About 25 years ago, I was downsized. I was very upset and wrote a couple of short essays, a poem, and different lyrics to "Yellow Submarine". My anger sparked my creative juices.More recently, I did have lymphoma, which produced a lot more new lyrics. I think putting these hopes, fears and hospital experiences into song lyrics made them easier to deal with. It made a dark and fearful place more of an open reality to live with.

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My guest today is my long-time friend, Mick Jackson, who, along with me and his wife, Judy, co-founded Citizens for Election Reform back in 2005.

Joan Brunwasser: Welcome to OpEdNews, Mick. You were a software guy working in the pharmaceutical field and retired a few years ago. "On American Leadership" is your most recent op-ed. You're not alone in your displeasure and you were quite graphic in your distaste for current American so-called leadership. What's got you so hot under the collar?

Mick Jackson: I have been studying the responses and statistics of all countries at the Worldometer coronavirus site. It is rather easy to see which countries did well and which ones badly. Considering the countries that did badly, the US and the UK stand out among Western developed democracies and they both have quite a way to go before they are through the first wave. Leadership in both countries (albeit for different reasons) has a lot to do with it.

JB: Can you be more specific? There's only one Trump. It's hard to imagine any other country suffering from the same combination of negative qualifications for good judgment, shall we say? Can you be more specific? Let me point out here for our readers although you have been on this side of the Atlantic for many many years, you were born a Brit, so you have a special perspective on the behavior of both leaders. Share some of that with us, please.

MJ: I would slightly amend your first question to "it's hard to imagine any other developed democracy suffering"". Putin in Russia and Bolsonaro in Brazil certainly match Trump in negative qualifications, but as far as developed democracies go, I would agree with you. As to why America is so bad compared to other countries: we have higher cases per million than all but a few countries and we are slowly overtaking them, We have a death rate per million that is climbing and has overtaken a number of Western European countries. In both of these measures, we are in the top few of the OECD countries. We also had a much lower testing rate, although that has improved recently, but our rate is below that of about three dozen countries. Our growth rates in deaths and new cases is far higher. The reopening will bring a fresh wave of outbreaks. This is because the more we reopen, the more infections there will be from carriers to other people.

In terms of leadership, Trump is a proud ignoramus, a man who knows little, and cares less. Johnson, like Trump, is a consummate liar but he understands politics and facts in a way that Trump simply does not. So if I had to choose between Donald and Boris to be the leader of my country undergoing this pandemic crisis, I would choose Boris, despite all his limitations.

JB: Besides for the limitations of our leadership, you have other reservations about the way we were set up as a nation. Would you care to explain that?

MJ: Well, the response is a whole essay and I have written a few on this topic. But to be fairly brief: The 1787 Constitution was signed in Philadelphia and then ratified by the states. After it passed, the US government was set up with the President, Senate etc. Then, the Bill of Rights, dealing with individual citizens' rights against the federal government, was put together by James Madison in the House of Representatives. The 1787 Constitution and the Bill of Rights have different subject matters and different authors. The 1787 Constitution, in terms of the political structures, has not changed. Franchise expansions and term limits and income tax do not change the political structures of this country. It is plain today, and not just because of Trump, that the system is dysfunctional. No other democracy that has been stable for 70 years or more has anything close to the system we have. The vast majority are parliamentary democracies. I would point out that in the major surveys of democracies worldwide (Freedom House, The Economist, the Swedish V-Dem), America had been slipping before Trump and has slipped much more since 2016.

JB: Are you saying that our governmental structure had so many authors with different voices, it became like Dr. Doolittle's pushmi-pullyu, the whimsical animal with two heads, going nowhere fast? If not, what did you mean? And, can you give some examples?

MJ: It's not an issue of authors with different agendas. The issue is that as brilliant as many of those drafters and signers were, they could not conceive of a world where the role of blacks, women, city workers, cities, technology communications, and so much more have changed so much. They did not have many real examples of democracies or representative governments, presidents, supreme courts to use as templates for the new political structure. The contemporary British parliament was corrupt and very undemocratic. They did their best and it was great for the 18th century, okay for the 19th (ignoring the Civil War), antiquated by the 20th, and is obsolete for the 21st. Examples of what is wrong with the 1787 document include the role of the presidency (set up with monarchical powers) and Senate representation of a totally undemocratic nature in terms of one person, one vote. Also, the Electoral College (designed to enhance the power of the slave-owning South), lifelong federal judge tenure, and Article 5 concerning how to amend the constitution, are manifestly undemocratic.

