Commentary & Opinion

Commentators are scoring Democratic candidates by how "moderate" or "far left" they are. That's nonsense. Let me count the ways. 

The electronic cigarette industry has done much to make up for the decline in tobacco consumption in America by getting the public to buy into its arguments that e-cigarettes are a “safer” alternative to smoking tobacco.

A paper by Dr. Shawn Rosenberg speaks to the issue of how the human brain reacts to self-rule. His principal conclusion is that self-rule/democracy is in danger because citizens are not developing a critical understanding of the issues and lack the ability or are too lazy to expend the necessary energy and time to analyze the issues. He feels that this could be a death nell for democracy. Justice Gorsuch has also recently taken a similar view to Professor Shawn Rosenberg’s. In a recent interview, he indicated that he had concerns about the engagement of the American public on an intellectual level in the democratic process. Of interest, to me, was his statements that we all had to be prepared to listen to the other side, and to stop listening to only those who agreed with us. He seems to enjoy the raucous nature of politics. He also stresses that this requires work and sacrifice, not just in the military sense, but rather in time, energy and commitment to studying and understanding the issues, comprehending your opponent’s position and then seeking to come to the best resolution. I am not sure he actually practices the latter, as he seems to have certitude in his opinions.

The field in the Democratic Party presidential sweepstakes is finally beginning to narrow.  Three candidates have seen the writing on the wall and have dropped out.  One new candidate, California billionaire Tom Steyer who has spent many millions promoting impeachment of President Trump, has jumped in. 

At the end of August, the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, unanimously passed a resolution that identified the “religiously unaffiliated” as the “largest religious group within the Democratic Party.” The resolution stated that “Religiously unaffiliated Americans overwhelmingly share the Democratic Party’s values,” and further went on to affirm that “morals, values, and patriotism are not unique to any particular religion, and are not necessarily reliant on having a religious worldview at all.”

I joined a demonstration Sunday afternoon. It was called partly to make clear that Jews are not slaves to Trump regardless of his policies toward Israel. It was part of Never Again Action across the country to protest the use of concentration camps to hold people fleeing from persecution, now most urgently on our Mexican border. We were joined by good people of all colors, origins and faiths, many of whom I know and admire.

Labor Day has passed, and the common expression is that summer is unofficially over. I reject that statement; I’ll go with the astronomical calendar because I want as much summer as possible! However, a clearer sign that the season is changing is the arrival of hundreds of thousands of students at the SUNY campuses at which members of United University Professions serve. The fall semester is underway and the faculty and staff at our 30-plus campuses are undertaking their sacred work of building wisdom-seeking communities.

Campaign finance reform, long-promised but never enacted, is starting to take shape in New York.  As part of this year’s budget agreement, Governor Cuomo and the legislative majorities agreed to establish a Commission to create a voluntary system of public financing of elections.  In and of itself, the creation of a commission was not new; there have been other blue-ribbon panels that have examined the issue.  What was new was that the Commission’s recommendations would have the force of law when approved by December 1st of this year.

The riots in Hong Kong continue on with varying intensity. The local police force began spraying water filled with dye to more easily identify the protesters. One has to wonder if the Chinese have not inspired these protests in order to clamp down on Hong Kong. The way in which this has been handled, raises significant questions in my mind as to whether or not this is not another Chinese ruse.

On August 27, the economics profession lost a great man, Martin Weitzman, Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.   The world has also lost a very important citizen.   I was at Swarthmore College with him in the early 1960s and even then, he displayed a creative brilliance.   He never became a pundit on television or in the newspapers, but in many areas of economic research he left his mark.   His most important contribution, in my opinion, was in making it crystal clear that the cost of doing nothing to drastically cut carbon emissions in order to head off global warming ---no matter how uncertain the potential damages and no matter how far in the future those damages will occur will be so high that we must make the changes that reduce those emissions now.   For that contribution, he deserved the Nobel Prize in economics.  The entire world needed his strong voice to add support for the growing chorus --- led today by the young people of the world who have the most to lose from the inaction of the politicians – demanding action.

