Thank you for this piece, Professor Reich; it so uplifting I cannot tell you…
In this time of rampant fear and mass shootings nearly every day so many of us are in a state of despair and need optimism more than ever. You provided a glimmer of Hope to me this morning.
Keep yourself and your loved ones healthy and safe.
DZK ; The journalist from the New Republic said the President should strongly limit assault weapons or ban them entirely. I agree! Executive orders are in order to save lives. Guns that are designed to kill more and more humans should be outlawed,, period! Everyone is afraid, but it must be met with resistance. Shut them down! Require licensing, training ,mental health evaluations, background checks and INSURANCE. In other words: make it impossible, or difficult to comply with the stringent mandatory requirements. It should not be easy to kill people in mass assaults! Is this really too much to demand!?
I think a mental assessment by a psychiatrist and competency tests should be administered to anyone running for the Presidency. We have to have the basics: a stable personality with basic knowledge.
A credit check to see if the candidate is in good standing, and not vulnerable to being 'bought'? Background check for any legal/criminal issues. Can they get a security clearance? If not. Why should they be Commander in Chief?. Knowledge of the job responsibilities. Constitution. Do they support Democracy?
Exactly! Did you see the PBS Frontline episode about Clarence Thomas & his wife? She helped in supporting the insurrection Jan 6! He had so many women talk about his deviant sexual behavior. His own “educational” information came from the Rush Limbaugh Show. He cozy’s up to the Republican Party. He is their puppet. With all the shocking information of non disclosure of lavish gifts by a Republican billionaire, his obvious lying when interviewed for the Supreme Court position about Anita Hill, and his obvious partiality to the Republican Party, Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached & removed from the Supreme Court!
Where can common ground be found between a horse and a political candidate? Well, they both run on the legs Nature gave them. The smarter one uses all four to get from start to finish whereas the less intelligent of the two uses half that many. Lately, a number of deaths have been associated with the equestrian species, notably at Churchill Downs where I think 7 horses in total have passed away. In Russia, individuals interested in unseating Vladimir Putin have also died, disappeared, been poisoned, or imprisoned for their efforts. Russian politics isn't for the faint of heart and Putin doesn't like competition. Hence the difference between Putin's dictatorship and our Democracy. Here in this country, we have a far more passive-aggressive means of dealing with fellow competitors. We assassinate their character. If words could wound every political foe Trump puts in his sights on would have long since departed. I guess that's a plus for our country, we take a negative view of how the Russians hold an election, if and when one ever occurs. Opposing candidates have a state-approved life expectancy that probably wouldn't be underwritten by any insurance company. I feel Trump envies Putin's ability to make opposing candidates just disappear. He seems to me to be a prisoner in a world of controlled violence. If he had free rain, like the condition found in Putin's Russia, I would hate to think of the carnage that man would wreak on our society, because he's totally capable of recreating what took place in the Germany of the 1930s right here in this country. Give him groups like The Proud Boys and the idiots who wear that stupid giant "Q" on their chest, dress them in brown shirts, and supply them with very sharp long knives. That would probably do it, add the "mercaptan" to what was previously undetectable and Trump has his little army. It's post-time in this country and if we aren't careful MTG won't need a passport when she gets the desire to visit a dictatorship.
I also think jurors should have to pass a logic exam. If they can’t retain information, reason and come to a logical conclusion, how can they (and should they?) have someone’s life in their hands?
My mother said in the 80's that anyone running for Pres. had to be crazy. Which, of course, "gave" voters a choice of what kind of crazy was less dangerous.
To the point, military grade weapons are neither designed nor intended for plinking, squirreling, birding, competition events (other than war), or anything amateur hobbyists, or even folks who hunt for their dinner could possibly need them for.
Good guy with gun vs bad guy with a gun? Superficial. Valid only if you don't consider collateral damage. How many are killed or maimed before the good guy shows up - assuming he doesn't become a casualty before he can do anything.
Home defense? See the previous statement. Most attacks are surprise attacks, giving the bad guy with a gun the first strike advantage. People can use their guns to chase off or capture unarmed or lightly armed intruders, but only if they're aware of the intruder in the first place. Remember the element of surprise. Every attack we hear of in the news are surprise attacks. But then again, it's not about public safety or an enlightened, democratic society. It's about cold, hard cash.
For those here buying into - or trying to sell - the notion that mental health is the issue, Now Hear This: https://youtu.be/hJwLZVampYY
But what do you do if you hear someone kick in your front door, as happened to me? Police were 10 minutes away; I had zero seconds to respond. (I yelled very loudly at him; fortunately, he was alone and presumably unarmed; at any rate, he ran off posthaste. But what about next time? I'm a defenseless 74-year-old living and trying to sleep with fingers crossed. I've considered taking a weapon to bed with me, but he or they would just take it away from me and use it on me, laughing all the while. Or it would give them impetus to use their guns. Remember, there's 400+ million out there; no doubt many burglars carry them.)
Here, you can get shot while quietly sitting in your easy chair, nowhere near the action. Then in a shoot-up downtown, that nobody's heard of because TX is front-and-center, one guy was showing a bullet hole that went through his window, nearly hitting him in the head, because the shootout was happening right below his window. There was a lot of blood on the street on 5/6. If having a medium heavy pistol close by, while knowing how to maintain and use it comforts you, then by all means have one. Even I have said in earlier comments that left leaning gun control advocates should make sure they're armed in the event we begin seeing heavily armed "patriotic groups" marching down the street in some kind of half-assed revolution attempt - and I >do< think such like-minded morons would do so if they thought they could get away with it, thinking "lefties" are unarmed.
You mean, like the RWDS? That own the majority of the assault weapons out there? That marched on our Capital 1/6? Them? Yeah, we see the enemy, and the enemy is US!
Nothing rhetorical about it. "To begin with, military grade weapons are for exclusive use by the military in fighting wars." That may be the purpose for which such weapons are manufactured, but the military are hardly the only ones using them.
If police have military-grade weapons, criminals (organized or not) will have them too.
For some reason I couldn't edit my comment to include "Don't forget $$ and power." I meant the 2 to go together. Mfrs don't care who ends up with their weapons as long as the bottom line flourishes.
And we would have to insure the owner of the gun. Jeez! Imagine if insurance companies were in charge. They would require medical and psychological checks. They would require additional insurance, if any questions were raised about the owner of the guns. They would be required to pay the families of anyone who is shot or killed. This would guarantee expensive insurance. it might cause people to lock them up because insurance won’t pay unless you follow the rules. I do hate to say this, I really do but, criminals wouldn’t buy insurance, they would just steal guns and use them like they do now. So once again, I guess it’s the guns.
We are required to insure cars. Cars can kill, but not like assault weapons. Gotta try something ! Car license requires driving school or demonstration of safe driving capability, and knowledge of the rules of the road with compliance with safety considerations. The 'right' has unleashed an unprecedented assault on everyone in this country who can't avoid being in public places. Those who have personal shoppers and helicopters and lots of security at private estates don't care! They are the enemies of Decency! The attacks on children is the absolute worst! Something must be done. The cost of insurance be damned!
America is also becoming more secular. White evangelicals are slowly decreasing in number. Most of the freedom-undermining policies and laws are defended by their advocates with ideas from a version of white evangelicalism or a type of right wing Catholicism. The group of people who do not identify with a specific church or religion is increasing. There’s an extremely strong correlation between the presence of evangelical churches and support for the death penalty, abortion bans, an absolute right to guns, and the loss of rights and freedoms for LGBTQ people in various states. I cannot say what it means--whether it means that you would not get these as political options without the megachurches. But the megachurches are always a big presence wherever they exist in large numbers and not where they do not exist in large numbers. I believe it’s very hard to predict what will happen because using Christianity and race are just one of several ploys the right has tried. If one starts to falter they may always evolve a different one to hang on to power. But we have to assume that this particular strategy is showing its age and weakness or they would not openly be jumping to destroy the democratic system.
Yes…Reichs work is vital to understanding the real story behind the headlines.
But at the community level where people are grieving or lonely or poor there is a paucity of community caring. Non profits are a mixed bag and driven by the shower term grant economy.. so long term relations and caring from one to the other are too often missing.
As this is the beginning of U.S. Teacher appreciation Week, I can't help but think of Professor Reich as he continues to teach us, and gets us to think about what is going on, and what our options are, if any. I agree that it is difficult to get the feeling of community caring. I also think the 'non profits' are a mixed bag; there is so much fraud.
I have lived in some communities that were connected and caring and others that weren’t and there are a bunch of things that existed in the more caring communities but the arts are a surprisingly good way to bring people together! Music festivals, dance festivals, film festivals, open studies, arts festivals, theater groups, etc. Farmers markets with performances. Plus educational things like Adult Education or Learning Annex type things. But you sort of have to really have a certain type of people in the community...the kind of people that start stuff like this. Some places have a lot of civic activity and some don’t. I don’t know what the secret sauce is but in the places with the civic activity there is generally more care. And evangelical churches DO NOT CARE FOR THEIR MEMBERS. This was very shocking to me when the elders in my family shifted over to these churches away from churches that did, then got old and I was used to having all kinds of visiting groups, etc. I called to see if people could visit them and they said ‘we don’t do that.’ Ask evangelicals about this. It’s quite astonishing. They take 10% of your income for decades and then when you are old and sick, they completely abandon you. They don’t even bring over food! That’s megachurches. I don’t know about smaller independent churches. Black churches are completely different, of course.
I’ve come to view religion a bit more favorably than I used to, because I am looking for any source of values to counteract those of the marketplace which dominate our society today
I know exactly what you mean. I too want a values based community. I try to be a good neighbour but I need something to challenge my values …better questions… seeking answers at the level I pose my questions!
