Of Barred Owls, Peace and Gratitude

The Owl Abstracted Color Poster

4am Wednesday September 20, 2017

. . . I am seated at my computer, my window opened wide despite the September chill in the air. I choose to do this for as long as I can into the fall because I love the cool air but above all because, almost without fail, I have the opportunity to commune with a pair of Barred Owls that inhabit the woods just outside of our home. I love the haunting sound of their hoots,  described as "Who cooks for you, Who cooks for you - all", as they echo through the stillness of the chill night.

On early mornings like this, when they are quiet and Alice is away, I will turn my computer's speakers up to their maximum level and play a recording of a hoot from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This will often spark their curiosity and set off a, sometimes rousing, response.

This morning it's particularly important to me. . . the communing.  Since Alice is still sound asleep and my usual strategy for getting the attention of the owls would awaken her, I step outside and do my best to make the call myself, hands cupped around my mouth to create a deeper sound. Who who ho whooo, Who who ho who whoooooo, and the Barred Owls respond to my joy. I don't know if they thought I was another owl or they just wanted to know who the gimmoke was trying to imitate them but either way, I'll take it. Somehow these denizens of the deep woods restore a sense of calm and normalcy in me, even when I am troubled; and this morning the ills of the world combine with those of my own, more parochial, world to create a swirling miasma of sadness and foreboding.

Listening to the President address the United Nations I am struck by his claim that the United States is a peaceful nation followed immediately by his threat to commit the war crime of destroying the entire nation of North Korea. Surely North Korea will want to engage with the US in negotiations to denuclearize when President Trump moments later calls the Iran denuclearization agreement the worst we have ever entered into, threatening to decertify it despite the fact that his own people have said that Iran is abiding by its terms. I'd lay 1000 to 1 odds that Trump has not turned more than two pages in the Iran agreement and could not tell a reporter what is actually in it. I am troubled by the fact that no one has asked him.

In his speech President Trump referred to President Kim derisively as “Rocket Man”. Had Kim been a follower of Elton John, from whom Trump took the term, he would, quite possibly, have responded by calling Trump “Madman Across the Water.”

Ironically, while taking credit for the Obama economy (no economist in the world will tell you that an an economy's strength can be attributed to the current resident of the White House only eight months into his occupancy) Trump then announces that he may just decertify an agreement causing Iran to simply shift its business opportunities to the other super powers of the world who also helped to negotiate the agreement and will continue to honor it, especially if it means coopting the job-rich opportunities of American corporations.

Well its all understandable right? We wouldn't want someone who is an unstable narcissist with an arsenal of nuclear weapons at his disposal would we? . . . What's that you say? . . . oh, right.

When you've gone through the looking glass, usually - at least - there is the peace of looking homeward. Right now though, the view from Rattlesnake Ridge is obscured by a hole in our hearts.

This past week, New Hampshire lost two giants: Mary Pillsbury Crowley and Mary Walton Mayshark. Don't be surprised if you do not recognize their names. These were not people known far and wide throughout the state. That is not why they were giants. They were giants because in our own small world, here where the Pemigewasset and the Asquamchumaukee (aka the Baker) Rivers meet, they were the first names on the lips of people when something needed to be done and done right; when someone needed help; or, when we wanted to make our communities stronger, more resilient and more compassionate.

Mary Pillsbury Crowley was the other half of a team that included her late husband Robert J. "Bob" Crowley who passed away less than a year ago from Parkinson's. We had just started getting use to going on without Bob having our backs when Mary was suddenly wrenched from us as well. Between the two of them they were the spark plugs who made the cylinders of community fire to give us a Senior Center, made from the dilapidated old railroad depot in Plymouth; The Whole Village Family Resource Center and Pemi-Bridge Homeless Shelter to name just a few things.

