park. 

 

Then it was on to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and a rented house on the beach at Kitty Hawk across the road from America’s first airport that was home to Wilbur and Orville Wright and their first flight in a powered aircraft. While the area has some of the trappings for tourist crowds, it seems sparsely populated with outsiders. Fresh seafood called out for the first night’s supper and Henry’s did not disappoint. Crab cakes, scallops, shrimp, and flounder accompanied with hushpuppies and served with a Southern drawl were a warm welcome after a long day on the road. 

 

Our son headed home to Pittsburgh from the New River, so we just have our daughter and her family on this leg of our journey. The first morning, we just sat on the beach and watched the pelicans fly in a line down the shore looking for their breakfast. We all collected shells brought in and left uncovered by the tide and waves. Dolphin fins cut the water just offshore as small waves broke on the sand. The water is cool in comparison to the hot humid air blowing from the shore towards the sea. 

 

Evening dinner at The Black Pelican was a seafood lover’s dream. Baked crab and shrimp in a butter garlic cream sauce with green beans Southern style and garden rice was a delight. Shared deserts finished it perfectly. At the beach house we watched a summer thunder and lighten display fill the night sky over the ocean.

 

The next day, we drove to the northern end of the Outer Banks to a restored historic village with an old lighthouse that warned sailing ships off the shoals that claimed many a shipwreck. Descendants of Spanish mustangs washed ashore there still populate the wildlife refuge. A truly magical place.

 

In our isolation over the past year, we missed seeing new parts of this globe we call home. On this trip, we’ve passed through wildly diverse ecosystems and geological formations. It never ceases to amaze me what a diverse and beautiful country we have the privilege to occupy. That diversity certainly includes the people and cultures included in our United States of America. 

 

Visiting our National Parks, Monuments, Seashores, Wildlife Refuges, and other protected places refreshes the soul and provides a unique opportunity to experience how we grew and changed into the vibrant society we have today. Teaching our children and grandchildren the history and how important it is to protect our varied heritages is made easier with each visit.

GOP Failures

GOP Legislators Fail Again

Tend to the People’s Business

 

Our Republican controlled legislature outdid itself once again, proving just how anti-life they really are. They rejected once again, Gov. Evers’ call for them to accept federal Medicaid expansion money which would have pumped $1 Billion federal dollars into Wisconsin coffers and provided much needed health insurance coverage to 91,000 more Wisconsin citizens. 

 

Our legislators first stripped the proposal to take the federal money out of Gov. Evers’ proposed state budget for the next biennium and then, this past week, gaveled in and out of the special legislative session Evers called to take up the proposal in record time.

 

The people most impacted are poor people without access to employer health insurance plans who made too much under earlier guidelines to qualify for insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion would have changed the rules to lower those standards, making the insurance more affordable. Without access to more affordable insurance, many Wisconsinites will become ill and die due to their inability to access needed health care services. 

 

The $1 billion federal incentive, which comes out of federal taxpayer dollars, was earmarked by Gov. Evers to provide $200 million to expand broadband internet services to more in rural areas, $100 million to replace ageing and dangerous lead water pipes, $100 million for bridge and road projects and over a dozen local construction projects. 

 

In addition, Evers proposed using the Federal funds for increased mental health services, veterans housing programs, increasing tourism, more DNR Stewardship programs and better opioid data systems. On the local level, Evers wants to use the funds for a community health center in Racine, paper mill assistance in Wisconsin Rapids and Park Falls, mental health facilities in Eau Claire and Wausau, manufacturing apprenticeship programs, support for rural emergency medical services.

 

Gov. Evers condemned the GOP leaders’ failure to take up the proposal. "I think we should be doing everything we can to make sure our economy bounces back from this pandemic, and this special session was about finding common ground and getting bipartisan support for our efforts," Evers said in a prepared statement. "Clearly, it’s disappointing Republicans don’t seem to take that responsibility seriously, and they’ll have to explain to Wisconsinites why they made the decision they did today."

 

GOP legislators have opposed the expansion ever since it was introduced by the Federal government in 2014, claiming it is unnecessary welfare and that it might cause additional burdens on Wisconsin taxpayers in the future should the benefits decrease. They also take issue with Evers’ authority to spend the federal dollars, claiming it should rest with the Legislature instead.

 

So far, 38 states have accepted Medicaid expansion benefits without any substantial issues. Those state that took the funds show decreased mortality rates when compared with states that rejected the funds. They have used the funds creatively to help combat the pandemic and increase services for their citizens with no adverse impacts. 

 

It is clear that the real opposition is rooted in fears that Democratic governments will actually take care of working people and their families and win the policy wars in our divided America. They fear actual debate in open sessions of our legislative bodies on the merits of the proposals and the actual impacts their decisions will have on the rest of us. It is much easier to just say no to what ever Democrats propose. 

 

On the other side of the same coin, Assembly Leader Robin Vos (R-Mount Pleasant) just approved spending $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to hire retired police officers to investigate the last statewide election to see if there were irregularities that warrant new election laws. It does not matter that GOP presidential minions already floated their conspiracy theories in Wisconsin and Federal Courts after the election only to see each and every one shot down because they could produce no facts to support their outlandish claims. Vos is wasting precious tax dollars chasing ghosts of long dead conspiracies. 

 

The Republicans in our Legislature have wasted our time and money doing nothing but trying to undo what made Wisconsin the progressive leader in America and opposing anything proposed by Democrats. We elect our Representatives and Senators to look out for the common good and address real problems affecting significant parts of the populace. It is time we hold them accountable and elect those willing to tend to the people’s business.