This is part of the right's push to discredit government services and replace them with "public/private partnerships," a euphemism for channeling taxpayer money into corporate coffers. This is happening in our prisons (e.g., private prisons), in our public schools (e.g., testing and assessments), and on our public roads (e.g., toll roads, red-light cameras) as well as in our libraries, according to the fiction that business knows better than government how to run things. Unfortunately, unlike government officials, the controlling businesses can cut services and payroll and set prices pretty much at will; they are not accountable (they can't be voted out of office) and they are not transparent about their practices (they can't be required to respond to FOIA requests).
Thanks again for a wonderful, uplifting, practical newsletter!
Thank you, Robert. I look forward to any suggestions for action you might have. My local library is severely underfunded and perhaps vulnerable. From the articles that seems to be the case with many public libraries.
Wow! What a great newsletter and call to action. May I make some additional suggestions to those already mentioned? Since we shouldn't be letting the 50 Republicans off the hook and only focusing on Manchin and Sinema, I think a letter/postcard/phone call to specific Republicans might help. First: the more "moderate" Republicans like Murkowski and Romney. They may not read the entire letter but buzzwords like protecting all their constituents including the elderly, disabled and ill should be included. Second: the retiring Republicans like Burr and Toomey using language like the opportunity to be remembered as a statesman..."history has its eyes on you" sort of thing. Third, former Republicans out of office, like George Bush using Dick Chaney as an example of someone with courage and putting pressure on them to speak out. Fourth and finally, media influences. Reaching out to others who have the ability to put pressure on the Republicans would also help.
Sounding a bell of urgency, let us re-engage for 2022 sooner than later, like make a big push this week ahead of the Senate vote by January 17 (MLK Day) on voting rights: John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 and/or Manchin's Freedom to Vote Act.
For the most effective ways for us to take an action through an organization, click any of these:
Thank you, Ellie. Your links postings are ever helpful. You introduced me to some new organizations, thank you for that. I might add a message that appears on Jessica Craven’s site that was new information for me: “I know these scripts can seem repetitive. It can feel robotic to keep calling and saying the same things over and over. But please know, Congressional staffers are tallying how many calls they get on a particular bill or topic every day—not who calls. So every day your opinion, if you will, counts anew.“ It helps me greatly to know that everyday I’m doing something.
Hi, Ada. Thanks for your note. I noted the process of "tallying" in response to a reader above. Glad to get some confirmation. If representatives are going to determine the direction of political winds by "tallying," we need to exert those most pressure.
Exactly. It is the cumulative effect - the fact that a politician's constituents are watching and demanding results. The higher the numbers, the greater the pressure. And it is easy to do. Email, call, email, call....
I am so appreciative of Cathy's spreadsheet with the names and addresses of the corporations that have decided to once again financially support the house and senate members who continue to vote against democracy. I will begin sending my letters to these corporations and I will share the list with other friends of mine with the hope they will do the same. Robert, you have created a wonderful community of engaged readers.
Thank you for all the good resources this morning. I was looking for ways to contact corporations, and this and the example letters are really appreciated.
I absolutely hate making phone calls to representatives. I don’t know why, I just do. But after reading the following article, that’s what I do. It won’t do much good at changing minds as I live in Missouri, but I figure I’m at least an irritant.
Hi, Donna. I have heard from people who work in offices for Representatives that they "tally" calls on particular subjects. So although it may not feel like your voice is being heard, it is. if they are going to "tally" calls to see which way the political winds are blowing, we should make sure our side creates the most pressure!
Thank you, Robert, for Cathy Murphree's list of corporations who pledged to no longer donate to the Sedition Caucus, but most resumed. For users of Cathy's great list, note that all of the corporations resumed donating, except for Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and Citigroup is “evaluating candidates…on a case by case basis.”
Yes we should bring them to task for supporting treasonous behavior. But let’s be real, money rules Congress (and always has) and the corporate community has succeeded getting those elected who support their interest. Another case of the tail wagging the dog?
You have no argument from me here. As to being involved and active locally, I was once invited to run for democratic town committee and I turned it down to my chagrin. I should have but I envisioned countless arguments over issues. But I live in a very blue city and state. All politics is really local and it’s all based on money so hitting where it hurts is the best option. I think a national list of corporate donors repeatedly published would, will and does have an impact.
