I really needed this reality check since my way of handling righteous anger was to run down to the gym in my stocking feet and my work clothes looking for the punching bag! Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) there were a few in the gym that appeared a bit concerned about the crazed woman being any where near them so I pretended I was looking for my phone and quietly retreated. I do not remember just which OPM email was responsible for that response. I know people say God speaks to them but I am hard of God hearing so he usually must resort to the godly method of hitting me with a 2X4 to get my attention. Thank you, Matt, for the bludgeon. I needed it.
What an amazing man and amazing profile. I am honored to contribute and set up a recurring donation. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in tikkun olam—the Jewish practice of healing the world.
I saved this unread in my inbox until today, Sunday morning after Protestant church service in Oklahoma, for my quiet time. This is my “Sunday School” lesson for this week. This was my mission offering for this week. This gives me hope as I continue to struggle to pray for those in authority.
This gives me courage to remember God’s opinion of me, my actions/inactions, words/silence, love/indifference are the only measure that matters in this moment of time and in eternity.
I knew when you posted this that I wanted to set aside time to sit to read every word that you wrote about Father Rick Frechette. I remembered him from your previous post and I knew he deserved my undivided attention. I am incredibly grateful that you published this again now. My reaction to the election has been so different this time around than in 2016. I was in fight mode 8 years ago, but I’ve realized that I’ve changed exactly zero minds about any of it. I have given much less energy to Trump this time around. I just don’t feel like I have it in me anymore, but I am concerned about many trends of the new right. And it is new. The GOP has changed, even though some of the old players are still hanging around.
But as many concerns as I have, it is nothing compared to the situation Gather Rick wakes up to each morning. The love he displays is raw and gritty. You can’t display it with a meme or walk through it in a presentation. He lives a life worthy of living. He is bringing dignity to places that desperately need it. If he can do that in Haiti, there is no excuse for me to not do it here.
Just had a complete crap day. Was reading my Marcus Aurelius Meditations hoping to find some perspective on what having a “crap day” really means to the person perceiving it. .
Going forward, I think I’ll just read this article instead when I need some perspective when I’m “lamenting” my difficulties.
"I respect the elected officials...Musk is not one"
Frechette is not an elected official. It's one of the reasons Frechette deserves more respect than someone elected. Hopefully he's reading this and recognizes this "countersign" (as he calls it). It's important.
Kudos to Matt on the trip into hell. He also deserves more respect than any elected official.
There are times when my vocabulary is just not up to the task. This one. As with Windriven, atheism is my way of life but it offers no solace to Father Frechette or to Haiti. Frechettes unearthly compassion and caring do offer solace. He is a jewel of extraordinary luster in a world of few.
Well Matt, I think “Hyperbole” and “Unity” are the words of the day. For my small part, I’m trying to read between the lines of the hyperbole that floods my social media and cocktail conversations AND I’m trying to find unity in all my interactions, even with the nuttiest of my nutty liberal and nutty conservative friends and colleagues. I really believe there is an 80% moderate-middle shaking our heads watching the circus.
For what it’s worth, I find nearly all political debates boil down more to the “How’s” on solving problems than the “What’s”. Runaway debt should be reigned in; Trans kids shouldn’t be bullied into suicide; Hiring should be color blind; Criminals belong in prison; Illegal immigration is a problem (because legal immigration is so broken); and the list goes on and on.
So, my resistance to the divide (not to be confused with resistance to this dysfunctional administration or the last dysfunctional administration) is to not blindly post or share hyperbolic memes and rants, no matter how clever or well written they may be. I also work hard not to label my nuttiest friends with hyperbolic labels like Facists, Socialists, Communists, Nazis, or Ignorant Sluts.
I hope we all can find Love Among the Ruins and Unity in the Carnage of our Republic.
