You da Man!

You da' Man

James, Tripp, and Jim drive up in the black Mercedes from 137th in Harlem to Fisher's Island to meet Chris and to play some golf at the Island Club....Chris is a member... a perk of his gig as Island Doctor...the initiation fee to join the club might ordinarily be as much as $100K.

The Island... it's in New York State but just off the coast of New London, Connecticut.... is really an extension of the North Fork of Long Island... if you look at a map you can see the connection... the line terminates in Stonington, Cn....broken by the 'Race' a body of fiercely turbulent fast-moving water between it and Plum Island which has a sinister reputation as the site of the Department of Agriculture's obscure research of animal biological agents. The South Fork of Long Island extends parallel along the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island diving underwater past Block Island but resurfacing again in Martha's Vineyard.

Ping...ever-practical: "How's it look ahead on 95, particularly up around New Haven. Traffic often gets heavy there." Ping and Tripp were married in 2000. They celebrated at dinner hosted by Kate and Cam Baker at their house on Corinthian Island in Belvedere, Ca. The Baker's own Larkmead Vineyards in the Napa Valley and produce a wonderful Solari-labeled Cabernet Reserve on the land Kate's father accumulated in the early 40's. The first owner of Larkmead Winery in the early part of the 20th century was 'Firebelle Lillie' Coit.

Her legacy is that of a blithe-spirited, cigar-smoking, bourbon-sipping, poker-playing socialite who drove a team of six horses. She was a lifelong fan of volunteer firefighters after watching them battle the blaze that destroyed her family’s San Francisco home when she was 5.  She was the patron of station No. 5. Her gift to the firemen was San Francisco's Coit Tower.

All three hope for an 'adventure.' Adventure' is a word used among the extended Ingram family to refer... with a little tongue in cheek... to small unexpected events during the normal course of things, as an adventure, pronounced as in French with emphasis on the 'ure' dragged out and with air expelled through the nose...that is nasal. The word was adopted many years ago in Paris. Katherine had invited, as was her wont, a stranger she met at Alliance Francaise to Thanksgiving dinner. He was Turkish-German, dark-skinned, dressed in black, slight and shy.  All tried to make him feel comfortable. Katherine asked him why he had come to Paris. He brightened up, raised his head from his chest, smiled for the first time, and with great pride and bravery, announced: "Pour l'adventure." 

In case it's not obvious, the guest at that dinner was so self-effacing and small that it was hard for anyone there to imagine him involved in the great adventure so the association developed...an 'adventure' was small but delightful...because of his great burst of enthusiasm at the moment.... variation in the normal routine.

At Bridgeport, just off the I95 to New England, they stop and pick up Ping, at her apartment there that she purchased when working for GE Money, and trade cars to her big Jeep... although it only gets 8 miles/gal... but manages 4 plus a dog and the golf clubs and has a great map screen and voice driving directions...inviting a passenger to play with it during a drive. The navigator's directions are in a matter-of-fact-woman's voice and it appears to interrupt whenever, randomly, any conversation to say 'turn right on Blogget road in 200 yards.'

On the way out of town, James runs into "the Coffee Factory" in old Bridgeport around the corner to get coffee for everyone before they continue the trip.

In the car, James discovers that his Verizon Voyager cell phone has the same 'navigator' function as the expensive Jeep Cherokee display panel extra... plus it has traffic reports...and it includes also the turn by turn instructions...!

A discussion ensues:

Jim: "Do you suppose that there is a service that tracks cellphones from cell tower to cell tower and calculates speed and reports on map congestion points?"

Tripp: "If someone doesn't provide that service we should do. Dad you need a job." He says it smiling. Tripp thinks of his father as a 'maven' as described in Malcolm Gladwell's book the 'Tipping Point.'  He has concluded that a maven is great to have if you need detailed information. But often a maven is eager to relate more than you really want to know about something. 

James: "I'm afraid it's too late...look.".. he points out.." this display has highlighted areas that indicate congestion points."

James: "It looks OK...wait the screen seems to have frozen...I guess the cell service is spotty along here." He leans back in his seat, shaking his head...cell phone technology is indispensable yet incomplete.

The conversation then drifts:

Jim: "Ping are you looking forward to your new job in Shanghai?"

Ping: "Yes and no. It's new...a good company...Heidrick and Struggles...I will recruit CFOs for international companies with regional offices in the Far East. But it will be hard work. I will have many colleagues who have similar responsibilities in other specialties such as CIOs...some from Australia, Great Britain, China...and my Chinese colleagues...they get paid less, work twice as hard, and are very smart. It likely to be an exhausting, tough environment to work in."

Tripp: "What's the income spread in China, Ping...you know between the CEOs say and a worker. Is it anything like here...the great disparity....250 times sometimes?"