JB: Is there a general awareness of the dysfunction and undemocratic nature of the Constitution? Is there a relatively painless way to improve it? I'm assuming that giving more power somewhere means taking power away somewhere else, which is never popular with the latter. Who ever voluntarily surrenders power? (Probably those who least need to.) Your thoughts?

MJ: Left-wing Americans are very upset with Trump and most of them dislike the Electoral College. Yet few think much about other undemocratic features some of which I listed above. Article 5 of the 1787 Constitution requires new amendments to be passed by 2/3 in each house of Congress and then ratified by ¾ of the states. It is a very hard bar to cross. Any substantive change to political structures will be seen as either pro-Democrat or pro-Republican and thus can never get over that high constitutional bar. The only way it will be fixed, if ever, is with a massive societal, political, and economic breakdown; one much more substantial than our current Coronavirus trials and tribulations.

JB: Well, the pandemic has certainly caused a massive breakdown with more to come, I'm afraid. Are you saying that there might turn out to be a silver lining amidst all the suffering and uncertainty?

MJ: I don't think the pandemic and its aftermath will be sufficient to push Republicans to make any big changes to benefit the average American. The only way to make big changes is for Democrats to win the Senate as well as the presidency and then warn the Supreme Court not to declare the radical changes unconstitutional. All this seems somewhat unlikely, given the rural preponderance in the Senate. It is hard to see how major changes in America will be made in the next couple of years.

JB: Not such a rosy prognosis, I see. Let's move in a different direction. You were quite ill not that long ago. During that time, your creativity came out in an unexpected way. Can you talk about that a bit?

MJ: I am not a creative writer on a regular basis (assuming I ever am) but about 25 years ago, I was downsized after working for a company for over 15 years. I was very upset and wrote a couple of short essays, a poem, and different lyrics to "Yellow Submarine". That was it but my anger at the time sparked my creative juices. I did have lymphoma, which produced a lot more new lyrics for better-known songs but I think I started writing articles because National Louis LLI (Lifelong Learning Institute) has an annual review magazine and some of my LLI friends are contributors and encouraged me.

JB: I'd like to concentrate on your musical endeavors right now. You ended up with quite a collection. What role did this activity have in your healing process?

MJ: I took popular songs like "Battle Hymn* of the Republic", "Penny Lane", "This Land is Your Land", and "Jingle Bells", and changed the words to deal with hope, the cure from lymphoma, IV and chemo. They gave me hope and three years later, I sometimes sing them to myself. I think putting these hopes, fears and hospital experiences into song lyrics made them easier to deal with. It made a dark and fearful place more of an open reality to live with. I have sent the song collection to a few people with lymphoma or other cancers.

JB: Did you get any feedback yet? I found the song lyrics very clever. It was a side of you I wasn't familiar with. And how are you doing now, health-wise?

MJ: Some people liked them but I did not distribute them too widely. Perhaps I'm lucky - I don't know that many people who have had cancer. I see my oncologist every six months and sometimes have a scan. It all seems fine now. I like to think of it as a long-distant past and don't think about it that much.

JB: You've been spending a large amount of your time since retiring involved with LLI. Once everything shut down because of the pandemic, you and your cohorts have found a lovely way to keep us all smiling. Can you talk about that a bit?

MJ: Two of my pals in the retirement program suggested we do a humor blog. I am not very proficient at internet development but I managed to use Google documents on a personal website to be a one-stop shop for jokes, cartoons, puns, word-play and humorous video clips. A few others besides my two pals and I have been contributors. I mainly accept any contributions which keeps the material varied. Although most readers are left-leaning, I try to keep it not too political, although there is definitely some anti-Trump material. I have a mailing list of about a hundred, including non-retirees. I think it is useful to some of us in times of COVID.

JB: I love it! Care to give us an example or two so we can get our daily chuckle?

MJ: Here are a few shorties:

If money doesn't grow on trees, how come banks have branches?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

How do you get off a non-stop flight?

CHILDREN TELL TALES FROM THE BIBLE

1. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. After, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.
2. Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then, Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol.
3. The great miracle in the bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

Others:

A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, "You've been brought here for drinking." The drunk says, "Okay, let's get started."

Today, a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool, so I gave him a glass of water.

