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Progressive Values Stories: John on Equality
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"You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that."
Arthur Ashe
I interviewed John at his house in Oakland, California. John says progressives are looking for equality, for fairness and for justice and that these are the same values that most Americans have. He went to Berkeley schools in the 60’s and 70’s, and was excited about the overall cultural search at that time of really trying to understand what equality might be.
"If we are not striving for equality, in heaven's name for what are we living?"
John Hope
Progressive Values Stories: John on Equality
John: We’re looking for equality, for fairness and for justice. We’re looking for accountability and for a system of government that is not just a power structure that serves the powerful but that fulfills the stated intentions of the Constitution and the democracy that we are all brought up to believe in in school as opposed to what our government has unfortunately become.
It’s obvious there are so many reasons why it’s become what it’s become, and so many challenges in trying to change it back to what we progressives, with our ideals, would like it to be. As I’ve had conversations in the other room, a lot of ideals of what we progressives have are really parallel to what a lot of people who call themselves conservatives have. They might have the same values under slightly different names, a few dividing issues like gay marriage or abortion, but we’re being deceived into thinking that our values are really at odds with each other, when, in fact, they’re more similar than we realize.
So, I think that the majority of American people are actually a sleeping giant whose common values can at some point get mobilized and maybe we can have the government we always thought we should have again.
Edwin: What are your personal values in your own life?
Answer: I believe in having a humane life. I’m not extremely materialistic. In terms of the society I want to live in, I’m very uncomfortable when I see a lot of social stratification, injustice, and as someone who happens to have been born a white male, I’m very aware of my privilege, and I think I’m aware of the fact it’s a luck of birth that I was born with that. I don’t feel that should entitle me to anything extra. I feel therefore, I have a unique opportunity to try and promote all the privileges I have for everyone, if possible.
Edwin: Would you say that’s equality?
Answer: Yeah, I strive for equality, absolutely. Equality of opportunity in a much more real sense than I think is meant by maybe some Republicans. Equality of opportunity can start to sound like a very individual thing or philosophy, “where everyone is responsible for pulling themselves up by the bootstraps, and those who don’t, well, they had the same opportunity, and somehow they didn’t make it”, when there are so many factors that go into what opportunity really is, that a few simple laws don’t really fix it. We all have to take it on as our own personal responsibility.
Edwin: And what does that feel like as a sensation?
Answer: Well, as someone who grew up in Berkeley and went to Berkeley schools and public schools in the 60’s and 70’s, and I actually had a visceral sense of people of different economic stations and races -- really trying to understand what equality might be. And it was very exciting.
And I’ve been to a couple of high school reunions, and that feeling comes back. And it’s a wonderful feeling. A feeling where I and anyone else can walk through the streets and know that there’s more that we share than divides us. I think that’s how it is.
More on Equality
Equality definition
1. The state or quality of being equal.
Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. Generally it applies to being held equal under the law, the church, and society at large. In actual practice, one may be considered an egalitarian in most areas listed above, even if not subscribing to equality in every possible area of individual difference. For example, one might support equal rights in race matters but not in gender issues, or vice versa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egalitarianism
Some Questions To Ponder:
- What are your feelings about equality?
- How does the application of equality manifest itself in policies?
- Do you have a personal story or anecdote of how you learned some insight into this value?
- How does this progressive value differ from conservative values?
- How have conservative values failed?
Progressive Values Stories:
I am working on a documentary to answer the question, What are Progressive Values? So far, I have interviewed over 100 progressives and have placed over 350 video clips on YouTube. This is part of a continuing series of interviews and daily posts of progressives telling their personal stories about their progressive values. See more stories at: http://progressivespirit.com/InterviewStories/ProgressiveValuesStories.htm
Edwin Rutsch
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com
and Study Group
http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=2285
Emily's List, the high-profile PAC with a mission statement of election pro-choice Democratic women, has announced a big campaign targeting up to 150,000 women in the southeastern region of Pennsylvania, the state where Hillary Clinton needs a huge win to restore her credibility.
One of Hillary's most reliable bases of support has been suburban white women, and there are plenty of them to be found in the greater Philadelphia area. No dollar amount has bee put the Emily's List drive yet, but it will consist of mailers and phone calls.
Late Update: It's worth remembering that Barack Obama will have his own help in Pennsylvania, in the form of a ground game from SEIU.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/emilys_list_announces_huge_out.php
The Columbia backstory.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4...
Oh jeez.
IT IS AMAZING PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO THIS NONSENSE AND VENOM, AND BELIEVE IT.
