Readers: this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about the Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1. List and general description of entries to date.
Note: most entries are formatted as conversations. Characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations. Profile of characters (see link at top of page). You’ll catch on quickly. Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.
Scene: Jordan’s office, Washington, DC. Conversation about “culture” starts Entry #262
JC: “We ready to start the discussion again?”
Jordan: “Yes, but still waiting to hear back from Rock Man about his perspective on black culture.”
Greenie: “OK, in the meantime, I’ve got a culture we might want to explore…or at least I think it qualifies as a culture.”
Jordan: “And that is?”
Greenie: “Well, we’ve talked about how much of a culture should blend into US melting pot and how much should not. Most of the subjects so far could be defined either as an ‘ethic group’ or an organization…the military. But what about non-ethnic group cultures? Say regional cultures in the US?”
JC: “You mean how much should regional cultures sorta blend in versus how much should these regional cultures should stay specific to the geographic area?”
Greenie: “Yes, but more importantly, how much did regional cultures contribute to the Revenge Revolution?”
Jordan: “Do you really think regional differences might have been a contributing factor?”
JC: “Do I think so? Yes. And Jordan, sometimes I wonder what world you live in. You, of all people, should know about regional cultures.”
Greenie: “JC’s right. Think about it, Jordan. You’ve lived all over the country – East Coast, Midwest and both nations of California…Northern and Southern. Plus, haven’t you spent time in just about every state?”
JC: “So now what’s your take on regional cultures, Mr. Expert?”
Jordan: “I’m hardly an expert. My take is there are marked differences in cultures among East, Midwest and West and even differences within a region – the Northeast is a good example. As for Hawaii and Alaska…different still. But to me these differences seem more cosmetic than substantive. Yes, some areas are more liberal or more conservative than others but the differences don’t seem to alter the fundamental principles in how the region or the country should be governed.”
Greenie: “Okay…but one region was conspicuously absent. What about the South?”
Jordan: “The South is a different animal.”
JC: “In what way?”
Jordan: “Underneath all the phony niceties is deep resentment.”
Greenie: “JC, meet Mr. Diplomat, himself. Resentment of what or about what?”
Jordan: “Having lost the Civil War…excuse me the War of Northern Aggression…and having the economy being dominated by outsiders…excuse me carpetbaggers.”
JC: “C’mon. I know you’ve got a cynical streak but do really think there’s that much resentment? The Civil War was over 150 years ago.”
Jordan: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn what you think. Actually, the resentment is probably much greater and deeper than any of us can understand.”
Greenie: “If I get your take on the South…not everyone, of course…there is some percentage still reeling over the Civil War? I’m with JC. That seems like ancient history”
Jordan: “When we first moved to Charlotte, which like most of Florida is not considered the real south by the hard-core, I viewed as jesting the snide remarks about being a Yankee and being the wrong religion.”
JC: “Then something or someone changed your mind?”
Greenie: “Let me guess what changed it. The election of the Donald.”
Jordan: “Spot on, Greenie. His election and his rhetoric as president made perfectly acceptable any type of public display of resentment or even hatred of ‘non-true Southerners’. Look back at Trump’s public support of hate groups in Charlottesville.”
JC: “Then he claimed statues of Confederate generals were part of American heritage. Excuse me Donald, in case you didn’t know it, General Robert E. Lee fought against the Union. Like he was a traitor. Not a stock trader like you might think but one of those ‘t-r-a-i-t-o-r-s’. Remember when you claimed all the Muslims in the US were traitors? Robert E Lee was one of those kind of traitors.”
Greenie: “You know what I find ironic about ironic about the hard-core Southerners supporting the Donald? Many in the South still blame the North for lots of problems…and they really dislike people from New York. So who do they support? The Donald who was born and raised in NY. The Donald who dodged the draft, claiming bone spurs. The Donald who proposed policies as president that hurt rather than helped his supporters. The guy should have been despised by the people in the south. But no, they adored him.”
JC: “To the hard-core Southerner, he must have been considered a born-again Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee rolled into one. His supporters believed he was going to overthrow the very establishment that the hard-core blamed for destroying the Old South.”
Greenie: “Maybe even more ironic – the Donald was the ultimate carpetbagger. He took campaign donations from his supporters and then managed to enrich himself at the expense of his supporters.”
JC: “Until he got taken out.”
