Barrett Rainey's Second Thoughts

Let me say this as politely as I can. Those trying to talk facts and logic in today’s political discourse are very small fish trying to swim up a very big river against an overwhelming tide of ignorance. In many cases, willful ignorance. And it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.

Too many of the people now officially carrying the national party banners … most (but not all) Republican … are saying some of the damndest things and showing such unfitness for public office that the daily reporting of their activities seems surreal. If they are this unconnected to political reality and how our nation’s governance works, what will the long-term repercussions be if they are successful in November?

Some media, to their credit, have started pushing back against the tide, reporting some of the more outrageous declarations and activities, then holding up a mirror of fact. There are too often clear distinctions between the babble of distortion and the truth.

But two factors undermine those efforts. One is the anger and personal frustration so many feel about life today which, for some, translates into “I don’t care what the facts are, I want change.” A willingness to gamble on the devil-we-don’t-know versus the one we do. Whoever or whatever that is.

The other is the media has been so demonized for so long by the loudest extremist voices that honest reporting and attempts to get to the truth are lost on closed minds that have already judged the messenger. “Forget the facts. I don’t trust the guy who has them.” Credit Limbaugh, Beck, Larson and the rest of the bellicose fear mongers. Frightened people have willingly been led off the main road and told ad nauseam only these loud few know the true path to the land of milk and honey. They don’t. But they keep saying it and playing on the fear.

Some people call it “faith-based politics.” Here’s an example. Several months ago, Limbaugh was holding forth on an old newspaper article supposedly written by President Obama before he was elected to the Senate. It was a mishmash of some facts and a lot of nonsense. The gaseous loud one went on for half an hour about the dangers to civilization represented by the thinking of the writer: Pres. Obama.

During a commercial break, one of his staff told Limbaugh the article was untrue; that it had been exposed months ago and the writer was an anonymous student doing an article of parody for a small college newspaper. Nothing in it was factual.

Limbaugh right went back on the air, described the conversation with his staff member and followed up with this comment. “I don’t care if it’s made up. That’s the way Obama thinks and I believe it.” Our political discourse is filled with this kind of bald-faced crap.

Here’s one for the “get government out of my life” crowd. Idaho’s personal income in the second quarter of this year grew by more than $50 billion on an annualized basis. Great. Or is it? More than half of that growth came from social security, unemployment checks, pensions and other government benefits. “Government out of my life?”

Take the health care law now in effect. More than 4 million small businesses with 17 million employees can get tax credits of up to 35% of their dollars spent on health insurance premiums. In 2014, that direct credit goes up to 50%. For-profit companies can use that as an offset against federal income taxes each year. “Government out of my life?”

And the facts go on and on. Government underwriting of education, highways, bridges, electrical production, air safety, law enforcement, farm production, food inspection, huge water projects, home loan insurance, medical research and delivery. “Government out of my life?”

The thing that scares me most about the coming election is what will happen later. What will happen when some of these governmentally illiterate souls are in office. What will happen when their uncompromising occupation of a sizeable number of seats in congress means crucial, life-changing decisions made in ignorance by ideologues who believe they are our salvation. The Palin philosophy of “I know what I know and I don’t need to know any more.”

The guy who said “we live in interesting times” probably understated the situation. Without overstating, I believe we live in damned scary times. Hang on.

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There are several commercials playing on our home television set these days that make me hit the channel change button.

Maybe that reaction comes from all my white hair. Maybe I’m just not in the age group sponsors are trying to capture. Maybe my values are different from what’s “acceptable” today.

One offender is a guy 40-45 years old walking down the street extolling the virtues of his jeans. He ends by saying “My girl friend says they make my butt look better.” That line erases from my mind the name of the jeans maker, meaning the sponsor has spent big bucks for nothing at our house. Even when I need jeans.

There’s the talking baby praising the automatic trading feature of his online stock account. “Saved me a pant load,” the diapered one says. I never get the name of the brokerage. I don’t want the name of that brokerage.

A young woman eying an online dating service … like so much raw meat … has never met the man she sees in his personal ad. But we are shown her fantasy of hopping in bed with him on their first outing.

Then there’s Mother Nature with the woman’s “monthly gift” as it’s put. A woman responds by showing the “quick draw” abilities of the whatever to take care of that “gift.” Even my wife cringes.

