I am an Episcopal priest and I am fond of saying that I am theologically committed to hope. I put that commitment into action by supporting and working for politicians who offer hope in these dark times.
Here: Stared at the blank space still stunned Blanche was confirmed:
(49 Republican senators voted to confirm him: 2 Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski) voting against - alongside all Democrats; Cassidy caved, Mitch McConnell didn’t vote)
50 people. In spite of all the wrongs.
50
…
Your well worded essay poses the question: What are we fighting for?
I reviewed the beginning of the
Declaration of Independence “which centers on core Enlightenment ideas:
-natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness),
-the social contract where governments derive power from the consent of the governed,
-and the right of citizens to alter or abolish a destructive government.”
I’ve stayed in the “fight” because we need honest leaders restored; we need Truth as one of government’s core principles;and we need Separation of Powers and the Constitution actually honored. We need a Justice department that in actuality … seeks true Justice, not one punishing because seashells form numbers.
I’m a former teacher fighting for teachers to have power to do their job which is raise up citizens. I’m doing that by exposing why teachers haven’t been able to do their intended job. I just revised my website at WhiteChalkCrime.com so that it teaches what’s in my book A Graver Danger because most people won’t read books and this book needs to be read so we can get our schools (soul) back.
What I value most about this country is that, despite its many failings, it was founded upon and continues to aspire to upholding and enacting a form of government that gives a voice to the people who do the hard work of building and sustaining a nation. And not, as has so often been the case, been a front for a grifting elite who somehow manage to reverse gravity and contrive the make dollars swim upstream into their private enclaves at the expense of those very workers, thinkers, teachers, cleaners, and community builders who created this wealth in the first place. When and if we lose this power of the people entirely, we will have become Not America-slash-Same Old, Same-Old.
Thank you for reminding your readers that fighting against something is not enough. We need to focus on what we’re fighting for. This regime is doing a pretty good job of reminding us of what we don’t want. To get back to what we do want, we need to collectively roll up our sleeves and help build it.
I want to see the return of decency and empathy for our fellow men and women. This country has lost its moral compass, and it has nothing to do with religion. Our current politicians and those that support the mango Mussolini administration do not know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, and truth and lies. For the past decade, don don et al. have dominated in the news, which has increased my level of anxiety as well as many many others. We see the damage they have done and we wonder if this Country will survive. But, then I am reminded that we made it through the Revolution, Civil War, Reconstruction, two world wars, Civil Rights, the covid pandemic, etc. So, I have GREAT HOPES and EXPECTATIONS that we, as the DECENT AMERICANS, will persevere in the fall elections as well as in 2028, and take the Epstein class out of power for good!
Ultimately it’s people, although a hefty percentage has disappointed me in the past years. I (perhaps naively) believe many of them are folks isolated in MAGA land, and are simply afraid because of their loss of income and opportunity as corporatists hedge fund the life out of their communities. And they’re overcome by the psyop anti-democratic forced (foreign and domestic) pump out from their televisions and twitter feeds I want to believe the spell over them can be broken. But perhaps not. Regardless, MAGA aside, that leaves about 70% of us. what is best about America is its people. And together we will overcome.
Thank you Professor Beschloss. Have worked in the food industry during the years of President Ronald Reagan some people were coming into the quick service restaurant requesting a cup full of hot water. Once the hot water was given to them they would go over to the ketchup pump and add the ketchup to that hot water to make a soup for their nutritional needs for the day. Was a district manager at the time and had two managers, see the exact same experience one was upset and perturbed, because as he put it, some bum came in he's going to stink up the dining room and didn't even pay a dime to do so. The other manager who had compassion and empathy went behind the service line made a hamburger scooped up some french fries poured a Coke put it on a tray and placed it in front of the man who was drinking from that cup of hot water and ketchup. So am fighting for the person who came in and just ordered a cup of hot water, as well as the other two managers one on one end of the speculum and the other on the other end of the pendulum, no matter what this is our America, the good, bad and the ugly we just need to understand to fight towards the ideals that our founders wrote so eloquently one day maybe we'll get there.