Jan 10, 2022·edited Jan 10, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
It seems I’m the first to comment. Since I like being first at something, I’ll do so. During a symposium at my state capital years ago on the Kelo verses New London, about eminent domain, in which the Court ruled in 2005 that local government could take private land and transfer it to private developers for the public good. I offered an opinion that this was abuse of the intent of eminent domain. But maybe it wasn’t abuse after all. Maybe it was badly written law in the first place. My family had been victimized by this statute in Hartford when Underwood Typewriter Company seized our neighborhood and our land ( and because of an obstinate father who refused to move, we were forced out of our homes in the dead of winter by a sheriff with two weeks to vacate) after my father had fought then appealed in state courts and lost. The funny thing I could never understand is that my liberal compatriots were in favor of this statute. Further, I was approached afterwards by a rep from The Federalist Society asking me if I wanted to join as a member.
Ain’t that somting? I scratched my head as I left the capital that day realizing that my purported liberal allies in the Courts were nowhere to be found. So I extrapolated maybe a little unfairly that the individual was less important in the liberal sense of the meaning. And I’m a liberal — I think. I never did join them but I did realize that not all issues by groups should be defined as good or bad. That’s what partisanship does to a person; it subtracts from their ability to think independently. I know this because I just finished conversing with a friend- type last evening who is neo conservative politic on steroids and I had to terminate the call when the conversation veered off unwittingly into a non political topic that she immediately turned political.
In the Kelo case, the private developer did not or could not develop the land that they seized using eminent domain — exactly what happened to my family’s land. To this day, part of that land remains fallow — over 50 years later. Now I consider that overreach and abuse of the Courts and their liberal bias interpretation of eminent domain. Underwood moved out of Hartford as my father had predicted. Is there a learning curve here? Do we sacrifice lives for the rights of the individual? My answer is no. If a person refuses vaccination, fine as long as they are not in an employment that can transmit the virus. A little common sense should trump ideology in a nanosecond.
Hi, Bill. I am sorry to hear what happened to your family, but I disagree with your conclusion. It does not matter if an unvaccinated person is engaged in a job that can transmit the virus. They can transmit the virus at the grocery store, dentists office, and a local restaurant. Everyone makes sacrifices in personal liberty every day to protect societal order and the health and safety of everyone else. We all drive on the right side of the road, use seatbelts, and use public restrooms rather than the open streets, etc. It is mind boggling to me that this particular vaccine has become the red line for millions of people. When Navy Seals join the Navy, they receive eight vaccinations on induction day to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the military. (Just like George Washington did with the smallpox inoculation at Valley Forge.) And yet, the Navy Seals have sued the Navy to claim that THIS vaccination violates their personal liberty. We don't have to sacrifice our lives for the others, but getting a vaccination is not "sacrificing our lives" for others. It is one of the thousands of things we do every day to allow for society to continue in an orderly and safe fashion.
Robert, I think you misunderstood me. What I believe I said is that a person has a right to not be vaccinated. But that person has no right to work in any public capacity and potentially expose others to the virus. And that includes the military. It includes teachers. It should include private employment if the employees reach a certain number. So if you are suggesting that everyone must get vaccinated, hell no, that is wrong. There is a fine line here between the work environment and foolhardy behavior and false beliefs. I have an aged friend who is an anti vaxxer and if she gets the virus, she may likely die. That is her right. As far as an unvaccinated person giving the virus to someone, that’s why we wear masks. And you know full well that you may even ge carrying the virus and not know it. No one has to tell me to wear a mask. I frequently double mask. Before there was a vaccine, I was always the first in line at Costco, or any other shopping center in the morning.
And btw Robert, thanks to our former Divider-in-Chief, the vaccine and everything else under the sun has become politicized. The chat with a crazy almost friend went dead after I innocently brought up the horror we inflicted on elephants slaughtering them for their ivory and she went into “… oh you liberals…” mode. Stupid can be found everywhere you look.
I don't think we misunderstand each other. Depending on the disease, a person should not have a right not be vaccinated. Smallpox. Polio. Coronavirus. It doesn't matter where they work.
