Tag Archives: Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

♫ One ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Social commentary

I’ve been relying on you guys for ideas for my music posts the past few days, being somewhat devoid of my own ideas (a temporary situation, I promise!).  Well, last night as I was working my way through my 500+ emails, I came across a song suggestion from none other than Dan Rather & Elliot Kirschner!

I have never been a fan of U2, but then truth be told, I’ve never listened to much of their music beyond what my teenage children subjected me to back in the day!  But after reading Dan & Elliot’s piece last night, I was intrigued, went to SongFacts & Wikipedia and read some more, then listened to the song.  It’s not a bad song … not bad at all, in fact.  And it’s a song with meaning that I think we can all relate to in one way or another.  Once again, I have broadened my musical horizons!  So … here is what Dan & Elliot had to say about it …

One

A Reason to Smile

Dan Rather & Elliot Kirschner

28 October 2023

We are in the midst of very difficult times and likely will be for quite a while. With our A Reason To Smile feature, we are not ignoring the pain and heartbreak; indeed, they motivate our selections. We still find it essential to celebrate what is good and beautiful in this world. 

Today, we have selected the song “One” by U2. Our fractured world is very much in mind. 

Over the last several decades, few bands have been more celebrated and revered than U2. Their songs are musically expressive and their lyrics trenchant. They have too many hits to count, but “One” still stands out. No less than rock star Axl Rose of the band Guns N’ Roses called it “one of the greatest songs that has ever been written.” He added, “I put the song on and just broke down crying.”

In trying to describe what makes the song so special, we couldn’t improve on what music journalist Dorian Lynskey wrote for the BBC:

One is so powerful because of, not despite, its insoluble ambiguity. The rolling beauty of the music means that it is both angry and wounding and warm and healing. It is a painful conversation but between who, and about what, is unclear. It has been variously described as a song about a band in crisis, a marriage collapsing, a father and son at odds, a country reuniting, another country divided, and a quarrel with God, and perhaps it is all of those things. One raises the fundamental question of whether a song’s meaning is fixed when it is written and recorded, or whether, provided it is flexible enough, it can continue to acquire new resonances indefinitely. Who gets to say what a song really means?

And maybe that’s why “One” seems like a perfect song for this moment, as well, even though it was created in a very different era.

It was the early 1990s, and U2 was coming off a decade that had launched them into superstardom. Seeking inspiration, they had come to Berlin to record at the famed Hansa Studios. The city was imbued with a spirit of hope, renewal, and togetherness. The Wall — which had split Berlin a mere 500 feet from the studio — was now gone. But U2 was at its own crossroads. “The irony of One’s title is the band wasn’t very close at the time,” Bono told the BBC. “We were building our own wall right down the middle of Hansa studios.”

The song that emerged reflected these tense times and complicated emotions. “The concept of oneness is of course an impossible ask,” Bono explained. “Maybe the song works because it doesn’t call for unity. It presents us as being bound to others whether we like it or not.” 

Bono cited some of his lyrics: “‘We get to carry each other’ – not ‘We got to carry each other.’ ‘We’re one but we’re not the same’ allows room for all the differences that get through the door.” In a 1993 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bono added: “It is a song about coming together, but it’s not the old hippie idea of ‘Let’s all live together.’ It is, in fact, the opposite. It’s saying, ‘We are one, but we’re not the same.’ It’s not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive. It’s a reminder that we have no choice.”

Indeed.

One

U2

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame?

You say, one love, one life
When it’s one need in the night
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you, baby, if you don’t care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well, it’s too late tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We’re one, but we’re not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much? More than a lot
You gave me nothing, now it’s all I got
We’re one but we’re not the same
Well, we hurt each other then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter but then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holdin’ on to what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love, one blood
One life, you got to do what you should
One life with each other
Sisters, brothers

One life but we’re not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One
One

Ooh-ooh-ooh
Oh-oh-ooh
Baby, make it, make it
Higher
Oh, higher (baby, yeah)
Higher
Higher

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul David Hewson / Adam Clayton / Larry Mullen / Dave Evans

One lyrics © Polygram Int. Music Publishing B.v.

Short, Sweet, and To The Point

Posted on by under Economic issues, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Sometimes it takes very few words to make a point, as Dan Rather shows us today …

A Very Short Letter to House Republicans

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

09 October 2023

Dear House Republicans,

This is embarrassing, distressing, and dangerous. Please get your act together and behave responsibly. Our nation and the world need it.

Sincerely,
The American People

I have sent this to my ‘representative’, as well as a few others.

♫ R.I.P. Jimmy Buffett — A Brief Tribute ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, History, music, Tributes

I was saddened to hear of the death of Jimmy Buffet yesterday.  Though Buffett was not among my top ten favourite artists, he had a few songs I liked and I respected his work, the energy he brought to his performances.  Since I don’t know very much about Jimmy Buffett, I’m sharing with you Dan and Elliot’s tribute to him, with a few extra tunes added at the end …

Margaritaville

A Reason To Smile

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

There was something quintessentially American about the singer/songwriter/entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett, who passed away yesterday at the age of 76. He was a showman, selling a laid-back vision of life: beaches, cocktails, sunbaked days, and parties after dark. The allure of letting loose and having fun has been a part of our national identity. But so have hard work and seizing opportunities to monetize an idea, which Buffett did with such skill that Forbes estimated his net worth this year at $1 billion. 