Another offender shows a submarine sinking to the depths as the crew tries valiantly to stop the incoming water. Near panic sets in as one of the compartments floods with sailors locked inside. Excellent production qualities. Then a quick shift. A child lifts the toy sub out of the bathtub. The ad is supposed to show how safe a particular investment company is. Those who created the TV spot have no idea of the horrors of war and how that tasteless depiction affects those of us who do.

Just singling out these bad ones doesn’t mean there aren’t others that are offensive or tasteless. These are just on the regular channels. I’m not including those specially made for MTV and VH-1 programming. Some are just plain sick.

TV ad production began years ago with the mantra “show the merchandise and tell ‘em how good it is.” Some ads still do that. Others are highly produced and expensive. Some humorous, some filled with computer-generated gimmicks, some just nuts and bolts.

In 1962, the Air Force sent me to NBC New York to learn TV production values from the pros. One job was working on the Kraft Foods TV spots on the Perry Como Show. There was no video tape then; no quality recording devices. So live shows, Como in this case, were performed twice. Once for eastern-central time zone audiences; once for intermountain-Pacific.

Kraft commercials for his show were live. Each time. A large kitchen on the 4th floor of Rockefeller Center was the set. One ad I clearly remember used huge amounts of cheese and fresh fruit. Chefs carved melon balls by the dozens and cut hundreds of cheese slices. All with new “full color” closeups while Ed Herlihy read the script. And they did it twice in two hours … from scratch … for national showings. Many, many shows.

I’m not saying today’s TV ads need to be so tasteful. But why, after 50 years or more, do I remember commercials from shows like Dinah Shore, Mitch Miller, Hit Parade and Como when I can’t tell you the name of the jeans in the offensive ad I saw last night? Which I wouldn’t buy if I did remember.

I realize there’s no accounting for some people’s taste … or lack of it. I know we live in a more coarse society. People have become use to … or numb to … a lot of coarseness. We find it everywhere.

But if a company wants to create an ad that will send me out in the streets to buy their product, being offended in my living room is not the way to do it. There must be a dozen jeans makers in the country. All I want to remember now is which one did the “butt-looks-better” ad so I can avoid them. My guess is I’m not the only old guy.

I enjoy creative commercials and look forward to the annual Super Bowl crop. Anheuser-Busch probably makes the most consistent, most memorable ads year after year. Even non-drinkers enjoy them. They could go off the deep end as some brewers do. But they don’t. Not in more than 50 years and thousands of spots.

I’ve started a list of those that offend. Like the jeans maker. They’re not going to get my business. In this case, I’ll stick with Wrangler. Bret Favre I can deal with.

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on Tastelessness is not a good sales tool

Let me say this as politely as I can. Those trying to talk facts and logic in today’s political discourse are very small fish trying to swim up a very big river against an overwhelming tide of ignorance. In many cases, willful ignorance. And it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.

Too many of the people now officially carrying the national party banners … most (but not all) Republican … are saying some of the damndest things and showing such unfitness for public office that the daily reporting of their activities seems surreal. If they are this unconnected to political reality and how our nation’s governance works, what will the long-term repercussions be if they are successful in November?

Some media, to their credit, have started swimming back up against the tide, reporting some of the more outrageous declarations and activities, then holding up a mirror of fact. There are too often clear distinctions between the babble of distortion and truth.

But two factors undermine those efforts. One is the anger and personal frustration so many feel about life today which, for some, translates into “I don’t care what the facts are, I want change.” A willingness to gamble on the devil we don’t know versus the one we do. Whoever or whatever that is.

The other is the media has been so demonized for so long by the loudest extremist voices that honest reporting and attempts to get to the truth are lost on closed minds that have already judged the messenger. “Forget the facts. I don’t trust the guy who has them.” Credit Limbaugh, Beck, Larson and the rest of the bellicose fear mongers. Frightened people have willingly been led off the main road and told only these loud few know the true path to the land of milk and honey. They don’t. But they keep saying it and playing on the fear.

Some people call it “faith-based politics.” Here’s an example. Several months ago, Limbaugh was holding forth on an old newspaper article supposedly written by President Obama before he was elected to the Senate. It was a mishmash of some facts and a lot of nonsense. The loud one went on for half an hour about the dangers to civilization represented by the thinking of the writer.

During a commercial break, one of his staff told Limbaugh the article was untrue; that it had been exposed months ago and the writer was an anonymous someone doing an article of parody for a small newspaper. Nothing in it was factual.

