A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

by Ruth A. Sheets

This afternoon, I received an email from an organization called “Freedom Forward.”  It asked for respondents to describe what our vision for the future would be.  That took me aback.  I am so used to identifying the problems we are having now, I have mostly set aside thoughts of what I would like our nation and the world to be like.  The following is a slightly expanded version of my response to Freedom Forward’s question

I would like to see a nation where people are serious about caring for one another.  Instead of blaming one another for whatever comes to mind, we will commit to each other to do our best to be sure that

- all jobs are good jobs, suited to the person in the job, where workers are treated with respect and valued, and paid well, have sick leave, child care, and opportunities to improve skills and level in the organization.  Every corporate and agency board will have workers serving on it 

- taxes are set fairly for all individuals and corporations - those who have pay some more and those who have less pay some less

- the Constitution is taught in school starting in 5th grade so young Americans will know what their rights and the rights of all Americans are - this should help end such nonsense as birtherism and other ridiculous, but potentially harmful  conspiracy theories.

- the ?Equal Rights Amendment is ratified so that after nearly a century, it becomes part of the Constitution, asserting  that rights are not just for men but for women too.  This means women will be able to decide what happens to their own bodies regarding reproduction and other factors specific to them.

- corporations are not permitted to grow so large no one can compete and we are at the mercy of monopolies.  We already have laws on the books for this, now we need to employ those laws to create a more fair economy.

- Hedge funds need to be more seriously regulated so they can't just absorb other companies because they have huge assets.  To have that much padding means they are not paying their fair share of taxes.  I would put Elizabeth Warren in charge of a committee that would develop appropriate regulations.  The Consumer Finance Board would have teeth to protect consumers from bad actors in the business and finance worlds. 

- global warming (climate change) will be given the top priority it needs - All treaties to stop greenhouse gas emissions will be entered into with strong international agreements and means of monitoring and enforcing the agreements' provisions.  Resources will be provided to companies and other entities that move us toward full renewable energy and removable of carbon from the atmosphere.  

- voter registration would be automatic upon reaching age 18.  Since everyone has to have a Social Security number from childhood, it can be used to identify when citizens come of age.  All forms of voter suppression by any party, group, or individual will be outlawed and have significant penalties should it happen.  This includes:  gerrymandering, inappropriate voter roll purging, I.D. requirements after the first time voting at a particular polling place, sabotaging of the US Post Office, requiring such difficult things as two witnesses for a write-in ballot, using minor changes in signatures as a reason to throw out a ballot, etc.

- the US Post Office will be supported as an agency of the federal government.  It will also be able to offer basic banking services.

- Supreme Court justices will serve on the high court for 18 years, then be able to either retire or serve on another federal court.  A presidential nominee for a justice will have to be vetted, interviewed in a hearing, and voted on no matter the party of the majority leader of the Senate.

- all DACA young people will have a direct path to citizenship if they choose to take that route.  It will not cost them a fortune, no more than $500 for the whole process.  They have already been paying, a lot.

- sufficient legal and judicial assistance will be provided to those seeking asylum and refuge in the United States and those seekers will be allowed into this country while they are waiting for a ruling, and not in concentration camps.

- no further physical wall will be built on the southern border because it is unnecessary and a waste of time and money.  No more family separation will take place as it is inhumane and just plain wrong.

- a committee will be selected or elected to help work on the issues of addressing and repairing the results of our history - African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinx-Americans, Asian-Americans will work together with all other Americans to design plans for serious reparations for past injuries:  slavery, abuse, economic, educational, and real estate discrimination, and more.  Decisions will be made to put into practice the committee's suggestions for reparations

- infrastructure will be updated to meet the needs and demands of the people including broadband internet and hospitals in rural areas

- everyone will be covered by affordable health care as health care is a right in a modern society.  A reasonable amount will be taxed to every person to cover the cost of this whether under Medicare or another plan.  This medical coverage will not be connected to place of employment but employers who currently cover healthcare will give that money directly to employees to pay toward the healthcare program that is chosen/developed.

- Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid  will be off the table for destruction by all political parties.     

- public education will be enhanced and our children will be cared for and educated well.  Charter schools will be limited to the experimental schools they were supposed to be at the beginning.  They have morphed into publicly funded private schools that are not particularly good but take up a lot of public resources with little to no accountability.

- The department of Homeland Security will be ended.  The agencies that have value to our society will be moved back into other departments and agencies.  ICE will be disbanded completely, as may other segments of the department.  DHS was formed in fear after 9/11 made with little thought, less planning, and really bad oversight.  It has outlived its usefulness.

- The criminal justice system in this country will be overhauled from the bottom up and the top down.  Police departments will either have a true union to represent officers whatever those officers turn out to be, or they will have a fraternal organization.  It cannot be both representing them.  Laws will be changed to protect the victims of police.  Police will have more limited roles, more effective oversight, and community resources will be tapped for jobs police previously handled, often poorly.  Private prisons will be outlawed and every prisoner's case will be examined and those prisoners arrested and imprisoned on 3-strikes laws with minor crimes will be released if evidence shows they can be safely moved into the community with support services.

- Stronger alliances will be forged with other nations and more careful ones with dictators and those who trample the human rights of their citizens and those others living within their borders.  Greater support will be given to international aid groups like WHO, and the various UN organizations.

- intelligent science-supported strategies will be employed to curb COVID-19 and to prepare for future pandemics and other emergencies. 

These are some of the components of my vision.  IF we can work seriously together on these things, it would be a good start and every American would be safer and more secure.  Our children would be protected and cared for as they should be. 

Maybe we as a nation would benefit if everyone took an hour or two to write down their vision for our collective future, perhaps in addition to their vision for their own future.  These could be starting points for conversations among people with different points of view on a variety of issues.  I suspect we would find that we hold a lot of our visions in common.  After all, we are all Americans, right?

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

by Ruth A. Sheets

Today I went through a process teachers all over Pennsylvania and possibly other states go through every five years.  I was fingerprinted.  Had I committed any crime?  No!  Was I under suspicion of having committed a crime?  Yes!  It appears every teacher and other adult who works with children is considered a criminal until proven, what, guilty?  It must be guilty because the process is repeated over and over, hoping to find something.  This FBI fingerprinting is in addition to a “Child Abuse Check” (back 45 years), and a criminal records check (presumably for one’s whole life).

You would think this process is to protect children, but how would you know.  Once this kind of invasion of privacy is in place, does anyone go back to find out if children are safer because of the checks?  Are the people being accused by criminal or child abuse checks actually criminals?  To further this ridiculous procedure, we, the accused must pay for the privilege.

It is possible to imagine that a company, organization, government agency or other place of employment or of volunteers might want to find out if a prospective candidate for a job or opening of some sort, has a criminal record.  A basic criminal check through the state should take care of that, and if work is with kids, maybe a child abuse check.  But what could possibly be the purpose of repeating the checks once a person has the job?

I mentioned to my “handler” today that I had my fingerprints taken in 1981 so I couldn’t see why I should have to have it done again.  He told me only criminals had their fingerprints taken back then.  I corrected him that I had worked for the Government.  I never did get an answer as he is not from the FBI himself but a contractor, a semi-government job.  I mentioned that I had also had fingerprints done when I started working for the district and 5 years ago, so what was the purpose?  He told me it’s the way it is done.  OK, my question, is the FBI so incompetent it can’t keep fingerprint records for 40 years, for 25 years, more than 5 years? 

Since returning home this afternoon, I have been thinking about this whole process of assumption of guilt, the knee-jerk reaction to learning that some small number of people who work with children are unworthy of the privilege and responsibility.   There have been people who have abused kids (although these are mostly parents and guardians), and there have been some church-related and Boy Scout abusers, but who is mostly targeted with these 5-year interval sweeps?  It is mostly women, often lower-paid persons and people of color.  White men who run corporations who make products that are really harmful to kids are not fingerprinted or given a child abuse check. 

