THERE ARE LOTS OF US

THE PUBLICS OPINIONS

When I taught courses in Public Opinion, I tried to help my students understand that there is no such thing as “ public opinion,” but, rather, there are opinions shared by those who identify with the dozens of publics that make up America. However pollsters and pundits persist in dividing the nation into three camps; Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Occasionally they do admit there is a “Jewish vote,” a “Black vote,” and, increasingly, an “Hispanic vote,” But race or ethnicity is only one of the dozen “publics,” among which are age, religion, wealth, ideology, occupation, and education.

The holocaust and the AIDS pandemic taught us there is also a “compassion public” whose opinions shifted away from Antisemitism and homophobia when they began to “feel sorry” those who were slaughtered by the Nazi and who died in the HIV pandemic. (There is also a news junkie public, of which I'm one, and I am also part of the growing non-religious public.) Within all of these publics there are sub-publics, among which are the young environmentalist Evangelicals, anti-Zionist Jews, gay Catholics, and Democrats who watch Fox News.

As the “topic of the day” changes there are significant shifts in the opinions of all of these publics. That was clear when Republican Congressman Ryan's budget plan caused older Americans to shift away from the GOP. And when the Occupy movement shifted the topic from the deficit to the wealth divide a major change followed, including among the wealthy.

It is too early to make predictions about how the many publics opinions will impact the 2012 election, or even what topics will dominate the popular discourse then, but if jobs and the wealth divide remain hot Democrats will benefit. But if there is a terrorist attack it could do for Obama what it did for Bush when there actually was, if ever so briefly, a true national public opinion. .

PARTY'S OVER

UNCORK THE CHARDONNAY

I had to read the New York Times (Nov. 29) story about the dramatic decline in Tea Party support twice before it's impact fully took hold. The Pew Research Center study revealed that support for Republicans in strongly pro-Tea Party districts is now about the same as for Democrats. The Times summarized the finding by noting, “The survey suggests the Tea Party may be dragging down the Republican party. . .”

What this tells us would have been all but unthinkable a month ago: the 2012 contest may be about issues rather than ideology. Imagine the consternation that is broiling in GOP hopefuls' campaign offices as the realize the base they were playing to is no longer solidly theirs. The bad news for Democrats, however, is that this may cause some Independents to shift to the GOP in 2012 now that it is free from the anchor of far right ideology.

When the Occupy movement forced the media to pay at least some attention to the vast disparity between the 1% and the rest of Americans the GOP quaked in its boots. If we stopped our single minded focus on the deficit they knew it would hurt them badly, and it has. The Tea Party's fear of big government spending shifted to the old fear of Robber Barons. So get out the Chardonnay, tea time's over.

THANKS POPE

IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?

In his January 6, 2011 Epiphany sermon, Pope Benedict XVI declared that God had caused the Big Bang, the event cosmologists believe occurred a bit over 13 billion years ago. It gave “birth” to the universe and all the matter and life in it. His comment prompted me to ponder the formerly comic question about the Pope's faith (and where bears defecate) as his acceptance of the Big Bang reduces Genesis in the Old Testament to a fairy tale and questions much of the New Testament. In his sermon, the Pope also said, “The Church never fears the truth.” Those six words challenge the very foundation of religion as they elevate science above faith.

Of course Evangelicals and other Christians are free to ignore the Pope, as are Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists, but the position he expressed has already begun to infiltrate their congregations. In France, the Scandinavian countries, and even in the United States, church attendance has declined as more and more people turn to science as they seek answers to the great questions humans have been asking forever. And now a quarter of all Americans declare they are not “affiliated” with any organized faith and non-believers are the fastest growing “church.”.

Dr. R. Douglas Field's fascinating (and exhausting) The Other Brain, makes it patently clear that the world of science now speaks the same language – the language of mathematics and science. And women and men all around our earth are slowly proving there is nothing that is impossible. The God whom the Pope credits with starting it all must be distressed that his effort to deny us a universal language failed. (See Genesis 11.) .

LET'S TALK

BABBLE ON!

The dictionary says “babbling” means to talk enthusiastically or in excess, but the word comes from the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel where it had a profoundly different meaning. At the end of Genesis 10, we learn that Noah's three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, scattered about the now dry earth and all their offspring spoke the same language. In Genesis 11, it is written: “Now the whole world had one language.” When the Lord discovered that, he scattered the people and gave them different languages, because, he said, “If as one people speaking the same language. . .then nothing they plan will be impossible for them to do,”

Now English is becoming a world language, and for those who don't speak it translation sites like the amazing Babel-Fish make it easy to understand what anybody who's tweeted you is talking about. That fueled the Arab Spring, lets the young in Iran hold on to hope, and enabled kids in Manhattan to kick off what has become a world wide protest against the corporate and bank overlords.

