Economic Insecurity: Consequences and Alternatives (plus more)

Economic Insecurity: Consequences and Alternatives

Economic insecurity leads people to constantly calculate how to survive at the expense of others. It corrupts our culture, fosters social discord, undermines personal authenticity, and leaves individuals in great need of caring communities that truly nurture self-empowerment....

The threat of poverty hurts everyone. The specter of unemployment prompts us to suppress our feelings out of concern for how others will react. We learn to be dishonest, first with our teachers and then our bosses. Constantly hustling, these habits become deeply engrained, often unconscious. We become self-centered, phony, and shallow, always worrying about what others think of us. We sell our souls and go along to get along. We talk and talk without really listening. We rarely stop thinking and examine ourselves deeply. Most of us have only one or two friends, or no one, with whom we can discuss personal problems. We play games, hold ourselves back from really trying to actualize our potential, and never fully dedicate ourselves to a cause that provides deep meaning to our lives. We become hyper-competitive, obsessed with who is “top dog,” and look down on others we consider inferior, often based on race, gender, sexual preference, class, or level of education....

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Reflections from Phoenix

I woke up this morning with a fragment of the dream in which I was immersed as I woke up. I had been trying to get rid of a large, apparently dead, putrid bird in my attic. I finally got some help. I was embarrassed about the situation. I thought to myself that I would justify my neglect by telling them, “I didn’t know it was there,” which was only partly true. I had known it was there but had either neglected it or suppressed the awareness. As it turned out, after they rescued the bird, it was alive.

My take on the dream is that the bird represents my sense of myself as a “community organizer,” my lifelong identity....

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Proposed: A Holistic Community Network (3/24/14 Draft)

Following is the first draft of a pledge that participants in “holistic growth support groups” might embrace and use to guide their work together. My thought is that if a sizable number of such groups were to form and affiliate with one another in an informal network, it could be the foundation for a deep sense of community.

This proposal is a simplification of ideas I’ve articulated previously. As such, it may be more user-friendly. The terminology is provisional and subject to revision....

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Proposed: A Full Employment Jam, or Working Conference (3/25/14 Draft) 

Introduction:
The following proposal for collaboration is presented for consideration by interested parties. At the moment, no one is working to organize this project. It is my hope that individuals and organizations will eventually emerge to convene a process of the sort envisioned here....

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Morality, High Finance, and Videos from Samana (plus more)

Highlights from Wade’s Wire, to which I post no more than 1-3 items daily.
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Morality and High Finance
By Wade Lee Hudson

One of the best analysts of the financial industry is James Kwak, co-author with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario blog. On February 14, he posted “The Social Value of Finance,” which was a comment on a long paper by Sabeel Rahman, a Harvard Law fellow, on the moral implications of the financial crisis and the question of how to deal with banks that are “too-big-to-fail” (TBTF).

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Videos of Samana

I’ve posted three very brief videos shot during my December 2013 tour of the Samana peninsula in the Dominican Republic. To view them, click on the following links:

First Video
Second Video
Third Video

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FREE Webinar on Deepening Community

FREE Webinar!
Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times with Paul Born and Peter Block
Thu, Mar 27, 2014 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT

Bestselling author of Stewardship Peter Block joins us for a discussion on the subject of community with Deepening Community author and founder of the Tamarack Institute, Paul Born.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss:
•How to identify a “deep” community over a shallow one
• What leaders and organizers stand to gain from a stronger community whose members focus on serving each other
• Examples of stewardship and deep community in action
…and more!

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SpeakOUT

Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Church in San Francisco recently posted the following on his Facebook page:

SpeakOUT – Wed, March 12, 2014 – 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

When people come together to speak their truths, they know they are not alone. They feel the love and compassion from their brothers and sisters, and experience beloved community. Every Wednesday at 5pm, you are welcomed by me and Janice Mirikitani to come up to a single microphone and share your stories, songs, poetry, music, and whatever moves you. Community dinner prepared by the Daily Free Meals Program is served after SpeakOUT.

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Developing a Theological Vision for Social Change (plus more)

Developing a Theological Vision for Social Change
By Jakada Imani
Center for Spiritual and Social Transformation

...These theological problems demand theological solutions. And this will mean examining closely our various understandings of God, who humans are in relationship with and to God, and how God would have us live. In this way we can develop a self-aware and not merely an unconscious theology. We need, and urgently, a theology that respects the intrinsic dignity of all life on this planet. And I believe a range of theological traditions provides compelling sources for this approach, an approach to correct our mistaken ideas about God and thus transform the root causes of social and ecological devastation that threatens the future of all life on the planet Earth....

