The United States was founded by a bunch of radicals promoting equality.

It was a progressive, revolutionary, ultimately earth-shattering notion, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This assertion, central to American Ideals and prominent in the Declaration of Independence, draws attention to the extent to which the American Founders were concerned with equality – the basic moral equality necessary for democratic governance. Since those first, radical, anti-Rome, anti-Crown, anti-hereditary nobility intellectuals (oh, yes, they were serious intellectuals) got together to assert the essential dignity of each and every property-holding man, the history of the United States has continued to be one of increasing equality.

United States Democracy – this experiment in honoring the dignity of each individual – has always been an ongoing, radical, progressive project.

At each turn, those Americans who believe in equality and common human dignity have met resistance from those who believe it is better to maintain stability, preserve traditional values, and honor the traditions that precede us. That was as true at the time of the revolution as it was during the Women’s Rights and Civil Rights movements. Permitting equal access to education for girls was a radical move – a step forward for human equality. When Rick Santorum speaks proudly of his mother’s story, he’s calling attention to a key moment in US History that saw further expansion of equality. 

This expansion of equality did not come without the state. Government was centrally involved as the institutionalized moral expression of a progressive populace advocating for change. The state provided equal access to public schools. Citizens campaigned for and saw the passage of the 19^th Amendment, to ensure women’s voting rights, in 1920.

When Bill Gates, one of our most successful business leaders, visits Saudi Arabia and suggests they cannot fully develop until they become seriously involved with women’s liberation, he’s making a statement about the progressive, rights-oriented values that are central to the American Experiment. He’s drawing attention to the extent to which conservative, often theocratic states undermine equality, undermine their economic potential, and ultimately – most important – fail to offer opportunities for each individual to reach his or her full human potential.   

Citizens reasonably disagree over how best to promote equality. That sort of implementation uncertainty does not concern me. Reasonable minds may disagree on means. What does concern me is the rhetoric that does not value our common historical trajectory that promotes the dignity and rights of each individual. Our disagreements these days are many, but several relate to whether our increasingly unequal economic system actually offers the kind of opportunities our narratives celebrate.

We want to be the land of opportunity. That’s a statement about equality too. Everyone should have a good, reasonable shot. Strong data, from a diverse set of sources and researchers, indicates wealth is far more important for educational experiences and opportunities for class mobility in American than it has been since at least before the Second World War (See articles in The Atlantic, citing CIA data; extensively researched and cited in Slate; or in a New York Times article that cites the data and the concern with this issue on the right). This is a problem worth addressing, and it should be addressed in light of the long-standing, historic, radical, progressive, continuous, and quintessentially American commitment to equality.

The US Government I Want, in One Picture

Dear Representatives: 

I still believe in a better America. I recognize our success have come through cooperation and collaboration. I feel our possibility and potential are too often drowned out in contemporary debate. So here's the America I stand for, in just a few lines, as part of my Open Letter that includes pragmatic policy examples demonstrating how this America is possible and restating why it's important (#1, #2). 

All of these desires are economically viable and numerous examples exist to back up that assertion. I'll continue to add those examples. Until then, back to work that pays the bills.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. 


Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

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Here's the text on the flag above with links to more explanation and resources: 

I want a government that values people more than profit.

I want a government that shows vision and leadership for a better future.

I want a government that protects the environment. 

I want a government strong enough to regulate business and ensure that capitalism is society's servant rather than its master. 

I want a government that will ensure all citizens have access to good education, health care, and strong work opportunities. 

I want representatives who understand nuance, democratic debate, and the valuable role government has played in US History.

Open Letter to My Representatives, Part 2: More and More Disposable Goods from Faraway Places is not American Excellence

It's long past time that our government leaders stopped telling us that working longer and longer hours for more and more disposable goods made in far away places is going to make us happy, improve our society, or build a better country. This is recognized on the right (Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher), on the left (Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Book and excellent short film) and by social commentators variously claimed by the left and right (Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community). 

