The Constitution - An Evolving Document

I had the chance to overhear a discussion the other day about how the country has deviated from the original intent of the Constitution.  He argument was that we should return and to the original interpretation of our founding fathers.  This is a common argument by conservative Republicans and, most currently, the Tea Party movement who has sought to legitimize their political position by laying claim to the historical meaning of the United States Constitution. Many Tea Party members subscribe to a literal reading of the national charter as a way of bolstering their opposition to the evolution of this democracy, and by the way, to provide credibility to their opposition, among others, to deficit spending, bank bailouts and President Obama’s health care plan.  These people even propose that all legislation passed by Congress should specify the precise clause in the Constitution giving Congress the power to pass such a law.  My thought as I listen to this discussion is that these people have no sense of history, no understanding of the evolutionary nature and adaptability of this democracy and wondered whether they were simply pawns of “those that have” in class struggle between those that have and those that have not – the epic struggle in this country and in the world.

The Constitution, as Justice Thurgood Marshall indicated in 1987 “was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental today.”  “The Constitution is a work in progress and will remain a story worth telling,” so summarizes Ms Greenhouse in her Op-Ed in the New York Times on Christmas Day, 2013.  The U.S. Constitution has its basis on Magna Carta and the freedoms it declares.  In the case of the Magna Carta it was the freedoms and rights for the Barons with land and Noblemen, not the common people.  In the U.S. Constitution, it was the freedoms and rights for white property owners, also not the common people.  If applied to current times, that would translate to people of wealth – corporations, and in general, the “one percent.  Is there any doubt why such conservative Republicans would want to return to the original interpretation of the constitution? 

The evolution and changes to the constitution has both been forward and backward depending on the position of people in Congress and also on whether there is a “right” leaning Supreme Court.  Take for example the 15th Amendment, it prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".  It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.  It took 95 years and some fancy string pulling from President Johnson to make it happen through the Voting Rights Act of 1965!  So Justice Thurgood Marshall was correct, it has taken a long time for the government to obtain a respect for individual freedoms and human rights.  And, not to let it go to our heads on the wisdom and progress of our democratic evolution, but in June of this year, the Conservative leaning “Roberts Supreme Court” declared Section 4 of this Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. 

Section 4 contains a "coverage formula" that determines which jurisdictions are subject to the Act's other special provisions that eliminated the practice of limiting voting through discriminatory practices by certain States and Counties.  The map below shows where these discriminatory practices were more prevalent in 1964.  So guess what these States and Counties have begun to do ever since the repeal of Section 4?  They have begun to implement discriminatory practices again.  And guess what?  This practice has begun to expand, often is subtle ways, and this expansion is all in “red” States!

It bothers me when I overhear this type of discussion about returning to our “founding fathers” interpretation of the constitution.  Granted, they created something viable to work from, but I don’t think they indented to create a know-all be-all basis for government for all future time, they were revolutionaries not the gods of social structure! 

The only conclusion I can reach, given that none of the people having this discussion is in the 1% of the people of wealth, is that people like to “regurgitate” what they here in Fox News and biased radio commentators and never bother to investigate and analyze and really take political position best reflective of their true beliefs, status and desires.  These people do more damage to themselves and to the country than they can possibly realize.

A Christmastime Thought

The old saying about time seeming to pass faster the older one gets must have some truth to it – the relativistic nature in modern physics seems to apply to older people without impacting the younger folks.  How else can I explain of how Christmastime has sneaked up on me so fast this year?  Here it is December 20th and I have not started any preparations for the holidays.  I thank the powers that be, the internet and online shopping from keeping me from being considered by my family as the “Grinch.”  I am looking forward to family get-togethers, feasting on my sisters’ tamales, cookies, breads and other great treats and to enjoy watching the faces of excitement and expectation in the faces of the little ones.  I have to admit, I’m getting into it myself now, and listening to Christmas music is still nice (it has not become the annoying noise it usually is by this time of year), piñata construction has begun and I feel light on my feet.

