Lawful Vs Legitimate

Philosophy, Politics, ,

Ever since the election there has been a great deal of talk about whether President Trump is the legitimate or illegitimate.  I’d like to put my two cents in for what it is worth.  To place my bonifide’s on the table let me just state the following for those of you who do not know me.  Just about 50 years ago I was granted a B.A. In Political Science by CSUN.  One of the things I studied was the many arcane definitions, like all sciences, that are used in Political Science.  The definition of Legitimate and Lawful were two among many.

Like all sciences, political science has many words that have definitions that are ‘discussed’ (read that argued hotly) by holders of deferent theory’s.  Legitimatcy is one of the favorite words to discuss. (If you don’t believe me just google “Political Science definition Legitimatcy” and see what pops up.). Like all other students of Political Science I, too, have my own preferred definition which I will now try to write down here.  To me a office holder is “Legitimate” when

“A person(s) is elected or appointed to an office by following the excepted laws, norms and customs of the polity the to which the office is a part of.”

Not very clear is it?  ;) To try and make it clearer what I’m trying to say is this.  The legitimacy of an elected official is not just following the letter of the law(s) governing the election.  There are customs and’ norms’ of the process and these ‘norms’ and customs are often not stated, or not stated clearly and far worse they are only held/ expressed at an individual level.  This means that each and every person of the polity in question has the right and privilege of deciding if the office holder is legitimate or not.

This is where President Trump gets into trouble.  He is the lawfully elected President of the United States of America.  All the “T’s” were crossed and all the “I’s” doted in the election procedure.  The Electoral College members were lawfully elected in the several states. Thier ballets were lawfully cast and properly counted and Donald Trump got over 270 of there aforesaid votes.  He won and has duly and lawfully sworn in.  He is The President.  By Law.  But now the problems start.

Unlike the President, or CEO, of a Company, POTUS does not get his job done by telling everyone else what to do.  He has to work with both Houses of Congress.  He has to work with the governments of the  several states, often as not.  In fact, if a President try’s to tell the Congress, ‘do this because I say so!’ He can get in trouble, even when they agree with him, Congressmen/women and Senators will get their back up and say “Wait just a God Damn Minute, Mr. President”.  An sometimes they will just not do what needs to be done because they are mad a him or don’t think he has the legitimate ‘right’ to do what he want’s to do.  To get things done the President need to have what is called now “Political Capital” and a primary source of Political  Capital is how many people view the legitimacy of the President at any given time.  An here is where President Trump has his problem.  His entire election has been about defying norms and customs.

President Trump has not released his tax returns before, or after, the election as has become the norm.  He has show he does not care if there is any conflict of interest, either apparent or real, between his own personal wealth and the Office of the Presidency, as has been the norm for over a hundred years.  He has attacked the White-house press publicly and personally and has stated he wishes to ‘ban’ some of the press corps from the White-house.  I could go on but these few items do illustrate my point effectively.  President Trump not only does not follow the Norms and Customs of our government he seems to be seeking out ways to violate them.  Sometime in the future, sometime very soon if he keeps on going the way he is going, he will finally over steps the bounds and then all hell is going to break out.

When he does step over the bounds it is vitally important that those of us who work to bring him to justice stay with in the bounds of American protests.  We must stay peaceful, no mater how hard it is and don’t mistake me, it will be hard.  For some of us it will be the hardest thing we will ever do.  But do it we MUST!  We must follow in the footsteps of the great peaceful protesters of the twentieth century, people like Gandi and Dr. King.  We must be willing to let the forces of oppression knock us down and then stand back up and not strike back.

The time is Now, the place is Here.

Why Size Matters

Politics, , ,

Ever since Saturday’s interesting press briefing about how large the turnout was at the Trump Inauguration there has been a great deal of talk about just why it is so important to him.  I think most everyone is missing the most simple and obvious answer.  President Trump is a businessman and he measures success and failure using business  metrics.  since is is mostly a Marketer/Salesman/Showman he uses the metrics he is used to.

So ask yourself the, what is most important to the entertainment impresario?  Not the performer, but the man who owns the show?  Is it not the size of the house?  Is not the size of the house how the impresario measures the success of his show? Sure good reviews are great, but only if they pull in the crowds. It won’t mater how many rave reviews the show gets if it doesn’t translate ‘gate’. Is this not what he and his people are talking about?  The press is saying he had a poor house compared to the preceding show.  How Demeaning.

