On a related note, if you find yourself questioning whether any sense of common good exists or thinking Professor Reich is just hoping we can somehow become some fantasy land, please turn off all mainstream tv shows and avoid typical newspapers for a while and then see how you feel. Remember that covering the countless stories of good people doing good things, stories that are everywhere even now in the face of horror, is simply not as profitable as plowing readers and viewers with endless rage-amplifying and terrifying stories.
Limit how many bleeds-it-leads stories that are being shoveled to your eyes, ears and brain and it becomes much easier to see how much good is actually around us.
Robert, a long-lens observation from New Zealand. The American I came to know and love was the 1970s version, when my coffee table groaned under the weight of picture books of America's iconic farmhouses, stunning national parks, and vibrant cities. Now having travelled to the US over 100 times over the last 50 years, I have mourned the slow decline of so many values I used to think were stitched into the fabric of American society. Now I see gun violence, inner city decay, and cult-leader led MAGA extremism. And a central driver of this decay? Not your failing, overpriced health system, not Republicans unable to even elect and retain a speaker, but US law enforcement, able on the basis of merely "we had a call" to stop and frisk innocent citizens, demand ID, deprive them of their 1st and 4th Amendment rights, and escalate to where over a thousand people are killed, shot, actually murdered, often over what started out as nothing more than a broken tail light. Individually, they are a tiny virus, but cumulatively, they exacerbate the decay of respect, trust, and civility.
Thank you for this and more importantly for the work on behalf of part of my chosen family.
as often happens , I wake up in the middle of my night, needing to urinate, and turn on the computer perhaps to do some work or plan what I want to when I get out of bed latter in the morning and find your posts and they suck me in.
I have not read your essay/newsletter(btw I am not sure what to call them, you call them essays but I read them as newsletter from substack, which has a specific form that writers have to follow) yet, except for the first few lines. I plan on reading it latter.
However, I do want to tell you how impactful they have been on me.
As you note the last two weeks have been awful. In my case, I don't have heat, am not sure where I will be living in a few months, and I mostly have not been able to make myself develop and implement a plan to solve these personal problems, I have family in Israel and I am worried about there safety and the continuance of a safety net for many people who either think of themselves as Jewish or other people think of them as Jewish.
Yet... you have taught me, and many others it is OK to think that things will not work out. In your words be a pessimist but is not OK to act on that belief. In your words not be cynical.
So, I am in a fancy hotel room, in town hours from where I live, at conference "Housing Matters" where hundreds of people are trying to make a world where "Everyone should have a good , affordable place to call home.
I have not functioned as well as I would have liked. Yet I made the effort to be here and do this.
If this is a good thing, as many people have told me while I am here, it is in part a result of your essays/newsletters.
Until we have food and housing security and single payer universal healthcare, how are we going to be a beacon to the rest of the world? I just now watched Paul Krugman, the economist, admit that the economist's models were wrong. Capitalism created unimaginable inequality, populism, and ultimately fascism. Money is power, so we will buy respect by spending billions in foreign countries? We need to get our own house in order. You don't give money to your neighbors when your own children don't have the bare necessities and may soon be homeless. We now have new immigrants in Chicago sleeping on the streets. Biden is creating jobs with his infrastructure program, but that is just a start. How do we stop what Citizens United created with the crooked Supreme Court we have?
I am commenting somewhat out of context for this article but didn't Trump incite violence towards Gretchen Whitmer well before Jan 6? I think it bears reviewing how the violent conspiracies against her unfolded because of Trump's unwarranted attacks against her, in the context of the legal perils he's facing now.
Thank you Professor. The world can heal by doing small acts of kindness, like a pebble dropped in still waters, creates a ripple effect that reaches across the pond, in all directions. Lets build the ripple to a tsunami for the common good.
I see and feel hope all around me. A pivot point is coming soon. Maybe Democrats will help select the next Speaker from the Problem Solvers Caucus. Professor Reich suggested this in January, and I have written about it and contacted the subject of that article, Rep David Joyce of Ohio. His staff is encouraged by the notion.
Imagine if the House started to get things done through bipartisan negotiation, as our founders suggested. Imagine if the #MAGAlomaniacs like Jordan, Gaetz, and MTG lost all of their corrosive power in one day with one vote.
Robert, please call Rep. Joyce and make your pitch directly, because he might just be ready to hear it. Yes, some concessions will need to be made for the entire Democratic Caucus to be on board in unison.
That is the unexpected turn that our nation needs in the next few days. Who’s with me?
