Rational Thinkers of Good Will

We are at a critical pivotal moment in U.S. history, on many fronts. HOW are we going to seed and cultivate actual unity among the majority of Americans who are, in fact, a people of good will and intention. The Republican Party is at a crossroads. Will they continue on the hard right fork into oligarchy founded on delusional conspiracies, hate, paranoia, and division; OR, take the middle road. Whether you’re a “classic” (read “more moderate”) Republican or you’re a far Leftie, know this – you/we cannot control or alter the minds of the Kool-Aid Kult. “Re-educating them is not going to happen. We only have agency over ourselves and our fellow Americans who actually do understand our Founding ideals – ever striving for a “more perfect nation.”

Each and every day each of us should ask ourselves, “What have I done today for our cause?” The ’22 election cycle is already underway. It is simply not enough to go on social media and preach to the choir! That may feel good, but it accomplishes nothing. It’s masturbation. Self-satisfying, but a dead end.

Action Items! (a) Help to grow this blog. Share it. Ultimately (within the next month or two) I hope to make this RadCents (Radical Centrists) blog a rallying place for a growing team, because many voices combined is a lot more powerful than the same number of voices speaking separately. (b) Write snail-mail letters to all relevant parties (your Senators, your US Reps, the White House). Emails are great but we’re in a time when our elected pols are getting tens of thousands of emails per day. Physical USPS letters stand out! (c) But, sure, go ahead..email too. (d) CALL your Senators, Reps, and The WH. Be brief, succinct, and politely firm.

This week! Let’s get all over the Dems to play some smart and moral politics…”give” the Republicans a “concession” on the Covid relief plan…The additional $1400 per person should not go to economically comfortable people who don’t need it! Let’s go with some variation on this…$1400 per person, $2800 per family for individuals making less than $60,000/year, families up to $120,000/year. The relief check could be scaled down to nothing for incomes of, say $60K to $90K yearly income. At $70K, perhaps they get $600 checks. Above $90k, no check. Something like that. If you don’t like my numbers there, come up with your own “fine-tuning” of the amounts; but, our national debt should not be increased any more than absolutely necessary (our children and grandchildren WILL be paying this off); and sending $2800 to comfortable families who are working straight through this pandemic and are otherwise economically secure…that is economic and moral insanity.

Express yourself TODAY… to the Congress and the White House!

Okay…here we go. As I’ve said, this site is NOT designed for extended debate. It’s for rallying people who agree (at least mostly agree) on a given issue to TAKE ACTION. If you have 180 degree contrary views, this is not your site. IF you want to tweak, add to these thoughts, fine; BUT, the main aim here is to encourage you to take action, and to help make action ideas go viral. So, below is what I just sent to my two Senators and US Rep. If you essentially agree with it, PLEASE share it everywhere and SEND to your Congress people.

Let’s get the enhanced Covid relief bill off square one, fast. We need it. So, a SMART and FAIR compromise would be to “give” the GOP a “scaled” one-time extra, on top of the $600 that just came. Go for $1400 more for nationwide average income (approx $50K/year?) and BELOW, but scale it down by some formula so that >$150K families get nothing…or >$175K…whatever, but certainly higher than >$200K families do NOT need it. SMART politics. FAIR to the people. Common Sense for the Common Wealth of OUR democratic republic.

I was fourteen when I attended the only POTUS inauguration in my life, so far. 1961 – JFK. Robert Frost recited on that frosty day. Even as a freshman in high school then, I knew I was seeing something historic and meaningful. Imagine, we were in the crowd not more than fifty yards from JFK, LBJ, Ike, Dick Nixon, Harry Truman, Earl Warren, and others who were already or would be famous, or infamous. It was cold that day but the crowds were so tightly packed, we kept each other warm. As WASP kid from lily white homogeneous Hingham, MA, I could not help but notice that, there at the capital, we were ALL sorts of folks – men, women, elderly, young, every race…keeping each other warm.

JFK challenged us with that now famous phrase, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what YOU can do for your country.” That’s why I’m here, with this blog.

Here we are, sixty years later. There will be no rainbow multi-generational crowds at The Capital on Wednesday; well, unless you count the 25,000 or so military troops who’ll prevent another attempted insurrectionist coup. The departing POTUS, will be taking his last Air Force One flight and won’t attend the swearing in of his replacement. Were I Joe Biden, I would be overjoyed to NOT have The Don on the podium anywhere near him.

