Causing Progress

Santa Fe Planning Commission: Group booed after hearing delayed

This article and the comments on it from the Santa Fe New Mexican sound all too familiar to those of us engaged at the local level on issues related to the environment (particularly related to our pertroleum-dependent economy and communities) and economic or social diversity.

The American Dream of a detached house with a multi-car garage and surrrounded by heavily-watered lawns didn’t make much sense fifty years ago, and makes even less sense today with oil at $75 per barrel. But, those who still believe in preserving their slice of the Dream still fight for an unsustainable lifestyle. Although some may trivialize these folks as having a NIMBY or drawbridge mentality, we should look closely at their very fundamental conservative ideology and activism.

• A deep denial of the unsustainability of the suburban lifestyle and of the environmental damage it causes.
• A clear rejection of economic diversity within a city, even if only in the limited form of “affordable housing.”
• A dismissive Fox News or AM radio talk-show style of political dialogue.

Too often progressives appear to focus on international and national issues, forgetting the struggles on our blocks, in our neighborhoods, and in our ciities.

To learn more about land use issues and their impact on the environment, check out the Sierra Club’s Challenge to Sprawl Campaign. To get an integrated persepctive on inclusionary zoing from the perspective of both non-profit and for-profit home builders, you might be interested in On Common Ground-Joint Principles on Inclusionary Housing Policies.

…and then attend the next meeting of your local Planning Commission.

Tarrant deposits another $450,000 into campaign account - Boston.com

Bernie Sanders, a truly progressive Congressman from Vermont, reported that he had raised $2.9 million for his US Senate campaign. The likely nominee from the Christian-Republican Party doesn’t raise money for his campaign, he simply writes a check.

The latest contribution, made on Friday, raised the total Tarrant has given his campaign from his own money to $3 million. Just a week earlier Tarrant had also put $450,000 into his campaign.

I urge you to contribute to the Bernie Sanders for Senate 2006 campaign.

Went over to Kepler’s bookstore in Menlo Park (CA) this evening to see Jerome Armstrong (MyDD) and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (Daily Kos) talk about their book; Crashing the Gate — Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics.

Turnout seemed very good. The San Mateo County Democracy for America group did a good job co-sponsoring the event and recruiting a crowd. I was near the front, so I couldn’t count noses. Somewhere around 75 to 100 people showed up.

Armstrong and Zuniga spoke very briefly before taking questions. Because I only bought their book tonight (Support your local bookstore!), I have to assume it’s consistent with their comments tonight:

• They appear to support the movement of grassroots Democrats to wrest control of the national Democratic Party from the campaign consultants operating inside the Beltway.

• Armstrong supports Warner for President. Kos supports Angelidies in the Democratic primary for California govenor.

I made a comment (asking a question) along the lines of “Too often we pay attention to international and national issues and forget politics and government at the state, county, and local level.” Armstrong pointed out that they were national bloggers, who focus on the Federal level. However, he also said that he expected that as the blogosphere develops that state and local blogs would become more important. Kos said that local elections provide a training ground to develop strong Democratic candidates with experience running campaigns and raising the money necessary to fund Congressional campaigns.

I plan to read their book in the next few days, so I may have more comments.

In the meantime, I hope you have a chance to attend one of their book tour stops.

Last Sunday Garry Wills wrote an Op-Ed in the NY Times, Christ Among the Partisans, that discussed why Christ is not a Republican or a Democrat. What caught my attention was;

Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: “When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).

While we have a President who enjoys prancing his form of co-opted Christianity in the public square, are we forgetting that Christ may have been a sketchy character, a bit more Frank Zappa than Trent Lott. (No, silly, I did not say Zappa was Christ-like.) Much of what passes for Christianity today seems to be more a manifestation of conformity than compassion. To paraphrase; “Do unto others, whatever they are doing.”

Aside from charitable acts, what does your congregation do to bear witness and advocate for the poor, the strangers, the sick, and the prisoners among us?

A large auto parts manufacturer is preparing to cut over 75% of its U.S. workforce and move almost all production to Mexico and China.

From Business Week Online:

…(the CEO of Delphi, which manufactures and sells $20 billion dollars in auto parts , about half to GM) wants to use the bankruptcy courts to drastically slash Delphi’s U.S. presence, thus freeing it up to focus on its already vast overseas production. Miller filed for Chapter 11 protection only for his U.S. operations, which employ 32,000 UAW and other union workers. He was careful to exclude Delphi’s 115,000-worker foreign factories, many of which operate in low-wage countries such as Mexico and China.

Many defenders of globalization suggest that we need to ‘innovate’ our way to higher incomes through better education and training. That’s a fine idea, but is America ready to make the investment in its own children? If we need to spend the money needed to develop the skills of Americans, can we do that in a political culture that rejects new taxes and funds a major war with debt?

Are you familiar with how the public schools in your area are funded?

In the context of the immigration debate, Robert Kuttner made the following comment in American Prospect Online, in a post titled The Tchotchke Economy: