Republicans Adrift . . . Continued infatuation with strict social legislation drags the party back into the caves

(Part 2 of 3 . . . By continuing to focus on the bad things they see about Obama’s Presidency, Republicans are missing the points they themselves noted in their own analysis of the 2012 election. A continuing hard shift to the right, led mostly by Donald Trump's fire breathing speeches and interviews, won’t help. The right turn didn’t help in 2012, and a continued focus on social issues is losing them support from women and Latinos, two groups they need if they are to win the nation’s highest office.)

Oh well . . . so much for self-analysis. The Republicans have bashed immigrants (legal and illegal), continue to hype failed trickle-down economic policies, steadfastly refuse to reign-in domestic companies dodging taxes by moving operations overseas, have made social issues a key part of their campaigning.

Some of those stands will kill the party, although clearly there’s a festering frustration with government that has manifested itself in a long, warm embrace of Donald Trump and his fire breathing rhetoric. Never mind that up until now he hasn’t offered any policy papers on any issues, though he keeps saying he knows what to do. Trust him. Candidates, including Trump, want to “fix” the immigration “problem” by throwing every undocumented immigrant and his or her family out of the country, building a trillion-dollar wall along the Mexican border, and killing the Constitution’s 14^th amendment that says kids born here are citizens and entitled to all that entails, including equal protection under the law. (The amendment includes a wide range of other issues.)

All that sounds good to some people, but politicians saying they want to change the Constitution scares me more than a little. They are feeding on fear and loathing, not making good policies.

Remember, to paraphrase Cameron, a party has to prove it can govern. Republican have lost that edge. When Obama won his first term, the stated Republican strategy was to defeat him so he wouldn’t win a second term. They offered no big legislative ideas, but instead focused on trying to kill every bill or proposal Obama made. It didn’t help. Obama won his second term and the Republicans are still pissed. Unfortunately all that prissiness begs the question as to whether or not Republicans can govern.

They obviously have in the past, and while some of the philosophical benchmarks of their party have been thrown into the gutter (small, less intrusive government and budget restraint as examples), there’s still hope. Not with the current tone, though.

It’s not a leadership tone. It’s not a tone of building businesses, resolving immigration, education or health care challenges. It’s a small-minded tone of  . . . We kind of don’t like anyone.

They should have defeated Obama in his first run . . . but they imploded with McCain and the party going insane by picking Sarah Palin as his VP . . . and then Romney and the party failed to capitalize on Obama’s perceived weaknesses and the shaky economy. Romney came across as an out-of-touch rich guy, failed to gain the full support of his own party (members of which continually questioned his “conservativeness.”) Romney, through his political career, had a pretty moderate record, but he threw that aside during the primaries and tried to take a hard right turn to better appeal to more conservative primary voters. The end result was another win for Obama . . . despite the shaky economy, a rise in unemployment, continued bleeding of jobs and companies moving operations overseas, falling economic confidence, rages against the Affordable Care Act, endless babbling about Obama’s religious beliefs, birthplace, and “socialist” policies . . . Oh yes, and the color of his skin. Despite all that AND an almost unbelievable disrespect for the office by other elected officials . . . Obama won a second term. And the Republicans haven’t recovered, found their own clear voice, or given us a vision of how they would lead and govern.

Instead, they took their eyes off their own solutions and kept hammering Obama. That has been a losing strategy. Because now we have no idea where candidates or the party really stand on any policies. It’s a mushy mess at this point, though as the field dwindles, some will start to stand out for their policy promises, not just their rhetoric. I hope.

Republicans Adrift . . . How? Why? What the Hell?

(Part 1 of 3 . . . We take a quick look at issues facing Republicans as it tries to win back the White House. Even with such a large field, the only voice people are hearing is Donald Trump, who continues to shine in the polls. Don't worry, next week we take aim at the Democrats.)

Let’s be honest here: The Republican Party has lost is focus and is adrift in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

How? Why? What the hell?

The GOP path to never-ending election success seemed pretty clear, but between here and there, Reagan to Clinton through Bush and Bush, the party hung some pretty respectable national numbers and some pretty reasoned and largely sensible policies (OK . . . that whole “trickle down” theory thing turned out not to work so well . . .)

But now, with so much national anger over Obama and the Republican goal of doing nothing except focusing on denying him a second term, Republicans moved to the right and are ignoring their own analysis of national election results.

That analysis pointed out several Republican failures in the general election (for instance focusing on Obama’s record instead of laying out a clear direction for future national direction). By avoiding that strategy, Republicans (Romney) never got into a cage fight with Obama over economic policies, despite bad number on unemployment, Obama’s health care bill and other key issues. (I’m avoiding personalities here). Voters said they didn’t really like Obama, but they liked the Republican directionless.