But the perception of time “flying” faster and faster as I get older bothers me a little.  I could argue that it is relative to aging:  For my eleven year-old, one year is almost 10% of his entire life.  For me, however, on year is only 1.5% of my life.  So does that mean that time is going almost seven times faster for me?  In his “Principles of Psychology” in the late 1800s, William James indicated that people measure time by memorable events such as the first kiss, the first day of school, the fist family vacation, etc., and that the lack of “new” experiences at an older age causes days, weeks and months to smooth out and the differentiation of time seems to speed up because the years “grow hollow and collapse.”  So is the trick to slowing the perception of time is to keep looking and doing new things?  Hmmm… I wonder, would the first social security check, the first retirement, the first loss of a friend or relative to old age count?

I have noticed however that as I aged I have paid less attention to time.  I stopped keeping a schedule in my job over 15 years ago.  I stopped using an alarm clock over 25 years ago, I don’t even own a watch and the only time I know what time it is, is from my smart phone and my computer.  There is a neighbor in our street that has a large digital Christmas sign that is a clock counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds till Christmas.  My son always wants me to slow down when I drive by their house and he faithfully counts down the days until Christmas.  My main concern is not counting time my concern is directed to specific tasks:  getting to work, showering and shaving, taking out the garbage, paying bills; all repetitive event-directed activities that where the passage of time is not a factor.  So, is time going faster because I no longer measure it or care for it? 

Maybe as we age, we enter a “warp filed” and go in and out of a parallel universe that seems to be in sync with this one and where the laws of physics, including time, are different.  If true, warping in and out of the two universes has definitely affected my way of thinking. We care about different things from people of pre-retirement age; visions of sugar plums do not dance in our heads, it’s more like visions naps, warm feet and soft pajamas; visions of getting to the bathroom on time, visions of communicating old memories and experiences to the children and grandchildren.  Sugar plums are the last thing on my mind.  Maybe as we age we look for time to go backwards to our old experiences and in doing so we forget to measure its passage:  We “warp” out into the parallel universe and when we “warp” back in time has already gone by and it seems to have passed faster.

So, I would like to leave you with a Christmas wish before I warp out of this universe and into my time-less universe and forget that we are in the Christmas season of the year:  As this year comes to a close and as we start the New Year, I hope we all stop and reflect the wonderful benefits of family, set goals to seek harmony with nature, cultivate curiosity for truth and enhance our quest for a purity of conscience.  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Rafael

The Day the Earth Stood Still

At 11:33 a.m. on Friday November 22 1963 I was working on my drawing for the Detroit News Drafting Competition design in my drafting class in Pontiac Central High School.  I had just finished sharpening my drafting pencil and was darkening some of the lines on my drawing.  I was sitting on the table on the back corner of the room with windows around me convinced that I would win the competition.  The announcement tone of the speakers in the classroom came on and the principal announced that President Kennedy had just been shot in Dallas. 

I remember stopping and wondering what that meant.  I looked around and all the other students had also stopped working and just looked at each other.  I forget the teacher’s name, Mr. Lowry I believe, just sat there and stared at the speakers on the upper corner of the room.  No one said anything.  About 30 minutes later the Principal came over the speaker again and announced that President Kennedy was dead.  I felt like the floor had opened up and I was falling into an endless hole.  I remember grabbing the corner of the drafting table just to make certain I was not falling.  Still, nobody said anything for the longest time.

I was in the 10^th grade at that time and the 1960 Presidential campaign was the political “coming of age” for me.  Prior to that time, politics an elected officials was something that was given, that one studied in civics class, or history class, that one heard people discuss but since it never affected you, one did not put much attention to it.  But the 1960 Presidential campaign changed all that for me.  I discovered what being progressive meant and what being conservative meant.  I discovered that people with money voted for Republicans and people without money voted for Democrats.  I wasn’t sure exactly why, but generally Democrats wanted to share and Republicans did not.  Having arrived from Mexico recently I knew that our family could not vote, but that didn’t stop me from being involved with politics.  I remember my mother saying that wasn’t our business, but I wasn’t sure that that was true. 

I remember having mixed emotions during the debates because I happened to like Nixon and the fact that he came across as being pretty smart, but I also liked Kennedy because he always made sense.  I remember thinking that if the people in my Dad’s Union were for Kennedy how could all of them be wrong?  I had a Kennedy button that I was proud to wear – I wish I would have kept it.  I don’t know what became of that button.

