Michael Berry: The Czar of Talk Radio

 The Czar of Talk Radio

[*Author’s note:  as he wrapped up the past year sitting in the EIB chair, talking into the golden microphone that Clay Travis and Buck Sexton inherited from the great Rush Limbaugh, Houston radio personality Michael Berry was introduced to the largest talk-radio audience in the country, acting as the "substitute-teacher" guest-host for two dudes who are trying to fill the biggest shoes of the medium, upon Rush’s death earlier in 2021. This is a profile of Michael Berry for any loyal Rush listener tuning-in this past week, wondering who he was? I’ve been listening to him long enough, he seems like a brother to me, so here I go… all mistakes in fact and wild opinions are mine, Mr. Berry would not invite me to come to their new studio and had no comments for my article; any quotes are from on-air material.]

 Prologue: Inertia

Code Yellow Series: Aircraft Carrier Fiction

Blogging the US Navy 

Aboard the USS Gerald Ford

Hegel and the US Constitutional System, 200-years later

Hegel's Philosophy of Government and History (1822)

[Problem -- Reaction -- Solution]

(quote) "if a people [Deu = volk] can no longer accept as implicitly true what its constitution expresses to it as the truth, if its consciousness or Notion and its actuality are not at one -- then the people's spirit may be torn asunder. 

Two things may then occur:

·         First, the people may either, by a supreme internal effort, dash into fragments this law, which still claims authority, or it may more quietly and slowly effect changes on the yet operative law; which is, however, no longer true morality, but which the mind has already passed beyond. 

·         Secondly, a people's intelligence and strength may not suffice for this, and it may hold to the lower law; or it may happen that another nation has reached its higher constitution, thereby rising in the scale, and the first gives up its nationality and becomes subject to the other nation.

Therefore, it is of essential importance to know what the true constitution is; for what is in opposition to it has no stability, no truth, and passes away. It has a temporary existence but cannot hold its ground; it has been accepted but cannot secure permanent acceptance; that it must be cast aside, lies in the very nature of the constitution. [Hegel adds: "This insight can be reached through Philosophy alone."]

Revolutions take place in a state without the slightest violence, when the insight becomes universal; institutions, somehow or other, crumble and disappear, as each man agrees to give up his rights.

A government must recognize that the time for this has come; however, should it, to the contrary, knowing not the truth, cling to temporary institutions, taking what — though recognized — is inessential, as a bulwark guarding it from the essential (and the essential is what is contained in the Idea), that government will fall, along with its institutions, before the force of mind.

The breaking up of its government breaks up the nation itself; a new government arises, — or it may be that the government and the inessential retain the upper hand." (end quote)

G. W. F. Hegel (Germany, 1820s)

_________________________________________________________________________

In this year, 2020, immersed in the current crisis, there exists the perfect inflection point for our government to go through a "Hegelian" type, internal, philosophical, political, constitutional inventory: Problem - Reaction - Solution. Which way will it go? Are these questions rational or logical? How does the Hegelian paradigm work?

Deep concerns surfaced when I read Hegel and a few others, wondering about survival: will the intelligence and strength of our citizens be sufficient to seek and find their true course, will it become subject to another nation, or could it fall apart in order to make way for a new set of "essential institutions" which rise up and become a new kind of American government?

We all have a lot of time to think about these essential questions right now...

Massive change occurs naturally during holistic, governmental crisis, on the scale we're experiencing in the first half of 2020. Like an earthquake, the global pandemic and economic crisis opened a fracture in the earth and the ground shakes with panic. 

This is a philosophical discussion, not just economic speculation, and I'm not making any predictions. The fire is fed by fear, anxiety, and it's ignited by the various media sources fanning the flames. Our culture is not as resilient as the generation forced to fight WWII, and this uncertain interim period lacks the same moral debate of war, because of the mysterious, nebulous, viral enemy. I'm not an economist, nor an epidemiologist, and I realize that this is a complicated scenario; however this is not the rambling of a doomsayer.

