Seriously, Why?

The USA is about  to celebrate two hundred fifty years of existence as a republic where  it had become a dominantly successful super power during the last seventy five; yet, why the nagging question about the uncertainty of its ability to hold on to it for the foreseeable future. 

Seriously, why? 

"At the end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, "well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" He gave a trenchant reply that resonates today: "A republic, if you can keep it."

Why did Ben Franklin say it and what was he thinking then? But let's first make sure we understand what a republic is and how it is different from how democracy works.

"A republic is a form of government where representatives are elected to make decisions on behalf of the citizens".

In a democracy decisions are  made based on majority rule, reflecting the will of the majority of the populace. Decisions may be reached either through direct participations of all citizens or by proxy representatives they elect to represent them.  So, why is that different from a republic?  The majority always rules in a democracy; "a republic emphasizes the protection of individual rights and minority interests, often through a constitution.

Make note: "Democracies can exist within a republic, but not all democracies are republics".

Did Ben Franklin have a premonition about  a republic's ability to sustain itself? Or, had he read and believed that the fate of empires seemed to have had predestined shelf lives throughout history? Had he known that all powerful empires that emerged could only manage on average 250 years or merely ten generations before they succumb to gradual decline, first from internal pressure and self-inflected turmoil before another empire takes over? The process was always a zero sum  game, it always seemed.  One empire declines as another emerges to take its place. Is that what's about to happen? And why?

Seriously, why - to get to the heart of what seems to ail this country - is the theme of neo politics these days focused on fundamentally changing what this country is all about?  After 250 years from a fledgling union of thirteen original colonies to fifty united states of almost 350 million people, why the call for change that is deemed to radically pivot from the course that so far has been guided by what its founders wrote on the 1776 document that they signed virtually with their own blood.  For 250 years the country has done very well. It attained unprecedented wealth and wield influence like no other country before it, saved much of the world twice during two world wars, so, seriously why change what had worked for 250 years?

Just recently in the words of U.S. congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortes, otherwise known as AOC, in a recent interview, a quote below:

"The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answered a question about potentially running for higher office in 2028 by declaring: “My ambition is to change the country.”

Eighteen years ago was when it may have started:

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” So declared Barack Obama in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 30, 2008, on the cusp of his historic presidential election.

Those are just two troubling indicators echoed by many voices from other politicians such as the newly elected mayor of New York City, to the one in Seattle, to a very vocal and popular senator from Vermont and many others who claim to prescribe socialism as the new political elixir. Troubling times indeed, according to those who'd rather conserve the old ideals of two hundred fifty years against the liberal application of remedies that have  been tried in many places that all, without exception, ended in dismal failures each time.  (Please refer to an earlier musing, "Are We Still Talking About Socialism?", March 8).

"Tax the rich" has become a tired mantra from the very same politicians whose campaign donations depend on rich supporters. 

"Most of the government’s federal income tax revenue comes from the nation’s top income earners. In 2023, the top 5% of earners — people with incomes $272,209 and above — collectively paid over $1.27 trillion in income taxes, or about 60% of the national total".

Seriously, why attack the sector of the population that pays 60% of the country's annual revenue?  That is either crazy talk or plain and simple politics of envy.  Another recent AOC quote follows"

"You can’t earn a billion dollars," Ocasio-Cortez told Glazer. "You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth... you have to create a myth of earning it."

So some of her ardent supporters like Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey and George Soros did not earn their billions? Did they break all kinds of rules? These are just a few examples of phenomenal accomplishments achieved in a free market system that she and her ilk would like to abolish. Yes, that's right, only in a free market economy that college dropouts like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Zuckerberg, Hewlett and Packard were able to build billion dollar enterprises; that AOC and Bernie Sanders want to demonize. Has she even given it a thought that her iPhone was just a generation from its birthplace in a California garage on the efforts of Jobs and Wozniak?

In the world of these radical politicians, "rich" is an evil word, yet private jets that they routinely use to spread their ideology are products of "rich" corporations that pay the 60% that the government collects. For someone who went to college with a degree that dabbled in business AOC was clueless about her reason for opposing the Amazon business proposal to build a new headquarters in New York that would have benefited her district in Queens, an idea favored by the majority of her constituents.  She seems to exhibit also an illiteracy in history for claiming the American revolution was against the wealthy. Here's a newspaper quote: “The American Revolution was against the billionaires of their time, and we are declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and the state,” claimed a clueless Ocasio-Cortez..." It was in fact about a revolt against taxes that her party is pushing today so, seriously why?

The fundamental question that Ben Franklin may have anticipated was that a republic can be enslaved by the very same politicians chosen by the people to represent them by doing everything they can to remain in office without term limits.  The founding fathers did not anticipate that politicians  were going to make public service a career but for just a period of time before going back to vocations they had before volunteering to serve, not as an occupation until well into their 80s.