I walked home from Pontiac Central High to our house on the south east side of the city.  Every day on the way home I would stop at the Pontiac Library half way to our house and stayed there to finish my homework.  I also used to treat myself after completing my homework with about half hour of reading my favorite magazines:  Aviation Week and Space Technology and Scientific America.  That Friday I went to the library, to my favorite desk on the east side of the building in the aisle way at the end of the book shelves.  I didn’t do homework that day.  I sat there and cried.

To MOOC or not to MOOC? That is the question

I have been very skeptical about the government (in Michigan at least) pushing for online courses as a substitute to fully-funding public education. The way this effort is being lobbied in the legislature, you can almost see the profit making corporations hovering like vultures before they settle down to eat the spoils. The profit-making aspect of online education is as bad of an idea as Charter Schools are; they take a public good and turn it into a profit making institution. Any economist worth its salt can tell you that a public institution is more efficient and effective than any profit based institution. But effectiveness and efficiency is not what is being sold by our State government and our electorate, more leaning toward ignorance and ambivalence, believe it. 


But I had an epiphany last night, while doing my evening routine of scanning through online newspapers, and while my 11 year old son working online through edmodo.org as part of doing his school work (all the while thinking, I’m sure, of how to best to beat some of his X-Box games) and while my wife, who will be laid off from her job, was going though online training in an effort to retrain herself for a new job. I came to the conclusion that a MOOC-like instructional support for students K-12 is what our public schools need. If we could only capture a fraction of the interest and addiction that kids display to video games like “Call to Duty,” for a MOOC-like instructional support, they could be doing college level work by middle school.

What is a MOOC, you ask? A MOOC ( Massive Open Online Course) is the first step toward the transformation of our upper-level educational system; the future way of higher learning not only for Colleges and Universities, but also for the Trades, Continuing Education, and Corporate training. It is the future of education being started today. Did you know that anybody can go and take just about any college class for free! And, I'm not talking about classes from “questionable”profit organizations like Phoenix University or Baker College.  I am talking courses from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, as well as public institutions like University of Michigan, San Jose State, Berkley, UCLA, etc. You can learn to your heart’s content and not pay a dime (well there may be some nominal fee of $10 – to - $50 bucks for a certificate or other things, but it is a long way from the semester tuition you would have to pay).

Of course, there is a catch, as Rumpelstiltskin indicates in the TV show ONCE Upon a Time: “All magic comes with a price.” In this case, the catch is that the MOOC system is so new and growing so fast that no one has figured out how to link a college degree with learning. You can get certificates of course completion and some employers accept that as training for some cases. Some Universities will accept the coursework for a degree and they charge a fee –much less than the normal tuition. But for what I envision, that is not a problem.

My vision is having a MOOC-like system not to replace our current K-12 education, but to supplement it. Although there may be some cases where school requirements could be met through MOOC, but the greatest value is the complementary and supplementary support that a MOOC-like system would give to the kids. Not only can it consist of standard tutorials, but I see it also evolving into game-like approach that would use game programs akin to the X-Box and PS4 games that addict kids into their game world. Imagine kids addicted to learning!

This is a great opportunity for an entrepreneur; development of game like educational materials. Also it is a great opportunity for PhD-level academic research: How and why are kids addicted to these games and how do we best adopt it to a K-12 learning environment. I think we still need a classroom because there is other valuable learning from teachers, but in our fast paced world the kids and the teachers need some help.

Eleven Score and Seventeen Years

I lived and worked in Washington DC for many years and one of my favorite places was the Lincoln Memorial.  When I got the opportunity, and certainly when I had visitors, I would take them to the Lincoln Memorial and read out loud the Gettysburg Address on the south wall on the inside of the building.  a very inspiring speech

In many ways it reflects the situation we find ourselves now with political partisan civil war in Congress that can best be classified as a “non”- shooting war.  Our partisan conflict is really a test to see if our nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” can endure. 

It was President Lincoln’s commitment to do right, to liberty, to his dedication that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.   This is not what I hear from the extreme right wing.  They want a government by a few select people, those with money or by corporations; they want to privatized liberty where only those that can pay have it, and they don’t agree with the proposition that all men are created equal.  Worst yet, they are behaving like “rebels without a cause” with no intent or willingness to govern.  We are now eleven score and seventeen years from when this nation was conceived and it is facing the greatest challenge to its continuation.  Will we be brave enough to defend it? 

Below is the full text of Mr. Lincoln's speech.

Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

Nov. 19, 1863

Fed Score: Rational Decision (NOT Jobs – 0, Greedy Financial Investors - 1)

I apologize tot he Fed for underestimating their rational decision making.  When I wrote this blog yesterday, all the indication were that the decision to curtail the QE was going to be made.  I am happy that I was proven wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/business/economy/fed-in-surprise-move-postpones-retreat-from-stimulus-campaign.html?hp&_r=0 

Many of us in the working world, struggling to make ends meet every day of the year, are oblivious to economic policy formulation and the impact it has on all of us. The system for making policy is very complicated when it used to function but it is no longer functioning.  The system now has been reduced to this:  whoever has the money has the votes and whoever has the votes makes the policy.  Most people don’t want to get involved since they feel that their involvement stops at the voting booth.  All I hear from people, when they talk about fiscal and social policy is:  “THOSE” people in Washington making our lives miserable with their turf battles, or I hear how the House and half the Senate have gone off the deep end.  Maybe they have. Many do not believe that the shenanigans in Congress do not affect them anyway, that what is done is Washington does not matter in their struggle to make ends meet.    As a result we have grown numb to the fights in Washington and many of us have turned off and distance ourselves from the whole process. Bad mistake!

The fiscal, and social policy conflict we see in Washington is akin to the classical struggle between good and evil, the dark side and the side of the enlighten, the oppressed and the oppressor.  The epic story of the Lord of the Rings, successful TV series like Stargate SG1, and epic movies, the latest being Elysium, have this basic struggle as their basic plot.  To some extent the struggle going on in Washington is the real version of all these plots:  You have a group of people that want to be free and have choices struggling against a group of people who want to control them and forced them to their will. The big difference is that in the book, the TV and the movies, the good guys usually win and there is closure to the story – that’s what we pay for.  

 In reality; however, the conflict in Washington is a never ending story where the good guys may lose lots of battles, and in fact, may lose the war.  That is what is happening now, we are losing the war for enlighten life, a life of choice and personal freedom a life of cooperation and selflessness, sharing and philanthropy against the forces of ambition, self gain and control of others.  From what I can tell the forces of enlightenment are losing. 

This week is a pivotal battle is being waged between the forces that will impact the future of jobs in the country.  No, Congress does not vote on cutting the budget again this week.  But that battle will be here soon and the dark side is “digging in” to hold the country hostage once again to try to get what the American people don’t want and indicated in so many ways – the continual destruction of the security net and the livelihood of the average citizen.   To any logical student of history, we are living in a pitiful state of government, with pitiful representation and with pitiful support from the voters. No, this week is not Congress’ turn at the spotlight; it is the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed).  For several years now they have been unbiased and just about the only source of economic policy sanity in government, but now it looks like they might be jumping over to the dark side.  They are contemplating actions that might result in stopping and maybe reversing meager progress in job growth has made in the country. 

The Fed is on the threshold of changing policy that will impact the availability of jobs in the U.S. They are set to reduce the Quantitative Easing (QE) that the Fed implemented about 5 years ago to stimulate investment in U.S businesses.  The reduction or “taper” as it is being called will cause interest rates to start climbing.  This will increase the cost of investment by U.S. businesses and reduce the creation of jobs.  QE also had the effect of reducing the value of the dollar thereby making U.S. products more sellable in the world market – that advantage will also disappear with the reduction of QE. 

So, what is QE you might ask?  QE is when the Fed (central banks in general) goes from targeting interest rates to targeting the amount of excess reserves held by banks - the quantity of currency in the banking system.  The Fed does this by buying financial assets in exchange for reserves. With QE the target is the level of purchases and not the interest rate.  In our case the interest rate was almost zero so QE can be seen as driving the “virtual” interest rate even lower than zero and giving businesses a bigger incentive to invest and create jobs.  In November 2008, the Fed announced that it would buy the debt of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that these enterprises sponsored. The goals were to lower borrowing costs and to directly ease credit conditions in the housing market. The goal was to further support economic recovery and to anchor inflation expectations at manageable levels maintain price stability and promote the maximum sustainable employment possible.

