Studies in Public Administration, Covid-19 Edition

Sunday's Washington Post had a couple of articles about the governmental response to the coronavirus pandemic that illustrate strengths and weaknesses of American government.  As a government major in college and public administration in graduate school, I was exposed to the basic canon of separate but interrelated roles of the various levels of government in the US.  At least one of my texts discussed "layer cake" and "marble cake" models of federalism with the latter offered as the more realistic model in the America of the late 60s and early 70s.  My four decades working in the public sector pretty much confirmed that interrelationship; many programs typically involved some mixture of federal and state law and/or policy.

Despite the interrelationships some distinct activities define federal and state roles.  Maybe the most distinct is the scope of activity.  The feds operate on a national and international level.  That's why the story of the Trump administration bungling the coronavirus crisis is a classic case of bureaucratic failure.  Not only is the pandemic a crisis of national proportions but it also requires a level of expertise that can only be effectively marshalled in a national effort.  No state government or private organization can match the federal government in meeting the demand for accurate information, research and equipment needed to effectively manage such a major threat.  Read the story and it quickly becomes evident that after three months and over 20,000 deaths the Trump administration has no clear plan for ending the caronavirus crisis.  

On the other hand, states are rising to the occasion to the extent they can given their limited geographic scope.  Here in Washington Governor Inslee has been very aggressive in ordering shutdowns and self-isolation.  Ohio Governor Mike Dewine is another chief executive who acted quickly.  Neither state can claim victory but the trends in both states are beginning to offer some hope.  Back in school we heard that states were  "laboratories of democracy" (the texts did not mention it but many states have  been and still are "laboratories of anti-democracy) where ideas can be developed, tested and possibly serve as models for other states and even the federal government.  Although the fierce competition among the states for equipment, protective gear and other needed resources is not quite what the theory had in mind, it does demonstrate the deep reserve of competence and initiative within state governments that can provide a backstop to a feckless federal government in a time of national emergency.

Timeless Words

I've posted this before but if the mainstream media can focus almost exclusively on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, I will continue to remember that he also spoke against the the war in Vietnam.

Not Your Typical State Job Announcement

This came through my email at work today:

Only in the Evergreen State.  And maybe Colorado. 

Full announcement is here.

Civitas

Not only did Washingtonians legalize same sex marriage and marijuana on November 6, we also had the highest voter turnout in the nation.

Oh, Wow...

Marijuana is legal in Washington State.

My Name Is Rez Dog And I Am An Undecided Voter

My ballot arrived in the mail the other day but I am still undecided how to cast my vote for President of the United States.  Not that it matters.  I live in solidly Democratic Washington where Barack Obama has an 11 percent lead.  My state's electoral votes are not  in contention.  Much like Arizona's and Virginia's electoral votes were not in contention in all previous presidential elections I knew before moving to Washington.  At least this time around my single vote is irrelevant in favor of the lesser of two evils; Virginia and Arizona were dependably Republican.

Let me make one thing clear:  my indecision does not extend to Mitt Romney.  In no way do I want to see him elected.  If Washington were remotely competitive, I would vote Obama, as I would if I still lived in now highly competitive Virgina.  Not because I am pleased with Obama as president but because Romney would simply accelerate the distribution of wealth upward and the burdens of civic society downward.  Obama is always preferable to Romney.  That is not in question.

But Obama over Jill Stein?  If I follow my heart and values, Jill Stein walks away with my vote.  I was impressed with her in the alternate first presidential debate presented by Democracy Now!  She spoke in Olympia last weekend and gave me some good reasons to vote Green Party for president.  The Green Party platform is a vision of an America far closer to justice and founding principles that either major party candidate offers.  She would end our "slavery to the fossil fuel economy", "bail out students, not banks" and end the George W. Bush militarism so readily embraced by Obama's administration.  How could I not vote for such a candidate?

If I needed more reason, Stein pointed out that a vote for her and the Green Party strengthens an existing that has potential to offer an alternate voice.  I know the odds against a third party in this country.  Not all that good.  But long odds do not diminish the appeal of creating a voice for what Jill Stein called "truth, justice and solutions".  Nor do long odds lessen my commitment to creating that alternate voice.  Casting a vote for that seems more meaningful than padding Obama's victory margin in Washington.

So I guess I'm not entirely undecided.  I'll keep an eye on the Washington polls; if nothing changes between now and election day, I will vote Jill Stein.

Till then I won't say for sure. 

