We Must be Talking

  Election Ruminations Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher considered the most brilliant thinker during the second half of the 19 th century, favored strongman rule and was dismissive of the burgeoning socialist and trade union movements in Europe at that time. He discussed two conflicting tendencies evident in pursuing political power, both relevant today as we hear the rhetoric used by the leading candidates in the November presidential election. Reflecting on Greek mythology, Nietzsche identified their revered gods Apollo and Dionysius, sons of Zeus, the top deity on Mount Olympus, as revealing a historical division in the struggle for political power and importance. In this model, Apollo is the good guy, representing the rational and thoughtful approach to dealing with the inevitable clash of interests that arises in every community. All conflicts must be resolved through negotiation and persuasion; reaching a consensus is central to settling contentious disputes. Su

  A Toss-up Presidential Election          Gerry OShea The polls suggest that there is at least a 50 – 50 chance that the electorate will choose a woman for the first time as president on November 5 th . This history-making possibility is even more significant because the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, is also a black woman. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by close to three million but lost in the Electoral College, a remnant of a past era baked into the American constitution. The United States, alone among the world’s democracies, does not accept the popular vote as determinative of victory in national contests. Everybody, regardless of gender, is capable of both toughness and tenderness. However, for some people, women are associated with softness and with an aura of weakness in confrontational situations, which raises questions about a female’s ability to confront foreign bullies in a crisis situation in the Oval Office.   The Republicans released a brillia

  The Decline of Trade Unionism          Gerry OShea While defending the United Mine Workers in an arbitration dispute in 1903, Clarence Darrow, the renowned left-wing attorney, extolled unions as “ the greatest agency that the wit of man has ever devised for uplifting the lowly and the weak, for defending the poor and the oppressed, for bringing about a genuine democracy among men.” This grand and noble sentiment should be posted at the entrance of every union hall to remind members of earlier, more idealistic times when, under leaders like Cesar Chavez and Mike Quill, promoting a fairer society was an important part of their agenda. One of the main reasons for the Democratic Party's growth was that a sizable number of workers belonging to unions saw the need for a political party focused on their concerns, especially in the economic area. Nearly all the leaders of the labor movement – past and present - preach that the Democrats in Congress and in state legislatures best

  A Variety of Prophets             Gerry OShea “ There are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet uttered these dramatic words criticizing his friend Horatio’s over-dependence on logical reasoning for his grasp of reality.   Renaissance thinking was in the ascendant among the intelligentsia in those years with its stress on the scientific method in searching for truth. Hamlet’s words warn us that imagination and intuition also provide valuable insights into the conundrums of life. Shakespeare was not in the minds of the Mayo people when they won their second All-Ireland Football Championship in a row in September 1950, although people still discuss a post-game controversy that can be defined in terms of the disagreement between Horatio and Hamlet.     Winning the Sam Maguire Cup was and remains today the apogee of achievement in Irish sport. Saying that the people in that county were elated at this victory cer

  The Changing Catholic Church in Ireland      Gerry OShea I spoke this week to a friend in my hometown, Kenmare, in County Kerry, about a recently ordained priest assigned to the local parish. Today, this is news, but he recalled that when he was a young man you would meet a priest around every corner in the town. Then, there were three priests assigned to the parish and many more in ancillary churches nearby. Now, one priest has to take care of all the presbytery duties. This major change in the role of the Catholic Church in Irish life highlights the wider cultural movements that have taken place throughout the island in the last half-century. The clergy statistics speak trenchantly to this revolution. Fifty years ago, there were more than 14,000 women religious in Ireland. Today that number stands closer to 4,000, with an average age tipping 80. In 1960, the national seminary in Maynooth was populated by nearly 500 seminarians; this year, that figure dropped dramatically to a

  Sexual Abuse in Schools in Ireland        Gerry OShea Here where men sit and hear each other groan; Where youth grows pale and spectre-thin and dies; Where but to think is to be full of sorrow; I thought of these depressing ruminations on life from Keats’ poem “Ode to a Nightingale” when I read that the awful crime of sexual abuse is again on top of the political agenda in Ireland. A preliminary investigation, named a Scoping   Inquiry, has led the Irish Government to announce that they will appoint a Commission of Investigation to examine and assess in more detail the information about the widespread sexual abuse of children by clerics, male and female, in the schools that they managed. Mary O’Toole, a distinguished barrister, has led the investigation so far.   The report details 2400 allegations of sexual abuse by 844 alleged abusers in 308 schools run by 42 religious orders across Ireland. After reading the 700-page report, Irish Times columnist, Jennifer O’Connell,

