Dear Friends,
There has been a lot of reporting in the last few days that Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia will be (could be, is likely to be) Hillary Clinton's choice for Vice President. Turnout is always the key for Democrats to win. This year that is more true than ever because of the record high negative ratings of both major party candidates. To ensure that Donald Trump does not become President, Hillary Clinton needs to generate enthusiastic support among Bernie Sanders supporters, independents and those that do not typically vote. Selecting Tim Kaine as her running mate will not help.
Tim Kaine supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Tim Kaine just wrote a letter urging bank deregulation and less consumer protection by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Tim Kaine supports off shore oil drilling along the American coast. Tim Kaine talks like a deficit hawk agreeing with the concept of "two or three dollars of cuts for every dollar of revenue". Tim Kaine is a devout catholic who is personally opposed to abortion, although he is generally against government interference with a woman's right to an abortion.
Throughout the primary campaign Hillary Clinton has made moves to the left as a result of pressure from the Bernie Sanders campaign. If she decides to move back to the right by selecting Tim Kaine as her Vice President, she will be making a strong case that she is a center right candidate who moved to the left when it was politically expedient and then moved back to her comfort zone; that she cannot be trusted to stay with the more progressive positions that she has taken during the campaign; that she is just a politician who is seeking power; and that she is all the other things that people dislike about her.
Hillary Clinton cannot expect progressives to believe in her new found left leaning positions if she has her delegates keep an anti-TPP plank out of the platform and picks Tim Kaine as a running mate. While some of us will vote for her regardless of her VP choice, she will lose an opportunity to increase turnout and help Democrats win not just the White House but the down ballot races.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Friday, July 22, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Eliminate White Privilege
Dear Friends,
Over the years as I have become more and more aware of my white privilege, I have lamented that I cannot just give it away or otherwise get rid of it. This morning I came to what is an incredibly obvious way for me to dispose of my white privilege.
White privilege is bestowed on me by a racist, bigoted and unjust society. Therefore to eliminate my (and all other) white privilege, the society in which we live must be radically changed. Our society must be free of racism and bigotry. It must provide true justice for all. It must provide equal opportunities for all. It must be a society in which all humans are respected, valued and loved equally. It must be a society in which we truly care for each other, especially for the weakest among us.
It is now obvious that I must do what Mahatma Gandhi urged all of us to do. "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." I must hold myself accountable to use all of my white privilege to create the society that I long to see, a society in which there is no white privilege. I must urge others, particularly those with white privilege to work to create this society. I must join with all others who are struggling to create this society.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Over the years as I have become more and more aware of my white privilege, I have lamented that I cannot just give it away or otherwise get rid of it. This morning I came to what is an incredibly obvious way for me to dispose of my white privilege.
White privilege is bestowed on me by a racist, bigoted and unjust society. Therefore to eliminate my (and all other) white privilege, the society in which we live must be radically changed. Our society must be free of racism and bigotry. It must provide true justice for all. It must provide equal opportunities for all. It must be a society in which all humans are respected, valued and loved equally. It must be a society in which we truly care for each other, especially for the weakest among us.
It is now obvious that I must do what Mahatma Gandhi urged all of us to do. "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." I must hold myself accountable to use all of my white privilege to create the society that I long to see, a society in which there is no white privilege. I must urge others, particularly those with white privilege to work to create this society. I must join with all others who are struggling to create this society.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Privilege, Hatred and Division
Dear Friends,
I have been overwhelmed by the graphic videos of the killings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas and am writing this blog in an attempt to clarify my thoughts.
I was born and have lived a life of extreme privilege. I am a white, male, financially well off, well educated, straight, raised Christian person. In this country it does not get any better than that. I was raised in an environment where there were no people of color. It was not until I got to college that I had any classmates who were persons of color and then they inhabited a world different from mine. It was ok to have Jewish friends, but Jewish doctors needed to start their own hospital because they could not get privileges at the "Christian" ones. In fifth grade while writing a paper, I spoke with my father about hiring black people. He said that he would be worried about hiring a black lawyer at his firm because many clients would object. There was, of course, no talk of being gay, and I never saw the ghettos of North Minneapolis.
Overt racism, anti-sematism, homophobia, etc. has been eliminated from visibility in polite society, and our society has made progress at eliminating legal discrimination; but our society continues to be rife with racism and fear of "others". Those of us with privilege and hence power in our society must be held accountable for permitting the continuation of this institutional fear of others. The question is what can I do.
I do not know and cannot really imagine what it is like to be black (or gay or female or of some other persecuted class of people). How can I learn to see the world as I would if I had been born a black male in a poor family in north Minneapolis without the privilege and opportunities that I have had? I know I would not be where I am today. While the video by Diamond Reynolds of the aftermath of the killing of Philando Castile is sickening and heartbreaking, it has done more to help me understand what it might be like to be black than any other thing I have seen or read. But there must be a better way for me to understand.
I, and the rest of the society, must see, feel, believe and truly know that we are all human beings of equal worth who deserve respect, compassion, love and empathy. It is possible that over time we can achieve that result as we all know and love people who are "other". Unfortunately we do not have time. We have squandered so many decades and so many opportunities to become one. In recent years, we have become less of a community not more of one. We think too much of ourselves and too little about each other.
