Metamorphisis

Change, however unsettling, is often inevitable.

In 1980, I started working for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. Bill Cahalan was the prosecutor at the time, and I started to work there just after the County lifted a hiring freeze. Within a month or so, several other bright young prosecutors were hired---including a gal named Jan Joyce (later Bartee), whose career would track mine almost step-by-step.

Though I never anticipated being a prosecutor---either as a kid, or later in law school---I knew at once I'd found my professional home. The work was fascinating and personally rewarding; I got to write to my heart's content; and the Office was filled with a sense of honor, and of mission. We were trained that our job was seeking Justice---and that when a prosecutor announced that he was representing "The People," that meant all of the people...including the defendant.

Jan and I rose through the ranks together...getting promoted early and quickly, and establishing ourselves as two of the brightest young prosecutors in the office. Ahead of us in the office was Tim Baughman---who'd already established himself as an appellate whiz and something of a legend around the state, and who soon came to head the appellate department. Within a year or two several other promising attorneys joined the staff, including a lady named Olga Agnello, who'd gone to law school in Utah of all places, while her then-husband was pursuing an advanced degree of his own.

By the end of the 1980s, the four of us had not only become friends, but we had formed the nucleus of an appellate staff second to none. Were were all accomplished legal writers and thinkers, and were busy putting our creative minds to the task of reformulating Michigan's criminal law, reforming some of the ill-considered changes brought about in the 1970s, and helping to shape Michigan law for the decades to come. Three of us---Jan, Tim, and myself---went to argue cases before the United States Supreme Court in Washington. And by the end of the 1990s, our legal arguments had helped rewrite state law areas ranging from sentencing to evidence to double jeopardy, and beyond. We were widely thought to be a state resource, writing about and pioneering work in every area of criminal law that exists.

Two weeks ago, the County made a retirement offer to all its executives, an offer too good to resist. It boosted our pensions well beyond anything we ever expected...though the message was hardly a boost to our egos: "You cost too much money," they said, in effect. "We'll even bribe you to leave...as long as you go."

After nearly thirty years in the office, we were given two weeks to make up our minds. But the three of us didn't get where we were by being fools; and much as we might feel outraged as taxpayers by our good fortune, we could recognize opportunity when it knocked.

Olga put in her retirement papers last week.

I filed mine today.

Tim and Jan file theirs tomorrow.

It will mark the end of an era. Not the end of the world...or of friendships, or memories, or good wishes.

But even if will usher in a host of new beginnigns, it will be the end of something quite special.

On January 28, 1895, my grandfather Walter Luniewski was born on a farm in what is now eastern Poland. One-hundred and fourteen years later, his first grandson filed to retire from the job he loved...and hoping to find happiness in pursuing other dreams and adventures.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Reaching Across the Divide

A new administration carries with it promises, and the hopes of the people of this country. Unfortunately, in the recent past, partisan bickering has left the public disillusioned with their leaders, and all-too-willing to throw up their hands in disgust, as the politicians preen and posture.

Today the country faces a wide range of problems, abroad as well as here at home. Much of it seems dwarfed by our collapsing economy---for which there are any number of villains, and lots of blame to go around. But today, President Obama headed up to Capitol Hill for a meeting with the opposition leaders and Republicans on the Hill---a Republicans-only meeting with the Democratic president, a gesture of reconciliation that could be a harbinger of a new era of bipartisan cooperation, or a well-intentioned but naive way station on the return trip to business as usual.

Obama seems to be entering office with more good will and high hopes than any president I can remember. Even Reagan---who also entered office facing both economic and foreign policy challenges, and also succeeded a predecessor widely considered a complete and utter failure---confronted a larger group of skeptics, and more cynical media scrutiny. Like Reagan, the country wants---and, frankly, needs---Obama to be a great success, so he has a lot of political capital, and the public will be willing to cut him a great deal of slack in dealing with our problems.

