Weekend Reading, Listening, Watching November 23, 2018November 24, 2018 Becoming has already sold more than a million copies — and I’m guessing almost all those readers will shortly be recommending it to others, as I am to you. If you listen at normal speed, you’ll have 19 intimate hours with this wonderful, amazing woman — just you and she. Where she finds the patience, I don’t know. If you listen at 1.25X or 1.5X speed, as I think you’ll prefer, you’ll have time also to read Thanks A Thousand, wherein A.J. Jacobs thanks his barista for his morning coffee — and then proceeds to personally thank everyone else around the world whose efforts were required to produce it. It’s a lovely little book filled with charm, humor, and wisdom. What better way to wrap up Thanksgiving weekend? Come to think of it: buy five copies and use them instead of Hallmark cards the next five times you want to send a really nice thank-you note. Have you not yet begun listening to the seven-part Bag Man podcast? I’m telling you: even if you don’t know who Spiro Agnew was (he was Vice President of the United States) or how much time he spent in prison (he made a deal) or who took his place (Rockefeller), you will find this riveting. And oh, so relevant to today. In a related vein, watch “Betrayal: The Plot That Won The White House,” being rebroadcast tonight (Friday) at 9pm and midnight on MSNBC (Eastern Standard Time), and then again at 9pm Saturday and 10pm Sunday. Turns out — as we sort of knew, but now know with far greater certainty (listen to the tapes!) — Nixon kept Johnson from ending the Vietnam War in order to win the Presidency . . . at a cost of, among much else, 20,000 American lives. LBJ called it “treason,” but decided he had to keep it secret. It ain’t secret now.
Dick Clarke — Not American Bandstand November 21, 2018November 18, 2018 That one — here interviewing the Beach boys in 1964 — had no E at the end of his name and no national security credentials. This one — Clarke, not Clark — is an American hero whose podcast, FUTURE STATE, may qualify for your queue. Two recent ones I commend: The Constitution at Risk Cyber War and Defending Democracy Remember when life was as simple and innocent as this? Oh, and wait! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Happy THANKSGIVING!!! I am bursting with thanks to give — not least for your readership.
On This, Reagan Was Right November 20, 2018November 18, 2018 Hey, Trump fans! Take a minute to hear Ronald Reagan out. As Fareed Zakaria laid out in under four minutes Sunday, we are ceding the field to China. Trump is exactly what Reagan was warning against. The tragic fact is that America — until 2017, the world’s acknowledged leader — is being rapidly diminished by the incompetent sociopath in the White House and those who enable him. (Too shrill? Which of these 10 characteristics of a sociopath do YOU think do not apply?) If the Pete Davidson / Lt. Dan Crenshaw story interested you last week, here’s Crenshaw’s take on their Saturday Night Live exchange — and on how dialog may work better than feigned outrage. (Humor helps, too.)
Ranked-Choice Voting – Frozen, With Salt November 19, 2018November 18, 2018 I’ve long favored Instant Runoff Voting — also called Ranked-Choice Voting. It’s the very simple idea that if you’re ordering a lychee frozen margarita and the waiter says he’s not sure they have lychee today, you say, “well, if they don’t have lychee, I’ll take pineapple.” Just substitute Ralph Nader for lychee and Al Gore for pineapple. It’s worth digressing ever so slightly here to tell you that the Iguana at 240 West 54 Street in New York has both lychee and pineapple frozen margaritas, but also cinnamon, and you may come to calibrate your life not just as pre- and post-graduation or pre- and post-marriage but, now, pre- and post- the Iguana cinnamon frozen margarita. (Equally important: Monday and Tuesday nights, upstairs, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks play Big Band music that is so much fun you won’t be entirely sure whether it’s the music or the margarita that’s left you unable to stop grinning.) Whether or not you like tequila, naming your first and second choices when you vote has several advantages: > It invigorates third parties and thus draws more voters into the political process. > It avoids unintended consequences (did most Nader voters really want to see Bush win?). > It eliminates the very considerable effort and expense of actual run-off elections. Not just the taxpayer expense of