Politics

Politically, I’m very liberal — about as far left as one can go without sliding into Libertarianism.

The Silent Coup

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The US is being run by a government that no longer represents the people:

Today, representative democracy is on the brink as our government demonstrates an unprecedented disconnect from public opinion.

For instance, 83% of the public supports background checks for gun owners, but that hasn’t come to fruition. Some 77% of Americans want Roe v. Wade upheld, but that precedent keeps getting chipped away at. And 84% of the nation supports paid maternity leave, which has yet to become law despite President Donald Trump’s promising it during his 2016 campaign. We see time and time again that even overwhelmingly popular public views don’t translate to policy.

That’s because our three branches of government live under minority rule.

The Republicans in power care far more about holding on to their power and protecting their personal interests than they do about following the will of the majority of the electorate. Over the past few decades, we’ve been the victims of a silent coup, and I’m often worried that it’s too late to recover.

Hopepunk

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I first ran across the term “hopepunk” just about a year ago, and more and more these days, it’s the attitude that is helping me cope with the state of the world today.

As I posted on Facebook earlier today, along with the Tank Girl image in this post:

Tank Girl is hopepunkI post occasionally about the #hopepunk idea, and this is the essence of it (what I’ve also seen termed as “weaponized optimism”, which I love).

Yes, many things are horrible. Yes, far too much of the world is shit. And yes, not only can it be better, but we can make it better. And we’ll drag the rest of you with us into a better world, whether you like it or not.

Here’s more on the hopepunk idea, from a few sources. In each of these links, there’s a lot more than what I’ve excerpted here, and I highly recommend spending some time going through them all.

Read more

Oh crap, can you see…

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From Jason Kottke:

…I’ve developed a similar unsafe feeling about the flag. It’s not a voluntary thing — it’s something that has built up over two+ years of seeing American flags in photos of MAGA rallies & white nationalist marches but not so much at Black Lives Matter marches or pro-choice rallies. I’m sure you’ve also noticed the correlation between seeing an American flag emoji in someone’s Twitter bio next to the MAGA hashtag and the tendency of that person to act like a misogynist asshole. While it’s hardly a new thing, the aggressive, intolerant, nationalistic right has been particularly effective in visibly wrapping themselves in the flag lately. It’s great branding for them, but it’s not doing the flag any favors.

This is something I’ve noticed and discussed with my wife over the past few years as well. We’re at a point where if someone’s displaying an American flag, we assume they’re probably not someone we want to associate with — that it’s a display of nationalism, not patriotism. The bigger and more ostentatious the display, the more averse we are to interacting with them.

The NRA is a Terrorist Organization

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As far as I’m concerned, at least (and I’m certainly not the only one).

Two articles from the past few days:

NRA: We’ll fight renewal of Violence Against Women Act

The National Rifle Association will fight renewal of the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) when the U.S. House of Representatives votes next week, objecting to expanded provisions that would prohibit domestic abusers from owning or possessing firearms.

Currently, federal law prohibits those convicted of domestic abuse against a spouse or family member from owning or possessing a firearm.

The NRA-opposed provision would close the “boyfriend loophole” and extend the prohibition to male acquaintances outside of marriage or family. It would also extend the gun ban to those with misdemeanor stalking convictions, and those under temporary protective orders.

How to sell a massacre: NRA’s playbook revealed

How should you respond to a deadly mass shooting if you are a gun rights advocate?

First, “Say nothing.” If media queries persist, go on the “offence, offence, offence”. Smear gun-control groups. “Shame them” with statements such as – “How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forward your political agenda?”

This was the advice the US’s most powerful gun lobby gave Australia’s One Nation party, according to an Al Jazeera investigation, when representatives of the Australian far-right group sought guidance from the National Rifle Association (NRA) on loosening the Pacific country’s strict gun laws.

That there are still many people who support this group is positively disgusting.

VOTE

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Everyone: When it’s time to vote, GET OUT AND VOTE.

The list below (originally found on Facebook) focuses on Alaskan elections (Alaskans can be particularly prone to the “my vote doesn’t count so why bother” mentality, particularly in Presidential elections where Alaska has few electoral votes and the races are often called before polls have even closed in Alaska), but I’d be willing to bet good money that similar close results can be found in whatever region you live in (I’ll admit that I haven’t taken the time to personally research and verify each of these specific instances, but I have no immediate reason to doubt them).

