Dear Heather, Tonight you gave me a history lesson that makes me feel I've never learned anything about the real history of our country. Thank you! I now have two of your books on order -- "Wounded Knee" and "How the South won the Civil War". It bothered me that to create the working class Lincoln's government put an entire people, t…
Dear Heather, Tonight you gave me a history lesson that makes me feel I've never learned anything about the real history of our country. Thank you! I now have two of your books on order -- "Wounded Knee" and "How the South won the Civil War". It bothered me that to create the working class Lincoln's government put an entire people, the Native Americans, into the slavery of dependency and deprivation exchanging the plantations for reservations. If a Civil War won't work this time and there is no land to give away, what is the solution. My thoughts are three-fold. First, that workers, the creators of the wealth, must become shareholders in that wealth by receiving shares in the business they work for and seats on the Boards. Second, the two-party system and "winner-take-all" partisan politics must be reformed with nonpartisan systems doing redistricting, the aisles removed in Congress, and checks and balances restored so that no one have unilateral or autocratic power. Third, the country needs a Well-Being Index to replace or at least be equal to the GNP where every policy and piece of legislation is measured on its benefits to the well-being of the People.
That's why I like businesses that balance purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. These Social Enterprises, B Corps, and Public Benefit Corporations are measured by more than making a profit. They must also report the company's impact on our planet and the programs that care for its people. Being transparent on three levels (profit, planet, and people) creates a yardstick for measuring success.
I've been using duck duck go for years. No data harvesting. Privacy. And I find that I get more meaningful results because not swayed by what everyone else is looking at.
Yes, Elena, there is a long (and growing) list with names you would recognize like Patagonia, Allbirds, and Eileen Fisher plus thousands more. Google: social enterprises, B Corps, or Public Benefit Corporations to learn more. These are the companies with the most success in recruiting and retaining talent in today's competitive market.
I use the free app, “Goods,” to decide where I want to spend my money. It lists corporations and what percentage they donate to the each party. I find it very helpful to know how they spend their money politically.
Also to think about: if there is a company whose product you like, ask them what their corporate policies are. If they aren't acceptible, form a group to lobby them and if necessary, boycott them. Ben & Jerry signed up for "Milk with Dignity" because a coalition of workers and consumers pointed out to them (repeatedly) that they were taking advantage of hard-working people who had little opportunity to stand up for themselves. Now we are looking forward to the same thing with a regional supermarket chain, and it's looking promising. These are changes WE can make.
I love this. When people speak up, they can affect change. Our voice is the most powerful tool in the social justice fight. Little by little, the ripples go out to lap against the rocks, and the stones become sand.
In Georgia, Publix, based in Florida, is good. They have a high approval rating, and their employees are shareholders. I think the salaries are decent, too. That's part of the reason I shop there.
What a great idea! I’ve been stewing about shopping at a regional supermarket chain also. It was my go-to until I checked and found out that 100% of their political contribution goes to the GOP. I rarely shop there now but I really miss going there. It has a real “farmers market“ feeling to it so it hurts even more knowing that the company doesn’t really care about the workers.
I think these businesses that "balance purpose and profit" are a miniscule part of the corporate powers that are driven by oligarch's focused on shareholder profits.
Probably, especially in the US, but there are still thousands, many of them small or regional (I think being part of a community makes a difference. But the fact that they exist at all proves our point.
Cathy, as far as your comment about history, I have a BA and a MA in history and I still learn something every time! The only way to truly get in depth is to concentrate your studies. It would be very difficult to get this much detail in grade school. Of course, it also helps to change the narrative of studying history from that of facts and figures to conveying the lessons learned, etc. I’ve said for years that the planter class is no different than what we call our 1% now. Imagine if teachers were allowed to convey that information... if they understood it themselves! Thank you for your great comment and I hope you continue to enjoy this incredible education by HCR!
I agree. I’m learning everyday here! I teach in Texas and the curriculum is controlled by politicians. If we truly educated people and didn’t let politics interfere that would be a greater support of democracy. We recently were told students have freedom of speech but teachers must keep their political views outside the classroom. I teach Art in elementary school so I don’t have a reason to go there. But the current events teachers at the senior high were not allowed to talk about the current events.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
-- Margaret Mead
I, too, live in Texas. Taught music at a Catholic school one semester. You were required to teach the 5th graders the Star Spangled Banner. When the 7th grade class next door heard our national anthem, they asked their teacher "That sounds familiar what is it?"
