Spaceman For Governor

You're supposed to sit on your ass
And nod at stupid things man, that's hard to do
And if you don't they'll screw you
And if you do, they'll screw you, too

And when I'm standing in the middle
Of the diamond all alone
I always play to win
When it comes to skin and bone

And sometimes I say things
I shouldn't, like
And sometimes I say things
I shouldn't, like . . .

-- "The Ballad of Bill Lee" by Warren Zevon

Bill Lee is running for Governor of Vermont on the Liberty Union ticket (Bernie Sanders was the Liberty Union's candidate for Governor in 1976)   The former lefty pitcher, not surprisingly, has lefty positions, including legalization and taxation of pot in Vermont, single-payer health care, and paid family leave.  In contrast to Donald Trump, Lee wants to abolish the border between Vermont and Quebec to make travel easier.  He has astutely compared penurious Republicans to pterodactyls: “They have little short arms that never get to their front pockets." He has said that “if things don’t go our way, if we get Trump as president, I’m out of here and I’ll take Vermont with us."

Lee pitched for the Boston Red Sox (1969-78) and the Montreal Expos (1979-82).  When with the Red Sox, he often clashed with manager Don Zimmer, who he dubbed the "Designated Gerbil."  He was known less for his pitching than for his eccentricities, counterculture persona and clashes with management in an extremely button-downed profession.  But he was actually a pretty good pitcher, winning 17 games for three years in a row from 1973-75, and making the All Star team in 1973.  Not bad for a lefty pitching at Fenway Park, a notoriously difficult place for lefties to succeed.  (Lee once asked whether they left the Green Monster there during the games.)  He had a couple of good years in Montreal too, before he was released for staging a one-game walkout to protest the release of his friend, second baseman Rodney Scott.

This isn't his first run for office.  In 1988, Lee ran for president on the Rhinoceros Party ticket under the slogan: “No guns. No Butter. They’ll both kill you.”  His unassailable platform included outlawing the designated hitter, AstroTurf, and domed stadiums. He promised to include Lary Bird in his cabinet. 

This time around, his platform also includes some baseball-related issues such as pushing for steroid users to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and moving the Tampa Bay Rays to Montreal, which he argues would spur economic activity by harvesting trees for bats and by Red Sox fans spending money in Vermont on their way to Montreal for games.

The first line in the Zevon tune comes from Lee's quote:  "Baseball's a very simple game. All you have to do is sit on your butt, spit tobacco, and nod at the stupid things your manager says."  And sometimes he said things he shouldn't, but in this crazy political season, a lot of what he says makes perfect sense.

#NeverNader: A Reminder About The Perils Of Purity

It is no coincidence that the most potent insurgencies from the left come to the fore at the end of a Democratic -- not Republican -- Administration.  That is when progressives are (often understandably) angered and disillusioned by the lack of progress (often betrayals) by their own elected leaders while the disastrous policies of the Republican predecessor have receded in memory.

And so, after Bill Clinton's second term, Ralph Nader launched his third-party effort -- a quixotic exercise that had no discernible positive long term impact on the political landscape but did help usher into power one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. 

Undeterred, Ralph Nader continues to be unsafe at any speed.  He is unapologetic, myopic and arrogant as ever.  For him, the system is corrupt, there are no lesser evils, and any compromise that might entail voting for a less-than-pure candidate is nothing short of unconditional surrender to corruption.  For him, there was no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush.  For him, there apparently is no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. 

Nader rails against Clinton, using the kind of incendiary rhetoric that feeds into the frenzy of Sanders supporters convinced that she is stealing the election:  "She's going to win by dictatorship. Twenty-five percent of superdelegates are cronies, mostly. They weren't elected. They were there in order to stop somebody like Bernie Sanders, who would win by the vote."

And he praises Trump for bringing important issues to light, all but dismissing what could be a real dictatorship and discounting the dangers of electing a reckless, ignorant vulgar talking yam:  "He's questioned the trade agreements. He's done some challenging of Wall Street - I don't know how authentic that is. He said he's against the carried interest racket, for hedge funds. He's funded himself and therefore attacked special interest money, which is very important."

Thanks, Ralph.  You can crawl back under your rock now.

I have no issue with Sanders campaigning until the end of the primaries to amass as many delegates as possible.  And I agree that the more delegates he gets and the more states he wins, the more influence he should have on the party's platform, on changing the rules on how the Party should nominate a presidential candidate in the future and on pursuing progressive policies going forward. 

But the reality is that when the last primary is held next month, Clinton will have amassed the most votes and the most pledged delegates, and she will have won the most primaries (including more states where independents were permitted to vote).  Super delegates generally go to the candidate with the most pledged delegates.  That is Clinton, not Sanders. 

Thankfully, Sanders is no Nader, and he understands what is at stake in this election.  It is hard to imagine that he would willfully undermine a Clinton candidacy.  But what is critical is that he communicate this to his supporters.  He needs to make sure that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

In case you missed it, the Democratic State Convention in Nevada spun out of control when unhinged Sanders supporters harassed and threatened the Party Chair, and then threw actual chairs.  They rushed the stage yelling obscenities and screaming about a conspiracy when, by more objective accounts, they were simply out organized by a Clinton campaign that understood the rules. 

