Historians are the answer, but are they really the problem?

It took me a while to stew over this and I just kept getting more agitated, so I decided to put in my 2 cents.

In the below Guardian article "Our world is changing.  It's time for historians to explain why?", there are points to make because we can always do better, but I will tell you why it's just too damn easy to place blame in the wrong place, even if it is well intended.
Guardian Article

First and foremost, the past 10-20 years have seen an explosion not only in historical and biographical non-fiction, but new fields emerging that merge history, political science, and the humanities.  Publications are really putting out enormous easy to grasp scholarly work.  Amazing steps forward!  Scholars from many different areas are collaborating and appearing on panels discussing current events.  Turn on C-Span3 on the weekend and you will be privy to some of the most exciting books and research happening today for free without leaving your home.

Historians are getting much more exposure outside academia than every before, in my opinion.  Not only that, they are toning down the scholarly gibber gabber to be more accessible to the public.  They're engaging across many other disciplines.  It's much easier to devour a non-fiction tome of 5 lbs (I still buy and check out books that you can hold) without drool escaping your weak, muscular, orbicularis😅😜...sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I'm sorry, but I cannot disagree with this article more.  I have an obsession with history, especially any american history pre-1900 with an emphasis on abolition, slavery, and suffrage (I used to limit myself to pre -1850, but scholars started moving away from Civil War battles dissected ad nauseum, and onto great substance in the field, and here I am with a voracious appetite with an unending list of books to devour.  You can't be interested in History right now and not feel like you've hit the mother load.  Libraries, on-line, EVERYWHERE there is an explosion of interest in the past.  If you don't have a computer, libraries often do, and we need to talk more about how to preserve these free institutions of learning more than ever.  We need to support historians while the right leaning leaders are trying to abolish it.  Why?  Because an educated population won't let you lie and manipulate so easily.  Blind Faith is their motto.  Education is their poison.  You will see countless people ignoring what's right before their eyes because of Blind Faith. This blindness makes them feel so warm and protected while their being scammed.  Unfortunately, we all are suffering because of this delusion.

I went off here, because it's important to keep our eyes on the prize and support those who really make a difference in our understanding of the world, and most importantly the past with all of it's difficult grays. THAT is our current batch of historians and I could not be more proud of everything they are doing with their countless hours of research and writing. It's a huge sacrifice that we need to acknowledge and support.

"Historians are skilled in building and interpreting varied narratives dealing with change over time. Yet still too many are reluctant to attempt comparison of any kind between past phenomena and contemporary concerns. Far from being irreconcilable opposites, the past and future should be viewed as two sides of the same coin"

Cormac Shine, below is a link to one of the finest conferences I've ever been to so far in my life. It's focus was on exactly what you complain doesn't happen. And you know what, it was free to the public, and it is currently free to view every lecture on-line for free. This is happening everywhere, not just at Yale. All you have to do is a little research😙

https://glc.yale.edu/Events/Conferences/2017-annual-conference

She's just not that into you!

I've been hesitant to write about the wave of accountability that has been passing through our planet, mainly because I wasn't sure why I didn't want to defend men.....as a man.  I think I know how to verbalize this now.

Men, all men, need to sit in this uncomfortable place of suspicion and exposure to the women's gaze of mistrust and anger.  Yeah, it sucks...yeah, you probably consider yourself a "good guy".  But, this scale has been severely tilted for a very long time....um...say...since the beginning of time.  Your uncomfortable???  Now who’s the cry baby.

People will loose their jobs...but...just think for once about how many women probably lost their jobs because they didn't "comply".  I can guarantee you the number is enormous!  It's time we really started listening to women, believe them until proven wrong...not the other way around.  The scale has been tipped for way too long, and it's time for a change.  I welcome it...it is uncomfortable for us all, but what we can gain from this change is a maturity of our gender.  Yes, maturity.  We have had an image problem, haven’t we?

We don't need to be snowflakes...emasculated..to do this...although...there is no way around being called this by the Neanderthals we will leave behind.  For many men sex and power are inseparable, and that's a problem.  You are not "weak" if you are respectful of women.  Do I need to repeat that?  Maybe we should repeat that OFTEN to our buddies and ourselves like a mantra...

We need to look to our past and see where we have followed the crowd, or downright did things, on our instincts, we knew wasn't right, out of anger or any other possible inexcusable reason.  "She's just not that into you"....what???  Remember the girly movie that you avoided or just watched it because your girlfriend or wife wanted to see it?  The message is a good one, but should be reversed.

We do have a propensity for anger and violence that is so easily switched on.  It's so easy to access for us.  Find the switch and work on handling it.  I have a lot of women to apologize to, yes....apologize.  We have such a great opportunity to heal our relationships with women.  I'm up to the challenge.....how about you?

If you don't understand what the Republican's are up to you're just not really paying that much attention

Sorry, but to me, it's so obvious.  Guess what...if your waiting for the Mueller prosecution, good luck.  By the time this gets going and finished Trump will be finished with his 4 years, and what they need in place (dismantling government) will be done.  You didn't have your eye on the prize.

