Greetings,
Something’s been on my mind for years, and fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to talk about it. Since our days advertising on KPOJ I’ve injected my opinions on the issues of the day into our company’s marketing. I’ve done it for many reasons. First, auto maintenance can get pretty boring, and you’d rapidly tune us out if we just talked about brakes. Second, I think there are deep issues of ethics and intent in virtually every political decision, so if you get a look at my priorities in these venues you’ll get a taste of how we’ll treat you as a client of Tom Dwyer. Finally, I don’t think my opinion matters, but that everyone’s opinion matters! Yours. Mine. Ours. Theirs. America is made of 350 million voices, and each matters as much as the next. We’ve always had this obligation, but the times we’re in have sharpened it even more… it’s up to each of us to speak out about the things we care about, the things that affect our families, friends, and people we don’t even know, the things that will shape human life in big ways and small for decades and centuries to come. Yes, something’s been on my mind for a while now, and I try to share it with you in Tidbits. I deeply appreciate, and am deeply honored by, your attention through the years. Thank you. And there’s no better way to tell you what to expect in 2020 than to show you what we talked about in 2019. Fasten your seatbelts! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride…
Make a great day,
January- Emergency. Emergency! EMERGENCY! No.
DONALD TRUMP DECLARED A NATIONAL EMERGENCY! He’s not ‘thinking’ about it, he’s DONE it… three times, actually, once in 2017 and twice in 2018. (In a painful spasm of irony, one of these declarations even enabled sanctions “in the event of foreign interference in a United States election.”) But our clown-prince will have to look elsewhere if he wants to reach new heights for misuse of power. Woodrow Wilson declared the first National Emergency in 1917, and the US is currently operating under 31 separate national emergencies, some going back to Jimmy Carter…
February- Tom’s Tidbits- Who are we? Who do we WANT to be?
In 1992, Ross Perot’s running mate Admiral James Stockdale became famous for two questions… “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Stockdale asked as self-deprecating humor, but I wonder if every political campaign shouldn’t start with exactly those two questions. People often think they have answers to both, but that’s frequently because they’re not really trying to answer. Deep, considered answers to ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Why are we here?’ as a country have consequences. The answers immediately beg the question “Who would we rather be?” and only after answering that can we ask the fundamental political question… “How do we get there from here?”
March- Tom’s Tidbits- The goose is cooked while the gander goes free
Crime and punishment have dominated the news the past two years, but pick the past two decades, centuries, or millennia… the questions of what crime is, who should be punished, or what ‘appropriate punishment’ means are as old as humanity. We might aspire to a world where punishment fits the crime and Justice is blind, but we don’t live there yet. From the poorest illegal migrant worker to the richest Plymouth-rock corporate raider, we know the eyes of Justice see money, race, sex, and politics all too clearly. Politicians offer platitudes of how lucky we are to live under the Rule Of Law, but laws that don’t serve people oppress them. As corruption attacks our Justice system we’re quickly sliding from the Rule OF Law to the Rule BY law, and there’s a fundamental difference. In one, the laws serve us while in the other, we serve the laws…
April- Tom’s Tidbits- The Mueller Report is finally here
A redacted version of the Mueller Report is finally here, and I’m slowly finding out with the rest of America what it actually says. Few have read the full 448 pages so far and many who have read it won’t understand it, so we should probably allow a while longer for thoughtful analysis. We all know the Mueller Report is the center of a political and media circus but it’s not ONLY that… it’s the result of a serious investigation into some of the most serious allegations ever brought against a representative of our government. The content of the report won’t matter for some people but for the vast majority of Americans I think it will. The Mueller Report isn’t the end of anything, but I think there are already lessons to be learned. And unfortunately, I think we’ll have opportunities to use them many more times in the Trump years…
May- I can’t believe it… Trump is right.