 

What also is important  to a Marketer/Salesmen is the size of the crowd because a small crowd means you have to have a higher conversion rate to make the same amount on sales with a small crowd vs a large crowed.  Example for all those not conversant:

Say you need to make $1000 to break even if your crowd is 1000 people and each individual sail is $1 you will need to make 1000 sales and if only one sale per person can be made you need a conversion rate of 100%.  Now if your crowd is 1,0,000 people you need to only a conversion rate of 1% to make the same $1000.  Now most Marketers go into a sales situation with a known or expected conversion rate.  Given what you are selling you can then estimate from the crowd size just how many sales should be made and this is the sales goal given the salesman. A good Marketer wants to maximize the number of people he is selling to so he can have a lower conversion rate and still meet his sales goal.

See, President Trump is not using the traditional metrics used by politicians to measure success/failure he is using his old, familiar metrics.  The metrics he as used for most of his adult life and the press has told the world he didn’t get good crowds and he is afraid the ‘boss’  is watching, even though he’s the boss, he can’t quite shake the fear of being called out at the next sales meeting for a poor show.

So get used to it America, you asked for a Businessman to run the country just like a business.  Get used to him using the wrong metrics to measure success/failure because don’t expect Pres. Trump to change.

This Historic Day

Philosophy, Politics

On this historic Inauguration Day, and believe me it is historic, I thought I’d take time to share just why I think it is historic.  By historic I don’t mean something that historians and people who love history think is important. Not there are not, already, many things to make the Trump Presidentcy interesting.  Being elected without getting even a plurality of the vote, having the lowest approval of any any President since approval was measured, just to name two interesting historical points.  No, I’m talking about JFK, or Harding, or Hover historic.

Not since FDR took over from Hover has this country embarked on such a great political science experiment.  We are now going to see if what many business schools have been teaching for decades, that at high enough levels of management it is all the same.  That knowing what the job is about doesn’t have much effect on doing the job as it is all the same.  Managing Banking conglomerate is much like managing an Manufacturing conglomerate.  Now we get to find out if making deals in the financial stratospher is just like making deals in international politics.

Decades from now Political Scientists will marvel at our audacity/  courage/foolishness/stupidity to take radical move.  Think I’m being pulemic?  Well, lets just look at a few facts.  President Trump has absolutely no experience in any kind of politics, other than the petit politics of business, and now he will have to work with some of the most practiced practitioners of the arcane art of gran politics.

Most, if not all, of his cabinet has no experience with the departments they are going to be running.  Some, like his Secretary of State, do have some experience running ultra large corporations.  But corporations are not nations and they do not play for the same trivial stakes like money and personal power.  These people play for real stakes, life, death and the existence of whole nations and people.

Others, like President Trumps Secondary of Education, comes in with no experience in education other than promoting her idea of how education should be run.  She has no expreance in management, other than being a board member, in running a business and not even that in running a school.  She has not even been in a public school herself.  So now we have a non-academic (aka dilettante) theoretican running a national department. We are really putting to the test the hypothesis that anyone with half a brain can do the job.

So now we are on the road to find out if the long held belief that the government should be run just like a business.  We have a Business President and a business cabinate.  Let the experiment begin!

Where is the Earth Shattering Kaboom?

Politics

Earth Shattering KaboomOne of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons has Marty the Martian asking ‘Kaboom!, Where is the Earth shattering Kaboom?”  I don’t wish to make any predictions as to when, or how soon, or how, things are going to blow up for the GOP and the new Administration but I’m sure it is there should be an Earth Shattering Kaboom.

To all the supporters of the New President,  please rest assured I’m not dissing you.  In fact I’m taking you at your word.  For the entire election we have just been thru I have listen to you talk about how Trump is going to shake things up in Washington.  Well, congratulations you have just lit the PU-36 Space Modulator and we have no Bugs to put it out.  We can only wait for the KABOOM and then start picking up the pieces.

Don’t believe me, lets just look at the flying sparks:

1:  POTUS is in a running fight with ALL of the agency responsible for giving the Government the information it needs to do it’s job.

2: POTUS would rather believe what Wikileaks, Brightbart, and than the FBI, CIA, and NSA.

3: The Republican House leadership has ordered the CBO to NOT run the numbers on the repeal of ACA (Obamacare) so they, and we, are running blind.

4: The Republican congressional leadership has been told by many (I shan’t say all since I can not fact check it) of the Insurance industry’s associations that “Repeal and Delay” is the worst possible thing they can do.

5: The Republican majority is giving a pass to several of Trumps major appointments a pass on completing the basic background check.  The same one they insisted be completely finished before they would even start the hearings for Obama’s appointments.

6: Trump is now the target of Anonymous.

7: Trump is now in a fight with Congressman Lewis over his  legitimacy as President.

8: The stories about the connections between Trump and Russia just keep coming.

9: Trump is now come out supporting having a replacement law before the GOP repeals the ACA without coordinating with the GOP congressional leadership.

