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Get out of the mud
Dear Editor,
Many of us are unaware that officials in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House are trying to erase our rights to vote freely, to demonstrate in our communities, and to live our lives as we see fit. These and other freedoms disappear if those above have their way. Our democracy of 250 years may be crushed out of existence; what we can do about it becomes more limited as time passes. Someday, for example, this author could land in prison just for writing this letter.
Saving a country from democratic decline is like getting a stuck car out of the mud. No matter who pushes, why they push, or how they push -- as long as they're pushing -- that's all that matters. Let's get the car out of the mud -- out of the ditch of autocracy -- and back on the road toward democracy! Then we can figure out where exactly the car is going and who is driving. But realistically, when the central federal government produces mud, what can we as individual citizens do to combat it? Without us, with the car still stuck in the mud of autocracy, the mud keeps winning.
Normally, we could vote the autocratic leaders out, keeping our democracy and our sanity. But under authoritarian conditions, working within a system is not enough. History has shown that sustained opposition to a regime through boycotts, strikes, and what is called "collective stubbornness" has been effective. Such stubbornness can take the form of events like Gandhi's nonviolent march against unfair salt taxes, M.L. King's boycott of segregated buses in Alabama, or Minneapolis parents' escorting school students to protect them from ICE. Sustained opposition can stymie the autocracy in power. Collective stubbornness is a simple approach that anyone or groups can use against a corrupted government like ours. There are ways we can act right now to get out of the regime mud; we only need to choose to be stubborn.
Americans need to become dissidents, to act defiantly. There has been much collective stubbornness in the past year. Citizens have successfully fought against ICE by blocking the construction or acquisition of detention centers in many locations. In Oklahoma City, public pressure and meetings with property owners led to the scrapping of plans to convert a warehouse into a detention camp. Similarly, in Ashland, Va., protesters lobbied the local board to reject a Department of Homeland Security offer to buy a warehouse, and the Choctaw Nation in Durant, Okla., issued an ordinance banning the sale of a distribution center to federal authorities. In Kansas City, Mo., the port authority cut ties with a local company to discourage a sale, while the city council passed a moratorium on new detention centers. Federal judges have repeatedly pushed back against the administration's illegal activities, even when faced with threats against their lives and families.
We have tools for participating in civic life when things are normal. Democracy is basically a practice of exercising your choices. Citizens are supposed to vote, lawyers are supposed to litigate, and all of us are supposed to call our Senators to speak out. But the dark magic of authoritarianism makes those regular choices feel more limited and more complicated, unless each of us decides to act, now and in the tomorrows to come.
Oran J. Stewart, Ph.D.,
Warren
Surrounded by socialism
Dear Editor,
The old timer who owns a MAGA hat asked, "So what is socialism?" The youngest member of the retirees, the only regular breakfast table member with a smart phone, punched in the question and read:
"Socialism is an economic and political philosophy advocating that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or controlled by the community as a whole rather than by private individuals. The core goal is to reduce economic inequality and prioritize human needs over profits."
Another old timer of the four shook his head and rolled his eyes. He always votes Republican and is against anyone and anything labeled socialistic. He has an obvious disdain of socialism.
He's an old timer but not old enough to have experienced the Warren area devastation caused with clear cutting on formerly privately owned land. In 1923 our federal government bought the land and it became the Allegheny National Forest via the Weeks Act of 1911 enacted to protect watersheds and soil erosion. Likewise, he is too young to have seen the ecological pollution of our region's post Civil War early oil days. Regional coal mining left its ongoing mark on our environment too.
The fourth retiree, an occasional member of the group, said "We already have socialistic programs and the situation is not black and white."
He could, if time had allowed, offered the following examples of American socialism: WCSD K-12 - WP Library - fire and police departments (Pa. State Police) - Route 62 and Hickory Street Bridge - Social Security - Medicare - Medicaid - SNAP - municipal swimming pools – unemployment insurance - Chapman State Park - Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Reservoir – The Towers and community houses - Youngsville Rural Electric Cooperative - FDIC – student loans - Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac home mortgage assistance - VA hospitals - WGH - Clarion University - Kinzua Federal Fish Hatchery - our round-a-bout - our Second Avenue upgrade – Warren State Hospital - our armed forces, etc.
All breakfast retirees benefit from socialistic programs.
The fourth retiree benefited from many of the above socialistic programs, still does, and will in the future. He spent many years in public schools. He feels safe and uses public facilities, every day. Social Security and medical programs allow him to enjoy his lifestyle. Family members and friends have used SNAP and unemployed insurance. WGH is vital to him and to the community. He has safe water and is plugged into a public sewer system. He attended public universities and enjoys off time in the Allegheny National Forest. He used to hunt and fish on public lands and water.
The MAGA hat retiree asked, "Are we going all socialistic?"
The fourth retiree could have said, “Let’s look at our neighbors, the Amish. The welfare of their community is vital and the individual's work ethic is equally vital. Their house and barn building, buying land, and solutions to health issues are obviously socialistic. They have a mixed philosophy and America does too.
Let's get an understandable definition of "what socialism is" and discard the scourge definition the entrenched want us to believe. Let's do this before another political demigod exploits the growing discontent by promising economic relief to the many but instead games the system to deliver huge profits for himself and his minority rich friends.
It's time for a philosophical change from government empowering and enriching individuals to a government better serving the majority of people and their needs.
Don Scott,
North Warren