Greenie: “So why didn’t the South finally turn against him when all the shenanigans came to light? Forget the financial stuff. The dealings with Russia were like treason.”
Jordan: “The hard-core Southerners stuck with him for the same reason they still refuse to acknowledge the facts of the Civil War. Hard-core Southerners still blame Lincoln when they should be thankful he was nice to them. Lincoln could have tried for treason and then executed each southern general.”
JC: “Lincoln tried to set the stage for the country to heal. He might have been too accommodating. The hard-core Southerners still don’t understand and still can’t get out of the blame stage.”
Greenie: “So now, I guess the next question is ‘Now that we’re past the Revenge Revolution, will the south continue to deny reality and blame the north…or finally join the rest of the country?’”
Jordan: “Listen, I need to call it a day. Could we continue this conversation over coffee tomorrow morning, please?”
Greenie: “Of course. JC and I are outta here.”
Gelly: “JC, I’ll get you some coffee, then I need to get back and work on a project.”
JC: “Greenie, is this info for your articles about the causes of the Revenge Revolution?”
Greenie: “Mmm, you thinking the military culture is that much different?
Greenie: “What still gnaws at me is the behavior of John Kelly when he was chief of staff for Trump.”
Greenie: “What galls me even more is Trump’s press secretary Ms. Congeniality Susan Huckabee told the press they should not challenge a 4-star Marine general. BS Sarah.”
Jordan: “OK, we’re even. I think the military culture started to change with the elimination of the draft.”
Jordan: “With the draft there was a reasonably good cross-section of ethnic groups, backgrounds and education. Yes, some wealthier guys chickened out of the draft and bought off doctors to get an exemption…”
Greenie: “I’ll go with 13 years…finished one year college.”
Jordan: “Nope. Just regular guys like me. I don’t recall many of us being really gung-ho, rah-rah types. We were in the Army doing our time.”
Greenie: “What about the SEALS and those Special Forces guys? Aren’t they really professional?”
Greenie: “Yikes. Not good. Know anyone else?”
Greenie: “Your pal? Well, your something or other. But let’s be fair. You know some other guys in the military, right? I mean your top-gun buddy and some other guys in the group that designed those jet fighters.”
Greenie: “So the quality of recruits is so-so. Let’s go back and talk about the big-dog generals…specifically General John Kelly. When chief of staff for Trump, Kelly claimed that military personnel were superior and the general population should, in effect, bow down to them.”
Greenie: “So do you think to make the culture of the military more like the US population as a whole, we should reinstitute conscription?”
Greenie: “You mean about the crab barrel?”
Greenie: “Your question might be the answer?”
Gelly: “The tribes experienced more than just moving. If I understood Wolf Man correctly, he said the tribes on the reservations…apparently for many years…were prohibited from practicing many of the customs and ceremonies central to the respective tribes.”
Gelly: “If they built a new culture, would they still have a tribe?”
Jordan: “And you have an example?”
Jordan: “But why didn’t Indians keep their traditions…the glue…that held them together.”
Greenie: “Yes, independency is a real word. And your point is well taken. Have we…the victors in the Indian Wars…so restricted the tribes that the original culture has been lost? By our own actions, have we destroyed one culture and replaced it with a culture of dependency? That’s a depressing thought.”
Greenie: “Not finding the right balance between what part of a culture should melt in the US melting pot and what part of a culture should not melt might have larger impact on the cause of the Revenge Revolution than I first thought.”
Wolf Man: “Met Gelly. Chatted with Greenie but never met her.”
Greenie: “One of the first steps is trying to understand how much of a particular culture has melted into the US melting pot…and also understand how much should not have melted. We’d like your perspective on how much culture of Native Americans has melted into the US melting pot.”
Gelly: “And what different about the white man’s perspective?”
Wolf Man: “Simple. The white man took the best land from the natives and then created reservations for natives on crappy land. The reservations had few resources, lots of bad water and created an environment of marginal subsistence.”
Jordan: “So we, societal we, basically turned the tribes from being self-sustaining to being a welfare state, save a few tribes with highly profitable casinos. That analysis seems like such an exaggeration.”
Jordan: “That’s a bold statement. Is there any way to turn this around? Might be a long process but surely something can be done.”
Jordan: “I’m shaking my head. Wow, what a problem. Is there anything that can be done to change this attitude?”