Some in the US government are considering huge legislative changes, accompanying large infusions of cash into a broken economy. Chaos in a democracy always allows change-agents, and politicians the opportunity to shoehorn, or tack-on significant deviations from societal norms, while tinkering with the macro-economic challenges of an emergency. We've heard a lot of this already from Democratic candidates for President during the 2019-2020 election cycle. 

Congress is negotiating a gigantic fiscal stimulus package on Sunday, March 22, 2020, with sprawling legislation and billions of dollars of support; but what will be embedded inside the bill, and will this be the only one?

If the crisis extends 18-months or more, with total economic meltdown, it reaches into a zone in which capitalism is not designed to work. If government changes course, to a more liberal, socialist, strongly-regulated environment or direction, there are numerous areas where simple changes in the federal laws would bring about generational shifts.

If I were writing on a whiteboard, these would be the areas that come to mind:

• streamlined voting procedures (online and motor-voter laws)
• lessened immigration controls
• tightened gun-control
• internet free speech limited by federal agency
• universal basic income (cash for all)
• expanded welfare state to combat income inequality
• free, or pass/fail online university degrees
• government controlled healthcare (single-payor)
• elimination of electoral college
• criminal justice and "Bail" reform
• green "New Deal" legislation
• significant carbon taxes on fossil fuels
• restriction on oil & gas exploration & production in US
• legalization of many kinds of controlled substances
• de-militarization of federal government
• revised federal sentencing guidelines
• activist federal judiciary (changes in Article III)
• foreign policy/shifting alliances
• increased corporate responsibility via federal taxation
• 21st Century Bill of Rights very different than current one
  

These are just a few areas (not in any order) where a new government, elected for 2021, enacting numerous changes during a continued societal and economic crisis, spurred on by pandemic and economic collapse, could take advantage of an inflection point or a fork-in-the-road for the American Republic, forcing it to go in a very different direction.

I'm sure there are areas I've not mentioned, or cannot conceive; I'm not a federal expert, and merely an amateur philosopher. Also, this is not all-or-nothing, binary thinking; just a few of the zig-zags listed above could radically change specific sectors. Nevertheless, I'm reminded that the word "decision" comes from the Latin word dēcīdere literally, to cut-off; which tells me that these important decisions can have far-reaching consequences.

In a formal discussion of Hegel's "dialectal" pattern, one might argue even, that current problems facing the US government, give it a unique opportunity to exploit calamity, in order to offer solutions planned long before the current environment, wherein the people react by asking for government help, while giving up certain rights previously held? [Problem - Reaction - Solution - all a part of the plan?]

On the other hand, if Trump is re-elected, and the health contagion were to passover, these essential, "revolutionary" changes would likely not rise up and dominate. The government would stay on the course, probably, as it was from 2017-2020 in Trump's first term. Deep thoughts, as I contemplate which way it will go and what legislative changes could mean?

Predictably, a second term for the 45th President would surely tamp down these potential changes for another decade; retaining the same values that give current institutions the upper hand. The subsequent seven-months will tell how the next generation will run its government; it is a moment of truth which caused me to want to write, and hopefully discuss. At this unique time in history, Hegel came along to prompt the paradigm. Thanks George.  ##

©NoelleBuske (photograph)

©MarkPillsbury (opinions)

Why? (just three letters)

Why?

Poetry by Mark Pillsbury (2020)

At the center, there's me, just one letter: "i"
The cruelest two letters I know: N - O,
Right now, I can say, though;
The letters more puzzling than No,
To me, there's three...

The question posed, "Why?"
He looks to the sky and asks of the "i"
Just three tiny letters: w - h - y.

Should I care about why?
I did nothing to mold it.
What right does the potter have over clay?
The lump can ponder, or even behold it.
Yet, all we have under control is today.

