Capitalism certainly does not promote democracy. In fact, what it has created with the help of the legalized bribery of Citizens United is an oligarchic kleptocracy, the rich are stealing from everyone else and creating extreme income disparity hollowing out the middle class. I'm reading "Viking Economics" by George Lakey on how the Scan…
Capitalism certainly does not promote democracy. In fact, what it has created with the help of the legalized bribery of Citizens United is an oligarchic kleptocracy, the rich are stealing from everyone else and creating extreme income disparity hollowing out the middle class. I'm reading "Viking Economics" by George Lakey on how the Scandinavian counties dealt with this and now have strong economies with strong democracy and well-being. Believe the lessons could be applied to the United States but with some big hurdles like racial justice to overcome.
Someone had previously mentioned this book, so I ordered it, & it arrived yesterday. I’m looking forward to reading it. I am a firm believer that everyone deserves basic needs & that it benefits me as well as them when everyone’s basic needs are met. (A roof over one's head, food on the table, healthcare, a good education, etc.)
What a reasonable, humanistic, fair minded philosophy. It would make a perfect campaign slogan like a "chicken in every pot". Imagine telling people that you want to help them with the basics of life, create a "level playing field" for every kid. Sounds great.
But the radicals on the right will declare that philosophy "socialism". That welfare never worked, that it will encourage laziness, that only hard work matters...
And the irony of all this is that the radical righties will call themselves "Christian" and demonize those who want to help "others".
Yes, what I believe doesn’t seem achievable in the present political atmosphere, but I still hope that if enough people get fed up with the lies and hypocrisy & vote in more progressives, that change can start to happen. Hopefully it won’t be too late.
It isn't too late, and, if one ignores the polls and talks to one's neighbors, there might be pleasant surprises found. If not, at least a conversation can be started that we could all learn from. Cathy Learoyd wrote an excellent piece to follow up Robert Hubble's Newsletter today, it's worth the time to read.
OK, so let’s be honest and say that we want the rich to have to run uphill. We want to tilt the playing field in favor of the poor, working and middle classes.
The poor have been running uphill for a long time, what people are saying is let everyone run on level ground. As a CPA with over 30 years experience I have seen how the tax law favors the rich over the working class and the poor. Since 1982 the laws have consistently changed to favor the wealthy investor class.
I'm not sure anyone should have to run uphill for the basic necessities of life. And I can't. help noticing that, even in your comment, "the poor, working and middle classes" make up more of our world than "the rich." Aside from my occasional fits of hostility toward the rich during which I want to whack them with a ruler, I don't really care whether they have to run uphill. But where did we come by this obviously flawed logic that if you get even a bite my whole pie is ruined.
“The rich running uphill”. That is absurd. They have been running downhill since birth. The comment does not account for privileges some are born with. Equality of security, education, opportunity, and meritocracy. These build a strong, capable, competitive society.
On June 3, 2001, the NY Times Magazine published an advertisement for U.S. Trust with a picture of an anxiety-ridden woman and the headline (in caps), "MONEY IS NOT THE END OF WORRY. IT IS THE BEGINNING." Then a page of text of which I thought the key passage was: "The burden of wealth is something few understand unless it actually rests on their shoulders. How can you explain to other people the fear that your children might never need to work?" This was followed by another page of Q&A in connection with an ad for the Citigroup Private Bank Family Advisory Practice "devoted to helping clients think through the human implications of their wealth." The first question was "Is being born into wealth a burden?" Of course I wrote a letter to the editor thanking them for what I thought must surely be a parody of an ad. Needless to say, it wasn't published. On the other hand, I never saw that or a similar ad again, though I doubt my letter was at fault. (I still have those pages from the magazine.)
We're making a list here of all the reasons we have been come both the despair and the laughing-stock of the rest of the developed world. The brutal capitalism; the perception of basic rights as privileges that have to be earned; the economic divide; the long, showy, and ridiculously expensive campaigns for public office--every bit of it that we wave in the faces of the nations we march out to "save for democracy"--is what makes us, in the eyes of far too many people, morons. It really is sometimes so horrifying and crazy that it's difficult to believe.
Me too, Bill. As a resident of Bernie's state, it is a matter of pride to call oneself a Democratic Socialist. When critics use the "S" word, I emphasize the "D" word.
No,no,no! My wealthy clients consistently pay a lower tax rate then my w2 employed clients. Level the playing field is what we are asking for. The ROTH IRA is just one example of how the wealthy can end up paying no tax now or in the future. Middle income folks can’t afford to fund a ROTH and will end up paying tax on their social security in retirement while wealthy investors can take their ROTH distributions tax free and not pay any tax on their social security
My thoughts exactly....any time we try to help others with government programs, it is socialism which the Rs have succeeded in making a very dirty word, often equated with communism. They call themselves not only Christian, but also pro-family and pro-life, and patriotic. They are nauseating hypocrites. The sad thing is lots of poorer folk buy this nonsense despite the actual policies advocated and often passed by the elite work against them economically. Fear and hatred are powerful tools.
the wealthy benefit from government programs, welfare for the rich. and if you have, or generate, enough money, you can do everything with other people's money. sports stadiums are a good example. a team threatens to leave a city unless the city builds a new stadium. the new stadium is built with taxpayers' money. the seats are so expensive, most people can't afford to attend a game. many people are poor because of the coast of housing. when i was growing up, food and clothing were expensive, and housing was cheap. now it is just the opposite. there are few decent, inexpensive places to live. this and the outsourcing of manufacturing are the biggest changes in the economy in my lifetime. and the fact that we did not respond to foreign competition, most notably japanese cars. once upon a time if you made a big effort you might become rich. now you make a big effort to become middle class. and sadly, homogeneous societies are the most generous. people see themselves in everyone else. heterogeneous societies are less generous, and a lot of time and energy are spent on debating who deserves what.
Totally agree. The sports stadium ploy fries me. And yes, tickets are expensive and of course, the very rich have boxes. Just read an article about the track games at the new Haywood Field in Eugene which was mostly privately funded although the article seemed to say the state contributed. We have Uncle Phil of course who is also busy contributing to Rs and Betsy Johnson. The article indicated that hotels have jacked up their per night per room costs to a point that it is price gouging. The economic impact beyond the games is debatable according to the article. As for the cost of housing....I am amazed what houses go for. In our city a modest house is something in the four hundred plus range. I live in a neighborhood where many students qualify for reduced or free lunches. I don't know how people do it. Obviously many don't given the tents all around.
Fear and hatred - the two basic tools utilized by the Republican Party. I am so often reminded of that powerful speech *finally* made by the President, played by Michael Douglas, in "The American President."
I remember when cops were called Pigs and the police made an acronym: Pride Integrity Guts. That halted the negative use of the word. Hmmm,, "socialism" is a pretty long word, but I'll think about it.
Socialism is defined as taxpayer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole despite income, contribution, or ability. Another word for socialism is progressive. I sometimes try to explain to folks, we are talking about Social Progress. And then I list all the "socialist" programs this country already employs and which most of us depend on to work for us: Public Schools, Military/Defense, Highways/Roads, Public Libraries, Fire/Police/Sheriff/Trooper agencies, Student loans & Grants, Farm Subsidies, CIA/FBI/DHS/etc., Polio/COVID/vaccines, EPA, Museums, Public Parks, VA, GI Bill, Hoover Dam, Bridges, Free Lunch Program, SNAP/WIC, Unemployment Insurance, OSHA, USDA, National Weather Service, CDC, Sewer Systems, Jail/Prison System, Court System, 911 System, County Hospitals, Disability Insurance, Town/State Run Beaches, State Construction, State Snow Removal, Public Street Lighting, Medicare, Social Security (these last 2 have been on the Republican's *target* list for removal for years) - and more.
Rusty, "Socialism is an economic, social, and political system based on public rather than private ownership of a country’s means of production." Programs that provide a social safety net are not socialism. Nor are government regulations. This is a huge and important misunderstanding, made worse by republicans labeling anything they don't like socialism. I wish Democrats would stop helping them with their propaganda. The Heritage Foundation ranks countries on "Economic Freedom" and Sweden ranks higher than the U.S. Despite a generous social safety net, Sweden has a market economy and isn't socialist. Perhaps they are Democratic Socialists, but I think that label is too confusing too.
I am talking about the people who are hurt by the R policies and those people are not the wealthy. I am talking about my family in the midwest who are dirt poor and yet buy into all this including Q conspiracy theories. When my sister was here with my niece, my niece was concerned because I used brown eggs and served organic food to give you an idea of how brainwashed they are. She was also concerned when the co-pilot on the plane home was a woman. They love what food companies produce and have all sorts of health problems. I count the middle class as people who suffer because of R policies as well. When I say poorer, I mean anyone who is not wealthy. Why wouldn't the elite wealthy promote this; they are the ones who profit. They sit back, greedily taking more and more of the pie, while everyone who buys into this does their dirty work.
At least one lesson is, once again, the power of language. We believe the words, the promises, and don't connect those with the fact that nothing that was promised ever happens. And I think the source of that migjht be, as you suggest, fear and hatred.
Corporate Socialism is OK, but they don’t know the definition and neither do their followers.
“But the radicals on the right will declare that philosophy "socialism". That welfare never worked, that it will encourage laziness, that only hard work matters...” Robert Reich explains https://youtu.be/0PqtWwlgGls
There are governmental/social systems around the world to be learned from. None are perfect. But if we think we are so smart we ought to copy what works best and make adjustments to fit our countries unique aspects. Instead of being "American Exceptionalists" we could view the government through an entrepreneurial lens. Successful companies emulate other companies and refine the business model to compete effectively.
What countries do things really well? Education: Germany. Retirement: Australia. Healthcare and drug programs: UK (and to some degree Cuba!). Infrastructure - China. The list is long. The Nordic countries seem happiest and don't complain about higher taxes much. Why? Because the basics of life are covered. And...there is a thriving form of capitalism in those countries. Socialism and capitalism and democracy can be blended in an intelligent way.
All it takes to do such a thing is to cast aside the pejorative attitudes about labels and look at what works best. Oh, and we would need to believe that all humans are equal - including the "others".
