Democratic Strategy for the Future

NPR, which has been interviewing Democrats about the future of their party, featured Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen today on Morning Edition. Val Hollen said the obvious, namely that Democrats need to take back the House and Senate to advance a Democratic program. We need not only to say what (or who) we are against but also articulate what we are fighting for, he asserted. Democrats “will take on powerful, special interests in order to advance the public interest,” he explained. That’s all well and good, of course, but when asked about specific ideas, he spoke of a tax cut for lower- and middle-income taxpayers.

A tax cut! Is that the best idea Democrats can come up with? Republicans might even be persuaded to vote for such an idea. But what about those “powerful, special interests”?

The biggest threat to our nation—well, other than Donald Trump, of course—is wealth inequality. Too much money is in the hands of too few who yield too much power both within government and in society at large. Is the idea of raising taxes, even on those who would hardly notice the increase, a new third rail of American politics? Does no one see that perpetually lowering taxes eventually leaves the government with no money at all and therefore unable to do anything to “advance the public interest.”

Democrats need to tackle the wealth gap head-on. They need to assert that the rich own too much and the rest of us too little. Giving peanuts to the non-wealthy, as Van Hollen suggests, will neither excite voters nor effectively ameliorate the wealth gap problem. A more radical and effective taxation scheme such is the one I suggested a few years ago is needed, a plan to raise more revenue from those most able to supply it. 

Trump was elected because he was perceived as being different. Democrats should use the same strategy of offering something different—something that will benefit citizens generally, rather that Trump and his superrich friends.

Three Kitchen Tips

I do a fair amount of cooking and lots of baking. Naturally, I have built up a repertoire of useful kitchen skills. I do make mistakes, however, and I would like to share a few rules I’ve learned from those mistakes. Here are three useful rules in order of increasing importance:

Don’t leave a drawer open below your work surface. My large teak cutting board, on which I do much of my prep work, sits on a counter above my silverware drawer. I have a bad habit of removing a spoon or grater from the drawer and leaving the drawer open. This is an invitation for food to fall into the drawer. It’s difficult to clean flour or other material from a silverware drawer. 

Don’t pick up and carry glass jars by their lids. It’s hard to clean up the mess created by dropping a jar of pickles on the floor. Enough said!

Don’t touch metal pans recently removed from the oven. We all learned as children not to touch hot objects, but the high temperature of a particular object may not immediately register in your brain. Although I always use oven mitts or potholders to remove a fry pan or cookie sheet from the oven, such an object sitting atop my range is indistinguishable from the same cold object sitting there. I have been known to touch the handle of a fry pan or cookie sheet I just took out of the oven. Try not to do that!

Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

The Trump administration has claimed that its cuts to the federal government are eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. If this is true, where are the prosecutions for fraud? Where are the reports exposing abuses?

In fact, the cuts are all being made to activities deemed wasteful. Whereas determining fraud or abuse requires investigation and analysis if done conscientiously, waste is largely in the eye of the beholder. If Donald Trump dislikes an activity, it is, ipso facto, wasteful and subject to summary elimination. This is how monarchs operate under the divine-right theory of kingship.

But Americans do not elect kings!

November 2025 Voting Advice

Never in modern times has one political party been so philosophically monolithic as is today’s Republican Party. Never in modern times has a political party been so anti-democratic, bordering on monarchial, in its orientation.

On Tuesday, it is vital that voters distressed by the direction of the country set by President Donald Trump vote for all Democrats on their ballot and for no Republicans. This must be the case for every public office, from school board member to state supreme court justice and governor. The continued existence of our democratic republic requires it.

God save The United States of America.

Thoughts on Drug Advertising

Pharmaceutical commercials on television are required to list possible, often scary (or even deadly), side effects. (Not every conceivable side effect need be mentioned.) But the actors on such ads are always portrayed as smiling, happy customers, as if the dreaded list of possible side effects is more theoretical than real.

