LIFE IS DIFFERENT NOW

I am so fortunate to have grown up in the 1950s and 1960s. There was still a real world out there.

Kids played outside, with each other, instead of being immersed in video games or TV or cell phones. The world was not yet dominated by corporations and national chain stores. There was individuality and originality. Songs had no “method”. Music all sounded different. TV was only on a few hours a day and there were only three channels.

Most people had a job and a decent income that could help raise a family. You were most likely assured of a lifetime job with a company and a reasonable, secure retirement after putting in your 20 years.

There was racism. Plenty of it, but we lived in a nation then that was locked in a struggle to grant equal right to minorities and women….to right the wrongs of an otherwise great nation. There was a sincere sense of hope and direction.

The 80s ended all that.

Since Ronald Reagan, our country has been in rapid decline. We have lost our neighborhoods. We lost our communities. Mom and Pop businesses have been devoured by big business. Jobs were traded for profits. Benefits were traded for profits. Security was traded for profits. Job loyalty was traded for profits. Bigotry, intolerance, national arrogance and bullying reared it’s ugly head once again under the facade of “American Exceptionalism”…brought on by a B-actor cowboy on horseback who played on the fears of a declining white America.

The Fascists have turned everyone against everyone else, in an attempt to divert our attention from their actions to completely and totally take control of everything we have. People retreat into their own causes, their own small communities and their own personal cyber world, building walls to protect what little they have left. Meanwhile, your security, dignity and hopes wither like a house plant in the corner that has been neglected.

The individuality of our cities has been replaced with cloned national companies. Identical shopping malls are planted in every community. Small business has been smothered. Community identities have been smashed and replaced with national models.

The big-business propaganda will blame it on “government regulations”, but fail to tell you that “Big Business” has written almost all of the laws since 1980 by the use of high paid lobbyists in Washington DC to further their own interests. The people are no longer represented. Money is now the thing that determines our future, with all profits going to the top, with NO "trickle down"..while they continue to poison our food, pollute our cities, our air, our water and our lives in the name of Shareholder profits.

Wars are no longer fought for Freedom, but for Corporate Interests abroad. Soldiers are used and then thrown away, no longer able to depend on a grateful nation, but discarded by ungrateful oligarchs.

We have an entire generation that has been raised in a cyber world, devoid of personal contact, unstructured by knowledge of history and how to control their government and lacking perspective and compassion for their fellow man.

It is now nothing more than utter survival. A total sense of self-identity with little regard for what is moral and right. The vision of the future is reduced to personal gain. Acceptance of evil is now considered the norm....just the other side of life. People avoid it by ignoring it....living in denial until it towers over their own tightly woven lives.

Truly a very different world than the one I grew up in.

Happy New Year…….I guess.

Strong Women.

Women have only had the right to vote in the US for 96 years. The19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave the women the Right to Vote on June 4th, 1920.

This world has been run by men since the beginning. The record is mixed, but overall, it has left us with a very violent, authoritarian, confrontational, male dominated society. All you have to do is look at what women still have to go through in 2016.

We have a woman of impeccable experience and qualifications, who has spent her life, against unimaginable odds, preparing to be The first woman President. At every turn, she has had to overcome obstacles put in place by small dick, small minded, fearful men. 

This is pretty much the same as what women have gone through since the beginning. 

My wife and I were having a chat this morning and she was reminding me about the suffering she faced in life. My wife grew up in a culture and a situation where she was convinced that most of anything that went wrong was, somehow, her fault. A very small, fearful man made her feel that way. A man afraid to be a man. A man afraid of accepting his responsibility for whatever situations they encountered. A man who refused to respect her dignity. What a terrible burden to carry. And it is a burden that many women carry, in many cultures, many countries and many religions to this day. 

I was raised by a very strong woman. My Mother grew up during the depression, which, for many, would have enough to defeat them. 

Add onto it, the fact that she, and a few of her many sisters, were sexually abused by their father, who was an alcoholic run around who was rarely home. And onto it, add the fact that she was only a teen ager when her mother died, forcing her to move from house to house, family to family, relative to relative.

Although my Mother was one year old when women got “The Right” to vote, ultimately my Mother was not “given rights”. She took them. 

Six years before I was born, my Mother met my dad while hitchhiking through the South Seattle neighborhoods between Rainier Valley and Foster. He stopped his delivery truck and picked up two very pretty young women. He eventually ended up dating one of them….and fell in love with the other. Unfortunately, three years later, after Pearl Harbor, he went into the Navy to serve as an Aircraft Mechanic in the South Pacific islands maintaining and repairing Grumman Corsairs. 