On economic policies, Republicans were hurt by several things . . . insistence that the rich deserved tax cuts and the middle class didn’t (even though most voters thought tax cuts would help the economy), Republicans lost women voters and didn’t attract Hispanic or young voters, and Republicans couldn’t move voters away from Obama despite voter dissatisfaction with him. (The Winston Group).

“What Republican campaigns need to develop is the ability to win issues and prove their candidates are ready to govern. David Cameron in his effort to modernize the Conservative Party redefined its purpose as not to win elections but to prove the party is ready to govern. The implication is that once you have proven you are ready to govern, you will win elections.

At a broader level, Republicans have to become the party of economic growth again, and effectively engage in developing and advocating policies that reflect that. This is essential if Republicans hope to grow as a party,” according to an analysis of the 2012 election by The Winston Group.

The Republican take on 2012 was that the party had to broaden its appeal to young, women and Hispanic voters, focus clearly on economic policy and avoid focusing on social issues.

The numbers are in and CVS takes a hit, but dropping cigarettes doesn't kill profits

Wow . . . CVS has stopped selling cigarettes, a move that will cost the company over $2 billion a year in sales. Bravo. I smoked pretty much all my life, but clearly there's no good that comes from it. It contributed by my health issues a couple of years ago, probably cost one of my best friends his life, and is responsible for thousands of deaths every year (realizing that people make the decision to smoke or not).

According to ABC, “CVS Health runs 7,870 drugstores. The front-end figure from those stores would have been flat if CVS hadn’t pulled tobacco products from its shelves nearly a year ago. The drugstore chain actually helped profitability by dumping thin-margin tobacco products, but its executives knew they would take a sales hit because smokers often grab other products when they stop in for their next pack.”

That was my experience in my liquor store. We contemplated dropping cigarettes (my father never liked the idea that we sold them), but not only did they generate revenue on their own, but only rarely did people come into the store just to buy cigarettes. They almost always bought wine or liquor, or at least a 6-pack. So in a store with sales of about $1.5 million, cigarettes generated maybe $50,000 to $75,000, but the overriding issues always was, “If we drop cigarettes, how many customers do we lose and how much do we lose in sales of other items when they come in?”

So CVS customer are probably tracking the same spending habits. But there's no doubt that cigarettes probably don't belong in a store of a company trying the steer its image into that of a health care company. Not only that, smoking's expensive. Even here in New Hampshire, cigarettes are $5-plus a pack, so a pack a day's going to cost you $40 a week, $140 a month and at least $1,700 a year. While one can reasonably argue that the CVS move was a business decision made in the face of increased competition and lower national cigarette sales, the move was still bold. They should be commended for it.

A political war on women? Sure seems so

We can debate whether or not there’s a “war on women” if you’d like, but if you think there isn’t, the weight of evidence would be against you.

There seem to be several fundamental issues at play here.

One is that some men just don’t seem to see women as equals, therefore feel compelled to continually attack women by demeaning their need for birth control, a national network of health care centers (like Planned Parenthood), or their right to have control over their bodies. Sometimes this takes a religious turn as “the faithful” rise up in anger swinging the Bible at anything abortion/fetus/pregnant/sex or outside their narrow moral focus. (I should note here that I don’t believe for a minute that being “religious” makes someone automatically a more “moral” person.)

This seems to create confusion in some people who believe religion should play a bigger part in government. No. First, when people talk about more religion in government, they are usually referring to conservative Christian beliefs . . . “their” religion, if you will, not Buddhists or Jews or Hindus or Muslims. Forget atheists all together. Government is secular and should remain that way. It is for all the people, not just believers of a certain faith.

Now that doesn’t mean people of faith don’t have rights, shouldn’t be respected or should be marginalized . . . It just means government should not be run or overly influenced by religion.

So what about this “war on women,” and why does it seem it has gotten worse over the last few years?

I think in part, some modern-day conservatives feel it’s important to revisit the abortion and other social issues regularly in hope of changing or preventing the more open social norms. Gay marriage, pro-choice, “religious freedom,” voting rights, and women’s health issues (often couched in anti-abortion rhetoric) are all a part of this agenda.

Old-line conservatives of a generation or two ago seem stunningly moderate by comparison.

This neo-conservative wave, spearheaded and emboldened in part by the rise of the Tea Party, sees nothing wrong with demanding the death of Planned Parenthood, want to put themselves between doctors and their patients, advocate closing women’s clinics and want to restrict access to birth control. The icing on top of the anti-abortion cake is that many don’t think there should be any exceptions to their anti-abortion legislation . . . not for rape or incest or even if the mother’s life is at risk. Forget the fact that no federal funds are used to fund abortions anywhere, including Planned Parenthood.

“GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee supports Paraguay's decision to deny an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim, he revealed in an interview Sunday.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," the former Arkansas governor argued that the Paraguayan government's refusal to allow an abortion for the now-11-year-old, who gave birth last week after being raped by her stepfather, prevented a second tragedy.

