Vote Yes AND No

Editorial for the Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch – August 25, 2014

In a few days some of you will go into the voting booth to make a decision that affects not just you but your children, grandchildren, your neighbors and your community. The decision you are being asked to make is whether you, as a citizen of Jeff Davis County, will pay more in property taxes in order to make up for some of the funds taken away from our schools by the Texas Legislature.
One way to make that decision is to look at short term self-interests. “I don’t have kids in school,” or “I pay too many taxes already!” Both of those statements are true for me.
Another way to make that decision is to look at the long term. Do our town’s children deserve to have an arts program? Music? Sports? Should we be able to hire educators that challenge our kids to rise higher than the average percentile? Does our town benefit from extra-curricular programs that encourage healthy productive citizens and help keep our kids from looking to drinking, teen sex and drugs for diversion?
A third way to make that decision is to look at why we have to make it at all and then do what’s right. Now, I’m not talking about Pete or Poncho or Jose, but when we send legislators to Austin and Washington who vow to cut government spending don’t be surprised when they do just that. But understand exactly what they mean when they say it: They’re not talking about cutting government spending that benefits those who fund their campaigns and give them cushy jobs when they leave office. They’re talking about taking billions of dollars in education funding and handing the bill to you and me. This is the chickens coming home to roost.
These guys talk about “small government,” sure. But they love big government when it benefits their donors. Just keep those campaign checks and PAC money coming. Small government for you. Big government for their cronies.
So when you go into the voting booth next week do what’s right for our kids and our community and vote YES. I don’t like it either but it’s the right thing to do. Then when you go back to the voting booth this November do the right thing again and vote NO to those “small-government” snake oil salesmen who give our tax dollars to their wealthy donors and then leave us to pay the bills back home. If you don’t then get ready to open your wallet again.

John Graves

John Graves passed this week at the age of 92 on his ranch called “Hard Scrabble” near Glen Rose, Texas. Graves was a writer, best known for “Goodbye To A River,” a book that has been described as one of the finest works of Texas literature ever written. I’m not sure whether calling something “Texas literature” is meant to describe it or apologize for it. Or maybe it’s used in simple enjoyment of the novelty of having the words “Texas” and “literature” in the same sentence.

Graves could be considered in many ways the literary offspring of the revered Texas Triumvirate – writer & folklorist J. Frank Dobie, naturalist Roy Bedichek and historian Walter Prescott Webb – his writing distilling the craft of all three into one man’s words.

I was lucky enough to have my photography linked to those words when Texas Monthly hired me to make a photograph for an article about the epidemic of Oak Wilt Disease which was rapidly devastating the Texas live oak population. At that time there were just a few pockets of widespread Oak Wilt and Texas A&M wasn’t exactly sure what it was or how to stop it. I took my old 4×5 up to a ranch not terribly far, in Texas terms, from Graves’ Hard Scrabble and photographed a single majestic oak standing naked against a patented Texas sunrise. When the article, titled “Dead Oaks,” came out I was proud to see the byline “by John Graves” next to my photograph.

I never knew John Graves and I have a horrible confession to make as a Texan educated back when Texas cared about education: I never read “Goodbye To A River.” Oh, I’ve read things that Graves has written, many things, but it’s been a while. On the occasion of his death somebody posted a link on some social media site – that ephemeral medium that is instantly gone and never yours – to another article in Texas Monthly, much more recent, about guns that Graves had written. I looked it up and started reading.

My god, I’ve sure been reading a lot of crap in the last several years. The best make it look so easy and effortless, like watching Eric Clapton play the guitar. The first sentences of “Great Guns” are simple, evocative prose that connects and constructs, and reminds you of the power of language in the hands of a true artist. And then it gets better.

Are there literary offspring of John Graves’ generation of Texas writers? I’m sure there are. Name your favorites in the comments. In the meantime I know what book I’m reading next.

