Gearing Up for the New Year

I wonder: What day will be best to launch a new project? I want to ride the wave of enthusiasm that the New Year brings in, but I don’t want to try to engage people while they’re still wasted. Options are: Thur., Jan 2; Fri., Jan 3; Sat. Jan. 4, or; some later date. What do you think?

Having been out of the country during the holidays, I’ve missed the festivities, but the peace and quiet has enabled me to be productive. Maybe even creative. But as Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, it’s best to just do the work and leave the quality to God!

In response to “New Projects for 2014,” a young Australian who’s often offered me valuable feedback, Yahya Abdal-Aziz, commented:

Happy holidays! 

Yes, yes and yes!  I like what you're about, about now.  Maybe you needed a little distance (from the US) to be able to see more clearly? 

…The questionnaire is too long; it has too many questions.  I suggest rewriting it at about one-third or one-quarter the length.  Then it wouldn't be too daunting a task to give you some useful input in, say, 5 to 15 minutes.

As for your "personal-political support" or "holistic support" circles, I think you'll find the first name too unwieldy and the second carrying too much baggage ...  How about something simpler, say "growth ring"?  That one also evokes the metaphor of a sturdy tree growing steadily through the years, potentially into a formidable giant.

I think your goal of establishing such circles of trusted friends is achievable.  However, please don't make it feel like a major life commitment to join in the fun and camaraderie.  Our members won't be joining a monastic order, will they?  (Possibly an "intentional community," just the same.)  Consider such "fraternal" organisations as Rotary and Lions clubs, and even some lodges: they meet monthly for a meal and company, devise and promote useful projects within their community and overseas, and engender many long-lasting friendships and commitments.  They may be a fruitful model AND starting-point for creating fully transformative "growth rings".

I replied:

I agree the survey was too long. I've shortened it, but it may still be too long. I include it at the end of this email. If you can give me more feedback, I'd appreciate it. 

I like your reference to the Rotary and Lions clubs and agree that such efforts should not demand too much and should include fun. 

I agree that both "personal-political support" or "holistic support" are problematic. However, the women's movement used "consciousness raising groups" and that phrase is somewhat unwieldy too. One argument for "personal-political support circle" is that it may better describe what is distinctive about this idea. 

Your "growth ring" is intriguing. What about "growth circle"? Here are the options so far:

• Personal-political support circle.
• Holistic support circle.
• Holistic circle.
• Growth ring.
• Growth circle.
• Growth group.

Other ideas?

Your comments, dear subscriber, would be appreciated as well.

And if you want me to visit you during my April/May road trip throughout the States so we can have a cup of tea and a soulful conversation face-to-face about whatever is on our mind at that time, please let me know.

Living-wage Jobs Campaign (12/27/13 Draft)

Following is the latest draft of the key content for the campaign that Michael Stein and I are planning to launch early next year on the powerful, new Causes.com website. The economist Dean Baker, co-author of the recently published, excellent book, Getting Back to Full Employment, has offered valuable input. The underscored text indicates future links. The text in bold indicates the Causes.com framework, which cannot be altered. By default, the title and the URL for the campaign consist of the text in the Goal.

Your feedback would be most welcome.

Goal (limit: 60 characters): 
[I want to] get Congress to guarantee living-wage job opportunities.

Short Description (limit: 120 characters): 
Everyone needs the opportunity to work at a living-wage job in order to develop their potential and serve their community.

Full Description (no known limit):

Most Americans believe that our society should assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity. In a March 2013 article, “Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans,” Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels, and Jason Seawright reported that 68% of the general public believe “the government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job” and 78% believe that the minimum wage should be “high enough so that no family with a full-time worker falls below [the] official poverty line.”
 
So far there’s little grassroots pressure demanding action to achieve this goal. But some signs suggest that such movement may emerge in the near future. You can encourage activist organizations to take on this issue by signing our petition: “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a living-wage job.”  You can also pledge to recruit additional signers and start your own “personal campaign” on our site to gather more signers. If you join us, we’ll keep you informed about other efforts to guarantee living-wage job opportunities as we become aware of them. (We will not share your email address.)

As citizens, we need not prescribe precisely how the federal government should achieve full employment. The experts and the policy makers can make those decisions. Our job is to determine if they have accomplished that goal and keep pushing them until they do. They managed to save Wall Street and our car companies when those industries were on the verge of collapse. Surely they can figure out how to enable every American who is willing and able to find a living-wage job.

Without dictating the exact methods, however, we can indicate that our mission is realistic by outlining the problem and suggesting some concrete options in terms of solutions. (As conditions change and we receive feedback, we’ll modify this statement from time to time.)

First, the federal government could enable the working poor to lift themselves out of poverty by increasing the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit to levels necessary to assure that workers earn a living wage.

Second, the federal government could send funds to local governments to hire public-service workers to meet needs that are currently being neglected. Those needs include teachers’ assistants, in-home caregiving, nursing home staff, child care workers, park and recreation staff, substance abuse counselors, neighborhood center staff, and environmental cleanup.

By relying on revenue sharing with local governments, we could minimize problems associated with “big government” and give people a greater opportunity to have a voice in how funds are spent. Citizens can more easily impact City Hall than they can the federal government.

By requiring local governments to maintain current spending levels, we could assure that they did not simply use the new funds to reduce local taxes.

By steadily increasing such funding each year until those jobs go begging due to lack of applicants, we could reach full employment. When such funding is no longer needed, it could be decreased.

About 10 million individuals are officially unemployed. But if more living-wage job opportunities were available, several million more under- and unemployed workers might take those jobs. Because a major national jobs program would boost economic growth, many workers would take jobs in the private sector. In addition, mandating paid sick time, paid family leave, and four weeks of paid vacation, as do all wealthy countries except the United States, would lead businesses to hire more workers.

To get a rough idea, let’s estimate what it might cost the federal government to fund five million living-wage public jobs at $12 per hour. Since a full-time worker at that rate earns $25,000 annually, total wages would be $125 billion. Add on another $25 billion for supervisory and administrative costs, and the total is $150 billion.

Where might those funds come from? Without increasing income and payroll tax rates, the following deficit-neutral options include:
• A small tax on financial transactions would discourage unproductive, destabilizing speculation and generate $100 billion or more.
• Reducing wasteful military spending could free up $60 billion per year or more.
• Tens of billions in increased revenues would be generated from the boost to the economy that would result from full employment.
• Billions would be saved from decreased social insurance payments to people who would no longer need assistance.
• The Federal Reserve Bank could buy municipal bonds, which would lower borrowing costs for local governments and help them pay salaries and invest in infrastructure improvements.

If those measures were insufficient, the government could borrow money. (Annual interest payments on the debt have declined from 15% of the federal budget in the 1990s to about 5% now, so we could afford this option.)

Measures such as these would enable us to move toward full employment. After gauging our progress, if more funding were needed, a one-half-of-one-percent wealth tax on the top 1% could generate $100 billion. (More than one-third of the nation’s $60 trillion wealth is held by the top 1%.)

So clearly lack of revenue is no reason to back away from guaranteeing living-wage job opportunities. The United States has more than enough money to assure living-wage job opportunities.

The standard argument against full employment has been that it would cause excessive inflation. But partly due to global competition, it’s unclear how much inflationary pressure would result. From 1997 to 2000 the unemployment rate was below 5% and falling (approaching full employment, for some workers will always be between jobs), and from 2003 to 2008 it declined from 6.0% to 4.6%, but the core inflation rate has averaged less than 3% since 1997, which is acceptable.

