Category: Commentary

When I attended the University of Houston there were certain core classes that everyone had to take regardless of what they had chosen as a major. One of the required studies was Political Science, a tough course that delved deeply into the inner workings of our federal, state and local governments. To say it was enlightening would be an understatement. 

The deep dive into the origins and evolution of our government was not just exciting, but so informative that I found myself thinking it should be a requirement for every single American citizen. I realized that my studies helped me to understand what kind of legislators and leaders our nation needs. I began to do extensive research into candidates for office with an eye to looking beyond their platitudes and political propaganda and instead attempted to choose those who seemed the most capable of guiding our democratic republic with an eye for representing all of us, not single issues. 

A word that still sticks in my mind from the six hours of coursework in Political Science is “incrementalism.” It was a new concept to me and at the age of eighteen I had to be convinced that it was wise to slowly make changes to our laws and ways of operating rather that taking an axe to whatever seemed to need an overhaul. I soon learned that the concept of incrementalism was important in assuring that politicians would not have the power to be constantly redesigning our government according to their personal whims. It was actually a bulwark against authoritarians and dictators. The idea was a brilliant check and balance feature created by our founders who had experienced the whims of kings that kept life unbalanced and chaotic. They purposely wanted the process of change to be a bit sluggish so that no one person would ever be able to break our Constitution apart. 

Then along came Donald Trump with his assurance from the Supreme Court that seemed to find that he could not be held accountable for wrongdoings done in the name of leading our nation as president. The immunity ruling gave him the green light that he needed to upend the many agencies that he believed were infected by “woke” thinking and disloyal employees wasting our nation’s treasures. With the help of Elon Musk and the magical Department of Government Efficiency a new mantra has pushed aside the belief in the good of incrementalism. Instead the plan is to “move fast and break things,” the motto of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of META. The idea is to disrupt the normal administration of the government by changing it as quickly as possible without any real merit for the decisions being made. 

The methodology catches the public off guard so that the changes are complete before anyone has sufficient time to analyze what has happened. It does not take into account unintended consequences or safeguards against potential harms. Acting fast is revolutionary. The aspects that don’t quite work well can always be fixed later according to the theory. The important thing is to take a torch to the old ways to make room for the new.

Sadly there is a great deal of difference between introducing new technologies and taking down human systems. For example redesigning schools should be done with care because simply throwing everything out all at once is likely to hurt people in multiple ways. The attempts to improve should be well thought out and must include input from all of the stakeholders. 

I once landed a position in a school that was low performing on the state tests. Rather than taking an axe to what we were already doing a wise group of leaders took a much more humane and elegant approach to improving our school. They sat us down with statistics showing us exactly where each of our students were falling behind. With that data analysis we were able to change how we taught specific concepts. The district provided us with intensive training and gave us time away from the classroom to work with experts to redesign the sequencing of how and when we taught the skills and knowledge for each of our subject areas. Then they gave us the time to find what worked and what still had glitches. By the end of two years our test scores were on the rise and by the end of three years we had become exemplars of how to educate underserved students. People came from all over the state to confer with us and we in turn visited schools who had problems similar to the ones that had once seemed to define us. 

The point I am making is that randomly firing people or shutting down entire agencies the way DOGE is doing is haphazard and does not address the actual problems that may exist. It is not just an economic problem. Simply saving money will not result in better performance. What will help is to send experts to retrain the employees using actual data that points to problem areas. Young lions with computing power do not even know what they are breaking or why they should do so. It will not result in a more efficient government. 

I think that every American can agree that there is some waste in government and that some agencies are not as efficient as they should be. We can find the problems but they can’t be solved in a matter of days. Right now the morale among government workers is so low that it is doubtful that good results with come. Instead it is wiser to take a deep breath, admit that Rome was not built in a day, and take a strategic and analytical approach to improvement. Any changes that have to come so quickly that nobody has time to realize what is happening are certain to be a mess. Slow down. Change incrementally. Find the best of each agency and keep that while letting go of the worst habits that have impeded success. That has always been the best way of doing things and it actually works. 

DOGE is the epitome of inefficiency. The people destroying agencies have no idea what they are doing. Get rid of this approach and try something like the example of improving the school where I worked. It may take more time but it’s results will be exactly what is needed.

We just celebrated a day of love or at least that is what Valentine’s Day is supposed to be in modern times. The idea of setting aside February 14, originally came about to honor a martyr for the Catholic faith. The exact story of who this person was is rather sketchy. Nonetheless over time February 14, became associated with flowers and cards and declarations of love. 

This year I used that day to meditate a bit on the state of our union here in the USA. Anyone who has read my posts knows that I am befuddled and angry about the chaos that Donald Trump is imposing on our nation. I believe in my heart that he is the antithesis of love and compassion. Everything he does seems to be predicated on vengeance, cruelty, and greed. That being said I am not one who thinks that everyone who voted for Trump thought they were voting for what they are now getting from him. 