But just as Reagan succeeded in appealing to moderate Democrats to win approval for what he wanted to do, Obama must peel off moderate Republicans from the Troglodyte Right if he wants to build a real governing coalition that will last past the next mid-term election. Today, the public is so fed up with the partisan bickering of both parties that the next major realignment will come about when one party finally stands up to its own lunatic fringe and reaches out to claim the large majority of more-or-less sensible people in the middle---those who are looking for solutions rather than ideological purity. There are a lot of people like that throughout the country...sick and tired of being ignored by the ideologues.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

President Obama

America made history today---as it always does, every time we elevate one of our citizens to lead us.

But today was different, almost magical. And the magic had surprisingly little to do with the fact that our new president is the first one we've elected whose ancestors came from Africa. Today, we proved to the world that however muddled we may get from time to time, and however much we stumble along the way, the dream that is America still shines a hopeful beacon to the rest of the world.

Intelligent and tough, the challenges he faces as president are daunting. But he speaks to our hopes rather than our fears, and the poetry of his words calls forth what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. He takes office with a wave of good will---here and abroad---and sets an elevated and optimistic tone that, for all our troubles, is uplifting and inspiring. He has gone out of his way to reach out to those who disagree with him, and his practical mind seems intent on being president of all the people of this country---not a tool of ideologues.

He is the third president I've seen who is able to use words to summon his countrymen to unite to meet the daunting challenges of troubled times. The other two were Kennedy and Reagan---who, like Obama, had an ear for rhetoric and a wit and sparkle about them.

His inauguration was poetic and uplifiting; the last week was spent building toward a unity of purpose to help him move into an uncertain future. But the challenges ahead may well make him wonder about the wisdom of seeking the presidency in such uncertain times. While he brings intelligence and good intentions to the office, our own past history suggests that these traits provide no certain path to a better future; sometimes, it simply lets us get ourselves into more trouble.

And the stock market plummeted today. Obviously, poetry may move men's souls, but not their pocketbooks.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

The Middle East Erupts Anew

Conflict is as old as human history, and the conflict in the Middle East is as bitter as any we’ve know. Few nations have ever been willing to give humanitarian aid to an adversary bent on their destruction, and history gives us few examples of real enemies actually settling their disputes peacefully. It is distressing, but not surprising, to see a renewal of violence in the Middle East. As usual, the Israelis find themselves confronted with attacks on its citizens from neighbors bent on their destruction. As usual, their reaction has been to respond in kind. Yet this response has not brought peace in the past, and is just as unlikely to do so now.

Sherman’s march through Georgia provides one conventionally accepted solution: crush your enemy without mercy, and then try to make something bloom from the ashes. Rome did that as well, and was able to govern more or less successfully for hundreds of years. But this kind of attitude rarely produces the generosity of spirit needed to heal wounds and let everyone simply move on. After Lincoln’s assassination, Sherman’s swath of destruction through the south was followed by a punitive reconstruction— and over the next thirty years the scorched-earth tactic was adopted to crush the native Indian tribes into submission. In both instances, the brutality of war was followed by an almost-equally brutal peace. In one way or another, we’re still living with the aftermath.

On the other hand, to find an example of enlightened self-interest in the aftermath of a crushing military victory, we need only look to our own recent history, and what the America did after crushing Germany and Japan in World War II. Both defeated enemies had brutal regimes that had inflicted atrocities on countless innocents...and yet—having learned the lessons of Versailles after World War I—rather than leaving them defeated, impoverished, and bitter, we helped them rebuild. W e even offered to do the same to an adversary that really WAS bent on our destruction—the Soviet Union, a country unfortunately led by a ruler more interested in preserving his own power than helping his people. And so our offer was spurned, setting the stage for a forty-year long Cold War—a war between two bitter enemies that somehow managed to avoid triggering World War III.