Ping: "Maybe greater...you know there's the philosophy: You work hard...you're successful...you get the rewards and you keep them."

James: " Well, look at Lehman Brothers. What about the rewards there? The upper levels of the company made millions doing deals in derivatives but don't have to pay it back when the firm goes into bankruptcy because the deals go bad."

Jim: "I think all this is an argument for progressive tax rates and high estate taxes."

Ping: "But why should successful people pay more than less successful. They earned their rewards."

Tripp: "Ping be careful, you know Dad loves this discussion. He will pull your chain."

Jim: "What a delightful American idiom: 'Pull your chain.' What does it actually mean?"

Tripp: "Dad in your case, I think it means to take a position that you know is contra to another's for the somewhat perverse pleasure of seeing them become slightly uncomfortable trying to defend their view."

Jim: "I think that definition works." He smiles. "Ping, is there a similar idiom in Chinese? I think one literal meaning is to pull the chain of a monkey to cause it to chatter. Maybe that translates better."

Ping: "I'm sure there is... Chinese is a very idiomatic language also...but I can't think of it at the moment.

James: "Ping I've often wondered about Chinese sense of humor. 

Ping hesitates then relates: " My Chinese friends laugh at the western sense of humor that manifests itself in Confucius jokes... for example,  Confucius says: 'Man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement.'

James: "That's interesting. What is there about that joke that is funny to you?"

Ping: "It's the awkward abbreviated wording and the juxtaposition with Confucius, I suppose, who wouldn't have said anything like that."

Jim: "But back to the subject. I think someone's financial success is not only a result of virtue...such as hard work... and equally maybe, even more, a function of genes, family environment, and a consequential simple adeptness at commerce. And all material 'success' is based on the exploitation of the 'commons'...the earth's resources...that belong to everyone equally."

Some of us have commercially relevant inheritance and physical and mental adeptness. Some of us are encouraged by our environment to diligently hone that natural adeptness into expertise. Some of us do not. Those that do and achieve commercial success through gift and focused preparation should pay more into the community because they have benefited more from the commercial meritocracy that the US has created as the paradigm of 'success.' Higher progressive taxes are a fair bargain in my opinion...the more 'success' you have at exploiting the commons the more of the emoluments of success you should share with the less adept...right?"

The traffic is light and they arrive at the ferry in New London early. Tripp grabs the first slot in line, positions the Jeep, returns to the group standing in front of the ticket office and they continue the discussion as they wait. James scans the row of old buildings behind them along the old waterfront that surrounds the ferry terminal trying to identify a coffee shop...he's caffeine depleted.

Ping: "But what a fatalistic philosophy. And American's think Asians are fatalists. Why should anyone work harder if they don't get more rewards? It's a matter of simple economic justice. I don't buy this 'economic determinist' stuff."

James: "Yeh, big Jim..what do you say to that?"

Tripp: "I think I agree with Dad...maybe for the first time.

I just think that much of a person's reactions to opportunity is some unpredictable proportion of innate capacity and preparation. So life's a chance... I agree. You know if I am confronted by a requirement to make a rapid decision to save a life...I have no idea of what I would do...maybe clutch... not because I would not want to respond heroically, but because I simply maybe don't have the instant clarity of mind that immediate reaction requires."

The ferry whistle interrupts the conversation and Tripp drives the Jeep onto the ferry ....and allows himself, as do all the other passengers who take cars over, in good humor to be abused verbally by the guy who directs each driver as he backs his vehicle onto the lower deck ...

actually visually abused because rather than saying something when the driver doesn't respond correctly to his not always unambiguous hand signals...he stares at length... stock still...with evident disgust and loathing...and the driver gets the message...'you're an idiot and you don't deserve to go on this ferry to my island.'"

Ping, James, and Jim walk gingerly across the 'plank' onto the deck and clamber up the stairs to the observation deck. The conversation does not return to the earlier subject. Ping stares out toward the island in the distance perhaps thinking of a similar scene in China.

Instead, the group passes the 45-minute ride to the island exclaiming about the weather...and the water and the boats... and the large General Dynamic plant on the shore...are submarines still being built there?...the graceful catamaran ferry destined for the North Fork of Long Island less than 10 miles away... and the golf game scheduled for immediately after lunch.

That evening the five return from the Island Club course. After lunch they had first hit unlimited practice balls... from large wagons filled with balls and a scoop to fill smaller plastic baskets.....on the driving range...a supreme pleasure for all who had had to pay $.25/ball at Chelsea Piers in the City...and then played 18 holes on the Scottish links-style course from which the waters of the Sound are visible on almost every hole.

James and Chris and Tripp make dinner...cooking T-Bone steaks on the grill outside on the landing and fixing a large salad. It is late, all are flagging after the long day... it's maybe 9PM... the dishes are piled in the sink after the dinner is finished...when the two-way radio Chris keeps in his apartment, over the Island Medic Clinic building, crackles:

First radio voice: "screech....(that sounds that two-way radios emit when keyed on and off) Where the hell is the doc? Why doesn't he answer the call?"

