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Christine Emba edits The Posts In Theory blog.

Is it possible to be a good progressive and oppose abortion? This long-simmering question was brought to the fore recently when Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced their support of Heath Mello, a candidate for mayor of Omaha who is also, inconveniently, antiabortion.

Under pressure from abortion rights groups, Perez quickly walked back his support for Mello and said that being pro-choice was not negotiable for Democrats. That reversal was in turn rebuked by a chorus of high-ranking Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.). In the end, Perez walked back his walk-back, announcing there was no litmus test after all.

But is there? Should there be? Increasingly, abortion opponents hear a resounding yes. The message they get from progressive activists and commentators, if not from Democratic Party leaders, is increasingly hostile: As much as the party professes to be a big tent, those who oppose abortion rights arent really wanted.

This is a mistake and not only because it limits Democrats ability to keep or expand their voter base. It also reduces the core values of the progressive movement to a single symbol and constrains the debate on how to best achieve broader goals of social and economic equality. The associated contempt for antiabortion activists often relies on outdated assumptions about their aims and origins and fails to take into account the complexity of most Americans views on abortion.

Ironically, restricting abortion was once a progressive cause. Early defenders saw protecting the unborn as an extension of societys responsibility to shield the poor, weak and otherwise defenseless. Many were wary of abortions eugenic potential and of how it allowed men more leeway to exploit or abuse women without consequence.

But after the Supreme Court established the right to abortion in 1973, the issue became more and more a matter of left-right divide, and the antiabortion cause was folded into a broader portfolio of social conservative goals. Yet recent years have seen the emergence, or perhaps reemergence, of activists who oppose abortion from a divergent and sometimes frankly left-wing perspective secular humanists; consistent life ethic activists who oppose abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia with equal fervor; and antiabortion believers otherwise fed up with the Republican Party.

Democrats, and progressives more broadly, should be welcoming such people rather than disdaining them. Assuming bad faith on the part of anyone who opposes or is even willing to accept limits on abortion rights makes it too easy for the left to embrace a narrow perspective when deciding how best to pursue progressive goals.

Equating non-support of abortion to a total abandonment of womens rights, the way a pointed headline in New York Magazine did last month, ignores the reality that womens rights should include far more than that from an end to pervasive sexual harassment to broader support for mothers. And yes, economic factors may play a role for many women deciding whether to obtain abortions. But suggesting, as did ThinkProgresss Bryce Covert in a recent New York Times op-ed, that an unyielding abortion rights stance is the only way to ensure womens ability to achieve financial security confuses cause and effect.

Equating progressivism with being pro-abortion rights assumes that providing a single, simple solution making it easier to terminate pregnancies is worth more effort than addressing the root causes of the problem. An equally if not more progressive strategy might focus instead on addressing the lack of maternal leave and child-care policies, demanding a living wage, and pushing back against an economic system that penalizes women for having and rearing children in the first place. And while one might argue that Democrats are already doing all of the above, the willingness to excommunicate those who disagree with one strategy even if they adhere to all others makes it clear which issue matters the most.

Of course, even if progressive successes made it possible for every woman to care for an unexpected child, there would still be women who didnt want to continue an unwanted pregnancy. And this is where enforcing cut-and-dried allegiances supporting abortion in all circumstances is the only possible Democratic stance is at odds with the conflicted way that most Americans, even those who would by and large support progressive policies, approach the issue.

According to Gallups 2016 polling, 47 percent of Americans think that abortion is morally wrong, but a full 50percent believe it should be legal, though the circumstances in which they would allow it vary. Attempting to neatly slice these shades of gray in order to most perfectly define a true Democrat would leave many thoughtful Americans out in the cold.

Movements need defining tenets to unite around. From there, individuals within the community can debate the best ways to achieve their goals. But the Democratic Party, and the progressive movement more generally, should be wary of replacing the goals of social and economic justice with the proxy of being pro-abortion rights. Flatly writing off antiabortion progressives alienates potential supporters of the larger cause, while narrowing the spectrum of discussion to the perspectives of a purist few.

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Why won't Democrats let antiabortion progressives under their tent? - Washington Post

Three years ago, as the Princetonbaccalaureate speaker, I stood in the pulpit of the University Chapel and addressed the graduating Class of 2014. I talked about the sacrifices my parents made so I could attend college and my commitment to using my education to help future generations. I encouraged the graduates to consider the path I had chosen: a career in public service.

