Preble County

Root Cause of AHCA’s Failure — Ohio’s Broken Political System?

Posted on March 27, 2017 by CharlieClaywell

There’s got to be a better way — Frank Constanza

Decades ago as a factory worker I was trained in ‘Root Cause Analysis.’ I’m no longer sure if that’s a real thing — or just an idea created by the company, but the concept was sound. When we created product that was scrapped due to error — the goal of RCA was to find the original source of the mistake. This often meant poring over reams of data (yes it was on paper) and zeroing in on when the initial error occurred.

If we could only do that with politics.

Political Dysfunction

One of the best books that examines how this ‘first mistake’ happened in our current political debacle — the one that placed an egotistical, pampered billionaire in the White House — is Insane Clown President. The book takes a hard look at the media and the voting public. It examines the rise of the paranoid and fringe beliefs of an ever-widening swath of Americans coupled with the media’s for-profit business model that puts ratings over substance. Insane Clown President, unlike Hillbilly Elegy (which is touted as the book to read to understand the Trump win), actually does shed light on how it happened. The gist: American vote against, not for, candidates.

I mention the book because that is also why the AHCA failed — the MO of a small group of men, with a disproportional amount of power, inside the House of Representatives — obstruct instead of negotiate. Now, let me be clear. I’m glad the AHCA failed. Even though I am not a Trump supporter, most of my community is — and many would have been financially damaged if it were enacted into law. We are a poor region of the country and another hard financial blow may have been too much for many here to absorb.

‘It’s Called Humanity’

But, I’ll admit, in a broader sense, some things amaze me. I’m amazed that in ‘the greatest country’ in 2017 we’re still trying to resolve healthcare. I’m amazed that political powers fight hard to make healthcare inaccessible — especially for the poor and aged. I’m also amazed that after seven years of promising to repeal and replace — and 15-18 months of Trump’s blathering rhetoric that when push came to shove, the Party was impotent. I feel like if this is one of those ‘big issues’ as a Party you might want to, I don’t know, plan ahead and have something that will pass.

But mostly I’m amazed at the resistance some Americans have to affordable healthcare. Personally, I agree with comedian Allana Harkin, who in a moment of candid honesty, summed it up very nicely. She said:

I honestly cannot understand why Americans wouldn’t want every single citizen to have access to proper healthcare. It’s called humanity.

Building A Caucus The Old Fashion Way — With Big Money

Although Trump called the New York Times and blamed the Democrats for the House’s inability to garner enough votes to pass the AHCA, it was his Party’s incompetence that halted the legislation. This was, in large part, because of the Freedom Caucus — which has two Ohio members, including my Congressman Warren Davidson.

Davidson, whose previous political experience was Township Trustee in Miami County, leapfrogged past other experienced legislators in 2016 and won the seat held by former Speaker of the House John Boehner (who was forced out by the Freedom Caucus). Davidson was able to leapfrogged to the top of the political pile possibly because he was competing against more than a dozen GOP contenders — and only needed 33 percent of the vote to win — or maybe because the Club for Growth — and Freedom Caucus member Jim Jordan — took an interest in him.

One thing is certain, a lot of money was spent on the race.

Regardless of why or how he landed the job, the position should be secure because of Ohio’s gerrymandered districts. In Ohio, we haven’t had competitive districts for decades.

How Ohio’s Gerrymandered System Affects You

If this gerrymandering only affected Ohio the solution for people, like myself, who do not agree with gerrymandering could move. After all that seems to be the go-to answer in my ‘neck of the woods’ (love it or leave it). But, it affects the entire nation so unless you are incline to move to Canada — or across the southern border before the beautiful wall is built — you are stuck with Ohio’s unethical approach to Congressional map creation.

As Thomas Suddes notes in his ‘brief history of Ohio gerrymandering‘ the rigged game became even more rigged since the 1980s. After the 2000 Census it lurched into full-blown Party over Country mode. To see just how rigged the game has become with Ohio Congressional Districts, compare the stats between Trump and Ronald Reagan. They both carried the state with basically the same percentage. Trump captured 51.7 percent of the vote while Reagan carried it in 1980 with 51.5 percent. But what changed — and created the current gridlock — is the number of Republicans and Democrats Ohio sent to Congress.

When Reagan was elected in 1980, we were a larger state with 23 members in the House. We now have 16. So, using percentages instead of numbers — in 1980 the mix was 57 percent GOP (13) and 43 percent Democrat (10). In 2017, the mix is 75 percent GOP (12) and 25 percent Democrat (4).

The viewpoints of Ohio’s population did not shift significantly in the two elections, but who their representatives are most certainly did because the core of the system had been altered to put Party over Country. And, with Ohio’s noncompetitive districts locked in place for the foreseeable future, the rest of the country should not expect much cooperation from our elected officials. They can only be replaced — in a primary — by someone more radical.