There are few parts of life in the UK that the Brexit saga does not seem to have impacted, as the normal cycle of political events have been hijacked by the prospect of the UK leaving the EU. With just weeks to go until the Halloween deadline, stockpiling food and medicine, fuel rationing and travel chaos have become daily news topics. This is hardly a sign of good times ahead!

This Administration continues to try to inflame the relationship between the US and Iran. So let’s look at how we got here, for which we have to go back to about 1981. We could start earlier but that’s about the US and Iran screaming about which was worse and which was justified – our deposing their Prime Minister and installing the Shah in 1953, or their seizure of the Embassy and holding Americans hostage in 1979. Both sides are equally convinced they win that argument. So let’s start with 1981.

A British Government report was leaked indicating that if there was a no-deal Brexit, that there would be shortages of food, fuel and medicine. This obviously raises the stakes for Mr. Johnson as he goes forward in negotiations, the risk of failure got a bit higher. The Northern Ireland/ Republic of Ireland border is another major potential pitfall, which could devolve into the violence and chaos that existed during the “troubles.”

On Labor Day weekend, the new Sportsbook at Rivers Casino in Schenectady is offering legal betting on a slew of opening college football games, and fan anticipation is high. If you want to take a chance on some top games, like Baylor vs. Kalamazoo, this is your shot.

Crony capitalism is a problem. Big businesses can have disproportionately high influence on our government. This is a problem that both the left and the right traditionally agree upon.

Amy Chua wrote World on Fire two decades ago, arguing that globalism and democracy would collide by bringing out ethnic and religious resentments around the globe. She identified animosities country by country that would explode when times got tough.

We know that dropping off your child at college can be one of life’s most heart wrenching moments. Especially the first year, when the campus is still unfamiliar, and your child has yet to make friends. Most parents can’t help but worry. Will my child be ok? Will my child be safe?

There is a clear need for a new campaign financing system.  Under New York State’s current campaign financing system, a small number of big contributors dominate the system and have an outsized influence over policymaking.  As a result, seemingly endless campaign finance “pay-to-play” controversies and scandals have occurred over the decades.  Reformers, academics, blue-ribbon commissions, and others have consistently advanced plans that would shift that paradigm to a system to fund runs for state government offices that relies on a large number of small contributors, thus reducing the corruption risk and engaging more voters.

POTUS retweeted a conspiracy claim by right-wing commentators that Bill Clinton was involved in the death of Mr. Epstein.  This is problematic on just so many levels, and demonstrates how little regard for facts that POTUS has.  I am sure his supporters will dismiss it, if not believe it.  Can you imagine the uproar if President Obama has done something similar?  When do we reach the tipping point, or did we go over so long ago that we no longer realize it?

Over the last hundred years, The American Jewish community has built an extraordinary system of Jewish summer camping programs. Their goal is to give our well- integrated American kids the chance for total immersion in a thriving Jewish community experience, 24/7.  In this way they strengthen their Jewish identities while they continue to grow as Americans. 

This commentary was drafted in anger when I learned that pig farmers are refusing to allow inspections to look for the microbes that are killing people. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the filth of the meat-packing industry in 1906 and led directly to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the creation of the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration. Now they want to undo a century of relatively clean food by claiming regulation is bad – yes, particularly bad for filth in the food industry.

New York is notorious when it comes to a cornerstone of its democracy: voting.  For decades, voter turnout rates have been abysmal, typically ranking at, or near, the bottom in the nation.  An important reason for New York’s pathetic voter participation rates has been its confusing and cumbersome registration system.

We got unexpected news last month. New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia submitted her resignation to the state board of regents. She will leave her post at the end of August. We wish her well in her future endeavors.

First, I’d like to comment that 90% of my essays this year have had nothing to do with science! They’ve all been emphatically non-science-related, and in fact, have that theme in common with our current political administration – no science at all!