Your kicker ending chokes me up and, at the same time, fills me with hope — hope that the musician has identified what indeed is bubbling up among the people. And it follows an inspirational sentence about Teddy Roosevelt. I believe anyone running for president should pledge to do what he dedicated himself to do as president: work "to defend ordinary Americans from the overreach of corporations, and to use the government to help everyone rather than a select few."
Michael, I believe the budget reconciliation plan (BBB) reflects the pledge you referenced to help remedy the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income. I also believe, when reconciliation failed to pass, that Dems, rightfully, expected Biden to go make the argument in West Virginia, and also in the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and in other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply stated, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Imagine the impact if everyday people across the country were asked, “Who do you want here—somebody who doesn’t want to cut the price of insulin or those who do”? What about the child tax credit? Affordable, quality childcare? Universal Pre-K? Investments in housing? In elder care? In climate? My point, and note I haven’t covered what Biden and the Party have accomplished, is that Democrats have an extraordinary narrative if only they would deliver it.
We are not loud enough. We need to tell it, repeat it, tell it over and over. Do it loudly and just don't stop. We have the proof, we have the winning arguments. We just don't drown out the lies.
When I read that Tucker Carlson has the highest rated show on cable, it almost caused my heart to stop. How can an honest dialogue take place with the Fox propaganda machine churning out lies and bull Schitt with rapid fire precision. This is not new but the ammo has become more deadly since chump. No lie is too bizarre, no logic acceptable. The Ukraine war stopped Rupert in his tracks for a nanosecond, but the evil does not rest. Tucker is leading the charge, but there are plenty of adherents who gum up the democratic works and the air we all breathe in every state. May the musician be on to something, preferably in my lifetime.
We all know too many that are overdosed on TC’s lies & DT’s influence but unless we want this country to turn into an anarchy WE need to stand up to this ignorance & try to help them see the light.
Right you are, Randy. Sometimes we need to throw in the towel on some people. We don’t need every last person to agree. Focus on those with whom we have a chance because they’re already victims of the current situations but are still unaware. Plenty for us to work with here. Steady drip.
It's hard to remember that sometimes, but good to be reminded of it. I'm reading From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp who spent his life articulating non-violent strategies that ordinary people could use to defeat dictators. I recommend it.
I think that any time Tucker Carlson is mentioned in the media or during a conversation, it needs to be hammered home that the guy’s attorneys successfully defended him against a slander lawsuit by asserting that (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘any reasonable person would conclude that he is not telling the truth’. Thus, by his own admission, he thoroughly lacks credibility, and thinks that any of his viewers who actually believe him aren’t reasonable people. This needs to be repeatedly shouted from the rooftops.
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell voiced the same defense of her own nutty claims, if I recall correctly. Or is this just the standard GOP line for all their big liars now?
This is exactly what Sen. McMorrow did with a very strong, almighty voice of reason. This is what Jamie Raskin did the other day after marjorie t-g spewed her tripe. Every lie needs to be immediately answered with a truth and call them out. That is maybe one way to not allow the brainwashing to cement into their cerebellums in the silence instead of strong voices stopping the brainwashing. But Rupert should be stopped for anti-Democracy behavior. Seditious behavior. I would donate to that cause.
Great thoughts, Jeri. It's mind-numbing that so many Americans believe TC's drivel. I've been watching more interviews with Trump supporters who attend his rallies. The stupidity that comes out of their mouths, that Democrats are communists, for example, is good for a laugh but points to a new reality: A new intellectual class system now exists. The woke vs. the
those with their heads in the sand; those who study issues and those who get their information from entertainers like Tucker C. Common sense in our country is fading fast.
Randy. It's perhaps mind-numbing, but not surprising. There has always been a bedrock of anti-intellectualism in American culture. This glorification of it is more blatant, but not unexpected. And somehow, these past few years have brought it into the open in the crudest possible ways. The people who stormed the capitol, for example, were such parodies of every joke ever told about dumb, backwoods rednecks, that it was almost hard to believe they weren't sent from Central Casting. It all, obviously, is not a joke at all. It is deadly serious that all the darkest underbelly of this culture has now been exposed and is being celebrated by people with real power to effect (or stop) change. The foundations for all of this were laid a long time ago, but even just in our particular dreadfulness, go back to Reagan and move forward to the Federalist Society and their list of judges. And look what's happening in the Supreme Court--the number of cases now considered by the Shadow Docket has nearly doubled. Before now, half of us never heard of the Shadow Docket. They're hiding as much as they can. What they can't hide, they flaunt. And, in spite of Dr. Richardson's unfailing optimism, it looks to me at the moment as if they're winning. I think we are facing a paradigm shift and we just don't know what the hell that's going to mean.
Dean, As much as I find your thesis spot on, I haven’t ruled out the possibility of a moral awakening, a spirituality, if you will, of genuine questioning and dialogic exchange grounded in mutual respect, personal responsibility, and social accountability. Hence, amid one of the most terrifying moments in our nation’s history, I remain steadfastly resilient and resistant and encourage the same for others.
And don't forget the fun fact that Fox News comes with every cable package, you CAN'T not have it! Tucker operates at a loss (no advertisers) but Fox News makes way more than CNN or MSNBC because of it's carriage fee deals! Plenty of people who aren't watching it are paying for it! If that apple cart were to fall over...
According to NYT series, advertisers fled and Fox filled the void with in-house promos for other shows using Tucker’s “popularity”.Fox also increased direct-to-consumer advertising (My Pillow). The result…ad dollars almost doubled. In house critics were also silenced. $$$
New study is out showing Carlson has the “racist” show. Just saw it on MSNBC, haven’t looked for the link or verified yet, but certainly no surprise there.
I will be interested to hear what Dr. Richardson and all of you think about the NYT front page, 3- part series on Carlson. My first thought is - finally. Then when I looked at the optics - multiple photos, even a multi-colored blinking image of his face, I wasn't sure what the impact would be on readers. Does it condemn or in a twisted way celebrate his behavior?
actually, i don't have a minute to waste on Tucker Carlson, even to read a NYT treatment of him and his notoriety. Perhaps someone can summarize it in 50 words or less...
Wow Nancy I'm grateful to you for pointing this out. It reinforces my main reason for cancelling my subscription to the NYTimes this year--after so many years as a subscriber that I literally can't remember not having it. First, to answer your immediate question, they are indeed celebrating his behavior. In the same exact way they "celebrated" Donald Trump's behavior from his campaigns against his fellow Republicans and Secretary Clinton to his instigation of the Jan 6 insurrection. They pointed out and even condemned his behavior but they followed his every move. The result was that the worst criticism somehow had the effect of making him more intriguing and more popular. I'll guarantee you the Times coverage will give Carlson's ratings a serious boost. The only way for the press to do their part to fight these monsters is to not write about them at all. But the NYTimes follows the money and dramatic evil sells newspapers. Even on this very unusual forum, we spend a lot more time on Carlson, Trump, McConnell, et. al., than on Biden, Warren, Blinken. It's very frightening to me.
It's disgusting. I am grateful not only for seeing the danger in this but for identifying it so clearly. Your notice of the impact of the photographs is brilliant.
Tucker Carlson is the Disinformer-In-Chief, and I certainly agree that mis- and disinformation is a major threat, but I fear that the creation of a government agency to combat disinformation is an open invitation to rabid and virulent right wing outrage and mockery. Already the media is filled with condemnation of an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth".....
More important than the yapping of disinformation dogs, is the fact that a government anti-disinformation agency is one bit-flip fro a government disinformation agency.
Yes, I really think the "manliness" thing is something really powerful. I am not totally sure how to spread all these messages far and wide without a airplane dropping "fliers with messages" in all the red areas. today one would get a huge fine for littering... But that mass messaging is the way besides-- what is our power for shutting down fox propagandist lies? Bring back the Fairness Doctrine? We need a really concerted effort across the country in all media. And marches.
