Author: simplemoralcompass

By Edward Miller

After months of being obstreperous, Donald Trump was on his best behavior in the State of the Union address. Should we believe that he’s finally softened his tone and learned to act presidential? I suggest we heed the caution of Alair Townsend, a former deputy mayor of New York City, who said years ago: “I wouldn’t believe Donald Trump if his tongue were notarized.”

Samuel Adams might agree. His strategy for the resisters of his time was “to keep the attention of his fellow citizens awake to their grievances; and not suffer them to be at rest till the causes of their just complaints are removed.” In other words, it’s hardly time to let down our guard.

John Adams, our second president, would agree. Prior to the Revolutionary War, he observed, “The People, even to the lowest ranks, have become more attentive to their Liberties, more inquisitive about them, and more determined to defend them, than they were ever before known or had occasion to be.”

We indeed have that occasion to defend. The delivery of one less-than-hysterical speech does not signal a change in substance, only a shift in tactics.

Helping us keep up our guard is a free press that only a few days ago Trump called “the enemy of the American people.” Tyrants have always bridled when their tyranny is exposed. Nothing has changed, neither Trump’s tyranny nor our resistance to it.

What can we do?

• Support a free press. Keep the press accountable for holding our government accountable. Demand the truth.
• Remember that “fake news” is coming from the White House, not the newsrooms of America. Lies are the tools of propaganda. Confront and refute.
• Argue your case with data. On immigration, cite the reports that show how immigration is the engine of a growing economy. On education, quote the recent research that shows private-school vouchers actually harm the students’ education.

Everyday the press provides data for the dialogues of democracy, so don’t settle for vague accusations. Arm yourself with facts and a determination to make them known to those who would ignore them.

By Edward Miller

The news hits us like a torrent, its pace almost as distressing as its content. News cycles are measured in minutes, not days.

This blog cannot maintain a minute-by-minute pace with events. For that we must depend on others like The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. What the Moral Compass can do, however, is step back, slow down and offer ideas for thinking and doing.

For thinking, read Frank Bruni’s recent column.

In this sober piece, Bruni asks, “Have Democrats learned and implemented all the right lessons from Trump’s victory and from the party’s brutal fade during Barack Obama’s presidency?”

He celebrates our outrage at Trump’s outrageous behavior, but warns that outrage seldom translates into successful opposition:

“Yelling has an impact, but it takes you only so far if you don’t choose your battles, marshal your fiercest energy for ones that can yield concrete results, and buckle down to the nitty-gritty of electing legislators who can actually vote against Trump’s worst initiatives in numbers that exceed those of his abettors.”

Furthermore, Bruni suggests practicality be tempered by proportionality.

“When you treat every last tweet of Trump’s as if it’s the botched operation in Yemen, voters lose sight of the botched operation in Yemen.

 “Trump provokes ire by the minute, but the response needs to be fashioned by the day or even week, lest everything blur. Resistance is a dish best served with discernment. Too much salt and you can’t taste the food itself.”

Whatever the tactic, the long-term strategy must to elect representatives who actually represent our nation’s values and not the whims of an uninformed and increasingly unpopular demagogue.

Now for the doing.

How well do you know who represents you in Congress and state legislatures? Here’s an easy way to gather the names and numbers of five key officials: your two U.S. senators, your representative in Congress, and your local state senator and state representative.

Send a text to 520-200-2223 and insert your ZIP code. Within a second or two you’ll get a response with the names and phone numbers of your five elected officials.

The next step is to send a message.

By Edward Miller

Tired of listening to your liberal friends whining about the election and its aftermath? Of course things are terrible, but a sky-is-falling paralysis will get us nowhere. In this household, the daily battle cry is GOYA: Get Off Your Ass.

In the last week or so we’ve marched with 60,000 of our most intimate friends to the capitol in Atlanta, demonstrated in front of Rep. Tom Price’s congressional office in Roswell (of course he wasn’t there and his staff had closed the office); attended a meeting of the Cherokee County Democratic Committee, a county that voted 80 percent for Trump; committed to attend a town hall held by the Democratic Caucus in the Georgia General Assembly; launched a neighborhood action group under the banner of “Indivisible” (more on this in a minute), and joined a conference call with 25,000 others to learn how to take against the Muslim ban.

