[Dialogue] NSP: Re: Progressive manifesto

Sat May 31 15:50:59 EDT 2008

I think the point was that the some seem to use the Old Testament to  justify 
the subjugation of gays and women, the death penalty, war, slavery and  the 
right of Israel to kill Palestinians.

Dick Kroeger

In a message dated 5/31/2008 9:06:00 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  pk
adam at aol.com writes:

While 24  of the 25 points are fabulous, one of Rabbi Lerner' key points is 
the  legitimacy of religious experience to people's lives.  

Just a clarification.  One of the writer's points was:

"* You think it's crazy to use the Old Testament as a policy guide for  the 
21st century."

The Hebrew Bible is what Christians refer to as the Old  Testament.   Once 
again,  a supposedly progressive writer has  shown his ignorance of and/or 
contempt for Judaism and Christianity.  Not  exactly reaching out to those of us 
who love our traditions.  

1)Read Deuteronomy 15. - "Be generous with the poor."

2)Read Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah.  All went to the richest city  of 
Israel (Bethel) and said, "Practice Justice."  
3) Amos was the first writer in Western history to combine religion and  
ethics. And the world has never looked back.

4)The tipping point that  made the political rulers decide to kill Jesus is 
when he quoted from a speech  by Jeremiah which said, "How you worship is 
irrelevant. Only if you take care  of the weakest members of society will you not 
profane my name."  ( He  also quoted from a speech by Isaiah which called the 
religious/political  leaders, "silent dogs with voracious appetites". Mel 
Gibson missed so  much.)

Certainly the practitioners of Christian and Judaic traditions can be  
legitimately criticized for their just being content with religious ritual and  
their subsequent silence regarding justice, but not with sweeping dismissive  
statements of ignorance.

Philip Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: KroegerD at aol.com
To:  nspmn at googlegroups.com; Dialogue at wedgeblade.net; 
dfl-faith at yahoogroups.com;  dflcd3 at gmail.com
Cc: rabbilerner at tikkun.org;  ckushell at earthlink.net
Sent: Fri, 30 May 2008 5:27 pm
Subject: NSP:  Progressive manifesto

I think this is a pretty comprehensive definition of the progressive  
movement in our time.

Dick Kroeger

So who is a progressive? You might be one if ...
* You think health care is a basic human right, and that single-payer  
national health insurance is a worthwhile reform on our way toward creating a  
non-profit national health care service.
* You think that human rights ought always to trump property  rights.
* You think U.S. military spending is an obscene waste of resources, and  
that the only freedom this spending protects is the freedom of economic elites  
to exploit working people all around the planet.
* You think U.S. troops should be brought home not only from Afghanistan  and 
Iraq, but from all 130 countries in which the U.S. has military  bases.
* You think political leaders who engage in "preemptive war" and  invasions 
should be brought to trial for crimes against humanity and judged  against the 
standards of international law established at Nuremberg after  World War Two.
* You think public education should be free, not just from kindergarten  
through high school, but as far as a person is willing and able to go.
* You think that electoral reform should include instant run-off voting,  
publicly-financed elections, easy ballot access for all parties, and  
proportional representation.
* You think that electoral democracy is not enough, and that democracy  must 
also be participatory and extend to workplaces.
* You think that strengthening the rights of all workers to unionize and  
bargain collectively is a useful step toward full economic democracy.
* You think that as a society we have a collective obligation to provide  
everyone who is willing and able to work with a job that pays a living wage  and 
offers dignity.
* You think that a class system which forces some people to do dirty,  
dangerous, boring work all the time, while others get to do clean, safe,  
interesting work all the time, can never deliver social justice.
* You think that regulating big corporations isn't enough, and that such  
corporations, if they are allowed to exist at all, must either serve the  common 
good or be put into public receivership.
* You think that the legal doctrine granting corporations the same  
constitutional rights as natural persons is absurd and must be  overturned.
* You think it's wrong to allow individuals to accumulate wealth without  
limits, and that the highest incomes should be capped well before they begin  to 
threaten community and democracy.
* You think that wealth, not just income, should be taxed.
* You think it's crazy to use the Old Testament as a policy guide for the  
21st century.
* You believe in celebrating diversity, while also recognizing that  having 
women and people of color proportionately represented among the class  of 
oppressors is not the goal we should be aiming for.
* You think that the state has no right to kill, and that putting people  to 
death to show that killing is wrong will always be a self-defeating  policy.
* You think that anyone who desires the reins of power that come with  high 
political office should, by reason of that desire, be seen as unfit for  the 
job.
* You think that instead of more leaders, we need fewer followers.
* You think that national borders, while sometimes establishing  territories 
of safety, more often establish territories of exploitation, much  like gang 
turf.
* You are open to considering how the privileges you enjoy because of  race, 
class, gender, sexual orientation, and/or physical ability might come at  the 
expense of others.
* You believe that voting every few years is a weak form of political  
participation, and that achieving social justice requires concerted effort  before, 
during, and after elections.
* You think that, ideally, no one would have more wealth more than they  need 
until everyone has at least as much as they need to live a safe, happy,  
decent life.
* You recognize that an economic system which requires continuous  expansion, 
destroys the environment, relies on rapidly-depleting fossil fuels,  
exacerbates inequality, and leads to war after war is unsustainable and must  be 
replaced. Score a bonus point if you understand that sticking to the  existing 
system is what's unrealistic.
No doubt some readers will say this list is incomplete. It is. Many  policy 
issues of importance to progressives go unmentioned. Others might say  that the 
list leans too far to the left, or not far enough. It could also be  said 
that some items are vague (what does it mean to say that human rights  ought 
always to trump property rights?). These are all useful responses. If we  hope to 
work together to transform the social world, we need to know what we  agree 
on, what we don't agree on, and what needs further hashing-out.
In the end, however, it's not labels and identities and criteria for  
bestowing them that really matter. Political terms have consequences, but only  
because of how we use them. Which suggests another item for the list. You  might be 
a progressive if you think that it's important to take seriously the  meaning 
of political identities, but that what really matters is living out  those 
identities in ways that help to create more peace, justice, and  equality.
Michael Schwalbe is a professor of sociology at North Carolina State  
University. His most recent book is _Rigging the Game: How Inequality Is Reproduced 
in Everyday  Life_ 
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0195333004?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0195333004&adid=1HCR52M8M322FV7FDZC3&)
  (Oxford, 2008).

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