The actions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson bring joy, and give me renewed hope about the future, for Tennessee and beyond, to our nation. A good future for our country requires working together, not in groups separated by fear, hatred, and deliberate isolation. Rather, it depends on working together, building confidence, acceptance, and respect in service to our collective good.
Thank you, Prof. Reich and Justin Jones, for helping build this future.
Like I said yesterday, need to get Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, etc involved. East Tennessee is almost entirely poor yet Republican. Taylor Swift is one of the most influential Democrats the past two election cycles. Lives in Nashville.
Dolly is wonderful, but we all know here in Tennessee she won’t get involved in politics. Her new song is incredible and about as far as she will go. Check it out!
Show some love / Let's rise above / Let's make a stand / Let's lend a hand / Let's heal the hurt / Let kindness work / Let's be a friend / Let hatred end.
In 2020, Biden got less than 38% of the vote in Tennessee.
IMHO most Trump supporters receive governmental benefits and vote against their own economic and physical health. Republicans in Tennessee have inertia stimulated by the culture, i.e. "Thunder Riad". and hatred of government "revenuers". Now NASCAR.
Sometimes into Ashville, sometimes Memphis town.
The Revenuers chased him but they couldn't run him down.
Each time they thought they had him his engine would explode.
He'd go by like they were standing still on "Thunder Road".
And there was thunder, thunder over "Thunder Road",
Thunder was his engine and white lightening was his load.
And there was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst.
The law they swore they'd get him but the devil got him first.
Ironically, a federally owned corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority provides electricity to about 10 million people in parts of seven states in the Southeast. It receives no federal funding, operating almost exclusively on the revenue it receives from the sale of energy to business and individual customers.
Asheville is spelled thusly. Thunder Road was filmed in Asheville, NC when I was 10 or 11. Had my first taste of some of the good stuff when I was 14. The ridge runners were local heroes and to stay sharp, they drove 1/4 mile dirt tracks wherever there was one to drive in. Lots of fun then until NASCAR drove their big money in and ruined it.
Her false equivalency between Democrats and Republicans is cowardly. Our planet is at stake and she says that all politicians are the problem. Disappointing.
You have to consider potential. IMHO the most popular Tennessean in history. More progressive than any celebrity in her field. (Steve Earle excepted.) She is an institution. Dollywood. Provides tens of thousands of jobs. Is on the "right side" on every issue. Consider the territory. In East Tennessee there are virtually no Democratic office holders eft.
Potentially, she can support Democrats...like Taylor Swift does.
Steve Earle, Roseann Cash, Willie Nelson, even Johnny Knoxville, do not live and work in Tennessee but are politically progressive. Democrats lost a graet advocate when Dr. Ralph Stanley passed away.
Please Mr Jones, if you're reading this, I just came across a piece of information you may be able to use effectively in beating the opposition TN legislators over the head. I urge you to spend the 8 minutes required to review this immanently relevant observation:
I'm sure you're quite capable of continuing the fight by your own means. However, I hope you find this to be an effective >additional< weapon to use in your continuing struggle. Best wishes.
The times they are a changin' and the powerful stranglehold of the white male patriarchal past is coming to an end. The most dangerous time for an abused woman is when she tries to leave her abuser. The abuser is losing their power and control over her and many women must have a plan in place to be able to leave safely. Such is the case with our democracy. In order for it to survive and not be killed off we must stay strong, stay organized, and have a plan to shore up voting rights, women's rights, health care rights, the rights of the poor, the climate, LGBTQ rights, and the list goes on.
Justin Jones sums up the fear, loathing and rage of American extremism succinctly with this adage: "We have an old saying in Tennessee that a mule kicks hardest when it's dying."
Republicans and their extremist policies are not popular with the majority of Americans and demographically their base is declining.
My boomer generation has failed America, at times quite profoundly, so my hope lies with Mr. Jones and others public servants like him.
Deborah Carroll (NY) ; the so called "Boomer Generation" is no different than any generation that experienced challenges and growing pains. Let us resist divisions like ageism or racism, as Justin Jones and Robert Reich would agree is not helpful. There are many 'baby boomers' who just happened to be born in the post war 'baby boom'. That's it! blaming them for anything is a harmful generality. Nobody has chosen their birth year! If we are to work together to achieve the Common Good, we should not isolate or low rate people by age or any other thing that can isolate them and make them 'other'.
