Today, I write personally. responding to Robert. I am 72 years old. My political consciousness was formed in the 1960s. I lost my taste for grapes in the mid-1960s boycotting grocery stores in support of Cesar Chavez and the UFW. As an undergraduate, I marched in the streets of Chicago with Jesse Jackson, served as Midwest coordinator for the Mobilization Against the War, "Got Clean for Gene McCarthy" in 1968, and fought for curricular reform in my university. I left the US for Canada in 1970.
For the better part of the next 50 years, my energies focused on political support for progressive efforts but more engagement in advocacy groups and especially in transforming scholarship in my fields of study and struggling to make universities more humane and responsible.
In the past 1-1/4 years, I am reengaged in formal politics and greatly committed to advising politicians, elected officials, advocacy groups at the national, state, and local level. For the first time since 1968, I am working closely with a very progressive candidate for the Democratic Party US Senate nomination in Ohio, Morgan Harper.
I no longer write primarily for scholars but, as you have see, for a broader audience, using what I learned and translating/transitioning my skills and learning.
I have unburned out and reoriented in retirement. I invite others to join me.
I’m a licensed social worker currently not in the field. Years of working with broken systems pushed me to my breaking point. Then the guilt just knowing you need to get back out there because people are suffering. Yeah it sucks. If we aren’t helping the children, the poor, the HUDDLED MASSES, then what’s the point of government, budgets, spending. Lately it just feels we are the United States of Money and that is literally the ONLY thing that matters. since I’m some gullible libtard, radical socialist I keep forgetting the sheer greed that drives people. How insane of me to want people to be healthy and educated. Bryan Stevenson, a man I admire and someone who is so damn inspiring. What a rough job he has. Even making under 30K a year, I donate monthly to organizations I care about, this helps me feel like maybe I’m making a small difference. And I don’t have kids, if I had kids I’d be on every benefit and struggling to pay for basic needs.
Maslows hierarchy of needs. The well off are always demonizing the poor and telling them to INVEST, MOVE, VOTE, go to college, get skills, blah. However, if you’re working poor, or in poverty, or low income and you are focusing on getting shelter, food, and medicine— you literally have zero brain space to even contemplate getting politically involved, hiring a financial analyst, packing up and moving, you are just trying to feed your family and keep a roof over your head.
When will these elitists, pampered from birth, get their heads out of their azzes and realize HEY PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING. OWN YOUR PRIVILEGE. It’s not hard. I own mine. My parents are still together and even though we had a humble life, I was taken care of, they never let me know if they had finance problems, they taught me to be tough and smart, I’ll always have a roof over my head. I came close to homelessness but I am privileged so I have family I could crash with. Many don’t. I don’t have kids so I can donate more time and money to causes. I’ll always have a family member who can give me food. I’m white and even if I haven’t noticed all of them, I have had many instances of white privilege. I was able to get college loans. I knew what a FAFSA was. A lot of my peers had no clue. The public schools I went to didn’t teach us politics, or real world education to survive out there.
Why is it so scary for people to own it? The privilege? The ignorance? We’re all ignorant in some ways. Why is it hard to take a good Look at themselves? So what—- you aren’t a special snowflake, most of us are just average bums.
Why is it so hard for these OUT OF TOUCH cruel zombies to show some damn compassion and walk a mile in someone’s shoes.
Mr Reich, the student you mention at the top of your essay was working the kind of USPS letter-carrier schedule I worked for 20 yrs in the DC area - through 9/11, anthrax, & the sniper. (Indeed, John Allen Muhammad was my neighbor, for a time.) I'm not now the kind of energetic septuagenarian that many here seem to be - I'm tapped out. However, I am and have been for the last 10 years a poll captain in Jim Jordan's district, and I pledge here and now to remain in that position for the duration, denying it from one of ol' Tweety's frothing-mouthed morons. I suspect I've already had a close encounter with one of 'em, a new face on the team last election. My message to 'em is Gandalf on the bridge: "You shall not pass."
I was so glad to hear Joe Bidden use the fighting language in spirit I believe is absolutely necessary for success yesterday. He used direct language, did not mince words and was not rude, crude or disrespectful. Just direct, speaking truth to power. In my opinion Democrats as an organization should learn how this is done and I guarantee they'll began to appear as fighters with an inner core for offense as well as defense. The defensive fight cannot be joined without a good offense. Successful Democratic Presidents who understood this stand out. One could research the speeches of FDR and see how he responded to the same things we're face with today. He used Republican arguments, many of which they whined about then, they whine about today. He not only knew them from hearing them repeatedly he spoke about them directly to his people outwardly in his speeches. He spoke directly about their concerns of the day and they responded in kind and returned him to the White House six times. Lastly listening to JFK's responses in news conferences illustrates the effectiveness of language.