Well I admit, this is an intriguing discussion. So for example, I am inoculated against small pox so I can’t get the disease within reason. And how am I suppose to be affected by you not being inoculated? What difference should it make for me? With the exception that herd immunity is not achieved. But I’m not sure of this comparison is valid since breakthroughs have occurred with Covid-19 and not familiar with smallpox. So to take your position to the extreme, would you suggest that the Soylent Green people come and take anyone away and force inoculate them? Using this argument (hay, I’m no attorney and I shouldn’t be arguing with one, lol), because that’s where you are heading isn’t it?
Please don’t forget, after my friend told me she would never be vaccinated, I wrote a song to her trying to make her see reason.
An interesting story and you state your case well. We definitely should not follow in lock step with every position our "crew" proposes. I am also a "liberal". But I am very concerned with Federal debt. I think the defense spending that Democrats and Republicans rubber stamp is the very picture of corruption. I am very concerned about a central bank that is printing money without restraint (while laughably suggesting that inflation is temporary). I am a fiscal conservative (using that word in it's original context and historic meaning). But none of that stops me from being an advocate for universal human rights. Allowing for complex thinking in governance should be normalized. The world shouldn't be constructed of just two teams - red vs blue.
And I am OK if someone doesn't want to be vaccinated for political reasons - as long as they stay out of all public buildings, all private buildings to include gas stations, grocery stores, doctor's offices and hospitals. Find a cabin in the woods.
Or...show me the medical waver given by a qualified physician that says one's health would be compromised by a Covid vaccine and wear an N95 every time one leaves the house. That's the exception I would grant. If one's religion says don't vaxx, please find a new smarter faith. If one's politics teach to not vaxx, one has joined a political party participating in manslaughter.
This from a fiscally conservative social liberal who honors science and tries to think as a "we" instead of a "me". Nothing is simple. But common sense should be something we all have in common.
And btw, I should have joined The Federalist Society so they would have heard a different perspective. We too often feel only secure being in our own pods which aids in isolationism.
-Following the 2010 census, the Republicans, led by Karl Rove, moved aggressively ahead with REDMAP, a plan to take over control of state houses and gerrymander Congressional districts in their favor. They were astonishingly successful. The Democrats had no such plan and no answer to Republican moves. We are doing better now, but we haven't yet matched the GOP's messianic zeal at the local and state levels.
-If there is any single person who subverted democracy more than Donald Trump, it is Mitch McConnell. His unconscionable tilting of the Supreme Court and his refusal to offer anything but obstruction to Democrats while enabling the most destructive Republican policies put him in the same league as others who infamously subverted the will of the people.
I agree with you Charles. As to McConnell, it is curious to me that he doesn't seem to care about how history will remember him. He is smart enough to know that history will not be written by people who will view his actions kindly. He must see what has happened to Storm Thurmond. But he apparently doesn't care--which suggests that he has no conscience, soul, or human empathy. I can't think of another explanation.
Sometimes I think that these right wing politicians feel so put upon by the intelligentsia and mainstream media that owning the libs is the way they assuage the hurt.
Ooooops. I sent you, Robert, the Ezra Klein piece before I read today's letter from you where you encourage all to read it. It is the missing piece We need to encourage the under fifty's to run for all local offices, to get on boards, to be active participants in local government. THAT is how we keep the voting fair, encourage voter registration, count the votes fairly. That is whre the takeover is happening before our eyes. Get local!
Regarding corporate contributions to members if the Sedition Caucus: the evil is corporate contributions, not corporate hypocrisy. These corporations were presumably contributing to further the interests of their stockholders and as long as the seditionists remain in office they will have a vote that can impact the donors. Don't expect much to change.
Robert Hubbel on Ezra Klein today: "Klein . . . says that being involved in politics is not doom-scrolling on Twitter and then complaining to family and friends about all the things you just read. Real political work is." I couldn't agree more. Now, if we can only get the liberal news media to stop doing the same damn thing! I keep yelling at the screen: "Why don't you give us ideas for what we can do instead of just dooming and glooming ???" You know, much as Robert and Jessica Craven and Judd and other folks are doing. Would this be against their principles as journalists? And these "Breaking News" chirons: how about "Breaking Opinions"?? There, I've vented. Now to write some postcards to register voters!