Hi, Elizabeth, I'm trying to give you a potential answer to your quest, but I cancelled an earlier attempt above. This may seem crazy, but what we really need to do is overhaul the K-12 institutions, close down the classroom, keep the teachers, and begin creating a village learning environment. It's a big to-do, a difficult transformation, but it's not far from the way Abraham Lincoln got his education, in addition to many others who lived in the 19th Century. In those days, it wasn't schools as much as it was strong communities, comprised of people who depended on each other. If we could find our way back to that, we could abolish the classroom while the village thrives. (I've written a book about this. "It Takes the Whole Damn Village" is on Amazon, Kindle only. It's also obsolete since 2006 and needs a new edition.) The industrial revolution largely destroyed our communities; closing the classroom is a tangible step that will force us to make the needed changes, while we all grow closer to each other, more interconnected, less lonely (a story this week), and more interdependent. Courage. Does this challenge your values? (above)
Hi....it is an interesting idea but since we call live in cities....I am not sure we could recreate a village learning environment. Not to say we don't need to do better on supporting education and making classrooms smaller....and does what ever we need to do for kids.
Also...recognizing our interdependence is so important ...especially in reducing crime..y being their for at risk kids as coaches in accessible sports and the arts, as mentors and as advocates.
Up to 60% believe lies(anxiety Scientists found FACING YOUR FEAR is a REQUIRED part of treatment..)...vaka placebo. "Do one thing every day that scares you."-- Eleanor Roosevelt. Examples of placebo include Fox News, Racism, Anger, Shooting, Conspiracies, MAGA, religion, etc. Science anyone?😁😁😁
Research done on how voters react to fears shows evidence that voters who are afraid vote Republican. We live in a state of generalized fear, now. Here is one of many articles that may explain why people vote against their own economic interests.
People who are afraid are easy to control. This is how some politicians try to get what they want. They sow drama and fear to distract, divide, and control.
While we can't control the world around us, we do have some control over our reaction to it. Fear disrupts our critical thinking and ability to respond creatively. Interestingly, fear can't exist in the presence of love. We're all just human, but have a piece of divinity inside. The rest is free choice.
I think you've brought up one of the most important questions in society today, Elizabeth. My [totally unsupported] guess is that church ties may still be relatively strong in rural areas, but not so much in more urban communities. And there's nothing, really, to replace the work of churches. Community centers do exist, but not in effective numbers. There are a couple of churches in my area (a few minutes outside downtown Cleveland) that are ecumenical and emphasize fellowship over religious doctrine, welcoming all who enter, but they're a tiny minority. I don't know the answer to replacing church bonds and outreach. Soup kitchens and the like remain the province of churches, for the most part.
In truth, I am NOT a ‘none.’ It is simply better for everyone, including people of faith to live in a free, secular society. The Christian theocratic view makes no sense. There is nothing a person of the Christian faith gets or needs from political power. If the only way to break the cycle is for unscrupulous, power-hungry and greedy people who have decided to hijack religious faith to lose their following and hence their ill-gotten gains, so be it.
For years I have been troubled / hate the use of the term Christian by the white evangelical church. The news media makes it worse. I grew up in that world and it wasn't about hate, anti-abortion, prosperity gospel when I was a teenager in the early 60's. There is just nothing Christ like in the leadership of these churches, it just power, money and look at me. Just look at the concept of vengeance and retribution as "preached" by trump. Now explain to me how that is in any form Christian.
This is why the youth and young adults and leaving the evangelicals in droves.
Dorothy, I support your view. No matter what your faith or belief system or none it is hard to find fault with Jesus's words or actions. I left the evangelical world over my believe in science as a teenager. Today 60. years later both my spouse and myself are active supporters and members of an Episcopal church. For me the key is the acceptance of many viewpoints and all kinds of people.
Me, 35, and my 36 year old sister had a BLAST at our church's youth group leading up to our "First Communion." (We went to "Zion United Church of Christ" though, which emphasized loving EVERYONE and charity.)
No offense, but I shudder to think of being so jaded by organized religion. It really taught be about how Christ was LOVING above all! (Even those that do not believe him to be Christ's only son can enjoy his teachings.)
I'm afraid that my first 18 years of life spent as a Jehovah's Witness has "inoculated" me against pretty much all forms of systemic belief. That includes religions, different schools of political theory, and even, to a certain extent, philosophy. This is not necessarily a good thing; I find it hard to rally around causes that even I believe in, because a certain part of my brain says "but what if it's all bullshit?" Being a skeptic is not some super power-it's also to some extent a fearful reaction to being burned again. But I still found this article hopeful!
I think my aversion to Christianity and religion in general was birthed by 8 years of Catholic school followed by 20 years of studying and teaching real history stripped down to the facts and not the faith.
I’m not jaded. But I see no reason to suppose that just because somebody says they are organizing something around God necessarily makes them godly--or even good, necessarily. If ye shall know them by their fruits...sometimes people are pointing things out that are bad, and they have good evidence. I worry when people stop trusting their ability to detect rottenness because somebody told them to ignore the smell. Lots of stories of harm and injustice start like that--people being told to plug up their ears and eyes, ignore the world and do nothing but follow the voice of a leader.
As a "none" myself, my children also view religion as the fantasy it is. And it is the trend of todays youth, especially when they don't have religion forced on them as they grow up.
I absolutely agree that the Christian right has been going hand in hand with the zealotry of the right wing agenda and feel like some of them might prefer our government be run as a theocracy rather than as a democracy. When I think of separation of church and state then I feel like some of their arguments and attacks should lack merit but somehow Roe V Wade was overturned anyway. The other day, I learned that 9 Republicans in Wisconsin actually want to keep a law on the books from 1931 that prohibits unmarried couples from living together because they think that it’s immoral. So, yet another example of them trying to control people and their personal lives.
They also make up fantasies about a white population decline, or about marriage as the key to social order. So they aren't merely thinking about morality and immorality or even forcing Americans to live by their religious beliefs (which they ARE doing) but they are doing social engineering. They believe they can get a certain kind of male and white dominated society if they can somehow force women to marry and bear many children for the fatherland or whatever.
There is evidence that the number of church goers is simply returning to pre-WW2 levels. If you want to motivate people to do dangerous things, it has to be attached to a moral imperative--which was done to convince Americans to engage in the European fight. A moral imperative not collapsed with evangelical Christianity is required now.
Tyrannical Ruler Unconstitutionally Manipulating People
This proves that Americans on the right are easily lead! He is a false profit backed by many other false profits. How could any honorable Christian believe in a tyrannical ruler whose terrible reign was marked by unceasing violence? Do you really believe Jesus would condone his behavior or treat people the way he does?
Keith, I like your phrase for TRUMP. There are many Christians who do not approve of Trump in any way and think him a ridiculous clown. He is not Christian, he has no idea what any of the Christian precepts are and of course does not live them. A whole lot of the white evangelicals don't either. They make things up as they go along to suit their personal comfort, then try to force other people to go along with it. This is not a new practice, just made modern by using social media and Fox. They were also benefited by Trump's pardoning of criminal crackpots like Mike Flynn. He is crusading for his warped brand of Christianity right now when he should be in jail for insurrection. I know Republicans, instead of working to make things better for this nation and our planet, use their pathetic thinking ability to come up with new ways to undermine our democracy to keep themselves in power they do not deserve. We do need to stop them if we are to survive as a nation.
Yes, Jack. tRump’s heart IS in the right place... his chest. That’s about it. As you refer to his “heart,” you fail to realize that it’s a cold, black and long dead heart. Thanks to Fox Entertainment, Not News, as testified to under oath by Murdoch & lawyers who stated that no reasonable person should believe their rhetoric to be the truth. Fox along with other entities, talking heads & politician’s who disseminate right-wing propaganda. Donny “Two Scoops” has proven over his too long of an over-privileged life, that he’s a severe narcissist, habitual liar of the highest magnitude, misogynist & sexual predator, racist, bad businessman, terrible husband, father and a fake Christian. Also, an obvious con man and white nationalist. Plus, a hate & fear monger. tRump is clearly a fascist willing to destroy American Democracy for ego, power and money. Sadly, you don’t believe any of this, do you? So, pour yourself another “Kool Aid.” Please, seek help from a mental health expert who specializes in deprogramming the modern day, long-term, mass brainwashed. Good Luck.
I'm not a Trump supporter, and I'll be very happy to see justice served in this case. I've never been a fan of the Murdoch propaganda machine either. I think you may have misunderstood my nonpolitical joke.
Jack, you’re right. I did misunderstand your comment. It’s very nice to hear you’re Not just another brainwashed tRumpanzee. Seems I’m guilty of being too quick to shut down a red “mad” hatter. Please accept my apology. (<-Now, that’s something you very rarely, if ever, hear from the MAGA right!) I’m a proud, open-minded, inclusive, (a.k.a. “Woke”) forgiving yet, fallible human being on the progressive, democratic left.
Robert, solve a puzzle for me. I was in the first wave of the Baby Boom, and we thought we were the progressive mass that would change the country. We were involved in civil rights, against the war in Vietnam, started Earth Day and the environmental movement, the women's movement, self-help and many lifestyle changes, but we are now seen as the problem. We are told we have to die before change can happen. I thought my parents' generation was the problem and that when they died, things would be better. But they are all gone and that change hasn't occurred. So can you assure me that that same pattern won't happen again? The pushback against progressives gaining power will be powerful and strong. The millennials now seem progressive, but what will happen as they grow older and our country changes but not the way they want?
A valid concern that I also have. One mediating factor may be the immediacy of impending crises, like climate chaos, record wealth & power disparity, economic injustice, health crises & the rise of fascism.
Great question. About 5 years ago, I read a thoughtful and well supported explanation of the sad backsliding in many of the social justice gains of the late 60s and 70s. The author said that the backlash against that era was so much bigger than anyone had anticipated. I'm not sure the backlash ever stopped.
Born into the Great Depression, the Silent Generation ate childhood diets defined by World War II rationing under windows darkened by blackout blinds to protect in case of air attack, lived and died with a compulsory draft through the Korean War into Vietnam, listened bemused as Baby Boom children of Greatest Generation prosperity bellyached over practicing hiding under their desks, never mind Nixon, endured Reagan reversals of social progress and Bush initiation of more needless war, witnessed siblings betray their generation as MAGAts … and now you tell us that generation can expect relief around the time it reaches 100—or later? Anything you can suggest to speed things up, Dr R?
