Time For It

I suppose if you just believe there is some sort of conspiracy trying to destroy the American way of life you are going to also accept theories about the deep state and people trying to stop prayer in the schools or elsewhere.

Of course the people doing this are not easily identified except as they.

They are ruining our way of life, disrespecting the flag, corrupting out youth, etc.

Interestingly the ancient Greeks executed Socrates for corrupting their youth, so its been going on a long time.

There is of course an identifiable source of all this.  Its been around for ever and is constantly disrupting things.

Its a force that is just about irresistible, although over the years many have tried to stop it.

They failed and those trying today will also fail.

Change is the problem and it simply can't be stopped.

It can be delayed but never stopped.

Moving Forward!

There are some things that are truths but which some people don't want to admit.

For example, progress, while benefitting most people doesn't benefit all.

For most improvements in history there were winners and losers.

Generally the winners outnumbered the losers, but if you were a loser, that's not much consolation.

I'm not being complex here, we used to have elevators that required operators, now they don't, no more elevator operators.

There is a long list of jobs we no longer need, and in most cases the people who lost those jobs simply had to move on.

Sometimes the changes are more dramatic than others.

As farming was transformed with the introduction of tractors and other equipment that could replace field workers we saw a migration from farm to city. It was disruptive but in a generation is was absorbed.

We have seen a similar disruption in manufacturing as robotics and international trade has eliminated many high paying low skill manufacturing jobs.

The adjustment is ongoing and mitigated somewhat by our demographics.

However it isn't going to revert to what it was.  It has to become something new.

What will that be?  Well predictions of that sort are generally wrong because we don't know what we don't know.

We just need to move forward and be ready to meet the challenges.

Out With The Old

New Years eve it's generally a time to celebrate the end of the old year and associated problems and the start of n New one with expectations of a new start.

A new start holds unlimited promise and we often greet one with resolutions of things we plan to change. One of those things is frequently associated with the amount of celebrating done the night before.

A lot of us plan things like losing weight, or finding a new job going back to school or any number of things to improve ourselves.

Less frequently people resolve to improve society by doing more charitable work or helping others in various ways.  Experience shows us that these good intentions often don't last very long.

One wonders if the people in charge engage in any retrospection?  The ability to admit mistakes is something that conflicts with egos and we currently at least one ego running rampant.  Report after report demonstrates that three is very little in the way of introspection and that his belief in his own infallibility is detrimental to good government and management.

We see part of the government shut down, immigration issues escalating, interest rates increasing, trade issues, foreign policy changes that are impulsive and dangerous, failure to address environmental issues, and attacks on many of our institutions.

It would be nice if for the new year we started formulating forward looking policies instead of wishful thoughts about recreating a past that is better in retrospect than in reality.

The post war era was generally good for certain portions of the population, but we still had many underlying problems in this country, some of which like discrimination still exist.

We dominated most of the free world because most of our industrialized allies had been devastated in the second world war which we escaped because of our geography.  In the 60s we would start to see this dominance erode as competition increased.

We faced the possibility of almost instant nuclear extinction, a threat that seems to have receded, although it is still there.

Going back in time isn't possible and in all honesty it isn't desirable

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Sunday Thoughts

Last night the dontard displayed his racist tendencies again in an attack on Maxine Waters.  He can certainly disagree with her, but his comments had clear racist overtones, catering to his basest instincts and is base.

He keeps taking credit for the economy which has simply continued the Obama trends although with higher deficits and developing headwinds.  He lives in a fantasy world of new steel mills and coal mines.

He is now in a feud with his major donor base who oppose his tariffs.  His base is mostly so called republicans, but its a party that is very different nowadays, defined by anti abortion, pro gun, anti immigrant, anti government and minority suppression.  His support among that group is not going to waver.

The good news is that most Americans do not share those views.  The bad news is that many progressive people don't feel like their vote means anything.

A lot of people in this country are clearly disillusioned with politics as usual.  The political establishments are controlled by the old politicians although we are seeing some changes happening.  We need a clear progressive agenda and strong progressive candidates who will fight for things like universal heath care, secure pensions, income equality, equal opportunity and equal education.

People who have been successful are entitled to enjoy the good things in life, but everyone is entitled to have equal access to health, education and equality.