What does government have to do with this? Two things: moral leadership and smart policies. Rightly or wrongly, our leaders have profound power to influence our sense of appropriate national behavior, whether that's by telling us to shop more after 9/11 or grow vegetables in our backyards during WWII. Someone in our government ought to have the courage to stand up and say what those left and right commentators linked above are saying: we should be more deliberate about how we live our lives and ensure our values better reflect family, friends, and community - rather than worshiping the pursuit of profit and stuff as the ultimate endgame and organizing ideal.

We know that happiness has stronger correlation with social interaction and economic security than it does with higher incomes and longer commutes (For a wonderful portrayal of this, see Buettner's Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest). Thanks to civic efforts in Albert Lea, Minnesota, we also know that these kinds of insights can be put into action through citizen and community choices to have more sidewalk space and connect education with contemporary health concerns. That's just the tip of the iceberg in respect to how government policy can affect our everyday experience of how much social interaction we're likely to have, whether we're sure the foods we're consuming are healthy, and what we believe the appropriate balance of saving, investment, work, and family is.

It's not that government should tell us exactly what to do. It is that government makes choices about what kind of incentives we all face and what sort of behaviors the policy environment encourages. This is illustrated all too well with the massive increase in American debt beginning with banking and finance industry deregulation in the 1980s. When banks and credit card companies are permitted to charge higher and higher interest, they become more and more unscrupulous in their efforts to encourage people to spend more than they have. When the government continuously says 'buy, buy, buy,' eases interests rates, and de-regulates multiple forms of lending, it should be no surprise that consumers buy buy buy - and sometimes, wrongly, unfortunately, and with some fault of their own too, they buy buy buy well beyond their means.

Government creates environments where behaviors are more or less likely. Leaders should encourage people to become their best selves. Our government has done a rotten job of encouraging people to live within their means, consider questions of value and meaning for themselves and their communities, and continue to chart a path toward a better future.

I believe in a better America.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. 


Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

Open Letter to My Representatives, Part 1: Basic Needs, Children, Human Dignity

Dear Representative:

We can’t have a democracy when citizens are so frustrated that they give up on politics. We can have a democracy when we agree to work together, when we set down civil rules of engagement, follow them fairly, and agree to work in good faith toward a common vision. I’m writing this letter to you in that good faith – because I feel that my values and the values I share with many friends and family members are often drowned out in the yelling, editorializing, and grandstanding that pass for debate today. I still believe in the possibility and potential of the United States of America, and until further notice these are the values I find most important in our democratic experiment. Yesterday, I provided an overview of the three values below, along with several additional commitments. 

I want to be clear: I’m not just complaining here – and I’m definitely not dreaming up hopelessly utopian possibilities. I’ll share what I believe, and also back up my ideas with strong data. Many of my values are expressed in today’s politics as contradictory or mutually exclusive. For example, I believe in business; I believe in capitalism; I believe in universal health care; I believe in protecting the environment. These are absolutely not contradictory positions, and I’ll explain why.  

I believe in the power of ensuring everyone has access to food, shelter, and basic health care.

These inputs - food, shelter, basic health care - affirm fundamental human dignity and provide a person with the foundation necessary to work and to work well. There are strong economic reasons for supporting each person's access to these basics. Better health care leads to better productivity on the job. The National Poverty Center estimates children raised in dire poverty cost the nation more than $500 billion in foregone earnings, poor health, and other challenges.

These children, who are born full of potential yet who in the study I link to above are connected to severe economic costs for our nation, most frequently live with parents who work hard and try to do well by them. But our current low minimum wages, high costs of health care, and high costs of childcare do not leave parents in a situation that allows them to look after their children well, which brings me to my next point.    

I believe that all parents should have time to raise their children, spend time with their loved ones, and see their children flourish as they grow into adults.