Limbaugh went back on the air, described the conversation with his staff member and followed up with this comment. “I don’t care if it’s made up. That’s the way Obama thinks and I believe it.”

Our political discourse is filled with this kind of doublethink. Here’s one for the “get government out of my life” crowd. Idaho’s personal income in the second quarter of this year grew by more than $50 billion on an annualized basis. Great. Or is it? More than half of that growth came from social security, unemployment checks, pensions and other government benefits. “Government out of my life?”

Take the health care law now in effect. More than 4 million small businesses with 17 million employees can get tax credits of up to 35% of their dollars spent on health insurance premiums. In 2014, that direct credit goes up to 50%. For-profit companies can use that as an offset against federal income taxes each year. “Government out of my life?”

And the facts go on and on. Government underwriting of education, highways, bridges, electrical production, air safety, law enforcement, farm production, food inspection, huge water projects, home loan insurance, medical research and delivery. “Government out of my life?”

The thing that scares me most about the coming election is what will happen later. What will happen when some of these governmentally illiterate souls are in office. What will happen when their uncompromising occupation of any number of seats in congress means crucial, life-changing decisions made in ignorance by ideologues who believe they are our salvation. The Palin philosophy of “I know what I know and I don’t need to know any more.”

The guy who said “we live in interesting times” probably understated the situation. Without fear of overstating, I believe we live in damned scary times. Hang on.

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on If you think it’s crazy now, just hang on

Small communities … and our Northwest is full of ‘em … have long faced the problem of losing many of the “best and brightest” to the big city. It’s one of those economic and educational dilemmas we have always lived with and there doesn’t seem to be a ready solution.

I’ve done it both ways: moved to the big city for career and income enhancement, then back home after finding quality of life was more important than either. But it seems many of the” best-and-brightest” make the move out and never come back. Why?

A new book titled “Hollowing out the middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means For America” is the latest research I’ve seen on this chronic small town reality. Civic and political leaders in all small Northwest towns ought to take some time to look at this work.

While sociologists Patrick Carr and Maria Kefalas are big city folk, they are sensitive to the values of rural life like sense-of-place, close communities and intergenerational relationships. None of their findings surprised me but they’ve presented them in interesting ways that make a lot of sense.

They classify people in rural America… especially young people … in four general categories: “achievers,” “stayers,” “seekers” and “returners.”

“Achievers” are most often young, bright and inquisitive. They are encouraged by parents and teachers to study hard in high school, go on to higher education and seek careers that generally take them away from small home towns. A lot of ‘em keep on going.

“Stayers” … most of whom are male … tend not do well in high school, don’t really like school and have not received encouragement to go to college. Many are in working class families and see themselves staying in town and getting a job. They often have jobs as teens and this early income earning experience and youthful buying power help shape their view of successful living.

“Seekers” aren’t interested in higher education but don’t want to stay where they are. So some look for other ways to get out of town. Fact is, rural kids are heavily recruited by the military, for example. Many talk about “making a contribution to my country” but enlistment bonuses, travel and escape probably carry more actual influence.

“Returners” has two subcategories: “high flyers” and “boomerangs.” The first are usually achievers who, for some reason, go back home or to some other rural area. Encouraged to leave home in the first place, Oregon and other states are mounting campaigns to get them back to help revitalize local economies. Guess I’m one of those.

Boomerangs … most often female … usually come back on their own, disappointed by the outside world and wanting to renew that “sense-of-community” they remember. Or think they do. Sometimes they just want to be closer to family. Often they marry shortly after returning, start a family and settle in and may … or may not … resume careers later.

So, the summary for Carr and Kefalas seems to be: best students leave town and only rarely return; the less-educated either stay or come back shortly after leaving; few professionals are lured back and those that do return usually come more for personal reasons than economic.

Author’s words: “As the cycle continues, fewer people remain in small towns, fewer still with the training and support to attempt (local) revitalization.”

But the authors offer some suggestions. One is to encourage policymakers, educators and others to focus on “boomerang” and “stayers” through stronger relationships between local high schools and community colleges and establishing career academies along with dual credit or transition programs for these two groups. Try to build links and place-based approaches in K-12 education with curriculum and instruction focused on local community needs such as economic development. Northwest community colleges do a pretty good job in this area. They could do better.

But there are other suggestions; some academic; some more real world and incentive-based. Carr and Kefalas believe their research has shown community leaders, local and state policy makers, educators and young people themselves must re-imagine their rural destinies. If they don’t, some small towns may just cease to exist.