In a formal complaint lodged with the DNC, the Nevada State Democratic Party ("NSDP") expressed the fear that "the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our National Convention." The NSDP was justifiably alarmed, after "having seen up close the lack of conscience or concern for the ramifications of their actions – indeed, the glee with which they engaged in such destructive behavior," that Sanders activists will engage in "similar tactics at the National Convention in July.”

Bernie Sanders has articulated better than anyone the myriad problems with how we elect our political leaders and hopefully he will remain engaged after the election to help fix it.  But Ralph Nader's recent appearance is a timely reminder of what happens when progressives lose sight of the greatest threats to our democracy.  At present, that would be the election of Donald Trump who among many other things would have the power to nominate the next justice on the Supreme Court (and probably more after that).

Let's hope that Sanders will ensure that his supporters understand what Nader still fails to see. 

American Exceptionalism: Celebrating Our Favorite War Criminal

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."  -- Satchell Paige

Interesting juxtaposition.  President Obama announces plans to become the first sitting president to visit Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima -- the very spot where an American nuclear bomb exploded, killing more than 100,000 people.  Meanwhile the Department of Defense presents Henry Kissinger the Distinguished Public Service Award. 

Needless to say, the United States has a very complicated relationship to war crimes.  We crow about our values, our freedoms and our exceptionalism, and condemn as unpatriotic and treasonous any American who has the temerity to question the darker aspects of our history.

And we celebrate Henry Kissinger, one of the most villainous U.S. political leaders of the 20th Century. 

Kissinger's role in the Viet Nam War, from undermining the Paris peace talks prior to Nixon's election to directing the massive clandestine bombing campaign in Laos and Cambodia, which indiscriminately killed and displaced millions of civilians, is not in dispute.  That should be enough to remove him from polite society much less make him a sought after foreign policy expert and Hillary Clinton's bff.  But, of course, there is plenty more, including his planning of the overthrow of  Chile's democratically elected president, his support for Indonesia's massacre in East Timor, his  encouragement of right wing military leaders in Argentina's Dirty War, and his role in other so-called proxy wars.  As put by Greg Grandin, the author of Kissinger's Shadow, Kissinger is "responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of millions of people in Southeast Asia, East Timor, Bangladesh, and southern Africa, among other places."

And, as Grandin points out, even Kissinger's arguably admirable role in fostering détente with the Soviet Union and an opening to China was undermined by his own actions:

In one region after another, [he] executed policies that helped doom his own grand strategy, undermining détente and canceling out whatever steadying effect it might have provided the planet. In southern Africa, for instance, Kissinger supported civil wars that would last decades and kill millions. In the Middle East, he pointlessly provoked the Soviet Union and laid the foundation for the jihadists. The militarization of the Gulf, including the brokering of ever larger arms sales to Saudi Arabia in exchange for petrodollars, was a Kissinger initiative.

So why is Henry Fucking Kissinger being honored with the Pentagon’s highest award for private citizens?  And what does it say about a country that cannot confront its worst excesses? 

When President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for "all offenses against the United States," he stated that it was out of concern for the "immediate future of this great country." Next came Iran-Contra. While the Republicans stacked the joint legislative committee undertaking the investigation with the conservative wing of their party (e.g., then-Representative Cheney), the Democrats relied mostly on moderates, and thus the committee members were skewed toward those who were disinclined to probe very vigorously.  By rashly granting immunity to key witnesses such as Ollie North, the committee undermined prosecutions by an independent counsel.  The Iran-Contra Affair culminated in the pardon by first President Bush of several participants who had been implicated.

More recently, President Obama refused to seek any investigation of his predecessor's "War on Terror," despite substantial evidence that wiretapping laws were broken and torture was authorized at the highest levels.  Much like President Ford, Obama claimed that “nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.” 

As we look ever forward, never backward, the presumptive nominee for president of one of this country's two major parties unequivocally calls for combatting terrorism with torture and other violations of human rights.  The other considers Kissinger a dear friend and trusted adviser.

What's next?  Given our penchant for whitewashing the past and honoring our war criminals, someone should tell Dick Cheney to get ready for his close-up. 

Obama's Mic Drop In Flint

"And this kind of thinking -- this myth that government is always the enemy; that forgets that our government is us -- it’s us; that it’s an extension of us, ourselves -- that attitude is as corrosive to our democracy as the stuff that resulted in lead in your water." -- President Obama

While we anxiously await the decision of Republican leaders (whose anti-government, anti-regulatory, climate change-denying, anti-choice, anti-immigrant ... rhetoric created the primordial soup out of which rose their presumptive presidential nominee) on whether they will endorse or merely support Mr. Trump, President Obama happened to deliver a speech in Flint, Michigan. 

