Advice for 2025
By Andrew Meblin
Many Years Ago — When Rodney King drove his Hyundai Excel 115 miles an hour (allegedly1) on a freeway in Los Angeles he garnered the attention of more than a few cops and patrolmen. A witness recorded his subsequent beating and tasering by the cops. The cops faced trial, and were acquitted. Many residents of the region rioted. Businesses were burned, people shot and killed. Chaos ensued.
Some people looted to get “free stuff”, while others looted because they knew that store wouldn’t open up again for a couple of months, if ever. Needed toilet paper and diapers - two necessities for many people.
Finally, Rodney King, now fully recovered from the physical damage stood before microphones at an official event and called for peace.
Photo of King delivering his appeal for peace. Douglas Burrows, Liason/Getty Images
“Can’t we all get along? Can’t we get along? Don’t do this for me,” he begged.2 Plenty of people mocked his simple message, but I thought it was perfect. For a man without a higher education, struggling with alcoholism, he spoke with an astounding degree of intelligence and compassion. Instead of some professionally written speech, he spoke from the heart. And the rioting petered out, the flames subsided, replaced by steam and wisps of smoke. Bodies were buried. Brooms came out.
That was in the 1992, but I still hope for Rodney King’s philosophy to reverberate with some of the more electrified members of our social-political scene, and with my friends and neighbors. Please, can’t we all get along? After anti-MAGA called Donald J “Hitler” for close to eight years, the title has faded from overuse. After MAGA complained repeatedly about abortion, the resolve of people who support it seems more robust than ever. Biden is not a communist or a socialist, and Trump isn’t a fascist. That is not saying that either man governs in a way that pleases me; they don’t. But both men have the best interests of the US in mind. The icing is different but the cake is the same. Enough with the hyperbole, okay?
Rules — The Constitution is clear about the powers given to the chief executive, the commander in chief, and it is fairly obvious that our federal government has swelled in size to the point that it is neither efficient nor effective. The cost of doing things these days is impossibly high, and much of that is because of our government has taken on too much. The feds are doing things that are specifically limited to the individual states. This has resulted in a federal debt that is unsustainable – it cannot go on forever. Either spending is reduced, drastically, or we drop off a cliff. Simply put, our federal debt has been traced directly to the increase in extra services taken on by the US.3
Currently, Trump has been signing executive orders reversing executive orders signed by Biden. A close friend of mine spoke of his worry that some good rules Biden had put in place were going away. My response to that was if Congress had passed legislation and Biden had signed it, Trump could not make them go away. We’ve gotten this all wrong; Congress is supposed to make the rules and the president is supposed to enforce those rules. If Congress will not act, then it is up to the voters in each representative’s district to vote for candidates that will. Short of that, the president should really not have as much power.4
Now that Trump is being Trump, I fully expect the bickering to continue, with the noise coming from the other side of the aisle. I sense a renewed resistance heading our way, with the enthusiastic support of most news media. Dissent is American. The country was founded on it. But resistance against enforcement of the law is wrong, as should be executive orders made that are so obviously in violation of the Constitution. Here’s to hoping we can avoid bloodshed in the Capital again, and in Seattle, Portland, and those mid-western cities that burned to stop police brutality. No matter how bad people perceive a president to be, hurting, killing, burning, looting – it’s all bad.
The Beatles sang Come Together, which was originally meant to promote a long-shot candidate for governor of California.5 Though both fancifully frivolous, and carry a message implied by the title should serve as a guide for all patriotic Americans.
Return to Unity? — It is with trepidation that I predict our national unity will soon be reinstated as we pivot to face unprecedented challenges from afar. No matter who the president is, many humans in other countries harbor ill will for us. People resent our relatively comfortable lifestyle. Our farmlands are productive and our minerals largely unexploited. We would make a great meal for some aggressors. Furthermore, beyond the resources in our portion of the earth, competition for strategic advantage in the world is heating up. Our past role as the world’s policeman suggests to would-be emperors that the US just might hinder their territorial ambitions.
Guess where.
History Repeats Itself — Beginning in the 15th century European powers, and later the US, spread people and influence throughout the globe, establishing colonies, trading partners, bringing good and bad stuff, abusing some, curing some, enriching a few, killing more, bringing material goods, and taking resources. It was not always a pleasant experience for those original residents. Giving material comfort often had unintended but negative consequences.
After Japan had modernized with the advent of trade with Europeans, Japanese looked around and saw pale faces exploiting Asians and wondered, “Why should they have all that fun?” So Japanese entities ventured forth to join in. Japan’s leaders promoted the doctrine called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The goal expressed to Western leaders during The Great War (now called World War One), was unifying the various countries into a regional trading unit. The more prescient observers suspected the real goal; the reinforcement of Japanese hegemony in the region. By the 1930’s Japanese military units engaged in rape, plunder, and brutal oppression of citizens of Manchuria, Korea, French Indochina, and China.
The US and other western countries objected to this aggression and imposed trade restrictions on Japan. When the Japanese built military airfields in French Indochina, the US imposed an embargo on oil shipments to Japan. Six months later Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor.
Now, another Asian country has been expanding beyond the region, and increasing global influence. Eyes to the Pacific, people. Cast your eyes to the Pacific. Look westward beyond Hawai’i, past Japan, to that one smallish island that lies around longitude 23 and latitude 121. Yeah, that one. How will the US and the world respond to a blockade of Taiwan? Donald Trump claims the Panama Canal is operated by a foreign power (not the USA). How will it react to the reclaiming of the Pathway Between the Seas?
As an American people, as we did after 9/11, we had better unify once again. We should settle our differences, make compromises, stop vilification of “others” and speak calmly. As the man said, can’t we all get along?