This is not a new subject in rural communities; researchers have studied and written many tomes, most of which languish on dusty book shelves somewhere. But this work is well–written, clearly identifies some of the most important factors in rural decline and offers hope.

I possess no expertise or special training on this topic. But if I can read what Carr and Kefalas have written, understand it enough to be enlightened and encouraged enough to recommend it to those who do, just think what they might get out of the book.

It’s worth the read!

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on The quandary of rural brain drain: stay or go

I don’t mean to keep rehashing our unique primary election outcomes. But I’ve been asked the same question several times since the last go-round: “How did Republicans lose control of their own party?” It’s a query that could use a little explanation. At least mine.

Long ago and far, far away … early ‘70s would be a good place to start … the GOP had the White House, congress was convivial … except for the brewing Nixon scandal … and things were bumping along. Lethargy began to slip into the topmost party ranks.

Out in the hinterlands, especially small western states, the fringe elements were metastasizing. Many were Birchers or Liberty Lobby members trying to root out subversives in government, abolish the IRS and the federal reserve, generally spending their time whispering about conspiracies of one sort or another. Republican leaders paid them little mind because, come elections, they’d always turned out and always voted Republican. Nuts. But loyal.

As more mainstream members were just coasting along, these people gradually began to flow into the vacuum of local leadership: block captains, precinct committeemen, door knockers and the other often forgotten jobs that are, in fact, the strength of the whole party. Other Republicans thought little of it except that the boring volunteer jobs were being done. Life was good. But a takeover was in the works.

Soon, candidate names were appearing on the ballot. Many the mainstreamers hadn’t heard of or, if they had, their comments had been derisive. “Right wing.” “Crazies.” “Bircher.” “Forget ‘em.”

What was happening, in many cases, was local party leadership had slowly moved to the right. And these folks controlled the nominating or candidate selection processes. Moderates, if there were any … and they could get on the ballot … often found little local party support with money and volunteers. Local party people were working for the other guys; the “nuts” as it were.

So moderates wanting to get to the public trough had to steer right to get that support. And those already at the trough moved in the same direction for the same reasons. Little by little, degree by degree, the Good Ship GOP turned toward the horizon on the right.

Given a few local elections, some of these fringe people got on school boards, city councils, county commissions and even the legislature. From those inside positions, it was only a short step to using the newfound access to go for national office. Look at Sarah Palin’s route: local city commission, city council, mayor, governor.

It was an insidious process. Quiet. Cancer-like. Moderates in office and in party leadership were, in some states, eliminated. Purged.

So, in 2010, states like Idaho … which has the same number of U.S. Senators as New York or Pennsylvania … could produce this official party platform: abolish the federal reserve, the Dept. Of Education and EPA; revert to the gold standard’ pay taxes in gold or silver; all candidates must sign a loyalty oath to get party help. And, oh yes, get rid of the IRS. That was the official 2008 Idaho Republican platform taken to the national GOP for inclusion.

That’s kind of a quick-and-dirty explanation of how the Republican party could produce Michele Bachmann, Christine O’Donnell, Sharon Angell and Palin. Mix in the always-present caterwauling of Limbaugh and Beck and the other bellicose purveyors of lies and innuendo to fertilize the new GOP crop and the end product is what you see now.

Which puts the issue squarely up to whatever moderates are left in the party. Yes, Virginia, there are some. They’ve swallowed hard for a long time and put up with the fringe. The “base.” But they’ve gotten so far away from the rest of the party that many can’t keep swallowing more and more swill. Gridlock is turning to concrete.

Do the mainstream disaffected folk begin a purge of their own? Do they muscle out the local precinct people and move the candidate selection process back to the middle? All of that is a lot of hard work. Or do they form a new party?

Conversely, do the righties hang on to what they labored so long and so hard for? Do they tell the others to take a back seat? Or take a hike? Or do they form a new party?

Democrats, who seem incapable of leadership when they get it, are watching all of this with some glee. They had best not overplay their hand. This is serious stuff for Republicans. The survival of a viable national political party is on the line. Formation of a third party with either a hard right or one with a moderate base is quite possible.

This country was designed as a two-party nation. If we do wind up with three, it could forever alter our national direction and our political infrastructure. It might also be very, very painful to watch.