Bill…absolutely! An old adage comes to mind, “a strong offense is the best defense!” It’s often considered an apt stratagem when associated with warfare…and it’s warfare were embroiled in and, it’s our Democracy that’s the target!
I'd take it even a step further...the label they have attached to us is "radical". We all know that that is a misnomer. To further riff on what you wrote above, Barbara: Is it "radical to want to cut the price of insulin? Is it "radical" to want a child tax credit for struggling families? Is it "radical" to want affordable, quality childcare? Is it "radical" to want universal pre-k? Is it "radical" to want investments in affordable housing? Is it "radical" to want adequate elder care? Is it "radical" to be concerned about our climate changing? Is it "radical" to [insert countless other concerns]? If wanting things like that is "radical", then count me in. In response to our concerns of overreach of corporations (like those of circa 1890), THEIR concern is of government overreach, and it is a powerful weapon, as we have seen. In their eyes overreach is overreach. We believe a government should be bound to provide a number of resources to its citizens. To them that smacks of "socialism", and they raise that bugaboo at every turn. But then they take it further and further, beyond all rational reasoning, into the realm of cultural wars, e.g. "keeping the woke mob from indoctrinating our children", to quote from an ad by candidate David Perdue. We HAVE to counter this at every turn, expose the lies (or ask for proof), keep harping on the truth, but do it in a non-hysterical, non-name-calling, non-demeaning, calm, sane manner--difficult though that may be sometimes. Some of those "over there" are lost causes, not worth wasting the energy, but plenty of others are not. There are some very smart and concerned Republicans out there and it's those we need to reach. Together we can be a potent force to overturn these anti-democratic forces, even in spite of some restrictions on voting. We do have a good message to deliver and we need to stand up and TELL IT.
[Today's sermon by yet another musician was brought to you by...]
Is it radical to want gun control? Is it radical to want access to healthcare, including women's reproductive healthcare? Is it radical to want commonsense immigration laws? If the republicans neutralize/eliminate government agencies it will be radical to want a safe, abundant food supply, clean air and water, safe pharmaceuticals, safe workplaces, safe and fuel efficient cars....the list is very long.
What we really need to do is go out knocking on doors and talking to people. Get phone lists of people who have voted in Dem primaries and call them to get them on board. Not everyone can be activists but all of us can be active in telling the story.
Bruce, Thank you for taking my comment “a step further.” I merely would add, fair or not, that politics largely is perception, and though Republicans have no ideas aside from those arising from greed and self-serving impulses, their strategy of wanting to fight the culture wars and of running on divisiveness, far too often, wins them elections.
Nonetheless, I would predict that the more compelling our messaging, the angrier the far right would become, because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as “radicals” or as “socialists” is to tell the truth.
Thank you, Frank. In many respects, I view our collective goal as organizing and mobilizing enough people to reach a sort of critical mass that would allow for a whole new set of people, values, and needs to emerge as the foremost influences.
Do you think part of the reason the gop has a hammerlock on the “dirty Libs” is because getting Biden to West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama to really stand and talk with the people impacted by all the policies NOT passed and highlighting the ones benefiting them that DO exist, is stalled by real concerns of safety? The gop supporters are armed to the teeth, fed a cult narrative about baby-eating, god-killing libs, that most likely BIden would be assassinated? That seems to be a pretty good strategy. “Don’t allow the message to get through”. The gop by their incendiary, intentionally fear-mongering messaging has led to closed minds encircled by very real assault weapons. Reading the history of the Freedom Riders sends chills down me. We are still confronting that same “over-my-dead-body” resistance to living out our ideals of equality before the law and equality in access to resources to build a life.
OTOH, Speaker Pelosi, a congressional delegation, and Secretaries Blinken (State) and Austin (Defense) have managed to visit Ukraine, where the risk has to be comparable. If the Biden team thinks it's a good idea for the president to go to various red states, I have little doubt that the president will go. My guess is that plans are influenced both by the president's schedule and by advice from organizers on the ground in those states.
Neo-Nazis haven't gone extinct in Ukraine, and IMO it's safe to assume that Russian sympathizers exist, and not only in the eastern provinces -- though they may be keeping a low profile just now.
Jon, Thank you for your kind words. Frankly, my frustration, particularly at the national level, has been that we’re treated too much as an audience and not enough as citizens. We’re invited to look through the window but too infrequently to come through the door and to participate, to make government “of, by, and for the people”truly public. Meanwhile, we’ll keep writing letters and making phone calls to pertinent leadership.
What Democrats have to deliver to win is their voters. They have enough voters to win but must get them to cast ballots. That takes boots on the ground. Thousands and thousands of them. Republicans know they cannot win if a high percentage of the electorate votes. That’s why they are working so hard to undermine the election system. Messaging is not the problem except to the extent that the only message that motivates the Republican base is a promise to preserve systemic advantages for white people, and that’s a message that Democrats, to their credit, cannot endorse,
Rex, Respectfully, I don’t believe we can afford to take for granted that Dems “have enough voters to win.” Dems, I would note, frequently are quoted as saying, “we’re going to focus on kitchen table issues.” Though that might sound good, in the past 15 months, Dems haven’t been able to extend the child tax credit or lower prescription drug costs or improve childcare or raise the minimum wage to $15…, legislation that actually would make people’s lives easier and would be counter-inflationary.
Fair or not, politics largely is perception, and, though Republicans have no ideas aside from those arising from greed and self-serving impulses, their strategy of running on divisiveness, far too often, wins them elections. Hence, the urgency for compelling countervailing messaging, combined, I would grant, with your call for aggressively enlisting “boots on the ground,” to galvanize the base and turbo-charge turnout.
Better messaging can’t hurt, but I think it’s unlikely that Republicans have better message creators than Democrats. The problem is the message. Most white Americans want to retain their advantages, and they don’t much care what it costs to do that. This political priority is unforgivable but extremely easy to communicate. Currently, one four-letter word, “woke,” is sufficient to get the Republican message across to its willing recipients. Unfortunately, this despicable Republican message is extremely appealing to 60% of white Americans, 70% of white working class Americans, and 80% of white evangelical Americans. Converting those people to the side of human decency is a project that requires, in almost all cases, hundreds of hours of patient, expert, one-on-one counseling. No significant progress can be made on that project between now and November, nor even between now and the 2024 elections. I conclude that GOTV is the only effective way to invest whatever resources we have. If we survive past 2024, which is at best a dicey prospect, then maybe we can afford to invest some resources in changing hearts and minds. Or, maybe not. Converting racists to decent human beings is damn near impossible. We may just have to hope the arc of justice trends in the direction of decency. I certainly hope it does but am not optimistic about it.
Rex, To be clear, my comments, which are mere extensions of my focus on midterms, largely, relate both to ginning up voter enthusiasm and to representing the interests of as wide a range of voters as possible.
Hence, aside from writing post cards and phone banking, I submit suggestions to whoever might listen. For example, contrary to Trump, who declared the White House is not a shipping clerk, I note that the current Administration has saved our lives by making the vaccine, free of charge, available to everyone, a factor, in my view, that has contributed to saving our jobs (creating over 8 million) and saving the economy (effecting historically low unemployment). I point out that now Democrats are trying to save democracy from a Republican Party that no longer believes in it, while also imploring DOJ to start issuing indictments to top-level perpetrators, members of Congress, for example, whom we know, through text messages, are criminally accountable.
In a word, I know of no other way than to trust that my energy, my caring, and my engagement can make a difference.
I think you’re right on all counts and that your postcard and phonebanking efforts will help. We will need the efforts of many thousands more like you to save democracy from the 60% of white people who are intent on destroying democracy to preserve their systemic advantages.
My message to the Democrat Party and its candidates is simple - No one will know you are even in the parade if you don't blow your horn loud and clear.
Pardon me, but it’s the DEMOCRATIC Party. Republicans have been calling us the Democrat party since the ‘40s. It’s a slur. Don’t let them get away with it.
