Time to Think

Fruits of Our Labor by Hank Silverberg We are a culturally diverse country. Our natural resources are spectacular and plenty.   But it took the Labor Movement of the 1930's to turn us into a progressive nation.  For most of this country's first two hundred years, those who did manual labor were exploited and abused by the rich and powerful.  Labor Day is a time to celebrate the American worker, whether it be the indentured Irishmen who built the Erie Canal (1817 -1825), the Irish and Chinese immigrants and newly freed Black men who built the Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869) or the Mohawk Iron workers who risked their lives to put up the Empire State Building in the early 1930's. It is relevant today to remember that without the union strikes and protests in the streets-- sometimes violent ones-- we would not have the 40 hour work week,  Social Security, Medicare, safe working conditions, a ban on child labor, the minimum wage, and other protections lik...

The Trump Cult of Personality By Hank Silverberg  (updated)  I watched President Trump's very lengthy Republican National Convention acceptance speech with some interest last week.  There were a few reasons.  As someone who teaches Public Speaking at the college level I wanted to see if he would break with his mono-toned delivery that usually occurs when he reads off of a teleprompter (a very bad style), or whether he would unleash his free-flowing, insult filled, attacking campaign stomp speech (filled with factual errors and poor word choices).   It was a combination of both, and the second longest "acceptance  speech" in U.S. history.       The speech was laced with inaccuracies and outright lies, but any good political observer would know that was nothing new.  The Washington Post found 25 major fallacies in the speech. But since Trumpites always say that very respected newspaper is biased, I looked for a bi-partisan source...

   Unconventional Conventions By Hank Silverberg  I liked the finale: fireworks outside instead of a big balloon drop inside, but other than that, the Democratic National Convention last week was pretty much what was expected. Virtual conventions obviously have none of the pomp and circumstance, screaming crowds and floor demonstrations that we are used to, but I don't think the speeches we saw were very much different than they would have been without the pandemic.  With the exception of 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who did a great job overcoming his stutter to talk about how Joe Biden helped him, I saw nothing that stands out. Sure, Kamala Harris and Biden did a good job stating their case and trashing Donald Trump, but that is what they were supposed to do. Their vision for America is NOT radical socialism as claimed by the GOP, but rather a return to a progressive Democracy, similar to, but definitely not the same, as the eight years of Barack Obama. That coul...

The Myth of Donald J. Trump By Hank Silverberg I admit it, I am stumped. I just can't fathom how anyone can support Donald J. Trump for re-election. I have asked people why. Some say I should "look at all the things he has accomplished in the last four years."  That completely flabbergasts me.  But, since I really want to understand, let's take a look at what he has done over the last four years--just some of the low lights.  1) He signed a tax cut that Republican lawmakers ramrodded  through Congress when they controlled both chambers.  That pushed the federal deficit over a trillion dollars in pre-pandemic 2019, more than double what it was in 2015. It's a deficit my great-grandchildren will be paying off, if they can.   https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/11/07/trump-tax-cuts-hiked-deficit-republicans-want-more-editorials-debates/4168022002/ And just this past week or so he proposed doing away with the Payroll  Tax. That's the famous FI...