I'm not looking for miracles, what I am looking for is smart policy interventions and moral leadership. In terms of policy I'm talking about social programs that support adults' ability to find work that pays well enough to allow them to still have some time with their children. Related policy interventions, for example, include:

• affordable educational programs that allow adults to re-train as the economy shifts, so they can secure well-remunerated work; 
• once again, health care, so that adults actually can switch sectors or take entrepreneurial risks as the economy shifts; 
• increases in the minimum wage, which has consistently lost real value since the late 1970s. 

I know there are numerous critics of the minimum wage, who suggest that increases in the minimum are bad for the economy. If that were definitively true, however, we would see the worst state economies in the United States in Washington and Oregon, which have the first and second highest minimums in the US. We do not, of course, see that. Furthermore, our collective reluctance to invest seriously in worker re-training programs coupled with avoidance of good remuneration for American workers willing to develop new skills has led to a situation in which over 25 percent of US imports come from nations with higher wages and living standards than our own (See Schwartz, The Future of Democratic Equality, p117, working there primarily with data from Eamonn Fingleton, "Unsustainable," in The American Prospect).

If the plain facts of Washington and Oregon's economies don't clarify the value of the minimum wage; if getting more than 25 percent of our imports from nations with higher wages and living standards doesn't demonstrate the importance of good training programs and health care to promote mobility across sectors; and if the data on the economic value of health care and getting children out of poverty is not persuasive for you, then I default to what really drives my beliefs mentioned above: I believe in fundamental human dignity and equal moral worth.  

That is, I agree with the sentiment expressed variously by Churchill, Truman, Pope John Paul II, and many others but seemingly originating in Matthew 25:41-46. A society will be judged by how it treats its members who are facing the greatest challenges. Are we helping those who are hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter, imprisoned, or sick? Supporting every individual's right to flourish through education and meeting basic needs happens to make boatloads of economic sense, but fortunately for us - and more importantly - it is also the right thing to do.

For today, this is all I have time to share. Like many Americans, I juggle a few work and family commitments, but we all have civic commitments too - and I'm trying to meet mine. I'll continue this letter this week. For now, when you vote, when you face lobbyists, when you write laws, please remember that not all of us are in the room. And many, many, many Americans do strongly support  efforts to meet basic needs, move wages high enough to allow parents to support and spend time with children, and make other policy choices that reflect a thorough commitment to common human dignity.

Thank you for your time. In the days that come I'll expand on the value of moral leadership; why our principles of democratic government are better than China's; the value of business, capitalism, government, and nuance; environmental protections, and the valuable experiment in appreciating diversity that is the United States. Again, thanks for taking the time to hear my perspective. If you have any response, I'd love to read and/or share it.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

Open Letter to My Representatives: Overview, Building a Better America

Dear Representatives: 

I still believe in the possibility and potential of the United States of America. These are the values I find most important in our democratic experiment.

I believe in ensuring everyone has access to work, education, food, shelter, and basic health care.

I believe that all parents should have time to raise their children, spend time with their loved ones, and see their children flourish as they grow into adults.

I believe in fundamental human dignity and equal moral worth. 

I believe in our principles of government – because in principle each individual is to have a voice.

I believe our leaders ought to provide vision and moral leadership. 

I believe in business and capitalism - and I believe they should be leveraged to serve society's broader interests.

I believe in protecting the environment. 

I believe in the importance, legitimacy, and profound value in a professionalized armed forces – and I believe we should use them far less frequently.

I believe in acceptance, diversity, learning from others, and humility.

I believe in government.

I believe in progressive taxation. The more I play, the more I pay.

I believe we sink or swim together.

I believe in nuance.

I believe you can do better. I believe we can all do better.

This list results from me sitting down Sunday morning to accomplish something I've wanted to do for years: write a standing letter to my government representatives, so that they know the values that matter to me (and so many of my friends and neighbors) - values that are often lost in the yelling and diatribes that pass for debate in the United States. Six hours later, I found myself still writing.

One of the challenges with our current political standstill seems to be that we want everything delivered in tidy, concise, neat packages. Yet our country, our communities, and the globalized world we live in are complex, complicated, and continuously evolving places. We have values that are sometimes contradictory, even if they are ultimately compatible. It takes time to explain and to understand, but we don't typically allow for that.

