Discord, Dissonance, Hate, Murder, What's Next? Dare we ask...

 It's difficult to say exactly when the 'divide' began to develop, but it has been over a fairly long period of time. Decades, for sure. As children we're not really aware of which direction the political winds are blowing, but there are some major political events that we will remember even at a very young age. In November, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. Johnson was in office when the bill passed, but Kennedy first proposed it. I remember both very well. I was ten years old. I was born during the Eisenhower administration and recall seeing him on television. It was black & white back then of course and stations signed off at midnight to the National Anthem. The good old days...  I don't recall my parents ever declaring they were democrat or republican, but they were indeed patriots and supported the president. Eisenhower was a Republican and Kennedy was a Democrat. Both great presidents. No hint of a political divide back then. 

During the Reagan and Bush admins, any ideological political divide that existed was subdued and mostly irrelevant. Compared to the present political climate, this was a very calm period in politics. Along comes Bill Clinton. The Whitewater Scandal, Travelgate, Filegate, and ultimately Monicagate. Scandal after scandal, there were those unfortunate ones who lost their jobs and reputations, but such never included the Clintons. Except of course Monicagate which resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. In January, 1998, Bill Clinton on national TV made his famous statement, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." As he said this he shook his right forefinger at the nation for emphasis. In August 1998, Clinton admitted to an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky. The House impeached Clinton in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. In February 1999, the Senate trial acquitted on both counts. Oddly, the Republicans held the majority in the Senate but could not remove Clinton from office without a 2/3 majority. Obviously, the democrats would not support the move to impeach. 

Arguably, there were a number of points in history that could be tagged as the genesis of the political, ideological divide the country is experiencing today. In my opinion, the above described event is a prime contender. The president of the United States screws a 20-something year-old intern in the Oval Office, is impeached and his party refuses to vote for impeachment?... Despite his DNA being on her blue dress? How much more egregious could his conduct get before the Democrats would vote to impeach? From that point forward the impetus to 'protect the incumbent Democrat' by the party members, and increasingly as time passed by the liberal-leaning mainstream media began to snowball. There are dozens upon dozens of examples but it has become tiresome to recount them. So I won't. They are all a matter of public record. 

Fast forward to today. The divide is so real, and raw. So raw that a young radical, leftist murdered a conservative activist speaker on a university campus in Utah. Simply because he was tired of his perceived "hate". I say perceived because the majority does not align with his speech being 'hate'. Not everyone, including myself, agreed with everything Charlie Kirk said. The Civil Rights Act was not a mistake. In broad, general terms and point by point, it was no mistake. There have been numerous misrepresentations about what he said and meant, but the Civil Rights Act was not a mistake. It was a requirement. It was necessary. 

But let's put Charlie Kirk aside for a moment, God rest his soul. He was a good person. He loved his family, he loved God. Give him credit. But, here we are. In a nutshell, we have right and left. Should it be so simple. We have far-left and far-right. The 'fringe'. The 'extremists'. Is each actually a part of the divide? Is the far-right' actually 'right'? Ditto for the left? We see 'markers' that cause us to tag them as right or left, but are they really? Or are they in reality just 'extremists'? Prone to violence, even to the extreme of taking anothers' life? Taking another's life is a heinous act of insanity, even if transitory. Blame it on the right, blame it on the left, what difference does it make? It's a criminal act. Let's blame it on criminal tendency. Blaming it on the left or the right is a waste of time.  

Now, let's move past that. We know how far we have come and how wide the divide has become. How do we fix it? Can we fix it? How much worse, how many people must die before we can make it better. Let's go ahead and get optimistic, before we can stop it. I wish I could answer that. I wish anyone could. If we look at history, when we reached such a divisive point in the past, war broke out. Did the war solve it? No, but changes were made and we went on. We, eventually unitedThe problem is lives were lost, thousands of lives. God help us it doesn't take a war to make those necessary changes this time. 

The tax you didn't even know you were paying...

 We've all heard the old adage "There are only two things that are guaranteed in life; death and taxes". Hard to argue with that axiom. Taxes are endless; income, property, estate, sales, inheritance, capital gains, excise, luxury, tariffs, hotel/lodging, motor vehicle...  And more. But there is one tax not listed here that we all pay at some time, some of us more than others. Much more. It's an insidious tax for which there are no statues that codify it. But it's real, very real. That tax is time. 

