The World

Henry Wallace: ‘The Dangers of American Fascism’

Dale Seufert-Navarro1 Comment
fascism boots
Photo Illustration by Slate. Photo via Corbis/Getty Images 

Everywhere you turn, you hear the word fascism. With Donald Trump’s affinity for violence and a superficial toxic masculine world view, the comparisons between him and historical fascist strongmen are not hard to connect. Because of all of this renewed discussion about fascism, I decided to explore the topic and its historical roots in America.

In 1944, at the height of World War II and the rise of the European fascists – Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco – the Vice President of the Unites States, Henry Wallace, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times warning about the influence and threats of fascist ideology taking root in America. While some of the content of his piece is distinct to the situation and time in which he wrote it, wartime 1940’s, it is still shockingly relevant to our modern era.

Before I posted my own piece on fascist ideology in American politics, I wanted to present Henry Wallace’s entire NYT op-ed article to highlight him in his own words. As you read his piece, imagine the world he faced and the circumstances that created that world. Now look around at the world us today. What are its warnings? What are its parallels?

Dale Seufert-Navarro

 

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An article from the New York Times, April 9, 1944.

From Henry A. Wallace, Democracy Reborn (New York, 1944), edited by Russell Lord, p. 259

henry wallace
Henry Wallace

On returning from my trip to the West in February, I received a request from The New York Times to write a piece answering the following questions:

  1. What is a fascist?
  2. How many fascists have we?
  3. How dangerous are they?

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; may be a culture, religion, or a political party.

The perfect type of fascist throughout recent centuries has been the Prussian Junker, who developed such hatred for other races and such allegiance to a military clique as to make him willing at all times to engage in any degree of deceit and violence necessary to place his culture and race astride the world. In every big nation of the world are at least a few people who have the fascist temperament. Every Jew-baiter, every Catholic hater, is a fascist at heart. The hoodlums who have been desecrating churches, cathedrals, and synagogues in some of our larger cities are ripe material for fascist leadership.

The obvious types of American fascists are dealt with on the air and in the press. These demagogues and stooges are fronts for others. Dangerous as these people may be, they are not so significant as thousands of other people who have never been mentioned. The really dangerous American fascists are not those who are hooked up directly or indirectly with the Axis. The FBI has its finger on those. The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful. Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. They are doing this even in those cases where they hope to have profitable connections with German chemical firms after the war ends. They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery.

The European brand of fascism will probably present its most serious postwar threat to us via Latin America. The effect of the war has been to raise the cost of living in most Latin American countries much faster than wages of labor. The fascists in most Latin American countries tell the people that the reason their wages will not buy as much in the way of goods is because of Yankee imperialism. The fascists in Latin America learn to speak and act like natives. Our chemical and other manufacturing concerns are all too often ready to let the Germans have Latin American markets, provided the American companies can work out an arrangement which will enable them to charge high prices to the consumer inside the United States. Following this war, technology will have reached such a point that it will be possible for Germans, using South America as a base, to cause us much more difficulty in World War III than they did in World War II. The military and landowning cliques in many South American countries will find it attractive financially to work with German fascist concerns as well as expedient from the standpoint of temporary power politics.

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

Still another danger is represented by those paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. American fascists of this stamp were clandestinely before the war, and are even now preparing to resume where they left off, after “the present unpleasantness” ceases.

The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power. It is no coincidence that the growth of modern tyrants has in every case been heralded by the growth of prejudice. It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups. Likewise, many people whose patriotism is their proudest boast play Hitler’s game by retailing distrust of our Allies and by giving currency to snide suspicions without foundation in fact.

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

Several leaders of industry in this country who have gained a new vision of the meaning of opportunity through cooperation with government have warned the public openly that there are some selfish groups in industry who are willing to jeopardize the structure of American liberty to gain some temporary advantage. We all know the part that the cartels played in bringing Hitler to power, and the rule the giant German trusts have played in Nazi conquests. Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself.

It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilities dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us. The myth of fascist efficiency has deluded many people. It was Mussolini’s vaunted claim that he “made the trains run on time.” In the end, however, he brought to the Italian people impoverishment and defeat. It was Hitler’s claim that he eliminated all unemployment in Germany. Neither is there unemployment in a prison camp.

Democracy to crush fascism internally must demonstrate its capacity to “make the trains run on time.” It must develop the ability to keep people fully employed and at the same time balance the budget. It must put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels. As long as scientific research and inventive ingenuity outran our ability to devise social mechanisms to raise the living standards of the people, we may expect the liberal potential of the United States to increase. If this liberal potential is properly channeled, we may expect the area of freedom of the United States to increase. The problem is to spend up our rate of social invention in the service of the welfare of all the people.

