Category: Political

Posted in Political

Due Process…..

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“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.” — Magna Carta, 1215 (Clause 39)

Our nation’s history is a testament to the struggle against arbitrary rule. The great-grandfathers of our Founding Fathers experienced the terror of being forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned under the whims of King John. Four centuries later, England again endured authoritarian rule during the reign of Charles I, who’s infamous “Star Chamber” court was notorious for arbitrary decisions and the absence of due process. His absolutism led to civil war, the rise of Parliamentarian power, and, eventually, his execution. This historical context is crucial to understanding the risks of eroding due process.

Today, we risk repeating history. The principle of “innocent until proven guilty” is eroding, replaced by guilt by association.

Our Founders—and the generations before and after them—fought for Due Process: the simple but powerful idea that no one should be punished solely for their beliefs, associations, or background. Yes, every group has bad actors, and they must be held accountable. But not everyone in that group deserves blanket suspicion or punishment.

Many people flee violence in their countries—or even in our neighborhoods—because they were coerced into associations they didn’t choose. These individuals deserve to be judged by their actions today, not by the group they once belonged to. Not every gang member is a felon—but if we apply collective guilt to some groups, shouldn’t we apply it to others? To organizations with histories of abuse? To law enforcement agencies where some officers have abused their authority? Or what about political protests? Some individuals turned otherwise peaceful movements—like Black Lives Matter or the January 6th rally—into scenes of violence. However, the majority who showed up did so to express their beliefs, not to break the law. Likewise, social media platforms have hosted harmful or hateful content, but they’ve also become places of education, connection, and free speech. Do we judge the entire protest or platform by the actions and posting of its ‘worst’ participants?

Most of us are, or have been, part of groups where some members acted in ways we reject. We shouldn’t be punished for their choices.

This country is built on the foundation of individual rights, not collective guilt. When we lose sight of this, we don’t just lose due process—we lose the very essence of liberty. This is when we start down the path of political purges and authoritarianism, as seen in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Maoist China. Our republic was designed to prevent exactly that, and it’s up to each of us to defend our individual rights.

If someone has committed a crime, let them be arrested, tried, and convicted—individually and fairly by a jury. But mass detentions, deportations, or punishments without due process undermine the very freedoms that protect all of us.

These rights are not just for someone else’s protection-they are for your protection too. It’s time to stand up, speak up, and defend them. Your voice matters, and your actions can make a difference in preserving the due process and individual rights that are the cornerstone of our society. Speak up—Stand up—Defend it –Or Lose it and maybe yourself.

NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social Mundus sine ceasaribus

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Posted in Political

Polycephalic Government

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For a government to survive and flourish, it should master the art of being polycephalic—a two-headed entity. It must be tactical, firm, and transactional in its dealings with other nations and major corporations, while remaining empathetic and responsive when building relationships with its citizens. One side is necessarily transactional; the other is inherently relational.

To earn respect from other countries and corporations, a government must take clear, principled stands while staying flexible in negotiations. To gain the respect and support of its citizens, people need to feel heard and valued—not just managed or pacified. They want to believe their leaders take their concerns seriously and act in their interest. A true relationship between the government and the population is based on trust and mutual respect, not mere management.

Foreign powers—whether allies or adversaries—respond to displays of strength and resolve. They respect governments that honor agreements and defend their positions. While negotiation, brinkmanship, and strategic posturing are part of diplomacy, other nations quickly recognize empty gestures and adjust their strategies accordingly. Effective foreign policy demands both strength and strategic adaptability, even when it creates friction with allies and adversaries alike.

Domestic governance, however, requires a fundamentally different approach. In a representative republic, leadership is not about dominance or control. Governing a diverse society requires building long-term relationships, showing mutual trust, and pursuing shared goals and values—even when none are apparent. The government representative must remember they work for the people. The people are their clients. Not the other way around. Success comes through compromise and persuasion, not threats or coercion. Citizens want to feel important and respected. They expect their representatives to act on their behalf, not at the behest of outside forces. A representative government fails when it resorts to force or manipulation to control its people, as coercion undermines democratic principles and personal freedom. A polycephalic government must function with both “heads” in harmony. It should not treat citizens like foreign powers or corporations in transactional terms. At the same time, it must seek to improve the lives of all citizens—not just those who elected them. Domestic and foreign policy are distinct realms requiring different strategies. Confusing them invites conflict and dysfunction.

NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social Tollite mundum ceasaribus

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Posted in NeverFeartheDream, Political

Never Fear The Dream…

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You honor your cause, even a lost cause, by ardently defending it with integrity. You dishonor and cheapen it when resorting to threats, intimidation, coercion, extortion, or extradition. 25.11.1

NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social Tollite mundum ceasaribus

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Posted in Political

Beyond Tokenism, Tribalism, and Wokeism

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The issues and consternation we face with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility aren’t new. Humanity is predisposed to tribalism and discrimination. We like to be around those who are like us….whether race, gender, creed, hobby, or sports team. This country has had an issue with DEIA from its start. The idea that someone gets something to fill a quota rather than being the most qualified just isn’t American.

We stand on a merit-based system. As a country, we have struggled with DEIA laws thrust upon us since post-Civil War reconstruction and especially since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We reject the concept of merit and privilege being replaced with legislation trying to eliminate discrimination because the result is systematic alienization and reverse discrimination.

Diversity is not just a preference; it’s a necessity in business, sports, education, social interaction, and life. The ideas, experiences, prowess, and insights of other nationalities, races, genders, and creeds enrich our lives and country. It’s a vibrant aspect of our nation—a nation of immigrants.

Equity is not equality. It’s about ensuring everyone is on an equal footing. The privileged should not be treated any better or worse than the impoverished, and the rich should not have any more access to political officials than the hoi polloi. The challenge is: How can you ensure equity when the playing field has never been level? None of us start with the same privileges or handicaps. Treating everyone equally only perpetuates and extends inequities. And if you believe the education system and/or medical care in this country is equal for all, you’ll struggle to understand any of this.

We stand on a merit-based system. We reject the idea of nepotism and ‘pay to play’ influence. Right? Yet, we all know the person who got the job because their parent knew someone, had money, or owned the company. We stand on merit, right? I understand the frustration with DEI. I was once told I would hire a specific person for an open, publicly posted position. The job description was unambiguous. Looking at the resume, the new hire didn’t appear to be a good match, but that didn’t matter. Quickly checking my DEI card, I recognized there was, in fact, justification for the hire, regardless of qualification. The new employee was part of an exclusive minority. With a little extra time, patience, and training, the company finally had a good employee. The child of a sitting U.S. Senator allowed us to check a box and have an amazingly unique perspective at break time. Merit didn’t matter then; to some, it doesn’t matter now. Of course, the good-ole-boy, nepotistic system was always so much better in so many ways, right?

Remember that DEI never intended to mean ‘Don’t Ever Integrate.’ It was meant to be a way to give opportunities to all people, not just those with connections. Is the current direction and directives about merit or returning to our country’s quasi-legal racial segregation state? As cop killers and killing cops are pardoned, the answer may already be self-evident. Courage and Be Bold   

#NeverFearTheDream   simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social

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This was first printed in the Bend Bulletin 1/30/25 titled: Measuring merit and diversity

Posted in NeverFeartheDream, Political

Never Fear The Dream….

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Leaders must have character, not merely be characters. The seducer and seduced share a symbiotic relationship—each supporting and needing the other. We all play both roles when our turn comes. But authentic leadership leaves no room for doubt: lead for the betterment of all, for the greater good, not just for those you’ve won over, seduced, bought, and/or suckered. 25.031

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Posted in Political

The Intoxicating Mirage of American Greatness

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We are no better than Don Quixote as he chased the demons he saw in windmills as we become drunk on the hysteria and mirage of American greatness. While he blamed magicians for his confusion and failure, we blame minorities and immigrants. We are no different; only our delusion is different.

