The Olympian published my newest op-ed. See this link: https://www.theolympian.com/opinion/op-ed/article235448132.html? Click to hide the ad so you can see my opening paragraph about public opinion polls.
I am always encouraging people to envision and organize bold goals for a significantly better future. Recently I posted to my blog this article inviting us to do that: http://parallaxperspectives.org/lets-boldly-create-the-future-we-really-want-2 Now I invite you to take the next step. Please read (or re-read) that blog post and send me your e-mail suggestions for this topic: What bold, good reality would you want for four years from now — October 2023? Instead of feeling constrained by the current conditions that are bogging our nation down and curtailing our imaginations, I invite you to BOLDLY AND CREATIVELY IMAGINE the future you really […]
Twice in late summer 2019 the Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons organized and staffed information booths at public events (Olympia’s Harbor Days from Fri. Aug. 30 to Sun. Sept. 1, and Olympia’s International Peace Day event on Sat. Sept. 21). I labeled six jars with different possible uses for our federal budget. Our volunteers handed each visitor to our booth a stack of ten pennies and invited them to put the pennies into the various jars to show how the visitor would choose to spend the federal budget. The results (listed below) were similar for both events, except “Environment […]
Trump and Republicans LIED when they said their December 2017 tax cuts for big business and extremely rich people would be good for the rest of us. INSTEAD, WE NEED TO REPEAL THAT — and RAISE TAXES on the very richest 0.2% of the population in order to help the 99.8% of us who are not extremely rich. On September 23, 2019, Americans for Tax Fairness (www.americansfortaxfairness.org) sent an e-mail urging us to urge our members of Congress to sign on and co-sponsor new legislation to promote economic justice. I am quoting some parts of their e-mail and summarizing some […]
A great many issues are important, but neither of the two big political parties is doing nearly enough to solve these problems. While voting has some value, the most progress in solving problems will occur when ordinary people organize nonviolently, strategically, and vigorously from the grassroots. The article I am attaching below fleshes this out briefly. For more information, see resources I’ve posted to this blog’s “Organizing” category. During 2019 The Olympian is publishing five op-eds that I am writing. The one at this link was published in the newspaper on Fri. Sept. 27, 2019: BOC — 2019.09.19 — FINAL […]
Trump is relentlessly, repeatedly attacking TRUTH and attacking DEMOCRACY and other humane values in so many may ways that people are increasingly afraid that our constitutional government will be replaced by Trump’s dictatorship. Congress is not doing nearly enough to protect us. Trump has been stacking the courts with young, right-wing extremists who will continue imposing Trumpism upon us for decades into the future. Media ownership is concentrating in fewer hands, and those are increasingly right-wing, so now fewer Americans know what is really happening. A recent article was titled: “How Democracy Dies: Big Brother is Erasing the Public […]
We care about a great many issues. This article’s advice can help us become MORE EFFECTIVE in working for any of the issues we care about: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/27/from-protest-to-power/
Trump and the Republicans do NOT want an honest government that will function properly and serve the public interest (by protecting consumers, the environment, social justice, constitutional rights, etc.), Trump and the Republicans DO want government to perform the bad functions (military violence, cruelty to immigrants, violations of human rights in the U.S. and worldwide, massive imprisonment, etc.). Accordingly, Trump has refused to fill many vacancies for high-level federal positions that serve diplomacy, the environment, and other useful functions. Now the Federal Elections Commission — which is responsible for making sure elections are fair — is prevented from functioning because […]
I wrote this powerful, inspiring essay because we have much more potential for solving problems and creating a better future than most people realize. Regardless of which issues you care about, I encourage you to read the essay at this link: Let’s Boldly Create the Future We Really Want
Trump and the Republicans lied about their 2017 massive tax cut for extremely rich people and big business. They said it would help the middle class, and that it would stimulate investments that would help poor people. Of course, the opposite is what turned out. Extremely rich people and big businesses reaped huge savings and profits, but the rest of us suffered. This new report provides additional information: https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/report-reveals-that-like-everything-else-about-gop-tax-scam-program-purported-to-help-the-poor-really-just-another-handout-to-the-rich/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1324
Our society is suffering in many, many ways. The problems are all around us — and they are interconnected. They are rooted in a worldview that has been dominating the U.S. (and some other nations) increasingly in recent decades. I wrote a long article about this. Here is a very short article that summarizes a few of the main points. I published it in a recent issue of Works in Progress (www.olywip.org): This currently dominant worldview is hurting us.
In general, the American people want our criminal justice system to protect us from harm, and also to be fair and effective and efficient. Instead, our system is the OPPOSITE in many ways. It is ineffective, cruel, unfair, and wastes tax dollars. For example, research keeps proving that PRISON SENTENCES ARE FAR TOO LONG. The Justice Collaborative (www.thejusticecollaborative.com) provided this information: More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in our country – many serving extreme sentences that don’t advance public safety. These sentences comes at a great cost to taxpayers and our society as a whole. To advance justice […]
The climate crisis is extremely serious. Modest efforts (like nearly all Democrats tolerate) will NOT be enough! The cost of doing nothing will be HORRIBLE for our quality of life, for the survival of humans and our civilization, and for the economy. (Some people don’t care about the first items here, but damage to the economy might get their attention. Bernie Sanders proposes cutting the military budget in order to fund the Green New Deal. The military FAILS to protect us, but the Green New Deal is absolutely necessary for our protection — and our “national security” if you want […]
I wrote this essay to encourage people to create a very good future for all of us” CLICK THIS LINK: Let’s Boldly Create the Future We Really Want
On August 7, 2019, I received information from the advocacy group “Balance Our Tax Code” (www.balanceourtaxcode.com). They reported that Jeff Bezos, the founder and major stockholder of Amazon, had just sold $1.8 BILLION worth of Amazon stock. He has to pay a modest amount of federal taxes, but — because Washington State does NOT have a capital gains tax. Washington State has THE MOST REGRESSIVE tax system of any state in the U.S. We are one of only nine states that do NOT have capital gains tax and we are one of very few states that do NOT have an […]
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