I predict that Republicans will need extra security as they campaign this fall and continue to spout lies and promote anti-democratic and fascist viewpoints that are not at all in line with the majority of American voters. And some of them just might get their heads kicked in trying to convince women they have no right to control their own bodies or that the second Amendment protects the right of a chickenshit 18 year old to gun down innocents of any age. And WHY is the Secret Service still protecting that jackass twice impeached LOSER tRump as he continues to hold rallies around the country promoting hate and division??? Doesn't that make the Secret Service a party to insurrection?? There are better uses for our tax dollars.
i hope you are correct in your assessment. but i don't think this "awakening" will happen without lots of support from and organisation by those who usually do vote -- support like community phone banks, in-person voter registration campaigns, and even driving individual voters to their polling place on election day. A LOT OF THOUGHT AND WORK! basically, we need a squadron of stacey abrams to organise and herd the democrat-cats towards a more liveable future for us all. this election may be the democrats' to lose, but without a lot of grass-roots initiative to make it happen ... well, i fear for the future of the country.
There are three other things that are equally important:
1) Trump, and the Big Lie have lost much of their allure;
2) It is looking like Garland is finally going to prosecute the insurrection leadership; and, most importantly
3) Putin showed his stripes, and Trump, Carlson, and Fox all miscalculated their ability to justify the invasion and subsequent atrocities in Ukraine. In fact, it appears that at least some of Putin's trolls who handed Trump the 2016 election not only refused to sabotage Ukraine's infrastructure, but turned their talents against the Russian war machine.
The key for Democratic success, however, will be:
A) for Garland to follow through, and announce the fact that American politicians have lived in a bubble that rightfully must continue to ensure that the judiciary is not used for political purposes. However when a sitting President breaks so many ethics rules and then, from the evidence, plots to subvert democracy, and policemen die as a result of an attempted coup, their must be repercussions to ensure it will never happen again.
(A federal law should be enacted of a presumption of fraud against the people of the United States for a State Official to fail to certify an election without solid evidence of voter fraud if such an act caused a result contrary to the popular vote.
B) for Biden to break the stalemate in Ukraine by proclaiming a countdown to declaring Russia a State Supporter of Terrorism unless Russia not only pulls out of ALL Ukrainian territory, returns Ukrainian citizens, and compensates for the damages Russia has caused. Perhaps 6 months, but with one hour removed for every tank or artillery shell fired, a day for every rocket, and a week for every missile that lands on a Ukrainian City. This should provide a powerful incentive, because the only way that Russia is likely to shake a terrorism categorization once proclaimed would be with a regime change.
C) Pass some legislation to decrease drug prices and otherwise improve Obamacare coverage, with hardship insurance subsidies, and expanded coverage for non-pharmaceutical care-chiropractic and herbal, and other traditional healthcare, and dramatically improve childcare, child nutrition, and for after-school programs, and
D) for Biden to talk about how we need to insure that the Republicans will not be able to destroy healthcare or Social Security, or to increase taxes on the poor and middle class, and to close the loopholes for the rich, and that federal banks need to pay state taxes, just like everyone else, with increased minimum taxation on the rich, and provide economic rewards for carpool clubs for commuters using electric vehicles, thus cutting traffic and gasoline prices
E) For Democrats to start using terms like Moscow Mitch, and asking why people are still listening to Fox, Trump, and Carlson with the question- What will it take for you to wake up to the fact that you are being lied to, over-and over again?
F) Do Op-eds of open letters to Carlson, and Trump, and the Goofy-Over-Putin (GOP) Party asking them why they preach on behalf of tyranny even while their hero, Putin, is committing atrocities to subjugate the People of Ukraine, and why did Trump cosy up to North Korea and try to destroy NATO, and harm our allies, and our diplomatic corps, and keep his talke with Putin secret, and destroy the nuclear deal that was keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, and leave office with America so weakened by his actions that Putin believed he coul walk into Ukraine and American would do nothing, because he knew that he had Trump, Carlson, and the Fox propaganda machine working on his behalf?
In short, it is time to stop playing nice-guy so the worm can turn.
May 30, 2022·edited May 30, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
The real problem is the filibuster, found nowhere in the constitution or laws of the land. So, two people of 350 million people, just TWO, are preventing Democrats from passing needed legislation on both issues. And we know who they are.
