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The Times They Are a Changin' Again # 242
By Hank Silverberg
"Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now."
--Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages"
I am a bit nostalgic as I write this blog this week. Last Friday night I attended my 50th high school reunion.
It was extremely hard to believe that it's been 50 years, but it was great to see some old friends. There was lots of talk about old times and grandchildren, and friends who couldn't make it to the event.
And for the first time in years, at a large gathering, I did not hear a single discussion about politics.
There was no discussion of Biden or Trump or immigration. A few talked about trouble getting to Connecticut because of the hurricane. Some mentioned their bout with Covid-19 with some gallows humor on how we survived, but that's it.
If you take away the talk about hip replacements or hair loss, it could have been 1972 all over again without the cliques.
Many of us have retired but are still very busy. And we are very aware that the political power once held by the Baby Boomer generation is waning.
May classmates and I had witnessed three political assassinations (Both Kennedys and Dr. King), men walking on the Moon, Woodstock and the Vietnam War, which took the lives of some of our friends.
In those days we had friendships without the internet or chat rooms. We met up at the movie theater instead of punching up Netflix. And more importantly, we read newspapers or watched TV news that was fair, accurate and full of truth. It was our generation that expanded voting rights to those who had been ignored or suppressed. Some of us marched or attended protests for racial equality and against the war. And we learned that in many cases, particularly at the local level, voting matters.
Today, despite the arthritis, gray hair and retirement funds that are not big enough, most of the Boomers I talked with this weekend remain positive and seem to be enjoying life.
I am, of course, not naive. The classmates not doing well didn't come to the reunion. And it's likely everyone who did come put their best face forward for that one evening when we could forget that our children are saddled with endless college loans, that our health care and medication bills are staggering and that the current crop of Gen-Xers in Congress is trying to mess with the Social Security, Medicare and private pension plans we worked all our adult lives to build.
To paraphrase another musical icon of our youth, Joni Mitchell, "our dreams have lost some grandeur coming true." But we haven't stopped dreaming, if not for ourselves, then for our progeny.
Baby Boomers' voting power peaked at 73 million in 2004, with the Millennials alone now outnumbering us at the ballot box if they turn out. Throw in the sporadic Generation X and internet-crazy Generation Z, and we Boomers can no longer change the world by ourselves.
In 2018 midterm elections, according to the Pew Research Center, voters younger than 53 accounted for 62.2 million votes while the older generations, us and our elderly parents, cast 60.1 million ballots.
But Boomers vote at a higher rate than those younger than us, and politicians who ignore the senior population still do so at their own risk.
It is the younger folks who have the most to lose from the growing efforts to suppress voting, distort information and destroy the long fought for safety net. They had better start paying attention and do something before it's too late. We'll help, but many of us are too warn out and battle-weary to carry the torch alone anymore.
Hypocrisy Of the Week!
Hypocrisy is alive and well in Congress.
Congress struggled again this past week to pass a temporary funding bill to keep the government open through December. It eventually passed, despite16 members of the Florida delegation voting against it on Thursday. (Senator Marco Rubio was not even present.) The Continuing Resolution that they voted against included an $18.8 billion fund for FEMA to help states recover from natural disasters. Again, all Republicans in the Florida delegation voted NO.
All this played out as Florida was being devasted by Hurricane Ian. Then on Friday, when the storm had passed, Senators Rick Scott and Rubio joined Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans in Florida to ask for massive federal assistance from FEMA to help deal with the hurricane devastation.
Rubio has been soundly criticized in the past for his vote in 2012 against money to help northern states recover from Hurricane Sandy. DeSantis, then in Congress, had voted against that money also.
The Biden Administration has moved fast to provide assistance to Florida in the aftermath of Ian, without any bickering over party affiliations but the Republicans again seem more focused on politics.
This is an edited down verson of a film called "Don't Be a Sucker," made in the 1940's about the rise of fascism in the 1930's when people, including Charles Lindbergh, were running around the United States talking about "America First." Yes, it's a propaganda film made by the U.S. Government. But it's accurate. You can find the full 23-minute film athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGAqYNFQdZ4
It is a lesson that needs to be repeated now and shown in every elementary school in the country. It is not revisionist history, or critical race theory. It is the plain simple TRUTH.
Early voting has begun this week in many places, including here in Virginia. I plan on voting this week before someone tries to take that vote away.
Dumbest Quote of the Week!
This week's dumbest quote comes from Vice President Kamila Harris. It's not what she said, but when she said it that qualifies it for this column.
Harris was at an event run by the Democratic National Commitee, and she was asked about the Biden Administration's goal on climate change policy when it comes to poor countries.
This comment came as Hurricane Ian, one of the worst ever to hit the U.S. and probably enhanced by climate change, had just slammed into Florida causing extensive damage. And here's what she said:
It is our lowest-income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making and so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity.”
That sounded to many people like she was proposing that poor people get recovery funds faster than everyone else. Not quite what she meant, but that's the way many people interpreted it. Some called her comments racist.
FEMA has been criticized in the past for its slow response to help those in poor communities and neighborhoods in past disasters and people will be watching this time to see if that happens again.
FEMA Director Deanne Chriswell responded to the V-P's comment quickly on CBS's Face the Nation.
“We’re going to support all communities, I committed that to the governor, I commit to you right here that all Floridians are going to be able to get the help that is available to them through our programs.”
Harris sometimes speaks before she thinks, a habit that hurt her politically when she ran for President in the 2020 primaries. The criticism of FEMA's past response has not been great and is fair game. But her comment is something the citizens of Florida just didn't need to hear right now when much of the state is in ruins.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
(My book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature.)
A Year After Insurrection #204 by Hank Silverberg At the end of this week we will mark an ugly milestone in American history. It will be one year since hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol with the intent of overturning the fair election of Joe Biden and disrupting one of the main tenets of our Republic: the peaceful transition of power. More than 700 individuals have been charged with crimes for their participation in the attacks, and so far more than 50 have been convicted. January 6 Capitol Riot Arrests (usatoday.com) At least seven members of Congress have been named for helping to plan the event along with some of former President Trump's staff, though none have been criminally charged. More disgusting: very few Republican members of Congress have even expressed outrage over the violence and the attempt to overturn the election even thought it actually threatened their lives. Report: Members of Congress Helped Plan the January 6 Rally
A Taxing Week By Hank Silverberg A few years back while doing a story on the financial stability of a local hospital, I was reading through the facility's annual report. It kept referring to “negative patient outcome,” and it took me a few minutes to realize they were talking about the death rate among patients. Over the years, while covering numerous county boards and city councils, I often heard politicians talk about the need for more “revenue enhancements,” and it was clear that "revenue enhancements" was a code word for taxes. So, I begin this week’s blog with an old saying slightly modified. There is nothing certain in life except negative patient outcome and revenue enhancements. It’s been a taxing week. I had to write a fairly large check to the U.S. Treasury to meet the April 15 th income tax deadline, and like millions of Americans, I am not happy about it. Don’t get me wrong. I fully believe that each citizen should pay their fair share of
Words Matter #262 By Hank Silverberg One of the first lectures I give to my students in my Public Speaking classes involves the use of words. And today, in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, words are becoming very important in one way and almost meaningless in others. As the temporary "truce" got underway this week, we heard a lot about the people being released by each side. They are not the same, but you would not know it by the words. Those held by Hamas were "hostages," while those being released by Israel were "prisoners". Those are the correct words. But t here are those on the Palestinian side who claim that there was no difference between them. That the captives were alike, being held against their will by the "other side". So what is the difference? The Israelis and the foreign workers who were taken with them were removed a
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