I have stated the values I want to share, but I'm also going to embrace this complexity - and deliver the letter in phases. I'll expand on each of these values commitments in the days that follow (#1, #2, #3), and use hard data and clear examples to demonstrate how these commitments are not Utopian thinking, but clearly pragmatic and possible. Thanks for reading and please let me know if there are things you'd like to add! We'll discuss it. This IS going to my representatives!

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so!

You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience.

Happy Thanksgiving, America!

Conservative, liberal, occupier, tea partier – it’s time to take a break and be thankful. I wrote the editorial below two years ago from Bolivia, before our politics reached their current impasse. I believe the main thesis still holds. That is, despite the historical inaccuracies and current political debates, Thanksgiving’s function of getting us to pause and consider the things for which we should be thankful – is extremely important. I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my health, and the rights that came along with the place I was born. Here’s the original Post-Gazette editorial, reprinted in its entirety. 

If you agree with the sentiments below, please forward and re-post. If you have additional sentiments you'd like to add, please do so in the comments section below. Thanks for reading and commenting.   

American blessings: Thank you for democracy, diversity, safe water and pancakes

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- A friend from Singapore once told me that if he ever got the chance to visit the United States he wanted to have an American breakfast at a truck stop at 4 a.m. He managed to gather into one wish unique aspects of American life -- waffles for breakfast, work around the clock (where else are there so many 24-hour truck stops and diners?) and wide-open spaces.
As I celebrate Thanksgiving this year with a group of American students and their host families in Bolivia, I'm taking a moment to consider what we all should be thankful for in the United States of America.

Water

The vast majority of Americans can drink tap water in their homes. This is a daily miracle. Nearly one billion people around the world (that's more than three times the U.S. population) do not have access to safe water. And most people who do have safe water do not have it flowing into their homes.

Public education

The effort to provide high-quality public education is nearly as old as the country, although not everyone has benefited equally from a system that remains subject to continuous debate. And it should provoke argument -- education can make or break a country. Still, the message is clear: Countries that invest in their people flourish economically and are more likely to support democracy and respect individual freedoms.

Work ethic

People work hard just about everywhere. My first impression of Africa was that everyone was moving crops, hauling water, selling, buying or otherwise exerting themselves. But our culture values work to the point that we've produced an entire genre of self-help literature aimed at curing workaholism. Hard work yields dividends; see "Contemporary China."

Democracy

Our system of government protects individual rights, checks government power and encourages fair play. James Madison addressed the issue in "The Federalist Papers": "If men were angels, no government would be necessary ..." We've enabled human freedoms to the fullest extent possible while acknowledging human limitations. I see too much corruption in my work around the world. It's helpful to remember that good behavior is built with institutional effort over time. We need reminders of this from time to time, too, as money does infect our politics and abuses regularly crop up in the private sector. See "Financial Crisis."

Open spaces

Stop reading. Go west. Breathe in Dwight D. Eisenhower's unique achievement -- the American interstate system. Zip past fields of sunflowers in Kansas. Grab a six-pack and hang out with rural Nebraska kids as they float up and down on the backs of oil pumpjacks, drinking and talking about eight-man-football as the sun drops below the plains. Then, somewhere in the soaring Rockies, throw a tent and sleeping bags into the back of a pickup and drive a full day over dirt roads deep into one of our national forests to camp.

Diversity

America has created an imperfect but highly accomplished multicultural democracy to an extent unmatched elsewhere and unparalleled in history. This is a beautiful thing. Strong societies are adept at incorporating and adapting ideas from other cultures. America becomes more diverse and therefore more dynamic every single day.

Volunteer military

The United States military is the strongest ever known. One reason is that our service men and women enlist voluntarily. War is horrible, profoundly complicated and, as it should be, often controversial. But never should we fail to honor the men and women who volunteer to keep us safe and serve at the direction of our elected officials.