True enough, higher than expected inflation does hurt Wall Street. The price traders pay for financial instruments is based on expected inflation. When they sell, if inflation proves to be greater than expected, the purchasing power of the money they get is less than what they anticipated. Inflation erodes their assets. And this creditor class has great influence on public policy.

But if wages keep pace, some inflation is beneficial to the economy, partly because it gives companies confidence their profits will increase.  And multiple measures are available to handle excessive inflationary pressure, including indexing Social Security to inflation and raising interest rates.

Steadily increasing federal revenue-sharing year-by-year would enable the whole country to monitor whether reducing unemployment was contributing to excessive inflation. This decision needs to be made openly following full discussion. What is worse? Stagnant wages for the middle class, severe poverty, and widespread unemployment, or some inflation that benefits most people? How much inflation is acceptable? Historically, most countries have managed quite well with inflation rates that have been much higher than in the United States. But the official Federal Reserve Bank policy, also adopted by other central banks, is an unjustifiable goal of 2% inflation.

In Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People, the economists Dean Baker and Jared Bernstein argue that if and when inflation became a serious problem, we could deal with it then.

The issue is one of relative risks. We understand that as the unemployment rate falls to lower levels, the risk of accelerating inflation increases. But if the rate of inflation is not accelerating, there is the risk that people are being needlessly denied the chance to work and wages for those at the bottom are being held down by bad government policy. Based on the relative costs, it seems far better to take the risk of a short period with rising inflation than maintaining a higher-than-necessary level of unemployment…. Few would agree that it is appropriate to keep millions out of work and deny wage growth to tens of millions simply to reduce the risk of modestly higher inflation. [emphasis added]

In a recent interview with Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, Bernstein stated:

The largest group of beneficiaries of full employment is not the un- and underemployed. It’s people with jobs. It creates enough pressure on the compensation system such that the bottom two-thirds of the workforce, for whom growth has been pretty much a spectator sport, get back in the game.

Klein concluded, “Full employment gives average workers the power to demand a better deal from their employers and thus reduces inequality by giving the working class an overdue raise.”

As former union leader William Winpisinger argued:

Official government policy declares unemployment is necessary to combat inflation. For two decades we've used high unemployment to combat inflation. We've had mini-recessions, mild recessions and severe recessions. We've sacrificed the unemployed and their families on the altar of fighting inflation and managing the economy. All we have to show for it are a decline in real incomes for American workers and their families, a growth in poverty-level jobs, and the wasted lives of nearly 10 million people marking time in the ranks of an army of unemployed. 

Trading unemployment for price stability is like burning down the barn to get rid of the rats. We lock up people who practice arson as a rodent control policy. Those who promote the conscious use of unemployment to manage the economy are even more dangerous. As a national policy it is hypocritical, bankrupt and bereft of intelligence. It is long past due for this nation to commit, absolutely and unequivocally, to full employment as its number one priority.

The remaining question is how to build a movement to see to it that everyone who wants to work has a living-wage job opportunity. If you support the ““Get Congress to Guarantee Living-Wage Job Opportunities” campaign, sign our petition, and get others to sign, you’ll encourage activist organizations to take on this issue and we’ll keep you informed about opportunities to get more involved when we learn about them.

1/2/14
(The substitution of future versions will be noted here.)

New Projects for 2014

Next year, I plan to undertake four new projects:

1. Wade’s Monthly, a listserv to which I’ll send one email each month reporting on my work, as well as my inner experience.
2. A Causes.com campaign calling on the federal government to guarantee a living-wage job opportunity.
3.  A “The Personal, the Social, and the Political” survey to gauge interest in developing a network of “personal-political support circles.”
4. A road trip. Beginning March 25, I’ll travel throughout the United States meeting with friends, old and new, to have a cup of tea and discuss whatever’s on our minds at that time. If you want to meet, please let me know.

The first step will be to invite more than 1,000 individuals in my Address Book to subscribe to Wade’s Monthly. That invitation will also include information about my other projects. Later, I’ll submit articles to various websites for publication and do other outreach.

Below are the latest drafts of content for those projects, including:

1.  The invitation to subscribe to Wade’s Monthly. 
2. The content for the Causes.com campaign.
3. An essay promoting that campaign.
4.  The content for the survey.
5. An essay promoting that survey.

I would appreciate your feedback. Words of encouragement would be appreciated. Suggested changes and additions are welcome. Though I suspect the basic thrust of these projects will remain the same, I frequently edit these materials. So if you want to offer considerable specific feedback, you may want to get the latest drafts beforehand. If you schedule a time and let me know, I’ll email you the latest drafts as an attachment at the time you specify. Or you can Skype me at "wadehudson" or call me on Vonage at 849-624-5928 and I’ll send you the latest draft immediately.

Thanks much for whatever help you can provide. If you want to collaborate more fully beyond offering feedback, please let me know. Regardless, I hope you participate in some way next year!

Stoking the fire,

Wade Lee Hudson

+++

“Wade’s Monthly” Invitation

          NOTE: Underscores indicate links to be added later.

SUBJECT: “Wade’s Monthly” (Please Subscribe)

Dear

Please reply YES to this email if you want me to subscribe you to Wade’s Monthly, a new listserv to which I’ll send one email concerning my work each month. I very much appreciate our previous connection and would like to stay connected in this way.

Please reply REMOVE if you want me to remove you from my Address Book so that I never again send you an email except in reply to an email from you.

While staying here on the north coast of the Dominican Republic since mid-October, some new conclusions and a new attitude have formed. My primary commitment remains the same. I still want to foster communities that facilitate individuals supporting one another in their self-development, community building, and political action – in order to help make our society more just, democratic, and compassionate.

However, in the future I will:

• Engage with greater self-confidence.
• Worry less about how others react.
• Feel less need to prove myself (to others or myself). 
• Stop trying to do so much so quickly and accept that I can only do what I can do.
• More frequently remember to love the Universe and take time to enjoy myself. 
• Engage more from my heart, be more present and responsive to those I encounter, and listen more carefully, while being less judgmental.
• Trust more deeply that humanity will eventually evolve into a caring community dedicated to the common good of the entire human family.

As the New Year begins, I’m concentrating on these new projects:

• The “Tell Congress to Guarantee Living-wage Job Opportunities” campaign on Causes.com. To consider supporting this campaign, click here.
• A Guaranteed Living-Wage Job Opportunity: Support the Cause,” an essay promoting that campaign.
• “The Personal, the Social, and the Political” questionnaire. This survey is designed to gauge interest in self-development, community building, political action, and methods for individuals to support one another in those efforts. To complete the survey, please click here. 
• “Let’s Get Real: A Call for Personal-Political Support Circles,” a manifesto that sums up my current thinking.
• A road trip. I’ll be in Scottsdale, AZ for Giants spring training February 26-March 25 and in New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival from April 11-14. Otherwise, I’ll be driving throughout the United States into May to have tea and discuss whatever’s on our minds with friends, old and new. Please let me know if you want to meet.

If you subscribe to Wade’s Monthly, you will receive reports with highlights about these efforts and others that develop. I’d really like to stay in touch. Please consider subscribing.

To subscribe to Wade’s Monthly, reply YES to this email.