  
The diver for this policy change is the false argument by the dark side that if current policy is maintain, we will have growth in inflation.  Inflation will reduce the profits and the value of the wealthy. It will also impact the poor and what is left of the middle class and should be kept in check.  But inflation is not the main problem now and it will not be for some time.  It’s pretty clear that that argument being made by the “dark side” is like the kid that cried “wolf” when there was no wolf or when Chicken Little claimed that the “sky is falling.” There is no wolf, the sky is not falling and the inflation monster is nowhere near on the “radar screen.”  The point is if the “inflation monster” begins to show his ugly head we will know of it in plenty of time to stop it.  In his most recent article, Paul Krugman argues that the Fed should not temper with monetary policy “Don’t taper, don’t tighten, until you can see the whites of inflation’s eyes,” and to “Give jobs a chance.”  His write-up can be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/opinion/krugman-give-jobs-a-change.html?hp&_r=0

QE's intention was to avoid a situation of deflation and prop up the economy and it did and many of the jobs and from in unemployment from 10% to 7.3% was due to that policy.  But we can expect QE to go “poof” and unemployment begin to climb again.  Oh wait, that’s what the “Dark Side” wants so it can help them take back the Senate in 2014 and elect the president they want in 2016.  While a policy of Quantitative Easing is not the long term answer to the working class problems, it has been able to provide a sustainable boost to the economy.  But it looks like this will be a loss for the working class.

An Afternoon at the Michigan Renaissance Festival

I have always thought of myself as being born at the wrong time.  What I mean is that I think I was born about 500 years too late.  I always picture myself as part of the late 14^th and early 15^th centuries and not a product of the 20^th century living the last of my years in the 21^st.   

The Renaissance is a period of rebirth of the human mind after the period of the dark ages where the arts, sciences and thinking were controlled by the church and the nobility.  The “dark” refers to the emptiness of the mind and soul.  The Renaissance to me means the breaking of the chains that bounded the mind.  To many people the Renaissance means the evolution of the arts, literature, politics, economics, and all aspects of society.  It is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths (a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas) as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man”.  Although I like the modern technology, I always seek to live with the technology and furnishings of the 15th century.  Moreover, I always seek the basics and basis for everything. 

Maybe this is why I am so attracted to the Renaissance Festivals that are held all over the country.  I went to my first one in 1975 and I’ve been hooked ever since.  Although there is very little or anything “real” about the recreation of the renaissance period in these fairs, it is the only approximation that we have to “relive” that period.  Costumed actors and vendors filled the fairgrounds dressed as princesses, lords, peasants, vendors, musicians, performers, pickpockets and every walk of life of that time period.  Of course, there are many in costume, not so much from that period but to walk around in “sexy” outfits – yes you know who you are!  They even have the Queen of England, who although carries herself in a very royal manner both and dress and language, but she still carries a mirror to spy under the kilts of her “subjects,”  The whole festival is an adult comedy show with a lot of sexual undertones, and in some cases not so subtle. 

Of course you have your performers performing both on stage and festival streets, and your vendors with “basic toys” carved from wood like swords and carts, and you have the candles, and the jewelry, clothing and other “period” appropriate stuff.  Of course you can’t go to the festival without sampling a turkey legs, fried pickles and other “period” foods that I’m fairly certain were not available in the late 14^th century. Although you can go in 21^st century clothing, it is an opportunity to wear a period costume while enjoying the festivities; many people get dressed up in character.  Anyone can be anybody from that period they want to be for the weekend.

As for me, I always mosey toward the Guinness Pub about an hour and a half before the end of the day (7:00 p.m.) and party with the performers, including the Queen and her court – What fun!  The beer and wine start flowing and, unfortunately, at the peak of merrymaking, the canon is fired and the fair is over a 7:00 p.m. – bummer!

It is lots of fun.  I recommend it!  Best $17.50 (if you buy the tickets at Kroger) one can spend for a whole afternoon.  Below is a link to a youtube video clips and photographs I took last Sunday.  ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fui4L1QhIE