They need to be strongly in support of a clean environment and less pollution of all types, with efforts to reduce and reverse environmental damage.

We have shown we can do this as many of our waterways and the air we breathe have improved greatly since the clean air and water act.

Progress to a future where we have a sustainable society where people can achieve based on hard work and merit and our neediest are not ignored is the goal.

Its simple enough, treat everyone equally.

Out of Date

You have to decide at some point in your life if you are happy with the world as it is or if you want to make it better.

Of course the history of our species shows we have always eventually opted for making it better, even if at times that ended up making it worse.

After all we aren't eating raw meat and scavenging for food.

We invented fire, and tools and weapons and the wheel and everything that followed.

All along the way we find people who think this is enough or even too far and want to stop future progress.

Its very hard for me to understand groups that decide to pick a point in human history and stop there.

Of course they are allowed to do that, at least in this country, and they form a certain flavor to areas they inhabit.

However, the period they picked seems pretty arbitrary.

Similarly of course the same could be said about almost every institution that follows a document or religious text written in the past.

It reflects that time and while we may like to think the world stands still, it doesn't.

Its likely that some religious prohibitions have valid roots, valid for when they were formed, but unless we really think God is concerned with our dietary habits or manners of dress they are clearly outdated.

Progress goes on for the majority of us regardless and as a pundit once said, you just have t build a better mousetrap.

Of course generations tend to think what they grow up with is normal, so a baby boomer can take pride in being able to read cursive and tell time on an analog clock.

Skills that are simply not longer needed.

They don't make you better, just out of date.

Conservative Values?

If you are in favor of armed murderers using assault weapons, people going without adequate health care, increased Government spending while lowering Corporate taxes, restricting a women's control over her own body, opposing equal rights for people who have different sexual orientations, closing the borders and trying to deter people who don't agree with you from voting, I guess you call yourself a conservative.

Conservative is a term that represents someone who is generally opposed to change.  At least that's what it meant at one time.

Now it has taken on a certain radical approach where it wants to make many changes, or as they might think of it, a lot or undoing changes, to make America into something it never was, a bigoted white enclave.

Yes, the founders of this country were in most cases "white", ignoring the slaves they imported, but they weren't all the same.  You had your New Englanders, originally Pilgrims who had morphed into whalers and traders as well as farmers.  Of course New York had the remnants of its Dutch Farmers and in Pennsylvania you had your Quakers.

Delaware had its Swedish heritage and Maryland was a Catholic refuge and Virginia and the Carolina's were peopled by English émigrés who left for various reasons.  Georgia was originally a prison colony.

Much of the interior was still held by the French or Spanish and of course we had the Native Americans.

This was not an America that was terribly united but in general we tolerated our differences, at least until the Civil War.

The immigrants who came here for the first few hundred years simply had to get here, we didn't have a lot of restrictions,

This was a radical country that stood for opportunity and freedom, not narrow mindedness and hate.

We need to remember our roots and keep the American dream alive.

The real American dream, the land of opportunity that welcomes immigrants and promotes freedom

The real America has always been a diverse nation and it has made us a great one.

Let's keep it that way.

Musings

Well congrats to Alabama they did what they had to do although there were some issues with the officials, it is a hard earned victory.

Sometimes you see things in the news that make you wonder.

There's a new book about the president which indicates that many of his own staff have strong doubts about his intellectual capacity.

In response he tweets that he is a "stable genius" which almost proves he isn't.

I gather that after losing the Alabama senate seat at a meeting with congressional republicans they have decided to present a united front.

Not sure that is what the people who elected him want, but as far as I can determine they just want to see the Government be dysfunctional.

This was the appeal, give America back to real Americans and let them do what they want.

What they want is however not at all clear.

In general there are people in this nation who aren't really in favor of change, either because of religious teachings or just a general feel that change is bad.

So they want to be left alone.

Some of the change is economic where just going to high school no longer guarantees a good paying job.

Other changes are social with same-sex marriage or transgender rights.

Other things concern perceived reverse discrimination.

The appeal of "Make America Great Again" was all about rolling back this changes and societal evolution.

Of course its not really possible to roll back the economic changes, companies are still interested in making profits, and societal progress will continue to evolve.

