NEW YEAR

As we approach the beginning of the New Year, traditionally we reflect on the one that is about to end.  That is all well and good, but might we be better off to stop and reflect more often than once in a calendar year?  To more frequently stop and take the time to assess what we are about and why we do what we do.  I know it is much easier said than done, but daily reflective thought gives us a freedom from expectations and is a release from a poor choice or a wrong path. Rigidity has the opposite effect. Digging in our heels and refusing to admit our errors in judgment will cause us unnecessary pain and suffering.

The simple interjection, “oops”, should be uttered more often so to allow us that opportunity to change course without remorse. Why wait until a “New Year”? To paraphrase John Lennon’s lyrics, “Imagine there’s no judgment for changing your mind….” As new information comes to light, what made sense yesterday, may no longer make sense today.  This reminds me of the pot roast story. A daughter was watching her mother prepare a pot roast for the oven. The older woman cut off the ends of the roast before she placed it in the oven. The daughter asked, “Why did you cut the ends off?” The mother said, “Because that’s how my mother did it.” So the young woman went to ask her grandmother the same question and gran told her because that’s how her mother did it. So the young woman went to the ancient great grandmother and asked why. Great gran explained that years ago, when she and her husband were first married they had a very small oven….

Just imagine, had W. experienced an uncharacteristic moment of clarity and contrition and admitted his error in judgment how many lives and resources could have been saved, instead of doggedly sticking to his ever changing reasons to invade and occupy Iraq? Many of us are guilty of the counterproductive habit of denigrating someone for changing their mind and dismiss it as “flip-flopping” instead of examining the evidence prompting the change. Of course there is changing your viewpoint to please a people in the moment, but that isn’t reassessment, that is just plain pandering. Nobody likes changing their mind. It is so much easier to plod along convinced we are right then do the sometimes embarrassing and most times uncomfortable work of reflective thought and adjustment.

A less obvious blunder than W’s multi-year quest for WMDs, but no less potentially damaging is the 2010 SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee decreeing that corporate money is “free speech” and that corporate money can be handed over to politicians in unlimited amounts, essentially allowing a corporation to buy a voice(s) in Congress. This ruling comes as true free speech is being suppressed in the form of SCOTUS official’s arbitrary rule that groups may no longer gather on the steps of the Supreme Court to protest and address grievance. This along with other Orwellian chippings-away at our first amendment rights to a free press and fourth amendment  violations by our own government spying on us, the political landscape is looking grim for We The People; the actual flesh and blood citizens of this fading Republic.

By legalizing unlimited amounts of corporate money going to lawmakers, those lawmakers simply no longer represent their constituency, but represent their corporate masters instead. For example; polls tell us ninety percent of Americans want background checks on gun purchases, yet the NRA and its puppets in Washington successfully block any such legislation from becoming a reality. Another example of Washington’s disregard for the people is the fact that most Americans want more solar, wind and other energy alternatives to fossil fuels, yet again we are stymied by the congressional lackeys of Big Oil with their refusal to pass laws in line with what the American people desire.

The SCOTUS’ decision to open up the flood gates of corporate money to the war chests of politicians was a poor one. What has worked since the ratification of our constitution 225 years ago is being threatened by this unwise ruling by our greatest court in the land. What is ironic is the 2010 SCOTUS ruling was an overturn of a previous State of Michigan Supreme Court ruling in the Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce where Michigan’s Court had ruled that corporate money would corrupt the political process and unfairly influence legislators. It would seem the obvious didn’t escape the Michigan Courts. I wish I could say the same for the Supremes.

There is still hope this toxic and politically regressive position by the SCOTUS can be reversed. I urge you to investigate https://movetoamend.org/ and see what you can do as a citizen to regain your voice and be truly represented in Washington once again. I realize that the challenge to hurtle supreme judicial ego and legal precedent is great, but turnovers have occurred in the past and I would love to hear an “oops” from any one or more of justices Kennedy, Scalia, Alito, Thomas or Roberts as they reflect on their ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee. Honest reflection is a sign of good mental health, wisdom and humility, traits we should expect from our Supreme Court Justices. Happy “New Year”.

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Alex Symington

Alex lives with his wife, Anna in Key West, Florida. He enjoys writing poetry and prose and making the complacent uncomfortable.