Oh sure, there were incredibly hateful and racist people among the Trump voters. They have not been silent about their vileness. They have lived in the underbelly of our country from its beginning. Most of the time they have had to sulk in obscurity but now and again they rise up to demonstrate their hate. They’ve been cloaked in white robes  wearing masks to torture Black Americans. They are white suprematists who now seem to believe that Trump has given them a green light to perform their evil in the light of day,

Because I do not think it would be just or even true to indict everyone who voted for Trump for being as vile as the worst of his supporters I have to wonder if they are as bothered about most of the things he is doing as I am. I also wonder how they were able to ignore the many signs that he was going to do exactly what he is now doing. He told us what he had in mind day after day and yet some of his long time supporters seem to be surprised by his actions. I know of many who still think that he was only joking to get attention but the evidence indicates that he was deadly serious.

Do those who put Trump into office feel comfortable that he is driving our long time allies away while currying favor with Russia? Surely the same people who worried that Democrats are communists must be outraged that Trump is siding with the biggest commie of them all, Vladimir Putin. Does it bother them that Trump has invited Putin to Washington DC when our allies in Europe are united against Putin?

Do my Republican friends who flew Ukrainian flags feel a bit taken aback when Pete Hegseth announces that Ukraine should not expect to ever join NATO nor will they reclaim areas that were once part of their country? Are they appalled that the Trump administration wants Ukraine to surrender and just slink away? Surely this is not what they wanted. I saw their emotional pleas for Ukraine. Are they now willing to pretend that they no longer care?

Did anyone want Elon Musk to take an axe to government agencies with a crew of young boys who now have access to all of our personal information? Does it seem wise to randomly decrease the number of employees without conducting a survey to determine who the most knowledgeable people are rather than relying on loyalty oaths to a single individual as an indicator of who should stay? Surely they would prefer that those who keep our government running are more invested in the Constitution and our laws than in serving one man. 

I know that many who voted for Trump believed that only the most criminal and illegal immigrants would be targeted with exile from our country so why are they not worried that even the DACA kids might be in line for deportation to countries that they have never known? Can they really want birthright citizenship to go away like Trump suggests? Do they really believe that he has the power to simply ignore an amendment to the Constitution?

I simply do not understand why there is not a hue and cry from all Americans. A man who literally only received thirty two percent of all potential votes is claiming a mandate for tearing our government apart. He has stolen the constitutional job of the Congress and not even the members of his party are complaining. Are those who voted for him as concerned as I am? Do they not see that we are slowly devolving into authoritarian rule rather than the democracy that our founders designed? 

Inflation is already rising. Unemployment is following along. Students about to graduate from college are receiving letters rescinding job offers. Men and women with negligible experience or moral character are being put in charge of our nation’s security and health while a nineteen year old boy known as”Big Balls” was just hired to be an advisor in the State Department. Surely we can all see the danger of what is happening and that the man who won the presidency has lost his mind. Do we really want an unelected immigrant to serve as co-president? Why are we not demanding that the insanity cease and desist immediately. What happened to our patriotism and our courage? Who is going to save us from this travesty if we do not join together before it is too late?

I am so very confused. I cannot in any way shape or form believe that the majority American people wanted any of this. I wonder how many have to be hurt before we demand that it stops. I have never before been so afraid for my country. God help us all!  

My grandfather, William Mack Little, was born on a November day in either 1878 or 1879. There is no clear document to confirm the actual moment of his birth just as there seems to be no sign of his parents in a census or other official document. I simply know that he existed and what I know about him came from his own lips.

According to his story his mother died three days after he was born from complications. I’ve often thought about that because I was in hard labor for over eighteen hours with my first child. Later my doctor would almost casually note that I might have had a difficult time giving birth in an earlier era. In fact he conjectured that I might even have died without expert medical care. It was a shocking statement to which I only reacted years later when I thought about the implications and how I may have inherited certain problems from my great grandmother, Marion.

I have been haunted by the thought of this woman. I find myself wondering how old she was when her son was born. I try to imagine her having a difficult time during the birth and ultimately succumbing to death before having a chance to love her baby boy and watch him grow old. I have been unable to find any documentation regarding her existence and yet my grandfather is the evidence that she was indeed once alive and hopefully happy at the prospect of becoming a mother. 

My grandfather remembered his mother by naming his daughter after her. I wonder if he longed for his mama when he was a boy growing up somewhere in the backwoods of Virginia. Was the grandmother who raised him the mother of his father or was she the parent of his mother? These are questions that I did not think to ask when I had the chance. My queries came too late and somehow public records provide no clues as to this mystery. 

