IS FREEDOM MORE THAN AN ILLUSION?

A recent visit to a very moving, emotionally taxing Japanese-American Exclusion Memorial on Bainbridge Island in Washington State's Puget Sound generated some disturbing thoughts about the concept of freedom. The exhibition memorialized one of the darker episodes in our country's history. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, we experienced a surge of anger and fear directed at people of Japanese descent. Emotions were fueled by long-standing racial prejudices and rumors. Expressions of concern about loyalty, fear of sabotage, or even a potential Japanese invasion of California, Oregon, or Washington served as an excuse for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 9066, which led to the transportation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese people. Two-thirds of the affected racial minority were American citizens. They were relocated to 26 sites in 7 western states, including remote locations in Washington, Idaho, Utah and Arizona. We, in essence, imprisoned U.S. citizens in what were fundamentally concentration camps, based only on their race. This was not very different from what the British did during the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902 in South Africa, or what the Nazis did in Europe during the second world war - be it without the systematic murder of inmates. Subsequent to our visit at the memorial, we made a point of stopping off at the Panama Hotel, made famous in Jamie Ford's book "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," which was located at the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. In it, still displayed, we discovered the belongings of Japanese families left there when they were rounded up and sent to the camps. They were only allowed to keep what they could carry. Many of the stored possessions were never reclaimed. One of the conspicuous historic documents posted in a display case on the outside of the hotel was a copy of a speech given by Phil S. Gibson, Chief Justice of California, in 1940. Its content struck a cord, and could well have been spoken today. It deserves to be quoted in its entirety: "There is every reason to believe that we will be called upon again and again to defend our liberties. We must prepare now for their defense against attacks from within as well as against attacks that may come from without. It is not necessary, however, to suppress the liberties of our people in order to prepare for their defense. In periods of national emergency, when we are all under great emotional stress, we are likely to be intolerant of others, whose views are not same as our own. Many good intentioned but, unthinking people, seek to deny constitutional freedoms to people who do not agree with the course our government has determined to pursue. In dealing with such situations we should not allow ourselves to be carried away by hysteria. We should be careful not to violate the rights guaranteed by our constitution. Liberty cannot be divided; it cannot be granted to a majority and denied to a minority. In a democracy, freedom means freedom for all. Denial of freedom anywhere in this country means its eventual disappearance everywhere." Aside from their historic significance, these words remain relevant within our contemporary political climate. Recent promises revealed by candidates contending to assume some of the most powerful political positions our system offers, include the use of internment camps for 15 to 20 million people, "bloody" deportations of Haitians from Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado, sending them "back to Venezuela." Aside from this idiotic statement of intent, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of these immigrants have legal Temporary Protected Status, the terminology used is indicative of a racist agenda. They are part of a larger volume of anti-immigrant and dehumanizing rhetoric which actively courts political violence. The Japanese motto displayed at the memorial reads: "Nidoto Nai Yoni," "Let it not happen again. Enough said. Theo Wierdsma

PROGNOSES OF ECONOMIC DISASTER ARE GROSSLY OVERRATED

Predictions of the imminent end of the world as we know it have been made for centuries. What they all have in common is that none of them have come true. Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, however, has a lot in common with some contemporary clairvoyants like John Hagee, Mark Blitz, David Meade, Ronald Weinland and Jean Dixon, when he predicted devastating outcomes for the U.S. economy if he was not reelected president in 2024. Earlier this year, on January 6, during an interview with Lou Dobbs, Trump even expressed the hope that the economy would crash during this coming year so he would not have to be "Herbert Hoover," who, during his first year in office was confronted with the stock market bubble bust, which led to the Great Depression. A few months later, he warned that our economy would enter a depression akin to the world-wide Great Depression of 1929-1939. He admonished that if Harris wins the election, the result would be a Kamala economic crash, a 1929-style depression. And he predicted that "when I win the election, we will immediately begin a brand new Trump economic boom. It will be a boom." During the previous Trump administration, inflation remained relatively low at 2.1%. The economy, Gross Domestic Product, grew at an average of 2.67%. Biden's grew 3.4%. The deficit worsened by trillions, topping $3.1 trillion during the pandemic. Unemployment increased to 6.4%. The Trump economy lost 2.7 million jobs during his presidency. Biden added 15.4 Million jobs. Our trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the highest since 2008, increasing 36.3% from 2016. Our national debt increased by 39%, from $14.4 to $21.6 trillion, reaching $27.75 trillion by the end of his term. The number of citizens without health insurance increased by 4.6 million. And, during his second year, Bloomberg News concluded that the Trump economy ranked number 6 out of 7 presidents preceding him, based on 14 metric of economic activity and financial performance. Our current, admittedly post-pandemic, economic situation looks much stronger. GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.1%. Inflation is down to 2.89%, the lowest since 2021. Unemployment tops at 4.3%. In 2023 our trade deficit narrowed to the smallest in 3 years. And the stock market, in which 57% of Americans contribute to a 401(k) is at an all time high. Although not entirely impossible, it appears difficult to give credence to Mr. Trump's prophecies of a return to a devastating depression akin to the crash of 1929 if he fails to reclaim the presidency. His record fails to support his ability to manipulate economic progress. During the Great Depression, real GDP fell 29%, the unemployment rate peaked at 25%, consumer prices fell 25%, wholesale prices dropped 32%, 7,000 banks, nearly 1/3 of our banking system failed, and the Dow dropped below 200. Daniel Alpert, managing partner of the investment firm Westwood Capital, sees it this way: "Donald Trump's greatest worry right now is that the economy is actually in very good condition. He understands that his free ride now is dependent on [the voters] bad memory of inflation. As that fades over time, in November he could be up against a candidate who [assisted] in stewarding a very strong economy, and the memories of inflation will have long passed." Theo Wierdsma