That Vision Thing

Watching the Obama-Romney and Biden-Ryan debates I hear the latter selling a vision of America where all are free of government intrusion and fully self-reliant under the watchful eye of their Creator (with the occasional assist from a millionaire from your local congregation).  Romney and Ryan are telling America that compared to their truly American vision, Obama offers nothing but limited choice and opportunity if not actual enslavement to government minders.  In contrast to all that, Obama did not offer a vision.  He offered facts and policies, but Romney ran circles around Obama, articulating American renaissance under a Romney administration.  He was the businessman-salesman-promoter making a strong pitch and caught Obama flat-footed.  Biden did not repeat Obama's mistake.  He pushed back on the Romney-Ryan lies and spoke of social commitment--Americans helping Americans, his mom, dad and working class neighbors.  He also came across at times as the politician making promises.  Dimmed the vision message a bit I thought but good enough for damage control.

If Obama is smart, we will hear more about vision in these closing weeks of the campaign.  Four years ago, the vision was hope.  After eight years of CheneyBush, that was enough.  Not in 2012.  Obama still needs to offer hope but he also needs to tell us where he will lead America, not just talk about the policies. Most important, he needs to convince us that he can actually make that vision happen.

My own vision of America is rooted in its small town ethos.  People helping people.  It's the same small town America that Republicans extol but I include public institutions and involvement in the mix.  I think of it as people organizing to achieve common goals, of figuring ways to solve problems and create social capital (you know, roads, hospitals, parks, fire protection) together.  For some needs, local and community solutions as well as individual solutions are best.  Matters that transcend individual communities are addressed at the state and national levels.  And where those matters are of critical public consequence, the public must have a strong voice in defining the issues and identifying how to address them.  People will trust a political-economic system to the extent they can believe that it's not rigged against them.

Policy wonk that I am, I could spiral my vision into a host of policy issues and alternatives but would obscure the point.  Vision is not detail.  Vision is direction and trajectory, that promised land.


Barack Obama and I could both learn a lot from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 



(h/t for the video to Lawyers, Guns & Money)

Still a Good Idea

July 4, 1776

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

A Wish for 2012

Steven Pearlstein describes the myriad forms of capitalism in the Washington Post today.  Capitalism, he writes, comes in a variety of flavors.  Each produces a different outcome, often profit and sometimes enormous wealth for some at the expense of many. 

In this national election then, Pearlstein believes it is fair to ask candidates about the kind of capitalism they want for America.

We would all surely welcome an intelligent presidential debate on what kind of capitalism we want to have. Only please spare us the self-serving nonsense about who created or destroyed how many jobs. In almost any form of capitalism, running the government is not the same as running the economy, and neither is like running Bain Capital.

My additional wish asks for non-capitalist options.  Given the choices possible in 2012 America, I vote for humane capitalism.

Smoldering Fire Breaks Out Anew

The spirit of Occupy is not dead.  Now it's in Montreal.

Longue vie à l'esprit de les Occuper Mouvement!

Friends of Mine

Came across these pictures of folks outside of the GOP Clown Show last night in Arizona. My partner Maggie was Maura Yerdeaux (Mor'a Your Dough) of the Phoenix area Billionaires when we lived there. It's good to see old friends are keeping up the street theater.




Here's one of their greatest hits.

The Root of All Evil

A thoughtful review of two memoirs of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 provides some very good context for understanding the events one year one. Reviewer Lee Smith clearly identifies the military establishment as the ruling authority in Egypt.

And their motive:

Those who dismiss the likelihood of renewed Israeli-Egyptian conflict assume that the Egyptian army does not dare forfeit the $1.3 billion that flows to it in U.S. military aid each year. However, the army’s priority is not to obtain American cash but simply to stay in power. Over the past half-century, international, regional and domestic dynamics have repeatedly driven Egypt’s rulers and its army to make war against Israel in spite of what would seem to be their better interests. A military that represses its people for the sake of its own wealth is liable to make any sort of mistake. (emphasis added)

To stay in power. That says it all.

The two books reviewed, Liberation Square by Ashraf Khalil and Revolution 2.0 by Wael Ghonim offer the reader differing perspectives on a cataclysmic national experience. As initiator of the Facebook site that launched the protests, Ghonim talks from the inside. Khalil gives the broader context. Reviewer Lee believes Ghonim’s "two understated chapters of his time in chains and blindfolded deserve to become part of the canon of classic prison literature... " which puts it in high company. Lee describes Khalil's work as "a solid journalistic account that places the Egyptian revolution in a regional context and details the events over the past decade that led to Mubarak’s downfall."

Both worth reading if you want some first-hand accounts of people demanding change.

And remember:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

--Frederick Douglass

In the Eye of the Beholder

Senate Bill 6467 introduced in the Washington State Senate would allow Japanese-Americans interned during World War II to display prisoner of war license plates.

No doubt heads will explode at Legion halls and VFW posts throughout the Evergreen State.