20 years? The problem has arrived. We are at a global tipping point, which basically means that, and I paraphrase here, the globally necessary is political suicide, and the politically expedient is globally catastrophic. How do you expect to survive politically if you say the most important thing you can do for the planet is consume less? I am not talking a little less, I am talking a lot less. It is not downscaling from a Hummer to a RAV4, it is downscaling to an electric bike, or perhaps walking. The change we need to make, if fully explained and pushed, would lead to a major backlash. Even progressive Democrats fear saying anything close out loud. 20 years is too slow too avoid collapse, but acting now is too hard to stomach. The US, as a global empire, is dying, and the reactionary rights decent into authoritarian dreamland is a response to that reality - keeping the American Dream (a white man's dream only) alive by any means necessary. Sorry to be so realistically pessimistic, but that giant blob of hot water in the Pacific called El Nino, and the melting of the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica ahead of schedule, has me totally spooked. So do the people firing AR-15s and other assault weapons in my neighborhood. There the ones with "God, Guns and Trump" signs in their yards. At least spring flowers given some hope.
JennSH from NC ; It is a jarring image of contradiction, for sure. Points to hypocrisy and the wishful thinking of disturbed minds. Rationalization and justification. Down is up. The 2nd amendment wrongly interpreted is sacred , but not even are children's lives sacred! They Stalk soft targets like cowards.
Wayne Teel ; darkest hour before the dawn? It IS getting dark! I can't help but think that there are many Republicans who have been terrorized out of the party who are not MAGA, and do not live in authoritarian dreamland. As we see more shootings and it hits closer to home ; as there are more catastrophic events in weather, there may be more people awakening from hypnosis of the far 'Right'. Who knows? President Biden may see his way to using executive powers as Commander in Chief to declare war against the killing machines and their manufacturers! We have Democrat allies too, if we can't muster help stateside! Our people are being slaughtered! This is war, people!!!! It has to stop.
An incisive, spot-on analysis, IMO, Wayne. Your turn of phrase, "...the globally necessary is political suicide, and the politically expedient is globally catastrophic," is brilliant.
GrrlScientist ; Optimism is good! We might have a meteor hit the earth some day that will end things! Or A huge solar flare could take out the power grid supporting the internet? A good fight well fought is stimulating, if daunting. Dying from boredom is ennui exacerbated by despair.
Here I've been thinking that Liberals/Progressives/Lefties were _already_ in the majority. It's just that politically, they had been heavily finessed out of Power by things like Republican gerrymandering when they managed to gain the majority in their State legislatures. And how the GOP has been packing the courts with Conservative shills. And how for the last 20 years the Right has been buying up traditional Liberal Media outlets and changing formats. Usually to things politically neutral like Sports Talk, but occasionally taking a full hard pendulum swing to the Right and putting on talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.
IF it starts to look like the pendulum is swinging back to favor Liberals, I expect the GOP will dig in its heels and use all of its perverted Power to keep the Left from taking control (supermajority). So, yes, outright destroying Democracy in order to retain Power is a distinct possibility.
Scared of socialism relating it to communism/soviet communism instead of American Democratic Socialism. Another problem is the right’s insistence on unfair, unfettered Capitalism without conscience, morals or social responsibility.
The headline of my 2019, column read, "In love with Bernie—in line with Biden." Biden was what was needed this time, and he should get re-elected. When revolution is at your doorstep you can't afford to lose the center. If the center doesn't hold, the revolution is inevitable. All the energy is on the right, and that's the way the revolution will go. We must support the center at this historic moment.
Oh, the Left is there, even if it's only me. (I've been described as a "bleeding-heart Liberal" my entire adult life.) The situation is that the Left lacks the political clout to actually BE in control enough to further its agenda the way it would like. The way the Right DOES when it is in sufficient control. We on the Left CAN achieve Majorities (50+%) in both Houses of Congress and the White House -- SCOTUS is and WILL continue to be decidedly Right for at least the rest of my lifetime -- but it is an ineffectual Majority, because of the Senate's cloture rule that requires 60 votes to end debate; EVERYTHING less than 60 can be filibustered out of existence simply by the Republican senior member **saying** the word "filibuster". Republicans can and do simply wait out the Democrats want to do, blocking _anything_ they dislike from ever transpiring. Doing so continues the illusion that the USA is _still_ a Democracy. But if you loosely define "democracy" as "government of the People, by the People, for the People" then the USA has actually NEVER been a democracy. Not for as long as "Our" elected representatives can be bought by the Wealthy, which started less than a year after the USA was formed.
Yes, Jennifer. We have to remember that socialism is primarily an economic arrangement different from capitalism. Democracy and totalitarianism are primarily governing systems. So, you can have totalitarian capitalism (fascism); you can have totalitarian socialism (attempted—USSR); you can have democratic capitalism (USA, in name only), and; you can have democratic socialism (preferred, much of Europe, today, primarily in the North). Yay, Bernie!
So true, because we have social security, public schools (struggling because not equitably funded) and libraries... But somehow those "social programs" are just not socialism! Ugh idiots abound.
CaptainPatch ; It certainly seems to be in the works. At this point it's like they are saying "make me!". Make them follow the laws! Exhibit A ; the 'Supreme' Court! We are told that the only way to unseat a justice on the supreme court is to impeach them! Then they (pundits) quickly follow that 'fact' with ; "of course, it will not happen"; is impossible to get the requisite number of votes to get such an impeachment. Look at George Santos in Congress, and others like him, brought in by dirty foreign money and having fake resumes also. Their deceived constituents are told they must wait until two years are up to vote them out. This whole thing is broken and gamed. George W. Bush spoke of "A new world order"; He had successfully stolen an election. It is still going on, or, at least attempted. More voters are waking up ; it's hurting that badly.
I agree with most of what you said. HOWEVER, what I find terrifying as that nearly 50% (>74 million) voters avidly support a self-confessed pussy-grabber. There are literal MOUNTAINS of evidence laying out a broadsheet of Trump malfeasance, and _still_ they support him. What does that perversion have to say about the very soul and character of America? Certainly it does NOT describe what I thought America was when I was growing up.
I beg to differ. Without anything notably higher than a simple majority, We get what I call "the tyranny of the 50.1%. If all it takes is a simple majority to enact or end legislation, the 49.9% may as well just stay home.... because they WILL be ignored and bullied by the simple majority. [If you remember what it was like in the Dubya Bush Administration, that is ***precisely*** what the Republicans were doing, shutting down Democrat committees and ignoring the Democrats in their midst.]
There is also the aspect that roughly 30-40% of eligible voters do NOT vote for a variety of reasons. (Most commonly, "One is just as bad as the other. So why bother voting?") Yet when calculating TRUE majorities they _should_ be factored in if legislation is supposed to be what the _actual_ majority of Americans want and need. Otherwise We will (continue) to be tyrannized by whoever won the popularity/vote-stuffing contest.
Thank you, as always, Dr. Reich for your insights and optimism.
In my humble view there is one thing and one thing in particular that Americas lack. And that is class consciousness. We are most definitely not "all in this together" as the trite phrase goes.
It is implicitly forbidden to say this but I will: We are a class based society. ("It's a big club and you and me...we ain't in it" to quote the late, great George Carlin.) That's the capitalist owner's club.
The working class needs to develop a sense of class solidarity, organize, and form the kind of unions we had in the 1930s. This is what forced FDR to give us The New Deal. So long as Americans are divided and atomized we remain conquered by our corporate capitalist masters.
Thank you, Thomas, for quoting the late, great George Carlin! Can you just imagine what he would be saying, or would have been saying, over the past 7-8 years? It's voices like Carlin's that are so sorely missing these days.
All of that is encouraging and hopeful. However, the term we're all using, 'climate change' doesn't adequately convey the destruction being done to all species and theirs and our habitats--land, air, and water, not to mention recklessly killing them and ourselves for 'sport.'
Barbara, I don't even use the term "climate change." It was dreamed up by someone who didn't want people to be alarmed at what is happening. I call it "global warming" but I don't even see that term as conveying the true devastation we are facing. Russia keeps attacking its neighbor for no reason than that Putin wants more power, although what power over a destroyed nation will get him is unclear. Then Sudan is imploding because two crazy military men think they have a right to rule a people that wants neither of them. This and more is happening while the earth is changing to the point where human beings will no longer be able to survive. That is one of many definitions of insanity, but even knowing that will not stop it. In fact, both conflicts have increased in destruction. I sure do wish we could capture and imprison those men who can't seem to live with other people they don't control. We could put Trump with them too. They could spend the rest of their lives whining in their own languages that the others can't understand. It would be interesting.
We need desperately to change how we define masculinity to curtail male violence, so that we can at last all focus on solving the climate crisis. Why is it that young men are less progressive than young women? What scares them about a world where being male means caring about others, being able to be vulnerable, expressing the whole range of human emotions, not just anger and feeling a connection with all living things- many of whom are in peril because of human activity.
J., It seems young men as well as older men are afraid they will be seen as wimps or something worse, gay. Toxic masculinity is often the result of a culture that puts too much emphasis on male being the most important gender. Boys are "frustrated" that they are often not seen as the best and most important people wherever they are. Girls are finishing high school and attending college at higher rates in many places. It is toxic masculinity that also is trying to force women to remain pregnant and give birth. That is really bad for our planet, but it works really well to make men feel in control. How sad we all have to keep pacifying men so maybe they won't hurt us. Well, it ain't workin'! Men now have enormous numbers of guns and regularly use them to hurt people. It sure helps to keep everyone on edge, particularly kids. Our planet needs better from all of us, and the people claim to want better. Now we have to push people to start voting like they want something better than the whiny, often ignorant old white Republican men (with a few younger white men and women, just as whiny. How do we get people to see that they can do something about this insanity and could send the non-progressive folks home if they cared enough and in large enough numbers.
That is a good question about young men. In my activist activities it’s usually the women, young or old that are out front and I asked myself where are the men?
Hi, Ruth. Just desserts for them. Dante would smile and create a new niche, just for them. Regarding Putin, I think he wants Ukraine because it's a bread basket. It's like New York wants to own all of Iowa, only Ukraine is much bigger than Iowa. This conquest is his way of recognizing climate change. Seize everything you need; the world is ending.