Pancakes, etc.

For a country so rich in history, we're poor in unique culinary traditions. But sweet, syrup-topped, simple and affordable pancakes and waffles -- these are ours. Burgers made with ground beef, which for some inexplicable reason are hard to recreate elsewhere, are American magic. And, of course, in multicultural America one can find fine foods and culinary traditions from almost any corner of the world, anytime.

Philanthropy

The governments of other developed countries spend a greater portion of their budgets on social welfare at home and abroad. But Americans give from their own pockets in a way that is unmatched elsewhere. Individual involvement has led to the creation of thousands of small and mid-size nonprofit organizations like the one I direct. While smallish organizations cannot address all issues for everyone, they can be responsive to the real lives and concerns of the people they serve.

Ideals

American ideals are tied up with the notion that we always can do better. We continue to build a better society. We work to redress the excesses of past generations. Now, for instance, we seek to make our society more environmentally sustainable. We continue to work toward expanding individual human freedoms in our own country and around the world.

For these things and much more, we Americans should be profoundly thankful. Throughout history, few peoples have had the opportunity to experience long lives. Few peoples have had the opportunity to debate the pros and cons of their would-be leaders in advance of free and fair elections. Few peoples have been able to hop on a motorcycle and cruise across a continent on well-manicured roads, stopping at truck stops at any hour of the day or night to find good food and fast service.

I am thankful to be an American in the world today. We have a lot of problems. We have a lot of disagreements. We create injustices. We mess up and fail.

But on Thanksgiving Day, pause. Be thankful for the broad contours of this American reality. Tomorrow we can get back to work.

It's not class warfare. It's not laziness. It's math. @occupywallst

The claim: I work hard and can afford college by living modestly (with some scholarship). I am therefore completely debt-free. Is it possible?

A Facebook friend recently posted this photo, sharing the story of what seems to be an inspiring young person pulling him or herself up by the bootstraps, doing it the old-fashioned American way through true grit and hard work.

Let's see if this story is possible in Pennsylvania. Let's see if it's possible at my alma matter, the relatively affordable state school: Lock Haven University.

The numbers:

This person proclaims that she works hard for slightly more than minimum wage. I'm going to put her at 25 cents above minimum wage, at $7.50 an hour (min wage is $7.25). I'll assume she is the kick ass hard worker she says she is, so I have her working 52 weeks of the year. She takes no vacation, no time for Christmas or other holidays, and never gets sick. She makes ($7.50 times 30 hours times 52 weeks) $11,700 per year.

She says she attends an affordable state institution, and she's an in-state resident. Hopefully she's lucky enough to live in a state with a good public system that has lots of options and she can get the major she's looking for. In Pennsylvania, she's likely to find what she needs. She also says, unlike most state institution students, she has scholarships that cover 90% of her tuition. That makes her a special person indeed. It's not average middle class or the common American experience, but it happens. If she only paid 10% of Lock Haven University's tuition ($6,240), she would pay
$624 per year.

Her additional costs would add up quickly:

$4,800 annually for rent, assuming the affordable apartment she asserts she has ($400 monthly)
$1,999 annually for fees, which is the amount of fees at LHU currently. Many scholarships do not cover fees.
$2,896 for the campus meal plan. Maybe she doesn't do this, because campus meal plans tend to be more expensive. My wife feels like she could eat cheaply for only $30 a week, if she had to, which would be $120 a month, and
$1,440 per year for a careful, apartment-based meal plan. Scratch the campus meal plan, this student doesn't need to eat with her friends, and she has the time to shop well and prepare meals on her own. She's just dropped her costs by $1,456. Good for her.
$480 for a phone, based on $40 per month over 12 months.
$360 for electricity, based on $30 per month over 12 months.
$240 for water, at $20 a month for the year.
$600 for books and school supplies. This means she's not pre-med (their books tend to be more expensive), but we already knew that because she's working so much she clearly does not have the time to study for Organic Chemistry.
$200 on a computer and software. This assumes she's sharing computer costs over more than one year.
$850 on health insurance, based on a suggested average cost of $850 for yearly premiums for college students. Maybe she's on her parent's plan and they paid for this without her realizing it was a cost. But if she is the independent, hard-scrabble student she's advertising, then hopefully she has this average premium, rather than the much higher annual premiums that some students face. Her total up to this point comes to 
$11,593 - with no car, no gas costs, no entertainment, and not a single drink, she made it through with $107 to spare.  