You mean you're for people acting balanced? Sure, I'm all for that! We used to prize that, and reward it. Though as I've soldiered through the last 10 years -- and especially the last four or five, I've found that the only way not to offend someone is to not acknowledge the reality that's unfolded. And sometimes, calling out evil is just as important, if not more, than finding unity. I say that as someone who has always been a unity guy. But the truth is often offensive to people who refuse to tell it. If they're just lying to themselves, well, fine. But when those lies start having a noticeable ripple effect throughout the country -- changing its very character, whatever's left of it -- well, then, that's enough to make me go Old Testament prophet, on occasion, and to do some calling-down-of-fire. But I generally agree with your instincts......
RE: The truth is often offensive to those who refuse to tell it.
True dat. And speaking of...
“The struggle to see things as they are is perhaps the fundamental driver of Western civilization. There is a long but direct line from Aristotle and Archimedes to Locke, Hume, Mill and Darwin, and from there through Orwell and Churchill to [Martin Luther King’s] ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail’. It is the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter.” - Thomas Ricks
From the afterword to "Churchill & Orwell" subtitled "The Fight for Freedom"
By Thomas E. Ricks, Penguin Press, 2017
>It is Orwell’s and Churchill’s quest for facts and the truth that makes them especially relevant for today’s world. This enlightened quest is only possible in a free and open society that allows dissenters and idiosyncratic thinkers (Churchill and Orwell famously both broke with their social and ideological peers at various stages in their lives) to voice their opinions “and the right to tell people what they do not want to hear,” as Orwell put it.<
As to that thing about "... the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter"... Written within just the last decade, it sounds positively *quaint* now, doesn't it?
Read the Diplomat Article (not the book yet)- Thank you, M.! This quote helps to explain why people cheer the chainsaw: " according to Ricks, they fought to “preserve the liberty of the individual during an age when the state was becoming powerfully intrusive into private life,”
"RE: The truth is often offensive to those who refuse to tell it"....Indeed (also referencing your piece) MLK JR was the one telling it (John 14:6)
Judging between good and evil is tricky business, so it's probably best to do it humbly, peacefully, and carefully (Jude 1:9)
The link is to a pretty decent review of the book. I read C&O while sippin' a different brand of bourbon from my (our) old standby on a motel balcony overlooking the Straits of Mackinaw back in 2017 or 18. It wasn't quite what I'd expected, but I enjoyed it.
Does the rule of law fit into your analysis somewhere? Is Donald Trump just like Joe Biden but with Homer Simpson skin?
Back in the days when the Republican party was a party of principles and ideas, the party that I spent most of my adult life in, your "Hows" rather than "Whats" was reasonably accurate. If you think that's the case today then you and I don't have much to talk about.
Windriven - I hope there is never a point where you write me or anyone else off from conversation based on a 100 word comment to one of Matt’s essays. But if that’s the case, I hope you find your own Love Among the Ruins.
Having read Love Among the Ruins not long after you first flooded the zone with Slack Tide, Matt, and having returned to it several times since then as a reality-check and antidote against sometimes failing hope and occasional bouts of self-absorbed self-pity, I've been wondering how long it would take you to shove this little tour de force in our collective faces and force us to contemplate more than our navels as we consider the speed of the onset of ruin for liberal democracy and a whole lot of other stuff in our own country.
Those among us who are so foolish as to think they've had it - or currently have it - pretty tough for some reason or another (a select little group, for which I have a lifetime pass allowing free and easy entrance at will, but often a less easy and somewhat pricey exit)... they should have perhaps had the experience of helping your Christian badass priest loading bodies from that reeking Port-au-Prince morgue and then sloughing them into the yawning mass graves in The Fields of Less Than Nothing, their remaining earthly rot borne there by the truckload in plastic bags and cardboard boxes, lacking any dignity save what little grace Fr. Frechette and his helpers could afford them.
I've had the scent of death in my face one body at a time, sometimes two, but never anything such as that endeavor must have entailed. I can't imagine, and honestly, I don't want to.
