Lyrics for Our Times

 

From Cabaret, the profound lyrics of Fred Ebb:

 

Money makes the world go around

It makes the world go 'round.

A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound

A buck or a yen

A buck or a pound.

Is all that makes the world go around

That clinking, clanking sound

Can make the world go 'round

Money money money money

 

These lyrics came to mind when I read our local Palm Beach Post story (Sunday, Feb. 14), Why upstart political 'sommelier' Blair Brandt says GOP money base is Palm Beach.  Essentially, although Brandt was “saddened and shocked at what he saw” on Jan. 6, he anticipates it will have an impact on his clients, “donors and corporations he advises on political strategy and giving.”  He has found “’people are more interested and curious than ever in terms of what races to support and who is the right candidate.’"

 

“What he insists, however, is that the future of his ‘political sommelier’ venture is firmly rooted in Palm Beach, a Mecca for the new Republican Party. And as he listens to clients, donors and prospective candidates alike, the focus is all about flipping control of the Congress in the 2022 midterm elections.”

 

After college he started “a concierge-style real estate service” in Manhattan which catered “to wealthy millennia’s.”  That was such a success that he landed on the Forbes list of “up and coming entrepreneurs.”  That led to “a reality television show on the ABC Family network.”  Sound familiar?

 

“Today, Brandt is back in Palm Beach, where he has meshed his entrepreneurial instincts with his new-found passion for conservative politics to create a sort of concierge-style political consulting and fundraising firm, The Brandt Group LLC.”  According to Brandt, "’I kind of view myself as a political sommelier. It's like being a concierge at a hotel, or a Sherpa — you’re kind of guiding people through a massive maze.’"  (The maze being matching wealthy donors to the correct conservative political choices).  Because he grew up on Palm Beach and now lives there with his family, he “had connections. Local donors took his calls and Brandt knew which donors should be invited to exclusive fundraisers.”

 

The article dovetails with yet another one in the same edition of the Post: You won't believe the total sales at the most expensive condominium ever built in Palm Beach County.  There was much controversy over The Bristol condominium in West Palm Beach when it was proposed in 2013, particularly whether such a massive downtown structure was appropriate, or even financially viable.  Well in this era of fast money and $50k Bitcoins, it has sold out.  The total sales make it the “most expensive condominium ever built in Palm Beach County hitting just under $600 million.”

 

“Units at The Bristol ranged in price from under $5 million to $43 million.”  And this is not Manhattan, folks, we’re talking Florida.  But, as the article correctly highlights, “Palm Beach County is in the national spotlight these days as a destination for individuals and companies seeking to relocate to a state with low taxes, warm weather and plenty of luxury touches, from top restaurants to numerous cultural attractions.”  Also the pandemic “sparked a surge in residential real estate sales and the relocation of financial firms seeking to serve wealthy residents in the area.” 

 

The thread tying these two articles together is the tsunami of wealth that has flooded the area with zero interest rates favoring those very individuals who need help the least.  And aside from real estate and the toys of the über wealthy, money-money-money gets channeled into politics, frequently as a means of preserving wealth, one back scratching the other.  This is yet an added Democracy headwind.

 

What else could explain Mitch McConnell’s acquittal of Trump in the Impeachment proceedings, and two minutes later delivering a blistering attack which would have been suitable if he was a House Impeachment Manager? (“Give 'em the old razzle dazzle / Razzle Dazzle 'em… How can they hear the truth above the roar?”  Again Lyrics by Fred Ebb, this time from Chicago.)  This way he can appeal to Republican donors for the 2022 mid-terms based on which part of the fractious Party he is addressing.

 

The point is, everything is tied together by the very sick practice of political contributions, and this goes for both sides of the aisle, the now much maligned anti-Trump PAC, The Lincoln Project alone raising $90 million during the last election.  Publix, the major super market chain in Florida, recently gave $100K to Friends of Ron DeSantis for his re-election campaign.  Days later, DeSantis, who has badly botched the distribution of the Covid vaccine ignoring the CDC’s guidelines, designated Publix as practically the sole distribution point for vaccinations, a job for which the Publix appointment scheduling system was totally unprepared.  What resulted for seniors is a version of the Hunger Games. 

 

Some nine years ago after the Supreme Court brought the Super PAC into being by ruling that unlimited contributions can be made by corporations as well as wealthy individuals – that they had such rights under the Constitution -- I wrote about this terrible decision.  The content is as valid today as when it was first written, so here is a truncated version:

 

"Stay tuned, but now a word from the sponsor" --- the despicable political advertising condoned by the Supreme Court. The Founding Fathers obviously anticipated ungodly sums of money being raised by corporations and unions for political PACs so elections can be bought and sold by these "people" whose first amendment rights would otherwise be violated. Or at least I guess that is the Court's interpretation.

 

The American electorate is electronic media addicted; broadcast emails, streaming video, Tweets, YouTube, network and cable TV. Outside sleep and work, "video consumption" is the #1 activity, or, if written, preferably 140 characters or less please. Robocalls are part of the political media bombardment. Sound bites over substance.