I feel that the Boomer generation, which had, as youngsters, high hopes of a better, more equitable, more environmentally friendly future, of the kind Robert Reich represents, got sidetracked & overwhelmed by moneyed, corporate, fascist forces of the Reagan-Bush-Cheney-Koch-(Lewis) Powell-Murdoch-Trump kind.
Jaime Ramirez : All true! But as a 1950's baby, I know my generation pushed back against war, racism. Sexism and destruction of our environment, bad or tainted food, dirty water and air, and on and on. We fought for voting rights, Civil rights and fairness. Many of our generation still do. We are 'the libs' that the 'right' hate! They will never forget the 60's revolution' and how we questioned authority and demanded birth control and the right to a sex life without shame and fear of unwanted unplanned pregnancy. " Every child a wanted child". They hated our music fests and free thinking, our resistance to consumerism and junk food. Among many other things, like gerrymandering, and jailing everyone of color they could.
Laurie Blair, right on! As another child of the 50s I will say your comment is spot on. I thought with the civil rights getting just attention, ending the war in Vietnam, developing a movement for cleaner land, air, and water, Jimmy Carter and alternatives to fossil fuels, that we were moving inthe right direction.
Sadly, many of the people decided that wasnt the life they wanted. The "Yuppies" emerged and they wanted it all. Then came the Epstiens, Trumps, and Kardasians. The elites who just cant seem to have enough stuff. Peace&Love
Boomers had a lot of success early on bringing improvements to our society, environment & justice system. Too bad it couldn't be sustained.
I often wonder how our life would be had RFK, Eugene McCarthy or Hubert Humphrey beaten the conniving Nixon, Carter defeated the duplicitous Reagan/Bush, Gore prevailed over Bush & the biased US Supreme Court, Sanders over Clinton & Trump or Clinton over Trump, all elections that were "won" through shady, fraudulent means (how can we honestly claim to be a democracy with that history?).
That was my reaction, also. I worry the two Justins are young and don't carry the weight of knowledge we older ones carry about the blood that flowed mid-century.
Look at Professor Reich's charts that show what percentage the wealthy paid in taxes during Eisenhower's time as President. Post war, the economy boomed, and many were doing well. Even a single wage earner could afford to support a family of four reasonably, being able to go on a modest vacation. We were a little spoiled compared to today. Of course, there were still challenges for workers , women , people of color and the working poor. But the rich paid much more in taxes!
I agree! Tax The Rich! Plus there should not be Any billionaires! You know; kind of like rent control for our corner of mother earth ! And rent control for our government seats and judiciary! Pay the freight or get off!
Thank you for expressing my feelings so well. Every time I hear someone blame the boomers, it gets my ire up. It's the old divide and conquer strategy. As Rep Justin Jones said, "the opposite of oppression is community."
I was a flower child, anti-war activist, worked in voter-registration drives, became a democratic socialist.
I'm not aegist or racist, but I have seen the devastation our political "leaders" have wrought (democrats and-especially republicans) in transferring trillions of dollars upwards to the very individuals and corporations destroying what's left of our democracy.
It's that enormous socioeconomic theft and its devastating political consequences that I was thinking about, not those of us who fought against them that I was referring to.
Deborah Carroll (NY) ; those entrenched in power supported by dynastic wealth set the stage for Citizens United and the court packing by the Federalist Society was one of the results. America is bought! We need a lot of Bernies and Roberts! Or young activists who are inspired by them and can follow in their footsteps: making new inroads to freedom from corruption and destruction! Young and old alike; like Justin Jones and his colleagues, who fight Jim Crow and sexist, fascists , who want to end Democracy. Who want to prevent Democrats from speaking ! Who childishly pee on the seats of those with whom they disagree!