But since first having had that whole scene seared into my mind by your words some years ago, I doubt I've seen a funeral procession making its way to any of the perpetually endowed, well-kept cemeteries around here without imagining the "less than nothingness" of those fields and the lost lives they received while I watch the gleaming hearse and shiny clean cars filled with the well-dressed bereaved and mourners pass, carrying to their final resting place someone who, for whatever misfortunes might have befallen them in their life, died in a country that provided them a quality of life in all ways exponentially better than any of the countless unfortunates delivered to the maw of those insatiable Haitian burial grounds.
Consequently, I've often viewed with pity the struggles of the poor bubbas here in America, trying to make ends meet while gassing up their $80K 4X4s and oiling their pricey ARs while wearing a few hundred bucks' worth of the latest, most fashionable tac gear. Or the poor underprivileged college grad who's pissed off that, at the ripe old age of 25, for some unfathomable reason he doesn't yet own a Beemer and the 4000 sq ft two-story McMansion the world so clearly owes him. Or the struggling hedge fund manager who's on the fence about that new ocean-going yacht because, well, hell, a hundred mil just doesn't go as far these days as it used to, you know.
What I know is I'd like to shove Love Among the Ruins in the face of every American, bar none. And for those who couldn't grasp its import as to how well off they have it here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, I'd like to shove them out in a gang infested neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and see just how brave they are without an AR and well-functioning 911 service to back them up.
Some might say the situation in Haiti - both then and now - is disgusting. I say it's revealing. What's disgusting is what it reveals about so many of the people who live here in the richest, freest country ever to exist on the face of this earth and how willing they are to throw that away because a f**king egg costs more than they think it should, or someone like me doesn't agree with someone like them that thinks some people deserve less freedom and opportunity to succeed in life because of the color of their skin, or the God they do or don't believe in, or who their heart tells them to love.
And that disgusts me far more than the smell in that morgue and in those Fields of Less Than Nothing ever possibly could.
Thanks for the reality check, Matt. We all - every damned one of us - should appreciate it, if we really know what's good for us. And for our country.
Thank you, Matt, for bringing us back to focusing on humanity. “So when all the unavoidable things in life go the right way, you should be grateful and see everybody’s not so lucky. That should make you engage, to try and make it go right for as many people as you can, you know what I mean?” Amen to that.
Thank you, Matt. I have only been reading your work since JVL pointed me towards you a few years ago. But I have been anxiously awaiting your repost of this story since you teased it some months ago. It was worth the wait. And actually perfect timing for me. I needed this today. Thanks for reminding us that no matter how chaotic or out of control our external circumstances seem, our actions and decisions still matter. “But over time, you start seeing that to do the right thing no matter what has tremendous power.” That not only rings true, but seems to be a good word for right now.
Yeah, huh? According to the MAGA State Department the number is $5.6 billion, less than half of what you claim. But don't worry, Haiti is a Trump-declared shithole so they won't be getting much more. Haiti and its 11 million people will fester for a while, then let's see how that works out for you. But heck, I guess Trump can always just nuke 'em.
I do. It is far past time to raise taxes, especially on the top two deciles (of which I am a member). It is also important that we taxpayers get good value for the taxes we pay. I generally think that we do, but let's all be sure. That is a function of our legislative bodies who, you will recall, have the power of the purse. I'm all in favor of a legislatively sanctioned body to police in a very transparent, very public manner, how the executive branch spends the money that Congress provides.
Do you pay more because I know they’ll take it. Don’t wait for an increase. I’m right there with you but my husband already works until mid May to pay our “fair share” and then to find out it’s going to foreign countries for transgender plays is a little maddening, no matter the amount. Is it the US federal government’s responsibility to aid foreign countries? A lot of us say no especially when you’re borrowing off the backs of our children to do it. Something’s gotta give…we are too far in the hole to be saved by raising taxes when the debt/GDP is 130%.
Nope. But I'll be glad to if it reduces taxes for the middle class.
How many federal dollars do you imagine are spent funding "transgender plays?" As to whether foreign aid is the US federal government's responsibility, I'd say no. But is it smart? I'd say absolutely.