I think President Biden's speech yesterday, with his 'fighting Joe" tone, is something I consider a small victory to celebrate - seems like he's finally angry and calling people on the carpet for their treachery - we all need to continue to call out the Monster of Mar-a-lago and his corrupt GOP lying Monkeys until they are all criminally investigated and charged for their actions.
It's extraordinary to me that people have to fight so hard for basic, decent things like the right to being fully human. You would think we'd all take this for granted. But we don't or the fighting wouldn't be necessary. So we have to wonder what's wrong with people who deny others full humanity. This can't just be a matter of greed - a profit motive of some sort. There must be something deeper that keeps them from taking it for granted that we're all equally human, and have therefore the same right to the good things in life and the same access to the common good. It revolts me to cast this struggle in terms of good and evil, but I can find no better way of defining true evil than as the act of willfully and knowingly devaluing others, for whatever the motive.
Robert you are very inspiring and completely right. Stacey Abrams is an excellent example of optimistic tenacity. She exemplifies the leadership so badly needed today. She's there and hopefully others are following her. Optimism is tough, I am so grateful for yours.
I am a retired neuroscientist and live in Delaware county PA. Democrats in my township (not necessarily all progressive) are well organized and are still enthusiastic. I am a precinct level committee person. We had remarkable success at the township and county level in the last election. That one grassroots victory is enough to keep me inspired for life. Until recently, our county was solidly R going back to the civil war. It has taken us at least 30 years to get to this point.
Professor Reich: It's people like You and Stacey Abrams who keep me going. When I look at the work that You and others have done and continue to do, it's a pleasure for me to keep trying!
What has been most discouraging is seeing the advances in civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, gay rights, worker’s rights, which were achieved by that very tenacity over the past 50 years, be so quickly eroded in the past five. I had been under the illusion that with continued tenacity we would move ever forward. For me, the question is how far back will the tide turn before we move forward again? And can I sustain my efforts against the backlash in the meantime?
One thing that keeps astonishing me with American people is their generosity in effort when they commit to something. Psychologically speaking, you are far less individualistic than the French (my own breed). Team work does mean something to you. Culturally speaking and because the accent is put so much on money in the United States, this is another matter. Aside from that and more importantly, I like the example of Fred Wertheimer. It tells me that real activism is from the inside out. Our faith is what supports us, both in the peaceful conviction of doing good and in the knowledge that we are never alone; innumerable others are secretly thankful for the good deeds of a few. No need to expect results (though we should be able to assess them) as the true measure of what is worth doing is in its meaning, not in the temporary score of one day.
Biden’s speech was excellent. Direct, honest, the right tone for the circumstances. We need more of that! But we need some wins too. Real action. That’s the incentive for people to push on. If 45 and all the top players of this deadly coup attempt are punished appropriately, that alone will lift our sprits. The importance of this cannot be pushed to the background.
RR wrote: "How did they do it? ... They helped one another along the way"
Tons of eco-oriented and other non-profits compete for donations. I suggest they should try to work together, and/or strategize how they might educate Manchin's WV voters, and key "purple-state" voters, to demand policies for the common good.
Alas, they keep competing for what they must perceive to be a limited pool of donations
one of my favorite posts from you. this was genuinely excellent. you are absolute right, it's a marathon. I've actually run ten of those things, which is a bit crazy admittedly. they went best when I did the exact 3 things you recommended- paced myself, ran with a supportive group, and ran it one mile at a time
I think Mr. Reich's words apply to the pursuit of any worthwhile goal in life, not just political activism. As long as you don't give up, you haven't failed!
For anyone like me, who believes the decisive question in 22 is whether our civic institutions will hold up against coordinated efforts to put in place a targeted veto to control the outcome of future elections, the fact is we nearly are running out the clock on democracy itself. Nonetheless, also believing too much is at stake simply to wait and see what America’s leadership will do, I take heart from being part of a community that understands it’s us that have to become engaged, possibly in ways that initially might not seem particularly impactful. Still, rather than expecting someone else to carry the weight, we persist, somehow knowing that our engagement, our energy, our caring, our work can make a meaningful difference. As for a balanced life, suffice it to say I’m working on it.