Stoking the fire,

Wade Lee Hudson

PS. I also continue to work on these projects: 

My autobiography, draft chapters of which will be posted here. So far, I’ve completed first drafts of 12 of 32 chapters with about 50,000 words, or 100 pages, approximately half of the projected total. I hope to finish the first draft prior to Spring Training and then turn it over to an accomplished editor.

Wade’s Weekly. The blog I’ve been doing for a few years.

Wade’s Wire. A new blog to which I most no more than one item of interest each day.

Reform-Wall-Street.org, to which I post information and analysis about the need to restructure our financial system.

Again, to subscribe to Wade’s Monthly, reply YES to this email.

Causes.com Campaign

NOTE: The text in italics below indicates content that can be changed. Underscores indicate links.

Goal (limit: about 60 characters): [I want to] tell Congress to guarantee living-wage job opportunities.

Short Description (limit: about 100 characters): Everyone needs the opportunity to work at a living-wage job in order to develop themselves and serve their community.

Category (one): Economics

Issues (four): jobs, economic security, living wage, public service.

Full Description (no known limit):

This campaign calls for the federal government to send funds to local governments to hire public-service workers to meet pressing needs that are being neglected. These jobs include teachers’ assistants, in-home caregiving, nursing home staff, child care workers, park and recreation staff, substance abuse counselors, neighborhood center staff, and environmental cleanup.

Those funds could be generated primarily by increasing taxes on the top 1%, roughly 1.2 million households whose average income before taxes in 2012 was $1,873,000. So their total income was $2, 250 billion. Their effective tax rate (what they paid in taxes as a percentage of their income) was 20.6%. In the late 1970s, they paid 35%. If they had paid 40% instead of 20%, that would have generated an additional $450 billion in revenue.  

About 10 million individuals are officially unemployed, but if living-wage job opportunities were available, another 10 million might take those jobs, or 20 million total.  A full-time worker paid $10 per hour earns $20,000. So with $450 billion we could hire 25 million workers at $10 per hour. 

These numbers indicate that achieving full employment is achievable. Additional costs not detailed here would be involved, but additional revenues would also be available, including taxes paid by the newly employed and reducing wasteful military spending (cutting the military budget by 10% would free up $60 billion per year).

Sources:

Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans

List of countries by number of households

Effective tax rates

The Obsession with Nominal Tax Rates or the Twinkie Romanticism

Twitter profile: @LivingWageJobs: Supporting the Causes.com campaign to tell Congress to guarantee everyone a living-wage job opportunity.

Primary Leader (more can be added later; let me know if you’re interested in helping to administer the site): Wade Hudson

PETITION:

Who Are You Petitioning: The United States Congress

What Should The Petition Say: We, the undersigned, call on Congress to assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity.

How will this petition help? By signing this petition you can demonstrate support for the 68% of Americans who believe "the government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job" and the 78% who believe that the minimum wage should be "high enough so that no family with a full-time worker falls below [the] official poverty line." And you can indicate to organizations that push Congress to guarantee everyone a living-wage job opportunity that you will be available to support their efforts.

Source: http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jnd260/cab/CAB2012%20-%20Page1.pdf

PLEDGE:

What do you want people to do? I pledge to share this campaign with people you know.

How will this pledge help? You can help gather support for this campaign as a way to encourage activist organizations that decide to push Congress to guarantee everyone a living-wage job opportunity.

FUNDRAISER:

Who are you raising money for? [I’ve asked the Movement Strategy Center to receive such donations.}

How will this fundraiser help? [To be determined by the recipient.]

BACKGROUND:

The new Causes.com tool enables campaigns to email supporters. (I don’t know how frequently.) There currently is no campaign on Causes.com related to “jobs” or “job.”

The campaign is activated with the first post. There are four types of posts:

Photo: Explain the story behind this photo.

Video: Add YouTube link. Explain why people should watch this video.

Story: Tell a story about why this campaign matters

Article: Explain why this article matters.

I plan to activate the campaign early next year with the following article.

Causes.com Article

A Guaranteed Living-Wage Job Opportunity: Support the Cause

NOTE: Underscores indicate future links

Most Americans believe that our society should assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity. In a March 2013 report, “Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans,” Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels, and Jason Seawright reported that 78% of the general public believe that the minimum wage should be “high enough so that no family with a full-time worker falls below [the] official poverty line,” and 68% believe “the government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job.”

So far there’s little grassroots pressure demanding action to achieve this goal. But some signs suggest that such movement may emerge in the near future. You can help encourage this development by supporting the “Tell Congress to Guarantee Living-Wage Job Opportunities” cause on Causes.com, which includes a petition directed to Congress that states: “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity.”

If you do, the campaign will keep you informed concerning organized efforts along this line as we become aware of them. (We will not share your email address.)

As we see it, the best way to achieve full employment is for the federal government to:

• Increase the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit to the level necessary to assure that workers earn a living wage and index those measures to inflation.
• Increase taxes on the top 1%. 
• Send funds to local governments to hire public-service workers to meet needs that are currently being neglected. 

Those needs include teachers’ assistants, in-home caregiving, nursing home staff, child care workers, park and recreation staff, substance abuse counselors, neighborhood center staff, and environmental cleanup.

By relying on revenue sharing with local governments, we could avoid problems associated with “big government” and give citizens a greater opportunity to have a voice in how funds are spent. Citizens can more easily impact City Hall than they can the federal government.

By requiring local governments to maintain current spending levels, we could assure that they did not simply use the new funds to reduce local taxes.

By steadily increasing such funding until jobs go begging due to lack of applicants, we could assure full employment.

The principle argument against full employment is that it would create excessive inflation. But given global competitive pressures, it’s unclear that serious inflationary pressures would result. Regardless, as I argue in the “Controlling Inflation” section of Economic Security for All, multiple measures are available to handle any such excessive inflationary pressure, including indexing Social Security to inflation.

As former union leader William Winpisinger argued:

Official government policy declares unemployment is necessary to combat inflation. For two decades we've used high unemployment to combat inflation. We've had mini-recessions, mild recessions and severe recessions. We've sacrificed the unemployed and their families on the altar of fighting inflation and managing the economy. All we have to show for it are a decline in real incomes for American workers and their families, a growth in poverty-level jobs, and the wasted lives of nearly 10 million people marking time in the ranks of an army of unemployed.

Trading unemployment for price stability is like burning down the barn to get rid of the rats. We lock up people who practice arson as a rodent control policy. Those who promote the conscious use of unemployment to manage the economy are even more dangerous. As a national policy it is hypocritical, bankrupt and bereft of intelligence. It is long past due for this nation to commit, absolutely and unequivocally, to full employment as its number one priority.

Another argument against guaranteeing a living-wage job opportunity is that it would be too expensive. But that argument does not hold water. There are roughly 1.2 million households in the top 1%. According to wikipedia, their average income before taxes in 2012 was $1,873,000. So their total income was $2, 250 billion. Their effective tax rate (what they actually paid in taxes as a percentage of their income) was 20.6%. In the late 1970s, they paid 35%. If they had paid 40% instead of 20%, that would have generated an additional $450 billion in revenue.

A full-time worker paid $10 per hour earns $20,000. So with $450 billion we could hire 25 million workers at $10 per hour.

About 10 million individuals are officially unemployed, but if living-wage job opportunities were available, another 10 million might take those jobs. So 20 million people might take living-wage jobs if they were available.