I remind myself every day when I wake up and swing my feet to the floor that what I'm fighting for is the soul of our country --doing what I can, with what I have, right here, where I live.
I love (maybe better in the past tense) that this country is a place of opportunity, where people, particularly young people, can go beyond the confines of their geography, their family history, their demographics to find a place to use their skills, intelligence, and energy. I am fortunate to have met my great-grandmother whose parents came from China. I focus on what I can do with the opportunity I’ve been given rather than what I’m entitled to.
Thanks Steven: When I think of the USA I think of the plaque on the Statute of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” This statement is all inclusive yet the present administration has tarnished its intent. If I personally had the power , I would immediately get dark money out of politics, end Citizens United, legislate free and fair taxation, install universal health care, and put an end to illegal wars. The only time you look down on a man is when you are helping him up. Mandatory education regarding the US constitution and the rule of law. Teach history, including all the warts and bumps of our own learned lessons. DEI is essential. WOKE is essential. Oh, I'm such a dreamer.
I'm fighting for the promise of this country which is still nowhere near to being realized, although we had made some progress, until recently.
In reviewing my own life, I made some errors early on, but used those experiences to learn what I had to do differently, and eventually succeeded in accomplishing my goals. It took a lot of hard work and persistence (my family insisted that it was stubbornness), and I didn't do it all on my own. I got encouragement, support, and hope provided by my family, friends, and teachers. Those made my positive results possible, and I will forever grateful to them for those.
The US must also now take a thorough and honest look at its past. Through hard work, hope, and cooperation, we can once again work toward what this nation aspires to be. We must take this setback as an opportunity to do just that.
I am an Episcopal priest and I am fond of saying that I am theologically committed to hope. I put that commitment into action by supporting and working for politicians who offer hope in these dark times.
Thank you, Anne.
A little girl second grader dresses down a US Senator at a Texas rally quoting a slain civil rights icon (slain with the complicity of the FBI?)
https://www.youtube.com/live/kzjWDdun7a8?t=20m05s
Very sweet, and very much the question. I wouldn't characterize that as "dressing down a Senator," though?
Here: Stared at the blank space still stunned Blanche was confirmed:
(49 Republican senators voted to confirm him: 2 Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski) voting against - alongside all Democrats; Cassidy caved, Mitch McConnell didn’t vote)
50 people. In spite of all the wrongs.
50
…
Your well worded essay poses the question: What are we fighting for?
I reviewed the beginning of the
Declaration of Independence “which centers on core Enlightenment ideas:
-natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness),
-the social contract where governments derive power from the consent of the governed,
-and the right of citizens to alter or abolish a destructive government.”
I’ve stayed in the “fight” because we need honest leaders restored; we need Truth as one of government’s core principles;and we need Separation of Powers and the Constitution actually honored. We need a Justice department that in actuality … seeks true Justice, not one punishing because seashells form numbers.
I stay because..
Nothing will improve without us.
Thank you Steven for staying in the fight,
I’m a former teacher fighting for teachers to have power to do their job which is raise up citizens. I’m doing that by exposing why teachers haven’t been able to do their intended job. I just revised my website at WhiteChalkCrime.com so that it teaches what’s in my book A Graver Danger because most people won’t read books and this book needs to be read so we can get our schools (soul) back.
What I value most about this country is that, despite its many failings, it was founded upon and continues to aspire to upholding and enacting a form of government that gives a voice to the people who do the hard work of building and sustaining a nation. And not, as has so often been the case, been a front for a grifting elite who somehow manage to reverse gravity and contrive the make dollars swim upstream into their private enclaves at the expense of those very workers, thinkers, teachers, cleaners, and community builders who created this wealth in the first place. When and if we lose this power of the people entirely, we will have become Not America-slash-Same Old, Same-Old.
I have fought for so many things, but it is climate justice that will save human life on earth.
3 days without clean drinking water and poof we are dead.
Thank you for reminding your readers that fighting against something is not enough. We need to focus on what we’re fighting for. This regime is doing a pretty good job of reminding us of what we don’t want. To get back to what we do want, we need to collectively roll up our sleeves and help build it.
