Change the Democratic Party

Dear Friends,

As a Democrat, I am determined to change the Democratic Party so that it reflects the values on which it was founded.  Starting around the time of Bill Clinton's presidency we moved away from focusing on helping those who lacked the power to help themselves, those who lacked the privilege to have an equal opportunity and those who were shunned by society.  In order to find our way back home, we need to change the leadership of the party.  One step in that direction is to support the candidacy of Keith Ellison to be the next chair of the DNC.

Keith was the first Muslim member of Congress and one of the few members of Congress to support Bernie Sanders.  He is a grassroots organizer and has been devoted to getting the vote out.  Keith has always espoused a strong economic populist message combined with progressive social stances.  Since he has always combined these positions, he is the perfect person to bring the party together. Here is a link to his website.

The Democratic establishment is against Keith's candidacy and have put forward current Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez.  The Obama White House is particularly pushing for Secretary Perez.  During the Obama presidency, Democrats have suffered unusually high losses in Congress and state legislatures.  From the Wall Street Journal (here):

But what’s distinctive about Mr. Obama’s presidency in this regard has been the magnitude of his party’s congressional losses. Democrats emerged from the 2008 elections with 256 House seats and 57 Senate seats. After this month’s elections, the Democrats are likely to have 188 House seats and 44 Senate seats (not including the two independents that caucus with Senate Democrats), according to Kyle Kondit, managing editor of Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Altogether, that would represent a loss for Democrats of 68 House seats and 13 Senate seats since 2008. After six years in office, no other president in the past half-century has seen his party lose more than 50 House seats or more than a dozen Senate seats.

And this from The Hill (here):

The results cement a dubious legacy of Republican gains in state legislatures during President Obama’s tenure. Republicans gained more than 700 seats in the 2010 midterm elections and nearly 300 in the 2014 midterms as Obama’s approval ratings suffered. Democrats clawed back more than 100 seats in 2012, when Obama won reelection.
In total, Republicans control nearly 1,000 more legislative seats than they did when Obama took office. The Republican share of state legislative seats has grown from just under 44 percent in 2009 to 56 percent after Tuesday’s election.
After the latest losses, Democrats will hold just 42 percent of legislative seats in the nation.
Beginning next year, Republicans will control 67 of the 98 partisan legislative chambers, after winning new majorities in the Kentucky House, the Iowa Senate and the Minnesota Senate. Democrats picked up control of both the state Assembly and Senate in Nevada, and the New Mexico state House.
Since Obama took office, Republicans have captured control of 27 state legislative chambers Democrats held after the 2008 elections. The GOP now controls the most legislative seats it has held since the founding of the party.

During the Obama presidency, the leadership of the Democratic Party has utterly failed in its major responsibility - winning elections.  Why would we want to continue with a leadership and a strategy that has failed so miserably?  The establishment of the Democratic Party has destroyed the Democratic Party and has let down our country and our world.  Please write your Democratic Representatives and Senators as well as other party leaders and demand change and the election of Keith Ellison as the next chair of the DNC.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer 2017-1

Dear Friends,

As you may recall, Jane and I have spent about a month in Villefranche-sur-mer, France in January for the last several years.  We are here again for six weeks to escape reality, responsibilities and the worst of the Minnesota winter.  When I awoke this morning to the wonderful sound of the bells from the local church, it was 42 degrees, a little on the cool side, but it is sunny and the temperature is rising quickly and should reach a high today of 61, the perfect weather for walking and absorbing the beauty of the Mediterranean.

Villefranche-sur-mer is a little town just east of Nice on the coast.  It boasts the only deep water harbor on the north coast of the Mediterranean.  The old town where our apartment is located is very quaint and picturesque with most streets too small for cars.  Here are a few pictures I took this morning.