Noting that the Farmer's Alliance “believed that all humans should have dignity, whatever their economic status, gender or race,” anyone running for president should pledge to do what he OR SHE dedicated to do. "For the people"--all of us this time!
Just like "republicans" are no longer the party of Lincoln, "populists" are now like demagogues. We need a new definition of socialism. Wait, that would require study.
Yup. Sadly the elements of "socialism" that would appeal to most Americans (healthcare, education, regulation of industry, food and water security) are dashed to to death by the instantaneous repellency of the word. A political term that could offer relief and opportunity has been murdered. Just like the word "conservative". Study? Research? Learn? No, listening to bobble heads on TV is much easier.
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith Such
An excellent quote! My take is that conservative is just a long high falutin’ way to spell GREED! There are reasons Carnegie and his ilk were called robber barons. The libraries and museums are all wonderful, but they came at such a great cost of opportunity for so many people. Who knows what brilliance might have been shut down by the actions of people like Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. They were spouting the “voodoo economics” of supply-side before Reagan withi his bs.
My thoughts exactly. Right now the term is the kiss of death for almost any pol. All the R adverts here are screaming (sometimes literally) about crime, schools, homelessness, mandates, etc. One of the worst R candidates for governor (a former school superintendent in a very small place) who defied health mandates leads in some kind of poll. Ballots are out and we have voted although we have to find someplace to mail our ballots other than our local communal mailbox as someone broke into it Friday night. The latter was only a matter of time.
Martin Hagglund is reminding of a major point from Karl Marx, that has been totally ignored by all who ever pretended to practice socialism: labour, our daily work, should be organized so as to favour the development of the individual to his or her best potential. - Those who control the selling will also come to control the production in the future. IKEA as a concept, with forerunners from the 1700 hundreds. - Just to mention some possible starts for study.
Dance. Dance with me. “It’s high time you joined in the dance”. This dance is for you. This dance is for us. Welcome to the dance. Come on down to the dance hall bring pot luck. Would you dance with me? Who are you not inviting to the dance? Let’s go out on the floor and figure out this Texas Two Step. Maybe everyone could learn to dance with each other. Just a real nice social event.
Lynn, I like Bruce's take on that, to take the labels back and re-legitimize them. In his letter sometime about an hour before this one, he takes off using the term "radical",
A quote from Bruce's letter: ". . . the label they have attached to us is "radical". We all know that that is a misnomer. To further riff on what you wrote above, Barbara: Is it "radical to want to cut the price of insulin? Is it "radical" to want a child tax credit for struggling families? Is it "radical" to want affordable, quality childcare? Is it "radical" to want universal pre-k? Is it "radical" to want investments in affordable housing? Is it "radical" to want adequate elder care? Is it "radical" to be concerned about our climate changing? Is it "radical" to [insert countless other concerns]? . . ."
I like this. In polls and studies, people do want all those things. By disconnecting the label, I think we can find ways to reach past it to the common support of the things that help all of us.
Getting his message to the people is the hard part when they have already chosen their team. We need to find a way to be foot soldiers - maybe barbecues and picnics would get people away from Fox and social media!
Michael, our feelings about American Workers echo. I went to a source of what appears to be the rebirth of the labor movement in the USA.
'AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler on the future of America's labor movement'
April 07, 2022'
• John Ringer
• Meghna Chakrabarti
'FILE - Staten Island-based Amazon.com Inc distribution center union members celebrate after getting the voting results to unionize on Friday, April 1, 2022, in New York. Amazon workers in Staten Island voted to unionize, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant's history and handing an unexpected win to a nascent group that fueled the union drive.'
Liz Shuler is the first woman ever elected president of the AFL-CIO.'
'She took over a time when the world of work has been turned upside down.
WBUR is a nonprofit news organization. Our coverage relies on your financial support. If you value articles like the one you're reading right now, give today.'
'Union organizing is happening in some unexpected places, and sometimes in ways that disrupt the traditional union playbook.'
"If you have established unions, it's great to have their support," Brett Daniels, an Amazon union organizer, said. "But if they're not the ones that are actually on the inside, maybe workers can't relate to that as much, because who knows the warehouse conditions better than Amazon workers themselves?"
'Today, On Point: A conversation with AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Guest'
'Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president. (@lizshuler)'
'MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: This is On Point, I'm Meghna Chakrabarti. In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in America. Separately, the two labor organizations date back further to the 19th century. From 1955 to 2005, AFL-CIO member unions represented nearly all organized workers in the United States.
'Union membership peaked in 1979, when the AFL-CIO counted nearly 20 million members. Women have consistently played a critical role in the labor movement. Their influence grew as their presence in the labor market grew, as union member Wanda Garrett describes in the 1981 documentary A Time of Challenge.'
'WANDA GARRETT [Archival Tape]: There's a definite place for women in the labor movement. Just for the simple fact women make up a very large part of the national labor force. More women coming out of the family circle and working, having to be far more aggressive and being aggressive means looking out for what is yours. And of course, the best way to do that is belonging to a union.'
'CHAKRABARTI: However, throughout its long history, the AFL-CIO never had a woman president. Until last year, when longtime President Richard Trumka suddenly died. Liz Shuler was the union's secretary treasurer, the number two at the AFL-CIO. And she became the union's president, the first ever woman to lead the AFL-CIO and the most powerful woman in the history of the American labor movement.'
'She leads the union at a remarkable point in American labor history. Overall, membership remains at a moribund low in comparison to Labor's heyday, while at the same time unions are experiencing something of a renaissance in new sectors of the American workforce. So, she joins us today to talk about that. Liz Shuler, welcome to On Point.'
'LIZ SHULER: Thank you so much, Meghna. It's an honor to be with you.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Well, first of all, I'd love to get to know sort of how long unions and the labor movement has been in your life, or in your family's life.'
'SHULER: Absolutely. I grew up in a union household. My whole family worked for the electric utility company in Portland, Oregon. So I grew up very familiar with the power of what unions can do. My dad was a power lineman. My mom worked in service and design and I worked at the utility going through college as a clerical worker. So when I saw how the power linemen were treated, because they were in the union, and then the clerical workers were not in the union, it became really clear to me, up close and personal, what a difference that can make to have a voice on the job.'
'CHAKRABARTI: What can you tell me more about that? Because your father, Lance, right? So he was the unionized lineman for PG&E and your mother was not. I mean, what difference did you see in even how your father and mother were treated by the utility?'
'SHULER: Absolutely. The power lineman had obviously good wages and benefits. They had a union contract, but they also had a measure of dignity and respect that it's almost hard to put into words. Because once you have that contract, you have a measure of security. You know that you can speak out and not be afraid. Whereas the clerical workers would often feel just grateful to have their job and afraid to step out or speak out when something might be going wrong in the workplace.'
'So I saw that very much upfront and personal. And then we tried to organize a union, and we knew that the electrical workers union would be a good fit because they were already representing the power linemen. And what a great opportunity it would be to have your working conditions in writing, to have a grievance procedure that you could turn to with the union if something happened. ... Like sexual harassment or discrimination on the job, which we see so often.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Well, hang on here for just a second. So first of all, did you and your mom ever talk about sort of the differences that you observed?'
'SHULER: ... Absolutely, yeah. And in fact, when ... the women in the clerical unit at Portland General Electric decided to form a union. I was just having graduated from the University of Oregon hearing about this. And so that's how I got involved in the labor movement, is joining that organizing campaign. Because I knew a lot of those women that worked there and my mom was still working there. So we actually were on the organizing campaign together. We knocked doors and, you know, visited workers in their homes to talk about their concerns.'
'
'And the company did what most companies did, which was to do the union-busting tactics that we see so often, like we see at Amazon. Where workers become very afraid to to join a union because they're intimidated, they're harassed, they're threatened, they have captive audience meetings to talk about, Oh, you don't need the union, it's just you and me, the company and you. You don't need a third party in between us. You know, they pull out all the tactics. So I saw that firsthand. And unfortunately, the campaign was not successful. But that's where I turn to the union itself. And went on to work for the local union. And bringing a voice to working people has become my passion.'
