Janus

No, not the recent Supreme Court case, here I am talking about the two-faced ancient Roman god of “beginnings, passages, and endings.”  We are witnessing a number of American political figures exercising their inner Janus these days, Senator Jeff Flake comes to mind.  One clear eye on what is right for the country and on how posterity will remember them; the other eye filled with electoral fear as they shift their tremulous gaze towards Trump’s minions lurching about in blind support of their Dear Leader.  Far too many of these officeholders are making the easier, and cowardly, choice to stand by this corrupt Administration.  Or, paralyzed into a near inert state, they find themselves unable to do more than post feeble tsk-tsk tweets.  Not exactly Washington crossing the Delaware…

Which reminds me.  I promised you an article on the Howard County Executive race.  When considering the Allan Kittleman-Calvin Ball match-up, it is important to remember that the current CE is predisposed to play it safe. As I have written before, if he had 15% more gumption and 30% more derring-do, he could have been the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2014, probably Governor now, and likely an early recipient of some 2024 speculation.  Yes, for the Big Chair located at 1600 Pennsylvania.  Would he have ended up like GOP governors in blue states such as Weld or Whitman who passed on the opportunity to enter the Fray?  Perhaps, but we will never know.  Kittleman’s next shot at Annapolis isn’t until 2022.  Even if elected Governor of Maryland in that year, that effectively rules him out for 2024…and he will turn 70 in 2028. 

My point is this, Kittleman is going to run a re-election campaign that is localized and personalized to the greatest extent possible.  He is not going to cross the national GOP or local conservatives on issues like immigration (for example: his statements on the sanctuary bill demonstrate that he is, at the core, a standard-issue Republican (sorry, “Democrats for Kittleman”)).  He will attempt to aw-shucks and “Oh, my pa-pa” his way across the county while he endeavors to maintain the myth of Kittleman-as-moderate.  He probably figures that between incumbency and the presence of an (on the surface) popular Republican Governor on the ballot, he can withstand any potential Blue Wave and possibly, just maybe, improve on his 51.2% showing from 2014.

Returning to the face metaphor, I would be less concerned about his eyes and more focused on his jaw, which I believe to be composed of glass.  He should be pressed to square his “people before politics” rhetoric with the reality of our schools and the continuing overcrowding challenges.  He should be called to account for saying that he is “independent” but how, precisely, has he stood up to Trump and his party?  He talks about making Howard County a “destination economy,” but does he really mean a “developer economy?”  What about the middle and working class folks who already live here and who are seeing their quality of living diminish year-after-year as more attention seems to be paid to new developments as opposed to the needs of those in older neighborhoods?  The Kittleman campaign can’t be allowed to get away with framing the debate through Pollyanna language meant to cloak the crony conservativism congealing at the heart of his cadre. 

It is this disconnect between word and deed that must be made clear to the electorate. Kittleman says X, but does Y.  If only there was a effective way to visualize this tendency in a direct mail piece or TV spot.  Wait, what was the title of this piece again?

In solidarity.

CVS, Columbia, Race, and Justice

The myth of Howard County exceptionalism was dealt another shattering blow recently.  The Columbia Mall shooting of January 25, 2014 alone should have revealed the complete lack of a bubble separating our communities from the rest of America. 

And now, apparently, yet another ugly reminder of life in the U.S.A. in these troubled times has occurred right here in our neighborhoods.  Let’s call it for what it is: a manifestation of racism at the personal and systemic levels.

[Note: I am sure 50 lawyers will scream in unison that I need to use the word “alleged” to describe what follows.  So fine, these are “alleged” events based on one person's account of a series of events.  That said, I believe her].

LaRhonda Perkins’ post regarding her experience at a local CVS is infuriating, terrifying, saddening, and all-too common.  The details can be found on any number of Howard County, Maryland-centric public forums but the gist is that Ms. Perkins (a Black woman) was accused of shoplifting at a local CVS Pharmacy by a customer (a white female). A CVS employee and Howard County Police Department (HCPD) personnel decided to side with the white female customer (who physically assaulted Ms. Perkins!) and took actions that were grossly inappropriate.  Despite zero evidence of Ms. Perkins shoplifting, just the baseless accusations of a random customer who demonstrated their violent nature, the CVS employee detained her, preventing Ms. Perkins from leaving the store.  Meanwhile, the HCPD officers treated Ms. Perkins in a highly disrespectful manner.   

It’s time for a simple thought experiment.  I can speak, with absolute confidence, that if I (a white male) was accused of shoplifting:

1) No one would try putting their hands on me, as that customer did to her.

2) The CVS employee would have accepted my point, if I explained to them as Ms. Perkins did, that I could not possibly have any purloined items on my person.  They definitely would not have called the police on me…but they would have called 911 on the customer who assaulted me. 

