Living the Parable of the Boiled Frog

Among the many insights Peter Senge shared in his classic The Fifth Discipline, the Parable of the Boiled Frog is most appropriate for this piece.

A frog thrown into a pot of boiling water will jump out. But a frog immersed in cool water will enjoy its stay. If one raises the temperature slowly, the frog will adjust and remain complacent until it dies in boiling water. Such is the state of our nation for millions of inactive, unthinking Americans --- enough so that one can see the decline of our country playing out before us.


There are five critical symptoms of decline failing society:

Kevin Phillips listed five symptoms of the decline of leading societies (as he says, in no particular order) *
• Widespread public concern over cultural and economic decay
• Growing religious fervor, church-state relationship, or crusading insistence
• Rising commitment to faith as opposed to reason and a corollary downplaying of science
• Possible indications of a millennial event or the imminent belief in the second coming or Armageddon
• Hubris driven national strategic and military overreach, pursuing abstract international missions that the nation can no longer afford, economically or politically

Our nation is experiencing all five.
• We are conducting three major wars, with defense budgets in the $700 BILLION range, using borrowed monies; giving $800 BILLION in tax cuts, the bulk of it to the already wealthy.
• The richest among us (the DeVoss’, the Koch’s (Funders of the TEA Party), etc. are funding the drive to privatize healthcare, social security, and our education systems – not to improve them for everyone but to exclude from them the people who need them most. Many control the major media outlets, limiting access to unbiased news – while supporting efforts to de-fund news outlets like NPR and PBS.
• The commitment to faith has expanded into the sciences, depleting our nation’s abilities to advance our knowledge and maintain a global competitiveness. The religious right has implemented a decades long plan to infiltrate the education and government arenas, and successfully so – to the point that candidates for office must pass an unwritten litmus test just to get through the primaries.

Can there be more? Certainly, and you can feel free to add to what’s here.

My point is that it is time to unite as moderates, progressives and liberals to counteract the forces that are aligned to destroy the nation of our forefathers. There is no time to waste. Let’s start our own movement here and now.


* Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy, Penguin, 2006 {P.220

A Year Has Passed...... A Call to Action

A Year Has Passed since the BP spill and no significant action has been taken to resolve the issues created. But it's been a lot longer since Katrina, and there's plenty left undone there, too. EDAF, The Environmental Defense Action Fund has created a thought provoking timeline for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=64598&utm_medium=email

I am issuing a call here and on twitter for people to meet to create an activist progressive party to develop and promulgate a message of sane government, and to actively seek candidates for public office. SO many issues to deal with that, left unattended will result in disastrous consequence for the country at so many levels; issues of jobs, the future of employment, infrastructure decay, social issues of all kinds. You're kidding yourself if you think the current make up of congress is going to deal with it in a serious, for-the-country basis. They're too focused on their own ideological and personal futures issues, such as where they land their first lobbyist position after leaving public (dis)service.

Please send this around and let's see who can make a meeting in Knoxville, TN on June 5, this year.

The Things ABC, CBS, NBC Don't Tell You

The major networks this week failed to tell you, or any of us, that a group of legislators, eighty strong in fact, proposed a very sensible budget for the nation that addresses all the major issues we are facing sensibly, and without rancor. The plan, titled “The People’s Budget” is a good read, it is endorsed by leading economists and it is achievable . Please learn about it at the following sites:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/the-peoples-budget_b_846573.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/154955-introducing-the-peoples-budget

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/13/966702/-Introducing-the-Peoples-Budget

Please note the comment to CBS 60 Minutes:
Since none of the major news outlets covered it, I m asking you to do a piece on the Peoples Budget, offered up bu the CPC, the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Rep. Grijalva is one of the sponsors. I read it. It makes a lot more sense than the corrupted republican party's offering,notable economists endorse it, and it deserves to get attention.
I am blogging and tweeting about the way the big three are overlooking it and I am asking AlJazeerah to do a piece on it, as they are becoming a greater force in news media than Katie.

Thanks for reading,

Joe Malgeri

A Budget Proposal that Makes Sense!

I was listening to an interview with Jeffrey Sachs*, speaking to Amy Goodman
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/11/dont_punish_the_poor_economist_jeffrey
He spoke enthusiastically about a proposed budget put forth by the Congressional Progressive Caucus that, in effect, responds to the needs of the majority of Americans, including myself.

I then went to the CPC site, http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov to read their budget, and it was amazingly simple, direct and comprehensive. Their main points, summarized herein are:

The CPC proposal:

• Eliminates the deficits and creates a surplus by 2021
• Puts America back to work with a “Make it in America” jobs program
• Protects the social safety net
• Ends the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• Is FAIR (Fixing America’s Inequality Responsibly)

What the proposal accomplishes:

• Primary budget balance by 2014.
• Budget surplus by 2021.
• Reduces public debt as a share of GDP to 64.4% by 2021, down 16.9 percentage points from
a baseline fully adjusted for both the doc fix and the AMT patch.
• Reduces deficits by $5.7 trillion over 2012-21
• Both outlays and revenue equal 22.3% of GDP by 2021

I urge you to take a look at their proposal to see if you agree. I'd like to get your feedback.


*Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia. He is also president and co-founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty. He is the author of numerous books and articles on development and economic policy.

Lessons from Harry Belafonte

Lessons From Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte no longer sings. But he still talks, and the wisdom of his years is a beacon for us all.

We sat in quiet amazement as he spoke about his experiences as a civil rights activist with Martin Luther King, Andrew Young and others, and shared insights that we’d never known. His stories were rich in imagery, each communicating clear ideas, reflecting the depth of thinking and commitment they each felt toward the challenges they faced as African Americans, as Americans without color, as men trying build better lives for all Americans.

Two stories he recounted demonstrate the strength of their minds and their characters, and offer insights for all of us. The first one takes place in a hotel room in a southern city, where they are holding a strategy meeting. A lot of arguing was taking place with clear differences of opinions being expressed passionately. Harry looked up to see Martin standing alone, looking out from a window. He moved slowly to stand with Martin, careful not to disrupt his thoughts.

“Martin?” he asked, “You’re quiet today, and distant. What are you thinking?”

Martin shook his shoulders, bringing himself back into the moment. “I was just thinking. Here we are, striving with all we’ve got, to integrate ourselves into this society, and I cannot shake the thought that we might be integrating ourselves into a house afire.”

The nation was in the midst of very powerful internal strife, of which integration was just one of the issues. The Viet Nam war was dividing the nation, along with other issues.

“We’ll, Martin, if your fears are well founded, are we perhaps wasting our time and energies. What would our roles be if we were successful?”

“We would be the firemen.”


The second story really struck such a chord that I share it with you because it is a call to action for all of us.

Throughout the evening, much of what Harry had shared with us was full of insights delivered with a mixture of humor and candor. At this point, he directed his words to the African American students in the audience, He told them about an event in the Olympics of 1968. In that year, the United States had the best relay race team in the world, bar none. This team was so good that no one was betting against them. Four African American women were virtually guaranteed the gold. For Harry, the metaphor was compelling, enough so that he set aside time to watch the race on television.

The starter gun sounded, and the runners leaped forward, the African American in the lead. As she approached her teammate with her arm outstretched to pass the baton, they fumbled the handoff. Other runners passed them by. The two quickly recovered but the second runner had a lot of ground to make up. She passed the baton to the next team mate who was still behind, and she to the fourth, to no avail. The United States did not earn the gold – or the silver, or the bronze. Sadness filled the air around them, and among the American Olympic fans throughout the nation.

The wondrous thing about a good story is how it affects the listeners, how it brings them into the story. They can see the runners on the track. They feel their pulses rise in the moment, the adrenaline rush the mind generates. Their breathing increases, reflecting the degree to which the video running in their minds has captured their spirits. I not only saw the loss – chins falling forward, shoulders collapsing inward, tears flowing and open sobbing resonating – I felt it. In that moment, their loss was mine.

Harry paused for a moment to allow the sensations to sink in. Then, in a soft voice, he continued. “I have thought about that race throughout the decades since. A race that was guaranteed was lost because they failed to pass the baton. For me, it is a powerful metaphor. Because we did the same. In all the years that Martin, Andy, so many others, and I worked to create an America in which everyone, including African Americans, would be free to pursue their dreams according to their hearts, with all the marching and protests and speeches – time we committed so that you, in this audience, would have the freedoms to experience the American Dream, we forgot to pass the baton to you. We forgot to tell you what your part in this has to be. You are here today because of the work of others who went before, but the work is not over. So, when the Supreme Court of the United States can determine the President of the United States, where were you? When a president could take us to war in foreign lands based on lies, which cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars, where were you?”

His speech continued for a few minutes more, but his points to me were made.

Each of us in this audience is better off today than our parents because of the leaders who went before, to break barriers, the pave the way for our acceptance, and to make the rights for some the rights for all. And, perhaps they were too busy creating their dream for us that they neglected to pass the baton to us. In turn, perhaps we did not pass the baton to our children. Our parents might not even have known that they should have passed it along. We might not have realized our responsibility to do the same.

But we know it now. Because when a small group of elected officials are blatantly crafting new legislation that restricts the rights of their fellow Americans, when special interests in key areas of commerce and industry can rewrite or eliminate laws designed to benefit our nation as a whole and have new laws put in place without concern for the citizens of our nation, where are WE? When manipulators in the financial industries virtually ruined our nation, and our politicians from both parties failed to ask why – and instead worked socialize the debt and then allowed the perpetrators to privatize the profits and award themselves billions in bonuses, where are WE?

