Earlier, I forecast a dire future for Hampton Roads. Now it's time to issue a jeremiad about Richmond. The recession is battering the economy severely. When the wind and rain dies down, the corporate landscape will look very different than it does today.
LandAmerica, a Fortune 500 company that provides real estate-related financial services, is being acquired by a rival. Some observers expect the entire headquarters operation to pack up and leave for Jacksonville.
Electronics retailer Circuit City is on its death bed, shedding thousands of employees nationally and hundreds in the corporate headquarters. Bankruptcy appears all but inevitable.
Packaging company Chesapeake Corp., last time I checked, was on the verge of defaulting on its debt. The stock is trading for less than $1 per share.
Menswear retailer S&K Famous Brands is struggling to survive, with its stock trading barely above $1 per share. The most valuable asset it possesses may be the land where the company located its corporate headquarters years ago, at the junction of Interstate 64 and Broad Street.
CarMax and Media General are hurting big time, although their survival does not seem to be in question.... for the moment.
Pittston just spun off a major subsidiary; the headquarters will be located in Texas. Earlier this year, specialty chemical manufacturer Albemarle Corp. relocated its corporate headquarters to Baton Rouge. A year ago, Wachovia Securities decamped for St. Louis.
Change is inevitable. Along with capitalism comes creative destruction. The old makes way for the new. But where is the new? Where are Richmond's up-and-coming growth companies -- the "gazelles" that create most of the economy's jobs and economic growth? I can't think of many. The roster of businesses in the "Companies to Watch" shows that there are signs of entrepreneurial life, but Richmond scores low in national rankings of fast-growth companies like the Inc. 500.
Our community has done a poor job of cultivating the growth of home-grown, fast-growth companies. The Virginia Bioechnology Research Park may have reached a level of maturity that it can begin contributing to the regional economy in a significant way, and Virginia Commonwealth University has potential, but the overall outlook is grim.
It's 8:07 a.m. and I'm already reaching for the bottle of bourbon.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
DEGREES OF SEPARATION
In response to several Emails requesting clarification, EMR sets the record straight:
There are fewer degrees of separation between EMR and the President-Elect Barack Obama than with any occupant of the White House since Jimmy Carter. In this case it is not understanding Carters time in public office – especailly as Governor of Georgia – but the context in which Obama grew up.
Sen. Obama graduated from Punahou School. It was two graduates of Punahou (Class of ‘59) while attending the University of Montana who convinced EMR he should consider going to the University of Hawaii.
EMR was studying philosophy, mathematics and architecture at U of H when Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife there. Hawaii in the 1960 was not a comfortable place for Africans or African Americans. It was in some contexts a more tolerant place for children of mixed heritage but not for inter-racial marriages, especially involving Africans or African Americans.
In Hawaii published in 1959 , James Michener had glorified the racial equanimity of Hawaii. In the Fall of 1960 EMR met Michener at a small party and observed that EMR had found extreme racial profiling and tension as a student, a construction worker, bar tender and as a consumer in the Aloha state.
It was a small party and Michener seemed to take this input into serious consideration. As we all know, Michener who had moved his permanent home to Hawaii, later repudiated the cosmopolitan “golden man” idea because of the treatment his Asian American wife recieved. He moved to the Phildelphia New Urban Region.
The relevance of this? Growing up in Hawaii gave Barack Obama the perspecitve, social skills and mental toughness that could not have been obtained growing up in the oft cited crucibles of the civil rights movement. This background prepared him for the path he has taken and will serve him well in the future.
Our time in Hawaii included working as the house and yard man (not “boy,” please) for a very prominent member of the medical profession (Punahou Class of 1927) and forming friendships with a range of individuals. An inquiry or two would yield a single degree of separation.
The more important thing is that after living in Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia EMR can still say it was in Hawaii where Barack Obama grew up that race and color were the most important economic and social parameters. (Living in Mass. Mont and Calif only provide perspective :>)
By the way, the Hawaiian Islands provide incredible lessons on human settlement pattern too – if you know where to look and what you are looking at.
Obama was the best qualified person running for president in 2008. We hope that 100 years from now he is considered the best President the US of A has ever had. Given the magnitude of the problems he faces, he has that opportunity.
But the HYPE is not going to help. Hype, frenzy and in-your-face celebration as well as "we will beat the crap out of those that are aganist us next time" declartions attracts nut cases like the one who shot the President who was elected in the year Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife.
Let us hope the Agency employees hired to protect the President are better qualified than those hired to protect citizens of the Gulf Coast – “Heck of a job Brownie.” See “Katrina Yet Again” 8 September 2008.
The HYPE also attracts readers and viewers and sells advertising. It does not make the job of achieving a sustainable trajectory for civilization any easier.
How hard will that job be? Check the Business section of today’s WaPo – “The New President and the Economy” or yesterdays and today's GVI (aka, the Dow Jones Gambling Venue Index).
And who will be helping him? See the bottom of the page the Business section. Obama’s inside advisors will include Jason Furman who says Wal*Mart is “a progressive success story.” See “Learning from Big Boxes” in THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.
Hope that clarifies EMR’s perspective.
EMR
There are fewer degrees of separation between EMR and the President-Elect Barack Obama than with any occupant of the White House since Jimmy Carter. In this case it is not understanding Carters time in public office – especailly as Governor of Georgia – but the context in which Obama grew up.
Sen. Obama graduated from Punahou School. It was two graduates of Punahou (Class of ‘59) while attending the University of Montana who convinced EMR he should consider going to the University of Hawaii.
EMR was studying philosophy, mathematics and architecture at U of H when Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife there. Hawaii in the 1960 was not a comfortable place for Africans or African Americans. It was in some contexts a more tolerant place for children of mixed heritage but not for inter-racial marriages, especially involving Africans or African Americans.
In Hawaii published in 1959 , James Michener had glorified the racial equanimity of Hawaii. In the Fall of 1960 EMR met Michener at a small party and observed that EMR had found extreme racial profiling and tension as a student, a construction worker, bar tender and as a consumer in the Aloha state.