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Support Group Experiment

To explore the viability of a particular format for an “activist empowerment” support group, on 2/26/14, I individually sent 25 people the following email with “Experiment” as the subject. So far two individuals have responded to the questions and I’ve had a series of exchanges with a third. This response prompted me to postpone a road trip throughout the States, during which I had hoped to experiment with this and/other formats to facilitate such support groups. Rather than spending so much time behind the wheel driving, I plan to spend more time writing. Those three responses and my replies are posted below as comments. You can click on Comments to see them.

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A Fascinating Discovery: True North Groups

Why do so many in the Christian Right and Corporate America take self-development seriously, but activists do not?

True North Groups: A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership Development by Bill George and Doug Baker from the True North Institute is a remarkable book that presents a simple, well-tested method for conducting member-run, open-ended, peer-support groups that enable members to support one another in their self-defined personal growth efforts.

For thirty-five years, George and Baker have facilitated the formation of hundreds of True North Groups that have enabled participants to share their most important experiences, generally meeting for 75 minutes weekly or four hours monthly. Now George and Baker offer a user-friendly manual that any group of well functioning individuals can use to start their own support team.

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Fostering Deep Morality: Activist Empowerment (plus more)

NOTE: With this 1300-word essay, I may have summed up my thinking more clearly and convincingly than I have before. I'd be very interested in your feedback.

Fostering Deep Morality: Activist Empowerment
By Wade Lee Hudson

The Moral Monday movement that began in North Carolina is extremely promising. My hope is that it evolves into a nationwide movement that nurtures the morality of its own members as well as that of policy makers. If it does, the movement could become an even more effective instrument for changing our society for the better.

To read more, click here.

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Cornel West Quotes

QUOTES FROM CORNEL WEST, talk, New York Catholic Worker, 8 November 2013, “The Legacy of Dorothy Day,” Catholic Agitator, February 2014

...We can love our enemies. It does not matter what our enemies are doing at the moment. Their deeds do not fully define their humanity; they can change in the same way you have changed in your own lives. You do not want to be frozen in any particular moment that definitely defines you. I know I was a gangster before I met Jesus, and the best I will ever be is a redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities and gangster memories, hence the need for grace to fall back on something that can sustain me....

To read more, click here.

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Dialog with Dean Baker

Following the Feb. 5 public forum on “Employment: A Human Right,” I sent Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, an email that has resulted in an ongoing dialog. I will update this thread as more emails are exchanged.

To read the dialog, click here.

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2014 Netroots Nation Submission

While consulting with Jennry Perrino, Legislative Aid to Congressman John Conyers, Jr., after receiving confirmation that Congressman Conyers would be “definitely available” to participate in a 75-minute panel discussion July 17-20, I submitted a proposal that the conference host a session on “How to Achieve Full Employment: Human Rights, Morality, and Organizing Strategies.” Kazi Sabeel Rahman, a Fellow at Harvard Law School and the Roosevelt Institute, is also on board as “tentatively available.” Rahman has written eloquently on law, economics, and morality. I’ve also invited Claudia Horwitz and Taj James to serve on the panel.

To read more, click here.

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Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity: Columbia U. Seminar

On February 10, Philip Harvey led a Columbia University Seminar on “Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity” in the Faculty House. On February 21, he sent to the participants the following written responses to questions that were raised during the seminar.

To read more, click here.

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Reflections from Guanajuato – 11/27/05
By Wade Lee Hudson

After recently re-reading Part One of Martin Buber’s I and Thou (one of the greatest books ever written), and observing interactions with progressive-minded Americans, Canadians, and Europeans here in Guanajauto (I’m unable to communicate much with Mexicans so I can’t comment on this aspect of their culture), I’m struck even more strongly with the superficiality of most communication in the industrialized world.

Objectification is so endemic it’s not even a word in most people’s vocabulary. The women’s movement highlighted certain problems with sexual objectification. The early Marx discussed alienation. Michael Lerner and others on the margins talk about how we use each other as objects.

But in terms of how progressive-minded people relate to one another, all that theorizing has made little practical difference.

To read more, click here.

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Gandhi and King on Nonviolence

Selected quotes.

To read them, click here.

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