The quest would not be hopeless if enough of us took seriously our task of doing our part to "keep" our republic, to "keep" our representative democracy working for the common good of We the People.
ALL of the problems we currently face, all of the scary stuff threatening our republic/democracy are OUR FAULT for not being engaged citizens – for not being sufficiently engaged in OUR political process and in OUR self-government.
As important as voting is, that's really the least of what we can do and claim to have done anything. We need to keep informed, from reliable sources, about what our elected representatives are doing. We need to keep these representatives working for us, and holding them accountable so they can't get away with going astray and working instead for big money and big business and big power. We can't each do everything, but each of us can do something(s) to help "keep" OUR government, OUR elected officials and appointed officials, doing only the work of We the People.
I urge people to remember that this is a big country, with 320 million people in it. Yes, I know the president and congress are powerful, but collectively speaking our state and local governments are far, far, far more powerful. Focusing too much attention on national politics, enables our state and local governments to operate without us - and believe you me, that is a very bad idea.
Oct 20, 2023·edited Oct 20, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
Your essays/book have been a breath of fresh air. They have been a passionate reminder of our essential nature. ------ the knowing, cooperating in, and embracing community for the benefit of all, which has been necessary for human survival throughout history. During the last 50 years, the conditioning has been so strong to the contrary, that it has lead many to believe that they themselves, as an individual are all that is necessary. Of course, this is false. Thank you, Robert Sir for doing your part to try to steer us back to the essential truth. I have been doing my part and sharing with others what I have learned from you, about where and how we went wrong and possible ways to reclaim the common good.
Robert, your essays have indeed inspired me and given me hope. For that I thank you! This post is an incredible read and I will share it with my family now and in future conversations. I think it’s worth a 4th of July annual read or more!
It is time to expand our sense of national identity into a sense of identity with all mankind. We are so interconnected now that we need to embrace the highest good for the world. This of course goes directly against all teachings of “my tribe/nation/religion is best” - the root cause of most conflicts. We need to learn to support and empower the common good in people everywhere so that they no longer need to fight to maintain their sense of limited identity.
On a related note, if you find yourself questioning whether any sense of common good exists or thinking Professor Reich is just hoping we can somehow become some fantasy land, please turn off all mainstream tv shows and avoid typical newspapers for a while and then see how you feel. Remember that covering the countless stories of good people doing good things, stories that are everywhere even now in the face of horror, is simply not as profitable as plowing readers and viewers with endless rage-amplifying and terrifying stories.
Limit how many bleeds-it-leads stories that are being shoveled to your eyes, ears and brain and it becomes much easier to see how much good is actually around us.
Robert, a long-lens observation from New Zealand. The American I came to know and love was the 1970s version, when my coffee table groaned under the weight of picture books of America's iconic farmhouses, stunning national parks, and vibrant cities. Now having travelled to the US over 100 times over the last 50 years, I have mourned the slow decline of so many values I used to think were stitched into the fabric of American society. Now I see gun violence, inner city decay, and cult-leader led MAGA extremism. And a central driver of this decay? Not your failing, overpriced health system, not Republicans unable to even elect and retain a speaker, but US law enforcement, able on the basis of merely "we had a call" to stop and frisk innocent citizens, demand ID, deprive them of their 1st and 4th Amendment rights, and escalate to where over a thousand people are killed, shot, actually murdered, often over what started out as nothing more than a broken tail light. Individually, they are a tiny virus, but cumulatively, they exacerbate the decay of respect, trust, and civility.
Professor
Thank you for this and more importantly for the work on behalf of part of my chosen family.
as often happens , I wake up in the middle of my night, needing to urinate, and turn on the computer perhaps to do some work or plan what I want to when I get out of bed latter in the morning and find your posts and they suck me in.
I have not read your essay/newsletter(btw I am not sure what to call them, you call them essays but I read them as newsletter from substack, which has a specific form that writers have to follow) yet, except for the first few lines. I plan on reading it latter.
However, I do want to tell you how impactful they have been on me.
As you note the last two weeks have been awful. In my case, I don't have heat, am not sure where I will be living in a few months, and I mostly have not been able to make myself develop and implement a plan to solve these personal problems, I have family in Israel and I am worried about there safety and the continuance of a safety net for many people who either think of themselves as Jewish or other people think of them as Jewish.
Yet... you have taught me, and many others it is OK to think that things will not work out. In your words be a pessimist but is not OK to act on that belief. In your words not be cynical.