The learned ask, what video is playing?
I should turn off the projector.
They don't understand what I'm saying:
"It's not a narrative, there are questions I want to ask her."

The puzzle is a why.
Not a labyrinth, but a maze.
A labyrinth helps you to "center"
"Why" is cloudy like fog, drifting into haze.

I have to live with myself, so.
I want to be fit for myself to know.

As days go by, looking myself in the eye;
I have to deal with the penetrating "Why?"

Days set with the sun, 
Still I question, things that I have done.

Why stays mute.
Hunched over, homeless, forlorn.
Unwelcome just blocks from home.

Why suffers dementia.
Bright-eyed, empty, lost.
Unnoticed, a spark, occasionally known.

Wasting time - why stops the clock.
Circling back, turning left then right,
Not knowing when to stop.

Is it wondering, dreaming, or thought?
Turning down why's cul-de-sac;
Investing so much, but it comes to naught.

Dying from thirst, we take a cup of why.
The ignorance like heat parches, dries.
Compulsively gulping, gasping, failing to know,
That which is understood, may not do any good.

Even with exercise, why is a heavy weight:
Innerness pushing outerness
Not competitive or violent
Engaging not withdrawing
Separate yet connected
Lifting "why" takes strength, whether it's worth it,
Is up for debate.

One generation tells the other his problem,
"I can't shake these three-letters."
Nodding, but he doesn't have them;
It's probably all for the better.

Mi amigo likes to think, he also likes to drink;
But that's another story to tell.
He's stubborn, straight-forward, and ornery as hell.

Likes perpendicular, 
Sees a lot of black & white,
Practical as an engineer,
He argues there's a root cause to everything here.

Nothing sublime, inscrutable, or hazy.
To wonder "why?" is a cop-out, intellectually lazy.

Pull back the layers, sin is what you'll find,
Meet my expectations! Foremost in the mind.

Future retrospection, is how he'd visualize;
Choose expectations, or a goal.
He'll not accept the tyranny of why;
This is something we all know:
The mystery of the unknowable, surrendering control,
None of this is necessary, he'd propose,
And if you let it, it will take its toll.

Why do some of us need an explanation?
The circle spins around again.
As if I could make it clear,
What we do: motives, causation, and sin.

Patience. Better than pride.
What purpose is served asking "why?"

Wait on the Lord, He's on your side.
All we can do is faithfully try.

Reaching up, the drowning man, yearning;
Seeking truth, her desperate quest, learning;
Asking why into the void, ears burning.

To be a citizen of a nation
Where only Gods and Kings tread,
To live in a state where answers
Don't linger in your head?

A place where wisdom's flag
Flutters in the wind,
And the assurance of faith
Defeats doubt once again.

At attention stand soldiers of mercy,
Dressed for battle, erectly stout.
Ready to vanquish an ancient foe,
An army against doubt.

But lurking like commandos, hiding in the fog of war,
An evil foe, still in battle, but willing to die;
The terrible question, yet powerful,
Three shots, short staccato bursts: w - h - y ?

It can spark an idea, change a plan;
causing conflagration.
But it will make you stumble, lose your way;
inducing stagnation.
Used lightly, much like seasoning;
tasting better, with celebration!

"Why" is found in the chasm between who you are 
And what you become. It isn't a map, more like a signpost.
Its backward focus will cause you to stop,
The rope you are pulling tangled in knots.
Instead of asking why?
Try asking: why not.

Today's decisions bounce off a "why-trampoline"
Sometimes one cannot control trajectory.
Often, why gets the best of me!

Tuning out "why" deciding to simplify;
Making a healthy choice, often one discovers their "voice".

I've got plenty of why, the timing is now;
Turn down the noise, think about the how.

Putting why into context is the right thing to do;
Taking off the thinking cap, and focusing on the who.

Fires, rain, hail, hurricanes, snow; why is there variable weather?
Looking to the heavens, how can one know; the mystery of "why" altogether.

