Potato Salad

My wife of 40 years and I tend to have the same conversation every afternoon around 4:00 or so.  Debbie and I are both retired and engaged in our own pursuits, but as we approach the evening meal one of us will ask the other of us, “What do you want to do for supper?”  We each toss out ideas, we each have veto power over those ideas.  The ideas include where we might want to go out to eat as well as what we might want to cook at home.  It is a never ending discussion, held seriously each day.  Yesterday more seriously than most.

I quipped, “I’m in the mood to cook out chicken.  You know, cook BBQ chicken on the grill.”  Debbie quickly confirmed that would be fine with her.  I then asked, “If I cook out the chicken will you warm up some Ranch Style Beans and make some of your delicious potato salad?” 

She thought for a second then replied, “The beans are not a problem.  I believe we have some Ranch Style Beans in the pantry.  But I am not sure we have enough potatoes for me to make potato salad.”

“How many potatoes do you need?” I asked.

“At least 4,” she said.

“How many potatoes do we have?” I wondered aloud.

“I believe we have 3 potatoes.  That is what I think; we have 3 potatoes,” she said.

I could have begun a lengthy and, from my point of view, pointless conversation about the number of potatoes we might actually have or how many potatoes I believed we had.  Or I could go to the refrigerator, pull out the crisper drawer where we keep potatoes, and count them.  I see myself as a rational person, so I went to count the potatoes.  One, two, three, four.  We had four potatoes.  I announced we had 4 potatoes, the correct amount needed to make potato salad.

Debbie said, “You are wrong.  I believe we have 3 potatoes so 3 potatoes is what we have.  I don’t care how many potatoes you believe we have.  I believe we have 3.”

I was taken aback.  This was not a conflict of theories, a disagreement over beliefs, a less than a peeling fight.  This was a classic conflict between what she believed to be true versus what was true.  It was true that there were 4 potatoes in the crisper regardless of how many she believed were in the crisper.  I made the mistake of pointing that out.  She was quick to respond.

“I believe there are 3.  I have always believed there are 3.  My parents taught me to believe there are 3 potatoes in the crisper and I believe them.  Everyone in my family believes there are 3 potatoes in the crisper.  Now you come along, thinking you are so smart with all your degrees and such and just announce that you believe there are 4 potatoes.  It doesn’t work that way, bub.  Your belief is wrong and my belief is right.”

Oh wow.  How did I get here?  Let me try again.

“You believe there are 3 potatoes in the crisper.  I know there are 4.  Why don’t you go and count the potatoes yourself and then we can agree.”

“No,” she said.  “You are brainwashed to think there are 4.  I am not going to play into your brainwashing and accept what you believe.  Just because you believe there are 4 does not make it true.”

“I agree.”   I said.  “If I believed there were 4 potatoes and did not count them then my belief is as subject to debate and research as yours.  But I do not believe there are 4 potatoes.  I know there are 4 potatoes.  I know it because I researched it, I verified it, and there are, in fact, 4 potatoes in the crisper drawer.  Please just verify the number yourself.”

“No, I am through talking about potatoes with you and anyone who thinks like you.  You have your beliefs and I have mine.  You will not change my mind.”

I won’t go into what happened next as she called all her sisters and verified that they believed there were 3 potatoes in the fridge.  She called all her Sunday school class members and verified that they believed there were 3 potatoes in the fridge.  She called all her childhood friends and all her current friends and having all lived very similar lives they all believed as she did.  There were only 3 potatoes in the fridge.  Further, they all agreed I must be nuts, I was an idiot, I was brainwashed and I had been misled, taken off the path of true belief.

Sadly, I knew them all to be wrong.  There were 4 potatoes, but I could not convince any of them that their core belief paled in light of what we knew to be true.  I begged them to do their own research, seek information from other sources, and confirm reality by their own eyes.  They all said no.  They did not want to. They would rather just end social discourse with me and hold on tightly to their beliefs.

Very well.  I went to the store to purchase what we actually needed for dinner and came home and cooked the chicken on the grill, warmed French bread in the oven, and peeled and boiled 4 potatoes removed from the crisper.  She heated the beans and made potato salad, feeling smug that I had to go to the store to get another potato. 

This is where we are in our country.  We have a lot of issues and we are looking for answers.  Some believe the answer is 3 potatoes, that is what they have been told, that is what all their friends believe, and they believe that this belief must be defended against all other beliefs.  They see those of us who have gone to the crisper and counted, announced that there are 4 potatoes, as just another belief system.  And they reject that belief system not understanding that they are not rejecting a belief system, they are rejecting truth, reality and the American way.

We must agree on the facts as we know them to be.  Not as we want them to be and not as we believe them to be, but as we know them to be.  There are, in fact, 4 potatoes.  Please check for yourself.  I know it is scary to start down the path of investigating the basis of your own beliefs.  It seems blasphemous somehow.  But it is not.  The pursuit of truth, the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of answers is the most human thing we can do.  I will always stand as your ally in the pursuit of truth.