May 30, 2022·edited May 30, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
9 shootings in the last 48 hours here, including 1 shot to death on the State House lawn by Broad & High Streets - the intersection that defines the very heart of Columbus, OH. Only a few months ago did we see NRA-heads, fully tacked and brandishing AR 15's, looking like the very mass shooters themselves that we've seen of late, parading around on the State House grounds in support of eliminating state gun regulations! I saw Dr Reich's video asking what it's going to take! Indeed! What's it gon'na take ‽ (I keep a'wonderin' why it doesn't occur these obviously suicidal mass shooters, who are clearly operating under some delusion they're making their death have meaning, don't opt to shoot first the a$$hole who >sold< them the damn guns in the first place!) How about forcibly removing bodyguard protection from the legislators - in the name of saving tax dollars - and forcing them to commute to and from work driving their own private vehicles, while admonishing that we'll pray they don't become collateral damage ‽
How do you get across to the public that for every mass shooting there's a gun dealer and an arms manufacturer profiting off the misery they've helped inflict ‽ Ain't that the logic behind a'goin' after drug dealers ‽
Also, I think the Democrats are doing a $hi7 job of making >absolutely clear< that inflation is global, and that we'd face it >whoever< is in office!< It has >nothing< to do with this administration's - or the Democrats' - economic policies. If it were >only< in the US, I'd hold suspect anyone who could succeed in making it go away as complicit. However, it's not happening in a national vacuum. I'd >really< wonder about any politician who could make >that< go away - global inflation - and I >wouldn't< be thinking it was the goddam messiah!
Biden's sinking approval rating is commensurate with how patently >unrealistic< are the voters' expectations, and the Democrats are doing >nothing< to remedy those expectations. Had ol' Tweety won, FOX and it's clones would be blowing hard that everything's >perfect!< Presently, we don't seem to even be able to cultivate realistic expectations in the face of proliferating firearms, the impact of massive population growth, the collapse of the education system - in part helped along by a functionally illiterate previous Secretary of Education - AND the simple fact that inflation is rampant globally. And we're not even among the worst impacted! Then, of course, there's the goddam Putin war on one of the bread-baskets of the goddam world - along with it's considerable control over a sizable percentage of oil production and Russia's incestuous pipeline link with members of the EU!
That's just my initial response to Dr Reich's question today.
1. Nearly all Republicans are opponents of gun control, and all Democrats in favor. That needs to be hammered over and over by our Democrats who sometimes act more like a circular firing squad. Messaging, messaging.
2. A very significant root cause of our political dysfunction has been pointed out by the lawyer working with George W. Bush to capture the 2000 Presidency: our primary system.
Currently the general election in November produces in most states two radically different choices, and a bipartisan or centrist candidate is less likely. All of those Rs fear being primaried and losing power, far more than allowing more innocent victims of gun violence.
The proposals for ranked choice, is this "jungle primary"? might do amazing things.
Hmmm......a sensible question can be framed: Why do Republican senators sit on their hands rather than vote for sensible gun laws? The answer, of course, is their constituents. In a recent poll (admittedly 3 months before Buffalo and Uvalde, but after many, many other mass shootings) 84% of Texan Republicans opposed stricter gun laws. I am quite sure this is mirrored in other red states. Now suppose your name is, I dunno, Ted Cruz, and you're just smart enough to realize you have to go whichever way the wind blows, you could be looking at losing your seat to another Republican or (heavens) a Democrat, unless you sit on your hands.
Ah, the piety ("Our thoughts and prayers go out," etc.), followed by "Guns don't kill people, bad people kill people," you wait.
If you're name happens to be Mitt Romney, it's just more of the same.
I admire your optimism, and of course Democrats must continue their pursuit of stricter gun laws, because the current situation is nothing short of a national disgrace.
However, in terms of realpolitik, I still think Democrats should go big on something that cuts across party lines: healthcare. This, with the Roe issue, could deliver big Democrat victories in November and in 2024, and this in turn will enable sensible gun laws, at last.
It's perhaps worth reflecting on the British General Election in 1945. Everyone was sure Churchill would win, including the Labour Party. So when it came time to draw up their manifesto, some bright spark said "Since we'll lose the election anyway, why don't we write what we really want instead of hedging to the right as we always do?" And, universal healthcare was placed front and center of the manifesto. The result was a LANDSLIDE victory for Labour.