'CHAKRABARTI: So to not put too fine a point on it, your first endeavor in unionizing failed. Correct?'
'SHULER: Yes. But failures aren't failures. They're learning experiences. Right?'
'CHAKRABARTI: That sounds like it was a real turning point in your life. Because it wasn't clear whether or not sort of becoming a union activist, union leader was sort of what you had dreamt of growing up. Because you went to journalism school at the University of Oregon, right?'
'SHULER: That's right. Yeah, I wanted to be Nina Totenberg on NPR.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Don't we all?'
'SHULER: Yeah, exactly. But you're right. Our lives take different twists and turns in unexpected ways. And once that campaign quote 'failed,' I had the opportunity to join the staff of the local union that was organizing. And I thought, Gosh, if I can, you know, bring justice to the workplace for other people. Maybe it didn't happen in our workplace at Portland General Electric, but you know, this could be something that I could lend my passion and enthusiasm to as a young person.
'And certainly that's what happened. And shortly thereafter, Enron purchased the utility, and not many people know the name Enron anymore. But basically, this fast talking company from Texas took over the sleepy little utility company. And they went into bankruptcy. And unfortunately, many of my family friends, people that I had grown up with, my dad's friends on the power line side had lost their pensions, including my own father.''(WBUR) Link below.
This piece is what happens when labor fails to establish a union. There are far worse consequences for workers who do not succeed. Even death. Business owners push far beyond the safe endurance of the work force. In high risk operations such as mining, fishing, logging, truck driving, and many others which depend on voluble production, men and women sacrifice their lives. Many of us have lived through these tragedies. For what? To make one man a legend? To perpetuate our own serfdom?
I really don’t remember far enough back in my life of 71 years to remember when I didn’t have to work . The very best year of memory was when I was 7. Aside from in sundry ranch chores, I exhilarated that last year of being a free boy!! I liked to work and my dad defined me for all ages. “If there is a hard way to do it, Pat will find it”. Even my children subscribed. I wanted the whole world and no one got in line to give it to me. Sooo eventually I found myself remarried to a Scotch Norwegian woman who taught special Ed for a living. Apparently she had never had a living wage. She had really big fingers from pinching pennies, creating an actual written budget with .50 surplus each month. I had been on the big road driving truck and made it home only every 60 days. I went to work for a local heavy haul delivery company. This was the second most appalling trucking company I ever worked for. The drivers were separated from the dock workers who were separated from the office workers who were separated from the local delivery drivers of which all were separated from the owners. The owners were distracted with a moving van franchise, but more importantly they busy putting together a banking empire from their trucking profits. The workers were all very good people, hard working! After about a year they asked me to find a way to talk to the owners. They felt that if it went south I might be able to survive while they feared economic disaster. I agreed! I was asked by the owners to share their decision to do nothing while their funds were tied up in bank building. They promised to look into better dock facilities in the next 5 or so years. They rented half of the dock space to Roadway a company that had union benefits. We were paid 8/hr they got 25/hr. They had insurance benefits, not us. They had a forklift, not us. Our side was open air to -30. They had heat. My day usually started at 3 pm. I usually got off the next morning at 10am but quite often extended until noon. Off to bed for 3 hours as I had to be back to start again at 3pm. My longest days I left Missoula after transferring freight in a semi and a pup and pulled Rocky Mountain Doubles to Post Falls, Idaho where I dropped my pup took my main box into the dock in Spokane and swapped east west freight and took it back to Post Falls, dropped the main box, picked up the pup took it in to Spokane , switched freight, took it back to Post Falls, rebooked the set and headed back over the pass to Missoula. I don’t think I mentioned chaining and unchaining over Lookout Pass and 4th of July pass. Both ways. You probably don’t realize what a chore throwing the iron 8 times is like, especially when you will have to do it again 4 times to make MacDonald Pass in and out of Helena. That is the first 500 mile leg of your day. Take a breath! Arriving in Missoula you take both wagons the dock swap freight re-hook your wagons and beat feet to Helena. There you split your wagons, swap freight (they had a forklift and warmed docks, whew!) and beat feet back to Missoula, swap and hook a run for Kalispell. Finally you get to run for Missoula swap freight go home to bed for a few hours. That’s more fun than you can shake a stick at. One of the kids who worked the freight dock in Billings who rendezvoused with me in Helena died enroute Helena when he missed a corner. I’m sure it was too much. 8 hours heaving freight and then the long night drive to Helena. He couldn’t make enough money. Twenty five tons of freight crushing him and the cab of the semi. We dried our tears and pushed for a union to protect ourselves better. I met with union reps in Missoula. We jumped through all the hoops finally coming to a vote. 250,000 dollars was spent by the owners. Our union rep disappeared. We never saw him again. The company included all of their family members, office personnel and others to the voting roles. We still had em beat. One by one we had “training sessions “ The vote was restricted to the Helena office, meaning employees from all other cities had to travel to Helena to vote. The vote was during working hours. You were to be ferried by the owners. A penalty for missing work on that day was subliminal. Our union rep was gone, I tried for weeks afterward but never a reply. We lost. There was no resolution.
Pat, Before seeing this piercing report covering of your work experience, I was going to delete my question of whether you could tell us more about your work life. I thought that it may have been rude of me to make such a request. Instead, you produced a paper unlike any I remember reading before. Pat, you have reported tortuous conditions and extraordinary pain inflicted upon I don't know how many working American people in this day and age. I hope to have a chance to talk with you. With gratitude and appreciation, Fern
Wow, Pat, what a tragic story. Unions, like any large organizations, have problems, but this trucking company's unrestrained exploitation is clearly what unions were invented to restrain--in the name of human life. Thank you for your effort on behalf of your co-workers and for sharing your experience with us.
Fred, TC and I had an exchange. His point was that Pat's experience is all too common in the country for workers in various fields -- the reason this country is 'f___ked'!
Your kicker ending chokes me up and, at the same time, fills me with hope — hope that the musician has identified what indeed is bubbling up among the people. And it follows an inspirational sentence about Teddy Roosevelt. I believe anyone running for president should pledge to do what he dedicated himself to do as president: work "to defend ordinary Americans from the overreach of corporations, and to use the government to help everyone rather than a select few."
Michael, I believe the budget reconciliation plan (BBB) reflects the pledge you referenced to help remedy the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income. I also believe, when reconciliation failed to pass, that Dems, rightfully, expected Biden to go make the argument in West Virginia, and also in the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and in other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply stated, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Imagine the impact if everyday people across the country were asked, “Who do you want here—somebody who doesn’t want to cut the price of insulin or those who do”? What about the child tax credit? Affordable, quality childcare? Universal Pre-K? Investments in housing? In elder care? In climate? My point, and note I haven’t covered what Biden and the Party have accomplished, is that Democrats have an extraordinary narrative if only they would deliver it.
We are not loud enough. We need to tell it, repeat it, tell it over and over. Do it loudly and just don't stop. We have the proof, we have the winning arguments. We just don't drown out the lies.
When I read that Tucker Carlson has the highest rated show on cable, it almost caused my heart to stop. How can an honest dialogue take place with the Fox propaganda machine churning out lies and bull Schitt with rapid fire precision. This is not new but the ammo has become more deadly since chump. No lie is too bizarre, no logic acceptable. The Ukraine war stopped Rupert in his tracks for a nanosecond, but the evil does not rest. Tucker is leading the charge, but there are plenty of adherents who gum up the democratic works and the air we all breathe in every state. May the musician be on to something, preferably in my lifetime.
But Carlson speaks only to a small portion of the American electorate. Always remember that. It’s easy to overstate his influence.
We all know too many that are overdosed on TC’s lies & DT’s influence but unless we want this country to turn into an anarchy WE need to stand up to this ignorance & try to help them see the light.