When I first learned we would have to do this whole process again, I remember commenting that if any of us teachers were actually criminals, it would be all over the news.  Our picture would be plastered everywhere and we would be hauled off to prison right in front of our students and the cameras, if possible.  That’s how it’s done.  There would be no midnight sneak arrests and we would never be able to get a job teaching or working with children again (or any other job for that matter).  A few times a year, we hear about a teacher somewhere in the country doing something completely criminal like sexually abusing children (usually by coaches)or chemistry teachers running meth labs (Oh wait that’s only on TV).  I am curious if any of the actual criminals are caught through the child abuse and criminal checks or FBI fingerprinting.  Good old investigation on the part of law enforcement and school officials usually does the trick. 

So, what is really going on here?  I suspect it is a lot of things.  It is a form of intimidation.  You’d better be a good little boy or girl around those kiddies or we’ll get you.  It is also a source of income.  Each procedure costs and the total is more than $50 and with as many people as have to go through this, the money can be substantial.  At least, it covers the cost of the workers who have to do the checking (job creation hurray!).  It also keeps districts calm, thinking they’ll be less likely to be sued because of actions on the part of their intimidated teachers and staff.  Pretty neat huh?

This is just one piece of the law enforcement maze we all find ourselves in.  We as a society have nearly forgotten the “innocent until proven guilty” aspect of what justice is supposed to be.  We watch on the news feeds Black men murdered by police because “They must be guilty of something, right?”  Then we do not hold the murderers accountable because well, they were just defending themselves, right?

Donald Trump is allowed to send in federal somethings to cities to “stop riots.”  They shoot at peaceful protesters because, if Black Lives Matter, a lot of what passes for law enforcement will be properly labeled crime and prosecuted.  If all protesters are declared guilty of something, it won’t matter what is done to them, short of murder, but that is not always off the table either.

It seems conservatives in power are so fearful they will lose the life that keeps them comfortable  and able to look down on all those  pathetic users, they must see everyone as guilty of something so they can forcefully if necessary keep those people in the place predetermined by conservatives.  That place, of course, is beneath any spot held by the rich, mostly whites or white look-alikes (they occasionally allow a few groups once seen as non-white into their august assembly – Italians, Irish, some South Asian Indians, some well-behaved Jews). 

In another sector, we have people accused of crimes being threatened into taking plea bargains even when they did not commit the crime, even when evidence is so thin it would never hold up in an honest court.  These folks, again, the most vulnerable, often cannot afford a lawyer (and why should they have to afford one if they are innocent), so perhaps one is assigned to them, one who has a thousand other clients to see to.  The D.A. or its minions say, well if you go to court, the jury will probably give you 20 years, but if you plead guilty, we can give you just five with some parole.  That is insane, but there are a high and growing number of cases that are handled this way.  Then, people are arrested, accused of something, but can’t afford bail.  They may or may not have committed a crime, but many people pay, so bail brings in a lot of cash and most governments keep it going.  Those who can’t pay are herded into jails under appalling conditions for nothing but suspicion – guilty until proven guilty, and most will be proven guilty because that’s how the system works if you’re the right color and income level.  

If any of this is to change, we must change our whole perspective.  We must constantly call for ending the guilty until proven guilty mind set.  A very small proportion of Americans has committed a crime of any kind more serious than speeding, j-walking, or stealing a candy bar.  To live as if whole communities are guilty of something is madness and extremely destructive.  We need to begin dismantling the “guilt system.”  We can do it by stopping paid unpaid bail incarceration of non-violent criminals.  We can employ more public defenders so plea bargains don’t imprison the innocent and over imprison the guilty.  We can work to restructure the system of law enforcement to something more humane and equitable, more just.