Today, I write personally. responding to Robert. I am 72 years old. My political consciousness was formed in the 1960s. I lost my taste for grapes in the mid-1960s boycotting grocery stores in support of Cesar Chavez and the UFW. As an undergraduate, I marched in the streets of Chicago with Jesse Jackson, served as Midwest coordinator for the Mobilization Against the War, "Got Clean for Gene McCarthy" in 1968, and fought for curricular reform in my university. I left the US for Canada in 1970.
For the better part of the next 50 years, my energies focused on political support for progressive efforts but more engagement in advocacy groups and especially in transforming scholarship in my fields of study and struggling to make universities more humane and responsible.
In the past 1-1/4 years, I am reengaged in formal politics and greatly committed to advising politicians, elected officials, advocacy groups at the national, state, and local level. For the first time since 1968, I am working closely with a very progressive candidate for the Democratic Party US Senate nomination in Ohio, Morgan Harper.
I no longer write primarily for scholars but, as you have see, for a broader audience, using what I learned and translating/transitioning my skills and learning.
I have unburned out and reoriented in retirement. I invite others to join me.
I’m a licensed social worker currently not in the field. Years of working with broken systems pushed me to my breaking point. Then the guilt just knowing you need to get back out there because people are suffering. Yeah it sucks. If we aren’t helping the children, the poor, the HUDDLED MASSES, then what’s the point of government, budgets, spending. Lately it just feels we are the United States of Money and that is literally the ONLY thing that matters. since I’m some gullible libtard, radical socialist I keep forgetting the sheer greed that drives people. How insane of me to want people to be healthy and educated. Bryan Stevenson, a man I admire and someone who is so damn inspiring. What a rough job he has. Even making under 30K a year, I donate monthly to organizations I care about, this helps me feel like maybe I’m making a small difference. And I don’t have kids, if I had kids I’d be on every benefit and struggling to pay for basic needs.
Maslows hierarchy of needs. The well off are always demonizing the poor and telling them to INVEST, MOVE, VOTE, go to college, get skills, blah. However, if you’re working poor, or in poverty, or low income and you are focusing on getting shelter, food, and medicine— you literally have zero brain space to even contemplate getting politically involved, hiring a financial analyst, packing up and moving, you are just trying to feed your family and keep a roof over your head.
When will these elitists, pampered from birth, get their heads out of their azzes and realize HEY PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING. OWN YOUR PRIVILEGE. It’s not hard. I own mine. My parents are still together and even though we had a humble life, I was taken care of, they never let me know if they had finance problems, they taught me to be tough and smart, I’ll always have a roof over my head. I came close to homelessness but I am privileged so I have family I could crash with. Many don’t. I don’t have kids so I can donate more time and money to causes. I’ll always have a family member who can give me food. I’m white and even if I haven’t noticed all of them, I have had many instances of white privilege. I was able to get college loans. I knew what a FAFSA was. A lot of my peers had no clue. The public schools I went to didn’t teach us politics, or real world education to survive out there.
Why is it so scary for people to own it? The privilege? The ignorance? We’re all ignorant in some ways. Why is it hard to take a good Look at themselves? So what—- you aren’t a special snowflake, most of us are just average bums.
Why is it so hard for these OUT OF TOUCH cruel zombies to show some damn compassion and walk a mile in someone’s shoes.
Mr Reich, the student you mention at the top of your essay was working the kind of USPS letter-carrier schedule I worked for 20 yrs in the DC area - through 9/11, anthrax, & the sniper. (Indeed, John Allen Muhammad was my neighbor, for a time.) I'm not now the kind of energetic septuagenarian that many here seem to be - I'm tapped out. However, I am and have been for the last 10 years a poll captain in Jim Jordan's district, and I pledge here and now to remain in that position for the duration, denying it from one of ol' Tweety's frothing-mouthed morons. I suspect I've already had a close encounter with one of 'em, a new face on the team last election. My message to 'em is Gandalf on the bridge: "You shall not pass."
I was so glad to hear Joe Bidden use the fighting language in spirit I believe is absolutely necessary for success yesterday. He used direct language, did not mince words and was not rude, crude or disrespectful. Just direct, speaking truth to power. In my opinion Democrats as an organization should learn how this is done and I guarantee they'll began to appear as fighters with an inner core for offense as well as defense. The defensive fight cannot be joined without a good offense. Successful Democratic Presidents who understood this stand out. One could research the speeches of FDR and see how he responded to the same things we're face with today. He used Republican arguments, many of which they whined about then, they whine about today. He not only knew them from hearing them repeatedly he spoke about them directly to his people outwardly in his speeches. He spoke directly about their concerns of the day and they responded in kind and returned him to the White House six times. Lastly listening to JFK's responses in news conferences illustrates the effectiveness of language.