Having politicians in the Texas Legislature micro-manage the Texas curriculum is crazy. So is teaching to the test. I'd say a lot of the reason over 70 million people voted for DT reflects our poor educational system. Defunding education has been a Republican project for decades.
"Our poor educational system" goes back a loooonnnngggg way. In 1950, I was in the last public school class in Denver where the (older) teacher taught phonics. My brother and sister got "word recognition" and became people who didn't like reading because of it. That degenerated down to "whole language" in which kids were supposed to "learn" by sitting next to a "great book" and waiting for osmosis. The result of all "educational reform" for the past 70 years has been what we have today: 72 million people quasi-educated enough to vote for Trump twice.
When I think of the two otherwise-unemployable idiots I know who became well-known "leading educational reformers", the situation explains itself.
As a teacher once said to me: "those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, teach teachers."
TC, almost exact situation for me and my brothers. My mother taught me to read before I started school. Instead of praising her, the teacher criticized her and told her they used "new pedalogical methods now" and she hoped my mother hadn't interfered with my ability to learn. She told my mother to not teach my brothers, so that they could "fully benefit" from the new methods. It was called "See and Say" where I went to school, same thing as your "word recognition. My mother was so upset she cried. My solution was simply to ignore the teacher for the rest of the year and read my way. Saved me. thank you, Mom. The older two of my brothers, like your sibs, struggled with reading. I helped the older and he got it. But the younger had not learned to read by 5th grade. By that time the school district had recognized the mistake was and the school returned to a mixed approach. My brother's teacher understood that my brother needed simply to be allowed to read something he enjoyed to motivate him to work at it and figure it out, so she gave him western comics! And then loaned him a copy of Zane Grey. He plowed through the entire series and spent a lifetime of enjoying reading. My youngest brother (our tag-along) escaped the whole awful mess. I wonder sometimes if that kind of poor experimental pedagogy is one reason so many people of our age seem to have trouble with comprehension and reasoning.
Learning to read is learning to think, because writing, to be effective, is organized logically (I say that as someone who pays the bills with writing). If you can't read, you cannot think logically because you didn't get the chance to learn how (it's something "picked up along the way" as one reads). If you can't do "reading comprehension" you can't do any other kind of comprehension. And when you consider how far down the path to functional illiteracy they went with "educational reform" before finally being kicked hard enough to get back to phonics and other basics, it's why things are as they are. And of course "teaching to the test," which is nothing but rote memorization, isn't "learning" because it has no connection to comprehension and understanding. So we've managed to keep making things worse with all our "advances."
Unfortunately 72 million fellow citizens just voted very distinctly against this and a goodly proportion of the other 77 million wouldn't feel comfortable either. McConnell is sitting pretty and he has his courts! When promoting a vision of the future, however desireable, a path must be shown of how to get there for it to attract an increasing number of motivated followers and assure success.
Imagine what the Republicans would call any candidate who advocates, as you suggest, "that workers, the creators of the wealth, must become shareholders in that wealth by receiving shares in the business they work for ..." Clue: It begins with either the letter "C" or the letter "M."
I don't think that's such a foreign (social democrat) idea. As I recall, workers at Dow Chemocal received Dow shares, or got them at a nice discount. It may need to be phrased differently than "owners" but the methodology may already in place for corporate America. Some incentives, a tax break, there we go.
Dear Heather, Tonight you gave me a history lesson that makes me feel I've never learned anything about the real history of our country. Thank you! I now have two of your books on order -- "Wounded Knee" and "How the South won the Civil War". It bothered me that to create the working class Lincoln's government put an entire people, the Native Americans, into the slavery of dependency and deprivation exchanging the plantations for reservations. If a Civil War won't work this time and there is no land to give away, what is the solution. My thoughts are three-fold. First, that workers, the creators of the wealth, must become shareholders in that wealth by receiving shares in the business they work for and seats on the Boards. Second, the two-party system and "winner-take-all" partisan politics must be reformed with nonpartisan systems doing redistricting, the aisles removed in Congress, and checks and balances restored so that no one have unilateral or autocratic power. Third, the country needs a Well-Being Index to replace or at least be equal to the GNP where every policy and piece of legislation is measured on its benefits to the well-being of the People.