Buffett’s life followed an arc that exemplified the American Dream. Originally a reporter working for Billboard, he struggled as a young musician to find his voice and make his mark. That changed when he moved to Key West, Florida. He would later say that there “I found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.” And it was this lifestyle — a blend of love for the open sea and the camaraderie of a seaside bar, all infused with music — that drew legions of loyal fans over decades of success. 

It’s worth noting that Buffett was not a hitmaker in the traditional sense. Only the song that made him famous, the 1977 “Margaritaville,” reached the pop Top 10. Rather, Buffett exemplified another American philosophy: that you can find your way to fame and even fortune by marching to the beat of your own drum, or if you are so lucky, your own band, the Coral Reefers. 

His songs were often fun, full of wordplay (like “Last Mango In Paris”), and meant for singalongs, which his concerts invariably became. He turned the island vibe of his music into successful lines of restaurants, resorts, tequila, and clothing. Buffett was a bestselling author in fiction and nonfiction. He even had a hit Broadway show. 

Though he left the hard partying to his youth, Buffett was able to call upon the joyful feeling of an endless summer that inspires the young, and the young at heart. But he also captured the complexities of life, love, and growing older. In a cynical world where the half-life of celebrity can be encompassed in nanosecond news cycles, Buffett endured. He knew who he was and what his fans wanted. They called themselves Parrotheads (a takeoff on the Deadhead fans of The Grateful Dead), and in his music and all that surrounded it, they found community, a vision of life well led, and a reason to smile.

Here’s an early performance of “Margaritaville”:

We also came across an appearance with David Letterman from 40 years ago, which includes an interview and a couple songs in a different style:

Finally, if you want to get a sense of what it was like to be among the Parrotheads, here’s Buffett with “Margaritaville” again at a benefit concert he did after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf in 2010. He was a committed environmentalist.

And here are just a couple more of his songs …

R.I.P., Jimmy … I hope you found your large shaker of salt!

Is Public Education Even ‘Education’ Anymore?

Posted on by under education, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

The U.S. has so many critical issues in play today that I can only begin to list them:  the gun culture, encroaching fascism, extreme political divisiveness, healthcare, climate change, wealth inequality, and much more.  But the one that might be at the top of the list is education.  Our system of education is a mess right now … a bloody mess.  States are banning the teaching of diversity, of history, of just about everything young people need to learn in order to be prepared for life in the adult world.  Dan Rather addresses this topic far better than I could, so I’ll turn the reins over to him for a few minutes …

The Battle To Save Public Education

And the soul of America

By Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

18 August 2023

It is back to school. Students of all ages flock to campuses and classrooms. Fleeting memories of summer are quickly replaced by tests and textbooks.

Getting into the swing of a new semester has always included an adjustment period, but this is a particularly difficult time for many of our nation’s students and their parents, guardians, teachers, and others entrusted with the education of young minds. 

The pandemic wreaked havoc with the emotional, intellectual, and social development of America’s youth. Dismal test scores provide depressing data of yawning learning deficits. Talk to anyone in or around schools and you hear stories of setbacks and struggle — heaps of qualitative data suggesting a staggering scale of generational loss. 

As usual, those who were already the most marginalized have paid the heaviest price. The pandemic exacerbated existing disruptions and placed greater strain on finances and time, particularly in large urban districts and small rural ones tasked with educating children from families struggling economically. 

We like to tell ourselves that the United States is a great meritocracy, but wealth and levels of family education continue to play outsized roles in dictating a child’s likelihood of academic success long before she learns her ABCs. The simple truth is that kids come to school from widely different circumstances, and these influence their ability to thrive, independent of whatever innate intelligence or drive they may possess. The pandemic made these differences more acute. 

The United States does possess a system (or more accurately, a collection of thousands of systems) that, if nurtured and respected, could foster greater equality of opportunity. And it is exactly the institution that is now struggling the most: public education. America’s public schools were once the envy of the world as engines of opportunity and upward mobility. If the nation had the will, they could return to that status once again. 

Our public schools certainly weren’t perfect in the past, especially during legal racial segregation, when the lie of “separate but equal” (separate is never equal) helped enshrine white supremacy. The segregated schools of the Jim Crow Deep South were a shameful injustice and a stain on our national identity. They were inconsistent with our founding documents, which spoke eloquently about equality among people. Of course there was (and remains, to some extent) de facto segregation throughout America based on who lives in what neighborhoods. Well-financed suburban schools were often part of the draw of “white flight” from urban districts.

The very ethos of public education should be one of inclusion for America’s diverse population. It should be a place where children of different backgrounds come together to learn both from teachers and from each other. Our schools should be places that allow students to wrestle with what it means to be part of this great country, including understanding America’s uneven and often bloody road to greater equality. 

Sadly, in recent years, we have seen a grave regression from these noble goals. Our schools and school districts have become fiercely contested frontlines in an era of stepped-up culture wars. As reactionary political forces target what we teach our children, it is no accident that truth, empathy, and our democratic values have become casualties. 

A chief concern is how and what we teach about our history, particularly the Black experience, and race and ethnicity more generally. We have written here before about the shameful whitewashing of racial violence and injustice, including slavery, by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But this effort is not limited to him or that state. There is a national movement to not tell the full — and unfortunately tragic — reality of race in American history and how it continues to shape the nation.

Another serious concern is the othering of LGBTQ+ students and teachers. After years of progress, we see a wave of intolerance spread across America, including in our schools. 

Few institutions in American life are as essential to the continuation of our democracy as the public schools. In a time of ascendent autocracy, attacks on our schools — how they are run, what they teach, what books they have in their libraries — are among the most pernicious, pathetic, and painful assaults on the health of our nation. 

Several months back, Texas Monthly ran a striking piece of journalism with the headline, “The Campaign to Sabotage Texas’s Public Schools.” It tells a story that extends beyond the raucous school board meetings and book banning campaigns that have gotten the most attention. There is a movement afoot, and not just in Texas, to destroy public schools more generally, to privatize education through vouchers and other means. 

In this context, the various culture fights become battles in a larger war over the very future and viability of public education: 

“Taken individually, any of these incidents may seem like a grassroots skirmish. But they are, more often than not, part of a well-organized and well-funded campaign executed by out-of-town political operatives and funded by billionaires in Texas and elsewhere. “In various parts of Texas right now, there are meetings taking place in small and large communities led by individuals who are literally providing tutorials—here’s what you say, here’s what you do,” said H. D. Chambers, the recently retired superintendent of Alief ISD, in southwest Harris County. “This divisiveness has been created that is basically telling parents they can’t trust public schools. It’s a systematic erosion of the confidence that people have in their schools.”

The ideal of quality, integrated public schools for all children in the United States epitomizes the promise of our country’s founding as a place of equality and opportunity for all. It thus makes sense that would-be autocrats and protectors of privilege would seek to undermine our public schools by whatever means necessary. We must see this as what it is: as much a threat to the nation as was the violent storming of our Capitol. 

The future of the United States depends on an educated and empathetic citizenry. It requires us to share a sense of common purpose and recognize our common humanity. It requires an environment that allows every child to thrive and see themselves included in the American story. It requires quality public education. Full stop. 

A historic battle to save this institution and the very idea of good public schools has been underway for some time. It is now intensifying. Attention must be paid.

Vacation Time For Congress

Posted on by under Economic issues, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

Congress will soon be leaving for their annual August break … without bothering to even address an appropriations bill to avoid a government shutdown before the end of September.  When they return, they will have only three weeks to negotiate the budget … not nearly enough time in this Congress that is so divided they cannot even agree on whether the earth is flat or round!  I’m thoroughly disgusted with Congress as an institution, as a branch of our government, and the Republican’s inability or unwillingness to do the job for which we elected them and for which we pay them!  However, there is a bright spot in the fight against climate change, thanks to President Biden and congressional Democrats, so I will let Dan & Elliot share both their disgust with the current Congress and the good news on climate change initiatives with you …

How It’s Supposed To Work

Biden’s climate change law

By Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

26 July 2023

Washington today has become a den of dysfunctionality. Oh, there is a pantomime of governance on Capitol Hill — hearings, roll call votes, committees. But to a shocking degree it is for the purpose of political gamesmanship and not in service of the American people.

It’s about cheap hits, grandstanding, and even fanning conspiracy theories. All of that might fulfill the needs of the Fox News media bookers, but it does darn little to address the myriad challenges this nation faces.

Congressional Republicans have become mostly a caucus of contempt when it comes to the actual workings of government. This has been a movement decades in the making, stretching back to the reign of Speaker Newt Gingrich. They so devoutly preach the gospel of broken government that even when they do have the power of both the White House and Congress — as they did in the first years of the Trump administration — they don’t try to pass many bills of consequence (other than, of course, tax cuts for the rich).

It is no wonder that beating the timpani of toxicity strikes chords of cynicism and apathy with the public at large. That is part of the point. The strategy of the far right is to make government so irreparably broken and ineffectual that voters won’t reward anyone who says otherwise. Derision makes for potent political attack ads against those who earnestly say they can get something done when the very notion of competency has become absurd.

President Biden, on the other hand, is a big believer in what government can do. In his view, presidential leadership entails offering a legislative agenda. Doing so often requires making compromises, even ones you might find odious. But what’s the alternative? You either pass what you can in the moment, or the moment passes you by.

Biden embraced this mindset to make the most of Democrats’ razor-thin majorities in the last Congress. And he was rewarded with significant legislative victories. Perhaps none may prove bigger than the Inflation Reduction Act, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary next month. At the time of its passing, it was heralded as the most significant climate bill in our nation’s history.

Democrats in general, and the Obama administration (of which Biden was an integral part) in particular, were far too slow in reacting to climate change over the years (although Republican obstructionism also played a role). Even now, there are environmentalists who believe Biden isn’t doing nearly enough. Still, Biden and his party have finally taken what by any reasonable analysis is a major step forward.