That's OK. She said she's been working since she's 17, so she saved up. Maybe she took a year or two off after high school too (to save more), because we still haven't included

• internet ($480 @ 40 / month)
• cable ($360 @ 30 / month)
• entertainment (???)
• any meals out (she said she does not eat meals out, at all) (???)
• car costs (most state institutions are in rural areas, where driving to work is a must) Let's assume the car is paid off. 
• car insurance ($600 annually, well below average cost of PA car insurance)    
• gas ($360 @ 30 / month) - we're assuming a short commute, no frivolous trips, and a fuel-efficient (free) car 
• these costs that weren't included total $1,800 more per year, or $7,200 more over a four-year college career, and we still haven't included entertainment, any meals out, or any car costs. 

With some amazing conditions (free car, free health insurance, very understanding friends who don't mind that you never join them out), and a willingness to go for four years without ever buying your loved ones a birthday present or gift during the holidays, this might possibly work. But that's not the average middle class experience. 

If the middle class is going to get a fair shake, a chance at being able to afford life in the United States in the 21st Century, and an opportunity to be on a level competitive playing ground with the rest of the world, we need more government support for education, higher education, and health care. If we simply return to the tax rates of the 1950s (when the top marginal tax rate was 90%), we'll be a lot closer to being able to making that happen. But it doesn't happen by pretending that anybody can afford higher education with some hard work and careful budgeting. Do the math. 

Remember, this person goes to school and works 30 hours a week every single week of the year, with no exceptions. And she doesn't even stop to have one little drink. That's not part of her budget. Since when does middle America not to get to sip a beer at the end of a long day? 

What 'the 99%' is asking for is just a fair share of the wealth - like back in the booming 50s, when corporations and politicians recognized that American wealth is built on the backs of American workers. 

If you agree, re-post, re-tweet, or repeat, please. Spread the word. If you disagree, please let me know why and how. 

"For the Poor and Beaten-Down" Johnny Cash, Man in Black ... and US Income Inequality Rises

It's obviously still a very important song, particularly as US income inequality is higher than it's been for generations. For more, check out this article I'm taking an excerpt from below.

"The U.S., in purple with a Gini coefficient of 0.450, ranks near the extreme end of the inequality scale. Looking for the other countries marked in purple gives you a quick sense of countries with comparable income inequality, and it's an unflattering list: Cameroon, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador. A number are currently embroiled in or just emerging from deeply destabilizing conflicts, some of them linked to income inequality: Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Serbia."

Student-Generated Film: Right to be an American

Many have commented on immigration policy, few have viewed it through the lens of the children involved. This brief documentary, completed by a former student's sister, does just that. The 12-minute take is part of Project VoiceScape, a PBS initiative to hear and raise the voices of teen filmmakers around the US. If you like the film, please vote for it!

Working Man (me), Union Man (Joe Hill), Singing for a Sweeter Tomorrow

I'm doing my best to learn whatever insights experience in the private sector might lend to my commitments in the public and university sectors, and it sure is taking way too much time! I generally don't have the time to read, to post, to think, and (unfortunately), to do the good works that I feel are 1000% necessary for good clean livin'. I'm working on this situation. In the meantime, a really interesting article on the Union Organizer Joe Hill, and the song dedicated to him by Joan Baez:

MLK Monument Mess

The Washington Post and The New York Times have picked up on the incredible mismatch between the man who stood for social justice and the monument attempting to honor him. First, there's the incorrect quotation fully explained by a Post editor.