I too certainly hope u r correct! Amy McGrath here in KY has begun an initiative called SOS where she is trying to mobilize voters. If u remember, she ran against McConnell in 2018 but lost in the rural areas of KY where people always vote against their best interests & are single issue voters mostly on abortion bans.
Most EASTERN KY citizens are fanatical about their guns so I wouldn’t count on KY people changing their voting habits & that’s why McConnell has been able to hold his Base so tightly! Rand Paul is up for re-election this year & the Dem Party here is working to take his seat away which might be possible if many rural GQP voters don’t vote bec our legislature has removed so many election sites! The Dems will probably be doing some phone banks this Fall & I will participate for sure! All we can do is work as hard as possible calling young, working middle aged folks & seniors & hope for good weather & a great turnout!!
My god! I hope you are correct in your predictions! It is certainly possible! Let’s hope that republicans are just as correct as Putin! Perhaps say 20 percent of those who failed to vote will have had enough! Outrage has awakened support for Ukraine like nobody ever thought it would!
My thought has always been when it comes to gun violence, is when it hits close to home, i.e. a Rep's or Senator's family, they'll bee acting quickly on all the anti-gun legislation that has been brought forth and rejected previously.
As for Abortion rights, The Evangelicals can be "blinded" by their faith. I have one in my family. Abortion, oh, no, no, no. Bring that child into the world. But don't you touch anyone's guns, even though one of them may be used to kill that child that HAD to be brought into the world. Talk about uncaring, brainless individuals, that's them.
Professor, Though I agree, quoting you, that “women’s right to choose” and “children’s right to safety” could substantially galvanize not only the Base, but also Independents and moderate Republicans, I also expect inflation to be particularly impactful this fall. Hence, I continue to press for the playbook I started promoting back in January, after Dems failed to get either Manchin or Sinema to approve the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB)
As previously stated, aside from amplifying accomplishments, either Biden or a surrogate needs to go to West Virginia, and also to the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and to other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply put, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
At the same time, Senate Dems must try and pass whichever Budget Reconciliation provisions can get support from 50 Senators as a down payment to present to voters with more to come if Dems can retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
The House already has signed off on this legislation. We’re simply waiting on the Senate.
Love the question! From the dark side, a definition (paraphrased) from my father for a term that had currency in his days: "A system of government in which business interests seize power." The term that this defines, my friends, is fascism. So deep down there may be much more that is driving potential voters. This is saying that the excellent examples presented may have much deeper roots -- and may yield a much bigger response. May it be so.
"America is sick and her sickness endangers the whole world. Given America’s immense power and resources, a cure must be found within. The first thing that is needed is an education teaching that hate must be avoided, that excellence does not consist in violence. To achieve this change of outlook is an immense task which America’s “Radicals” must attempt to carry out. Whether the necessary heroism will be forthcoming, I do not know. We can only hope that it may be so."
— Bertrand Russell, Bertrand Russell’s America: Volume II (1945–1970), Part II. The Increase of American Violence, Published in truncated form as The Ethos of Violence in The Minority of One, January 1965, p. 607
I am a retired educator who spent 42 years helping children and adults to learn how to learn, how to think not what to think. Designing lessons and units while managing behavior and assisting in the development of social skills for the future. I would not want to carry a gun. People learn more complex skills when they are not afraid. I want my learners to not be afraid when they are in school and in their communities. Daily life should not be hostage to guns.
About abortion, I am past that time of my life where I would need to make such a decision, however, I firmly believe that I have the right to make that decision. No one else. I need the information from my Dr. not from an elected official or another person. Perhaps there needs to be a registry where those who oppose abortion commit to giving 20% if their income and assets to a fund where if a woman has to carry and keep a embryo they have decided they do not want to, can pull on that account for a lifetime support once that embryo is born.
I had a D&C when my placenta died and pregnancy ended at 5 months. What if that had not been possible. Back then the neonatal care was not at the sophistication of today. It was a horrific enough experience without having to carry the dead pregnancy to term.
There are real life consequences to the choices our elected officials are making. I do not even want to get into the Economy that is rigged for the top 1%.