No they didn't build them with their own hands and usually they tried to stay in the background when the accolades were being handed out. . . they were doers not talkers; but they were in the mix: poking, prodding, coaxing, making things happen. Bob was a proud Democrat at a time when most of the other Democrats in the area covered their mouths and whispered when asked their political affiliation. But he was also the first guy to reach across the divide to try and find common ground with his neighbors. Mary came from deep rooted Republican stock. The long list of NH Governors and other officials includes more than one Pillsbury, though she would tell you that was when being a Republican made you more like Teddy Roosevelt and less like David Duke.

The two had married on the hillside at their cabin in Sandwich Notch. I'll never forget the happy bride emerging from the cabin to the strains of Willie Nelson singing "Blue Skies". It was a September/November marriage that to their great joy, despite a twenty year age difference, produced daughter Lucy . . . to their last days "the best thing we ever did". Despite all they did for the community, they always had their priorities straight and family came first. Luckily for us, they saw a lot of us as extended family.

Phlox Storm

Storm above a field of phlox in NH's North Country. 

Mixed media montage including elements of 

photography and watercolor painting.

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Unless I miss my guess, Lucy will live her life much as her mother and father have. She has their heart. At only 18 years of age she finds herself without both parents. When Reverend Sid Lovett asked Lucy to come forward at the memorial service, he took her hand and said "who will volunteer to be stand-ins for Bob and Mary if Lucy needs a parent's support, nearly everyone in attendance raised their hands. That, my friends, is the definition of community.

"Walt" Mayshark, that's what we all called Mary Walton Mayshark, was a force of nature. When I first met Walt, way back in the late 1970s she was already retired and had moved up to New Hampshire with her husband Jim. I expected a six foot plus man with broad shoulders so you can imagine my surprise when the guy named Walt turned out to be a little white haired spitfire of a woman.

I don't know if Walt was a Unitarian before she moved here but when she found that none of the churches in the area shared her deep passion for social justice, she joined together with a group of neighbors to form the Starr King Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. For quite a few years they met in the homes of other like-minded folks and then eventually they found a piece of land and built the Fellowship Hall on Fairgrounds Road in Plymouth.

During the eighties Walt was active with a social justice group working to help the struggling people of Nicaragua and she made quite a few trips down there with the local Peace Action Network to build homes, community centers and more. She was a citizen of the world and we loved her for it.

Back here she was involved in everything from library bake sales to political campaigns and I dare say that my own election to the NH Senate was in part because Walt never said no when a volunteer was needed, even after Jim became ill with Alzheimer's. I'll never forget a private meeting at their home when Walt was weeding her way through voter lists trying to identify good voters for our get-out-the-vote efforts and taking care of Jim at the same time. Jim came into the kitchen hungry as a bear and let loose with a string of invectives that would make a trucker blush - I never knew one human being could string together so many curse words - but Walt took it all in stride and calmly made him a sandwich while she walked me through the process she was using to assure we got our voters to the polls.

Five years later, when I ran for Governor, Walt asked if she could drive me on a day of campaigning. Actually, as she put it, she wanted to "drive me for a day in the worst way" and that's just what she did! I've never been so terrified riding shotgun in my life, with the possible exception of when Bob Crowley took his turn at the wheel.

There is an old Armenian saying: "Many a molehill thinks itself a mountain. But what of the mountain? Mountains are too busy being mountains, doing mountain type things and thinking mountain type thoughts to worry about what it means to be a mountain." Mary and Bob and Walt never stopped long enough to think about being mountains, they just went about the everyday task of mountain building. That is what makes our communities strong, and why even the everyday folks who surround us can be giants.

As my owls hoot out their communiques, peace returns to my heart . . . peace and gratitude. Even Donald Trump cannot rain on the parade of happy memories and gratitude for the lives of extraordinary friends and neighbors.
-------

About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space.  His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images. His most recent novel "Sacred Trust"  a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook with the paper edition due soon. He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing

The Corporate Income Tax - Time to Throw the Whole Damn Thing Out

As I write this column, the view from Rattlesnake Ridge takes in not just the beautiful wandering Baker River but the screen of our tiny TV in the kitchen, feeding us nearly constant news about the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.

Right now I can’t help but say that this column should be discussing an Infrastructure bill to blend the massive cleanup efforts with planned spending on critical infrastructure that serves the interests of both the long-term national needs and the immediate needs of the states ravaged by Irma and Harvey.