It is puzzling why the media has descended into a negativity death spiral in 2021. I believe it must be because negativity sells more soap than feel good stories--humans must be hardwired through evolutionary pressure to want to hear bad, maybe as a way to protect themselves against future threats. I also think that negativity in journalism is amplified by laziness. It is much easier to say that the shy is falling than to say that there are millions of people doing thousands of different things to stop the sky from falling. And, of course, as Fox News teaches us, their "news anchors" view themselves as entertainers, not journalists. So they feel no obligation to provide an accurate view of what is going on.
Thank you Robert, especially for posting the clip of the last two minutes of your interview with Jason Borlin. Besides being urged to take action,l I was deeply inspired by his simple declaration: These are dark times. In dark times the Deep Ugly is being answered by a Deeper Beauty, and that is all of us! Reminds me of Godspell's version of St Matthew's message: "If you hide your light under a bushel, you're gonna miss something kind of crucial." That may be my most favorite rhyme of all musicals!
Thank you for this wonderful newsletter and the great resources and suggestions for action.
Don't know if there's a better place to post this: A librarian friend sent me the following transcript of an interview about the emerging privatization of public libraries: https://fair.org/home/a-for-profit-company-is-trying-to-privatize-as-many-public-libraries-as-they-can/. They are quietly being taken over by a company called Library Systems & Services, owned by a hedge fund, which already owns 80 public libraries and apparently also some of the vendors from which those libraries buy their books. Another article by the interviewee is here: https://truthout.org/articles/public-private-partnerships-are-quietly-hollowing-out-our-public-libraries/
This is part of the right's push to discredit government services and replace them with "public/private partnerships," a euphemism for channeling taxpayer money into corporate coffers. This is happening in our prisons (e.g., private prisons), in our public schools (e.g., testing and assessments), and on our public roads (e.g., toll roads, red-light cameras) as well as in our libraries, according to the fiction that business knows better than government how to run things. Unfortunately, unlike government officials, the controlling businesses can cut services and payroll and set prices pretty much at will; they are not accountable (they can't be voted out of office) and they are not transparent about their practices (they can't be required to respond to FOIA requests).
Thanks again for a wonderful, uplifting, practical newsletter!
Hi, Gaye. Thanks for the links about libraries being privatized. I will check them out!
Thank you, Robert. I look forward to any suggestions for action you might have. My local library is severely underfunded and perhaps vulnerable. From the articles that seems to be the case with many public libraries.
Wow! What a great newsletter and call to action. May I make some additional suggestions to those already mentioned? Since we shouldn't be letting the 50 Republicans off the hook and only focusing on Manchin and Sinema, I think a letter/postcard/phone call to specific Republicans might help. First: the more "moderate" Republicans like Murkowski and Romney. They may not read the entire letter but buzzwords like protecting all their constituents including the elderly, disabled and ill should be included. Second: the retiring Republicans like Burr and Toomey using language like the opportunity to be remembered as a statesman..."history has its eyes on you" sort of thing. Third, former Republicans out of office, like George Bush using Dick Chaney as an example of someone with courage and putting pressure on them to speak out. Fourth and finally, media influences. Reaching out to others who have the ability to put pressure on the Republicans would also help.
Those are good suggestions and I will promote in the newsletter. Thanks!
Sounding a bell of urgency, let us re-engage for 2022 sooner than later, like make a big push this week ahead of the Senate vote by January 17 (MLK Day) on voting rights: John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 and/or Manchin's Freedom to Vote Act.
For the most effective ways for us to take an action through an organization, click any of these:
https://www.vote.org/action/?emci=f259ff4b-78b9-eb11-a7ad-501ac57ba3ed&emdi=95f35617-2cba-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&ceid=13982010
https://represent.us/
https://www.mobilize.us/
https://demcast.com/
https://dfadcoalition.org/
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/
Thank you, Ellie. Your links postings are ever helpful. You introduced me to some new organizations, thank you for that. I might add a message that appears on Jessica Craven’s site that was new information for me: “I know these scripts can seem repetitive. It can feel robotic to keep calling and saying the same things over and over. But please know, Congressional staffers are tallying how many calls they get on a particular bill or topic every day—not who calls. So every day your opinion, if you will, counts anew.“ It helps me greatly to know that everyday I’m doing something.
