I live in Brooklyn ny. It's easy to be progressive there. I bumped into your substack. It takes grit to be progressive in rural Missouri. I completely admire your efforts.
Yes, I live in San Francisco where the Lump got less than 15% vote, and in Rome where no one cares about government. They never did and they never will. It is easy for us to be progressive but as you said, my hats off to Jess
I live in California, where it should be easy to be a progressive, but it’s not. I am in a rural California town, which is very Maga. Big trucks, big flags, big exhausts. Yesterday I signed up for a meeting of like minded Dems for the first time but I am not a meeting type of person and was thinking of canceling. (And it’s 25 miles away) Your post today has motivated me to follow through. Take care❣️
I hope the meeting was good. I live across Puget Sound from Seattle, and getting involved in the local Democratic Party has proven both interesting and enlightening. Good luck!!
Hi Christine, I live in Oakland, CA, and I wrote lots of postcards for candidates in rural California. You have your work cut out for you, but it's worth doing. I'm relieved that George Whitesides won.
Oh indeed. My son has ADHD and anxiety and struggled in school. People kept telling me, “send him to private school!” When we looked into it, we discovered that the private schools are not required to accommodate special needs kids in any way and his first classroom meltdown would have resulted in harsh punishments or expulsion. We turned to an advocate who helped us with an education plan that — guess what — our public school is required to follow. He is mostly thriving now. I don’t know what we will do if the department of education is dissolved.
What's IEP? (Don't assume everyojne kows your acronyms unless they're in common parlance, like MPH, DNA, and HIV. And if I were using acronyms, I might mention ICE, which in one of my worlds stands for "internal combustion engine."
I suspect there are a lot of Quaker private schools, and based on the one I went to during the early-mid '60s, I suspect they'd accommodate special needs kids. In fact, I can't imagine they wouldn't. But I don't 100% guarantee that.
Of course, knowing the little I know about my old school's current policies, I suspect other Quaker schools might also be overly woke, in ways that would stifle some of the education we got. (We studied the Vikings, the ancient Greeks, including their gods and the Trojan War, and I'm one of those kids who would leave whenever my friends (at home, not school) wanted to play "war" because I just wasn't interested, but I must have read at least five different versions of the Iliad, and at least several different versions of the Trojan war.
I completely agree with your comment about selfish, privileged libertarians. I would also add arrogant. I've known a few myself and they think that because they can survive without "government assistance" or "welfare" that everyone can. They have no answer for what happens when there is a problem. Keep up the fight!
In one of Kehoe’s TV ads, he bragged that his family qualified for assistance, but didn’t accept it. It’s not just Libertarians. It’s lack of empathy. And it’s a sickness of the soul.
I forgot where I read and who said it but to paraphrase it, Libertarians are like house cats. They like to pretend that they are fiercely independent yet they are 100% dependent on the system they think they are independent of.
I think they are bad citizens too. They act like they have no obligation to the people around them. Everyone is part of a family, a community, a town, a state, a country and we have an obligation TO them and we have expectations OF them. That’s the way the world works, the way human society has always worked.
I heard someone, somewhere once say (I’m paraphrasing): “libertarians are enamored of the idea of the survival of the fittest, and they believe they are the fittest.” So many of them live in this Social Darwinian fantasy camp; It’s a thought experiment and nothing more.
Well put but I would suggest that instead of “because they can survive…”. should be amended to read “because they think they can survive”. Even Charles K gets a great deal of benefit from the government.
It’s true that the billionaires tend to be libertarians but most libertarians aren’t even close to rich. So many don’t have the proverbial pot to p—s in or the window to throw it out of!
I hope that you asked him how a libertarian could support taking medical choices out of the hands of women and their doctors. I hope you asked him why a libertarian would support enforcing a particular lifestyle on LGBQT people. I hope you asked him why a libertarian would support a specific religious study to be forced an all kids regardless of their own family's beliefs. By the way, thank you for going to the meeting and having whatever conversation that was possible. Few would do what you do. Most of us are too afraid or too tired or too pissed off.
