This is how the GOP started in the Nixon era. It was women like you who went out into the impossible lands and slowly change the hearts and minds. The difference is you’re not doing it for the selfishness of the individual. You’re doing it for the good of the people.
I heard a TikToker say what’s the difference between being a democrat and a republican… A Democrat works for the working man and a Republican works for the man. I like being a Democrat and working for the working class. I’m tired of creating welfare checks for the wealthy.
Keep up the great work, I like you, love Stephan King and have been reading him since 1979. You’ll like the gunslinger.
I am also tired of my tax dollars going to fund the wealthy. Billionaires are the biggest welfare queens! The Department of Defense just granted Musk a $200 million contract to deploy Grok throughout the DoD. Grok is his AI built in his image. Grok AI is the chatbot on Twitter calling itself 'MechaHitler,' repeating antisemitic jokes and conspiracy theories.
Love this. When someone is called extreme, it’s important to know what those who promote the idea are talking about. While you lost the election, you have turned that into a win for rural communities, who are often overlooked by the political establishment. I have to admit that you have taught me a few things about rural culture.
Even though I have lived longer in a rural community than a city, my attitudes were formed in cities. During the first 25 years of life I lived in cities starting with mid-sized Springfield, IL, then moving on to Nashville & Toronto, Ontario before coming to teach at Northwest. I often say that I thought I was in the country when I arrived in Maryville, only to learn that I was surrounded by more rural areas. My initial reaction to most things is still a moderated city view. As I take time to reflect, I realize that my response doesn’t reflect the culture where I now live. I’m 82 & still learning. Thanks.
My parents met as grad students in economics. They hoped their field would improve the lives of working people. My mother ultimately switched to psych, and my father became one of the foremost experts on the Soviet economy, despite his disillusionment with that system. (He'd spent about 15 months in the USSR during WWII.) Both remained left wingers.
I read King's 11/22/1963 three times, and then, in the latter part of November 2016, I read it a fourth time, to distract myself from the American political history that had taken place that month. I loved that book. For those too young get the title, 11/22/1963 is the date of JFK's assassination.
I read part of one of his other books--I can't even remember the name of it, and quit in the middle. I did very much like his book on writing. Someone else suggested I should read The Gunslinger, and given the recommendations from you, Jess, and from Steve, I think I will.
I've always lived on the coasts (Mostly Mass, DC, and California). I may drive across the country some time within the next year, and I'm thinking I should go via Missouri and listen to people there.
“I spoke on my “extreme liberal agenda.” Paving roads and funding schools and saving Medicaid and keeping hospitals open and making sure kids are fed. As extreme as those positions are, I went even further and talked about not having Democratic nominees to vote for and how we ought to contest every race.
A real communist in their midst. What’s next? Libraries and parks?”
As a proud liberal, you can’t shame or back me down from my beliefs: government is to do good, the billionaires should pay more taxes, school lunches is not radical but essential part of civil society, women must have body autonomy and you can love who you want.
I'm proud of being a liberal. More than ever! We are the ONES defending American values. The radical right believe in nothing. They just dream of smoking ruins.
Proud to wear this totally unhinged radical liberal t-shirt in front of Republicans 👇
I have long since concluded that an essential difference between liberals and conservatives, is that liberals are capable of caring about people we don't personally know.
Yes - it surely bugs me that the term "conservative" is still used for what is actually a grievence-driven, conspiracy-minded collection of our fellow citizens abused and lied to by grifters at the top, amplified by cowardly, morally-bereft elected persons who don't actually believe in the government they are drawing a salary from. I know we all want to see our neighbors released from what feels to be a cult.
Brilliantly-put, MLT. And starving half the country while blaming it on people doing jobs nobody wants.
As FDR said "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith Conservative is just a long way to spell greedy. Think of it this way: refusing to make space for others to sit at the table for a meal.
Yes! I love your saying that. It took Dick Cheney having an out-of-the-closet gay daughter to understand that we're all human! If it doesn't hit them personally, the right wing doesn't care.
JennSH from NC - I think you are correct. People label others as "communist" or "socialist" because they have heard the terms used to disparage others. But they don't truly understand these forms of government, apparently any more than they understand democracy.
Careful with generalizations. I read on my Kindle, listen to audiobooks, check out library books, and purchase a few that I put in the free library box down the street. We have a very large TV. You can trust me to help if needed. Or did I misunderstand?