The Pax Americana that arose after the Second World War has kept great power rivalries, those schoolyard power plays that have consumed millions of lives and untold treasure throughout history, to a series of brush fires. Meanwhile, by opening trade and intertwining economies, standards of living have increased all over the world, not least here in America which has the strongest economy of them all. Bound by trade the price of armed conflict becomes prohibitive.
Unfortunately, humans just can't seem to abide peace and prosperity for all. There are those who never have enough. Bezos, Murdock, Trump, Musk (remember, musk is just another word for stink), Kochs, that scummy little Facebook shit, and a raft of others.
Debt to GDP is problematic, but not horrifically so. Balanced budgets are doable. Remember Bill Clinton? Meanwhile, Corporal Chaos want to raise the debt limit by 4 TRILLION dollars. But back to your primary point, foreign aid is not the cause of federal debt. Legislators find it very easy to spend money and very uncomfortable to raise taxes. Republicans have engaged in the legerdermain of spending like crazy while LOWERING taxes, especially for the most wealthy - and bitching about national debt. It's hysterical if only because a big chunk of the American electorate, jaws slack and eyes glazed, believes them.
Foreign aid is cheap soft power. Want to do away with it? Go ahead. But when soft power fails hard power is what is left. Hard power means your children and grandchildren die on battlefields. Americans bridled at the relatively few lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wait until we have to fight a real war again.
Yes on every word here, W. I fear at this point a *real war* would be the end of us, but not because a foreign enemy would defeat us. They wouldn't have to because we stand at the ready now to do that to ourselves with no one else's help at all.
I have no words. I'm sure this was hard to write. It was hard to read. Very sobering.
I really needed this reality check since my way of handling righteous anger was to run down to the gym in my stocking feet and my work clothes looking for the punching bag! Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) there were a few in the gym that appeared a bit concerned about the crazed woman being any where near them so I pretended I was looking for my phone and quietly retreated. I do not remember just which OPM email was responsible for that response. I know people say God speaks to them but I am hard of God hearing so he usually must resort to the godly method of hitting me with a 2X4 to get my attention. Thank you, Matt, for the bludgeon. I needed it.
Are you sure this wasn’t in Baltimore?
What an amazing man and amazing profile. I am honored to contribute and set up a recurring donation. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in tikkun olam—the Jewish practice of healing the world.
I saved this unread in my inbox until today, Sunday morning after Protestant church service in Oklahoma, for my quiet time. This is my “Sunday School” lesson for this week. This was my mission offering for this week. This gives me hope as I continue to struggle to pray for those in authority.
This gives me courage to remember God’s opinion of me, my actions/inactions, words/silence, love/indifference are the only measure that matters in this moment of time and in eternity.
I knew when you posted this that I wanted to set aside time to sit to read every word that you wrote about Father Rick Frechette. I remembered him from your previous post and I knew he deserved my undivided attention. I am incredibly grateful that you published this again now. My reaction to the election has been so different this time around than in 2016. I was in fight mode 8 years ago, but I’ve realized that I’ve changed exactly zero minds about any of it. I have given much less energy to Trump this time around. I just don’t feel like I have it in me anymore, but I am concerned about many trends of the new right. And it is new. The GOP has changed, even though some of the old players are still hanging around.
But as many concerns as I have, it is nothing compared to the situation Gather Rick wakes up to each morning. The love he displays is raw and gritty. You can’t display it with a meme or walk through it in a presentation. He lives a life worthy of living. He is bringing dignity to places that desperately need it. If he can do that in Haiti, there is no excuse for me to not do it here.
Thank you so very much
Just had a complete crap day. Was reading my Marcus Aurelius Meditations hoping to find some perspective on what having a “crap day” really means to the person perceiving it. .
Going forward, I think I’ll just read this article instead when I need some perspective when I’m “lamenting” my difficulties.
"I respect the elected officials...Musk is not one"
Frechette is not an elected official. It's one of the reasons Frechette deserves more respect than someone elected. Hopefully he's reading this and recognizes this "countersign" (as he calls it). It's important.