Rob. you are so right. The strain of anti-intellectualism in American culture has always been a bone-deep weakness. It's a kind of belligerent, willful stupidity that is a source of pride.
My nephew is married to a woman from Norway whose mother is quite wealthy. She does not mind paying the higher taxes because of what they provide and people can afford to shop at the market she owns. She is often confounded by what happens here.
"because of what they provide..." - and therein lies the difference because, here in the USA it seems the wealthy are more concerned with how much they can keep for themselves than what can be provided to those who share this earth.
Wise advice. We have so many wise people in Heather's community here. Why not start our creative "government replacement" theory now? So many ideas have been produced here for several years and in other places. Why not put them together and tweak them create a better blueprint for ourselves in this century whilst all the chinks in our systems and country are being put on grand display and very clear? We have great minds and people with vast experiences, wisdom, readers of great books, diplomacy skills, those very knowledgeable in history and international government systems. Is it time for us to take the reins and try something new before autocracy and martial law takes full hold? Seems like the direction the Party of Sedition and Fascism are hunkering towards.
I, and We, need to transform all our despair at all this shock and awe and replace the old white, narcissistic, market driven patriarchy to being All The People and and Planet Driven Sustainable Systems of Balance. I trust us to do this. I don't know why, but I do feel hope. Let's change that fricking poem by Brian Wilson that Rose posted. If we can, we should try. We have the power and the great minds.
When the public hearings begin in two weeks, we need to take more notes and ready ourselves for all the changes that will be needed as the vast corruption is revealed, and, as Jamie Raskin says, will "...blow the roof off the house!" The J6 Committee are not going to allow a Bill f-ing Barr moment to diffuse and deny Truth of this investigation, this time. Their language of lies needs to be revealed daily.
As Heather points out:
"Republicans cracked down on Democrats trying to preserve the active government that had been in place since the 1930s. Aided by talk radio hosts, they increasingly demonized their domestic political opponents. In the 1990 midterm elections, a political action committee associated with House Republican whip Newt Gingrich gave to Republican candidates a document called “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It urged candidates to label Democrats with words like “decay,” “failure,” “crisis,” “pathetic,” “liberal,” “radical,” “corrupt,” and “taxes,” while defining Republicans with words like “opportunity,” “moral,” “courage,” “flag,” “children,” “common sense,” “hard work,” and “freedom.” Gingrich later told the New York Times his goal was “reshaping the entire nation through the news media.”
We are done, and we need to be ready to roll. What say you?
Of course this speaks to me, yet I musty ask: “HOW?” I feel there is so much pent up frustration among us with no constructive, actionable outlet. I write, donate, engage, show up, call, march, rinse, repeat. And I still find myself driving home listening to the news of the latest mass murder, or leaked SCOTUS draft opinions, and I cannot help but scream and pound the steering wheel because my efforts seem so ineffective. I’ve read George Lakoff and Frank Luntz, so I’m aware of the wordsmith game. Gingrich’s ideas are the seed of Bannon’s “Flood the Zone with Shit” strategy. Social media has taken their efforts and thoroughly infected the body politic. It’s like We are trying to cure Ebola with wet wipes. We need demonstrably workable ideas to counter this excrement-amplification. I see it when I observe Coach Kerr speaking out from a position of influence. I see it when Mi State Rep Mallory McMarrow stood up to a gop colleague who smeared her. I see it when Beto crashed Abbott’s “Hearts and Prayers” news conference about the predictability of the latest mass murder of children. We need each and every one of our progressive’s in leadership to unapologetically state the obvious. And we need to amplify that.
The strength of us is our hope. Hope is the eternal principal that makes all people on earth equal. The worlds poor best illustrates hope as they arise each day to work through the monumental task of surviving until tomorrow. Until we avail ourselves of the quality of leadership that recognizes that greatness of the poorest among us we will fail at every level. People make our world function. From the poor we get the strongest people on earth. They arise to defend us and carry us on their backs. All of us. There are no success stories in any business or any endeavor that is not founded and carried to fruition on the backs of the least entitled people in this or any other nation on earth. The only potential we have going forward is to recognize their collective value and to help remove the substantial roadblocks of fear and ignorance that impedes the hope they generate for us all.
Also a must-read: Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, which describes in grim detail how the Chicago School of Economics, led by Milton Friedman, converted a sizeable portion of the world to American-style capitalism at the expense of American-style democracy.
Laura Logan, Maria Bartiromo and Naomi Wolfe have gone completely off the rails. I changed Naomi Klein to Naomi Wolfe as she is the person I was thinking of.
@JR: I just did a little googling on Naomi Klein’s views on Covid lockdown and vaccines. I don’t see anything where she expresses anti-science views about vaccines, or “wacko claims”. I do see her questioning big tech’s push to permanently make more and more human interactions be mediated through tech instead of human contact. I do see her questioning the ways that capitalism could warp the responses to Covid in ways that benefitted the rich. Please provide specific links to her writings or interviews to back up your allegations that she is an “unhinged conpiracy theorist…promoting…wacko claims” as you put it. I don’t see it.
For a look at a world in which human interactions are mediated through tech, see Isaac Asimov's The Naked Sun. It's not directly analogous, since it's set on a sparsely-populated planet, but it's thought-provoking nonetheless.
Having grown up in the community where Friedman made these trickle down claims, I was so glad to study economics under someone who did not subscribe to Friedman's theories when I was in college. This is because my parents were convinced that Friedman's followers were sent to help third world dictators run their countries into the ground after the CIA helped put them in power and they shared that with me. Reagan was a follower of Friedman and are now really reaping the effects of those policies in that we have two generations that do not know anything but to think that the government is bad and should not help the people out. One of Biden's difficulties with Build Back Better is that it is too abstract to anyone who is under 50 or 60 because they have no memory of government actually being there to support people. It has been characterized as a bad thing for so long and so many have bought into it. American individualism has turned into me-me-me selfishness sanctioned by Mr. Ronald Reagan himself. He made it okay to be self centered. You could be greedy and selfish and then run with it. It has not made our country a better place to live however, regardless of what was promised. Even the wealthy are not doing that well. They are not the happy people that the Norwegians are. Lots of money has to go for therapy, and protection, and drugs for stress relief. Our life expectancy is not what it should be for the wealth that we have. https://www.worlddata.info/life-expectancy.php
So, let us hope we can turn things around, but unfortunately we do not seem to have the good messaging from the Democratic party that the Republicans have been able to use. That is what we need. A simple message which is a mantra. Government is supposed to help and protect the people. The people here don't believe that. It is a problem. This is why my daughter will go to University abroad in another year when she finishes high school. That will make it easier for her to choose to live abroad or here. She has a few classmates who are doing that as well. It is good to have a plan B. I have dual citizenship, but I look at the requirements of getting citizenship in other countries all the time just to be aware for discussions sake. If you are concerned with where things are going here it is good to know there are other options. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/easiest-countries-to-get-citizenship
Getting citizenship in another country is nearly impossible for anyone who is disabled or without skills desirable by whatever market forces are at work in that country. For some LGBTQ folk, especially trans folk, it can be very difficult. Diagnosed with what is called mental illness? Near or past retirement age? All of the above?
I have no illusions about an escape plan. I'll be here till I die.
Leaving the most vulnerable bodies to be devoured in the capital of capital is not going to reduce suffering in the long run.
I have been researching this for friends who are looking at where they might move and retire because they are afraid to stay here. I was looking at Portugal for a friend who is gay, and we were looking at the good communities there since he did an exchange in Brazil in high school. Portugal is supposed to be the easiest country in Europe for an American to get citizenship. I think you need to have about 200-300,000 EUR to invest to live there, and then you can get citizenship and go anywhere in the EU to live that has a better standard. In fact, the friends I am trying to help don't have that much money, and have health issues, and want advice for not being rich and where is it reasonable. You have to be willing to learn another language or go to Ireland. Here is a chart on the trans rights right now. Malta seems to be the best place and things might be getting better in other countries whereas here it is getting worse in many places. Do not give up. https://tgeu.org/trans-rights-map-2022/
I am not giving up and I am not going anywhere. I know other languages but am 60 years old and have no means to raise 200,000. There are many here who are in worse straits than I am. Leaving is an individualistic solution to a collective problem.
Cathy, I’m not aware there’s a better way than capitalism to organize human labor for productivity. The problem, one btw we are well aware of, is that capitalism is not very good at distribution. Hence, it needs to be regulated and contained so to level its effects. In my view, the reason capitalism has worked relatively well in the European democracies, as compared with the States, is that it’s been wedded to social democratic institutions that contain its excesses and moderate its self-serving impulses. I expect if Dems retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats, the reforms set in place will go a long way to keeping capitalism honest and making it work for most, if not all, of us.
I love traveling in Europe. Cities and countryside, I feel safe at night and solo. Parks and gathering spaces, walking areas like sidewalks and malls. Thousands of people from all over the world walk the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage and even speaking different languages, we manage to share, laugh and cry together. And all religions or none, walk together. Nothing is perfect, and European countries have big challenges with immigration and refugees changing their economies and cultures, but quality of life is more important than just words. It’s working to create what we say we have: equality.
Same here, altho I have tourist pix of me standing on that bridge by Parliament in London and La Rambla in Barcelona, both of which had ppl run over by terrorists in trucks. But, those incidents are minuscule compared to our almost daily murders & mayhem.
Yes, definitely not perfect and I think they would agree. But they at least try. The shock Black G.I.s felt returning after WW2 to the old American racism is a story in itself. We’re so busy in USA fighting each other that we don’t have time or resources to build up, just tear down. This country is called the “Great Experiment “ for a reason. Where are we now. Searching for examples I found this CNN article online. And as a bonus, its author is the awesome and brilliant Heather Cox Richardson. “Historian: Americans are right to wonder if the Great Experiment has failed. 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/opinions/americans-are-right-to-wonder-if-great-experiment-has-failed-richardson/index.html
Yes, but that's such a big "if"... the Democrats haven't had the focus and the strategy that the openly fascist conservatives have had for so long now.