Last spring, when we were a couple months into Covid, I had the crushing feeling that we were dealing with the very worst challenge of our lives, so far. I can barely remember the Korean War, but I remember well all the challenges and catastrophic events and righteous struggles of the late 50s, the 60s and 70s, right up to and including 911 in 2001. Covid was topping everything I’d seen in sixty years in terms of mass horrific impact, worldwide. My parents’ generation dealt with the Depression and WW2., and that was arguably worse than anything people from my generation to Gen-Zs had yet confronted. Of course, Covid’s not done with us quite yet. But…

Then came January 6, 2021. As a student of American history, I will now opine – Donald (Stormy’s John) trump brought America to its worst and most existentially threatening moment since the Civil War. I heard one pundit say variations on, “The Civil War never ended; it just paused….” and, in the last four years (a decade or more, if you go back to his “birther” lie, or even further back to “Execute the Centwsl Park 5”) Donald Trump has reignited the Civil War. I’m surprised he hasn’t excoriated Robert E Lee as a loser, and recommended that the surrender Lee and Grant signed be torn up.

So, here we are, at a fork on the path in our presently cold dark woods. Will we take the path to more darkness, or turn towards the light?

THIS BLOG HAS TWO MISSIONS: 1. To be a rallying place for people who share the concept that COOPERATION AND EMPATHY are as or more important than narcissistic “Lord of The Flies” competition; and 2. to inspire ourselves to take ACTION to re-open The Enlightenment and take it to new heights. NOTICE: This is NOT a “debate” site. If you, the reader, disagree with any point made here, have at it, share your view. You MAY or may not get a reply but if so, you’ll only get one. We are NOT going to go round and round trying to convince one another, and sure as hell will not tolerate red-faced anger and insults. Repeating – This blog is a place to share ideas and plans for taking action. We want to make specific realistic plans. Those who only want to argue or, worse, condemn others, please, don’t waste your or our time here; just go elsewhere.

CRITICAL FOUNDATION: I will be addressing all manner of social, political, cultural, and other issues and ideas; and I want all to know a few fundamentals:

Most important assumption – I believe that right out of the womb, every human being starts off the same. If a newborn of a billionaire mom in New York were spirited off to the Amazon jungle, that kid will grow up exactly like his or her mates in the jungle. The reverse is true too. Take a new born Amazonian indigenous newborn right out of the jungle, bring him/her up on Central Park West; he or she will have every chance to go to Princeton. Other than the fact that each of us humans varies in our own innate intelligence, personality, height, and such, those variations are spread evenly across all races, ethnic groups, and societies. Hate has to be taught. “Our group, our people, our religion, etc is better than yours.” That too has to be taught.

I hope to post one or two issues and action plans each week. The goal is for use share action ideas and HOW to actualize them!

When my 4-Greats grandfather met John Adams in Philadelphia in 1787 he said, “I’m Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. I’m a radical centrist.” I am too. If the Founders who met back then, to create The Constitution, behaved like modern political “leaders,” and were as unwilling to cooperate and compromise as our “leaders” are today, there would be NO United States of America. The minorities at each extreme, both Left and Right, do serve to “push the envelope.” They are impatient for revolution. They do challenge the majorities to think outside the box, outside our comfort zones; but, ultimately, evolution, even fast evolution wins the day and common sense, the common good, and the commonwealth make progress into the future by way of patience, good will, and compromise.

It is simply wrong to say that “moderates” or “centrists” are, by definition, not passionate and so don’t affect current and future government policy. One can be very passionate about centrism. I am. I’m pretty Left on many issues, Right on a few, and down the center on others. Combined, I’m a “Radical Centrist.”

At Syracuse in the mid-1960s, I majored in Television/Radio. My minor was Anthropology. My main “take-away” from anthropology – while many people believe that it’s good ol’ competition that has always driven human advancement, they miss the other big “C,” cooperation. Competition absent cooperation is Lord of The Flies.

So, going forward, my hope with RadCents is to promote a few key concepts, especially Respect, true open-mindedness, Cooperation, but also ACTION. It is simply not enough to just blather on at or even with each other. We must take our ideas and campaigns TO our leaders. Write to them. Call them. And, yes, physically demonstrate in from of them, carrying signs and making noise. What I will NOT do, or allow from others on these pages – angry screaming insults. I will not get into arguments with naysayers. If you have strong opposition to anything I say, fine. I MAY answer once; but I am NOT going to go round ‘n round with my opposition. Such folks can just go launch their own blog and have their say there. THIS blog is intended to: (a) Gather together as many like-minded rational radical centrists and to then (b) discover ways to put our ideas into action.

Finally, among trite phases I dislike the most – “Respect has to be earned,” or “You have to earn my respect.” No, not so. Respect should be the default, the starting point in any human relationship or interaction. I can loose my respect for another person when their words or actions warrant such respect-withdrawal; but, the starting point IS respect!

The U.S.A. and the whole world is at one of those important pivot-points in history. Will we continue to see a rise in factionalism, nationalism, divisiveness, entitlement, oligarchy, and violent conflict? Or, will we Radical Centrists save the day?

Stay tuned!