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on Long, hard work by a few may kill the current GOP

Pundits coast-to-coast are trying to read the tea leaves from our just completed primary election season. Most are giving the Tea Party folks a great deal of credit. Comes now a small voice saying “Maybe a little, but not so much.”

Picture an arrow. To me, those folks are the tip on that arrow. The shaft, if you will, the far larger part, is the rest of us angry folk. Like me. And maybe you. Not members of their band. Not out in the streets. But mad, too.

I’ve been angry for a long time about gridlock in congress, some of the political hacks, immoral cretins and intellectually-challenged in that institution, spiraling national debt, ineffectiveness of the two main political parties, government becoming an obstacle to progress rather than an aid. And more. Damned mad! But, like most of us, I’m not out in the streets.

The only credit I’m willing to give the astroturf group is I think they inspired some of the disaffected to cast some “no” votes to show our dissatisfaction. You can do that in primaries; not in general elections.

Many of the candidates they put up or endorsed were unqualified, fringe-thinking naysayers. Some, most notably in the Delaware senate race and the New York governor’s contest, were people of questionable character and demonstrated dishonesty. Not people you want as neighbors much less in government service at any level.

The Tea Party … and “party” certainly isn’t accurate … is like symptoms of the flu; the runny nose and upset stomach. The actual ailment … the real sickness … is billionaires like the Koch brothers, the Hunt family and others who are bankrolling the operation. They want something. Actually, several somethings. They want major amendments to our constitution to disallow babies born here to be citizens. And to put election of U.S. Senate members in the hands of state legislators where the process can be more controlled and the senators handpicked for their agreeable philosophy. Or lack of one. They want direct access. They want control of these and other issues.

The street marchers are quick to say they pay no dues, aren’t asked for contributions and write no checks to the “movement.” They also don’t ask who does. Who pays the millions for supporting their candidates? Who pays the millions in advertising? Who pays for the three Prevost buses touring the country at a cost of more than million each? Who picks up the tab for leaders and various support staffs in several states and nationally? Who pays the bills? And why? See paragraph above.

The irony here is the moneyed guys are Republicans. Bred and born. Right wing Republicans. But Republicans nonetheless. And it appears so far the main casualty of these Tea Party “victories” is … the Grand Old Party. In their search for philosophical purity, primary casualties have been mostly Republicans who couldn’t pass the litmus test du jour.

Come the November general election, if Democrats and disaffected moderate Republicans who’ve had a belly full of the fringy purists show up at the polls, those primary “winners” are going to be sent home. Not to Washington.

These “victories” at the polls could also be a warning to whatever moderates may be left in the G-O-P to now assess whether their party needs saving or whether there’s any party left to save. The short term wins could spark the purist element to form another party or those moderates left to create one of their own. Somehow I don’t see lifelong, respectable Republicans like Colin Powell or Robert Gates or Warren Rudman or George H.W. Bush being comfortable with the likes of Rand Paul, Shirley Angell, Christine O’Donnell, Mark Rubio, et all.

Third political parties are talked about all the time. In recent years, Ross Perot came closer than anyone to pulling disaffected folks together to offer an alternative. But these primary outcomes could be the catalyst needed to put some heat under more mainstream thinkers who don’t want the fringe association. And who, moreover, recognize that extreme elements never sustain themselves over the long haul because of the built-in paranoia.

This country needs … must have … a healthy, functioning two-party political system. We don’t have that now. The “victors” in these primaries cannot go to Congress and make it work. If we allow it, gridlock will turn to concrete. We will be in real danger.

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on The fat lady hasn’t sung and it ain’t over

November 4, 2010. Office of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), GOP Minority Leader. He’s meeting with two of the national election victors.

McC: I want to welcome you both, Sen. Angell and Sen. Paul and to explain some of the rules of the body to you.

Paul: Well, Sir, we really don’t need the explanation. We’re here to take care of the matters we were elected to … take care of.

Angell: Things like getting rid of the Department of Education, OSHA, EPA, the fed. We want to get started first with returning the country to the gold standard.

McC: Well, we’ve got some issues here already which we’re trying to bring to a close. Ballooning national debt, immigration reform, putting some tax cuts in place.

Paul: Those things aren’t important now. We’re here for the people’s agenda and we won’t be involved with those other things until we’re done. We want to get this constitutional amendment stuff taken care of. Stop giving away our citizenship just because you happen to be born here. And election of senators in the future should be done by state legislators who know the candidates and know who deserves it. Who’s got the money and who doesn’t. Cleaner that way. Our founding fathers knew that.

