ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE.

I attended the Resistance Event against the Electoral College on the steps of the Sacramento State Capitol. People in every state were rallying, though only six showed up in Madison, Wisconsin, and Trump supporters tell us to "quit whining". People are disgusted to think a candidate can win 2.8+ million votes, but  because of the way the electoral college works, her opponent won the election. He is our president too and people are fearful of his destructive agenda so this rally looks more like a hate Trump rally. The crowd grew from 400 to over 1,000 people.

My daughter Virginia and I attended together. I was hoping to meet with a friend Galen Hazelhofer and the first person she ran into was Virginia. Galen is on the right. In such a big mob of people I was amazed we connected. And, speaking of the big mob of people, the organizers were concerned about violence. But there was none at this morning to afternoon event but the night before, 150 people protested and closed a couple of streets and took over a tower in downtown Sac. They were all anti-Trump. As many of you know, my co-blogger is a Trump supporter while I stand in the opposite camp. I think if people make an effort to at least consider other's points of view, we have a better chance of building a better and stronger democracy.

The organizers encouraged us to talk to Trump supporters and figure out what we have in common and where we largely differ. Two Trump supporters showed up at the rally. Virginia interviewed the man above and they talked for about twenty minutes. The young man was articulate, kind, sincere, educated and a veteran. I thought he had courage to come in the face of so many Anti-Trump people in evidence. His support comes from his veteran beliefs and that Obama did not do enough for vets. His friend was the opposite end of the spectrum, basically a war monger. Kind of like Allen West who quoted Trump's choice of "Mad Dog Mattis" for Secretary of Defense: "Obama fired him (Mattis) to save the Muslims, Trump hired him to exterminate them." And, "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."  Taken out of context I'm not sure what that means, but saying those things publicly doesn't give me confidence in Trump's choices.

Even so, the rally wasn't about hate. There were exhortations-do not revert to violence, anger and hate, but to build on what we know is good and protest vocally what we know is not good. And that probably sums it up best.

The organizers brought a Russian journalist to the podium. She declared that Putin considers the United States their worst enemy. Her message was clear. Make no mistake, Putin is not our friend. He made Europeans wonder why a U.S. President would give Putin any sort of gesture of approval after the slaughter at Aleppo.

The organizers brought a woman from Berlin who wanted to tell the world that after the Berlin Wall fell, East Germany was a drag on the economy, no decent infra-structure, crumbling buildings; a fearful, mistrustful, population. It took years and a lot of investment to heal the rift and bring the country to unity. Let's not let that happen to us.

A famous science professor described the attack Trump's agenda will have on climate change. He chose for the Environmental Protection Agency a person who claims climate change doesn't exist, it's a hoax. No wonder people are angry about Trump's shortsightedness. Hundreds of environmental organizations have charted and changed toxic rivers into healthy streams; protected corals from acidic oceans;  introduced native fish, wolves, birds and a multitude of threatened species to their original habitat and made visible, measurable, positive differences to our shared space. Corporations who have changed their business models to account for climate change have not spoken up or made suggestions to Trump. But, they know it is less expensive to accommodate climate change  and move forward than to clean up afterword.

Of course, that isn't going to happen, but that was the mood and what should have happened, in my opinion and many others.  And, early, before so many people showed up, I counted 5 wheelchairs. What a testament to courage and commitment.

The organizers brought Christi Pelosi, a member of the Electoral College who spoke about the way it operates in California and how it operates in some other states. It is obvious that such a divided electoral college and its upside down results does not represent the majority of voters.  It is an antiquated bill from 1787 that established the electoral college. I always thought the electoral college bill was established on the premise of the founding fathers belief the uneducated peasants didn't know enough about what was going on in their country to be trusted to vote. But it wasn't against uneducated peasants. It was to protect slavery and ensure that blacks did not vote. What a shame that people cannot get over bigotry. Blacks to this day do not get fair treatment in a country that is a beacon of freedom to the world.

These dogs were very popular at the rally. When Virginia and I left at 2:00, the protestors were marching around the State Capitol, and by the time we got into our car to head for home, the March completely surrounded the capitol. I was very disappointed in the early footage of the rally in the Sacramento Bee. They didn't see the half of it.

DON'T THOW THE BUMS OUT.

Jon Grinspan wrote an article for Smithsonian Magazine noting the comparable issues of America's disenchantment with their representatives now and during our historical past.

I've often used the phrase, Throw The Bums Out when I was disgruntled over some fumble from our local Board of Supervisors, but more often over our state and national legislators.  I'm excerpting Grinspan's article because it gives a different perspective.

"Voters are in a bad mood. Again." he writes.  "We are routinely (and justifiably) frustrated with our politicians, but “throwing the bums out” doesn’t seem to change much. And we are all bracing for another anger-pageant that will stomp through American life for the next 12 months until election day.