Limbaugh: "[A] lot of these feminists and women ... think they're owed" a Clinton win -- just like Obama supporters think they're owed this."
"These women have paid their dues. They've been married two or three times; they've had two or three abortions; they've done everything that feminism asked them to do. They have cut men out of their lives; they have devoted themselves to causes and careers....
but if the country or if the Democrat [sic] Party rejects this wonderfully great, lying woman in exchange for a rookie, radical black guy who can't tell the time of day, they are going to be so miffed...
The Democrat Party has promised American blacks for 50 years that they will see them through the dark days of bondage and emancipate them to equality and freedom and economic prosperity. And that's only happened for blacks who have abandoned the Democrat Party, and have become conservative Republicans...."
Obama being compared to Hitler
...in her April 2 column Coulter wrote of Sen. Barack Obama's 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance: "Has anybody read this book? Inasmuch as the book reveals Obama to be a flabbergasting lunatic, I gather the answer is no. Obama is about to be our next president: You might want to take a peek. If only people had read 'Mein Kampf' ..." Mein Kampf, or "My Struggle" as translated from German, is the 1925 autobiography of Adolf Hitler and an exposition on National Socialist political theory, the ideological foundation of the Nazi Party.
Other conservative pundits have made Hitler references when talking about Obama. As Media Matters noted, on the February 11 broadcast of Fox News Radio's Tom Sullivan Show, host Tom Sullivan aired what he called a "side-by side comparison" of a Hitler speech and an Obama speech.
puddle, thank you for posting the Rosey bat on each thread - I wish I could afford to hit it every time I see it! I hope Howard is getting all 'the love' he deserves right now!
2:52 am edt
Good morning, everybody
Fortunately, comparisons to Hitler don't seem to have a lot of traction.
One thing that seems to be consistent among pundits is a lack of logic.
Perhaps the apples/oranges analogy was more confusing.
One of our group has been working the phones on behalf of HR24.
Here's what she concluded about the majority report:
The majority of the committee believes that the world is in perilous and uncertain times and this House Resolution will encourage intolerance, violence and hatred around the world. Our President is the Commander in Chief. Our United States military has many troops along with many civilian contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan since the attacks on United States soil on September 11, 2001. This House Resolution will encourage terrorists to continue their attacks and hurt the morale of the United States' military forces and civilian contractors throughout the world. It will also undermine our troop's ability to pursue and accomplish their mission, which is the protection and security of the United States of America.
That's their rationale for not impeaching.
let me chime in on Obama going/not going to Memphis. he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. if Hillary and Barack were in the same place yesterday, it would have turned into a primary media circus and Barack wuld have been blamed. instead, he did what he thought best and was blamed anyway. that's what happens when the oppposition is confounded by you - they damn you for everything you do,. it's not working. but it sure stirred up the 'bamahaters.
Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells
Obama Campaign Calls For 50-50 Split Of Michigan Delegates
More news late on a Friday afternoon: In the wake of reports today that the Michigan revote is really, truly, unequivocally dead, the Obama campaign is now calling for a 50-50 split of the delegation
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/obama_campaign_calls_for_5050.php
Seems fair to me. Of course Clinton camp doesn't like it. But the delegates would be seated wouldn't they, and that is what she said she is worried about.
Clinton Asked Me to Betray Obama
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/04/clinton-asked-me-to-betray-oba.php
Is this common practice?
Let's talk about the other folks she's stiffed.
The school districts, universities, cities, towns and non-profits.
From Hillary Clinton's February FEC filing these are the numbers:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/04/hillary-please-pay-these-debts.php
For fun here is a video of a cute little Obama baby boy.
One of Hillary's most reliable bases of support has been suburban white women...
---
Only if they're pro-choice Democratic women who have money. The ones who always vote and then not even all of them. The truth is Emily's List has been pushing for their down ticket endorsed candidates.
I was reading an article on Clinton's tax returns, where is 2007?
16.
rae hart
Sat, 04/05/08
I like this one. What a cutie pie. Yes We Can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Np2Yt0T...
State parties can sell their delegate lists to candidates. Normally they leave off the emails but that must have changed with this election cycle. They charge plenty too.
We've had a wonderful moose roaming around this area for a couple of years.
A couple of times he has wandered in places and got his antlers entangled with Christmas lights.
In Nov he ate some fermented crabapples and was seen staggering after, and snorting around, maybe a little drunk, anyway he then received the dubious name of Buzzwinkle.
My daughter-in-law who works at a band in downtown Anchorage once looked up and saw him walking leisurely through the drive-through.