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Democracy can win the peace only if it does two things:

  1. Speeds up the rate of political and economic inventions so that both production and, especially, distribution can match in their power and practical effect on the daily life of the common man the immense and growing volume of scientific research, mechanical invention and management technique.
  2. Vivifies with the greatest intensity the spiritual processes which are both the foundation and the very essence of democracy.

The moral and spiritual aspects of both personal and international relationships have a practical bearing which so-called practical men deny. This dullness of vision regarding the importance of the general welfare to the individual is the measure of the failure of our schools and churches to teach the spiritual significance of genuine democracy. Until democracy in effective enthusiastic action fills the vacuum created by the power of modern inventions, we may expect the fascists to increase in power after the war both in the United States and in the world.

Fascism in the postwar inevitably will push steadily for Anglo-Saxon imperialism and eventually for war with Russia. Already American fascists are talking and writing about the conflict and using it as an excuse for their internal hatreds and intolerances toward certain races, creeds and classes.

It should also be evident that exhibitions of the native brand of fascism are not confined to any single section, class, or religion. Happily, it can be said that as yet fascism has not captured a predominate place in the outlook any American section, class, or religion. It may be encountered in Wall Street, Main Street or Tobacco Road. Some even suspect that they can detect incipient traces of it along the Potomac. It is an infectious disease, and we must all be on our guard against intolerance, bigotry, and the pretension of invidious distinction. But if we put our trust in the common sense of common men and “with malice toward none and charity for all” go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.

Henry Wallace

French Protests reveal Growing Unrest

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the new york times
Protests near the Arc de Triomphe – The New York Times

The most recent protests in France should worry the American political elite. The unrest was initially sparked by new fuel taxes but draws its energy from years of harsh neoliberal governance. Support among the numbers of protesters are vast, with many sides of the political spectrum trying to claim rights and co-op the movement. American political leaders, and specifically the Democratic party, should learn from these demonstrations and try to understand the roots of this turmoil.

As stated, the protests were first initiated by the French government’s announcement of new fuel taxes. The price of fuel has risen about 23 percent since the beginning of 2018, and around November, President Macron announced new taxes on fuel that would further raise prices. The cost of a gallon of diesel – the most used form of fuel for cars in France – is about $6.53 (USD). The hike in prices most heavily effects people that live in more rural areas that have to commute for work and school. This also comes at a time when continued cuts to public transit make people more dependent on their cars. On November 17th , 2018, frustration turned into action. Thanks to a grassroots online movement, thousands of people took to the streets to voice their opposition to these rising gas prices. The protesters wore the bright yellow vests that all motorists are required to keep in their cars by law.

The new taxes were supposed to be a part of the government’s new environmental agenda, which Macron said were necessary to protect the environment and combat climate change. What eventually became known was that only a mere 20% of revenue raised by the new taxes would go to environmental programs. The government used the pretext of climate change to further pillage the working class. This comes at a time when the working class of France is struggling to survive. After years of cuts and austerity, the middle and lower classes of French society are being economically suffocated. This can be traced as far back as 1983 when the government at the time enacted controversial austerity policies. This trend has continued ever since, with the French social welfare state being slowly chipped away. This mirrors events in the U.S. and the UK with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. More recently, Macrons government has been criticized for an agenda that favors the wealthy over working class people.

Emmanuel Macron, a banker with a career in finance, won his bid for president in a landslide that was partly due to the fact that he ran against an evident racist, Marine le Pen. The young charismatic politician ran as the anti-Trump, but also tried to separate himself from the French political establishment which, like the U.S., is not very popular at the moment. Macron was endorsed by President Obama and heralded as a progressive savior. His time in office has proven that this couldn’t be further from the truth. His government abolished an important tax on the wealthy, the Solidarity Wealth Tax, which was a boon of $4 billion dollars to the richest members of French society. In his 2018 budget, he established a flat tax on capital which allowed an additional $10 billion to be transferred to the upper class. At the same time, Macron has led an assault on labor unions and cut services that average French citizens depend on. He raised income taxes on pensioners while also stopping these pensions to be indexed for inflation. The government has also lowered the amount given for housing contributions to people struggling to meet housing demands.