I sure hope you are right, Prof. Reich. I just want to add the quote of a catholic nun (in 2004, I believe) that sums up the essence of the hypocrisy inherent in the "pro-life" crowd. Most of your readers have probably seen this quote. "I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
I predict that Republicans will need extra security as they campaign this fall and continue to spout lies and promote anti-democratic and fascist viewpoints that are not at all in line with the majority of American voters. And some of them just might get their heads kicked in trying to convince women they have no right to control their own bodies or that the second Amendment protects the right of a chickenshit 18 year old to gun down innocents of any age. And WHY is the Secret Service still protecting that jackass twice impeached LOSER tRump as he continues to hold rallies around the country promoting hate and division??? Doesn't that make the Secret Service a party to insurrection?? There are better uses for our tax dollars.
i hope you are correct in your assessment. but i don't think this "awakening" will happen without lots of support from and organisation by those who usually do vote -- support like community phone banks, in-person voter registration campaigns, and even driving individual voters to their polling place on election day. A LOT OF THOUGHT AND WORK! basically, we need a squadron of stacey abrams to organise and herd the democrat-cats towards a more liveable future for us all. this election may be the democrats' to lose, but without a lot of grass-roots initiative to make it happen ... well, i fear for the future of the country.
There are three other things that are equally important:
1) Trump, and the Big Lie have lost much of their allure;
2) It is looking like Garland is finally going to prosecute the insurrection leadership; and, most importantly
3) Putin showed his stripes, and Trump, Carlson, and Fox all miscalculated their ability to justify the invasion and subsequent atrocities in Ukraine. In fact, it appears that at least some of Putin's trolls who handed Trump the 2016 election not only refused to sabotage Ukraine's infrastructure, but turned their talents against the Russian war machine.
The key for Democratic success, however, will be:
A) for Garland to follow through, and announce the fact that American politicians have lived in a bubble that rightfully must continue to ensure that the judiciary is not used for political purposes. However when a sitting President breaks so many ethics rules and then, from the evidence, plots to subvert democracy, and policemen die as a result of an attempted coup, their must be repercussions to ensure it will never happen again.
(A federal law should be enacted of a presumption of fraud against the people of the United States for a State Official to fail to certify an election without solid evidence of voter fraud if such an act caused a result contrary to the popular vote.
B) for Biden to break the stalemate in Ukraine by proclaiming a countdown to declaring Russia a State Supporter of Terrorism unless Russia not only pulls out of ALL Ukrainian territory, returns Ukrainian citizens, and compensates for the damages Russia has caused. Perhaps 6 months, but with one hour removed for every tank or artillery shell fired, a day for every rocket, and a week for every missile that lands on a Ukrainian City. This should provide a powerful incentive, because the only way that Russia is likely to shake a terrorism categorization once proclaimed would be with a regime change.
C) Pass some legislation to decrease drug prices and otherwise improve Obamacare coverage, with hardship insurance subsidies, and expanded coverage for non-pharmaceutical care-chiropractic and herbal, and other traditional healthcare, and dramatically improve childcare, child nutrition, and for after-school programs, and
D) for Biden to talk about how we need to insure that the Republicans will not be able to destroy healthcare or Social Security, or to increase taxes on the poor and middle class, and to close the loopholes for the rich, and that federal banks need to pay state taxes, just like everyone else, with increased minimum taxation on the rich, and provide economic rewards for carpool clubs for commuters using electric vehicles, thus cutting traffic and gasoline prices
E) For Democrats to start using terms like Moscow Mitch, and asking why people are still listening to Fox, Trump, and Carlson with the question- What will it take for you to wake up to the fact that you are being lied to, over-and over again?
F) Do Op-eds of open letters to Carlson, and Trump, and the Goofy-Over-Putin (GOP) Party asking them why they preach on behalf of tyranny even while their hero, Putin, is committing atrocities to subjugate the People of Ukraine, and why did Trump cosy up to North Korea and try to destroy NATO, and harm our allies, and our diplomatic corps, and keep his talke with Putin secret, and destroy the nuclear deal that was keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, and leave office with America so weakened by his actions that Putin believed he coul walk into Ukraine and American would do nothing, because he knew that he had Trump, Carlson, and the Fox propaganda machine working on his behalf?
In short, it is time to stop playing nice-guy so the worm can turn.
Thanks for listening.
The real problem is the filibuster, found nowhere in the constitution or laws of the land. So, two people of 350 million people, just TWO, are preventing Democrats from passing needed legislation on both issues. And we know who they are.