Since 1979 the top 1% has enjoyed an income rise 275% and a majority of both Democrats and Republicans agree that that's not good for our country. Since nothing is now impossible,we may be able to close the divide between the 1% and 99% a bit and return to the world as it was in ancient Babel. The Lord was right, now nothing is impossible!

TIME FOR CHANGE

POLITICAL UN-CORRECTNESS

I know political correctness requires that we only say nice things about Israel but as of today it's OK to call Benjamin Netanyahu a sonofabitch. It's not Anti-Semitic, it's pro-American. That weirdo made a speech in the kneseet in which he said Arabs aren't smart enough to create democracies and President Obama doesn’t understand reality or history. He's angry because we didn't go to war to defend Hosni Mubarak's totalitarian regime in Egypt and he said the Arab Spring is anti-democratic, anti-Western, and, oh yes, anti-Israel. If you call Arabs stupid it is sort of to be expected they wouldn't like you much either.

In his speech, Netanyahu said one very smart thing: “Reality is changing, and if you don't see it your head is buried in the sand.” I imagine he had to blow his nose after saying that to get the sand out. What that Tea Party-ish head of state seems unable to understand is that the world he lived in when he was in college at MIT really has changed. Thanks to the current administration, our foreign policy no longer puts the interests of Israel above the interests of the U.S. Obama's Cairo speech made it clear that a new era of relationship with the Arab world had begun. That speech was one of the triggers of the Arab Spring and as today's demonstrations in Cairo prove, Egyptians won't rest until they have a true democracy.

Young David slew Goliath with a stone but, to paraphrase Senator Benson, Netayaho is no David, even though an atom bomb can do more damage than David's rock. Peace will come to the Mid-East, though probably not while Benny Netanyahu is running, and ruining, Israel. It's high time to reexamine our gifts to his government.

WHATS MONEY WORTH?

IF I WERE A RICH MAN

In the song. “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye begs God for just a little more, saying, “If I were wealthy I wouldn't have to work hard,” And, most tellingly, says were he rich people would seek his advice and it wouldn't matter if what he said was right or wrong because, “When you're rich they think you really know!” Tragically he was speaking truth for in America today we seem to believe that a fat bank account proves the rich man is smarter than we are, just ask New York Mayor Bloomberg.

Some who are rich certainly do work hard, but for every Bill Gates or Steve Jobs there are thousands who sit at a “poker table” on Wall Street and gamble with other people's money, and when they win they're paid millions. This “capitalism” is certainly not what Adam Smith had in mind, nor even Frederick Hayek. Smith's “invisible hand” would slap they silly. That “hand,” he argued, allowed men to pursue their self-interest without regard to “public good” but it would enhance the general welfare anyway. Today's capitalists have proved him wrong and the “hand” is flapping in the wind.

It may, of course, turn out that the wealth cozened by the 1% will eventually benefit others, just look at the value to tourism of the doge's palace in Venice or the good the Rockefeller Foundation has done. But America can not wait for the money hidden in the mattresses of the mega-rick to trickle down over the next century. The invisible hand needs to become a clenched fist with which to knock some sense into those who drive the price of gas up by gambling on the futures market, who seek to destroy unions, and rig elections by making it harder for the poor and minorities to vote. Bill Gates has a lot of money, but just one vote. That's all the power he, and other 1% folks should have on our government. \If I were a rich man I'd make it illegal for anyone but live human beings to contribute to political campaigns. That would be a start.

FUTURE LIFE

TOMORROW'S ALMOST HERE

I recently saw a performance of the musical “Annie” in which my grandson, Eli, played one of the orphans. As they all sang “Tomorrow is Just a Day Away” I reflected on the science blogs I'd read that morning and realized they had given me a glimpse of our tomorrow. Indeed as I sit at my computer, talk on my cell phone, or press my hand against the pace maker in my chest I realized that tomorrow has already arrived.

Scientific advances are accelerating exponentially and give us a glimpse of a future more amazing than any we find in science fiction novels or films. Today I read of breaktroughs in solar panel technology and of hydrogen fueled cars. The brain science blogs reported on new ways to cure diseases and improve brain function. And I reread the account of the Google car which drove a thousand miles without a driver. As I tried to absorb the news I began to imagine the culture in which Eli and my other grandchildren will be living when they are my age.

First, of course, 80 years old will be the new 50 as the average life expectancy hovers around 110 and cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s have been brought under control. Their grand kids will learn mostly on-line and colleges will be free. The family will get into their non-gasoline powered car, tell it where they want to go, and relax and read as the car drives itself to their destination. If they are going to a political meeting the conversation will be vastly different than any I've ever experienced as the issues will have changed so profoundly.