It was a small party and Michener seemed to take this input into serious consideration. As we all know, Michener who had moved his permanent home to Hawaii, later repudiated the cosmopolitan “golden man” idea because of the treatment his Asian American wife recieved. He moved to the Phildelphia New Urban Region.
The relevance of this? Growing up in Hawaii gave Barack Obama the perspecitve, social skills and mental toughness that could not have been obtained growing up in the oft cited crucibles of the civil rights movement. This background prepared him for the path he has taken and will serve him well in the future.
Our time in Hawaii included working as the house and yard man (not “boy,” please) for a very prominent member of the medical profession (Punahou Class of 1927) and forming friendships with a range of individuals. An inquiry or two would yield a single degree of separation.
The more important thing is that after living in Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia EMR can still say it was in Hawaii where Barack Obama grew up that race and color were the most important economic and social parameters. (Living in Mass. Mont and Calif only provide perspective :>)
By the way, the Hawaiian Islands provide incredible lessons on human settlement pattern too – if you know where to look and what you are looking at.
Obama was the best qualified person running for president in 2008. We hope that 100 years from now he is considered the best President the US of A has ever had. Given the magnitude of the problems he faces, he has that opportunity.
But the HYPE is not going to help. Hype, frenzy and in-your-face celebration as well as "we will beat the crap out of those that are aganist us next time" declartions attracts nut cases like the one who shot the President who was elected in the year Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife.
Let us hope the Agency employees hired to protect the President are better qualified than those hired to protect citizens of the Gulf Coast – “Heck of a job Brownie.” See “Katrina Yet Again” 8 September 2008.
The HYPE also attracts readers and viewers and sells advertising. It does not make the job of achieving a sustainable trajectory for civilization any easier.
How hard will that job be? Check the Business section of today’s WaPo – “The New President and the Economy” or yesterdays and today's GVI (aka, the Dow Jones Gambling Venue Index).
And who will be helping him? See the bottom of the page the Business section. Obama’s inside advisors will include Jason Furman who says Wal*Mart is “a progressive success story.” See “Learning from Big Boxes” in THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.
Hope that clarifies EMR’s perspective.
EMR
Barack Hussein Obama and the GOP's Future
Congratulations to President-elect Barack Hussein Obama for his symbolic victory. However ill gotten the gains, a black man was elected President of the United States of America. There is no racial barrier to the most powerful position in the world. That’s good news for anyone who imagined there was such a barrier in 2008.
It may be catharsis for some Americans who suffer from white guilt. But, it won’t satisfy Liberals who see the world in their trinity of race, class and gender(s) identity politics. It won’t be enough for the Liberal human secularists who seek socialism, multi-culturalism, national subservience to the U.N. and rule by elites – elected and appointed.
This election was the second spanking of the Republican Party in two years. Establishment Republicans lost. Republican Conservatives have an opportunity to save the United States of America from socialism and liberalism – by leading the Republican Party from 2010 on.
Establishment Republicans governed without courage of convictions and with remarkable incompetence. They lost accordingly. Yet, the conflict of ideas remains.
Where the Conservative ideas were manifested, they were victorious. Traditional, Judeo-Christian – a.k.a. American – marriage of one man and one woman won – even in California. Even Obama emphasized the tax cuts promised to 95% of the people, not the class warfare tax hike. But, it’s only a few election cycles until identity politics can triumph and create the irreversible slide to destroy our American Republic.
Currently, the Nation is 40% Liberal and 40% Conservative (Virginia used to be 35:45 but that is changing fast). The 20% in the middle vote the bread and butter or war and peace issues of the day. That break down by ideas translates into different and rapidly changing demographics. When Whites become an absolute minority by 2042, if the politics of identity keep their currency, the combination of former minorities will always win. Even though a majority of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Africans hold Conservative ideas. Ideas lose to identity and character to color and language if the Democrats win many more elections.
If the Democrats pass an amnesty bill to give the right to vote to 20 million illegal aliens – and more that follow – then the fundamental shift in America happens much sooner. It could happen as soon as 2012 in the key swing states – Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. There will be no return – unless there is some watershed event of war – international, civil or cultural – faith or economic collapse to bring a unity of ideas held by individuals over group identity. Our American Republic will go the way of all former Republics to end in ruins.
So, the time is now for Republican Conservatives and Libertarians to use the Republican Party to lead all Americans a better future. Now. America has a Munificent Destiny – if we choose to create it. We have a purpose that will carry us through another century of freedom, opportunity, prosperity and as much peace as possible. The rule of law, individual rights and responsibilities, economic freedom and choices, charity and investment at home and abroad – from the human heart of families and communities can triumph.
Conservative ideas of freedom, family, faith, energy and economics are superior to the politics of race, class and gender(s) – and all as subjects to international socialism. But, we have a short window to protect, preserve and forward America as an ascending idea. If future American Presidents are Conservative – without any regard to race or ethnicity – America wins. In 2000 I voted in the primary for a much better qualified Black candidate for President – Alan Keyes. I look forward to voting for the better man and best ideas again.
This weekend national Conservative leaders will meet in Virginia to chart a course forward. I, too, will meet in Virginia with people - peasants not pachyderms - to try to chart a course for Virginia. We will see what ‘The Virginia Way’ can do in the elections of 2010 for federal office and across our Commonwealth in 2011.
It may be catharsis for some Americans who suffer from white guilt. But, it won’t satisfy Liberals who see the world in their trinity of race, class and gender(s) identity politics. It won’t be enough for the Liberal human secularists who seek socialism, multi-culturalism, national subservience to the U.N. and rule by elites – elected and appointed.
This election was the second spanking of the Republican Party in two years. Establishment Republicans lost. Republican Conservatives have an opportunity to save the United States of America from socialism and liberalism – by leading the Republican Party from 2010 on.
Establishment Republicans governed without courage of convictions and with remarkable incompetence. They lost accordingly. Yet, the conflict of ideas remains.
Where the Conservative ideas were manifested, they were victorious. Traditional, Judeo-Christian – a.k.a. American – marriage of one man and one woman won – even in California. Even Obama emphasized the tax cuts promised to 95% of the people, not the class warfare tax hike. But, it’s only a few election cycles until identity politics can triumph and create the irreversible slide to destroy our American Republic.
