A New Democratic Strategy

The bottom line is that Democrats should stop engaging the far right as equals. Groups such as the Tea Party are not actually mainstream. Their ideology continues to move so far to the right that it is becoming difficult for many Republicans to defend it. We should stop trying to meet them on common ground. You cannot negotiate with someone who holds extreme views and will not compromise. You cannot reason with someone who is unreasonable.

We should stop treating radical ideologues like equal and rational opponents. We debase our ideas and ourselves when we invest our energies in point-by-point name-calling, finger-pointing and obsessive refutation. Worse, by meeting our opponents as responsible peers, we elevate and amplify every lie and damaging policy they mention while signaling their legitimacy. Because they do not expect themselves to be factual, or even consistent, they have mastered the art of twisting language, re-assigning meaning, and persuading the already-faithful with loud voices and repeated talking points.

In Praise of the Public Sector

In Praise of the Public Sector

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I'm in a particularly grumpy mood this morning as I think about the almost-completed water tower maintenance in our small town and the inconvenience that came with it. Today's newspaper had several critical letters to the editor.

I have a more-appreciative attitude. We should be grateful for the wisdom and courage of our Mayor and City Council to undertake a very necessary project that they knew up-front would bring out a lot of complaining. The fact of the matter is that the temporary inconveniences were an entirely unavoidable part of the job. It’s where we needed to go and what we needed to do. We ought to be thanking our public servants instead of giving them grief.

Sometimes we forget that government, the widely-despised “public sector,” is really us – you and me and those of our neighbors who, for some deficit of sanity, feel compelled to render an extra measure of service to their communities. And the thanks they get? A general unwillingness to grant them the resources and cooperation they need to fully achieve the many responsibilities we demand of them.

Essay: Why Everybody (except angry white males) Should Vote Democratic

Why Everybody (except angry white males) Should Vote Democratic

This was written in the spring of 2012 - The names have changed, but the sentiments are worth running up the flag pole again.

 

I don’t begrudge “Tea Party” sympathizers their frustrated state of mind. Times are hard and they have been getting harder for the last several decades – along with the pace of change. Everybody is struggling and unhappy. But, this is not a good time to seriously think that we can go back to family farms and small-shop manufacturing. Neither is it helpful to start arming yourself because your President is black, some of your neighbors speak Spanish or Vietnamese, or some Muslims are building a place of worship. Really, just what are you planning to do with all of that firepower?

We rescued a small dog a while back. We knew that the dog would eventually quit trying to jump on the cats and that the cats would quit hissing at her – but the critters only knew that they were anxious and confused right now. One kitty wouldn’t come out of the laundry room for several days. They will never be great friends but they can now nap all together without making a fuss. My point is that we humans ought to be able to do even better.
The Democratic Party represents the best long-term interests of the majority of U.S. citizens. Even if you don’t like their attitude, diversity, or permissiveness, a Republican vote, this year, is against your best interests. Most angry white males are in their own tightly self-constructed world. You can love them and feed them, but

Essay: Girl Scouts: liberal or conservative?

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Girl Scouts: liberal or conservative?

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKdjE4dk5wX2s0QVk/edit?usp=sharing

#GSA #GirlScouts

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Girl Scouts: liberal or conservative?

I would like to say a few nice things about the Girl Scouts.

In recent news, Bob “Cookie Monster” Morris, A conservative State Representative from Indiana, made headlines by writing in a letter that the Girl Scouts were “quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood” and were being “subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of the traditional American family values.” There is more, but it starts to get truly ugly.

The fact of the matter is that the Girl Scouts are a fine, conservative, 100-year old organization with the ambition to: “help girls develop self-confidence and good decision-making skills that will help them make wise choices in all areas of their lives.” They believe that girls deserve to be educated, informed, and involved in society – that they should be “given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually.”

Naturally, we have to understand that, 100 years ago, these were all radical, liberal, progressive notions. In America, women weren’t allowed the right to vote until 1920. They were often expected to remain “barefoot and pregnant” or be

Essay: Democrats in 2012—The need to get real

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Democrats in 2012—The need to get real

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKTGFUdXdkLTVfWkE/edit?usp=sharing

#Elections #Liberals #Politics #DCCC 

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Democrats in 2012—The need to get real

Some Democrats are hesitating to rally behind our president. I don’t get it. Put all the rest of the clutter and noise aside and here is what you have left: President Obama is leading in the best direction. Mitt Romney has promised to take our country in the other direction. Progressive change may be slower than expected, but our President has persistently moved us forward. Republicans have gone to radical extremes to obstruct his efforts, willingly damaging our nation in the process. Their disdain of the public good is unconscionable.

Some Democrats caught Barack Obama’s vision for the future and assumed that their party would immediately run screaming, with hair on fire, as fast as it could to the left. But, that is no way to govern the whole country. That is no way to consider the diverse interests of America’s many citizens, including our many deeply-conservative neighbors.

Some Democrats, failing to send liberal representatives to congress in 2010, also failed to understand that, particularly in this economic and political climate, Moses himself could not have led such a rebellious people out of the wilderness overnight. The good news is that

Essay: Elephant metaphor for developmental levels of worldview

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Elephant metaphor for developmental levels of worldview

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKNllwOXFUT2FiZ1E/edit?usp=sharing

Developmental levels of #worldview. #Integral stages #metaphor

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Elephant metaphor for developmental levels of worldview

I was discussing the concept of “developmental levels of worldview” with a friend. She keep wanting to imagine that my description of a hierarchical, predictable sequence of developmental stages suggested increasing personal “smartness” or “betterness.” I was having trouble getting across the ideas that any worldview stage is perfectly fine so long as it serves the needs of a person’s or culture’s current circumstances (and does not oppress others.)

Eventually, I suggested that developmental levels were like a progressive experience of elephants:

[This does not accurately represent my belief system; it’s just an imaginary hierarchy of experience.]

• What’s an elberphunt? (simply has no clue)
• I have heard of elephants.
• I have read a story about elephants. (unable to independently anticipate the experience of an elephant’s subsonic rumbles)
• I have seen an elephant at the circus.
• I have watched elephants at the zoo. (the most common limit to likely developmental stages)
• I have lived with elephants in the wild. (few people would even imagine that anything more was possible)
• I have memories of being an elephant.
• I have always been an elephant. (few elephants would even imagine that anything more was possible)
• I am the race memory of all elephants.
• I Am that I Am. (God’s description of himself in Exodus)

Each stage is adequate for the needs of certain individuals in certain circumstances.

• At each stage, some greater [effort or] involvement has been achieved to have had a larger understanding.
• At each stage, it is difficult to explain the experience adequately to some who has not been there.
• At each stage, it is difficult to imagine the richness of knowing involved in additional stages.

I’m not suggesting that all of these stages are actually plausible for an individual but, then again, how could you actually be certain of that unless you were I Am?