Answer Please, What Did You Do?

“What did you do in the war, Daddy?” is a simple but searing question children are apt to ask after their parents have lived through turbulent times. 

It began as a recruiting poster meme in Great Britain during the Great War, World War I. It retains powerful currency, for we have entered another great war, this one without bullets but with trenches dug by unwavering allegiances to politically opposite beliefs in the direction our country is taking under an unorthodox president.

What did you do, congressman and senator, while Donald Trump trampled upon the Constitution, negating the integrity of checks and balances set up to prevent authoritarian rule?

What did you do, cabinet secretary, when you weakened protections on the environment, labor conditions, international relations, alliances with allies?

What did you do, judges and justices, when executive power tried to run rampant?

What did you do, military officers, when your leadership and expertise were mocked by a draft dodger who dishonored Gold Star parents and prisoners of war?

What did you do, intelligence gatherers and analysts, when your findings were discarded and the diabolical promises of our adversaries were believed?

What did you do, scientists and educators, when science, truth and facts were dismissed as fake?

What did you do, immigration and border personnel, when the dictates of a racist autocrat superseded the universal values of family and sanctity of human life?

What did you do, American citizen, when duty called for you to register to vote and to cast your ballot? Did you accept your obligation or did you succumb to passive acceptance?

Did you stay quiet while “truth, justice and the American way” was transformed into lies, injustice and a grifter’s idyllic?

Or did you, at last, finally, rise from your miasma of loyalty to the Office of the President to demonstrate loyalty to the nation, to our ideals as a country of equals and equal opportunity?

We are in a war for the very soul of America. No superhero will materialize to save the day. Each of us will have to undertake the simple but heroic action of saying, “Enough already! Give us back our pride, our values, our integrity, our humanity, our country!”

It's Not Too Late to Roll Up Britain's Red Carpet

If the Brits had any balls they would immediately cancel Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom. Yes, I know The Donald and his family entourage are about to board Air Force One to wing across the pond. 

Why would the Queen and outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May allow a blowhard like Trump to violate the norms of diplomacy on their territory? Keep in mind that several times Trump has injected himself into British politics, a diplomatic no-no for any leader of a foreign country. 

Trump backed Brexit. He has criticized May’s stewardship. He has expressed a choice for her successor. He has pressured Britain to abandon Huawei, the Chinese chip maker. He offended royal protocol during his initial trip to England by walking in front of Queen Elizabeth. He dissed Meghan (Markle), the Duchess of Sussex, by calling her “nasty.” Trump is now claiming he never called her nasty, but the quote came from The Sun, a British tabloid owned by his buddy Rupert Murdoch, and has been broadcast on television. 

Why would the British roll out the welcome mat to him? It is almost a certainty he will overstep normal bounds during his time with them, as he did a week ago in Japan when he sided with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un over his host, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the danger of recent North Korean missile tests. 

Yes, he is in Great Britain as part of the 75th anniversary commemoration of D-Day.  But that does not entitle him to the trappings of a respected visitor. 

As a country the United States believed it was important to stand up to dictators. Under Trump we now believe dictators like Kim and Vladimir Putin are more credible than our own state department and intelligence community. 

Some would argue Britain owes its continued existence to the aid we extended before we entered World War II and the military might we brought to bear against Germany after we engaged in the conflict. True. But it could also be argued that Britain’s valiant fight 1939 through 1941 benefitted America. Moreover, had Britain succumbed, many military analysts believe the United States would not have been able to defeat the Axis Powers.  

For sure Trump would explode if his ego were damaged by a late disinvite. He would lash out verbally and perhaps economically against the British. But somebody has to start demanding that America and its president behave not just in their own best interests but also in those of the Free World. As too many countries slip under the iron fist of autocrats it is imperative that Trumpism not be allowed to fester and plant roots in democratic countries. 

Seventy-five years ago America led the D-Day invasion to save the world for democracy. This year Britain can stand proud once again if it rolls up the red carpet before Donald Trump soils it with his dirty shoes. 

Far From Right

I listen to a lot of NPR while riding around, thanks to suggestions from Dan and Ellie a few years ago. I'll be the first to acknowledge NPR and probably most of its listeners lean toward the left. So to provide some balance I steel my teeth and occasionally tune into some right wing talk radio to keep abreast of what the yahoos are saying about how our country is going to hell in a hand basket led by a Kenyan communist president who is going to take all our guns away and impose a dictatorship of like-minded people of color who will redistribute the wealth of true-blue real Americans, meaning white Americans. These TBRAs want to return to a simpler time, say, 100 years ago.

One of my retired business buddies from time to time sends me emails of right wing screeds. Friday he treated me to two of them. First, there was the claim that retired congressmen and senators have pensions totaling $174,000 per year for life. This claim, of course, is not true. Here's a link that will detail what they are eligible to receive after five years of service (http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/retirement_for_members.shtml). I sent him the link as well.

His second email demanded a more intimate response. He had forwarded a screed that bemoaned all the taxes we pay in the United States, taxes that did not exist 100 years ago, a time when we were the most prosperous nation in the world. Here's the list:

Building Permit Tax 

CDL License Tax 

Cigarette Tax 

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax 

Federal Income Tax 

Federal Unemployment Tax 

Fishing License Tax 

Food License Tax 

Fuel Permit Tax 

Gasoline Tax 

Hunting License Tax 

Inheritance Tax 

Inventory Tax 

IRS Interest Charges  

IRS Penalties

Liquor Tax 

Luxury Tax 

Marriage License Tax 

Medicare Tax 

Property Tax 

Real Estate Tax 

Service charge taxes 

Social Security Tax 

Road Usage Tax (Truckers) 

Sales Taxes 

Recreational Vehicle Tax

School Tax 

State Income Tax 

State Unemployment Tax  

Telephone Federal Excise Tax 

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax 

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax 

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax

Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax 

Telephone State and Local Tax 

Telephone Usage Charge Tax 

Utility Tax 

Vehicle License Registration Tax 

Vehicle Sales Tax 

Watercraft Registration Tax 

Well Permit Tax 

Workers Compensation Tax 

Here’s what I quickly wrote back:

Not sure if we were richest country 100 years ago (as the screed asserted). It might have been Great Britain still, but they were fading. As to why we have so many taxes, consider that 100 years ago we did not have social security. We didn't have an extensive road network. Most food was not processed by outsiders, nor were many drugs available, so we needed better regulations. We hadn't fought in two world wars and countless skirmishes since then, so our military was much smaller. Most people back then earned less than a thousand dollars a year. Do we want to go back to those times? Do we want to return to the days when women didn't vote, when blacks were not treated equally, when education was limited to the wealthy?

These look-backs at simpler times can be amusing, but I doubt most people would like to go back and live in homes that all too often did not have indoor plumbing, or even electricity, that used dirty coal to heat. We live in the greatest nation in the world today. Shouldn't we expect to pay something for that privilege? 

I'm sure anyone who doesn't want to pay all the taxes listed in this email can find many countries where no such taxes are levied. There's nothing stopping them from emigrating to them and making room for all those who want to enjoy the freedom to pay those taxes.