‘Let nobody be misled, a 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible, but does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child?’ he asked. He added later, ‘When I think about one horror, I also think about the possibilities that exist and I just don't want to think that somehow we discounted a human life ... Let’s not compound the tragedy by taking yet another life.’” (Huffington Post)

Apparently the 10-year-old rape victim doesn’t matter.

This conservative wave is carrying the Republican Party into the Presidential campaign, and could well carry it on to the rocks, smashing a party that has had few big-thought ideas or presented a clear path for creating more jobs, building American business, feeding food-insecure families or eliminating tax loop holes for big business over the past two decades. (Hint: “Trickle down” didn’t work.) We’ll talk more about that at another time . . .

The current fight over Planned Parenthood is this conservative social agenda battle all in one snapshot. Let’s assume the information that abortions comprise about 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s business is correct. That would mean if it’s defunded and dies, 97 percent of its business disappears as well . . . birth control, breast, cancer, STD, HIV and other screenings, family counseling, pregnancy counseling, sex education, and on and on. With some 700 Planned Parenthood health centers across the country, women (as well as men) know there’s a general standard of care that may not be there with a patchwork of individual health clinics.

Somehow politicians don’t talk about that. Those that say they are all for good health care for women but want to kill Planned Parenthood are living in their own political dream world and trying to convince us we should join them.

I decline.

Any politician who wants to limit a woman’s right to decide what her health and reproductive choices should be has crossed a line. Nobody is “pro-abortion,” they would rather not have people who don’t want to get pregnant not get pregnant. They are pro-choice and believe a woman should have control over her body. Some men deride women who talk openly about sex and the need for birth control. Rush Limbaugh famously called women who enjoy sex “sluts.” I didn’t hear a peep about men who enjoy sex.

Let women be. I am tired of men standing up and declaring that women shouldn’t be able to decide for themselves. Politicians shouldn’t be in the doctor’s office or the bedroom. For a party that bemoans big government and regulations, Republicans seem all too eager to step in where they’re not wanted.

Pre-season’s ending, and politicians are moving into the regular season

My how the mighty have fallen.

We’re coming into the prime political season and there seem to be so many candidates we’ll need a roster card to keep them all straight, though once the primaries begin, the field on the Republican side will be whittled down quickly. Once the money starts to dry up, candidates just can’t struggle on. Meanwhile, Trump leads the pack and there’s no sign his popularity is waning yet . . . He’s a whiney blowhard who has hit a voter nerve with his tough, often insulting talk, but he’s offered no policies or insights into his actual plans.

Same on the Democratic side, as Hillary and Bernie fight for the hearts and minds of the young, independent and usual Democrat voter. The irony is that Clinton has managed to sabotage herself and her campaign with the private server/email issue. A string of bad decisions, from having a private computer network and server to start with . . . to mishandling the fallout once it sprouted . . . to trying to spin the issue into something voters would believe . . . to finally handing her server over to the government . . . Whew . . . We’ll see if she continues her downward spiral, but I’m guessing she’ll rebound despite all her issues. 

But let’s not rule out Bernie yet. He has captured the hearts and minds of those sick and tired of the usual political blah blah with his shirt-sleeve speeches and strong policy statements have attracted huge enthusiastic crowds. Where that goes over the long haul, who knows. He’s tapped into the same “sick of Washington” voter, but at a higher level (though perhaps less “pissed off” than the Trump people).

Anger levels remain high in the GOP, though a number of candidates seem to be running against Obama and not setting their own paths. Social issues also remain high on the GOP hit list (we’ll dive into those at another time). For now, suffice it to say, I think that’s a huge mistake.

Watch all the debates . . . listen to the tone and the substance. Hillary’s going to be struggling to shake off the email issue, and Republican candidates will be struggling to step out from under the popular cloud that is Donald Trump. Stay tuned.

In the World of Dreams Not All Dreams Are Good Dreams

I used to take sleep pretty much for granted, and I was damn good at it. Not so much anymore. I’m not sure why, but it is kind of annoying.

Without going through the whole thing again, a couple of years ago I had my right lower leg amputated after a systemic infection and spiked blood sugar spun out of control. I had fallen a couple of times and the last time I was unable to get up off my bedroom floor. Two friends of mine, Becky and Ruth talked and were concerned I hadn’t returned phone calls in a couple of days, so they called to police to check on me. Suffice it to say, after a series of bad decisions by me, I ended up in the local hospital ER and then was transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where they pretty much pulled me back from the edge and got everything under control . . . but losing the leg was inevitable.

All very dramatic, I realize, but I guess it’s the reason I really don’t sleep much. Or at least sleep when I should and where I should.