This is nothing more than a literal redistribution of money from the bottom to the top – socialism for the rich with harsh rugged capitalism for the working class and the working poor. This is also similar to what is going on in the rest of the world, the U.S. included. The new fuel taxes have proven to be the final element in a long line of measures that are strangling the working class in France. This fight has brought many parts of French society together in solidarity. The makeup of the protesters is broad, with most of the participants saying they have never participated in any kind of protest before. A completely grassroots movement, it has no official leader and no organizational structure. This has unfortunately allowed nefarious groups to try and co-op the movement. The French far-right was quick to latch onto the protests and insert its brand of anti-tax, anti-environmental and even anti-immigrant rhetoric. Even the American right quickly claimed that the movement was due to high taxation and anti-environmental sentiment. Fox news ran stories making these claims with President Trump parroting them soon after. While the American media and French far-right has tried to paint this movement as big government gone wrong, the broader complaint is of the unfair tax system where the rich have done very well under Macron.

While a specific tax prompted this unrest, the French people are not opposed to progressive taxation and efforts to protect the environment. Polling shows that both are important to French citizens. The grievance is that both are being unevenly shouldered on the working class and not the rich. The burden of alleviating climate change instead should be shifted to the large corporations that are most responsible for climate change instead of the most vulnerable members of society. The attention of the protesters soon turned to Macron himself. His reputation and policies had already dubbed him the ‘president of the rich’, and his harsh response to the movement didn’t help. Many of his statements showed his disdain and lack of empathy for the working class and the poor. In one speech he stated he loved train stations because there you can cross paths with ‘people who succeed’ and ‘people who are nothing’. In the French media it was reported that he told an unemployed man that instead of ‘kicking up bloody chaos’ he should go find a job, unable to fathom that the very reason for much of this unrest is lack of well-paying jobs and the cutting of the programs designed to aid average citizens. His arrogance and tone-deaf response have prompted the protesters to call for his resignation.

the guardian
President Macron – The Guardian 

Sensing an unsustainable path because of civil unrest, the government conceded on some of their plans – even though Macron and his government initially vowed to never give in. The president announced that the scheduled fuel tax would be postponed, and the minimum wage would be raised. Most ironically, when Macron announced these changes he did so in a gilded golden room of the Élysée Palace. The optics of this could not have been worse for someone that is already seen as out of touch and disdainful of the working class.

medium

Sadly, some in the American liberal and Democratic establishment rushed to side with Macron and the Carbon tax. Neera Tanden, the President of the Center for American Progress – a third way centrist liberal organization, tweeted: “I don’t understand why any progressive is cheering French protesters who are amassing against a carbon tax.” These elitist so-called progressives are out of touch with working class people and are unable to realize that people are struggling and morally shouldn’t shoulder the burden of climate action, especially given the fact that large multi-national corporations are primarily responsible for the effects of climate change. Journalist Glenn Greenwald commented on these reactions, “The inability of rich neoliberal centrist elites in western capitals to understand – or even hide their scorn for – the anger & grievances of rural and working-class people over their economic suffering is one of the 2 or 3 most important causes of contemporary political changes.”

Growing income inequality and mistrust of the government’s ability to have the best interests of working people will only lead to more unrest. Martin Luther King repeatedly said that riots were the language of the unheard. When everyday citizens believe that they have no real channel to voice their opinions or anger, they have no other option. These protests are the result of this frustration. We must stand in solidarity with working class people around the world and work towards creating an international movement for the fair and just society we want to live in. The protests in France should be a lesson to the rest of the world and more specifically to the American political elite. The insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders on the left shows people are unhappy with the direction of the establishment of the Democratic party. The embarrassing defeat of Hillary Clinton to the most disliked and scandal ridden candidate, Donald Trump, is proof that 30 plus years of crushing neoliberal politics has taken its toll on society. People are hungry for real substantial change. This is why Americans voted for the ‘hope and change’ candidate – Barack Obama. While Obama saved the country from falling off of an economic cliff, he didn’t go far enough, a corrupt and Wall Street funded Democratic party didn’t go far enough. It has been 10 years since the Great Recession began and the wealthy have recovered and are doing very well, while the rest of us are fighting over the scraps of whatever the rich decide to throw to us. People see this. People feel this. This is one reason, among many, why Donald Trump was able to win the presidency. Trump is but a symptom of a rigged system that will only get worse if substantial changes are not made. We cannot simply revert back to the status quo that was before Trump. If we do we will only be inviting the next Trump to take power, only next time we may get an intelligent and skilled politician instead of a bumbling imbecile.

