A few years ago I was talking to an Israeli historian then teaching at a prestigious American university. She told me she was returning to Israel. Knowing her activism against the occupation, I asked if she saw any prospect for ending her country’s descent into even deeper injustice. She said she saw none. She said she felt like an abolitionist in 1820. And yet she returned. This July 4th, that’s how I feel about the United States.
I think the modern left’s biggest obstacle is its inability to cope with the fact that this sort of effort is a decades-long project, not something that can just magically happen tomorrow if only the right tweet goes viral enough to convince every elected politician to immediately change all of their priors and agree with progressives.
The left's mistake has been depending on politicians, instead of recognizing that individuals acting collectively have power, and that it's that power that forces the hands of politicians. The Dobbs decision is one that will unite most progressives, where racial and economic issues do not. It is an attack on the most fundamental of human rights, the right to bodily autonomy.
Americans, led by women, should organize for and engage in a general strike until Congress passes a law legalizing the right of women to terminate their pregnancies. It is time for people to remind ourselves that Congress, like power in general, reacts to pressure, and to realize that voting and fundraising for Democrats is not nearly enough. More is now needed, and I hope you add your voice to those calling for a general strike, perhaps starting on Labor Day.
Tom Paine put it clearly two centuries ago:
"Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."
I disagree with the overturning of Roe v Wade, although I understand the legal argument for returning the issue to the states to decide. Medication abortion (the abortion pill) can be used by a woman up to 10 weeks pregnant and will be the likely workaround for many women in states where it is banned (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-pill-mifepristone-access-in-states-with-abortion-bans/).
I hope you're correct that the progressives will be pushed out in the midterms. The harm that BLM has caused by their villainizing police, the nonsense about systemic racism, the anti-Israel obsession, and more. Good bye and good riddance.
Meanwhile, whenever the Palestinians want peace, Israel is ready: 1) recognize Israel's right to exist; 2) agree to a separate state of Palestine; 3) agree that the "right of return" is to the new state of Palestine not to Israel.
oy so what's the good news? I am glad you referenced James Bouie's OP ED on the Constitution which I have read twice and now referencing his references to the Constitution on Guaranteed Clause. How do we make a rogue Supreme Court accountable when they are rapidly dismantling FDR's New Deal? How do we make States accountable to the Constitution when Roberts the Umpire is no longer calling balls and strikes and in fact they are calling the game for one team because that team chose the umpires. The Rapid Descent into what I call The Article of Confederation period, pre Bill of Rights and pre-Constitution. Soon, the Supremes will totally abdicate their responsibilities and we will have 50 Sovereign State Legislatures, the Sometimes Governments, who meet for short periods yet wreak havoc on local governments with pre-emption. So when the Supremes nullify Stat Constitutions and State Supreme Courts the State legislative dictatorships will be complete. Biden needs to invoke the Guarantee Clause and declare that certain States that have manipulated who gets to vote and how and whether their votes are counted or dismissed no longer get to send Representatives to Congress. We are going to have a Civil War soon and Biden and the Democrats better be prepared to use Emergency Powers in just use raw powers. to save our Democracy. Its one thing to have a Civil war in the mid-19th Century when America was nota world power and what happened here as we slaughtered each other in a short lived war without world consequences. It is another thing when the Republican Party is trying to destroy the Country while our enemies abroad jump for joy and invade other Sovereign Nations like Taiwan and Ukraine. Then we have Pandemics and Global Warming. We need to get out of the 18th Century politically. Stop Playing Baseball by the Rules when the other Team is undermining the rules of the game. Biden might want to hint that he won't recognize the results of the mid-terms if the winners cheated. He might want to ask himself What Would Lincoln Do?
As always, you are so right, we are all looking for some light; but only darkness await to be our future both here, in Israel, and for democracy and peace around the world.
The House should pass The Mother and Child Act of 2022 as soon as possible. The act would extend Medicare coverage for expectant mothers, for natal care, and would provide medical coverage to all infants until the age of 4. Let Republicans oppose the act and face the consequences.