Our street from our back windows

Across the street from our back windows

the view from our front windows and balcony

We love reconnecting with friends we have made here and the various merchants we come in contact with.  Very little changes from year to year.  Marie Claire, the rather elderly woman who runs our favorite boulangerie looks just the same as does her shop and greets us warmly each time we enter.  The butcher and his shop have not changed at all.  The pork chops we had from there last night had a wonderful flavor, not like in the US.  The Petit Casino (a small chain grocery store) and the Picard Surgele (a chain of stores that sells frozen foods of all kinds) have not changed at all, although the personnel are constantly changing.  The Primeurs (fruits, vegetables and cheeses) at the main plaza is still run by the same family but the store has been rearranged to be brighter and more welcoming and the wife is more present.  We have not yet seen Bernard, another primeur who has a very small place in a small square by the church, but we probably will today.  Chez Betty, which in the past I would have described as a dive bar where students from the l'Institut would drink and do their homework, has had a complete renovation and is now very modern but Betty continues to run the place so at least that has not changed.

We had a wonderful dinner at one of the fancy restaurants right on the water, L'Oursin Bleu on New Year's Eve.  I did a review for Trip Advisor which you can read if you are so inclined here.  We have also eaten at our favorite place Le Serre owned and run by Sylvie who is wonderful and greets us like long lost friends.  If we are tired and just want something to eat without having to cook, we go there (it is just half a block away) to split a pizza and green salad.  We can also go there for a very nice dinner.  Sylvie has specials each night that are really gourmet meals.

While we like to think that we are escaping reality, we are not.  Everybody we meet is aghast that we have elected Donald Trump as President, but they are also concerned about things in their own countries.   The French worry about the rising popularity of the Front National lead by Marine Le Pen.  The Brits cannot explain Brexit.  The other day an Australian who lived in Istanbul described to me the horror of the night of the coup in Turkey and the ongoing demonstrations and arrests taking place there.  Fortunately he and his wife have been able to sell their home there and leave, even though they loved living there.

To try to keep some balance in my life, from time to time amongst my critique of Donald Trump and calls to action, I will try to write about this wonderful little town on a beautiful stretch of the Mediterranean where the people are friendly to all.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Selma, White Privilege and Me

Dear Friends,

I watched the movie "Selma" tonight.  While those brave people were risking their lives, I was safely ensconced in my private high school and then private college.  Since then only on a few occasions have I gone to the streets to protect others.  No more!!  As I pointed out in my prior post "democracy is in the streets".  We cannot sit back in our comfortable homes and watch President-elect Trump destroy our country and our world.  We have made painfully slow progress on some types of equality.  We must not go back.  In fact we must move forward and not at a painfully slow rate.  We need to accelerate progress.  Democracy is in the streets and that is where we need to be.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Resistance is the answer

Dear Friends,

As we begin the New Year, I am filled with fear and anxiety about our country and the world.  I worry about what President-elect Trump and the Republican Congress will do.  But it is time to stop being depressed, anxiety filled and frustrated.  It is time to take action.  We cannot let Donald Trump's presidency become normalized because there is nothing normal about him.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to perform at least four acts of resistance each week.

I have subscribed to wall of us which gets its name from this tag line on their website (here):

he promised a wall.
he will be stopped by a wall of us.
FOUR CONCRETE ACTS OF RESISTANCE
DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EACH WEEK

By subscribing (here), they will send you an email each Sunday with four concrete acts of resistance. I have done many of them.  Please join me in subscribing and then taking action.

There are, of course, many other ways to resist President-elect Trump.  We must take to the streets in acts of civil disobedience.  The current online version of The New Yorker contains a commentary by Jelani Cobb entitled "The Return of Civil Disobedience, the sixties produced a conviction that 'democracy is in the streets.' The Trump era may echo that." (here).  I do not know where the quotation: "democracy is in the streets" comes from, but I think that it is completely correct and that we must all take it to heart.

So in addition to writing letters, making calls and supporting organizations that will help in the resistance, we must be in the street because "democracy is in the streets".

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal