Past Sins?

People evolve over time.  Depending on how old you are, you have likely held various beliefs and opinions in the past that now seem wrong.

Rightly or wrongly when I was growing up in the Bronx we used to use words related to nationality that are now considered inappropriate.  They may have been pejorative, but they were generally used as descriptive.

Similarly many of us were raised to believe certain behaviors, now accepted were sins and illegal.  It wasn't something you formed an opinion on, it was simply what it was.  You may have wondered why but it wasn't something that was an issue until later.

Was it wrong?  From today's perspective it is but people were arrested for things back then that we wouldn't even blink at today.

I was reading an article today which talked about how the rail industry, itself an environmentally friendly form of transport, defended coal which it makes a lot of money transporting back in the 90s and to some extent later.

Was this wrong of them?  This article implies or states it was, but the railroads defended an item which was, and still is, a major customer to them.  Yes we knew a lot about carbon pollution back then, but it wasn't the consensus it is today.

Should people be condemned for positions they took at a time when that position was either the consensus position or at least a position you could honestly hold?

They might be demonstrably wrong using what we know today, but as they say 20-20 hindsight is easy.

I see a lot of people criticized for things they could have known or should have known but which at the time they didn't know.

The past isn't always relevant, it just isn't.

Reasonable People

One of the things that history teaches us is that unreasonable people often get there way.

Of course that's because what is reasonable is simply something we all agree on.

Take some of our popular media, willing to make accusations based on little or no evidence.

Its become so common that we see the credibility of the media under serious attack.

Of course we have had this issue before maybe most prevalently during the yellow journalism years the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Maybe it never really ended.

What is factual, real news, and what is "fake" news?

Sometimes its hard to say, but we do have some indicators.

Some facts are clearly witnessed by so many people with so much real and photographic evidence that to question them is simply outrageous.

The holocaust did happen, we had survivors, liberators and oppressors who verified it.

The mass shooting also happened.

In fact this idea that there is a group of people, ostensibly run by the Government that is perpetrating hoaxes about these terrible events for some political gain is so outrageous its almost ludicrous.

Except some people believe it.

The number actually seems to be growing.

Take vaccines or GMO foods.  There is pretty irrefutable evidence that the first doesn't cause autism and the second is perfectly safe.  However many people believe exactly the opposite.

Pretty much everyone gets vaccinated and therefore everyone with autism was probably vaccinated.  However, everyone without autism was also vaccinated.

Its simply not reasonable to equate the two.  Reason however is becoming a rare commodity in today's world.

Simple Thoughts

I'd like those fine people who like to march with Nazi emblems to explain that.

One of the things that seems fair is to say there are two sides to something.  Well when one side is based on hate and bigotry, it is there but its not equal.

I will say that when I think back on my experience with conservatives over my lifetime we have gone from people like the Buckley brothers who knew how to read and talk intelligently to people like Steve Banon who, well he made some money.

The President is at war with the leaders of the Republican party and of course all Democrats.  For those in favor of less Government you might get it.

Of course Democrats are fighting among themselves a bit with more discussion about strategies for the next election than actual policies.

The way to win is to spell out a better path forward.

The way to win is to represent the best of America, not the worst.

The way to win is to ensure freedom for all Americans to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These are our founding principles and they are still valid.

If you ignore the current President, as ridiculous as he is, it will drive him crazy.

Promote a better future with clear and logical policies.

Those who are mired in hate or bigotry aren't going to come along and we don't want them.

Getting into the gutter with the current president brings you down to his level.

Stand up, be proud, be clear.

Trust the light to banish the dark.

Its how you act that matters in the end.

All Together Now

We are trapped in an environment where it is set up as a win or lose option.  Take the current health care debate or whatever is actually going on.

Passing a Republican bill to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act is now the goal, no matter how terrible some of what it does is. 

Now you may argue about how to control costs of Medicaid and you may want to allow younger, healthier people to have cheaper options, but those objectives are probably achievable in a bipartisan discussion without trying to only score political talking points.

Now is everything in the proposed plan  bad?  It can't be, that would be just as hard as making everything good.  It is a series of ideas, some good, some bad thrown together in a back room without much public input designed simply to pass a repeal and replace bill.

Of course it then has to pass the House and that is by no means certain.

Now this isn't just about health care.  The general idea of having elected representatives is that we have multiple points of view represented and everyone (or at least everyone with enough votes) gets to provide input.

So in tax reform what are we trying to reform?  Some argue that business is taxed at too high a rate and some argue the code is too complex.  On the other side the fairness of the system is in question, as some wealthy people pay much less than what some think they should.  However, whatever type of reform package might get cobble together it will not be bipartisan and won't address all the concerns.

This us vs them is simple and popular as we now demonize the other party and its adherents.

Well, we all live in this great country and are born, live, raise families, work and try to be happy.

The hate isn't real, its created at the top and by some of the media.  We need to demand they stop.