A musing Beam

I’ll return to blogging my thoughts in more detail soon – things like how we might actually “drain the swamp” and clever analogies between seemingly divergent groups – but tonight I’m thinking about Hallelujah. Kate McKinnon’s performance was heartfelt and moved me (it is second only to my brother’s version), and as I listened to the spiritual memorial to both a great songwriter and a political movement, it struck me yet again how many arbitrary barriers we have raised between all of us. We all want love and kindness but find ourselves belittled and belittling in return. This isn’t to make a rhetorical point, or even to hope it will stop.  I know it will not, at least not easily, and certainly never completely.  It’s just a moment of oneness completely juxtaposed with a moment of eerie separation. So, I’m just hoping we all feel a little closer instead of farther away, and I wish all well: To the first responders called out for protests, come home safely To the proteste

I'm feeling pretty vulnerable today, and I'm asking my conservative friends for your help. This isn't a debate or a clever ploy to question your vote. I believe that you voted your conscience, and you are sincere in your desire to make America great. (If I didn't think that, I would not associate with you.) And I share your hope that America does continue to progress. I've spent the last day consoling people who have strong fears about what this election means for them personally. I believe most of my conservative friends would be among the first to step forward and help when there is real pain, so I'm asking for your help, both in consoling those hurt by the outcome and -- much more importantly -- making sure their fears are unfounded. Please help us make sure that our culture repudiates sexual harassment and abuse, from any person in any position of authority. Please help us prove that the election was not a tacit approval of sexist behavior, but

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . Okay, I’ve been through why the GOP has given up the high road, why Hillary’s scandals don’t sway me, why 3 rd parties are not great choices, and four reasons why Trump is unacceptable. That’s all true, and would be enough for me to vote for Hillary.  But I actually WANT to vote for Hillary, for positive reasons, and I wanted to close this series with my reasons for liking her. Before I go into the specific reasons, I think it is worth noting that I definitely have positive memories of Hillary from very early in my life. I have lived the vast majority of my life in Arkansas, and I don’t remember not knowing who the Clintons were. You might think from how red a state Arkansas now is that the Clintons were disliked … but that is laughably far from the truth. They invigorated a state, decades behind in many areas, with a passion and relevance that has not been equaled since. And Arkansans loved them, and voted for them (often

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . If Donald Trump has a foreign policy, it seems to be to praise our enemies, insults our allies, and move us closer to nuclear war. This is all done while showing startling lapses in knowledge. Let’s start with praising our enemies. Obviously Vladimir Putin leads this list.  “I’ve already said he is very much a leader. This man has very strong control over his country.”  This has rightly drawn criticism from people such as (implicit) Paul Ryan  and (explicit) Lindsey Graham . What was worse – much worse – was when Trump suggested that Russian hackers of the DNC should find information about the “missing” emails from Hillary Clinton’s server. Asking a foreign government involved in spying in our nation to help you in an election is, to state it mildly, unprecedented. In the same speech, he suggested that we should consider accepting Russia’s claims of annexing the Crimean Peninsula. That stance on Russia is bizarre, esp

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . I don’t know what Trump believes, and honestly, you don’t, either.  Let’s forget how his website is devoid of policy discussions (compare his to hers ).  On every major issue, he changes positions, sometimes hourly. Here is one compiled list of flip flops .  Don’t believe NBC (maybe because it’s a member of the “mainstream media” and relies on “facts” to do “reporting”)? We can look to Rush Limbaugh to hear him laugh over a flip .  Of course, Trump flopped back later. Is abortion the litmus test? “I’m very pro-choice,” Trump said in 1999. “I hate the idea of abortion, I hate it … But you still – I just believe in choice.” Russert’s follow-up question is whether Trump would ban partial-birth abortion. “No,” Trump clearly says.  Fast forward to 2011, when he tells the Conservative Political Action Congress that he is “pro-life [and] against gun control.”   In 2016, he not only disagrees with his original position, but he dis

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 .  I’ll just start this post with a list of Trump’s insults . Please peruse it for a moment. I am not averse to a politician coming out swinging when attacked. If you are in the right, and someone attacks you, I think it is both right and proper to respond, and to respond harshly in appropriate circumstances. But base insults should generally be beneath the dignity of people, and certainly we would expect it to be the rare choice for a presidential contender. Trump, however, uses bullying and insults as his go-to behavior. He makes fun of (and this is not a comprehensive list) the disabled , POWs , Iowans , Asians , Seventh-Day Adventists , and journalists   … and these are all as groups, not as individuals. (See my past post on his overt bigotry to races, religions, and ethnicities.)  There is no reasonable way to say he is not being a bully here. He often resorts to threatening to sue people who report anything n

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . I’ll give Trump this: He never tried to hide his bigoted statements.  (For purposes of this post, I’ll keep bigotry to races, religions, and ethnicities, as the next post takes up insults as a whole.) He began his campaign saying that Mexico was sending illegal immigrants who are thieves and rapists , and some might be good people.  (To be fair, he didn’t limit it to Mexicans, but from “all over. South and Latin America.” I’m not sure how the Mexican government arranged all that.)  He said that an American-born judge couldn’t fairly decide his case because the judge’s parents are Mexican .   Both of these statements are bigoted, and there is no reasonable argument otherwise. (I would even go so far as to say that, if you don’t see the bigotry here, you may want to do some self reflection on your own tendencies. Here’s a helpful link to see your level of racism or other bigotries .) He has also consistently been anti-Muslim ,

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . The most common reason given not to vote for a 3 rd -party candidate is that by doing so you are (a) actually voting for Hillary Clinton or (b) actually voting for Donald Trump. That argument only works against people that share your hatred of the other candidate but not a hatred for your chosen candidate. Actually, it doesn’t work against them, either, because they obviously thought a little about this to even consider a 3 rd -party candidate, so this oh-so-obvious-and-slightly-condescending reductionist tidbit fails. (But if you have never considered this argument, remember that voting for a 3 rd -party candidate is a vote for Trump.) That said, don’t imagine that your vote for a Libertarian or Green candidate in a single election every four years will “change the system.” That might happen if we elect reps from other parties at the local and state levels first, but it is really only likely if we change the structure of go

This is part of a series of posts on Election 2016 . To be honest, I’ve stopped listening to most of the scandals about Hillary. That’s not because I think she is perfect or would never do something scandalous, but because the noise of obvious crap, generated over 3 decades, has made me jaded about spending any time investigating stories by people who think Killary is a fascist Communist. To be clear, I think she is an imperfect human. We don’t subject most politicians to the kind of scrutiny that Hillary has faced – how much do we know about George and Laura’s relationship, or his struggles with addiction, for instance?  But she isn’t perfect.  I think she is a bit paranoid and has a tendency to “circle the wagons” at the slightest sign of problems, and I think she is a fierce competitor that swings first and asks questions later. Like all successful politicians, she is willing to spin the truth to meet her needs, and she comes across, in crowd settings, as a bit fake.  Unlik