“Until the late nineteenth century the question of woman’s ability to profit from or even survive higher education was controversial. Vassar College opened in 1865 was often described by its first president as an experiment.… as late as 1871 an MD at Harvard Medical School published a book on the dangers of higher education for girls, he doubted the achievement was worth the cost from their psyche and procreative powers.”

From: Carl N Degler, In Search of Human Nature, Oxford University Press 1991

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The Partisan Blame Game

Here’s one question close to the heart of every patriotic American: Who’s responsible for the disappearance of manufacturing jobs? Republicans blame “corrupt” unions. Democrats blame “greedy” corporations. Both explanations are distorted oversimplifications. The truth is more complex. An important factor in the disappearance of manufacturing jobs is also a tribute to American ingenuity.

In the depths of the Great Depression, a North Carolina farm boy with a high school education gave up a job pumping gas, bought a secondhand truck, and went on to build McLean Trucking. McLean grew into one of the largest trucking companies in U.S. history, and was the first to be listed on the stock exchange. But Malcom Purcell McLean’s real claim to fame is as the leading pioneer of containerized shipping.

Before containerization, cargo was “loaded, lashed, unlashed and unloaded from the ship one piece at a time” by stevedores. “What was new about McLean’s innovation was the idea of using large containers that were never opened in transit between shipper and consignee and that were transferable on an intermodal basis, among trucks, ships and railcars.”

Manufacturers couldn’t move jobs to low-wage factories in other parts of the world until there was a way to economically transport vast quantities of goods long distances. McLean led the way in solving this problem. A container ship can be loaded or unloaded in a few hours. There is less breakage and pilferage. Containerization dramatically reduced shipping time and costs. The largest ships now carry up to 15,000 containers.

“By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world’s workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the world.” It’s easy to discover what happened to American manufacturing jobs. Just list the world’s busiest container ports: Singapore,  Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Dubai  and Rotterdam.

As McLean’s first ship was leaving port, “Freddy Fields, a top official of the International Longshoremen’s Association ., asked what he thought of the newly fitted container ship, replied, ‘I’d like to sink that son of a bitch.’” The unions weren’t the only ones trying to block practical innovation.“Shipping lines, railway companies … vehemently opposed and tried to block the use of containerized ships. Traditional U.S. flag carriers … Moore-McCormack, Delta-Lines and Prudential-Grace saw a threat to their market dominance with … conventional break-bulk vessels … [and] jointly … induced South American governments to invoke legislation outlawing Sea-Land’s containers …”

Noah’s Ark may have been the first container ship mentioned in history. Every kind shared one boat. First the flood of oversimplification is going to rain down upon us “until all the high mountains are covered fifteen cubits deep,” and balanced perspective is “blotted out from the Earth.” Then we will disembark together, to reconstruct the spiritual and material economies of our devastated lands, with God’s covenanted rainbow of diversity extending over all, guiding our common future and bolstering our hope.

One Nation Under God

The flood of election year distortion eventually recedes. When your mind’s made up, and you’re ready to tolerate any distortion as long as your side wins, recall Noah. Strive for truth and righteousness. Resist partisan oversimplification. Shun divisive distortion. Remember that the healthiest patriotism is grounded in facts, not partisan politics.

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People who excuse exaggerations, distortions, omissions and flat-out lies because all sides do it are wrong. Remember the oath: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” Do we the people have the right to expect our political leaders to tell the truth?

When leaders place party loyalty, commitments to donors and wing politics ahead of facts, and the people allow them to get away with it, the social health of our nation is endangered. Nothing threatens democracy more than a climate that tolerates dishonesty.

Now is a good time to remember and revere Peter Zenger, a German-American New York newspaper publisher who in 1734 was arrested and charged with “seditious libel,” on the authority of a royal governor whom he’d criticized. After eight months in prison, a jury acquitted Zenger because “a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved.”

Decisions by the people’s representatives, including the courts, in Washington, D.C., and state capitals impact our nation’s future as much as decisions made by generals in war. How would you feel if the military leaders in charge of your children misrepresented reconnaissance because it contradicted their party line? An officer who refused to work with all wings and the center of his or her army would be discharged.

One-Winged Birds Can’t Fly

National leadership is no party game. Political leaders outrank military leaders in America. Shouldn’t it worry us that so many of our political leaders are regularly accused of half-truths and omissions? Patriotic citizens need to spend more time visiting fact-checking websites, including those accused of favoring the “other side,” just to make sure they’re hearing the evidence.

Dostoyevsky wrote, “Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.” Too many sincere patriots are living in “like-minded echo chambers,” eager for the other side’s distortions to be exposed, yet ignoring exaggerations propagated by their own wing.

To whet your appetite for the truth, visit the Wikipedia site called List of Common Misconceptions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions. There, you’re sure to find something you believe that is wrong. And here’s a partial list of fact-checking sites: http://www.factcheck.org/, http://snopes.com/, http://www.politifact.com/.

While it’s difficult to determine the truth about complex issues facing humanity today, it’s a citizen’s duty to try.

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