These numbers indicate that achieving full employment is achievable. Additional costs not detailed here would be involved, but additional revenues would also be available, including taxes paid by the newly employed and reducing wasteful military spending (cutting the military budget by 10% would free up $60 billion per year).

The remaining question is how to build a movement to achieve it. If you support the ““Tell Congress to Guarantee Living-Wage Job Opportunities” cause, you’ll encourage activist organization to take on this issue. We’ll keep you informed about opportunities along that line.

LINKS TO BE ADDED LATER:

http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jnd260/cab/CAB2012%20-%20Page1.pdf

http://shults.org/wadehudson/esfa/chapxiv.htm#5

http://shults.org/wadehudson/esfa/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_households

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#Effective_income_tax_rates

http://www.baldingsworld.com/2012/11/30/the-obsession-with-nominal-tax-rates-or-the-twinkie-romanticism/

Holistic Support Circle Survey

NOTE: Ample space will be provided for the open-ended questions. The yes or no questions will be followed by:

___Yes  ___No  ___Not sure    Comments:

The Personal, the Social, and the Political: A Survey

Introduction

This questionnaire is intended to gauge interest in personal growth, community development, and political action.

Responses will be kept confidential unless otherwise indicated.

A report on the results will be shared with all respondents who ask to receive it.

Respondents will also be invited to participate in a follow-up online discussion about how we might improve our society so that it better supports personal growth, community development, and political action.

The Survey

MUTUAL SUPPORT

Do you have close friends with whom you: 

• Feel free to be yourself 
• Have fun
• Express deep feelings
• Listen carefully
• Give and receive support
• Get to know each other
• Share happiness
• Discuss the meaning of life 
• Evaluate what’s right and what’s wrong
• Help each other become better human beings
• And consider how to improve governmental policies and our social institutions

If you do have close friends of that sort, would you like to have at least one additional close friend of that kind?

                If you do not want to have at least one additional close friend of that kind, why?

If you do not have any close friends of that sort, would you like to?

                If you do not want to have any close friends of that sort, why?

Do you have a group of close friends with whom you gather to engage in the kind of activities described in question #1?

If you do, please describe the group, including how often you meet.

If you do not, would you like to participate in that kind of group?

                If you would not like to participate in that kind of group, why?

Do you believe that other individuals could benefit from the opportunity to participate in that kind of group?

Do you believe that our society should support the development of those kind of groups more than it does?

Do you believe our society should assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity, partly so that people could more easily participate in those kind of groups?

PERSONAL GROWTH

In the last month, have you worked on your personal growth?

If yes:

What issues have you addressed?

How have you addressed them?

If no, would you like to do so in the future?

                If you would not like to do so in the future, why?

During the next month, do you plan to work on your personal growth?

If yes:

What issues do you plan to address?

How will you address them?

If no, why?

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

In the last month, have you tried to help improve a social institution (or organization), such as a workplace, spiritual community, school, neighborhood center, or an informal community of friends?

If yes:

With what organization have you been engaged?

How did you try to contribute to that community?

If no, would you like to do so in the future?

                If you would not like to do so in the future, why?

During the next month, do you plan to engage in efforts to help improve a social institution or informal community?

If yes:

With what organization or community do you plan to be engaged?

How will you try to contribute?

If no, would you like to do so in the future?

                If you would not like to do so in the future, why?

POLITICAL ACTION

In the last month, have you engaged in efforts to impact public policy?

If yes:

What issues have you addressed?

How have you tried to impact public policy concerning that issue?

If no, would you like to in the future?

                If you would not like to do so in the future, why?

During the next month, do you plan to engage in efforts to impact public policy?

If yes:

What issues will you address?

How will you try to impact public policy concerning that issue?

If no, would you like to in the future?

                If you would not like to do so in the future, why?

FOLLOW-UP

Would you be interested in participating in an online discussion about how to encourage the development of mutual-support groups that foster personal growth, community development, and political action?

Will you tell others about this survey by sending them this link: [link].

Please tell us something about yourself and why you are interested:

May we identify you as the author of your comments?

Would you like to receive a report on the results of this survey?

Name / Email (we won’t share your email)

Holistic Support Circle Article

Let’s Get Real: A Call for Personal-Political Support Circles

Human beings are freedom-living and compassionate. But society suppresses our ability to be true to ourselves and act effectively to help improve the world. Small circles of trusted friends can help us deal with those realities. Members of such circles can support one another other in their efforts to be more fully human and help create a more just, democratic, and caring society.

Most people want to be happy and want others to be happy. We want to speak from the heart and listen carefully when others do the same. We want to be open, honest, and full of life, and we want the same for others. We realize that if others do well, we benefit. We love others as we love ourselves. We affirm neither selfishness nor self-sacrifice. We want to steadily improve ourselves and the quality of our lives, partly so that we can better serve others, and we want others to fulfill their potential as well. Most of us want to nurture spiritual growth and enhance self-confidence, both in ourselves and in others. Because we believe in personal responsibility, liberty, and self-empowerment, we want our society to maximize democracy and offer everyone a real voice in affairs that affect them. We want to protect our environment, relieve and reduce suffering, and help make the world a better place for everyone. We want our society to assure everyone a living-wage job opportunity and nurture caring communities whose members support one another in their efforts to be fully human. Even if we only have limited time for activities beyond our work and immediate family, we would like to help improve governmental policies and our social institutions (such as our workplace, spiritual community, school, food bank, or neighborhood center).

But with its rapid pace, constant pressure, hyper-specialization, and fragmentation, the modern world makes it increasingly difficult for many of us to live our dreams. We learn to do what those with power over us want us to do, often so that we can get a good job and keep it. We stuff our feelings and learn to censor what we say because others might use what we say to hurt us. We wear masks and stop being present, spontaneous, and transparent like young children. We compete with others so much, we’re constantly trying to prove ourselves to others (and ourselves) and don’t develop the self-confidence we need to be free because we always fall short. We see so many others become so greedy and immoral, we’re tempted to start looking out only for ourselves and our families. Ever more it seems, people just talk and talk, without really listening. Most Americans have only one or two people, or no one, with whom they can discuss personal matters. Those with work are worried about losing their job, and the unemployed are struggling to survive. It’s hard to get the government to listen to ordinary people. Most of our social institutions fail to empower their workers or their clients.

In the face of these realities, many of us would like to have a safe place where, with a small circle of close, trusted friends, we could:

• Be real. 
• Feel free to be ourselves.
• Have fun.
• Express deep feelings.
• Listen carefully to each other. 
• Give and receive support.
• Get to know each other. 
• Be happy.
• Discuss the meaning of life.
• Evaluate what’s right and what’s wrong. 
• Help each other become better human beings.
• Consider how to improve governmental policies and our social institutions.
• Reflect on how we might better achieve those goals.

In a personal-political refuge like that, even if members met only once a month to share a meal and have a two-hour focused conversation, they could explore how to cope with the modern world. By articulating deep feelings and listening to others do the same, they could learn better how to take care of themselves and their loved ones and improve the world by having a positive impact on public policies. They could become better, happier, more responsible human beings. Without a trained facilitator, they could simply meet face-to-face to have soulful conversations, enjoy life, and steadily deepen friendships.  

Most people want to have a voice in improving public policy, beyond voting. They want to devote some time to trying to have a positive impact on our government, because they feel it is their responsibility as a citizen. They know that if more people spoke up, it could make a big difference. They realize we need strong activist organizations with committed members who help build and sustain effective campaigns on concrete issues, like climate change and the need for living-wage job opportunities. But many of these Individuals aren’t currently engaged in such activity.