I hope that the first domino to fall in a complete transition towards progressive ideology is for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to be signed into law.
This can happen as soon as January 2025. Trump will continue to drag the rest of the GOP down the drain in his whirlpool of lies. State legislatures will shift blue too with all their corruption, hateful legislation, and corporate pandering finally becoming too much for 75% of America to bear, even in red states.
Dems will finally have enough support to kill the filibuster for good, and with a Democratic House as well there will be no impediments left for #MAGAlomaniacs to fling into the works.
Picture if you will, what Democrats can do then to make all our lives better. Government will again be geared towards helping without the #ProSTRIFE Republicans trying to prevent any sense of security for the middle class.
Then the dominoes start to fall at all levels, where justice, integrity, compassion, and equality, return to the forefront of political advancements.
We may even find ways then to end the disproportionate influence of corporations and billionaires. With public not private financing of campaigns, fat cat leverage will no longer hang over any politicians.
We will again see the American dream within our grasp. However, unlike when the founding fathers crafted democracy to suit white landowning males, women and people of color will have an equal stake at last. The last of the baby boomers may not feel like letting that happen, but the generations rising up will ensure it.
Quit blaming boomers. The Democrats have had both houses and a Democratic president several times and they still didn't fight for Universal Healthcare, unions, policies that keep and create jobs in this country, etc. Why not?
But for the inability of "progressives to co-opt Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Dinos, two elected Democrats whose dogged resistance to Biden’s social agenda upended voting rights, extension of Medicare, and everything else.
They didn't understand that politics resembles contract bridge more than the pursuit of dominos.
The democrats have never had that type of control. They have always had to deal with the filibuster, blue dog democrats or Manchin and Sinema.
Remember all the compromise Obama had to make to get Obamacare through. It was democrats like Joe Lieberman who weakened the bill. Joe was the 60th vote and made them remove the public option because he was the tool of the insurance industry.
Knowing that, Biden and Schumer needed to make sure the group was unified. Game theory. Congressional politics is like herding cats. Should have not spent a second trying to get Republicans on board and started with voting rights. With voting rights, Democrats would still control the House.
Yeah it’s the boomers fault. Who voted Reagan in? Whenever the Dems have had a “majority” it’s not a true majority. Clinton was not a true progressive in any way. More like a racist who did damage to communities of color.
Obama was blocked by the right. Citizens United was put in place by the SC, not him.
Progressive movement needs more than the old fart Biden to get anything done. He’s a corporate hack. Like many in politics. We need age limits on congress and presidency.
Age limit, no. Cognitive screening, yes. Some people are very bright in their 90s. Some never learn anything after they turn 40. It's part of humanity's wonderful diversity.
I like to know what people think. charitably I could say that Obama was simply not prepared for the job. Another four years of seasoning would have helped. And yes, in many respects, his hands were tied.
Don't forget to end child apartheid with a complete overhaul and radically different approach to childhood education: The Village Learning Environment. It will transform our entire culture if we're brave enough to do it. Keep the teachers, close the classroom.
Today, Trump leads Biden by 7 points — 49% to 42% — in a in a Washington Post-ABC News poll out today. 44% of U.S. adults polled said they'd definitely or probably vote for Trump vs. 38% for Biden. 12% were undecided.
Odds are even whether we last 20 years.
My plan A is that NASA finds that wormhole in space.
Plan B is that Garland will investigate and prosecute Trump and all his co conspirators presently seated in Congress.
Daniel, I am worried about that poll too. I am even more worried that our "mainstream" media are drinking the Kool-Ade too. I keep hearing the newscasters on NPR talking about tomorrow's meeting with Senate and House leaders as a negotiation. It should never be a negotiation because one should not be negotiating over our national debt since it is debt we have already made. Don't our media understand they will be on the chopping block if Republicans get any more power than they already have. Why are they giving Republicans credence? It makes no sense.
Mainstream media aren’t drinking anything. They are the right wing. 90% corporate owned and controlling the narrative because they are not interested in the truth. Corporations benefit from the lies they push. Because that’s what they do. Lie.
I wish Biden had chosen not to run again, & let other Democrats have a run at it. We have a number of very good potential candidates who I think have a better chance of winning.
Me too. This change, if it does come, will too late for a lot of us, including me, but I still hope it's true. I'm more pessimistic about our species, since we didn't evolve to consider the longer term issues, only how to survive in the near term. And since we seem to already tolerate this latest mass extinction wave without significantly changing our behavior. I'm not sure there will be many other species around in 20 years.
It's about time, but I'll believe it when I see it, if I live that long. Back in the 60s, everyone said the political pendulum swings every generation (i.e., 30 years), so when the US started going right wing in the early 70s, I expected it to swing back left in about 30 years. I'm still waiting.
It does look hopeful, but I'm not quite as sanguine about the potential number and orientation of college-educated voters. The right-wing has done its best to price university out of the reach of the middle and working classes, forcing them into taking out loans they'll be lucky to pay off in their lifetimes.
At the same time, it has spread the propaganda that the only degrees worth getting are in the STEM fields, and fewer and fewer students are majoring in the Humanities and Social Sciences; in fact, some small liberals arts colleges are considering closing their English, History, and Philosophy department. It seems to me to be significant that in the 60s the majority of Civil Rights and anti-war protestors on university campuses were in the Humanities; some were in the Social Sciences, and almost none were in STEM fields.
I think it depends on the State and campus. I attended College/University from 1964 through 1972 and then part time until 1977 when I completed my Masters thesis. Since I majored in Biology and Chemistry, I guess that would put me in the STEM group. We, my younger colleagues and I were very involved in Civil Rights marches, electioneering and then in Anti Vietnam War protests. In Sacramento, California. Berkeley was also very involved. Even at Community College we held protests.
Sounds good, Robert, for those of you who expect to be alive in two decades. Let's hear if for the women and youth! But between then and now, much has to be done about the endemic corruption of an 'extractive' economy that's crushing the base while further enriching the privileged well-to-do.
I appreciate the optimistic view of what the next 20 years may bring. However with gerrymandered states, and voter suppression already in place, I am pessimistic about there being enough pro-democracy voters out there who will actually turn out to overcome our current reality. Ever hopeful, but hope is not a strategy. There must be better messaging from the progressive caucus
The present forced-birth movement is an effort to restore slavery in the United States. Abandoned children have been warehoused in our inadequate foster care systems for decades then "aged out" in their late teens without adequate survival skills. This "domestic supply" -- as Supreme Court Justice and People of Praise Handmaid Amy Coney Barrett phrases it -- is ripe for labor camps. They will be tasked with doing the absolute most dangerous bottom-level work in our society. Unlike our illegal alien workforce, this native-born population will not be sending their wages "back home" in hopes of returning there someday. They will have no wages nor any "back home." Already the GOP is attacking our child labor laws to prepare the ground for this permanently indentured caste-in-the-making.
Thank you for this piece, Professor Reich; it so uplifting I cannot tell you…
In this time of rampant fear and mass shootings nearly every day so many of us are in a state of despair and need optimism more than ever. You provided a glimmer of Hope to me this morning.
Keep yourself and your loved ones healthy and safe.
Anne in MD 🌻
A rebuttal from the New Republic: https://youtu.be/dfGisk9X8ms 20 years might as well be 200.
DZK ; The journalist from the New Republic said the President should strongly limit assault weapons or ban them entirely. I agree! Executive orders are in order to save lives. Guns that are designed to kill more and more humans should be outlawed,, period! Everyone is afraid, but it must be met with resistance. Shut them down! Require licensing, training ,mental health evaluations, background checks and INSURANCE. In other words: make it impossible, or difficult to comply with the stringent mandatory requirements. It should not be easy to kill people in mass assaults! Is this really too much to demand!?
I think a mental assessment by a psychiatrist and competency tests should be administered to anyone running for the Presidency. We have to have the basics: a stable personality with basic knowledge.
A credit check to see if the candidate is in good standing, and not vulnerable to being 'bought'? Background check for any legal/criminal issues. Can they get a security clearance? If not. Why should they be Commander in Chief?. Knowledge of the job responsibilities. Constitution. Do they support Democracy?
Laurie; the “Supreme” Court as well.
Exactly! Did you see the PBS Frontline episode about Clarence Thomas & his wife? She helped in supporting the insurrection Jan 6! He had so many women talk about his deviant sexual behavior. His own “educational” information came from the Rush Limbaugh Show. He cozy’s up to the Republican Party. He is their puppet. With all the shocking information of non disclosure of lavish gifts by a Republican billionaire, his obvious lying when interviewed for the Supreme Court position about Anita Hill, and his obvious partiality to the Republican Party, Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached & removed from the Supreme Court!
Politics-VS-Horse racing.
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
12:01 PM (2 minutes ago)
Where can common ground be found between a horse and a political candidate? Well, they both run on the legs Nature gave them. The smarter one uses all four to get from start to finish whereas the less intelligent of the two uses half that many. Lately, a number of deaths have been associated with the equestrian species, notably at Churchill Downs where I think 7 horses in total have passed away. In Russia, individuals interested in unseating Vladimir Putin have also died, disappeared, been poisoned, or imprisoned for their efforts. Russian politics isn't for the faint of heart and Putin doesn't like competition. Hence the difference between Putin's dictatorship and our Democracy. Here in this country, we have a far more passive-aggressive means of dealing with fellow competitors. We assassinate their character. If words could wound every political foe Trump puts in his sights on would have long since departed. I guess that's a plus for our country, we take a negative view of how the Russians hold an election, if and when one ever occurs. Opposing candidates have a state-approved life expectancy that probably wouldn't be underwritten by any insurance company. I feel Trump envies Putin's ability to make opposing candidates just disappear. He seems to me to be a prisoner in a world of controlled violence. If he had free rain, like the condition found in Putin's Russia, I would hate to think of the carnage that man would wreak on our society, because he's totally capable of recreating what took place in the Germany of the 1930s right here in this country. Give him groups like The Proud Boys and the idiots who wear that stupid giant "Q" on their chest, dress them in brown shirts, and supply them with very sharp long knives. That would probably do it, add the "mercaptan" to what was previously undetectable and Trump has his little army. It's post-time in this country and if we aren't careful MTG won't need a passport when she gets the desire to visit a dictatorship.