Neither the Constitution nor the Preamble ever professes any illusion of aspiring to greatness. The Founding Fathers’ writings in the Federalist Papers are silent on any desire for national greatness. These men, willing to risk everything openly professed a desire for an independent nation. A nation recognized and respected as an equal by all the world’s other nations. They weren’t so egotistical to wave the vain flag of greatness or superiority.

Yet today, we insanely strive to regain something we never had, were, or will be. We are drunk on our delusions and egos. Being ‘great’ is a fixation of one’s ego. It isn’t real. It is your fantasized view of yourself. Something which, when unachieved or perceived to be lost, we blame everyone, anyone, but ourselves. Like Don Quixote blaming mystics and magicians, we lash out at everyone but ourselves. Ironically, we blame them for something that never was and can never be.

We are a country with many admirable traits and traditions and rich in resources and intellect. We are like almost every other country in the world. We all have our national pride, but our national ego is more of a liability than an asset. When working internationally, the first and biggest hurdle to overcome is not being the ‘arrogant, ugly American’ as we are known worldwide.

How do you determine ‘greatness?’ Is our historic and persistent racism a measure of greatness? As a country of immigrants, whose foundational economy was built on the backs of slaves, should our measure of greatness be the number of immigrant families we disjoined and caged or how we showed compassion? Is our historic and persistent racism a criterion of greatness? Is the denigration of minorities and the perpetuation of our domestic caste system our yardstick? Is the benchmark the number of citizens in the wealthiest Causation country suffering in poverty? Is it the number of books and ideas we can ban or sequester? Is the measure the need for a nanny state because we don’t trust half of the population to make their own decisions on healthcare? Or maybe it is our growing affinity to authoritarians and dictators rather than democracies? Democracy isn’t dead but authoritarianism a growing plague. Democracy conquered communism and now seems focused on conquering itself. A country boasting about greatness should have addressed and resolved these inequities decades ago. However, what we have shown incredible greatness in is our ability to deflect, ignore, and our propensity to find a scapegoat for our failures.

While we are a blessed nation, no country is great at everything. They all have strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. The pragmatic salient question might be, ‘Should America strive to be average or average at all things?’ If we are average, we acknowledge there are those better than us in some things, and we are better in others. By being average at all things, we surrender those areas in which we can be superior.

Our desire and aspiration to be Great should not cloud the realization that we are just one among many in this world. Our founders knew this, and they promoted internationalism, not isolation, to gain acceptance and influence. They didn’t strive for dominance but for mutually beneficial relationships. In our drunken, intoxicated state of euphoria, touting our Greatness, let’s hope we ultimately don’t drive ourselves to Mediocrity.

Maybe our Greatness is our ability to cast an eye over our shoulder to see how far we’ve come, accept where we are, and then turn to look forward and have a vision of where we should be. Sober love of country over drunken delusions. NeverFearTheDream……simplebender.com

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This was first published in the Bend Bulletin 11/20/24

Posted in Political

It is Election Season: Time to Sharpen Your Occam’s Razor

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It is time to sharpen your personal Occam’s Razor. It is time for you to be able to thinly slice and dissect the information you see and hear and decide reality from fantasy. Your ability to differentiate between these two will determine your level of sensibility versus gullibility. All this as we prepare to cast our ballots.

Assessing the spin when listening to stories and news headlines is increasingly difficult. These are written by highly skilled and well-paid scriptwriters whose role is to take a little truth and to create a tale for the most significant impact. It is a tale with just enough truth to shield the whole story from excessive scrutiny. They play with words to spin the facts to twist your mind. This is why you need to sharpen your Occam’s Razor. This requires us to accept that the one solution to a problem is the one with the smallest possible complexities or has the fewest assumptions. While deciphering the spin of misinformation it is a method which allows you to ask: ‘Does that really make sense?’ and/or ‘If there is underlying truth, what is it and how much?’ Another way to understand is ‘The simplest explanation is usually the best.’