As the country gears up for another presidential election, much media coverage is of poll numbers and the circus of the Republican primary, not to mention all the other doom and gloom headlines that permeate the front pages. In contrast, this legislative act stands out like a burst of sunshine (all the better to fuel a growing number of new solar panels across the country).

Thanks to this legislation, a lot of support for alternative energy projects and other green technology is flowing into red and purple states and districts. This might strike some as unfair. Why should billions of dollars go to places that elect politicians who voted against the bill (in fact, no Republicans in the House or Senate voted for it)? Many of these politicians and their constituents even deny climate change exists.

But once again, this is Biden’s worldview at work. If climate change is the existential threat that we know it to be, and if the United States is going to embrace a paradigm shift on green energy and transportation, then we will have to do it together. A firehose of federal dollars for environmental investment could be the most effective way to change people’s minds, by appealing to their pocketbooks.

And it might be working. We are starting to see reporting on climate change progress with datelines that weren’t typical of positive environmental stories from the past. Take a recent Associated Press article: “One year old, US climate law is already turbocharging clean energy technology.” It begins by describing a family installing a solar panel in Frankfort, Kentucky, “a few miles upstream from the state capitol where lawmakers have promoted coal for more than a century.”

The article goes on to discuss the sheer scale of the law:

In less than a year it has prompted investment in a massive buildout of battery and EV manufacturing across the states. Nearly 80 major clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced, an investment equal to the previous seven years combined, according to the American Clean Power Association…

The Congressional Budget Office initially estimated the IRA’s tax credits would cost about $270 billion over a decade, but Brookings says businesses might take advantage of the credits far more aggressively and the federal government could pay out three or four times more.

Another recent article, this one from The Washington Post, focuses more on the political implications of all of this money flowing to “Red America.” Its headline says, “Small-town GOP officials are torn over Biden’s clean energy cash,” and its dateline is Fairfield County, Ohio:

Like similar fights throughout conservative parts of the United States, the debate in Fairfield County reflects one of the central ironies of President Biden’s signature legislation, last year’s Inflation Reduction Act: Although it was drafted and passed exclusively by Democrats in Washington, the fate of the law will hinge in large part on the decisions of state and local Republican officials.

The idea behind the law, and its hundreds of billions of dollars in expanded clean-energy tax credits, was to change both the economics and the politics that have held green industry back. Rather than pursue a carbon tax administered by the federal government or other policies some on the left have pushed, the Biden administration is seeding the money for a new renewable energy sector that would make cleaner options a better bet financially than burning fossil fuels, regardless of one’s position on climate change. The hope was that government subsidies would unleash a tidal wave of investment to shatter local opposition and break the nation’s dependence on fossil fuel energy, particularly as the cost of renewable energy plummets.

The article notes success as well as challenges. On the one hand, “Of the approximately $70 billion in new clean energy investment dollars announced since the climate law passed, roughly $51 billion — or 70 percent — is in counties won by Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.” On the other hand, “As the number of proposed renewable energy projects soars, so has the backlash. State and local lawmakers blocked 138 solar and wind projects last year, more than doubling the total of 54 from the year before.” This year, more than 70 projects have been “rejected.”

Of course with an issue as complicated as this, there are many competing narratives and ones that don’t fall into neat ideological boxes. But the big picture is clear. The Democrats passed a massive bill to remake America in the face of climate change, and they are eager to see it succeed. If that means doling out money to their political opponents, so be it. We are, after all, one nation. And we need as many people to be on board as possible.

This expansive approach is not exactly something you could imagine from the previous president or the party he leads.

It’s all part of Biden’s big bet, which in turn is a big bet of we, the people: Can we, as a nation, return to a more functional politics? Can we act as a unified people and not camps of narrow competing self-interests? Can opportunities not be framed as a zero-sum game? And can we, by acting together, save our country and our planet?

Much is made of Biden’s age. But there’s no denying he’s playing the long game for politics and for our environment. And that means we won’t know whether or how this approach will work out for a long time. So far, there are some promising signs.

Wiser Voices Than Mine Speak Truth

Posted on by under education, Free Press Issues, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I have written a few times about the current attempts to ‘dumbify’ the next generation of Americans by governors, school boards and others whitewashing, covering up, and downright lying about the history of this nation.  But nobody says it better than Dan Rather & Elliot Kirschner, so here is their take …

Teach The Truth

Ominous lessons from Florida

By Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

22 July 2023

Kwame Akoto-Bamfo‘s “Nkyinkim” sculpture, dedicated in memory of victims of the Transatlantic slave trade, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama (Photo credit: Raymond Boyd)

I was born 66 years after slavery was legally abolished by the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Not exactly ancient history. Today, that’s how long ago the Eisenhower administration was, or Elvis Presley’s first number one hit.

And the legacies of slavery — lynchings, Jim Crow, disenfranchisement — were woven tightly into the American tapestry of my youth. They still echo with us. Loudly and persistently. No matter how much some would want us to ignore the clamor of justice.

