Since I haven’t been around BT much since I first signed up in March, there are many BTers that I haven’t met. The Welcome Wagon diaries will help me catch up on all of you. In the meantime, I’d like to expand our knowledge of each other by asking about your main political interests.
more…
I’ll begin. In a nutshell, my main concern is injustice, specifically human rights issues and more narrowly – poverty. In fact, I’ve had a book about poverty on the back burner for quite some time now, but will soon be launching a blog where I’ll be asking for some help in gathering information. I will also post a series of diaries here at BT to share my ideas and ask for input. The book will have two sections: the first will deal with personal coping strategies and the second will deal with the practical.
My life background is the catalyst for my interest in poverty. As a single parent of one child, who is now 27, I ran into many roadblocks along the way. I also worked in the addictions field as a supervisor and addictions counselor in a homeless shelter/non-medical detox facility. I’ve lobbied my provincial government and the media many times and managed to win a human rights complaint a few years ago that caused a change to a policy that was blatantly discriminatory towards the poor. (The government had been deducting $5/day from welfare cheques for those in the hospital, claiming it was a recovery of the cost of food. Health care is free here in Canada, so this was clearly a violation of human rights).
As a result of my advocacy and personal interest, I’ve gathered a wealth of knowledge about the system and the resources available. According to North American financial standards, I am currently poor since I live on a paltry government disability pension and am not able to work due to my illnesses. Through the years, I have learned how to cope, mentally, emotionally and in a practical sense, through the help of therapy, personal support, reading, learning, and my new found Buddhist beliefs. I don’t, however, have any sort of religious agenda in writing my book. It will focus on principles such as compassion, humility, living in each moment and so on – common sense values that everyone can understand.
One more thing, my book isn’t about making money. I’ll give it away if I have to and I’ll propose that agencies perhaps pay a certain amount for bulk orders. I haven’t worked out all of the details yet. The most important thing is to get it done. Once I’m feeling a bit better, I’ll be devoting a lot of time to the project.
Now, I would include a poll here to find out what your interests are, but I’ve found that many people have several areas of concern and activism and that poll choices are quite limiting. I look forward to knowing more about where you are all coming from and learning about your passions.
Have at it!
The SCOTUS…everything else can change or be fixed when we regain power.(although it will take forever to fix Iraq,not to mention our reputation). 2nd would be Nuclear Wars. Also…Loosing our Freedom (With Bush around Freedom in the USA is Marching it’s way right out of our country.) Hope you’re feeling better Catnip..Running out now..I will check back later.
I gotta go with losing freedoms for all people. This what scares me most
The times we live in are really incredible. I suppose that’s why so many live in denial of their rights being stripped away. To face reality is just too painful.
Thanks, Chamonix. I’m still in severe kidney pain, but I found out that I’m going for an IVP test at 8 am, Thursday morning. That’s a relief because I didn’t know how long the wait would be. The downside is that I can’t have anything but water starting tomorrow at noon. Youch. I think I’ll be having one huge honking breakfast tomorrow morning! 🙂
Somewhat selfishly, my main concerns right now are the dangerous foreign policy of this administration and the possibility that we will be endlessly entangled, militarily, in the middle east for many years to come….and I have 3 draft age sons.
On a broader scale, I am really troubled by the highly stratified class structure we have here in the US…and as a result how the rich get good health care, good schools etc., while the poor just stay stuck where they are with seemingly no escape. I grew up poor. I raised my children poor. No health care…forget about dental care. Now we are much better off but only because I remarried a man who made a good living. It wasn’t because of anything I was able to do to pull us out of poverty.
The fact that we have a nation where wealthy families just keep passing it on down without paying their fair share really pisses me off.
would be at the top of my list, followed by Native American rights. The only way to see those two issues achieve some measure of success is for Progressives to win elections, select judges that don’t have a NeoCon agenda and bring some form of democratically elected officials back into our government.
My top priorty is to help get as many Progressives elected in as many elections as I can, doing whatever I can, when I can. Kansas is not noted for its current progressive climate, but there are significant pockets of resistance to Brownshirt and his fascist buddies that we can help make a difference even if only on the local level.
Poverty was the way of life in my family, 1960’s, my mother raised 4 children after leaving my father, on 60 dollars a week, paying rent, utilities, food and gas to get to work, I hate bean soup. lol She did the best she could with what she had to work with and I am forever grateful that she did not just place us in an orphanage and walk away. I would like to thank the US government for the Peanut butter, butter and beans that was so generously given to my family, when we were nearly starving to death. I weighed less than 100 lbs until I was 16 yrs old. My mother found a better job and we lived like kings. We ate three times a day and I don’t remember being hungry after that time.
Like you catnip, I worked in alcohol/drug counseling, with homeless men and women and helped many access the few shelters and treatment programs that are available. I continue to advocate for those who are less fortunate than myself and will do everything in my power to make sure Samuel Brownshirt Brownback does not ascend to the throne, err the Presidency, as he is IMHO, worse than Bushco and twice as ugly. Just one Liberal’s Opinion
Aboriginal rights have been front and center for a long time in Canada, although I can’t say that much progress has been made. At least the debate is very public. It seems to me that it really flies below the radar in the US. I’ve never seen much coverage on the American news channels that I receive. Is anyone listening or really pushing for reform down there?