Last week, I returned to a campus that felt very different from my earlier visit. I met with a range of student groups, and each conversation inevitably turned to our countrys new President, the harm caused by his policies, the disruption of established norms, and the growing political polarization in our country.

At the end of these conversations, the same question kept coming up: Does public service still matter?

For progressive students interested in working for the government, many now find their plans upended. They rightly question whether they can work under the leadership of a President whose values and policies are so contrary to their views.

I share your disappointment, anger, and fear. But even in these troubling times, I havent lost my faith in the value of public service. Now more than ever, our government needs to continue attracting young people who understand the importance of facts, data, and science. However, for progressives interested in public service, the changed political landscape will require a broader search for ways to make a difference.

To those students who remain interested in federal service, I encourage you to pursue those opportunities. Much of what the federal government does is not affected by who occupies the White House. Civil servants implement and enforce the laws that keep our country stable and functioning. They manage critical programs that help millions of Americans. Because of the dedication of federal employees, veterans receive high-quality health care, unemployed workers are trained for the jobs of the 21st century, and medical researchers are eradicating diseases.

That being said, it would be disingenuous for me to say that it doesnt matter who captains the ship. In fact, it matters very much. Just over the past 100 days, climate change is being erased from the federal governments agenda, a 70-year-old foreign policy consensus has been upended, and health care for millions is in danger of being stripped away.

If I were starting a career in government today, I would look instead to state and local government. Progressive leaders across the country are driving change that will create greater opportunity and fairness, and these local actions will eventually become the foundation for national policies.

When it comes to helping American workers, states like California, New York, and Connecticut are leading the way in raising the minimum wage, requiring paid leave, and protecting against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. When it comes to fighting climate change, cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago are committed to taking meaningful action to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

With the smaller size of state and local government, its also easier to make a difference earlier in your career. The impact of your work will be felt more quickly and acutely in the communities you serve, which, in turn, will result in a more gratifying professional experience. If you want to impact peoples lives every day and get to know the people youre serving the rewards at the local level may ultimately be greater than chasing the shiny object of federal service.

However, public service isnt limited to working in the government. Important policy changes can be driven through nonprofit organizations, foundations, and even the private sector.

I am a board member of the American Sustainable Business Council, which represents a quarter of a million companies around the country. These socially responsible companies support pro-environment and pro-labor policies because they know that profits can made without sacrificing people or the planet. These companies understand that the high road is the smart road.

In the end, public service doesnt take just one form. Its a mindset. Its a commitment to address the problems of our time and not simply pass those problems on to the next generation.

As former President Obama said shortly after leaving office, Our democracys not the buildings, its not the monuments, its you being willing to work to make things better.

I have spent two decades in public service, and I cant imagine a more intellectually stimulating and professionally rewarding career. Our nation is going through one of the most challenging periods in its history, and many are disillusioned about what the future holds. Yet, even in times like this, I still believe in the power of ordinary citizens to create a more perfect union for future generations.

Chris Lu 88 served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Secretary of Labor and White House Cabinet Secretary. He is a news editor emeritus for The Daily Princetonian. He is now a senior fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs. You can contact him on Twitter @ChrisLu44.

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Why public service still matters for progressives - The Daily Princetonian

When Sen.Bernie Sandersbegan to emerge as a viable contender for the Democratic presidential nomination during the primaries, Sanders supporters expected that Sen. Elizabeth Warren would be one of the few Democrats in office who would endorse him. Warren is often seen in tandem with Sanders in the Senate, leading the fight for economic justice and against the greed and excess of Wall Street. Sanders supporters waited and waited for her endorsement. EvenafterRep.Tulsi Gabbard boldly resigned asDNCvice chair to endorseSanders, Warren continued to sit silently. Her endorsement never came. Instead, she waited until theDemocratic primariesended to formally endorse Hillary Clinton. Her endorsement was exclusively announced in an interview withMSNBCsRachel Maddow and was touted byClintonsupporters as a final nail in the coffin to Sanders candidacy.

Since the primaries, Warrens rapport with progressives has continued itsdownward trajectory. During the protests against theDakota Access Pipeline, Warrenignoredprogressives despite her history of claiming Native American ancestry based on anecdotal evidence from her grandmother. Even after the general election, when the political risk of taking a position on the pipeline waned, Warren stood on the sidelinesuntilthe Army Corps of Engineers made the decision to temporarily halt thepipelinesconstruction.