I'm just a regular guy, breaking a habit, you see?
I like to ask "why?" An important word, with letters of three.

#PoetryaboutWhy

Copyright: Houston TX

©Mark H. Pillsbury/2020

DBP - In Memoriam - August 2019

In Memoriam

D. Brent Pogue (1964-2019)

(Dallas) After so many years, it's not easy to catch-up. We "pledged" to a fraternity together in Austin 36-years ago and could not have expected Brent's death to provide the reason we all gathered together again last week. His passing was a shock. As a cornerstone of the class and a leader in his own "maverick" way, boldly self-confident; he used the same professorial discernment that made him a world-class numismatist. He could see right through your bullshit; past the armor-plated silver, copper, or gold. 

He wasn't naive, but he was generous and soft-hearted. The life of the party, but with a collector's quiet demeanor, and an analytical side bordering on intellectual; he was passionate but didn't give two f*x about some of the things that drove his pledge brothers. He was a devout family man, but didn't have his own nuclear family depending on him. He was a man of contrasts; he was our friend.

On one hand DBP loved Texas, but he lived in California. Brent would enjoy hanging-out and celebrating with you before a football game, but nonetheless he was also very private. Our visitation time during Tuesday, Aug. 13, and Wednesday, Aug. 14 was too brief. Approximately 20 men gathered and like speed-dating, tried to reconnect, remember, and understand where life had taken each one of them on their own journey. Despite the tragedy, we stretched to get past the "secondary-self," which (Ted Hughes alleges) is artificially constructed to deal with the outer world, and the crush of circumstances. Many conversations got past the benign, shedding the outer shell; but as I will try to explain, some did not.

When a few of the pledge class themselves became "trainers" to younger pledges, they took on a "mean" persona. I remember how Brent did it; and there were others. It was a role they assumed by taking the job of overlord. But in contrast, I'm not using mean to convey difficulty. In math, "mean" represents a calculated "central" value of a set of numbers. In organizational psychology a group can "revert to the mean" in the sense that under pressure, they will fall back onto the core values and behaviors that they know best and with which they are most comfortable.

That was going on while we met last week in Dallas. I'm not being critical or speaking as an expert, but with a short amount of time and the many years behind us, we all came to this situation a little raw, reflective, and regretful. Maybe losing touch with Brent represented the lack of engagement we felt as a whole, adding to the duress of experiencing the grief of his passing. One brother called our time "poignant" which is the mood I'm trying to capture here. Another suggested that the way to honor Brent's life and redeem his untimely death, was (and will be) to meet and use the event as an opportunity to reconnect and share new moments together.

The thought in financial circles is that any price that strays from the long-term norm, will again return, or "revert" to its understood state. In my example, since it had been so long since our group spent time together as a pledge class, the personalities, patterns, philosophies, and profiles that were applicable 36-years ago, quickly returned in the few hours we were together. It's been said that mimicking the herd invites this reversion to the mean, and in part due to "efficiency" I heard some original dispositions that I remembered while being an active member of the group so many years ago back in Austin. Reaching consensus involves active listening, which takes effort; nevertheless, it could be that these men are "hard-wired" to behave a certain way in the presence of one of their oldest tribes. Again, I'm not an expert. But there was a very familiar vibe, and I pictured Brent's ghost in the middle of it all, playing his unique role.

We all shared a good "Pogue" story and lifted a few toasts in his honor. Tuesday night's opening at Dallas' Crescent Hotel provided the ice-breaker; thank-you to the hosts: the honorary pall-bearers. The Memorial Wednesday afternoon was "serviceable" but I wish that more of Brent's fun personality had been highlighted during the ceremony. I was not present for the burial at Sparkman/Hillcrest, but I'm sure he's resting under a perfect patch of finely manicured Bermuda-grass. Give the boy a 5-iron for that lie, and swing for the pin Pogo. 