My first priority is to stop the slaughter in Iraq. I was never confident that our protests made any difference during Vietnam but: “The key factor in his decision not to drop an atomic bomb on North Vietnam was that ‘after all the protests and the Moratorium, American public opinion would be seriously divided by any military escalation of the war’. Mobilised public opinion averted the world’s second nuclear war.” http://www.jv.org/Other_aw_documents/demonstrating.htm
And then we need to protect the supreme court, but to do that we need to elect progressives, but to do that we need to ensure that everyone who is eligible can vote and that every vote is counted….. we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Oops, lost a couple of letters somehow. http://www.j-n-v.org/Other_aw_documents/demonstrating.htm
Where are the anti-war protests? If the majority of Americans now believe it was a mistake to go into Iraq, why aren’t we filling the streets and demanding an exit strategy? my kids and I went to a protest last fall that drew about 50 people, and passersby looked at us like we were quaint, or worse, idiots.
What is it going to take for the average American to care? A draft? Thousands more soldiers dead? Nightly graphic footage of the carnage on both sides?
I guess I just answered my own question. The average American doesn’t care because it doesn’t affect them. They don’t know anyone who is putting his/her ass on the line fighting in this hell-on-earth. They’re not contributing to a war fund, or going to work in factories making tanks or war planes. This is why it is vital that the media cover this war honestly and ask the tough questions and show the gruesome pictures. And they’re not doing it.
I was hoping the Downing Street Memo (minutes) would be enough to get people pissed off enough to protest, but again with little media coverage I’m not sure anybody gets it. So I’m hoping for a draft.
is me frantically packing up our house and moving to Canada….to Catnip’s house.
You’re right, a draft would get everyone’s attention. And no free passes for rich kids this time. Or girls.
You would see mothers everywhere metaphorically lying down in front of tanks.
Hope my draft comment didn’t sound callous. My son is already in the ANG. He just switched units, his old unit is back in Afghanistan.
Not callous. I have mixed feelings about a draft. With 3 draft-age boys (and a girl, as well) it is my biggest fear.
But just the utterance of the possibility of a draft might be just what this “don’t care as long as someone else’s kid goes” country needs to get off it’s collective ass.
Oh Catnip….I only live in the South, I hate grits. It’s one of those things that instantly distinguishes me as a “yankee”…when I order hash browns instead of grits.
However, if you put me and my boys up I’ll bring whatever you want!
My place is really small, but I’d put up a kid or two for some American Spirit smokes – oh, my god do I miss them…
Where are the anti-war protests? If the majority of Americans now believe it was a mistake to go into Iraq, why aren’t we filling the streets and demanding an exit strategy?
Oh, well, you know I do think that going to war in Iraq was a mistake, knowing what we know now, but really, dear, no one is perfect, and I’m sure our President meant well when he started that war. And after all, Saddam was a bad man, no one can deny that.
Besides, dear, protests are for hippies, and no respectable person would be associated with that.
Now, what about that new reality show, the ones where those funny folks try to get fired? Is that on tonight? I think I might just go and make myself some popcorn!
unfortunately…
Yep.
A favorite argument I hear is “Well, we would’ve had to deal with him SOMETIME. Sanctions were working too slowly and do you think he would’ve just up and left quietly?”
That’s so true it hurts.
Civil liberties / human rights
This political concern at it’s core for me is based on many things…
(1) abused children: I grew up as one and know the damage that can be done if not stopped or healed.
(2) human rights = equal rights: Regardless of anything we are all human beings. Straight or gay, white or of color, male or female, religious or athiest…if we are not treated with human dignity we all lose.
(3) freedom / civil liberties: ‘An it harm none, do as you will’ is the Pagan philosophy that defines civil liberties for me. Be a corporate mogul, be a poet, be laid back on the beach, or whatever you choose to be…as long as no one is harmed by the actions. The rights of privacy and free speech and………
There are so many ways that politics impacts each of these – SCOTUS, anti-abortion legislation, reproductive rights, victims rights laws…each is battle to be fought and remain vigilant in maintaining the freedoms we have gained or need to reach.
What many people don’t seem to understand is that greater rights bring more healing and a more cohesive society. The denial of those rights causes continual conflict and disorder.
And specifically, access to BC Pills/ Morning After Pills, and Pills for Rapekits.
Common sense, right? What rational, logical reason can there be to deny reproductive rights and freedoms? Especially in what is supposed to be a secular government environment?
Environment
Propaganda, freedom of the press, truth in reporting, reporters
War
Social Justice
Support for the Arts
Without clean air and water, we won’t survive;
without freedom of the press we won’t be able to keep track of governments and politicicans who
wage war and conduct illegal invasions for political purposes;
without social justice we will not have civilization;
without the arts we will not have culture: music, poetry, literature, theatre, film, painting, sculpture and life will be dull.
My Sean Penn Diary
My Bob Dylan Diary
I know what my daughter’s are:
The Environment & Stopping the murdering of children in any land.