That’s even more infuriating. Their stance on abortion, if they *actually* cared about freedom for anyone other than themselves (and since they are overwhelmingly male they probably just don’t care because it’s not their problem), if they were actually being consistent, should be that the government should be hands off people’s bodies. But it’s not people, of course, it’s only women. And thus they haven’t even given it a thought because why would they?
I don't often argue this point because the concept of libertarianism, like so much else in the political lexicon, has been bastardized beyond all recognition. The Kochs and their followers like the freedom aspect of libertarianism, but decline to accept the balancing requirement of responsibility for one's actions. There are few, if any, real libertarians, and those who self-describe as such are usually just trying to add some modicum of acceptability to an otherwise inhumane and anti-freedom agenda.
Remember years ago listening to a libertarian talk about how burdensome it was to have to file a flight plan with the FAA before taking off in his plane. My first thought was I'd never fly with him, if something went wrong no one would know.
Talking to these people requires task analysis (something I learned about in my special education master’s program). You have to discover the mistakes in their thinking and knowledge base and begin to construct a lesson plan to reeducate them. I spent 30 years doing this with students; not sure I want to work with “adults” in this way!
Lisa, But when you do find the right words, you can use them next time. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s a learning opportunity. Unfortunately, there will always be a next time, and you will be ready.
Frustrating and highly stressful, which is why I have to admit I usually try to avoid such situations. I do better with writing, where I have time to think, and spend a lot of time on the computer.
I have the same issue, but I am starting to believe that I just have to do it enough times, fail enough times, and gradually learn not to think faster, but just start facing some of the same situations repeatedly. Good future luck, we really do all need to be in this game.
Public education is not intended to be regulated by the whims of politicians or parents or students. It’s not intended to please any of those constituencies. It was created to meet the needs of a democracy by creating a well educated population with the requisite information, critical thinking skills,and the desire to support that democracy. Recognizing that such an electorate is their worst enemy, the would be oligarchs are doing everything possible with their wealth and greed to destroy our system of public education and to create a nation of people who can be easily manipulated by them
Love this. We need to be fierce. One of my dear neighbors is a Libertarian. We've been good neighbors and shared a lot over the decades...he recently posted on our neighborhood listserve about needing help with finding a Medicare plan...it was all I could do to not respond about big government entitlement programs. If I run into him on the street, I may ask him now how he squares that with his other beliefs?
You asked perfect questions. What is your plan for the chronically poor? The elderly? The disabled? Children? The people who, through no fault of their own, cannot compete in the “market?”
I live in Brooklyn ny. It's easy to be progressive there. I bumped into your substack. It takes grit to be progressive in rural Missouri. I completely admire your efforts.
Thank you!
I second his comment.
Yes, I live in San Francisco where the Lump got less than 15% vote, and in Rome where no one cares about government. They never did and they never will. It is easy for us to be progressive but as you said, my hats off to Jess
Ditto!!
My father, born in 1918, grew up progressive in Brooklyn.
I live in California, where it should be easy to be a progressive, but it’s not. I am in a rural California town, which is very Maga. Big trucks, big flags, big exhausts. Yesterday I signed up for a meeting of like minded Dems for the first time but I am not a meeting type of person and was thinking of canceling. (And it’s 25 miles away) Your post today has motivated me to follow through. Take care❣️
Solidarity.
I hope the meeting was good. I live across Puget Sound from Seattle, and getting involved in the local Democratic Party has proven both interesting and enlightening. Good luck!!
I will let you know. I’m going tonight; chili potluck😉
Great Misconception about California. Besides SF and Berkeley , it is redneck farm, cattle country
You left out L.A. and San Diego.
Good point. I did,,,Lucky people like you exist
Do it!
Good luck! Jess is an inspiration. Be sure to share what you discover.
I hope you got as much out of going as I think you might have!
Hi Christine, I live in Oakland, CA, and I wrote lots of postcards for candidates in rural California. You have your work cut out for you, but it's worth doing. I'm relieved that George Whitesides won.