Unforrtunately, I know too many who do though 😖
Right you are, Randy. Sometimes we need to throw in the towel on some people. We don’t need every last person to agree. Focus on those with whom we have a chance because they’re already victims of the current situations but are still unaware. Plenty for us to work with here. Steady drip.
But look at gerrymandering and the electoral college. A small portion of the electorate can elect a president with a minority of the popular vote.
It's hard to remember that sometimes, but good to be reminded of it. I'm reading From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp who spent his life articulating non-violent strategies that ordinary people could use to defeat dictators. I recommend it.
I think that any time Tucker Carlson is mentioned in the media or during a conversation, it needs to be hammered home that the guy’s attorneys successfully defended him against a slander lawsuit by asserting that (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘any reasonable person would conclude that he is not telling the truth’. Thus, by his own admission, he thoroughly lacks credibility, and thinks that any of his viewers who actually believe him aren’t reasonable people. This needs to be repeatedly shouted from the rooftops.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell voiced the same defense of her own nutty claims, if I recall correctly. Or is this just the standard GOP line for all their big liars now?
This is exactly what Sen. McMorrow did with a very strong, almighty voice of reason. This is what Jamie Raskin did the other day after marjorie t-g spewed her tripe. Every lie needs to be immediately answered with a truth and call them out. That is maybe one way to not allow the brainwashing to cement into their cerebellums in the silence instead of strong voices stopping the brainwashing. But Rupert should be stopped for anti-Democracy behavior. Seditious behavior. I would donate to that cause.
Great thoughts, Jeri. It's mind-numbing that so many Americans believe TC's drivel. I've been watching more interviews with Trump supporters who attend his rallies. The stupidity that comes out of their mouths, that Democrats are communists, for example, is good for a laugh but points to a new reality: A new intellectual class system now exists. The woke vs. the
those with their heads in the sand; those who study issues and those who get their information from entertainers like Tucker C. Common sense in our country is fading fast.
Randy. It's perhaps mind-numbing, but not surprising. There has always been a bedrock of anti-intellectualism in American culture. This glorification of it is more blatant, but not unexpected. And somehow, these past few years have brought it into the open in the crudest possible ways. The people who stormed the capitol, for example, were such parodies of every joke ever told about dumb, backwoods rednecks, that it was almost hard to believe they weren't sent from Central Casting. It all, obviously, is not a joke at all. It is deadly serious that all the darkest underbelly of this culture has now been exposed and is being celebrated by people with real power to effect (or stop) change. The foundations for all of this were laid a long time ago, but even just in our particular dreadfulness, go back to Reagan and move forward to the Federalist Society and their list of judges. And look what's happening in the Supreme Court--the number of cases now considered by the Shadow Docket has nearly doubled. Before now, half of us never heard of the Shadow Docket. They're hiding as much as they can. What they can't hide, they flaunt. And, in spite of Dr. Richardson's unfailing optimism, it looks to me at the moment as if they're winning. I think we are facing a paradigm shift and we just don't know what the hell that's going to mean.
Dean, As much as I find your thesis spot on, I haven’t ruled out the possibility of a moral awakening, a spirituality, if you will, of genuine questioning and dialogic exchange grounded in mutual respect, personal responsibility, and social accountability. Hence, amid one of the most terrifying moments in our nation’s history, I remain steadfastly resilient and resistant and encourage the same for others.
And don't forget the fun fact that Fox News comes with every cable package, you CAN'T not have it! Tucker operates at a loss (no advertisers) but Fox News makes way more than CNN or MSNBC because of it's carriage fee deals! Plenty of people who aren't watching it are paying for it! If that apple cart were to fall over...
So that's the business model? Carrier fees? Might we lean on the cable companies to refuse? (I don't know as I don't watch TV anymore.)
According to NYT series, advertisers fled and Fox filled the void with in-house promos for other shows using Tucker’s “popularity”.Fox also increased direct-to-consumer advertising (My Pillow). The result…ad dollars almost doubled. In house critics were also silenced. $$$
🤮
New study is out showing Carlson has the “racist” show. Just saw it on MSNBC, haven’t looked for the link or verified yet, but certainly no surprise there.
Is this the one? Anyway. NYT has an excellent 3 part expose on Carlson. Here is the link to Part 1.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/30/us/tucker-carlson-gop-republican-party.html#:~:text=How%20Tucker%20Carlson%20Stoked%20White%20Fear%20to%20Conquer%20Cable
I refuse to read the NYT article. It's the only way I know of trying to lessen his grip & noise.
I will be interested to hear what Dr. Richardson and all of you think about the NYT front page, 3- part series on Carlson. My first thought is - finally. Then when I looked at the optics - multiple photos, even a multi-colored blinking image of his face, I wasn't sure what the impact would be on readers. Does it condemn or in a twisted way celebrate his behavior?
actually, i don't have a minute to waste on Tucker Carlson, even to read a NYT treatment of him and his notoriety. Perhaps someone can summarize it in 50 words or less...
I cant bring myself to read the story but looking at the optics I think they support an expose. my opinion.
Agree on expose, albeit late to the game.
From my Morning NYT newsletter. Encouraged me to read the series…however painful it may be !
“The Fox News host Tucker Carlson built what may be cable news’ most racist show while embracing Trumpism without Trump, a Times investigation found.”
Wow Nancy I'm grateful to you for pointing this out. It reinforces my main reason for cancelling my subscription to the NYTimes this year--after so many years as a subscriber that I literally can't remember not having it. First, to answer your immediate question, they are indeed celebrating his behavior. In the same exact way they "celebrated" Donald Trump's behavior from his campaigns against his fellow Republicans and Secretary Clinton to his instigation of the Jan 6 insurrection. They pointed out and even condemned his behavior but they followed his every move. The result was that the worst criticism somehow had the effect of making him more intriguing and more popular. I'll guarantee you the Times coverage will give Carlson's ratings a serious boost. The only way for the press to do their part to fight these monsters is to not write about them at all. But the NYTimes follows the money and dramatic evil sells newspapers. Even on this very unusual forum, we spend a lot more time on Carlson, Trump, McConnell, et. al., than on Biden, Warren, Blinken. It's very frightening to me.
It's disgusting. I am grateful not only for seeing the danger in this but for identifying it so clearly. Your notice of the impact of the photographs is brilliant.
Ignore statistics. Forge on.
That is really what this post was about: what everyone expected got turned upside-down.
Exactly! Macron! 5 more years!
👍🏾
Maybe we should do a show on tanning our testicular area with red lights too😵💫
Tucker Carlson is the Disinformer-In-Chief, and I certainly agree that mis- and disinformation is a major threat, but I fear that the creation of a government agency to combat disinformation is an open invitation to rabid and virulent right wing outrage and mockery. Already the media is filled with condemnation of an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth".....
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disinformation-governance-board-russia-us-mexico-border/
More important than the yapping of disinformation dogs, is the fact that a government anti-disinformation agency is one bit-flip fro a government disinformation agency.
Tucker is into something about testicles. Not sure why. This letter offers him a definition of manliness.
Yes, I really think the "manliness" thing is something really powerful. I am not totally sure how to spread all these messages far and wide without a airplane dropping "fliers with messages" in all the red areas. today one would get a huge fine for littering... But that mass messaging is the way besides-- what is our power for shutting down fox propagandist lies? Bring back the Fairness Doctrine? We need a really concerted effort across the country in all media. And marches.
A lot are people like us to see what the clown has to say. I know I’m guilty
I cannot stand tc's voice (does not deserve capitals) nor trump and those in his caravan of lying clowns.
Bill…absolutely! An old adage comes to mind, “a strong offense is the best defense!” It’s often considered an apt stratagem when associated with warfare…and it’s warfare were embroiled in and, it’s our Democracy that’s the target!
I was heartened to hear Don Winslow last evening. Giving up writing novels to engage more fully in activism.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/author-don-winslow-on-why-hes-retiring-from-writing-and-turning-his-attention-to-activism
Being from WV I was particularly heartened by this episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymZAy1gDaY
And he has more.