Kudos to Matt on the trip into hell. He also deserves more respect than any elected official.
There are times when my vocabulary is just not up to the task. This one. As with Windriven, atheism is my way of life but it offers no solace to Father Frechette or to Haiti. Frechettes unearthly compassion and caring do offer solace. He is a jewel of extraordinary luster in a world of few.
Well Matt, I think “Hyperbole” and “Unity” are the words of the day. For my small part, I’m trying to read between the lines of the hyperbole that floods my social media and cocktail conversations AND I’m trying to find unity in all my interactions, even with the nuttiest of my nutty liberal and nutty conservative friends and colleagues. I really believe there is an 80% moderate-middle shaking our heads watching the circus.
For what it’s worth, I find nearly all political debates boil down more to the “How’s” on solving problems than the “What’s”. Runaway debt should be reigned in; Trans kids shouldn’t be bullied into suicide; Hiring should be color blind; Criminals belong in prison; Illegal immigration is a problem (because legal immigration is so broken); and the list goes on and on.
So, my resistance to the divide (not to be confused with resistance to this dysfunctional administration or the last dysfunctional administration) is to not blindly post or share hyperbolic memes and rants, no matter how clever or well written they may be. I also work hard not to label my nuttiest friends with hyperbolic labels like Facists, Socialists, Communists, Nazis, or Ignorant Sluts.
I hope we all can find Love Among the Ruins and Unity in the Carnage of our Republic.
Cheers Mate.
You mean you're for people acting balanced? Sure, I'm all for that! We used to prize that, and reward it. Though as I've soldiered through the last 10 years -- and especially the last four or five, I've found that the only way not to offend someone is to not acknowledge the reality that's unfolded. And sometimes, calling out evil is just as important, if not more, than finding unity. I say that as someone who has always been a unity guy. But the truth is often offensive to people who refuse to tell it. If they're just lying to themselves, well, fine. But when those lies start having a noticeable ripple effect throughout the country -- changing its very character, whatever's left of it -- well, then, that's enough to make me go Old Testament prophet, on occasion, and to do some calling-down-of-fire. But I generally agree with your instincts......
RE: The truth is often offensive to those who refuse to tell it.
True dat. And speaking of...
“The struggle to see things as they are is perhaps the fundamental driver of Western civilization. There is a long but direct line from Aristotle and Archimedes to Locke, Hume, Mill and Darwin, and from there through Orwell and Churchill to [Martin Luther King’s] ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail’. It is the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter.” - Thomas Ricks
From the afterword to "Churchill & Orwell" subtitled "The Fight for Freedom"
By Thomas E. Ricks, Penguin Press, 2017
>It is Orwell’s and Churchill’s quest for facts and the truth that makes them especially relevant for today’s world. This enlightened quest is only possible in a free and open society that allows dissenters and idiosyncratic thinkers (Churchill and Orwell famously both broke with their social and ideological peers at various stages in their lives) to voice their opinions “and the right to tell people what they do not want to hear,” as Orwell put it.<
https://thediplomat.com/2017/06/churchill-and-orwell-why-they-fought/
As to that thing about "... the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter"... Written within just the last decade, it sounds positively *quaint* now, doesn't it?
Read the Diplomat Article (not the book yet)- Thank you, M.! This quote helps to explain why people cheer the chainsaw: " according to Ricks, they fought to “preserve the liberty of the individual during an age when the state was becoming powerfully intrusive into private life,”
"RE: The truth is often offensive to those who refuse to tell it"....Indeed (also referencing your piece) MLK JR was the one telling it (John 14:6)
Judging between good and evil is tricky business, so it's probably best to do it humbly, peacefully, and carefully (Jude 1:9)
You're welcome, Richard.
A proper amount of humility should help provide the care needed when judging such things as good and evil.
That's good stuff, too. Thanks, man. Might have to pick that up......