Good point! My problem was being transient. Hauling books around gets really hard after a while. That's why, when I move to a new town, I always look for a rental close as possible to the library. I've been in two cities now where I was only a block away, and they were both heavenly (Chico, CA and Brookings, OR).
I think the tv vs books comment wasn’t really meant to be taken literally — the idea of a book reader being our type of person as opposed to someone who could care less about books and lives their life in reality tv.
Meant to also say I buy a lot of books from secondhand books sellers and even Goodwill. I keep the ones I'll reread, and donate the rest to my local library. They sell them to get money to support the library. Steven King is my favorite author - I've read everything he's written. I just found The Fireman written by King's son Joe Hill. I highly recommend!!
It has been said, Jess, that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. If the Regressives despise you so much that they go out of their way to attack you, that means you are getting to them. It would be worse to be ignored. Stay strong and keep hammering away at the fascists.
What a jewel of a post. I read the Gunslinger and some of the sequels in The Dark Tower series a few years ago. Good stuff and I love the way you made it apply to our current dark night of the soul. Since you are in English major, i thought I’d throw in that King was inspired by Browning’s Dark Tower poem! I’m whetting my pitchfork tonight. And rummaging in my crawl space for the torch I used in my college years when we were all protesting the Vietnam War. How quaint that all seems today.
Alas, the Dark Tower series was supposed to be a trilogy but became immensely popular and was extended. The middle volumes don't quite measure up and it wasn't easy to knot all the threads in the final one.
We'll write a more concise conclusion to this melodrama of ours. I just know it.
As a native of Garden City, Missouri, now living in Virginia, I SO appreciate you! When I was there, most Missourians were proud to be Harry Truman Democrats. Now when I visit family I am appalled by the changes. Your voice is important and needed. Thank you!
Yeah we need replacements for Grassley and Ernst both. Praying for either JD Schoelten or Nathan Sage to unseat phony baloney Joni next year!!! Grassley is a decrepid piece of garbage licking tRumps boots daily.
We are happy every time you speak in our state whether its Nodaway, Harlan, or anywhere else!
I just listened to "A Well-Trained Wife: My escape from Christian Patriarchy" read by the author, Tia Levings. That may be a good listen in your travels. I learned so much about how horribly women are treated in these White Christian Nationalist/ Fundamentalist churches and it gave me insight into the forces behind the WCN movement. THANK YOU for what you are doing, spreading the word about the horrors of those in power. You give me hope.
Jess, do you know David Pepper, here in Ohio? Like you, he is fighting the good fight to educate Ohioans and the rest of the country to the "Republic" lawbreakers here who are on a mission to make Ohio the shining example of the greatest fascist-run state in the country.
As always, I enjoyed your latest posting. Super delighted to see you out there doing the good work for us. I get exhausted just reading your postings! I have read that King book before but am going to slap a hold on it on our local library and read it again.
Hi Jess, Thanks for reporting from the heartland. I’ve driven through Iowa several times recently and have admired them for the number of windmills they have installed to harness the energy of the ever blowing wind. Maybe they will find answers in the wind too. PS if you like your Steven King novel, stream the movie “The Searchers” for an awesome (literally) visualization of some of the same scenes and locations. Your fellow fighter, Jessica
This is how the GOP started in the Nixon era. It was women like you who went out into the impossible lands and slowly change the hearts and minds. The difference is you’re not doing it for the selfishness of the individual. You’re doing it for the good of the people.
I heard a TikToker say what’s the difference between being a democrat and a republican… A Democrat works for the working man and a Republican works for the man. I like being a Democrat and working for the working class. I’m tired of creating welfare checks for the wealthy.
Keep up the great work, I like you, love Stephan King and have been reading him since 1979. You’ll like the gunslinger.
I am also tired of my tax dollars going to fund the wealthy. Billionaires are the biggest welfare queens! The Department of Defense just granted Musk a $200 million contract to deploy Grok throughout the DoD. Grok is his AI built in his image. Grok AI is the chatbot on Twitter calling itself 'MechaHitler,' repeating antisemitic jokes and conspiracy theories.
What a bunch of crap! They are trying to brainwash our troups! This has got to stop and the sooner the better.
Love this. When someone is called extreme, it’s important to know what those who promote the idea are talking about. While you lost the election, you have turned that into a win for rural communities, who are often overlooked by the political establishment. I have to admit that you have taught me a few things about rural culture.