I could go on but these sparks will do for now.

Say It Ain’t So

Honor, Philosophy, Politics

Say it ain't so, Joe.I selected this plaintiff cry from a young baseball fan from almost a hundred years ago for a good reason.  I am asking everyone out there who reads this and for the past eight years have talked so strongly about how corrupt, unethical, criminal, etc the Democrats in congress, POTUS, Hillary Clinton, etc was, is to now to do something both very hard and very easy.

If you live in a state with even one Republican Senator, please contact them, phone is best (it is the ‘hottest’ medium) but email will do, and tell them you want them to insist that every one of POTUS-Elect Trumps nominations must compleate the Office of Government Ethics review(s) before they will progress past the  Committee  hearings.  Do this for for two very good reasons.  First, and foremost it is the right thing do.  You and every other American deserves people in government who can unabashedly show history.  Who can smile and say, “See I did all this and I have everything to be proud about it.”  This is after all this is what you were asking of the last Admenistration so why not use this opportunity to show you mean what you have said.

This leads us to the second reason to do what I am asking.  Show us that it is not “Just Politics” when you told us that you opposed Hillary because she was ‘crooked’.  You have an excellent opportunity to take the high ground in new year, new congress and new Admenistration.  You can show anyone who will bother to look that you believe in what you have said about honesty and eithics so much you will hold those who you believe in and support to the same standards you have held others too.

If you do this and if the Repubican controlled Senate does it you will be able to put to LIE those of the left you say you are just a bunch of hypocrites.  So I challenge you, Do you really so believe what you have been saying for ever so long.  Are you strong enough, brave enough, believe in your rhetoric enough to put your words to the test.

I wait with bated breath.

 

The Purpose of Power

Politics

“The Puropse of Power is Power!”

Until I got the idea for this post I had thought this quote was from George Owell’s novel “1984”.  It is not.  As far as I can see I t is of my own creation.  I still like it.  It is so much more powerful (sic) than the actual quote from 1984: “The object of Power is Power”.  So why am I writing  this, now, this minute?

I write about power because I have been ready so much online about the new House Rule the GOP caucus leadership is proposing that will punish any House member who Films, photographs, or streams any House Floor protests.  Most of the postings are trying to explaine or understand just why the GOP leadership would be doing this.  It is such a blatant use of power by the majority on the minority for so little effect that many are puzzled on why they would do it.

It is very simple, “The Purpose of Power, is Power”.  If you have power it serves no purpose if you don’t use it.  Like energy, political power exits in two very distinct states, it is either “Potential” or “Kinetic”.  By “Kinetic” I don’t mean moving but rather being active.  Like potential energy, potential power it is virtually undetectable.  We know it is there, but we can not measure it.  We know it is there, we can calculate how much it is there, but we can not  actually show it is there until is is actually used.  This need to use power to Know it is actually there is why the GOP House Leadership is taking this action.

Most students of politics, both practical and theoretical, will tell you that the best, most effective, way to test just how much actual power you have is to demonstrate, use, it on something small, and really trivial.  Something you really don’t need to do, but will show everyone who is watching who has the power and willing to use it.  Traditionally in the Congress this demonstration was done in assigning Office Space, size and location of offices, and Parking spaces, convince and walking distance.  These tow have already been done to the max since the GOP took control so they are not available for this new Congress.  So they had to come up with something and this new rule is it.

Do not be misled, this new rule was meant to send a message, it just wasn’t meant for the Democratic Caucus.  It is really meant for the Caucus’ that make up the Republican Caucus.  It is a clear and simple statement, behave or we will punish you.  An why would the Caucus leadership feel the need to send such a message?  My theory is that the Republican Caucus Leadership is not nearly as secure in its control as they want everyone to belieave.  The need to start cracking the whip now to keep everyone in line or it all can come apart on them.  The need to use the power now or it all may become ephemeral and leave them hanging.

Coming soon: “Why I think the Republican Leadership is not really all that secure.”

 

My Vs The

Politics

Ever since the election in November there has been a great deal of talk about Donald Trump being “Not My President”.  I’d like to take this time to talk about the significant difference between “My” and “The” in this discussion.

To start, lets be very clear about just one thing, come next month Donald J. Trump will become the next President of the United States.   Weather you voted for Trump or not.  Weather you support him or not, it makes no difference, he will be “The” President.  He does not, necessarily, become “My” President if you oppose him or his administration.

The significant difference is that “My” denotes support or likening for some one or something.  In this case the current holder of the office of the President of the United States.  All Americans should remember to see the Office, not the man, most of the time.  When Donald Trump is acting in his capacity of being the President, then he is “The” President.  All other times he is just “My” or “Your” President.  All Americans are free, for now, to say what ever we want about President Trump when he is not being “The” President.  We are not free to say anything when he is acting as “The” President.

