The Big Game That Matters

From early childhood, we Americans are conditioned to believe the most important human events are the big game. Athletic contests define us. What are our loyalties? Red Sox or Yankees? Giants or Dodgers? Redskins or Cowboys? UNC or Duke?

A little over a week ago the Big Game was a Super Bowl that wasn't very (super, that is). This week and next the Big Game is the Winter Olympics at Sochi in Russia.

Much as we enjoy the spectacle of these events, hang on every slip of a ski or skate, wince at every stumble or fall, once the spectacle is over, we should remember that nothing in the real world has changed. People still die in Syria and Afghanistan and Darfur, there is no peace in the Middle East. And nothing has made lives better for human beings anywhere, including here in America.

Six hundred forty-two miles North West of Sochi, in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, a drama is playing out that could change the lives of people living there and the fates of nations. The drama gets little press here, but at stake is the future of Ukraine as a European country. Will Ukraine join Europe or be captured in the orbit of a resurgent Russia?

Two decades ago, not long after the Soviet Union broke up, I met a dozen or so Ukrainian judges at a bar in Georgetown, District of Columbia. They were in this country to study our legal system, including some pretty esoteric issues of corporate law. They were interested to learn that I was vice president of a limited liability corporation. They had just learned about that legal structure.

After a few beers, they made it clear that their aspiration was for Ukraine to become a "normal European country." I found the same sentiment when I visited Kiev a few years later. It was as though the disaster at Chernobyl had broken a dam, releasing a vast reservoir of disdain and resentment at not only the former Soviet Union but also at Russia.

The story may seem complicated. The characters have funny-sounding names like a Dostoevsky novel.  Here is one account of what is going on and why it is happening.

This is an actual Big Game - and the outcome does matter.

Austrians? - What's That About?

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

John Maynard Keynes quote “The businessman is only tolerable so long as his gains can be held to bear some relation to what, roughly and in some sense, his activities have contributed to society.” ― John Maynard Keynes "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist.” ― John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes (Lord Keynes) was a man with a sharp tongue and an even sharper pen.  He was a savvy investor who became wealthy through his investments. He famously foretold economic disaster from Britain's postwar policies. His essays, "The Economic Consequences Of The Peace" and "The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill" outlined years in advance what was to happen during the interwar period. He did not endear himself to the wealthy and powerful men of his day. Yet his ideas were greatly influential in shaping the postwar (post-WWII) world for the better. His ideas were based on facts and reality. His opponents among economists based their ideas on what they viewed as revealed truth. They never changed their ideas when more information became available. His most famous opponents were Friedrich Hayek (sometimes von Hayek) and Ludwig von Mises. Austrian aristocrats didn't like Keynes. The ophthalmologist and former congressman Ron Paul is among the most visible and doctrinaire supporters of the Austrians and opponents of Keynes in the present day. In today's Washington Post, columnist E.J. Dionne explains some of the historical background of Paul's devotion to the thoughts of  von Hayek and von Mises. Neither of the two Austrians wielded any significant influence in shaping the modern postwar world. At the time, they were marginal figures at best. As a practical matter, Keynes was as influential on Republican policies during the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations as he was on Democratic policies. As recently as 1980, then presidential aspirant George Herbert Walker Bush disparaged the policies espoused by Reagan as "voodoo economics." But the economic thought of Hayek and Mises became useful in supporting the self-interests of super wealthy plutocrats bent on undoing the works of the New Deal in every particular. Never mind that these very policies, even in the attenuated form that survived Reagan, are what kept the global economy after 2007 from descending into worse chaos than existed after the crash of 1929. Republican plutocrats have never forgiven President Roosevelt for rescuing capitalism from the consequences of their own excesses. Nor have they ever forgiven the measures to protect the poor and middle classes from the destructive consequences of the excesses of plutocrats.

Are We Boiling The World's Oceans

Our local curmudgeon has a few things to say about those in Pamlico County who deny climate change science. Early last week, Tony Tharp, whose sailboat Yoknapatawpha II has just moved to a mooring ball at Stewart, Florida, took on Pamlico County's membership in NC-20.

First asking how much the county pays for its membership, he observes: . ."..our county shouldn't even be a member of this off-the-rails collection of climate-change deniers and sea-level-rise naysayers." The group, he observes, "boasts on its website that it has provided state regulatory officials with, "numerous scientific studies showing that despite 80 years of manmade CO₂ increase, there is no acceleration in Sea Level Rise."