Most discussions of inequality focus on wealth gaps and income. But there's an equally sinister version of inequality that doesn't pit the rich against the poor. It's the administrative state's pilfering a valuable resource from anyone trying to get ahead and improve their life. Time. 

Time inequality is less visible, harder to measure and more harmful than income inequality. Modern life and liberal market advocates have achieved a steady increase in individuals' leisure time. Work/life balance is a goal of any corporate environment these days. In the past those with fewer means labored from sunup to sundown to survive, they now enjoy more time for family, rest and improving their lives. Lassez-faire delivered this miracle; but government bureaucracies are surreptitiously taking it back. 

Navigating government systems is like a second job that doesn't pay the bills. Renewing your drivers license, that's a half day down the tubes. Applying for social security benefits? Lots of luck with that. Starting a side business? Expect to spend months navigating complex licensing requirements, completing paperwork, obtaining inane approvals, and making repeat visits. These are beyond mere annoyances, they're regressive, invisible taxes involving time, imposing the greatest burden on those with the least resources. A 2016 study by researchers at the consulting firm Management Lab revealed that bureaucratic waste - including delays and over regulation cost America 17 percent of its GDP. This number represents real hours lost, opportunities denied, and lives hindered. The well-to-do have ways around this. They can hire assistants, pay for expedited services, or simply take time off without financial strain. But for the poor, every government imposed delay comes with a tangible cost: lost wages, missed shifts, and less time with family. I didn't even mention frustration and stress.

A maze of occupational licensing laws govern over twenty percent of U.S. jobs. In many states to obtain a license for a job one must pay fees, pass tests and complete sometimes hundreds of hours of training. It's not just money being extracted, excessive amounts in many cases, but time. For example, in New Mexico to obtain a cosmetology license one must complete more than 1,600 hours of training. Requirements such as this are intended to protect incumbents who benefit from high hurdles to eliminate competition. 

To compound the problem, even after meeting the costly, time-consuming requirements, many find themselves blocked by arbitrary bureaucratic vetoes. Policies like 'certificates of need' allow government officials to decide, often without justification, that an individual's services aren't needed, regardless of that person's qualifications. Some people who are hindered by arbitrary hurdles seek help from the courts. Legal recourse can be a marathon as well, not to mention unaffordable by most. The Supreme Court case Sackett v EPA involved a family that wanted to build a modest home on their property in Idaho. The EPA claimed jurisdiction over their property and threatened absurd fines unless they obtained an expensive permit. The couple fought back, and won. But it took a full sixteen years to vindicate their rights. Is this government overreach or sheer stupidity? Both, I suppose, but a little heavy on the stupidity. 

What can be done about this? Actually, a lot. Lawmakers can repeal these ignorant, baseless licensure requirements. Government permission is not needed for jobs that pose no risk to the public. Streamlining government processes; if it takes more than 30 days, requires multiple in-person visits, or can't be completed on-line, then the process is broken. Implement response time caps, default approvals, and digital filing for everything. Regulatory audits shouldn't measure only monetary costs, they should also measure the time burden. Courts should treat bureaucratic time-wasting, particularly when it burdens or prevents people's right and ability to earn a living, as a matter of legal concern. Courts reflexively defer to regulators determination that a law is necessary, even when the law blocks a person from earning a living. If a law unnecessarily consumes people's time without a clear public benefit or need, the courts should strike it down. 

Every unnecessary delay, form and regulation is an insidious, hidden tax on our most precious, unrecoverable resource: time. And that tax is anything but equal. On an individual basis, time is a very limited resource. The time tax is real and it's time to treat it that way...

Getting the Job Done.

A couple of weeks ago a New York Appellate Court dismissed an unconstitutional and disgraceful $500million penalty on President Trump and his businesses. At the time, incidentally, New York Attorney General Letitia James was getting busted for mortgage fraud.  Rewind a little further and have a look at all the declassified documents released by Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe and Kash Patel that show the entire RussiaGate hoax was quarterbacked by then president Obama and Hillary Clinton. A scrutiny of the events reveals a collapse of the legal and deep-state forces against president Trump. One could arguably say such reveals explicit details of the ongoing collapse of the Democratic Party. 