For whatever ill-conceived reason the Trump Administration has chosen to focus on reforming the Corporate Income Tax. I understand that tax reform is on the agenda, but Nero is fiddling while Rome burns; and, hell, it’s just a shame to waste a real crisis that presents an opportunity for getting Congress to sheath their partisan daggers and work together.  

Almost no details are yet available from the hallowed halls of Congress and no one is expecting any from the White House where they are too busy tweeting and backfilling, but we are told that Congress is working diligently on this, seeking to reduce the rate of the Corporate Income Tax.

So, here’s the view from Rattlesnake Ridge.

Eliminate the Corporate Income Tax entirely. Get rid of the whole damn thing and send all those lawyers and lobbyists, who suck up all of the oxygen in the Capital, vying for exceptions,  incentives and special treatment, home. Bump up the tax on capital gains to the same rate as other income and put a small transfer tax on stock sales (say $1.00 on the sale of $400 of stock) and we will raise three times the revenue, cut the size of the bureaucracy at IRS by half, and the taxes will fold neatly into the progressive personal income tax structure. This means that the taxes on corporate profits will fall most heavily on the wealthy. A little something for everyone from Steve Forbes to Robert Reich!

Mushroom Borealis

The Corporate Income Tax generates a very small proportion of our nation’s revenues, yet creates an incentive for large corporations to move off shore and a disincentive for businesses that have already moved offshore to repatriate their companies and their money. It also falls disproportionately on small and medium sized businesses who can’t afford the lobbyists and lawyers needed to procure special treatment. They end up being the only ones who pay the alleged 35% tax rate.

Elimination of the tax will bring a flood of new revenues into the country and encourage businesses to use their profits for productive activity including the generation of jobs and new revenue streams, instead of tax avoidance. This will be especially true if the tax reform includes some means of assessing taxes on shareholders of companies that try to hoard their money in a zero tax environment - several effective ways for doing this have been suggested.

Recent studies have shown that the Corporate Income Tax is paid largely through higher prices, lower share value and lower wages. According to economist Laurence Kotlikoff, elimination of the Corporate Income Tax “leads to a huge short-run inflow of capital, raising the United States’ capital stock (machines and buildings) by 23 percent, output by 8 percent and the real wages of unskilled and skilled workers by 12 percent.” A 12 percent increase in wages would be the first real increase in wages in more than twenty years, though workers will still be in the hole after so long.

In fact a case can be made that the Corporate Income Tax and its legacy of capital flight, in conjunction with automation, has played a significant role in creating a generation of declining wages for both unskilled and skilled workers who do not have the ability to move.

Eliminating the Corporate Income Tax provides an opportunity for political leaders from both parties and all parts of the political spectrum to build consensus and begin the hard work of addressing the growing inequality of income in our country.  Perhaps Democrats would be even be able to find a home for an increase in the minimum wage somewhere in the mix.

Funny thing is, I use to think all this was a good idea. Some nonsense about how the tax incentives and exemptions served as a fiscal gyroscope for the economy or some other asinine rationale. No more. Twenty years of watching my friends and neighbors struggle to live on steadily declining real wages while huge corporations like GE, Mobil, and even our pals at Eversource went years when they paid nothing in taxes - even while their shareholders could sell stock and pay less than my working friends paid for their wages - convinced me that this was one experiment that belonged on the ash heap of history.

The bottom line is this, and economists, on the left, the right, and here in the radical center, agree: businesses don’t pay taxes, people do. Call it what you want but those taxes are borne by real flesh and blood folks.

Congress should stop diddling around the margins and throw the whole damn thing out. We’d be better off for it.

Oh, and tell the last lobbyist, disappointed by the end of special interest tax breaks, not to let the door hits him in the ass on his way out.