Even though I have lived longer in a rural community than a city, my attitudes were formed in cities. During the first 25 years of life I lived in cities starting with mid-sized Springfield, IL, then moving on to Nashville & Toronto, Ontario before coming to teach at Northwest. I often say that I thought I was in the country when I arrived in Maryville, only to learn that I was surrounded by more rural areas. My initial reaction to most things is still a moderated city view. As I take time to reflect, I realize that my response doesn’t reflect the culture where I now live. I’m 82 & still learning. Thanks.
My parents met as grad students in economics. They hoped their field would improve the lives of working people. My mother ultimately switched to psych, and my father became one of the foremost experts on the Soviet economy, despite his disillusionment with that system. (He'd spent about 15 months in the USSR during WWII.) Both remained left wingers.
I read King's 11/22/1963 three times, and then, in the latter part of November 2016, I read it a fourth time, to distract myself from the American political history that had taken place that month. I loved that book. For those too young get the title, 11/22/1963 is the date of JFK's assassination.
I read part of one of his other books--I can't even remember the name of it, and quit in the middle. I did very much like his book on writing. Someone else suggested I should read The Gunslinger, and given the recommendations from you, Jess, and from Steve, I think I will.
I've always lived on the coasts (Mostly Mass, DC, and California). I may drive across the country some time within the next year, and I'm thinking I should go via Missouri and listen to people there.
Way to go!!!!! You are a success, don't stop putting the truth out there.
“I spoke on my “extreme liberal agenda.” Paving roads and funding schools and saving Medicaid and keeping hospitals open and making sure kids are fed. As extreme as those positions are, I went even further and talked about not having Democratic nominees to vote for and how we ought to contest every race.
A real communist in their midst. What’s next? Libraries and parks?”
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💙🇺🇸
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
As a proud liberal, you can’t shame or back me down from my beliefs: government is to do good, the billionaires should pay more taxes, school lunches is not radical but essential part of civil society, women must have body autonomy and you can love who you want.
I'm proud of being a liberal. More than ever! We are the ONES defending American values. The radical right believe in nothing. They just dream of smoking ruins.
Proud to wear this totally unhinged radical liberal t-shirt in front of Republicans 👇
https://libtees.dashery.com/products/37565331-totally-unhinged-radical-liberal-t-shirt
I have long since concluded that an essential difference between liberals and conservatives, is that liberals are capable of caring about people we don't personally know.
"Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear." -- William Gladstone (1809-1898)
Great quote! Except that "conservatism" isn't tempered by anything anymore in America, sadly.
And I refuse to call them "conservatives". What are they conserving? They are reactionary throwbacks to a pre-FDR, even pre-Enlightenment era.
Ignorant, bigoted obscurantists.
We need to coin a much more accurate word.
GK, I believe the phrase is MAGA; aka white Christian nationalists.
Racists, and misogynists.
I agree, NOT conservatives.
Yes - it surely bugs me that the term "conservative" is still used for what is actually a grievence-driven, conspiracy-minded collection of our fellow citizens abused and lied to by grifters at the top, amplified by cowardly, morally-bereft elected persons who don't actually believe in the government they are drawing a salary from. I know we all want to see our neighbors released from what feels to be a cult.
Brilliantly-put, MLT. And starving half the country while blaming it on people doing jobs nobody wants.
As FDR said "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
I use MAGAt, but I’m a mean person.
Yes! Me too.
Succinctly stated!
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith Conservative is just a long way to spell greedy. Think of it this way: refusing to make space for others to sit at the table for a meal.
Yes! I love your saying that. It took Dick Cheney having an out-of-the-closet gay daughter to understand that we're all human! If it doesn't hit them personally, the right wing doesn't care.
Republican works for me. That word pretty much encompasses all those descriptions.
🙌🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸
Powerful!
YES!!! Thanks for sharing the link!
You’re welcome! 😉
Love this T-shirt, have one and wear it often!
Thanks for sharing the link. T-shirts are one way I communicate my beliefs. It gets comments every time I'm out (all positive).
I think most Americans don’t actually know what a “communist” or a “socialist” is.
JennSH from NC - I think you are correct. People label others as "communist" or "socialist" because they have heard the terms used to disparage others. But they don't truly understand these forms of government, apparently any more than they understand democracy.
The term BE WOKE and how it has been weaponized by the GOP is another example of people's ignorance.
Never trust anyone whose television is larger than his bookcase!
Oh…that’s good
Careful with generalizations. I read on my Kindle, listen to audiobooks, check out library books, and purchase a few that I put in the free library box down the street. We have a very large TV. You can trust me to help if needed. Or did I misunderstand?