My wild "Pogue" story concerns the Thanksgiving Day we spent watching the Dallas version of the "Ice Bowl" at Texas Stadium in 1993, when the Cowboys' Leon Lett gave us the biggest memory of the season. However, our unique memory before the game occurred driving to the stadium, completing a 360° spin on the icy streets, and just continuing calmly forward in the same direction toward our goal, the game. It was shockingly fast and dangerous, but no one was hurt. Of the many stories told, mine was mild; the Austin narrative tended to be more humorous, edgy, and cool.

Indeed, I feel the same way about Brent's death. Unexpected, sad, but at the same time buoyed up by seeing old friends; I think we've been spun around 360° and shocked by the sudden passing of a vibrant and powerful force in our lives. His memory will stay alive, but we all have to keep moving forward once again. Brent taught us many things: business, economics, negotiation, discipline, humor, football, teamwork, attention to detail, loyalty, fun, courage, passion, kindness, generosity, but most of all we'll remember the love emanating from his natural smile, what some would call an "impish grin." Those qualities will echo on forever and be with us in spirit, every time we meet.

If anything can overcome our sadness, it's remembering how we all came together; at the same time familiar, yet older, wiser, gentlemen who have been up and down, with all sorts of life experiences. I couldn't help but notice in the men gathered: their lines, gray hair, but overall wisdom and good health. Most have become very successful at what they do, many have well-raised children doing great things, even attending the University of Texas at Austin like their fathers. Many are quite generous, helping numerous people on a daily and weekly basis, in all walks of life. The diversity was refreshing.


Outstanding men, delightful to be around, they're businessmen, lawyers, entrepreneurs, pastors, managers, IT geeks, financial planners, entertainment executives, bankers, builders, counselors, husbands, fathers, brothers. Feeding off of each other 36-years ago, learning about life and preparing for their futures, they came back around last week, eager to find out how it all turned out. At the center of all the sharing and revelation, was the magic of how strong and mysterious links enchain the heart to the regions where the "morn of life" was spent. Again, Ted Hughes would say, "the only calibration that counts is how much "heart" people invest with each other; how much they ignore their fears of being hurt, or caught-out, or humiliated. And the only thing men regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't love enough. Nothing else really counts at all." 


Brent's shining example centers at the heart of this group: in his rising to the pinnacle of his profession and by showing the kind of passion rarely seen in the history of collecting rare "early-Federal" coins. There are other stories of success from this group, but I don't have the time nor the space. I will conclude by expressing gratitude to my brothers, congratulations for their accomplishments, and offering an invitation to continue sharing, as the rest of our story unfolds, for however long we are here. Meanwhile, if I may speak for our pledge class, I also want to thank the Pogue family, offer condolences, and tell them that we'll lift up Brent's memory always, and that it will never be forgotten. 

Respectfully submitted, 
MHP

©Mark H. Pillsbury (2019)

Poetry on Time

Poetry on Time

Hibernating over the long winter,

If only it was at rest.

Piecing together what begins to splinter,

Remembering the best.

Deep in the cave

Lost in the dark.

Trying to save

What has broken apart.

Awash like flotsam, those you cannot retrieve,

Jetsam memories, born from distress, tossed.

The truth is between what I know and believe,

Some, though valuable, still they are lost.

Mourning the past,

Lives we were unable to live.

Tide comes in fast,

Giving all the effort I can give:

Surfing a tube, riding a wave

Rapidly escaping disaster.

Moving, crouching, hoping to stay,

On the surfboard going faster and faster.

Crashing on the rocks

Hurtling to the bottom.

Reality is what shocks

And this poetry is solemn*

Where does man find solace?

A story w/ chapters we don’t want to read.

With age it happens to all of us,

There are dreams lost, we have to concede.

Trouble comes not from what we don’t know,

But instead, about which we're sure.