One reason is that most activist organizations are impersonal, top-down machines that use people as objects to be mobilized, rather than growing compassionate communities that empower their members and help them develop their potential. Activist organizations, for example, rarely facilitate their members consciously, intentionally supporting one another in their personal or spiritual work. A personal-political support circle could counter these tendencies, add a human element to activist activities, and attract new members with contagious happiness and rewarding social activities.

Another reason for inactivity is discouraged individuals don’t see how they can be effective. If they found a meaningful way to do so, they could easily become engaged.  A personal-political support circle could help them find those opportunities.

At the same time, in our busy world, many of us don’t take time to care for ourselves and strengthen our abilities. We need to acknowledge mistakes and resolve to avoid them in the future. From time to time, we need to reconsider our approach and try to improve it. This introspection is often private, internal. But it helps to express our thoughts verbally and share them with close friends. Even if others only listen, putting important thoughts into words is usually beneficial. A personal-political support circle could help facilitate honest self-reflection.

In addition, those groups that do engage in personal or spiritual work rarely support people in their desire to be politically active. Tax-exempt organizations, like churches and social-service organizations, are limited in their political activity. But they can encourage and support their members or clients to determine on their own their own political activity, whether as an individual or in small unaffiliated groups. Some informal groups like book clubs or study groups might want to expand their focus a bit. A personal-political support circle could nurture focused political activity.

Likewise, many individuals who are not currently engaged in volunteer efforts to build or strengthen community-service projects, such as food banks, Meals on Wheels, homeless shelters, and environmental cleanup, would like to become engaged in such efforts. A personal-political support circle could help them get more plugged into that kind of compassionate action.

In these ways, personal-political support circles could help counter hyper-specialization by addressing the whole person, including our personal, social, and political responsibilities. They could enrich our lives, enhance our friendships, and help us be more involved in our community.

If participants knew that other small circles elsewhere were engaged in similar activities and connected with one another through a loose network, it could provide a rewarding sense of community rooted in a shared commitment and help inspire others to create their own circle and affiliate with the network.

A network of personal-political support circles could welcome diversity with regard to ideology and theology. Members could merely agree on general principles and values like those articulated in this essay.

This project would not aim to create a new organization. Rather it would encourage and support participation in existing organizations – in order to help make those organizations and our society more democratic and compassionate.

Some of these personal-political support circles might consist of members who belong to the same organization and support each other with their efforts to strengthen their organization. Other circles might consist of individuals who are active in various organizations. Yet other circles might consist of people who aren’t regularly involved in any particular organization but want to exercise their social and political responsibilities as individuals.

The potential value of a network of personal-political support circles seems clear. The dilemma is how to foster them. What principles should they share in common and how should they structure, or organize, their activities?

Unfortunately, so far I only know of one example of a current project that clearly, explicitly focuses on providing mutual support for both personal growth and political action (if you know of others, please let me know). That example is Mujeres Unidas y Activas, which has “a double mission of promoting personal transformation and building community power for social and economic justice.” Their program includes “mutual support meetings that provide a space for women to tell their own stories in a safe and confidential environment and receive support from other women who have had similar life experiences.”

When I return to San Francisco in late May, I’ll once again try to convene a personal-political support circle. In the meantime, I’ll continue to discuss these matters online while I’m here on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.  And in April and May I’ll travel throughout the States to investigate what folks are doing in this vein, whether or not it is explicit and intentional, and discuss these ideas with interested individuals.

If you would like to experiment with methods for conducting personal-political support circles, please do so and let me know the results. Also, please tell me if you would like to discuss these matters via Skype or in person. And please consider answering the brief The Personal, the Social, and the Political survey.

If those of us who share these concerns put our heads together, perhaps we can develop a network of personal-political support circles, unless we find an already existing network with which we can affiliate.

One way or the other, we must try to fundamentally re-form our society into a truly compassionate community dedicated to the common good of the entire human family.

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NOTE: That completes the draft of materials that I plan to have ready in early 2014. Your feedback would be most welcome.

The Road Trip Shapes Up

Spring training here I come! From the first (Feb. 26) to the last (Mar. 26) day, I’ll be in Scottsdale Stadium for every Giants game. Tickets go on sale January 9. Now I just need to figure out how to get good seats. What about sitting in the same seat right behind the dugout for every game? Not very likely, but that might be one way to get on a first name basis with the Panda, the Baby Giraffe, or the White Shark.

So come on down, baseball fans, and join the fun. Through Airbnb, I’ll be staying in a private home with some well-informed locals walking distance from the park, so I should know the ropes quickly. And you could hang out with me in my comfy digs. The Motel 6 on Camelback Road is about a mile away and there’s a bus stop nearby. Airbnb spots are filling up and may all be taken soon.

Or join me in New Orleans April 11-14 for the 30th annual, free French Quarter Festival, reportedly better than the Jazz and Heritage Festival. As stated on their website:

French Quarter Festival is dedicated to supporting Louisiana’s music community. The festival only contracts local musicians. No matter what style of music you enjoy, you'll find it at French Quarter Festival. French Quarter Festival has over 20 outdoor stages featuring every genre from gospel to jazz, from funk to classical, from Cajun & zydeco to brass band. Over 1,400 musicians will perform at the 2013 French Quarter Festival.

I’ll be staying at the affordable Crescent Palms Motel and will have a rental car, so I could pick you up at the airport. You could sleep in the second bed or get your own room (book soon, for hotels are filling up).

Before returning to San Francisco on June 1, I plan to rent a car and, if I can manage it, play blackjack in Nevada, clean my mother’s grave, visit with friends (including my sister Sara) in Los Angeles, St. Lake City, Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, East Texas, Atlanta, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, New York City, Rochester, Seattle, and Olympia, go on an individual retreat at stone circles http://www.stonecircles.org/, and do some sightseeing. So it looks like wherever you live, if you want to meet for a cup of tea, please let me know and let’s try to arrange it!

I’m making good progress on my autobiography, with about 80 pages and 40,000 words written.

Once or twice a day I post highlights from the Web and other material on Wade’s Wire in the following categories: Essays, News/Opinion, Photos/Videos, Quotes, Resources, Wade’s Journal. You can review posts there either by clicking on those categories in the left column and scrolling down in chronological order in the right column. To subscribe and receive each post via email, go to the homepage, enter your email address in the “Follow Blog by Email” box at the top right, and click Subscribe.

If you have material that you want to recommend for Wade’s Wire, please bring it to my attention.

Usually, once a day, I post a philosophical comment, sometimes a quote, on my Facebook status. The one yesterday generated some interesting comments. That thread reads:

Wade Hudson:
I did not hurt your feelings and you did not hurt mine. We are responsible for our own feelings. Stick and stones hurt, but words do not.

Rene Burke Ellis:
Bingo.

Roy Harrison:
Is this message really coming from you Wade, it is hard for me to believe

Wade Hudson:
Yes, it is Roy Harrison. And you did not hurt my feelings by asking. :-)

Rene Burke Ellis:
Words only hurt when we give them the meaning and the power to do so.

Laurie Pollock:
I was told by a wise person a long time ago that if words hurt, "consider the source."

Valerie Winemiller:
Sorry, I'm not willing to let this platitude absolve people of responsibility for what they say.