The link is to a pretty decent review of the book. I read C&O while sippin' a different brand of bourbon from my (our) old standby on a motel balcony overlooking the Straits of Mackinaw back in 2017 or 18. It wasn't quite what I'd expected, but I enjoyed it.
Same goes for the book.
Yes, Phil... Matt 5:9
Does the rule of law fit into your analysis somewhere? Is Donald Trump just like Joe Biden but with Homer Simpson skin?
Back in the days when the Republican party was a party of principles and ideas, the party that I spent most of my adult life in, your "Hows" rather than "Whats" was reasonably accurate. If you think that's the case today then you and I don't have much to talk about.
Windriven - I hope there is never a point where you write me or anyone else off from conversation based on a 100 word comment to one of Matt’s essays. But if that’s the case, I hope you find your own Love Among the Ruins.
Well Phil, my statement was conditional. "IF you think that's the case today..." My original statement stands.
Having read Love Among the Ruins not long after you first flooded the zone with Slack Tide, Matt, and having returned to it several times since then as a reality-check and antidote against sometimes failing hope and occasional bouts of self-absorbed self-pity, I've been wondering how long it would take you to shove this little tour de force in our collective faces and force us to contemplate more than our navels as we consider the speed of the onset of ruin for liberal democracy and a whole lot of other stuff in our own country.
Those among us who are so foolish as to think they've had it - or currently have it - pretty tough for some reason or another (a select little group, for which I have a lifetime pass allowing free and easy entrance at will, but often a less easy and somewhat pricey exit)... they should have perhaps had the experience of helping your Christian badass priest loading bodies from that reeking Port-au-Prince morgue and then sloughing them into the yawning mass graves in The Fields of Less Than Nothing, their remaining earthly rot borne there by the truckload in plastic bags and cardboard boxes, lacking any dignity save what little grace Fr. Frechette and his helpers could afford them.
I've had the scent of death in my face one body at a time, sometimes two, but never anything such as that endeavor must have entailed. I can't imagine, and honestly, I don't want to.
But since first having had that whole scene seared into my mind by your words some years ago, I doubt I've seen a funeral procession making its way to any of the perpetually endowed, well-kept cemeteries around here without imagining the "less than nothingness" of those fields and the lost lives they received while I watch the gleaming hearse and shiny clean cars filled with the well-dressed bereaved and mourners pass, carrying to their final resting place someone who, for whatever misfortunes might have befallen them in their life, died in a country that provided them a quality of life in all ways exponentially better than any of the countless unfortunates delivered to the maw of those insatiable Haitian burial grounds.
Consequently, I've often viewed with pity the struggles of the poor bubbas here in America, trying to make ends meet while gassing up their $80K 4X4s and oiling their pricey ARs while wearing a few hundred bucks' worth of the latest, most fashionable tac gear. Or the poor underprivileged college grad who's pissed off that, at the ripe old age of 25, for some unfathomable reason he doesn't yet own a Beemer and the 4000 sq ft two-story McMansion the world so clearly owes him. Or the struggling hedge fund manager who's on the fence about that new ocean-going yacht because, well, hell, a hundred mil just doesn't go as far these days as it used to, you know.
What I know is I'd like to shove Love Among the Ruins in the face of every American, bar none. And for those who couldn't grasp its import as to how well off they have it here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, I'd like to shove them out in a gang infested neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and see just how brave they are without an AR and well-functioning 911 service to back them up.
Some might say the situation in Haiti - both then and now - is disgusting. I say it's revealing. What's disgusting is what it reveals about so many of the people who live here in the richest, freest country ever to exist on the face of this earth and how willing they are to throw that away because a f**king egg costs more than they think it should, or someone like me doesn't agree with someone like them that thinks some people deserve less freedom and opportunity to succeed in life because of the color of their skin, or the God they do or don't believe in, or who their heart tells them to love.
And that disgusts me far more than the smell in that morgue and in those Fields of Less Than Nothing ever possibly could.
Thanks for the reality check, Matt. We all - every damned one of us - should appreciate it, if we really know what's good for us. And for our country.