First, of course, will be the impact of the change from the current white majority in the country to a brown, black, and yellow majority. That is sure going to alter the “immigrant invasion” ranting. And the end of oil importing will have turned now wealthy Middle-East nations into pockets of poverty. And the recently tested bombs that fly themselves will have made the Air Force an historical oddity.

This does not assure that my greatgrandkids will live in a world at peace, but even that is a real possibility. Wish I could stick around to enjoy the new world.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

THE KNOW NOTHINGS

A non-partisan research project recently surveyed TV viewers to see if the program people watched made a difference in their knowledge of current events. It turns out it does. Those who watch the Colbert Report on the comedy channel knew more facts than those watching other programs. But the most disturbing discovery was that those who watched Fox News knew the least. An article in the current issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology sheds light on the reasons for these differences: people who don't know don't want to.

“Don't confuse me with the facts,” used to be a laugh line but it turns out that for many that is how they deal with the world. That is not simply about issues like climate change and evolution, but also about what's going on in the world. People who don't like Arabs know the least about the Arab Spring and those who don't like Obama know less than nothing about the Affordable Care Act. That may explain the support Newt Gingrich appears to be getting from Evangelicals who are ignoring the facts of his troubling, and troubled, sexual exploits and his history as a lobbyist.

How “blissful ignorance” will impact the 2012 election is far from clear, but history teaches us that sometimes a line like “flip flop,” or “the screamer” can derail a campaign even though they only vaguely refer to facts. “We can't wait!” won't win the election, but “We are the 99%!” might. Harry Truman ran on the simple, and factual, charge that the nation's problem was a “Do nothing Congress!” He beat Tom Dewey whom the pundits, and The Chicago Tribune, picked as the winner. The winner, it seems, is the candidate who picks his (or her) most vulnerable enemy. Wall Street (and the congress it owns) is surely the optimum enemy in 2012. Even the (want to) Know Nothings will get that message.

MOST CHRISTIANS AREN'T

THE BULLY PULPIT

The going-nowhere GOP 's 2% popular Rick Santorum excoriated President Kennedy for promising not to obey the Vatican but, rather, serve the American people. He insists presidents should obey their religious leaders. He echoed the demands of the Alliance Defense Fund which promoted the late September preach-in which called on preachers to defy the concept of church-state separation. That was one of the groups backing California's anti-gay marriage Prop 8. The idea is simple: state laws should implement Bible edicts and to hell (literally) with non-Christians.

The problem, however, is that most Christians aren't. If they were they would honor the words of Jesus, not those Titus called “old Jewish myths” (Titus 1:14.) The concept of a proper separation of the church from the state is expressed succinctly in Mathew 22:21 where he admonishes the followers of Christ to “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.” That is what our founders agreed to do when they promised our government would not embrace one faith or deny to those of other faiths, or none, equal rights.

When Mormons were denied the right to marry more than one woman, the Constitution was violated as surely as it would have been had San Francisco passed the proposed law to make circumcision illegal. And as it was when Californians passed Proposition 8 and when congress adopted the falsely named Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA imposes Biblical rules on non-Christians and non-believers and makes a mockery of “equal justice.”

When Teddy Roosevelt spoke of the presidency as affording him a “bully pulpit” he did not mean that he got to preach religious dogma from the White House, only that it was one hell of a platform. Would somebody please urge Santorum and the other zealots to read the Bible – and the U.S. Constitution.

THE REAL CRIME

COPS AND ROBBERS

A number of people, including the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, have noted that were it not for police brutality the Occupy movement would probably have wasted away by now, but, thanks to them, it hasn't. Which makes one wonder if the cops are working for the Robber Barons or for the OWS folk around the nation and world. The latest was the pepper spraying of some kids sitting on the U.C.Davis campus looking about as threatening as a pile of Play-Doh.

What's really freaky have been the efforts to justify the police action. In the U.C Davis case the police claim they were entrapped by the kids and “couldn't get away.” The video, however, makes that claim a lie. And one cop said it is normal procedure because, “bodies don't have handles” by which to lift them up and get them moving away. Gee, hands and arms make pretty good handles but the cop made no effort to yank them up. (Considering his obesity I guess he was just too fat to reach down over his beer belly.) Oakland is still “investigating” the cause of the blow that broke the skill of the former marine, and the NYPD cop known as “Tony Baloney” (aka: Anthony Bologna) has kept his badge after pepper spraying a young girl who was trying to move away as he directed, and so is the Seattle cop who assaulted an 84 year old woman.

A further defense of the use of excessive force has been based on allegations that the protestors were using drugs, peeing, or having sex. With regard to the first, the police have yet to report finding a “stash” in the encampments they raided and I have not seen any police photos of men urinating. (Hard to tell if a squatting women is.) As for sex, Gee if they did it in a tent and it was consensual it's not exactly a crime in the U.S. (Of course it is a “sin,” but the cops aren't supposed to be enforcing Biblical edicts.)