After Clinton lost the general election, Warren joined theDemocratic Partyin defendingClintoninstead of providingconstructive criticism forwhat went wrong forDemocrats. Finally, in April 2017,Warrennoted in aninterviewwith USA Today that the blame forClintonselection loss lies not just with Clinton, but with all Democrats. Its all of us, she said. We have to bear responsibility for thatWe didnt get out there and fight hard enough.

In a recentinterviewwith the Guardian, Warren lent rare criticism toward former President BarackObamaandDemocratsby hitting a note similar to the brand of economic populism that made Warren famous as a popular progressive voice.I think President Obama, like many others in both parties, talks about a set of big national statistics that look shiny and great but increasingly have giant blind spots. That GDP, unemployment, no longer reflect the lived experiences of most Americans, she said. And the lived experiences of most Americans is that they are being left behind in this economy. Worse than being left behind, theyre getting kicked in the teeth. Warren added that while Republicans have embraced wealth and power over voters, manyDemocratshave done the same. Warrens rhetoric is much needed within theDemocratic Party, whichhas been abrasive toward any push for reform. However, she still hasa long way to go towin back the support of progressives whose support she has lost.

Several polls have citedSandersas the most popular politician. One of the most recent polls conducted by Morning Consult putsSandersfavorability at 75 percentandWarrens at 56 percent. This gap likely stems from Warrens recent record of silencerather than taking strong, principled stances. It remains to be seen if Warren will embrace populist rhetoric and begin to adopt progressive stances, such as disavowing donations from Super PACs. In 2016, a pro-Warren Super PAC, Level the Playing Field, raised $1.6 million, and a PAC run through MoveOn.org has raised over $300,000 for Warren during her Senate career, according toOpen Secrets.Though Warren has dodged questions about a potential 2020 run for president, she iswidely expected to be in the field of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. ThoughWarrenis making effortsto win back progressives support, she will need to run a grassroots fueled presidential campaign to winthe primaries and defeatTrump. Thereare still manyquestions regarding how progressive she will actually turn out to be.

Read more:
With Sights on 2020, Elizabeth Warren Tries to Woo Progressives - Observer

Could you ask for a more perfect bookend to Obamas blood-soaked neocon abortion of a presidency than his receiving $400,000 to give a speech at a health care conference organized by a Wall Street firm?

My God I hate every single thing about every single part of this. Let me type that out again in segments, so we can all really feel into it: Four hundred thousand dollars. For a former President of the United States. To give a speech. At a healthcare conference. Organized by a Wall Street firm.

Why are Wall Street firms organizing motherfucking healthcare conferences, one might understandably ask? And why are they hiring the man who just completed an eight-year war on progressive healthcare policy and a torrid love affair with Wall Street criminals? These are extremely reasonable questions that might be asked by anyone who is intelligent and emotionally masochistic enough to look straight at this thing, and the answer, of course, is America. Thats what America is now. The man who continued and expanded all of Bushs most evil policies, created a failed state in Libya, exponentially expanded the civilian-slaughtering US drone program which Chomsky calls the most extreme terrorist campaign of modern times to unprecedented levels, facilitated the Orwellian expansion of the US surveillance state while prosecuting more whistleblowers than all previous administrations combined, and used charm and public sympathy to evade the drastic environmental policy changes well need to avert climate disaster and lull the progressive movement into a dead sleep for eight years now gets paid nearly half a million dollars an hour to continue bolstering the exploitative corporatist nightmare hes dedicated his life to. American University has compiled data indicating that the already extremely wealthy Obama family may end up being worth as much as $242 million in their post-White House years, and if Barry keeps whoring himself out like this, he might exceed even that.

Anyone whos familiar with my work knows that I harbor markedly less affection for Hillary Clinton than I do for malaria-infected mosquitoes, but I still find it annoying how clued-in people on the anti-establishment left are to how horrible she is while still maintaining a degree of sympathy for Obama. Theres a general awareness that Obama was far from perfect and did immoral things, but you rarely see the same vitriol and disdain for him as you do for Clinton on the left, which is absurd because they are the same monster. This needs to change before there can be any forward movement on the progressive front. Unless we get crystal clear that these Democratic neocons are unacceptable, theyre going to keep finding political influence among our ranks.

I began this essay by saying that Obamas $400,000 oligarchic shill job was a bookend. I did that because, in what was easily the single most important and egregious WikiLeaks email of 2016, we learned that Wall Street was calling the shots in the Obama administration before the Obama administration even existed. Before he was even elected, an executive from Citigroup (the corporate owner of Citibank) gave Obama a list of acceptable choices for who may serve on his cabinet. The list ended up matching Obamas actual cabinet picks once elected almost to a t.

