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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, April 12, 2025

RICH JOHNSON 

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STUART TOLCHIN

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


LIVING WITH CONTRADICTIONS

If you are reading this 
column, chances are 
you are familiar with 
the Wistaria Festival 
which is taking place 
the day this issue of the 
paper comes out.

 My clandestine research folks tell me 
there are 4,864 Festivals in the United 
States. If you are a big fan of festivals, 
you might like to know Houston, Texas 
leads the country in total number of 
festivals. Literally, hundreds according 
to my research department.

Speaking of our backyard, Wisteria is 
a genus of flowering plants in the legume 
family. When I think of legumes 
I think of chickpeas, lentil beans and 
peas. The genus “Wisteria” was named 
in 1818 after an American physician 
named Caspar Wistar. Our Wisteria 
Vine turns 131 years old this year and 
weighs in at approximately 250 tons. 
And by the way, a charming bit of trivia 
is the city intentionally misspells the 
Festival. The “Wistaria” Festival celebrates 
the “Wisteria” plant.

Enough about the wisteria origins. 
Since festivals are typically joyful let’s 
focus on other “fascinating” festivals.

The “Eukonkanto Festival”. This annual 
activity takes place in Finland. 
“Eukonkanto” in Finnish is translated 
as “wife carrying”. The Finlanders have 
turned it into a race. The husbands 
compete carrying their wives across 
the finish line. How you carry your 
wife is your business: piggyback, fireman’s 
carry, or authentic Estonian style 
where the wife hangs upside-down 
with her legs around her husband’s 
shoulders. The race is 253.5 meters and 
long riddled with obstacles...to simulate 
marriage. The prize? Your wife’s 
weight in beer.

“Cheese Rolling”, Annually in May, 
adults in Gloucestershire, a field of 
Englanders roll nine-pound wheels 
of Gloucester cheese down a steep hill. 
There are typically so many injuries the 
people who manage the annual event 
quit managing the event. Ironically, 
it didn’t slow down the event. Don’t 
know how many compete, but around 
4,000 people come to watch the annual 
spectacle. I wonder how many spectators 
are orthopedic surgeons handing 
out business cards?

“The International Hair Freezing Contest” 
in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. 
Held in February, the contestants dunk 
their heads in hot water pools followed 
by creating frosty hairdos by shaping 
their “locks” as their hair freezes. Average 
typical temperature at the event? 
-22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Average 
IQ? Much lower!

“The Lopburi Monkey Banquet Festival”, 
held every November in Lopburi 
Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand. 
The locals prepare a massive feast of 
4,000 kilograms of fruits, vegetables, 
cakes and candies to feed 2,000-3,000 
Macaque monkeys. Thousands of 
tourists flock to Lopburi to witness 
the Monkey Buffet Festival Fruit Frenzy 
Free For All! Warning: Do not get 
caught in the crossfire of a monkey 
food fight. They say it’s a common occurrence 
at the festival.

“The Water Gun Festival, South Korea” 
is an event we should consider adopting 
here in Sierra Madre. Every July, 
thousands of South Koreans beat the 
heat by engaging in squirt gun battles. 
This event has lots in common with the 
Wistaria Festival including concerts, 
street dancing and good food. Think 
of the possibilities in squirt gun battles 
up and down Sierra Madre Blvd.

“The Running of the Bulls!” We certainly 
cannot leave out Spain’s greatest 
annual event. The running of the 
bulls takes place in Pamplona’s San 
Fermin Festival. We let the bulls out in 
the morning to run up and down the 
streets of Sierra Madre. We wouldn’t 
want to injure bulls, so we would have 
to replace the bull fights. We could 
mix the Running of the Bulls with the 
Battle of the Oranges. This even takes 
place in Ivera, Italy every February. 
Buy 600,000 kilograms of oranges and 
have a food fight. If that sounds too 
dangerous, we could replace the oranges 
with ping pong balls.

Coincidentally, I once considered 
naming my column “The Running of 
the Bull”. The name seems like a perfect 
fit. I feared legal repercussion from 
the SPCA (Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals). It might give 
bulls a bad name.

I hope you are having a tubular weekend. 
We are losing are favorite Mediterranean 
Restaurant, Corfu which 
will close around May 1st. I’ll miss my 
favorite handout, but owner Vic Satamian 
is going to continue his catering 
business. If you get a chance, stop 
in for breakfast, lunch or dinner these 
next two weeks. 48 West Sierra Madre 
Blvd. Sierra Madre.

If you get a opportunity, commit an 
intentional random act of kindness for 
someone. 

Many Americans 
believe the phrase 
“All men are created 
equal” is the 
great cornerstone 
of American Democracy 
which 
was imbedded in 
the United States Constitution. This 
phrase has come to be seen as emblematic 
of America’s founding ideals. 
The phrase emphasizes the dignity 
and worth of all human beings. 
This single phrase of the American 
Revolutionary period encapsulates 
the belief that all “men” are created 
free and equal.

 Sure, the phrase only refers to “men” 
but today many of us believe that this 
reference to men was merely an historical 
oversight and is interpreted 
to mean that all humans have equal 
rights, dignity, and standing under 
the law. That is not the only problem 
relating to our present understanding 
of the phrase. As all political 
science majors like myself know this 
phrase, this understanding, was never 
a part of the United States Constitution. 
The actual phrase written by 
Thomas Jefferson with the assistance 
of Benjamin Franklin as a part of the 
statement entitled the Declaration of 
Independence which is not a part of 
American Law.

 The Declaration of Independence 
was written in 1776. The United 
States Constitution was written in 
1787 and was ratified and remains 
the“Supreme Law” of the land today. 
Surprisingly the words “democracy” 
and “privacy” are both absent from 
the Constitution. Delegates to the 
Constitutional Convention were all 
White |Christian Men and only one 
delegate was identified as a farmer. 
Even referring back to phrase contained 
in the Declaration of Independence 
Thomas Jefferson’s entire life 
was intertwined with the Institution 
of slavery. 

 Jefferson “owned” over 600 enslaved 
people yet also expressed opposition 
to slavery and advocated for its eventual 
abolition though he never fully 
acted on his beliefs. This creates a 
significant contradiction between 
his ideals and his actions. Returning 
once more to the phrase “All men are 
created equal”. The actual words are 
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, 
that all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain unalienable Rights." 
Now that presents a great problem 
for me. I do not believe that Jefferson, 
or anybody else, has any understanding 
of Creation, or a Creator, or 
any rights endowed by, as far as I am 
concerned, this fictitious character. 

Are you familiar with the Freedom 
From Religion Society advocated 
by Ronald Prescott Reagan, the son 
of conservative President and Governor 
of California, Ronald Wilson 
Reagan. The son of the ex-President 
concludes his statement with the assurance 
that he does not fear burning 
in Hell. Frankly I am surprised 
and conflicted by this advocacy. Although 
I firmly believe that the institutions 
of Religion mainly function 
to control and manipulate an ignorant 
population, I find myself admiring 
many of the religious people I 
have met.

 My wife, a graduate of Catholic 
Schools, is befuddled why I always 
intend to attend Easter Sunrise Services 
while maintaining my disbelief. 
It is hard to explain, even to myself, 
what it is that I admire about religious 
institutions. I believe it provides 
people with a sense of identity, a 
sense of community, a moral sense of 
right and wrong, and a reason to get 
out of the house on weekends. Sure, 
I believe that many religious people 
understand that the foundation of 
their belief is nonsense, yet, they 
bravely live with that contradiction.

What is our Democracy? To me it 
is a recognition that no mortal human 
has absolute knowledge about 
anything. There can be no King or 
autocrat who is empowered with absolute 
power. What the Constitution 
does do is to set up a system of checks 
and balances—a separation of powers 
into three separate categories. We 
live under a system of laws, a complex 
framework of rules, institutions, 
and procedures that regulate behavior 
and uphold justice. Is it a contradiction 
to say we believe in a system 
created by imperfect men who recognize 
their imperfection and create 
and maintain a system which recognizes 
that all men are flawed and, 
therefore, must be mistrusted and 
limited? 

 I think artificial intelligence presents 
a similar problem. Can a system 
created by men be more honest 
and just and accurate than the 
flawed men who created it? I have 
my doubts. Perhaps there needs to 
be opposing or conflicting or at least 
separated systems of artificial intelligence. 
It would be nice if there was 
some God around who would tell us 
what to do, but absent such a being 
we will all have to do just what we 
have always been doing---pretending 
we know what we are doing when 
we know we don't. I still like believing 
that “All men are created equal” 
means what I want it to mean. 

HOWARD Hays As I See It


“The Next President Inherits a Remarkable 
Economy” – Wall Street 
Journal headline, October 31 2024

When that headline appeared just 
before the election, wages had risen 4.1% over the 
previous year, outpacing the inflation rate of 2.7%. 
Recovering from Covid, by July 2023 U.S. inflation 
was among the lowest of all major economies; the 
lowest among those in the G7.

 In 2019, pre-Covid under President Trump, average 
job creation was 170,000 a month – which Trump 
called “the greatest economy ever”. Under Biden it 
was 250,000 a month.

 60,000 projects were launched under Biden’s Infrastructure 
Act – roads, ports, bridges - which Trump 
has been trying to kill. Two years into the CHIPS 
Act, 16 plants were in development to create 115,000 
manufacturing jobs, expecting to raise the U.S.’s 
share of global semiconductor production from 0% 
to 30% in ten years. That’s at risk, too - as the investment 
could instead be used for billionaire tax cuts.

The stock market under President Biden saw the 
Dow Jones climb 39%, the Nasdaq over 45% and the 
S&P 500 by over 55%.

In January 2024, at the start of Biden’s final year in 
office with markets continuing to break records, 
Trump posted, “This is the Trump stock market 
because my polls against Biden are so good”. Last 
month as markets fell due to tariff uncertainty, 
Trump told us it was because “Biden gave us a horrible 
economy”. 

The day before the April 2 tariff announcement, 
Trump bragged about “Honda just announcing a 
new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere 
in the world.” Honda promptly denied this – but 
reminded that “we have invested over $3 billion in 
advanced vehicle manufacturing in America in just 
the past three years” – under President Biden. 

In the two days following Trump’s “Liberation Day” 
announcement, $5 trillion in market value disappeared, 
slashing assets of the 62% of American 
adults who own stocks (many to secure their retirements), 
with global markets thrown into turmoil. 
The president complained of being “looted, pillaged, 
raped and plundered” by our trading partners; never 
acknowledging that the reason American companies 
do business with them is because it increases these 
American companies’ profits. 

At the tariffs’ unveiling ceremony, the White House 
offered up gibberish calculations. According to 
Axios, “there's nothing 
in the formula that 
represents tariffs or 
any other trade barriers 
imposed on U.S. exports”, 
calling it something 
you’d get “if you 
ask ChatGPT”. Former 
Treasury Secretary 
Larry Summers called 
it “utterly confused and 
incoherent”. Nobel laureate 
Paul Krugman 
termed the president’s 
remarks at the event 
“full-on crazy”.

The calculations led to Australian islands off Antarctica 
being hit with 10% tariffs despite having no 
trade, no population, no ports – just seals and penguins. 
And coffee shop owners faced with having to 
raise prices, possibly losing their businesses, because 
of tariffs on coffee bean imports from Honduras and 
Colombia – as if American-grown beans was an 
option.

There’s the 50% tariff on imports from Lesotho – a 
landlocked country in southern Africa. News coverage 
of their manufacturing showed a warehouse 
with rows of sewing machines and women stitching 
together Levis jeans. Vice President Vance spoke of 
manufacturing being done by “Chinese peasants” – 
suggesting this work should be done here by American 
“peasants”, instead.

After WWII when manufacturing helped build the 
middle class, a third of our workforce was unionized 
(it’s maybe a tenth now). A single blue-collar 
income could support a family. With a top marginal 
tax rate around 70%, investments were made not just 
in infrastructure but in the next generation – public 
schools and affordable higher education.

 Now there’s a war on both unions and on public 
education. To compensate for an anticipated loss of 
immigrant labor, Republicans have been targeting 
child labor laws. Rather than spending evenings at a 
public library prepping for a college entrance exam, 
kids instead could spend that time stitching together 
Levis. Maybe that’s what Vance has in mind. 

 As to whatever the president’s intent, James Carville 
explained it’s “just Trump going power mad . . . the 
idea he can just do something on his own, unilaterally, 
has great appeal to him. . . And then, of course, 
everybody’s got to call him . . . There’s no policy behind 
it . . . It’s just his ego playing itself out in public.”

 Right after the tariff announcement, as markets began 
to tank, Trump was off to his Saudi-sponsored 
LIV golf tournament at Trump National Doral in 
Florida.

 

The next day, thousands gathered in the Lithuanian 
capital of Vilnius to honor four American soldiers 
(including Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, from Glendale). 
It’d taken days for Lithuanian, Polish and U.S. 
troops to recover the bodies after their vehicle sank 
into the bog.

 Political and religious leaders, students and teachers, 
were there in tribute. Lithuanian President Nauseda 
told the gathering, “For us, it is more than a 
duty – it is an emotion. We have experienced trials 
in our history, and therefore, we understand well 
what loss is, what death is, what honorable duty is”.

The bodies of our servicemen came home at Dover 
Air Force Base, but our president wasn’t there. 
He was in West Palm Beach at the Trump National 
Doral.

 And he expects a grand military parade in his honor 
on his birthday. 

 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com