Update: Wandering not too much deeper into the related documents I discovered that yesterday was special license plate day at the Senate Transportation Committee. Japanese-Americans were not the only ones up for special plate legislation. Bills would also create new license plates for National Rifle Association members, 4-H members and the state flower (coast rhododendron).

The Way It Is

Legislative Lobbying 101:

"You need to get with the guy in your district. If you live at the pointy end of the state and you’re going to see somebody from Tidewater, if they see you, they’re just being nice to you."

From a Washington Post story on the Tea Party's influence on the coming political year in Virginia.

Forging Links

The details of the European fiscal crisis are complicated but a very simple explanation is that that Europe, like the US and other nations, has an economic system that does not provide the opportunities for many people to maintain the basic necessities for life. The solution requires international cooperation, so watching Britain refuse to join the rest of Europe out of concern for its "national interests", leaves me less hopeful that the world's nation states will reach consensus on far more challenging problems such as climate change. Add corporate control of finance, communications and government to the equation and real change looks very unlikely.

As a long-time critic of the nation-state, I am embarrassed that that the alternative turned out to be the global corporation. Global corporations, accountable only to shareholders for profit, easily compete with nation-states, pursuing corporate rather than national interests. If not wholly the equal of national governments, large corporations exercise considerable influence in promoting their maximum profit. Large corporations are in many respects a form of supra-national government with interests that transcend geographic boundaries.

The sheer dominance of hyper-militarized corporate thought and culture in America and less militarized, but no less strong, corporatism elsewhere in the world makes me feel like the embattled rebel. Outnumbered by a vastly more wealthy and powerful force. Everything of value at risk of extermination. No way out. It's a daunting and hopeless feeling. My life is not personally at risk in this scenario but other lives--the many in this world (and yes, America also) who lack basic necessities and live on the margin--are at risk. In the long run the entire planet is at risk of a consumption-based economy managed in the interest of short-term profit and narrow private and national intests.

That's why people around the world are speaking out and demanding change. The sheer mobilization of alternative voices, voices mostly ignored and dismissed by the corporate media, this past year is one of the great events of my lifetime. Americans finally began to loudly demand change, to resist a corporate culture that has demonized the idea of collective solution to public issues. This week Russians are protesting in large numbers. I can hope but can in no way assure that all of this direct democracy will create change for the better. It will create change and that change will create opportunity.

My antidote to the embattled rebel feeling is reminding myself that I am part of a chain. I may not actually see or experience the just and equitable society I seek--my "promised land"--but my efforts will be part of that society's heritage as it comes to fruition. This year's outpouring of humanity in demanding change has vividly reminded me of my place in the chain.

That seems like a good attitude to take into 2012.

More Than I Usually Expect

Give credit to the Washington Post for two provocative opinion pieces today. Taken together they ask some serious questions and offer strong support for their conclusions. Not the norm in the mainstream these days.

Stephen Pearlstein, who wrote cogently about economics as a regular Post columnist before moving to academe, writes about the latest financial bubble, commodities. He concludes:

What’s clear from this tale is how little the financial services industry has really changed since the crisis of 2008. The financialization of the economy continues undeterred, creating a bubble in commodities just as it did with houses and office buildings. The industry is still engaged in clever games to circumvent regulation, increase risk and find the cracks between one regulatory agency and another. And when regulators step in to try to restore some sanity to the markets, they inevitably run into a political buzz saw created by the industry and its Republican allies.

Big Finance is water running downhill. You cannot stop it. You may be able to control it but the force is imperative and always carries the potential for serious damage.

Alec MacGillis writes about additional occupations that will further illuminate the monstrous inequities in the American economy and their root causes. Among his targets is Wal-Mart for its success in destroying organized labor. MacGillis reminds the reader about why unions are important:

Harvard labor economist Richard Freeman says that organized labor diminishes income inequality mainly by forcing employers to give back more in compensation to workers that executives otherwise would claim for themselves. In a strong union environment, this dynamic even applies to nonunion firms, which must pay better wages to compete for workers.

But there’s also a broader contribution to inequality in the decline of organized labor in America — the loss of the “countervailing force” that strong unions used to provide in debates with business groups over, say, financial deregulation.

Which is why Wal-Mart and big business fought so relentlessly to destroy that countervailing force.

Yesterday Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation held a Jobs Not War workshop to explore ways to move toward a peace economy. Among the ideas for action was "shaming" corporations for social irresponsibility. The Occupy Movement has been one form of that shaming for the financial system as a whole. MacGillis has identified some other actors and practices worthy of shame. Pearlstein reminds me of why we need to be always vigilant when vested interests handle large sums of others' money.

We're Chasing the Wrong Deficit

If you want to understand the root causes for the nation's (and the world's) economic distress, you can do no better than get hold of the 17 October 2011 issue of The Nation which features an in-depth article on John Maynard Keynes and his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

Keynes believed that practical leaders would always see the supreme importance of keeping the country out of external debt—indeed, he seemed to see this as the first duty of the state. For Keynes, in his later years, it was the economic analogue to defending one’s country. Avoiding an external debt was an act of patriotism and national self-preservation in a sense that even reducing unemployment was not. ...Keynes would not believe how Obama, the Tea Party, the Democrats, the Republicans—our leaders—pay so little attention to our whopping trade deficit, as if it had nothing at all to do with our slump.

The right, the Tea Party, the Concord Coalition, Mr. Bowles and Mr. Simpson, Peter Peterson—they want to bring down the federal deficit. The left, our side, generally wants to go deeper into debt and get to full employment. Then we’ll bring down the federal deficit. Then we’ll have full employment and all will be well.

But until we bring down the trade deficit and fix our balance of payments, there is no way out of debt.

The bottom line: our corporate overseers have de-industrialized this nation to the point where even if Americans have money to spend, we will spending it on foreign made goods.

There's much more to the article. It's worth a second and even a third read.

The Problem is What is Legal

Read today's Washington Post article on the US Securities and Exchange Commission and you will understand why people in this country are taking to the streets. Quite simply, large financial institutions and the individuals who run them can commit the economic equivalent of mass murder and not only get away with their crime but actually profit! They can pretty much squelch and undermine any attempt to rein in the laws that allow their crimes because they practically own both Congress and the SEC.

All this is just one of the perversions of public policy rife in America today. We are also plagued with a debilitating militarism that bleeds the civilian economy and an economy that prizes short-term profit over long-term sustainable enterprise. So why the fuck not to take to the streets. When you got nothin', you got nothing to lose.

Whether or not street demonstrations and occupations are a "good idea" or the best "tactic" is irrelevant. What is relevant is energy and anger, the power to make voices heard. And these days, those voices are beginning to be heard in all of their incoherence, conflict and cross-purpose. I'm still a romantic hopeful (or the other way around?) so I want to believe that some real alternatives to corporate-military-capitalism will emerge from this cauldron of ideas and ideals. Maybe the occupations are a spark that will mobilize the many who have been severely harmed by the economic crimes of the speculators and robber barons of the the last decade.

local note

Occupy Olympia held its first meetings yesterday. In true democratic tradition, the meetings were called in different places at different times. The larger of the two, at Sylvester Park downtown drew about 20-30 people after the smaller Capitol Campus group joined in. The crowd was all ages, more young than old. I saw a few friends, met new people and we talked about why we were there. Most of the discussion was general, no one seemed certain about what was supposed to happen. Many made signs and short statements. All knew that a General Assembly meeting was set for 6:00. It being a Friday and nearing vigil time Maggie and I left around 4:30.

A much larger crowd, well over 100, was in the park when we returned after 6:00. The format was much the same, with people taking turns speaking with a bullhorn that was not very loud even when the person actually spoke properly into the mike. As earlier, all ages were there but definitely skewed young. The talk was mostly strategy and timing--to occupy or not, civil-disobedience, where and how to organize any of the above. The group quickly made its first consensus decision--to move under one of the large trees and out of the light rain that had begun to fall. A few committees--food, media, outreach, cop-watch, maybe others--self-selected and met separately from the larger group. Two more Geneal Assemblies are scheduled in the coming week and a mass gathering next Saturday.

An Optimistic Thought. Mostly.

Maybe America is not destined to become a fundamentalist Christian theocracy after all:

The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say."It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The good news comes with a warning, though:

Yet there is little doubt that religious groups still wield enormous influence in US politics and public life, especially through the rightwing of the Republican party. Groups such as Focus on the Family are well-funded and skilful lobbyists.

And a few of them kill doctors.

Okay, that's not a particularly optimistic thought but it's reality. The good usually comes with some strings attached or other complication. Still, I like the trend toward less religious control of public life.

Hallelujah!

Another Epitaph

Back in my grade-school days I was constantly told to fear living in a country like Russia where you always must carry identification. Americans were free and did not have to carry "papers" and show them to the authorities, like the communists behind the Iron Curtain. So I was told by church, state and media.

Flash forward 50 years to today's discussions of changes in voting laws:

“If you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on an airplane, you should show a picture ID when you vote,” Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said in the spring when she signed the bill into law in South Carolina.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach said. “This is an issue where most Americans recognize that a photo ID is a part of American life today. . . . ”

Today Americans carry and show identification.

We are all Soviets now.