During this election cycle, like the last, there is a plethora of bogus stories being created to try and make a point or generate fanatical reactions. When candidates purposely espouse unverifiable comments, look behind their intent. They aren’t trying to set or defend policy. They are shifting the discussion and casting it in such a light to cause anxiety and social division. They want to avoid the rare moment of candor when admitting it is acceptable to create stories for a campaign or candidate’s benefit. Simply put, they want you to believe it is all right for candidates to tell lies and continue to tell them in an unadulterated attempt to energize support. In our elections, dabbling in fantastical make-believe shouldn’t be acceptable to garnish support. It shows weakness of position and is insulting to the voters. Does it really make sense to claim one political party can control the weather and the other not? Is it really likely one political party would sponsor attempted assassinations and recruit inexperienced snipers? Is it really likely one candidate wants to be dictator for only one day? Do you really believe a vice-presidential candidate is plotting an Article 25 coup after inauguration? Did you really believe foreign corporations will pay tariffs or domestic consumers? Do you really believe any individual candidate can reduce inflation? And, do you really think those military personnel who have died, injured, or were captured are losers and suckers; really?

Sharpen your Occam’s Razor. Guard yourself against the frauds, lies, and spin. Question everything and everyone. Think critically. Ask yourself if something said makes basic common sense or if it is just too fantastical or complicated to be real and true. Is it simply a cooked-up story, a lie with a smidgen of truth, or a repeated lie which now seems true because it has been told so many times? The problem is these concocted fantasies seduce millions. It seems America’s standard of greatness is now based on lies, deception, and disparaging others while pandering to the gullible. There is value in credibility and believability, or at least there used to be.

The one thing salacious, rancorous, weak candidates do not want is a thinking, analytical voter. Candidates want the easily swayed and unsuspecting. They play with their fears and not their common sense. They weaponize fear, anxiety, disinformation, and hate fueled by lies to seduce you and secure your vote. This year, every year, disappoint them. Think for yourself and break away from the clutches of someone else’s twisted reality, which holds you captive. Listen, study, ask critical questions, and don’t be a single-issue voter. Exercise your Occam’s Razor and then vote accordingly, country before party.  #NeverFearTheDream    simplebender.com

A version of this article was first published in the Bend Bulletin 10/18/24

Posted in Political

Escape America’s Scaphism—WE CAN

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America is suffering its own self-inflicted Scaphism torture. The body America is restrained and sandwiched between unyielding aspects of our political system. Our head, arms, and legs extended out of our encasement as misinformation is feed to us like milk and honey. We eagerly engorge ourselves on unfiltered and uncorroborated statements and political propaganda vilifying our opponents without ever clearly stating our own direction. As we, the body America are trapped, encased in our vessel the maggots, flies and birds begin to find our filth inviting and our defenselessness exciting. We, the greater populous are trapped and dying because of special self-interests, single issues, and greed.

This is an unusually cruel form of torture, humiliation, and death. The greater body trapped, unable to move as our extremities flail. Slowly succumbing to the attacks from the vermin outside and knowing it is our own fault that we cannot escape. Our enemies celebrate and make wagers on how long we can survive. Our allies look on as our great democratic republic, once the envy of the world, is reduced to a heap of rotting flesh. Able only to scream, curse, and cast blame on everyone else. It’s the extreme right, the progressives, the immigrants, it’s misinformation, it’s the mainstream media; it’s everything’s fault but ours. In factuality, we are the problem and our own cause for our pain and demise.

We listen to the attacks on our national institutions and the steady drumbeat of lies, steals, dishonor, witch-hunts, scapegoats, all of those believing they are being persecuted, and all the victims. Lies and propaganda are espoused to deflect blame and avoid accountability and responsibility. The once moral majority has lost its moral compass. Our elected representatives succumb to the threats of violence and the greed of self-interest for re-election. We have allowed ourselves to be imprisoned in our own horrific Scaphism.