Time for All people, not just dems to FOCUS down hard. With all the stuff raining down upon us, it is really hard to focus for very long. America's attention has been on major attack by these propagandists. We have to work harder to focus because the The Party of Sedition/Fascism are masters of...drama, distraction and fear based propaganda. Warriors, we all need to get more sleep and take good care of our bodies and minds for this war we are being asked to manage. Look at it in a new way, not fighting against, replacing. When they sling BS just move a little and let it pass you by, as taught in "yielding" in marital arts. Do not resist in the old ways. Allow the energy of their strikes to move them off balance and and throw them to the ground using your intelligence, wit, justice. And, as we are watching they are attacking themselves now and we will be witnessing more and more of republican ouroboros carnage. They will eat one another up for power. Use your own power wisely and at significant moments.
My 91 year-old, activist neighbor told me last night that she is more worried about attending anymore protests because of these mass shootings. She does not feel safe enough to go to another one. I know that fear, I have been feeling that anxiety as well. They win then. They win by making us fearful. We need huge numbers to counteract this power over us. We need to remember Ukraine, because we are in Putin's sights and his terrorists are on our soil, in our government, born and raised here. It may be ugly, but we can do this.
Your comment about everyone needing to focus is spot on. Yet I keep having flashbacks of watching “The Matrix” and the giant wall of plugged in humans. It hits too close to home when I watch others pay more attention to the Johnny Depp trial than the Jan 6th commission.
Jeff, Though I agree, I also would submit that Democratic leadership has an opportunity to appeal, nationwide, to the Base, to Independents, and to moderate Republicans with a message that relates both Democratic accomplishments plus the massive legislation that passed in the House with virtually no Republican support that remains stalled in the Senate due mostly to Republican obstruction. This is one of those “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did” moments.
@Citizen60, Though I like your style, I don’t bank on the metaphysical. Hence, I refer you to a messaging strategy I presented to Jeff Carpenter (who is part of this thread), to which I will add an action plan that calls on Senate Democrats to pass whichever Budget Reconciliation provisions (BBB) can gain support from 50 Senators and to present the legislation to voters as a down payment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. The legislation already has passed in the House. We’re simply waiting on the Senate.
What was Schumer’s reason for not holding a vote? Republicans already made it known there weren’t 10 votes among themselves to break the 60 vote threshold to bring the bill to the floor for a debate. It’s not hard to guess why—take your pick: a lack of reasons to oppose the bill, or losing NRA support.
@Citizen60, Budget Reconciliation requires only 50 Senate votes. Because neither Manchin nor Sinema would sign onto the full package, I am proposing that Dems seek to pass whichever provisions can gain the support of all 50 Senators as a down payment, so to speak, of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
It begins with life and death, literally, LIFE v. DEATH. This shortest of Letters raises the question that, perhaps, always hangs over the country and is now flashing,
Democracy or not in America?
Life and Death was represented by the fact that 90%of Americans want their children to be protected against gun violence, while our government and been unable (read Democrats) and unwilling (read Republicans) to protect our children against gun violence.
We have been losing this life and death battle with our government:
‘The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday has put the spotlight back on recent data showing that firearm injuries are the No. 1 cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States. And it comes just a month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing guns were the No. 1 killer of children and adolescents in 2020. The agency found that 4,368 Americans under the age of 19 died from gun violence in 2020, a 29.5% jump from 2019.’
‘That's equivalent to 5.4 out of every 100,000 kids and teens in the U.S. dying from a firearm injury and a 63% jump from the 3.3 per 100,000 recorded one decade ago.’ (ABC) See link to article below.
‘This is a central problem not just for the issue of gun control, but for our democracy itself.’
‘During the cold war, leaders came to treat democracy and capitalism as if they were interchangeable. So long as the United States embraced capitalism, by which they meant an economic system in which individuals, rather than the state, owned the means of production, liberal democracy would automatically follow.’
‘In the 1990s, America’s leaders believed that the spread of capitalism would turn the world democratic as it delivered to them global dominance, but they talked a lot less about democracy than they did about so-called free markets.’
‘In fact, the apparent success of capitalism actually undercut democracy in the U.S.’ (Letter)
With the battle between the Soviet Union and USA, seeming won by the USA, the conservatives turned their attention to defeating the left at home. They were
‘determined to destroy the popular liberal state that had regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and invested in infrastructure since the New Deal.
‘In 2010 the Supreme Court green-lit the flood of corporate money into our political system with the Citizens’ United decision; in 2013 it gutted the provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring the Department of Justice to sign off on changes to election laws in some states, prompting a slew of discriminatory voter ID laws.’ (Letter)
The Letter ends indicating that the country’s focus on ‘free markets’ has stacked our political system in favor of the Republicans. In addition to Citizens’ United, my mind flashed on WEALTH GAP. So, it is to be ‘We the Public” v. the Ultra Rich (The Billionaires) the Dark Money and their companies?
This battle of ours shall not be settled by the current Supreme Court.
We can stop it if we work hard enough. If we refuse to give in to counsels of despair, but get out to change things. In the end, truth prevails, because it is, you know, true, and all governments depend, ultimately, on the consent of the governed.
Yes, but we cannot stop it by changing hearts and minds. We have the majority, just barely, but have to overcome voter suppression. Getting out the vote is the key. Stacy Abrams proved that.
There, you said it. Democrats are UNABLE to pass common sense gun laws; Republicans are UNWILLING. I’m sure all parents are devastated when these horrific massacres occur, but when do they acknowledge that they can vote those unwilling out and replace them with those able to do what is absolutely necessary? “Unwilling” is the word that needs to be spread right now in the Red communities. There lies the control.
You read the comment exactly as is was written. The Democrats are UNABLE (let's call out Manchin & Sinema as the outstanding 'democrats' who go, along with the Republicans) and the Republicans UNWILLING to address gun control, including the use of 'weapons of war'.
Yes, It’s Manchin and Sinema (Democrats) and all the Republicans — but — where can you list the effects of dark money (i.e. The Koch organism) since, they (and others like them) are basically buying the votes that protect the GUN NUTS rights.
Minor problems these day though, Cathy. On the positive side, their emphasis on the people, as adults, taking responsibility for their own lives and the lives of their children facing Covid.....recommendations and well-funded health services but not punitive restrictions and business closures. The result being that they are only suffering the economic impact of external shocks now rather than internal meltdown. The sanitary results are as good as any but the economy is in better shape. The people are very "reasonable" and the community still trumps the individual as a cultural imperative.
On the negative side, particularly in Sweden and Denmark, the cultural solidarity....one might say almost conformism....is threatened by their own generosity as they have taken in the highest per capita ratio of middle-eastern refugee/immigrants of any country in Europe. The physical concentration of this incoming population in particular quarters of the big cities has brought a significant increase in street violence and other crime thgroughout the cities as violent gangs seem to have replaced normal civil controls. The Danes have reacted to put a stop to the inflows and to severely control the existing problem after a significant electoral shift to the right. In Sweden, the electoral shift has also occurred but it isn't yet sufficient to enforce a radical solution to this ongoing, societal and cultural problem.
Yes, it is tragic that the illegal wars, sponsored by the USA based on lies, created millions of (poor) Muslim refugees and Europe had the kind heartedness to take them in (while we did not).
Now? That kindness has created a significant underclass of poverty that previously did not stretch so low in economic strife in Europe for the most part. That poverty situation, plus the cultural differences and religious differences, breed crime and violence.
Not only has the USA managed to bobble its own future with a bunch of crooks running things in both government and business, we also managed to bobble it for all of Europe with not needed wars in the middle east (providing profit to the kleptocrats in the USA) that resulted in a disastrous diaspora.
All in all, quite the disaster we, the USA, have brought to the world these last 20 years.
Now, I guess we will keep the kleptocrats in the Military Contractor "businesses" happy selling weapons to Ukraine. Every week we have another giant "emergency authorization" of money to buy weapons and send them to Ukraine.
Really, if you look at the last 20 years, the only thing we have done as a country is fund war.
Is that the only thing we can do now? We cannot even make baby formula here anymore.
All so true. We have never looked at our actions overseas with a wide lens or even a minor attempt at considering the human cost. We were like Putin in Iraq. We'll be in and out. Their oil will pay for the war. Ha! But we created ISIS. Ooops. The list is long.
Vietnam? We napalmed the country and now it is a manufacturing hub for our businesses. What did we accomplish other than crimes against humanity and delaying a trade relationship?
But to lend support to your point about creating poverty centers, let's look at the elephant on the planet that will make the migration caused by wars look like child's play. Global warming is making huge parts of the Earth uninhabitable. Too hot and too dry to simply grow food. The pile up of people at our southern border is certainly caused by corruption and violence back home - but it is increasingly driven by hunger.
The Earth can't handle our overpopulation as its capacity to support life is radically reduced by our consumption of fossil fuels. Our luxury will be directly responsible for the ensuing chaos. And we will blame the "others"...for trying to survive the world we fucked up.
yes. have friends with lifelong effects from Agent Orange, too, and now vets suffering from toxic waste exposure from ongoing wars in Middle East. When will more vets recognize THEY are “cannon fodder” as well?
Right on, Mike. We can see immigration through a small lens, as badly behaving immigrants or the larger lens of desperate human beings fleeing war, crime and climate disasters. I hope that nations in the northern hemisphere can get to work on the causes and corrections needed, because it is only going to get worse. That's not to say that there aren't reasons for individual nations to react, but if all nations address the causes for mass emigrations, the burden will be shared and just possibly cures will begin.
P.S. Credit needs to be given to the Biden/Harris administration for its wisdom in addressing causes for the masses of people fleeing Central America. For example, Honduras has just elected a new president, a woman who represents labor and opposition to the drug capitalists. Because of his complicity in international drug trafficking, etc, we have brought the former corrupt president here for trial, with the cooperation of Honduras. Work is being done on reparations of climate damage to agriculture and small farms.
So much truth. W/Dickie were the best examples, and the results have been a tinder box for the world, chump tried his best to light the fuse. I know plenty of others guilty but these were the masters. I remember Abu Ghraib, as do many Muslims, I think. Always thought that the fiasco was the seed of Isis. Much of the world’s current problems were “made in America,” mostly by republicans, but Rupert will never tell…
Yes, and this last winter? We let Afghani's starve and nobody noticed. We have blocked the Taliban from accessing foreign aid that might lead to food delivery.