Great Guns

by John Graves

The author John Graves, photographed on August 22, 2006, holding a Winchester Model 97 shotgun outside his home in north-central Texas. Photography by Michael O’Brien
I AM NOT A MEMBER OF THE National Rifle Association, nor do I collect rare firearms, attend gun shows, or subscribe to gun magazines. I am not, in other words, a “gun nut” and, in fact, can sympathize to a degree with the views of those who detest all such weapons and want them regulated. You can’t have lived in a large American city for any length of time, as I have, without seeing that such people’s opinions may have a certain amount of validity.
But I grew up in a time and a region that almost automatically sparked interest in not only guns but also the hunting of birds and beasts, in which pursuits such weapons were and still are central components. Nor did a war experienced in the U.S. Marine Corps and a functional country life during most of the past forty-odd years do anything to hamper the affinity.

On writing

I wrote the following to a friend, a writer, editor & scholar.  Then I decided it should be here.

UntitledSeems like each creative interest ebbs and flows throughout my life and swings between photography, music and writing, although the writing has never really blossomed.  And lately I have a strong pull to write but I’m uncertain exactly how to get on with it.  I’ve even thought about taking some kind of online writing course but wouldn’t know where to find a good one, or if it would do more harm than good… y’know…?  I kind of want to write short articles/editorials/essays/whatever that (hopefully) well-express a point of view that will help make people think about issues and (hopefully) act as a result.  Kind of like this and this.

I realized a few days ago that I pour whatever creative juices I have for writing into… emails…  I could make myself feel a little better about this and use the word “correspondence” instead, painting a picture of Jefferson, Emerson, Vonnegut in my head, writing letters.  But it’s emails.  I realized that often I’ll draft, craft and edit so that whatever I’m saying to whatever person is exactly the way I think it should be.  I’m doing it now.  And I think that’s a little stupid, perhaps even sad.  But when I sit down to Write something (with a capital W) it’s so fucking hard to pull it together to actually write.  I realized that the reason I do that is because, mostly, emails have to get written – someone is expecting a reply or a contact from me.  Essays don’t have to be written.  In an email there is probably just one person, someone I know at least a little, and they aren’t reading it like it’s anything more than what it is.  It’s out the door, read, and then it’s gone.  No big pressure, no big expectations.  Same with music and photographs. Music is totally transitory.  And with my photographs I long ago found that emotional place where I can just put it out there and if people like it great, if not, great too.  People look and they move on.  Writing seems so very different than those.

Even as I’m writing this one possible bit of self-advice is forming in the back of my head.  Authors of books I’ve read offer up their wisdom and experience.  I hear Stephen Pressfield saying, “Just sit down and start writing. Keep doing it. Every day.” and Anne Lamott saying “Yes, it will be shitty. It will get better.”  I know.  I just have to impose some sort of structure and deadlines on my own writing I guess.  And not just to do the writing but to share it.  Seth Godin is now saying: “You have to ship, just creating isn’t enough.”

So, here’s the first shipment.

Our Elections: The New Sport of Kings

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In a recent Gallup Poll, the corrupting influence of money in politics is the #2 most important issue to American voters, just after jobs. It’s more important than the deficit, terrorism or any other issue. Why do we not hear one word about this from our candidates? The facts speak for themselves.

“Our elections have replaced horse racing as the sport of kings,” writes journalist (and Texan) Bill Moyers. “These kings are multibillionaire, corporate moguls who by divine right–not of God, but [of the Supreme Court’s] Citizens United decision–are now buying politicians like so much pricey horseflesh.”

Congressional candidates with the most money win 93% of the time. Once elected our legislators typically spend 50-70% of their time fundraising. If they want to stay in office they have to raise massive amounts of cash – the average US congress election in 2010 cost $1.2 Million Dollars. (It’s more now.) Think about that. That’s raising $50,000 each and every month while in office. Who has that kind of money to put into politics? Not you and me, not even collectively. Not even the unions: In the recent Wisconsin election, unquestionably the battleground election of corporations vs. unions, corporations and anonymous PACs outspent unions by 8 to 1 – and won. The wealth we’re talking about has to come from the “kings” Mr. Moyers describes.