Deborah, I think a lot of things kept us "boomers" from achieving what we idealistically wanted to do when we started: money and how it became the be-all-to-end-all beginning with Reagan, things were not moving as quickly as we had hoped and some of the hardest workers were becoming burned out - exhausted in the struggle, the constant denigration of the work "boomers" did by "the Greatest Generation" who supposedly did soooo much for America, being exposed regularly to the horrors in the world that often couldn't be addressed adequately, and more - you know the rest. I don't want our young people today to burn out or bail out. The nation and the world need them to be strong. That means we are going to have to be supports for them, not constantly telling them that they aren't doing it right, or they don't even know what they are doing, or they aren't working on the right things, and the kinds of things we were told. We should have learned a lot in the struggle so we won't have to make the same mistakes with the young people our parents and grand-parents made in relation to us. Go young people and let us help where we can!
Most of us didn't make mistakes! We voted but we didn't really have choices. We struggled to get an education, keep food on the table, and to keep a roof over our families heads. The blame is on the same greedy few that have always existed. Sometimes the people overcame, and sometimes they didn't. If the people didn't figure it out, their civilization fell.
success and failure are the same, many still try, transcend the coin that flips back and forth, in the end the truth will out, the ideals become real, always have, and the game is never over, the boomers created the Gen X Y and Z how is that failure
It's pretty much a 70-30 game at this point. As Professor Reich accurately stated: The Trumplican party is DEAD. They ARE violently kicking, as some know that their little racist, sexist game is at an end now that Americans are quickly marching to PROGRESSivism. Sad!
How wonderful that this deeply passionate, young and gifted political leader had the joy of hearing encouragement and support from such a giant of current social and political thought, Robert Reich.
Young men like Mr Jones represent the very best of what comes next for a more enlightened, tolerant and better educated America.
In secular prayers I can only ask for magic forces and powerful hands to protect both Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
I saw discrimination as a Protestant kid growing up in Mormon Utah - did I ever! Couldn't date most LDS girls, was turned down going to mu first good job because I wasn't in the "church", friends kept trying to convert me. I wasn't Black, and I only ever met one kid who was, in the valley and realized he had a rougher time than I did, but I got a very bad taste of discrimination in general and try to avoid being a discriminator - it doesn't help anyone. Whatever the discrimination & separation factor it is, all it does is hurt society. That childhood soured me on all religions, which is why I don't give a damn about it anymore. The only line of thought I try to stick by is "do unto others" - nothing else is needed in my mind. Thank the stars for these two men - we need to support them all the way and work with everyone like them to clean up our messy society and keep democracy alive, which is why for the first time in my life I worked our local elections after seeing what Herr Delerium Tremens has done to the United States to destroy trust and threatens to do it again. We all must prevent that from happening to turn this country around.
Hello Laurie: Obviously I'm not Ken. Latter Day Saint girls. Their parents can be pretty darn picky (as are lotsa super-religious parents, be they Muslim, Jewish, Mormon or whatever).
dnkarr ; Thank you for the information! My grandparents eloped back in the 1920's because, even though they were both Catholics, my grandfather was Irish Catholic and my grandmother was French Canadian Catholic and they went to different specific churches. Neither family liked the other. So they went to New York City!
Living in Tennessee puts me right in the center of all this. Watched every bit of what took place - it was dirty, full of lies about how it went down and a clear attempt to get rid of 3 of our best advocates. The white woman, Gloria Johnson, has been standing up to this majority of Republicans for as long as I can remember- 10 years at least. I can tell you they almost got her out, too. One vote kept her in and boy didn’t that guy catch it from this legislature! Gloria has been saying forever they do not let Democrats talk - that’s is why the so-called defiance. The speaker, Cameron Sexton (👿) tried comparing the protesters to January 6, another lie. Well, it all backfired and I’m so grateful. Grateful the truth came out, grateful Gloria Johnson now has 2 great advocates that are as brave as her…and the 2 Justin’s are well spoken and have the youth we need to really take America back to how it should be - Liberty and justice for all!
Diana McCullough; Thank you for mentioning Gloria Johnson, who has been standing up to the Republican Majority for so long! It was so good to see her stand with the two Justin's!
I just read the Washington Post article about the Tennessee GOP super majority and it really was depressing. Reading about the Justins gave me hope. Thank you.
Don’t we all have our work to do as long as we live? Some Jewish sage, Tarfan(?) said that. We may not see the end but we do our part. I still am at 85.