Second radio voice: "Where did you say the accident is?"

First radio voice: "Suzie...It's off the third fairway of the Hay Harbor Club ...it's just across the street from your house."

Chris after locating the radio on the desk: This is Dr. Ingram...What's going on?

Second radio voice. "Chris... this is Suzie. What took you so long to answer your radio?... we've got a report of a car accident on the golf course and the driver has a possible broken leg."

First radio voice: "Doc, can you get here...the driver of a 'Big' Club van is in bad shape. Over"

Chris: "Bring him here to the Clinic. Uh...Over." stumbling, unaccustomed to using the stylized language of the emergency radio.

First radio voice: "We can't, Doc...we can't get him out safely. The van missed the curve, ran through a wooded area, and careened over a hill and down front-end first into the fairway of the fourth hole of the golf course. The EMTs, the fire department, and the police...we are here and we are having trouble getting him out of the van."

Chris: "What's his condition? Is he conscious? Over"

First radio voice: Deep face and head lacerations, bleeding, and a broken lower leg. I can see bone.... and no, he's unconscious."

Chris: Have you pulled the ABCC procedure?  If not, do it now. I'll be right there...Stabilize him. Organize your resources. Out"

Chris: "James will you go with me? I think I am going to need help."

James: "Let's do it." And he donned a jacket and flip-flops...a breeze had sprung up....and walked out onto the landing and down the stairs to the little Toyota Corolla parked in the area behind the clinic.

The fourth hole is just 5 minutes away on the small island. Automobile accidents are rare. There are only a couple of hundred full-time resident families and normally there's no hurry to get any place that would require excess speed.

The emergency lights from the fire department are set up. The gasoline generator putters away. The white van reflects the light. It tilts awkwardly toward the front... its rear wheels slightly off the ground... nose down in the grass of the fairway. The small steep hill over which the van plunged emerges at the extremes of the circle of light. The lighter sea, a mile away, brightens the horizon, pushes up the dark into the sky.

Maybe 20 people line the road or stand near the van... milling. Police, fire, and Suzie Parsons who heads the Island community medical board and lives across the road from the golf course have arrived. Five volunteer EMTs surround the van trying to help...but the doors are not open ...one man is inside sitting in the passenger seat leaning over the driver... blood is evident...a buzz of rapid conversation as the medics interact.

Chris and James reach the van, clambering over a fence and across the fairway. James realizes that the injuries are greater than he first imagined. His flip-flops will not do. He returns quickly to the car and puts on the only thing available ...his golf shoes

Chris: " I want him out of there and onto a stretcher."

EMT leader: "Doc...we're struggling a little here."

Chris: "Suzie, I'd like for James to help here...Extraction from a vehicle isn't my skill. I need this man where I can work on him. He may have head or spinal injuries."

Suzie: "He can't. He's not on the insurance. No way!" Suzie is an anomaly on the island. She is a member of one of the old families whose determined efforts have kept Fisher's in its pristine condition...perhaps the only beachfront along the East Coast that isn't exploited commercially or by private owners who insist on beach frontage. Yet there remain remnants of the original town population...the fisherman who occupied the island early in the island's life. Fisher's maintains a school...other municipal facilities...a library...and Suzie spearheaded the drive to raise the money to improve the medical facilities and to provide a full-time year-round doctor in residence.

Chris' mother, Katherine, while vacationing several years ago met. Maria, the resident doctor, while walking on the beach. The conversation which ensued revealed that her son Chris and Maria were former classmates at Columbia. Maria lives in New York with her husband and children. She essentially commuted to Fisher's after having served as a backup physician when she was an ER-resident at New London hospital. She was seeking someone with whom she might 'share' the job. Eventually, Chris succumbed to the charms of the Island and agreed to act as the resident physician for three months each year. He started this year.

Chris: "Suzie...I need help...this man is in bad shape. I need to determine if there are back, neck, internal injuries. He must have slammed hard into the steering wheel and maybe hit his head against the glass. And I don't see a seat belt. But he can't be moved without immobilization. James knows how to do that...He's an EMT with FDNY. I need his help! What if your guys move this guy inexpertly? Isn't that a potential source of greater difficulty"

Suzie looks around, thinks for only a moment, and agrees: "OK do it."

James confident, at ease, sizes up the situation up...thinks through the next steps... he's sensitive to the pride of the local EMT group...all are volunteers.

James to the EMT team: "Who is the team leader? Lloyd?...OK, Lloyd...look this is your thing, but I have done a lot of these. I work downtown in New York for the FDNY. I'm willing to pitch in. It looks like you guys have made a good start. My name is James." Lloyd is a burly guy with large hands. His face is sunburned even in Winter even in the glarry light of the headlights of the emergency vehicles....the kind of guy who you want on your side. 

