Medicare for All, free higher education, higher taxes on the wealthiest — a raft of once marginal ideas increasingly define the U.S. mainstream. Yet a few dead-enders in Congress are issuing dire warnings about “socialism.”
This week in OtherWords, Chuck Collins wonders what today’s GOP would think of “Red Ike” Eisenhower, the Republican president who presided over a country with top tax rates of over 90 percent on income over $1.7 million. Or of Medicare, which George H.W. Bush warned was “creeping socialism.”
Chuck says they want you to believe that any investment in better lives for Americans means we’re on the road to the gulag. But maybe, just maybe, what they’re really worried about are their own fortunes. (And Cartoonist Khalil Bendib agrees.)
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of a devastating tornado in Alabama, relief organizer Warren Alan Tidwell says that disasters may not discriminate, but relief efforts often do. How can poor communities band together and come out stronger than they were before the storm?
Also this week, Tracey Rogers writes a powerful Women’s History Month piece on why women — in public and in private — should proudly refuse to apologize for taking up space. Sierra Club chief Michael Brune and Rep. John Sarbanes explain why cleaning up Washington will help us clean up the planet. And Jill Richardson reports on the near-consensus among Democratic presidential hopefuls in favor of legalizing marijuana.
Finally, Jim Hightower reveals a cynical new Silicon Valley ploy to replace local farmers with robots.
New This Week…
Disasters Don’t Discriminate, But Disaster Recovery Does | Warren Alan Tidwell
Big relief groups often leave poor and rural areas on their own. That gives us an opportunity to come together.
Stop Making Women Apologize | Tracey L. Rogers
Women are socialized from a young age to say “sorry” for simply occupying space. This Women’s History Month, I say no more.
To Clean Up the Planet, Clean Up Washington | Michael Brune and John Sarbanes
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect our democracy — and our planet.
Bring Back Eisenhower Socialism | Chuck Collins
Conservatives want you to believe that not having to choose between paying for rent or medicine is Soviet-style tyranny.
Politicians Are Finally Catching Up on Marijuana | Jill Richardson
Two-thirds of Americans — and nearly all Democratic presidential candidates — now agree that pot prohibition is more harmful than pot itself.
Silicon Valley’s Next Target: America’s Farmers | Jim Hightower
They’re building robots to siphon farm profits out of local communities and into the pockets of rich investors.
Pipe Dreams of the Past | Khalil Bendib
Also known as “the right side of history.”
In Case You Missed It…
It’s Not Just the Planet Our Planet That Needs a Green New Deal — Our People Do, Too | Hannah and Michael Estrada
We stood up to our senator to save our future. Will you join us?
Worse Than the Wall | Karla Molinar-Arvizo
The agencies that separate families, abuse children, and deport innocent people should be just as toxic as Trump’s wall.
A Modest Proposal: Don’t Start a Nuclear War | Olivia Alperstein
No one wants a nuclear war, ever. Why don’t we have a policy against starting one?