I believe that the vast majority of people in our society want peace, justice, equal opportunity, love and happiness for all people. Unfortunately, we in that group are failing to hold others accountable for their actions that fracture and divide our society.
For years the fringes of the Republican party have used racial dog whistles and other fear of "other" tactics to gain and maintain control. The vast majority of the Republican Party who want an inclusive society have not held the fringe accountable and now they have Donald Trump and many of the Republican leaders are endorsing him. The "good" Republicans must reclaim their party and put the fringe back on the fringe.
The vast majority of the people on the police forces are people who want an inclusive society and are members of the police force because they want to serve and protect the entire community. Unfortunately, they have failed to hold the small minority of police officers who thrive on power, hatred, fear and division accountable for their actions. The "good" police must reclaim the police forces everywhere and hold each other accountable.
The privileged white liberals (I include myself in this group) in general believe in an inclusive society free from hatred and fear of "other", but have failed to confront the issue with the full force of their privilege and power. It is not enough for us to say and believe that we are all human beings and deserve respect, equal opportunity, etc. We must use our privilege and power to rid our society of institutional racism and fear and hatred of "other". We let the Democratic Party move to the right, to be controlled by monied interests. We have failed to hold ourselves accountable for a government and a society that continues to be run and controlled by division, fear and hatred.
Governor Mark Dayton made history when he said of the killing of Philando Castile
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
I have been overwhelmed by the graphic videos of the killings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas and am writing this blog in an attempt to clarify my thoughts.
I was born and have lived a life of extreme privilege. I am a white, male, financially well off, well educated, straight, raised Christian person. In this country it does not get any better than that. I was raised in an environment where there were no people of color. It was not until I got to college that I had any classmates who were persons of color and then they inhabited a world different from mine. It was ok to have Jewish friends, but Jewish doctors needed to start their own hospital because they could not get privileges at the "Christian" ones. In fifth grade while writing a paper, I spoke with my father about hiring black people. He said that he would be worried about hiring a black lawyer at his firm because many clients would object. There was, of course, no talk of being gay, and I never saw the ghettos of North Minneapolis.
Overt racism, anti-sematism, homophobia, etc. has been eliminated from visibility in polite society, and our society has made progress at eliminating legal discrimination; but our society continues to be rife with racism and fear of "others". Those of us with privilege and hence power in our society must be held accountable for permitting the continuation of this institutional fear of others. The question is what can I do.
I do not know and cannot really imagine what it is like to be black (or gay or female or of some other persecuted class of people). How can I learn to see the world as I would if I had been born a black male in a poor family in north Minneapolis without the privilege and opportunities that I have had? I know I would not be where I am today. While the video by Diamond Reynolds of the aftermath of the killing of Philando Castile is sickening and heartbreaking, it has done more to help me understand what it might be like to be black than any other thing I have seen or read. But there must be a better way for me to understand.
I, and the rest of the society, must see, feel, believe and truly know that we are all human beings of equal worth who deserve respect, compassion, love and empathy. It is possible that over time we can achieve that result as we all know and love people who are "other". Unfortunately we do not have time. We have squandered so many decades and so many opportunities to become one. In recent years, we have become less of a community not more of one. We think too much of ourselves and too little about each other.
I believe that the vast majority of people in our society want peace, justice, equal opportunity, love and happiness for all people. Unfortunately, we in that group are failing to hold others accountable for their actions that fracture and divide our society.
For years the fringes of the Republican party have used racial dog whistles and other fear of "other" tactics to gain and maintain control. The vast majority of the Republican Party who want an inclusive society have not held the fringe accountable and now they have Donald Trump and many of the Republican leaders are endorsing him. The "good" Republicans must reclaim their party and put the fringe back on the fringe.
The vast majority of the people on the police forces are people who want an inclusive society and are members of the police force because they want to serve and protect the entire community. Unfortunately, they have failed to hold the small minority of police officers who thrive on power, hatred, fear and division accountable for their actions. The "good" police must reclaim the police forces everywhere and hold each other accountable.
The privileged white liberals (I include myself in this group) in general believe in an inclusive society free from hatred and fear of "other", but have failed to confront the issue with the full force of their privilege and power. It is not enough for us to say and believe that we are all human beings and deserve respect, equal opportunity, etc. We must use our privilege and power to rid our society of institutional racism and fear and hatred of "other". We let the Democratic Party move to the right, to be controlled by monied interests. We have failed to hold ourselves accountable for a government and a society that continues to be run and controlled by division, fear and hatred.
Governor Mark Dayton made history when he said of the killing of Philando Castile
Would this have happened if those passengers or driver were white? I don’t think it would have.Why is it that by saying what everybody already knew was true, Governor Dayton is making news? I am afraid the answer is that we liberals have for some reason not been willing to fully acknowledge that driving while black can get you killed by the police because our society continues to be racist. While I will never know what it is like to be black, I can stand up with all my whiteness and privilege and speak truth to power, and I can truly and intentionally listen to my fellow human beings who do not have the privilege that I do and join with them in their struggle because it is my struggle as well.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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