Lloyd: "We'd like your help, James.  We don't see this so often."

James: "First I want to immobilize his neck and back. It looks like you've got the bleeding under control and the leg splinted. But I want to take a body first limbs last approach." 

In the FDNY the theory is that an injured person will die from a body wound faster than a limb wound so the first order of business is the 90 seconds physical. This 'quick hands' procedure is practiced often during FDNY EMT training. James can do it blindfolded. ...e.g.,..inspect the ear canal, check to see if a pus-y clear fluid is present indicating concussion. The idea is to pass the hands from head to thighs feeling for any abnormality testing with fingers the voids in the body where blood might pool from internal bleeding. If the patient is conscious, an EMT applies the 3 times 3 procedure where a patient's extremity is touched and the patient's reaction noted and asked three questions to determine alertness...What day is it?

"I want to remove him from the van so Chris can examine him. But I want to get the backboard in there and I need a way to back out. Do you have the "Hurst" tool to cut the windshield away? Also, do you have a collar, shoulder straps, spider straps, head rolls ready?"

Lloyd: "No Hurst...just JOL, but the rest... yes."

James: "Yea, well my mistake...we call JOL "Hurst" in the City...but Hurst is the manufacturer...maybe we will not need the JOL. Can we get the back doors open and lay down the passenger side seat?"

Lloyd: "Yea, great idea. We can slide the backboard in and move him over."

James: "First I want the collar on and I need two guys to reach in and hold his head still."

EMT Leader: "Charlie, Stacy, take your direction from James."

James: " Stacy, hold his head with both hands. Use your index and second fingers to press slightly at the base of the skull on each side. Once you locate the spots and get your fingers in place do not relax, until I say so ... and that's going to be after I have inserted the collar and strapped him to the board. Got it? You've got to be prepared to move with him as we nudge him over to the passenger side. Charlie, help me with the backboard...grab the collar...have the spiders at hand."

Slowly and carefully James, Stacy, and Charlie extract the driver and immobilize him on a stretcher. Chris examines him...checks the compression on the lacerations and tests the stability of the splint.

Chris: "Let's get him to the dock. James and I will go across with him to New London with you Lloyd. Call it in."

The Fisher's Island Medical Committee has organized the delivery of medical services for the island. Among the units are the volunteer EMTs and a fast boat that can transport patients to an emergency room in New London.

The ambulance arrives at the dock with Chris, James, and Lloyd. Randy captains the boat or "the Sea Stretcher" as they call it...

Its twin 250HP Yamahas are purring. The boat has a catamaran hull. The twin hulls reduce the motion of the boat when the waves are up. A stretcher carrier is rigged athwart-ship on gimbals that allow the stretcher to counter any movement of the boat and remain oriented upright and level. The gimbals are ingenious. Just as is a compass on a boat, the stretcher is mounted within two concentric circles attached at four major points 90 degrees apart, so that any abrupt acceleration causes the stretcher to dip or any sideways motion as the ambulances careens around a corner to maintain its orientation to the horizontal. James had never seen anything like the setup and he makes a mental note to determine if the design could be adapted to the FDNY ambulances. Today an FDNY EMT, in a fast ride with an ill patient, braces, and wedges the stretcher cat-i-cornered into the back of the ambulance so as to minimize any shifting during tight turns or rapid stops.

James worries about shock, motions to Chris with the drip line against the roar of the wind and the engines, obtains a nod from Chris, sets up a drip line to reduce shock, holds the patient steady while Chris straddles the stretcher, moves with the motion of the boat, finds the vein and inserts the needle.

Chris checks the patient's pulse rate and blood pressure, peals an eyelid open to examine his iris. The patient regains consciousness and his signs stabilize. His eyes brighten when he recognizes Chris from the Club and he realizes he's with a doctor.

James helps Lloyd fill out the report that must be presented to the receiving EMT team.

They arrive at the New London dock. An ambulance waits. James accompanies the stretcher to the ambulance.

James turns to Chris: "Does this qualify as an 'adventure'?"

The large New London-based EMT leader watches James and crew approach, then checks the patient, nods with satisfaction at the setup, touches the neck collar, tests the spiders, looks over the paperwork, turns to James, and with his thumb turned up from an outstretched hand, says:

"You da Man!"

steppenwolf's Monster Suicide America

Steppenwolf's lyrics to the Monster Suicide America song

Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope

Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child

To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end

While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child

To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind

'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told

Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand

We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost

'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

Iconic collective actions

An Initial List of Government Achievements

Let’s start by taking up Rush Limbaugh’s challenge: can we name any government programs that have worked? Actually, that is quite easy to do. What follows is a short list of some of the federal government’s greatest accomplishments. These are policy programs that have not only worked, but have been very successful and have greatly improved the quality of life of most Americans.