That's nonsense, of course. 

The science is quite clear. The world is getting warmer. Fast. And humans are the cause.

Here is the data and the explanation. 

Thirty years ago when I was reading early reports on global warming that seemed puzzled that atmospheric temperatures weren't rising as fast as CO2 levels suggested they should, it occurred to me the scientists were looking in the wrong place. They should, I thought, look at ocean temperature. It turns out they were looking in the oceans, but not deep enough. Now they are looking in the deep ocean and that's where much of the heat energy has been going. How much heat? The amount of heat energy absorbed by the oceans each year is alarming. In 2013 the oceans absorbed the heat equivalent of 378 million Hiroshima size atomic bombs.  Over the past 16 years the rate of heat absorption has ballooned from the heat of two atomic bombs per second to twelve per second. Not good for fish and other ocean life. Not to mention acidification of the oceans because of atmospheric carbon. And not good for agriculture and other human activities, as this heat energy enters the atmosphere.

Residents of East North Carolina - and for that matter, anyone in the real estate industry - should be raising the roof in protest at the inaction. If there is any dispute about global warming, it is different estimates among climate scientists about how quickly our ice fields on land will melt, and therefore how high the sea will rise.

The present estimate is as much as a meter (39 inches) sea level rise by end of the 21st century. When the Antarctic ice cap and the Greenland ice cap melt, the sea level rise will exceed 200 feet. Raleigh will be a coastal town.
 
As Tony Tharp points out, even some in the real estate industry are worried:

Len Berry, director of Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Environmental Studies, reports developers have quietly contacted the university to check out projections of how much sea level will rise in the coming decades as they look for future safe investments . . . Jason King, with the Dover, Kohl urban planning group in Coral Gables, says the firm’s planners are now factoring in changing sea level in work with developers. King reports mortgage lenders “are following the discussions very closely” on sea level rise, as are many others in real estate. (Source)

"And when," as Tharp contends, "NC-20 claims on its website that its goals are, "science-based environmental regulation (and) science-based sea-level rise projections" you can rest assure that's code for denying the science that already exists in both areas.'

Wake up, folks! There's still time to do something. But not much longer.

He's Back!

The comings and goings of local peripatetic journalist and curmudgeon Tony Tharp are sometimes mysterious. He disappeared from the 'net at the end of December and was apparently off line for the entire month of January.

Now he's back. Here's the link.

If you want to know what's going on in Pamlico County that's worth thinking about, bookmark Tony's site and check it frequently.

If you want to know what to THINK about what is going on, you might want to put your own critical thinking skills to work. There are worse places to start with your critical thinking, though you might want to avoid some of Tony's ad hominem tendencies.

Even so, I'm always glad when he's back on line.

Speeches From The Past

What does the Democratic party stand for?

In a recent New York Times, Paul Krugman reminds us that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spelled it out pretty well in a speech of 78 years ago here.

The speech, delivered at Madison Square Garden in October, 1936, would need only minor edits to apply today. Here are some excerpts:

"Tonight I call the roll—the roll of honor of those who stood with us in 1932 and still stand with us today.
Written on it are the names of millions who never had a chance—men at starvation wages, women in sweatshops, children at looms. Written on it are the names of those who despaired, young men and young women for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp.

"Written on it are the names of farmers whose acres yielded only bitterness, business men whose books were portents of disaster, home owners who were faced with eviction, frugal citizens whose savings were insecure.
Written there in large letters are the names of countless other Americans of all parties and all faiths, Americans who had eyes to see and hearts to understand, whose consciences were burdened because too many of their fellows were burdened, who looked on these things four years ago and said, "This can be changed. We will change it...."


"For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent....

"We had to struggle with the old enemies—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

"Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today," President Roosevelt said. "They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred...."

"....today there is only one entrance to the White House—by the front door. Since March 4, 1933, there has been only one pass-key to the White House. I have carried that key in my pocket. It is there tonight. So long as I am President, it will remain in my pocket....Those who used to have pass-keys are not happy...." 

"The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them....