  Inequality in America                Gerry OShea   Gustavo Gutierrez, the famous Peruvian theologian, defines poverty as “premature and unjust death,” explaining that “the poor person is someone who is treated as a non-person, considered insignificant from an economic, political and cultural point of view.” A recent study asserts that poverty is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. This catastrophic situation for so many of our citizens results directly from refusing people access to basic needs, denying them a sense of economic security in this rich land, and thus cutting them off from a meaningful life and happiness. The other part of the theologian’s quote about insignificance is also interesting and needs explication. It is surely telling that our TV shows, our movies, and our children’s books do not represent life for the millions of families struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder. In reality, these sad and estranged people are sidelined to a d

  Christian Nationalism               Gerry OShea Christian nationalism is best understood as an ideology highlighting the belief that God’s providence was involved in the American break with English rule in the 1775 Revolution. Adherents to this creed see the divine finger of approval guiding the revolutionaries in forming a new Christian country and in a continuing influence since. It suggests that real Americans should be baptized Christians who subscribe to a country with a special moral assignment allegedly sanctified by their god. Christian nationalism exists in a spectrum from the quiet but insidious kind evident among most evangelicals to the prominent leadership roles played in our time by the likes of Representative Lauren Boebert from Colorado, Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, Senator Joshua Hawley from Missouri, Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and a multitude of others who believe that the separation of church and state was never meant to preclude their conviction ab

         The G20 is an intergovernmental group of 19 powerful countries, plus European and African Union representatives, who meet annually to discuss a unified approach to dealing with major economic and social problems. Its members include Russia and China, as well as powerful Western countries such as Germany, France, and the United States. Gabriel Zuchman, the noted economist, in a report to the group, focuses on the rates of capital taxation paid by billionaires, which are typically about a quarter of what the average person pays. He points out that taxes fall far more heavily on average people than on billionaires, whose main assets are simply not taxed. Zuchman puts it very clearly: “In effect, the middle class is subject to wealth taxation while billionaires manage to avoid it.” In a recent book on taxation titled “The Triumph of Injustice” authored by Mr. Zuchman and his colleague in the University of California, Emmanuel Saez, they provide some eye-opening and shocking

  The Boundary Commission 1924         Gerry OShea In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a vibrant Irish Parliamentary Party represented Irish nationalist aspirations and demands in Westminster. Charles Parnell first provided able and strong leadership, and John Redmond took over at the helm after his demise. The Third Home Rule Bill passed in 1913 was greeted by massive celebrations in Dublin. Finally, the country would have its own legislature for the first time since Grattan’s Parliament was prorogued in 1800, and that gathering excluded Catholics from serving. Patrick Pearse, one of the leaders of the Republican Fenian tradition, welcomed Home Rule while warning presciently that if the British reneged on its implementation, there would be “hell to pay.” A few months before the celebrations in Dublin, Sir Edward Carson, who, along with James Craig, provided the main leadership in the Loyalist community in Northern Ireland, spoke in Craigavon, outside Belfast, before mor

  Democracy 2024           Gerry OShea This year, 2024, is being justifiably hailed as the year of elections. Almost half the world’s population lives in countries that will be voting this year. It should be a global watershed affirming human rights and the rule of law, but a closer look provides only limited reason for celebration. Consider some of the results to date. In India, in the largest election held in human history, Narendra Modi, the Hindu strongman, won re-election but by a surprisingly reduced majority. The legitimacy of the election is not being questioned, but with some political opponents and journalists locked up because of their opinions, Modi’s ideas on democracy are questionable. In March, thousands of Russians gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate Vladimir Putin’s reelection. Three Kremlin-approved losing candidates showed up to give credibility to the charade - Putin allegedly got 86% of the votes cast. Behind this tightly controlled scene lay a gri

    Ralph Waldo Emerson, the leading 19th-century American intellectual, warned that adhering to accepted “truths” sometimes blinds people to wider realities. He named this limited perspective as leading to “a foolish consistency that is the hobgoblin of little minds.” I thought of Emerson when last month, the homosexuality conundrum was addressed by Pope Francis and his team of advisors in the Vatican. The Catholic Church is in the middle of a major internal debate about the standing of LGBTQ members in the church. On the one side we have the clear consistent church teaching that God created two sexes, male and female to take care of human procreation. This line of thinking stresses the obvious physical dependence and attraction between men and women, that result in new life. “Increase and multiply” remains the biblical command that must be obeyed and has a divine imprimatur. This leaves no room for same-sex intimacy, incapable of pregnancy, which is marked as unnatural, devia