Tag Archives: political change

by Norma Shirk | February 17, 2021 · 6:00 am

The Prime Directive

One of the concepts introduced early in the Star Trek franchise was the Prime Directive. This guiding principle prohibited the Star Fleet alliance from interfering in the social and political customs of societies on the planets they visited. These societies were supposed to develop naturally without outside ethical and social rules imposed on them.

Of course, every Star Trek captain, beginning with Captain Kirk, violated the Prime Directive every time he (and only once, she) visited a planet that offended the captain’s notion of how things ought to be done. At least Captain Picard debated the matter with his senior staff.

Their discussions sounded an awful lot like debates at the European Union or the United Nations. The EU was founded in hopes that economic integration would prevent future European wars. The UN was founded in hopes that nations would negotiate their differences rather than going to war. From the beginning, both organizations faced Prime Directive problems.

When Putin’s Russia repeatedly tried to murder Alexey Navalny and imprisoned him on bogus charges, should the EU and the UN have intervened? Navalny is fighting for an end to the kleptocratic reign of Putin and the creation of a democracy that works for Russians. Putin and his enablers argue that Navalny’s treatment is an internal matter for Russia.

When China imprisoned a million Uighers in “re-education camps” where they are tortured and used as slave labor, should Chairman XI and his minions be charged with “crimes against humanity”? China claims the Uighers are Muslim terrorists and besides, it’s an internal matter for China.

Prime Directive arguments pop up in the U.S., too. Our federalist system allows states broad scope to enact laws on social and political matters. But sometimes the federal government overrules what states want to do. Notable examples include creating Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and civil rights laws that ended segregation and reduced voter suppression. These laws were challenged by states who argued that how they treat their citizens is an internal matter.

The Prime Directive debates will flare up over the next year as each state legislature creates a new districting plan for federal and state elections. Nearly two-thirds of state legislatures are controlled by the Republican Party. In states like Tennessee, the Republican Party has a super majority.

Already, the Republican-controlled state legislatures have introduced more than 100 bills to restrict voting rights based on the bogus claims of stolen votes. The proposed laws include purging voter rolls, eliminating early voting, severely restricting mail-in voting, making it more difficult to register to vote, and cutting the number of polling locations in areas that historically haven’t voted for Republican candidates.

President Biden and his advisors will have many Prime Directive discussions on whether the federal government should intervene in the redistricting and voting law changes taken by state legislatures. Expect the states to raise the same arguments as in the past.

The Prime Directive debates could potentially become a lot uglier over the next year. A recent survey conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, found that 55% of grassroots Republican Party members believe it is acceptable to use violence to enforce their political vision for America.

About Norma Shirk

My company, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor, helps employers (with up to 50 employees) to create human resources policies and employee benefit programs that are appropriate to the employer’s size and budget. The goal is to help small companies grow by creating the necessary back office administrative structure while avoiding the dead weight of a bureaucracy. To read my musings on the wacky world of human resources, see the HR Compliance Jungle (www.hrcompliancejungle.com) which alternates on Wednesday mornings with my history blog, History By Norma, (available at http://www.normashirk.com). To read my musings on a variety of topics, see my posts on Her Savvy (www.hersavvy.com).

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Tagged as Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor, History, Norma Shirk, political change, political cynicism, Political ploys, Star Trek

by Norma Shirk | January 19, 2021 · 7:00 am

Will We Ever Be Normal Again?

As we say goodbye to the Trump years and begin the Biden presidency, some people are talking about a return to normality. This talk is premised on the notion that the Trump years, particularly the past few months, are an anomaly. But what exactly is normal for our country?

True, we’ve never had an armed mob storm the U.S. Capitol in a desperate attempt to block the results of an election. But our country has always had demagogues, con artists, opportunists, and sleazy provocateurs looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. Without wishing to diminish the magnitude of the threat the current bunch pose, it is instructive to look at what was normal in the past.

Long before Trump’s tweets supporting white supremacists, Woodrow Wilson openly supported Jim Crow laws because he believed whites were superior to blacks. In 1924, a purported one million Klansmen descended on the Washington, DC mall in their white robes and hoods to spout their hatred of blacks, Catholics, Jews and immigrants. President Calvin Coolidge didn’t condemn them or their rhetoric.

Before social media platforms amplified the white power movement, a Catholic priest named Father Coughlin hid behind the label of “Christian” while spewing anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi garbage. He was the country’s most popular talk radio host in the 1930’s until some of his supporters were arrested on suspicion of trying to overthrow the U.S. government.

Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz aren’t the first politicians to endanger the country in the cynical pursuit of their personal ambitions. John C. Calhoun announced his national ambitions by whipping up an anti-British mob that pushed the country into the War of 1812. That’s the war we don’t talk about because the British burned down the White House. Calhoun became a prominent pro-slavery southerner who developed the legally dubious “nullification” theory which Tennessee’s less-gifted politicians periodically drag out of the trashcan of history.

