Welcome once again to a $27-group / Political Revolution open thread — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, and enjoy some inspiring quotes, good music, and (most importantly) a picture or two of Noble Fur.
Before you venture into tonight’s quotes, though, please go first to tonight’s These Revolutionary Times: Fight for What’s Right. Got a Grip has assembled a collection of articles well worth reading and thinking about, from a range of sources including The Guardian, Yes Magazine, the Indypendent, and Shaun King.
(I was especially interested in the quote from Shaun King about Larry Krasner, plan to look up more about Krasner later this week, and hope to feature quotes from Krasner in a future $27 Quotes.)
All right, off with you to TRT (if you haven’t already been there). Tonight’s quotes will still be here when you get back.
Ah, you’re back! On to tonight’s quotes, then.
Tonight’s title quote is from Kaniela Ing, who is running for congress in Hawaii district 1:
I am running for Congress because everyday people are being left behind and need a representative who understands today's struggle of paying for college, buying a home, and raising a family. Standing up to Donald Trump is important, but "no" is not enough.
Here’s a somewhat longer quote explaining a bit more about who Kaniela Ing is and what he stands for:
I fight for working families, because I come from one.
When I was 12 years old, my father passed away unexpectedly. My mom was left caring for four children and our grandmother on her own. It wasn’t uncommon for my mom to skip meals to make sure her kids were fed. We relied on our community and government programs. I got my first callouses and paycheck in the pineapple fields, at 14 years old, to help my family with bills.
I’m grateful to have come out on the other side of some incredibly hard times. My dedicated mother, teachers, and past progressive leaders gave me a shot at life. But I know many, many more have not been so lucky. That's why I serve. In Hawaii, families lift each other up whenever we fall.
And we need to stand together more than ever. Costs have skyrocketed in Hawaii. Working people and middle-class families are being squeezed out of town by international investors. Just look at Kaka'ako: luxury condos going for $20 million a piece, right next to veterans and Native Hawaiians sleeping on the street. Local people can barely afford shop at Ala Moana anymore.
Changing politicians doesn't matter when they are propped by the same entrenched interests — fresh paint on an old machine. That's why I do not accept campaign contributions from corporations and their DC lobbyists.
And for those of you who like videos as well as written words, we’ve got one of those, too:
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Tulsi Gabbard recently spoke out in praise of the students who organized the March For Our Lives and in criticism of the politicians who continue to find ways to do nothing:
Enough is enough. The issue of guns in America has turned into a highly partisan one, being used by political parties to stoke divisiveness, rather than actually solve the problem. It's time to put the rhetoric aside and put the safety of our kids, families, and communities first.
The vast majority of Americans, those who own guns and those who don't, agree with the actions these students are calling for — banning military-style assault weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy guns, universal background checks, and closing gun show loopholes. These are common sense efforts that can and should be enacted now.
She also has a good op-ed available about this. Here are some excerpts:
Too often, when you raise the issue of guns in this country, it sparks highly divisive rhetoric with both sides drawing lines in the sand and pointing their arrows at each other. Caught in the middle, we see the faces and hear the voices of children who’ve witnessed the slaughter of their friends and teachers and who are crying out for action. The question is, will we hear them? Will we care enough to do something about it?
Horrific tragedies like the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School just over one month ago is something that touches every one of us, regardless of political party or ideology. Sadly, it is something that could happen to any community, family, or school. This is why it’s so important that the humanity and aloha (respect and care) that unites us all must come to the forefront of our dialogue as we try to prevent these tragedies from ever occurring again…
The majority of people across this country believe that we need to pass common sense gun safety legislation. A Gallup poll found that two thirds (67%) of Americans feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict; A Quinnipiac University poll found that over six in ten Americans (63%) support stricter gun laws in the United States; And a CNN poll found that seven-in-ten Americans (69%) favor stricter gun control laws.
There are a number of legislative actions that have been proposed but have yet to see the light of day on the House floor. Passing this legislation would be a step in the right direction to protecting our kids and innocent people across this country:
- Restrict Access to Assault Weapons …
- Restrict Access to High Capacity Ammunition Magazines ...