When we find out that it "just ain’t so,"[i]

We go looking for a cure.

How to move from resentment to gratitude?[ii]

Fighting, entangled in the rope of an anchor.

A daily journey, a choice of our attitude,

Let go of the weight, unless it will sink her.

Complaining too long,

He built up a wall.

Instead sing a song,

Give thanks for it all!

God orchestrates, guides your life.

Journey's steps, movements of grace,

Assured as we are, there will be strife,

It proceeds quickly, memories fade.

Time is currency as valuable as money,

When we’re young, we’re inestimably rich.

Water is calm, morning is sunny,

Hook something, even if fishing in a borrow-ditch.

The present is not a potential past,

It's the moment of choice and action.[iii]

What if imaginations are recast?

Living each day with passion.

Can’t sit still,

For whenever we stop.

Think what you will,

But in order to reach the top.

Climbing the tall hill,

Jumping over hands of a clock.

Each second passes like a beating heart

The pace of time ticking with the clock.

From the moment life is fated to start,

Racing forward, until it stops.

Warping, winding, twisting, grinding,

The fabric of time swirls into a black hole.

Grasping, stretching, flowing down into my mind.

Déjà vu year-after-year, only repeating what you know?

Expanding outward, like rings on a tree

Forest, tree, leaf; years, weeks, hours.

Covered in bark, growth isn’t seen,

Progress you can’t see, I don’t know yours.

Memories past, do not last

Future uncertain as the next warm sunrise.

What if you had only one day to pass?

Lived w/ purpose, experienced w/ surprise.

Priorities match the time allotted,

But that begins if you assume:

Tomorrow could be funeral-plotted,

Cold, dry, deep, where one cannot exhume.

Let us eat drink and be merry

For tomorrow we die?[iv]

Is there gain if you hurry,

Look to color, life, and beauty, w/ your eye.

Take time to listen more than speak

Any banquet, in memory, won’t compare.

A heavenly city with golden streets,[v]

Home when you get up there.

Limited by time and space

God seems abstract.

To know him, seeing his face,

Is a relationship realistic, a fact?

Living life backward,

Momentum would build.

Becoming childlike, living son-ward,

Death/birth ending, small, and stilled.

Wise to unwise,

Robust to small.

Memories counter-clockwise,

To the simplest of all.

Original love in mother’s eyes,

Life's gift begins in adoration.

Bonding one can only categorize,

As the link to another generation.

You are this moment now,

At once, there is no other.[vi]

No past, no future; no why, no how,

Having met the “unmoved-mover”[vii]

If you gave up the time to read these verses,

May I leave you with a warning:

They don’t put hitches on hearses,

You aren’t guaranteed tomorrow morning.

Don't piece together what is shattered and broken,

Sweep it up, throw it out, it’s best to let it go.

Memories are real, they can't go unspoken,

This is something everyone knows...

But knowing how time works,

Being comfortable with its flow?

Thoughts, memories, even these words,

Melt away like snow.

Days grow like grass,

Flourishing like flowers in the field.[viii]

The wind comes, blowing hard; alas,

Beauty and youth once known, must yield.

*Dedicated to Brent:

Graduated, pledged, 

grew up together,

Away we both went.

He just passed away,

So much to say today.

(But too much unsaid)

I didn’t know he would be dead.

Despite being gone,

He lived a meaningful life.

#RIP DBP[ix] 

With a tear in my eye.

Knowing my sorrow, counting my tears,

God, you kept them in a bottle.[x]

Taking refuge in you thru the years,

My home is found in your gospel.

(end)

Poetry©Mark H. Pillsbury (2019)

---

[i] Mark Twain

[ii] Henri Nouwen

[iii] Simone de Beauvoir

[iv] Apostle Paul

[v] Revelation 21:21

[vi] Ennis

[vii] Aristotle

[viii] Psalms

[ix] D. Brent Pogue

[x] Psalm 56:8