In my Mother’s ongoing desperation to have a family and life of her own, and being that Mervin was overseas serving his country, she married a man by the name of Robert Nelson.  He was a very decent man with a good job, respected in the community of friends and relatives. He was unable to serve in the military because he suffered from diabetes. They were married, and had their only child together, my sister Patti. 

Robert and my Mother could not have been more different. He was reserved, a late starter, slept late, worked late, stayed up late. He also had the dream of becoming a member of a Swing Band, playing both the trombone and stand up base. Hence, he spent many nights away from home……like her father. 

My Mother, on the other hand, was a woman who rose early, very structured and who was totally dedicated to giving her family the home she never had. She was a home body who did everything in the home, from cooking, baking, canning, painting, growing a garden, cleaning the house, making clothes for herself and her kids. They were not a good fit. 

In 1945, the war ended. Mervin came home. 

I am not sure how things happened from that point on. Most of it went to their graves with them, but, evidently they seem to have had an affair, because, although she was married at the time, all be it unhappily, in 1946, I became Mervin Thomas’ first born natural child. His first son of three. It is very evident, from her life, that Mervin was always the love of her life. It was not long after that Robert and her divorced and not long after that, my Mother married my Dad.

My Mother had every reason to fail but never did. She continued to provide a safe, comfortable, loving, peaceful home for all of us. She was selfless. She did what she knew was right with love, tenderness and a strong sense of duty. In response to whatever problems we may have been having. she always told us “Fix it.” Family and raising a family was her sole focus. 

My wife is so much like my Mother. She is compassionate, loving and caring, with a strong sense of duty and bound and determine to “Fix It”…one of the reasons I love her so much. It was the fact that she was obviously a good Mom that convinced me that she would be a good wife. I was right. 

This is one of the reasons I loved Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Trumpland”. He was talking about women like my mom. She was a strong Democrat. She was a feminist…who chose as her profession to be a wonderful, strong woman….and Head of House. A mom……with all her heart and soul. 

I know, if she were alive today, she would love voting for Hillary. This fact makes it even more significant that I support and vote for Hillary, not only a strong woman, but a great Mom. She would be proud. 

GIVE HILLARY CLINTON THE FREEDOM TO BE A WOMAN.

Why a woman President? Why a Black President? Why a Latino President? Or an Asian President? Maybe a Native American President?

It is surely not because we are trying to fill a quota or just because we can. It is because most of us want to bring a new and different perspective to the most powerful office on Earth and to the face we show the world.  

Don’t vote for Hillary because she has female parts. Vote for Hillary because she has a woman’s touch. Vote for Hillary because she has a woman’s sensitivity. Vote for Hillary because she has a woman’s sensibility….not because she can do the job like a man. Sadly, most of the woman leaders of the world have all been measured by the standards of men. That is unfair and unrealistic. Maybe that is why things never change. 

The majority of Americans want a woman for President, so………..let her be one. She doesn’t have to act like a man. She doesn’t have to think like a man. She doesn’t have to perform like a man. Don't pigeon hole her. She is a woman. Ego and bluster have been the order of the day for far too long and have very bad track records. 

The male figures in all of our lives contribute very different things than our female figures. Our “Moms” hold a much different place in our hearts than our “Dads”. Their roles are distinctly unique and equally important, and necessary for the balance we need to move forward. So it is with a nation. We not only want a woman to lead our nation, we NEED a woman to lead our nation. We need a different perspective. 

So…allow Hillary Clinton be a woman. Don’t expect her to be like a man. Let her show her soft, caring side. Her vulnerable side. Her sensitive side. Let her talk as if she were having a Mother-Daughter talk with Chelsea. 

That is the true difference between a man and woman, whether they are parents or leaders. 

A Republican Reality Check

I have come to the conclusion, that in many cases, Republicans lack the will or the energy to seek the truth. The prefer to latch on to labels and slogans to interpret their lives. 

If they were intellectually curious, they would drop their Bibles and their “Merican Flags and pick up a history book. 

If they did, they might find that:

• Capitalism and Free Enterprise are not the same thing. Capitalism is big money. Capitalism is super rich people who have no interest in the country, but instead try to find ways to extract it's money and resources. McDonalds replaces The Burger Shack. Wall Street replaces Main Street. CEO’s and stock holders replace Mom and Pop. Once thriving family farms disappear, being sold for pennies on the dollar for Corporate farming. In many ways, Capitalism poisons Free Enterprise by creating an uneven playing field. Eventually, Capitalism devours Free Enterprise. It is it’s very nature. 

• The Constitution actually is more important than either The National Anthem OR The Flag. Actually, The Constitution makes it possible to burn The Flag in protest, OR refuse to salute it as a Freedom of Speech. It also gives a citizen the right to refuse to sing the National Anthem or to sit if they wish. 