I have no idea how many children starved in Afghanistan this last winter.
But, I know many did.
BUT? Now we have white people to send weapons to so off to the races we go.
It's a difficult call, Mike. US Money is being given to international aid groups for distribution to Afghani people. But the Taliban are really bad actors and routinely go back on their word and actions. Ultimately, it is they who are the cause of food and supplies not getting to the people. Remember, they could care less about women and children.
Indeed! In Latin America, for example, especially since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 (which self-ascribed us the right to protect the Western Hemisphere from European invasions), the US has intervened numerous times by funding wars, secessions and annexations that benefited our own capitalist agenda. For a compendium, see: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/before-venezuela-the-long-history-of-u-s-intervention-in-latin-america/
OK in OZ - in the 50's we had a series of Gov't programs welcoming migrants from Europe - there were programs on the ABC "for New Australians" - how to learn English (facile by today's standards - but at least they were trying to integrate them). I gather that in the Scandinavian (and German - and perhaps French) areas - there was really no effort to help them integrate - they were ghetto-ized. So we see some really (to us) bizarre manifestations of culture coupled with frustration. I was sent a particularly chilling video of a young girl (wearing what was considered inappropriate clothing - shorts), riding a bike in a very conservative Islamic community in France. She was set upon and set on fire (and I gather died) as the (Islamic) bystanders stood by. Horrific. It takes work (serious work) to shift the cultural biases - and it doesn't seem that Governments are dealing with that.
The inter religious/racial strife in France is a relatively recent problem concerning mainly the younger generation. Previous generations were willing and helped to integrate. The large and uncontrolled flows have generated a "volume" problem as numbers increase and power in these communities changes hands. The willingness to integrate has been replaced by a desire to change French culture and societal norms and is meeting an inevitable right wing political reaction. What was ghettoization of cheap foreign workers 50 years ago has become territorial secession and potentially civil war as liberal governments hesitate to impose themselves fearing a left wing attack of "racism".
"Racism" - so we dodge and duck.... as someone said - life isn't fair. But we seem to be unaware that that is reality - where I am, a tree could fall on me tomorrow. Fair??? Nature doesn't care.
Good morning, Cathy. I see a big difference between the Scandinavian countries and the United States in dealing with this huge systemic problem. They wanted to change it. We do not.
Capitalism is a powerful tool, but, only a tool. It’s up to us how we use it and what we hope to achieve. We don’t ask our car where it wants to take us.
Perfect. We need to use our tools wisely. Healthy free enterprise with guard rails make us a vibrant country. We need more guard rails.
And maybe if we regulated guns the way we regulate cars, we could become a first world country. Millions of lives have been saved by safety equipment for vehicles and traffic laws. And yet we think of guns as if they were an electric toothbrush or a lawnmower.
I find it chilling what HCR states in the Letter today about Newt Gingrich and his insidious PAC…
“In the 1990 midterm elections, a political action committee associated with House Republican whip Newt Gingrich gave to Republican candidates a document called “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It urged candidates to label Democrats with words like “decay,” “failure,” “crisis,” “pathetic,” “liberal,” “radical,” “corrupt,” and “taxes,” while defining Republicans with words like “opportunity,” “moral,” “courage,” “flag,” “children,” “common sense,” “hard work,” and “freedom.” Gingrich later told the New York Times his goal was ‘reshaping the entire nation through the news media.’”
I continue to stand against becoming anything that is merely shaped through news and burgeoning social media. I continue to be shaped by participation in my community, we the people, and Democracy. I will take a page from Newt and call out Republicans against gun control as decayed, pathetic, corrupt, and failed.
I suggest a read that one of our commentators, Maggie Enright, posts later from the Atlantic. I can barely speak of capitalism or plutocracy today. My mind is still racing and grieving about the massacre of children and teachers at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The “speak” already about the shooter is flawed. Social isolation and rejection in a young person’s life has been shown to become possibly deadly because of a single variable. A gun. And the widespread political encouragement to easily possess and carry one… for freedom, for protection, blah blah blah.
And why so many massacres at schools? Destroy public trust in a common good….public education. Republican agenda will not be satisfied until the education of our children to become minions has been privatized. And yes, I loathe Gov DeSantis for agreeing to school and children as a target.
Perhaps because I'm pretty old now, my activism is reduced to slogans on posters. I'm not sure why, but lately I awake with thoughts of what to write if I were protesting once again. I hope there is a huge groundswell of people and posters at the NRA meeting this weekend, Cathy. I feel so strongly about Texas because I have family there, not because I think there isn't sanity and kindness among many people in Texas. But what a blemish on the state to have so many mass shootings.
Hi, Hope and Cathy. Hope, I think I'm more than "pretty" old and also finding that my days of taking to the streets to protest are behind me. I do what I can from my almost comfortable chair with the supportive back cushion, but I also am finding that, with the inevitable stock-taking and the change of perspective that age ushers in, my thinking about protest is shifting. Today, my main arena for doing my part is the weekends I spend with my 7 year old grandson. He is growing up in an alien world and I am his only real highway back to at least a glimpse of something different. I hope I can end my days, and instill in him, Fred Rogers wise formula for a successful life. 1. Be kind, 2. Be kind, 2. Be kind. Thank you both for pushing me to give this whole business of "too old to protest" some thought.
Hi Cathy. Allow me to express some perhaps gratuitous sounding yet sincere praise: I do so enjoy your commentary - succinct and always relevant. Qualities I admire and strive for. I fall short at times though. Looking below I did make some commentary that I wish I'd given more thought to before I pressed <enter>, but even in the midst of great personal sadness, I almost never fail to look in on our good Dr.'s lessons - most times I have to restrain myself, but occasionally I'm compelled to offer thoughts that might enhance or add to discussion; those are my goals. On topic, for decades I've told anyone who'd listen that 'words matter'. In the words of the great teacher "Sesame Street", " these two things do not go together." (lol) What I've repeated ad nauseum is that "Democracy is how we've agreed and pledged to govern ourselves and structure our communities according to reasonable rules of law; Capitalism 'is not' how we govern. It's an economic 'model' that we seem to 'very loosely' aim for emulating, as it's attraction is that it's 'potentially' capable of operating automatically. Of course most here know that 'it' does in fact have absolute need of a leash and lately, a muzzle as well. That fact is not unlike laws we agree to among ourselves; re., like when 'my' liberties collide with say, yours or those of others. *Then of course there are laws imposed, as in by a devious, underhanded, controlling minority. Our constitutional 'nods' and standing to and for minorities never carried any intent for "the tail to wag the whole dog." For what it's worth, that's my two cents.
They also have problems, but Democratic Socialism is what they share. Bernie Sanders muffed it when he both used the term socialism and allowed the repubs to do the same, scaring many Americans into believing we would become Venezuela.
No doubt about it. Language is powerful and dangerous, especially in the mouths of people who have no idea what they're talking about. Americans are arrogant enough to believe that anything not home-grown capitalism and the facade we call democracy is, on its face, inferior and not worth the effort to actually study. I don't know about old Bernie. He's been around and calling himself a Socialist for decades, seems to be serious about it, but I agree he was very foolish to let the Republicans get hold of it. The other part of the problem, I think, is that coupled with our arrogance is the strain of anti-intellectualism that is bone-deep. On my bad days I just think we're all morons.
Capitalism certainly does not promote democracy. In fact, what it has created with the help of the legalized bribery of Citizens United is an oligarchic kleptocracy, the rich are stealing from everyone else and creating extreme income disparity hollowing out the middle class. I'm reading "Viking Economics" by George Lakey on how the Scandinavian counties dealt with this and now have strong economies with strong democracy and well-being. Believe the lessons could be applied to the United States but with some big hurdles like racial justice to overcome.
Someone had previously mentioned this book, so I ordered it, & it arrived yesterday. I’m looking forward to reading it. I am a firm believer that everyone deserves basic needs & that it benefits me as well as them when everyone’s basic needs are met. (A roof over one's head, food on the table, healthcare, a good education, etc.)
What a reasonable, humanistic, fair minded philosophy. It would make a perfect campaign slogan like a "chicken in every pot". Imagine telling people that you want to help them with the basics of life, create a "level playing field" for every kid. Sounds great.
But the radicals on the right will declare that philosophy "socialism". That welfare never worked, that it will encourage laziness, that only hard work matters...
And the irony of all this is that the radical righties will call themselves "Christian" and demonize those who want to help "others".
I almost wrote “a chicken in every pot”…. 😸
Yes, what I believe doesn’t seem achievable in the present political atmosphere, but I still hope that if enough people get fed up with the lies and hypocrisy & vote in more progressives, that change can start to happen. Hopefully it won’t be too late.
It isn't too late, and, if one ignores the polls and talks to one's neighbors, there might be pleasant surprises found. If not, at least a conversation can be started that we could all learn from. Cathy Learoyd wrote an excellent piece to follow up Robert Hubble's Newsletter today, it's worth the time to read.
Maybe the saying to get attention should be "a yacht in every back yard". No doubt there are many that have no idea what a yacht is today!
I'm gonna need a bigger yard.
I'm going to need a yard..
LOL!
Language is key in changing hearts and minds. “Level playing field” equals “socialism.” Isn’t that rich?
I like Bernie saying "If you have a social security card you are a card-carrying socialist"
OK, so let’s be honest and say that we want the rich to have to run uphill. We want to tilt the playing field in favor of the poor, working and middle classes.
The poor have been running uphill for a long time, what people are saying is let everyone run on level ground. As a CPA with over 30 years experience I have seen how the tax law favors the rich over the working class and the poor. Since 1982 the laws have consistently changed to favor the wealthy investor class.
I'm not sure anyone should have to run uphill for the basic necessities of life. And I can't. help noticing that, even in your comment, "the poor, working and middle classes" make up more of our world than "the rich." Aside from my occasional fits of hostility toward the rich during which I want to whack them with a ruler, I don't really care whether they have to run uphill. But where did we come by this obviously flawed logic that if you get even a bite my whole pie is ruined.