Once we can all agree there are 4 potatoes we can work together to solve the very important issues facing us.  We cannot make potato salad together if we cannot agree on the actual ingredients we have.  Please go to the fridge and count. 

I remain forever grateful that I did not suggest pot roast.  We are still healing from the potato salad, but it was delicious.

Human Extinction

We had our chance and we are blowing it.  If I step back and look at our planet and think about what the future might hold I feel anger and depression.  What is the matter with us?

Humans appeared on the scene just 200,000 years ago.  That is nothing compared to the 4.5 billion years earth has been orbiting our star.  Dinosaurs were on the planet for 65 million years.  We are rookie life forms here.  It took us about 150,000 years to figure out how to make a fire.  It took us 195,000 years to figure out how to read and write.  It has taken us less than 200 years to destroy the planet.  Clearly, we no longer deserve to be the dominant life form on planet earth.

What have we done?  We are creative and innovative.  We figured out how to harness steam then petroleum.  We built large factories.  We became very mobile on land, on sea and in the air.  We have even ventured into space, but only in the last 60 years or so.  We made some people very rich but left many very poor.  While we pursued greater creature comforts we quickly changed the climate of the only home we have.  Our selfish short-term goals have doomed us.  And we continue on with the same goals.

Worse, we do not get along with each other.  We are smart enough to cooperate, but we choose not to because our belief systems continue to override our logic systems.  Our logic ability has elevated us to our current standard of living.  Our belief systems are killing us all.  Low pigment people hate high pigment people.  People who speak one language hate people who speak another language.  Christians hate non-Christians, and non-heterosexuals, and woman who abort fetuses.  Christians hate Muslims.  Many Muslims hate Christians.  Catholics have hated Protestants, and vice-versa.  And they all hate atheists.  Our religious beliefs have not brought us closer together, they have separated us even more.  Historically our wars have been about economics and belief.  Both greed and creed are killing us.

There are now 7 billion humans on this planet, the planet we are slowly killing.  Extinction is wide-spread now in the animal kingdom and we have not had an asteroid strike.  We have had human dominance.  We are suspicious of each other and are more likely to build walls than bridges.  We cannot seem to control our fear and hatred of others, especially others who may want to take resources from those that have them.  Our short term ignorance and competition will mean planet earth loses, not just us.  We will kill many life forms before we become extinct.

So, we had a mere 50,000 years of dominance.  If anyone outside earth is taking notes it will be obvious that we had a lot of potential but had the shortest run of dominance in the history of the planet.  If we continue the way we are going we will not last another 50,000 years.  Maybe not another 200 years.  Earth has seen 5 major extinctions and it appears we are in the 6^th.  We are likely to become endangered as well.  If we cannot breath, cannot drink, cannot eat we will become extinct.  Our biggest threat is not nuclear war or epidemics.  It is the death of our current climate.  But the threat of extinction may trigger war and epidemic.

Questions that keep me up at night include, are we moving toward a more tolerant, open, accepting culture or are we moving toward a more hostile, bigoted, alienated culture?  Are we moving toward a sharing of resources to save humans worldwide or are we moving to consolidate and protect the wealth of the few?  Are we taking major steps to reduce the international birth rate or are we allowing human reproduction to continue to run rampant?  Are we taking steps to abandon the burning of all fossil fuels or are we continuing, even accelerating, such burning?  Do we believe that life as we currently know it is somehow guaranteed to continue?  Do we believe that our beliefs somehow protect us when it is clear they divide us?  Do we believe we should not have to curtail our appetites to save ourselves?  Are we so smart we will be dumb enough to cause our own extinction?

If life on this planet survives humans another life form will become dominant.  Will the cetaceans do a better job than we did?  I think so.  They are better adapted to this planet than we are, they cooperate with each other, and their brain capacity is bigger.  I wish them the best of luck as we continue the death march toward self-destruction and extinction.

Simple Things That Could Change America

Climate change continues, glaciers melt, sea level rises, Mar a Lago disappears under the ocean during a Trump dinner.

Fox News begins to scroll across the bottom of their screen, “This site is for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as actual news.”

The Rush Limbaugh show begins with a disclaimer:  “Rush Limbaugh is a college dropout and has absolutely no expertise in analyzing current or political events.  His comments are his own and do not necessarily reflect reality.”

The Sean Hannity show begins with a disclaimer:  “Sean Hannity is a college dropout and has absolutely no expertise in analyzing current or political events.  His comments are his own and do not necessarily reflect reality.”

The Rachel Maddow show begins with a disclaimer:  “Rachel Maddow is an honor graduate of Stanford University with a degree in political science, is a Rhodes Scholar, and holds a PhD from Oxford University in political science giving her high levels of expertise in analyzing current and political events.  Her comments are based on her expertise and the network totally endorses her content.”

The 700 Club begins to scroll across the bottom of their screen:  “This is a politically partisan fantasy broadcast.  There is no evidence that Jesus ever actually existed and if he did exist there is no evidence he would have held a conservative perspective.”