And, let's not forget, the well being of the planet itself
That's why I like businesses that balance purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. These Social Enterprises, B Corps, and Public Benefit Corporations are measured by more than making a profit. They must also report the company's impact on our planet and the programs that care for its people. Being transparent on three levels (profit, planet, and people) creates a yardstick for measuring success.
I'm doing just that...but, would you consider not using google as the verb...since google has it own share of tomfoolery? I've stopped using them as my search engine in favor of the more enlightened duck duck go. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2019/dec/12/duckduckgo-google-search-engine-privacy)
I've been using duck duck go for years. No data harvesting. Privacy. And I find that I get more meaningful results because not swayed by what everyone else is looking at.
Good point. I've allowed Google to become an interchangeable name like Kleenex.
I also use duck duck go
Is there a list of these businesses?
Yes, Elena, there is a long (and growing) list with names you would recognize like Patagonia, Allbirds, and Eileen Fisher plus thousands more. Google: social enterprises, B Corps, or Public Benefit Corporations to learn more. These are the companies with the most success in recruiting and retaining talent in today's competitive market.
I use the free app, “Goods,” to decide where I want to spend my money. It lists corporations and what percentage they donate to the each party. I find it very helpful to know how they spend their money politically.
Also to think about: if there is a company whose product you like, ask them what their corporate policies are. If they aren't acceptible, form a group to lobby them and if necessary, boycott them. Ben & Jerry signed up for "Milk with Dignity" because a coalition of workers and consumers pointed out to them (repeatedly) that they were taking advantage of hard-working people who had little opportunity to stand up for themselves. Now we are looking forward to the same thing with a regional supermarket chain, and it's looking promising. These are changes WE can make.
I love this. When people speak up, they can affect change. Our voice is the most powerful tool in the social justice fight. Little by little, the ripples go out to lap against the rocks, and the stones become sand.
In Georgia, Publix, based in Florida, is good. They have a high approval rating, and their employees are shareholders. I think the salaries are decent, too. That's part of the reason I shop there.
What a great idea! I’ve been stewing about shopping at a regional supermarket chain also. It was my go-to until I checked and found out that 100% of their political contribution goes to the GOP. I rarely shop there now but I really miss going there. It has a real “farmers market“ feeling to it so it hurts even more knowing that the company doesn’t really care about the workers.
One more reason to love my Allbirds and Eileen Fisher!!!
Nancy, don't forget Ben & Jerry's!
WOW!
I think these businesses that "balance purpose and profit" are a miniscule part of the corporate powers that are driven by oligarch's focused on shareholder profits.
Probably, especially in the US, but there are still thousands, many of them small or regional (I think being part of a community makes a difference. But the fact that they exist at all proves our point.
Yes, Lynn, without the well-being of the planet, all the rest won't matter. How short-sighted of the greedy and powerful.
I like that edit. And, check out the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals if you're not already familiar with them.
"The United States stand last among the G20 nations to attain these Sustainable Development Goals and 36th worldwide.[153]"
Sigh, NOT making America great.
Thanks for the reference.
The itony is the corporations that have signed up for them are finding them very profitable as well.
Evolution results in new efficiencies.
Will do! Ty
Cathy, as far as your comment about history, I have a BA and a MA in history and I still learn something every time! The only way to truly get in depth is to concentrate your studies. It would be very difficult to get this much detail in grade school. Of course, it also helps to change the narrative of studying history from that of facts and figures to conveying the lessons learned, etc. I’ve said for years that the planter class is no different than what we call our 1% now. Imagine if teachers were allowed to convey that information... if they understood it themselves! Thank you for your great comment and I hope you continue to enjoy this incredible education by HCR!