100%! Well stated Dean
Bravo, Dean. I have a steel-edge ruler I'd like to use.
Yes!
amen
When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality seems like oppression.
As we used to say, Tough noogies.
And therein lies the problems.
“The rich running uphill”. That is absurd. They have been running downhill since birth. The comment does not account for privileges some are born with. Equality of security, education, opportunity, and meritocracy. These build a strong, capable, competitive society.
On June 3, 2001, the NY Times Magazine published an advertisement for U.S. Trust with a picture of an anxiety-ridden woman and the headline (in caps), "MONEY IS NOT THE END OF WORRY. IT IS THE BEGINNING." Then a page of text of which I thought the key passage was: "The burden of wealth is something few understand unless it actually rests on their shoulders. How can you explain to other people the fear that your children might never need to work?" This was followed by another page of Q&A in connection with an ad for the Citigroup Private Bank Family Advisory Practice "devoted to helping clients think through the human implications of their wealth." The first question was "Is being born into wealth a burden?" Of course I wrote a letter to the editor thanking them for what I thought must surely be a parody of an ad. Needless to say, it wasn't published. On the other hand, I never saw that or a similar ad again, though I doubt my letter was at fault. (I still have those pages from the magazine.)
We're making a list here of all the reasons we have been come both the despair and the laughing-stock of the rest of the developed world. The brutal capitalism; the perception of basic rights as privileges that have to be earned; the economic divide; the long, showy, and ridiculously expensive campaigns for public office--every bit of it that we wave in the faces of the nations we march out to "save for democracy"--is what makes us, in the eyes of far too many people, morons. It really is sometimes so horrifying and crazy that it's difficult to believe.
I was describing an aspiration, not reality.
Why, Jon Margolis, you say it like it’s a bad thing.
I didn’t mean to.
Level it, not destroy it. Not a bulldozer. Finesse, take time to change. In fact we have taken way too much time.
Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Good exercise.
Yes, "rich". Then you can call this retired capitalist a socialist.
Me too, Bill. As a resident of Bernie's state, it is a matter of pride to call oneself a Democratic Socialist. When critics use the "S" word, I emphasize the "D" word.
You are 100% right and what I will never understand is why liberals and Democrats can't or won't figure that out.
No,no,no! My wealthy clients consistently pay a lower tax rate then my w2 employed clients. Level the playing field is what we are asking for. The ROTH IRA is just one example of how the wealthy can end up paying no tax now or in the future. Middle income folks can’t afford to fund a ROTH and will end up paying tax on their social security in retirement while wealthy investors can take their ROTH distributions tax free and not pay any tax on their social security
Thanks, Elizabeth, for the information. I can't think of any word to describe this except "obscene."
Read this somewhere and loosely put it together, “Language inspires thought, thought inspires action, action reveals character.”
My thoughts exactly....any time we try to help others with government programs, it is socialism which the Rs have succeeded in making a very dirty word, often equated with communism. They call themselves not only Christian, but also pro-family and pro-life, and patriotic. They are nauseating hypocrites. The sad thing is lots of poorer folk buy this nonsense despite the actual policies advocated and often passed by the elite work against them economically. Fear and hatred are powerful tools.
the wealthy benefit from government programs, welfare for the rich. and if you have, or generate, enough money, you can do everything with other people's money. sports stadiums are a good example. a team threatens to leave a city unless the city builds a new stadium. the new stadium is built with taxpayers' money. the seats are so expensive, most people can't afford to attend a game. many people are poor because of the coast of housing. when i was growing up, food and clothing were expensive, and housing was cheap. now it is just the opposite. there are few decent, inexpensive places to live. this and the outsourcing of manufacturing are the biggest changes in the economy in my lifetime. and the fact that we did not respond to foreign competition, most notably japanese cars. once upon a time if you made a big effort you might become rich. now you make a big effort to become middle class. and sadly, homogeneous societies are the most generous. people see themselves in everyone else. heterogeneous societies are less generous, and a lot of time and energy are spent on debating who deserves what.
Totally agree. The sports stadium ploy fries me. And yes, tickets are expensive and of course, the very rich have boxes. Just read an article about the track games at the new Haywood Field in Eugene which was mostly privately funded although the article seemed to say the state contributed. We have Uncle Phil of course who is also busy contributing to Rs and Betsy Johnson. The article indicated that hotels have jacked up their per night per room costs to a point that it is price gouging. The economic impact beyond the games is debatable according to the article. As for the cost of housing....I am amazed what houses go for. In our city a modest house is something in the four hundred plus range. I live in a neighborhood where many students qualify for reduced or free lunches. I don't know how people do it. Obviously many don't given the tents all around.
Fear and hatred - the two basic tools utilized by the Republican Party. I am so often reminded of that powerful speech *finally* made by the President, played by Michael Douglas, in "The American President."
I remember when cops were called Pigs and the police made an acronym: Pride Integrity Guts. That halted the negative use of the word. Hmmm,, "socialism" is a pretty long word, but I'll think about it.
Socialism is defined as taxpayer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole despite income, contribution, or ability. Another word for socialism is progressive. I sometimes try to explain to folks, we are talking about Social Progress. And then I list all the "socialist" programs this country already employs and which most of us depend on to work for us: Public Schools, Military/Defense, Highways/Roads, Public Libraries, Fire/Police/Sheriff/Trooper agencies, Student loans & Grants, Farm Subsidies, CIA/FBI/DHS/etc., Polio/COVID/vaccines, EPA, Museums, Public Parks, VA, GI Bill, Hoover Dam, Bridges, Free Lunch Program, SNAP/WIC, Unemployment Insurance, OSHA, USDA, National Weather Service, CDC, Sewer Systems, Jail/Prison System, Court System, 911 System, County Hospitals, Disability Insurance, Town/State Run Beaches, State Construction, State Snow Removal, Public Street Lighting, Medicare, Social Security (these last 2 have been on the Republican's *target* list for removal for years) - and more.
Rusty, "Socialism is an economic, social, and political system based on public rather than private ownership of a country’s means of production." Programs that provide a social safety net are not socialism. Nor are government regulations. This is a huge and important misunderstanding, made worse by republicans labeling anything they don't like socialism. I wish Democrats would stop helping them with their propaganda. The Heritage Foundation ranks countries on "Economic Freedom" and Sweden ranks higher than the U.S. Despite a generous social safety net, Sweden has a market economy and isn't socialist. Perhaps they are Democratic Socialists, but I think that label is too confusing too.
Who doesn't like to socialize?
If we say that the poor believe this or that, aren't we betraying a certain elitism? Plenty of middle-class and rich people believe that guff, too.
I am talking about the people who are hurt by the R policies and those people are not the wealthy. I am talking about my family in the midwest who are dirt poor and yet buy into all this including Q conspiracy theories. When my sister was here with my niece, my niece was concerned because I used brown eggs and served organic food to give you an idea of how brainwashed they are. She was also concerned when the co-pilot on the plane home was a woman. They love what food companies produce and have all sorts of health problems. I count the middle class as people who suffer because of R policies as well. When I say poorer, I mean anyone who is not wealthy. Why wouldn't the elite wealthy promote this; they are the ones who profit. They sit back, greedily taking more and more of the pie, while everyone who buys into this does their dirty work.
Yes, “vote against themselves.” Another reason for repugs to oppose truth and facts in education and in the lies they tell their followers.
At least one lesson is, once again, the power of language. We believe the words, the promises, and don't connect those with the fact that nothing that was promised ever happens. And I think the source of that migjht be, as you suggest, fear and hatred.
Hypocrites and dumb as a bag of rocks. It wouldn't take much time to look up "communism" and "socialism" on Wikipedia.
Corporate Socialism is OK, but they don’t know the definition and neither do their followers.
“But the radicals on the right will declare that philosophy "socialism". That welfare never worked, that it will encourage laziness, that only hard work matters...” Robert Reich explains https://youtu.be/0PqtWwlgGls
Remember, “A chicken in every pot” was Hoover’s slogan (In 1928, not 1932). And the rich were eating steak. And caviar.
Yes, Cathy!
There are governmental/social systems around the world to be learned from. None are perfect. But if we think we are so smart we ought to copy what works best and make adjustments to fit our countries unique aspects. Instead of being "American Exceptionalists" we could view the government through an entrepreneurial lens. Successful companies emulate other companies and refine the business model to compete effectively.
What countries do things really well? Education: Germany. Retirement: Australia. Healthcare and drug programs: UK (and to some degree Cuba!). Infrastructure - China. The list is long. The Nordic countries seem happiest and don't complain about higher taxes much. Why? Because the basics of life are covered. And...there is a thriving form of capitalism in those countries. Socialism and capitalism and democracy can be blended in an intelligent way.
All it takes to do such a thing is to cast aside the pejorative attitudes about labels and look at what works best. Oh, and we would need to believe that all humans are equal - including the "others".
Bill, your wise and sensible post regretfully reminded me of this poem, by Brian Bilson:
“America is a Gun”
England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand.
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring.
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh, better to be anything
than America as a gun.
I just ordered a t-shirt with MAD AS BETO on it. May wear it every day
Love it, Jeri! Great idea!
I might design one that says “I AM OUT OF LINE WITH BETO” 😉
❤️
Saw this posted often on Facebook yesterday and people were busy reposting it as it is perfect for what happens here.
Everyone should post it all over fox comments. Marinate them in it.
Yes, thank you, and saw it too. Good to pass on and pass on again. We are FINALLY being compared, even in corporate media, mildly, to other countries!
Wow!
Tragically true. (It's Brian Bilston, aka Paul Millicheap,btw.)
Thanks for letting us know, Tom
Poetic Truth. It’s instant History.
WOW is right! Perfect metaphor!!
👌🏼
America: 5% of the world's population, 45% of the world's guns.
OMG. Did not see this.
OMG! I love this. Gonna copy it, thanks!
“Socialism and capitalism and democracy can be blended in an intelligent way.”
This is so true, EXCEPT America is plagued by a “Cult of Ignorance” and Anti-Intelligence.
