Beautiful Day

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Adlai E. Stevenson

Patriotism is a strange animal, balanced between extreme, scary, jingoistic, ethnocentric nationalism and America hating, pinko wacko insanity. The wife and I gave blood at Fenway and 9/11 and you were stirred by the number of fireman, policeman and other civil servants who chose that day to give along with the "normal folks" like us that calculated this day into our giving as part of our remembrance of the day.

Everyone of us was greatly effected by 9/11, my mother was at the Javits center in Manhattan when it happen, my brother in law in a sequence of events ended up doing 4 combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. The feelings we all had that day and the months of followed were mixed with anger, sorrow, fear and wanting of retribution. But for many of us, and especially for me, it was the first day that I really felt like I was an American.

There was little most of could do as Americans, American flags became popular everywhere as a virtual competition of outward symbolism of patriotism. This patriotism was not very well thought out. It was that combination of pride and fear, a reaction to an attack. Not necessarily, a dedication to the Constitution or the frameworks that make this nation great, those of infrastructure, resources, both human and natural and the ability of our government despite it's weaknesses, to continue a democratic tradition for over 200 years; but rather a childlike dedication to symbols and slogans.

It was a beautiful day out, that 9/11/01 and all of us have different memories. The following Global War on Terror has taken us to a bizarre place as Americans. WWII as a conflict was a much more terrible, and horrific war, there were days were hundreds and even thousands of Americans lost their lives, not to mention the millions of combatants and non-combatants that lost their lives, this was total war. The entire investment of all the nation's resources towards defeating the Axis. As I and many others so frequently muse, there is no sense of this sacrifice today, only by our soldiers and their families and perhaps our grandchildren who will have to pay for this war.

That beautiful, sunny day has brought us to a new America. I'm unsure if the fear and anguish of 9/11 has played itself out yet. Even in the darkest days of WWII, I think most Americans could visualize what victory was. The methodical turning back of the Axis tide, the proverbial jumping on Berlin would exhibit victory and peace. What does victory look like today? Is it the evangelical spread of participatory democracy?, of a full franchise for entire populations?, freemarkets of the Friedman variety in every nation across the Globe? I've never heard anyone try to articulate it in any reasonable matter? What does victory in the Global War on Terror looks like.

The smarter Generals, leaders and academics have defined it as a multi-generational process. A multiple generational winning of hearts and minds. The question is, if the United States is to show the leadership across the world, it seems we need to be a much better role model. Our own rule of law, which is likely unparallelled in world history is being riddled by corruption, lies, and even more insidious an eroding of civil liberties in the name of national security.

Somewhere between the fearmongering that benefits some politicians in the United States as being "more patriotic than thou" and the home grown America haters, many of whom have greatly benefited from its largess, there is a need to be a new generation of American patriots, willing to have the introspection necessary for a democratic resurgence so our leadership is moral as well as military and economic.

I see few current politicians who can provide this leadership. Where is this generation's Lincoln, Roosevelt, Wilson who rises above the pedestrian nonsense of a national campaign to provide true leadership?

Laborious Lobotomy

OK, this is more of a history discussion than a political post. Labor... For individuals, it is celebrated, man's battle against nature, taking the American frontier, building the railroads, digging the Erie Canal, clearing brush from the Crawford ranch. Now wouldn't you have people to do that?

Collectively labor is now frowned upon if not reviled by many. Yes, the bumper sticker says, the union brought you the weekend, but fewer and fewer non-government jobs are unionized and many unions are dying, faced by foreign competition, new technologies and the growth of non-union shops and small business. There was a time that a high school graduate could stay in his hometown, get a job at a factory and be set for life, those times were actually pretty short and came out of the post-WWII economic boom.


POWER IN THE UNION
You can't treat the working man this way. One day, we'll form a union and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve! Then we'll go too far, and get corrupt and shiftless, and the Japanese will eat us alive!-The Simpsons

Unions to many, are seen as anachronistic, not needed in these modern times, with government protection and a reasonably educated working class. In fact, they are often seen as protectionist and even anti-American, big business and government alike have played this card for years. Unions fighting for decent treatment brought many of the things that we take for granted these days, fair pay, holidays, regards for safety, workman's compensation and all of that great commie crap. Gradually American manufacturing while still strong, began to whittled away by globalization and unions began to be less able to negotiate from a position of strength. Unions simultaneously began to mimics the bureaucracy of government and corporations and began to seek survival just to feed itself and not necessarily it's membership.

THE RISE OF THE INVESTOR CLASS
Along with globalization, perhaps one of the greatest changes against trade unionism is the rise of the investor class. Now, a young McDonald's employee or Wal-Mart worker can sit at a table formerly inhabited by robber barons and captains of industry. The rise of 401K's, electronic trading and relatively low brokerage fees have put the stock market in the hands of college students, retirees, daytraders and anyone who want to take a chance at the great scratch ticket of capitalism. Even my 5 year old niece and 10 year old nephew have a reason to peek at the Wall St. Journal everyday.

An investor class sees the need for corporate boards and overcompensated corporate heads to look out for it's interests and has little class consciousness when the needs of their retirement nest eggs come into question. While it's not that 401K owners sit at home twisting their mustache hoping for the demise of union labor, there is a certain sympathy for corporatism and the need for corporations to protect their personal interest. Part of the appeal of private accounts in Social Security is that workers feel a need to collect more than their T-bills and the Tech Boom of the late 90's is greatly in the minds of many people who have some amnesia of the resulting bubble bust. In the long run, it's hard to tell if middle class people would benefit more from unionism and collective bargaining than the "individual responsibility" of retirement planning, but it looks like that die is cast.

On the Public Dime
So at some points I have to be a little introspective. I am a government bureaucrat. The term bureaucrat is much maligned nowadays. The actual function of a bureaucrat is designed to prevent corruption. Provide a fair wage and benefits to take the politics and logrolling and backscratching out of the governing process. Max Weber describes bureaucracy in the most positive of terms. Many of us take public service very seriously. We appreciate the fact that we have decent compensation, great benefits including a pension, and relative job security and take pride in protecting the taxpayers' money and providing the best services that we can to our constituencies, in our case the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As a modern day apparatchik, I have benefited greatly from one of the few places that unionism grows strong, government and education unions. As a union member, it can be frustrating at times to see the negotiations, negotiations that neglect career ladders, professional development, quality of life and a commitment to public service for shortsighted bargaining over welcomed, moderate but unsustainable pay raises that have no respect for job effectiveness or commitment but are based on grade and seniority.

I am unsure of what the future of government unions is. Faced with the looming costs of pension obligations and medical costs but also armed with powerful political friends it is difficult to understand this aging workforce, many of who may lack the technical, managerial or leadership skills to complete the tasks of modern governing. Surely, the one growing (both government and educational) and constant union will adapt and retrain, or whither.