The Tree

Take a good look at this picture.

This tree looked every inch to be a strong oak tree. It towered over a bend in the path at a local nature preserve. Hundreds of people passed by this tree, no doubt admiring how it dominated the area.

However, if you looked very closely, you could see a crack running the length of the trunk. I noticed this crack one day and, taking a slender stick, probed to see how far it went.

The crack reached the heart of the tree.

I sent a note to the people who managed the preserve. I told them this was an at-risk tree. That, while it appeared strong, it was likely to topple. They promised action.

A couple of weeks later, a storm blew through.

Here is the tree today.

As we near the election, I fear that America is this tree.

While each side claims its actions will save the tree, the crack remains. One side calls the tree rotten. The other calls the tree strong, if only we have the vision -- and the will -- to save it.

And some of those with considerable money, who could help save the tree, appear either to ignore it, or to hope that it falls.

You can disagree. I don't blame you. And -- because this is still, today, a representative democracy with freedom of speech -- you are entitled to do so. But respect me even as you disagree. As I would respect you.

But I've lived a long time now, by many standards. I'm on the other side of the career climb. I was a kid when a young president who symbolized for many the future, was gunned down. I've lived through the race riots of the '60's; through the energy crisis of the '70's and the  savagery of a then-divided nation (Texas bumper sticker: "Let the bastards freeze to death in the dark").

I've witnessed the abandonment of the manufacturing belt, the long widening of the gap between everyday wages and CEO compensation, the legalization of stock buybacks, the growth of the notion that only profits matter to a company, the relaxation of financial controls, the export of money through offshore tax havens and shell companies for the ultra-rich, the hijacking of the political process through well-moneyed lobbyists.

America, you are this tree.

There are around three hundred and fifty million people in America. Of these, almost 15% are immigrants. This is a high percentage, about as high as when my grandparents emigrated here, in the early 1900's. My grandparents were not rapists and drug-dealers. They were escaping that great shredding of human flesh known as World War I.

They were despised, too. They were called names. Even as my grandfather served as an air raid warden in World War II. Today, they would have been accused of coming from shit-hole countries. A former president’s word, not mine.

How times have, and have not, changed.

So, America, does immigration cause the crack in our tree? Well, let's consider. An immigrant from one of "those" countries gifted us with alternating current. Another ran Intel for a number of years. So look at your laptop and your lightbulb. You decide.

How do you tease character from appearance? Contribution, from country of origin? Short answer:  you don't.

Do we need to do a better job at this? Of course we do. But that better job isn't done by lumping all immigrants together, calling them dog-eaters, rapists, murderers, and any number of inflammatory names. That's the road to dehumanization. That's the road to defining "us" and "them." That's the road to the Yellow Star, America.

That's also the road we take when one side promises punishment for the other, if elected. When one side's spokesperson suggests that well-meaning people who donated to the cause they think is right should be punished for doing so.

When billions of dollars -- dollars that could have been used for schools, roads, social well-being -- are instead funneled into campaigns, the result of which is hate speech, distorted ads, misrepresentation of facts, the whipping to frenzy of ordinary people, the pitting of neighbor against neighbor, the name-calling, the threats against elections and against each other -- we begin to glimpse the sources of the crack in the tree.

When you open your email or switch on your cell phone, dear American, and all you see are desperate pleas for money, or else America will fail, you now see the results of a decision made years ago that condones the purchase of elections by the highest bidder. We spent an estimated $14.4 billion on the 2020 election (1) We will likely match that this go-round.

We have a billionaire treating the entire election as a casino event, where each day one lucky winner takes home a million dollars. What sort of people have we become, to permit this buying and selling? Why do we permit this level of bribery and intimidation? How is this useful to a functioning democratic republic?

Are you also tired, dear American, of the fakery that goes with it? Fake news? Fake campaign stories? None of us have sufficient mental tooling to withstand the constant barrage of dis- and misinformation (2). We are stressed and pressed for time, a product of the desperation that stems in part from pursuit of profit through operational excellence (i.e., screw tightening and cost cutting) and the equally relentless pressure to innovate before the next person does. When pressed for time, who has time to think? As Carl Jung has said, "Thinking is hard; it's why most people judge."

When lies are everywhere and trust a broken vessel, small wonder that disorientation and willingness to believe the first confidently uttered statement prevail.

Another glimpse at the source of the crack in the tree.

So what, you may say. Every election campaign is full of lies. All politicians lie. What of it?

Indeed, what of it? All murderers kill. Is that an adequate defense I can use after I've been caught killing someone? And if lies result in thousands of deaths through aggressive internment policies, deportation measures, corporate neglect, or billionaire indifference, are they truly merely harmless lies?

With each side declaring the other as a fundamental threat to freedom, have we forgotten that freedom means, at its core, living well together? As difficult as that may be to achieve?