It's great - "Lifestyles of the Rich - and Corrupt'!
💕Love it!
Ah, another PBSNewsHour fan! It's the only news program I watch consistently (well, except for Rachel again, now that she's back)
I'd take it even a step further...the label they have attached to us is "radical". We all know that that is a misnomer. To further riff on what you wrote above, Barbara: Is it "radical to want to cut the price of insulin? Is it "radical" to want a child tax credit for struggling families? Is it "radical" to want affordable, quality childcare? Is it "radical" to want universal pre-k? Is it "radical" to want investments in affordable housing? Is it "radical" to want adequate elder care? Is it "radical" to be concerned about our climate changing? Is it "radical" to [insert countless other concerns]? If wanting things like that is "radical", then count me in. In response to our concerns of overreach of corporations (like those of circa 1890), THEIR concern is of government overreach, and it is a powerful weapon, as we have seen. In their eyes overreach is overreach. We believe a government should be bound to provide a number of resources to its citizens. To them that smacks of "socialism", and they raise that bugaboo at every turn. But then they take it further and further, beyond all rational reasoning, into the realm of cultural wars, e.g. "keeping the woke mob from indoctrinating our children", to quote from an ad by candidate David Perdue. We HAVE to counter this at every turn, expose the lies (or ask for proof), keep harping on the truth, but do it in a non-hysterical, non-name-calling, non-demeaning, calm, sane manner--difficult though that may be sometimes. Some of those "over there" are lost causes, not worth wasting the energy, but plenty of others are not. There are some very smart and concerned Republicans out there and it's those we need to reach. Together we can be a potent force to overturn these anti-democratic forces, even in spite of some restrictions on voting. We do have a good message to deliver and we need to stand up and TELL IT.
[Today's sermon by yet another musician was brought to you by...]
Is it radical to want gun control? Is it radical to want access to healthcare, including women's reproductive healthcare? Is it radical to want commonsense immigration laws? If the republicans neutralize/eliminate government agencies it will be radical to want a safe, abundant food supply, clean air and water, safe pharmaceuticals, safe workplaces, safe and fuel efficient cars....the list is very long.
What we really need to do is go out knocking on doors and talking to people. Get phone lists of people who have voted in Dem primaries and call them to get them on board. Not everyone can be activists but all of us can be active in telling the story.
Heart.
Bruce, Thank you for taking my comment “a step further.” I merely would add, fair or not, that politics largely is perception, and though Republicans have no ideas aside from those arising from greed and self-serving impulses, their strategy of wanting to fight the culture wars and of running on divisiveness, far too often, wins them elections.
Nonetheless, I would predict that the more compelling our messaging, the angrier the far right would become, because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as “radicals” or as “socialists” is to tell the truth.
Barbara--your words are an exact summary of what many have commented.Well done.
Thank you, Frank. In many respects, I view our collective goal as organizing and mobilizing enough people to reach a sort of critical mass that would allow for a whole new set of people, values, and needs to emerge as the foremost influences.
Do you think part of the reason the gop has a hammerlock on the “dirty Libs” is because getting Biden to West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama to really stand and talk with the people impacted by all the policies NOT passed and highlighting the ones benefiting them that DO exist, is stalled by real concerns of safety? The gop supporters are armed to the teeth, fed a cult narrative about baby-eating, god-killing libs, that most likely BIden would be assassinated? That seems to be a pretty good strategy. “Don’t allow the message to get through”. The gop by their incendiary, intentionally fear-mongering messaging has led to closed minds encircled by very real assault weapons. Reading the history of the Freedom Riders sends chills down me. We are still confronting that same “over-my-dead-body” resistance to living out our ideals of equality before the law and equality in access to resources to build a life.
OTOH, Speaker Pelosi, a congressional delegation, and Secretaries Blinken (State) and Austin (Defense) have managed to visit Ukraine, where the risk has to be comparable. If the Biden team thinks it's a good idea for the president to go to various red states, I have little doubt that the president will go. My guess is that plans are influenced both by the president's schedule and by advice from organizers on the ground in those states.
In Ukraine, there aren't any crazed redneck Trumpmorons.
Neo-Nazis haven't gone extinct in Ukraine, and IMO it's safe to assume that Russian sympathizers exist, and not only in the eastern provinces -- though they may be keeping a low profile just now.
Heart.
We need to get you out on the road, Barbara. You have sketched out the Democratic playbook.
Jon, Thank you for your kind words. Frankly, my frustration, particularly at the national level, has been that we’re treated too much as an audience and not enough as citizens. We’re invited to look through the window but too infrequently to come through the door and to participate, to make government “of, by, and for the people”truly public. Meanwhile, we’ll keep writing letters and making phone calls to pertinent leadership.
What Democrats have to deliver to win is their voters. They have enough voters to win but must get them to cast ballots. That takes boots on the ground. Thousands and thousands of them. Republicans know they cannot win if a high percentage of the electorate votes. That’s why they are working so hard to undermine the election system. Messaging is not the problem except to the extent that the only message that motivates the Republican base is a promise to preserve systemic advantages for white people, and that’s a message that Democrats, to their credit, cannot endorse,
Rex, Respectfully, I don’t believe we can afford to take for granted that Dems “have enough voters to win.” Dems, I would note, frequently are quoted as saying, “we’re going to focus on kitchen table issues.” Though that might sound good, in the past 15 months, Dems haven’t been able to extend the child tax credit or lower prescription drug costs or improve childcare or raise the minimum wage to $15…, legislation that actually would make people’s lives easier and would be counter-inflationary.
Fair or not, politics largely is perception, and, though Republicans have no ideas aside from those arising from greed and self-serving impulses, their strategy of running on divisiveness, far too often, wins them elections. Hence, the urgency for compelling countervailing messaging, combined, I would grant, with your call for aggressively enlisting “boots on the ground,” to galvanize the base and turbo-charge turnout.
Better messaging can’t hurt, but I think it’s unlikely that Republicans have better message creators than Democrats. The problem is the message. Most white Americans want to retain their advantages, and they don’t much care what it costs to do that. This political priority is unforgivable but extremely easy to communicate. Currently, one four-letter word, “woke,” is sufficient to get the Republican message across to its willing recipients. Unfortunately, this despicable Republican message is extremely appealing to 60% of white Americans, 70% of white working class Americans, and 80% of white evangelical Americans. Converting those people to the side of human decency is a project that requires, in almost all cases, hundreds of hours of patient, expert, one-on-one counseling. No significant progress can be made on that project between now and November, nor even between now and the 2024 elections. I conclude that GOTV is the only effective way to invest whatever resources we have. If we survive past 2024, which is at best a dicey prospect, then maybe we can afford to invest some resources in changing hearts and minds. Or, maybe not. Converting racists to decent human beings is damn near impossible. We may just have to hope the arc of justice trends in the direction of decency. I certainly hope it does but am not optimistic about it.
Rex, To be clear, my comments, which are mere extensions of my focus on midterms, largely, relate both to ginning up voter enthusiasm and to representing the interests of as wide a range of voters as possible.
Hence, aside from writing post cards and phone banking, I submit suggestions to whoever might listen. For example, contrary to Trump, who declared the White House is not a shipping clerk, I note that the current Administration has saved our lives by making the vaccine, free of charge, available to everyone, a factor, in my view, that has contributed to saving our jobs (creating over 8 million) and saving the economy (effecting historically low unemployment). I point out that now Democrats are trying to save democracy from a Republican Party that no longer believes in it, while also imploring DOJ to start issuing indictments to top-level perpetrators, members of Congress, for example, whom we know, through text messages, are criminally accountable.
In a word, I know of no other way than to trust that my energy, my caring, and my engagement can make a difference.
I think you’re right on all counts and that your postcard and phonebanking efforts will help. We will need the efforts of many thousands more like you to save democracy from the 60% of white people who are intent on destroying democracy to preserve their systemic advantages.
We need to get ad’s on fox networks etc preach the truth of what president Biden agenda is. They won’t hear it anywhere else
That rings true. Thanks.