In some period of time, new jobs will appear and the economy will adjust as inevitably the technological advances spread to improve opportunities.

Jobs in renewable energy, infrastructure rebuilding and industries yet to be invented will sustain our workforce, if they have the right skills.  The Henry Ford Assembly lines are however now manned by robots, so learn how to operate one.

Progress Made Us Great

In the beginning of human existence, we struggled to survive.  Clearly we started as gatherers and probably scavengers until we got enough tools to hunt, via progress.

Gathering turned into farming, and for many centuries farming was a labor intensive operation.  Eventually technology and science has greatly increased the food supply while reducing the number of people required to produce it.  Progress.

Hunting turned into herding or ranching and once again a fairly labor intensive process.  Of course we continued to hunt, but where hunting used to require groups of hunters, one person with a powerful rifle can bring down large prey.  Progress.

We used to make items by hand and it was of course very labor intensive.  Then factories and machines created the industrial revolution where we could produce more items with better and more consistent quality cheaper.  Progress.

This list can go into every phase of our existence and there has been one constant factor, we learn how to do things cheaper, better and faster, using less manual labor.

This is the essence of Progress.

Of course it has its consequences.  Each step forward displaced people who were raised in the old system.  It happens over and over through our existence although the pace really picked up in the modern era.

We aren't going to reverse it.  We shouldn't want to.

Currently the factors of automation and to some extent globalization have eliminated certain jobs.  Unfortunately it is similar to having your house destroyed during a tornado.  Its a painful mess but no one is at fault.  You need to build a new house or develop new skills.

Now pretending we can reverse progress is simply misguided.  All those patriotic buy American people went for the cheaper product.  If we are stupid enough to stifle innovation, we will diminish the future for our children and grandchildren.

Progress is, for humanity a force of our nature, those large brains.  Use yours.

Spring Ahead Thoughts

Even though today we turn the clocks forward, turning back the clock is something that seems to be what many Americans want.  Its fairly common to remember the best part of the past while the painful parts don't seem as bad as when they were happening.

However, the past wasn't better than the present nor  as good as the future will be with the exception that everyone was younger.

We can't get young again although that seems to be the goal of a lot of advertising.

I'd like to feel like I did when I was young but I wouldn't want to be as stupid as I was then.

Part of human existence is the imperative to grow, live and die.  We pass on our genes and hopefully our knowledge to the next generation. 

The course of human history shows that as time passes, we progress.  Now as far as physical progress, we have things now that were unimaginable as little as a hundred years ago.  There have been some reactions to the change in technology and material things but generally most of us are happy with the changes.

But this progress isn't even and while it improves the human situation overall it doesn't work for every individual. 

The ability to use technology in manufacturing reduces the cost of products but eliminates low skill labor.

Office and business automation has eliminated a tremendous number of clerical jobs that used to exist.

Online shopping is eliminating jobs related to physical shopping.

These jobs are gone but the people remain.

New jobs are being created but they aren't the same and often don't pay as well.

It can be painful, but the clocks move forward everyday whether we like it or not.

Economics

Its becoming increasingly difficult to find dire news about the economy.  By most measures things are going pretty well, so the issue they raise is things could be better.

Well of course they could, they could also be worse.

Economies are always evolving in reaction to changes in technology, domestic and internatinal events.

Not as many video stores around as there used to be.

Lot more Apple Stores.

If you were to get a group of video store clerks together and promise to save their jobs you would be a fool.

So the outreach to certain industries that are not part of the new economic reality is just the same thing.

Coal mining is a dangerous and unhealthy occupation that contributes to destroying the earths environment.  Coal miners need to be helped, not preserved like museum pieces.

Boring repetitive manufacturing jobs are easily done by robots now, lots less people involved.

Many, many office jobs have been replaced by technology from typists to telephone receptionists.

This isn't new, in the classic movie the Grapes of Wrath there is a discussion how men in tractors were replacing hundreds of small farmers driving them off their land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpPSIF8zIHo

Its called progress and while some would like to stop it, it really can't be stopped.

Any campaign that promises a return to some golden past is either simply naive or lying.

We need to look to the future, not the past.

America was great and is still great.  Lets keep it great going forward.