Dear Millennials

In spite of the state of today's world and the political and social disasters in the US, I choose to be an optimist. Yes, I know climate change is threatening our very existence and we're pretty much doing nothing about it. Yes, I know right-wing ideologues are gathering forces to take over our country (very "Winter is coming" observation, I know). Yes, I know that religious, racial, and economic class tensions are hurtling towards violent confrontations. And yet, I choose to be optimistic. Here's why:

Baby boomers are dying at a faster rate than experts predicted. That may sound like a bad thing, but if you think about it, we boomers are the cause for the chaos in the US. This is our baby. We have to take custody, whether we like it or not. Income disparity, racism, right vs. left, government too big or too small, depending on your preference, crumbling infrastructure, student debt, Social Security and Medicare insolvency, continuous war - it's all on us. We also have the power to do something about all of those problems, but we won't. We are incapable of action. And that's why I'm optimistic.

Now, here come the millennials. You are smarter than us. You are more unified in your beliefs. You are more tolerant and more responsible. Yes, you are less religious and that is also a good thing. You do have a left and a right, but the extremes have less influence on you than they do on us boomers. You will have the capacity to accomplish things when you finally take over the reins of power.

So what are you waiting for? You already outnumber us. Want to legalize marijuana? Vote! Want to provide student debt relief? Vote! Want to take a humane approach toward immigration? Vote! Want women to get equal pay for equal work? Vote! Want representative voting districts instead of gerrymandered districts? Vote! By the way, these are all things favored more by millennials than by boomers.

Now, I'd like to offer some advice. First, learn from the Tea Party. They became such a powerful voice within the Republican Party that, instead of aligning themselves with the GOP, they forced the GOP to align with them. While many of your beliefs are compatible with the Democratic Party, don't align with them - force them to align with you. And how do you accomplish this? You guessed it - vote!

Once millennials take the reins, I honestly believe the United States will rapidly become a better country. If boomers don't like it and start to complain, I have a very millennial response: STFU!

Finish Lines

Today’s blog is about rites of passage and finish lines. When you’re younger, you begin to experience a series of rites of passage. Your first kiss, your driver’s license, the prom in high school graduation, maybe college graduation, marriage, first kid, and career milestones are all markers that your life is progressing as it should. But I’m past all that. I’ve begun breaking the tape on a series of finish lines. I first thought about this when I turned 60. That’s when I realized and admitted to myself that I was old. I’d already gone through the phases of saying 40 is the new 30, 50 is the new 40, but 60 is just 60. You can no longer dodge it or pretend. After that finish line, I turned 65. That’s when I was required to sign up for Medicare and TRICARE for life. For life.

I think my next finish line will be retirement. The plan now is for that to happen in September 2018. There is a tradition where I work to present retirees with a sad Indian on a horse. It’s like a graphic symbol that it’s time for you to die. I don’t see my retirement that way. My body still works. My mind still works. There are things I have planned and want to do. As long as I can drive safely, road trips will be a big part of my future. Vera and I have discussed opening our own art gallery. She has connections with several very good artists. I think it would be fun and useful to manage and work in the gallery. She already has a very good business advisor and we will meet with him in a few weeks. Since I’m a natural born planner, it seems smart to start this planning three years out.

There is another aspect of rites of passage. I also measure my life by when my sons experience their own rites of passage. I’ve never liked the concept of pride, but I permit myself to feel a certain amount of pride when my boys graduate from high school or college, begin careers, establish stable relationships (today’s substitute for marriage), or just begin to figure out and find their way in the world.

The significance of finish lines is not lost. I realize and I’m perfectly comfortable with the knowledge that each finish line I cross brings me closer to the final finish line. I’m good with that. Every human starts the same race. Every human will finish it. I figured out a couple of years ago that the start and finish are not as important as the race itself. I have been luckier than most with the experiences I’ve crammed between those two markers. I’ve gotten a great education, found a great life partner, had three great sons, and I’ve seen the world. I’ve managed to have two great careers, one as a Russian linguist in the Army, and one as an English teacher. I’m still fairly healthy and expect to live quite a bit longer. However, I know full well that I may not. And all I can say about that is, it’s okay. Life is good.