9 shootings in the last 48 hours here, including 1 shot to death on the State House lawn by Broad & High Streets - the intersection that defines the very heart of Columbus, OH. Only a few months ago did we see NRA-heads, fully tacked and brandishing AR 15's, looking like the very mass shooters themselves that we've seen of late, parading around on the State House grounds in support of eliminating state gun regulations! I saw Dr Reich's video asking what it's going to take! Indeed! What's it gon'na take ‽ (I keep a'wonderin' why it doesn't occur these obviously suicidal mass shooters, who are clearly operating under some delusion they're making their death have meaning, don't opt to shoot first the a$$hole who >sold< them the damn guns in the first place!) How about forcibly removing bodyguard protection from the legislators - in the name of saving tax dollars - and forcing them to commute to and from work driving their own private vehicles, while admonishing that we'll pray they don't become collateral damage ‽
How do you get across to the public that for every mass shooting there's a gun dealer and an arms manufacturer profiting off the misery they've helped inflict ‽ Ain't that the logic behind a'goin' after drug dealers ‽
Also, I think the Democrats are doing a $hi7 job of making >absolutely clear< that inflation is global, and that we'd face it >whoever< is in office!< It has >nothing< to do with this administration's - or the Democrats' - economic policies. If it were >only< in the US, I'd hold suspect anyone who could succeed in making it go away as complicit. However, it's not happening in a national vacuum. I'd >really< wonder about any politician who could make >that< go away - global inflation - and I >wouldn't< be thinking it was the goddam messiah!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct39sz
Biden's sinking approval rating is commensurate with how patently >unrealistic< are the voters' expectations, and the Democrats are doing >nothing< to remedy those expectations. Had ol' Tweety won, FOX and it's clones would be blowing hard that everything's >perfect!< Presently, we don't seem to even be able to cultivate realistic expectations in the face of proliferating firearms, the impact of massive population growth, the collapse of the education system - in part helped along by a functionally illiterate previous Secretary of Education - AND the simple fact that inflation is rampant globally. And we're not even among the worst impacted! Then, of course, there's the goddam Putin war on one of the bread-baskets of the goddam world - along with it's considerable control over a sizable percentage of oil production and Russia's incestuous pipeline link with members of the EU!
That's just my initial response to Dr Reich's question today.
Two observations here:
1. Nearly all Republicans are opponents of gun control, and all Democrats in favor. That needs to be hammered over and over by our Democrats who sometimes act more like a circular firing squad. Messaging, messaging.
2. A very significant root cause of our political dysfunction has been pointed out by the lawyer working with George W. Bush to capture the 2000 Presidency: our primary system.
Currently the general election in November produces in most states two radically different choices, and a bipartisan or centrist candidate is less likely. All of those Rs fear being primaried and losing power, far more than allowing more innocent victims of gun violence.
The proposals for ranked choice, is this "jungle primary"? might do amazing things.
Hmmm......a sensible question can be framed: Why do Republican senators sit on their hands rather than vote for sensible gun laws? The answer, of course, is their constituents. In a recent poll (admittedly 3 months before Buffalo and Uvalde, but after many, many other mass shootings) 84% of Texan Republicans opposed stricter gun laws. I am quite sure this is mirrored in other red states. Now suppose your name is, I dunno, Ted Cruz, and you're just smart enough to realize you have to go whichever way the wind blows, you could be looking at losing your seat to another Republican or (heavens) a Democrat, unless you sit on your hands.
Ah, the piety ("Our thoughts and prayers go out," etc.), followed by "Guns don't kill people, bad people kill people," you wait.
If you're name happens to be Mitt Romney, it's just more of the same.
I admire your optimism, and of course Democrats must continue their pursuit of stricter gun laws, because the current situation is nothing short of a national disgrace.
However, in terms of realpolitik, I still think Democrats should go big on something that cuts across party lines: healthcare. This, with the Roe issue, could deliver big Democrat victories in November and in 2024, and this in turn will enable sensible gun laws, at last.
It's perhaps worth reflecting on the British General Election in 1945. Everyone was sure Churchill would win, including the Labour Party. So when it came time to draw up their manifesto, some bright spark said "Since we'll lose the election anyway, why don't we write what we really want instead of hedging to the right as we always do?" And, universal healthcare was placed front and center of the manifesto. The result was a LANDSLIDE victory for Labour.
