politics

Kamala Harris almost did the impossible

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

107 Days by Kamala Harris reads like a combination of a thoughtful diary, a comprehensive memoir of the crushingly short campaign, and a message of hope and determination from a woman who has made it her life’s work to serve the public good to the best of her ability. The book is brutally honest, but not in an inflammatory way. This isn’t a Hollywood tell-all, shovel the dirt reveal. Instead it is a look inside not only what makes Kamala Harris tick, but how her decisions, actions, hopes, and dreams affect those around her and beyond. It’s clear that Harris takes her work seriously. She sets an example not to gain notoriety, but because it’s the right thing to do. She owns up to her mistakes, learns from them, and moves forward. That’s the mark of intelligence and understanding. She’s honest about the monumental task that was thrust upon her noting that she didn’t expect anybody to vote for her because she said so. She worked very hard to earn everyone’s votes. She recognizes the reality that only about a third of voters actually voted for her opponent, Donald J. Trump. She also recognizes that of the two thirds who did not vote for him, about a third voted for her. The rest either stayed home or voted for somebody else. In that, she regrets not having reached them with the urgency of the task at hand. The race was extremely close, and Trump only won his plurality (not a mandate) by 1.5% of the popular vote. In a country of 340 million, that’s a minuscule margin of public approval and not anywhere close to a mandate. The Electoral College told a different story, but that has been badly skewed for decades and truly has lost its usefulness. Still, it unfortunately is how U.S. presidential elections are currently determined. Continue reading →

On the edge

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Here I sit at my computer at the start of a very consequential week. I have much to be thankful for in my life, and I try to focus on the good things. My friends. My family. Even the state where I live. I have challenges as most of us do. In my case, I’ve been dealing with some serious medical issues all of my life, and they’ve gotten worse over the last several years. Even so, I’m still able to take care of myself and even provide an ear to my friends and family to discuss the things that concern us. Continue reading →

Thoughts as 2024 draws to a close

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I used to write a holiday letter each year to share with friends, mostly those who were far away. At first I sent them in holiday cards via the mail, but over time I started writing them as emails, and later as articles on my website. They detailed my big events through the year. Sometimes they noted my personal accomplishments. Other times they covered my struggles. Over time though, I stopped writing them. Instead, I started writing an end of year essay thinking about what had happened over the year in broader terms. My individual exploits no longer seemed all that important in the grand scheme of things, either to me or to those I cared about. Continue reading →

I’m done with the rage merchants

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

2024 is shaping up to be a year to remember. Watching the chaos swirl across the country with respect to our upcoming election in combination with the extraordinary legal proceedings in play is at times maddening, and at other times hopeful. One way to stop being affected by the highs and lows is to disengage from the rage merchants. That means ignoring pretty much every news show – be it on cable, broadcast television, streaming video, or radio. In most cases, the news isn’t actually news but is instead a compendium of rage mongers trying to outdo one another to gain audience. The hosts are performing for their audiences, intentionally angering them because high emotion sells and keeps people coming back for more. Continue reading →

Cleaning House

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

2023 completed its first week. We passed the second anniversary of an insurrection ending the U.S. tradition of the peaceful transition of power for the first time in our history, and we watched the U.S. House of Representatives put on a chaotic spectacle taking just over four days and 15 votes before finally electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy Speaker of the House. To get there, McCarthy made several concessions to the extremist faction that has taken over his party, a faction that supported the insurrection and the insurrectionists. Those concessions have been covered extensively in the media and could have dire consequences for the country as the year progresses if they come to pass. Continue reading →

If only & never forget

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I am of an age that I watched Watergate evolve and got to study it in school as the investigation was first being made public. That certainly made civics interesting and timely. At the time it seemed to be the most significant threat to our nation’s democratic principles since the Civil War. Shortly before articles of impeachment were to be voted on in the House, President Nixon resigned, though it took quite an effort from his party to get him to do so. One month hence, President Ford pardoned his predecessor setting in motion an emboldened, extremist faction within the Republican Party that enabled an even bigger threat to our democracy to emerge. Just under a half century later, an attempted coup occurred. The coup was intended to prevent the peaceful transition of power after the lawful election of a new president. If only Ford hadn’t pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974, perhaps we wouldn’t have elected the former president in 2016. If only the country hadn’t elected the former president in 2016, we wouldn’t have had an attempted coup on January 6, 2021. Continue reading →

Rights and life

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Several months ago as Dobbs was heating up, a dear, pro-life friend asked me if I considered a fetus a life. My knee jerk reaction was absolutely not. I kept thinking about my answer, and after a good night’s sleep realized that my friend had asked the wrong question. She didn’t really want to know if I considered a fetus a life. Of course it’s living tissue. What my friend was really asking was whether I believed that a fetus was a person. There my answer is still unequivocally, no. Clinically, it really shouldn’t be considered a person until it is born, or as Roe v. Wade decided almost 50 years ago, at least until the point when it is viable outside of its host/mother’s body. Before that point, options to terminate a pregnancy if so desired should remain legal, safe, and available to all. Continue reading →

Taking Action!

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Stories. We all relate through stories. We use them from the time we’re small to help us learn language and other skills we need to function as members of society. We use them in our families to ensure that we don’t forget those who came before us. We use them in school as students and teachers to illustrate new concepts and explore the vast world around us. We use them at work to convey information. We use them for entertainment to draw out emotions. We use them throughout society to help understand where we are, and how we got here. We use them in politics to persuade and move people to take action. Continue reading →

Trouble – when the story matters more than reality

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

In theater or in literature, an author’s vivid imagination can be a wondrous thing. A writer can spin a captivating tale limited only by the bounds of their imagination and their ability to capture their vision in words. If told well, such a story can be divorced from reality yet still provide compelling entertainment for its audience. In this context it’s not only acceptable, it’s desirable, and viewers or readers can find escape through immersion in such a story. It can be enjoyable to suspend disbelief enough to imagine what might be, and it can even inspire people to positive action to improve a situation in reality. Science fiction has long posited potential advances, both good and bad, that are sometimes achieved at a later time. The communicators used in Star Trek in the 1960s were intriguing. They allowed people to communicate over long distances from wherever they were with a tiny device seemingly by magic. Decades later, they came to life in the real world as flip phones as a phase in the evolution of mobile technology. Granted, there were significant differences in range, clarity, and required infrastructure, but the similarities were striking given various designs inspired by the fictional story. Since then, mobile technology has advanced in the form of smart phones and devices, delighting consumers and titillating the minds of creative engineers to continue to push even further. Continue reading →