Currently, the Nation is 40% Liberal and 40% Conservative (Virginia used to be 35:45 but that is changing fast). The 20% in the middle vote the bread and butter or war and peace issues of the day. That break down by ideas translates into different and rapidly changing demographics. When Whites become an absolute minority by 2042, if the politics of identity keep their currency, the combination of former minorities will always win. Even though a majority of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Africans hold Conservative ideas. Ideas lose to identity and character to color and language if the Democrats win many more elections.
If the Democrats pass an amnesty bill to give the right to vote to 20 million illegal aliens – and more that follow – then the fundamental shift in America happens much sooner. It could happen as soon as 2012 in the key swing states – Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. There will be no return – unless there is some watershed event of war – international, civil or cultural – faith or economic collapse to bring a unity of ideas held by individuals over group identity. Our American Republic will go the way of all former Republics to end in ruins.
So, the time is now for Republican Conservatives and Libertarians to use the Republican Party to lead all Americans a better future. Now. America has a Munificent Destiny – if we choose to create it. We have a purpose that will carry us through another century of freedom, opportunity, prosperity and as much peace as possible. The rule of law, individual rights and responsibilities, economic freedom and choices, charity and investment at home and abroad – from the human heart of families and communities can triumph.
Conservative ideas of freedom, family, faith, energy and economics are superior to the politics of race, class and gender(s) – and all as subjects to international socialism. But, we have a short window to protect, preserve and forward America as an ascending idea. If future American Presidents are Conservative – without any regard to race or ethnicity – America wins. In 2000 I voted in the primary for a much better qualified Black candidate for President – Alan Keyes. I look forward to voting for the better man and best ideas again.
This weekend national Conservative leaders will meet in Virginia to chart a course forward. I, too, will meet in Virginia with people - peasants not pachyderms - to try to chart a course for Virginia. We will see what ‘The Virginia Way’ can do in the elections of 2010 for federal office and across our Commonwealth in 2011.
Poisson Fishes for a Mileage Tax
Del. David Poisson, D-Loudoun, has introduced legislation that would establish a joint subcommittee "to study the desirability and feasibility of replacing the state motor fuel tax with a mileage-based fee predicated on vehicle-miles traveled in Virginia."Needless to say, I am excited to hear this news, as I have been advocating a mileage-based tax for a few years now. For the benefit of newbies to this blog, the arguments for such a tax can be recapitulated as follows:
- The gasoline gax is living on borrowed time. Not only is the tax not indexed for inflation, the automobile industry is on the verge of introducing high miles-per-gallon vehicles that consume less gas and yield less tax revenue -- indeed, the industry is on the verge of introducing electric vehicles that consume little or no gasoline at all. It's only a matter of years before the gasoline tax fails to generate enough revenue to maintain existing roads, much less build new ones.
- A mileage tax is the ultimate "user pays" revenue source. The more you drive and the more wear and tear you put on the roads, the more you should pay to maintain them. There is no reasonable argument against this principle. There are only objections to the practicality of implementing the principle. As indicated in an article by the Loudoun Times-Mirror, the joint subcommittee would examine whether a GPS system or a pay-at-the-pump system would work better.
- A mileage tax fairly allocates location-variable costs. It is a core dictum of Bacon's Rebellion that economic and environmental sustainability requires a rational allocation of location-variable costs. Translated into plain English, that means, people need to pay for the full costs they incur from their choices of where to live and work. A rational transportation funding system is an important step on the path to more balanced and functional human settlement patterns.
The tax should be adjusted for the weight of the vehicle (bigger vehicles cause more wear and tear) and the level of pollutants it emits. To my way of thinking, the tax also should be set at a level that would pay for all road/highway maintenance costs, including the cost of working down the maintenance backlog of bridges and other structures in disrepair. Indeed, it might increase the political appeal of the tax to call it a "road maintenance tax." No one has mounted a serious argument against properly maintaining the infrastructure we 've already invested in.
A mileage/maintenance tax should not be used to pay for new construction. There is no necessary correlation between the number of miles someone drives and the demand he/she creates for new construction projects. The drivers and property owners who create the demand for new roads, bridges and highways are the ones who should pay for them -- either directly, through tolls, or indirectly through higher property taxes in Community Development Authority districts, higher house prices via impact fees or some other mechanism.
I applaud Poisson for introducing the idea of a mileage tax into the public discourse. Implementing the tax will raise prickly issues, as Bacon's Rebellion bloggers have explored in some depth. Virginia policy makers need to start working their way through those issues now before gasoline tax revenues reach a melt-down stage.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
ANTIPARTISAN - AN ADDITION TO THE VOCABULARY OF SUSTAINABLILITY
Two years ago today, Jim Bacon wrote a column titled “Elections, Shmelections. Nothing has changed.”
That column deserves to be reread with care. From the perspective of the long term trajectory of civilization, NOTHING WAS CHANGED by yesterday’s election except the level of hype.
Barack Obama could be the best president the US of A has ever had and that would not change the current trajectory on contemporary society.
The future is not about what President Elect Obama – or any other President – can or will do. The future is about what citizens and their Organizations have already done, individually and collectively, and will do, especially collectively and primarily at the New Urban Region scale.
This is true whether or not Senator Obama is able to implement his agenda. Check out the Obama platform on taxes and spending, housing stimulus and the bailout, retirement security, trade, foreign policy, access to health care, offshore drilling, climate change, immigration, education and the culture war issues. They are great pre-1973 ideas but will they really result in “change” much less yield Fundamental Transformation to a sustainable trajectory?
To be fair with the Elephant Clan promising pre-1973 “growth and prosperity” had the Donkey Clan been more realistic, they would have been hammered by the voters. That is because the vast majority who went to the polls believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain.
And why do they believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain? That is what both Clans have been promising for 35 years.
In neither Clan’s platform were there substantive proposals for Fundamental Transformation in governance structure to reflect economic, social and physical reality. There was not even the call for a Balance of individual rights with community responsibilities that was in both the Bush I and Clinton platforms of 1992.
There were no proposals that would result in a Fundamental Transformation in human settlement pattern.
Both Fundamental Transformations are necessary to preserve democracy with a market economy.