So, for now, all we can do is hope the cops keep up the violence – and pray they don't kill anybody. Meanwhile the new Robber Barons have begun to quake in the Gucci loafers.

GLOBAl POLITICS

“ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL” IS LOCO

Congressional Speaker Tip O'Neill is famous for the cliché, “All politics is local.” What the hell was he talking about? He was from Boston, for god sake, which was – and is – a city with dozens of “locals;” Irish enclaves, Italian ghettos, Jewish neighborhoods, and, oh yeah, Beacon Hill. Where was “local” Boston? Surely not in Harvard yard. Did any of those “locals” share a common view of political issues?

America is not, and never has been, a “melting pot.” It is a savory dish in which every morsel has kept its unique flavor, and to talk about “local politics” is loco. But people facing foreclosure in Nevada because the bread winner has lost a job share the concerns of the family facing foreclosure in Idaho, Michigan, and – yes –in O'Neill's Boston. The wealthy in Beverly Hills share interests with the rich in

Boca Raton, as do Muslims in Chicago and Tulsa, and gays in both Portlands, Maine and Oregon's. What O'Neill ought to have said is, “All politics is about issues – and ideology.”

Not since the conflicts in ideology leading to the Civil War has America been as divided, and, as the outbursts at GOP gatherings reveal, never have our moral values been as sorely tested. In ancient time the Good Samaritan tended to the needs of a wounded Jew who was his enemy. During World War II many Christian Germans gave sanctuary to Jews. The people in my village protested against the vile scheme to relocate our Japanese neighbors to concentration camps, and today the majority of Americans accept gays as their equals before the law. But a virulent minority cheers when told a man without health insurance will die, a military hero who is gay is booed, and they cling to the lie that our president is not a “real American.”

Radio, television, and the Internet enable people all over the nation, and indeed, all over the world, to know what people like themselves care about. Today all politics is world wide and many of us pay as much attention to the election in Tunisia as we do for the race for mayor in our town. Who'd have thought the Internet would create a “one world” planet?

THE HISTORY LESSON

SANTAYANA'S CURSE

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” George Santayana famously warned. In his brilliant new book, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, Robert Reich demonstrates the truth of Santayana's curse; Wall Street has repeated the sins that led to the Great Depression and is ignoring the lessons it taught.

Republicans today have taken the same position their party did during Hoover's administration and are echoing his multimillionaire Secretary of Treasury, Andrew Mellon's, advice to let farms, businesses, and individuals fail because, “It will purge the rottenness out of the system.” Of course that did not keep them from agreeing to bail out the mega-banks, but it fuels their opposition to everything in Obama's jobs bill. They seem to be saying that it is okay to let the poor starve as long as the top 1% isn't made to pay higher taxes.

The Great Depression ended, in part, because FDR took the advice of former Wall Street tycoon Marriner Eccles who shared John Maynard Keynes economic philosophy. Today there is no Eccles counterpart on the scene (unless it is Reich) so it has fallen to the “mob” to teach economic theory to Washington, and to the nation. The Occupy movement view may be summarized by the words on one of the homemade signs carried by a young girl Oakland, “The Beginning is Near!” We do not yet know what that “beginning” will lead to, but history shows us incontrovertibly that it must lead to a dramatic reduction in the chasm that divides the top 1% from the rest of us. That is the lesson history teaches, a lesson not lost on the Occupiers. Santayana would be impressed.

MAKE ME DO IT!

MAKE ME DO IT

When A. Phillip Randolph, head of the Sleeping Car Porters Union, complained to FDR that he wasn't doing enough to end the depression, the president said, “Make me do it!” It is clear that President Obama is now inviting the same pressure and his campaign staff, and the Occupiers, are making him “do it.” The 2012 slogan, “We Can't Wait!,” might have come directly from a poster carried by protestors, for it clearly reflect their view and his decision to use executive authority to do what congress won't seems to be evidence he intends to “do it.”

The Latin phrase, vox populi, translates simply as “voice of the people,” but the only voices politicians listen to are their financial backers', pollsters', and announcers reporting results of the election. Now, however, the vox of the people is being heard in cities and towns across America, including the 10,000 who protested in Oakland, California on November 2. And there are some signs their voice is being heard, and not just by Democrats. House Speaker Boehner and Senate minority leader McConnell have muttered they might allow some modest revenue increases, .i.e, taxes, to be included in their scheme to lower the deficit.

But what is far from clear is whether the voice of the people will change Wall Street's control over our country. What is loud and clear, however, is that “Jobs” has replaced “Deficit” as the one word challenge politicians will face in 2012 and the country is not turning to Wall Street to put America back to work. What we must do now is demand that Congress “do it!”