It was my hope, a week after the election, that I would hear and read meaningful analyses on the cause, consequences and long-term outlook for Democrats after their losses this midterm election. Very little of what I read this week was “filling,” until I came across William Greider’s “How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul” in The Nation. Greider concludes:
The tattered authenticity of the party matters more now because both the country and the world face dangers and disorders that demand a fundamental reordering of the global economic system. This requires bold action, at a time when neither party is confronting the threatening situation. The Republicans are a wholly owned subsidiary of the business-finance machine; the Democrats are rented.
Now that Election 2014 is over and we await whatever happens next in the Democratic camp, progressives need to step up efforts to take their rightful place at the helm of the party.
It is clear that voter disengagement was more a function of the unwillingness to keep voting in the status quo, than it was the abandonment of the Democratic party. It should be taken as a warning to Democrats that the party, as it is now, not only stopped reflecting the popular view, but has also allowed itself to be dragged into the Republicans’ dangerous race politics. Continue reading Restoring our Democracy: Calling the NAACP and MoralMondays→
Former Governor Howard Dean was on Meet The Press today. With the exception of the very last sentence in this clip, I am in full agreement with everything he said.
Tuesday’s defeat was bound to be the catalyst for the kinds of events that happen after, well, all defeats. The victor gloats. Usually, the defeated retreat for a bit to reflect on their loss and how to move on. Continue reading Dem Politics: Post-mortem is the new rehab→
Our system of politics has been breaking for some time. I’ve made numerous public comments on various aspects of our degrading democracy over the last few years. What I’ve only recently begun to articulate, however, is that the problems we’ve all been focused on in connection to events pertaining to the right, also exist on the left, perhaps to a lesser extent. The rot on the left is my focus here.
Long viewed as an ally by Wall Street, likely 2016 presidential contender Hillary Clinton has increasingly been taking banks and big business to task while on the campaign trail for Democrats across the country. Continue reading #Clinton Sounding More Like #Warren as 2016 Nears→
My parents’ closest friends had a son, Jamil, who was almost exactly my age. We were playmates during a large portion of my early childhood. While we weren’t in the same class, we attended the same school. We were together during recess and lunch. We went on vacations together and we spent our summers at the beach together. My dad and his had purchased adjoining beach bungalows. Continue reading Childhood memories… My sweet Jamil→
When our daughter was born, we had no idea what awaited us. We had no inkling what kinds of joys and anguish we would experience along the way. We also had no idea what to make of some of the cues someone more experienced would surely have picked up on. Continue reading A stroke of lightning and a gift: our #Epilepsy story→
We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities. Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become normative. If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality traits and penalises others. Continue reading Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe | The Guardian→
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