Actually, the notion of pushing an enemy into “unconditional surrender,” history suggest that this may be a fairly recent fad. Laying aside the wars of conquest or plunder, or wars of extermination intended to wipe an enemy out of existence, many past wars ended by truce or a negotiated surrender. Our revolution ended with a negotiated peace, and so did the First World War. In fact, the only reason we insisted on pushing the Nazis and Imperial Japan to total defeat was (a) they were evil and needed to be expirpated from the world, and (b) Hitler came to power partly by insisting that the German victory was betrayed by the diplomats in Versailles...and we didn’t want to leave a future Hitler with any such illusions. And our own victory in the Cold War was achieved without firing a shot. Though we fought skirmishes against Soviet surrogates in Korea and Vietnam, in the end our people defeated their people peacefully, through the economic might of a superior economic system. Wisely, we refrained from gloating and imposed no further humiliation, and while our future is uncertain—as the future is wont to be—we managed to avoid a final military conflict between the two superpowers that would have destroyed everything both countries hoped for their people.

The Israeli-Palestinian situation is infinitely complex, but like the Cold War the solution will never come by viewing it entirely in military terms. In some ways, it’s akin to the South in the hey-day of the Klan: decent people in the South were often individually on decent terms with blacks they knew, but the hate-mongers were sufficiently outspoken and violent to keep the decent people in check—and the result was years of oppression and violence that didn’t end until (a) the rest of the country became willing to intervene, and did so in such a way that (b) the decent people in the South were unafraid to help put their own house in order. If the Federal Government had imposed the same kind of brutal sanctions that came in the wake of the Civil War, the result may well have been the same: instead of separating out the hate-mongers from the decent folk, such actions would have driven them together for their own self-preservation. The result would not have been not in the strides we’ve made in the area of civil rights since then, but a perpetuation of the racial hatred and violence.

The problems in the Middle East won’t be solved overnight—but then, we still have a long way to go in this country toward healing the wounds caused by slavery. For Israel, the solution won’t come by lumping the Palestinians together in an effort to crush them once and for all. Unless it ends in a Palestinian extermination, doing so would only perpetuate the cycle of hate. The better course would be a clear attempt to separate the decent people there from the hate-mongers and murderers...and a clear signal to them that they are not the targets. This signal won’t be received by a child whose loving mother is killed by a rocket, or a father whose son is blown apart in an explosion—no matter which side the bombs or rockets come from. And this is the source of Israel’s existential dilemma.

Acting with wisdom and restraint is very hard to do when an enemy is hiding among the civilians and attacking those you love. The instinct to lash out against an attacker is only natural, and a very human thing to do. But there are other ways to eliminate an enemy besides killing him. Lincoln once asked, “Am I not destroying my enemies by making friends of them?” But Israel can’t do that if their attacks drive potential friends into the arms of their enemies.

It’s obvious that nobody knows the answer. If anybody did, we wouldn’t have the problems we have today. But Israel’s insoluble problem is that they really are fighting against extreme and hateful elements that exist among the people living next to them. As the enemy is the hate that in the hearts of some of their neighbors, they can’t really win their battle militarily, in any conventional sense. Instead, they must either exterminate their enemies, or make friends with them. And they’re far too civilized to kill everyone who stands in their way.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Book Review: The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Reviewed by Jeffrey Caminsky

In our turbulent world, it is tempting to view America as surrounded by enemies intent on our destruction. Everywhere we look, we can see signs of American influence waning. Often—and especially in a time of economic turmoil—our mounting troubles can seem insurmountable. But sometimes merely looking at the world through a different lens can help us gain some perspective. And if that lens is held by one of today’s most perceptive observers of the world scene, it might even help us all take a deep breath and relax.

In The Post-American World, best-selling author Fareed Zakaria takes a look at America’s place in the world and explains why we have reason to be optimistic. Zakaria, who was born in India, came to this country as an awkward and naive eighteen-year old in the depths of the recession of the early 1980s. What he found then—and what he still sees all around us today—is a vibrant and expansive country, open to fresh ideas and eager to show the world what it has to offer. What has changed in today’s world, he explains, in not America: rather, it is the merely rest of the world, racing to catch up with us. And while this new era—where American ideas and aspirations have inspired the world to follow us into the future—may pose unique challenges, they need not be as frightening as the pessimists and nay-sayers make them out to be. In his view, the key to understanding our changing world is to realize that America is not really lagging behind; rather, it is the rest of the world that is rising. And if we are tempted to respond by retreating—withdrawing into Fortress America, secure in our belief in our own superiority—then we are playing a game that has failed other civilizations in the past, and would likely surrender our leadership for the future.

