‘Swamp’ yet to be drained

Many of my family, friends, and social media contacts voted for Donald Trump in order to “drain the swamp” and challenge Washington’s insiders. While I agree we need change, I am distressed by the widespread misunderstanding as to how we can most effectively and responsibly change the status quo.

Trump will most certainly be an unconventional President, but his impact will be dampened and, in some cases, completely negated by the status quo incumbents America put back in Congress. Search the internet for “Congressional Stagnation” and you’ll see what I mean.

There are many theories as to why Americans repeatedly re-elect their Senators and Representatives. Incumbents often have more campaign funds and endorsements. Gerrymandering of district boundaries is also a factor. Our legislators can change the shape of their districts to include populations more likely to elect them. I propose another reason: voter apathy.

To truly change Washington, citizens need to shake the chains of apathy and ignorance. Track what your representatives do during their terms. How do they vote? Are they guilty of gerrymandering? Do they consistently vote along party lines, regardless of the impact to their constituents? Attend town hall meetings; write letters; pick up the phone. But most importantly…VOTE. Vote in the primaries. Vote in the general elections, but resist the urge to blindly vote along party lines. It takes just a few minutes a week to stay informed.

Perhaps Congress likes it this way. While Americans are whipped into fervors at campaign rallies, they quietly slither through a swamp as deep and dark as ever.

Dissenting vote

There seems to be a growing rumble in the naming of the new arts school, and I am forming an opinion that it should not be named after a person. A lot of really influential Arts people have called Columbus home, and most went outside the area to make their presence felt.

Getting recognition for the arts in Columbus has always been difficult. It’s hard to sell something people don’t think they need, and there is still that segment of the population who believe the arts are a waste of money, when it’s hard to manage food, clothing and shelter sometimes, arts get pushed to the back burner. Thank goodness there is a balance of some great arts advocates here who support the arts, if not with money, with their time and patronage.

I appreciate the argument that an Arts Academy will take some kids away from the existing schools; there are some great teachers that will still keep going. There’s nothing wrong with a generic name, something that defines the school without being snooty.

My original suggestion of Midtown Arts Academy or better yet, Columbus Arts Academy does just that. Using the name Midtown gives some recognition to the location, and Arts Academy speaks for itself. Please don’t tack a person’s name onto it.

Sense of place

As I reviewed names of people who have shaped our city to be an outstanding center for arts activities, I share a few:

Great supporters of the Arts: Henry Shaw, Ruth Schwob, Mason Lampton, Marion Page, Emily Woodruff, Wm. Bradley, Braxton Nail, Clason Kyle, etc.

Great leaders in the Arts: Charles Jones, Jenna David, Hal Stewart, Tony Mani, Richard Hyatt, Jimmy Fuller, Ron Anderson, Rex Whidden, etc

Great teachers/performers in the Arts: Robert Barr, Jim Sigmund, Gary Currier, Bob Eakle, Faye Woodruff, Leon Brown, Hal Gibson, Doyle Register, Bob Lee, Jeff Branham, Ed Cox, Victoria Mallory (Morales), Dallas Smith, Byron Grant, Pat Rogers Norah, Jim Arnold, Bill Fry, Jan Hyatt, Ward Gailey, Barbara Colaianni, Randy Moore, Rush Gavin, John Dudd, Bill Pharris, Paul Vanderghenst, and many more.

To select one of these names above the others would be impossible.

If this school is properly organized, administered, and staffed, it will soon receive state and national prominence -- so don't name it after a neighborhood or a person. Name it after our wonderful city: "The Columbus Academy of the Arts."

It is my serious concern that this school not seriously weaken the arts programs in all the other schools because of assigning many of the outstanding students to attend the new "Arts Academy."

Tainted instruments

Most people believe that surgical instruments are manufactured to high standards and pose no health hazards for us. Unfortunately, according to a year-long investigation by a BBC reporter, that is anything but true. Antibiotic-resistant infections caused by substandard surgical tools cause at least 1,000 harmful incidents and deaths each year. Many infections originate in micropunctures in surgeons’ gloves, caused by roughly made instruments. Many defects, such as jagged edges and inferior construction, are evident only under magnification.

