Anyone who lives in the West or Southwest is well aware of the frightening dangers of forest fires. They spread fast and wreak destruction of almost biblical proportions. In June of 2013 there was a devastating fire in the Granite Mountain area around the town of Yarnell southwest of Prescott. It was called the Yarnell Hill fire. While it may not have been the most destructive overall, it was particularly devastating because nineteen hot shots, those elite firefighters who are on the front lines of these fires, were caught and could not escape a sort of flame over and all perished.  During the weeks that followed, many individuals and organizations including the Arizona Diamondbacks, solicited funds to help the area rebuild, to help defray the expenses incurred by rescue organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, and especially for support for the families who lost everything and for those families who lost members. In a story line posted on NPR, the fund raising was discussed and how much had been contributed to date. Now decades ago, I learned that to get a pulse on communities, read the Letters to the Editor” section of local press or now, in this electronic age, read the stories on line and read the  posted comments shown below it. On this story, one comment stood out like an M-14 at a Quaker Meeting. The comment said, and I quote, “…what a  waste of money..”.                              In recent deliberations on the floor of the U S House of Representatives, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions referred  to the SNAP program and the low income people it supports  as being extraneous and Congress voted to kill it as part of the  Farm Bill.

In February 2012, Sandra Fluke, then a  third year law student at Georgetown University , testified before a panel convened in Washington to discuss insurance coverage for, among things, contraception. She held that is should be  viewed as a legitimate  medical cost. The panel was all male and included two  members of conservative religious congregations. Ms Fluke testified about the issues around a women’s need for contraception medications, particularly those  not specifically being used as a birth control measure – something to which most of the panel could not even relate. Subsequent to that testimony, the loud mindless mouth of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh referred to Ms Fluke as a slut and a prostitute, stating that she was demanding ” to be paid for having sex”. His cohort in stupidity, Foster Friess, a Tea Party mogul and self proclaimed standard bearer of the religious far right  who preaches mass intolerance of anything the least bit to the left of his extreme right wing posture ( Cf. his commencement address at Pepperdine that same year ) vowed to supply Georgetown University with all the aspirin they needed so “… coeds could keep their knees together..”.  At the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri, the ring announcer, after a rodeo clown appeared dressed in a President Obama mask, proclaiming that the President was a clown, asked how many wanted to see the President run over by a bull. The response was a thunderous applause

In a recent visit to Arizona to promote fair housing policies, President Obama was greeted by people singing “bye bye black sheep”, with obvious connotations  and with a sign held by one Deanne Bartram saying “Impeach the half white muslim” !  For the record, Deanne Bartram is a seventeen year old University of Arizona student from Black Canyon City  and,  sadly, I suspect her parents are probably very proud of her.

There is almost too much to debate about the colossal mess inside the beltway and even more so about what is to be found in the states, especially those dark red states. In some ways, that remains unchanged. In many ways, though, it has. The venom mentioned in an earlier post has intensified exponentially over the past five years and the hate mongers on  extreme far right radio  have been drinking “haterade” by the gallon.  The question, though, has to be raised – where did it all come from. Is this a new phenomenon or has it been always there ?  What catalyst sprung it to the surface ? When did  we cease to care about the community around us and the nation in which we live. When did tolerance become a bad thing and xenophobia become a virtue instead of a disorder ?  When was it deemed OK to loudly call the President a liar in the middle of his State of the Union Address – and by the way, receive NO flack for that pathetic outburst ? What ever happened to statesmanship and the art of compromise while still maintaining some level of propriety and dignity ? Is it only coincidence that the Tea Party -with all its misinformation, out and out lies and its obsession with eliminating government as we know it – burst on the scene directly after Mr Obama was first elected president ?

During the sixties and seventies there was much  that divided the country, particularly when it came  to foreign policy and the war in Viet Nam.  Neighborhoods were split in to camps – pro the war and very anti the war. Families were cleft along similar lines. And then there were the university communities – a whole different den of rancor.  Admittedly, it got pretty intense and in some areas, totally out of hand. But one could see the primary target and most of the harsh interaction centered around the war. But in the halls of congress, at least there was some forward movement in terms of  government , policy and legislation. The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Model Cities Program, Job training programs, economic aid to struggling communities – all enacted during those unsettled years. Why – because, as I saw it, inside the beltway still governed to some degree, those governing listened to an almost reasonable degree and the nation as a whole was never used as a hostage for an unreasonable aqenda.  Today is quite another story – a nightmarish slide into near anarchy – that road to perdition as one writer called it, borrowing from a movie of the same title.  What are usually the forces of government are no longer formulated from within the halls of the legislature but from without with special interest groups dictating the how, when and the scope of  legislation and whether or not governing does in fact take place at all. Time and time again we see the Tea Party hold the country hostage. Time and time again, the vinegar flies and what used to be relegated to back room brawls is now a procedural course played out on the floors of the House and the Senate every day.

No argument this poses far more questions than answers. Indeed, answers will  be a long time in coming. As long as facts are deemed irrelevant, “haterade” is the drink of choice, blatant racism rises unchallenged, profiteering to the destruction of the middle class remains unchecked and power politics without regard to consequences are the accepted norm, any progress toward a better life for all our countrymen will be completely off the table. As long as there is a frightening lack of leadership, we are doomed to repeat and regress.  It is the recipe for total  chaos and I fear the end result.