Why do you think they give this kind of money to politicians? It’s simple. Return On Investment. In 2010, a good if not spectacular year for the stock market, the average blue chip stock in the US earned about 11% Return On Investment (ROI), so for every dollar invested the investor earned eleven cents. In the 111th Congress for every $1 spent in lobbying by oil, gas and coal companies $59 in subsidies were received. That’s a 5900% ROI. In 2004 multinational corporations spent $283 Million Dollars lobbying for a tax break to bring offshore corporate profits back to the US, promising to spend the money saved in taxes on creating jobs at home. In return they received $63 BILLION Dollars in tax breaks. That’s a 22,000% ROI. (And, ultimately, the companies only spent 9% of the tax break savings on jobs in the US). The pharmaceutical industry spent $119 Million lobbying congress to bar Medicare from negotiating for competing drug prices. This resulted in $90 BILLION in additional revenue per year. That’s a 77,500% ROI. This is why money is pouring into politics. Buying politicians is the best investment you can make by far.

The sad truth is because of this broken system our representatives no longer represent us, they represent their funders – those who fund their campaigns to get elected and who hire them when they leave politics.

Our politicians are addicted to the money. Their professional lives depend on it. Lawrence Lessig, professor of ethics at Harvard School of Law, uses this analogy effectively: The alcoholic may face his marriage failing, losing his job, ruining his health and countless other catastrophic events. But the alcoholism is the first problem to fix – until that is addressed no other problems can be. We have many serious problems to face as a nation – jobs, health care, deficit, wars, crumbling infrastructure, immigration, just to name a few. Most of us have different ideas on the way those problems should be solved. Says Mr. Lessig in his wonderful little handbook for citizens, One Way Forward, “We don’t have a common end. We do have a common enemy. …The corrupting influence of money is the first problem facing this nation. …Unless we solve this problem, we won’t solve anything else.”  No matter what issue you personally feel strongest about there is zero chance it will be properly addressed unless we fix this issue of legalized corruption.

Unfortunately the solution may not come from our Congressmen, even those with the best of intentions, the highest character and a backbone strengthened by decades in politics when they leave for Washington. They are virtually powerless against the status quo and the addiction to money. And frankly there is little incentive to change things because the current system is how politicians gain wealth, influence and security. Maybe a few, hopefully our own Pete Gallego among them, will lead to empower citizens again in this country, to right this faltering ship of state. But it’s up to us to insist they do it, and failing that, to do it ourselves. (Join Wolf-PAC Texas!)

If Pete Gallego takes up this cause of restoring democracy in America it will likely be the hardest thing he’s ever done. But what could be more important or more just? Perhaps another Texan can be his inspiration. When LBJ was sworn into office he immediately took up the cause of civil rights. His advisors told him not to do it, that he would fail, that it would doom his presidency and the Democratic party for decades. LBJ replied, “What the hell is being President for?” And he passed the Civil Rights Act.

Pete needs our votes, certainly. But unfortunately he needs money even more to make it to Washington. Let’s do what we can to help Pete get there. But let’s also send him with the primary mission to remove money from politics so he doesn’t need it to stay there.

A new CCC

One of the things I’m most thankful for about spending the last couple years with my Mom and Bob before their passing was spending hours talking to them about their lives.  I wish I would have recorded some of it.

Bob told us of looking for work during the Depression.  FDR was already in and had ramped up the great recovery for the nation.  The best jobs were the ones as part of that recovery; building the great dams, roads, bridges.  And those with the Civilian Conservation Corp building our state and national parks, forest roads and other infrastructure.  Bob got a job in Washington state planting trees.  I don’t know whether the planting was done to reforest clearcutting, a fire, or what, it doesn’t matter.

He talked about having a toe-sack full of seedlings and a kind of a long bladed hoe.  You would take a few steps, whack the hoe into the ground to make a small hole, put a seedling in the hoe, then step on the divot with your other foot – all in one fluid motion; 50-75 men heading up a hill in a line all doing this same dance, the seedlings replenished when their sacks were empty.  They were told the trees would be ready to harvest in about 80 years, right about now in fact.

That was the mindset of that time:  We’re putting men to work now, creating something that our generation will not benefit from, and maybe not even our children but their children.  It’s good for us and it’s good for the country.

How far we’ve gone off course from that kind of mentality.  If it doesn’t work right now, today, then we shouldn’t do it.