Also, you’ll notice that most of this list has results not from high-profile Presidential elections, but from local elections, from as broad as gubernatorial to as local as school district races. Sure, that’s because those races often deal with smaller voting populations, but those are also the races that are often far more directly impactful to the people who are (and who should be) voting. They may not be as “sexy” and exciting as big-ticket races, but they’re just as important — and not infrequently, arguably more so.

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

DON’T EVER THINK YOUR VOTE DOESN’T COUNT, BECAUSE IN…

1845: ONE vote brought Texas into the Union.

1868: ONE vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.

1876: ONE vote gave Rutherford Hayes the presidency of the United States

1939: ONE vote passed the Selective Service act.

1960: ONE vote per precinct elected John F. Kennedy President.

…AND IN ALASKA…

1978: Jay Hammond won the nomination for Governor over Walter Hickel in the primary election by just 98 votes statewide. That’s less than 1/4 vote per precinct!

1978: ONE vote elected Tim Kelly to his Senate seat in District F.

1982: TWO votes gave the nomination for State Senate in District J to David McCracken in the primary election.

1984: ONE vote gave Mary Ratcliff the nomination for State Representative, House District 12, in the primary election.

1986: 17 votes (less than one vote per precinct) elected Rick Uehling Senator from District H, Seat B, out of 14,389 votes cast.

1988: SIX votes elected David Finkelstein to State Representative, House District 12 in the primary election.

1990: TEN votes elect Terry Martin to State Representative, District 13, Seat B. Just ONE vote per precinct.

1990: Four contests in the general election were decided by a margin of less than ONE PERCENT of the votes cast in each contest.

1992: FIVE votes gave Al Vezey the nomination for State Representative, House District 32 in the primary election (less than ONE vote per precinct).

1994: 1.1 votes per precinct elected Tony Knowles as Governor and Fran Ulmer as Lieutenant Governor out of 216,668 votes cast.

1996: ONE vote gave Ann Spohnholz the nomination for State Representative, House District 21, in the primary election.

1998: A TIE was broken by a flip of the coin to elect Wayne Morgan after a runoff Election for a school board seat in the Kuspuk School District.

2003: 14 votes gave Mark Begich the 45% plurality threshold needed to elect him Mayor of Anchorage.

2006: A TIE was broken by a flip of the coin to give Bryce Edgmon the nomination for State Representative, House District 37, in the primary election.

2016: In the Anchorage municipal election, Proposition 9, Girdwood Police Protection, passed by THREE votes.

No More ‘Florida Man’ Jokes From Me

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While I didn’t know how little support Florida gave its less privileged residents, the common themes in all these stories really are glaringly obvious once pointed out.

‘Florida Man’ Jokes Are an Excuse to Laugh at the Poor

“Another tedious, liberal, PC scold,” you may think as you read the headline for this piece. “Why can’t we just have fun and enjoy a hilarious meme in peace?” Well, you can enjoy “Florida man” all you want, but by any objective metric, it’s worth noting that “Florida man” memes—just like all “dumb criminal” or “weird crime” stories—are little more than a socially acceptable way of gawking at and belittling the dispossessed and indigent.

The reason Florida seems to have more “bizarre news” stories is because it leaves tens of thousands of people with financial, mental health and drug problems to fend for themselves, and then, under the banner of transparency, hands over the inevitable result of this lack of support to a click-hungry press. To paraphrase another viral tweet, it monetizes the rot.

“Florida man” isn’t an accident. It’s the logical byproduct of a state whose politics have been defined by cruel, racist indifference to the poor for decades.

Critically Analyzing Dr. Seuss

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Well, this is interesting, and likely to ruffle a few feathers. Sometimes some feather-ruffling is necessary, though.

This year, Read Across America Day was preceded by the publication of a new study. Researchers Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens examined 50 children’s books and 2,200 characters created over Theodore Seuss Geisel’s nearly 70-year career “to evaluate the claims that his children’s books are anti-racist.” Their findings were shocking.