Angell: And we’ve got to find out where Barak Obama was really born and confirm his Muslim beliefs. People don’t really care about those other things now. Besides, when we get done with our agenda, those problems won’t be problems anymore. See?

Paul: We want to reopen the civil rights laws, too. Take another look. If a property owner wants to discriminate for any reason, he should have that right. Guaranteed.

McC: Well, we’ll put those ideas in the mix and address ‘em when their turn comes up.

Angell: No. No, they are too important to wait. And we’d like you to call a meeting of the entire caucus today so we can make sure everyone is going the same direction on these important matters. Several of us newcomers are going to form our own sub-caucus of right-minded individuals. We’ll be meeting regularly and we’ll let you know what has to be done.

Paul: Right. We’ll let you know if there’s anything we need you to do.

If you think that fictional conversation is too fictional, you haven’t been watching the TV commercials of these uncooked nuts, haven’t paid attention to their pronouncements in the various media and checked more of the polling. If these two aren’t elected, there are enough other strange ones out there that some are going to get past the gatekeeper.

Several years ago, there was a Super Bowl ad about herding cats. Mitch McConnell should dig that one out of the file and watch it, oh, a thousand times or two. ‘Cause I have a feeling dealing with that old Democrat majority is not going to be his biggest problem.

Adding two or three of these “constitutionalists” to the Republican mix might not be a bad idea if you’re sitting with the Democrats. Several of these folk who can’t see the tree for the forest could provide a lot of distraction for the senior senator from Kentucky. Might result in a few less always ready “no” votes in his caucus.

Compromise is unacceptable for these people. It’s not in ‘em. They are ideologues and their world is pure black and pure white. One disagreement on one issue is grounds for banishment of the offender. Even if that offender is the majority leader. I can’t think of a more sure-fire way for McConnell to lose control than to deny these folks their time in the sun. They aren’t motivated by the usual political pablum. To them, meeting halfway is for turncoats. That’s always what’s saved us from the hard right. Sooner or later, they get to a point where someone isn’t pure enough or, because of inbred paranoia, can’t be trusted anymore. Always. Always. Always.

None of this makes for good government. Nor does it foster an atmosphere wherein problems can be solved. These folks aren’t there to solve problems. They have their issues and that’s all there is for them. They will create problems.

So, following the election, we may not have any better crew on the oars of Congress. We may have to continue to slog through this economy until we can fix it without Washington.

But it might be more fun to watch.

Posted in Uncategorized | | Comments Off on The conversation you’re about to read is scary

Once in awhile, someone says something that gets your immediate response of “Why didn’t I say that?” Happened to me the other day.

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman talking about our current election cycle. “No doubt there is a large wave out there. We’ll just have to wait to see what sort of flotsam is left on the shore when it recedes.”

Yep. Flotsam there will be. Too much of it, I’m afraid. At a time in our history when we sorely need intelligence, courage and the ability to compromise to work out solutions to convoluted problems, we are likely going to be left with a lot of “flotsam.”

As a student of political history, I’m fully aware of rough and tumble and often outrageous conduct we’ve engaged in for hundreds of years. “Lies and damned lies” our political dramas have been called. And they have been. Some of them.

But that was different largely for one reason: the anger and lies came from the top of the structure. In the end, the people … you and I … were the leveling influence whose common sense and feelings of fairness winnowed out charges and countercharges.

Now, destructive lies and hate speech are coming from the bottom, the place where democracy is most vulnerable: the streets. History has repeatedly proven there’s no filtering system for what’s said and takes place there. Those seeds can result in the wrong people being elected for the wrong reasons. We decide, often in haste, to replace those who anger us with those who are unknown.

In many ways, our systems of public education … especially colleges and universities … have failed. Millions of otherwise intelligent Americans are illiterate when it comes to understanding how our governing system works. They don’t grasp government’s role, know little of politics and less about how our economy operates. As long as bills are paid with enough left over for some simple pleasures, well, things must be OK. Not all feel this way. But ample evidence shows far too many do.

We are currently awash in misinformation and outright lies on several national issues. Both political parties share blame. As a journalist and an American, I can’t understand why so many organizations and individuals are feeding this raw sewage into the national body politic. It’s destructive, demoralizing and, taken to the ultimate, dangerous to our governance.