My message to the Democrat Party and its candidates is simple - No one will know you are even in the parade if you don't blow your horn loud and clear.
Pardon me, but it’s the DEMOCRATIC Party. Republicans have been calling us the Democrat party since the ‘40s. It’s a slur. Don’t let them get away with it.
Noting that the Farmer's Alliance “believed that all humans should have dignity, whatever their economic status, gender or race,” anyone running for president should pledge to do what he OR SHE dedicated to do. "For the people"--all of us this time!
https://magazine.tcu.edu/summer-2021/gregg-cantrell-texas-populist/
Just like "republicans" are no longer the party of Lincoln, "populists" are now like demagogues. We need a new definition of socialism. Wait, that would require study.
Yup. Sadly the elements of "socialism" that would appeal to most Americans (healthcare, education, regulation of industry, food and water security) are dashed to to death by the instantaneous repellency of the word. A political term that could offer relief and opportunity has been murdered. Just like the word "conservative". Study? Research? Learn? No, listening to bobble heads on TV is much easier.
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith Such
An excellent quote! My take is that conservative is just a long high falutin’ way to spell GREED! There are reasons Carnegie and his ilk were called robber barons. The libraries and museums are all wonderful, but they came at such a great cost of opportunity for so many people. Who knows what brilliance might have been shut down by the actions of people like Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. They were spouting the “voodoo economics” of supply-side before Reagan withi his bs.
My thoughts exactly. Right now the term is the kiss of death for almost any pol. All the R adverts here are screaming (sometimes literally) about crime, schools, homelessness, mandates, etc. One of the worst R candidates for governor (a former school superintendent in a very small place) who defied health mandates leads in some kind of poll. Ballots are out and we have voted although we have to find someplace to mail our ballots other than our local communal mailbox as someone broke into it Friday night. The latter was only a matter of time.
Perhaps a new term to encompass those concepts, and make it sound pro-American, such as American Fairness, Americans for All . . . brainstorming here.
Martin Hagglund is reminding of a major point from Karl Marx, that has been totally ignored by all who ever pretended to practice socialism: labour, our daily work, should be organized so as to favour the development of the individual to his or her best potential. - Those who control the selling will also come to control the production in the future. IKEA as a concept, with forerunners from the 1700 hundreds. - Just to mention some possible starts for study.
Dance. Dance with me. “It’s high time you joined in the dance”. This dance is for you. This dance is for us. Welcome to the dance. Come on down to the dance hall bring pot luck. Would you dance with me? Who are you not inviting to the dance? Let’s go out on the floor and figure out this Texas Two Step. Maybe everyone could learn to dance with each other. Just a real nice social event.
Ok ok you win. Take my hands, let’s jitterbug. Might as well have fun too.
Here’s a great dance tune with two stepping-the Taos variety. https://youtu.be/ku_Tj8mMk8A
Yup! Great home feeling too. I’m the fat guy that helped her on the horse. My twin. Notice those hands?
Thanks for this. Almost got lost in there somewhere. Like going home.
When I see your name I think of my old friend Skip Stratton. He jumped the White House lawn as a smokejumper, lived in Missoula.
Lynn, I like Bruce's take on that, to take the labels back and re-legitimize them. In his letter sometime about an hour before this one, he takes off using the term "radical",
A quote from Bruce's letter: ". . . the label they have attached to us is "radical". We all know that that is a misnomer. To further riff on what you wrote above, Barbara: Is it "radical to want to cut the price of insulin? Is it "radical" to want a child tax credit for struggling families? Is it "radical" to want affordable, quality childcare? Is it "radical" to want universal pre-k? Is it "radical" to want investments in affordable housing? Is it "radical" to want adequate elder care? Is it "radical" to be concerned about our climate changing? Is it "radical" to [insert countless other concerns]? . . ."
I like this. In polls and studies, people do want all those things. By disconnecting the label, I think we can find ways to reach past it to the common support of the things that help all of us.
DOH!
Ellie,
A spectacular link. Thank you. Really. My sisters might read this link.
Here is the history book link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300100973/?tag=yaleunivpres-20
I just ordered Gregg's book.
Glad you like it so much! I just opened the link from Heather's citation list and copied it, since I quoted from the article. :)
And isn't this what President Biden is doing? I think so.
Yes, when he is not saving the world from Russian aggression or saving the US from Fascism.
Biden certainly is busy.
:-)
Getting his message to the people is the hard part when they have already chosen their team. We need to find a way to be foot soldiers - maybe barbecues and picnics would get people away from Fox and social media!
Michael, our feelings about American Workers echo. I went to a source of what appears to be the rebirth of the labor movement in the USA.
'AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler on the future of America's labor movement'
April 07, 2022'
• John Ringer
• Meghna Chakrabarti
'FILE - Staten Island-based Amazon.com Inc distribution center union members celebrate after getting the voting results to unionize on Friday, April 1, 2022, in New York. Amazon workers in Staten Island voted to unionize, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant's history and handing an unexpected win to a nascent group that fueled the union drive.'
Liz Shuler is the first woman ever elected president of the AFL-CIO.'
'She took over a time when the world of work has been turned upside down.
WBUR is a nonprofit news organization. Our coverage relies on your financial support. If you value articles like the one you're reading right now, give today.'
'Union organizing is happening in some unexpected places, and sometimes in ways that disrupt the traditional union playbook.'
"If you have established unions, it's great to have their support," Brett Daniels, an Amazon union organizer, said. "But if they're not the ones that are actually on the inside, maybe workers can't relate to that as much, because who knows the warehouse conditions better than Amazon workers themselves?"
'Today, On Point: A conversation with AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Guest'
'Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president. (@lizshuler)'
'MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: This is On Point, I'm Meghna Chakrabarti. In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in America. Separately, the two labor organizations date back further to the 19th century. From 1955 to 2005, AFL-CIO member unions represented nearly all organized workers in the United States.
'Union membership peaked in 1979, when the AFL-CIO counted nearly 20 million members. Women have consistently played a critical role in the labor movement. Their influence grew as their presence in the labor market grew, as union member Wanda Garrett describes in the 1981 documentary A Time of Challenge.'
'WANDA GARRETT [Archival Tape]: There's a definite place for women in the labor movement. Just for the simple fact women make up a very large part of the national labor force. More women coming out of the family circle and working, having to be far more aggressive and being aggressive means looking out for what is yours. And of course, the best way to do that is belonging to a union.'
'CHAKRABARTI: However, throughout its long history, the AFL-CIO never had a woman president. Until last year, when longtime President Richard Trumka suddenly died. Liz Shuler was the union's secretary treasurer, the number two at the AFL-CIO. And she became the union's president, the first ever woman to lead the AFL-CIO and the most powerful woman in the history of the American labor movement.'
'She leads the union at a remarkable point in American labor history. Overall, membership remains at a moribund low in comparison to Labor's heyday, while at the same time unions are experiencing something of a renaissance in new sectors of the American workforce. So, she joins us today to talk about that. Liz Shuler, welcome to On Point.'
'LIZ SHULER: Thank you so much, Meghna. It's an honor to be with you.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Well, first of all, I'd love to get to know sort of how long unions and the labor movement has been in your life, or in your family's life.'
'SHULER: Absolutely. I grew up in a union household. My whole family worked for the electric utility company in Portland, Oregon. So I grew up very familiar with the power of what unions can do. My dad was a power lineman. My mom worked in service and design and I worked at the utility going through college as a clerical worker. So when I saw how the power linemen were treated, because they were in the union, and then the clerical workers were not in the union, it became really clear to me, up close and personal, what a difference that can make to have a voice on the job.'
'CHAKRABARTI: What can you tell me more about that? Because your father, Lance, right? So he was the unionized lineman for PG&E and your mother was not. I mean, what difference did you see in even how your father and mother were treated by the utility?'