An ‘historic’ election? The only historic aspect is that finally citizens MAY have put aside prejudices that were contrary to the principles upon which the US of A was founded 233 years ago – slavery and racism.
On 5 November citizens and their Organizations are faced with the same human settlement pattern they had on 3 November – the Helter Skelter Crisis. That crisis has resulted in:
The Mobility and Access Crisis, and
The Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis
The later of which has triggered a Global financial meltdown.
Reversing the Helter Skelter Crisis is the only path to shrinking the ecological footprint of humans, reducing energy consumption and dependence on foreign petroleum as well as enhancing personal and food security along with other key elements of a sustainable trajectory for civilization.
Although they make important observations, there is something profoundly frustrating about the posts “A Few Pre-Election Thoughts,” (3 Nov) and “Va, Welcome to the Real World,” (5 Nov) by Peter Galuszka and “Democracy in Action,” (4 Nov) Jim Bacon. These posts imply that who gets elected and which party they represent (note: “which PARTY they represent) makes a difference. Political party monopoly is bad, the current political party duopoly is worse.
In the ESTATES MATRIX we document why MainStream Media has abandoned the Fourth Estate. Watching the election coverage on the ‘major’ networks and cable channels last night and then reading the election coverage in today’s press makes it clear:
MainStream Media is dependent on political party duopoly is pseudo “competition” for revenue.
“Let’s you and him fight” political ‘coverage’ is a huge contributor to MainStream Media’s bottom line. According to WaPo the two parties spent over $375 million dollars on “media and advertising” for the top of the ticket from June trough election day.
Political candidate and party ads plus the ‘issue’ ads intended to generate bail-out proceeds, defense contracts and to obscure responsibility for the Global financial meltdown (and other hot air issues) make up the majority of ad revenue. The prime drivers of dysfunctional settlement patterns – Large, Private Vehicles and Dream Homes – ad revenue is in the tank along with the advertisers.
In a democracy there is no sustainable path to Elephant Clan recovery. That is because the Clan would have to convince 50.5 percent of the voters in key states that they are enjoying to fruits of “growth and prosperity.” That is not possible when the “growth and prosperity” they tout has been subsidized by burning thru natural capital that has been and / or is being exhausted.
This is not just the problem with oil but with all resources from blue crabs to top soil, to potable water. The natural capital is not completely gone yet but it will be more inaccessible and much more expensive in the future. Resources will be affordable only by those at the top of the economic Ziggurat and they do not make up 1 percent of the voters, much less 50.5 percent.
Oh yes, there is a way to lower the cost – a recession. A depression works even better. But that does not make those voters at the bottom of the Ziggurat happy.
Culture War issues are no longer a viable refuge for the Elephant Clan. Concerning the Culture Wars the op ed “Last of the Culture Warriors” by Peter Beinart in the 3 Nov 2008 WaPo is a must read.
In a democracy with a market economy there is no sustainable path for the traditional platform of the Donkey Clan either. The only option is rabid populism because there are not enough resources to support continued Mass OverConsumption, especially with dysfunctional human settlement patterns.
The favorite weapons of the Clan wars and also not available. Derogatory labels are not only useless – as the results from yesterday’s election show – hurling misleading epithets at the other party is ineffective and probably counter-productive. Calling someone a fascist, ultra conservative, right wingnut, center right, center, center left, liberal, ultra liberal, left wingnut, socialist, communist – and all the other labels – is meaningless.
Scaring citizens by suggesting that the other party wants to take away their ‘freedom’ or ‘taxing the poor to support the rich’ is will not work. Neither will using ill defined terms like “limited government,” “free markets” or “rule of law” when those in public office violate their responsibility to protect community interests.
Party labels have been stretched and distorted to include at least 50.5% of those who come out to voter. (By the way, “Donkey Clan” and “Elephant Clan” were not invented by EMR or Jim Bacon. EMR first heard about them from a political scientist who describes himself as a “recovering Republican.” The Clan designations have a useful ‘tribal’ ring and have been adopted into the SYNERGY Lexicon.)
Where to from here?
“Politics is broken.” Partisan two party competition is a dead end. Bipartisan ‘cooperation’ is worse and a nonpartisan agenda not much better. Bipartisan and nonpartisan catchalls mask the need for Fundamental Transformation. How about an Antipartisan strategy?
Drop the superficial political spectrum labels - call them all Core Confusing Words.
Spell out principles such as those in The Shape of the Future with respect to human settlement patterns or those dealing with managing the economy in the “IT IS ELEMENTARY” post of 10 October 2008 on this Blog.
Define objectives using clear, well defined terms within a comprehensive Conceptual Framework.
Spell out the strategy to achieve the objectives and seek broad agreement on the tactics to achieve the objectives. With respect to human settlement pattern, SYNERGY lays out a Three Step Process in HANDBOOK.
The Antipartisan approach is to create a broad consensus based on agreement of the vast majority of stake holders with the level of decision being the level of impact.
The biggest problem for some will be that an inclusive Antipartisan process will “slow things down.” Slowing things down in a society where speed has burned through natural capital and atomized society is a good thing, not a bad thing. Small is beautiful and Regional is the new Global.
Note on Vocabulary:
Google and Webster, Third Edition indicate that “Antipartisan” is a new word so we capitalized it. Antipartisan.com is an available domain name. Jim Bacon’s “Elections, Shmelections, Nothing Has Changed” column drew a suggestion from Groveton concerning a new “third” party. Perhaps what is needed is an antiparty?
EMR
That column deserves to be reread with care. From the perspective of the long term trajectory of civilization, NOTHING WAS CHANGED by yesterday’s election except the level of hype.
Barack Obama could be the best president the US of A has ever had and that would not change the current trajectory on contemporary society.
The future is not about what President Elect Obama – or any other President – can or will do. The future is about what citizens and their Organizations have already done, individually and collectively, and will do, especially collectively and primarily at the New Urban Region scale.
This is true whether or not Senator Obama is able to implement his agenda. Check out the Obama platform on taxes and spending, housing stimulus and the bailout, retirement security, trade, foreign policy, access to health care, offshore drilling, climate change, immigration, education and the culture war issues. They are great pre-1973 ideas but will they really result in “change” much less yield Fundamental Transformation to a sustainable trajectory?