 

When motivational research was being pioneered by the likes of Ernest Dichter and James Vicary in the 1950s and popularized by Vance Packard in his Hidden Persuaders, little did they know that some of those principles would become part of a giant advertising machine aimed at buying elections. Advertising 101: sell the emotion, not the pragmatic benefit of the product.

 

And, so in this political season, we're selling religion and all the emotions that are attached to the same (and in a negative way, not the way it was used in WW II advertising to spur solidarity and sacrifice):

 

But the real selling job is just getting underway. Sell fear. Just wait until the Super P's roll out their shadowy images of their opponent bathed in a light to look like Jack the Ripper.

 

It is no wonder that a society that consumes movies that are more computer animated than acted, and cannot live without 24/7 video is a perfect target for Super PAC persuasion. Just fork over the bucks and try to buy an election! Sanctioned by the Supreme Court, the same folks who "sponsored" the results of the 2000 presidential election.

 

After four years of Trump and gas lighting, a more virulent version of political persuasion has been created.  I give Trump credit for only one thing, his media instincts.  He capitalizes on a form of agnotology, a culturally constructed ignorance, purposefully aimed to create confusion and suppress the truth.  He even has his Republican sycophants protecting him from being guilty of his Impeachment charges.  Any reasonable person would conclude that he was responsible for the turmoil of January.

 

I’m not the first to note it, but Trump has become the Jim Jones of politics, a cult leader who can say,” march on Washington on Jan. 6” and his obedient somnambulants obeyed under the guise of being patriots.  He incited them to violence after creating the movement.  His mass persuasion tactics are more instinctive than studied, but they work.  As do the names he gives opponents such as “Little Marco” (Rubio), “Lyin' Ted" (Cruz) who now crawl to his beck and call.  The cult views him as Satan’s adversary.  Gotta get a little religion into the mix.  Might has well give Trump the title of “Reverend,” as was Jim Jones’ moniker. 

 

In his “Rally to Save America” he spewed his election conspiracy theories and his cult followers adopted more punchy one liners from his speech and innuendo such as “Stop The Steal!,” “Hang Mike Pence!,” “Fight For Trump!” 

 

These slogans and nicknames are potent manipulative tactics.  This is not new science.  Gustave Le Bon's 1895 pioneering book of social psychology, The Crowd; A Study of the Popular Mind, stated "The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most influence. Yet it is certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short syllables" [e.g. “Stop the Steal”] "as they contained the solution to all problems. They synthesize the most diverse unconscious aspirations and the hope of their realization. Reason and arguments are incapable of combating certain words and formulas. They are uttered with solemnity...and as soon as they have been pronounced an expression of respect is visible on every countenance, and all heads bowed. By many they are considered as natural forces, as supernatural powers. They evoke grandiose and vague images in men's minds, but this very vagueness that wraps them in obscurity augments their mysterious power."

 

How in the world did we get to this point?  We’re lucky to have escaped the complete implosion of Democracy on Jan. 6, but the donors are lining up for 2022 and the Palm Beach crowd will be there to urge on the Trump-inspired cultists, and the PACs will be lining up to make THEIR world go ‘round, by gladly taking their money, money, money.

 

Isn’t it time to put political candidates on a more even playing field?  Grant political candidates an equal amount of $$ to spend on elections.  Make it a government supported stipend.  After you spend it, your advertising days are over, so do so wisely: even better, public televised debates and no political advertising.  Time has come to starve the PAC beast.  It will put some fund-raising firms out of work.  Let them raise money for those who need it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press

How about by Presidential Executive Order?  Or just behavior?

I’m still recoiling from the murders of five employees of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis including a feature reporter, Rob Hiaasen.  Hiaasen’s career began at the Palm Beach Post, our local paper.  We all feel a personal connection. Writers there remember him and one, Howard Goodman, has written the definitive article on the incident: The targeting of journalists has to end

As Representative Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said on CNN “This president plays with fire. He has deliberately demonized the press and journalists. To call them the enemy of the people is a remarkable statement from the head of our government. And that puts every journalist at risk. Now, he didn’t do what happened yesterday in Annapolis, but he certainly helped create a climate … where it’s fair game to go after the press. And where does that end? And that’s what I worry about, that sooner or later it leads to this kind of tragedy.”

This is essentially reiterated in Goodman’s article:  “No one has inflamed the present atmosphere more than he, this man who occupies the highest office in our land. He has set a tone which he feeds at every rally and almost every day on Twitter.”

“I am not blaming him for Thursday’s tragedy in Annapolis. But I do charge him with injecting a sense of hatred into the soul of this nation that journalists do not deserve and which — in a country with more guns than people — may all too easily turn into bloodshed.”

However, is it no wonder?  Consider what has come before:

"Never forget. The press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it."  -- Richard Nixon to his national security adviser Henry Kissinger in a taped 1972 Oval Office conversation

“I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” --- Donald J. Trump

“The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work. You’re the opposition party. Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media’s the opposition party.”   --- Stephen Bannon

And the award for the most disingenuous goes to Kellyanne Conway:  “You [the press] always want to go by what’s come out of his mouth rather than look at what’s in his heart.”