I have large gaps in my memory of those first couple of days after my crash. Bits and pieces, but no string of memories. Little mind-bites, like those sound bites on the news. Nothing connects, though I have an outline of events in my head.

Things started to come into focus as it became clear I was going to lose my lower leg. I was surrounded by friends and family, and while I tried to delay what was to be the inevitable with other treatments, it was clear that the leg was going to go. I think I slept pretty well in the hospital, though the massive antibiotics they were giving me ruined my stomach for weeks. Leg gone, I remember lying in the recovery room thinking about how weird it was not to see a lump under the covers where my foot would have been. It’s kind of weird when they knock you out for surgery and you wake up in a large bustling room with a bunch of other people who were knocked out for surgery.

It was inevitable.

Rehab I think I slept pretty well, too . . . though the repeat of strong antibiotics continued stomach issues that I had in the hospital.

I was fitted for my prosthesis there at the local hospital where I was doing the rehab . . . a black carbon fiber, titanium and stainless steel replacement for a real leg that wasn’t all that great even when I had it. Physical and occupational therapy, and a home check with my therapists to make sure everything would work for me (I widened three doors and added a ramp, and a bench for my already big shower.)

It was great to be home. Returning had been a major goal of mine in rehab, and while there had been some discussion of moving into a different place, at that time I just couldn’t think clearly about that just then. I’m not very good at setting goals for myself, but that was one. Another friend named Becky (Becky 1.0 and Becky 2.0) spent days cleaning my house from top to bottom, in and out. She comes every couple of weeks now to clean as well.

I had trouble sleeping almost as soon as I got home. I’d sleep fine when I first went to bed, but then I’d wake up in the middle of the night, often covered in sweat. Then less and less.

My usual dream is a vision directly above me lying on the floor struggling to get up and not being able to. The dream usually ends with blood coming out from under me somewhere and creating kind of a thick burgundy liquid against the wood floor. I don’t sleep much after that. It’s pretty much the same most nights, though sometimes I dream of being taken out of my house and to the ambulance, the snow feeling so good on my face, looking up and seeing that blur of snowflakes coming straight down on me. Other times my trying to get up is on a loop . . . unable to pull myself up on the bed or the chair and falling back to the floor. Every once in a while I’m sitting on the floor, missing my lower leg, hunched over, my hands on my knees, blood running out of my knees and my right elbow (which had been rubbed to the bone while I was flopping around on the floor before I went to the ER). I used to be strong . . . in my dreams I’m weak.

So now I sleep mostly in a recliner in my living room and a bit in the bedroom. It’s funny, because I have a great bedroom, with its timber framing and high ceiling, lots of windows at the head of the bed and a row of windows facing the front of the house. It used to be my sanctuary and it still warms me when I go down the hall. I just can’t seem to spend a whole night there.

It’ll get better. My two Becky friends suggested re-arranging it so the bed faces a different way and the TV and bureaus are positioned differently. That might be a good idea.

Time will tell, and time heals. We build those scabs over all kinds of wounds, then they close up and we get scars. Those scars stay with us, but after a while we own them.

Funny How a Little Garden Can Make You Happy

It’s funny how things happen. When I was married we had a little garden out back that gave us some tomatoes, tons of spearmint, pole beans, zucchini and a few other things. It wasn’t a great garden by any means, four raised beds nestled close to the back of the house just off the deck. We had a walk-out basement, so the deck was up a story outside the kitchen, but it was perfect since we could run a string from the edge of a couple of raised beds to the deck for our beans to climb. Two oak barrels gave us some carrots.

A couple of years ago, after I got back home from rehab after losing a leg, my sister rekindled the little gardening spark that I had pretty much buried over the years. We talked a few times and she sent me a large planting table . . . a VegTrug . . . that enabled me to work at a relaxing height on my deck.

One thing led to another and I now have two more smaller raised planter (also from Gardener’s Supply . . .  Poppy Planters, they’re called) and several other regular containers . . . a few large pots, some smaller round ones, a bunch of oval shapes and a line of soft-sided containers with handles.

I find gardening very relaxing and satisfying.

 I’m by no means anything more than a beginner, but starting vegetables from seed then transplanting them . . . watching them grow . . . the tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, beans, and other goodies . . . it’s invigorating and relaxing at the same time.

Since everything I plant is in a container of some sort on my deck, critters don’t seem to be much of an issue, and weeds are rare.

My little garden makes me happy.

I should note that the garden wouldn't have happened this year without help from Becky Pellowe and Erin (my Younger Child), both of whom spent a lot of time making sure a bunch of things got planted when I visited the hospital for a couple of weeks. Thanks to you both.

This is my second summer as a gardener here. I’m already looking at varieties for next year (I’ll be a lot more limited, or self-limiting, with my selections. Some things didn’t get planted outside this year. But that’s the fun of it, too . . . figuring out what works and what might work better next year. Can’t wait.