So, fellow Americans, you get to live with the mess we created.

But Will Trump Get Mad?

I’m starting to fear that Ohio will get on the — well, since I try to keep my posts PG — let’s call it the Naughty List. For starters we have governor John Kasich who is a Trump critic. Now, we have two U.S. Congressmen refusing to kowtow to the wishes of our Reality-TV leader. Besides hurting the man’s ego — not to mention the show’s ratings — Trump is allegedly known to go after his enemies. But, despite the policy disagreement, Davidson and fellow Freedom Caucus member Mark Meadows seem to think Trump is still on board with demolishing the ACA. Meadows reportedly said,

To put a stake in it today would not be accurate.

Meadows may be right, the president may simply sabotage the program (putting ego over country). Davidson though, in his response went with a modified compliment sandwich deflecting any personal responsibility for the legislative failure. On Saturday, he noted on his website,

I appreciate the willingness of President Donald Trump to work together throughout this process. I was stunned to see as we made progress toward repealing Obamacare’s one-size fits all approach, others lost their resolve.

The president, in his early Sunday morning excretion on Twitter had this to say,

Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!

All the hoopla apparently proved to be too much for one Freedom Caucus member. On Sunday, Rep. Ted Poe (Texas) resigned from the Caucus.

One down, 36 to go.

Afterthought

As I was researching the various things Davidson has said and done in his short time in office, I noticed he’s also a member of the 2nd Amendment Caucus. It feels like a safe bet for him being from a part of the country outsiders derisively call Murica. We definitely love our guns. And, I’ll admit I’d have a hard time imagining Boehner with a gun — some wine, a cigarette and maybe an off-colored barroom joke — but not a gun.

But it did make me wonder why a 2nd Amendment Caucus and not a 3rd Amendment Caucus. The amendments were written at the same time about the same issue (national security). But no one ever speaks out in support of the 3rd Amendment — maybe there’s no money or large lobbying group attached to it.

Or maybe Amendments are like Bible verses, you can only have one favorite.

Who knows.

P.S.

If Ohio members of the Freedom Caucus want to do something for the citizens back home to start that winning streak Trump promised the country — fix the Internet speed. It’s abysmal. Ohio ranks 47th in the country. D.C. is 1st.

Categories: 8th congressional district, My America, Preble County, Understanding Trump Counties | Tags: ACA, AHCA, Obamacare, politics, resist

Heroin, Meth Just Part Of Life In Small, Rural Town

Posted on January 13, 2017 by CharlieClaywell

I live in Ohio, a state where the Attorney General has declared a heroin epidemic. My county is no exception. The possession of heroin cases in Common Pleas Court have skyrocketed from about five in 2012 to around 50 in 2016.

But heroin, is just one of the drugs the county deals with — meth has been in the region for years and it does not appear to be going away. In August, 2015 there were nearly as many meth cases (based on the presumption that the ‘manufacturing’ indictment is for meth production) as heroin — three versus four respectively.

When a community is hammered by drugs, typically thefts or burglaries rise as addicts seeks ways to fund their habit. In this regard, Preble is, again, no exception. In August, 2015 the grand jury handed down seven theft-related indictments.

Meth Nearly Destroys Iowa Town

In Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town, author Nick Reding examines a small rural, agricultural-based town in southeast Iowa which is about the same size as my hometown. The tale, mostly about the town’s (Oelwein) triumph over meth is an interesting read as it lays bare the wide-ranging reasons for the epidemic.

Three of the reasons are: political indifference, corporate irresponsibility and the myth of the American Dream.

Political Indifference

What may be most troubling about the meth situation is it never had to happen. As the author details in the book, research to create an alternative to pseudoephedrine — the chemical extracted from Sudafed to manufacture meth — was halted as in 2000. Before 2000, two approaches were being pursued that could have eliminated the ability to extract meth from Sudafed. The first was a chemical ‘mirror’ alternative to pseudoephedrine that eliminated the stimulant effect — making it worthless to the meth industry. The second approach was to use additives that blocked the ability to extract pseudoephedrine from cold tablets.

In the end, much like with the current heroin/opioid situation, Big Pharma’s profit potential influenced politicians to take a hands-off approach to regulating the industry — siding with business at the expense of American communities.

Corporate Irresponsibility

As president Calvin Coolidge famously said, the business of America is business — and this holds true even when it destroys livelihoods. Part of Methland deals with Ottumwa, Iowa where the meth trade skyrocketed in the late 1980s — making Roseanne’s Barr’s former sister-in-law Lori Arnold a very wealthy woman (and eventual felon). Arnold became wealthy by distributing meth to an ever-increasing base of factory workers.