The truth, of course, is that short-term fixes rarely work now or tomorrow.  Why do we keep trying them?

As I drive around Summit County, Colorado, certainly one of the most beautiful places on god’s earth, everywhere you look you see the forest devastated by pine beetles.  In some places 3/4 of the trees are dead.

This year I see there have been some (I assume) US Forest Service crews cutting the dead trees and stacking them in large piles.  This has only been done in a very few areas easily accesible by vehicles.  On the one hand it’s kind of weird to see large acreage devoid of pine trees, with just a few firs, aspens and other non-pines.  On the other it looks like an amazing opportunity to do just what our grandfathers did when they put people to work in the 1930’s.

We need a new CCC.  There are many thousands of men and women ready to build this country back up again.  Let’s put them to work.  One project, of a grand scale but worth every penny, would be to cut the dead trees.  Make biofuel energy from them. Replant new trees.  It’s a multi-year project with both long and short-term benefits.

Why can’t we think big any more?

Renewing The Pioneer Spirit

About 50 yards from my home in Elbow Canyon is an old abandoned telephone line.  Two wires on a 10- foot pole that leans almost to the ground.  The wires go up and over the hill back towards Fort Davis and over the ridge in the opposite direction to points west.  I like to think of the conversations these wires carried half a century or more ago, the news they brought––joyful and sad, the wonder and satisfaction of hearing a voice on the other end of a handset for the first time. The men who set the poles were almost certainly ranchers putting it together on their own, no phone company involved, literally bringing the future to their homes, tying the ranches, town and families together.  Creating community.

A few evenings ago our town displayed something very different from that spirit of community.  Rather than utilizing the opportunity at our Town Hall meeting to honestly and constructively discuss, analyze and learn from the many things that went right and the few things that went wrong during the Rock House Fire, we apparently chose instead to re-enact the familiar yet worn-out theater of “locals vs. newcomers”.

We should ask ourselves: How many years does a resident of Jeff Davis County have to call this place home to be seen as a legitimate member of the community?  At what point does their voice matter?  Five years? Ten years?  Fifty years? If so, perhaps we ought to make that number known to families thinking about putting down roots here.  Or maybe there isn’t a number but only some intricate web of family ties and acres owned that bestows the crown of legitimacy on a citizen, like feudal societies of the past.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I always thought our system of representative democracy was designed so all citizens could have a voice and that each voice mattered; that the decisions of our elected officials were supposed to be made in transparency for the public good and with the public’s involvement in the process, and that asking questions of our representatives is not only a right but a duty. You know: “Of the People, By the People, For the People.”

A common chorus in the above-referenced theater is “This isn’t Houston/Dallas/Austin/whatever.” I believe newcomers understand that, and I don’t believe people who move here want to see this place become like those places.  After all, they come here for a reason.  At the same time does that mean we should close the door on progress?  Sure, there’s a conversation to be had as to what progress means and how that should manifest, but by having that conversation we are then working together towards a common goal, not alienating our neighbors and perpetuating divisiveness in our community.

Honestly, look at our main street.  How many businesses have come and gone over the last decade or so, and are struggling to survive today; how many buildings are idle or underutilized?   How many of our kids have had to leave to find simple work, let alone careers?  Sure, times are tough, but we cannot be willfully blind to economic decline while trying to put the brakes on “change.”

One thing is certain: change is inevitable. It can either be for the better or for the worse.  We can’t stop change; we can only try to influence it in a positive direction.  As sad and tragic as the wildfires have been for our area they also brought us an extraordinary opportunity to renew and revitalize our area by articulating a vision of the future and working together to achieve it.

Regardless of where they settled, when our ancestors laid the first rock for a home’s foundation, drove the first fencepost, dug the first well, cleared the first road or built a rural phone line, they were all creating change––bringing “progress” to an area that benefited from their vision and hard work.  When we cling to the unattainable stance of “I like things the way they are,” we are, in truth, failing to honor the pioneer spirit and very real efforts of our forebears, who toiled and bled to make a better place for their children and their children’s children.  Isn’t that what we all want?  A place that’s better tomorrow than it was yesterday because of our efforts?

