Einstein, Religion, Politics, And Literature Connecting The Dots: Science and Religion, Wall Street, and Obama, The Bible, Big Banks and Buddha: The Institutional Matrices Of Our Lives The Real-Time Essays and Short-Stories of Lonnie Hicks Copyright 2010 All rights reserved – Lonnie Hicks No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, from the publisher. Lonnie Hicks December , 2010 Politics This book examines the matrix of American institutions, including politics, religion, our financial institutions, the bible, the family, the internet and our sciences, concentrating on modern physics theory. The goal is to access how the values, ideas and histories of these institutions from the matrix of events and the impact on the daily lives of Americans. The format is “real time” in that developments in each area the subject of my essays and blogs and in that format I not only report on how these institutions are doing but evaluate the enormous problems we face as a nation. But I go beyond and make concrete suggestions on how these problems and issues can be solved and have the nation restore its resolve and regain its optimism. I include also real-time stories inspired by real people and their reactions and life concerns as we all go through these “bad economic times” The flavor of American resolve, I believe, is captured, in these personal stories put on paper. But first let’s have a look at the rise of Barack Obama, his background, my predictions as to how he would govern and with what effectiveness. Let’s see if I was correct in those predictions. Title: A Blog On Obama –His Election, His Administration: My Report Card January 2008- December 2010 Summary: This is a blog done during the electoral campaign of Barack Obama and 100 days after; and it makes predictions about how he will govern and the issues America faces. It is continued here as I follow his presidency. Also included are my proposed solutions to American problems. It was my attempt at prognostication and my current evaluations. Much of it became the book on Obama "The Obama Chronicles: Stories From the Heartland." The book covers the reactions, ideas, comments and thoughts of many Americans during his campaign until the present after his election. Much of what is below is in the book. Updated: 7//10: The Supreme Court Decision on Unlimited Campaign Spending--What Does It Really Mean? The Blog Goes On. Updated: 7/1/10 Updated 7/13/10 Update: Bad to Worser Updated: 9/27/10 So What To Do? Updated: 10/12/10 The Blog Today is Not For The Faint of Heart--Why Spoil Your Morning? Updated: 11/ 5/10 Update: And We Are Not Talking Figs or Fig-Leafs.-Can’t Afford Them. I am in the middle of this book about President Obama. I am from Chicago. He is from Chicago as a politician. He did his community work in the neighborhood where I grew up. He was a senator from my old neighborhood of Hyde Park. He currently lives in Hyde Park. I went to school at Hyde Park High. My dad still likes in Barack'' s old senate district 13th. Barrack’s family is mixed. My family is mixed. His great grand-mother on his mother’s side was part Cherokee. My great grand mother on my mother’s side was part Cherokee. Barack Obama stole my job and is currently impersonating me.. (smile) The book is about half way done and describes the Chicago Obama moved to, the Chicago he learned his politics from, the Chicago of my child hood. I concentrate on the values, the Chicago values, he learned there and the mid-west values of Kansas which his mother taught him. He organized his campaign based on those values and won, I think the presidency because of those values. I spell them out. Every person from the mid-west knows what they are: They are not like NY values, or California varies, or the values of the South-they are mid-western. Let’s have a look at Chicago and Barack Obama and those mid-west values I make such a big deal over. Well, what do you say about Obama? He is the conjuring image, the prototype, the summation of all of the American dilemmas. Is he Black, is he white, why is race so important in America? Where are your racial papers? Obama has none. Is he for equality or is he the one saying you can make it in America if you work hard. Don’t you or do you need affirmative action? Why bother with civil rights marches when you can be President and write the civil rights laws? He is the new generation that says the old hatreds are over. We don’t know and don’t care about who is already dead and buried in the cemetery. He says he is against corruption and the corrupt politics in Washington, but he did come from Chicago. Did any of that rub off on him? He is for peace and getting rid of Cowboy violence. He embraces his former enemies and gives them jobs. He reads to the children at night. He writes home every night via the internet to millions of people who supported him. He is the father for all the single women who now have a new man in the house that they can tell their children to look up to. He is quiet, no drama Obama. How do you write about a person that looks like that? We Americans don’t care. Obama greatest strength it seems is that if we are going to have to stare at someone on TV for 4 or 8 years we chose him for all the reasons above. He is slowly moving from the rank of politician to family member-guess whose photo is in the homes of millions of Americans, hanging up beside the photos of family members-Barack Obama. Obama gets internalized, becomes family, The young boy who made his grandma proud. How do you write about that? Day Three: The magnitude of the issues facing the new President is so large. The solutions now being discussed are not going to make a dent. The new President has to tell the American people what is not going to be good news. The summary is a follows: 1-The American life style will have to be downsized. The consumption society is no longer sustainable. This means small houses, group living, exburgs, technological enclaves. green zones, young people pressed into national service, fewer college bound folks, young people leaving the country to take jobs in other countries- where the jobs will be; changing demographics-Americans are not replicating themselves- too few babies and that means other groups will gradually become the new Americans, ditto in all of Europe and Russia. They, too, are having declining populations and will see demographic changes in 50 years. Americans, the English, the Italians, the Russians, the French all are reproducing at rates below replacement levels. Others, immigrants will replace them in 50 years. That is why immigration is an issue all over the west. This is becoming evident. Technological village life is coming, (no commutes needed here, less energy needed and cheaper, with college kids and young people providing much of the labor to a graying America whose age and life expectancies continue to increase-taxing the health care system for the next 30 years. Well, what are to be the solutions? Financial system: Devolve to local and regional banking structures. They still exist and pre-date the concentration of the last 30 years. Political System: Devolve to more local control with technological innovations with labor being a combination of national service- youth and immigrants. Everyone wins. Energy System: No real good solutions here--so many polluting sources. The best bet is to get rid of the cars, downscale dirty industries, reduce population-reduce the polluting population segments-but this will be prohibitively expensive and we will not likely succeed-carbon cap or no carbon cap. At best, the energy jobs and technology will have to be conceived and built overseas and exported to the United States. We can’t afford to revamp the energy system on our own. We are in debt 13 trillion dollars and frankly broke. What will happen is our kids will have to follow the jobs overseas and meantime, the government will default on the debt, restructure, and/or face rampant inflation. None of this is good. The Political System: Politics has become seized by the special interests and career politicians. No good solution. The system will decay or be revamped toward more local control. Let’s hope it’s done in a planful way. If not, it will be messy times in the republic with more and more poor people, a decimated middle class and returning vets who will not be able to get the health care they need or find jobs. That is why we must continue the two wars. You don’t want all those vets back home and dissatisfied. The wars are an employment program not only for the vets but their families’ back home dependent upon the military contracts and the companies they work for. Stop the wars and massive unemployment and depression occurs overnight. All of that is bad news. Housing: Group housing for middle class kids.