Hi, Ada. Thanks for your note. I noted the process of "tallying" in response to a reader above. Glad to get some confirmation. If representatives are going to determine the direction of political winds by "tallying," we need to exert those most pressure.
Exactly. It is the cumulative effect - the fact that a politician's constituents are watching and demanding results. The higher the numbers, the greater the pressure. And it is easy to do. Email, call, email, call....
Jessica Craven is a hero!
Thanks for the links. I will check them out!
I am so appreciative of Cathy's spreadsheet with the names and addresses of the corporations that have decided to once again financially support the house and senate members who continue to vote against democracy. I will begin sending my letters to these corporations and I will share the list with other friends of mine with the hope they will do the same. Robert, you have created a wonderful community of engaged readers.
Thank you for all the good resources this morning. I was looking for ways to contact corporations, and this and the example letters are really appreciated.
I absolutely hate making phone calls to representatives. I don’t know why, I just do. But after reading the following article, that’s what I do. It won’t do much good at changing minds as I live in Missouri, but I figure I’m at least an irritant.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/15/13641920/trump-resist-congress
Hi, Donna. I have heard from people who work in offices for Representatives that they "tally" calls on particular subjects. So although it may not feel like your voice is being heard, it is. if they are going to "tally" calls to see which way the political winds are blowing, we should make sure our side creates the most pressure!
That’s what the article I referred to says, but I just don’t think Blunt or Hawley care. I’ll keep doing it, however, in hope that I am wrong.
Yes! Thank you, Cathy! Why am I shocked to see Pfizer on the list?
Thank you Cathy Murphree for your excellent list of corporate addresses and templates. I’m on it thanks to you!
Thank you, Robert, for Cathy Murphree's list of corporations who pledged to no longer donate to the Sedition Caucus, but most resumed. For users of Cathy's great list, note that all of the corporations resumed donating, except for Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and Citigroup is “evaluating candidates…on a case by case basis.”
Yes we should bring them to task for supporting treasonous behavior. But let’s be real, money rules Congress (and always has) and the corporate community has succeeded getting those elected who support their interest. Another case of the tail wagging the dog?
We have multiple ways to use this information to vote with our money and influence others to do the same:
1. Boycott bad actors when deciding on a purchase
2. Weed bad actors out of mutual funds/investments
3. Contact the corporations with messages of support or complaint
4. Communicate to others our support or complaints about corporations:
interpersonally, letters to the editor, call/email/write politicians, post on social media, etc.
You have no argument from me here. As to being involved and active locally, I was once invited to run for democratic town committee and I turned it down to my chagrin. I should have but I envisioned countless arguments over issues. But I live in a very blue city and state. All politics is really local and it’s all based on money so hitting where it hurts is the best option. I think a national list of corporate donors repeatedly published would, will and does have an impact.
It seems I’m the first to comment. Since I like being first at something, I’ll do so. During a symposium at my state capital years ago on the Kelo verses New London, about eminent domain, in which the Court ruled in 2005 that local government could take private land and transfer it to private developers for the public good. I offered an opinion that this was abuse of the intent of eminent domain. But maybe it wasn’t abuse after all. Maybe it was badly written law in the first place. My family had been victimized by this statute in Hartford when Underwood Typewriter Company seized our neighborhood and our land ( and because of an obstinate father who refused to move, we were forced out of our homes in the dead of winter by a sheriff with two weeks to vacate) after my father had fought then appealed in state courts and lost. The funny thing I could never understand is that my liberal compatriots were in favor of this statute. Further, I was approached afterwards by a rep from The Federalist Society asking me if I wanted to join as a member.
Ain’t that somting? I scratched my head as I left the capital that day realizing that my purported liberal allies in the Courts were nowhere to be found. So I extrapolated maybe a little unfairly that the individual was less important in the liberal sense of the meaning. And I’m a liberal — I think. I never did join them but I did realize that not all issues by groups should be defined as good or bad. That’s what partisanship does to a person; it subtracts from their ability to think independently. I know this because I just finished conversing with a friend- type last evening who is neo conservative politic on steroids and I had to terminate the call when the conversation veered off unwittingly into a non political topic that she immediately turned political.