Some, unaware of the falsity of these issues, unable to form their own responses based on fact and their own research, gobble up handouts and spin, regurgitating them as truth. Misinformation replaces information; deliberate lies become accepted “fact.”

If we had a national media worth a damn, there would be a major … and I mean major … commitment to discovering facts, identifying and debunking those who manufacture the lies and professionally mounted reporting of the issues. Not polling. Not sampling. Not snap shots. Reporting.

The irony is the truth behind demagoguery on nearly every issue is easily understood IF someone wants to understand. The facts are not difficult IF it’s facts they want. Talking is what’s necessary, not shouting. Citizen input is critical, not citizen outrage based on distortions or lies. Reasoning is required, not ignorant, unbridled anger fed by those with something to gain politically or economically, even members of congress.

I don’t have answers to all my questions; not even most of them. But I’ve enough interest to want to know more, patience to get to the facts, a desire to be informed, an understanding that the outcome will affect me and those I love and a belief that those who are deliberately distorting the issues will not win!

Abraham Lincoln, on more than one occasion, said this nation could never be conquered from without by any enemy. His concern was the enemy from within: us.

What would he say today? Maybe what Howard Fineman said.

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Demonstrations in Washington, D.C. seem far removed from our Southern Oregon neighborhood. Somebody else supporting … or protesting … something or other. Some images on television, then back to finish the crossword puzzle.

But, in my life, they were “up close and personal” for a number of years. I wasn’t there as a proud or angry citizen. I was a broadcast reporter and that meant getting in the middle of them, getting the flavor and telling a large, sometimes national audience what was going on. Live.

I’m not talking Beck’s lawn party of 70,000 to 80,000. My time was 1969 through 1971 and crowds were 200,000 to 700,000. So large speakers could not be heard by most attendees no matter the electronics. So many people, so many flags, so many ethnic groups forming a patchwork of America that, at ground level, it seemed like every American had come to participate.

Most events were peaceful. Most were conducted by experienced leaders with volunteer staff workers keeping things going. While some programs simply came to an end, most either climaxed with a concert by some of the biggest headliners of the time or drifted into a huge line-of-march to walk Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues before heading for home.

A few had problems. My personal experience is that often when things turned nasty it was an over-reaction by one of the law enforcement agencies in attendance that set things off. I’ve been ridden down by mounted park police, tear gassed by D.C. Police and arrested while broadcasting. I was hit in the head with a nightstick once though a large orange and black DC Police-issued press tag hung around my neck. Made a great target and I soon learned to work without it.

One scene, especially, haunts me even today. The DC Transit system was owned by a rabid Nixon supporter named O. Roy Chauk. Back then, he owned every bus in town. Most were not in terribly good shape but they got you from place to place in a city where weird streets and erratic traffic posed constant challenges to drivers.

Before one large Vietnam protest rally, the Secret Service used many of Chauk’s buses to totally isolate the White House. Hundreds of them ringed the entire area up Constitution and back down Pennsylvania. Bumper to bumper. On top or inside about every fourth bus was a sharpshooter with a rifle or shotgun. Atop the White House, more snipers behind the ledges.

I radioed in a report. Then those damned buses caught my eye. I just stared at them for a few minutes. And I thought to myself, standing among hundreds of thousands of people, “sharpshooters taking cover inside a fortress made of buses to keep the president safe from the people.” At that moment, I was more ashamed for my country than I had ever been. When I think of it now, 40 years later, it’s the same emotion.

There was no more need for that armed affront to liberty in 1970 than there would have been when Beck’s bunch gathered there a few days back. Both rallies had messages of rights and liberty and country. Both attracted Americans believing their presence there meant something.

There was one sharp difference, though. The recurring theme at Beck’s event was “taking our country back” as though someone had taken it away. No one has.

But 40 years ago, someone … many someones … had really taken the country away and sent it down the wrong deadly road. Public anger over that war at that time was palpable and became overwhelming. Polling proved it. There was little support for continuing the killing.

My sense is that scenario is being played out again. No matter who conducts the polls now, Americans are walking away from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All polls show a distinct majority wants out of both. Iraq is our longest war ever and no one militarily or politically has been able to enunciate a clear and convincing goal.

Looking back on those ‘60s and ‘70s national rallies, I don’t hear the singing as loudly. I don’t see the seemingly endless crowds of people as clearly. But I can still smell the tear gas and feel the pain of that police baton.

And those buses. Those damned buses with the sharpshooters. We must not let any national argument go that far again.

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