Feel like doing a little citizen journalism? Here is a link to the aforementioned WikiLeaks document. Go to Attachments and select Cabinet Example to see the cabinet members offered to Obama, and compare the names there to this Wikipedia list of actual cabinet appointments and note the tremendous amount of overlap for his 2009 appointments.

Feel like doing a little more citizen journalism? Try and find any mainstream coverage of this email after it came out. Write about your findings somewhere on the internet, and boom, a guerrilla investigative journalist is born.

The email was ignored by everyone but the fringe of the fringe, with the most significant coverage coming fromRussia Todayand right here in theObserver, whose ties to Trump via then-publisher Jared Kushner have been well-documented. The anti-establishment right didnt care about it because they were focused on beating Clinton, and the anti-establishment left didnt care because why? It should of course have been a front-page scandal for weeks, but at the very least progressives should have lifted up a big fat NO to it. This was the cabinet that determined the administrations response to the criminals who caused the 2008 financial crisis that had just ravaged the nation, and they were treated with a light finger wag and a kiss goodnight by these Citibank appointees, who then went on to help assemble the exploitative and climate-killing TPP.

I can understand why pro-establishment liberals are defending this man; he stands for everything they stand for. If all you stand for is vapid tribalism and vanity politics and you are willing to sacrifice integrity along with economic and social justice and the lives of other peoples kids in corporatist wars overseas in order to feel like youre on the right team, Obama is your man. But if youre an actual, real progressive and not just a latte-sipping NPR listener with a sense of self-righteousness and a pro-choice bumper sticker, youve got no business regarding Obama with anything but disgust.

I mean, its wrong, but I also get it. The sympathy were tempted to feel for that child-killing corporate crony is one of the very few problems that we actually can blame mostly on Republicans. They spent eight years hammering the guy, but they couldnt criticize any of his actual evil policies because they were all policies that Republicans support too, from warmongering to bolstering the Walmart economy. So they had to make up the most ridiculous bullshit wed ever heard, which you couldnt just stand around listening to without screaming and disputing. They couldnt attack his Orwellian surveillance programs, so they said hes a Muslim. They couldnt attack his eat-the-poor neoliberalism, so they said hes a Kenyan. They couldnt attack the unforgivable bloodbaths he was inflicting on other countries, so they said hes a socialist (Ha! Remember that one?). So by attacking these moronic right-wing narratives, we often wound up tacitly taking his side, which fostered sympathy.

That sympathy is what needs to go. Anyone whos ever escaped from an abusive relationship knows that sympathy is the very first thing that you need to get rid of in order to be free, because sympathy is how a manipulator sucks you in. When youre dealing with a government that in 2013 gave itself the legal right to use media psy-ops on its own citizens, you cant afford to have any stray strands of sympathy laying around out there. The war were fighting against the oligarchy is first and foremost a media war, and we may be certain that any sympathies progressives maintain toward their establishment oppressors will be exploited. By letting ourselves really see Obama for the vicious ecocidal warmongering corporatist that he is and letting the resulting disgust wash through us, we are inoculating ourselves against sympathy for him and everyone like him. That disgust will serve as a kind of psychological gag reflex that rescues us from swallowing any more of their bullshit.

Obama is not the poor widdle victim here, the American public is. Remember that not even a year after the taxpayer took the brunt of the damage from the banks idiotic gamble on subprime loans, he was out there inspiring rallies of people with his talk of hope and change, but at the exact same time as he was promising the American people that he would take Wall Street to task, in private he was allowing Citigroup to handpick his cabinet.

Just let that sink in for a minute. He was out there galvanizing and re-energizing the whole progressive movement, commanding giant rallies of people with his inspiring words and heartfelt promises, but at the very same time, he was emailing Wall Street to get their list for his cabinet appointments. Remember, this email wasnt after hed won. Hed engaged in this transaction while he was still campaigning, still sucking up every bit of hope America had for reversing the ravages of neoliberalism. He. Was. Lying.

That does not deserve sympathy. He knew what he was doing and he wasnt forced into it by any obstructionist congress. The stage was already set. One could easily make the case that he not only killed off hope for change, but that he meant tothat the whole thing was deliberate from the start and that he meant to magnetize any hope left in the bruised and abused population, and suck it into the vortex forever, leaving everyone despondent and without hope. But one things for sure: he certainly never intended to give America the changes he was promising. Ever. The Citigroup email proves that beyond a doubt.