And then there's the far more important crisis involving the de-politicization of a radical social justice revolutionary into everyone's favorite preacher who just wanted black girls and white girls to be able to play together. In the NYT, "Dr. King Weeps from His Grave," Cornell West points out that King stood squarely against militarism, materialism, racism, and poverty.

These crises are still with us. They're with us in our ongoing warfare and our constant pursuit of disposable stuff at the expense of time spent deliberately. They're with us in the form of whole sections of cities forgotten to urban decay, broken schools, and decrepit infrastructure. We are surrounded by abundance, but acting scared and slashing important services that communicate that, yes, poor children have dignity too. They deserve schools that educate. They deserve opportunities and access. They deserve as much as any child.

West has a sense of what King might do, and it points to our responsibilities too: King’s response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.

The Emerging Global Elite, Protests, Riots, Martinis, Taxes, and American Patriotism

Middle class riots all over the place, from Athens to Israel and with The Tea Party anti-establishment ascendant over here on the Atlantic's West Side. The people are running a muck with rage. Thomas Friedman explains it away with the suggestion that,

• "Across the world, a lot of middle- and lower-middle-class people now feel that the “future” is out of their grasp, and they are letting their leaders know it." The future is increasingly out of reach, as once safe national middle class communities drop farther and farther behind 
• "The Rise of the New Global Elite,"  a phenomenon Chrystia Freeland traced expertly in a January Atlantic Monthly article. The new growing, global elite is characterized by unprecedented wealth and decreasing connections to country and nation, which is very well illustrated by the rising costs of living high on the hog in Brazil, 
• where martinis are topping $35 and apartments are hitting $10,000 a month in the most coveted parts of Rio, this in large part because those with extraordinary wealth are free to flee and relocate wherever they wish, which makes one wonder why a fat cat as cool and plump as the old Oracle of Omaha would ever be so bold as to propose
• Higher taxes on himself and his friends. He must be some kind of patriot or something, caring for education and health care and basic infrastructure for his fellow countrymen and women.   
• If Americans wish to compete, to excel, to continue to do well and lead across sectors and disciplines, or even simply to remain respectable and not lose ground, we need to get serious about taxes. The global elite leaves. Our schools are here. Our middle class is here. There's no free lunch. To win, play the game. To play the game, educate the next generation. 
• That's just to get started. I have to go to work tomorrow. 

#4: Why I Hate John Mayer's Social Justice Attempt

Apparently some people find Mayer’s song inspiring, and it has even made it on to some otherwise great political / social justice song sites. But “Waiting, waiting on the world to change,” as the song goes is about as anathema to good work, democracy, progress, rights, hope, and the improvement of the human condition as one can get. This blog title – Journey toward Justice – is no joke. It’s a journey: improving rights and lengthening life expectancies is the product of human cooperation, collaboration, and effort (not waiting, fool). 

That effort takes many forms, and musicians have a role. Mayer could take cues from Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, the bizillion artists who have given voice to We Shall Overcome, or currently from Angelique Kidjo and Wil.i.am (immediately below), as well as from scores and legions of others. But instead Mayer is waiting – and beyond that he’s whining: “We see everything that's going wrong / with the world and those who lead it / We just feel like we don't have the means / To rise above and beat it.”

What? You can’t make a difference? You’re famous, fool. You can move mountains. My friends can manage to make the world change for whole villages. And we’re just average Joes. It’s true that sometimes celebrities’ attempts at good works are un- or under-informed -- but study-up. Often enough celebrities behave as serious and smart people with clear commitment to specific issues that they learn a great deal about. Excellent examples include George Clooney, Bono, Mariska Hargitay, and Matt Damon, who has been a driving force on water issues through the nonprofit organization Water.org.      