Mine:
I can’t focus on just one or a few. If I had a candy bar to my head I’d go with:
#Stopping this Administration and all they entail and support which is mostly human rights, liberties and freedoms. And Stopping this fucked up war and death of our own Country and… planet…
#Environment (global warming & the rewarding polluters)
#Investigate the Pharmacuetical Companies for fraud, death and crimes against humanity. (ever wonder why Bush is protecting Merck with a little slip in the Patriot Act? – it’s called mercury poisoning/autism) -and because now they are imprisoning patients who try alternative methods such as marijuana. Most I know do so because they can’t afford their prescriptions or don’t have insurance.
Gawd… I hate this Administration and what it’s doing to our bodies, our planet, our children and our freedom.
I know this isn’t a “nutshell” but as close to it as I can get today 🙂
Yeah, what damnit janet said. . .she’s not only an exceptional bartender, she spoke all of my concerns better than I could.
Go girl!
(And when are we going to get the fuckwad democratic posers out of our Senate and House of Representatives… geeze these spineless betraying sob’s are as bad as the Repugs, worse in some ways cause they won’t stand up for anything!) sorry. . .just a little ranty today.
I might be able to speak em, but I sure can’t type em, huh? 🙂
“fuckwad” that’s one of my favorite bad words not to say around the kids when the news is on.
Viet Nam Redux. From the first momemt of Bush’s invasion my gut feeling was “not again.” I’ve worked in Human Services as well, often with TBI cases. There was an article not long ago in our local paper (a paper which endorsed Bush paradoxically) written by a trauma surgeon in Iraq. He stated that he had NEVER seen such horrific brain and other catastrophic injuries in all his years of practice. The thought that Bush doesn’t give a damn makes me ill.
My main political concern is peace. That’s it.
Pax
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. – Matthew 5:9
First priority is social justice worldwide. Besides the obvious gender, GLBT and minority group concerns, I’d also rank social justice for the poor as an area of social justice that needs a lot more attention.
Second priority is the environment which, unfortunately, seems to have slipped off of most people’s radar.
But we are fighting for freedom of speech so that we can fight for the environment.
We are still fighting for this small blue planet…but if the war doesn’t make the front page news, why would a polluted river? Each time I drive by the ‘fire reduction logging areas’ in Northern California I want to scream and rage….but they don’t listen. It’s Federal land….
More money to the Arbor Day Foundation…. http://www.arborday.org/
I’m particularly fond of the Nature Conservancy. They are the champs of making successful incremental change. I especially like that you can support them both nationally and at a state and even local level.
I like their site…
Will do some reading and maybe switch since it seems they do more.
Thanks for the info.
Great diary, catnip.
My major concerns are social, economic and environmental justice. I can fit most everything under those hats.
I’m very interested in anti bigotry, whether it’s to do with race, sexual orientation, gender, or whatever.
I am not religious but freedom of religion, as well as freedom of the press, are also two of my issues. I think the christianist right really hates freedom of religion, and so are assiduously working on removing it. At least, that’s all I can figure out from their actions of trying to get rid of the separation of church and state.
And hmmm… oh. Probably my main concern is to help bring about a deep rooted change at local levels, making progressivism feel like the default stance for most people. I’m fully aware that this will take decades, but one has to start somewhere.
Mine is the nuts and bolts of regime change – wide view. Knowing the Democratic party retains a numerical majority, but an electoral minority means working for the next two years on convincing 3% of the voting public to switch.
Progressive people will sort out the specific agenda, hopefully by this fall, and move forward to take our country back. But I believe that success or failure will depend almost entirely on our ability to build a network of people capable of communicating at ‘net speed. Which in turn means creating an “access point”/”router”.
Weird that the party spent a ton of money on new tech that remains unused in D.C. [Diaried here]. Writing is marginal, but points are valid, I think. The point is the tools have been available to get the message out for two years now. The question is why haven’t they been used?
Did I mention part of the problem is the party itself?
I’ve was originally optimistic about the challenges we face given how much easier it is to share information using the internet than it was printing out flyers on mimeograph machines, but then I realized that on the internet we are talking to ourselves. When we had to stand on corners and pass out flyers to strangers we actually had a better chance of reaching people who didn’t already agree with us. Since we have little access to mainstream media we need to take what we find on the internet and hand carry it to the people who need it.
Funny – I was just reading something else on the internets and thinking the same thing. The printed word does have impact, especially when it’s disseminated on a more personal basis. We can’t count on the MSM to cover what we want and, being an oldie, I wonder if we’re missing out on some tried and true methods of civil disobedience that could help by relying too heavily on modern technology.
Last fall I drove around town and left flyers in laundromats, grocery stores and coffee shops. I also added them to the candidate flyers that we distributed door to door. I’d like to make up a flyer that thanks people for supporting the troops and then giving them actions they can take to REALLY support the troops and put them on the windows of cars with the silly ribbons. Anybody know if you need a permit to do that at shopping malls?
To cat & KD: My point is that you should have tools available to set up any action: documents (to print), a built-in list of contacts (city by city) and most important, access to cash (directed contributions).
Here’s the short version: MoveOn/Moving Ideas/DNC/Labor/Poverty/Enviros/Healthcare orgs all have databases, in most cases with overlapping memberships. And that doesn’t count candidates. Entirely too much unnecessary duplication. So here’s the what if:
You find information that requires near-immediate action on a local issue. You hit the main site, type in your city, and every resource available is there. You fire off your action item via e-mail, and using the list, start making phone calls. Since this is a local issue, any fundraising needed happens right there on your local site. But the call for assistance gets listed on the “National Action Board” as well.