A technologist with the British National Health Service claims that he rejects 20% of all instruments he receives. The manufacturers, motivated by greed, look for the cheapest means of production; Swiss precision is the norm, but 70% of the 900 surgical tool manufacturers are based in the Punjab area of Pakistan, where 2/3 of all surgical tools are manufactured.

The ghastly truth is that $2.50-per-day workers are grinding away on these tools in dirty shacks. Remarkably, many of these products are stamped “Made in Germany,” since German steel used in the tools will bring higher prices than those stamped “Made in Pakistan.”

Dr. David Lewis, a retired EPA microbiologist, states that non-disposable tools used in sigmoidoscopies and colonoscopies are especially risky because of the difficulty of disinfection, using processes employed by most hospitals. Federal agencies must be pressured to design flexible scopes that can be autoclaved, but these agencies have failed to take contamination seriously. Peracetic acid is a safe cleaning agent, but if your hospital or clinic uses glutaraldehyde or Cidex (used by 80% of clinics), run for the hills.

If enough patients refuse these procedures done with improperly sterilized instruments, hospitals must change, even with lack of federal oversight. Considering the abysmal quality of the incoming Cabinet, we’d better try to protect ourselves. There’s slim likelihood of their doing it for us.

Historic perspective

A recent letter addressed the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s opposition to the motto “In God We Trust” on our currency. His basic point is that the slogan is so deep in our tradition that it should not be a problem for anyone, regardless of beliefs.

It is true that the motto goes deep in U.S. history, but the presence on currency is fairly recent and intermittent. I see in my childhood penny collection that Indian head pennies up to 1908 do not have it, whereas the pennies of 1909 on have the motto over Lincoln’s head. (Imagine the irony of “In God We Trust” over the image of a Native American.)

The motto was first used on paper currency in 1957, and most of the reason was political, not religious: Congress and President Eisenhower wanted to reinforce rejection of “Godless Russians” during the McCarthy Era. (My, how things have changed!)

If we take the iconography of our currency seriously, then consider the Egyptian pyramid with the creepy eye on the reverse of the dollar bill. Which god does that pyramid represent, Osiris or Ra? The source is the Order of Freemasons, to which George Washington and many signers of the Declaration of Independence belonged. Freemasons were then non-denominational and strongly in favor of separation of Church and State.

Personally, I am not offended by the motto on currency, but I do understand that others may be: imagine, by analogy, you are an Auburn fan, and your city inscribes “Roll Tide” on all official documents. I am often amused by gigantic “Trust God” signs I see, since I do not recall any scripture that specifies the need for God to use a PR agency, nor whether neon or LEDs best exalt the deity. Perhaps an update is needed.

Divided event

The civil rights icon John Lewis of Georgia was arrested 45 times in his fight for civil rights and for the right of all citizens to be treated with civility and dignity. Through his polemic that Donald J. Trump is not a "legitimate President" because of "Russian influence in the election and a conspiracy with Russia and others {Republican}" and thus he will not attend the inauguration belies civility and dignity. In 2015 he averred that "you may not like the President but you need to respect the office."

The inauguration of the President of the United States is a celebration of the peaceful transition of power and as a Representative duly elected to office he should respect the office of the President. At the same time, President-elect Donald J. Trump could have defused partisan politics in this peaceful transition of power by personally inviting Representative Lewis to the inauguration rather than disparaging Representative Lewis via Tweet.

What has happened to the idea that we are all Americans first? How will it be possible for a new administration to do the will of the people for the common good if both parties remain aggressively intolerant to one another? Already the Democratic Party has vowed to stop Mr. Trump at every turn.

Only if all Americans exercise their moral and civil responsibility and speak out demanding truth and transparency , not fake news, not a dictatorship of relativism, not personal attacks, will our Republic be "great again," be respected by all nations and become the moral imperative for peace.

It was Robert Bolt who stated, "There is a loss of understanding that politics should be grounded in morality, that true statesmanship is grounded in virtue" not self-aggrandizement.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 1:52 PM with the headline "‘Swamp’ yet to be drained."