I think the Supremes pretty well guaranteed that women and I think a good many men will come out and participate in a tsunami of Replacements (ha-ha) pf the Republican brand.
I think the modern left’s biggest obstacle is its inability to cope with the fact that this sort of effort is a decades-long project, not something that can just magically happen tomorrow if only the right tweet goes viral enough to convince every elected politician to immediately change all of their priors and agree with progressives.
Peter,
The left's mistake has been depending on politicians, instead of recognizing that individuals acting collectively have power, and that it's that power that forces the hands of politicians. The Dobbs decision is one that will unite most progressives, where racial and economic issues do not. It is an attack on the most fundamental of human rights, the right to bodily autonomy.
Americans, led by women, should organize for and engage in a general strike until Congress passes a law legalizing the right of women to terminate their pregnancies. It is time for people to remind ourselves that Congress, like power in general, reacts to pressure, and to realize that voting and fundraising for Democrats is not nearly enough. More is now needed, and I hope you add your voice to those calling for a general strike, perhaps starting on Labor Day.
Tom Paine put it clearly two centuries ago:
"Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."
I disagree with the overturning of Roe v Wade, although I understand the legal argument for returning the issue to the states to decide. Medication abortion (the abortion pill) can be used by a woman up to 10 weeks pregnant and will be the likely workaround for many women in states where it is banned (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-pill-mifepristone-access-in-states-with-abortion-bans/).
I hope you're correct that the progressives will be pushed out in the midterms. The harm that BLM has caused by their villainizing police, the nonsense about systemic racism, the anti-Israel obsession, and more. Good bye and good riddance.
Meanwhile, whenever the Palestinians want peace, Israel is ready: 1) recognize Israel's right to exist; 2) agree to a separate state of Palestine; 3) agree that the "right of return" is to the new state of Palestine not to Israel.
oy so what's the good news? I am glad you referenced James Bouie's OP ED on the Constitution which I have read twice and now referencing his references to the Constitution on Guaranteed Clause. How do we make a rogue Supreme Court accountable when they are rapidly dismantling FDR's New Deal? How do we make States accountable to the Constitution when Roberts the Umpire is no longer calling balls and strikes and in fact they are calling the game for one team because that team chose the umpires. The Rapid Descent into what I call The Article of Confederation period, pre Bill of Rights and pre-Constitution. Soon, the Supremes will totally abdicate their responsibilities and we will have 50 Sovereign State Legislatures, the Sometimes Governments, who meet for short periods yet wreak havoc on local governments with pre-emption. So when the Supremes nullify Stat Constitutions and State Supreme Courts the State legislative dictatorships will be complete. Biden needs to invoke the Guarantee Clause and declare that certain States that have manipulated who gets to vote and how and whether their votes are counted or dismissed no longer get to send Representatives to Congress. We are going to have a Civil War soon and Biden and the Democrats better be prepared to use Emergency Powers in just use raw powers. to save our Democracy. Its one thing to have a Civil war in the mid-19th Century when America was nota world power and what happened here as we slaughtered each other in a short lived war without world consequences. It is another thing when the Republican Party is trying to destroy the Country while our enemies abroad jump for joy and invade other Sovereign Nations like Taiwan and Ukraine. Then we have Pandemics and Global Warming. We need to get out of the 18th Century politically. Stop Playing Baseball by the Rules when the other Team is undermining the rules of the game. Biden might want to hint that he won't recognize the results of the mid-terms if the winners cheated. He might want to ask himself What Would Lincoln Do?
As always, you are so right, we are all looking for some light; but only darkness await to be our future both here, in Israel, and for democracy and peace around the world.
The House should pass The Mother and Child Act of 2022 as soon as possible. The act would extend Medicare coverage for expectant mothers, for natal care, and would provide medical coverage to all infants until the age of 4. Let Republicans oppose the act and face the consequences.
Don't be so Professor Gloom and Doom.
I think the Supremes pretty well guaranteed that women and I think a good many men will come out and participate in a tsunami of Replacements (ha-ha) pf the Republican brand.