The Tonys - In Memoriam

As I watch the names of theatre greats who left us this year flash across the screen, I pay homage to friends, mentors and family members whose lives pay unsung homage to the arts. Their passion, drive and love might never tread the boards of Broadway; nevertheless it nourishes the essence of their communities, their intimates, their humble fans.

I remember my mother’s lifelong passion for theatre; my cousins who strove with mixed success to “make it” on Broadway or in Los Angeles; my daughters who shined in high school musicals to their parents’ delight.

The Arts. They lend color to our lives. I celebrate their partisans living and passed.

Signs of the Times

You judge by the times you live in. My mother and I once had a talk about how it was for her during World War II. Casualties touched every family and every family had members on the front. She confided she could not bear to watch movies about that time because they brought back too sharply her memories of Dad overseas and her trying to prepare a home for my older brother, herself and him for his return, while terrified he wouldn’t make it back. Too many of her friends had received notice their spouses were never coming home.

Many who did return went on reserve status for the extra money and then had to do it all over again in Korea.

I remember: the attacks on civil rights protesters in Alabama; the protests and sit-ins against Vietnam; The murder of Kent State students; The militarization of the Black Panthers; the assassinations (JFK, King, RFK, Malcom X); the bombings. It didn’t seem like this country could ever return to an even keel.

The millennials have their own set of challenges. They are an interesting generation. I hope they have the opportunity to  produce the truly great things of which they are capable.

Just a few thoughts.

61 Broad Street - IMO Nana, Muz and Joe

There are three rooms I rarely see,

Though in my mind they ever be.

There are three people in those rooms,

Who give my spirit sanctuary.

When I can, I visit them,

When I can’t, I miss them.

Three people in three rooms.

The rooms are not elaborate,

No gilt bedecks the walls.

The staircase to them creaks a bit,

“Be careful, or you’ll fall.”

The people there are loving.

They claim me as their own.

Suffer all my failings,

Give my heart a home.

If it has been months or a year,

Since I was there before,

No awkwardness disturbs the air,

When I walk in the door.

Walls of solitude surround us,

And sometimes must be broken.

Here, they seem to vanish,

As if they’d never been.

I love them very dearly,

Would like to let them know,

The strength that has been given to me,

By Nana, Muz and Joe!

Mary Ann Loewenstein

1977

Governing by Executive Order is a Bad Idea

Donald Trump's presidency has sharply highlighted the treacherous  instability resulting from attempting to legislate by Executive Order. There were good reasons for designating Congress to write the laws and the Executive to enforce them.

Social order relies on stability. Justice cannot exist without stable, thoughtfully legislated, codified law, applied equally to all members of a society. Just note how difficult ending Obamacare is compared to DACA. The first was legislated. DACA was created by Executive Order.

Under a system that changes its executive at least every eight years, Executive Orders can quickly become problematic. Close to a million young people trusted that Obama's DACA gave them a secure path to their future. Every single one of them is about to learn whether that trust was misplaced. If it was, the price will be frighteningly steep for those individuals; it will be catastrophically destructive - in economic, social, political and global terms - to the United States.

Abolishing Medicaid - First on the List

The goal is not health care for the American citizens.

The goal is the abolishment of "entitlements" - Medicaid, Medicare and (ultimately) Social Security.

They are coming to take you away, old friend(s). They are coming to take you away.

McConnell-Ryan Coup d'Etat

They are playing with a stacked deck and they are loving it. The House. The Senate. The White House. All in their camp. Revolutionizing our Democracy has become a slam dunk. Despite some troubling indications all is not well in the White House, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are riding the waves of Republican control to the limit. The substantial Democratic minority has been sidelined by unprecedented partisanship. Republican discipline of its members has formed an impenetrable front. No prisoners will be taken. No action against the White House will be pursued - no matter how grievous the offenses against our Democracy. The current power structure offers too many rich rewards to be sacrificed for ephemeral concepts like patriotism or honor.

My heart hurts.

What Good is a Professional Civil Service?

Why arbitrary firing of civil servants is ill-advised:

I suspect many of the businessmen who think government should be run like a business lack a basic understanding of what government is; why we even have a civil service; how proud the tradition of professional civil servants is.

Professional civil servants - teachers, policemen, firemen, bureaucrats, scientists, regulators of communications, nuclear energy, air and water quality, on the job safety, roads and bridges, the environment... .

We love to disparage the lazy, obstructive government workers. But do any of us really want to see the FBI, CIA, military, our local fire departments, police departments, sanitation workers disappear? I don't think so.

I doubt anyone would like to return to the spoils system of political cronyism that existed before a professional civil service was established to PROTECT the public good against capricious dismissal of trained professionals and their replacement with political stooges.

No system designed by human beings is perfect. A system based on entrance examination scores and merit generally is much preferred to one based upon the venality of self-interested political hacks.