- Increase Legal Age to Buy A Gun ...
- Universal Background Checks ...
While a majority of Americans want the government to implement many of these common-sense gun safety measures, they don’t have much hope that Congress will take action. Three quarters of Americans (75%) think that Congress needs to do more to reduce gun violence, while only 17% think Congress is doing enough. This disapproval is not relegated to one party. A majority of Americans disapprove of how both Republicans (70%) and Democrats (70%) are handling the issue of gun violence …
Here is the bottom line: Congress needs to act now, and pass legislation to help improve our gun safety laws …
I especially liked Gabbard’s closing paragraph:
This is not and should not be a partisan or divisive issue. People on all sides of this debate felt pain and sadness as our nation mourned the loss of those 17 lives in Parkland. The only way we can really solve the problems is by recognizing that we are all Americans, and we all want safe communities--a place where we can raise our families, where our children aren’t faced with the fear of a shooting when they go to school every day. We must stop demonizing each other, and instead respect each other’s humanity, and work together to find common ground. It is up to each and every one of us to choose whether we will act in love and light or darkness and hate. By focusing on the love and care that we have for one another, we can bring about real change.
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That’s a lot of words, though, so perhaps it’s time for something more visual …
And maybe something a little more musical, as well …
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All right, time for some more words:
Young people, you have it in you to shout. It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?
~ Pope Francis
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Thank you to the young people who are leading us today.
~ Bernie Sanders
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And, lest we forget some of the other important issues facing our nation and our world:
Poll after poll tells us Americans want to raise the minimum wage. But instead we get bank deregulation. How does that happen not just in Congress, but increasingly state by state?
~ Bernie Sanders
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It was true in 1993 and it is true now: the time is long, long overdue for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world and have a universal health care system.
~ Bernie Sanders
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The Founding Fathers gave the power to authorize military conflicts to Congress, the branch most accountable to the people. For far too long Congress, under Democratic and Republican administrations, has abdicated its Constitutional role in authorizing war.
I expect that colleagues today will be arguing that we are not really engaged in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Well, tell that to the people of Yemen, whose homes and lives are being destroyed by weapons marked “Made in the USA," dropped by planes refueled by the U.S. military.
So far as a result of the Saudi-led war in Yemen:
- -Over 10,000 civilians have been killed
- -Over 3 million have been displaced
- -15 million people lack access to clean water and sanitation
- -More than 1 million cases of cholera have been reported
Let me give you two reasons why Congress must reassert its constitutional authority over war: the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam. In both wars Congress sat back and failed to ask the hard questions as two administrations led us into conflicts with disastrous consequences.
The American people were lied to and misled by the Bush administration into believing that the Iraq war was necessary to prevent another 9/11. And Congress did not challenge them on those claims the way it should have.
LBJ’s administration misled Congress and the American people into the Vietnam War, just as the Bush administration misled us into the Iraq War. Time and again we see disasters when leaders refuse to tell the truth and when Congress is not actively involved in finding the truth.
The truth about Yemen is that U.S. forces have been actively engaged in support of the Saudi coalition in this war, providing intelligence and aerial refueling of planes whose bombs have killed thousands of people and made this humanitarian crisis far worse.
I'm deeply disappointed that Congress again abdicated its constitutional duty to authorize war. Over and over, Congress has sat back and failed to ask the hard questions as administrations have misled us into conflicts, including Vietnam and Iraq, with disastrous consequences.
The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, with U.S. support, has been a humanitarian disaster. Instead of supplying bombs and refueling capabilities, we should be doing everything possible to create a peaceful resolution to that civil war and provide humanitarian help.
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Oops — once again I’m running late, so no time to include some additional quotes I’d hoped to include. But there is time, I suppose, to include a picture of some flowers to mark the arrival (any day now!) of spring.
(Oh, and is that a cat in the picture as well? What a delightful surprise. Can’t have too many pictures of beautiful cats.)
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