Not only could the deep-state not defeat Mr. Trump and the forces of treachery and sedition break him, the prominent liars are themselves now facing criminal indictment. To ice the deception cake, Trump was re-elected. Quite a nightmare for Obama, Clinton, the deep-state, and the Democratic Party. It appears that all those who participated in the Russian hoax and various other phony trials, they're getting fired form their jobs and lawyering up. 

As if that's not enough, Trump is running a vastly successful administration in terms of economic policy, domestic policy, foreign policy, immigration policy et al. Oh, lest we forget, law and order. He closed the open border. Not only could they not put him in prison, or bust his businesses, or keep him off the ballot, or tie him to the Russia hoax, he is now succeeding in virtually every initiative he's put forward. In spite of numerous judicial hurdles (overreaching federal district judges) the judicial system appears to be working. As bad, inept and corrupt as some of these judges have been, with all of their political biases and weaponization of lawfare, Trump has prevailed. Hey, he may be a bit of pompous jerk at times, but he's getting the job done...

Our True Heroes...

 I like writing about politics and statesmanship, heaven knows there's plenty to write about that. I'm going to take a break today though from my predisposed political bent and talk about a different topic. This is one of my life topics, and a very important life at that. 

My precious granddaughter who is sixteen years old has been suffering from cancer for over ten years now. It's a very serious and life-threatening form of brain cancer called metastatic epitheloid glioneuronal. When she was initally diagnosed, the prognosis was grim. She was in the care of a team of doctors at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. They decided that surgery was the best initial approach. They operated and were able to remove 'most' of the tumor. As is often the case with cancer, especially in the brain, the tumor ensconced itself in the cranial cavity like hot lava oozing down a mountainside, embedding itself in every nook and crevice along the way. Their efforts to remove almost all the tumor was nothing short of miraculous. Years went by and she lived a normal childhood life. 

Then, it began to rear its ugly existence once again.   At the time there were some cutting-edge treatments available; radiation and proton therapy. I can't offer much of an explanation of these therapies as such is way above my pay grade. But empirical evidence convinces me that it is a life-saver, at least it was for my granddaughter. After the treatment program she was diagnosed as 'in remission'. Some of the tumor, which was now greatly reduced in size was still there but determined to be 'dormant'. One pitfall is the radiation procedures can and do have side-effects. Hers was Moya-moya. This is a rare progressive condition that affects blood vessels in the brain. Doctors were near certain it was caused by the massive doses of radiation she had received. Months later, she suffered a stroke. 

She survived the stroke and after extensive rehab was able to resume a near normal life once again. A few more 'more-or-less' uneventful years passed. One evening, recently, she began having severe headaches and vomiting and was rushed to the emergency room. Cat-scans and MRI's revealed the tumor had grown and was spreading again. Once again an oracular team of doctors convened to determine the best path forward. Because we humans can only endure so much radiation in our lives, radiation/proton therapy was not an option. Which only left one. Surgery. Surgery is by nature fraught with risk. Any type of surgery, some more or less than others. Brain surgery is likely the apex on the risk curve. And for the second time... The first time she had brain surgery she was a mere five years old. To a five year old, brain surgery, toe surgery, what's the difference. Everyone around her was telling her you're going to be fine. That was good enough. The second time though, she's sixteen years old with a significantly heightened sense of self awareness. She's a very bright young lady and knew the gravitas of the situation this time and she was scared to death. The moments I spent with her just before the surgery, seeing her fearfulness was heart-breaking and life-changing for me. 

She not only survived the surgery she came out like Rocky pumping his fists in the air on the steps of the museum in the movie "Rocky". The morning after the surgery she was awake and talking almost as if nothing had happened. I felt as if I had entered an alternate existence. How can this be happening? The sense of relief was probably akin to being rescued from a tsunami. We were prepared for whatever was to be, but ultimately were granted a God-given reprieve. 

This little girl in her short sixteen years of life has endured more pain and suffering than most people endure in a lifetime. And if you were to walk in her room at the moment you would see a smile brighter than the sun. She is my hero. If I can muster the courage I have seen in her for the rest of my days, I will be proud. The other heroes I have encountered in this ordeal are the gifted doctors that have so compassionately cared for her. And saved her life, more than once. There are a great deal of really smart, gifted people in the world. And then, there are doctors. Getting up in the morning (actually all hours of the day and night...) and going to work and saving someone's life. We are just so proud, glad and blessed that on one of those days, the life they saved was my precious granddaughter. Again. 

Godspeed to doctors the world over.