I also think jurors should have to pass a logic exam. If they can’t retain information, reason and come to a logical conclusion, how can they (and should they?) have someone’s life in their hands?
It seems the higher one rises the less is required. It's upside-down.
My mother said in the 80's that anyone running for Pres. had to be crazy. Which, of course, "gave" voters a choice of what kind of crazy was less dangerous.
Hobson's Choice.
To begin with, military grade weapons are for exclusive use by the military in fighting wars. On the other hand:
- WAR IS A RACKET:
https://youtu.be/26O-2SVcrw0
(WHO WAS SMEDLEY: https://youtu.be/crf7A7x-qC8)
Pay serious attention to when that was written and who wrote it. It no less than confirms what is said in the New Republic commentary.
So, I'll not waste my breath moralizing on the legitimacy of waging war. Nobody who wages war >ever< listens. (Thoughts & prayers!) It's in god's hands: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/now-its-gods-fault-texas-republican-slammed-for-claiming-the-almighty-controls-shootings/ar-AA1aRiRM
To the point, military grade weapons are neither designed nor intended for plinking, squirreling, birding, competition events (other than war), or anything amateur hobbyists, or even folks who hunt for their dinner could possibly need them for.
Good guy with gun vs bad guy with a gun? Superficial. Valid only if you don't consider collateral damage. How many are killed or maimed before the good guy shows up - assuming he doesn't become a casualty before he can do anything.
Home defense? See the previous statement. Most attacks are surprise attacks, giving the bad guy with a gun the first strike advantage. People can use their guns to chase off or capture unarmed or lightly armed intruders, but only if they're aware of the intruder in the first place. Remember the element of surprise. Every attack we hear of in the news are surprise attacks. But then again, it's not about public safety or an enlightened, democratic society. It's about cold, hard cash.
For those here buying into - or trying to sell - the notion that mental health is the issue, Now Hear This: https://youtu.be/hJwLZVampYY
But what do you do if you hear someone kick in your front door, as happened to me? Police were 10 minutes away; I had zero seconds to respond. (I yelled very loudly at him; fortunately, he was alone and presumably unarmed; at any rate, he ran off posthaste. But what about next time? I'm a defenseless 74-year-old living and trying to sleep with fingers crossed. I've considered taking a weapon to bed with me, but he or they would just take it away from me and use it on me, laughing all the while. Or it would give them impetus to use their guns. Remember, there's 400+ million out there; no doubt many burglars carry them.)
Here, you can get shot while quietly sitting in your easy chair, nowhere near the action. Then in a shoot-up downtown, that nobody's heard of because TX is front-and-center, one guy was showing a bullet hole that went through his window, nearly hitting him in the head, because the shootout was happening right below his window. There was a lot of blood on the street on 5/6. If having a medium heavy pistol close by, while knowing how to maintain and use it comforts you, then by all means have one. Even I have said in earlier comments that left leaning gun control advocates should make sure they're armed in the event we begin seeing heavily armed "patriotic groups" marching down the street in some kind of half-assed revolution attempt - and I >do< think such like-minded morons would do so if they thought they could get away with it, thinking "lefties" are unarmed.
You mean, like the RWDS? That own the majority of the assault weapons out there? That marched on our Capital 1/6? Them? Yeah, we see the enemy, and the enemy is US!
How many police forces are now equipped with surplus military-grade weapons?
Is that a rhetorical question comparing law enforcement with organized criminals?
Nothing rhetorical about it. "To begin with, military grade weapons are for exclusive use by the military in fighting wars." That may be the purpose for which such weapons are manufactured, but the military are hardly the only ones using them.
If police have military-grade weapons, criminals (organized or not) will have them too.
For some reason I couldn't edit my comment to include "Don't forget $$ and power." I meant the 2 to go together. Mfrs don't care who ends up with their weapons as long as the bottom line flourishes.
Don't forget $$ and power.
Touché, Laurie. Very well said, my friend 😊
Thanks, my friend! 😀
Of course! Hope you are well. I am working very hard and when I’m home I’m a caregiver, hence my absence. xx’s 🌻
Anne ; Hang in there!
Insurance! Great idea!
Lauren Primoff ; We insure cars ; why not deadly weapons that are now increasingly out of control ?
And we would have to insure the owner of the gun. Jeez! Imagine if insurance companies were in charge. They would require medical and psychological checks. They would require additional insurance, if any questions were raised about the owner of the guns. They would be required to pay the families of anyone who is shot or killed. This would guarantee expensive insurance. it might cause people to lock them up because insurance won’t pay unless you follow the rules. I do hate to say this, I really do but, criminals wouldn’t buy insurance, they would just steal guns and use them like they do now. So once again, I guess it’s the guns.
We are required to insure cars. Cars can kill, but not like assault weapons. Gotta try something ! Car license requires driving school or demonstration of safe driving capability, and knowledge of the rules of the road with compliance with safety considerations. The 'right' has unleashed an unprecedented assault on everyone in this country who can't avoid being in public places. Those who have personal shoppers and helicopters and lots of security at private estates don't care! They are the enemies of Decency! The attacks on children is the absolute worst! Something must be done. The cost of insurance be damned!
Lauren Primoff : What you said : but why make it easier for them? Authorities can't stop people with guns if they are legal and unrestricted.
America is also becoming more secular. White evangelicals are slowly decreasing in number. Most of the freedom-undermining policies and laws are defended by their advocates with ideas from a version of white evangelicalism or a type of right wing Catholicism. The group of people who do not identify with a specific church or religion is increasing. There’s an extremely strong correlation between the presence of evangelical churches and support for the death penalty, abortion bans, an absolute right to guns, and the loss of rights and freedoms for LGBTQ people in various states. I cannot say what it means--whether it means that you would not get these as political options without the megachurches. But the megachurches are always a big presence wherever they exist in large numbers and not where they do not exist in large numbers. I believe it’s very hard to predict what will happen because using Christianity and race are just one of several ploys the right has tried. If one starts to falter they may always evolve a different one to hang on to power. But we have to assume that this particular strategy is showing its age and weakness or they would not openly be jumping to destroy the democratic system.
The "Nones" among us continue to grow space and this father couldn't be happier! My children laugh at the whole concept of God and organized religion!
I am not religious either …but church 50 years ago meant companionship and community outreach.
How do we replace that social capital for community resilience and civility?
Elizabeth ; Good questions! This forum helps, though it is virtual, pretty much. But it is a place to get clarification in chaos.
Yes…Reichs work is vital to understanding the real story behind the headlines.
But at the community level where people are grieving or lonely or poor there is a paucity of community caring. Non profits are a mixed bag and driven by the shower term grant economy.. so long term relations and caring from one to the other are too often missing.
As this is the beginning of U.S. Teacher appreciation Week, I can't help but think of Professor Reich as he continues to teach us, and gets us to think about what is going on, and what our options are, if any. I agree that it is difficult to get the feeling of community caring. I also think the 'non profits' are a mixed bag; there is so much fraud.
I have lived in some communities that were connected and caring and others that weren’t and there are a bunch of things that existed in the more caring communities but the arts are a surprisingly good way to bring people together! Music festivals, dance festivals, film festivals, open studies, arts festivals, theater groups, etc. Farmers markets with performances. Plus educational things like Adult Education or Learning Annex type things. But you sort of have to really have a certain type of people in the community...the kind of people that start stuff like this. Some places have a lot of civic activity and some don’t. I don’t know what the secret sauce is but in the places with the civic activity there is generally more care. And evangelical churches DO NOT CARE FOR THEIR MEMBERS. This was very shocking to me when the elders in my family shifted over to these churches away from churches that did, then got old and I was used to having all kinds of visiting groups, etc. I called to see if people could visit them and they said ‘we don’t do that.’ Ask evangelicals about this. It’s quite astonishing. They take 10% of your income for decades and then when you are old and sick, they completely abandon you. They don’t even bring over food! That’s megachurches. I don’t know about smaller independent churches. Black churches are completely different, of course.
I’ve come to view religion a bit more favorably than I used to, because I am looking for any source of values to counteract those of the marketplace which dominate our society today
I know exactly what you mean. I too want a values based community. I try to be a good neighbour but I need something to challenge my values …better questions… seeking answers at the level I pose my questions!
Hi, Elizabeth, I'm trying to give you a potential answer to your quest, but I cancelled an earlier attempt above. This may seem crazy, but what we really need to do is overhaul the K-12 institutions, close down the classroom, keep the teachers, and begin creating a village learning environment. It's a big to-do, a difficult transformation, but it's not far from the way Abraham Lincoln got his education, in addition to many others who lived in the 19th Century. In those days, it wasn't schools as much as it was strong communities, comprised of people who depended on each other. If we could find our way back to that, we could abolish the classroom while the village thrives. (I've written a book about this. "It Takes the Whole Damn Village" is on Amazon, Kindle only. It's also obsolete since 2006 and needs a new edition.) The industrial revolution largely destroyed our communities; closing the classroom is a tangible step that will force us to make the needed changes, while we all grow closer to each other, more interconnected, less lonely (a story this week), and more interdependent. Courage. Does this challenge your values? (above)
Hi....it is an interesting idea but since we call live in cities....I am not sure we could recreate a village learning environment. Not to say we don't need to do better on supporting education and making classrooms smaller....and does what ever we need to do for kids.
Also...recognizing our interdependence is so important ...especially in reducing crime..y being their for at risk kids as coaches in accessible sports and the arts, as mentors and as advocates.
I will look for your book!
Up to 60% believe lies(anxiety Scientists found FACING YOUR FEAR is a REQUIRED part of treatment..)...vaka placebo. "Do one thing every day that scares you."-- Eleanor Roosevelt. Examples of placebo include Fox News, Racism, Anger, Shooting, Conspiracies, MAGA, religion, etc. Science anyone?😁😁😁
Research done on how voters react to fears shows evidence that voters who are afraid vote Republican. We live in a state of generalized fear, now. Here is one of many articles that may explain why people vote against their own economic interests.
https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2020/fear-motivator-elections
People who are afraid are easy to control. This is how some politicians try to get what they want. They sow drama and fear to distract, divide, and control.