We can put an end to the recurring criminal, child abuse checks, and FBI fingerprinting assumptions of guilt.  We can dump the stupid line “if it saves one life . . . “  Once through the process is more than enough.  The vast number of people who work with kids are guilty of nothing worse than wanting to care for and share with, even giving their lives for  the next generation.

A Grand Sabotage

by Ruth A. Sheets

Have you noticed that Donald Trump nominated the least competent people in nearly all high-level governmental positions?  He could not have found so many appalling candidates by himself.  That is a problem because it means a lot of personal private interests are acting against the public interests of the American people.  To me, an even greater problem is that the Republicans in the United States Senate went along with these picks, knowing the newly minted officials would be either incompetent or unqualified, totally unsuited for the job.  If they were simply figureheads in their departments, that would not be such a big problem, but these appointees actually are supposed to run the department or agency they are in charge of.  One would think to run a huge governmental department, the nominee should have some experience in that area, credentials, references, something, but the Senate Republicans approved a former doctor to run Housing and Urban Development (he is Black, you know), an Oil Magnate to run the Department of State (he’s been to Russia), and anti-public education activist for the Department of Education (anyone can teach, you know), Republican Party donors, corporate lobbyists to head numerous agencies including EPA (it costs a lot to drill for oil and pollution is just a side effect), a pointedly partisan hack as Attorney General (the president should be able to do whatever he wants), and so on through every cabinet post.

The task of these appointees seems to be to undermine the work of the department, while getting everything they can out of it for themselves.  Oh, yes, they must not forget to donate to certain Republican candidates including Mr. Trump, and they must regularly, publicly,  express total loyalty to him.  Being fired has been a regular feature of heads of the most noticed, possibly most critical departments:  State, Justice, Defense, and smaller but also important agencies like the FBI.  

The target of the year is the U.S. post office.  Last month it was taken over by a sycophantic Republican donor with no experience with anything related to the Post Office.  He probably never even noticed the USPS before.  He is rich, though, and male and white and a Republican donor.  I guess that’s a sufficient resume these days.  To prove his Republican bona fides, millionaire or billionaire (one can't be sure with all the Republican cheating and lying these days) Director Louis DeJoy is working to sabotage the efficient functioning of the Post Office by slowing down the mail and trying to make the whole process less efficient.   Now why would he, a brand newbee in the position do that, to undermine the confidence of the American people in this amazingly effective institution, of course.  It is well-known we are in the midst of a pandemic and it is a national election year.  The purpose of this sabotage, then is to make vote-by-mail seem unsafe, unreliable, and unworkable, even though it is the safest way to hold the upcoming election (maybe all elections), particularly for people most susceptible to COVID-19.    

The new director, as with most members of the Trump administration, doesn’t seem to care much  for the American people and our governmental institutions.  The most recent poll I saw indicated that 90% of the American people approve of the Post Office and the way it has been working.  Some would like the Post Office to offer some more services like simple banking, but they clearly want the institution to remain its usual efficient self.  As has been said often, 90% of the American people rarely agree on anything, but we do on this one.  We the people definitely want the Post Office to continue to connect every household and business in America and want the service to remain dependable and timely.  Clearly, that’s not what Donald Trump and Mr. DeJoy want.  Too bad for us!    

Several members of the House of Representatives recently contacted Mr. DeJoy asking him to explain what he was doing to the Post Office and why.  His response essentially informed them he could make whatever changes he wanted and didn’t have to get permission from the Post Office’s oversight board or anyone else to do it.  Naturally, he didn’t actually answer the letter’s questions, but that seems to be the modus operandi for this administration.  Do whatever Donald Trump and his handlers want and dismiss all criticism of anything you do.  Laws, rules, and regulations have no impact on this gang.  They have adopted the old, “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” practice  that has overtaken the corporate world in the past few decades.  This group even skips the forgiveness part.  Besides, in this current time, Republicans have gotten away with nearly everything they have tried.  They cut regulations on air and water pollution, started giving away our public lands to fossil fuel corporations, blackmailed Ukraine, made no challenge  when a journalist who worked for an American newspaper was murdered, “colluded” with Russia and so much more. 