Good point! My problem was being transient. Hauling books around gets really hard after a while. That's why, when I move to a new town, I always look for a rental close as possible to the library. I've been in two cities now where I was only a block away, and they were both heavenly (Chico, CA and Brookings, OR).
How about “a fly over town Midwest town”?
Are there any libraries or used book stores?
I think the tv vs books comment wasn’t really meant to be taken literally — the idea of a book reader being our type of person as opposed to someone who could care less about books and lives their life in reality tv.
Char, thank you for clarifying. I trust you!
At this point in time, a large tv makes the viewing more clear. I’m 71, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be.
Probably not, but you seem a little defensive
Oh, me too! Out giant TV is nestled in a wall of bookcases.
Meant to also say I buy a lot of books from secondhand books sellers and even Goodwill. I keep the ones I'll reread, and donate the rest to my local library. They sell them to get money to support the library. Steven King is my favorite author - I've read everything he's written. I just found The Fireman written by King's son Joe Hill. I highly recommend!!
Not necessarily. Lots of people don't even have much space for bookshelves anymore. Homes get tinier and tinier as they get more expensive.
I love reading. I also love sports on a big television. Can't wait for football!
Love that!
My whole house is a bookcase! Isn’t everybody’s?
🇺🇸
LOL! True!
I love that!
It has been said, Jess, that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. If the Regressives despise you so much that they go out of their way to attack you, that means you are getting to them. It would be worse to be ignored. Stay strong and keep hammering away at the fascists.
❤️❤️❤️
What a jewel of a post. I read the Gunslinger and some of the sequels in The Dark Tower series a few years ago. Good stuff and I love the way you made it apply to our current dark night of the soul. Since you are in English major, i thought I’d throw in that King was inspired by Browning’s Dark Tower poem! I’m whetting my pitchfork tonight. And rummaging in my crawl space for the torch I used in my college years when we were all protesting the Vietnam War. How quaint that all seems today.
❤️❤️❤️
Alas, the Dark Tower series was supposed to be a trilogy but became immensely popular and was extended. The middle volumes don't quite measure up and it wasn't easy to knot all the threads in the final one.
We'll write a more concise conclusion to this melodrama of ours. I just know it.
Thank you, Jess! You are a light in the darkness.
Wonderful post. Your wisdom and courage are an inspiration to decent Americans everywhere. Thank you, Jess Piper 💓
Your honesty, drive, and courage are giving me life these days. Please look after yourself, Jess.
As a native of Garden City, Missouri, now living in Virginia, I SO appreciate you! When I was there, most Missourians were proud to be Harry Truman Democrats. Now when I visit family I am appalled by the changes. Your voice is important and needed. Thank you!
Yeah we need replacements for Grassley and Ernst both. Praying for either JD Schoelten or Nathan Sage to unseat phony baloney Joni next year!!! Grassley is a decrepid piece of garbage licking tRumps boots daily.
We are happy every time you speak in our state whether its Nodaway, Harlan, or anywhere else!
I just listened to "A Well-Trained Wife: My escape from Christian Patriarchy" read by the author, Tia Levings. That may be a good listen in your travels. I learned so much about how horribly women are treated in these White Christian Nationalist/ Fundamentalist churches and it gave me insight into the forces behind the WCN movement. THANK YOU for what you are doing, spreading the word about the horrors of those in power. You give me hope.
I follow her on TikTok!
Jess, do you know David Pepper, here in Ohio? Like you, he is fighting the good fight to educate Ohioans and the rest of the country to the "Republic" lawbreakers here who are on a mission to make Ohio the shining example of the greatest fascist-run state in the country.
David is one of my closest activist friends ❤️
That is wonderful news! You two are my heroes.
LOL, I thought this was going to be about the other Stephen King, the KKK loving politician from Iowa.
In a way it kind of is.
You really are on a mission from God.
As always, I enjoyed your latest posting. Super delighted to see you out there doing the good work for us. I get exhausted just reading your postings! I have read that King book before but am going to slap a hold on it on our local library and read it again.
Hi Jess, Thanks for reporting from the heartland. I’ve driven through Iowa several times recently and have admired them for the number of windmills they have installed to harness the energy of the ever blowing wind. Maybe they will find answers in the wind too. PS if you like your Steven King novel, stream the movie “The Searchers” for an awesome (literally) visualization of some of the same scenes and locations. Your fellow fighter, Jessica
Wind turbines? I fear greatly for Iowa's whales!
😂