• America is not a “White Country”. White people came here and displaced the brown and red people who were living her at the time. While it is true that most of the early settlers were from predominantly “White” cultures, people from all over the world have come to the US and helped build it. 

• Democracy is frowned upon by the Republican Party. They think that only rich, mostly White  people should have the right to have a say in this country. They truly believe, and have stated so, that they do better when less people vote…so they have spend decades trying to propagandize people against their own government and to make it harder for people to vote……especially people of color.

• It is not brown people taking your jobs. It is people who are willing to work for less, get less benefits, work longer hours because they are desperate. Your jobs went overseas for a reason. Profit for corporations who don’t give a rat’s ass about you or the United States of America.

• Wages have remained stagnant for decades while costs of food, gas, housing, cars, transportation and medical care have skyrocketed, essentially creating more poor people, dependent on safety nets that are constantly being pulled away by Conservative legislatures. 

• A stable and productive society is one in which people CAN live comfortably based on the benefits they get. They can also buy more, thus increasing the profits of Corporations…….AND Mom and Pops. A Mom and Pop businessman or woman make sure their customer base remain strong and is able to afford to buy, again and again. A Corporation has no interest. They will just move on to the next green pasture. 

Today is Labor Day. 

It is the day, ironically, that comes at the end of summer and the beginning of another work year, that we remember those who work for a living. 

We remember those who worked for less than a living wage, put their lives on the line, either in skyscrapers thousands of feet above ground or in dark mine shafts deep beneath the ground, so the Super Rich could prosper and have comfortable lives. 

We remember the nurses, teachers, police, firemen, garbage collectors, cooks, dishwashers, auto parts salesmen and burger flippers that have made our lives a little safer, easier and meaningful. We remember the ones who worked at sub-par jobs because that was all that was offered. We remember those who worked for no wages and got nothing more than a meal and a roof over their head. 

And we remember those, today, who must work two and three jobs to make ends meet because wages have no kept up with inflation. We must also remember the children who must come home to an empty house because both parents are now required to work to make ends meet because the monied people in this country are too greedy. 

On this Labor Day, let us hope that, some day, those in power will once again realize that it is a strong middle class that “Makes America Great”, and without it, America fails. 

Happy Labor Day to all those who built and are still building America. 

1968 DNC Convention revisted.

I have been a little despondent lately looking at the social and political condition in this country. The hatred and discontent is not what we imagined when we worked for social change in the 1960s. I was devastated and confused about where our movement had gone. It seemed as though we had failed miserably.

Every generation has it’s political moment...it's political showdown. My generation just had it’s. The Progressives of the 60’s on one side..(Clinton and Sanders)…..and the rich, “privileged” Conservative kids on the other…(Bush and Trump). Just like in the 1960s.

After watching the Democratic Convention, from start to finish on C-SPAN (No commentary or commercials) I was reborn and rejuvenated. This truly was a convention created and produced by children of “The 60’s.” The Bill Clinton Era of the 1990s was just a warm up. This is serious and for real.

The people, the focus, the platform are all ideas that were hatched back in the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s. The sentiment that played throughout the Convention was identical to the one we had back then…..with one exception: It was the mature version. The doable version. The version that resulted from facing our problems from a realistic position as opposed to an idealistic one. The version created by experience and open eyes.

All of the players, who are my generation, learned that you have to compromise and get inside the system in order to make the changes we so desperately wanted and needed. You need to know how the system works in order to change it. And they also realized that we will not always get everything we want, and that getting most of what you want is better than nothing at all.

Bill and Hillary Clinton realized this long ago. So did Donna Brazile.......and all the other people who have molded today’s Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders did not learn that, but, in the end, his ideas were included……..by compromise. That is the way it is done.

Yes…we have a lot of work to do…..but….we are on the right path. Respect and equal treatment for all is our goal…..and, slowly, bit by bit, we will get there.

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are a perfect combination to get that job done. I have not been so proud to be a Democrat since Barack Obama was elected President in 2008.

Onward.

What race??

Race means nothing to me. I am an Asian spirit living in a White body. I've known that most of my life. I don't care who was first on earth. I would be proud to be part African or any other race and probably am. Most of us are not "Pure" anything. I have an African grandson. I have an Vietnamese wife. I have a Japanese sister and a Japanese neice. My daughter is Afro-Cuban, Syrian, and Chinese in addition to my own blood line. I have Scottish, English, German, Jewish and French blood running through my veins....and those are only the ones that I know of for sure.
The thing that matters most to me in people is their character and their spirit, not what god they pray to, who they love or what they look like.