Greenie: “Jordan, while Gelly and I were getting coffee did you get ahold of Rock Man and Two Dogs?”
Jordan: “Point well taken, Greenie. Lots of pressure at an early age to learn something that’s very difficult for many. The experience begins to build a foundation for a willingness to try to learn difficult subjects through one’s formal education…and for many, a lifetime of learning.”
Jordan: “Gelly, here’s a story that illustrates the point. The scene: the inauguration of the first Jewish president. A lady turns to the president-elect’s mother and says, ‘The first Jewish president. You must be very proud of your son.’ The mother turns and says, ‘Yes, I’m very proud of him…but you should meet his brother, the doctor.’”
Greenie: “To me, the link is an understanding by many rabbis and many Jewish families that education has been and continues to be a way to break from the past. Much like leaving Egypt was a way for Jews to break away from physical slavery, education has been a way to break away from economic slavery.”
Gelly: “That’s interesting. So, if I interpret you correctly, understanding how to break away from adverse circumstances without completely throwing out the old culture is a key lesson. In a way the lesson is a balancing act — in the US understanding what part of the culture should melt into the melting pot and what should not melt. Being able to create such a balance might be a key lesson for other groups – blacks, Native Americans, etc.”
Greenie: When you talk to them, could you please remind each of them we are only in the data-gathering phase? Let them know we are trying to determine if our assumption has any validity. If it does, we’ll need more guidance from them and help from some of their contacts. I just don’t want them to think the call is the end of the study. It’s just the beginning.”
Gelly: “Some background for articles she writing about the Revenge Revolution. She said no preparation necessary…at least for now.”
Greenie: “Hello, Gelly…and you, too, Jordan.”
Greenie: “As I’ve been working on articles about the causes of the Revenge Revolution, one idea keeps rattling around in my head.”
Gelly: “Has anyone studied this before? Seems like an ideal topic for a graduate thesis or a book.”
Jordan: “Interesting. If I may, let me try to reframe the question. ‘If the United States is to be a melting pot of different cultures, do some parts of the cultures not melt?’…or something like that.”
Gelly: “In the US, for a particular culture, what part of the culture melts in the pot and what part doesn’t melt?”
Gelly: “And for those who want homogenized milk, their measurement yardstick is ‘if you don’t think like me and/or have the same values as me, then you’re not a real member of the American tribe.’”
Jordan: “Seems to me we should take a few examples of tribes and test the theory, at least to determine if there might be any link between long-term culture, the tribes as you describe them and the Revenge Revolution.”
Jordan: “I’ll buy that idea. Before we start, let me call Rock Man and see when he’s available to provide his insight on blacks.”
Matt: “Actually two things…and both are fundamental to building long-term relationships with friends, business colleagues, constituents…in fact, building a relationship with anyone.”
Matt: “Rhetorical question, I know, ‘How do you develop a relationship with someone who’s all over the map?’ One day left, one day right, one day up, one day down…I mean, how do you work with such a person?”
Jordan: “That’s funny, Trumpthong. I don’t even want to think about that. Anyway, the word is Trumpong, which is what I call Trump’s version of strategic ping-pong. The never-ending back-and-forth. Change your position day-to-day, sometimes even during the same day. Then bounce back to the original position. Back-and-forth just like ping-pong.”
Matt: “Mythomania? Is that yet another made-up word?”
Jordan: “Yep, an abnormal tendency to exaggerate or lie.”
Jordan: “Not all at once, of course. Over time more and more people felt like the model for one of Evard Munch’s paintings. They just couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to scream.”
Jordan: “True, but hard-core Trumpsters aren’t running the show any more. They got thrown out by the Revenge Revolution. I’m still convinced many of the hard-core Trumpsters were brainwashed. Their support of Trump’s policies was often contrary to their own best interests. The hard-core never seemed to understand the consequences of the proposed policies.”
Matt: “Each one of the sections could be a worth a couple of books…and 1-2 semester class or even a public lecture series.”
Jordan: “So, why don’t you two work together, already?”
Jordan: “Never admitting a mistake was really his downfall.”
Jordan: “What a great way to start a presidency. Go to confession and beg for forgiveness.”
Jordan: “I know what you’re saying. Since Trump did the country such a favor, maybe we should put his face on Mount Rushmore.”
Matt: “First of all, if Trump really cared about these kids…actually many were young adults…he could have let Obama’s Executive Order continue or issued another one. What was so pressing?”