As much as we wish American history were different, tragedy is part of our reality. We do a grave disservice to future generations if we sanitize the truth. People can behave horribly. Societies that profess noble values can countenance violent bigotry. We can either look back from whence we have come with clarity, or we can try to muddy the roots of the present and weaken ourselves in the process.

This week, the Florida State Board of Education reworked its standards for teaching Black history. The changes come in response to the state’s so-called “Stop W.O.K.E. Act.” Passed last year, it limits training and education around issues of race, sex, and other criteria for systemic injustice. At its heart is a core belief that has animated right-wing culture warriors: that people alive today should not be made to feel bad or even uncomfortable by the sins of the past. The thinking goes, that was a long time ago.

But of course it really wasn’t. And the legacies of the past live on. And if we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.

Proponents of these new standards, especially their biggest cheerleader, Governor Ron DeSantis, say they promote teaching positive achievements of Black Americans in history. No problem there. It’s when it comes to the other side of the coin that we have a big issue — the new lessons seem intent on downplaying the horrors of the Black experience. In other words, once again, the truth. The truth revealed by hard facts.

One passage that has gotten a lot of attention is for middle schoolers. It states they should learn that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” The danger of this narrative is striking. A system that brutalized, raped, and killed human beings while stealing their freedom and denying their humanity is rotten to its core. That enslaved people were able to find resilience and build lives in some form is a testament to their courage and spirit. There is no “other side” to the story of slavery.

It is true that these new standards, as horrific as they are, would have been a great improvement over what I learned in my segregated middle school. We have come a long way. But that was because of the bravery of civil rights leaders and activists who fought, sometimes with their lives, for a full realization of American values. Any receding from progress — as this surely is — represents a threat to our democracy. We have been strengthened as a nation, all of us, by a national movement to right the wrongs of our past.

It is tempting to try to ignore DeSantis. He is a bully. He wants a reaction. He uses cruelty and disingenuity to garner headlines. He feeds off the anger of his adversaries.

But he also has power. And the lessons of history tell us that we should not ignore would-be autocrats.

The generation that lived through the fights over civil rights in the 1950s and ‘60s is passing away, much as the generation that remembered the Civil War did during my own youth. The loss of the earned knowledge of living through and fighting for change is profound.

This makes it all the more important that when we teach history, we teach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Or as close to it as is humanly possible.

Once Again, SCOTUS Strikes Out!

Posted on by under Economic issues, education, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

All day yesterday I was grumpy and grumbly in light of the latest Supreme Court ruling, this time on affirmative action.  I tried to corral my thoughts on the topic, but anger overrode coherence.  Luckily, Dan Rather & Elliott Kirschner came to the rescue and echoed my thoughts in a far more cogent essay than I was able to compose.  If people think that we no longer need programs like affirmative action, they only need to pick up a newspaper or open their eyes to the blatant racism that is on the rise in the U.S. today.  At this rate, can it be much longer before we return to segregated schools, housing, drinking fountains and lunch counters?

Faltering Fairness

The Supreme Court guts affirmative action

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

29 June 2023

The injustices of race in America infuse so many aspects of society. They are the legacy of our often cruel and tortured history. And they still reverberate today.

We may wish we lived in a society where the color of one’s skin and one’s ethnic and cultural background didn’t matter, where we were solely judged by what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously called the “content of our character.” But we are not there. We’ve improved, we’ve learned, we’ve made progress. But we’re not there. Not nearly.

The Supreme Court’s ruling today largely banning affirmative action for race in college admissions is based on a fundamental distortion of American reality. The court’s majority stipulates that the consideration of race as one of many factors in whom a college admits poses a grave constitutional injustice. To be sure, the tool is an imperfect remedy for centuries of systemic racial hatred, exclusion, and violence. But to measure its worth, we can’t ignore the history that necessitated it. Or the reality of what persists.

In America, race has long been a factor, and often the biggest one, for a host of societal considerations — who was allowed freedom, who was viewed equally under the law, whose civil and human rights were respected, where people could live, and who could vote. In all of these cases, Black Americans, Native Americans, and other groups to some extent were the ones who were excluded. That should be the rightful historical framework for any court action.

“Gulf-sized race-based gaps exist with respect to the health, wealth, and well-being of American citizens. They were created in the distant past, but have indisputably been passed down to the present day through the generations,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her compelling (and demoralizing) dissent. “No one benefits from ignorance. Although formal race-linked legal barriers are gone, race still matters to the lived experiences of all Americans in innumerable ways, and today’s ruling makes things worse, not better.”

In the wake of the decision, many are sharing their personal experiences and examining the legal and social context for affirmative action. Sadly, these powerful real-world considerations were ignored by the court. What we are left with are passionate, erudite, and harrowing testimonials of loss.

It is not surprising that this court threw aside its own precedent along with an honest assessment of the realities of American society in 2023. After all, the decision’s author, Chief Justice John Roberts, also felt that most of the protections of the Voting Rights Act were no longer necessary. We can see how that worked out.