Not satire this time

What's the point? We are completely, absolutely a divided nation. It's time for us to consider peaceful, reasonable options for splitting up. Here's my proposal:
First, a 5-year latent period. We will be one nation until we sort out who goes where, how we split up the military, Social Security, taxes, etc. It will take at least that long.
Second, who goes where. I like the idea of at least three new countries. There are some states with a persistent liberal point of view - California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland. That looks like a pretty nice country to me. There could be a better name, but for convenience, let's call them the Liberal States of America. Conservative States of America could be Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama. Independent States of America might be outliers like Alaska, Idaho, the Dakotas, Montana. Remaining states could have an election to decide which new country they wanted to align themselves with.
This makes sense primarily because we've become such a sick, mean-spirited country. The second Republican debate made me realize that there are people in this country who truly believe that any of those people would be a better president than any Democrat. On all the major issues, these people stood exactly opposite me - I love Planned Parenthood and it's a matter of conscience that it be funded. To them, it's a matter of conscience to defund Planned Parenthood. To them, it's a matter of conscience to go after illegal aliens. To me, it's a matter of conscience to give long-term resident undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. To them, taxes must be cut, government must be cut, the military must expand. I am against all of those. I use "I," but I do mean "we." Most liberals agree with me on these points. I say let the people who believe this have their way, but without imposing their national view on the rest of us. And this way, we won't be trying to impose our national view on them. They can have the homophobic, small-government, "I before we" religious republic they want, and we liberals get the European-style version of socialism lite that we want.
The only thing stopping us is this emotional attachment to the concept of the United States as a single entity. Well, you know what? That's been dead since Reagan was president.
There would be another benefit. The rest of the world wouldn't have to suffer the consequences of the US using its military to manage the rest of the world. Yes, there would be some violent repercussions while that vacuum was filled. Countries and regions would have to solve their own problems. That won't be peaceful, but it's not exactly peaceful now, is it?
That 5-year latent period would also give a lot of us time to move to our country of choice. I would not be able to stay in Texas, but there are people who would not want to stay in Liberal States of America, so maybe a property swap could be arranged.
Finally, this could be set up as 5-year latency, then 10-year trial period. At the end of ten years, we could have a national referendum to see if we wanted to become the United States of America again. I suspect we wouldn't want to.

Megadeath

Don't know why this theme keeps running through my head. I'm sure there's a reason somewhere. For those of you who don't remember, the term "megadeath" was coined during the Cold War and was a term of measurement to designate a million human deaths. Usually, experts would match nuclear weapons to a particular target and estimate the number of megadeaths that would ensue. Example: 6 hydrogen bombs dropped on Moscow = 9 megadeaths. Nice, huh?
One reason this concept has come to mind is the recent explosion in China, but as far back as Bhopal, we've been on the edge of a megadeath incident. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima all demonstrate how probable such an event is, though none of them reached megadeath status.
Here's what I've been thinking about megadeath. There will be a megadeath incident in my life time. The combination of dense population and earthquake faults, super volcanos, hazardous materials, typhoons and hurricanes, tornados, or raging fires makes it almost inevitable. The one requirement for a megadeath incident is population density. As the human population grows (and it's growing exponentially), the odds for a megadeath incident increase, too.
I am most curious about how we'll respond when something like this occurs. My prediction is that, of course, we'll be horrified first and foremost. And then we'll think, "Oh, it was terrible, but it won't happen again." And we'll carry on, business as usual. But what about the second one? Or the third? What if we take the same attitude as Americans to mass shootings? We get used to them, throw up our hands and say there's just nothing to be done about it. Yeah, I think that could happen, except the US is not the world.