I agree. I’m learning everyday here! I teach in Texas and the curriculum is controlled by politicians. If we truly educated people and didn’t let politics interfere that would be a greater support of democracy. We recently were told students have freedom of speech but teachers must keep their political views outside the classroom. I teach Art in elementary school so I don’t have a reason to go there. But the current events teachers at the senior high were not allowed to talk about the current events.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
-- Margaret Mead
I, too, live in Texas. Taught music at a Catholic school one semester. You were required to teach the 5th graders the Star Spangled Banner. When the 7th grade class next door heard our national anthem, they asked their teacher "That sounds familiar what is it?"
Having politicians in the Texas Legislature micro-manage the Texas curriculum is crazy. So is teaching to the test. I'd say a lot of the reason over 70 million people voted for DT reflects our poor educational system. Defunding education has been a Republican project for decades.
"Our poor educational system" goes back a loooonnnngggg way. In 1950, I was in the last public school class in Denver where the (older) teacher taught phonics. My brother and sister got "word recognition" and became people who didn't like reading because of it. That degenerated down to "whole language" in which kids were supposed to "learn" by sitting next to a "great book" and waiting for osmosis. The result of all "educational reform" for the past 70 years has been what we have today: 72 million people quasi-educated enough to vote for Trump twice.
When I think of the two otherwise-unemployable idiots I know who became well-known "leading educational reformers", the situation explains itself.
As a teacher once said to me: "those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, teach teachers."
TC, almost exact situation for me and my brothers. My mother taught me to read before I started school. Instead of praising her, the teacher criticized her and told her they used "new pedalogical methods now" and she hoped my mother hadn't interfered with my ability to learn. She told my mother to not teach my brothers, so that they could "fully benefit" from the new methods. It was called "See and Say" where I went to school, same thing as your "word recognition. My mother was so upset she cried. My solution was simply to ignore the teacher for the rest of the year and read my way. Saved me. thank you, Mom. The older two of my brothers, like your sibs, struggled with reading. I helped the older and he got it. But the younger had not learned to read by 5th grade. By that time the school district had recognized the mistake was and the school returned to a mixed approach. My brother's teacher understood that my brother needed simply to be allowed to read something he enjoyed to motivate him to work at it and figure it out, so she gave him western comics! And then loaned him a copy of Zane Grey. He plowed through the entire series and spent a lifetime of enjoying reading. My youngest brother (our tag-along) escaped the whole awful mess. I wonder sometimes if that kind of poor experimental pedagogy is one reason so many people of our age seem to have trouble with comprehension and reasoning.
Learning to read is learning to think, because writing, to be effective, is organized logically (I say that as someone who pays the bills with writing). If you can't read, you cannot think logically because you didn't get the chance to learn how (it's something "picked up along the way" as one reads). If you can't do "reading comprehension" you can't do any other kind of comprehension. And when you consider how far down the path to functional illiteracy they went with "educational reform" before finally being kicked hard enough to get back to phonics and other basics, it's why things are as they are. And of course "teaching to the test," which is nothing but rote memorization, isn't "learning" because it has no connection to comprehension and understanding. So we've managed to keep making things worse with all our "advances."
And TX politicians then control the nation’s texts.
Unfortunately 72 million fellow citizens just voted very distinctly against this and a goodly proportion of the other 77 million wouldn't feel comfortable either. McConnell is sitting pretty and he has his courts! When promoting a vision of the future, however desireable, a path must be shown of how to get there for it to attract an increasing number of motivated followers and assure success.
Cathy, our democratic government needs people like you!
Lynell. Thank you so much for your kind and humbling words.
Lynell is right. Your action points are a call to act. ❤️🤍💙
Yes!!
Excellent ideas! I agree wholeheartedly!
This is wonderful. How can I copy this for inspiration and goal-setting? ❤️🤍
Imagine what the Republicans would call any candidate who advocates, as you suggest, "that workers, the creators of the wealth, must become shareholders in that wealth by receiving shares in the business they work for ..." Clue: It begins with either the letter "C" or the letter "M."
I don't think that's such a foreign (social democrat) idea. As I recall, workers at Dow Chemocal received Dow shares, or got them at a nice discount. It may need to be phrased differently than "owners" but the methodology may already in place for corporate America. Some incentives, a tax break, there we go.