When large companies, like Cargill, acquired food processing plants in the region, one of their first lines of business was to slash wages from about $18 an hour to $5. Workers, forced to work double shifts or take on a second job to sustain their earnings, turned to meth for the energy to get through the extended work week.

The companies also began actively recruiting immigrants, mostly from Mexico, to take jobs at the plant. The influx of immigrants, some with a direct line to the Mexican meth industry, increased the drugs presence in the workplace.

Today, with president-elect Donald Trump riding to the White House partially on the immigration issue, it remains to be seen if he will address one of the reasons illegal aliens are here. As Reding points out in the book, U.S. companies recruit inexpensive, illegal foreign labor and then hide behind legalities. Under U.S. law, companies are not responsible for knowing whether a worker is in the United States legally. They bring them here — and pretend to not know how they showed up. The scam has played a role in perpetuating an anti-immigration stance among Americans whose misdirected anger exists because they do not realize companies in their community caused the problem.

The American Dream

A significant portion of the book deals with Arnold who, within months of entering the Ottumwa meth business, becomes a very wealthy individual. Arnold looms high above the other small-time meth manufacturers featured in the book. But even the small time players create a significant cash flow because they have a captive market base — people working 60-90 hours weeks just to stay ahead of the economic curve.

The book is worth reading simply for Arnold’s story.

Even though the story is empathic to Arnold, and the other large and small time dealers, it does not shy away from what they are or what they do. It is very much a ‘warts and all’ type of tale. But, a bright side to the story does exist. It is seen mostly through the major of Oelwein, a progressive determined to purge his small town of meth while also returning viable jobs to the region. He takes some big gambles — and in the end they pay off.

It’s an approach small towns in the Rust Belt would be wise to follow.

Keen Observations

The book’s strength is the author’s many observations, including one about the American economic system. Reding posits that our economy is proving the theories of Karl Marx to be more accurate than Adam Smith’s — noting that even the agricultural industry is being cannibalized by a handful of companies. This handful of large companies control the lion share of the market, pushing small farmers to the brink of extinction, destroying local economies in the process.

One small way this is seen, he notes, is the disappearance of locally-owned grain elevators. Under locally-owned systems, every dollar created through the sale of grain generates another three to four dollars in local transactions, Reding explains. This keeps small economies thriving.

Today, though, grain is typically owned and handled by one seed company and the dollar transactions are reduced to a 1:1 ratio, eliminating any local upside. This guts the local economy often causing family-owned grain elevators to close. It happened in the Iowa town — and in my community as well. The grain elevators that existed in the village of West Alexandria and the city of Eaton closed years ago.

In Eaton, a Dollar General store sits where the former grain elevator operated.

Rated 5 out of 5: The book is fairly short, very well researched and a nice blend of investigative journalism and personal essay writing.

Categories: Life In A Red State, My America, Ohio, Politics, Preble County, Small Town Politics

Presidential Election Pushes Me Off Facebook

Posted on November 25, 2016 by CharlieClaywell

I’ve taken a much-needed reprieve from Facebook after this presidential election. The election taught me a lot, and it solidified my left-leaning political position as well as my belief that many Americans are motivated by fear.

Many also struggle with verifying information. Fake news and misinformation fuels the belief system of too many Americans. The stories I read on Facebook, with their numerous ‘unnamed sources,’ would have been laughable if written by The Onion. Instead they were championed and believed by those who posted them.

The Things People Believe

Some day I intend to list the most ludicrous beliefs I’ve heard in my life. Here is a non-political example of a ‘truth’ told to me by a Preble County resident years ago. A 40-something-year-old man explained why older men, and not younger ones, have high cholesterol. It is about sex, he noted. Young men have a lot more sex and, he said, when a man ejaculates it purges cholesterol from their body.

Besides being potential fodder for bawdy humor and one-liners, the statement has no basis in fact. Scientists, doctors, and the entire medical field have studied cholesterol and understand why it tends to plague older people. It’s really not complicated.

But, explaining that to a man who latched onto a homespun cholesterol theory would have been futile.

The same holds true with politics. Convinced that ‘God works in mysterious ways,’ many of my Facebook friends reasoned that president-elect (such difficult words to write) Donald Trump is part of God’s plan. It’s a convenient truth that totally disregards what Trump did to get into office.

Americans know politicians lie

Yet, in the case of Trump, his lies rallied supporters. Now, they are faced with his changing message. They are slowly learning that, despite the ‘Lock Her Up’ signs still visible in my county, Trump is not going to do that. He never was. As his cabinet appointments are demonstrating, he’s also not going to ‘drain the swamp.’ He is even hedging his bet on Obamacare.

Facebook taught me, though, none of this will matter to his fans.

In fact, I’m betting many of those supporters are already plunking down $150 to adorn their Christmas tree with a Trump ornament. Because, as the ad says, Trump really loves saying ‘Merry Christmas.’.