Perhaps some of the actor-patients in drug commercials should be required to portray patients whose clinical outcome is not the desired one. That might make drug advertising more realistic and discourage people from pestering their physicians to prescribe the advertised product.

Drug advertising, particularly for newly approved drugs, serves a useful function by informing people of the existence of a drug that might benefit them. Current advertising, however, raises hopes for improved health outcomes while downplaying possible drug dangers.

At one time, consumer-targeted drug advertising was not allowed at all. The current regulations, though helpful, are too permissive. Advertising should state what a new pharmaceutical can be used for and direct potential customer-patients to consult their own physician for more information and advice as to whether they could benefit from the medicine. As long as the drug is not portrayed as a miracle cure (suggested by a screenful of happy patients), it should be unnecessary to list potential side effects. The many television viewers who are not potential customers for the drug manufacturer’s product would appreciate the scaled-down ads.

Thoughts on Today’s News

Hamas may indeed be forced to accept the “peace” plan presented by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu today. It is a one-sided plan in Israel’s favor, however, and it does not guarantee that there will ever be a Palestinian state. Netanyahu continues to reject any Palestinian state, even though he has “accepted” Trump’s proposal that suggests that such a state is possible if certain unlikely conditions are, at some unspecified time, met.

It is ironic that the “Board of Peace” proposed to oversee the implementation of the Trump plan is to be chaired by Trump himself. This provision is meant to strengthen Trump’s case for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. But Trump has supported Netanyahu with the ordnance  responsible for flattening nearly all of Gaza. Trump deserves indictment for war crimes more than a prize for peacemaking.

The most Hamas-friendly provision of the Trump proposal is amnesty for Hamas fighters. On the other hand, Netanyahu presumably never expects to be held responsible for his own war crimes. 

Hamas will not, I predict, accept Trump’s plan anytime soon.

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It appears that a government shutdown will be upon us in just over 24 hours, as Senate Democrats seem unwilling to support the House’s continuing resolution. Withholding their votes on the budget is virtually the only leverage the Democrats have in the current Congress and with the current president. Many Democrats, myself included, have urged Senator Chuck Schumer to demand rolling back some of the provisions of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” But I am concerned that the Democrats are demanding only healthcare-related concessions. They should be making more demands. Having more demands makes getting at least something in any future compromise. The GOP, led by Donald Trump, will reject any compromise unless widespread public demand for it materializes. I am reluctant to make predictions about that.

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Dolly Parton has announced that she is postponing her appearances in Las Vegas because of “health challenges.” I sincerely hope that her death will not come anytime soon, but the announcement made me contemplate losing a woman who can only be called a national treasure. Should that terrible thing happen during Trump’s term, Parton will not likely get flags flown at half staff or a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, honors shown the supremely underserving Charlie Kirk. (I have called Kirk elsewhere a mendacious, heretical demagogue and a talented propagandist who was a menace to the Republic.)

Pencil Sharpener

I don’t use ordinary #2 pencils very often. I probably use them most often for marking walls when hanging pictures. For ordinary writing, I invariably use one of several mechanical pencils. I do like to maintain a reasonably complete home office, however, so my office has always contained an electric pencil sharpener. When I moved to Clifton Springs, I discarded an outrageously large sharpener and replaced it with a much smaller electric sharpener from Staples. That device was not very good and recently completely failed to perform its only function. I discarded it and ordered a similarly sized electric sharpener by Bostitch. That device arrived at my doorstep yesterday. It works great. (Ironically, between the time I ordered the new sharpener and when it arrived, I purchased yet another mechanical pencil.)

The photo below shows the front of the box my new sharpener came in:

In the lower left corner of the box are graphics that presumably describe features of the sharpener, but I have no idea what “Power Meter” means. There is no meter on the shapener. Why does the power meter picture show a pointer at 6?

Here is a photo of the bottom of the sharpener box:

I had purchased the sharpener knowing nothing about its warranty. I was impressed by the 7-year warranty promised on the box. My delight was diminished when I read the sharpener instructions:

Notice the section labeled “ONE-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY.” Sigh!