I too certainly hope u r correct! Amy McGrath here in KY has begun an initiative called SOS where she is trying to mobilize voters. If u remember, she ran against McConnell in 2018 but lost in the rural areas of KY where people always vote against their best interests & are single issue voters mostly on abortion bans.
Most EASTERN KY citizens are fanatical about their guns so I wouldn’t count on KY people changing their voting habits & that’s why McConnell has been able to hold his Base so tightly! Rand Paul is up for re-election this year & the Dem Party here is working to take his seat away which might be possible if many rural GQP voters don’t vote bec our legislature has removed so many election sites! The Dems will probably be doing some phone banks this Fall & I will participate for sure! All we can do is work as hard as possible calling young, working middle aged folks & seniors & hope for good weather & a great turnout!!
My god! I hope you are correct in your predictions! It is certainly possible! Let’s hope that republicans are just as correct as Putin! Perhaps say 20 percent of those who failed to vote will have had enough! Outrage has awakened support for Ukraine like nobody ever thought it would!
My thought has always been when it comes to gun violence, is when it hits close to home, i.e. a Rep's or Senator's family, they'll bee acting quickly on all the anti-gun legislation that has been brought forth and rejected previously.
As for Abortion rights, The Evangelicals can be "blinded" by their faith. I have one in my family. Abortion, oh, no, no, no. Bring that child into the world. But don't you touch anyone's guns, even though one of them may be used to kill that child that HAD to be brought into the world. Talk about uncaring, brainless individuals, that's them.
Professor, Though I agree, quoting you, that “women’s right to choose” and “children’s right to safety” could substantially galvanize not only the Base, but also Independents and moderate Republicans, I also expect inflation to be particularly impactful this fall. Hence, I continue to press for the playbook I started promoting back in January, after Dems failed to get either Manchin or Sinema to approve the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB)
As previously stated, aside from amplifying accomplishments, either Biden or a surrogate needs to go to West Virginia, and also to the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and to other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply put, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
At the same time, Senate Dems must try and pass whichever Budget Reconciliation provisions can get support from 50 Senators as a down payment to present to voters with more to come if Dems can retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
The House already has signed off on this legislation. We’re simply waiting on the Senate.
From your pen to God's ears!
Love the question! From the dark side, a definition (paraphrased) from my father for a term that had currency in his days: "A system of government in which business interests seize power." The term that this defines, my friends, is fascism. So deep down there may be much more that is driving potential voters. This is saying that the excellent examples presented may have much deeper roots -- and may yield a much bigger response. May it be so.
"America is sick and her sickness endangers the whole world. Given America’s immense power and resources, a cure must be found within. The first thing that is needed is an education teaching that hate must be avoided, that excellence does not consist in violence. To achieve this change of outlook is an immense task which America’s “Radicals” must attempt to carry out. Whether the necessary heroism will be forthcoming, I do not know. We can only hope that it may be so."
— Bertrand Russell, Bertrand Russell’s America: Volume II (1945–1970), Part II. The Increase of American Violence, Published in truncated form as The Ethos of Violence in The Minority of One, January 1965, p. 607
I am a retired educator who spent 42 years helping children and adults to learn how to learn, how to think not what to think. Designing lessons and units while managing behavior and assisting in the development of social skills for the future. I would not want to carry a gun. People learn more complex skills when they are not afraid. I want my learners to not be afraid when they are in school and in their communities. Daily life should not be hostage to guns.
About abortion, I am past that time of my life where I would need to make such a decision, however, I firmly believe that I have the right to make that decision. No one else. I need the information from my Dr. not from an elected official or another person. Perhaps there needs to be a registry where those who oppose abortion commit to giving 20% if their income and assets to a fund where if a woman has to carry and keep a embryo they have decided they do not want to, can pull on that account for a lifetime support once that embryo is born.
I had a D&C when my placenta died and pregnancy ended at 5 months. What if that had not been possible. Back then the neonatal care was not at the sophistication of today. It was a horrific enough experience without having to carry the dead pregnancy to term.
There are real life consequences to the choices our elected officials are making. I do not even want to get into the Economy that is rigged for the top 1%.
I sure hope you are right, Prof. Reich. I just want to add the quote of a catholic nun (in 2004, I believe) that sums up the essence of the hypocrisy inherent in the "pro-life" crowd. Most of your readers have probably seen this quote. "I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”