Issues and Elections

The bombast and sham of the Republican "debate" got me thinking. Who will I vote for and why? It's simple. Every Republican on that stage still supports trickle-down economics. It's a failed economic policy that screws the middle class. I don't care about the race or gender or wealth of any candidate of either major party. Here are my issues in order of importance to me: 1 - Tax the rich. Just raise their rates a little. Don't wipe them out. Don't even tax them enough to lower their standard of living. But definitely make them pay more. Republicans are universally against this. I will not vote for them. 2 - Raise the minimum wage. It's the decent thing to do. All this BS about how much harm it would do our economy is just a lie. Democrats all support raising the minimum wage. 3 - Leave Obamacare alone or fix it. All Democrats support this. As far as I can tell, all Republicans oppose it. 4 - Immigration: give all long-term, non-criminal illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. No fines. No punishment. They've lived here, built homes here, paid taxes here. Let them stay. Jeb is closer than any Republican to this, but I will mention him later. 5 - Leave women alone. Let them make their own choices about their bodies and their futures. Don't impose your religious beliefs on their wombs. Sorry, a fetus is not a baby. No Republican supports this position (it wasn't so long ago when moderate Republicans were allowed to be pro-choice). I cannot in good faith vote for any anti-choice politician. Fund Planned Parenthood. 6 - Global warming is real and our government has to do something about it. Some Republicans accept this; most do not. 7 - Marriage equality is the law of the land. I'm happy about that. It's the right thing to do. Leave it alone. Most Republicans want to go back to what we had before. Just no. 8 - Peace and diplomacy first. If Iran is a threat to Israel and Saudi Arabia, we've spent a fortune arming them. They can defend themselves. We shouldn't have to. All of that means that Republicans will try to make this election about "character." Attacks on the personal lives and character of the eventual Democratic candidate will be relentless. Republicans have lots of practice. They have attacked Obama and his family constantly for the last 7 years. They've been attacking Hillary Clinton for just as long. Benghazi demonstrates something quite simple: even when they have nothing, they will keep attacking. Not one accusation has proved credible, but Republicans continue to spend time and money trying to smear her rather than conducting the country's business. But these attacks will have no effect on my vote. None. Because the issues that are important to me won't change. Even if Hillary is proven to be evil incarnate. Even if she only changes her underwear twice a week. Even if she's not a true blonde, she will still do more to advance the causes I believe in than any Republican. That is also why it won't matter who the Democrats nominate. Socialist Bernie? Better than any Republican. Joe Biden? I think he'd be a great president. Jim Webb? I'd hold my nose, but I'd still vote for him. I'll still pay attention to the Republican primaries, but more for entertainment. It's still not certain if Republicans can get a moderate candidate through the primaries. In my opinion, part of the reason Romney lost is that he ran as a moderate once he got the nomination. He lost more than a few Tea Baggers in the process. Jeb Bush is trying to stake out turf as the moderate. He was #2 in the polls before the debate. I suspect his numbers will go down in the next polls. And, see, he's the moderate. The one who says Americans need to work more hours. The one who says we spend too much on women's health care. The one who has to pretend he's not the son and the brother of two failed Republican presidents. One couldn't even get the support of his own party to get reelected; the other left the country in shambles. Yeah, I wouldn't vote for him, even though I do believe he wouldn't be as big a disaster as his brother. Well, that's where I stand on the election process. I'm pretty sure I won't change much, no matter what the billionaires say in their PAC ads.

Are you getting what you want from life?

That's what I've been thinking about the last couple of days. It's a less complicated question to answer than "Are you happy?" I have to say my own answer to that question is pretty positive. I own my home, we have two nice, environmentally friendly cars, I am happily married and have three sons. I think I can say my wife and sons are, for the most part, getting what they want from life. I make enough money to pay bills, buy a few luxuries (cable TV, smart phones, big screen TV, easy chair, at least one trip per year and two vacations a year). I also have a job I love, one that challenges me and lets me be creative. I've also managed to build a decent retirement that I'll start enjoying in three years. Oh, and although I'm a pretty severe introvert, I do have some good friends around me. I'm not bragging, though. I think it's important to assess our existence from time to time. If I use this measurement, I have to admit that my sister and most of my brothers are also getting what they want out of life. I feel good about that. NOW...if all of that is true, what are my responsibilities to the rest of the human race? Honestly, I don't want to stand in anyone's way. Let them get what they want out of life, too. That's a pretty basic reason for my being pro-choice and for marriage equality. If I do things that hinder people in either of those categories, I'm blocking them unnecessarily. I won't do it. But leaving people alone isn't really enough. I want to help others have a better chance to get what they want out of life. I have only one charity I give money to, but it helps children in hard circumstances have a safe place to live and develop until they finish high school. And I vote Democrat. If I have to pay more in taxes so we can raise the minimum wage or provide health care or train veterans for jobs or help disadvantaged kids go to college, I'm good with that. I want to see that happen. Finally, what about you? Are you getting what you want out of life? Why not? And if you're not, what are you doing to change that? I hope you can come up with some good answers. Life is good.

I know stuff you don't know.

There is a universal human truth. Every human being can say, "I know stuff you don't know. I believe stuff you don't believe." Yes, we would have many overlapping bits of knowledge and beliefs that we could agree on, but it's the differences that create the problems.
Notice, I've made two categories. When I say I know stuff, or you do, these are things that we come across and are informed about. Yep, sometimes that information is false; if it's "just" knowledge, well, if we get new information or facts, that replaces the old data set pretty smoothly. Of course, we always like to believe we're right, so sometimes we hold onto our old "facts" pretty tightly, even when we're given irrefutable proof to the contrary.
Then there's that stuff we believe. Most religions require you to believe their myth to the exclusion of all others. They have to believe they are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG, else there's no compelling reason to join their sect. Well, my position is this: believe what you want. Really. Just don't try to scare me or guilt me into accepting your myth. You have nothing to offer me. I gain nothing by accepting your myth. I lose nothing by walking away. Oh, I know you believe I'll lose a lot or gain a lot, but that's your belief, not mine.
I do think every single person knows something I don't know. That's the essence of the value of every human life. There's a value or insight or skill that the rest of us benefit from if we let that person become who they were meant to be. I happen to believe we have a better chance of doing that if we don't let outside individuals or belief systems limit us.
In the end, you don't have to believe what I believe. And...I don't have to believe what you believe. Let's live by that.