The Republican Party begins to publish its actual goals:  “Reduce taxes, make the rich richer, deprive poorer people of food, medicine, clothing and education, incarcerate as many minority individuals as possible, convert as many government functions as possible to private sector functions enriching entrepreneurs at the expense of the users, increase the military to enrich government contractors, spread fear of others and fear of loss among the American people, ensure wealthy people and companies donate as much money as possible to ensure Republican victories, deny climate change, deny any negative environmental impact that harms a corporation’s ability to make money, oppose unions and any other worker organization that might somehow limit the authority of the boss, institutionalize discrimination and the Christian religion, deprive as many poor and minority people of voting as possible, deny all facts that indicate these goals, win elections at any cost, end democracy to establish a fascist state controlled by the wealthy.”

Perhaps the above might wake up a few folks.  Then again….

Democrats in Charge

What if Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House?  As I read the conservative pundits and their fans it appears those folks picture some kind of American Apocalypse or Armageddon.  And that, of course, is just silly.  The following things would most likely happen:

They would re-write the tax codes so that an actual progressive tax was in place.  Those making the most would pay the most, those making the least would pay the least.  None of this nonsense wherein billionaires don’t pay a penny and working people see their refunds go down and their tax burden go up.

Re-writing the tax code would generate more federal revenue.  Once the cuts in social services are reinstated, real money following a real plan would be implemented to renovate or replace our aging infrastructure and maintain our military as the best on the planet. 

They would make health care a single payer plan.  Doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies will scream, but they have all become obscenely rich under the current system while millions die due to lack of care.  We must improve our infant mortality rate and the services we provide our citizens.  It will be cheaper for the subscriber and offer more coverage.  Health care will grow in importance as medical advances continue and we live longer so we should treat it like we treat the military.  One US health care system.  Yes, it would be socialistic in design just like public schools, local law enforcement, local water provision, local waste treatment, highways, the military, etc.  It would clearly work.  The 600,000 Americans who declare bankruptcy each year due to medical expense would disappear.  And since zero doctors declare bankruptcy they are likely to see their standard of living drop from the 1% to maybe 2 or 3%.

They would make clear in law that no belief system is more important than protecting the rights of human beings.  Discriminating against people based on race, religion, sexual preference, gender, etc. would be illegal. 

They will encourage citizens to vote.

They would make laws enforcing the clear separation of church and state.  No more Christian heavy policies vs Muslim heavy policies, etc.  No one would be required to take a loyalty oath or declare their faith for employment.

The trade tariffs would end and America could return to be the productive leader of the free world.

They would commit to ending those human behaviors that harm our climate.  Burning fossil fuels must stop and just like the doctors, oil men and women will have to get used to less money.

The Citizens United loophole would be closed and corporations would not be allowed to spend millions on political campaigns.

They will take better care of our veterans.

They will support more funding for public education.  The privatization of schools and prisons would stop as it has not improved those institutions but has merely made a new group of CEO’s very rich.

They will re-engage with our allies.  They will support NATO, EU, Britain, Canada, France, Mexico, etc. 

They will take a hard line against ambitious dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un, and provide human services to the people in Central America, Africa, Asia and the Mid-East whose lives are threatened by despotic leadership.

They will not be tolerant of terrorists in any shape, form or fashion.  Nations known to turn a blind eye to terrorist strongholds will feel our sanctions.  Nations that act as terrorist will feel our might.

The minimum wage would rise and hard working people would be able to survive on that income.

They would end the nonsense that is incorporated in supply side economics, top-down economics, give the rich a break economics or whatever the conservatives call making the rich richer.  The simple truth is that if more working class people have more money they will spend more money and that is what drives the economy.

They will promote the exploration of space.

They will promote the development of green energy.

They will not tolerate conspiracy theories via transparent government.  Everyone will share tax returns, transcripts, and any publicly funded investigation will be shared with the public.

People appointed to run Cabinet level offices will have to demonstrate their knowledge and skill in those areas and commit to defending the constitution and law.

They would have reasonable restrictions on the purchase of a firearm including background checks.  No one would go to anyone’s house and confiscate weapons.  Law-abiding non-felons could still purchase guns, and gun shows would have to follow the same rules as pawn shops and Academy.  It will not end gun related violence, but it will significantly reduce it.

The abortion debate would be shifted from government to religious organizations where it should be held.  Women should control decisions regarding their own bodies with limits on late term abortions.  It’s simple really.  If you think abortion is murder your position is inspired by your religion and should not be policy.  If you think abortion is murder do not have an abortion.

They will not build walls.  They will build bridges.

They will not turn a blind eye to the suffering of people on this planet, especially those who make it to our shores seeking asylum and a chance for a better life.

The chaos would end.  We would not have a president who personally attacks members of congress, or judges or members of the media, or foreign officials, or women in general.  When charged with hiding our new leadership would be forthcoming.  When charged with lying our new president would confess, or clarify or explain.  We would return to an era where leaders could be trusted or called out if they could not be.

Democratic control of government would not be the end of life as we know it.  It would be a return to people-centered, constitutional sanity and re-establish the United States as the economic and moral leader of the world.