He was a gentle soul, the paper is reporting he was 13, a senior citizen moose.
Sadly he has passed on.
I whole heartedly disagree with what they did with his remains. It is so not right. He deserved better than this.
http://www.adn.com/front/story/366454.html
I'm off for a good cry, and an iced coffee.
Susan thanks for sending along the copy of Californians Platform amazing how Democrats the nation over think alike I just got word that neither of the Secretaries for the Committee can make the meeting so I'll be at our work most of the day. We have a Rules and By-Laws word limit and unlike Michigan we follow the rules. lol We start thre day two hundred over so that will add about two hours of work by my "rule" of thumb.
...You may have heard some of the lies SEIU is attempting to spread about CNA/NNOC. Watch this short video about how SEIU really operates as RNs and service employees speak from their hearts. SEIU members appearing in this video are not actors and were not paid or coaxed ... http://www.calnurses.org/
rae, she hasn't released more than a summary for 2007 because she says they're buying time eh, filing an extension. folks seem to think the most damning of Bill's donations are eh, income is from 2007. ;)
SEIU members in Northern California challenge the national boss over his collaboration with employers By Matt Smith
A once-secret power struggle between one of the Western United States' most powerful labor leaders, and America's most famous union boss, has broken out into the open. United Healthcare Workers West leader Sal Roselli has sent letters to union members denouncing a union organizing strategy backed by Service Employees International Union boss Andy Stern.
The rift presents the biggest challenge yet to Stern's "Third Way" of organizing, in which unions collaborate with, rather than confront, employers. Given that the Stern path includes secret agreements that limit workers' rights, while endangering patients' rights as well, I applaud Roselli's new stance.
"Now, our voice is in jeopardy," wrote Roselli, in a May 29 letter signed by 15 top officials of the 140,000-member, Oakland-based United Healthcare Workers West, which represents nursing and other healthcare workers in Northern California. ... http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-06-13/news/...
SEIU scapegoating UHW doesn't work for workers by: barbara.lewis
Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 14:37:36 PM PDT
My name is Barbara Lewis and I’m VP in the SEIU-UHW (United Healthcare Workers – West) Hospital Division. We’re glad to continue this discussion about the direction of SEIU and defending the voice of the membership.
SEIU has made outrageous allegations here and elsewhere that my local union, SEIU-UHW had a hand in the California Nurses Association (CNA) raid against SEIU’s Ohio CHP (Catholic Healthcare Partners) campaign -- a raid that resulted in SEIU pulling the campaign and 9000 workers being denied the right to form a union.
Andy Stern, Mary Kay Henry and Dave Regan’s effort to shift the blame onto UHW for the Ohio tragedy is simply an attempt to cover up their own responsibility in this.
A little background on my relationship to this issue: I worked for 18 years with our International Union, mainly in organizing – both public and private sector, and since 1998 exclusively in Southern California as an SEIU staff person assigned to help lead our healthcare organizing, along with leaders from Local 399 and Local 250, prior to the merger that created UHW. ... http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do;jse...
25.
Phil Specht
Sat, 04/05/08
You're welcome and good luck.
Speaking of polar bears--Flocke has learned to swim
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/04/baby-flocke-tak.html
It would be nice if the DNC adopted some of the CDP's progressive platform. IMHO, they need to start with the stuff on Global Warming, real Universal Single-payer Healthcare, Public Education and World Peace. If they give some justice to doing that our economy will get better and more jobs will be created for everybody.
I don't think this nation's founders ever intended our Democracy to be the equivalent of rocket science.
rae---i checked out when Hillary came to Winnacunnet High School and it seems to have been the weekend just before the NH primary. A comprehensive story on the Northern Ireland fable appreared in the Boston Globe on january 7th. That seems to have been the beginning of the deflation. So, perhaps that's why they'd just as soon forget about Winnacunnet and Hampton, NH.
I'm really enjoying the JedReport videos - he's been prolific lately! here's a very good McCain vid - it would have worked well with Bush too, a few years ago... letting Osama pick the battleground:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Ocq79vP0Y
here's the page for his 147 videos - I'm sure there will be more by the end of the day...
Susan--one problem we have is that there are two economies: the real one and the fiction. The fiction is something that's created by economists. For some reason, although they measure real events and real quantities, economists are social scientists, always trying to figure out how people's behavior can be changed to fit their models of the ideal economy--a regular, regulatable system. The economy is dynamic (always changing) and their models are static (based on a snapshot of a moment in time). It's almost as if they like recessions because they've been successful in putting a brake on the economy.
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