Oh indeed. My son has ADHD and anxiety and struggled in school. People kept telling me, “send him to private school!” When we looked into it, we discovered that the private schools are not required to accommodate special needs kids in any way and his first classroom meltdown would have resulted in harsh punishments or expulsion. We turned to an advocate who helped us with an education plan that — guess what — our public school is required to follow. He is mostly thriving now. I don’t know what we will do if the department of education is dissolved.
Also in CA. My Grandson has an IEP, so I am sweating this one as well. We need to inundate Congress with our voices.
Phone and email your Senators and Reps every day; even the “treasonous” ones, they need to realize that we are also keeping score!
What's IEP? (Don't assume everyojne kows your acronyms unless they're in common parlance, like MPH, DNA, and HIV. And if I were using acronyms, I might mention ICE, which in one of my worlds stands for "internal combustion engine."
I suspect there are a lot of Quaker private schools, and based on the one I went to during the early-mid '60s, I suspect they'd accommodate special needs kids. In fact, I can't imagine they wouldn't. But I don't 100% guarantee that.
Of course, knowing the little I know about my old school's current policies, I suspect other Quaker schools might also be overly woke, in ways that would stifle some of the education we got. (We studied the Vikings, the ancient Greeks, including their gods and the Trojan War, and I'm one of those kids who would leave whenever my friends (at home, not school) wanted to play "war" because I just wasn't interested, but I must have read at least five different versions of the Iliad, and at least several different versions of the Trojan war.
I completely agree with your comment about selfish, privileged libertarians. I would also add arrogant. I've known a few myself and they think that because they can survive without "government assistance" or "welfare" that everyone can. They have no answer for what happens when there is a problem. Keep up the fight!
In one of Kehoe’s TV ads, he bragged that his family qualified for assistance, but didn’t accept it. It’s not just Libertarians. It’s lack of empathy. And it’s a sickness of the soul.
Soul sickness resulting from years of abundance and expanding economy? Materialism over character. appearance over internal process.
And yet, many of us have lived through the same with our empathy intact.
And yet none of them actually survive without government, driving on roads, drinking tap water etc.
I forgot where I read and who said it but to paraphrase it, Libertarians are like house cats. They like to pretend that they are fiercely independent yet they are 100% dependent on the system they think they are independent of.
Well said!
I think they are bad citizens too. They act like they have no obligation to the people around them. Everyone is part of a family, a community, a town, a state, a country and we have an obligation TO them and we have expectations OF them. That’s the way the world works, the way human society has always worked.
Just think Rand Paul. Arrogant know it all blowhard to the core.
Rand Paul came immediately to my mind when I started this post! Self-centered, smug, generally uncaring about actual, real people 😳
I heard someone, somewhere once say (I’m paraphrasing): “libertarians are enamored of the idea of the survival of the fittest, and they believe they are the fittest.” So many of them live in this Social Darwinian fantasy camp; It’s a thought experiment and nothing more.
Exactly. Fantasy is the word for it.
Well put but I would suggest that instead of “because they can survive…”. should be amended to read “because they think they can survive”. Even Charles K gets a great deal of benefit from the government.
I tend to think of libertarians as robber barons: "I'll do what I have the resources to do, and no one can make me do otherwise!"
It’s true that the billionaires tend to be libertarians but most libertarians aren’t even close to rich. So many don’t have the proverbial pot to p—s in or the window to throw it out of!
Thank you for your service, Jess. Civil discourse indeed. We need you and love your spirit.
I hope that you asked him how a libertarian could support taking medical choices out of the hands of women and their doctors. I hope you asked him why a libertarian would support enforcing a particular lifestyle on LGBQT people. I hope you asked him why a libertarian would support a specific religious study to be forced an all kids regardless of their own family's beliefs. By the way, thank you for going to the meeting and having whatever conversation that was possible. Few would do what you do. Most of us are too afraid or too tired or too pissed off.