This time I hope the results will be different, but DeJoy thinks He can get away with sabotaging the Post Office for his boss thinking, “who’s going to stop me?”  As of now, no one.   

Donald Trump wants the Post Office brought down and Congressional Republicans are on board with whatever the childish, scared Donald Trump wants.  He sees this as the way he can win the upcoming election, and if something isn’t done to stop him, he might be right.

The question is, can we stop DeJoy from ruining the critical agency he now operates?  How do We the People make sure we can vote by mail on time depending on the usually dependable Post Office?  How can we get out the message that our senators need to do the will of the people and properly fund the Post Office?  These are important questions that we need good answers too very soon.  3 months from today is Election Day.  We’re running out of time.  So, Democrats and others who care about our mail service, we need letters to the editor condemning DeJoy’s sabotage and Donald Trump for demanding it.  We need to call out senators who ignore the will of the people and go only with their self-interest.  Maybe we need a phrase like “Republicans want to destroy our Post Office!  STOP THEM!” plastered everywhere.  Maybe the media should help us out since they worked so hard to get Mr. Trump elected four years ago. 

Sabotaging an agency like USPS is unacceptable, but when that sabotage impacts the federal elections in November, it would be treason.

A “NEW RELIGION?”

By Rev. Ruth A. Sheets

There are times when reading an article I simply can’t believe what I have read, then I think about it a bit and decide maybe there is something to it and the presentation may actually be useful for understanding the opposition.

The article in question this time is “The New Religion of the Woke Left is a Faith Without Atonement” by Tripp Parker.  The article appeared in thefederalist.com.  Although I read occasional articles from “The Federalist,” it is not a favorite.  I find the articles I have read to be judgmental (as one would expect from an organization that hand picks conservative judges for the courts, even quite a few who are completely unqualified). 

This article piqued my attention because of several words:  religion, faith, woke, left, and atonement.  I didn’t expect all of those words to appear together in the same place.  Mr. Parker claims the “woke left” “does seem to resemble a religion.”  He says that should not surprise “us,” I assume meaning conservative academics.  It surprised me, though.

Parker proceeds to explain that “humans use sacred rituals and symbols as unifying forces that allow us to participate in large scale societies.” 

Then, he slithers off into the real intent of the article.  His next sentence tells us that all “non-insect creatures” participate in close kinship networks, while insects like bees have large societies (notice the reference to insects – well done).  Then, those insects share a large amount of genetic material (bring in the science).  Why the insect reference?  Is that to prove your credentials in science of some kind, or perhaps a comment on how much you appreciate the Lefties?  But of course, Parker must tell us that humans are different, we can choose who will be siblings with us.  We recognize those siblings through the “sacred”  you know: “a rock, an ancestor, even a god,” and we organize around that “sacred artifact.”

OK, now, here comes the “Left” into it.  Parker claims the Left has increasingly rejected Christianity (as if that is a sign of anything real), and thus, need something to fill “the void – it’s inevitable!” because we humans need that unifying force; we can’t help it, according to Parker.

At this point, it occurred to me that the article has the flavor of a documentary, studying the Woke Left the way early anthropologists studied chimpanzees before Jane Goodall came along.  The author doesn’t really know what he is talking about, but he has assumed some things he just has to remark on, also hoping to inform his own group just what those creatures are like in their own language. 

Parker proceeds to tell us that the Woke Left is a religion.  He says that even without a supernatural element the Lefties have all the necessary religious trappings:  a core set of beliefs you cannot question, myths that are not subject to “normal” academic inquiry (the 1619 Project), sacred texts (White Fragility), an idea of original sin (being born white and male), rituals (self-flagellation – whatever that is), symbols (he doesn’t describe those), heretics (J.K. Rowling), and de facto priests and prophets (doesn’t name them either) “to enlighten, then initiate us into this new religion.”

