Readers Write: 2017 comes to merciful end, but what of 2018

The Island Now

2017 should go down as one of the worst twelve month periods in our nation’s history.

A rival year was 1968 which saw Richard Nixon elected president as well as the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Jennifer Meeropol summed it up this way:

This has been a painful exhausting year. Super storms and fires tied to our continued assault on our planet [devastated] vulnerable populations. Xenophobia, misogyny, trans and homophobia have become official policy.

White supremacists and Nazis march through our streets and attack and kill with seeming impunity. And month after month, men who have obtained deadly assault weapons — often despite histories of mental illness or prior violence — walk into churches and mosques, music festivals…nightclubs [and] schools and open fire.

About the past year Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center wrote: “Nearly one year into this unsettling era, it has become clear that we are in a great struggle for the future of liberal democracy in America.”

Jim Hightower sees an opportunity for us to rise up.

He writes: “The Donald’s deep darkness has sparked a prairie fire of mass opposition, raging political activism, and movement organizing…The rebellion is on!”

In this pervasive spirit of gloom and doom, I present my New Year’s resolutions for 2018.

  1. I must remember that the war on women is still being fought. Only 19.1 percent of members in the House of Representatives are women which ranks us 104th in the world behind such bastions of  sexual equality as the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
  2. I must point out that Trump’s “Election Integrity Commission” was set up not to enfranchise minorities, but to probe into his claim that 3 to 5 million persons voted illegally in 2016. This allegation perpetuates the Trumpian myth of “voter fraud.”
  3. I should remind citizens that Trump’s claims about a crime wave, which justifies his “tough on crime” policies are spurious at best. An analysis of crime in the 30 largest U.S. cities shows 2017 had the second lowest crime and murder rate since 1990. As I have previously noted Trump has an adversarial relationship with the truth.
  4. I must remind readers that when George Orwell wrote “1984″ he gave us words like “Newspeak” and phrases like “War is Peace.” Like Orwell, Donald Trump has created his own dystopian universe. In it, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) may not use seven words in their budget documents. The banned words are: transgender, fetus, science-based, diversity, vulnerable, entitlement and evidence-based. The excuse given for this censorship is that these words have a political connotation. It’s good to know that we have “Big Brother” protecting us.
  1. We must all understand that the so-called “Tax Reform” legislation is nothing but a transfer of wealth from the poor to corporations and to the top 1 percent of our citizens. Keep in mind that the majority of Americans oppose the bill; it takes away health coverage from 13 million people; it no longer allows us to deduct state and local taxes punishing those who live in blue states like New York, New Jersey, and California; and it adds to the deficit. Before passage of the bill, Trump assured

Americans that it would “cost me a fortune.” Now it turns out that he and his family will save millions in taxes. Since Republicans cannot be happy with the deficit being increased, they may decide to reduce entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Say goodbye to the Social Contract!

  1. I will continue to argue that Trump is psychologically unfit to be president. He brought us to the brink of war with North Korea and stirred up the cauldron in the Middle East by stating the capital of Israel must be Jerusalem.  A recent book written by 17 psychiatrists claims that he poses “an imminent threat to humanity.” Commenting on his intellect, one wag wrote: if he ever had an intelligent thought, it would die of loneliness.
  2. I will continue to spout the radical notion that unregulated capitalism leads to people dying. As I write this, the breaking news is about a train crash in Washington state. The train was going 80 MPH in a 30-mile zone. We know that the technology exists which could have prevented the accident. It’s called PTC or Positive Train Control. It kicks in when the train exceeds pre-determined speed limits. Sadly, fewer than one-half the AMTRAK trains have it. The question is why doesn’t every train in the U.S. have it? The answer: it’s too expensive. It’s said that greed is the engine of progress but what should happen when greed leads to the destruction of human life?
  3. Another example: Aaron Hernandez was a tight end for the New England Patriots. The 27-year-old star was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. However there were mitigating circumstances. Hernandez had a severe case of C.T.E. — Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This disease is found in individuals with a history of repetitive head trauma.

Barely into his incarceration, Hernandez took a bed sheet and hung himself. Devotees of football understand the correlation between a lifetime of playing football and the onset of C.T.E. The players are worried, and parents are not allowing their children to play the sport, but the National Football League owners see this as a threat to their bottom line. We should be ashamed when profits trump human life!

A 2017 Poem

Rules of the game are suspended.

Dignity of the office is gone.

Profanity, insults and bullying reign.

Respect for tradition has vanished.

The pillars of democracy are challenged.

Can the middle hold?

Dr. Hal Sobel

Great Neck

 

Share this Article