How can we best live well together?

Would we expel those with whom we disagree? What happens when it's our turn?

Since when is merely walking back a false statement, no matter how outrageous, insulting, divisive or hateful, sufficient action? Since when is "doubling down" a term of pride? Since when has outshouting become superior to debate? Since when is an argument won by crushing the opponent without compromise?

Since when have we decided that a pure metal -- one side or the other -- is stronger than an alloy?

We have given our kleptocratic billionaires far too free a ride in this world. We have rewarded major corporations for tax evasion, permitted presidential candidates to launder money through dozens of offshore shell companies, captured our politicians through the activities of over ten thousand lobbyists spending and spending to support private profit models. We have sacrificed our private lives and freedom of choice on the altar of big tech. We attempt to monetize everything and gain very little for ourselves. We have created "too big to fail" entities, rewarding them even as we penalize "too small to succeed."

The billions spent on lobbying and elections pales when compared to the one trillion dollars we are on track to award this year alone to shareholders and top executives, in the form of once-illegal-and-with-good-reason stock buybacks. Enough dollars to give everyone in the country -- whatever age, race, citizen status, religion, gender status and who knows what else that serves to divide us -- everyone in the country two thousand five hundred dollars.

Instead, like boiled frogs, we've watched factories rust, education dwindle, demogoguery advance, populism take hold, average pay versus the cost to stay alive barely keep up or even decline, while the top echelons whisk tons of dollars away and hide them. Average top executive compensation has moved from 25 times an average employee wage to hundreds of times that same wage. Who, pray tell, is worth all that?

No wonder everyone is angry.

And yet, our anger is misplaced. We fight each other.

Thus, the crack in the tree widens, and the tree weakens. And we blame each other for it.

We have a presidential candidate promising to be a dictator for a day. Promising to punish enemies. Promising to pardon those convicted using due process. Promising to deny election results unless he wins. Demanding unfettered loyalty.

We must do better than this.

A president, by definition, presides over all the people. Not just those who agree with the candidate, or who supported that candidate through votes. No. It's all the people. All the people.

A president's first job is not to lead, but to listen. And when I say listen, I mean listen to all the people. Not fight half of them. Not punish half of them for disagreeing.

Leading through fear is leading backwards. Far better to achieve greatness through reconciliation, not revenge. To lead half a country while punishing the rest is to admit utter failure as a leader, no matter which political party or interest is in charge.

As for you billionaires, well. Much wealth is deserved. Hoarding it is shameful. You who benefit from a system rigged to favor the rich have faint cause for calling foul when wealth is taxed out of proportion. Yet there is an old saying, that "he who dies with the most toys, wins." Ask yourselves, wins what?

America -- whatever race, gender, religion, social standing, or social leaning -- which tree do you want to be?

Do you want to embrace the strong tree you have, despite its cracks and flaws, and do what you can to save it?

Or would you rather that this election storm shatter the tree, to the joy of those outside, in other countries, who would rejoice in its toppling?

Many of our overseas friends are wringing their hands at what we're doing to ourselves. Many of our enemies are rubbing their hands in anticipation of what they can do if we fail the test.

And sadly, many of these people take more interest in our own election than some of us do.

MAGA voters, you are not my enemy, nor am I your enemy. Conservatives, you differ from me in approach, but that does not lead to disrespect for your way of doing things. I learn from your perspectives. Liberals, you may be more aligned with my thinking, but I can still disagree with your approach to certain problems.

To all of you: I am America. So are you. I am this tree -- flawed, with a crack, growing older, but still strong and capable of growing into the future. You are this tree as well, and for the same reasons.

We hold the means of repair. In one hand, we hold the nourishment, the fertilizer, that can improve the soil. In the other, we hold the poison to render the soil too toxic for any tree, let alone our America tree.

By the time you read this, dear American, the election event may well be over. By the time you read this, we may be on the road to a new presidency, or a road strewn with challenges and unrest.

By the time you read this, you may be afraid that the tree has toppled.

Whatever the outcome, the road ahead is clear.

Prepare the soil. Work together. Right the tree we have -- but if, in the storm, the tree has shattered, be prepared to plant a new tree and work however long it takes for the tree to flourish once again.

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(1) https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/2020-cycle-cost-14p4-billion-doubling-16/

(2) Disinformation is deliberately misleading people with information known to be false; misinformation is either repeating that information or unwittingly creating information, not necessarily with the intent to mislead. Honest people repeat disinformation they receive -- creating misinformation. You can forgive the spreader of misinformation, even as you may disagree. You must hold spreaders of disinformation accountable. This is much harder than it appears. It requires a lot of work -- which spreaders of disinformation recognize and use to their advantage. Here's a recent example:  https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/10/pro-trump-dark-money-network-tied-to-elon-musk-behind-fake-pro-harris-campaign-scheme/