But supporters of affirmative action also have to contend with the fact that the practice, whatever its merits, was unpopular with a majority of the American public. Part of that is due to the forces of privilege and intolerance that made it necessary in the first place. But affirmative action’s critics were also able to effectively appeal to notions of fairness, even if their arguments conveniently omitted the full context of both history and the present.

Ironically, reclaiming the banner of fairness will fall mostly on the populations who have suffered its absence.

Where does this leave us? Some court watchers believe there will be more chaos as schools scramble to conform to a new reality that remains legally murky. But there is also a challenge for policymakers who care about promoting opportunity for all Americans.

The Supreme Court has ruled. So what now? Who has workable ideas on what should be next?

Perhaps this moment can usher in a new era of commitment and innovation. Let us hope that we will now focus on creating new pathways for those needing to overcome the odds to reach the full measure of their potential. Doing so necessitates a much earlier start than college admissions. It means investment in health and welfare, a renewed commitment to public education, and opportunities for those of every race confronting the hurdles of generational poverty.

It means a commitment to diversity that reaches out to those most in need of help and includes them in the decisions of how we allocate American abundance. It means voting reforms. And a commitment to broad democratic principles. It means action, energy, and resilience for those who have already borne unequal burdens. And it means dedicated allies.

Affirmative action was a helpful but modest Band-Aid on the deep and persistent wounds of American racism. It is now largely gone. The robustness of our nation requires that a more substantial and sustainable set of remedies take its place.

Stop It!

Posted on by under education, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I don’t know about you guys, but I am sickened and disgusted by the recent surge in intolerance and downright hatred against the LGBTQ community.  We are all humans, for Pete’s Sake!  What does it matter who another person chooses to love or how they choose to live?  I was surprised and pleased to see Dan Rather address this topic, so I will turn the floor over to him and Elliott Kirschner now …

Stop It

Attacks on the transgender community

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

15 April 2023

We are facing many threats and challenges to our nation’s prosperity and security. These include a belligerent China, the war in Ukraine, economic disruption, our global climate crisis, and even the specter of artificial intelligence, just to name a few. 

These are the issues government should be debating and legislating. 

And yet Republican statehouses and Fox News would have you believe our greatest threat is drag queen reading hour. 

It’s meant to be a divisive distraction. 
It’s lunacy, but it is also a dangerous injustice. And a tragedy. 

You can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its most vulnerable, marginalized, and ostracized. 

History is replete with the horrors inflicted by those who wielded the power of position and privilege against those who had little to none of either. Persecution has taken many forms — legal, cultural, economic, and social. It has led to unimaginable suffering, violence, and death — even reaching the scale of genocide. 

About this, there are many lessons from the past to be heeded. Divisive hatred should be called out and rebuffed. And it is especially incumbent on those outside the group being persecuted to stand in meaningful solidarity. An attack against one segment of society is an attack against all whose existence might challenge a narrow definition of what is considered “acceptable.”

Right now, few groups face more direct hostility than the transgender community. There is a wave of animus sweeping the nation. It is being codified into law, wielded as invective, and used as a springboard to violence. 

This divisiveness and scapegoating pose a threat to our ideals. And thus they are a threat to all who care about freedom in a pluralistic constitutional republic based on the principles of democracy. 

More fundamentally, those under attack are fellow human beings who deserve the same respect and opportunity to live their lives as anyone else. 

There are a lot of reasons bigots are focusing their hatred on transgender people. Gender fluidity is a concept foreign to how many were raised, and thus it can be disorienting to comprehend. It challenges the binary many of us learned as children and believed to be utterly fundamental.

“What did you have?” is often the first question new mothers are asked from family and friends. And the implications of the query are understood even if they go unstated: Did you have a boy or a girl? 

It is also understood that the implications of that question will endure far beyond infancy. Gender is seen as portentous for what the rest of life will entail. There was a time when biological sex determined everything from one’s likely occupation to one’s legal rights. Boys and girls have different aisles in toy stores and sections in clothing departments. 

In many ways, we have made progress toward gender equality. We have women in positions of political power and leading businesses. We have women firefighters, police officers, and pilots. But we also still have a ways to go. And the recent rollback of abortion rights shows we are capable of losing ground. 

Into all of this complexity comes the rise in trans awareness and its backlash. While it is understandable that children and adults who do not fit into a traditional gender overlay could be a challenging reality for many, we should be clear that this makes it all the more important that we try to understand. 

Science informs us that gender is often a blurry concept in nature. History proves that transgender identities in humans are not new. We can gain understanding from medical and mental health professionals about responding with care and empathy. 

And we should be clear that claims of “this is abhorrent,” “this isn’t how things should be done,” “this isn’t natural,” or “this is dangerous” are the kind of rhetoric long used to attack the “other,” no matter who it may be. 

We have seen these attacks lobbed at other members of the LGBTQ community. We have seen them target interracial marriage, the customs of non-Christians, and communities of immigrants. 

We have seen discrimination wielded time and again as a cudgel for those with power to bolster their standing by picking on others. It is bullying, pure and simple. 

The attacks on drag queens and others in transgender communities as “groomers” or prone to child abuse are particularly despicable. There is no evidence backing these allegations. And those who push them are often conveniently quiet about those who have been prosecuted for abuse but belong to groups more aligned with conservative values, like the clergy, Boy Scouts, and even Republican politics (former House Speaker Dennis Hastert comes to mind).