He continues by claiming that the Woke Left wants to force everyone to adopt their new way of viewing the world.  But despite this near perfection, there is one truly holy thing missing – atonement.  Huh!         

Parker has now tied the Lefties to Christianity  even though he previously told us the group has left Christianity.  If that is the case, what does the new Woke Left religion need with atonement?  He asks what they do if they sin (original or otherwise), how do we make up for that; “how can they balance the scales?”  He tells the Left a price has to be paid for their sins.  Really, why?  The Woke Left is supposed to have to make some kind of sacrifice because of the horrible things they did in their past life, you know, before the Woke. 

Jimmy Kimmel is one of Parker’s targets because he once hosted a sexist racist show.  Hosting a funny honest show now cannot possibly make up for that past according to Mr. Parker, so Kimmel can’t be part of the Woke Left faith.  Says who?  Then Kimmel is accused of being a Progressive!  O heavens!  What a sin!  And, horror of horrors, Kimmel called out a Republican Representative (Parker doesn’t say who) for not having a soul.  I say that a lot when I hear the appalling things those mostly white Christian men say in hearings and Fox News interviews about their fellow citizens.  They claim Christianity.  Where is their atonement or do they just get to claim they’ve made their sacrifice in private? 

It appears the Woke Left are supposed to “repent” somehow while not calling out those who are doing actual harm to their brothers and sisters, Christian or not.  That’s rather hypocritical, I’d say.

Then, as if that were not enough, the Lefties are accused of getting people fired (the equivalent of human sacrifice in the past).  This means that the ones being fired (whoever they are) did nothing to deserve the firing or whatever public shaming they received.  It is all the fault of the Woke Left, that horrible cult.  Parker ignores the very very many times Christians have fatally accused folks of all kinds of things:  worshipping wrong, being witches, being uppity women or Blacks, not being servile enough, committing crimes they didn’t actually do, whistling at white women, and on and on.  Then there are the actual acts committed against those ancestors and their descendants:  constructing statues of traitors to intimidate a whole people and let another people believe the Civil War was a good cause, destroying whole Black or Native American communities because . . ., denying housing to people because of their color, setting up scams to rip off poor people, wearing sheets and hoods to cause murder and mayhem (boys will be boys, I suppose). 

None of the “shaming” done by the Woke Left even comes close to what has been done by folks on the Christian Right.  Where is their atonement or is that only for the “new religion?”  What actions should a group being oppressed by a more powerful religion do, just knuckle under and go along?  The ancestors of the Woke Left did that for generations, only now and then being able to break through and force some concessions.

One thing this nation knows well, if you are used to being entitled and to being seen as the most valuable group, when you don’t get what you want, it feels like oppression.  And, like the early anthropologists, you are reading the situation wrong.  You, the oppressors are blaming the oppressed for wanting some of the power and rights you have and not being properly sorry for it.  

I understand your fear.  You are used to being in charge of just about everything and now, for the first time you’re not, and I think, somewhere in the depth of your faith, you know you are wrong and have been wrong for a long time.  White isn’t automatically right.  Male isn’t the head of anything.  Straight isn’t godly in itself, and rich is just having more than you need while you leave others to suffer.  That is pretty scary. 

You want no stones thrown at you while you are constantly winding up to toss stones at so many others.  You claim Jesus while you denounce nearly everything he stood for – you know, love your neighbor as yourself, do unto others . . . , love your enemies, blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, etc.

Perhaps Mr. Parker and those on the Christian Right would do well to step back a minute or two (if you can spare that time from your judgment jags) to listen to the Woke Left.  Instead of being defensive at every turn, acknowledge you have participated and continue to participate in the oppression that has awakened the Woke Left.  The Woke Left is not really a new religion.  It is a movement of people who expect a nation of many races, genders, and religions to live up to its promise as described in the Constitution and its amendments and the Declaration of Independence.  OK, that’s pretty WOKE!

And, Oh, by the way, Christian Right, don’t forget to take the log out of your own eye before you go after the mote in someone else’s eye.