Exactly.
I think I love most the words and any actions we have taken to live the words “ All men are created equal!”
Our Democracy!!!
I want to see the return of decency and empathy for our fellow men and women. This country has lost its moral compass, and it has nothing to do with religion. Our current politicians and those that support the mango Mussolini administration do not know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, and truth and lies. For the past decade, don don et al. have dominated in the news, which has increased my level of anxiety as well as many many others. We see the damage they have done and we wonder if this Country will survive. But, then I am reminded that we made it through the Revolution, Civil War, Reconstruction, two world wars, Civil Rights, the covid pandemic, etc. So, I have GREAT HOPES and EXPECTATIONS that we, as the DECENT AMERICANS, will persevere in the fall elections as well as in 2028, and take the Epstein class out of power for good!
Thanks Steven for keeping up the fight!
Thank you, Stephen!
With thanks to Superman that immigrant from another planet.
Truth, justice and the American way.
Ultimately it’s people, although a hefty percentage has disappointed me in the past years. I (perhaps naively) believe many of them are folks isolated in MAGA land, and are simply afraid because of their loss of income and opportunity as corporatists hedge fund the life out of their communities. And they’re overcome by the psyop anti-democratic forced (foreign and domestic) pump out from their televisions and twitter feeds I want to believe the spell over them can be broken. But perhaps not. Regardless, MAGA aside, that leaves about 70% of us. what is best about America is its people. And together we will overcome.
Thank you Professor Beschloss. Have worked in the food industry during the years of President Ronald Reagan some people were coming into the quick service restaurant requesting a cup full of hot water. Once the hot water was given to them they would go over to the ketchup pump and add the ketchup to that hot water to make a soup for their nutritional needs for the day. Was a district manager at the time and had two managers, see the exact same experience one was upset and perturbed, because as he put it, some bum came in he's going to stink up the dining room and didn't even pay a dime to do so. The other manager who had compassion and empathy went behind the service line made a hamburger scooped up some french fries poured a Coke put it on a tray and placed it in front of the man who was drinking from that cup of hot water and ketchup. So am fighting for the person who came in and just ordered a cup of hot water, as well as the other two managers one on one end of the speculum and the other on the other end of the pendulum, no matter what this is our America, the good, bad and the ugly we just need to understand to fight towards the ideals that our founders wrote so eloquently one day maybe we'll get there.
I remind myself every day when I wake up and swing my feet to the floor that what I'm fighting for is the soul of our country --doing what I can, with what I have, right here, where I live.
Amen to all that!
I love (maybe better in the past tense) that this country is a place of opportunity, where people, particularly young people, can go beyond the confines of their geography, their family history, their demographics to find a place to use their skills, intelligence, and energy. I am fortunate to have met my great-grandmother whose parents came from China. I focus on what I can do with the opportunity I’ve been given rather than what I’m entitled to.
Thanks Steven: When I think of the USA I think of the plaque on the Statute of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” This statement is all inclusive yet the present administration has tarnished its intent. If I personally had the power , I would immediately get dark money out of politics, end Citizens United, legislate free and fair taxation, install universal health care, and put an end to illegal wars. The only time you look down on a man is when you are helping him up. Mandatory education regarding the US constitution and the rule of law. Teach history, including all the warts and bumps of our own learned lessons. DEI is essential. WOKE is essential. Oh, I'm such a dreamer.
Good list
Al, if you don't envision what you want ("dream"), how you gonna get it?
I'm fighting for the promise of this country which is still nowhere near to being realized, although we had made some progress, until recently.
In reviewing my own life, I made some errors early on, but used those experiences to learn what I had to do differently, and eventually succeeded in accomplishing my goals. It took a lot of hard work and persistence (my family insisted that it was stubbornness), and I didn't do it all on my own. I got encouragement, support, and hope provided by my family, friends, and teachers. Those made my positive results possible, and I will forever grateful to them for those.
The US must also now take a thorough and honest look at its past. Through hard work, hope, and cooperation, we can once again work toward what this nation aspires to be. We must take this setback as an opportunity to do just that.