Notes and Links

Corporate Income Tax: Who’s Paying and Who’s Not.

https://itep.org/the-35-percent-corporate-tax-myth/#whospaying

Water Lily Mosaic

Sacred Trust Excerpt

This chapter from Wayne King’s new novel “Sacred Trust” revolves around an essay written by a group of North Country folks, writing in the fashion of the authors of the Federalist Papers, who have chosen to provide written support to “The Trust” the name adopted by a group of compatriots using civil disobedience to try and stop the construction of a massive private powerline.

Some people have suggested that this fictional story has a reverberating echo of familiarity. We’ll let you decide for yourself.

You are invited to share this excerpt freely with your friends and contacts. Permission to reprint this except is also hereby granted by the author.

Link:
https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/2017/09/sacred-trust-excerpt.html

Chapter 42  
Who’s in Charge Around Here?

Duggan, Wilson and Echo walked through the front door of Tea Bird’s Cafe in Berlin with just minutes to spare before they stopped serving breakfast.

Wilson immediately noticed that a new Essay from the Gazetteers had been released and was in the magazine rack just inside the front door. She surreptitiously snatched up the entire stack of them and slipped them into her jacket. As the three took a table she withdrew a copy and photographed it with her smartphone, sending it directly to both Enright and Mac. Mac would no doubt want to send it along to Governor “Mags” who was still operating under the illusion that she was of an independent mind on this and Mac still needed to treat her with kid gloves until she was turned.

She shared copies with Duggan and Larry Echo and the three sat stoically reading the essay.

Giving Away the Store  
A Free Pass and an Extension Cord

Politicians and Bureaucrats Sell Out the State’s Future with Granite Skyway

Patrick H. Stark

No matter the state, politicians have a long history of tough talk and slight of hand. Whether it’s Kansas or Georgia, Alabama or New Hampshire we have all heard a line of Governors, Senators and Representatives talking tough about protecting the interests of their state only to cave in to the first comer with a bag of money.

All too often the tough talk is not meant to protect us but rather to distract us from what is really going on. This allows the politicians to seem as if their interest coincides with ours when actually they are aiding and abetting a bait and switch that leaves us digging around in our pockets and wondering how someone made off with our keys and our wallets.

Virgil and Wyatt Earp have the rest of us watching the OK Corral while the thieves are sneaking into the bank and stealing all the money and a horse or two on their way out for good measure.

Such is the case with Granite Skyway. Our current Governor was elected on a pledge that she would not support the project unless the entire length was buried, yet since her election all talk of burying the lines has evaporated like so much hot air and now she has moved on to wringing her hands about making sure that the long term power needs of the state are met.

Leaving aside the fact that no politician ever gave a rip about what was going to happen 20 or 30 years hence, unless it fits the needs of their current agenda, it’s worth noting that the Granite Skyway project is being proposed at a time when electricity demand has been flat or falling for more than a decade. Not because we have been in a recession - we have in fact had one of the longest periods of sustained growth in US history - But because of new technologies, particularly ones that allow us to reduce electricity demand through efficiency and conservation, are being employed by more and more individuals and businesses.

Additionally, though only a modest number of homes and businesses have been able to take advantage of net metering laws the electricity generated for the grid has demonstrated the promise of expanding rooftop, business and home solar arrays in the future. Most projections for the future indicate that conservation and technological advances will continue to exert a downward pressure on the need for large new power facilities and transmission lines. Allowing older plants to be retired without the need to construct new large facilities.

This is not to say that new sources of power and new transmission will be completely unnecessary, but the changes needed will be more along the lines of upgrading existing systems and taking advantage of new ideas like smart grids and more green, renewable energy sources, decentralized and scaled laterally, built by joining together locally developed resources and linking them together through a smart grid.

A recent report from the highly respected Marcy Institute for Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, indicates that no additional transmission or power production is necessary for the foreseeable future and the creation of such is likely to create unanticipated costs to the ratepayers from unneeded stranded assets.   

When viewed in this light the Granite Skyway project can only be described as . . . well . . . DOWNRIGHT STUPID.

A theft of public resources for private greed.

Ask yourself this:  If a group of experts representing a broad diversity of residents and expertise had been brought together to design a power generation and transmission system in keeping with our best interests, how would it look?