The purpose of these attacks on the trans community is transparent. It’s about political power, and a power built on division. It’s about picking on those who have the least ability to defend themselves, including and especially children. 

We can try to wrestle in good faith around the implications of a changing society. We can discuss what this might mean for sports or bathroom design. We can be sympathetic to those who are still early in their journey of understanding. 

But as history has shown, we should not be quiet. We should not look the other way. We should not allow this hatefulness to take root and distract us from the real problems with which we must contend. 

Those who are being targeted must know that they are not alone.

While You Were Distracted …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Believe it or not, there are other things happening around the nation and around the globe this week besides the arraignment and following circus show by the former president [sic].  For example, a U.S. reporter for The Wall Street Journal has been arrested and is being held prisoner in Russia on trumped-up (no pun intended) charges of being a spy.  Or, what about the three Tennessee legislators who may be ousted from their position for their participation in an anti-gun rally in the aftermath of the Nashville school shooting last week?  Or the upcoming election in Turkey where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be fighting to hold onto his authoritarian power.  While still more states here in the U.S. are pushing through voter suppression laws ahead of next year’s election.  And then, there’s Tuesday’s election in Wisconsin.  What, you ask, is so special about an off-year election in Wisconsin?  Well, for starters, it may well bring Wisconsin into the 21st century democratically speaking, and may have a big impact on women’s rights, as well as next year’s presidential election, but don’t take my word for it … see what Dan & Elliot have to say about it …

A Lesson From Wisconsin

Judge for yourself

By Elliot Kirschner and Dan Rather

06 April 2023

Wisconsin is a state known for its cheese, but now it may also be known for its tea leaves.

You can make a strong case that the biggest political news from yesterday was not the courtroom appearance of a former president in New York, but rather a state supreme court election in the Badger State.

These are the kinds of races that usually elicit more yawns than a kindergarten class after recess. But not this year. Not in Wisconsin. Not in our current political environment.

Officially, the race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was a nonpartisan affair. Officially. But there was no secret about where the political affiliations of the two candidates lay. Janet Protasiewicz telegraphed herself as a “progressive,” and her opponent Daniel Kelly is a “conservative.” And with an existing “conservative” justice retiring, the future balance of a court that had been evenly split hinged upon yesterday’s outcome.

This is especially important when you consider that Wisconsin may be the most embattled of battleground states. With the exception of President Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012, it has been decided by around a point or less in every presidential election from 2000 onward.

In 2022, the Democratic candidate for Senate barely lost to the Republican incumbent. It was a race that many Democrats now believe they let slip away.

Two places you won’t see evidence of Wisconsin’s battleground status, however, are its state legislature and its congressional delegation. They are both overwhelmingly Republican. And that’s telling. Republicans made the state among the most gerrymandered in the nation. It’s so bad that you might be hard-pressed to call Wisconsin a fully functional democracy.

This was the backdrop for yesterday’s Wisconsin election. And so was the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent dismantling of women’s reproductive rights. Abortion is currently illegal in Wisconsin due to a 174-year-old ban that took effect once Roe v. Wade was overturned. A liberal majority on the state supreme court is likely to change that. 

And it could overturn the gerrymandering and revisit a host of other policies Republican politicians and judges have pushed through. 

With all that at stake, it’s understandable that both sides poured money into the race — an eye-popping $42 million. For a single judgeship. Not surprisingly that total smashed all previous records of spending in court races.

In the end, the headlines weren’t only that Protasiewicz won, but the margin of her victory — 10 points — which in Wisconsin counts as a landslide.

There are a lot of lessons one can take from the results. First, the anger that many Americans feel about the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion ruling has not dissipated. It was a motivating factor in the 2022 elections, in which Democrats overperformed. And it remains so in 2023. Should we expect that to extend into 2024?

There is also a sense that the Midwest gains Trump made in 2016 may be diminishing for the GOP.  At least somewhat. The Republicans lost big in Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2022. And now here again in Wisconsin.

Against this backdrop, it is worth reminding ourselves that we are generally in an era of a politicized judiciary. But to be fair, we’ve been there for a while. In a different world, one could hope that the judiciary would not be so politicized. But to start worrying about that only now in the wake of this race is to conveniently forget what we’ve seen over the last decades.

While both political parties have long histories of appointing judges to the bench who share their general world views, there has seldom, if ever, been anything like what the Republicans have attempted at both the state and federal levels over roughly the last 40 years.

If you want a perfect definition of “politicians in robes,” you need go no further than the current U.S. Supreme Court, which is handing down decision after decision that hews to Republican orthodoxy, but which they could never achieve legislatively — on abortion, guns, the environment, voting rights, workers’ rights, and on and on.

Nothing has defined the tenure of the Republicans’ Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, more than filling the bench with true believers. And blocking Democrats from filling the open seat left by the death of Antonin Scalia.