Our point is not to boast, but to stir. Everything we do may seem inadequate against the onslaught of lies and the erosion of every civil liberty we cherish. Still, we’re determined to do something every day, even if just a politely annoying phone call or email to remind a congressman that by killing the Affordable Care Act millions will suffer and thousands will die.

If you want to join the GOYA movement, here are five things you can do:

• Call your local Democratic committee and ask what it needs. The first answer will be “money,” so give some. Get in the habit. $25 at a clip each week or so won’t break the bank, but it will sustain financially and emotionally the shock troops in the party. Then volunteer to do something. There’s lots to do.

• Click this link (https://www.indivisibleguide.com) and download the “Indivisible Guide.” You’ll find lots to think about and do. Then do at least one thing.

• If you’re on Facebook, search for “News and Guts,” a dynamite site set up by Dan Rather. It’s loaded with the work of top-notch reporters and editors and is a wonderful source for something other than alternative facts. While you’re at it, go “like” Dan Rather’s personal Facebook site. Another good site is Bill Moyers’.

• Subscribe to the online editions of The New York Times or Washington Post. They’re inexpensive and the best value in journalism. Besides, every newspaper in the U.S. is struggling. Do your part and support a free press.

• FYI, you’ll receive “The Moral Compass” on the 1st and 15th of each month. Spread the word. Send the link to your friends and neighbors. Post the link on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s your choice: whining or winning. As Cindy and I tell ourselves every day: GOYA. Your voice needs to be heard.

 

 

 

By Edward Miller

The recent election disturbed more than the nation’s political balance. It set our moral compass askew.

I love compasses, always have. Growing up I transformed the city park surrounding my home into a child’s wilderness to practice navigating by compass from the iron bridge to my home a quarter of a mile away. That I could actually see my destination didn’t matter. I was master of my journey because I had mastered a simple tool.

Over the years I’ve learned more about compasses:

• A tiny magnet floating on a pin can respond to the earth’s magnetic field. All it needs is to be free of competing magnetic forces nearby. It thinks globally so you can act locally.
• A compass is never “accurate,” that is, it doesn’t point to the geographic North Pole. It points to the magnetic north pole, which is about a thousand miles away in Canada. If your journey is longer than mine to the iron bridge and back, you need to understand how to calculate the built-in error of a compass. That error is called the “deviation,” and it’s not a constant; it depends where you are.
• Compasses don’t tell you where you are. They are only useful if you know where you want to go.

Consider the compass a metaphor framing my post-election distress: How do I navigate when the nation’s moral compass deviates from all I have stood for in my life?

Here are some of my predicaments:

• How do I articulate my view of our president-elect? His transgressions, deceptions and intolerable behaviors are innumerable. I need a phrase in conversation, not a soliloquy. So here what my moral compass has settled on: “Ignorant sociopathic bigot.” That hardly covers it, but in the interests of brevity it will have to do.

• How can I respect the office of the president but not the president himself? Easy. I’ve lived through the Vietnam era of Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Watergate era of Richard Milhous Nixon. I’ve learned to honor the office while holding its incumbent accountable. It’s a practical and nonpartisan approach to the conundrum.

• How can I hew to my principles and find my way while the compass is spinning?

The four primary directions on a compass rose are North, South, East and West. These are called the cardinal points. What are the cardinal points on a moral compass?

One is Fairness. If something isn’t fair, it’s unjust, and therefore unacceptable as a guide.

Another is Truthfulness: If something is false, it will lead us astray.

A third is Compassion: Narcissists travel alone The rest of us need companions.

A fourth is Commitment: Principles without action are mere platitudes.

How can a single citizen act in defiance of those who disdain these principles in pursuit of their own self-aggrandizement? Speak out. Support others who do the same. Let no casual conversation pass with uncontested sexist and racist slurs.

My compass leads me to facilitating voter registration and fighting voter suppression. I hope all who read this will pick a cardinal point on the moral compass and set out on a journey to sustain democracy. There’s no longer room on the trail for bystanders.