This gives me so much hope. I’m 73 and remember being young in the ‘60s and full of hope for a bright and promising future. That future is here and the past few years have been especially stressful, scary and depressing. I sometimes fear for my grandchildren’s future.
Hearing this bright and promising young man has gone a long way towards restoring my hope in a new and better future, full of community, compassion and progress.
Being from Tennessee and about your age, I am so proud of what these two young men are doing. I support them completely but am so disappointed in the “good old white boy” attitude of the legislature. Each representative represents about the same number of Tennesseans and yet the legislators with more seniority have much more power and have the ability to silence anyone who disagrees with them. Hopefully times are a changing!
This made my morning. I grew up watching the Civil Rights movement unfold as a young boy. A few years later I found my voice and protested the war on my college campus, in Washington DC, and even from Vietnam where I served. Now, at 73, my wife and I often reflect on our youthful days of protesting with pride. And we still do. I’m hoping to see the youth in the streets once again. The youth are our future. Leaders are emerging. Put down your phones and pick up a sign! There is a groundswell awakening.
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are a much needed breath of fresh air that is inspiring to see.
And Zoey Zephir and Maxwell Frost(Montana and Fla.)
The actions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson bring joy, and give me renewed hope about the future, for Tennessee and beyond, to our nation. A good future for our country requires working together, not in groups separated by fear, hatred, and deliberate isolation. Rather, it depends on working together, building confidence, acceptance, and respect in service to our collective good.
Thank you, Prof. Reich and Justin Jones, for helping build this future.
Like I said yesterday, need to get Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, etc involved. East Tennessee is almost entirely poor yet Republican. Taylor Swift is one of the most influential Democrats the past two election cycles. Lives in Nashville.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qRpDw3LZgM
Dolly is wonderful, but we all know here in Tennessee she won’t get involved in politics. Her new song is incredible and about as far as she will go. Check it out!
Show some love / Let's rise above / Let's make a stand / Let's lend a hand / Let's heal the hurt / Let kindness work / Let's be a friend / Let hatred end.
World on Fire' | https://tasteofcountry.com/dolly-parton-world-on-fire-lyrics/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi9ib0aLYcA
In 2020, Biden got less than 38% of the vote in Tennessee.
IMHO most Trump supporters receive governmental benefits and vote against their own economic and physical health. Republicans in Tennessee have inertia stimulated by the culture, i.e. "Thunder Riad". and hatred of government "revenuers". Now NASCAR.
Sometimes into Ashville, sometimes Memphis town.
The Revenuers chased him but they couldn't run him down.
Each time they thought they had him his engine would explode.
He'd go by like they were standing still on "Thunder Road".
And there was thunder, thunder over "Thunder Road",
Thunder was his engine and white lightening was his load.
And there was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst.
The law they swore they'd get him but the devil got him first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FFiXweiqxE
Ironically, a federally owned corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority provides electricity to about 10 million people in parts of seven states in the Southeast. It receives no federal funding, operating almost exclusively on the revenue it receives from the sale of energy to business and individual customers.
Asheville is spelled thusly. Thunder Road was filmed in Asheville, NC when I was 10 or 11. Had my first taste of some of the good stuff when I was 14. The ridge runners were local heroes and to stay sharp, they drove 1/4 mile dirt tracks wherever there was one to drive in. Lots of fun then until NASCAR drove their big money in and ruined it.
Her false equivalency between Democrats and Republicans is cowardly. Our planet is at stake and she says that all politicians are the problem. Disappointing.
You have to consider potential. IMHO the most popular Tennessean in history. More progressive than any celebrity in her field. (Steve Earle excepted.) She is an institution. Dollywood. Provides tens of thousands of jobs. Is on the "right side" on every issue. Consider the territory. In East Tennessee there are virtually no Democratic office holders eft.
Potentially, she can support Democrats...like Taylor Swift does.
Steve Earle, Roseann Cash, Willie Nelson, even Johnny Knoxville, do not live and work in Tennessee but are politically progressive. Democrats lost a graet advocate when Dr. Ralph Stanley passed away.
Ralph Stanley of the Stanley Brothers?
