Low Hanging Fruit and Politicians

What a couple of weeks! If only there were three rings at once we could call it a circus. This has been more exciting than a fireworks display at a Zippo convention.

Obamacare, Gay Marriage, Iran, Race, Greece, Presidential jockeying, the Pope, Ted 2, and Bruce Jenner. You can’t fault Washington if you are bored. Stuff is happening. Of course, depending on which issue it is, you are either happy as a clam or ready to move to Canada.

I am trying to filter it all down. JD helps but there is a lot to get my hairy arms around. So it hit me. There are basically two themes to follow. The first one is that society has gotten to a new place. It is a place where nothing is easy. All the political fruit within arm’s reach is gone. All that is left requires a ladder. And ladders are notoriously dangerous.  In short, there are no easy answers. 

The second theme is that politicians are, well, politicians. I found this on Wikipedia: There have been some publishers who criticized politicians for being out of touch with the public. Areas of friction include the manner in which politicians speak, which have been described as too formal with too many euphemistic and metaphorical expressions, and is commonly perceived as an attempt to "obscure, mislead, and confuse". 

So if you are pissed and possibly confused then there it is – we live in a world where it takes real and tough analysis and negotiation to solve our problems. And the people who should lead the process are simply not up to the task -- caring more about wooing voters with simplistic slogans that actually solving problems. 

Think about some of the problems that got a lot of of time in the last weeks…

            Guns – if there was a simple solution President Obama would have already found it and proposed it.

            Iran, Russia, Syria – being friendly with these people does not seem to be working.

            Healthcare – solving the healthcare needs of more than 300 million people in a country whose national debt is approaching 100% of GDP is not a trivial undertaking

            Racial Discrimination – Stamping out the last vestiges of hateful, persistent discrimination is challenging to say the least

            LGBTs – marrying religious freedoms with economic and social opportunity in a secular society is no easy union

            Income Inequality – despite decades of trying to reduce poverty in this country it hangs on like a drunk at closing time

If you are on the fringe of the debate on any of these issues you will hate what I am about to say. To some of you fringers it is either your way or the highway. What I am about to say is that both sides have at least a smidgen of merit. And both sides hold to their beliefs tenaciously. Iran, Russia, and Syria have some legitimate views. Russia might feel threatened by a growing Europeanization of their adjacent neighbors. Maybe there are racists and homophobes whose lives were somehow diminished by gays or blacks. Having better opportunities for healthcare makes sense for a country. The Constitution seems to allow people to have guns. Poverty makes no one proud.

I am not arguing that any of the above statements in any way proves the point of one side or the other. The above paragraph is meant to say that there are two sides to every debate and we have reached a point in history when resolving these issues is not the real goal.  The real goal is for my side to win. The real goal is to support ideology or to pad the pocketbooks and power of those who represent those ideologies. In the meantime some of us would prefer solutions and we know this will take patience and VERY hard work. Yet the charade goes on. 

We hope our elected officials will assemble all the data and do the analysis and then duke-it-out in government institutions. But so far that is not what we see. What I see are politicians on both sides of the spectrum hurling naïve and damaging statements, cleverly disguised insults, and silly statements. Basically they are saying things like “trust me and I will solve all these problems. Do not trust my adversary as he/she wants to hurt you.” Really!

Since the ice melting is diluting my fine JD I really should finish this. So let me end with one example: income inequality. It seems to be the strongest candidate for my points today. Political candidates make it sound so easy to transfer a dollar from some rich guy to a homeless person on the street. Perhaps we spent too much time reading fairy tales. Ahh Robin Hood. Such a nice boy with tight pants. But please. Spend a little time at a soup kitchen or a park bench and get to know the clients. You could sprinkle hundred dollar bills on many of these people and it wouldn’t do a thing for the poverty rate.

My liberal friends are ready to BBQ my testicles on the nearest Big Green Egg. But wait. I am not saying that poverty programs are useless. I am not saying that government does not have some role to play in reducing poverty. I am not saying that high income people should not share their wealth. What I am saying is that whatever we have been doing for 50 years does not seem to be working well enough. Lyndon Johnson said these programs were going to eliminate poverty! Yet there it is worse than ever.  

To make any real headway today is going to take harder work. It will take real leaders who understand that the easy choices are gone. It will take people who can objectively evaluate, explain, listen, and then implement policies that matter. 

Honestly, can you name a living leader ready for this job? 

LGBTQs in Indiana

We who live in Indiana recently went through a disturbing experience with legislation that turned many a dinner table into a debate forum at best or a war scene at worst. This blog post is not about the legislation, its origins, or its impacts. It is more about me thinking out loud about something that both troubles and intrigues me. This process is both professional and personal.

It is professional because I spout off weekly and at least some of you take a minute to listen. I studied and taught economics for about 40 years and it is hard to turn that thing off. It is personal because I am coming out. No, just kidding. I am not gay. But my daughter is a lesbian. And a lot of her friends are LGBTQ. And a lot of my friends and colleagues are too. And some of my friends also have LGBTQ children.

This personal aspect has changed over the years. Like many people I didn’t know one LGBTQ person. As a young teen I was afraid to go into certain public bathrooms because my friends told me that gay men would accost me. That was the sum total of my knowledge. Of course, no one ever did accost me but that image hung in my head for many years. I remember once after pitching in a little league game, a young boy approached me and said he heard I was Jewish. I said that was true. And then he said – but Jews are devils and have horns. He was very confused. Point – when you don’t have any personal experiences, you can carry around some really weird ideas.

As LGBTQs have become more courageous and have come out in greater numbers, more of us see more clearly that LGBTQs are just like anyone else. Robin William’s portrayal of a gay man in Bird Cage was one of many important pieces of art that helped me see LGBTQs in a new and different light. Okay they are different in their sexual orientation. Jews won’t mix meat and dairy.  Koreans show respect by bowing and often the younger colleague pours the Soju for his senior counterpart. In some religions women are treated as less than equal. What is true about these and other groups is that we are all different.  But most of us share many common values – like love of God, practice of the Golden Rule, raising good children, having loving partners, working hard, etc.

For some who may not have had the benefits of knowing LGBTQs, you should realize they are as diversified as any other group you care to single out. LGBTQs have everything we have – smarties, dummies, many with very conservative life behaviors and others with very crazy and colorful lifestyles. I know LGBTQ realtors, fitness instructors, business owners, and academic administrator. My daughter’s lesbian friends are public radio hosts, cops, veterinarians, healthcare workers, and roller derby queens. Speaking of my daughter, she lifted a 72 pound kettle bell over her head with one hand while holding a JD in the other hand. I once employed a woman who did excellent layouts for my newsletter. Her partner is a retired IU professor. They have been together longer than most married couples I know.

Going on with this line of analysis should be unnecessary today. Knowledge and attitudes have changed. Most of us know many LGBTQs.  It is not respectful to them to have to make a point that we all know is true.

But this leads me to my main question. Why do some Christians insist that LGBTQs are sinners? Why is it that some Christians believe they would lose important religious rights if they had to cater a gay wedding? Why would they feel so horrible in catering this wedding, that it would undermine their own sense of spirituality?

One Christian friend told me that if a lesbian asked Christ to forgive her and if she renounced her sexual orientation, then she would be saved. Being a lesbian, he explained, is not the problem – it is acting as lesbian that is the sin. So if she stops that, then all is okay. But is it really okay? Yes, we want fewer divorces. Yes we want sinners to change their behavior. But is it really a sin against man or society if a loving LGBTQ couple dates, marries and does all the behaviors compatible with that love? If that is your personal belief then I won’t try to persuade you otherwise. But personal belief and public economic and business activity in a secular country are different things.

The Indiana legislation poked a finger into the eyeball of LGBTQs. I am not sure what impacts the amended law will have in the future. But I do know that it raises a very interesting question for the future. Can we really continue to think of LGBTQs as persons whose lives offend other so much that business or other laws can potentially be used to deny them normal functioning in society? I hope the answer is no.