Ironically my grandfather lived to the age of one hundred eight. His mind was clear and brilliant until the final weeks of his life. He was a strong man who was still building things and remodeling the home where he lived when he was in his nineties. He was so sturdy that my brothers and I seemingly took for granted that he would always be with us. 

Grandpa’s stories of his boyhood in the nineteenth century were vivid and illustrated the hardships that the common people endured during that time. He spoke of the graft of presidents, the poverty of vast numbers of people, the depression that overtook the land. He vividly described the ravages of smallpox and the time when he was quarantined with his father who seemed to be dying from that dread disease. 

As a young adult Grandpa traveled the United States doing carpentry work. He marveled at the inventions that he witnessed in their infancy. He remembered the first time he saw a town lit up with electricity. He breathlessly described learning about the flight of the Wright Brothers. He spoke of the changes in the lifestyle of Americans that brought wondrous inventions into homes. He was alive at the time of invention of the first cars, the first movies, the advent of television, the astronauts walking on the moon. He understood without question that progress had made the world better and for him the idea of going back in time was ridiculous. He lived to see the nineteen eighties and to know that me and my brothers were doing well. 

Grandpa was a happy and optimistic man whose mantra was that “these are good old days.” The very idea that the world was better at an earlier time was ridiculous to him. He understood all too well how dark and difficult life had been for everyone in the past. He had lived through those times and seen the suffering including four wars. I suppose he realized that in the modern times his mother might have lived long after his birth and been able to love him as much as he loved the thought of her. 

Grandpa lost all of his money when my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer in the early nineteen sixties. There was no Medicare back then so he had to use his own money for her care. She was so ill that her medical treatments drained all of the resources that he had saved over time, including his house. He ended up in a rented room with a landlord who became his best friend. When he finally grew ill at the end of his life Medicare paid for his needs. He more than most understood how wonderful the idea of helping the elderly was.

I suppose that if Grandpa were alive today he would see a kind of return to the Gilded Age of his boyhood in which the so called robber barons held most of the wealth and power. I suspect that he would warn us of the problems that might occur when the guardrails that keep us healthy and secure are removed. He would worry about the incredible influence of the wealthiest among us who seem to be in league with our politicians. He was not just a student of history. He had lived it and in the process he understood that progress was not a bad thing but that turning back almost always is. 

I was a docile child. I suspect that there were times that teachers hardly noticed that I was in the classroom. i genuinely liked all of my classmates, even the ones who did their best to get a rise out of me with brutal insults. I did my best to be calm and kind toward everyone. I preferred being in the background with a few close friends rather than dealing with the limelight. 

When my mother first became ill with her bipolar disorder I had little idea how to advocate for her. Once I had found a psychiatrist to treat her I mostly went along with his recommendations until he suggested a treatment that really bothered me. My attempts to shut down the therapy were unsuccessful probably because after the first session he legally only had to answer to my mother. Nonetheless I learned the important lesson of speaking up forcefully and immediately. Waiting to see how things go when I see that something is very wrong has rarely gone well for me or anyone for whom I have advocated. 

The turning point in my development occurred when I was twenty years old and I learned how to use my voice and my grit. From that point forward I would never again be willing to sit back and accept behaviors from others that seemed to be harmful to me or the people for whom I was responsible. As a mom I diplomatically spoke to teachers when I witnessed unfairness. I assumed that they wanted the best for their students but nonetheless suggested that perhaps their actions were not appropriate for the given situation.

Later as a teacher, I watched over my students like a collie trained to protect them. I was gently firm, so much so that one young man with a limited ability to express himself proclaimed that I was the nicest mean teacher that he had ever encountered. I translated his words to mean that I was firm while being kind and understanding. Nonetheless I never allowed my students to cross moral red lines with each other. I made certain that they understood the rules of working together and avoiding malice and lies.

I was a free range kind of mom. I suppose in the seventies and eighties when my daughters were growing up the world was a bit gentler and less hazardous than it sometimes seems to be today. I grave them a great deal of freedom but still wanted them to be able to escape from dangerous situations. I made a pact with them that I would never ask them any questions if they called me and insisted that I come pick them up immediately. I wanted them to be able to leave a desperate situation without worry that I would then chastise them for getting themselves involved in a sticky situation. 

I only had to rescue one of them on one occasion. I kept to my word and never asked why she had sounded so anxious when she called. I learned later that the party where she had been got way out of hand with a drug orgy in which she had no desire to partake. She simply wanted to remove herself from the pressure her peers were placing on her. 

I am quite realistic about the world at large but I still maintain a mostly live and let live attitude about how people comport themselves. I’ve never minded if someone enjoys loud parties as long they don’t make me be part of them. I enjoy my Catholic faith but would be loathe to push my beliefs on others unless they asked to learn about my religion. I am the same about the variety of lifestyles that people choose to follow. As long as they are not hurting anyone I feel that it is none of my business to lecture them or to attempt to take away their rights to do certain things. 