Matt: “Trump’s rationale wasn’t really about whether these children had legal standing. Trump’s argument was ‘those illegals’ were stealing jobs that Trump claimed rightfully belonged to Trump supporters. In reality the DACA kids were creating jobs and likely qualified for higher-tech jobs…jobs that many Trump supporters weren’t qualified for.”
Matt: “The DACA Detour, as I call it, was an effort to steer away from the every widening Russia investigation. Many in the public realized the terrible precedent that DACA set. DACA finally got evangelicals off their butt and they started saying no to Trump.”
Jordan: “The question is what did the deal accomplish? The Republicans would have passed legislation for the debt ceiling to keep the government operating, even if it took having Democrats join them. But Trump’s ego needed a fix, like right now, so he gave McConnell and Ryan the finger on camera and proceeded to play footsie with Pelosi.”
alienating virtually everyone in Congress and much of the public.”
Matt: “Jordan, thanks for taking time to meet. Gelly said you were busy trying to catch up after taking last week off.”
Jordan: “That’s interesting. So your premise, if I can call it such, is that actions of ordinary citizens might have accelerated the Revenge Revolution. How will you support the idea?”
Matt: “At the beginning of the Obama Administration there was lots of frustration with Congress. Really frustration with Congress and the Executive branch. Despite the frustration, the discourse was reasonably civil.”
Jordan: “C’mon, Matt. You don’t think Fox News was an outlet for these guys?”
Jordan: “Despite Larry, Moe and Curly, I mean O’Reilly, Hannity and Rushman, the Republican presidential candidates seemed to keep a reasonable lid on things. McCain and Romney were both professional, save a few slips here and there. Palin was another story…she’s still looking for Russia or some polar bear.”
Matt: “You know what. The king kept throwing red meat to fringe-group supporters in order to feed his fragile ego.”
Jordan: “Ironically, that’s exactly what happened. Voters said, ‘Throw the bums out.’”
Jordan: “When you mentioned individuals taking action, I recall an editorial written by the rabbi emeritus at our temple. The content was personal but also laid out a call to action. Hard to ignore.”
Matt: “Was she OK with free speech?”
Matt: “Evangelicals. Why did do many support Trump? Obviously, not all evangelicals supported Trump but a very high percentage did…even after he’d been in office for 6-7 months. For evangelicals, all of Trump’s unethical behavior before the election which continued after the election…yet they continued to support him.”
Jordan: “No logical reason. I think the fundamentalists forgot their scripture. Someplace in Torah…probably Leviticus but I’m not sure…there’s a section that talks about when leaders are humble and admit mistakes, the populous will also be more humble and caring.”
What’s confusing, at least for me, is trying to determine “who’s on first?” in Washington. Is it Abbott or Costello? The political leadership in Washington and the some of the populous seem to be wandering…aimlessly. President Trump has been displaying classic symptoms of what I call “water-bug” management. Like a water bug, he operates in shallow water and darts back-and-forth, changing positions constantly but never really progressing. Describing his behavior as inconsistent and his non-scripted remarks as incoherent would be a compliment.
my undergraduate and graduate days who seem to have put aside all learning and become brainwashed.
consequences of their positions. Many Trump supporters fall in this category. Why else would someone vote for a candidate whose campaign platform, if implemented, would result in legislation against one’s economic best interest? Either you don’t understand what you’re voting for and/or you’ve been hoodwinked by a slick real-estate developer.
Democrats. The cluster has no clear agenda and no obvious spokesperson, other than possibly Bernie Sanders. Since the election, and especially since the events in Charlottesville, more Congressional reps and voters seem to be shifting toward the center, recognizing that the country needs some well thought-out policies. (Article written by former Trump supporter, 
never having served any time themselves. Trump might be Chicken Hawk supreme. Lots of bluster and bullying but no time in the military – and no, military prep school does not count. Trump seems to have no comprehension of how a military operates and the possible consequences of taking military action.
me…to the exclusion of everyone else, or at least until I’m satisfied. “Team,” “country” and similar such words are not part of their vocabulary.
Ironically for Trump and supporters, the outcome of the Revenge Revolution could be exactly the opposite of what they intended to accomplish. The Revenge Revolution could result in a stronger Federal government with laws that are more equitable and more regulations, especially protecting the environment. So there, Trump et al. Happy now?
usrevolution5 