She's correct. Plenty of Establishment Dems are every bit as bought as the Repubs. After all, the Dems always vote for more money for the military.
The platforms of the parties speak for themselves. There's an abyss between the GOP and Democrats.
https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/nonsequitur/s-2822182
Please Mr Jones, if you're reading this, I just came across a piece of information you may be able to use effectively in beating the opposition TN legislators over the head. I urge you to spend the 8 minutes required to review this immanently relevant observation:
BEAU OF THE FIFTH COLUMN - ON MILITARY READINESS:
https://youtu.be/Kqi_wbk2YGw
I'm sure you're quite capable of continuing the fight by your own means. However, I hope you find this to be an effective >additional< weapon to use in your continuing struggle. Best wishes.
Very Well Said!!!
The times they are a changin' and the powerful stranglehold of the white male patriarchal past is coming to an end. The most dangerous time for an abused woman is when she tries to leave her abuser. The abuser is losing their power and control over her and many women must have a plan in place to be able to leave safely. Such is the case with our democracy. In order for it to survive and not be killed off we must stay strong, stay organized, and have a plan to shore up voting rights, women's rights, health care rights, the rights of the poor, the climate, LGBTQ rights, and the list goes on.
Justin Jones sums up the fear, loathing and rage of American extremism succinctly with this adage: "We have an old saying in Tennessee that a mule kicks hardest when it's dying."
Republicans and their extremist policies are not popular with the majority of Americans and demographically their base is declining.
My boomer generation has failed America, at times quite profoundly, so my hope lies with Mr. Jones and others public servants like him.
Deborah Carroll (NY) ; the so called "Boomer Generation" is no different than any generation that experienced challenges and growing pains. Let us resist divisions like ageism or racism, as Justin Jones and Robert Reich would agree is not helpful. There are many 'baby boomers' who just happened to be born in the post war 'baby boom'. That's it! blaming them for anything is a harmful generality. Nobody has chosen their birth year! If we are to work together to achieve the Common Good, we should not isolate or low rate people by age or any other thing that can isolate them and make them 'other'.
I feel that the Boomer generation, which had, as youngsters, high hopes of a better, more equitable, more environmentally friendly future, of the kind Robert Reich represents, got sidetracked & overwhelmed by moneyed, corporate, fascist forces of the Reagan-Bush-Cheney-Koch-(Lewis) Powell-Murdoch-Trump kind.
Jaime Ramirez : All true! But as a 1950's baby, I know my generation pushed back against war, racism. Sexism and destruction of our environment, bad or tainted food, dirty water and air, and on and on. We fought for voting rights, Civil rights and fairness. Many of our generation still do. We are 'the libs' that the 'right' hate! They will never forget the 60's revolution' and how we questioned authority and demanded birth control and the right to a sex life without shame and fear of unwanted unplanned pregnancy. " Every child a wanted child". They hated our music fests and free thinking, our resistance to consumerism and junk food. Among many other things, like gerrymandering, and jailing everyone of color they could.
Laurie Blair, right on! As another child of the 50s I will say your comment is spot on. I thought with the civil rights getting just attention, ending the war in Vietnam, developing a movement for cleaner land, air, and water, Jimmy Carter and alternatives to fossil fuels, that we were moving inthe right direction.
Sadly, many of the people decided that wasnt the life they wanted. The "Yuppies" emerged and they wanted it all. Then came the Epstiens, Trumps, and Kardasians. The elites who just cant seem to have enough stuff. Peace&Love
Boomers had a lot of success early on bringing improvements to our society, environment & justice system. Too bad it couldn't be sustained.
I often wonder how our life would be had RFK, Eugene McCarthy or Hubert Humphrey beaten the conniving Nixon, Carter defeated the duplicitous Reagan/Bush, Gore prevailed over Bush & the biased US Supreme Court, Sanders over Clinton & Trump or Clinton over Trump, all elections that were "won" through shady, fraudulent means (how can we honestly claim to be a democracy with that history?).
they never had a chance. i fear for the likes of justin jones. most black leaders have been killed, assimilated, or marginalized.
That was my reaction, also. I worry the two Justins are young and don't carry the weight of knowledge we older ones carry about the blood that flowed mid-century.