holding the election or the voter effort of having to go back to the polls — but also the expense and effort of yet more advertising, yet more door knocking. Maine has Instant Runoff Voting and it worked just fine in a hotly contested House race this month. Read more about Ranked-Choice Voting / Instant Runoff Voting (again: the two terms are interchangeable) here. In the race for Georgia governor just now there was a third-party candidate — industrial hemp advocate Ted Metz — but it was not has candidacy, but rather old-South-style voter suppression, that proved determinative. Stacey Abrams embodies the best of American democracy: integrity, competence, compassion, hard work, and talent. She was ultimately credited with a hair under 49% of the vote, Kemp a hair over 50%, Metz 1%. She acknowledged the election was over. She encouraged Hollywood not to boycott Georgia. But, in a speech worth reading, she did not concede defeat: On September 18, thousands of Georgians began casting absentee ballots, determined to lift their voices in the democratic process. A few weeks later, more than two million Georgians voted early. Then, on November 6, more than a million folks arrived in precincts around our beloved state, excited to express their patriotism through the basic, fundamental act of voting. But this year, our state failed its voters. More than a million citizens found their names stripped from the rolls by the Secretary of State. Tens of thousands hung in limbo, rejected due to human error and a system of suppression that had already proven its bias. The remedy, they were told, was simply to show up – only they, like thousands of others, found polling places shut down, understaffed, ill-equipped or simply unable to serve its basic function for lack of a power cord. Students drove hours to hometowns to cast votes because mismanagement prevented absentee ballots from arriving on time. Parents stood in the rain in four-hour lines, watching as less fortunate voters had to abandon democracy in favor of keeping their jobs. Eligible voters were refused ballots because poll workers thought they didn’t have enough paper to go around. Ballots were rejected by the handwriting police. Georgia citizens tried to exercise their constitutional rights and were still denied the ability to elect their leaders. Under the watch of the now former Secretary of State, democracy failed Georgians of every political party, every race, every region. Again. I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election. But to watch an elected official – who claims to represent the people of this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote – has been truly appalling. To be clear, this is not a speech of concession. Concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede. But my assessment is that the law currently allows no further viable remedy. Now, I could certainly bring a new case to keep this contest alive, but I don’t want to hold public office if I need to scheme my way into the post. Because the title of Governor isn’t nearly as important as our shared title: Voters. Make no mistake, the former Secretary of State was deliberate and intentional in his actions. I know that eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment and incompetence had its desired effect on the electoral process in Georgia. And as I have for more than twenty years, I will stand with my fellow Georgians in pursuit of fairness. Only now, I do so as a private citizen, ready to continue to defend those whose choices were denied their full expression. Today, I announce the launch of Fair Fight Georgia, an operation that will pursue accountability in Georgia’s elections and integrity in the process of maintaining our voting rolls. In the coming days, we will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions. We will channel the work of the past several weeks into a strong legal demand for reform of our elections system in Georgia. And I will not waver in my commitment to work across party lines and across divisions to find a common purpose in protecting our democracy. For a state that elects Democrats and Republicans and Independents. That elects leaders who will not tolerate an erosion of our values. Fair Fight Georgia. Because these votes are our voices. We are each entitled to our choices. And we have always, Georgia, been at the forefront of speaking truth to whatever power may lay claim to leadership – if only for the moment. We will win because we are Georgia. And we will get it done.