I am incensed that the most valuable tools needed at ground level are left to rot in D.C. A fully equipped, network-ready television studio???? Carried one small step further, your group could record, issue, and broadcast – and webcast – a press release in less than a couple hours. Coupled with the organizational tools, flyers, and cash, you’re on the street in less than 48 hours.
That’s juice. And most important: it’s a flat org chart. [This could be a whole ‘nother diary, and there are holes unfilled, but you get the idea. We need the best of both worlds].
Ok, sounds complicated, but I was the first on my block to figure out how to program a VCR so I’ll figure this out too. Anything that helps prevent overlapping effort and reinventing the wheel has to be a good idea.
I’m disgusted by the way our borders and immigration system are handled. Under the guise of “Homeland Security”, Bush has managed to distract a majority of Americans on the primary reason for illegal immigration–economic survival. We have a human rights crisis here in the American Southwest with people dying everyday in the desert by the dozens, all because they are coming here to earn some money to send back to their families. Until the citizenship application and amnesty programs are reformed, the deaths will continue.
Using Homeland Security and terrorism as a cover is Bush and Rove’s signature tactic on many issues–it makes me want to break a couple of Commandments, then vomit.
This is one subject that I, as a Canadian who doesn’t know the full history of your southern border problems, would like to read more about. I know it can be a very touchy issue, but it’s absolutely crucial that we hear more about it than what CNN’s Lou Dobbs provides us with on a daily basis.
I agree, Catnip — I’m an American (though I’m relatively close to your southern border — and don’t feel as though I know enough about our immigration policies to discuss them intelligently. I’ve done a little online research, but it’s difficult to sort out the truth of the matter from politically- or emotionally-driven rhetoric. Frustrating to me, because I live in a city that was decidedly monochromatic for most of its history but has diversified like crazy in the past several years. It’s caused some tension, and I often find myself in conversation with neighbors or coworkers on this issue and not having facts at hand to counter.
If anyone has resources to point to, I’d be appreciative — better yet, if anyone’s thinking of diarying this issue, I’d recommend!
when I started on this site, I focused mostly on immigration-related issues. I’m working on a couple of new diaries, but have been swamped with RL stuff and making sure all you people feel welcomed here! 🙂
Immigration reform is my focus because it’s in my face here in Tucson. We’re a Democratic blue city, and for the most part, so is our media; each day there are articles about the border deaths and failed policies. The Minutemen weren’t treated very nicely either.
Stay tuned!
I don’t have a link that gives the facts on the impact of illegal immigrants, but I’d like to find one too. I grew up in S. CA and there is no way the lifestyle I grew up in could be sustained without the illegals. They worked on all the ranches, did the gardening, worked in the fields, cleaned the houses and took care of the kids. One complaint I’m always hearing is how they are bleeding us dry because they are all on welfare. I don’t know about other states, but they aren’t eligible for much in CO.
Corporate welfare and the lobbyists who feed it.
All the other issues can be dealt with once we get these bloodsuckers out of our governmental process.
Is the Best Laugh I’ve had all day.
It’s too tough to have just one!
Peace vs. Militarism.
Labor rights.
Universal health care.
Peak oil.
Global warming.
Those five concerns I sort of regard as essential, like Oxygen.
My main concern now is the incredible secrecy with which this administration conducts its affairs. And also media complicity in keeping the lid on stories that should be front page news.
What are they hiding!?
Just this morning, it came out that John Conyers has been denied a room in the House of Representatives to hold his hearing on the Downing Street Memo.
It’s okay, the meeting will be held at the Democratic National Committee headquarters instead, so it will go on.
But the question remains, what are they hiding.
And now a new story on Rawstory.com features someone from the GWB first term expressing doubts about the origins of 911:
“Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush’s first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is “bogus” and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. Reynolds, who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, “If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an ‘inside job’ and a government attack on America would be compelling.” Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, “It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either.”
It is no wonder that the right is working so hard to shut down information. If we got even one of these guys on the stand having to answer questions, it could lead to a cascade of revelations that could shake this country to its foundations.
Morgan Reynolds will no doubt be jumping out a hotel window as a result of the mental breakdown he suffered after 9-11. Denying a room in the House of Representatives for the hearings on the Downing Street Memo is a great way to deny legitimacy. By having the hearings at the DNC headquarters they can say it is partisan politics.
I think we have to follow the money.
None of our concerns matter while the gap between rich and poor precludes meaningful democracy.
Any group in power is only as accountable as it has to be.
In America, we are ruled by Horrible Big Business and War Party (Vanilla) or Not-Quite-So-Horrible Big Business and War Party (Chocolate). Both are beholden to Global Corporations which value the rest of us only as hypnotized consumers and cowered workers.
Without honest elections, we can write, march, campaign, contribute, make speeches and get out the vote in vain. It may no long be possible even to choose the lesser of two evils.
The doctrine of preemptive war, even without manufactured “intelligence” and media sponsored propaganda, is a disastrously dangerous shift in foreign policy. These adventures in opportunity and acquisition disproportionately destroy civilian populations.
The way the world values human endeavor must change.