• Regulation of the Business Cycle. Until the financial crisis that began in 2008, most of us had forgotten how dependent we are on the federal government to prevent economic depressions. Since the 1930s, the government has used a variety of monetary and fiscal policies to limit the natural boom and bust cycles of the economy. Before government took on this responsibility, severe depressions were a routine and recurring problem in this country – occurring in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1907 and 1929. Thanks to government intervention, we have been able to avoid the enormous amount of human suffering caused by these massive economic meltdowns – the widespread joblessness, the destitution, the rampant hunger, the disease, the riots, the hopelessness and the despair. By any measure, eliminating these depressions and this misery has been one of the greatest – and often unheralded – achievements of our federal government.
• Public Health Programs. A variety of programs run by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local Public Health departments have greatly improved the health of most Americans. For example, the scourges of polio, cholera, and smallpox have been effectively eradicated from this country – a huge achievement. And vaccination programs have reduced by 95% our risks of contracting potentially debilitating diseases like hepatitis B, measles, mumps, tetanus, rubella, and diphtheria. Federal funds spent on buying and distributing these vaccines have saved countless lives and the billions of dollars it would cost to treat these illnesses. In addition, the dedicated scientists who work for the CDC are all that stand between Americans and a potentially catastrophic epidemic imported from abroad. The most likely and worrisome threat is from a new and deadly strain of bird flu. The last deadly flu epidemic to hit the United States, in 1918, killed over 675,000 people in matter of months.
• The Interstate Highway System. Started by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s, this system now forms the backbone of long-distance travel and commerce in the United States. It makes up less than 1% of our highways, but carries almost a quarter of all roadway traffic. It has also allowed millions of Americans to move out of big cities and live in more pleasant suburban and small town environments. In addition, the interstate system has the benefit of being considerably safer than the old two-lane highways it replaced – saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Even some conservatives have been forced to admit the success of this building program, with George Will calling it “the most successful public works program in the history of the world." It’s hard to imagine the U.S. without this interstate highway system, and this system would not exist at all if it weren’t for the government.