In the Kelo case, the private developer did not or could not develop the land that they seized using eminent domain — exactly what happened to my family’s land. To this day, part of that land remains fallow — over 50 years later. Now I consider that overreach and abuse of the Courts and their liberal bias interpretation of eminent domain. Underwood moved out of Hartford as my father had predicted. Is there a learning curve here? Do we sacrifice lives for the rights of the individual? My answer is no. If a person refuses vaccination, fine as long as they are not in an employment that can transmit the virus. A little common sense should trump ideology in a nanosecond.
Such is life.
Hi, Bill. I am sorry to hear what happened to your family, but I disagree with your conclusion. It does not matter if an unvaccinated person is engaged in a job that can transmit the virus. They can transmit the virus at the grocery store, dentists office, and a local restaurant. Everyone makes sacrifices in personal liberty every day to protect societal order and the health and safety of everyone else. We all drive on the right side of the road, use seatbelts, and use public restrooms rather than the open streets, etc. It is mind boggling to me that this particular vaccine has become the red line for millions of people. When Navy Seals join the Navy, they receive eight vaccinations on induction day to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the military. (Just like George Washington did with the smallpox inoculation at Valley Forge.) And yet, the Navy Seals have sued the Navy to claim that THIS vaccination violates their personal liberty. We don't have to sacrifice our lives for the others, but getting a vaccination is not "sacrificing our lives" for others. It is one of the thousands of things we do every day to allow for society to continue in an orderly and safe fashion.
Robert, I think you misunderstood me. What I believe I said is that a person has a right to not be vaccinated. But that person has no right to work in any public capacity and potentially expose others to the virus. And that includes the military. It includes teachers. It should include private employment if the employees reach a certain number. So if you are suggesting that everyone must get vaccinated, hell no, that is wrong. There is a fine line here between the work environment and foolhardy behavior and false beliefs. I have an aged friend who is an anti vaxxer and if she gets the virus, she may likely die. That is her right. As far as an unvaccinated person giving the virus to someone, that’s why we wear masks. And you know full well that you may even ge carrying the virus and not know it. No one has to tell me to wear a mask. I frequently double mask. Before there was a vaccine, I was always the first in line at Costco, or any other shopping center in the morning.
And btw Robert, thanks to our former Divider-in-Chief, the vaccine and everything else under the sun has become politicized. The chat with a crazy almost friend went dead after I innocently brought up the horror we inflicted on elephants slaughtering them for their ivory and she went into “… oh you liberals…” mode. Stupid can be found everywhere you look.
I don't think we misunderstand each other. Depending on the disease, a person should not have a right not be vaccinated. Smallpox. Polio. Coronavirus. It doesn't matter where they work.
Well I admit, this is an intriguing discussion. So for example, I am inoculated against small pox so I can’t get the disease within reason. And how am I suppose to be affected by you not being inoculated? What difference should it make for me? With the exception that herd immunity is not achieved. But I’m not sure of this comparison is valid since breakthroughs have occurred with Covid-19 and not familiar with smallpox. So to take your position to the extreme, would you suggest that the Soylent Green people come and take anyone away and force inoculate them? Using this argument (hay, I’m no attorney and I shouldn’t be arguing with one, lol), because that’s where you are heading isn’t it?
Please don’t forget, after my friend told me she would never be vaccinated, I wrote a song to her trying to make her see reason.
An interesting story and you state your case well. We definitely should not follow in lock step with every position our "crew" proposes. I am also a "liberal". But I am very concerned with Federal debt. I think the defense spending that Democrats and Republicans rubber stamp is the very picture of corruption. I am very concerned about a central bank that is printing money without restraint (while laughably suggesting that inflation is temporary). I am a fiscal conservative (using that word in it's original context and historic meaning). But none of that stops me from being an advocate for universal human rights. Allowing for complex thinking in governance should be normalized. The world shouldn't be constructed of just two teams - red vs blue.
And I am OK if someone doesn't want to be vaccinated for political reasons - as long as they stay out of all public buildings, all private buildings to include gas stations, grocery stores, doctor's offices and hospitals. Find a cabin in the woods.
Or...show me the medical waver given by a qualified physician that says one's health would be compromised by a Covid vaccine and wear an N95 every time one leaves the house. That's the exception I would grant. If one's religion says don't vaxx, please find a new smarter faith. If one's politics teach to not vaxx, one has joined a political party participating in manslaughter.
This from a fiscally conservative social liberal who honors science and tries to think as a "we" instead of a "me". Nothing is simple. But common sense should be something we all have in common.
And btw, I should have joined The Federalist Society so they would have heard a different perspective. We too often feel only secure being in our own pods which aids in isolationism.
Two comments on today's newsletter:
-Following the 2010 census, the Republicans, led by Karl Rove, moved aggressively ahead with REDMAP, a plan to take over control of state houses and gerrymander Congressional districts in their favor. They were astonishingly successful. The Democrats had no such plan and no answer to Republican moves. We are doing better now, but we haven't yet matched the GOP's messianic zeal at the local and state levels.
-If there is any single person who subverted democracy more than Donald Trump, it is Mitch McConnell. His unconscionable tilting of the Supreme Court and his refusal to offer anything but obstruction to Democrats while enabling the most destructive Republican policies put him in the same league as others who infamously subverted the will of the people.
I agree with you Charles. As to McConnell, it is curious to me that he doesn't seem to care about how history will remember him. He is smart enough to know that history will not be written by people who will view his actions kindly. He must see what has happened to Storm Thurmond. But he apparently doesn't care--which suggests that he has no conscience, soul, or human empathy. I can't think of another explanation.
Sometimes I think that these right wing politicians feel so put upon by the intelligentsia and mainstream media that owning the libs is the way they assuage the hurt.
Ooooops. I sent you, Robert, the Ezra Klein piece before I read today's letter from you where you encourage all to read it. It is the missing piece We need to encourage the under fifty's to run for all local offices, to get on boards, to be active participants in local government. THAT is how we keep the voting fair, encourage voter registration, count the votes fairly. That is whre the takeover is happening before our eyes. Get local!
Good point. I should feature Amanda Litman. I met her in 2018, when we were both just starting our resistance efforts. Time to circle back.
Every day my spirits are lifted by the brilliant efforts of Robert Hubbell and his wife.
Regarding corporate contributions to members if the Sedition Caucus: the evil is corporate contributions, not corporate hypocrisy. These corporations were presumably contributing to further the interests of their stockholders and as long as the seditionists remain in office they will have a vote that can impact the donors. Don't expect much to change.
What we need is to reverse the Supreme Court's holding in Citizen's United. It took a corrupt system and supercharged it.
Robert Hubbel on Ezra Klein today: "Klein . . . says that being involved in politics is not doom-scrolling on Twitter and then complaining to family and friends about all the things you just read. Real political work is." I couldn't agree more. Now, if we can only get the liberal news media to stop doing the same damn thing! I keep yelling at the screen: "Why don't you give us ideas for what we can do instead of just dooming and glooming ???" You know, much as Robert and Jessica Craven and Judd and other folks are doing. Would this be against their principles as journalists? And these "Breaking News" chirons: how about "Breaking Opinions"?? There, I've vented. Now to write some postcards to register voters!
It is puzzling why the media has descended into a negativity death spiral in 2021. I believe it must be because negativity sells more soap than feel good stories--humans must be hardwired through evolutionary pressure to want to hear bad, maybe as a way to protect themselves against future threats. I also think that negativity in journalism is amplified by laziness. It is much easier to say that the shy is falling than to say that there are millions of people doing thousands of different things to stop the sky from falling. And, of course, as Fox News teaches us, their "news anchors" view themselves as entertainers, not journalists. So they feel no obligation to provide an accurate view of what is going on.
Inspired and inspiring! Just what I needed. Practical objective things to DO. Thanks so much!
Thank you Robert, especially for posting the clip of the last two minutes of your interview with Jason Borlin. Besides being urged to take action,l I was deeply inspired by his simple declaration: These are dark times. In dark times the Deep Ugly is being answered by a Deeper Beauty, and that is all of us! Reminds me of Godspell's version of St Matthew's message: "If you hide your light under a bushel, you're gonna miss something kind of crucial." That may be my most favorite rhyme of all musicals!