Where Trump came from and where we can go now

Sam Smith - In trying to figure out how someone as absurd as Donald Trump has been so successful, I've come up with several answers: The rise of corporatism: Lyndon Johnson, the last truly progressive president, said, "To put it simply, I am a Democrat by conviction. The Democratic Party has more to offer the …

Before the lies of Donald Trump

Sam Smith – Long before the arrival of Donald Trump, America was into lies. For example, Wikipedia reports: [][][] In Propaganda (1928), [Edward] Bernays argued that the manipulation of public opinion was a necessary part of democracy. In public relations, lobby groups are created to influence government policy, corporate policy or public opinion, typically in …

America’s real divide

Sam Smith – Although we spend an extraordinary amount of time talking about sources of hate in this land and what to do about it, we spend only a tiny amount figuring out how to get along better and have more fun with other Americans. There are a few exceptions, such as the last five …

TWO SUBCULTURES THAT COULD SAVE US

Sam Smith - At a time when the first American republic seems in as much danger as it has ever experienced save for the Civil War, the question comes up: who can save us? What is clear is that we can not reasonably expect recovery from the top. Between our corrupt social and political culture …

Some 80s thoughts

 Sam Smith - As I have noted before, being in your 80s is like being a teenager. You don't know how to do it, nobody tells you how to do it, and nobody likes how you do it. We have become an increasingly  irrelevant part of the American story. The statistics, however, tell another tale. …

Learning democracy is just as important as learning math

This essay appeared in the newsletter of Concerned Citizens Defending Democracy, a new organization dedicated to "promoting democratic institutions, deliberative dialogues, and racial justice and reconciliation." Sam Smith - While we repeatedly discuss the problems our country faces, we pay little attention to how we teach our children to deal with these matters as they …

The brevity of history

Sam Smith – As I enjoy my eighth decade on this planet, one thing that has struck me is that so much  of what happened in the not so distant past seems to have disappeared from the public consciousness. I mention someone or some event from a couple of decades ago and and I get …

Ghosts

Sam Smith With Philadelphia a formal feeling came. Our house on Schoolhouse Lane was old and big and dark and tall and Victorian and sat back from the street on several acres. Other large buildings lay alongside and there was nothing in the untended hayfields across the street. The shutters were dark green, the stucco …

When God turned right

Sam Smith, 1998 - Sometime between the 1960s and the 1980s God became a conservative. This is not tosay that God wanted to become a conservative, only that the great perception processor in the sky that has assumed so many of the Lord's functions in recent years declared it so. If one wants proof that …

America: Trouble at the top

Sam Smith - They no longer build pyramids in Egypt, Mexico or Guatemala. The British royalty is beginning to fall apart. We elected someone like Donald Trump to lead us through the worst pandemic in a century. The US Senate was helpless to deal with Trump. The electric grid system in Texas couldn't handle a …

The imperfection of history

 Sam Smith – The decision in San Francisco to rename over 40 schools – including ones named for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln – brings to the fore the arrogance with which we often view history. If there is one consistent thing that history teaches us it is the imperfection of it and the people …

Bringing the police back home

Sam Smith – One of the problems with our problem solving these days is a tendency to legalize, institutionalize and formalize relationships that actually depend on wise social behavior. Consider, for example, how different our ethnic relations might be if we actually taught school children about the nature and virtues of cultural variety before their …

Thinking about history

Sam Smith – Reading Colin Woodard’s remarkable book, Union, has led me to ponder about some of the failings and successes of history in our society and what we can do about it. A few thoughts: Stop shortchanging history in our schools: A 2014 study by the National Assessment of Educational Programs found that only …

Some positive approaches to ethnic relations

Sam Smith Because of the cruel  history of ethnic relations there is an emphasis on problems, crises and outrageous examples, but far less attention to the positive results of improved relations and how to reach them. Here are just a few suggestions that I’ve gathered from my own life. Treat multicultural relations as an asset …

Gatherings for the non-religious

Sam Smith – As a long time Seventh Day Agnostic who majored in anthropology I both ignore religion’s theology and respect its moral and ethical role in society. As Americans increasingly grow less interested in religion, moral and ethical matters are also losing their longtime home. Consider, for example, the role that religions have played …