• Federal Deposit Insurance. Another government program we've taken totally for granted until recently is federal protection of our bank deposits. In bad economic times, banks are inherently vulnerable to destructive "runs" – where worried depositors all seek to take out their money at the same time. Before the FDIC, in the depression of the 1930s, over 5,000 banks went bust and millions of Americans lost their savings. The main reason we had no disastrous runs on banks (and money market funds) during the financial panic of 2008 was that government was there to guarantee those deposits.
• Social Security and Medicare. Without these two government programs, growing old would be hell for many Americans. Before Social Security and Medicare, millions of the elderly were doomed to spend their retirement years in poverty and illness. Social Security has cut the rate of poverty for the elderly by over half – from 29% in 1966 to 10% today. Not surprisingly, financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn has described Social Security as “arguably the U.S. government's greatest success.” Medicare has also been incredibly successful. It has doubled the number of the elderly covered by health insurance, so that 99% now enjoy that benefit. Without this form of “socialized” medicine, 15 million of our neediest citizens would be going without many vital medical services and many would have to choose between food and medicine. Older Americans are now living 20% longer, thanks in part to this effective program. These two programs have done more than anything else to relieve the pain and suffering of our elderly population.
• GI Bill Without this program, the middle class as we know it would not exist. The GI Bill provided government funds for 16 million World War II and Korean veterans to attend college. It allowed my father to become the first one in his family to graduate college, to become an engineer, and to go on to build a middle-class life for our family. Historian David Kennedy has remarked that “GI Bill beneficiaries changed the face of higher education, dramatically raised the educational level and hence the productivity of the workforce, and in the process unimaginably altered their own lives.”⁷
• Federal Housing Authority. The middle class housing building and buying boom in the United States was initially financed by cheap GI Bill housing loans and by Federal Housing Authority insurance of conventional home loans. In 1945, only 44% of Americans owned their own home. But thanks in large part to the FHA program that lowered interest rates and down payments, 63% of Americans owned a home by 1968. These homes have become a multi-generational source of wealth for tens of millions of Americans. The FHA still insures over $50 billion a year in mortgages, and remains especially important for low-income house buyers.
• Consumer Protection. In reaction to increasing public pressure in the early 1970s, government began to pass legislation to protect consumers from shoddy and dangerous products. The Consumer Product Safety Commission remains the key agency enforcing these laws. The need it fills is still a vital one – products kill over 20,000 consumers a year and injure over 25 million more. It would be far worse if the CPSC did not recall hundreds of products every year. It is estimated that its activities produce $10 billion in savings on the health care bills, property damage, and other costs associated with these defective products.
• Anti-Discrimination Policies. Since the 1960s, policies like the Civil Rights Act and Title IX have chalked up impressive gains in decreasing discrimination against minorities and women. Racial segregation in hotels, restaurants and other public facilities has been eliminated. Housing discrimination and workplace discrimination, while not completely eradicated, have been substantially reduced. College enrollment for minorities has greatly increased, jumping 48% during the 1990s alone. In terms of gender, workplace discrimination and sexual harassment have decreased and record numbers of women are now attending colleges and graduate schools. There is still room for improvement – particularly in the area of equal wages – but it is clear that these policies have made substantial progress in eliminating racist and sexist practices that had existed for hundreds of years.
• Clean Water and Clean Air Programs. America’s water and air are significantly cleaner than they were in the 1960s, thanks to federal legislation. The levels of four of the six air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act – nitrogen dioxide, smog, sulfur dioxide, and lead – have been reduced dramatically, by an average of 53%. The quality of the air has significantly increased in virtually every metropolitan area in the U.S. The Clean Water act has been similarly successful. When it was passed in 1972, only one-third of the nation’s waterways were safe enough for fishing or swimming. Today that has doubled to two-thirds. And while only 85 million Americans were served by sewage treatment plants in 1972, that figure has now risen to 170 million.
• Workplace Safety. Businesses love to complain about the rules of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and sometimes its policies have been a bit overboard – but it has clearly been very effective in greatly increasing the level of protection for American workers. In 1970, the year before the creation of OSHA, 22,000,000 people were injured on the job and 14,000 died from job-related injuries. Since then, OSHA has helped to cut occupational injury and illness rates by 40 percent. Even more important, between 1980 and 2002, workplace deaths fell from 7.5 per 100,000 workers to 4.0. Particularly impressive has been its success against brown lung disease among textile workers, which has been virtually eliminated.
• The Military. Even Rush Limbaugh, who has never met a government program that he likes, admits that the U.S. military is a great success story. Although debates continue to rage over how the military should be used, there is complete agreement that our Army, Navy, and Air Force are the most effective military organizations in the world today. We have the best trained and the best equipped armed forces, and they have an unparalleled ability to effectively project military force – as was demonstrated in the two recent Gulf wars. In the case of the military, the government has clearly done an exemplary job of creating a well-working and effective organization.
• The West. Although few Americans think about this, much of the Western United States as we know it today is the creation of various federal programs. It has been that way from the very beginning, starting with government-sponsored explorations of the West in the early and mid-19^thcentury. It continued with the federal government providing the money and troops for the depressingly efficient program of “Indian removal.” The government also sold public land to settlers for low prices and sometimes even gave it away. The railroads, which spurred so much growth in the West, would not have been built without massive subsidies from the federal government. And today, much of the farming in many Western areas is made possible by federal water projects, substantial parts of the ranching are subsidized by the artificially low grazing fees on federal property, and much of the mining is made more profitable by dirt cheap access to federal land. Cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas would dry up and blow away without the federally funded dam and canal projects that provide water to those arid regions. So it is ironic that while anti-big government sentiment is very strong in parts of this region, the West literally would not and could not exist as it does today without the sustained help of the federal government.
• National Weather Service. This government agency not only makes your life more convenient by forecasting your daily weather, it also helps to ensure the safety of planes in the air and ships at sea and it has saved countless lives with its hurricane and tornado warnings. It also just keeps getting better. It’s predictions of hurricane paths has improved by fifty percent during the past 15 years; and its forecasts of weather 72 hours in advance is now as reliable as 36-hour forecasts 25 years ago.
• Poverty Policies. This may seem counter-intuitive. Everybody knows that poverty policy is the classic example of government failure. How could it possibly be considered a success when the poverty rate is essentially the same as it was thirty years ago? The answer is that most of the policies aimed at the poor in the U.S. were never intended to get them out of poverty. They were only intended to alleviate the suffering of the poor – and studies have shown that they have been very successful in doing this.⁸ For example, food stamps have worked to greatly reduce hunger and malnutrition among the poor. The poor are much healthier and have more access to medical treatment thanks to Medicaid. And rent subsidies have allowed many of the poor to move out of places with leaking roofs, inadequate heat, and faulty plumbing. These three programs form the backbone of our anti-poverty efforts – their combined budgets are eight times larger than that for welfare – and in terms of achieving their stated goals, these programs have to be considered impressive government successes.
• Student Financial Aid Programs. College is getting increasingly expensive and more and more students require financial help to attend. The federal grants, loans, and work study money provided by the Department of Education form the largest source of college financial assistance, providing billions of dollars in funding each year. These programs have worked to remove financial barriers for students and thus create more equal opportunity in higher education. They have been a major factor in producing the rapid increases in college enrollment seen in the last 50 years, and they have also contributed to the increasing class and racial diversity of the college population.
• Food and Drug Safety Programs. The federal government enforces extensive rules to protect the public from tainted food and directly regulates both the meat and poultry industries. It also plays a key role in ensuring the safe use of pesticides on agricultural products, both from here and abroad. Federal authorities are also on the frontlines in combating new threats to our food system, such as mad-cow disease. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration ensures that the drugs we take are pure and effective – an enormously complicated enterprise. Every year the FDA identifies almost 3,000 products that are unfit for consumption and ensures their withdrawal from the marketplace. Americans are undoubtedly safer and healthier thanks to these government programs.
• Funding Basic Science Research. Most research on basic scientific topics – in physics, biology, chemistry, etc. – does not have immediate commercial applications and so this work is highly dependent on government funding. Federal funds pay for 80% of the basic science research in this country, through laboratory facilities in universities and in government agencies such as the National Institutes for Health. For this reason, the government deserves a great deal of credit for the important scientific and technological breakthroughs produced by these efforts. In just one area – biomedical science – basic research has provided the foundation to develop new diagnostic technologies, such as nuclear magnetic resonance machines, and new treatments for cancer, diabetes, and many other diseases. It is revealing that nearly half of the most important medical treatments in the field of cardiovascular-pulmonary medicine have their origins in basic research attempting to unravel the mysteries of the lungs, heart, and muscles – work done by scientists not working in this specific disease area.⁹ Beyond such practical payoffs, government-funded basic research has also made important progress in answering many of the most profound questions that have baffled humanity for centuries: What is the nature of matter and energy – and the nature of reality itself? How did the universe begin? How will it end? Are we alone in the universe? What is the nature of life – and how did it begin? The achievements of basic science in the United States have been many and stunning – and these are achievements of government as well.