Susan Mahler:
Do no harm.....and I think that includes the hurt that words can cause.

Wade Hudson:
We are responsible for what we say. We should take care to avoid speaking in ways that easily LEAD to others feeling hurt. But there is no automatic cause-and-effect relationship. We can avoid feeling hurt, even when others want us to feel hurt. So I say it is not WORDS that hurt. As Howard Thurman, the great African-American theologian who was a mentor to Dr. King wrote, "Jesus...recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection. It is a man's reaction to things that determine their ability to exercise power over him."

Steven Shults:
It's a challenging concept. Yes, we have some control over how we respond to what is said to us, but that control is not 100% and to pretend that anyone, even a buddhist monk, has 100% control over the emotions they experience in response to stimulii requires some very serious denial of human emotions and intellect, and how the two interact.

This concept should be reserved for very specific, low-stake situations. E.g., if you make a suggestion to someone about how they could do a task more efficiently, and make the suggestion with no ill-intent, and they respond angrily that you hurt their feelings, when you were honestly trying to help them, that might be an appropriate scenario to express that sentiment.

But, as a defense against an accusation of, say, for example, sexual harassment, it's not acceptable to say "It's not my fault you were offended or felt harassed. I didn't mean it that way, I was just playing around." Well, no, you weren't "just playing around", you were being a sexist, misogynistic asshole and you are responsible for the results of your actions.

There are also workplace and domestic situations in which verbal and psychological abuse are very real and very damaging. Pretending otherwise is just blaming the victim.

Wade Hudson:
Well put, Steven. I largely agree with what you say, which, I believe, does not contradict what I said or what Thurman wrote. Certain words are not acceptable because they often lead to hurt feelings. But language matters. To say "you hurt me" gives you too much power and disempowers me. There are three steps: 1) You speak. 2) I process/interpret what you say, influenced greatly by deeply embedded core beliefs which I can change over time. 3) I have feelings about what you said. Granted, we're talking about an ideal. But we can steadily move in the direction of fulfilling that ideal more frequently.

To subscribe to Wade's Wire, click here.

Suggestions for Wade?

I plan to remain here in the Dominican Republic four more months and then travel throughout the States meeting with people to connect/re-connect and discuss whatever is on my mind at that time, which may include a possible new project (more on that soon).

I welcome your suggestions concerning how I might best use these four months in the Dominican Republic, before I return to the States, which will limit my productivity.

I seem to be doing very well here. I feel that, after decades of trying, I’ve finally learned how to be alone for a long period, really enjoy it, and be productive.

As has been the case since 1967, my primary commitment is to foster the growth of caring communities whose members support one another in their efforts to integrate the personal, the social, and the political by: 1) consistently becoming happier, more effective individuals who feel free to be who they really are; 2) helping to grow alternatives communities that point the way to a better society, and; 3) engaging in political action to improve public policy.

This week, my plan is to take Saturday as a day of rest to explore this beautiful country and, when feasible, socialize with locals. On Sunday, I go shopping, get organized, follow football on the Internet in the background, and talk with friends on Skype. Following is my plan for Monday through Friday. (RWS = Reform Wall Street; FB = Facebook; WW = Wade’s Wire; tbtf = to be too fail). In addition to normal bodily functions and occasional brief periods of rest, I go through these tasks in the following order, set my timer according to the minutes indicated, stop each task when the timer rings, and check that task off in my Log.

Task  Min
Journal 15
Exercise 30
Write my autobiography 120
Read my old correspondence, journals, and other documents 120
Process personal email 60
Read other email, copy material for RWS and WW 60
Read Twitter, personal and RWS (search “tbtf”), copy material 30
Read FB, copy material 30
Post to WW 30
Post to RWS site and FB page 30
Participate in The Next Edge 30
Read a book/Kindle 45
Chill 60
TOTAL 660

I read news while eating. My exercise consists of a 30 minute walk to the beach. This week I plan to “chill” by walking to the beach and lying in a lounge chair for 30 minutes while listening to the surf and staring at the stars.

That’s my routine. Soon I’ll create a new blog for my autobiography, which is coming along well I believe, and post one or two chapters a week there, with photos. I start working after I wake, which is sometimes after only four hours sleep, and take a nap when I get sleepy. Most days, I get my eight hours eventually. I eat simply, the same items every day so I can easily modify what I eat if I need to in order to lose more weight (I’ve lost 11 pounds). As I mentioned, soon I hope to share my thoughts about a new, potentially exciting project that is crystallizing in my head and on paper.

In the meantime, do you have any suggestions concerning how I should proceed?

Several Opportunities: Subscriptions and Photos

If you have not done so already, you can receive my posts to Wade’s Wire via email if you click here and click on the Subscribe button in the left column. No more than three times a day, I post there “what’s on my mind” – Links to News/Opinion, Essays, Resources, Quotes, Photos, and Wade’s Journal.

Also, on Twitter you can follow @WadeLeeHudson, where I only follow people I know personally (so I have a good chance of seeing your tweets!). And you can follow Reform Wall Street, @HudsonWadeLee.

On Facebook, I’m at https://www.facebook.com/wadeleehudson.

It seems that with the new Flickr.com interface, viewers can more easily look at my photos – two at a time by just scrolling down the page. Click on the following links to see these two new sets of Dominican Republic photos:

Walk to Cozon-- Last Saturday I walked for one hour and forty-five minutes on the nearby beach to a small enclave near Cozon where I received a massage and ate lunch with some folks I met the previous Saturday because they were speaking English in a small restaurant. The photos include (the number of photos is indicated in parenthesis):
• Point Bonita, which is on the western edge of the beach where I walk almost every morning (2).
• My destination in the distance (1).
• Two women with Ipads considering the purchase of a lobster (1).
• An old rundown large beach house (1).
• My path (1).
• Modern beach houses (2).
• Where my path ends (1).
• A row of beach houses (1).
• An exclusive resort (2).
• Where I have to crawl through roots of fallen trees (1).
• Getting closer (1).
• Wade in the river (1).
• My acquaintances (1).
• The beach scene (1).
• Gary and his surfer son (1).

The next set includes six photos of A Night on the Beach, when I took Nico and Wilma, who own the complex where I’m staying, to an excellent, rustic restaurant on the beach in the center of town. They’ve lived here for 12 years but did not know about the group of down-scale eateries hidden behind the cemetery, which I discovered. The first two photos are of the full moon. The others are of the restaurant, including its kitchen, bar, cook, and a poster of a fishing tournament in which the owner participated.

Launching “Wade’s Wire”

Today I began publishing Wade’s Wire. This blog will be like Facebook in one respect. I will post “’what’s on my mind.” But unlike Facebook, readers can subscribe and receive posts via email. Or they can go to the site and see posts quickly and easily. In this way, people who don’t do Facebook or who miss my Facebook posts because of how Facebook works can more easily stay in touch.

Initially, posts on Wade’s Wire will be placed in the following categories:
• News/Opinion -- Links and information about current events and op-ed columns
• Essays -- Written by myself or others
• Photos/Videos
• Quotes
• Resources -- Information about resources of potential interest to readers
• Wade's Journal -- Reflections and reports on my personal life

I’ll post to Wade’s Wireg no more than three times a day.

You can subscribe now if you click here to visit the home page, enter your email address in the subscribe box, click Subscribe, and reply to the autoreply email you receive to verify that you want to subscribe.

And please consider letting me know what you think by submitting a comment on the site for the whole world to see.