So Trump and Barr are gleefully going to “investigate the investigators”. Ya know what? Good! I’m not under any illusions… I understand it’s just the lowest sort of political payback that would embarrass the worst banana republic and a waste of money on baseless charges to distract from legitimate ones. Trump himself is barely pretending otherwise! But there’s only a small overlap between the real world and whatever goes on in Trump’s brain. Sure, he thinks he’s winning because he’s getting what he asked for by having an investigation at all, but I think he’ll find it’s a far, far cry from what he wanted…
June- Tom’s Tidbits- We’ve waited forever for Mueller. Good. Very good.
We’ve waited a long time to read Mueller’s Report and to hear from The Man himself, and Wednesday’s subpoena means the wait is almost over. It’s been a painful time for those of us who want the stain laundered from the Oval Office and the pain is far from over. But Mueller’s grim and silent resolve have been more than a pointless frustration, they have been and remain a last hope for a crumbling American system. In Trumpworld unspoken norms are for losers, laws are either obeyed for convenience or used as bludgeons, and even basic standards of humanity are teetering. But the power of a single individual’s reputation still has value as it always has, and it may even be enough to save us now…
July- Tom’s Tidbits- It’s time for you… YOU… to Judge
Whether you were born here or naturalized, no matter your political beliefs, regardless of your age, race, income, gender identity, or natural origin… if you’re a Citizen of the United States of America then a huge obligation just dropped in your lap. The Special Counsel’s report was delivered months ago, and now we’ve finally heard Mueller’s testimony on it. No new information will be coming out. We’ve got all we’re gonna get. So what’s the obligation of every Citizen now? To Decide. To Judge...
August- Tom’s Tidbits- You make everything we do possible.
This month marks a major milestone in our Referral Reward Program. We’ve donated to hundreds of non-profit groups so far, and our donation total just passed an amazing $27,000! I say “we’ve donated”, but it’s really “you’ve donated” because it’s you, our clients, who make the Referral Reward Program and everything else we do possible. Some of our newer clients may not be aware of some of those other things, so this month I wanted to point out just a few of the things we’re involved in beyond fixing cars. I’m very proud of each of these but I want you to feel that same pride and more, because WITHOUT YOU, NONE OF IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE!
September- Tom’s Tidbits- “…and a little child shall lead them”
You may not have listened to her, but you’ve certainly heard of her by now… Greta Thunberg is emerging as a voice for a generation whose future depends on OUR generation’s response to man-made Climate Change. If you’re not familiar with Greta the most obvious thing about her isn’t her achievements in environmental science (she has none), nor her political power (she’s not a politician), nor her stunning ability to avoid BS when talking to politicians (though that’s frequently commented on). The first stand-out thing about Greta Thunberg is that at 16 years old, she has 100% clarity on the climate threats present and growing and represents her generation and acts. World leaders ignore the elephant in the room; human and global extinction, and while Greta wants leaders to act for change, she doesn’t want them to listen to her… she wants them to act on what 99.9% of scientists have proven is real, urgent, and could cause our extinction along with thousands and thousands of innocent species. read more…
October- Tom’s Tidbits- Reality… deal with it!
There was a time I thought Donald Trump was nothing more than a poster boy for the greed and decline of America, a fatuous egomaniac with novelty hair. He was an irrelevancy. When he ran for president I figured it was joke… just another PR deal, just more attention. I was shocked at the American public’s receptivity to his mental illness and desecration of truth. Since he “took over America”, I’ve watched him assault every foundation of the country I love, pervert every impulse of human decency, and even twist the idea of reality itself. Donald Trump was never capable of filling the role of president. He is deeply disturbed mentally and his actions make him the clearest possible case of a domestic enemy.
November- Tom’s Tidbits- Impeachmeditation
Our country is tired of impeachment and there’s a long way left to go… one way or another. I worry that adding my thoughts to the pile will be boring and that you’ll just stop reading now. If you did, you might be happier! But while the thoughts of politicians and pundits matter, in a democracy the opinion and judgement of citizens matters too. I can’t help it, I feel like it’s my obligation to speak out on the government theoretically operating in my name. I hope you can make room for one more opinion from a fellow citizen watching the circus with you from out here in the cheap seats.