Nick Katzenbach and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

This is a story that I heard from Nick Katzenbach about his role in the formulation and passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  see this web link. 

I had no role at all personally...Kath and I were living in Maryland out Massachusetts Avenue in the Woodacres neighborhood at the time... and I was busy trying (successfully it turned out) to get a job in Germany and we were largely indifferent to the machinations of the Government...even something as important as the Civil and Voting Rights Acts. So we were unaware at the time of the momentousness of the events surrounding the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

But later, after leaving government, after having served as Deputy Attorney General, Attorney General, and Deputy Secretary of State, Katzenbach became IBM's General Counsel in the 1980s and would come to Washington... I was working for IBM's government relations office on K Street...the infamous K Street corridor of lobbyists. I had worked in Germany, California, France, and then returned to Washington.

It was IBM's practice to attach a Government Relations (GR) guy to any IBM senior executive who came to town because generally, IBM's executives were unfamiliar with Washington and the various 'risks' of  the political environment presented to an unwary businessman, but that was a ridiculous rationale when applied to Nick Katzenbach who knew more about working in Washington than I or any of my colleagues ever would.

When Katherine and I came back from France in 1983, I joined IBM's "government relations department" ...a euphemism for 'lobbying group'...in Washington, DC as Corporate Director of Technology Policy Programs... a right-sounding title.... but, like bank vice presidents, there were a lot of us.

IBM ran its lobbying group like a law firm...that is, those of us in charge of certain policy areas...such as in my case 'technology policy'... had to have 'clients' within the IBM company who formed a policy position...

this was to discourage 'freelancing' ...that is a lobbyist advancing a personal political agenda...I must admit, I was guilty of this on occasion... but officially any 'IBM view' that I expressed to Congress or the Executive branch on behalf of IBM had to have been backed up by a senior executive 'client' who had espoused that view after gaining concurrence of it within the corporation... 

but reality intervenes...policy positions were formulated only rarely in this orderly manner...most of the time I, as the 'manager' of the perception of IBM's policy position on any given subject, would, in fact, absent an executive formulation, 'draft' a position on an issue and organize concurrence within IBM...the reverse of the process...rather than a top-down approach...this is not especially unusual...I suspect most corporate political positions are originated by specialists within their lobbying groups...and then adopted as a corporate position after the fact....or before the fact, but as a result of advocacy by the government relations person rather than the corporate policy person...this is not to argue that corporate lobbyists are smarter, but simply that they do have the time to think about issues and the incentive and the information to formulate a coherent political position...they do what they are paid to do...

...of course, senior IBM executives wanted to come to Washington and to interact with political figures in the Congress or the executive branch...so any senior IBM visitor...that is a 'client'... would be escorted by his contact in the lobbying group....for example, 'me' ...to any meetings with government officials... the unofficial reason for this was because while senior executives have power and budget money and have strong views on issues ...often in calls on the Hill or in the Executive Branch they would say things that really did not represent IBM corporate views...it was not as a surprise...but this tendency was to be monitored and 'contained' ..some sort of order and conformity was necessary...I don't mean this was rampant but frequent enough to cause the creation of this scheme of 'minders'. 

If during a meeting, an IBM visitor/client would announce an off-the-wall view, I, for example, would not contradict him at the time...but I would attempt to change the subject such as in this manner: "Well Senator Gore, your staff director told me that you have a floor vote in 10 minutes, so 'Bobby Joe X' our Senior Vice President for Asia and Latin America and Texas Sales would like to use this remaining time to explain our views on the telecommunications trade act being advanced by your colleague Senator Danforth in the Senate."

Then, as soon as possible, later that day or the next, I would get back to the staff contact of the person we had visited and explain that the IBM visitor had misspoken about this or that...most often the misstatement would have made no difference because, as large and powerful... economically... as IBM was in the 1980s, it was just one of many corporate 'constituents' with which a Senator or Representative might interact...

but occasionally it was important because the misstatement could have been used politically to IBM's discomfort...and the responsibility for the causing of that discomfort was not the visitor, but his 'contact', because the lobbying job included making sure that the IBM's formulated...'official' view about political issues was clearly and consistently expressed to the various representatives of the US Government and understood by the IBM visitor...

This is a long way around to get to the point that Nick Katzenbach...then, at the time of my story, was IBM's General Counsel...but he had been formerly, as I related above, Assistant Attorney General under Bobby Kennedy, then, Attorney General under President Johnson, after that Deputy Secretary of State...used to come to town from Armonk, NY...IBM's headquarters.. to 'call on' people in Washington...many of whom he had known as colleagues while in government...Nick had been brought into IBM...I think...to address the antitrust suit brought in 1969...there was a joke told by Frank Cary, then CEO of IBM, that Nick was the only man to have exceeded an unlimited budget. Incidentally, IBM used Cravath, Swaine, and Moore law firm in New York...and a young David Boies was the lead attorney in IBM's defense.

and I would pick Nick up at the private airport at National Airport in Washington in a black Lincoln private town car and we would make calls on various political figures in Washington...

well ..as you can imagine...with all Nick Katzenbach's experience and history, the idea that I was going to monitor or 'mind' his conduct with political personalities in Washington was absurd...

so I explained to him the first day I picked him up at National why I was even involved with his visits to Washington, and we both laughed about it, 

and I suggested that during the lulls between calls .. rather than look at each other or engage in trivial chit chat... or worse...  for me to try to explain to him some complicated political position that IBM was espousing... about which he would have already been intimately familiar...that maybe he might recall for me...since I was fascinated by the period... his roles in opening the University of Mississippi and Alabama to black students...it was Katzenbach that confronted and caused to back down Governor of Alabama George Wallace as he 'stood in the door' to bar the enforcement of the Brown versus Board of Education decision by the US Supreme Court...

and his active, although discrete, management of the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act....

plus his role in creating the Warren Commission to investigate the Kennedy assassination...

and his agreement to defend Clinton against impeachment...just to name only a few of the momentous events in which Nick Katzenbach participated...

and he agreed, by his agreement to tell me some stories, I confirmed, then, my belief that it's very difficult for anyone to say no to a request to relate stories in which they played a prominent and important role...

and Nick did not disprove my theory....who cannot speak to a listening ear...

By the way, he liked the now-defunct Jockey Club in the old Fairfax Hotel on Massachusetts Avenue for lunch...he did not like Harvey's on 18th street ..also gone...maybe because it was J. Edgar Hoover's favorite, ''Hoover", of course, worked for Katzenbach as AG, but Hoover was apparently a thorn in his side"...and believe it or not Nick liked Chrisfield II on Georgia Avenue...one of 'our' ...Katherine and me...favorite places for Maryland seafood.

Nick told me about his request to Dr. King not to make the Selma march....Dr. King refused his sincere request saying to him..."you're a white, male, Protestant, graduate of Philips Exeter, Princeton, Oxford, and Yale and you can't have any idea of what it is to be a black man in America today..."

Lyndon B. Johnson was appalled by the violence of 

that summer. Within days after signing the Civil Rights Act in July 1964, Johnson began pressuring Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to “write me the goddamn best, toughest voting rights act that you can devise.” Mr. Katzenbach got to work.  In fact, the bill was informally referred to as the 'Dirskenbach' bill 

because Nick enlisted Republican support by involving 

Minority Leader Everett Dirksen in its drafting. 

Although Democrats controlled both houses in 1965...

southern senators...all of who voted against it, 

tried to filibuster the bill, but cloture was invoked with Republican votes.

In 2017 the voting rights act was 52 years old and here's a great article comparing what John Lewis, who claims Trump's presidency is illegitimate, 

and who was disparaged by Trump using Twitter as ''all talk'... and Trump... were doing in the period preceding the passage of the Voting Rights Act. 

It's a revelation.