War, sickness and death are counted as positive contributions to GNP or GDP, but the work of rearing the next generation of humanity is unpaid labour of no monetary value. When you launder your baby’s bib, the world ignores you; blow the child’s hand off with a grenade, and you’ve contributed to your country’s measure of productivity.
“During 2003, world military spending rose by 11 percent, in real terms, reaching $956 billion. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: “The main reason for the increase in world military spending is the massive increase in the United States, which accounts for almost half of the world total.” According to the 1998 United Nations Development Program report, the additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and clean water and safe sewers for all is roughly $40 billion a year. This is less than one-tenth of the annual U.S. military budget, and in my view, a perversion of priorities that should be considered a crime against humanity.”
Human Security, Development and Disarmament
Address by Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, USA
Any group in power is only as accountable as it has to be.
In America, we are ruled by Horrible Big Business and War Party (Vanilla) or Not-Quite-So-Horrible Big Business and War Party (Chocolate). Both are beholden to Global Corporations which value the rest of us only as hypnotized consumers and cowered workers.
I know many people don’t even like to see his name on Dem partisan blogs, but Ralph Nader’s book, Crashing the Party, provides an interesting look at this reality. The Dems have some housecleaning to do. I think it’s disingeuous to point out the GOP’s attachment to corporate money without similarly looking at the Dem’s practices.
It is so great to have you here Catnip. I always enjoyed your writing over at Dkos. Sending much healing energy up your way. Feel better soon.
I agree with someone from the beginning of the thread. SCOTUS is imperative because of the life time appointments. If the wrong people get put through I fear it will be the end of the Constitution as we know it.
Impeach and hold accountable the War Criminals in the WH
End the War on Iraq
End the poverty,aids and genocide in Africa
Clean Air
Clean Water
Stop the assault on our children
personal freedoms
I so fear for my 8 year old grand daughters future and freedoms. Sometimes it almost seems hopeless but I will go to my grave trying to change this regime.
Everything the Right is doing is about restoring the aristocracy. OK so these days it’s a corporatocracy. but the distincition is moot to the bottom 99% of us.
If that’s allowed to happen, in any historic era it couldn’t be undone without vast unpleasantness. But given the tools and powers available in the modern era, if an American aristocracy could be undone at all, the struggle would be unspeakably horrific.
History has shot too far beyond us to expect a return swing of the political pendulum to accomplish very much.
Primarily Civil rights – and I have a few specific interest in the welfare of young gay kids in the US.
And that interest puts me in complete opposition to the rising Religious Right, which I regard as the most serious threat to what remains of our republice – certainly far more dangerous than OBL.
The really sad part is that I am afraid they are winning, and my family will need to emigrate.
It may look like they’re winning now, but it is not sustainable.
We’re in a position to permanently destroy the planet and the life on it, and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen.
We also need to make sure the radical GOP leadership loses its fight to turn the US into a one-party state.
My top concerns also, in that order.
One need only look at the environmental records of the USSR and mainland China to see what damage can be done by a government that doesn’t have to answer to its citizens.
So item #2 actually helps item #1, besides having other “fringe benefits” to the people of the country. But I try to keep my focus broader than the welfare of our species alone, since we certainly have the power to do incredible harm to more than just ourselves. With that power comes the responsibility to take the broadest possible perspective, IMHO.
All I want is for my daughter to grow up in a kinder, healthier world where opportunity is open to all to prosper on their own merits.
Seriously, I and my wife are okay, we are blessed financially and so far, healthwise. We could crawl into our shell and say the hell with the world, but what does that leave my child?
So no issues here, just kinder, healthier and filled with opportunity. Almost any progressive issue is a step towards that, so I work for progressive causes.
I don’t think I have read a post on this thread that I disagree with.
However, my concern would have to be “preserving American democracy from a radical right-wing assault.” I think that without protecting our democracy, in these times, we will become unable to take on any of the other issues.
I have two main political concerns:
…by the number of posters for whom the environment is at or near the top of their list. Hopefully it will encourage me to get my rear in gear and start posting diaries on the environment! 🙂
Diaries on environmental concerns would be read and appreciated!!
Definitely. Please do… while I list environment as one of my issues, I really know little about environmental issues, except for the basics. I’m sure I’m not alone in that! (I hope.)
Interesting question. In an ideal world my main concern would be with trying to make sure that technology is not impeded by bureaucracy or the attempted enshrinement of a business model — stuff like fair use of copyrighted material, balancing the rights of copyright holders with the rights of people to use recordings they’ve purchased, efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum, things like that.
However, that’s all been trumped by the shredding of individual rights in this country. For a while my main political conern was to get people like Ashcroaft and Rumsfeld out of office; the only way I could see to do that was to have a Democrat elected President. That goal has failed; now, I’m just trying to help everyone survive the next few years until maybe somehow we can stop the madness.
I’d have to say mostly labor/workers’ rights. They’re connected to so many other issues, if you think about it.
I think all the issues are interconnected. I can’t, for example, separate out concerns about the environment from labor, or labor from democracy and civil/human/equal rights, or c/h/e rights from privacy and healthcare, and that leads me back to the environment and equality of opportunity, which is connected to education and back again to c/h/e rights, and on and on. All of these things overlap and blend into each other.