Many people have asked me, “Well, how can I tell when he is ‘The’ President and when he is not?”  Good Question, and not an easy one to answer but there are some good clues.  First, and easiest is you can be fairly sure he is in his role of “The” President when he is in any of the formal settings of the office, like the Oval Office or the White House Rose Garden.  Like wise, he is not in the formal role when he is talking to political leaders of the GOP, or the Democratic Party for that matter.   Past Presidents have usually worked very hard to let people know when they are stepping out of the persona “The” President and this made it easier for people to know that when they didn’t send the signal(s) that they were NOT being “The” President then they were being “The” President.  That is, absent any signal(s) to the contrary the person holding the office of POTUS is always being “The” President.  One of the most common signals is when the President leaves the White House to go to Camp David or on Vacation.

These signals are going to become very problematic with the Trump Presidentcy if he follows thru with his indicated plan to spend a great deal of time in his home in Trump Tower.  Also, is he being “The” President when he Tweets?  How will we tell?  If he follows thru with his stand-offishnes with the press, the traditional signaler of the change of status it will be up to each individual to decide.  This may cause some very interesting problems for the new Administration.  I can’t wait to see what happens.

So, come January 21st 2017 Donald J. Trump will be “The” President but he will never be “My” President.

First Rule!

General, Humor, Politics

First rule of Plutocracy is don't talk about PlutocracyAs  Inauguration Day approaches American’s are starting to learn the first rule of the next four years.  We will be having a great time while the Plutocrats and their running dogs (Sorry, I just could resist it) to learn the first rule of the new age.  I thought I’d share a few more for my fellow, benighted liberals:

  1. Don’t talk about Plutocracy
  2. Then Man on top is ALWAYS Right
  3. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
  4. When something goes wrong, it is either the fault of the designated fall guy(s) or it never happened.
  5. When things go right all Credit MUST go to the Man on Top
  6. No one, ever, may criticize, or appear to criticize, the leadership and most especially the Man on Top
  7. The people who are not granted ‘Grace’ by the people on top are only ‘good’ if they know their place and keep to it.
  8. Anyone who does not know their place or does not keep to it must be  immediately and severely ‘ disciplined’.
  9. Don’t talk about the rules of Plutocracy
  10. he who has the most wealth WINS it all

Members of Congress and all RED state governments please take note.

 

 

Reaping the Whirlwind

Philosophy, Politics

To all of the voters out there who voted for Trump because he would shake things up.  Congratulations, your going to get your wish.  Unfortunately your not going to like the changes your in for.

There is what I’m told is an old Chinese Curse:

May you live in interesting times

May people in high places know your name

May all your wishes come true

I truly belieave that the election of Donald J Trump has brought down this curse upon your head.  Unfortunately a lot of not so innocent bystanders, myself included, are in the damage zone.

You wanted to shake things up.  To though out all the corrupt politicians (an by this you meant every politician that didn’t agree with you).  To ‘drain the swamp’.  Someone who talks straight and says what he means.  Be happy, your going to get all these things and more.

Trump is well on his way to shaking every thing up, unfortunately it is going to be more like a magnitude 7+ earthquake on alluvial than on bedrock. An just like an earthquake on alluvial  there is going to be way more collateral damage than expected by those who wish to shake things up.  So be happy with everything falling down around your head, you have gotten what you wished for.

A new mission

General, Philosophy, Politics

Today I am repurposing this site to ending the Post-Truth era of American politics.   I promise to stand against the idea that worlds mean only what the speaker thinks (says) they mean.  That road leads to insanity.  To start this battle I will say this about logic and reason.

For those of you who are not really familiar with logic let me say this:  In most forms logic a statement has three states, not two most people think.  A statement can be can be “True”, it can be “not True” (False) and fianly it can be “undefined” (that is there is no way to no if the statement is iehtger True or False).  A great deal of logical reasoning involves moving a statement from the undefined state to either the Ture or the False state.  Sometimes it is impossible to do this, and this is the problem we are facing.

In the coming days all Americans will be faced with the problem of deciding just what our elected and appointed leaders are telling us and in this new Post-Truth age it will not be easy.  It is to this effort of finding out just what statements are True, are False or are still undefined that I rededicate this blog.  I will label as “Undefined” (U) any reports or comments that come to me without proper citation(s).  I will research each and every source of a statement to the best of my ability to let you know where the statement came from and what it is passed on.  I will tell you if I then find the statement True (T) or False (F) and will live it up to you to judge for yourself.  Finally I will call out every instance of anyone basing the truthfulness of a statement solely on what they believe.

This is my promise to you.