Border Wall "Negotiations"

As we limp into 2019 without a functioning federal government, I ask myself what the whole kerfuffle is even about. Does anyone seriously believe that building a cement (or steel) wall along the border will do anything to keep criminals from entering the country?

Let's recall that the majority of illicit drugs enter this country at points of entry, generally packed in with other cargo; the majority of illegal immigrants entered this country legally and overstayed their visas; and apprehensions at the southern border are at a 17-year low.

So, I suppose point #1 is that the wall won't "fix" the "problem" that its proponents say needs fixing, and the "problem" has gotten significantly better in recent years.

Nonetheless, if someone wants a big concrete and steel symbol to his own xenophobic ego, I suppose all things are worth negotiating. I do a lot of negotiating by virtue of my job, and I notice that you get a real feel for how much someone thinks a thing is worth by how much that person is willing to give up to get it.

Trump has demanded a border wall, and the GOP has stuck by him and echoed the demand. What have they offered for it? They continue to publicly claim that the Democrats aren't negotiating with them. So, on behalf of myself (and perhaps a significant number of liberals), here is my offer to the wall builders:

• WE appropriate your $5,600,000,000 to build your precious wall;
• In exchange:
• YOU repeal last year's tax cuts for everyone making over $500,000/year
• YOU immediately pass Medicare for All
• YOU immediately provide the votes to pass a National Right-to-Organize bill that preempts all state-level Right-to-Work bills
• YOU nominate members of the American Constitution Society to the federal bench, exclusively.

Upon satisfaction of the above conditions, the $5.6B will be appropriated. How's that for a starting point in negotiations?

Jam for Jay

By every account I've heard, Jay Koontz was a wonderful man. He died too young as a result of leukemia. His widow Linda has ever since hosted a concert at the Firefighters' Union Hall on Mass. Ave. entitled Jam for Jay as a fundraiser for leukemia and lymphoma research. It is a good event for a good cause. You can bring your own picnic and booze, if you're into that kind of thing.

I play in the band.

If you want to have some fun and donate money (if you can) to a good cause, please come out and join tonight at 7:00. As I said, it is on Mass. Ave., just southwest of College and across the street from the Mass. Ave. Pub. The Firefighters' Union Hall.

"You didn't build that"

I recall the presidential election of 2012 and how infuriating it was to me to hear people argue, in what seemed self-evidently bad faith, that Barack Obama's statement, "you didn't build that," somehow robbed all individuals of their own accomplishments. Personally, I always viewed that statement as essentially stating that "while you did something impressive, your accomplishment rests on the prior achievements of others, public and private." It reminded me of my father's saying that each generation stands on the shoulders of the preceding generation.

Anyway, all of this is to hype a great article I read in Vox on Sunday. A few quotes, but I highly encourage anyone to click through and read the entirety:

I went to public schools through eighth grade. My parents were able to save for some of my college costs through a plan that provides tax relief for those savings. I stayed on my parent’s health insurance until I was 26 under the Affordable Care Act. I have received the earned income tax credit, targeted at those with low or moderate income. I took out federal student loans to go to law school. I am enrolled in an income-based repayment plan currently as I pay them back and have also signed up for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The way we discuss our successes as individual accomplishments and valorize some as “self-made” fails to acknowledge such systems of support.

This sounds very familiar . . . it could almost have been written by yours truly.

To be sure, I worked tremendously hard. . . . . But, I don’t think I’ve ever worked as hard as a mom who works multiple jobs for a minimum wage. Hard work is not enough. There are structures that impact success.

I agree. I earn vastly more now than I did as a public high school teacher. That is not to suggest that I work vastly harder.

When it comes to wealth in this country, we no longer have a scarcity problem. We have a distribution problem. The world produces enough food to feed everyone, we have approximately five vacant homes for each homeless person in the US and the US spends twice as much on health care as other developed countries.

All of this is to argue that when we discuss redistribution in this country, we ignore how opportunity is distributed at our own peril. My own father was the president of a fortune 500 company as I made my way through adolescence. To argue that this did not provide me more opportunities than other, less fortunate, people my age is to bury one's head in the sand. 

Like most people, I make no apology for my success (limited though it may be). I worked very hard for it and continue to work hard for it. However, I would be maximally misguided and misleading to suggest that I don't owe anyone, both public and private, for the opportunities with which I have been blessed. 

Right-to-Work and Freeriders

I went to the Union Jack Pub last night and had a pizza. It was delicious. I also had a few beers and some breadsticks. My family had a blast. Of course, at the end of the meal, I was presented a bill for something like $60, which seemed like a very fair price to me given the quality of our meal.

To my right-to-work friends, I ask you this: If I had the option of continuing to get the meal without paying for it, do you think I would have taken that option? If I chose to eat the meal and not pay for it, would that represent me exercising my freedoms? Or would that have represented me being a freeloader?

Thus concludes our lesson on right-to-work for the day. If I haven't made my point clearly, please ask clarifying questions in the comments.