Hawley and Cruz are also not the first politicians whose cynical ploy backfired on them. In 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were fading into the political sunset when they decided that fighting a duel would draw attention to resurrect their careers. Instead, Hamilton was gut-shot and died in agony days later while Burr had to go on the lam to escape a murder charge.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln traveled to his first inauguration by train. His travel schedule was supposed to be kept secret and security was increased due to the number of death threats he received. Several last-minute route changes ensured he arrived at the U.S. Capitol on time to be sworn in as president.

This year, Joe Biden had planned to travel to his inauguration by train. But last week a brief announcement said that Biden’s travel plans had changed due to the level of violent threats made against him (and V.P.-elect Kamala Harris). Unfortunately, and depressingly, our new normal looks a lot like the old normal.

About Norma Shirk

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Tagged as Bias in history, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor, History, History by Norma, Norma Shirk, political change, political cynicism, Political ploys, racism

by Norma Shirk | December 16, 2020 · 7:00 am

Nothing New Under the Sun

He benefited from the wealth bequeathed by his father. He inherited a politically stable country that was militarily stronger than its enemies. His country was at the heart of a vast trading network that made it wealthy and spread its influence across the world. Its’ fertile soil provided so much food that it exported the excess to neighboring countries.

He set out to destroy all that. He felt only contempt for the competent, experienced government officials he inherited and replaced them with sycophants loyal only to himself. He built a new capital city in a remote location where he lived in an echo chamber surrounded by his supporters. The working class that built his new city were underfed and overworked. They died young while he lived in a palace and treated himself to the best food and wine available.

He created his own cult and demanded that everyone worship his new god. Traditional religious leaders were unceremoniously tossed aside, and their treasures confiscated to fund the new cult. His wife and children slavishly followed his lead.

While he was busy dismantling the existing order, his country’s enemies grew bolder. Other great powers began expanding their territory. His country’s allies begged for help but he ignored them. He was too busy attacking his real and perceived enemies at home to notice or care about the threats at his own border.

When he finally left the scene (due to his death), his country’s hegemony had faded. Society was fractured, the economy was in decline and his country had lost about a quarter of its territory to other great powers. His inattention ruined his country’s alliances and its allies shifted allegiance to others, including the new great powers.

His surviving opponents moved quickly to restore order, reinstating the traditional government structure. His cult was abandoned and replaced by the former religion. His name was erased from the written record as was his wife’s name. His children repudiated him and his cult in a desperate effort to salvage their own lives.

His name was…..Amenhotep IV, better known to us as Akhenaton. He ruled Egypt at the end of the 18^th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. His son, Tutanhkamon, was the last of that line of pharaohs and died young. Ancient Egypt never again attained the cultural, political, and military hegemony that Akhenaton inherited.

Today, as we debate good versus bad leadership, Akhenaton is a reminder that there is nothing new under the sun.

About Norma Shirk

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Tagged as changes, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor, History by Norma, leadership, Norma Shirk, political change

by Norma Shirk | October 20, 2020 · 7:00 am

Voting Early

Early voting is in full swing. I always try to vote early because I can show up at a time convenient to my schedule and there is usually no waiting. But this year is different. For the first time ever, early voting was as busy as a typical Election Day crowd.

When I drove to the public library on the afternoon of the second day of early voting I couldn’t find a parking space. The line wrapped around the building. I gave up and went home. The next day I showed up at 7:30 am and was happy to find a parking space next door. Then I stood in a line that snaked around the library parking lot waiting for the 8 am opening.

Voters ranged in age from 18 to 80. Several neighbors in the line told me that they were willing to wait all day for their chance to vote. When word spread of a first time voter, everyone in line cheered them on. I finally voted around 9:10 am. It was absolutely amazing.

This year we will probably see record-breaking voter turnouts in every state. The good news is that people are motivated to have a say in the outcome of the election. The bad news is that they are motived because our society is so polarized that many people see this election as an existential threat to their existence. (If my candidate doesn’t win, the world will end!)

I suspect that is how voters felt in the past when there was a major political realignment of voters. Major political realignments happen when demographic changes or political grievances motivate normally uninterested voters.

The 1876 presidential election was so contentious, it still reverberates. Samuel J. Tilden received 185 electoral votes, Rutherford B. Hayes received 165 votes, and 20 electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed. In a thoroughly disreputable political deal, Hayes was declared the winner in exchange for an end to Reconstruction in the south.

The south repudiated the Republican Party which had imposed Reconstruction and created the Jim Crow laws that suppressed black voters until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which included the Voting Rights Act. The 1964 law moved the entire south back to the Republican Party until this year.

This year demographic changes are reshaping the electoral landscape. A tenth of the eligible voters are from Generation Z (18 – 23 years old) and a third of all voters are non-white, mostly Hispanic. The Baby Boomers are a shrinking voter bloc. Although it is too soon to call, the early voting turnout may be a harbinger of a major political realignment.