Certainly not like this.

This is the biggest betrayal of all: At a time when we need our primary state utility to be planning the transmission grid of the future, advocating and advancing the generation of renewable power in a post-carbon era  and standing up for the values that define our beautiful natural state, they are wasting their time and resources on a glorified extension cord with no future value to our state whatsoever.

All around us states have begun planning - even constructing - smartgrids that meet the challenges of the future and support distributed energy sources, but not here.

It is malpractice, malfeasance of the highest order. Over the years Polaris has grown fat, dumb and happy - with particular emphasis on DUMB  -  in its enviable position of a publicly sanctioned monopoly. If it had to compete with other utility companies in an open marketplace it would have been long gone, but it has benefitted from a lack of assertive oversight and now we are paying for it.  

In essay number 1 Gazetteer Paine compared them to the Oligarchs of old who despoiled the air and the waters of our country rather than finding ways to produce their products without polluting the public commons - pocketing the difference and leaving us to breath the air and drink the water poisoned by their greed.   

If the proponents of Granite Skyway  have their way, they will repeat this travesty again and  we will pay the price for the next 5 generations. They will start with thousands of acres of clearcuts, creating massive scars upon the land we love, and they will  leave behind a trail of towers and tears that will be our legacy to our children, our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

Yet the politicians and bureaucrats are not standing up to them. . . Not demanding that they go back to the drawing board or go home! Demanding that if we are to have a transmission line, let it be OUR transmission line not a privately owned one over which we have no control.

Polaris Electric exists by our forbearance. They are a Public utility. They can only hide behind a cadre of investors if WE PERMIT IT. If they wish to burden our grandchildren with a transmission line, let them bring us a proposal that is designed to cherish and respect our heritage, our land and our interests.

We have been played for a bunch of chumps. Handing over the public rights-of-way and the viewsheds to a cabal of investors, led by a utility company bent on ignoring its moral and economic obligation to us, whose only interest appears to be in making a buck.

Granite Skyway investors are bent on creating a transmission system that privatizes profits and socializes the environmental, social and economic costs and consequences.

As proposed The Granite Skyway project began as nothing more than a glorified extension cord, bringing power directly from Canada to the suburbs of Philadelphia, Boston and New York without so much as a kilowatt finding its way into a home here in the Granite State. Little has changed since then.

For too many politicians this is just fine. They are willing to throw open the doors and let the home invaders have their way with the entire family.

We are not.

When the British came to enforce their authority over our land, their soldiers wore red and marched in a straight line. We hid in the woods, fought back from behind stone walls and took the battle to them on our own terms.

This war will not be waged with guns and cannons but we will surely fight it on our own terms.

The Gazetteers

Patrick H. Stark

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Scott Gregory was behind the grill making the last of the breakfasts and he watched Susan Wilson pocket the pamphlets. He discretely continued to watch the entire scene transpire as he cooked. Rather than confronting the trio he decided that he would simply watch them. Something wasn’t entirely kosher but he was going to arm himself with         all the details before he decided what to do, after all, he could always order more of the essays.

Heather was clearing tables and he hit the bell on the counter they used to indicate that an order was up. Heather looked up and Scott motioned with his head for her to approach.

“Don’t look over there” Scott said, “but those three who just arrived are acting very weird. The woman took the entire stack of new essays from the Gazetteers and stashed them in her coat but for one each for herself and the other two, then she photographed hers and texted someone - probably sent the piece to them.”

“What should we do? Should I make her put them back?” Heather said.

“No” Scott said. “Let’s see if we can figure out what they’re up to. If we figure out who the members of The Trust are maybe we can provide them with some useful information.”

“Okay, I’ll bring them some menus and water then.”

“Be careful Heather. We don’t want to tip them off.”

Heather hugged him, “This is exciting! We get to play spies for the good guys.”

“We’re not playing Heather. This is serious business.”

“Oh lighten up Lancelot. Your Guinevere knows how to handle this.”

Heather walked over to the table and poured water into the glasses that had already been set there after the last patrons had departed. She passed out menus with her characteristic good cheer.