It was a stemwinder that should have gotten a lot more attention.  It destroyed long-cherished Republican talking points about the dangers of government overreach, and gave an unapologetic, irrefutable defense of government's critical role in the welfare of our society.  And it provides an extremely useful template for the presumptive Democratic nominee and other Democrats running for office this fall.
 
Here are some of the key nuggets:

[I] do think there is a larger issue that we have to acknowledge, because I do think that part of what contributed to this crisis was a broader mindset, a bigger attitude,
And it’s a mindset that believes that less government is the highest good no matter what.  It’s a mindset that says environmental rules designed to keep your water clean or your air clean are optional, or not that important, or unnecessarily burden businesses or taxpayers.  It’s an ideology that undervalues the common good, says we’re all on our own and what’s in it for me, and how do I do well, but I’m not going to invest in what we need as a community.  And, as a consequence, you end up seeing an underinvestment in the things that we all share that make us safe, that make us whole, that give us the ability to pursue our own individual dreams.  So we underinvest in pipes underground.  We underinvest in bridges that we drive on, and the roads that connect us, and the schools that move us forward.
And this is part of the attitude, this is part of the mindset:  We especially underinvest when the communities that are put at risk are poor, or don't have a lot of political clout -- and so are not as often heard in the corridors of power.
And this kind of thinking -- this myth that government is always the enemy; that forgets that our government is us -- it’s us; that it’s an extension of us, ourselves -- that attitude is as corrosive to our democracy as the stuff that resulted in lead in your water.  Because what happens is it leads to systematic neglect.  It leads to carelessness and callousness.  It leads to a lot of hidden disasters that you don't always read about and aren’t as flashy, but that over time diminish the life of a community and make it harder for our young people to succeed....
So it doesn't matter how hard you work, how responsible you are, or how well you raise your kids -- you can't set up a whole water system for a city.  That's not something you do by yourself.  You do it with other people.  You can't hire your own fire department, or your own police force, or your own army.  There are things we have to do together -- basic things that we all benefit from.
And that’s how we invested in a rail system and a highway system.  That's how we invested in public schools.  That's how we invested in science and research.  These how we invested in community colleges and land grant colleges like Michigan State....
So the people in Flint, and across Michigan, and around the country -- individuals and church groups and non-for-profits and community organizations -- you've proven that the American people will step up when required.  And our volunteers, our non-for-profits, they're the lifeblood of our communities. We so appreciate what you do.
But volunteers don’t build county water systems and keep lead from leaching into our drinking glasses.  We can’t rely on faith groups to reinforce bridges and repave runways at the airport.  We can’t ask second-graders, even ones as patriotic as Isiah Britt who raised all that money, to raise enough money to keep our kids healthy.
You hear a lot about government overreach, how Obama -- he’s for big government.  Listen, it’s not government overreach to say that our government is responsible for making sure you can wash your hands in your own sink, or shower in your own home, or cook for your family.  These are the most basic services.  There is no more basic element sustaining human life than water.  It’s not too much to expect for all Americans that their water is going to be safe....
But it’s not enough just to fix the water.  We’ve got to fix the culture of neglect, the mindset I was talking about -- that has degraded too many schools and too many roads and hurt too many futures.  We’ve got to fix the mindset that only leaves people cynical about our government.  Our government is us -- of us, by us, for us -- the people....
So Flint is just a tip of the iceberg in terms of us reinvesting in our communities. We’ve seen bridges fall and levies break.  So we’ve got to break that mindset.  These things aren’t a coincidence.  They’re the same mindset that left Flint’s water unsafe to drink.  And it’s self-destructive when we don’t invest in our communities.  Because a lot of times the people who are against government spending, they’ll say, well, the private sector is the key.  The private sector is the key for our economy.  Free markets and free enterprise are great.  But companies won’t invest in a place where your infrastructure is crumbling and your roads are broke.  You’re not going to start a business or be able to recruit outstanding staff if there’s no safe drinking water in the city.
So my hope is, is that this begins a national conversation about what we need to do to invest in future generations.  And it’s no secret that, on this pipeline of neglect, a lot of times it’s the most poor folks who are left behind.  It’s working people who are left behind.  We see it in communities across the Midwest that haven’t recovered since the plants shut down.  We see it on inner city corners where they might be able to drink the water, but they can’t find a job.  We see it in the rural hills of Appalachia.
We’ve got to break that mindset that says that that neighborhood over there, that’s not my problem; those kids over there, they don’t look like my kids exactly, so I don’t have to worry about them -- out of sight, out of mind.  We’ve got to break that attitude that says somehow there’s an “us” in “them,” and remind ourselves that there’s just one big “we” -- the American family, and everybody has got to look out for each other.   Because the kids here in Flint aren’t “those” kids, they’re “our” kids....
That’s America.  That’s who we are at our best.  We are a nation of individuals, and we should be proud of everything that we can accomplish on our own through hard work, and grit, and looking after our own families, and making sure we’re raising our children right.  But we don’t do these things alone.  Ultimately, our success is dependent on each other.  Our success is dependent on each other.