Interestingly, in Mayer’s video the waiting involves spray-painting as consciousness-raising (and at the end, just to be sure you know neither Mayer nor his boys are radicals, there’s a message indicating that all spray painting was completed on private property with permission). Now I’m waiting for Mayer to do something interesting. Here’s the thing: I deeply respect, value, and appreciate the role of musicians and other artists in consciousness-raising. Mayer sings (and then even paints!) so close to this idea, but the message we get is just wait. Just wait is blasphemy to the good citizens of the world who fancy themselves as working in the tradition of fundamental human freedoms, democracy, and universal rights.

At least other artists dreaming after an as-yet-unimagined tomorrow paint us some kind of picture, like Cat Stevens’ (now Yusuf) Peace Train (which he did a sweet rendition of for Muhammed Yunis’ Nobel Peace Prize Award) and Billy Bragg’s Waiting for a New World Order. (By the way all of you out there who think “social justice” or “activist musician” is precisely equal to “totalitarian commie,” listen to the equal abuse Bragg hands out to the far ends of the political spectrum).

Of course it’s not surprising that Mayer’s song suggests what it does. We seem to have been struck (in the United States and many other places around the world) with an irrational and unfounded assumption that somehow the miracles we see all around us (basic human security, individual rights and respect for diversity across cultures and genders, 300 million people getting along pretty well across a whole continent, water when you turn on the faucet, public education) are not the product of cooperation, collaboration, and individual sacrifice for purposes that are bigger than ourselves: purposes like improving the human condition.

To bring this closer to home(s), Pennsylvania and Arizona are advancing massive cuts in education budgets. I know there are strong contingents emerging and organizing in Pennsylvania to put pressure on the state government to continue its investment in our shared futures by better funding education. Some students, for example, recently put together this video:

That’s what strong democratic (small d) states do: invest in their citizens’ human capital and tax them at reasonable rates later to continue to pay for the ongoing investment in the future. In Arizona I have students telling me that they’re going to have to pay more for college  and that their four-years of funding doesn’t match the five-years of schooling they’ll need with the planned schedule cuts and lack of class availability, but there’s no strong organizing. Perhaps they’re waiting, waiting for the market to take over their lives more completely.

Wherever you are, speak up for education. It’s something many generations of Americans have taken for granted. And it only exists if Americans work together to make it happen.

Beyond the explicit political sphere is the strong nonprofit and volunteerism sector – and the place I was really referencing above when I asserted what my friends could do. This is why the water walk is so phenomenally important. We’re not waiting for the world to change. We’re making it happen, in clear and considered cooperation with community organizations half-way around the world. These small efforts: organizing, cooperating across cultures, people donating, people walking – extend lives and give women and children a chance to get an education or work rather than constantly returning to the daily drudgery of gathering water.

Register and walk this weekend. If you can’t, donate. Don’t wait. Change the world for families in rural Tanzania, right now.    

Really. Donate. Just $25. It’s a world-changer.  

OK, thank you for reading. Now I must admit: I’m flummoxed, flabbergasted, confused and maybe just a little bit maligned – I keep hearing from people via individual emails, etc., about the blog but I have no comments and few followers and I would absolutely love more of either. I’d love to hear your song suggestions that have yet to make the list. (Tomorrow we will have the Best Social Justice Song Ever, in celebration of Amizade’s Water Walk, but in the days that follow I’ll continue to post enough to follow the due course of this fun little exercise in social justice song). I also remain generally curious about your thoughts, feedback, etc. OR, OR, OR – tell me how much you really love John Mayer and why he’s amazing, or re-post, re-tweet, and share how your share my considerable consternation with the whole unacceptable notion of “Waiting, waiting on the world to change…”  

Social Justice Songs: Springsteen

Born in the USA and This Land is Your Land just begin to indicate Springsteen's talent and considerable commitment to expressing social issues and working class challenges through his music.

With more time or on another day, we'll do much more with The Boss.

Gearing Up for the Amizade Water Walk: Social Justice Songs that Inspire

After listening to some upbeat and soul-full bluegrass from Old Crow Medicine Show, don't forget to register for the walk or learn more about Amizade's crucial work with water in Africa here. Any other social justice favorites?