Motley Moose – Archive

In Wisconsin, the state whose progressive forebears championed labor rights, a move is afoot to “allow” workers to work 7 days a week.

This is being touted by the Republicans as a “win-win”: businesses don’t have to hire more workers, just add hours! And workers can make more money! What could possibly go wrong? Businesses would never coerce workers into working more hours, they lurves their workers!!!

In 1938, President Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act:

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (abbreviated as FLSA; also referred to as the Wages and Hours Bill) is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA introduced a maximum 44-hour seven-day workweek, established a national minimum wage, guaranteed “time-and-a-half” for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in “oppressive child labor”, a term that is defined in the statute. It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage.

Yesterday, Cassandra asked about the source of the quote in my sig line. I had already written an article on Yahoo Voices, but I retained rights to republish, so here it is:

Rabbi Israel Salanter once said:

“Most people worry about their own bellies and other peoples’ souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls and other peoples’ bellies”

To me, this is the essence of progressivism: Your soul is not my business but your belly may be.

Part One: Bellies

But why must the government do this? Why not rely on individual charity?

When most people lived in small towns or villages, everyone knew their neighbors. People knew who was hungry and who was not. Even so, charity often failed. Sometimes, as in times of famine, no one in the local community had enough to share and everyone starved. Other times the hungry person was a member of some group that was stigmatized. In different places, different groups were stigmatized, but there were usually some groups that were.

Today, with more and more people living in huge cities, many people do not know their neighbors. If someone is hungry, we may not know; and if someone is begging, we do not know if that begging is legitimate. There certainly are organized charities that attempt to ameliorate some of this problem, but they have too few resources and are not always able to reach everyone. There is a food pantry near where I live in New York City, and I donate to them. But they can’t reach all the hungry people; and they can’t provide other necessities of life such as shelter or clothing, and they aren’t open every day.

The only organization large enough to organize efforts to feed and shelter the poor is the government. Therefore, I support government efforts to do so, and I am willing to pay taxes to enable the government to do so. I go further: Not only do I think no one should be hungry or homeless, I think people should have the opportunity to be educated, and so I support public education and am willing to pay taxes to do that.

And further, I am concerned about pollution because I take a broad view of “belly”. I think it includes lungs. Air pollution harms people’s lungs, so it is a legitimate concern of mine and of my government’s.

Part Two: Souls

On the other hand, I do not think your soul is my business, much less the government’s business. If what you are doing does me no harm, nor harms others, then it is not and should not be the government’s business. As Thomas Jefferson said

It does me no harm for my neighbor to believe in many gods or no god. It neither robs my pocket nor breaks my leg

This applies equally well, I think, to such issues as gay marriage. It does me no harm. Some people will claim that it is morally wrong; that it is forbidden by the Bible or the Koran. That may be. I will not argue that point (although certainly some Jews, Christians and Muslims will argue about that). But it does me no harm. It neither robs my pocket nor breaks my leg. It may (or may not) be about your soul, but it is not about my soul; thus, it is not my concern or that of my government’s. (Beyond cases where I know the people involved, in which case I wish them happiness).

This quote from Salanter does not cover the whole of the progressive-conservative split. But it does a remarkably good job of covering it.

If you are old enough, think back to about 1970. If you are not old enough GET OFF MY LAWN! No, no. Come, pull up a chair and let an old guy talk a bit.

In 1970 the life expectancy for a newborn White boy in the USA was 67.94 years; White girl? 75.49 years. NonWhite boy? 65.63 years. NonWhite girl? 69.05 years. In 2011, all those rates were higher, by between 5 and 8 years.

In 1970, in the building where I lived in New York City, my mother had a Black friend visit. The doorman made her ride the service elevator (OH BOY did that doorman hear from my mom!).

In 1970, the Soviet Union still existed. Germany was still two countries. South Africa had apartheid. Today, none of those things is true (and they all happened without a major war).