To be fair with the Elephant Clan promising pre-1973 “growth and prosperity” had the Donkey Clan been more realistic, they would have been hammered by the voters. That is because the vast majority who went to the polls believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain.
And why do they believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain? That is what both Clans have been promising for 35 years.
In neither Clan’s platform were there substantive proposals for Fundamental Transformation in governance structure to reflect economic, social and physical reality. There was not even the call for a Balance of individual rights with community responsibilities that was in both the Bush I and Clinton platforms of 1992.
There were no proposals that would result in a Fundamental Transformation in human settlement pattern.
Both Fundamental Transformations are necessary to preserve democracy with a market economy.
An ‘historic’ election? The only historic aspect is that finally citizens MAY have put aside prejudices that were contrary to the principles upon which the US of A was founded 233 years ago – slavery and racism.
On 5 November citizens and their Organizations are faced with the same human settlement pattern they had on 3 November – the Helter Skelter Crisis. That crisis has resulted in:
The Mobility and Access Crisis, and
The Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis
The later of which has triggered a Global financial meltdown.
Reversing the Helter Skelter Crisis is the only path to shrinking the ecological footprint of humans, reducing energy consumption and dependence on foreign petroleum as well as enhancing personal and food security along with other key elements of a sustainable trajectory for civilization.
Although they make important observations, there is something profoundly frustrating about the posts “A Few Pre-Election Thoughts,” (3 Nov) and “Va, Welcome to the Real World,” (5 Nov) by Peter Galuszka and “Democracy in Action,” (4 Nov) Jim Bacon. These posts imply that who gets elected and which party they represent (note: “which PARTY they represent) makes a difference. Political party monopoly is bad, the current political party duopoly is worse.
In the ESTATES MATRIX we document why MainStream Media has abandoned the Fourth Estate. Watching the election coverage on the ‘major’ networks and cable channels last night and then reading the election coverage in today’s press makes it clear:
MainStream Media is dependent on political party duopoly is pseudo “competition” for revenue.
“Let’s you and him fight” political ‘coverage’ is a huge contributor to MainStream Media’s bottom line. According to WaPo the two parties spent over $375 million dollars on “media and advertising” for the top of the ticket from June trough election day.
Political candidate and party ads plus the ‘issue’ ads intended to generate bail-out proceeds, defense contracts and to obscure responsibility for the Global financial meltdown (and other hot air issues) make up the majority of ad revenue. The prime drivers of dysfunctional settlement patterns – Large, Private Vehicles and Dream Homes – ad revenue is in the tank along with the advertisers.
In a democracy there is no sustainable path to Elephant Clan recovery. That is because the Clan would have to convince 50.5 percent of the voters in key states that they are enjoying to fruits of “growth and prosperity.” That is not possible when the “growth and prosperity” they tout has been subsidized by burning thru natural capital that has been and / or is being exhausted.
This is not just the problem with oil but with all resources from blue crabs to top soil, to potable water. The natural capital is not completely gone yet but it will be more inaccessible and much more expensive in the future. Resources will be affordable only by those at the top of the economic Ziggurat and they do not make up 1 percent of the voters, much less 50.5 percent.
Oh yes, there is a way to lower the cost – a recession. A depression works even better. But that does not make those voters at the bottom of the Ziggurat happy.
Culture War issues are no longer a viable refuge for the Elephant Clan. Concerning the Culture Wars the op ed “Last of the Culture Warriors” by Peter Beinart in the 3 Nov 2008 WaPo is a must read.
In a democracy with a market economy there is no sustainable path for the traditional platform of the Donkey Clan either. The only option is rabid populism because there are not enough resources to support continued Mass OverConsumption, especially with dysfunctional human settlement patterns.
The favorite weapons of the Clan wars and also not available. Derogatory labels are not only useless – as the results from yesterday’s election show – hurling misleading epithets at the other party is ineffective and probably counter-productive. Calling someone a fascist, ultra conservative, right wingnut, center right, center, center left, liberal, ultra liberal, left wingnut, socialist, communist – and all the other labels – is meaningless.
Scaring citizens by suggesting that the other party wants to take away their ‘freedom’ or ‘taxing the poor to support the rich’ is will not work. Neither will using ill defined terms like “limited government,” “free markets” or “rule of law” when those in public office violate their responsibility to protect community interests.
Party labels have been stretched and distorted to include at least 50.5% of those who come out to voter. (By the way, “Donkey Clan” and “Elephant Clan” were not invented by EMR or Jim Bacon. EMR first heard about them from a political scientist who describes himself as a “recovering Republican.” The Clan designations have a useful ‘tribal’ ring and have been adopted into the SYNERGY Lexicon.)
Where to from here?
“Politics is broken.” Partisan two party competition is a dead end. Bipartisan ‘cooperation’ is worse and a nonpartisan agenda not much better. Bipartisan and nonpartisan catchalls mask the need for Fundamental Transformation. How about an Antipartisan strategy?
Drop the superficial political spectrum labels - call them all Core Confusing Words.
Spell out principles such as those in The Shape of the Future with respect to human settlement patterns or those dealing with managing the economy in the “IT IS ELEMENTARY” post of 10 October 2008 on this Blog.
Define objectives using clear, well defined terms within a comprehensive Conceptual Framework.
Spell out the strategy to achieve the objectives and seek broad agreement on the tactics to achieve the objectives. With respect to human settlement pattern, SYNERGY lays out a Three Step Process in HANDBOOK.
The Antipartisan approach is to create a broad consensus based on agreement of the vast majority of stake holders with the level of decision being the level of impact.
The biggest problem for some will be that an inclusive Antipartisan process will “slow things down.” Slowing things down in a society where speed has burned through natural capital and atomized society is a good thing, not a bad thing. Small is beautiful and Regional is the new Global.
Note on Vocabulary:
Google and Webster, Third Edition indicate that “Antipartisan” is a new word so we capitalized it. Antipartisan.com is an available domain name. Jim Bacon’s “Elections, Shmelections, Nothing Has Changed” column drew a suggestion from Groveton concerning a new “third” party. Perhaps what is needed is an antiparty?