And now hes out there raking in the cash. So I do not weep for Obama, and neither should you.

A friend of mine who has a background in Alcoholics Anonymous once shared with me her view that the majority of 12-steppers are actually pre-Step 1that most of them really havent really grokked into how powerless they are over their addiction in any meaningful way. Well I see rejecting Obama as Step 1 of fighting the progressive revolution, and I think it might be possible that a majority of progressives havent fully done that yet. Some of my readers will have already worked their way down this rabbit hole and processed what needs to be processed while many others will find it a bit confronting, but I think everyone can benefit from a little more Obama hate. We must never go back there. We must unequivocally reject anyone who would take us back there.

We dont get to keep him. We dont get to keep the first black president. We dont get to let that be ours; we have to reject it, in the same way wed have to reject the first female president had Hillary won. Any pride in him, any benefit of the doubt because of his place in history, is an obstacle to judging his true behavior for what it is, as it is. I do sincerely hope there can one day be presidents who transcend racial barriers and shatter glass ceilings and also do their best to advance a pro-human agenda, but Barack Obama was no such president. Hes not ours. Kick him out.

Caitlin Johnstone is a reader-supported independent journalist from Melbourne, Australia. Her political writings can be found on Medium and on her Facebook page.

Continued here:
If Progressives Don't Wake Up to How Awful Obama Was, Their Movement Will Fail - Observer

I have found my silver lining!The dark cloud of election night and a Donald Trump presidency has lifted or at least thinned.

Nov. 9, 2016, as I awoke (probably still drunk), picked myself off my bed, dried my eyes and applied my mask, I did what can only be described as a Hail Mary:

I ordered books off Amazon.

While this might seem a small step in a general direction, these were special books. Although I havent gotten through them all (yet), the first has given me new pride in my Oklahoma home.

Davis D. Joyces collected essays,An Oklahoma I Had Never Seen Before,changes my life with every new sitting. Each essay brings a new facet of our progressive beginnings: from Kate Barnard and prairie populism to a personal essay by Clara Luper, the collection of the peoples history easesthe aches in every progressive-stuck-in-a-red-states soul.

(Editors Note:The text below referencesthis article by Jim Loganas well as this book by Musselwhite and Crawford.)

The annals of time have been cruel to our first hero, Kate Barnard. As a pioneering reformer whose political career started almost a decade before the passage of the 19th Amendment, she lives on as a feminist icon for Oklahoma progressives.

Barnard started her career as a teacher in Oklahoma City. Within 10years, she had moved on to social reform. As one of the authors of the Shawnee Demands, her belief in child-labor laws and mandatory childhood education made a dramatic impact on the Demands, which would soon become the basis for our new states constitution.

With the first election, Barnard became the first woman elected to public office in Oklahoma and only the second nationwide (again, before women were allowed to vote). While the first state Legislature expected her to sit quietly in her corner and attend her feminine duties, Barnard had other plans.

Within a year, she had created drastic changes in Oklahomas prison system (or lack thereof). Having infiltrated a Kansas penitentiary housing Oklahoman prisoners and seeing the abominable conditions, including torture, Barnard petitioned the state to build its own prison system and end many inhumane practices previously in use.Gaining national attention from the scandal, Barnard began speaking across the country about prison reform.

This, combined with her new crusade championing orphaned Native children, would prove to be her downfall.

Native children were stripped of land and mineral rights, abused by court-appointed guardians and subjected to aracist, capitalist system by ones entrusted with their care. As she continued protecting the rights of children, Barnard would end up taking on judges, representatives and corporations.

In response, the Legislature continuously attacked Barnard as well as her prosecutor. Unable to remove her from office without a popular vote, they gutted her budget and created popular dissidence for her new campaign as well as her focus on speaking publicly nationwide.

Sadly, Barnard faded into obscurity later in life. Suffering from a skin disease as well as other health complications, shedied alone in a hotel room at the age of 54. For more than 50 years, her body resided in obscurity in an unmarked grave.

Todays young Oklahoman women can take solace in Kate Barnards story. In a millennial generation stunted by a poor economy and the shackles of growing student loans, fellow late bloomers remind us that its never too late to start caring or effect change. Barnards compassion for the poor, unrepresented and abused masses in a state that so often forgets so many of its citizens reminds us all to add a little more sympathy to our everyday humanity.

I highly recommend you visit Barnards grave in Fairlawn Cemetery and pay tribute to a local heroine in any way you see fit.

Continue reading here:
Kate Barnard: An icon for Oklahoma progressives - NonDoc