This republic instead, to the dismay of the signers of the Constitution if somehow they can see it today, is festered with career politicians corrupted by greed for power and a cozy livelihood with very little to account for.

That is what happened to a republic that takes more into account the loud voices of even the few who choose to change what had worked for two and a half centuries. Term limits will never become a remedy because the very same politicians who opt to remain in power will never write such a law. In a democracy, a plebiscite can vote to impose term limits by the power of the rule of the majority.  But not in a republic. 

The state of Texas, once the Republic of Texas before gaining statehood, is the model of a republic government and the nation can learn from it. 

. Texas legislators are part-time officials, serving in the Texas Legislature.

. Many legislators maintain regular jobs outside of their legislative duties.

. Common professions include lawyers, business owners, educators, and healthcare professionals.

. Some legislators may take leave from their jobs during the session to focus on legislative responsibilities.  

Ben Franklin has nothing to worry about "if you can keep it", because today's career politicians will make sure to keep it.  The republic clearly works for the likes of AOC, Schumer, Sanders, McConnel, and Pelosi, etc. who surely will want the republic to work in perpetuity to perpetuate their grip on power. The people will simply have to endure. One significant note: among the list of long serving politicians on an average of 55 years in office, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a huge majority (check it out). And what is interesting is that these political parties are labeled Republican and Democrat.

Over the years, from as early as 2015, I've written about democracy and socialism from time to time. My favorite and the favorite of many  is "Mountains to Molehills" and "99 Cannibals and 1". Please just copy the link to your search bar and click.

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2018/07/mountains-to-molehills.html

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2016/12/99-cannibals-and-1.html

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2015/07/democracy-of-ants.html

The Joys and Challenges of "Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen."

I just recently made up that German word. Google will redline it all the time but it will not with Kummerspeck (?) which means (literally, grief + bacon): "A playful term for weight gained from emotional eating or comfort eating". Sincere apologies to  my German readers but they'd understand how I came up with Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen.

The English language has a way of evolving that is unique to it, that makes it a model of efficiency when coming up with a new word, often using portmanteau - combining parts of real words, such as motel from motor + hotel; from smoke + fog, we get smog. Unlike in German which simply strings together several whole words for a new  lengthy compound word with either a more precise meaning, i.e., blitzkrieg which is from two German words: blitz - lightning; krieg - war, which means "lightning war" or rapid assault as a battle tactic or in playing rapid-move chess or as a defensive play in American football; or, indirectly implied as in  “Handschuh” (hand + shoe) to mean "glove" in English. 

Before we get to the heart of this musing, let's get a couple more real German words here. "Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän: Translating to “Danube steamship navigation company captain,” is famously cited to show just how lengthy German words can become. How about, Backpfeifengesicht?, (slap + face): Literally, “a face in need of a slap.” A cheeky term for someone who’s being annoying.

Wasn't that fun? Just so the reader knows how I came up with my own new German word.

My made up word, Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen, means "stay at home senior living" and that is where we are going. Folks with the good fortune of having lived long, thus far, who elect to keep their homes and stay in them, deserve the new lengthy made up word - an allegorical reference to long life. There are challenges, sure, but we find that those can be outweighed by a lot more joys if we seek and practice them.

First of all, anyone who has achieved  eight decades of being alive has at least earned the right to muse about the joys of a homebound life. At this point many of us octogenarians and over have had their shares of travel, of leisure outside the home, the obligatory social mingling, church and other forms of social interactions that no longer  need to be constantly padded or deemed necessary.

Advice to go out more, see "what's out there", find ways to be out of the house, usually comes from those younger by at least a decade or two, mainly friends and relatives alike. They are well intentioned but not necessarily "wohlmeinender Ratschlag", which means  literally, well meaning advice, again in German.

Instead, let's explore, literally and figuratively, the joys of a home-bound-life. But first, we are not talking about living as a hermit. We will still need to do the obligatory grocery shopping, trips to the hardware and garden centers, to the pharmacy, the much needed doctor's visit, the dreadfully but regularly scheduled moments at the dentist chair, and the regular exercise (walks around the neighborhood, at the mall or trips to the gym (for those among us who can). The good news is that we can be fair-weather-practitioners of all of these. There is absolutely no need to do groceries at the slight indication of rain, cold weather or when we're under the weather. I go  to the gym when traffic is the lightest, and not during the hour when young kids are let out from nearby schools or when I simply don't feel like it. Oh, the blessings of retirement and the copious amounts of not having to do anything.  

However, just the idea or reality of not having to do anything can also mean a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things. But it must begin with one thing. Attitude!  Attitude is the primer, the motivator and ultimately the power to move anything from anywhere nearby to somewhere nearby; from the state of idle restfulness to the beginning steps of a reasonable  journey not dictated by distance from home because there are things far deeper in home-bound living.