He actually said Americans for prosperity does not have a stance on abortion. But the folks they support definitely do.
That’s even more infuriating. Their stance on abortion, if they *actually* cared about freedom for anyone other than themselves (and since they are overwhelmingly male they probably just don’t care because it’s not their problem), if they were actually being consistent, should be that the government should be hands off people’s bodies. But it’s not people, of course, it’s only women. And thus they haven’t even given it a thought because why would they?
In other words, he doesn't care about the unintended consequences of his purity. Good old Pharisees.
Excellent questions! I hadn’t thought about it that way but now I will be prepared! 💜
Koch also sells much of the fertilizer in Iowa and I presume Missouri by purchasing a plant Iowa taxpayers helped build
Ahhhh… I did not know this, friend
https://kochfertilizer.com/newsroom/Koch-Ag-Energy-Solutions-Completes-Acquisition-of-Wever-Iowa-Fertilizer-Plant_2692.aspx
Yep poisoning the people! The Monsanto way!
I don't often argue this point because the concept of libertarianism, like so much else in the political lexicon, has been bastardized beyond all recognition. The Kochs and their followers like the freedom aspect of libertarianism, but decline to accept the balancing requirement of responsibility for one's actions. There are few, if any, real libertarians, and those who self-describe as such are usually just trying to add some modicum of acceptability to an otherwise inhumane and anti-freedom agenda.
Yes, thank you. Exactly.
Remember years ago listening to a libertarian talk about how burdensome it was to have to file a flight plan with the FAA before taking off in his plane. My first thought was I'd never fly with him, if something went wrong no one would know.
Talking to these people requires task analysis (something I learned about in my special education master’s program). You have to discover the mistakes in their thinking and knowledge base and begin to construct a lesson plan to reeducate them. I spent 30 years doing this with students; not sure I want to work with “adults” in this way!
I’m not a quick thinker in social situations. I find the right words later on and regret the missed opportunity. It’s so frustrating.
Lisa, But when you do find the right words, you can use them next time. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s a learning opportunity. Unfortunately, there will always be a next time, and you will be ready.
Same here. Very frustrating.
Frustrating and highly stressful, which is why I have to admit I usually try to avoid such situations. I do better with writing, where I have time to think, and spend a lot of time on the computer.
I have the same issue, but I am starting to believe that I just have to do it enough times, fail enough times, and gradually learn not to think faster, but just start facing some of the same situations repeatedly. Good future luck, we really do all need to be in this game.
Oh me too, I know what I believe but I can’t articulate it when I should.
Laura, Thank you for your service.
I need this.
Blue dot Okie here. Thank you Jess! You are a beast!🔥🔥🔥🔥
Just having a civil conversation is a good start. Many, many people are not open to that. I would welcome one.
Public education is not intended to be regulated by the whims of politicians or parents or students. It’s not intended to please any of those constituencies. It was created to meet the needs of a democracy by creating a well educated population with the requisite information, critical thinking skills,and the desire to support that democracy. Recognizing that such an electorate is their worst enemy, the would be oligarchs are doing everything possible with their wealth and greed to destroy our system of public education and to create a nation of people who can be easily manipulated by them
THAT
Education is the basis of democracy!
Which is why they want it to degrade.
Colin, yes!!
Love this. We need to be fierce. One of my dear neighbors is a Libertarian. We've been good neighbors and shared a lot over the decades...he recently posted on our neighborhood listserve about needing help with finding a Medicare plan...it was all I could do to not respond about big government entitlement programs. If I run into him on the street, I may ask him now how he squares that with his other beliefs?
You asked perfect questions. What is your plan for the chronically poor? The elderly? The disabled? Children? The people who, through no fault of their own, cannot compete in the “market?”
Go, Jess, go!! You are an inspiration and a teacher in survival. Please don't stop talking and driving and drinking that good, hot, plain coffee.
Often, being called “stubborn” is meant as a negative. But, in your case, Jess, I cannot think of a better compliment. I admire your stubbornness.
I prefer tenacious.