Whatever You Want November 15, 2018November 15, 2018 Want a three-minute love story? Just to make you smile? Click here. Like so many of life’s basic rules (a watched pot sometimes does boil), “never date an actor” turns out to have its exceptions. Want to spend more money on ice cream than you ever thought possible? I scream, you scream and now the Milk Maids are shipping nationwide (at increasingly prohibitive cost as you get further and further from Brooklyn). I scream because for quite a few years I’ve owned a scoopful of the company and the business has had its challenges. My only dividends so far: two new generally amazing flavors delivered each month, with dry ice I like to watch skitter in the sink. You scream because — whaaaaaat? The pints cost hoooooow much? But think of the Valentine’s Day cards you can include. They practically write themselves. “You melt my heart!” “Won’t you be my guilty pleasure?” Want yet more on “the conversation“? This time from outgoing Congressman (and former South Carolina governor) Mark Sanford, defeated by a Trumper in the primary (who herself then lost to a Democrat)? He writes: ” . . . What happened to Ronald Reagan’s notion of being a happy warrior? Like his policies or not, he was pleasant. He smiled. He joked. He played to optimism rather than fear. He and Tip O’Neill, the speaker of the House, had a famously strong working relationship despite their political differences. The Republican Party that so many of us care deeply about continues to be held hostage these days, and what I saw last week in a district I grew up in and know well is that there is a half-life to insults, bullying and an embrace of a post-truth world. . . .” If you favor civility and rational governance, his op-ed will resonate. Want a seven-part podcast that will widen even the droopiest eyes? (Not to say yours are anything but wide and bright and filled with the kind of intelligence that makes me want to write these posts for you each day — they are! they do! But that’s how stunning this podcast is.) In Bag Man, Rachel Maddow and her team tell the story of Spiro Agnew — corruption in the White House that led to demonization of the press and discrediting of the prosecutors but, ultimately, to the Vice President of the United States resigning and inexplicably escaping prison. (Later, the President would resign over a different matter.) It has been said that the Trump Administration is guilty of corruption on a scale never previously imagined. Even in light of Bag Man, that’s likely true in terms of amount. There are only so many $100 bills you can stuff into an envelope. But in terms of flagrancy? Cash-stuffed envelopes delivered to the White House are perhaps as flagrant as it gets. I’m not sure which is more eye-widening: what Agnew did, or the parallels to today. Have a great weekend!
The Conversation, Continued . . . November 14, 2018July 20, 2019 This turns out to be a week — at least loosely — about reconciliation. Monday, I posted “The Conversation.” Yesterday, I responded to Carl. Today, Carl responds to me. But first, in case you missed it, here is Pete Davidson apologizing to former Navy SEAL and Republican Congressman-elect Lt. Dan Crenshaw on Saturday Night Live. Both are wonderful people I find myself liking immensely — who could hardly be more different. Yet who got along fine. Watch! The most important thing to come out of this election was the reimposition of urgently needed “checks and balances.” But also good was an amping up of diversity in Congress: . . . more women (still nowhere near half) . . . more scientists (maybe they will enact a National Scientists Day) . . . more Muslims . . . more Native Americans . . . more LGBT Americans — and more veterans like Lt. Crenshaw. (“Veterans in Congress key to bipartisanship, study says.“) Hats off to them all — and to any Republicans and Democrats willing to work across the aisle in good faith to find reasonable, fact-based solutions to our challenges. Like the 48 members of the Problem Solvers Caucus — 24 red, 24 blue. This in stark contrast with the mindset of the Republicans when they last regained control of the House and Boehner said of Obama’s agenda: “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything we can do — to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.” And they did. But back to Carl, from yesterday. Carl responded: Believe it or not I actually like you and your devotion to the Democratic way of life, so to speak. But I believe that all the financial and hundred other achievements Trump has made FAR outweigh his negative past. Crime, safety and the greatest economy on the globe SHOULD be the Dem priority. NOT vindictive investigations that will tie up OUR country (yours and mine) for years. All the regulations that Obama put on the economy was stifling the potential of this great country and the JV team and Benghazi video and the “you can keep your doctor” garbage was too much to take. Stay in there and keep fighting let us pray you are right however you should temper your aggressive blog with the other side information that you knowingly omit. Try to take a middle road and avoid the far left BS (Hitler, sociopath, etc) Don’t forget the millions that voted for him that believe he truly loves this country. If you let me I will try to remind you when I can. I appreciate the tone, for sure. It might not have hurt to add, “I hadn’t realized the Florida referendum excludes