"This is our answer to those who, silent about their own plans, ask us to state our objectives.
Of course we will continue to seek to improve working conditions for the workers of America—to reduce hours over-long, to increase wages that spell starvation, to end the labor of children, to wipe out sweatshops. Of course we will continue every effort to end monopoly in business, to support collective bargaining, to stop unfair competition, to abolish dishonorable trade practices. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Of course we will continue to work for cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America, for better and cheaper transportation, for low interest rates, for sounder home financing, for better banking, for the regulation of security issues, for reciprocal trade among nations, for the wiping out of slums. For all these we have only just begun to fight....

"Of course we will continue our efforts in behalf of the farmers of America. With their continued cooperation we will do all in our power to end the piling up of huge surpluses which spelled ruinous prices for their crops. We will persist in successful action for better land use, for reforestation, for the conservation of water all the way from its source to the sea, for drought and flood control, for better marketing facilities for farm commodities, for a definite reduction of farm tenancy, for encouragement of farmer cooperatives, for crop insurance and a stable food supply. For all these we have only just begun to fight....

"Of course we will provide useful work for the needy unemployed....

"Here and now I want to make myself clear about those who disparage their fellow citizens on the relief rolls. They say that those on relief are not merely jobless—that they are worthless. Their solution for the relief problem is to end relief—to purge the rolls by starvation. To use the language of the stock broker, our needy unemployed would be cared for when, as, and if some fairy godmother should happen on the scene.
You and I will continue to refuse to accept that estimate of our unemployed fellow Americans. Your Government is still on the same side of the street with the Good Samaritan and not with those who pass by on the other side....

"Again—what of our objectives?
Of course we will continue our efforts for young men and women so that they may obtain an education and an opportunity to put it to use. Of course we will continue our help for the crippled, for the blind, for the mothers, our insurance for the unemployed, our security for the aged. Of course we will continue to protect the consumer against unnecessary price spreads, against the costs that are added by monopoly and speculation. We will continue our successful efforts to increase his purchasing power and to keep it constant.
For these things, too, and for a multitude of others like them, we have only just begun to fight...."

"We have need of that [faith] today....which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other. That is why we need to say with the Prophet: "What doth the Lord require of thee—but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God."








 

Where Have All The Singers Gone? - Long Time Passing

Learned with sadness of Pete Seeger's passing. I miss the gentle passion of the folk singers like Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and others who used song to remind Americans of our better angels. Good article in today's New York Times.

I was pleased recently to learn of the new Woody Guthrie museum in my home town, Tulsa, Oklahoma. As I read the lyrics of Guthrie's songs, I hear the voice of the ordinary people of rural Oklahoma from my childhood.

We need to recapture such voices and bring them forward to our own times.

Pete Seeger's was a giant voice in that tradition. We are fortunate to have lived in his time.

Cox v. Town of Oriental - South Avenue Suit

For those following my suit against the Town: last week the Town requested a 30-day extension of time to reply to my filing with the Court of Appeals. So we are now looking at March to complete the filings with the Court of Appeals. I'll keep you informed.

Elections In America: New Report By Presidential Commission

The Presidential Commission on Election Administration, a bipartisan commission co-chaired by Robert Bauer (democrat) and Benjamin L. Ginsburg (republican) has just issued its 112-page report: http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/pcea-final-report.pdf

Anyone experienced in the vagaries of elections and election law in the United States should read the report. The problems of election administration in this country are well summarized in the introduction:

"The United States runs its elections unlike any other country in the world. Responsi-

bility for elections is entrusted to local officials in approximately 8,000 different juris-

dictions. In turn, they are subject to general oversight by officials most often chosen

through a partisan appointment or election process. The point of contact for voters in

the polling place is usually a temporary employee who has volunteered for one-day duty

and has received only a few hours of training. These defining features of our electoral

system, combined with the fact that Americans vote more frequently on more issues

and offices than citizens anywhere else, present unique challenges for the effective ad-

ministration of elections that voters throughout the country expect and deserve."

That's the problem in a nutshell.

Problems were even worse before the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. There have been significant recent improvements in administration of Uniformed and Overseas Civilian voting.

The report sets forth many recommendations and best practices to improve the administration of elections for the benefit of voters. I have taken a quick look at the report. Up until last year, North Carolina election procedures stood up very well to the suggested recommendations and best practices. In Pamlico County, we have had very well run elections administered by very conscientious polling officials, many with long years of experience and training.

Unfortunately, in my view, the General Assembly has passed legislation introducing new and totally unnecessary obstacles to voting.

I'll have more to say about this in future posts.