While we can't control the world around us, we do have some control over our reaction to it. Fear disrupts our critical thinking and ability to respond creatively. Interestingly, fear can't exist in the presence of love. We're all just human, but have a piece of divinity inside. The rest is free choice.
They need A LOT of time reading, discussing and debating Marcus Aurelius "Meditations". Then we may see progress.
I think you've brought up one of the most important questions in society today, Elizabeth. My [totally unsupported] guess is that church ties may still be relatively strong in rural areas, but not so much in more urban communities. And there's nothing, really, to replace the work of churches. Community centers do exist, but not in effective numbers. There are a couple of churches in my area (a few minutes outside downtown Cleveland) that are ecumenical and emphasize fellowship over religious doctrine, welcoming all who enter, but they're a tiny minority. I don't know the answer to replacing church bonds and outreach. Soup kitchens and the like remain the province of churches, for the most part.
That is an EXCELLENT point that I wish I had an answer for.
It has been replaced. Our communities are now virtual, which has its pros and cons.
In truth, I am NOT a ‘none.’ It is simply better for everyone, including people of faith to live in a free, secular society. The Christian theocratic view makes no sense. There is nothing a person of the Christian faith gets or needs from political power. If the only way to break the cycle is for unscrupulous, power-hungry and greedy people who have decided to hijack religious faith to lose their following and hence their ill-gotten gains, so be it.
For years I have been troubled / hate the use of the term Christian by the white evangelical church. The news media makes it worse. I grew up in that world and it wasn't about hate, anti-abortion, prosperity gospel when I was a teenager in the early 60's. There is just nothing Christ like in the leadership of these churches, it just power, money and look at me. Just look at the concept of vengeance and retribution as "preached" by trump. Now explain to me how that is in any form Christian.
This is why the youth and young adults and leaving the evangelicals in droves.
I am Christian…extremely liberal. Jesús was interested in actions…not words.
Dorothy, I support your view. No matter what your faith or belief system or none it is hard to find fault with Jesus's words or actions. I left the evangelical world over my believe in science as a teenager. Today 60. years later both my spouse and myself are active supporters and members of an Episcopal church. For me the key is the acceptance of many viewpoints and all kinds of people.
Me, 35, and my 36 year old sister had a BLAST at our church's youth group leading up to our "First Communion." (We went to "Zion United Church of Christ" though, which emphasized loving EVERYONE and charity.)
No offense, but I shudder to think of being so jaded by organized religion. It really taught be about how Christ was LOVING above all! (Even those that do not believe him to be Christ's only son can enjoy his teachings.)
I'm afraid that my first 18 years of life spent as a Jehovah's Witness has "inoculated" me against pretty much all forms of systemic belief. That includes religions, different schools of political theory, and even, to a certain extent, philosophy. This is not necessarily a good thing; I find it hard to rally around causes that even I believe in, because a certain part of my brain says "but what if it's all bullshit?" Being a skeptic is not some super power-it's also to some extent a fearful reaction to being burned again. But I still found this article hopeful!
I think my aversion to Christianity and religion in general was birthed by 8 years of Catholic school followed by 20 years of studying and teaching real history stripped down to the facts and not the faith.
I’m not jaded. But I see no reason to suppose that just because somebody says they are organizing something around God necessarily makes them godly--or even good, necessarily. If ye shall know them by their fruits...sometimes people are pointing things out that are bad, and they have good evidence. I worry when people stop trusting their ability to detect rottenness because somebody told them to ignore the smell. Lots of stories of harm and injustice start like that--people being told to plug up their ears and eyes, ignore the world and do nothing but follow the voice of a leader.
As a "none" myself, my children also view religion as the fantasy it is. And it is the trend of todays youth, especially when they don't have religion forced on them as they grow up.
I believe a more correct term to use is, “American Talibangelicals.”
I absolutely agree that the Christian right has been going hand in hand with the zealotry of the right wing agenda and feel like some of them might prefer our government be run as a theocracy rather than as a democracy. When I think of separation of church and state then I feel like some of their arguments and attacks should lack merit but somehow Roe V Wade was overturned anyway. The other day, I learned that 9 Republicans in Wisconsin actually want to keep a law on the books from 1931 that prohibits unmarried couples from living together because they think that it’s immoral. So, yet another example of them trying to control people and their personal lives.
They also make up fantasies about a white population decline, or about marriage as the key to social order. So they aren't merely thinking about morality and immorality or even forcing Americans to live by their religious beliefs (which they ARE doing) but they are doing social engineering. They believe they can get a certain kind of male and white dominated society if they can somehow force women to marry and bear many children for the fatherland or whatever.
There is evidence that the number of church goers is simply returning to pre-WW2 levels. If you want to motivate people to do dangerous things, it has to be attached to a moral imperative--which was done to convince Americans to engage in the European fight. A moral imperative not collapsed with evangelical Christianity is required now.
T.R.U.M.P
Tyrannical Ruler Unconstitutionally Manipulating People
This proves that Americans on the right are easily lead! He is a false profit backed by many other false profits. How could any honorable Christian believe in a tyrannical ruler whose terrible reign was marked by unceasing violence? Do you really believe Jesus would condone his behavior or treat people the way he does?
Keith, I like your phrase for TRUMP. There are many Christians who do not approve of Trump in any way and think him a ridiculous clown. He is not Christian, he has no idea what any of the Christian precepts are and of course does not live them. A whole lot of the white evangelicals don't either. They make things up as they go along to suit their personal comfort, then try to force other people to go along with it. This is not a new practice, just made modern by using social media and Fox. They were also benefited by Trump's pardoning of criminal crackpots like Mike Flynn. He is crusading for his warped brand of Christianity right now when he should be in jail for insurrection. I know Republicans, instead of working to make things better for this nation and our planet, use their pathetic thinking ability to come up with new ways to undermine our democracy to keep themselves in power they do not deserve. We do need to stop them if we are to survive as a nation.
Might want to check the spelling on "profit" there, just FYI.
I'm guessing profit was intentional, since the MAGA maggots are far more interested in profit than prophets.
At least his heart is in the right place. He's not driven by the prophet motive...
Some of his key followers are rooting for Armageddon. That's the prophet motive.
Yes, Jack. tRump’s heart IS in the right place... his chest. That’s about it. As you refer to his “heart,” you fail to realize that it’s a cold, black and long dead heart. Thanks to Fox Entertainment, Not News, as testified to under oath by Murdoch & lawyers who stated that no reasonable person should believe their rhetoric to be the truth. Fox along with other entities, talking heads & politician’s who disseminate right-wing propaganda. Donny “Two Scoops” has proven over his too long of an over-privileged life, that he’s a severe narcissist, habitual liar of the highest magnitude, misogynist & sexual predator, racist, bad businessman, terrible husband, father and a fake Christian. Also, an obvious con man and white nationalist. Plus, a hate & fear monger. tRump is clearly a fascist willing to destroy American Democracy for ego, power and money. Sadly, you don’t believe any of this, do you? So, pour yourself another “Kool Aid.” Please, seek help from a mental health expert who specializes in deprogramming the modern day, long-term, mass brainwashed. Good Luck.
I'm not a Trump supporter, and I'll be very happy to see justice served in this case. I've never been a fan of the Murdoch propaganda machine either. I think you may have misunderstood my nonpolitical joke.
Jack, you’re right. I did misunderstand your comment. It’s very nice to hear you’re Not just another brainwashed tRumpanzee. Seems I’m guilty of being too quick to shut down a red “mad” hatter. Please accept my apology. (<-Now, that’s something you very rarely, if ever, hear from the MAGA right!) I’m a proud, open-minded, inclusive, (a.k.a. “Woke”) forgiving yet, fallible human being on the progressive, democratic left.
I meant to spell it that way because that is all he thinks about. PROFIT
People are so literal these days, quick to jump! I got it immediately 😂
And "lead", which should be "led", probably the most frequently misspelled word.
On the other hand, it's hard to think of Republicans without thinking of huge corporate profits falsely gained as well as false prophets.
I think the misspelling was intentional and instructive.
Spelled correctly given the fact that prophets seek profits.
I think profit was used on purpose--trump is no prophet--but he does profit off the ignorance of his followers!
I'm thinking tongue in cheek spelling!
Also, "led" not "lead".
Keith Olson ; Imagine Jesus with an AR-15?
Good idea for a collage.
Trump pretends to be a prophet while he profits off of people’s anxieties!
Robert, solve a puzzle for me. I was in the first wave of the Baby Boom, and we thought we were the progressive mass that would change the country. We were involved in civil rights, against the war in Vietnam, started Earth Day and the environmental movement, the women's movement, self-help and many lifestyle changes, but we are now seen as the problem. We are told we have to die before change can happen. I thought my parents' generation was the problem and that when they died, things would be better. But they are all gone and that change hasn't occurred. So can you assure me that that same pattern won't happen again? The pushback against progressives gaining power will be powerful and strong. The millennials now seem progressive, but what will happen as they grow older and our country changes but not the way they want?
A valid concern that I also have. One mediating factor may be the immediacy of impending crises, like climate chaos, record wealth & power disparity, economic injustice, health crises & the rise of fascism.
Great question. About 5 years ago, I read a thoughtful and well supported explanation of the sad backsliding in many of the social justice gains of the late 60s and 70s. The author said that the backlash against that era was so much bigger than anyone had anticipated. I'm not sure the backlash ever stopped.
Born into the Great Depression, the Silent Generation ate childhood diets defined by World War II rationing under windows darkened by blackout blinds to protect in case of air attack, lived and died with a compulsory draft through the Korean War into Vietnam, listened bemused as Baby Boom children of Greatest Generation prosperity bellyached over practicing hiding under their desks, never mind Nixon, endured Reagan reversals of social progress and Bush initiation of more needless war, witnessed siblings betray their generation as MAGAts … and now you tell us that generation can expect relief around the time it reaches 100—or later? Anything you can suggest to speed things up, Dr R?