EMR
McCain, Gilmore Win Richmond: RTD
Fellow bloggers,
Call me crazy, but according to Page 16 in this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch, John McCain beat Barack Obama 54,013 to 14,548. Jim Gimore got 54,013 to Mark Warner's 14,548.
Now how can that be? I thought Richmond would go blue. And each set of Republican victors got exactly the same votes -- ditto Democrat losers.
Earth to Tom Silvestri. What happened to your copy desk? Need any help? Could this be even more evidence that the Times-Dispatch is truly going downhill under your management?
Peter Galuszka
Call me crazy, but according to Page 16 in this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch, John McCain beat Barack Obama 54,013 to 14,548. Jim Gimore got 54,013 to Mark Warner's 14,548.
Now how can that be? I thought Richmond would go blue. And each set of Republican victors got exactly the same votes -- ditto Democrat losers.
Earth to Tom Silvestri. What happened to your copy desk? Need any help? Could this be even more evidence that the Times-Dispatch is truly going downhill under your management?
Peter Galuszka
Voter Suppression through Bureaucratic Lethargy
My 24-year-old daughter, Sara Bacon, went to the polls in Richmond yesterday to vote. She'd never had much interest in politics before, but she'd made the effort this year to research both of the presidential candidates and make a choice. But when she arrived at the polling station, she was informed that there was no record of her registration. She was not allowed to cast her ballot.
Sara drove downtown to City Hall and talked to someone in the registrar's office. Here's her reconstruction of what happened. After graduating from college, Sara had moved out to Wyoming. Because she had no intention of relocating there permanently and thought that she could move back home at any time, she maintained her official residence in Richmond. She kept a Virginia driver's license, paid Virginia taxes and registered to vote in Richmond.
At some point during her two-year stay in Wyoming, the city sent her a notice to serve on a jury. Sara sent back the form stating that she was living outside the state and unable to comply. Then, without notifying her, the city purged her name from the voting rolls. Sara returned to Richmond in August, staying in her mother's house where she had grown up and having no basis whatsoever to suspect that she was no longer registered to vote.
Now, the United States is a mobile society, lots of people move, and municipal governments do need to purge their voter rolls. I have no problem with that. I don't even have a problem with the city's decision to purge Sara based on her inability to report for jury duty. But I have a very big problem with the fact that the city never informed her that she was no longer registered. If she had known, she could have re-registered when she moved back to Richmond in August. But there was nothing that anyone could do on voting day to fix the problem.
I hear a lot of loose talk on television and in the newspapers about "voter suppression," usually with the implication that evil forces are trying to reduce the turnout of minority voters. My hunch is that bureaucratic inertia is responsible for supressing far more votes than the machinations of one political party or the other.
The city of Richmond elected a new mayor yesterday -- Dwight Jones. He comes across as a reasonable man. Let us hope that he enacts a very simple reform: ensure that voters are informed in writing when they've been purged from the voting rolls. Otherwise, taxpaying citizens can add one more reason to move to suburban counties: ensuring themselves the right to vote.
Sara drove downtown to City Hall and talked to someone in the registrar's office. Here's her reconstruction of what happened. After graduating from college, Sara had moved out to Wyoming. Because she had no intention of relocating there permanently and thought that she could move back home at any time, she maintained her official residence in Richmond. She kept a Virginia driver's license, paid Virginia taxes and registered to vote in Richmond.
At some point during her two-year stay in Wyoming, the city sent her a notice to serve on a jury. Sara sent back the form stating that she was living outside the state and unable to comply. Then, without notifying her, the city purged her name from the voting rolls. Sara returned to Richmond in August, staying in her mother's house where she had grown up and having no basis whatsoever to suspect that she was no longer registered to vote.
Now, the United States is a mobile society, lots of people move, and municipal governments do need to purge their voter rolls. I have no problem with that. I don't even have a problem with the city's decision to purge Sara based on her inability to report for jury duty. But I have a very big problem with the fact that the city never informed her that she was no longer registered. If she had known, she could have re-registered when she moved back to Richmond in August. But there was nothing that anyone could do on voting day to fix the problem.
I hear a lot of loose talk on television and in the newspapers about "voter suppression," usually with the implication that evil forces are trying to reduce the turnout of minority voters. My hunch is that bureaucratic inertia is responsible for supressing far more votes than the machinations of one political party or the other.
The city of Richmond elected a new mayor yesterday -- Dwight Jones. He comes across as a reasonable man. Let us hope that he enacts a very simple reform: ensure that voters are informed in writing when they've been purged from the voting rolls. Otherwise, taxpaying citizens can add one more reason to move to suburban counties: ensuring themselves the right to vote.
Virginia, Welcome to the Real World of the U.S.
Tuesday night’s triumph for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party is truly a turning point for the nation and the Old Dominion, even though saying so sounds as trite as a newspaper headline.
For Virginia, it was the first time that the state voted for a Democratic president since 1964 and, in doing so; it has expunged a truly ugly chapter in the state’s history.
True, Virginia did elect the first African-American governor in 1989, but in election after election for 44 years, Virginia voters stuck with Republican Party strategies that all too often were based on wedge issues involving racism and reaction.
The trend kicked after 1964 when Virginia last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Since then, voting seemed a knee-jerk move against racial integration of society and schools. According to Bob Moser, author of “Blue Dixie:” “It’s true that Democrats were bound to take a hit in the South after LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, which ended all forms of legal segregation and doomed various schemes – literacy tests, violent intimidation – that had suppressed black registration ands turnout.”
Unfortunately, Virginia then bought into every retrograde political agenda the GOP could come up with. There was Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” which was based on building up a sense of white, working class despair over the tumultuous social and racial upheavals of the 1960s. This was the first organized attempt by Republicans to create a “Silent Majority” that was the real keeper of the American faith, sort of like Sarah Palin telling residents in a small North Carolina town that they were the “true Americans.”