Look at Professor Reich's charts that show what percentage the wealthy paid in taxes during Eisenhower's time as President. Post war, the economy boomed, and many were doing well. Even a single wage earner could afford to support a family of four reasonably, being able to go on a modest vacation. We were a little spoiled compared to today. Of course, there were still challenges for workers , women , people of color and the working poor. But the rich paid much more in taxes!
I am constantly promoting a much more progressive tax system reminiscent of Eisenhower's times.
I agree! Tax The Rich! Plus there should not be Any billionaires! You know; kind of like rent control for our corner of mother earth ! And rent control for our government seats and judiciary! Pay the freight or get off!
Thank you for expressing my feelings so well. Every time I hear someone blame the boomers, it gets my ire up. It's the old divide and conquer strategy. As Rep Justin Jones said, "the opposite of oppression is community."
I was a flower child, anti-war activist, worked in voter-registration drives, became a democratic socialist.
I'm not aegist or racist, but I have seen the devastation our political "leaders" have wrought (democrats and-especially republicans) in transferring trillions of dollars upwards to the very individuals and corporations destroying what's left of our democracy.
It's that enormous socioeconomic theft and its devastating political consequences that I was thinking about, not those of us who fought against them that I was referring to.
Deborah Carroll (NY) ; those entrenched in power supported by dynastic wealth set the stage for Citizens United and the court packing by the Federalist Society was one of the results. America is bought! We need a lot of Bernies and Roberts! Or young activists who are inspired by them and can follow in their footsteps: making new inroads to freedom from corruption and destruction! Young and old alike; like Justin Jones and his colleagues, who fight Jim Crow and sexist, fascists , who want to end Democracy. Who want to prevent Democrats from speaking ! Who childishly pee on the seats of those with whom they disagree!
Deborah, I think a lot of things kept us "boomers" from achieving what we idealistically wanted to do when we started: money and how it became the be-all-to-end-all beginning with Reagan, things were not moving as quickly as we had hoped and some of the hardest workers were becoming burned out - exhausted in the struggle, the constant denigration of the work "boomers" did by "the Greatest Generation" who supposedly did soooo much for America, being exposed regularly to the horrors in the world that often couldn't be addressed adequately, and more - you know the rest. I don't want our young people today to burn out or bail out. The nation and the world need them to be strong. That means we are going to have to be supports for them, not constantly telling them that they aren't doing it right, or they don't even know what they are doing, or they aren't working on the right things, and the kinds of things we were told. We should have learned a lot in the struggle so we won't have to make the same mistakes with the young people our parents and grand-parents made in relation to us. Go young people and let us help where we can!
Most of us didn't make mistakes! We voted but we didn't really have choices. We struggled to get an education, keep food on the table, and to keep a roof over our families heads. The blame is on the same greedy few that have always existed. Sometimes the people overcame, and sometimes they didn't. If the people didn't figure it out, their civilization fell.
Agree, from another boomer.
success and failure are the same, many still try, transcend the coin that flips back and forth, in the end the truth will out, the ideals become real, always have, and the game is never over, the boomers created the Gen X Y and Z how is that failure
It's pretty much a 70-30 game at this point. As Professor Reich accurately stated: The Trumplican party is DEAD. They ARE violently kicking, as some know that their little racist, sexist game is at an end now that Americans are quickly marching to PROGRESSivism. Sad!
love this guy!
"The opposite of oppression is community."
And don't forget, it takes the whole damn village.
Really Great!
Love that quote too!
How wonderful that this deeply passionate, young and gifted political leader had the joy of hearing encouragement and support from such a giant of current social and political thought, Robert Reich.
Young men like Mr Jones represent the very best of what comes next for a more enlightened, tolerant and better educated America.