“Building Compassionate Populism” Generates Strong Response

My essay, “Building Compassionate Populism,” which OpEd News published Thursday, November 14, has received more comments from readers than any of the articles that were on their homepage Sunday morning. The site automatically places articles with the most page views on its homepage.

Even more encouraging, the comments have been overwhelming positive. You can help keep my piece on the OpEd News homepage if you click on this link. Since it’s a long article, you may want to read only the introduction and conclusion, and scan the rest, which substantiates my argument.

Ideally, I’d like for you to also register on the site and comment. But if you comment here instead, I may post your comment there.

This essay asks readers to briefly set aside some deeply embedded notions and consider a new perspective. The privileged elites who administer our crony capitalism have perverted true liberalism and true conservatism, fomenting a phony “left-right” ideological war that serves to divide and conquer. Rather than trying to defeat each other, those on the “left” and “right” should unite based on shared values to develop a compassionate populism: the 99% for the 100%.

My first comment on the site included:

Several years ago, I began noticing that there are so many different kinds of “conservatives” that it’s hard to place them all under the “conservative” umbrella. Then, as a life-long progressive, I realized that I agree with many of the principles of true conservatism. More recently, I concluded that what are presented as left/right differences don’t reflect genuine liberal and conservative principles, and hence aggravate divisions. Then two weeks ago, the Wikipedia entry on populism, which reports that some populists reject the left-right continuum, led me to Harry Boyte’s lecture on “Populism and John Dewey,” which illuminated the issue. I share this analysis here for the first time and urge you to reconsider some of your own long-held convictions. 

Because “Building Compassionate Populism” challenges readers to set aside certain deeply embedded notions about the “left-right” spectrum, I anticipated resistance to the perspective offered in that essay. So I am pleased that so far, the response has been favorable. Comments submitted include the following:

• In the end, it is only by combining the creative powers of inspired progressives and rational conservatives that transformative change for the common good can be made workable in the real world.
• Thanks. However, to add, now we need to get rid of "conservatives" so that conservatives can come to the rescue.
• Now that's good thinking, produced by a good attitude and point of view. It recognizes what is wrong, and yet also recognizes the wisdom of Gandhi and MLK, who realized that even though truth must prevail over falsehoods, it is only love that effectively overcomes hate, and two wrongs don't make a right. Negative, accusatory, condemning attitudes are counterproductive and only exacerbate the conflict and division. So I am in agreement with Wade about what he has written.
• This was a great article about things that pass through my mind.  Hope we can unite the true parts of both left and right into what they are about.  We have to get the abortion issue off the table, and let people mind their own business, as we also have to turn around Foreign Empire, so we can mind to our own business at home.
• Hmmm, I just thunk a glimmer of a New Left-Right Mythology. Both vital functioning wings of Our National Winged Creature Symbol (whatever that might be) Both becoming More and Better from positive interaction with each other. Perhaps the real power, or strength, lies in the central zone of this symbol...the chest and head...the well nurtured Heart. Where "Left" meets "Right" in collaboration, or co-operation, that reinforces stability and balance of the whole nation.... I guess what i am seeking here is a beginning to the melding of True and Good Morality of Conservatives and Progressives..."Left" and "Right"...that might become the higher morality for the balanced center of Our Culture...The Heart.

I’d like to know what you think about “Building Compassionate Populism”, so I can better decide how to proceed.

Building Compassionate Populism

Dear Wade's Weekly Subscribers:

Please consider commenting on Building Compassionate Populism on the OpEd News site after reading it. This is my first piece on that site and some initial interaction there might help me use the site fruitfully in the future.

Thanks,
Wade

My Autobiography: A Report

Photo: Joan Greenfield

Following is the latest draft of the Preface, Introduction, and Table of Contents for my autobiography.  I would appreciate your feedback.

For the Preface and Introduction, I was guided by “What’s the Difference Between a Foreword, Preface, and Introduction?”, in which Donald Bastian states:

In a preface an author explains briefly why they wrote the book, or how they came to write it. They also often use the preface to establish their credibility, indicating their experience in the topic or their professional suitability to address such a topic. Sometimes they acknowledge those who inspired them or helped them....

If a preface is about the book as a book, the introduction is about the content of the book. Sometimes it is as simple as that: It introduces what is covered in the book. Other times it introduces by setting the overall themes of the book, or by establishing definitions and methodology that will be used throughout the book.

Reviewing my letters to my mother, typing excerpts, and making notes has been very time-consuming. I was getting stressed about how much time it was taking, for I had in the back of my mind a deadline for finishing the book. I was hoping to complete it by March 31 so I could take a road trip throughout the United States in April and May with the book behind me. 

I want to meet with old friends and people I’ve gotten to know through the Internet in order to discuss whatever questions are on my mind at that time. I may want to explore with them the possibility of forming a new national (or global) network of like-minded people committed to compassionate action who could support one another in their efforts.

I believe I also had a fantasy in the back of my mind that the autobiography would be so good and quickly gather so much attention, it would boost my other efforts. But that is unlikely, especially by March 31.

Now I’ve dropped that March 31 deadline and plan to simply make the book as good as possible regardless of how long it takes, while still pursuing my other interests while I write. I can post chapters on the Web as I finish them and maybe slowly grow my circle of friends that way.

I really want to explore the States this spring, a great time of year for that. And I need to fully review the correspondence, journals, and other documents I brought with me in order to make the autobiography as good as possible, and I don’t know how long that will take. So I’ll play it by ear, type only excerpts from my papers that seem compelling and might fit in with the flow of the text (without constantly introducing them with phrases like “As I wrote in a letter to my mother”), and finish chapters after I’ve reviewed relevant documents.

So now I’m more relaxed and look forward to enjoying my work more, without feeling pressured by a deadline.

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Wade’s Autobiography

Preface

When I’ve told stories from my life, others have often been intrigued and at times amused. A friend recently told me, “You are one of a kind.” When I shared an early draft of this preface with some friends, one responded, “The list of accomplishments … is very moving and inspiring, and reflects your exceptional sense of integrity.  You should be proud, Wade!”

So, I decided to tell my full story, which includes many dramatic moments, including close encounters with death and numerous stories that are humorous. 

Without strong encouragement from others, I would never have taken on this task. Normally I’d be too self-conscious. In particular, the following individuals have encouraged me to write this book:

• Michael Larsen, long-time literary agent;
• David Robbins, retired English Literature professor who greatly influenced me when I was a freshman and he was a graduate student;
• Leonard Roy Frank, editor of the Random House Webster’s Quotationary who has been a dear friend for more than 40 years and knows me very well;
• Roma Guy, founder of the Women’s Building in San Francisco with whom I have collaborated off and on for 40 years;
• Sharon Johnson, former legislative aide to Supervisor Harry Britt and Assemblyman John Burton, who has known me and my work for almost 40 years, and;
• Numerous subscribers to Wade’s Weekly, where I posted early drafts of several chapters. 

Thanks to their encouragement, at the age of 69, in mid-October 2013, I brought correspondence, journals, and other documents with me to the north coast of the Dominican Republic to begin writing this autobiography, while posting chapters on Wade’s Bio as they were written.

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As a young child, I lived with little indoor plumbing on a small farm outside Little Rock, where my grandfather molded me into a Little League super-star and my mother, a rare White anti-racist in Arkansas, taught me the Golden Rule and other spiritual precepts. At seven, we moved to Dallas, where my father managed a theater in an African-American ghetto. 

When I was fourteen, my grandfather suffered a stroke after getting agitated watching me play baseball and died that night, for which I felt responsible. 

The next year I discovered the Dallas Public Library and an exciting world of new ideas, especially the works of Bertrand Russell, H.L. Menken, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and other iconoclasts. Steeped in the Radical Right orthodoxy that dominated Dallas, most of my high school teachers did not appreciate my free thinking. 

In 1960 every junior was required to take a course on Anti-Communism, which prompted me to go to the University of California at Berkeley – after I persuaded my mother to support my decision by giving her an offer she could not refuse.

In less than two months, the Cuban Missile Crisis frightened the whole world and I went to my first political demonstration. 

At my student co-op where I ate meals, two graduate students introduced me to contemporary theologians who translated fundamentalist Christian myths into language that made sense to me.

My second semester I discovered Bob Dylan, whose music affected me profoundly and has inspired me ever since, and I heard James Baldwin speak on campus, which left me with tears rolling down my face. I proceeded to read everything Baldwin had written. 

Early the next year I became immersed in the civil rights movement and thereafter many movements associated with the Sixties, including anti-war, black liberation, women’s liberation, sexual liberation, gay liberation, the counter-culture, and People’s Park.

In 1967 I dedicated my life to organizing “communities of faith, love, and action” and studied theology for two years at the Pacific School of Religion, where I co-conducted “A Sort Of Modern-Day Dionysian Rite” in the chapel and helped organize the New Seminary Movement, which led to me being expelled by the President, only to be reinstated by the Board of Trustees.

In 1969, I moved to San Francisco to work as an intern minister at Glide Church and its National Sex and Drug Forum, whose methods included showing social-service workers erotic and pornographic movies. 

While demonstrating nonviolently in support of the Black Panther Party during a police raid on their Los Angeles office, the police beat me severely and charged me with felonious assault on a police officer, resulting in convictions on two misdemeanors.

Following my Glide internship, I decided to stay in San Francisco and do community organizing with no official credentials. My first project was the Alternative Futures Community, which conducted weekend marathon Urban Plunges addressing women’s liberation, gay liberation, racism, and the need for radical political action.

I then had a very bad LSD trip that lasted for months and landed me in two mental hospitals, including one in Dallas where I had worked as an orderly. My therapist was my former boss who had become a friend in the interim.

After I recovered, I initiated or co-founded a number of community-based projects focused on a variety of issues, including men’s  liberation, alternatives to psychiatry, public transit, food coops, a low-income housing coop, job creation, a neighborhood cultural center, national antipoverty policy, and corporate power. In addition, I participated in efforts initiated by others focused on issues like rent control and high-rise development, as well as anti-war campaigns, including reporting from Baghdad during the U.S. invasion.

These efforts resulted in some victories, some unplanned benefits, and other resounding defeats. Through it all, I kept plugging away, addressing unmet needs, and planting seeds. I feel I’ve done my best and more than my fair share.

I then took a break to step back and reevaluate the “progressive movement” with which I had identified. With others, I co-convened a series of Strategy Workshops, two Compassionate Politics Workshops, and a workshop on “the holistic Gandhi-King Three-fold Path,” which integrates personal, social, and political growth.

These efforts led me to self-publish two books that are posted on the Web – Economic Security for All: How to End Poverty in the United States and Global Transformation: Strategy for Action – and three booklets, Promoting the General Welfare: A Campaign for American Values, The Compassion Movement: A Declaration, and Baghdad Journal. Since October 2010 I’ve published a blog, Wade’s Weekly.

The consistent thread in my life has been the pursuit of truth, justice, and beauty – that is, get a better handle on what is true, work politically to improve public policies, and enjoy life, which has included being awestruck at the wonder of the life force that energizes and structures the universe (which some call God) as well as the healing power of music. 

With Jesus, I’ve wanted to love my neighbor and myself. With Buddha, I’ve tried to avoid both selfishness and self-sacrifice. I’ve taken care of myself so I can better serve others.

This journey recently led me to go beyond the artificial left-right division into which our society tries to pigeonhole us. I now embrace “conservative” values as much as I embrace “liberal” values. Efforts to destroy the federal government are a perversion of conservatism. I do not believe that individuals can logically be placed on one left-right continuum. 

I affirm compassionate politics, look at each issue independently, and analyze what works best to serve the general welfare, regardless of whether it serves some pre-determined ideology. And I believe political activists must pay attention to how we treat people and work constantly to improve ourselves inwardly so we achieve more outwardly.

Partly because I’ve been so focused on my community work, I’ve never been married and have no children, though I’ve had numerous rewarding intimate relations with women and one of the children I helped raise, Brandon Faloona, named his first son Azure Wade, which is very heartwarming. 

Humanity is my family. One lover who left me three times only to return and is now a friend calls me Wade “Save the World” Hudson. I miss not having children, but for every loss there is a gain.

For money, after hustling money from foundations for twenty years, I decided in 1987 to drive taxi part-time, which left me free to do whatever community work I wanted to do while living simply. In 2000, I became an owner of my own taxi permit, which provides me with a comfortable income.

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I write this book to:

• Tell some entertaining stories. We all need entertainment.
• Share lessons I’ve learned that others might find useful. Over the years, my perspective and ways of operating have shifted, hopefully for the better.
• Help liberate myself from fears associated with being honest. I find that the more transparent I am, the more easily I can be transparent. Writing this autobiography and sharing it publicly has assisted with this ongoing liberation.
• Connect with like-minded individuals with whom I might collaborate in the future. By articulating my convictions fully, illustrating them with interesting stories, and distributing them, I hope to find more people who are committed to supporting one another with their personal growth, community building, and political action.

Regardless, I welcome your feedback.

Wade Lee Hudson

                                                                                                         Date

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Introduction

Each chapter addresses a particular theme such as Mother, College, Politics, Work, Sex, and Love, flows chronologically, and begins at a point in time later than the previous chapter.

The bulk of each chapter simply tells the story of what happened, what I thought at the time, and how I felt about it. At the end of each chapter I share some current reflections on those events.

Quotes from my letters, journals, and other documents are inserted in the text. To avoid disrupting the flow of the story, these quotes are indented without repetitive introductory phrases like “As I wrote in a letter to my mother.” The source is indicated in small type at the bottom of each quote.

In the final chapter, Reflections, I reflect on my life as a whole.

In the Epilogue, I issue an invitation to readers to let me know if they are interested in participating in the new project that is described there.

Readers are encouraged to post comments at http://www.wadesbio.org or send a personal email to wadeATwadehudsonDOTnet. Corrections, alternative perspectives, and personal responses to my characterization of individuals are especially welcome. I particularly welcome comments from people who object to what I say about them (I tried to share drafts with everyone I could contact in order to enhance fairness and accuracy.)

I’ll respond to comments when I can and will correct and update the Web version when needed. The title of each chapter will indicate the date of the latest revision.

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Contents

1. Mother

2. Daddy

3. Spirituality

4. Baseball

5. Schooling

6. Friendship

7. Books

8. Work

9. Sex

10. College

11. Politics

12. Music

13. Psychiatry

14. Esalen

15. Drugs

16. Love

17. Glide

18. Madness

19. Massage

20. Blackjack

21. Tenderloin

22. DC

23. Taxis

24. Mexico

25. Reflections