It was too easy, the muckraker Lincoln Steffens began to argue, to believe that bad politicians were just immoral people. The young writer had bounced from California to Europe to Manhattan...where  he honed his scorching prose, and learned about New York’s “low-life,” as a crime reporter in rough-and-tumble Manhattan in the 1890s.  One politico called him “a born crook that’s gone straight.”

Like many Americans, Steffens grew up cursing his leaders. Between 1865 and 1900, frustrated citizens pointed to the never-ending string of political scandals and stolen elections, as leaders failed to address the massive traumas of the Gilded Age.

Attacking leaders was an easy route to becoming one. Self-impressed tycoons, high-toned editors and rising politicians “greedy for power” all insisted that they knew how to clean up politics. Replace bad, immoral men with “the best men”—wealthy, God-fearing, respectable—and the democracy would fix itself. And by “the best men,” they meant themselves.

Angry voters tried this approach, throwing the bums out in election after election.  Control of Congress changed hands with dizzying speed in the 1880s and 1890s, yet politics only grew more corrupt.

But as a crime reporter who befriended crooked cops and scheming politicos, Steffens stumbled onto a new approach to journalism. Instead of moralizing, he listened. People would talk, he found, if you let them. Steffens hung around police stations and pool halls, absorbing everything he could. He even tolerated the ceaseless lectures of a young police commissioner named Teddy Roosevelt (though Steffens devised ways to shut his new friend up). And he refused to sit, isolated, in New York, setting out across the country to study dirty tricks from Boston to San Francisco.

Steffens came away with two major insights. Bad politicians were not necessarily bad people.  Steffens concluded that the angry public was focused on the wrong problem. Political dirty tricks were not “exceptional, local, and criminal…not an accidental consequence of the wickedness of bad men...," Americans—obsessed with individualism—liked to rage against immoral men, but really it was big, impersonal structures—like the steady drip of campaign contributions—that did more to buy power and harm the democracy.

Steffens began to write, furiously, publishing his “dawning theory” in his famous “Shame of the Cities” series in McClure’s Magazine between 1901 and 1904.  Often, angry middle-class citizens, looking for someone to blame, perpetuated the pointless cycle of reform and relapse, throwing out individuals but failing to make real change. ...a way to avoid considering the deeper problems with their political system.

American voters began to see that the country’s political problems were, really, social problems. Instead of hollering about immoral bosses, reformers simply went around them, introducing primary elections, ballot initiatives, recall votes, and eventually the direct election of senators. Progressive activists focused on improving political structures, not electoral “lynchings” of the bad guys.

And in our time of anger at politicians, it’s important to consider where bad leaders come from. ...politicians are, as a group, no better or worse than the rest of us. If they stink, something’s rotten with the system that feeds them. As long as we see politics as a war between good and bad individuals, ignoring the structures that reward or punish them, this will continue.

The most compelling words, "the steady drip of campaign contributions" and the word "activists."

We need to be activists, and it is easy on-line to sign petitions and reply as a group to leverage change. When asked to contribute, I answer that as soon as YOU get the money out of politics, I'll be glad to contribute. Above all,  we need to get rid of Citizens United. Every chance to sign a petition or to vote to rid ourselves of that unrighteous production of the court, will help restore balance in our democracy.

FROTHING AT THE MOUTH.

A reader put me onto this site:

http://sidschwab.blogspot.com/

Sid Schwab is very funny. He normally writes about surgery but the “crap” as he puts it has him frothing at the mouth. I know how he feels.  These quotes are from the opening of his blog.

We have now sunk to a depth at which re-statement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” George Orwell….
… “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” Stephen King…. …. “A man who lies today about what he said yesterday will lie tomorrow about what he said today.

My conservative friend Jerry McClellan offered some interesting solutions on my other blog:

Like you I fear for the country – no matter who we get, things will keep getting worse for the bottom 95%  – the first thing I would change is president 1 term – 4 years only , same with all elected officials !! Or if additional terms are allowed them they have to win by 10% higher ie 60% , third term by 70% , forth time by 80% – this makes it easier to replace them )
There are a few simple changes to make a great country. Same pension system for all people – same health care & school for all …. Cut the lifers off welfare, as you make millions taxes rates go higher …. Why do oil companies, insurance & Apple all need to make 50 billion per year – it should go to shareholders in dividends.
People who saved $500k should be easily be able to live on their interest or dividends ? – now you don’t get S__T
Judge Judy on tv makes $123,000 per day X 365 days – average worker makes $123 – that’s insane !! 1000 times the average Wage – should be about 50 x max in my opinion … So there is my rant. 

And, another Republican veteran asked people to spread this around:

http://www.barackobama.com/video/id/6gICj9yO3SQ?utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=Take+a+look+at+

I’ve let others write my blog today as I slog through more medical paperwork. I have close friends in Virginia, Karen and Glen Littlefield, who are socked in with Hurricane Sandy, yesterday, expecting to lose power. I hope all is well with them and the many others who take the brunt of this monster storm.
And, I hope climate change will get some notice by our leaders.