I get it. You grew up on Dr. Seuss. I did too! It’s probably safe to assume that most people did and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But we have to recognize that two things can be true at the same time:

Dr. Seuss is a prolific children’s book author and global icon. And Dr. Seuss has a history of racial baggage that educators should understand when introducing his writing to their students.

I haven’t yet read the study discussed here (though I’ve downloaded it, and hope to find time to get to it before too long), but essentially, as good as Seuss’s work is, there are endemic problematic elements throughout his career. This isn’t presented as a condemnation, or a call to remove his work from our individual or collective libraries and consciousness, but rather to thoughtfully address those elements.

(Once again, I’ll point to “How to Be a Fan of Problematic Things”.)

An excellent example of what educators should do can be found in NEA and Read Across America Day’s response to this subject. When presented with this research from Ishikuza and Stephens, they made a choice to shift the focus of Read Across America Day from Dr. Seuss and his works to the diverse voices and experiences that help create America’s diverse democracy. You, too, can choose to bring a microphone to those voices that have historically been undermined and unheard.

Another thing you can do is actually read the report and research the claims yourself, with colleagues or students, and put them to the test as a community. Not only is the report informative about the text it studies; it also might expose you to blind spots you may not realize you have in regard to what voices you give power to in your practice and in the books you share with students.

As with any critical conversation, accept that there may not be a neat and clean conclusion. Critical conversations can range from illuminating and informative to a little tense and even upsetting. They can be difficult, but being prepared for them by doing this work internally before you bring it to your community of colleagues and learners will ensure you’re ready for wherever the conversation takes you.

You don’t have to burn your favorite Thing One shirt or get rid of all of your Dr. Seuss books or cut Green Eggs and Ham from your diet (unless you just really want to). However, we all need to be willing to explore the things that shape the young minds of our students—and be willing to change our own minds when presented with new truths, even if they might not always be comfortable to process.

Siddown, Bernie

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I’ve been debating saying anything about Bernie Sanders’s announcement, as I know I have a few friends who are Bernie fans, and while I don’t remember any specific issues with any of them, generally, criticism of Bernie doesn’t go over well with his supporters.

Bess Kalb on Twitter.
Bess Kalb on Twitter.

But I have the advantage of being a straight cis white male, and thanks to those genetic/social happenstances, it’s easier and safer for me to say this than it is for many other people who don’t fall into one or more of those categories: take a seat, Bernie.

Celia on Twitter
Celia on Twitter

I thought he had interesting ideas in 2016. At first, I supported him, and cast a WA caucus vote for him. I appreciated that he helped bring a number of progressive ideas to the foreground of the political conversations (ideas which, in many cases, had been advanced by other, less privileged people over the years, but which weren’t worth seriously considering until they were brought up by a white guy, but hey, that’s just a weird coincidence, right?).

Summer Brennan on Twitter
Summer Brennan on Twitter

But the longer things went on, the more it became obvious to me that however interesting some of the ideas he espoused were, he and far too many of his followers were far too problematic for me to support, and I’ve seen absolutely nothing in the intervening years to convince me otherwise.

needlessly obscenity-laced on Twitter
needlessly obscenity-laced on Twitter

If he really wanted to help and make a difference in 2016, he should have given his support to Clinton and encouraged his supporters to do the same. He should have listened to those who were pointing out the many problematic aspects of his policies and campaign and learned from his missteps. He should have worked to listen, to learn, to do better, and to encourage his fans to do the same. But nothing I’ve seen from him tells me that he’s made any progress an any of these fronts.

Wajahat Ali on Twitter
Wajahat Ali on Twitter

I do not in the least believe that he is the best choice for 2020. I do believe that his entry into the race is going to cause more problems and encourage more racist and sexist attacks on the other people seeking the nomination. And I really wish that he would just sit down and shut up — or, if he must be involved in some way, offer his support to the new candidates seeking the nomination. But re-entering the race is not helpful.

N.K. Jemesin on Twitter
N.K. Jemesin on Twitter
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For the third year running, we hit the Seattle Women’s March today. A small selection of photos is on my Flickr account (because something choked my blog when I tried to send them here…I’ll look into that some other time).