And now all the internet "experts" throw around words that they do not understand.
Why cannot the left use repeated messaging like the right?
No Rupert on our side, wish Bloomberg would take up the mantle
Rob. you are so right. The strain of anti-intellectualism in American culture has always been a bone-deep weakness. It's a kind of belligerent, willful stupidity that is a source of pride.
My nephew is married to a woman from Norway whose mother is quite wealthy. She does not mind paying the higher taxes because of what they provide and people can afford to shop at the market she owns. She is often confounded by what happens here.
"because of what they provide..." - and therein lies the difference because, here in the USA it seems the wealthy are more concerned with how much they can keep for themselves than what can be provided to those who share this earth.
Wise advice. We have so many wise people in Heather's community here. Why not start our creative "government replacement" theory now? So many ideas have been produced here for several years and in other places. Why not put them together and tweak them create a better blueprint for ourselves in this century whilst all the chinks in our systems and country are being put on grand display and very clear? We have great minds and people with vast experiences, wisdom, readers of great books, diplomacy skills, those very knowledgeable in history and international government systems. Is it time for us to take the reins and try something new before autocracy and martial law takes full hold? Seems like the direction the Party of Sedition and Fascism are hunkering towards.
I, and We, need to transform all our despair at all this shock and awe and replace the old white, narcissistic, market driven patriarchy to being All The People and and Planet Driven Sustainable Systems of Balance. I trust us to do this. I don't know why, but I do feel hope. Let's change that fricking poem by Brian Wilson that Rose posted. If we can, we should try. We have the power and the great minds.
When the public hearings begin in two weeks, we need to take more notes and ready ourselves for all the changes that will be needed as the vast corruption is revealed, and, as Jamie Raskin says, will "...blow the roof off the house!" The J6 Committee are not going to allow a Bill f-ing Barr moment to diffuse and deny Truth of this investigation, this time. Their language of lies needs to be revealed daily.
As Heather points out:
"Republicans cracked down on Democrats trying to preserve the active government that had been in place since the 1930s. Aided by talk radio hosts, they increasingly demonized their domestic political opponents. In the 1990 midterm elections, a political action committee associated with House Republican whip Newt Gingrich gave to Republican candidates a document called “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It urged candidates to label Democrats with words like “decay,” “failure,” “crisis,” “pathetic,” “liberal,” “radical,” “corrupt,” and “taxes,” while defining Republicans with words like “opportunity,” “moral,” “courage,” “flag,” “children,” “common sense,” “hard work,” and “freedom.” Gingrich later told the New York Times his goal was “reshaping the entire nation through the news media.”
We are done, and we need to be ready to roll. What say you?
Of course this speaks to me, yet I musty ask: “HOW?” I feel there is so much pent up frustration among us with no constructive, actionable outlet. I write, donate, engage, show up, call, march, rinse, repeat. And I still find myself driving home listening to the news of the latest mass murder, or leaked SCOTUS draft opinions, and I cannot help but scream and pound the steering wheel because my efforts seem so ineffective. I’ve read George Lakoff and Frank Luntz, so I’m aware of the wordsmith game. Gingrich’s ideas are the seed of Bannon’s “Flood the Zone with Shit” strategy. Social media has taken their efforts and thoroughly infected the body politic. It’s like We are trying to cure Ebola with wet wipes. We need demonstrably workable ideas to counter this excrement-amplification. I see it when I observe Coach Kerr speaking out from a position of influence. I see it when Mi State Rep Mallory McMarrow stood up to a gop colleague who smeared her. I see it when Beto crashed Abbott’s “Hearts and Prayers” news conference about the predictability of the latest mass murder of children. We need each and every one of our progressive’s in leadership to unapologetically state the obvious. And we need to amplify that.
Hell yes Pensa
The strength of us is our hope. Hope is the eternal principal that makes all people on earth equal. The worlds poor best illustrates hope as they arise each day to work through the monumental task of surviving until tomorrow. Until we avail ourselves of the quality of leadership that recognizes that greatness of the poorest among us we will fail at every level. People make our world function. From the poor we get the strongest people on earth. They arise to defend us and carry us on their backs. All of us. There are no success stories in any business or any endeavor that is not founded and carried to fruition on the backs of the least entitled people in this or any other nation on earth. The only potential we have going forward is to recognize their collective value and to help remove the substantial roadblocks of fear and ignorance that impedes the hope they generate for us all.
Love it and thank you…”The Strength of us is our HOPE.”
Also a must-read: Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, which describes in grim detail how the Chicago School of Economics, led by Milton Friedman, converted a sizeable portion of the world to American-style capitalism at the expense of American-style democracy.
I posted in error about Naomi Klein. I confused her with Naomi Wolf.
Laura Logan, Maria Bartiromo and Naomi Wolfe have gone completely off the rails. I changed Naomi Klein to Naomi Wolfe as she is the person I was thinking of.
Naomi Klein completely off the rails? Explain and please give examples. That’s not my experience of reading and listening to her.
Sorry, I also confused her with Naomi Wolfe. My bad.
@JR: I just did a little googling on Naomi Klein’s views on Covid lockdown and vaccines. I don’t see anything where she expresses anti-science views about vaccines, or “wacko claims”. I do see her questioning big tech’s push to permanently make more and more human interactions be mediated through tech instead of human contact. I do see her questioning the ways that capitalism could warp the responses to Covid in ways that benefitted the rich. Please provide specific links to her writings or interviews to back up your allegations that she is an “unhinged conpiracy theorist…promoting…wacko claims” as you put it. I don’t see it.
Thank you! I screwed up. I was confusing Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf. I will delete my original post.
Good “catch,” all of you….we need each other, for sure.
What a relief RE Naomi Klein—I think she is absolutely brilliant!
I did too.
For a look at a world in which human interactions are mediated through tech, see Isaac Asimov's The Naked Sun. It's not directly analogous, since it's set on a sparsely-populated planet, but it's thought-provoking nonetheless.
Thanks for the correction, JR.
OMG! I didn’t know that—what a shame 😱
Having grown up in the community where Friedman made these trickle down claims, I was so glad to study economics under someone who did not subscribe to Friedman's theories when I was in college. This is because my parents were convinced that Friedman's followers were sent to help third world dictators run their countries into the ground after the CIA helped put them in power and they shared that with me. Reagan was a follower of Friedman and are now really reaping the effects of those policies in that we have two generations that do not know anything but to think that the government is bad and should not help the people out. One of Biden's difficulties with Build Back Better is that it is too abstract to anyone who is under 50 or 60 because they have no memory of government actually being there to support people. It has been characterized as a bad thing for so long and so many have bought into it. American individualism has turned into me-me-me selfishness sanctioned by Mr. Ronald Reagan himself. He made it okay to be self centered. You could be greedy and selfish and then run with it. It has not made our country a better place to live however, regardless of what was promised. Even the wealthy are not doing that well. They are not the happy people that the Norwegians are. Lots of money has to go for therapy, and protection, and drugs for stress relief. Our life expectancy is not what it should be for the wealth that we have. https://www.worlddata.info/life-expectancy.php
So, let us hope we can turn things around, but unfortunately we do not seem to have the good messaging from the Democratic party that the Republicans have been able to use. That is what we need. A simple message which is a mantra. Government is supposed to help and protect the people. The people here don't believe that. It is a problem. This is why my daughter will go to University abroad in another year when she finishes high school. That will make it easier for her to choose to live abroad or here. She has a few classmates who are doing that as well. It is good to have a plan B. I have dual citizenship, but I look at the requirements of getting citizenship in other countries all the time just to be aware for discussions sake. If you are concerned with where things are going here it is good to know there are other options. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/easiest-countries-to-get-citizenship
Getting citizenship in another country is nearly impossible for anyone who is disabled or without skills desirable by whatever market forces are at work in that country. For some LGBTQ folk, especially trans folk, it can be very difficult. Diagnosed with what is called mental illness? Near or past retirement age? All of the above?
I have no illusions about an escape plan. I'll be here till I die.
Leaving the most vulnerable bodies to be devoured in the capital of capital is not going to reduce suffering in the long run.
I have been researching this for friends who are looking at where they might move and retire because they are afraid to stay here. I was looking at Portugal for a friend who is gay, and we were looking at the good communities there since he did an exchange in Brazil in high school. Portugal is supposed to be the easiest country in Europe for an American to get citizenship. I think you need to have about 200-300,000 EUR to invest to live there, and then you can get citizenship and go anywhere in the EU to live that has a better standard. In fact, the friends I am trying to help don't have that much money, and have health issues, and want advice for not being rich and where is it reasonable. You have to be willing to learn another language or go to Ireland. Here is a chart on the trans rights right now. Malta seems to be the best place and things might be getting better in other countries whereas here it is getting worse in many places. Do not give up. https://tgeu.org/trans-rights-map-2022/
I am not giving up and I am not going anywhere. I know other languages but am 60 years old and have no means to raise 200,000. There are many here who are in worse straits than I am. Leaving is an individualistic solution to a collective problem.
It will not reduce suffering in the long run.
Cathy, I’m not aware there’s a better way than capitalism to organize human labor for productivity. The problem, one btw we are well aware of, is that capitalism is not very good at distribution. Hence, it needs to be regulated and contained so to level its effects. In my view, the reason capitalism has worked relatively well in the European democracies, as compared with the States, is that it’s been wedded to social democratic institutions that contain its excesses and moderate its self-serving impulses. I expect if Dems retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats, the reforms set in place will go a long way to keeping capitalism honest and making it work for most, if not all, of us.
You are so right! My one month visit to Europe was like a breath of fresh air. Most people were kind; they seemed happy and the economy was thriving.
I love traveling in Europe. Cities and countryside, I feel safe at night and solo. Parks and gathering spaces, walking areas like sidewalks and malls. Thousands of people from all over the world walk the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage and even speaking different languages, we manage to share, laugh and cry together. And all religions or none, walk together. Nothing is perfect, and European countries have big challenges with immigration and refugees changing their economies and cultures, but quality of life is more important than just words. It’s working to create what we say we have: equality.
Same here, altho I have tourist pix of me standing on that bridge by Parliament in London and La Rambla in Barcelona, both of which had ppl run over by terrorists in trucks. But, those incidents are minuscule compared to our almost daily murders & mayhem.
Yes, definitely not perfect and I think they would agree. But they at least try. The shock Black G.I.s felt returning after WW2 to the old American racism is a story in itself. We’re so busy in USA fighting each other that we don’t have time or resources to build up, just tear down. This country is called the “Great Experiment “ for a reason. Where are we now. Searching for examples I found this CNN article online. And as a bonus, its author is the awesome and brilliant Heather Cox Richardson. “Historian: Americans are right to wonder if the Great Experiment has failed. 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/opinions/americans-are-right-to-wonder-if-great-experiment-has-failed-richardson/index.html
Thanks, Irenie, for posting this article!!
Yes, but that's such a big "if"... the Democrats haven't had the focus and the strategy that the openly fascist conservatives have had for so long now.
Time for All people, not just dems to FOCUS down hard. With all the stuff raining down upon us, it is really hard to focus for very long. America's attention has been on major attack by these propagandists. We have to work harder to focus because the The Party of Sedition/Fascism are masters of...drama, distraction and fear based propaganda. Warriors, we all need to get more sleep and take good care of our bodies and minds for this war we are being asked to manage. Look at it in a new way, not fighting against, replacing. When they sling BS just move a little and let it pass you by, as taught in "yielding" in marital arts. Do not resist in the old ways. Allow the energy of their strikes to move them off balance and and throw them to the ground using your intelligence, wit, justice. And, as we are watching they are attacking themselves now and we will be witnessing more and more of republican ouroboros carnage. They will eat one another up for power. Use your own power wisely and at significant moments.
My 91 year-old, activist neighbor told me last night that she is more worried about attending anymore protests because of these mass shootings. She does not feel safe enough to go to another one. I know that fear, I have been feeling that anxiety as well. They win then. They win by making us fearful. We need huge numbers to counteract this power over us. We need to remember Ukraine, because we are in Putin's sights and his terrorists are on our soil, in our government, born and raised here. It may be ugly, but we can do this.
Your comment about everyone needing to focus is spot on. Yet I keep having flashbacks of watching “The Matrix” and the giant wall of plugged in humans. It hits too close to home when I watch others pay more attention to the Johnny Depp trial than the Jan 6th commission.
Heck, it’s painful to watch our country disintegrate…..
YES!!!
Jeff, Though I agree, I also would submit that Democratic leadership has an opportunity to appeal, nationwide, to the Base, to Independents, and to moderate Republicans with a message that relates both Democratic accomplishments plus the massive legislation that passed in the House with virtually no Republican support that remains stalled in the Senate due mostly to Republican obstruction. This is one of those “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did” moments.
Democrats holding the House and picking up seats in the Senate. From your keyboard to God’s eyes
@Citizen60, Though I like your style, I don’t bank on the metaphysical. Hence, I refer you to a messaging strategy I presented to Jeff Carpenter (who is part of this thread), to which I will add an action plan that calls on Senate Democrats to pass whichever Budget Reconciliation provisions (BBB) can gain support from 50 Senators and to present the legislation to voters as a down payment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. The legislation already has passed in the House. We’re simply waiting on the Senate.
What was Schumer’s reason for not holding a vote? Republicans already made it known there weren’t 10 votes among themselves to break the 60 vote threshold to bring the bill to the floor for a debate. It’s not hard to guess why—take your pick: a lack of reasons to oppose the bill, or losing NRA support.
It’s not the Democrats.
@Citizen60, Budget Reconciliation requires only 50 Senate votes. Because neither Manchin nor Sinema would sign onto the full package, I am proposing that Dems seek to pass whichever provisions can gain the support of all 50 Senators as a down payment, so to speak, of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
Cathy, I saw the Letter in the starkest terms.
It begins with life and death, literally, LIFE v. DEATH. This shortest of Letters raises the question that, perhaps, always hangs over the country and is now flashing,
Democracy or not in America?
Life and Death was represented by the fact that 90%of Americans want their children to be protected against gun violence, while our government and been unable (read Democrats) and unwilling (read Republicans) to protect our children against gun violence.
We have been losing this life and death battle with our government:
‘The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday has put the spotlight back on recent data showing that firearm injuries are the No. 1 cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States. And it comes just a month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing guns were the No. 1 killer of children and adolescents in 2020. The agency found that 4,368 Americans under the age of 19 died from gun violence in 2020, a 29.5% jump from 2019.’
‘That's equivalent to 5.4 out of every 100,000 kids and teens in the U.S. dying from a firearm injury and a 63% jump from the 3.3 per 100,000 recorded one decade ago.’ (ABC) See link to article below.
‘This is a central problem not just for the issue of gun control, but for our democracy itself.’
‘During the cold war, leaders came to treat democracy and capitalism as if they were interchangeable. So long as the United States embraced capitalism, by which they meant an economic system in which individuals, rather than the state, owned the means of production, liberal democracy would automatically follow.’
‘In the 1990s, America’s leaders believed that the spread of capitalism would turn the world democratic as it delivered to them global dominance, but they talked a lot less about democracy than they did about so-called free markets.’
‘In fact, the apparent success of capitalism actually undercut democracy in the U.S.’ (Letter)
With the battle between the Soviet Union and USA, seeming won by the USA, the conservatives turned their attention to defeating the left at home. They were
‘determined to destroy the popular liberal state that had regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and invested in infrastructure since the New Deal.
‘In 2010 the Supreme Court green-lit the flood of corporate money into our political system with the Citizens’ United decision; in 2013 it gutted the provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring the Department of Justice to sign off on changes to election laws in some states, prompting a slew of discriminatory voter ID laws.’ (Letter)
The Letter ends indicating that the country’s focus on ‘free markets’ has stacked our political system in favor of the Republicans. In addition to Citizens’ United, my mind flashed on WEALTH GAP. So, it is to be ‘We the Public” v. the Ultra Rich (The Billionaires) the Dark Money and their companies?
This battle of ours shall not be settled by the current Supreme Court.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/texas-shooting-highlights-guns-leading-death-us-kids/story?id=84965682
We can stop it if we work hard enough. If we refuse to give in to counsels of despair, but get out to change things. In the end, truth prevails, because it is, you know, true, and all governments depend, ultimately, on the consent of the governed.
Yes, but we cannot stop it by changing hearts and minds. We have the majority, just barely, but have to overcome voter suppression. Getting out the vote is the key. Stacy Abrams proved that.
There, you said it. Democrats are UNABLE to pass common sense gun laws; Republicans are UNWILLING. I’m sure all parents are devastated when these horrific massacres occur, but when do they acknowledge that they can vote those unwilling out and replace them with those able to do what is absolutely necessary? “Unwilling” is the word that needs to be spread right now in the Red communities. There lies the control.
You read the comment exactly as is was written. The Democrats are UNABLE (let's call out Manchin & Sinema as the outstanding 'democrats' who go, along with the Republicans) and the Republicans UNWILLING to address gun control, including the use of 'weapons of war'.
Yes, It’s Manchin and Sinema (Democrats) and all the Republicans — but — where can you list the effects of dark money (i.e. The Koch organism) since, they (and others like them) are basically buying the votes that protect the GUN NUTS rights.
Minor problems these day though, Cathy. On the positive side, their emphasis on the people, as adults, taking responsibility for their own lives and the lives of their children facing Covid.....recommendations and well-funded health services but not punitive restrictions and business closures. The result being that they are only suffering the economic impact of external shocks now rather than internal meltdown. The sanitary results are as good as any but the economy is in better shape. The people are very "reasonable" and the community still trumps the individual as a cultural imperative.
On the negative side, particularly in Sweden and Denmark, the cultural solidarity....one might say almost conformism....is threatened by their own generosity as they have taken in the highest per capita ratio of middle-eastern refugee/immigrants of any country in Europe. The physical concentration of this incoming population in particular quarters of the big cities has brought a significant increase in street violence and other crime thgroughout the cities as violent gangs seem to have replaced normal civil controls. The Danes have reacted to put a stop to the inflows and to severely control the existing problem after a significant electoral shift to the right. In Sweden, the electoral shift has also occurred but it isn't yet sufficient to enforce a radical solution to this ongoing, societal and cultural problem.
Stuart,
Yes, it is tragic that the illegal wars, sponsored by the USA based on lies, created millions of (poor) Muslim refugees and Europe had the kind heartedness to take them in (while we did not).
Now? That kindness has created a significant underclass of poverty that previously did not stretch so low in economic strife in Europe for the most part. That poverty situation, plus the cultural differences and religious differences, breed crime and violence.
Not only has the USA managed to bobble its own future with a bunch of crooks running things in both government and business, we also managed to bobble it for all of Europe with not needed wars in the middle east (providing profit to the kleptocrats in the USA) that resulted in a disastrous diaspora.
All in all, quite the disaster we, the USA, have brought to the world these last 20 years.
Now, I guess we will keep the kleptocrats in the Military Contractor "businesses" happy selling weapons to Ukraine. Every week we have another giant "emergency authorization" of money to buy weapons and send them to Ukraine.
Really, if you look at the last 20 years, the only thing we have done as a country is fund war.
Is that the only thing we can do now? We cannot even make baby formula here anymore.
All so true. We have never looked at our actions overseas with a wide lens or even a minor attempt at considering the human cost. We were like Putin in Iraq. We'll be in and out. Their oil will pay for the war. Ha! But we created ISIS. Ooops. The list is long.
Vietnam? We napalmed the country and now it is a manufacturing hub for our businesses. What did we accomplish other than crimes against humanity and delaying a trade relationship?
But to lend support to your point about creating poverty centers, let's look at the elephant on the planet that will make the migration caused by wars look like child's play. Global warming is making huge parts of the Earth uninhabitable. Too hot and too dry to simply grow food. The pile up of people at our southern border is certainly caused by corruption and violence back home - but it is increasingly driven by hunger.
The Earth can't handle our overpopulation as its capacity to support life is radically reduced by our consumption of fossil fuels. Our luxury will be directly responsible for the ensuing chaos. And we will blame the "others"...for trying to survive the world we fucked up.
Vietnam is a perfect example of Disaster Capitalism, as laid out by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine.
yes. have friends with lifelong effects from Agent Orange, too, and now vets suffering from toxic waste exposure from ongoing wars in Middle East. When will more vets recognize THEY are “cannon fodder” as well?
Right on, Mike. We can see immigration through a small lens, as badly behaving immigrants or the larger lens of desperate human beings fleeing war, crime and climate disasters. I hope that nations in the northern hemisphere can get to work on the causes and corrections needed, because it is only going to get worse. That's not to say that there aren't reasons for individual nations to react, but if all nations address the causes for mass emigrations, the burden will be shared and just possibly cures will begin.
P.S. Credit needs to be given to the Biden/Harris administration for its wisdom in addressing causes for the masses of people fleeing Central America. For example, Honduras has just elected a new president, a woman who represents labor and opposition to the drug capitalists. Because of his complicity in international drug trafficking, etc, we have brought the former corrupt president here for trial, with the cooperation of Honduras. Work is being done on reparations of climate damage to agriculture and small farms.
All true. But as that good conservative Edmund Burke said of the French revolution, "The question is, gentlemen (sic) what shall we do?
So much truth. W/Dickie were the best examples, and the results have been a tinder box for the world, chump tried his best to light the fuse. I know plenty of others guilty but these were the masters. I remember Abu Ghraib, as do many Muslims, I think. Always thought that the fiasco was the seed of Isis. Much of the world’s current problems were “made in America,” mostly by republicans, but Rupert will never tell…
Yes, and this last winter? We let Afghani's starve and nobody noticed. We have blocked the Taliban from accessing foreign aid that might lead to food delivery.
I have no idea how many children starved in Afghanistan this last winter.
But, I know many did.
BUT? Now we have white people to send weapons to so off to the races we go.
👌🏼
It's a difficult call, Mike. US Money is being given to international aid groups for distribution to Afghani people. But the Taliban are really bad actors and routinely go back on their word and actions. Ultimately, it is they who are the cause of food and supplies not getting to the people. Remember, they could care less about women and children.
20 years, Mike? I think you seriously underestimate our capacity for mischief.
Good point. Since Vietnam that is all we have done. What is that, 70 years??
Indeed! In Latin America, for example, especially since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 (which self-ascribed us the right to protect the Western Hemisphere from European invasions), the US has intervened numerous times by funding wars, secessions and annexations that benefited our own capitalist agenda. For a compendium, see: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/before-venezuela-the-long-history-of-u-s-intervention-in-latin-america/
😭Ouch! Too true.
OK in OZ - in the 50's we had a series of Gov't programs welcoming migrants from Europe - there were programs on the ABC "for New Australians" - how to learn English (facile by today's standards - but at least they were trying to integrate them). I gather that in the Scandinavian (and German - and perhaps French) areas - there was really no effort to help them integrate - they were ghetto-ized. So we see some really (to us) bizarre manifestations of culture coupled with frustration. I was sent a particularly chilling video of a young girl (wearing what was considered inappropriate clothing - shorts), riding a bike in a very conservative Islamic community in France. She was set upon and set on fire (and I gather died) as the (Islamic) bystanders stood by. Horrific. It takes work (serious work) to shift the cultural biases - and it doesn't seem that Governments are dealing with that.
The inter religious/racial strife in France is a relatively recent problem concerning mainly the younger generation. Previous generations were willing and helped to integrate. The large and uncontrolled flows have generated a "volume" problem as numbers increase and power in these communities changes hands. The willingness to integrate has been replaced by a desire to change French culture and societal norms and is meeting an inevitable right wing political reaction. What was ghettoization of cheap foreign workers 50 years ago has become territorial secession and potentially civil war as liberal governments hesitate to impose themselves fearing a left wing attack of "racism".
"Racism" - so we dodge and duck.... as someone said - life isn't fair. But we seem to be unaware that that is reality - where I am, a tree could fall on me tomorrow. Fair??? Nature doesn't care.
👌🏼
👌🏼
Weird, I can't see everything you wrote and there's no expand button?
Do look at my comment..below
Good morning, Cathy. I see a big difference between the Scandinavian countries and the United States in dealing with this huge systemic problem. They wanted to change it. We do not.
Capitalism is a powerful tool, but, only a tool. It’s up to us how we use it and what we hope to achieve. We don’t ask our car where it wants to take us.
Perfect. We need to use our tools wisely. Healthy free enterprise with guard rails make us a vibrant country. We need more guard rails.
And maybe if we regulated guns the way we regulate cars, we could become a first world country. Millions of lives have been saved by safety equipment for vehicles and traffic laws. And yet we think of guns as if they were an electric toothbrush or a lawnmower.
Good morning, Cathy and to our forum.
I find it chilling what HCR states in the Letter today about Newt Gingrich and his insidious PAC…
“In the 1990 midterm elections, a political action committee associated with House Republican whip Newt Gingrich gave to Republican candidates a document called “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It urged candidates to label Democrats with words like “decay,” “failure,” “crisis,” “pathetic,” “liberal,” “radical,” “corrupt,” and “taxes,” while defining Republicans with words like “opportunity,” “moral,” “courage,” “flag,” “children,” “common sense,” “hard work,” and “freedom.” Gingrich later told the New York Times his goal was ‘reshaping the entire nation through the news media.’”
I continue to stand against becoming anything that is merely shaped through news and burgeoning social media. I continue to be shaped by participation in my community, we the people, and Democracy. I will take a page from Newt and call out Republicans against gun control as decayed, pathetic, corrupt, and failed.
I suggest a read that one of our commentators, Maggie Enright, posts later from the Atlantic. I can barely speak of capitalism or plutocracy today. My mind is still racing and grieving about the massacre of children and teachers at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The “speak” already about the shooter is flawed. Social isolation and rejection in a young person’s life has been shown to become possibly deadly because of a single variable. A gun. And the widespread political encouragement to easily possess and carry one… for freedom, for protection, blah blah blah.
And why so many massacres at schools? Destroy public trust in a common good….public education. Republican agenda will not be satisfied until the education of our children to become minions has been privatized. And yes, I loathe Gov DeSantis for agreeing to school and children as a target.
The Atlantic link (thank you Maggie)
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/el-paso-shooting-when-loneliness-leads-mass-murder/595498/
We move forward…with courage. Warships of treason and greed and manipulation….go f*ck yourselves.
Salud 🗽
Perhaps because I'm pretty old now, my activism is reduced to slogans on posters. I'm not sure why, but lately I awake with thoughts of what to write if I were protesting once again. I hope there is a huge groundswell of people and posters at the NRA meeting this weekend, Cathy. I feel so strongly about Texas because I have family there, not because I think there isn't sanity and kindness among many people in Texas. But what a blemish on the state to have so many mass shootings.
Hi, Hope and Cathy. Hope, I think I'm more than "pretty" old and also finding that my days of taking to the streets to protest are behind me. I do what I can from my almost comfortable chair with the supportive back cushion, but I also am finding that, with the inevitable stock-taking and the change of perspective that age ushers in, my thinking about protest is shifting. Today, my main arena for doing my part is the weekends I spend with my 7 year old grandson. He is growing up in an alien world and I am his only real highway back to at least a glimpse of something different. I hope I can end my days, and instill in him, Fred Rogers wise formula for a successful life. 1. Be kind, 2. Be kind, 2. Be kind. Thank you both for pushing me to give this whole business of "too old to protest" some thought.
You're doing the best thing, Dean, by raising your grandson to be a kind, thoughtful man.
Thanks, Dean. That heart is meant to be red.
P.S. I think my poster would read: Men of the NRA, you know what Freud would say!
Hi Cathy. Allow me to express some perhaps gratuitous sounding yet sincere praise: I do so enjoy your commentary - succinct and always relevant. Qualities I admire and strive for. I fall short at times though. Looking below I did make some commentary that I wish I'd given more thought to before I pressed <enter>, but even in the midst of great personal sadness, I almost never fail to look in on our good Dr.'s lessons - most times I have to restrain myself, but occasionally I'm compelled to offer thoughts that might enhance or add to discussion; those are my goals. On topic, for decades I've told anyone who'd listen that 'words matter'. In the words of the great teacher "Sesame Street", " these two things do not go together." (lol) What I've repeated ad nauseum is that "Democracy is how we've agreed and pledged to govern ourselves and structure our communities according to reasonable rules of law; Capitalism 'is not' how we govern. It's an economic 'model' that we seem to 'very loosely' aim for emulating, as it's attraction is that it's 'potentially' capable of operating automatically. Of course most here know that 'it' does in fact have absolute need of a leash and lately, a muzzle as well. That fact is not unlike laws we agree to among ourselves; re., like when 'my' liberties collide with say, yours or those of others. *Then of course there are laws imposed, as in by a devious, underhanded, controlling minority. Our constitutional 'nods' and standing to and for minorities never carried any intent for "the tail to wag the whole dog." For what it's worth, that's my two cents.
If only we all lived on Sesame Street. Your words are my thoughts as well. I hope that Someday We'll more than Find It. We'll all Live It.
Oooh. Sounds like a good book, Cathy. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm weak in this area when it comes to explaining to others.
Thanks for Lakey recommendation re a country which overcame this…..
Thank you - just now ordered that book.
They also have problems, but Democratic Socialism is what they share. Bernie Sanders muffed it when he both used the term socialism and allowed the repubs to do the same, scaring many Americans into believing we would become Venezuela.
No doubt about it. Language is powerful and dangerous, especially in the mouths of people who have no idea what they're talking about. Americans are arrogant enough to believe that anything not home-grown capitalism and the facade we call democracy is, on its face, inferior and not worth the effort to actually study. I don't know about old Bernie. He's been around and calling himself a Socialist for decades, seems to be serious about it, but I agree he was very foolish to let the Republicans get hold of it. The other part of the problem, I think, is that coupled with our arrogance is the strain of anti-intellectualism that is bone-deep. On my bad days I just think we're all morons.
This is very helpful. I will look up your recommendation. Thank you.