And on we went. When Jimmy Carter carried the South in 1976, Virginia didn’t go with him. The Old Dominion bought into the Reagan revolution hook, line and sinker. Even though Reagan, who had some good ideas, ended up being the tremendous government spender he supposedly despised. Reagan was a riddle of contradictions – a Hollywood actor, divorcee and non-church-goer, who, as Moser points out, cast himself as an authentic, family-oriented and religious guy.
Virginia’s Republican politicians have tried to ride the Reagan wave as far as they could up the beach. Well into the 1990s, we had cowboy-booted George “Aw Shucks” Allen coming after welfare queens and building prisons and having his insulting macacca moment. Former Governor Jim Gilmore made a fetish out of his destructive car tax while making hash of the state’s budget.
With Democrat Mark Warner, the state got a big signal of its momentous demographic shift. Here was an out-of-stater living in Northern Virginia, whose economic boom was drawing in thousands of new people with new ideas, making it big in the free-market that GOPers claimed to so love. No big surprise, but Warner easily crushed Gilmore’s pointless run for senator, giving the state two Democratic senators for the first time in years.
Obama’s story is an almost magical one. He’s a half-white, half-black man who has just won in a state that as recently as 1967, back when I was in high school, made it illegal for different races to marry. Boasting of strong oratory skills and superb campaign organization, he took on old Democratic icons such as the Clintons, beat them and then won in Virginia.
True, it wasn’t a crushing defeat. Obama didn’t take much of the rural state or stubborn conservative strongholds such as my home county of Chesterfield. But big, populous counties that used to vote strictly Republican, such as Henrico, Loudoun and Prince William, went Democratic. More predictably Democratic cities such as Norfolk and Richmond did, too.
Once again, here’s evidence of the demographic shifts that have changed the face of Virginia. And it shows just how badly the Republicans have stumbled after eight disastrous years of George Bush and, after 44 years, just how they are exhausted they are of ideas.
Voters are saying that simply running against abortion, for guns and against immigrants won’t cut it any more. Serving up an under qualified “You Betcha” candidate whose only real asset is her gender won’t cut it, either. The economy is a mess and the financial markets face their worst crisis since the 1930s. We’re still stuck in two messy wars. Luckily, we have a new president whose message is hope and inclusion, not wedge issues. And voters are not stupid.
Peter Galuszka
For Virginia, it was the first time that the state voted for a Democratic president since 1964 and, in doing so; it has expunged a truly ugly chapter in the state’s history.
True, Virginia did elect the first African-American governor in 1989, but in election after election for 44 years, Virginia voters stuck with Republican Party strategies that all too often were based on wedge issues involving racism and reaction.
The trend kicked after 1964 when Virginia last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Since then, voting seemed a knee-jerk move against racial integration of society and schools. According to Bob Moser, author of “Blue Dixie:” “It’s true that Democrats were bound to take a hit in the South after LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, which ended all forms of legal segregation and doomed various schemes – literacy tests, violent intimidation – that had suppressed black registration ands turnout.”
Unfortunately, Virginia then bought into every retrograde political agenda the GOP could come up with. There was Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” which was based on building up a sense of white, working class despair over the tumultuous social and racial upheavals of the 1960s. This was the first organized attempt by Republicans to create a “Silent Majority” that was the real keeper of the American faith, sort of like Sarah Palin telling residents in a small North Carolina town that they were the “true Americans.”
And on we went. When Jimmy Carter carried the South in 1976, Virginia didn’t go with him. The Old Dominion bought into the Reagan revolution hook, line and sinker. Even though Reagan, who had some good ideas, ended up being the tremendous government spender he supposedly despised. Reagan was a riddle of contradictions – a Hollywood actor, divorcee and non-church-goer, who, as Moser points out, cast himself as an authentic, family-oriented and religious guy.
Virginia’s Republican politicians have tried to ride the Reagan wave as far as they could up the beach. Well into the 1990s, we had cowboy-booted George “Aw Shucks” Allen coming after welfare queens and building prisons and having his insulting macacca moment. Former Governor Jim Gilmore made a fetish out of his destructive car tax while making hash of the state’s budget.
With Democrat Mark Warner, the state got a big signal of its momentous demographic shift. Here was an out-of-stater living in Northern Virginia, whose economic boom was drawing in thousands of new people with new ideas, making it big in the free-market that GOPers claimed to so love. No big surprise, but Warner easily crushed Gilmore’s pointless run for senator, giving the state two Democratic senators for the first time in years.
Obama’s story is an almost magical one. He’s a half-white, half-black man who has just won in a state that as recently as 1967, back when I was in high school, made it illegal for different races to marry. Boasting of strong oratory skills and superb campaign organization, he took on old Democratic icons such as the Clintons, beat them and then won in Virginia.
True, it wasn’t a crushing defeat. Obama didn’t take much of the rural state or stubborn conservative strongholds such as my home county of Chesterfield. But big, populous counties that used to vote strictly Republican, such as Henrico, Loudoun and Prince William, went Democratic. More predictably Democratic cities such as Norfolk and Richmond did, too.
Once again, here’s evidence of the demographic shifts that have changed the face of Virginia. And it shows just how badly the Republicans have stumbled after eight disastrous years of George Bush and, after 44 years, just how they are exhausted they are of ideas.
Voters are saying that simply running against abortion, for guns and against immigrants won’t cut it any more. Serving up an under qualified “You Betcha” candidate whose only real asset is her gender won’t cut it, either. The economy is a mess and the financial markets face their worst crisis since the 1930s. We’re still stuck in two messy wars. Luckily, we have a new president whose message is hope and inclusion, not wedge issues. And voters are not stupid.
Peter Galuszka
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Democracy in Action
Fool that I am, I thought I'd beat the crowd to the polls this morning. I showed up at the Tuckahoe precinct voting station in Henrico County around 6 a.m. only to be greeted by a long line snaking out of the building and into the parking lot. I guess a few other people were thinking the same way. Fortunately, the voting proceeded fairly quickly, thanks to the addition of extra voting machines and voting officials. I was out of there 50 minutes later.
I am quite certain that I will be less than thrilled by the electoral outcome today. But it feels good to be an American. It's reassuring to see my fellow citizens muster so much interest in a national election. Apathy is no longer in vogue. People are re-engaged. And that's a good thing.