20 years? The problem has arrived. We are at a global tipping point, which basically means that, and I paraphrase here, the globally necessary is political suicide, and the politically expedient is globally catastrophic. How do you expect to survive politically if you say the most important thing you can do for the planet is consume less? I am not talking a little less, I am talking a lot less. It is not downscaling from a Hummer to a RAV4, it is downscaling to an electric bike, or perhaps walking. The change we need to make, if fully explained and pushed, would lead to a major backlash. Even progressive Democrats fear saying anything close out loud. 20 years is too slow too avoid collapse, but acting now is too hard to stomach. The US, as a global empire, is dying, and the reactionary rights decent into authoritarian dreamland is a response to that reality - keeping the American Dream (a white man's dream only) alive by any means necessary. Sorry to be so realistically pessimistic, but that giant blob of hot water in the Pacific called El Nino, and the melting of the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica ahead of schedule, has me totally spooked. So do the people firing AR-15s and other assault weapons in my neighborhood. There the ones with "God, Guns and Trump" signs in their yards. At least spring flowers given some hope.
I cannot for the life of me figure out people think guns and Trump go with God.
JennSH from NC ; Imagine Jesus with an AR-15?!
Oh my word, NO NO NO!!! Jesus, the Prince of Peace, as described by the book of Isaiah , gets perverted and distorted by the radical MAGA crowd.
JennSH from NC ; It is a jarring image of contradiction, for sure. Points to hypocrisy and the wishful thinking of disturbed minds. Rationalization and justification. Down is up. The 2nd amendment wrongly interpreted is sacred , but not even are children's lives sacred! They Stalk soft targets like cowards.
Maybe can sell it to Netflix.
Jesus takes on the Roman Legion. Guns down Pilate. Arms Masada. Protects the 2nd temple.
Then a new Septuagint. The Third Testament.
The AR-15 replaces the cross.
Wayne Teel ; darkest hour before the dawn? It IS getting dark! I can't help but think that there are many Republicans who have been terrorized out of the party who are not MAGA, and do not live in authoritarian dreamland. As we see more shootings and it hits closer to home ; as there are more catastrophic events in weather, there may be more people awakening from hypnosis of the far 'Right'. Who knows? President Biden may see his way to using executive powers as Commander in Chief to declare war against the killing machines and their manufacturers! We have Democrat allies too, if we can't muster help stateside! Our people are being slaughtered! This is war, people!!!! It has to stop.
An incisive, spot-on analysis, IMO, Wayne. Your turn of phrase, "...the globally necessary is political suicide, and the politically expedient is globally catastrophic," is brilliant.
This world is presently in hospice mode with the sixth extinction happening before our eyes. In 20 years we may no longer recognize this planet.
you are such an optimist, professor reich, assuming amerikkka will survive climate change for another 20 years.
Or nuclear war.
Daniel Solomon ; Game over!
GrrlScientist ; Optimism is good! We might have a meteor hit the earth some day that will end things! Or A huge solar flare could take out the power grid supporting the internet? A good fight well fought is stimulating, if daunting. Dying from boredom is ennui exacerbated by despair.
Here I've been thinking that Liberals/Progressives/Lefties were _already_ in the majority. It's just that politically, they had been heavily finessed out of Power by things like Republican gerrymandering when they managed to gain the majority in their State legislatures. And how the GOP has been packing the courts with Conservative shills. And how for the last 20 years the Right has been buying up traditional Liberal Media outlets and changing formats. Usually to things politically neutral like Sports Talk, but occasionally taking a full hard pendulum swing to the Right and putting on talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.
IF it starts to look like the pendulum is swinging back to favor Liberals, I expect the GOP will dig in its heels and use all of its perverted Power to keep the Left from taking control (supermajority). So, yes, outright destroying Democracy in order to retain Power is a distinct possibility.
There is no 'left' in the US.
If there were you would have housing/decent schools/free healthcare etc.
But all are so scared of socialism it's inbred in the American mind.
From France.
Scared of socialism relating it to communism/soviet communism instead of American Democratic Socialism. Another problem is the right’s insistence on unfair, unfettered Capitalism without conscience, morals or social responsibility.
Exactly. Biden and his crew are center right.
The headline of my 2019, column read, "In love with Bernie—in line with Biden." Biden was what was needed this time, and he should get re-elected. When revolution is at your doorstep you can't afford to lose the center. If the center doesn't hold, the revolution is inevitable. All the energy is on the right, and that's the way the revolution will go. We must support the center at this historic moment.
We have no other choice than to support Biden. But we can also criticize his position.
Couldn't agree more, Robin. Biden is an Edtablishment Dem through and through.
Robin Cardoza ; Please don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!
Oh, the Left is there, even if it's only me. (I've been described as a "bleeding-heart Liberal" my entire adult life.) The situation is that the Left lacks the political clout to actually BE in control enough to further its agenda the way it would like. The way the Right DOES when it is in sufficient control. We on the Left CAN achieve Majorities (50+%) in both Houses of Congress and the White House -- SCOTUS is and WILL continue to be decidedly Right for at least the rest of my lifetime -- but it is an ineffectual Majority, because of the Senate's cloture rule that requires 60 votes to end debate; EVERYTHING less than 60 can be filibustered out of existence simply by the Republican senior member **saying** the word "filibuster". Republicans can and do simply wait out the Democrats want to do, blocking _anything_ they dislike from ever transpiring. Doing so continues the illusion that the USA is _still_ a Democracy. But if you loosely define "democracy" as "government of the People, by the People, for the People" then the USA has actually NEVER been a democracy. Not for as long as "Our" elected representatives can be bought by the Wealthy, which started less than a year after the USA was formed.
Exactement !!!!
Erin Caitlin ; Really!? We don't need Biden and the Democrat bashing.
True.
Gloria J. Maloney ; What is true?
Yes, Jennifer. We have to remember that socialism is primarily an economic arrangement different from capitalism. Democracy and totalitarianism are primarily governing systems. So, you can have totalitarian capitalism (fascism); you can have totalitarian socialism (attempted—USSR); you can have democratic capitalism (USA, in name only), and; you can have democratic socialism (preferred, much of Europe, today, primarily in the North). Yay, Bernie!
So true, because we have social security, public schools (struggling because not equitably funded) and libraries... But somehow those "social programs" are just not socialism! Ugh idiots abound.
Great point.
Jennifer Bleasdale Stokes ; Stay in France, then. Looks like there are challenges there too.
Laurie, please don't let the perfect be the enemy of good. The people of France are working hard, too.
I was not being an enemy or critical of the people of France.
CaptainPatch ; It certainly seems to be in the works. At this point it's like they are saying "make me!". Make them follow the laws! Exhibit A ; the 'Supreme' Court! We are told that the only way to unseat a justice on the supreme court is to impeach them! Then they (pundits) quickly follow that 'fact' with ; "of course, it will not happen"; is impossible to get the requisite number of votes to get such an impeachment. Look at George Santos in Congress, and others like him, brought in by dirty foreign money and having fake resumes also. Their deceived constituents are told they must wait until two years are up to vote them out. This whole thing is broken and gamed. George W. Bush spoke of "A new world order"; He had successfully stolen an election. It is still going on, or, at least attempted. More voters are waking up ; it's hurting that badly.
I agree with most of what you said. HOWEVER, what I find terrifying as that nearly 50% (>74 million) voters avidly support a self-confessed pussy-grabber. There are literal MOUNTAINS of evidence laying out a broadsheet of Trump malfeasance, and _still_ they support him. What does that perversion have to say about the very soul and character of America? Certainly it does NOT describe what I thought America was when I was growing up.
there should not be any supermajorities, nor should there be billionaires.
I beg to differ. Without anything notably higher than a simple majority, We get what I call "the tyranny of the 50.1%. If all it takes is a simple majority to enact or end legislation, the 49.9% may as well just stay home.... because they WILL be ignored and bullied by the simple majority. [If you remember what it was like in the Dubya Bush Administration, that is ***precisely*** what the Republicans were doing, shutting down Democrat committees and ignoring the Democrats in their midst.]
There is also the aspect that roughly 30-40% of eligible voters do NOT vote for a variety of reasons. (Most commonly, "One is just as bad as the other. So why bother voting?") Yet when calculating TRUE majorities they _should_ be factored in if legislation is supposed to be what the _actual_ majority of Americans want and need. Otherwise We will (continue) to be tyrannized by whoever won the popularity/vote-stuffing contest.
Thank you, as always, Dr. Reich for your insights and optimism.
In my humble view there is one thing and one thing in particular that Americas lack. And that is class consciousness. We are most definitely not "all in this together" as the trite phrase goes.
It is implicitly forbidden to say this but I will: We are a class based society. ("It's a big club and you and me...we ain't in it" to quote the late, great George Carlin.) That's the capitalist owner's club.
The working class needs to develop a sense of class solidarity, organize, and form the kind of unions we had in the 1930s. This is what forced FDR to give us The New Deal. So long as Americans are divided and atomized we remain conquered by our corporate capitalist masters.
And that's the way they like it.
Thank you for saying that. I totally agree.
Nationwide strike. If only enough people cared.
Thank you, Thomas, for quoting the late, great George Carlin! Can you just imagine what he would be saying, or would have been saying, over the past 7-8 years? It's voices like Carlin's that are so sorely missing these days.
Well put and so very true.
Bingo! In agreement with your statement 100%!
All of that is encouraging and hopeful. However, the term we're all using, 'climate change' doesn't adequately convey the destruction being done to all species and theirs and our habitats--land, air, and water, not to mention recklessly killing them and ourselves for 'sport.'
Barbara, I don't even use the term "climate change." It was dreamed up by someone who didn't want people to be alarmed at what is happening. I call it "global warming" but I don't even see that term as conveying the true devastation we are facing. Russia keeps attacking its neighbor for no reason than that Putin wants more power, although what power over a destroyed nation will get him is unclear. Then Sudan is imploding because two crazy military men think they have a right to rule a people that wants neither of them. This and more is happening while the earth is changing to the point where human beings will no longer be able to survive. That is one of many definitions of insanity, but even knowing that will not stop it. In fact, both conflicts have increased in destruction. I sure do wish we could capture and imprison those men who can't seem to live with other people they don't control. We could put Trump with them too. They could spend the rest of their lives whining in their own languages that the others can't understand. It would be interesting.