Finally, if we are really worried about politicized judges and elections, then we need to consider the overall health of our democracy. If Wisconsin weren’t so gerrymandered, if the state legislature weren’t so out of touch with so many of the voters, if it hadn’t banned abortion and subverted representative government, then we probably wouldn’t have had a state supreme court race making such headlines.

But this is where we are. And if you try to suppress the will of the people, eventually they will find a way to try to reset the balance. What just happened in Wisconsin is an encouraging example.

One Man’s Courage

Posted on by under Election 2022, Political commentary, Social commentary, Tributes

Ever since I first heard of John Fetterman, when he was running for the seat he currently holds in the U.S. Senate, I’ve admired the man.  He has courage, intellect, and humanity – things his opponent in that race lacked.  Senator Fetterman has been through a lot, and today Dan Rather’s piece gives him the respect he has earned, as well as reminding us that mental health issues deserve to be treated with empathy and compassion, not as a stigma.

A Different Politician’s Story

A plea for healing

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

04 April 2023

Today the news offers wall-to-wall coverage of a politician — a former president — who is duplicitous, divisive, and vainglorious. 

He is a weak man incapable of admitting to any personal fault or struggle. He is quick to blame others for any impediment he faces. He excuses his own failings. He demonizes his political opponents and weaponizes their “othering.”

These character flaws may have finally caught up with him in a court of law. We shall see. If you want more coverage of these developments, you can find them elsewhere today. In truth, almost everywhere else. 

But here at Steady we want to offer a counternarrative. We also have a story about a politician, but it’s not about sordid allegations or court proceedings. It’s not even about policy or politics, per se. 

It’s about health, humanity, and healing. And it’s about that fickle but essential aspiration: hope. 

On April 1, U.S. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was discharged from Walter Reed hospital after a six-week stay to treat depression. Fetterman apparently has struggled with the disease for years, but it became worse in the wake of a stroke that nearly derailed his 2022 campaign. He now says his depression is in remission.

During the last election season, concerns about Fetterman’s physical health were widespread as he publicly navigated the difficult rehabilitation of a stroke victim. His Republican opponent, the TV doctor Mehmet Oz, made questions about Fetterman’s health a major line of attack (something we wrote about in a Steady column, “Fitness to Serve”).

At the time, we wondered about the very definition of fitness:

“Perhaps this idea of how we measure fitness is too limited. Are people who deny the results of the 2020 election fit for elective office? What about politicians who embrace lies, stoke division, and foment violence? Many doctors and scientists have warned that Oz, Fetterman’s opponent, has spread dangerous medical misinformation. How should that be factored into assessing fitness?”

And we noted that covering questions of fitness was of special concern for the press: 

“Judging medical fitness is legitimate, but are we providing the audience a nuanced understanding, or are we playing into stereotypes?”

In the end, the voters of Pennsylvania chose Fetterman by nearly 5 points. It was considered a tremendous victory and framed as a personal triumph for a candidate beset by such obvious physical ailments. 

We now know that it didn’t feel like a triumph for Fetterman, who was privately struggling with a second serious disease. 

This Sunday, Fetterman told the story of his depression to Jane Pauley on the CBS News program “Sunday Morning.” It is an emotional journey, and we share the piece here:

(Note: In the past some Steady readers outside of the United States had trouble accessing a “Sunday Morning” piece. We apologize if that’s the case once again. Please let us know.)

It has been heartening to see that the coverage of Fetterman’s treatment for depression has been different from the reaction to his stroke. By and large, he has received bipartisan well wishes and the support of his constituents. 

This is why Fetterman’s story is even bigger than the very big senator (he stands 6′8″) from the Keystone State. 

Millions of Americans suffer from depression. It can destroy lives and lead to suicide. Now there are indications that the pandemic has exacerbated mental illness across the country, including depression. This trend is especially acute in children. 

Historically, depression has also carried much stigma. And shame. And misunderstanding. This adds to the damage it can inflict in the shadows. 

If we are going to make headway, we need to face depression and other mental illnesses with honesty and empathy. It is a major service when someone of Fetterman’s stature courageously shares their story. Those who suffer similarly can feel seen and may be encouraged to seek help. The millions more who know a friend or loved one afflicted with this horrible illness can feel part of a broader community of support. 

Part of what makes depression so frustrating is that it seems to make no sense. Someone like Fetterman, who seemed to have it all — a loving family and a major professional success — can feel lost even at a moment when he should feel exhilarated. He checked himself into the hospital on his son’s birthday.

Regardless of what one may think of Fetterman’s politics, we should all wish him continued recovery for both his mental and physical ailments. It is a benefit to our nation to have people with his experiences in our government. There is a notion that politicians are supposed to be poised almost to the point of perfection. But we know they are human and subject to the same vices, biases, and illnesses as the rest of us. 

We need for our leaders to understand the struggles of their fellow citizens, and there are few better foundations for this kind of understanding than shared lived experiences. This is especially important when it comes to mental health. It’s okay for people to not be okay. And we can all work for a government more responsive to the needs of its people. 

Fetterman is set to return to the Senate on April 17. He will find Republican colleagues who also have made mental health a major priority. Hopefully we can continue to see a bipartisan path to progress. And health. And hope.