Guilt-free napping is one of the joys allowed, even encouraged,  in Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen! However, one study had shown that naps do have health benefits even for active workers. Examples of big corporations that allow naps at work, labeled as power naps, are Google, Zappos, Procter and Gamble, Facebook, etc.  Actually, naps can be essential at recharging brain power or boost post mid-day cognitive ability.  Imagine that, seniors. Your favorite couch, between noon and one thirty today, is the most craved after by every hard-charging executive or every muscle-weary assembly line worker.  That alone is enough to give you power over countless folks who are prone to marginalize your existence, either intentionally or by omission.

Take the ordinary cup of hot coffee. Remember when you were still an aspiring climber of the corporate ladder or pipe welder or bean counter in accounting when a cup of coffee was merely a required elixir to get you going from a state of forced wakefulness to a partially functioning commuter or carpooler? Now, you are enjoying the rich and full bodied aroma of steaming coffee, the warmth between your two cupped hands as the sun begins to filter through the window on a cold morning. Or, how about enjoying the coffee as the news on TV confirms the kind of morning weather to expect as you listen to the distant rumble of thunder and the intermittent flashes of lightning from somewhere over the horizon.

One early and chilly April Monday morning in 2007 I woke up to the unmistakably heavy pitter patter of raindrops on the roof. I was pulling the blanket away from my body to get up when it suddenly dawned on me, pun heavily intended, that I had just started a new way of living. It took some getting used to for a while but I did eventually get the hang of it. I realized I just retired two weeks earlier, after thirty five years.    

Like a lot of retirees, there were the usual travel itineraries, the company alumni get-togethers, organized luncheons and theater and sports attendances that later became less and less regular for  my wife and me as the years piled on.  

Then a complete halt to those activities when my wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's four years ago.  I had to mention that as a way to make note for the readers of a certain age that sometimes a diagnosis has an untimely way of intruding like a rude awakening to spoil the view of the sunset of  our lives.  But that is okay because, again, we go back to what I wrote a few paragraphs back about what could be our silver bullet - Attitude!

From a previous musing I wrote about embracing the role of caregiving after my wife's diagnosis. That role naturally became the linchpin that made Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen the natural segue to the new stage of living. Of course, the transition for me is made less difficult because my woodworking hobby is a home-bound past time, caring for orchids indoors is even less distant and naturally household chores speak for themselves. Cooking may not necessarily be a chore if one turns it into a hobby of discovery. Other than the other chores mentioned earlier, my time at the gym to swim gets me out of the house for just an hour at a time.

The relatively wider financial legroom we have now - something we never fail to be grateful for - makes it possible for someone to come every Saturday to clean the house and help with the weekly laundry. She is actually by now  a part of the family we get to see every week. There is so much to be thankful for, indeed.

I can't possibly go through every example so if I must put everything in a nutshell, I go back to Attitude! I turn unloading the dishwasher into a time and motion study.  Someday I aim to unload it in less than 4 minutes. That includes putting them back in their proper places in the cupboard.  So far, I am not breaking the 4-minute mark but it's a challenge. Woodworking is for now an infrequent activity except for the occasional project.  I have not updated it lately but the blog : https://easywoodworking-tolerba.blogspot.com/  is still getting a lot of views.  Soon, readers will see the latest knife project on the Damascus blade.  I've always wanted to have one but not until I found a blank blade for sale that required fashioning a handle for it. It took longer than usual to pull off but it's done.

Damascus blade is made from forging two different steel material - one soft and the other hard steel, folded over many times during the forging process that result in the distinct wave patterns on the face of the blade.

Now, how do I manage to spend time at the workshop and able to respond when my wife needs my help.  Commercially available are several alert gizmos that come with a caller at the press of a button and a doorbell ringer plugged into strategically desired power outlets. I put one in the workshop and another in between the living and family rooms.  My wife has a caller she wears around her neck.

As a household project, I recently installed additional LED sconce lights in the family area that allows for a bright but soft daylight in the family/breakfast area.  For anyone my age, I must say, please take great care with this undertaking where ladders and electricity are involved. Trust me, I did it at a virtually glacial pace. My fascination, almost an obsession with lights, as I explained to my wife, goes back to the time growing up in the Philippines when we did not have electricity until halfway through my high school. It meant that for a good part of our education, my sisters and I studied and did our homework under kerosene lamps. The reader will note from my woodworking blog several projects on light fixtures.

Cooking I do not find to be a burden but one to be taken up just like any hobby.  The motivation is actually strong; after all, I have to eat too.

Below is my own version of a ginger-based Filipino meat and veggie soup - "tinola" - that, if I may say so myself, has become one deliciously sumptuous lunch fare, served with white boiled rice on the side with air-fried eggroll or some chicken adobo.

Again, it is Attitude!  Attitude!

Happy "Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen" everyone!