Can we escape our own torture? Yes, we can. We must be willing to work toward the greater good and move forward not backwards. A nation of sons and daughters of immigrants shouldn’t belittle and vilify new immigrants, regardless of skin tone or religious background. Our religious communities should follow their own teachings and be accepting and supportive of those who are different and downtrodden. We should, without hesitation, embrace our unvarnished national history and acknowledge what we did right and what we’ve done wrong. We need to be unabashedly proud and uncomfortably ashamed at the same time.  We should welcome challenging ideas and ideals while respecting our neighbor’s individual preferences and orientations just like you want yours respected. Check and double check everything we see, read, and/or hear on the internet or media.

We don’t have to live in an all or nothing social and political system. If we don’t start listening and understanding all perspectives and compromising; our representative democratic republic we will perish a very public, humiliating, painfully slow, grotesque death and fall into a tyrannical autocracy. Unfortunately, there are a lot among us those who want nothing more. #NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com

This article was first published in the Bend Bulletin 1/24/24

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Posted in Political

Fix America’s Broken Windows

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When you own a factory, you don’t tear it down when you have a few broken windows. You fix the windows. But if you don’t fix them, your neighbors and passersby know you are in trouble. You appear not to care or are incapable of fixing your problems. Soon there will be more broken windows, as your factory falls further and further into disrepair.

America is like a factory. A sprawling dynamic complex with many buildings and a lot of windows. Unfortunately, the American Factory has a few broken windows, and a very few really want to fix them. The majority want to spend a lot of time, money, and energy yelling and pointing fingers at issues which might not really be of much value. They focus on hate generated topics like ‘woke’, transgender, and LGBTQ. These are issues reflecting differences of opinion and personal preference. The vocal body focuses on the fabrication of election rigging conspiracies and the undercutting of our election and judicial systems. Why do we find the time to breed hate but not understanding?

We don’t make time to prioritize fixing the broken windows of fentanyl, mental health, or the homeless. Others may see other broken windows, yet if we can fix these the other windows might not be broken, just cracked and chipped and much easier to repair.

Annually, tens of thousands of Americans are dying by overdose and their families broken because of it. The addiction is fueling our homelessness crisis and filling our streets with refuse and discarded, broken, human beings, as well as our morgues. The mental health crisis feeds drug abuse and is disproportionately impacting minorities and under-educated. These are our broken windows. We seem only interested in sweeping up the glass off the factory floor and not willing to focus upon fixing the windows. It doesn’t matter who broke the window, or maybe not even how; but we must fix them lest more are broken.

We don’t want to solve the problem, nor face it. We want to blame someone. It’s easy to cast blame and harder to fix the problems. It’s easy to blame the southern border immigrants for breaking the window. But, have you looked at the immigrants; really looked. They are carrying a few clothes in shoddy backpacks and their children, not pounds and pounds of drugs. Stop blaming them and start looking for and solving the real cause; us. Consider, information from DEA, ICE, and DHS (1);

  • 90% of fentanyl seizures are at legal border ports of entry, not immigration routes;
  • Over 90% of those seizures are from U.S. Citizens, not immigrants;
  • Less than 0.02% of arrested immigrants possessed any fentanyl;
  • U.S. citizens exceed 85% of the convicted drug traffickers, ten times greater than convictions of undocumented immigrants.

Ultimately, fentanyl smuggling is funded by us, U.S. citizens, the consumers. If we want to stop the fentanyl problem, let’s start asking why so many of us are becoming addicted. Why are so many taking these opioid drugs in the first place? What pain, emotionally or physically, what desperation, is so great they require these intoxicants to cope? Answering, ‘How did we get here?’ might help us fix the window before more lives are destroyed.

If we have time to focus on hate and festering ego issues, with legislators paralyzed by radical party extremes we have time to fix windows. These are shining examples of why the American Factory windows are being broken faster and faster. Our neighbors see us as a decaying, broken factory which cannot address our own real problems mired in dysfunctionality. Put partisan rhetoric aside, face the big problems, and at least be seen trying to fix the windows rather than trying to tear down the factory. #NeverFearTheDream

(1) www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-not-asylum-seekers

This article was first published in the Bend Bulletin 10/24/23

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