It is sad that we had to discover that we were being emasculated by a select group of corporations using elected officials as their proxies – but it is not too late for us to act to reverse them. The call goes forth and we must be there for each other to take our country back, to redistribute wealth and opportunities – and responsibilities to the majority of Americans who are at risk of losing their rights.

I offer for your consideration two other stories, both crafted in my mind as thoughts gestate in the quiet of the wee hours of the morning.

In the first one, I envision conversations with the angry electorate in Wisconsin and Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee, in Maine and beyond. It centers on critical thinking – or the lack of it. In all these states, as in dozens of others, we were mad as hell, disillusioned with our president and his party. The democrats are ruining the nation by spending extravagantly on programs to kick start the economy using hundreds of billions of dollars – borrowed monies – that our children will have to repay – for our mistakes. We are reinforced in these views by the republicans, who play our dissatisfaction to their advantage. We somehow do not note that they were the ones that created the mess.

Their fears that we are failing ourselves and our children drives us solidly into the republican camp with their messages of slashing spending and getting our financial house in order. We listen to the promises of the candidates in Ohio and Wisconsin and we forget to use critical thinking. We hear them tell us that we need to control, even slash spending but we fail to ask the critical questions – like “How”.

Within weeks after the elections, we see what they really meant. They extended billions in tax breaks for the wealthiest among us, and now they attack public sector workers to make up for it. They go after unions in fields mostly populated by women, -- teachers – with nursing on the horizon, leaving for the moment male dominated fields such like police and fire fighters. In Maine, the new governor endeavors to legislate new wage structures that cut minimum wages for people ages twenty and younger by $2 and hour! And to permit the extension of hours that children can work during their school periods. Where are WE?

Taxes paid by the wealthy are a fraction of what we pay. Taxes paid by corporations in many cases are a fraction of what they should be paid – all of this legal – because our legislators changed the rules. (I cannot overlook with gratitude that our neighborhood big box retailer COSTCO pays its full share. I urge you to frequent their stores.)

Currently the government is within hours of a shutdown brought about by issues that have nothing to do with the budget. Instead, republican legislators are holding us hostage to push their social agendas upon us. Many senators and congressmen are blogging and tweeting that the administration is threatening our military by their actions. They use other blatantly falsehoods to muddy the water in an attempt to accomplish their agenda. Where are WE. Who should be actively telling them to remove the riders to the bill that have nothing to do with the budget, and work on their other issues at a later time.

We need to be on their blogs challenging them to return the financial legislation that protected our nation from abuse by investment bankers, and to actively investigate those corporations that in 2008 brought this country to its knees. We need, each of us, to watch the documentary Inside Job that we might better understand how we got hosed, and to use the rage we will feel as we watch it in a positive way to take political grass0-rrots action to stop the plundering so we can then focus on rebuilding the nation. And while we do this, we must pass engage our children – and pass the baton.

The Real Impact Teachers Can Have -- Now!

I’m wondering what the teachers who taught Scott Walker and John Kasich think about their former students now.

I offer for your consideration that teachers throughout the nation have the greatest opportunities ever to really motivate their students to learn like never before. History teachers can get their students involved in learning how their governments can work against the interests of their own electorate while attempting to hide powerful truths from the same. English teachers can use this time to show students how politicians ‘frame’ issues to focus people’s attention from what they need to see to what the politicians ‘want them to see. Math teachers have a chance like never before to teach their students how people can lie with statistics, manipulate data, and manufacture economic fear when, in truth, there should be none. Let’s get students involved in every case. From debate to civics, to economics and media. If there are no such courses any more, then insinuate the knowledge into the existing topics.

Engage your students by asking them:

What were the founding ideals underlying the birth of this nation?
If all men were created equal, why did we have slavery? (Human rights, economics, all sorts of discoveries await.

Have students define, “What are Entitlements?” If the working people willingly contributed monies from their pay checks every week for decades so they would have retirement security, why is this system now labeled an ‘entitlement’? Was it not their money in the first place?

Ask, “Why was George W. Bush so eager to privatize social security? Was it because the system was broken, or because the investment community saw this HUGE pile of money that it couldn’t tap?’

The lessons of history are replete in the present. Teachers, start teaching real world issues and light a creative fire under your students, College teachers should do the same, and stimulate thought throughout academia.

Next time a politician says he’s going to do something like Ohio’s governor did (to get a handle on out of control economics, perhaps someone will have the good sense to ask, “How?” before the election.


Joe Malgeri

Other Questions for your consideration:

If the republicans were so concerned that our stimulus spending , underpinned by taking on debt, why did they push so hard to fund the $800 Billion in tax breaks for the richest among us by throwing the nation further in debt?

Add your own here:

Students. Please respond! Are you up to the challenge to answer these questions, and more of your own making? March on! This is your future were talking about!å