Our tomorrow can be a model of community with our feet firmly placed in the rich and proud past, our eyes looking forward and our hands working together today.

The only thing we lack is a renewed pioneer spirit for Jeff Davis County––an attitude that welcomes the energy and expertise of people who want to call this land home, who have come here to build their lives and a more vibrant community––like our ancestors did so many years ago. The people of our county––at this moment––have an incredible opportunity to renew the pioneer spirit that built this wonderful country and to share a common ground of respect.  Let’s start today.

Renewing the Pioneer Spirit

Editorial in the Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch following the Rock House Fire of 2011 – May 25, 2011

About 50 yards from my home in Elbow Canyon is an old abandoned telephone line. Two wires on a 10- foot pole lean almost to the ground. The wires run up and over the hill back towards Fort Davis and across the ridge in the opposite direction to points west. I like to think of the conversations these wires carried half a century or more ago, the news they brought––joyful and sad, the wonder and satisfaction of hearing a voice on the other end of a handset for the first time. The men who set the poles were almost certainly ranchers putting it together on their own, no phone company involved, literally bringing the future to their homes, tying the ranches, town and families together. Creating community.

A few evenings ago our town displayed something very different from that spirit of community. Rather than utilizing the opportunity at our Town Hall meeting to honestly and constructively discuss, analyze and learn from the many things that went right and the few things that went wrong during the Rock House Fire, we apparently chose instead to re-enact the familiar yet worn-out theater of “locals vs. newcomers”.

We should ask ourselves: How many years does a resident of Jeff Davis County have to call this place home to be seen as a legitimate member of the community? At what point does their voice matter? Five years? Ten years? Fifty years? If so, perhaps we ought to make that number known to families thinking about putting down roots here. Or maybe there isn’t a number but only some intricate web of family ties and acres owned that bestows the crown of legitimacy on a citizen, like the feudal societies of the past.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but I always thought our system of representative democracy was designed so all citizens could have a voice and that every voice matters; that the decisions of our elected officials were supposed to be made in transparency for the public good and with the public’s involvement in the process, and that asking questions of our representatives is not only a right but a duty. You know: “Of the People, By the People, For the People.”

A common chorus in the above-referenced theater is “This isn’t Houston/Dallas/Austin/whatever.” I believe newcomers understand that, and I don’t believe people who move here want to see this place become like those places. After all, they come here for a reason. At the same time does that mean we should close the door on progress? Certainly there’s a conversation to be had as to what progress means and how that should manifest, and by having that conversation we are then working together towards a common goal, not alienating our neighbors and perpetuating divisiveness in our community.

Honestly, look at our main street. How many businesses have come and gone over the last decade or so, or are struggling to survive today? How many buildings are idle or underutilized? How many of our kids have had to leave to find simple work, let alone careers? Sure, times are tough, but we cannot be willfully blind to economic decline while trying to put the brakes on “change.”

One thing is certain: change is inevitable. It can either be for the better or for the worse. We can’t stop change; we can only try to influence it in a positive direction. As sad and tragic as the wildfires have been for our area they also brought us an extraordinary opportunity to renew and revitalize our area by articulating a vision of the future and working together to achieve it.

Regardless of where they settled, when our ancestors laid the first rock for a home’s foundation, drove the first fencepost, dug the first well, cleared the first road or built a rural phone line, they were all creating change––bringing “progress” to an area that benefited from their vision and hard work. When we cling to the unattainable stance of “I like things the way they are,” we are, in truth, failing to honor the pioneer spirit and very real efforts of our forebears, who toiled and bled to make a better place for their children and their children’s children. Isn’t that what we all want? A place that’s better tomorrow than it was yesterday because of our efforts?

Our tomorrow can be a model of community with our feet firmly placed in the rich and proud past, our eyes looking forward and our hands working together today.

The only thing we lack is a renewed pioneer spirit for Jeff Davis County––an attitude that welcomes the energy and expertise of people who want to call this land home, who have come here to build their lives and a more vibrant community––like our ancestors did so many years ago. The people of our county––at this moment––have an incredible opportunity to renew the pioneer spirit that built this wonderful country and to share a common ground of respect. Let’s start today.