I think President Biden's speech yesterday, with his 'fighting Joe" tone, is something I consider a small victory to celebrate - seems like he's finally angry and calling people on the carpet for their treachery - we all need to continue to call out the Monster of Mar-a-lago and his corrupt GOP lying Monkeys until they are all criminally investigated and charged for their actions.
It's extraordinary to me that people have to fight so hard for basic, decent things like the right to being fully human. You would think we'd all take this for granted. But we don't or the fighting wouldn't be necessary. So we have to wonder what's wrong with people who deny others full humanity. This can't just be a matter of greed - a profit motive of some sort. There must be something deeper that keeps them from taking it for granted that we're all equally human, and have therefore the same right to the good things in life and the same access to the common good. It revolts me to cast this struggle in terms of good and evil, but I can find no better way of defining true evil than as the act of willfully and knowingly devaluing others, for whatever the motive.
Robert you are very inspiring and completely right. Stacey Abrams is an excellent example of optimistic tenacity. She exemplifies the leadership so badly needed today. She's there and hopefully others are following her. Optimism is tough, I am so grateful for yours.
I am a retired neuroscientist and live in Delaware county PA. Democrats in my township (not necessarily all progressive) are well organized and are still enthusiastic. I am a precinct level committee person. We had remarkable success at the township and county level in the last election. That one grassroots victory is enough to keep me inspired for life. Until recently, our county was solidly R going back to the civil war. It has taken us at least 30 years to get to this point.
Professor Reich: It's people like You and Stacey Abrams who keep me going. When I look at the work that You and others have done and continue to do, it's a pleasure for me to keep trying!
What has been most discouraging is seeing the advances in civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, gay rights, worker’s rights, which were achieved by that very tenacity over the past 50 years, be so quickly eroded in the past five. I had been under the illusion that with continued tenacity we would move ever forward. For me, the question is how far back will the tide turn before we move forward again? And can I sustain my efforts against the backlash in the meantime?
One thing that keeps astonishing me with American people is their generosity in effort when they commit to something. Psychologically speaking, you are far less individualistic than the French (my own breed). Team work does mean something to you. Culturally speaking and because the accent is put so much on money in the United States, this is another matter. Aside from that and more importantly, I like the example of Fred Wertheimer. It tells me that real activism is from the inside out. Our faith is what supports us, both in the peaceful conviction of doing good and in the knowledge that we are never alone; innumerable others are secretly thankful for the good deeds of a few. No need to expect results (though we should be able to assess them) as the true measure of what is worth doing is in its meaning, not in the temporary score of one day.
Biden’s speech was excellent. Direct, honest, the right tone for the circumstances. We need more of that! But we need some wins too. Real action. That’s the incentive for people to push on. If 45 and all the top players of this deadly coup attempt are punished appropriately, that alone will lift our sprits. The importance of this cannot be pushed to the background.
RR wrote: "How did they do it? ... They helped one another along the way"
Tons of eco-oriented and other non-profits compete for donations. I suggest they should try to work together, and/or strategize how they might educate Manchin's WV voters, and key "purple-state" voters, to demand policies for the common good.
Alas, they keep competing for what they must perceive to be a limited pool of donations
one of my favorite posts from you. this was genuinely excellent. you are absolute right, it's a marathon. I've actually run ten of those things, which is a bit crazy admittedly. they went best when I did the exact 3 things you recommended- paced myself, ran with a supportive group, and ran it one mile at a time
I think Mr. Reich's words apply to the pursuit of any worthwhile goal in life, not just political activism. As long as you don't give up, you haven't failed!
For anyone like me, who believes the decisive question in 22 is whether our civic institutions will hold up against coordinated efforts to put in place a targeted veto to control the outcome of future elections, the fact is we nearly are running out the clock on democracy itself. Nonetheless, also believing too much is at stake simply to wait and see what America’s leadership will do, I take heart from being part of a community that understands it’s us that have to become engaged, possibly in ways that initially might not seem particularly impactful. Still, rather than expecting someone else to carry the weight, we persist, somehow knowing that our engagement, our energy, our caring, our work can make a meaningful difference. As for a balanced life, suffice it to say I’m working on it.