I can never hierarchize things in a static way for very long. My list today would be different from my list last year, and my list a year from now would be different again. So I don’t make lists–at least, not about this sort of thing, I am a compulsive listmaker when it comes to everyday tasks because otherwise I’d never get anything done, lol. I fight where I can, when I can. I hate the feeling of running around putting out fires all the time, but I guess it’s better than just watching everything burn.
For me it’s like pulling a thread. Call it what you like, manifest destiny or imperial hubris, from their the sweater unravels. It is the reason for Iraq, poverty, injustice, brutality, inequality, destruction of the environment…
In my worst nightmares, I see that GWB the man does not exist. He is the magnified reflection of our collective egos.
The fourth grade I sub for is now studying “Explorers.
These Europeans are glorified – in fact the students spend a day costumed as their favorite Manifest Destinyier. I do however put my own spin on the lessons when I lecture (“How could Columbus have DISCOVERED this country? Is it OK for one culture to destroy another?”) Hmm…the last one makes me think of Bush somehow.
missing word. … from their voracity…
First off.. hello Catnip 🙂 I didnt realize til I saw a post or 2 the last day or so at Kos you’d left there over the pie ad controversy. I dont visit here much.. but I’ve been browsing blogs tonight, so voila… glad to see you’re still blogging… hope you are feeling better.. (and I wish I’d see you diary at the centre-left hub site we run north of the 49th.. cough 🙂 )
2nd.. my political concern? Making sure the COnservatives dont get to power in my country – or at least, the batch currently runnnig that party at the present time.
Is that specific enough? 🙂
You should really get that recurring cough checked out. 🙂
I’ll be there. Count on it. My health comes first right now and I don’t want to spread myself too thin. It’s definitely been an interesting couple of days in Canadian news. I was going to diary that here today, but didn’t have enough energy. Now, stop following me around!
j/k lol
I have two main concerns, and it was hard to whittle it down to just these two.
I haven’t seen a single issue mentioned above that I disagree with, that’s for sure.
I guess in general I have 3 goals:
Defend
Restore
The Economy
I could add more and more sub-bullets. I’m positive I’ve left out some things that are very important to me.
I am still chuckling over that “if you hold a candy bar to my head” line, as I also have so many concerns! But maybe a super-sized Almond Joy. . . .
My concerns are best summed up, I guess, as saying that I want my Constitution upheld, for starters. It’s a remarkable document, the result of the process of democracy fought by many, many far wiser than I — and dammit, after all they and I went through for it, they and I deserve that it be enforced . . . everywhere, for everyone.
Okay, my Constitution could use an ERA, but I’ve waited so long for that, I can wait a little longer, if I can just get what is on the books — in terms of race, class, gender, creed, etc. — to be what is in my streets and everyone’s neighborhood.
It is so appalling to have to ask of my country’s president and Congress and courts that they uphold my Constitution.
The inevitable and increasingly destructive social costs of corporate excess and near total devotion to profit should be clear to everyone. Additionally there is the indirect effect on values and culture arising from the lack of accountability.
Just a few things affected:
But very simple (but powerful) measures could be put in place to severely discourage such things. Criminal liability is the obvious one, as is better enforcement of current laws, but what about giving employees voting power in corporations? Or having legal damages given as a significant percentage of shares instead of just money. That would give a voice to victims and force shareholders to be interested in the social conscience of the company. Requiring that all advertisements be referrable back to their producer & client would give recourse against companies that use manipulative advertising and marketing companies that produce them. And it would also effectively end viral marketing.
It doesn’t directly affect me, but the US should really get preference and proportional voting, so that third parties have a chance.
Boy, I find it too hard to narrow down to one. I’ll list a few of the major ones for me:
(1) Reform of the criminal justice system (more rights for the accused, less police brutality, more protection of civil liberties all around).
(2) Worker rights: living wage legislation (preferably worldwide rather than just within the U.S.), universal health care, workplace safety, etc.
(3) Protection of the environment
Alan
Maverick Leftist
when I have to think about this. I just can’t keep up with the outrage.
It’s the bloody administration we’re dealing with: on every level, on every topic, we’re dealing with pathologically secretive dissemblers (and yes, I know what that word means and moreover, I know which word it is).
So my first concern is regime change. We’re not gonna get anywhere unless we take back our country. And we have to take back our country one dogcatcher at a time. That’s the way the right-wing did it and it’s time we started doing the same. We start with dogcatcher and work our way up – city council, school board, county council, state legislature….
I’m horribly shy, but dammit, I can write letters and send money and work behind the scenes. I’m learning how to talk with people about the issues, one on one, and I’m getting better each time I try. We all have to do this. The rest, I pray, will fall into place.
(1) Corporations with their false “rights” in our political system (military/industrial complex, corporations selling our values to the lowest common denominator, corporations buying favorable legislation)
(2) Maintaining real checks and balances (secrecy, verifiable voting)
(3) Maintaining separation of church and state
Making Sure This Shit Can’t Happen Again.
I was a history major in college; I try to think in terms of centuries. And one thing the Bush administration has really brought home to me is how fleeting all our victories have been, and how rapidly generations of progress can be rolled back and undone.
So I guess my main political concern would be making whatever systemic changes we can to ensure that the future won’t go all to hell again when we’re no longer there to fight for it. Maybe that’s electoral reform, or world government, or a stable environment, or a society in which the contagions of bigotry and hatred have finally been eradicated.