Dale Seufert-Navarro

Yemeni Blood on American Hands

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yemeni girl

Yemeni Girl – The New York Times

Since 2015 the country of Yemen has been embroiled in a chaotic civil war between the internationally accepted government and the Houthi rebels. This conflict has become somewhat of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudis have been relentless in their attacks on the poorest country in the Arab world, with most of the damage being inflicted by their massive bombing campaign. Now three years later, many international observers are calling the conflict in Yemen the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. An estimated 10,000 civilians have been killed, 1 million people are infected with cholera, a sever famine is causing millions to starve to death, and over 3 million people have been displaced. With very few people on the ground, these numbers are very rough estimates since it has been difficult to access the sheer size of the situation.

Until recently, the conflict in Yemen – and the United States involvement – has been largely ignored by the Western media.  MSNBC, so-called ‘home of the resistance’ to the Trump administration, has failed to substantially cover the war. The death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has thrust Saudi Arabia, and by extension Yemen, into the public’s consciousness. Now lawmakers on both sides of the isle are beginning to question Americas relationship to Saudi Arabia and our involvement in Yemen. The tragic irony is after thousands of deaths in Yemen, it took the death of one man to spark enough outrage to make the general public take note. It is now evident that Khashoggi’s death was ordered by the Saudi government and by the crowned Prince, Mohammad bin Salman more specifically. The prince was once heralded as a reformer when he took power, but this is now proving to be untrue.

The Pentagon has admitted that there are 7 Navy battleships in the region, just off the coast of Yemen. The U.S. government had long claimed that these ships are not aiding in the naval blockade of the country, but with that many in the area that can’t possibly be true. Since the country depends on imports to survive, the U.S. military and government is directly aiding in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. In 2016 it was reported that a U.S. ship off the coast of Yemen was fired upon. No ships were hit in the alleged attack. The media has reported that the ‘Iran backed’ rebels, the Houthi, fired the missiles. By reporting it in this way, it gives the impression that Iran is directly responsible for the attack. There is also no context given in the reporting of the incident as to why the rebels would fire a missile at a ship in the region. There is no mention of the fact that Yemen has relentlessly been bombed since 2015. By not stating this obvious fact, it makes it seem like any U.S. response is a retaliation and therefore justified. On the so-called ‘progressive’ MSNBC, Rachel Maddow gave what is essentially a process critic on the incident instead of discussing the war more broadly. She said that then candidate Trump said that if Iranian sailors even looked at our sailors wrong, he would blow them out of the water. She then questions what President Trump is to do to retaliate for the attack. Maddow conflates the supposed attack directly with Iran when the country has not fired any missiles at our ships and no evidence exists to show that they directly aided the rebels in the act. This is narrowly defined media coverage and outright war machine propaganda. Instead of debating the validity of our imperial wars or how we interact with the rest of the world, the critique is that he will not implement said imperial wars effectively. It is indeed worrisome that a petulant imbecile is at the helm of our military, but we should be asking ourselves if we should even be involved in these situations around the world. This is about Geo-political influence and is modern day colonialism and imperialism. Have we learned nothing from the middle east in the past 30 plus years.

The country of Yemen has been devastated by the Saudi regime with the help of the U.S. and British governments. The U.S. has been a longtime seller of weapons to Saudi Arabia, with the Obama administration seeing the largest sale of weapons to the country in history. From 2008-2015 Obama saw close to $94 billion in arms to the regime. The U.S. has also provided in-air refueling of Saudi jets, logistical aid, and intelligence support. As the war in Yemen escalated and the situation became more of a humanitarian crisis with more and more innocent life lost, the sale of weapons and support continued. There has been virtually no push-back from the U.S. or Britain. A school bus carrying children was bombed killing at least 40 children. In October of 2016 Saudi Arabia bombed a funeral within Yemen killing close to 140 civilians and injuring almost 500. The Saudi government said that the bombing was based on incorrect information and was a mistake, but the use of a ‘double-tap’ attack suggests otherwise. This form of attack is when the first bombing is followed by a second strike soon after with the intent of killing wounded survivors and aid workers. The bomb used was identified as a U.S. made bomb by the company Raytheon. These specific types of bombs were provided to Saudi Arabia with the understanding that they would make their targeting more accurate. Mark Hiznay, the associate arms director at Human Rights Watch, have called these bombs “dumb bombs with graduate degrees”.

bomb

U.S. made bomb used by Saudi Arabia in Bombing of Yemen – CNN.com

The Trump administration has signaled that they would no longer refuel Saudi jets but has refused to stop arms sales to the country or put any kind of pressure on the regime. In fact, President Trump has doubled down on his support for the country. Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as president was to Saudi Arabia, the first for a U.S. president. Even after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump refused to hold the crown prince or Saudi Arabia accountable. Could this be because Trump and his family have many financial interests in the country?

