That's TBG's mantra, and it's stood us in good stead over the decades we've been together. It works for relationships and for the workplace and for the world around us. Change is good... except when it's not.
DJT is proposing to redistribute America's wealth from USAID and the Peace Corps and Voice of America to more nukes and ships and planes. Generals are speaking out against the plan. Does anyone think that the White House is listening?
School choice in the form of vouchers (too small to cover the cost of the kinds of private schools The Cuters attended) is the change Betsy DeVos thinks will cure the ills plaguing public education today. The Huffington Post presented an interesting look at evaluating the studies, like those from Louisiana and Wisconsin, which announce dismal results in test scores when comparing voucher-educated students to those who remained in the public schools. But grit and self-esteem can be developed in Scouting; math and reading cannot. According to reporting in The Arizona Republic, the
program could divert from the state’s general fund as much as $35 million a year in 2020-2021, according to a fiscal note released this week by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.That is certainly change, but I can't see how it is good.
By 2030, the state could then be paying for many of the children attending Arizona's private and religious schools, pushing the potential costs to as much as $75 million a year, according to a Republic analysis of JLBC data.
DJT has altered the makeup of the National Security Council, adding Steve Bannon and removing the CIA. Perhaps Mr. Bannon has access to information that the intelligence agencies do not. Perhaps it is more than his nihilism that secured his place at the table. It is certainly change, but I don't see how it is good.
Congress, doing nothing as it has for the past 8 years, allows DJT to govern by Executive Order. Yes, I liked it when Mr. Obama took those same steps, avoiding confrontations with an obstructionist Legislative Branch. But DJT's off the cuff Orders are the kind of change that creates chaos (immigrants going underground) and chaos is not good.
Some things changing for the better. JannyLou and I are taking steps every Friday to change the course of events; we're meeting with our Representatives (or their representatives) and writing postcards and lobbying with others. Other women of a certain age, friends from Newcomers Club of Tucson, are organizing to find and support candidates to replace those who displease them. State Legislators are looking at the governorship and the US Senate, moving from local to national issues. These are good things.
Sons with pre-existing conditions and daughters with birth control issues are wondering what the future will hold. Nobody knew health care could be so complicated, our President opined, and that, I suppose is a change for the better.... he's acknowledging that something is more complicated than all his best words can fix.
The anxiety on the streets and on the playgrounds in my used-to-be-comfortably-integrated-community is palpable. We live with Dreamers; their lives have changed and it's not good. We shop and work beside people with questionable documentation living impeccable lives; the changes they are facing will impact us all.
Yes, grow or die. I just wish I could influence the direction of the growth.
All true, all devastating. All he had to do was act like a normal human for 60 minutes reading the teleprompter, and now he's "pivoted" to presidential. Sometimes I have to wonder about my fellow citizens. Today, the FCC killed an Obama rule that broadband providers have to protect their customers' data. Apparently the rule would make it to hard to "harvest" user data and sell it to the highest bidder. Your government at work.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, by the time I read this, the speech was over-shadowed by Jeff Sessions. There is so much going on; thanks for alerting me to this one.
Deletea/b