Thank you, Matt, for bringing us back to focusing on humanity. “So when all the unavoidable things in life go the right way, you should be grateful and see everybody’s not so lucky. That should make you engage, to try and make it go right for as many people as you can, you know what I mean?” Amen to that.
Thank you, Matt. I have only been reading your work since JVL pointed me towards you a few years ago. But I have been anxiously awaiting your repost of this story since you teased it some months ago. It was worth the wait. And actually perfect timing for me. I needed this today. Thanks for reminding us that no matter how chaotic or out of control our external circumstances seem, our actions and decisions still matter. “But over time, you start seeing that to do the right thing no matter what has tremendous power.” That not only rings true, but seems to be a good word for right now.
I needed this today, Matt. Bless you.
The U.S. has been sporadically helping Haitians since 1791. More consistent "help" after 1915.
Since the 2010 earthquake over $13 billion of aid was received from the U.S. alone, per USAID. Where did it go?
Yeah, huh? According to the MAGA State Department the number is $5.6 billion, less than half of what you claim. But don't worry, Haiti is a Trump-declared shithole so they won't be getting much more. Haiti and its 11 million people will fester for a while, then let's see how that works out for you. But heck, I guess Trump can always just nuke 'em.
Don't ya think we need to have a "come to Jesus" moment in this country? https://www.usdebtclock.org/
I do. It is far past time to raise taxes, especially on the top two deciles (of which I am a member). It is also important that we taxpayers get good value for the taxes we pay. I generally think that we do, but let's all be sure. That is a function of our legislative bodies who, you will recall, have the power of the purse. I'm all in favor of a legislatively sanctioned body to police in a very transparent, very public manner, how the executive branch spends the money that Congress provides.
Do you pay more because I know they’ll take it. Don’t wait for an increase. I’m right there with you but my husband already works until mid May to pay our “fair share” and then to find out it’s going to foreign countries for transgender plays is a little maddening, no matter the amount. Is it the US federal government’s responsibility to aid foreign countries? A lot of us say no especially when you’re borrowing off the backs of our children to do it. Something’s gotta give…we are too far in the hole to be saved by raising taxes when the debt/GDP is 130%.
Nope. But I'll be glad to if it reduces taxes for the middle class.
How many federal dollars do you imagine are spent funding "transgender plays?" As to whether foreign aid is the US federal government's responsibility, I'd say no. But is it smart? I'd say absolutely.
The Pax Americana that arose after the Second World War has kept great power rivalries, those schoolyard power plays that have consumed millions of lives and untold treasure throughout history, to a series of brush fires. Meanwhile, by opening trade and intertwining economies, standards of living have increased all over the world, not least here in America which has the strongest economy of them all. Bound by trade the price of armed conflict becomes prohibitive.
Unfortunately, humans just can't seem to abide peace and prosperity for all. There are those who never have enough. Bezos, Murdock, Trump, Musk (remember, musk is just another word for stink), Kochs, that scummy little Facebook shit, and a raft of others.
Debt to GDP is problematic, but not horrifically so. Balanced budgets are doable. Remember Bill Clinton? Meanwhile, Corporal Chaos want to raise the debt limit by 4 TRILLION dollars. But back to your primary point, foreign aid is not the cause of federal debt. Legislators find it very easy to spend money and very uncomfortable to raise taxes. Republicans have engaged in the legerdermain of spending like crazy while LOWERING taxes, especially for the most wealthy - and bitching about national debt. It's hysterical if only because a big chunk of the American electorate, jaws slack and eyes glazed, believes them.
Foreign aid is cheap soft power. Want to do away with it? Go ahead. But when soft power fails hard power is what is left. Hard power means your children and grandchildren die on battlefields. Americans bridled at the relatively few lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wait until we have to fight a real war again.
Yes on every word here, W. I fear at this point a *real war* would be the end of us, but not because a foreign enemy would defeat us. They wouldn't have to because we stand at the ready now to do that to ourselves with no one else's help at all.