In considering the Path Forward, it is usually a good idea to review mistakes of the past.
I subscribe to a newsletter from The Atlantic and find they have very good, thoughtful articles.
I got one a few days ago that I thought really hit the nail on the head concerning mistakes by the left, specifically what the author terms the "illiberal left". (The direct opposite of the "illiberal right.) And how these mistakes led to the election fiasco. I hesitated to share it considering what blowback I might get but I finally decided it would be useful food for thought. (FYI the author, Jonathan Chait, is a left-wing figure.)
Here's the link:
@ana I read the article. It is painful to blame ourselves, and there are many perspectives on what happened. But I agree there was an overreaction among liberals towards liberals who didn't use the right terminology (I have feared being canceled for not being up-to-date on the latest acronyms or terminology. I empathize with those who want us to be fully up-to-date, but sometimes people are not up-to-date innocently, so we don't want to slap our allies.
I have young college educated 20-something friends who did not vote because Biden had not pulled back enough from Netanyahu. I reminded them that not voting was a vote for fascism, and they looked at me straight-faced and angry and said, "too bad." On the one hand, I loved their passion. On the other, I feared for what it would create.
I remembered that in 1968, we college kids got Lyndon Johnson to self-oust from office (he did not run again), in spite of the unmatched positive legacy he left with his Great Society initiatives. No one in my lifetime had done as much for the poor and working class as Johnson. When we got him out because of the Vietnam War, a war he had inherited and did not know how to exit, he was succeeded by none other than Richard Nixon! It took years to realize we'd thrown the baby out with the bath water.
As the author said in your Atlantic article, in our fervor, we've ended out canceling good people on our own side. The Right has had a heyday with it. But there is almost always an overreaction in the human psyche, once new directions get traction. Then there is a crash. People who trade the markets know how the human overkill works there too. When they see the markets suddenly move up, then higher, then very high, they are aware that it may then do a serious correction. We are now in a political correction phase.
I remembered that in 1968, we college kids got Lyndon Johnson to self-oust from office (he did not run again), in spite of the unmatched legacy he left with hisGreat Society initiatives. No one has done as much since for the poor and working class as Johnson. When we got him out because of the Vietnam War, he was succeeded by Richard Nixon. It didn't occur to us that we'd thrown the baby out with the bath water.
Sigh. I too was there in college in 1968, knocking on doors. We really did throw the baby out with the bathwater, and have been searching for that lost baby ever since.
Your 20-somethings have now done the same thing.
Sadly, youth tends to be impetuous and stubborn while feeling passionate. Unfortunately for everyone, wisdom comes less with passion and more with experience and pain. I feel for those 20-somethings, for they are about to learn one of the most painful lessons in life, i.e., doing nothing -- e.g., Not voting, as a protest-- amplifies rather than corrects the often valid negative.
Two year olds throw tantrums. Angry, stubborn, idealists of any age, cut off their noses to spite their faces. It will take longer now, to achieve what was ready to manifest-- a more balanced humanity-- yet manifest it will, for the Light supercedes even stubborn youth, old white men, war, and meglomaniacs. Light, even when it is seems to be but a thread of itself always leads us out of darkness.
As Amanda Gorman told us four years ago:
For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to BE IT.
🌻 ❤️ 🌻
Today while out shopping two very clear things resonated into me.
For New Years Eve every year, it's the one holiday we stay in and home for and I always cook a huge meal (Basically Thanksgiving but on NYE). I got my mason jars ready for the turkey bone broth which will, for the third year in a row, be my primary sustinance for the first few days of the new year. While shopping for a couple of last minute things I had forgotten, I reached for mustard of all things while thinking about the possibility of weathering yet another recession. As I lifted the mustard up to put it in my cart, I was hit with an overwhelming "know" that we'd be okay over the next year. It was a great feeling and that in combination with the sun and nearly 50 degree weather (NOT normal for us) set me off to Home Depot to pick up a couple of things I needed there.
The euphoria (and the thing that makes this a "the path forward" post) came when I wandered down an aisle I don't ever go down. Fresh from reading up on and reporting out on the beach clean up, the first thing I saw in this new aisle was recycling bins. I have always returned cans and bottles because Michigan has a 10 cent deposit fee on each can. About 5 years ago we were getting so many packages delivered I started saving cardboard. We have a recycling center but it keeps really dumb hours which is why I've always lamented that I should recycle, but haven't. It's always a pain getting just the cardboard alone out there, so I wait until I have a pile big enough to build a barge out of before I go.
I picked up four of the bins without even thinking. "I'm going to create space in my house to recycle more to save the earth, and I'm not going to use the dumb hours of the recycling center as an exuse" washed over me. It was words, feelings, and another "knowing". I brought the bins home and used a chalk marker on each one to label them "tin cans", "Plastic", "Paper", "Milk Cartons" - all things in addition to the cardboard our recycling center takes. (We don't have glass ever since I gave up wine)
Once a month I'll schedule in a recycling center day. I'll throw the cardboard in the back of my car, and the four bins in the backseat. Either during my lunch hour, or on my way to another school (if I can time the day right) I'll take all my recycling back.
I know one person recycling in their house isn't going to tip the scales toward fixing the climate issue but this morning's article dive made me feel like I can set a better example for the twins and Greatest Wife Ever, and it will create the experiences for me to be able to share with others who may want to get on this journey themselves.
Happy Blessed New Year’s Eve to All ❤️ Let’s continue to ride this rollercoaster called Life and add all the hope and joy we can muster for ourselves and each other.
The Year by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our
dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of a year.
Over here in Australia our councils give us 3 bins and they are trialing a new service which my council hasn’t gotten yet.
We have a smallish red bin for general rubbish which is collected weekly, a green bin for green waste like grass clippings, garden waste then a yellow bin which you put your recycling in like cardboard, bottles, recyclable plastic etc. the green and yellow bins are collected alternate weeks. The new bin that is being trialled is for vegetable scraps etc food items that can be composted. Don’t know when we will get that one.
The services are part of our council’s normal services and the cost is in our council rates.
I thought that was normal everywhere?
Regards
Matildagirl
I thought that was normal everywhere?
Regrettably - no.
my in laws down the road get recycling picked up. We have to take it to the center and pay per use. Our recycling center does the best it can but it was started by a retiree and it used to just be open a few hours twice a week. Now they do some pickup but not in my area even though I live closer than my in-laws do. It’s very spotty all over the U.S. I imagine it’s ubiquitous in bigger cities but the more rural you get the less you have as an option.
@matildagirl That's the standard where I live in California as well, although the green waste bin is for all organic matter, i.e., leaves, grass, food scraps, etc. with the exception of lumber or tree/bush cuttings. The green waste goes to a city-run composting facility and residents can get up to five 50-lb bags of compost annually for free. The lumber and tree/bush stuff goes to the same facility but is chipped up and handed out as garden or yard mulch in the same amount.