The conflict in Yemen is a war that the U.S. government is clearly helping the Saudi’s wage. This war has never been debated nor authorized by the U.S. Congress. One glimmer of hope in a sea of darkness filled by the deaths of thousands of innocent lives occurred recently. The Senate passed a resolution, 56-41, to end all military assistance to Saudi Arabia in relation to the war in Yemen. The bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Mike Lee (R-UT), and had bipartisan support. After failing to pass months earlier, the death of Jamal Khashoggi helped push it over the threshold this time around. Sadly, the measure was blocked in the House of Representatives. The House Rules committee, on behest of Speaker Ryan, slipped in a provision of the rules to the Farm Bill that prevented the House from voting on a Yemen resolution for the rest of this term. The narrow procedural vote was 206-203, with 18 Republicans voting against and, despicably, 5 Democrats voting for the bill. Ryan knew that many Republicans in the House would join Democrats in voting to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen. This disgusting act of cowardice and malicious continuation of immoral bloodshed will not be forgotten, especially those five Democrats. Collin Peterson (D) of Minnesota callously stated he didn’t know a “damn thing” about the war in Yemen.

A tide is turning in this country and in the public’s consciousness. People are finally starting to wake up to what their country is doing. The media is starting to report on the tragic conflict thousands of miles away. It is interesting to note that the United States started helping the Saudi’s in their bombardment of Yemen under the Obama administration, yet is only beginning to reflect on the situation now that Trump is in office. When the media does comment on the conflict, it is narrowed in an imperialist way that does not significantly question the U.S. involvement around the world. Instead, we should move past this worldview and ask what the validity of these actions are and how safe or unsafe they make us and the rest of the world. I write this piece with a heavy heart and with tears in my eyes. We are told to approach policy with logic and not with emotion, but often we need emotion to cut through the veil of mistruth and propaganda. At the moment our government is using our taxes to fund the deaths of innocent children. This imperialism makes us less safe and fuels extremist ideology. It does not serve to protect the American people as these actions are so often sold. Instead they serve American weapons manufacturers, defense contractors, and Geo-political influence in the region over natural resources like oil and capitalist consumer markets. Without foreign assistance the Saudi regime would not be able to wage this unjust and immoral war. It is past time the American people demand our leaders stop allowing this unnecessary bloodshed to continue.

Dale Seufert-Navarro

Let the Journey Begin!

Dale Seufert-Navarro2 Comments

“Be the Change you wish to see in the world” – Anonymous 

“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” – Alice Walker


These two quotes have been guiding lights for me in my life. When I look at the world around me and the volatile political climate, it fuels something in me.

The working class in this country is being devastated and pushed out of the political discussion. Income inequality and the gap between classes is greater now than during the Gilded Age of the early 20th Century. The growing power of the individuals at the top of the economic sphere is suffocating the voices of everyone else at the bottom. It is clear now that our government is controlled by the interests of the wealthy and giant corporations. 

The planet we live on is neglected and abused. Rivers and streams are being polluted. Oceans are being filled with trash and sea levels are rising. Forests are vanishing. Extreme weather is devastating communities. To put it bluntly, climate change is the most pressing issue we face as a civilization. It is an issue that we must tackle with every will and resource that we have.

We live in a world where, for all of its progressions, people of color are still being marginalized. Our criminal justice system is unfair and unbalanced, divided on the lines of class and race. Wealthier individuals living by a separate set of rules, are given immunity from the consequences of life. People of color and the poor are living under a more harsh and unjust set of rules. Police violence more greatly effecting minority groups.

Voting rights and political participation are under assault. More and more obstacles of having a say in the political process are put into place, election after election. We should be making it easier to vote, not suppressing one of the only ways average people have a say in the kind of society they want to live in. The way campaigns and elections are ran must be reformed and democratized. Large sums of money from wealthy individuals and corporations are drowning our democracy and the voices of everyday citizens.

Anger is a very powerful emotion, but anger can also be counterproductive if not channeled in the right way. Honest discussion and debate are needed and necessary, but petty name calling and personal attacks don’t solve anything. I hope this safe place can become a home for a larger progressive movement, but all are welcome, conservative and progressive alike, to contribute in this discussion. I want to make a difference in the world; to be the change. I want to start a conversation.

For economic equality! For campaign finance reform! For reproductive rights! For climate action! For criminal justice reform! For labor solidarity! This project is but one small step in making all of this possible. One small candle in a sea of darkness. 

Will you join me?

Dale Seufert-Navarro