murderers, or that 46 of the 50 states — now 47, with Florida — disagree with my position. I just like to rib you.” But I’ll take what I can get. And Carl should know a few other things, from my point of view. First, that the Trump achievements he points to are dubious. When you slash the corporate tax rate, you automatically raise corporate profits, which nearly as automatically raises stock prices. But at what cost? When you run trillion dollar deficits during good economic times, you juice the economy. But at what cost? When you slash environmental and safety regulations, again you raise corporate profits. But at what cost? We’re all for slashing unnecessary regulation and making government more efficient. (E.g., Clinton/Gore reinventing government, during whose eight years 24 million net new private sector jobs were added, versus fewer than 1 million after Bush’s eight years.) But even with Obama’s policies and priorities, he rescued the world from a global depression . . . (in hindsight, I wish he had sent some Wall Streeters to jail) . . . and reduced the unemployment rate from 10% to 4.7% even as he got the National Debt back to shrinking relative to the economy as a whole. Hurray to Trump for not (yet) killing the Obama recovery; but reducing the rate a further percentage point or so, from 4.7% to 3.7% merely continued the monthly job growth he inherited. There is so much more to say but let me stick here to some common ground: yes, Democrats are against crime. (The violent crime rate fell under Obama from 454 per 100,000 in 2008 to 372.) We’re with you, Carl! Democrats oppose illegal immigration. (Obama deported more people than any other president; we joined Republicans 68-32 with a comprehensive immigration reform package in 2013 that Republicans in the House killed; and a compromise earlier this year that Trump killed.) We’re with you, Carl! Democrats favor safety. (We favor gun safety regulation, workplace safety regulation, and other regulations designed to make the food and water we consume and the air we breathe safer.) We’re with you, Carl! Democrats favor a great economy. (Historically, the economy is stronger under Democrats — you can look it up. And if the Republicans had not blocked the American Jobs Act that Obama called a joint session of Congress to urgently advocate, we would by now have made a good start on reinvigorating our infrastructure and seen even better job and wage growth.) We’re with you, Carl! I agree we shouldn’t focus too much attention on what you call Trump’s “negative past.” It’s his campaign’s very recent past and his administration’s current corruption — on a scale never previously imagined — that I believe are worth scrutiny . . . even as we work with willing Republicans to lower the price of prescription drugs, improve the health care system, boost wages, and create great new jobs revitalizing our infrastructure. The things that affect everyday Americans are what Democrats would most like to accomplish. Democrats are with you on that as well. I agree there are “millions who voted for him who believe he truly loves this country.” But millions of people throughout history have believed nationalistic leaders they voted for loved their countries, only to decide, with hindsight and amidst the rubble, they were conned. Benghazi? Those four Americans knew they were serving in a dangerous part of the world and that 9/11 was a particularly dangerous day to visit Benghazi. Democrats celebrate their bravery and mourn their loss. But there is so much disturbing video these days (Parkland?) — yet none of the rest of it got eight Congressional hearings (none of which, though Republican-controlled, found any wrongdoing) — or even one. So I’m not with you on that piece, Carl. Finally, according to most psychiatrists, there are sociopaths in America. Perhaps as many as 3% of us. In what respects would you say Trump is not one of them? In what respects does the definition quoted yesterday . . . “The lack of conscience and an inability to feel remorse are the underlying factors [of sociopathy]. [Sociopaths] do not have the ability to make and keep friends. The sociopathic personality is initially viewed as charming until the casual deception shines through their skillful masterful manipulation. They have the skillful aptitude for lying and cheating. They have no capacity to feel guilt.” . . . not fit Trump? As this article warns, “Beware the narcissistic sociopath.” Are we wrong to be concerned? Brad Roth: “I have two points-of-view that I hold simultaneously, but I have not been able to reconcile them. 1) Democrats and Republicans need to stop fighting and work together for the good of the country. There is too much vitriol. We shouldn’t view each other as evil, but must find common ground. We are not enemies. 2) President Trump is the most vile, disgusting person ever, a true sociopath. I despise him. How can both of these statements be true? I believe both, but they seem inconsistent, which has me in a logical quandary.” ☞ Easy! Very few Republicans are sociopaths. Fewer still who have been elected to high office. And it is they — like Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw (or Marco Rubio back in the days he was calling Trump “a dangerous con man” or Lindsey Graham back in the days when he was calling Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot . . . undercutting everything we stand for”) — with whom we need to work.
Responding To Carl November 13, 2018November 12, 2018 But first: This is so cool. See what the partnership of the New York Times and Google Cloud can do to illuminate photos and history. Have fun. And second: see “The New One” on Broadway — as raved here (and in whose limited-run success I have a minuscule stake). Even more fun! Less fun: Carl writes me almost every day. No matter what I post, if it concerns politics, he sends something negative in return. It’s his gag reflex. For example, I wrote: Two years from now, once we register many of the million-plus Floridians whose voting rights Tuesday’s election restored, we will win Florida. Carl responded: Democrat felons … sounds right. I heard murderers make better voters. I stopped replying quite a while ago, once I found he was not interested in constructive dialog. Nothing I said ever changed his mind. But I figured it was time to break my silence, so I wrote back: Carl, virtually every one of your daily emails is hostile and ill-informed. You NEVER provide a thoughtful researched argument. It’s not impressive, it’s corrosive — and entirely Trumpian. In this particular example, you fail to know that the Amendment specifically excludes murderers (and sexual offenders). You’d have had to read the 50-word summary to see that. Your larger point may be that – disagreeing with the 65% majority by which it passed – ex-felons who have paid their debts to society and fulfilled all terms of probation and parole should STILL be excluded from full citizenship. Okay, good for you. But why? Forty-six states disagree with you, including some very red ones. North Dakota, Montana, Utah, and Indiana are among those that allow voting IMMEDIATELY upon release – even BEFORE completing parole, and with no exception for murderers. Do you think those states are under the thumb of Democrats? “[Your oratory] feeds self-vindication, and whether on paper it bears inspection for consistency, logic or soundness is immaterial.” Sound familiar? Look it up. I might have added, on the issue of “Democrat felons,” that the Obama Administration was squeaky clean. Trump, by contrast, has seen his campaign chairman convicted of multiple felonies; his national security adviser pleading guilty; his personal lawyer/fixer pleading guilty; his son fearing indictment; and his family and cabinet officers up to their necks in a list of corrupt activities so long it will take you a good chunk of your morning to read it all. All of this ignored by the Republican Congress, two members of which — the first two to endorse Trump, as it happens — were just reelected while under indictment. Carl! You’ve been had! We need energy and passion like yours. You are always welcome, if you ever come to see things differently! Obama really was born in America. Climate change really is an avertable catastrophic threat to mankind. Putin really did direct thousands of trained agents to misinform Americans and set us against one another. Republicans, starting with Reagan, really have shifted a trillion dollars to the top tenth of one-percent at the expense of the middle class and our crumbling infrastructure. So — thank you for your readership. Please allow for the possibility that Trump is not honest, competent, or fit (he is, in fact, a sociopath*); and that Republicans in Congress who enable him are putting personal advantage above the national interest. *One definition: “The lack of conscience and an inability to feel remorse are the underlying factors. They do not have the ability to make and keep friends. The sociopathic personality is initially viewed as charming until the casual deception shines through their skillful masterful manipulation. They have the skillful aptitude for lying and cheating. They have no capacity to feel guilt.”