Among the cautionary tales the author cites from history is the example of China, another proud country that once stood at the pinnacle of greatness. Nearly a century before Columbus, in the early 1400s, a series of expeditions set forth from China, with several hundred vessels, each larger than a Spanish galleon, carrying thousands of men. They sailed eastern shores, down coast of Southeast Asia and into the Indian Ocean, impressing they met with majesty and might of Chinese civilization, and returning with treasures including precious stones, exotic plants and animals. Yet by the middle of the century, all this stopped: a new emperor had come to power—one who viewed these excursions as needless and expensive extravagances of little use to China. Before the end of the next century, building similar ships was forbidden on pain of death, and vast tracts of forests were burned to make similar ventures impossible in the future. And so China, convinced of its own superiority, turned firmly away from outside contact to withdraw within itself...and before long, the rest of the world had passed the stagnating Chinese culture in all manner of accomplishments. It has taken them six centuries of struggling to approach the pinnacle again; and now, having learned the lesson of history, they seem determined not to repeat the mistake.

Today, though we are beset by dangers on many sides, Zakaria reminds us that we often fail to appreciate just how lucky we are to live in an age of plenty and an era of discovery and adventure. Now that America has led the way, the rest of the world is racing to catch up to us. But, he cautions, we should not treat their efforts with suspicion or disdain, but we should embrace the future envisioned by our own ideals—for it is those very ideals that have long inspired the world.

Foremost among our many resources are the American culture and people. Both are filled with resilience and optimism. The American spirit of innovation derives from the openness of our culture, and our embrace of the off-beat and heretical—as well as the welcome we have shown to the best and the brightest from around the world. And despite the imperfections of our much-derided educational system, the author demonstrates that most of our problems stem from disparities within our own country: there is, the author notes, a greater disparity between students from our typical, middle-class schools and those from poverty-stricken, inner-city schools than there is between our best, and the best from the rest of the world. And while we bemoan our own lagging test scores, others are actually coming to the US to learn our techniques. And what impresses them most are the things we take for granted: the willingness of our students to challenge teachers; their courage to speak out in class; and their ability to be creative in applying what’s taught to their everyday lives. While the rest of the world may beat us at teaching their students to take standardized tests, our system seems to excel at producing people who can be innovative, willing to challenge convention. Our culture seems drawn to the heretical and oddball; and since our schools don’t quite squash this out of our students as well as some countries do, these same oddballs help keep our culture fresh.

Comparing us to the British Empire in its heyday, Zakaria notes that Britain, though blessed with gifted statesmen, was saddled with a dysfunctional economic and cultural system that stifled creative impulses of British society. In many ways America’s challenge is just the reverse: we have a vibrant, dynamic culture that remains the envy of the world—but one that is saddled with a political system that often seems more intent on gaining temporary partisan advantage than moving the country forward. And where our culture benefits from the influx of immigrants—bringing energy, ambition, and new ideas along with them—we often mistake the challenges they bring as well for danger, rather than viewing them for what they are and have always been: a priceless source of renewal.

Insightful and well-written, filled with a global perspective often lacking in today’s commentators, The Post-American World offers hope as well as perspective. It is written not in the lofty tones of academics, but with a precision born of thought and deep understanding. Those interested in understanding America’s place in the world—past, present, and future—would do well to read it carefully. The world, after all, needs an America—embodying the free spirit and sense of adventure we have always taken for granted. That is, the author concludes, this country’s real role in the world—and the reason that most people across the Earth still look to the United States with good will. It would be a pity if, through misguided attempts to hold back the future, we squandered the America we have...and forced the world to go looking for a new one.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Headlines, Headlines....

I woke today to find myself immortalized in one of our local papers.

It is nice to get a bit of publicity...and the fuss from friends and family doesn't hurt, either.

Link: Observer & Eccentric