“We’re still serving breakfast but only for a few more minutes” she said. “Can I bring you some coffee or juice while you decide?”

Will Duggan ordered coffees all around and just as Heather was about to walk away, he said, “hey we’re up here scouting a movie and we’re looking for someone who has a wolf that we might be able to use in some of the scenes. Do you know anyone?”

Heather seemed genuinely interested. “A movie! WOW! How cool!  What’s it about?”

Duggan hesitated, he should have thought this through a bit more. He was improvising on the fly and now he had to come up with something he had not planned on. “Err. . . well . . . it’s kind of a secret. You know intellectual property stuff. But it has a wolf as one of the characters. Does that sound like anyone you know? It’s pretty good money.”

“Wolves have been extinct here in NH since around 1900,” Heather said, “and it’s illegal to have a purebred wolf as a pet” There are some folks who have wolf-hybrids - - that’s a dog that might be up to 50% wolf - - but I don’t know any of them personally. There’s actually a sanctuary down in the Ossipee area and one near Keene as well. You might check there.”

“Ready to order? Or do you need a few more minutes?”

The trio ordered breakfast and Heather walked away, heading for the kitchen, trying not to be too obvious in her excitement.

“Did you learn anything?” Scott asked.

“They claim they’re scouting a location for a movie, said they were looking for someone with a wolf. but something was hinky about their answer when I asked what the movie was about.”

“Daniel Roy was here with that Canadian woman the other day, didn’t he say something about a Timberwolf?”

“That’s right. I caught a glimpse of him, the wolf I mean, his big head was sticking out the car window when they drove in. I told these three I didn’t know of anyone with a wolf.  Do you think we should warn Daniel?”

“Whether we need to or not.” Scott said.  “He needs to know that someone is asking around.”

Copyright Wayne D. King 2016/17.  Reprinted with permission of the author. "Sacred Trust" A vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook with the paper edition due soon.

Described by one reader as "The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution" the book is a fictional account of a group of unlikely compatriots who join together to stop a powerline proposed by a private consortium, employing creative civil disobedience in the traditions of Alinsky, Thoreau and Dr. King.

Available from Kindle Books

Moosewood Communications Publisher

http://bit.ly/STrust

The Wildboy

Unifying American - The Case for a Secretary of the Future

Wind in the Maple

Re-imagining The Future as a Unifying American Journey
The Case for a Secretary of the Future
Wayne D. King

Despite the constant drumbeat among the media and politicians, a careful examination of the seemingly deeply divided American people will show that the differences are a mile wide and an inch deep. This is contrary to the divisions between elected officials, which appear to be deep and perhaps lasting - though lasting is a relative thing in politics.

The need to register to vote and to choose between two political parties or to remain undeclared shoehorns every American into a largely binary process that has no constitutional authority but over time has created and assumed the mantle of de-facto authority. Nowhere in the Constitution is any authority conveyed upon either the Democratic or Republican parties. Yet both parties act as if that authority is vested in them and use the political process to erect barriers to entry by other parties. In California alone, for example, an independent candidate for President must have 1.2 million official signatories to a petition just to be listed on the ballot. Since each of those signatures is checked to determine whether they are registered voters, the process must actually gather about 1.4 million signatures just to make it over this high bar.

The intent of this article is not to make the case for opening up the process to permit more independent candidates for higher office - though I believe that and may address it in a future column - instead it is intended to make the case that the “deep” divisions between Americans that the media and the parties point to are artificially created by this binary choice. Where it matters most, at the risk of seeming to minimize some very important differences, we Americans are far more united than the polls would seem to indicate.

On the larger questions of the American idea, Americans are remarkably united. One need only look at the reaction to the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia and the President’s remarks following the events, to see that this is so. Polls conducted in the wake of Charlottesville showed Americans condemning the actions of White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis as well as President Trump’s response at a nearly 3-1 margin.