We need desperately to change how we define masculinity to curtail male violence, so that we can at last all focus on solving the climate crisis. Why is it that young men are less progressive than young women? What scares them about a world where being male means caring about others, being able to be vulnerable, expressing the whole range of human emotions, not just anger and feeling a connection with all living things- many of whom are in peril because of human activity.
J., It seems young men as well as older men are afraid they will be seen as wimps or something worse, gay. Toxic masculinity is often the result of a culture that puts too much emphasis on male being the most important gender. Boys are "frustrated" that they are often not seen as the best and most important people wherever they are. Girls are finishing high school and attending college at higher rates in many places. It is toxic masculinity that also is trying to force women to remain pregnant and give birth. That is really bad for our planet, but it works really well to make men feel in control. How sad we all have to keep pacifying men so maybe they won't hurt us. Well, it ain't workin'! Men now have enormous numbers of guns and regularly use them to hurt people. It sure helps to keep everyone on edge, particularly kids. Our planet needs better from all of us, and the people claim to want better. Now we have to push people to start voting like they want something better than the whiny, often ignorant old white Republican men (with a few younger white men and women, just as whiny. How do we get people to see that they can do something about this insanity and could send the non-progressive folks home if they cared enough and in large enough numbers.
That is a good question about young men. In my activist activities it’s usually the women, young or old that are out front and I asked myself where are the men?
Hi, Ruth. Just desserts for them. Dante would smile and create a new niche, just for them. Regarding Putin, I think he wants Ukraine because it's a bread basket. It's like New York wants to own all of Iowa, only Ukraine is much bigger than Iowa. This conquest is his way of recognizing climate change. Seize everything you need; the world is ending.
My terms are "climate disruption", "climate chaos", "climate crisis", "climate emergency", "global heating" & "global scorching"
I don’t like chaos because it implies nothing to be done. But crisis ,emergency. Work for me.
I hope that the first domino to fall in a complete transition towards progressive ideology is for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to be signed into law.
This can happen as soon as January 2025. Trump will continue to drag the rest of the GOP down the drain in his whirlpool of lies. State legislatures will shift blue too with all their corruption, hateful legislation, and corporate pandering finally becoming too much for 75% of America to bear, even in red states.
Dems will finally have enough support to kill the filibuster for good, and with a Democratic House as well there will be no impediments left for #MAGAlomaniacs to fling into the works.
Picture if you will, what Democrats can do then to make all our lives better. Government will again be geared towards helping without the #ProSTRIFE Republicans trying to prevent any sense of security for the middle class.
Then the dominoes start to fall at all levels, where justice, integrity, compassion, and equality, return to the forefront of political advancements.
We may even find ways then to end the disproportionate influence of corporations and billionaires. With public not private financing of campaigns, fat cat leverage will no longer hang over any politicians.
We will again see the American dream within our grasp. However, unlike when the founding fathers crafted democracy to suit white landowning males, women and people of color will have an equal stake at last. The last of the baby boomers may not feel like letting that happen, but the generations rising up will ensure it.
Quit blaming boomers. The Democrats have had both houses and a Democratic president several times and they still didn't fight for Universal Healthcare, unions, policies that keep and create jobs in this country, etc. Why not?
But for the inability of "progressives to co-opt Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Dinos, two elected Democrats whose dogged resistance to Biden’s social agenda upended voting rights, extension of Medicare, and everything else.
They didn't understand that politics resembles contract bridge more than the pursuit of dominos.
The democrats have never had that type of control. They have always had to deal with the filibuster, blue dog democrats or Manchin and Sinema.
Remember all the compromise Obama had to make to get Obamacare through. It was democrats like Joe Lieberman who weakened the bill. Joe was the 60th vote and made them remove the public option because he was the tool of the insurance industry.
Knowing that, Biden and Schumer needed to make sure the group was unified. Game theory. Congressional politics is like herding cats. Should have not spent a second trying to get Republicans on board and started with voting rights. With voting rights, Democrats would still control the House.
If the supreme court didn't strike them down.
That is part of the theater. How did we end up with that ratio?
Manchin and Sinema voted with the GOP every time.
Please pay better attention to what Biden has done and is doing.
Yeah it’s the boomers fault. Who voted Reagan in? Whenever the Dems have had a “majority” it’s not a true majority. Clinton was not a true progressive in any way. More like a racist who did damage to communities of color.
Obama was blocked by the right. Citizens United was put in place by the SC, not him.
Progressive movement needs more than the old fart Biden to get anything done. He’s a corporate hack. Like many in politics. We need age limits on congress and presidency.
Age limit, no. Cognitive screening, yes. Some people are very bright in their 90s. Some never learn anything after they turn 40. It's part of humanity's wonderful diversity.
Who voted Reagan in? I didn't vote for him, and I didn't know any Reagan voters nor have I met anyone since who admits they voted for Reagan.
He won by a majority both elections.
I remember.
Obama was clueless. Sorry folks but he was clueless but it doesn’t matter now.
He was far from clueless. He wasn’t aggressive enough I’d say. His hands were tied. Instead of being nasty look at the big picture.
I like to know what people think. charitably I could say that Obama was simply not prepared for the job. Another four years of seasoning would have helped. And yes, in many respects, his hands were tied.
Don't forget to end child apartheid with a complete overhaul and radically different approach to childhood education: The Village Learning Environment. It will transform our entire culture if we're brave enough to do it. Keep the teachers, close the classroom.
I'll be careful, but at my age I expect to be dead before 20 years is reached. Too bad. Keep writing, Robert. Enjoy your retirement from Cal.
Odds are remote.
Today, Trump leads Biden by 7 points — 49% to 42% — in a in a Washington Post-ABC News poll out today. 44% of U.S. adults polled said they'd definitely or probably vote for Trump vs. 38% for Biden. 12% were undecided.
Odds are even whether we last 20 years.
My plan A is that NASA finds that wormhole in space.
Plan B is that Garland will investigate and prosecute Trump and all his co conspirators presently seated in Congress.
Daniel, I am worried about that poll too. I am even more worried that our "mainstream" media are drinking the Kool-Ade too. I keep hearing the newscasters on NPR talking about tomorrow's meeting with Senate and House leaders as a negotiation. It should never be a negotiation because one should not be negotiating over our national debt since it is debt we have already made. Don't our media understand they will be on the chopping block if Republicans get any more power than they already have. Why are they giving Republicans credence? It makes no sense.
Mainstream media aren’t drinking anything. They are the right wing. 90% corporate owned and controlling the narrative because they are not interested in the truth. Corporations benefit from the lies they push. Because that’s what they do. Lie.
they don't think that far ahead. Want that payday now.
I wish Biden had chosen not to run again, & let other Democrats have a run at it. We have a number of very good potential candidates who I think have a better chance of winning.
I choose to believe Simon Rosenberg and his spot on polling...the rest is drivel.
Me too. This change, if it does come, will too late for a lot of us, including me, but I still hope it's true. I'm more pessimistic about our species, since we didn't evolve to consider the longer term issues, only how to survive in the near term. And since we seem to already tolerate this latest mass extinction wave without significantly changing our behavior. I'm not sure there will be many other species around in 20 years.
It's about time, but I'll believe it when I see it, if I live that long. Back in the 60s, everyone said the political pendulum swings every generation (i.e., 30 years), so when the US started going right wing in the early 70s, I expected it to swing back left in about 30 years. I'm still waiting.
It does look hopeful, but I'm not quite as sanguine about the potential number and orientation of college-educated voters. The right-wing has done its best to price university out of the reach of the middle and working classes, forcing them into taking out loans they'll be lucky to pay off in their lifetimes.
At the same time, it has spread the propaganda that the only degrees worth getting are in the STEM fields, and fewer and fewer students are majoring in the Humanities and Social Sciences; in fact, some small liberals arts colleges are considering closing their English, History, and Philosophy department. It seems to me to be significant that in the 60s the majority of Civil Rights and anti-war protestors on university campuses were in the Humanities; some were in the Social Sciences, and almost none were in STEM fields.
I think it depends on the State and campus. I attended College/University from 1964 through 1972 and then part time until 1977 when I completed my Masters thesis. Since I majored in Biology and Chemistry, I guess that would put me in the STEM group. We, my younger colleagues and I were very involved in Civil Rights marches, electioneering and then in Anti Vietnam War protests. In Sacramento, California. Berkeley was also very involved. Even at Community College we held protests.
Glad to hear it, Faye. I hope you're still involved politically.
Until my dying breath (:-)
I'm from Sacramento, too. My grandparents lived in Berkeley.
Yeah, there are many things one could say to push back against the rosy picture R paints.
Nonetheless, I have hope.
Sounds good, Robert, for those of you who expect to be alive in two decades. Let's hear if for the women and youth! But between then and now, much has to be done about the endemic corruption of an 'extractive' economy that's crushing the base while further enriching the privileged well-to-do.
I appreciate the optimistic view of what the next 20 years may bring. However with gerrymandered states, and voter suppression already in place, I am pessimistic about there being enough pro-democracy voters out there who will actually turn out to overcome our current reality. Ever hopeful, but hope is not a strategy. There must be better messaging from the progressive caucus
And better distribution of the message, my friend
It appears the debt limit is unconstitutional. Is it now time for President Biden to ignore it and just pay the bills. Who would challenge that?
The present forced-birth movement is an effort to restore slavery in the United States. Abandoned children have been warehoused in our inadequate foster care systems for decades then "aged out" in their late teens without adequate survival skills. This "domestic supply" -- as Supreme Court Justice and People of Praise Handmaid Amy Coney Barrett phrases it -- is ripe for labor camps. They will be tasked with doing the absolute most dangerous bottom-level work in our society. Unlike our illegal alien workforce, this native-born population will not be sending their wages "back home" in hopes of returning there someday. They will have no wages nor any "back home." Already the GOP is attacking our child labor laws to prepare the ground for this permanently indentured caste-in-the-making.
I have thought that about the foster care system for thirty years. I am sorry, but not surprised that corporations have returned to child labor.