I changed my password to "incorrect" so whenever I forget it the computer will say, "Your password is incorrect."

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

JB: I laughed so they were clearly great examples. Thanks. What tips have you found for coping with this pandemic?

MJ: Nearly every day, I do a five-mile walk at about 5:30 AM with an occasional bike ride as an alternative. I am doing more cooking (starting from a very low base). About ten years ago, I started making juices and later graduated to a Vita-mix - this machine, unlike juicers, retains the fiber and is healthier. All sorts of fruits go in and it comes out pretty tasty. Also, a Vita-mix machine is much easier to clean than a juicer. But with the Corona affair, going to the store and getting fresh fruit is more of an operation so this aspect of my life is currently on hold.

I do some gardening. I also take care of my fish. When my son was a teenager we had a rather unsuccessful raspberry patch - a few raspberries a year. He wanted to build a pond. So we struggled through the Skokie clay and thick tree roots and eventually built a pond and stocked it with baby feeder fish (baby fish 10 cents each used as food for bigger aquarium fish) from the pet store. We put in a waterfall and, by using a pond heater, managed to keep the fish alive over the long Chicago winter. Let me tell you, fish breed like rabbits (even faster, I think) and now the pond is well-stocked.

I do not like interactive Zoom sessions though I am happy to listen to a Zoom lecture. We have had a few masked guests so we can interface with other humans. I also have become obsessive-compulsive in tracking international COVID statistics. These are very interesting and reveal a lot about various countries.

JB: Tell us more about your COVID tracking. What have you discovered?

MJ: The Worldometer Coronavirus site gives daily statistics on cases, deaths, and testing for about 200 countries. I copy them into a spreadsheet and add columns for certain percentages. I also do some correlations between tests, cases, deaths and daily new cases. I also have a spreadsheet comparing the EU to the US and another one on the Scandinavian countries which shows quite dramatically how Sweden is doing such a bad job compared to the other three Scandinavian countries.

JB: Initially, we thought Sweden was doing great even though they didn't close down. How do you explain the big turnaround?

MJ: I only started following Sweden after it turned bad. I was also concerned about an article in the NY Times in early May, which said Sweden had about the same death rate as Ireland which had been doing well. Ireland does have a high testing rate (much higher than the US) but it also has a high number of cases. Since then, the Swedish death rate per million has risen dramatically (as of June 2nd, Sweden 443 deaths per million, Ireland 336, US 326). I don't think they were ever doing that great with COVID - they were doing great having no lockdown. Many people in many countries were jealous. COVID got its revenge for not taking it seriously (if you will forgive these human attributes to a virus).

JB: It did sound too good to be true and also provided fodder for the "why do we have to be locked down?" camp. Anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?

MJ: We started this interview before the police knee-neck murder, before the peaceful protests, before the looting, and before Trump used his bully-boys to break up a peaceful protest for a photo-op. The international COVID statistics show that within two weeks, we will be #1 in cases per million among all developed democracies over one million people. We will also have more deaths per million than all but five developed democracies. We may well catch up and overtake most of these. The Trump's administration policies have not only been useless but murderously counter-productive. The ancient Greek curse hangs over our forlorn country "Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad".

JB: I hear you. I also don't feel comfortable leaving on such a sour note. By any chance, do you have anything encouraging that you had been saving for last?

MJ: Yes, I am hopeful in the long run. I believe America will become great (I doubt if it ever really was) sometime in the future. I doubt if I will live to see it (I am 71), but I believe it will happen. I do not like parroting much liberal commentary about how a Democratic president plus a Democratic Congress will fix things. It will be a long, long road but we will get there - the West Europeans have.

JB: Thanks for talking with me, Mick. It's always a pleasure!

***

*An example of Mick's relyricized songs:

Original Song: "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1861)

Mine veins have felt the glory of the coming of the drug;

It is trampling out the cancer where the cells of death are snug;

It hath loosed the fatal zapping of its deadliest hug;

IV is marching on.

Chemo, Chemo, hallelujah! (CHORUS)

Chemo, Chemo, hallelujah!

Chemo, Chemo, hallelujah!

IV is marching on.

It has pumped forth the chemo that shall never call retreat;

It is flushing out the veins of men before the IV's heat;

Oh! be swift, my cells, to receive it! be jubilant, my feet!

IV is marching on.

(CHORUS)

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.