The mass resignations of business leaders from the President’s Commission on Business confirm this and would have continued had the President not stemmed the bleeding by eliminating two different business commissions entirely to avoid mass action being planned by other members. Business rarely takes such dramatic action without first holding a finger to the winds of public opinion. The President had, unintentionally created a moment of national unity and reminded us - just for a moment at least - of who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.

Just as Americans are united in their loyalty to the American idea so too are they united in their fascination with and aspirations for the future.

These two bookends provide the framework for creating a unifying American Journey; a challenge that will cajole Americans into searching their national conscience and expanding their horizons to re-imagining and re-invigorating those ideas in an era of dramatic change and equally dramatic challenges.

In his last major interview before his death in 2007 the author and social critic Kurt Vonnegut suggested that there should be a cabinet level Secretary of the Future. His suggestion was treated by most as a quaint idea by a much beloved cultural icon. But Kurt Vonnegut had not intended to be quaint. He was deeply worried about the fate of the country and the planet. He was angered by the short-sighted politics of both political parties and he was concerned that we had lost sight of the connections that tied us together with all of the major issues in our lives and the fact that no one was helping to make those connections and helping us to re-imagine a future consistent with our values.

Vonnegut seemed to sense that our politics had been far outstripped by the pace of change and positing a cabinet level Secretary of the Future was intended to provide one way to create a formal means for looking at issues in a more holistic manner. Someone who could point out, as General Maddis did recently, that deep cuts to the Department of State would require more defense spending because less diplomacy would lead to greater conflict.

Even if our political system were not so badly broken we would still benefit from a Secretary of the Future who would be able to tackle the more thorny issues and provide some level of cover for those political leaders who have the courage to step into those waters.

The limited success in the past election of Bernie Sanders who - more than any other political leader in recent history - stepped into those waters with his calls for free public college education, Medicare for all healthcare and a $15.00 an hour minimum wage demonstrated that a significant number of Americans were not only open to those ideas but enthused by a candidate who had the courage to talk about them . . . even if they did not agree with every one of them. But politicians with the courage of Bernie Sanders are a rare breed. Most are careful, calculating, doing their best to stay - as Abraham Lincoln expressed it - “one half step behind the American people while acting as if they were leading.”

A Secretary of the future - or two such people, one representing more conservative thought and one representing more progressive ideals - would be in a position to introduce new ideas or even old ideas that have merit into the national conversation. Initially, the more cowardly members of congress would pooh pooh their ideas; but if Sanders is any indication, the American people will be more open minded and some of those ideas will take root.

I don’t expect that adding my voice to that of Vonnegut is going to make much of a difference here, and I certainly don’t see myself belonging in the firmament of icons like him; but if others lend their voices and even one candidate for President in our upcoming Presidential Primary calls for the creation of this position, or some equivalent idea, we will have created a spark that may grow into flame.

Just imagine if we had two national thought leaders, who were highly respected, appointed to help American re-imagine their future together;

Leaders who had no personal political aspirations but deep and abiding aspirations for the country;

Leaders who have demonstrated a knack for thinking creatively and for their commitment to American ideals;

Leaders with a charged to encourage and cajole the American people to confront our problems and challenges in new, or re-imagined ways, that inspire thinking and ideas bridging our differences where possible, and respecting them where they are deeply personal, religious or intransigent for other reasons but consistent with American ideals.

Whether it is facing the challenges of re-thinking an education system that meets the needs of a dramatic fast paced and highly automated economy; Creating a healthcare system that recognizes healthcare as a right not a privilege; tackling the growing inequality of income; building consensus for ways to meet the challenges of a changing climate; Or addressing the ever-growing challenges of expanding the cause of freedom and equality for all people in a diverse and dynamic country; The opportunity for us to gather around the idea of the future as a unifying American journey carries abundant promise. . . based on the premise that “where the people lead, the leaders will follow.”

About Wayne King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space. His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images. His most recent novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook with the paper edition due soon. He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing


Links and notes:

Vonnegut’s final interview with PBS Journalist David Brancaccio.

“where the people lead, the leaders will follow.” This quote is generally attributed to Ghandi but quite likely to have been used by philosophers dating back at least to the Renaissance.