1.  The Republicans  in power know that this is their last hurrah and they will loose, not only the next election, they will cease to be viable.  They have a chance to mold conservative christian philosophy influence that will be challenging to undo.  If they don't act now they have lost their chance to reclaim their evangelical stronghold for good.  This is why they love Trump's distractions.  Morality be damned!
2.  The left leaning republican and the right leaning democrat have melded into one and have become powerless and unable to fight back because they refused to accept the US and the world is changing dramatically in ways they fear.  This only feeds the beast of No. 1 and renders them powerless and feeble at best.
3.  Donald Trump is their prize possession.  He distracts with his crazy, unpredictable behavior, so they can go, relatively, undetected dismantling government in a way that big business can be the driving force/control of the nation.  This is why Donald Trump was their choice all along and also why he shifted to Republican.  He will benefit financially which is all he cares about, and they will benefit politically which is all they care about.
4.  The Republicans I speak of aren't the republicans of the past, they have shifted to tea party leaders who have, as stated above, hijacked the party.

What would have thwarted this entire fiasco is very simple.  We have a 4 party structure in place that is crammed into 2 parties, busting at the seams, in my opinion.

1. Tea Party
2. Republican Party
3. Democrat Party
4. Progressive Party

What is so simple has been made self destructive beyond imagination.  Our two party system has created a money driven machine that paralyzes the governments ability to govern for the people.  Driven by fear, this system has to be predicated on feeding the beast of power, money, and manipulation in a way that stricken politicians into believing there is no other option, and holds the voting public hostage through a electoral process that is antiquated.  This is most important today because both the old Republican and Democratic parties are lame ducks, unable to affect what they are supposed to be best at, bipartisan negotiating.  This was a calculated process placed by McConnell and Boehner (remember him) convincing the public that Obama was not willing to negotiate with them, in my opinion.

While, on paper, it appears that the Republicans have majority rule, yet...they actually do not.  The radicalized Tea Party does, and Trump is their Trojan horse, while Ryan, McConnell, Pence, etc get the work done to dismantle any policy that doesn't represent conservative, white, christian values of the present, and big business that will "do the right thing".  Yeah...right.

Take a gander at any evangelical leader on TV such as Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, etc...who have changed their rhetoric to be so out there it's frightening.  They weren't always this emboldened, or downright crazy, well...somewhat crazy, but now bat crazy.  Alt-Right is so empowered under this new Tea Party platform that they don't need white hats to hide behind.

We have a problem that has an easy solution.  4 parties, limit monetary contributions to all and see what happens.  What do we have to loose?  It can't make things worse.

LOVE IS MY CHURCH AND THIS IS MY BAND

U2 and Mary J. Blige

I ask you all...IF we are a great country, what is our unity, what is our strength, what will heal us all?

"Love is a temple...
Love is a higher law

Love is a temple...
Love is a higher law!

I love how great lyrics have so many different meanings.  This song is a beautiful anthem for us today amidst the hatred, racism, and uncertainty of our sovereignty.   I would love to see a "human march" with hands entwined so we would not need a "woman's march", "black lives march", "native rights march", a "gender identity march", etc..

IF we are a great country then we "get to carry each other, carry each other"

We are one.  If we are love, no government can control us.

"...drag the past out into the light
we're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other.

Why "Political Party" Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

"You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened.  And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor."  1962, George Wallace, Democrat, after winning governor of Alabama.

Yes, George Wallace was a Democrat.  While 45 eerily resembles this trait of "doing whatever will get me elected", (and yes their bigotry) and showing his true colors, Trump is no George Wallace.  Wallace was an educated, well respected and successful lawyer who, early in his career, was know for being a bulldog for fairness...even for blacks, but to a point.

What we can learn from everyone today, being so strident in party alliance, is that both Republicans and Democrats have been very fluid and interchangeable through time.  Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.  Neither party can claim exclusivity of good.  What is important today?

We need more options.  Both parties TODAY are beholden to corporations first and foremost.  Our disgruntled arguments are diluted by this duel between party alliances and they are strident from both camps.

To progress and go forward we need progressive, forward movers and shakers.  They are there if you pay attention.  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".  How we perceive and act will be up to us.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Michael Chabon

Most of my free time is spent reading and writing about history, genealogy, and politics.  I abandoned fiction reading many years ago, but recently, decided to read a book my wife recommended by Michael Chabon.  I have always been turned off by sesquipedalian double talk (yes! I can do that too😎).  So I dug in and sure enough, damn!  He used the following big ass words in his book "Manhood" in a very short time:  quotidian, lugubrious, hermeneutics, censoriousness (which I'm doing here), mythomania, stupefied tedium, odorousness, inscrutable, mythologizing, altruism, anathema, and concomitant.  As I wrote these words down, with my scruples in a wad, I read all these sections again without my sesquipedalian hat on.  SHIT!  This man is brilliant!  Damn it, he paints with words.  I hate you, Michael Chabon, you set the bar so damn high.....

The reason he is so good at this....he pulls and tugs.  What does that mean?  I have no interest in comic books, but apparently Chabon does, AND he devotes just enough time to digging deeply into his obsession that my "pissed off" meter goes berserk!  I want to chuck the book out the window, stop the book on CD (I have the book, but prefer listening to this book on CD because it's read by Chabon, which adds to it's prose, lilt, contrary/profound rollercoaster ride).  Once he has you down the "I don't like Chabon" path, he hits you blindsided with "pay a-fucking attention".  Ok...you get the picture.
Happy reading!

Frederick Douglass

“In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky — her grand old woods — her fertile fields — her beautiful rivers — her mighty lakes, and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning. When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal actions of slaveholding, robbery and wrong, — when I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing.”