But at the end of the day, I want something with some sense of permanency to it. I don’t want to die thinking everything I’ve done could go up in smoke tomorrow. I want hope for the future.
My main political concerns…
Hm.
16a. Darwin’s theory vs creationism- it’s a scientific theory not law. Why can’t the religious right let the teacher teach science not religion that pretends to be science. Is their faith so fragile that they can’t take scientific theory? There is a difference between reason and faith. Neither necessarily conflicts with the other.
16b. If I want to learn religion whether it be mine or to learn about others; I’ll take a religion course or comparative religion course.
In other words pretty much everything this administration is trying to undermine or destroy. These aren’t any order by preference- all are important to me.
Oh catnip, how can I answer that question…good heavens girl, I have way to many to bore you all by them. I really want a sense of a better healthcare system. Social security..need I say more. the war in Iraq is so much on my mind. Veterans and their care and followup care afterward for the rest of their lives. Education for all that is equal and benefital for all.There is much much more…but I think my most wanted desire of all is to be alive and able to recognize what is happening when they finally take bush and all this administration to task for what they have done to each and all of us in every way they have touched our lives. Actually, I would love to see him and many of them get life sentences and have to eat MRE’s for the entire time they are there. NO seriously..no eating of the rich mans food…Have you eaten one of them, MRE’s I mean??…sometimes they can be ok…but nothing like what bush and laura eat..I do not want to see any homelessness ever again for anyone. What a shame. Especially vets homelessness. Even if I have to walk with my walker to see the court proceedings, I want to see gw get his dues….anyhow, I can get in the same boat with each of you here…
Brenda,
I hope we won’t need any walkers regarding any impeachment or war criminal trials. Hope it’s soon.
I was in my 20’s when Ronald Reagan released people from either hospitals or mental hospitals. I’m still bitter about that. I blame him for a good portion of our homelessness and AIDs epidemic. I lived in the San Francisco most of my life and been witness to a lot of this horrible suffering.
So, Brenda I too can’t wait for the whole of Bush Administration to be on trial.
Sorry for the rant.
I agree with pretty much everything.
But if I had to pick one concern, I’d express it as “Hope for the future.”
Now, my wife has been reading a lot of stuff by Pema Chodron, and she’d likely say that hope and the future are both illusions.
So maybe I’d have to rephrase that along the lines of “Strength and serenity to live now.”
I dunno. It all gets pretty overwhelming at times, doesn’t it?
Thanks for the link to that author. Since I’m Buddhist and try very hard just to live in each moment (and it is a very hard thing to do!), I agree that all we have is right now. I’ve recently read about the illusion of hope and it was important for me to get a different perspective about it because it is one topic that I want to write about in my book. Hanging onto hope is defintely an attachment and it can cause suffering, as we all know when we’ve found our hopes crushed by reality. It also identifies a distinct difference between those religions that promise a happy afterlife as a result of good deeds and the philosophy of Buddhism which focuses on the immediate. It’s a delicate subject that I need to learn more about.
so much. Okay, I’m distracted and slow today. . . .
To be asked what are our main political concerns is SO different from being told what they ought to be — y’know, the “important shit.”
Thanks, Catnip, and all contributors. This has been a wonderful “read” — and it’s the way that political agendas ought to be built.
This has made for very interesting reading, specifically because we all want the same things in the end – the modus operandi just vary from person to person. I think it’s provided me a greater understanding of how we are all more intimately connected than we sometimes realize and why we need to support all efforts directed towards change. They are all equally important and should be treated as such.
In a nutshell: civil liberties, civil rights, peace.
which means creating a world environment where people can work in jobs that are safe and sustainable…which means STOPPING WAR…and all the money that is being spent on that. What was it last year that was spent? 1.2 Trillion dollars spent on military worldwide, something like that? Think what we could do if we used that money to help, rather than for military and war…
I agree with most on this post-
My biggest concern besides the corruption, secrecy, loss of freedoms, fraud voting etc.,
is to get religion out of the government. I see that as the biggest destruction to democracy. No religion is THE religion and I cringe with every ‘christian’ reference. To me one is either a human being or not. Period.
Fuck the christian mentality. I’m sick of it. I can no longer describe myself as any kind of christian. It has become a dirty label.
I wouldn’t characterize this as a “concern,” per se — more like a long-term goal:
A new “New Deal.”
That should get us started. : )
Iraq War
–Bring troops home now
–Restore image of US abroad
Environment
–Global Warming
–Oceans
Democracy
–Verfied voting
–Elections held over several days, preferably weekend
Economic fairness
–Single payer health care
–Labor rights
–Raise minimum wage
–Public education
–Globalization & Offshoring of American jobs
Women’s Rights
–Equal pay
–Reproductive freedom
–More women in elected office
excellent comments, all. Two things we need to bring about any changes: restore fairness in elections and the media.
Hi Catnip,
Best wishes on your health Catnip. Right now, I’d have to say election reform would have to be first. Without that I think we’ll be stuck with the ‘thuglicons and we won’t get anywhere.
After that it would be living wages and universal healthcare. Those seem to be what gets me riled the most. I believe that if you are working 2 (or more!) jobs and/or worried about your healthcare expenses you don’t have much time left over for following or educating yourself on current events or protesting bad government policies. Not to mention being a good parent for your children. IMHO these two issues are at the root of many of our society’s problems.