Tuckahoe is an affluent, overwhelmingly white precinct. It tilts Republican, but there are plenty of Democrats here. Everyone was exceedingly courteous and well behaved -- not like those uncivilized heathen south of the James! (Read Peter's previous post for accounts of rudeness and incivility in Chesterfield. Note to Peter: You really should move to Henrico. You'd feel less estranged here.)
I am quite certain that I will be less than thrilled by the electoral outcome today. But it feels good to be an American. It's reassuring to see my fellow citizens muster so much interest in a national election. Apathy is no longer in vogue. People are re-engaged. And that's a good thing.
Monday, November 03, 2008
A Few Pre-Electoral Thoughts
Autumn in Chesterfield County has finally taken on its dusky, orange and yellow beauty, just in time for tomorrow's election which promises to be historic.
Early in the morning, I'll go down to the rural Methodist Church, slide past the aggressive campaign workers, show my driver's license and do my duty.
Here in largely white and Republican Chesterfield County, lawns are dotted with blue and white McCain-Palin signs. They far outnumber Obama-Biden ones but there are a few here and there.
There's also a bit of tension in the air as the McCain supporters sense defeat. Virginia could very well go blue for the first time in decades. GOP conservativism here has morphed into a sense of entitlement in Chesterfield where rich neighbrohoods slip into the old, rural county. To have a nice house and an SUV seems to be a badge of membership in the GOP.
Yet, one can't shake the nastiness. A few examples:
Not very far from me is the home of a retired African-American minister who is an Obama supporter. His large Obama sign in his yard was ripped down and a Confederate flag was placed in its spot. The police are investigating.
At the corner of a winding road that I travel to take my daughter to her school bus stop, a homeowner has placed a large McCain-Palin sign right on the edge of his property. It tends to block the view at the intersection where you stop at the stopsign. You have to pull your car out a bit to see past the sign. On at least one occasion, someone has taken a razor to the sign, but it keeps coming back.
Sunday afternoon I went to my gym. I was going to do the aerobics machines, then some weights and then a few laps in the pool. Some treadmills have little televisions over them -- maybe seven in all. That day, there were two other middle aged men on machine. Fox News was on two monitors -- ESPN was on the other.
I picked a treadmill near a screen with Fox. I dislike Fox News since I find its "fair and balanced" coverage anything but. I tried to switch it, but couldn't. So I shut it off. After I did so, the other two middle aged guys started screaming at me, even though Fox was still beaming from another monitor.
I wondered: is it illegal to turn off Fox News in Chesterfield County? I understand from gym staffers that the TV conflict is especially bad in the early morning when runners one-up each other between Fox and MSNBC.
On Friday, I attended a luncheon at the World Affairs Council in downtown Richmond. The speaker weas the ambassador from France and at my table sat a woman who had recently arrived and was teaching international relations at Virginia Commonwealth Unuiversity. Her family had come from Spain but she had spent a good bit of time at Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University.
I asked her how she liked Richmond. Mixed, she said. When she arrived three years ago from Baton Rouge, she tried to register to vote. Each time ended with a frustrating failure. Finally she went to the main voting registration place. She was told that "We don't want any illegal imnmigrants." She told me: "I was outraged, I was born in the states."
Odd. Here's a woman, a U.S.-born citizen, with three graduate degrees. She's obviously intelligent. And she has to endure racist discrimination for no reason. At least immigrant-bashing seems to have died down in the campaign.
But the season is still beautiful. And, tomorrow, I think there's going to be a big change for the better.
Peter Galuszka
Early in the morning, I'll go down to the rural Methodist Church, slide past the aggressive campaign workers, show my driver's license and do my duty.
Here in largely white and Republican Chesterfield County, lawns are dotted with blue and white McCain-Palin signs. They far outnumber Obama-Biden ones but there are a few here and there.
There's also a bit of tension in the air as the McCain supporters sense defeat. Virginia could very well go blue for the first time in decades. GOP conservativism here has morphed into a sense of entitlement in Chesterfield where rich neighbrohoods slip into the old, rural county. To have a nice house and an SUV seems to be a badge of membership in the GOP.
Yet, one can't shake the nastiness. A few examples:
Not very far from me is the home of a retired African-American minister who is an Obama supporter. His large Obama sign in his yard was ripped down and a Confederate flag was placed in its spot. The police are investigating.
At the corner of a winding road that I travel to take my daughter to her school bus stop, a homeowner has placed a large McCain-Palin sign right on the edge of his property. It tends to block the view at the intersection where you stop at the stopsign. You have to pull your car out a bit to see past the sign. On at least one occasion, someone has taken a razor to the sign, but it keeps coming back.
Sunday afternoon I went to my gym. I was going to do the aerobics machines, then some weights and then a few laps in the pool. Some treadmills have little televisions over them -- maybe seven in all. That day, there were two other middle aged men on machine. Fox News was on two monitors -- ESPN was on the other.
I picked a treadmill near a screen with Fox. I dislike Fox News since I find its "fair and balanced" coverage anything but. I tried to switch it, but couldn't. So I shut it off. After I did so, the other two middle aged guys started screaming at me, even though Fox was still beaming from another monitor.
I wondered: is it illegal to turn off Fox News in Chesterfield County? I understand from gym staffers that the TV conflict is especially bad in the early morning when runners one-up each other between Fox and MSNBC.
On Friday, I attended a luncheon at the World Affairs Council in downtown Richmond. The speaker weas the ambassador from France and at my table sat a woman who had recently arrived and was teaching international relations at Virginia Commonwealth Unuiversity. Her family had come from Spain but she had spent a good bit of time at Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University.
I asked her how she liked Richmond. Mixed, she said. When she arrived three years ago from Baton Rouge, she tried to register to vote. Each time ended with a frustrating failure. Finally she went to the main voting registration place. She was told that "We don't want any illegal imnmigrants." She told me: "I was outraged, I was born in the states."
Odd. Here's a woman, a U.S.-born citizen, with three graduate degrees. She's obviously intelligent. And she has to endure racist discrimination for no reason. At least immigrant-bashing seems to have died down in the campaign.
But the season is still beautiful. And, tomorrow, I think there's going to be a big change for the better.
Peter Galuszka
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