In secular prayers I can only ask for magic forces and powerful hands to protect both Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
I saw discrimination as a Protestant kid growing up in Mormon Utah - did I ever! Couldn't date most LDS girls, was turned down going to mu first good job because I wasn't in the "church", friends kept trying to convert me. I wasn't Black, and I only ever met one kid who was, in the valley and realized he had a rougher time than I did, but I got a very bad taste of discrimination in general and try to avoid being a discriminator - it doesn't help anyone. Whatever the discrimination & separation factor it is, all it does is hurt society. That childhood soured me on all religions, which is why I don't give a damn about it anymore. The only line of thought I try to stick by is "do unto others" - nothing else is needed in my mind. Thank the stars for these two men - we need to support them all the way and work with everyone like them to clean up our messy society and keep democracy alive, which is why for the first time in my life I worked our local elections after seeing what Herr Delerium Tremens has done to the United States to destroy trust and threatens to do it again. We all must prevent that from happening to turn this country around.
Thanks Ken for making it through and becoming a non-discriminator deluxe.
Mr. Nelson, along with “do unto others “, I live by “ as you sow, so shall you reap”
Thanks for including that one - perfectly complementary - wish I'd thought of it!
Ken Nelson ; I'm just curious: What are LDS girls?
Hello Laurie: Obviously I'm not Ken. Latter Day Saint girls. Their parents can be pretty darn picky (as are lotsa super-religious parents, be they Muslim, Jewish, Mormon or whatever).
dnkarr ; Thank you for the information! My grandparents eloped back in the 1920's because, even though they were both Catholics, my grandfather was Irish Catholic and my grandmother was French Canadian Catholic and they went to different specific churches. Neither family liked the other. So they went to New York City!
Laurie -- Yeah there ya go. Lucky for you they made it to New York!
Yep!
Great story! Sad and funny at the same time.
So many victims of religious zealots! Imagine! Escaping to New York City!! But that was a century ago. They were young and smart.
Living in Tennessee puts me right in the center of all this. Watched every bit of what took place - it was dirty, full of lies about how it went down and a clear attempt to get rid of 3 of our best advocates. The white woman, Gloria Johnson, has been standing up to this majority of Republicans for as long as I can remember- 10 years at least. I can tell you they almost got her out, too. One vote kept her in and boy didn’t that guy catch it from this legislature! Gloria has been saying forever they do not let Democrats talk - that’s is why the so-called defiance. The speaker, Cameron Sexton (👿) tried comparing the protesters to January 6, another lie. Well, it all backfired and I’m so grateful. Grateful the truth came out, grateful Gloria Johnson now has 2 great advocates that are as brave as her…and the 2 Justin’s are well spoken and have the youth we need to really take America back to how it should be - Liberty and justice for all!
Diana McCullough; Thank you for mentioning Gloria Johnson, who has been standing up to the Republican Majority for so long! It was so good to see her stand with the two Justin's!
I just read the Washington Post article about the Tennessee GOP super majority and it really was depressing. Reading about the Justins gave me hope. Thank you.
Good points, Robert. But being 77 myself, I don’t want to believe my fight is over.
Don’t we all have our work to do as long as we live? Some Jewish sage, Tarfan(?) said that. We may not see the end but we do our part. I still am at 85.
Thank you so much Professor Reich for this piece full of optimism and hope, something all of us can use.
We need you and all the younger generation to get involved. You are the antidote to lunacy that is trump and his supporters. On to higher office. 👍👍👍
Good stuff! All the very best to Justin Jones (and you in helping him).
This gives me so much hope. I’m 73 and remember being young in the ‘60s and full of hope for a bright and promising future. That future is here and the past few years have been especially stressful, scary and depressing. I sometimes fear for my grandchildren’s future.
Hearing this bright and promising young man has gone a long way towards restoring my hope in a new and better future, full of community, compassion and progress.
Thank You.
Being from Tennessee and about your age, I am so proud of what these two young men are doing. I support them completely but am so disappointed in the “good old white boy” attitude of the legislature. Each representative represents about the same number of Tennesseans and yet the legislators with more seniority have much more power and have the ability to silence anyone who disagrees with them. Hopefully times are a changing!
This made my morning. I grew up watching the Civil Rights movement unfold as a young boy. A few years later I found my voice and protested the war on my college campus, in Washington DC, and even from Vietnam where I served. Now, at 73, my wife and I often reflect on our youthful days of protesting with pride. And we still do. I’m hoping to see the youth in the streets once again. The youth are our future. Leaders are emerging. Put down your phones and pick up a sign! There is a groundswell awakening.