So, I am in a fancy hotel room, in town hours from where I live, at conference "Housing Matters" where hundreds of people are trying to make a world where "Everyone should have a good , affordable place to call home.
I have not functioned as well as I would have liked. Yet I made the effort to be here and do this.
If this is a good thing, as many people have told me while I am here, it is in part a result of your essays/newsletters.
I thought you should know.
Thank you
With much love give peace a chance
Fred
Until we have food and housing security and single payer universal healthcare, how are we going to be a beacon to the rest of the world? I just now watched Paul Krugman, the economist, admit that the economist's models were wrong. Capitalism created unimaginable inequality, populism, and ultimately fascism. Money is power, so we will buy respect by spending billions in foreign countries? We need to get our own house in order. You don't give money to your neighbors when your own children don't have the bare necessities and may soon be homeless. We now have new immigrants in Chicago sleeping on the streets. Biden is creating jobs with his infrastructure program, but that is just a start. How do we stop what Citizens United created with the crooked Supreme Court we have?
I am commenting somewhat out of context for this article but didn't Trump incite violence towards Gretchen Whitmer well before Jan 6? I think it bears reviewing how the violent conspiracies against her unfolded because of Trump's unwarranted attacks against her, in the context of the legal perils he's facing now.
Thank you Professor. The world can heal by doing small acts of kindness, like a pebble dropped in still waters, creates a ripple effect that reaches across the pond, in all directions. Lets build the ripple to a tsunami for the common good.
I see and feel hope all around me. A pivot point is coming soon. Maybe Democrats will help select the next Speaker from the Problem Solvers Caucus. Professor Reich suggested this in January, and I have written about it and contacted the subject of that article, Rep David Joyce of Ohio. His staff is encouraged by the notion.
Imagine if the House started to get things done through bipartisan negotiation, as our founders suggested. Imagine if the #MAGAlomaniacs like Jordan, Gaetz, and MTG lost all of their corrosive power in one day with one vote.
Robert, please call Rep. Joyce and make your pitch directly, because he might just be ready to hear it. Yes, some concessions will need to be made for the entire Democratic Caucus to be on board in unison.
That is the unexpected turn that our nation needs in the next few days. Who’s with me?
WHAT DECENT PERSON WOULD VOTE FOR A VILE FELON AND CON LIKE RTRUMP. LIFE IN PRISON FOR CRIMINAL RTRUMP AND CRONIES
The quest would not be hopeless if enough of us took seriously our task of doing our part to "keep" our republic, to "keep" our representative democracy working for the common good of We the People.
ALL of the problems we currently face, all of the scary stuff threatening our republic/democracy are OUR FAULT for not being engaged citizens – for not being sufficiently engaged in OUR political process and in OUR self-government.
As important as voting is, that's really the least of what we can do and claim to have done anything. We need to keep informed, from reliable sources, about what our elected representatives are doing. We need to keep these representatives working for us, and holding them accountable so they can't get away with going astray and working instead for big money and big business and big power. We can't each do everything, but each of us can do something(s) to help "keep" OUR government, OUR elected officials and appointed officials, doing only the work of We the People.
Once again...Thank You Dr. Reich.
I urge people to remember that this is a big country, with 320 million people in it. Yes, I know the president and congress are powerful, but collectively speaking our state and local governments are far, far, far more powerful. Focusing too much attention on national politics, enables our state and local governments to operate without us - and believe you me, that is a very bad idea.
You keep me going and having hope, Robert. If only we could make you required reading and studying for everyone!! Keep the hope coming!❤️❤️
Your essays/book have been a breath of fresh air. They have been a passionate reminder of our essential nature. ------ the knowing, cooperating in, and embracing community for the benefit of all, which has been necessary for human survival throughout history. During the last 50 years, the conditioning has been so strong to the contrary, that it has lead many to believe that they themselves, as an individual are all that is necessary. Of course, this is false. Thank you, Robert Sir for doing your part to try to steer us back to the essential truth. I have been doing my part and sharing with others what I have learned from you, about where and how we went wrong and possible ways to reclaim the common good.
Robert, your essays have indeed inspired me and given me hope. For that I thank you! This post is an incredible read and I will share it with my family now and in future conversations. I think it’s worth a 4th of July annual read or more!
It is time to expand our sense of national identity into a sense of identity with all mankind. We are so interconnected now that we need to embrace the highest good for the world. This of course goes directly against all teachings of “my tribe/nation/religion is best” - the root cause of most conflicts. We need to learn to support and empower the common good in people everywhere so that they no longer need to fight to maintain their sense of limited identity.
Thanks I needed that