The Conversation November 12, 2018November 10, 2018 A few days before the election, Dash Katz’s Catholic grandmother was — as you’ll see — willing to talk about anything but politics. Herewith a 4-minute abridgment of their exceptionally human 37-minute conversation: “What It Took To Flip My 90-Year-Old Grandma Blue.” Where did this young man find the patience? Hats off to him — and to her. It’s no magic template for converting Trumpers. Trumpers don’t all have tearful gay grandsons they adore. Many probably like that Trump threatens trans people (though 56 companies, like Coke and Apple, do not). Probably applaud his anti-LGBT achievements. But it’s yet another example that when the conversation can be made personal between people of opposing views, good things can happen. As Oprah demonstrated on a larger scale. Which is why I found Özlem Cekic’s TED talk so compelling, and offer it here: Why I have coffee with people who send me hate mail My inbox is full of hate mails and personal abuse and has been for years. In 2010, I started answering those mails and suggesting to the writer that we might meet for coffee and a chat. I have had hundreds of encounters. They have taught me something important that I want to share with you. I was born in Turkey from Kurdish parents and we moved to Denmark when I was a young child. In 2007, I ran for a seat in the Danish parliament as one of the first women with a minority background. I was elected, but I soon found out that not everyone was happy about it as I had to quickly get used to finding hate messages in my inbox. Those emails would begin with something like this: “What’s a raghead like you doing in our parliament?” I never answered. I’d just delete the emails. I just thought that the senders and I had nothing in common. They didn’t understand me, and I didn’t understand them. Then one day, one of my colleagues in the parliament said that I should save the hate mails. “When something happens to you, it will give the police a lead.” (Laughter) I noticed that she said, “When something happens” and not “if.” (Laughter) Sometimes hateful letters were also sent to my home address. The more I became involved in public debate, the more hate mail and threats I received. After a while, I got a secret address and I had to take extra precautions to protect my family. Then in 2010, a Nazi began to harass me. It was a man who had attacked Muslim women on the street. Over time, it became much worse. I was at the zoo with my children, and the phone was ringing constantly. It was the Nazi. I had the impression that he was close.We headed home. When we got back, my son asked, “Why does he hate you so much, Mom, when he doesn’t even know you?” “Some people are just stupid,” I said. And at the time, I actually thought that was a pretty clever answer. And I suspect that that is the answer most of us would give. The others — they are stupid, brainwashed, ignorant. We are the good guys and they are the bad guys, period. Several weeks later I was at a friend’s house, and I was very upset and angry about all the hate and racism I had met. It was he who suggested that I should call them up and visit them. “They will kill me,” I said. “They would never attack a member of the Danish Parliament,” he said. “And anyway, if they killed you, you would become a martyr.” (Laughter) “So it’s pure win-win situation for you.” (Laughter) His advice was so unexpected, when I got home, I turned on my computer and opened the folder where I had saved all the hate mail. There were literally hundreds of them. Emails that started with words like “terrorist,” “raghead,” “rat,” “whore.” I decided to contact the one who had sent me the most. His name was Ingolf. I decided to contact him just once so I could say at least I had tried. To my surprise and shock,he answered the phone. I blurted out, “Hello, my name is Özlem. You have sent me so many hate mails. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I was wondering if I could come around and we can drink a coffee together and talk about it?” (Laughter) There was silence on the line. And then he said, “I have to ask my wife.” (Laughter) What? The racist has a wife? (Laughter) A couple of days later, we met at his house. I will never forget when he opened his front door and reached out to shake my hand. I felt so disappointed. (Laughter) Because he looked nothing like I’d imagined. I had expected a horrible person — dirty, messy house. It was not. His house smelled of coffee which was served from a coffee set identical to the one my parents used. I ended up staying for two and a half hours. And we had so many things in common. Even our prejudices were alike. (Laughter) Ingolf told me that when he waits for the bus and the bus stops 10 meters away from him, it was because the driver was a “raghead.” I recognized that feeling. When I was young and I waited for the bus and it stopped 10 meters away from me, I was sure that the driver was a racist. When I got home, I was very ambivalent about my experience. On the one hand, I really liked Ingolf. He was easy and pleasant to talk to, but on the other hand, I couldn’t stand the idea of having so much in common with someone who had such clearly racist views. Gradually, and painfully, I came to realize that I had been just as judgmental of those who had sent me hate mails as they had been of me. This was the beginning of what I call #dialoguecoffee. Basically, I sit down for coffee with people who have said the most terrible things to me to try to understand why they hate people like me when they don’t even know me. I have been doing this the last eight years. The vast majority of people I approach agree to meet me. Most of them are men, but I have also met women. I have made it a rule to always meet them in their house to convey from the outset that I trust them. I always bring food because