3)  The police would not have insisted upon a search and ordered me around as they did Ms. Perkins.  The police would have been far more professional, polite, and by the book (note: why did the male officer initiate the search?  Beyond the fact that it seemed unnecessary, shouldn’t a woman officer have been the one conducting such a search?).  Where was the sincere apology to Ms. Perkins?  Why was the white female customer not arrested for attacking Ms. Perkins?   

Assuming the accuracy of Ms. Perkins account, CVS needs to fire the employee and the store manager.  At a systemic level, in light of this and the Chicago incident, CVS needs to engage their employees in racial bias training across the nation, as Starbucks did.  There needs to be an investigation into the conduct by the HCPD officers and disciplinary action taken against, at least, the original male officer.  Both CVS and the HCPD need to issue formal public apologies to Ms. Perkins.  Both CVS and the HCPD need to adopt practices to eradicate improper conduct by their personnel, specifically behaviors that stem from racial bias.  The woman who assaulted Ms. Perkins needs to be arrested and face charges.

For civility to work, it must be supported by a foundation of justice. If we want to be the community we aspire to be, Ms. Perkins deserves to be treated justly and with civility. 

In solidarity.

Progressive Resurgence in Trumpian Times

As a Rust Belt teenager back when Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (avec Full Force) released, “I Wonder if I Take You Home,” the present author lived through the collapse of the American New Deal coalition, the functional realization of Kevin Phillip’s “Emerging Republican Majority” in the form of the Reagan Administration, and the Democratic acquiescence to neoliberalism (and related/disconcerting willingness to adopt certain conservative cultural tropes) during Bill Clinton’s years.  For my British readers, feel free to insert Callaghan for Carter, Thatcherism for Reaganomics, and a frightening amalgamation of Kinnock & Blair for #42.

With the electoral successes of the Reagan/Bush 41 GOP in the ‘80s and (such as it was) of the DLC-oriented New Democrats in the ‘90s, the Left and its vision of society was marginalized for decades.  The high-water mark during this bleak era might have been Ted Kennedy’s “The Dream Shall Never Die” speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.  Still worth a listen. Apres ca, la bruine.

The Democrats were for many years, effectively, a slightly-to-somewhat liberal corporatist entity…and many of our candidates (particularly at the national level) reflected this tendency.  As Former Labour MP Tony Benn said about the British Labor Party, they tried to “give up everything [they] believed in” in order to win…they ended up not winning and also being seen as “not standing for anything.”  A similar point-of-view can be applied in many instances to the Democratic Party of the ‘90s.  Of course, this win-at-all-costs cynicism is a far better reflection of Bill Clinton’s ethos than Barack Obama’s.  President Obama fought for moderately progressive and internationalist principles (expanding health care access and restoring America’s global standing following the failures of Bush 43 being two such goals) but his Administration was compelled him to govern from the Center against a hostile, reactionary Right.  While successful, the Obama Presidency was in many ways fairly conventional as his moderate inclinations, combined with an obdurate opposition, prevented him from pursuing more liberal policy ends.      

With that as a backdrop, it is encouraging to see Real Deal candidates of the Left, including social democrats and democratic socialists, winning elections up and down the ballot.  Let’s focus on those who belong to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (the Democratic nominee in New York’s 14^th Congressional District) is running on a platform that is courageously progressive:  Medicare for All, a Federal Jobs Guarantee, Housing as a Human Right, to name a few of her stances…this is heady People-Over-Profits leadership.   And she isn’t the only serious progressive candidate out there. You have folks like Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato winning Democratic state legislative primaries in Pennsylvania (both DSA members who defeated incumbents in Pittsburgh-area districts). Turning even closer to the DC region, there is Lee Carter, a former Marine who was elected to serve as a Delegate from Manassas, Virginia in 2017, one of 15 DSA Members to be elected to public office last year.  In near-by Montgomery County, while not winning their 2018 primaries for County Council, DSA members Brandy Brooks, Chris Wilhelm, and Danielle Meitiv all ran strong campaigns for that office.  Meanwhile, another DSA member, Marc Elrich is the apparent winner of the Democratic primary for Montgomery County Executive.

It is heartening to see such individuals – and others - advocating for an optimistic, humanity-centered governing vision and either winning or at least advancing the cause. By doing so, the Left can provide a clear alternative to the morally bankrupt Trump regime and its national, state, and local enablers.    

The key is to get serious-minded progressives to take action.  Let’s consider judicial picks for a moment.  Yes, in the short term, we need to oppose with great tenacity the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court.  We also need to build a strong Left bench at all levels of government so that, when the time comes, we can nominate & confirm those who share our worldview to the Supreme Court and other courts. 

We can continue the work of the New Deal (see also Cass Sunstein’s work, “The Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More Than Ever,” the Fair Deal, the Great Society, and the Obama Administration.    

All that is old can be new again. And yes, Lisa Lisa is back on tour.

In Solidarity.