In 1970, the idea of an openly homosexual person getting elected to Congress would have been strange. Homosexuality was still considered a psychiatric disorder (and listed as such in the DSM).

In 1970, it was illegal (in Chicago) for “deformed” people to show themselves on the streets.

In 1970 the Americans with Disabilities Act had not been passed. Today, many buildings are required to have ramps for wheelchair access and all children are entitled to a “free and appropriate education” in the “least restrictive environment”.

In 1970 Roe v. Wade was still in the future. Today, abortion is legal.

In 1970, “with all deliberate speed” was long on the deliberate and short on the speed. Today, an African-American is in the White House.

In 1970, there was no internet. In 1970, there were no personal computers.

In 1970, Edgar Ray Killen was still a free man. (Don’t know who he is? Go to the library! Oh, it’s 2013. You can Google).

It was in 1970 that the United States got its first female generals. In 2013, women were finally given combat status.

Are we done fighting? NO WAY.

Are things perfect now? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

In all of the areas I outlined, there is work to be done. FORWARD!

Have we made progress? YES WE HAVE.

Can we make more? YES WE CAN!

This song pretty much sums it all up for me. The message in this song and the feelings it invokes are at the heart of my political beliefs.

Last night, in the wee, dark hours, I was doing what all good liberals do – examining my beliefs. I came to what I thought was an interesting insight about my political beliefs.

Almost every political discussion in this country eventually refers to the Founders. They left us a lot of wisdom. It would be foolish to ignore that wisdom or the history they left us. That’s where I started my search.

Like many since the election, I’ve been somewhat silent in the blogosphere. This is partly because I had to get my life back, and rid myself of late night blogging addictions, but also because I could see the big blogs reverting to type. The necessary unity of the campaign then fell into the predictable outpourings of repressed dissent, much of it a reversion to past battles.  But a provocative piece in UK’s prospect Magazine by Michael Lind has got me thinking about where we go from here.

The American centre-left has gone through several phases in the last century, some more successful than others: the Progressive and Populist movements in the early 1900s; the bold and successful New Deal synthesis of 1932-68; the defensive, cautious neoliberalism of the late 20th century. The next reinvention of the centre-left may begin during Obama’s term in office.

Is this true? And if the centre left needs to reinvent itself, where do we go for inspiration?

It’s hard to turn the channel to a cable news station these days without hearing some conservative pundit making the claim that America is a center-right country. They have been making this claim for a long time. It is one of the core beliefs of the conservative movement stated with the same assurance given to the belief in supply-side economics. Unfortunately, for them, neither claim is valid.



One thing that I’ve come to recognize about the modern conservative movement is that the more forcefully conservatives claim something is true without offering any substantiating proof the more likely it is to be false. That’s the case with the center-right claim.

This country hasn’t been center-right for a long time. Oh sure, there are some issues that pull the electorate to the right, mainly Gays, God, and guns. However, the majority in this country favor moderate to liberal stances on almost all of the major issues. The conservatives are obviously in the denial stage of grief after losing power.

Well since the election I have attempted to return to the progressive blogosphere full force ahead and the results have been mixed at best.  Not at the moose of course 😉  It sort of seems to me of what I imagined people were feeling in Europe at the end of WWII.  People hobbling out of bombed out buildings, reuniting with their families, etc.

Welcome to Motley Moose, the first netroots Progressive blog to be created by a consortium of dedicated bloggers.  The Moose was created by twenty-five active writers who have been contributing to the tradtional Progressive Blogs such as MyDD (the Blogfather) and DailyKOS.  We felt it was time for a new type of forum to add to the matrix that has flourished on the Intertubes, something that is more focused on the  

This woman is awesome. Her new show on MSNBC should be a huge success among progressive viewers. We are gaining a really strong voice for progressive politics.

I give Keith Olberman much credit for helping her get where she is on MSNBC. I view him as her mentor there. It says a lot about him that he isn’t threatened by such a strong-willed, intelligent woman.