While many people are demoralized about the ongoing attacks on education, the environment, and almost every institution of government, as well as the Trump administration’s plans to widen the income and wealth inequality gaps, Steven Singer thinks that 2018 may be a great year for turning the tide against the neoliberals and neofascists.
He begins:
As 2017 chugs and sputters to a well-deserved end, I find myself surprised at the pessimism around me.
Yes, I know. Donald Trump is still President.
The plutocrats have stolen trillions of dollars from the majority in unnecessary tax cuts that threaten our ability to function as a nation.
A slim majority of their sniveling creatures at the FCC have repealed Net Neutrality gifting our free expression to huge corporations.
And big business continues to sack and burn our public schools only to replace them with charter and voucher swindles.
This is all true.
But it does not make me lose heart.
These defeats may be fleeting, momentary as political and legal challenges mount against them. As far as the tide has pulled back, a wave is gathering strength at sea, such a prodigious burst of water as to create a new ocean once it hits land.
Yes, we endured many scars from the year that was. But we have gained something truly amazing – something that we probably could not have grasped without our sexual predator in chief, a reality TV show conman posing as a political leader.
People.
Are.
Awake.
They see the undeniable destruction, the naked power grabs, how our lawmakers are owned by the super-rich and the outright denial of democratic principles.
They see and they understand.
It is no longer debatable that we have lost control of our government.
Resistance begins with outrage. It grows with hope. And hope is what we must sustain to give us the strength to resist and continue resisting.
Diane “We’ll see,” said the sage. But this post leads to an apparent catch-22 conflict for Congressional Republicans:
(1) if they DON’T follow the will of their donors, those donors won’t fund their campaigns; however,
(2) if they DO follow their donors, the NEWLY AWAKENED ELECTORATE will likely sweep them out of office–they aren’t even trying to hid their greed or sycophancy from the Public.
Either way, Congressional Republicans lose.
That’s my hope for 2018.
A revival of caring and compassion and a spirit that protects the common good, which belongs to all of us, not the Koch brothers or the DeVos family
I certainly have hope. But the Heritage Foundation, among others, has its well-oiled and deep-pocket propaganda mill churning out narratives sure to please the Republicans, especially those vested in damaging the environment by any means that produces profit. I just heard part of this presentation, denying the integrity of climate science.
Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex
http://www.heritage.org/environment/event/green-tyranny-exposing-the-totalitarian-roots-the-climate-industrial-complex
This was a c-span presentation today.
Hate to be a bummer, but I’ve had it with hope. Hope is the ship on which we sailed in 2008, and Obama dashed the SS Hope against the shores of Martha’s Vineyard. I prefer Outrage.
Like!
Resistance begins with outrage and then hope but let me add, takes action. It is time to subvert the school system first by embedding and infusing innovative ideas into the classroom without thought of the big test and without regard to the testing police. And then we take a risk by standing up and and even walking out if necessary, to demand the small class sizes and planning time needed to transform the system and philosophy of education to better meet the needs of today’s children. According to historian James Anderson, “We are still trying to develop both the philosophy as well as a system of education that really does respect the intelligence and abilities of ordinary people.”
Through hard work we have clearly defined what is wrong with the artificial education system and it’s focus on privatization. Now it is time to show what we can do. Ten years ago I said, on my website, “If public schools don’t change, they will perish”. And this prediction is coming true. We must now show leadership and innovation, not to follow the agenda driven politicians but to lead the educational world into a new tomorrow. The tomorrow that allows teachers to take back their profession, children to follow their pathway to success and parents to be full partners in the process.
This effort will take a whole lot of energy and risk, but teachers are the only ones who can do it. While the politicians are stumbling and bumbling, we must work in the trenches, in a clandestine manner, to assure children get the quality education they deserve. They are depending on us.
Agree!
Especially with teachers needing to be the ones to halt the educational malpractices by refusing to implement them.
A related article: “How should we protest neo-Nazis? Lessons from German history
August 21, 2017 9.57pm EDT” The Conversation online publication:
SNIP: “Germans opened their morning newspapers and saw reports of clashes like the one in Wedding. It looked like a bloody tide of civil war was rising in their cities. Voters and opposition politicians alike came to believe the government needed special police powers to stop violent leftists. Dictatorship grew attractive. The fact that the Nazis themselves were fomenting the violence didn’t seem to matter.
“One of Hitler’s biggest steps to dictatorial power was to gain emergency police powers, which he claimed he needed to suppress leftist violence.”
https://theconversation.com/how-should-we-protest-neo-nazis-lessons-from-german-history-82645?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Your%20picks%20for%20the%20most%20memorable%20stories%20of%202017&utm_content=Your%20picks%20for%20the%20most%20memorable%20stories%20of%202017+CID_1f77d52d16724d42b4db8efbf907e84d&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=How%20should%20we%20protest%20neo-Nazis%20Lessons%20from%20German%20history