'SHULER: Absolutely. The power lineman had obviously good wages and benefits. They had a union contract, but they also had a measure of dignity and respect that it's almost hard to put into words. Because once you have that contract, you have a measure of security. You know that you can speak out and not be afraid. Whereas the clerical workers would often feel just grateful to have their job and afraid to step out or speak out when something might be going wrong in the workplace.'
'So I saw that very much upfront and personal. And then we tried to organize a union, and we knew that the electrical workers union would be a good fit because they were already representing the power linemen. And what a great opportunity it would be to have your working conditions in writing, to have a grievance procedure that you could turn to with the union if something happened. ... Like sexual harassment or discrimination on the job, which we see so often.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Well, hang on here for just a second. So first of all, did you and your mom ever talk about sort of the differences that you observed?'
'SHULER: ... Absolutely, yeah. And in fact, when ... the women in the clerical unit at Portland General Electric decided to form a union. I was just having graduated from the University of Oregon hearing about this. And so that's how I got involved in the labor movement, is joining that organizing campaign. Because I knew a lot of those women that worked there and my mom was still working there. So we actually were on the organizing campaign together. We knocked doors and, you know, visited workers in their homes to talk about their concerns.'
'
'And the company did what most companies did, which was to do the union-busting tactics that we see so often, like we see at Amazon. Where workers become very afraid to to join a union because they're intimidated, they're harassed, they're threatened, they have captive audience meetings to talk about, Oh, you don't need the union, it's just you and me, the company and you. You don't need a third party in between us. You know, they pull out all the tactics. So I saw that firsthand. And unfortunately, the campaign was not successful. But that's where I turn to the union itself. And went on to work for the local union. And bringing a voice to working people has become my passion.'
'CHAKRABARTI: So to not put too fine a point on it, your first endeavor in unionizing failed. Correct?'
'SHULER: Yes. But failures aren't failures. They're learning experiences. Right?'
'CHAKRABARTI: That sounds like it was a real turning point in your life. Because it wasn't clear whether or not sort of becoming a union activist, union leader was sort of what you had dreamt of growing up. Because you went to journalism school at the University of Oregon, right?'
'SHULER: That's right. Yeah, I wanted to be Nina Totenberg on NPR.'
'CHAKRABARTI: Don't we all?'
'SHULER: Yeah, exactly. But you're right. Our lives take different twists and turns in unexpected ways. And once that campaign quote 'failed,' I had the opportunity to join the staff of the local union that was organizing. And I thought, Gosh, if I can, you know, bring justice to the workplace for other people. Maybe it didn't happen in our workplace at Portland General Electric, but you know, this could be something that I could lend my passion and enthusiasm to as a young person.
'And certainly that's what happened. And shortly thereafter, Enron purchased the utility, and not many people know the name Enron anymore. But basically, this fast talking company from Texas took over the sleepy little utility company. And they went into bankruptcy. And unfortunately, many of my family friends, people that I had grown up with, my dad's friends on the power line side had lost their pensions, including my own father.''(WBUR) Link below.
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2022/04/07/afl-cio-president-liz-shuler-on-the-future-for-americas-labor-movement
This piece is what happens when labor fails to establish a union. There are far worse consequences for workers who do not succeed. Even death. Business owners push far beyond the safe endurance of the work force. In high risk operations such as mining, fishing, logging, truck driving, and many others which depend on voluble production, men and women sacrifice their lives. Many of us have lived through these tragedies. For what? To make one man a legend? To perpetuate our own serfdom?
Additionally, teachers are sacrificing their values because their unions have been abolished in some states and are not strong in other states.
Pat, Can you tell us more about what you have experienced and witnessed as a worker?
I really don’t remember far enough back in my life of 71 years to remember when I didn’t have to work . The very best year of memory was when I was 7. Aside from in sundry ranch chores, I exhilarated that last year of being a free boy!! I liked to work and my dad defined me for all ages. “If there is a hard way to do it, Pat will find it”. Even my children subscribed. I wanted the whole world and no one got in line to give it to me. Sooo eventually I found myself remarried to a Scotch Norwegian woman who taught special Ed for a living. Apparently she had never had a living wage. She had really big fingers from pinching pennies, creating an actual written budget with .50 surplus each month. I had been on the big road driving truck and made it home only every 60 days. I went to work for a local heavy haul delivery company. This was the second most appalling trucking company I ever worked for. The drivers were separated from the dock workers who were separated from the office workers who were separated from the local delivery drivers of which all were separated from the owners. The owners were distracted with a moving van franchise, but more importantly they busy putting together a banking empire from their trucking profits. The workers were all very good people, hard working! After about a year they asked me to find a way to talk to the owners. They felt that if it went south I might be able to survive while they feared economic disaster. I agreed! I was asked by the owners to share their decision to do nothing while their funds were tied up in bank building. They promised to look into better dock facilities in the next 5 or so years. They rented half of the dock space to Roadway a company that had union benefits. We were paid 8/hr they got 25/hr. They had insurance benefits, not us. They had a forklift, not us. Our side was open air to -30. They had heat. My day usually started at 3 pm. I usually got off the next morning at 10am but quite often extended until noon. Off to bed for 3 hours as I had to be back to start again at 3pm. My longest days I left Missoula after transferring freight in a semi and a pup and pulled Rocky Mountain Doubles to Post Falls, Idaho where I dropped my pup took my main box into the dock in Spokane and swapped east west freight and took it back to Post Falls, dropped the main box, picked up the pup took it in to Spokane , switched freight, took it back to Post Falls, rebooked the set and headed back over the pass to Missoula. I don’t think I mentioned chaining and unchaining over Lookout Pass and 4th of July pass. Both ways. You probably don’t realize what a chore throwing the iron 8 times is like, especially when you will have to do it again 4 times to make MacDonald Pass in and out of Helena. That is the first 500 mile leg of your day. Take a breath! Arriving in Missoula you take both wagons the dock swap freight re-hook your wagons and beat feet to Helena. There you split your wagons, swap freight (they had a forklift and warmed docks, whew!) and beat feet back to Missoula, swap and hook a run for Kalispell. Finally you get to run for Missoula swap freight go home to bed for a few hours. That’s more fun than you can shake a stick at. One of the kids who worked the freight dock in Billings who rendezvoused with me in Helena died enroute Helena when he missed a corner. I’m sure it was too much. 8 hours heaving freight and then the long night drive to Helena. He couldn’t make enough money. Twenty five tons of freight crushing him and the cab of the semi. We dried our tears and pushed for a union to protect ourselves better. I met with union reps in Missoula. We jumped through all the hoops finally coming to a vote. 250,000 dollars was spent by the owners. Our union rep disappeared. We never saw him again. The company included all of their family members, office personnel and others to the voting roles. We still had em beat. One by one we had “training sessions “ The vote was restricted to the Helena office, meaning employees from all other cities had to travel to Helena to vote. The vote was during working hours. You were to be ferried by the owners. A penalty for missing work on that day was subliminal. Our union rep was gone, I tried for weeks afterward but never a reply. We lost. There was no resolution.
Pat, Before seeing this piercing report covering of your work experience, I was going to delete my question of whether you could tell us more about your work life. I thought that it may have been rude of me to make such a request. Instead, you produced a paper unlike any I remember reading before. Pat, you have reported tortuous conditions and extraordinary pain inflicted upon I don't know how many working American people in this day and age. I hope to have a chance to talk with you. With gratitude and appreciation, Fern
Wow, Pat, what a tragic story. Unions, like any large organizations, have problems, but this trucking company's unrestrained exploitation is clearly what unions were invented to restrain--in the name of human life. Thank you for your effort on behalf of your co-workers and for sharing your experience with us.
This is an amazing story. Chilling. Depressing.
Trying to "heart" this, but Substack isn't playing. Thank you for this detailed account of appalling conditions.
Wow, Pat!! Just WOW!
Wow.
Fred, TC and I had an exchange. His point was that Pat's experience is all too common in the country for workers in various fields -- the reason this country is 'f___ked'!
Thank you, Pat.