We have looked and found the heart of darkness.

This is where the lines converge, a 2^nd amendment run amuck and the perpetual debasing of the 1^st amendment, lambasting the press.  Until we can get our priorities straight, expect more gun violence and subsequent “thoughts and prayers.”

Journalists must be protected.

Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, one in February and the other in May.  The Journalist Protection Act would make it a federal crime of certain attacks on those reporting the news. They’ve merely been “referred to committees on the Judiciary”:

Sponsor:              Rep. Swalwell, Eric [D-CA-15] (Introduced 02/05/2018)

Committees:      House - Judiciary

Latest Action:    House - 02/05/2018 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsor:              Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (Introduced 05/24/2018)

Committees:      Senate - Judiciary

Latest Action:    Senate - 05/24/2018 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Which will pass first, this Act or a Trump appointment to the Supreme Court?  As our 1^st amendment is undermined, and any action on the banning assault weapons unlikely, what kind of a nation are we becoming?

For an answer, the cautionary words of Mahatma Gandhi, captured in art by Jani Leinonen, “Your Beliefs” ---

Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.

Trump Ennui

It is bad enough that he is omnipresent like a Cheshire cat on the airways, on line, wherever you turn, but to have him as a “neighbor” as well is pure overload.  I suppose he misses the gold-plated Mar-a-Lago and the opportunity to play on his own golf courses in the sun.  More likely, it is the procession which draws him here, the parade of pomp and preparation, and his brand being brandished.

Days in advance our local newspaper breathlessly announces his highness’ arrival, expectantly and cautionary as it causes total disruption in the area.  This coming visit involves Chinese President XI and his entourage who will be staying at the Eau Palm Beach which used to have the more hotel-like name of Ritz Carlton.  I once stayed there for a big corporate conference myself.  It’s palatial, but I suppose Trump’s Mar-a-Lago gives it a good run for its money.  So you can catch Xi at the Eau. 

Palm Beach County – and in particular Palm Beach itself – will be a traffic nightmare.  Thus far the expense of these numerous Trump visits is borne by the County.  Trump makes a big deal of donating his $78k quarterly salary to the US National Parks Dept, while cutting its parent Department of the Interior’s budget by $2 billion.  According to my math, it’ll take him more than 6,000 years of donating his salary to make up the difference.  Maybe I have an extra zero someplace, or missed a zero as it seems like a VERY long time but if he lasts 6,000 years in office, all the more power to him. It could happen as everything he does is amazing, big time, etc.

He refuses to pick up Palm Beach County’s expense of guarding him so he can play golf in the sunshine.  Perhaps the County’s officials should read “his” Art of the Deal and walk away from the table, go protect yourself, Donald.  It might be the only way they/we can get reimbursement for those expenses.  But the County officials like to delude themselves that as Trump’s visits put Palm Beach County in the limelight that will increase tourism and thus drive tax revenue.  Do you want to visit PBC because Trump is frequently here?  I guess Washington DC’s tourism is on the wane as the star is rarely there on weekends.

I can’t imagine why the Chinese delegation agreed to meet at Mar-a-Lago where Trump can flaunt his ego.  After all, there are very weighty issues to be discussed. Where does one get the idea that these can be easily discussed while teeing off on a golf course?  Why not stay in the White House where there is a bowling alley?  They can discuss the issues while joking about Trump’s 7-10 split.  Trump is a good golfer (my neighbor is one of his pros) and he probably wants to play games he can easily win.  Look at me!

This egomaniacal inexperienced President is now toying with one of the most serious international issues of his presidency, the growing threat of North Korea.  Making statements like, we’ll go it alone if China doesn’t act or Tillerson’s inexplicable dropping of the mike simply saying “the United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment," does not exactly inspire confidence.  We’re talking nuclear war here, folks, not jobs for coal-miners.  Not that the latter is unimportant but that is in an industry that is dying because of alternative energy supplies, including natural gas.  It’s going the way horse-drawn carriages when the automobile became dominant.  Focus on the right stuff!

The first 100 days are not yet over but it already seems like 1,000.  There are so many issues that keep me restless at night, day, whenever, the Syrian humanitarian crisis, the impending Korean disaster, decimating environmental budgets and regulations,  the gas lighting of fake news, Russia’s possible interference with the election and the general vulnerability that the Internet and social media create, the continuing inability of Congress to function, the callous consequences of misguided immigration and refugee proposals, impracticable building of a wall in the middle of the Rio Grande river while our Infrastructure is falling apart, tax reform which will inevitably favor the rich including the removal of the inheritance tax, unrealistic border taxes (and extremely difficult to articulate and manage), and I can go on and on, but what’s the sense? 

At mid-term elections I will cast my one vote, if we last that long – given the consequences of the ischemic seizure of our entire governing process and the self-serving dilettantes now at the tiller.  I’ve written often about DJT even though I mightily try to ignore him, my resolve weak due to ongoing embarrassment for our nation and, now, just plain fear. I write as a form of catharsis.