when we eat together, it is easier to find what we have in common and make peace together. Along the way, I have learned some valuable lessons. The people who sent hate mails are workers, husbands, wives, parents like you and me. I’m not saying that their behavior is acceptable, but I have learned to distance myself from the hateful views without distancing myself from the person who’s expressing those views. And I have discovered that the people I visit are just as afraid of people they don’t know as I was afraid of them before I started inviting myself for coffee. During these meetings, a specific theme keeps coming up. It shows up regardless whether I’m talking to a humanist or a racist, a man, a woman, a Muslim or an atheist. They all seem to think that other people are to blame for the hate and for the generalization of groups. They all believe that other people have to stop demonizing. They point at politicians, the media, their neighbor or the bus driver who stops 10 meters away. But when I asked, “What about you? What can you do?”, the reply is usually, “What can I do? I have no influence. I have no power.” I know that feeling. For a large part of my life, I also thought that I didn’t have any power or influence — even when I was a member of the Danish parliament. But today I know the reality is different. We all have power and influence where we are, so we must never, never underestimate our own potential. The #dialoguecoffee meetings have taught me that people of all political convictions can be caught demonizing the others with different views. I know what I’m talking about. As a young child, I hated different population groups. And at the time, my religious views were very extreme. But my friendship with Turks, with Danes, with Jews and with racists has vaccinated me against my own prejudices. I grew up in a working-class family, and on my journey I have met many people who have insisted on speaking to me. They have changed my views. They have formed me as a democratic citizen and a bridge builder. If you want to prevent hate and violence, we have to talk to as many people as possible for as long as possible while being as open as possible. That can only be achieved through debate, critical conversation and insisting on dialogue that doesn’t demonize people. I’m going to ask you a question. I invite you to think about it when you get home and in the coming days, but you have to be honest with yourself. It should be easy, no one else will know it. The question is this … whom do you demonize? Do you think supporters of American President Trump are deplorables? Or that those who voted for Turkish President Erdoğan are crazy Islamists? Or that those who voted for Le Pen in France are stupid fascists? Or perhaps you think that Americans who voted for Bernie Sanders are immature hippies. (Laughter) All those words have been used to vilify those groups. Maybe at this point, do you think I am an idealist? I want to give you a challenge. Before the end of this year, I challenge you to invite someone you demonize — someone you disagree with politically and/or culturally and don’t think you have anything in common with. I challenge you to invite someone like this to #dialoguecoffee. Remember Ingolf? Basically, I’m asking you to find an Ingolf in your life, contact him or her and suggest that you can meet for #dialoguecofee. When you start at #dialoguecoffee, you have to remember this: First, don’t give up if the person refuses at first. Sometimes it’s taken me nearly one year to arrange a #dialoguecoffee meeting. Two: acknowledge the other person’s courage. It isn’t just you who’s brave. The one who’s inviting you into their home is just as brave. Three: don’t judge during the conversation. Make sure that most of the conversation focuses on what you have in common. As I said, bring food. And finally, remember to finish the conversation in a positive way because you are going to meet again. A bridge can’t be built in one day. We are living in a world where many people hold definitive and often extreme opinions about the others without knowing much about them. We notice of course the prejudices on the other side more than in our own biases. And we ban them from our lives. We delete the hate mails. We hang out only with people who think like us and talk about the others in a category of disdain. We unfriend people on Facebook, and when we meet people who are discriminating or dehumanizing people or groups, we don’t insist on speaking with them to challenge their opinions. That’s how healthy democratic societies break down –when we don’t check the personal responsibility for the democracy. We take the democracy for granted. It is not. Conversation is the most difficult thing in a democracy and also the most important. So here’s my challenge. Find your Ingolf. (Laughter) Start a conversation. Trenches have been dug between people, yes, but we all have the ability to build the bridges that cross the trenches. And let me end by quoting my friend, Sergio Uzan, who lost his son, Dan Uzan, in a terror attack on a Jewish synagogue in Copenhagen, 2015. Sergio rejected any suggestion of revenge and instead said this … “Evil can only be defeated by kindness between people. Kindness demands courage.” Dear friends, let’s be courageous. Thank you. As my mother used to say: “Let it be a lesson to us all.” And could we please count all the legal votes? Not a single one more but — because we’re Americans — not a single one less? And then — there being no Electoral College in Florida — simply agree that whoever got the most votes won? That’s not called cheating or stealing or fraud; it’s called an honest election. And there’s no rush. It’s not Bush v. Gore 2000; it’s one Senate seat and one governorship. The nation can survive for a few weeks without knowing who won. Calm down. Take your time. Count the votes.
“Done With Politics” November 9, 2018November 9, 2018 But before I get to that, a few other things . . . First (in case you own it): GLDD: Momentum Builds. Well — finally. I’ve written about this every so often for ever. Like here in 2006, when GLDD was ALBA warrants with a different symbol. (We actually made good money on those warrants.) And here, last month, when it finally seemed to be stirring. I don’t know where it’s headed, obviously — click that link to read one hopeful analysis — but sold a little at $7.20 yesterday on the theory that cash could be a good thing to have as we go forward and even better opportunities present themselves. Second (Sunday is Veterans Day): Thanks to our veterans. Before the election, I sent 25 hand-addressed letters (I hate addressing letters) to folks I don’t know in places like Surprise, Arizona. They were semi-form letters, but in the space left for me to hand-write why I vote in every election, I wrote: “Well, for the kids, of course — their whole world is at stake. But also because I never had to serve in Vietnam or Iraq — it seems to me voting is the least I can do for my country.” Hats off to the veterans who have done so much more. Third (talk about your fresh faces): Andrew Yang is running for President. You met him here last month when I plugged his book. Spend nine minutes watching Wednesday’s interview and I think you’ll be intrigued. His actually becoming president may be even less likely than some black dude middle-named Hussein. But I think — and hope — the chances of his being on the debate stage along with other fine Democrats are good. His ideas cry out for a national conversation. Fourth (oh, not this again!): Bush v. Gore may have been stolen even worse than I thought. The 2018 Broward ballot design seems to have been just stupid. But STOLEN FUTURE, more of a pamphlet than a book, suggests an ingenious plot in 2000 to produce ballots that required more force to punch through for Gore than for Bush. (And you’ll never guess who owned the company that supplied the ballots.) It sounds fantastical at first. But a quick reading of all the legwork Stephen Singular did suggests otherwise – that it should be taken seriously and looked into. And finally (from reader John E.): “What the hell is wrong with the Democratic party? If we can’t pull off a bigger victory with the biggest a–hole in American history at the helm and all the positive things the Democrats stand for, something is definitely wrong. The system is broken. I am done with politics. Over and out.” To which I responded: John — You are playing right into Trump’s hands. I trust you will reconsider. We won by a wide margin in the popular vote, flipped the House, flipped at least 7 governorships, flipped 7 state legislative chambers, 4 state attorneys general, and more — but yes, largely because of gerrymandering (but also because Trump has betrayed the country and his obligation to tell the truth), we didn’t do even better. The solution – as I know you know – is not to give UP, but rather to give MORE, whether in time and effort or (for those who can) resources. So, as they say, “I don’t accept your resignation.” Rather, I am buying you a good bottle of something (at least metaphorically), sharing your frustration, thanking you for your passion . . . and urging you to redouble your efforts so we can take another big step 24 months from now. (I’d say “so we can finish the job,” but of course the job is never finished.) Don’t hate me for taking your email so seriously. Andy Have a great weekend. We live in interesting times. Putin is winning — but on Tuesday, we regained some ground.
Halfway There! November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 Okay, so we won the House, which was the main thing. Like a pass/fail course (or the bar exam, for you elitist snobs) — we passed. There were bonuses, too. We flipped 7 governorships! We flipped 6 state legislative chambers! We broke 4 Republican supermajorities! We flipped 4 attorneys general! I don’t want to talk about the heartbreaks because, even with the happy gene, I have to say they make me really, really sad. What I do want to say is: we got the job done and are now halfway there. Two years from now, once we register many of the million-plus Floridians whose voting rights Tuesday’s election restored, we will win Florida. Two years from now, with a “map” as grossly unfavorable to their side as it was this time to ours, we will win the Senate. Two years from now, with an electorate that already favored the Democratic nominee by millions of votes even with Putin’s thumb on the scale — and that favored Democrats by an even wider margin Tuesday — we will win the White House. At which point, despite lots of opposition we can expect from our friends in the other party (perhaps even principled this time), we will be able to restore civility and steer our wonderful country back onto the highway of progress. If you think it would be nuts to lay off our hundreds of field organizers this week — if you’d rather see them keep building straight through to November of 2020 — click here.