I look at the gatherings at Mar a Lago and know that I would never want to dress like the women who go there, but have no problem for those who do. The only thing that irks me is when they join together to push ideas that prohibit people from enjoying differing lifestyles. 

I have to admit that I have grown quite weary of the posturing of individuals who in one breath claim to be God centered but in the next moment make statements that are very unreligious. My thinking is that we should all do our best to get along by accepting our differences rather than dictating one way of living. I’m ready to speak up on behalf of anyone who is being neglected or bullied or misunderstood for being unique. That is what defines freedom for me. 

People keep suggesting to me that I need to tone down my blogs that advocate for a kinder gentler more all encompassing way of living together on this earth. I suppose that I will only do that when I stop seeing vast swaths of people being mistreated because their politics are wrong or they choose to enjoy their sexuality in ways unlike the majority. 

I used to let the bullies insult me with their poison by attempting to ignore them. I am no longer willing to do that. If we are ever again going to be able to get along with each other without the threat of judgement and rancor we really do have to become more willing to appreciate our differences and I intend to school people on how that is done. I learned with my mother that there are times when the only right thing to do is to boldly speak up. I won’t go back to pretending that ugliness is ever okay. 

“Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.”  Retired Naval Admiral William McRaven

I have cried multiple times this morning. I have spent the weekend attempting to deal with the utter shock of the Trump administration’s dramatic abandonment of our European allies. I have sobbed in realizing that the confidence in which we have relied on members of NATO and that they have relied for eighty years is now gone. I have felt gut punched by the audacity of our president in planning to hold peace talks regarding the Ukraine war with Putin in attendance but without the presence of either Ukraine or members of NATO. This is not the country that I was taught to cherish by my mother and father. 

My parents spoke often with great pride of the role of the United States of America in defeating the fascist Hitler and in helping the war torn countries of Europe to develop and strengthen democracies in their nations. As we approach the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of our own independence there are more democratic countries than at any other time in the history of the world. We helped fight for those freedoms and we made sure that the countries who worked so hard to fight dictatorships would always know that we are an ever loyal and ever vigilant friend. 

When our own nation was attacked by terrorists on September 1, 2001 those countries responded without hesitation, pledging their help in the battle against those who would dare to threaten any of us. Ours has been a long and mutual friendship in which we have been confident of reciprocal loyalty. In one fell swoop both our Vice President and our Secretary of Defense have made it clear that Europe is now alone and that we can no longer be counted upon in the event of takeovers by authoritarian figures. 

Adding insult to injury was our Vice President having the temerity to insult the German people by charging them with stifling free speech simply because they will not allow the kind of hate speech and lies that led to the deaths of millions of people during the Hitler regime. His visit with the far right party of Germany while snubbing the official governmental officers was a slap in the face and a clear indication of how rancid our narrowly elected leaders have become. 

I was a child who came to be at the end of World War II in 1948. I witnessed the rebuilding of Europe and understood the implications of the Cold War with the USSR. My parents openly discussed such things at the kitchen table. My father was a student of history who emphasized the importance of being well informed of the truth. He filled our home with books and magazines that told me the stories of our own struggles to undo the evils of segregation. I ducked and covered in bomb drills and heard the sirens being tested every Friday at noon. 

My mother told me about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and she sang about the joy of D-Day in Normandy. My father spoke of President Truman and President Eisenhower with reverence. He explained the Marshall Plan and how it would help to create a freer Europe that would guard against authoritarians and make the world a safer place. 

I have a chunk of the Berlin Wall that a friend from Germany collected for me when the team of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush helped to bring down the USSR. I watched my grandparent’s homeland of Slovakia become independent and free. I saw one despot after another being toppled. All the while the United States kept its promises and stood by its allies. 

When Putin boldly invaded Ukraine I began sending donations to organizations like World Kitchen and any others dedicated to helping the people in the worn torn country. I was so proud of the United States for standing up to Russia and offering help to Ukraine. I symbolically purchased a sunflower wreath in unity with the people of that country. It has stayed in my home ever since. I have sunflowers on my kitchen table to remind me of the courage of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people whose country is right next door to the homeland of my grandparents. 

I feel shame and anger and sorrow that President Trump would only agree to keep supporting Ukraine if they gave us mineral rights. His was a disgusting bribe, brute force to get what he wants without any thought of what that would mean for the people both in Ukraine and here in the United States. I totally agree with the concise analysis of Retired Naval Admiral Willam McRaven. Donald Trump and his unAmerican crew have embarrassed all of us. I do not know what to say to my grandchildren who are puzzled and angry over what has happened. I don’t know how to deal with my grave disappointment that so many of my fellow countrymen don’t seem to care and so I weep and wonder if this is how democracy dies.