But, the list of issues that gets me riled up is very long. Corporate greed and irresponsibility also makes me go balistic.
that so many of us place detail-issues at the top, at a time when the opposition is clearly taking over the political system itself to dismantle our ability to pursue any of our issues in the future.
While I don’t leap from this to the conclusion that we should ignore particular issues, I do think this discussion reveals why Democrats so consistently seem to “bring a knife to a gun fight.”
Everything that’s been said here is important, but most of the points are goals. What’s being attacked is our fundamental ability to pursue any goals.
Well… I see most of this as more of a “This is why I fight” type exercise, rather than a taking the eye off the ball type thing. At least for me, anyway, and of course I can only speak for myself.
If I know what is important to me, and what I want to see accomplished I think it’s a given for me to look at even one thing on my list and know that it can only be accomplished not only when we get rid of the current admin. But also when we are together and brave enough to elect actual progressive politicians to national office… as well as to school boards, city councils, state elections offices and so on.
We all need something that motivates us to be involved in working for change and, even though it seems that nothing can be accomplished on specific issues when your party isn’t in power, that isn’t exactly true. If this is seen as a war, then the attack has to come from all fronts. There are many steps to regime change and one can definitely work on the big picture while being more focused on goals/issues.
Right now, it’s the war and restoring our credibility to the rest of the world.
In no particular order, the rest of my main concerns are as follows:
Issues involving children and families. Instead of cutting taxes for rich people, we should be spending our money making sure that every child in this country has health care, every parent has access to decent, affordable child care, universal pre-K, decent parental leaves, and so forth. Quality of life issues so that people who go to work full-time make enough money to live decently, including taking time off. All the things the rest of the industrial world has. Not messing with Social Security.
Real public education, not turning our schools into test-taking factories and enacting draconian plans that seem hell-bent on ruining public schools.
Civil rights/human rights issues are high on the list, too. Since I have a 5 year old, right now my focus is on kids.
I don’t mean on liberals, I mean on Liberalism itself, the organizing principle of western democracy. As such Liberalism is even the underlying premise of modern day conservatism, or at least it’s libertarian aspects, but that has changed with the merging of the Republican Party with Christian fundamentalism.
A simple but clear definition comes from the wikipedia:
The Christian fundamentalists of the Republican Party want the same thing that Islamic fundamentalists want– for everyone else to abide by thier belief system, whether everyone else wants to or not. In effect this is the attempted overthrow of the Enlightenment, the dismantling of modernity, and with it the eradication of individual freedom that is the foundation of Liberalism.
All of the other things that flow from individual liberty–equality, rights, fairness, the free association of communities, control of your own body and property–will go by the wayside as well. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but with the fundamental principles of our democracy under attack by religious fundamentalists, I think this is a very dangerous time.
World peace.
And to get there, I believe the US will have to be knocked out of its arrogant and delusional leadership role.
I want other countries to put us in our place, since we seem fundamentally unable to restrain ourselves. I want other cultures to reject our gluttonous aggression. I want other peoples to turn their backs on us just like the faculty at Penn State did to the Bushman. I want our hypocritical leaders to fall from their high and mighty perches and be called to account for their despicable practices.
I am sorry I feel this way, but I do. I am ashamed to be an American . . . and I am doing everything I can to right the wrongs being done in my name.
I want to scream.
And I want world peace.
because then I can go back and hit the recomment button with ease.
without that no other problems can be delt with.
Hmm. My greatest concern, which is partly social, partly political and partly economic… is the way the value of the individual as a person has been systematically undermined and degraded over the decades. Corporations are given the rights and privileges of individuals, but are immune from responsibilities for their actions — and individual human beings are valued by their net worth, not their intrinsic worth for being human in the first place.
So my political issues are tied up with civil rights and individual liberties — reproductive rights, gay rights, public education, healthcare, justice and compassion. And an end to unnecessary war, anywhere.
if waking up on Nov 13, 2007 and finding Jeb successor to Big Brother ~@^@~
sort of like ground hog day…geeeshh, I need some Bailey’s in my coffee now
Without a DOUBT, it’d healthcare first, bailing out coporate pensions second.
thanks catnip.
As my handle suggests, I’m not one for a single focus – in fact I suck at it. However, as a ‘big picture’ gal, the interconnectedness of the following major issues at least allows for some semblance of a focus – everything! 😉
the environment – global sustainability including global warming, biodiversity protection, population management & sustainability, renewable energy, genetically modified foods and organisms, animal rights, the first world rapine of the third world and the third world rapine to catch up to our standards
human rights & social justice – links strongly to the first issue, I come from (that dirty term) a RADICAL FEMINIST perspective thus a focus on women’s rights in the developing world & developed, peace and removing hyper-masculine structures ie the military-industrial complex, labour rights, the corruption & destruction of and by the consumer-capitalist model of communities & people, global/local economic & environmental inequity etc etc.
sub-set: education & healthcare – I see these as basic human rights and in many ways free & honest education as the key to the above
In short, I am interested in how we create, foster & entrench sustainable, equitable, non-heirarchical, diverse, culturally rich, just communities and societies that respect other life, including other humans, on this planet.
You’ve got a pretty fair list of categories now….