Golden For Congress
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Working for progressive vision and change for the People of NY District 23. I’m a husband, father, runner, and small business owner.
I believe that it’s crucial for our representatives to share the passion and pride of our district and represent the people’s interests and concerns. Join me, stay in touch, and feel free to reach out with your thoughts, ideas, and support. "I’m here because I’m part of a movement. Only a movement is going to unseat Tom Reed. To work for the people the system has been working against. To unite not just our party, but all people."
Winning the Race, but willfully choosing to lose the battle.
One of the only accurately forecasted pieces of the election is underway. That is that Trump would carry the day proper, only to contest the reality of Biden taking the win on mail-in ballots. That win I think is still huge as for me Trump is and always has been an awful individual with no moral or ethical center aside from a me-first mentality in every form.
I still understand however why so many have voted and continue to support Trump. Their sentiments, of providing a big middle finger to the political establishment, as a cry that too many of their communities have been crushed by false promises of politicians of any Party, disillusionment with corporate and biased media, the decimation of real economies of communities, and a felt slide of values, straight identity politics, of using him despite his faults as a tool to achieve common party or ideological goals. I think those feelings are commonly shared and justified.
That's not to say that historical values were not skewed to a white male power culture, or that for far too many, America was ever "Great" for them, that it was a nation founded on racism and sexism...but there's still validity to much of the sentiments if not acknowledging them as real feelings of real individuals, or that feeling both sets are mutually exclusive.
Biden will take the win, and with more votes than any Presidential candidate in the history of the nation, despite as many not voting at all. But I'd argue that the battle is continuing to be lost, with down-ballot races across the country, particularly in non-urban areas, echoing that as bad as Trump may be, the control of the federal Democratic Party (speaking from a 40,000 foot view and in federal races), and candidates who toe that line, are no more in touch or on the right path, if not echoing a further polarized path, split between the rural and urban divide. And willfully so as I believe the established neoliberal's or increasingly libertarians controlling each major party would rather lose than cede control to a progressive or populist message or contingent.
In many cases, the unfortunate reality is that they actually raise more money and power if they do lose or are significantly challenged. It's also much easier to chalk up total ineffectiveness in getting anything done to saying that it's only because that you don't maintain full or majority control.
The intent to lose before ceding control was echoed in O'Bama openly indicating that he'd do all in his power to ensure that Bernie and the Progressive Movement would not win the Primary, regardless of projections or the cost. And that he saw to doing just that. And to continue that legacy, anoint a donor-class chosen successor in Harris despite a complete failure of her as a candidate chosen by the people and in her forgoing policy positions she once appeared to stand firm on. Of the current mechanics of insuring that Progressives such as Warren or Sanders would not be eligible for cabinet positions, with a guise of maintaining positions in the Senate.
The chosen strategy would be to continue taking minorities for granted, to talk of the working class but to go all-in on the educated Suburban vote and donor-class desires and forgoing connection with rural America and labor. And the ramifications of that are felt, with Trump picking up a stronger minority vote than many liberals can make any sense of. That he won the majority of Organized Labor in Ohio. That the actual vote tally and margin are much closer than the skewed polls had anyone believe.
And what will be the takeaways. Republican leadership is already spinning the narrative to say that it was rebuke of the American people to Socialist policies. Bu****it, the Democratic Establishment rebuked those policies, and ran softly on any inroads. $15 minimum wage passed in Florida, drug legalization formalized in various states in some form, Progressive Democrats sailed through with wins in their Districts. Pelosi is getting rumblings of a soft challenge from a nomination of Jefferies. Neoliberals and Libertarians will continue to obfuscate the real balls and keep each other from getting anything done. The nation will continue to Polarize towards a breaking point.
An actually centrist democrat would run hard on policies favoring the working class, labor and beating back world trade association pacts, socialized health care, corruption and big money controlling politics, equal rights and access, and the Federal Government doing what it has the capacity to do which is to economically stabilize State and Local economies and industry. They are policies that would benefit most Americans. That should be our center. Biden and the established Party will celebrate winning the race, and risk taking nothing away from understanding that they're choosing to lose the war. And people like me, those outside of politics, working hard to balance family, work, and community, will be left wondering what if any Party they fit into.
Thank you for all those who poured yourselves into making change. To local legislators doing amazing jobs on the ground in this and other communities. To those actually in the fight on so many levels with an eye to what's best for all people, not just themselves. For those of us who have the luxury of being on the sidelines, you are appreciated.
06/13/2020
8:46.
Spend some time with this meaningful if not critical conversation.
8:46 - Dave Chappelle From Dave: Normally I wouldn't show you something so unrefined, I hope you understand To find out more about how you can support the Equal Justice Initiative...
06/13/2020
"This full-orbed black social gospel—my operative definition of the category—combined an emphasis on black dignity and personhood with protest activism for racial justice, a comprehensive social justice agenda, an insistence that authentic Christian faith is incompatible with racial prejudice, an emphasis on the social ethical teaching of Jesus, and an acceptance of modern scholarship and social consciousness." (p. 199)
"The Poor People’s Campaign, which King launched at the lowest point of his life, topped his previous forays into risky,
controversial, chaotic protest. He would not be moved by strategic arguments about political reforms. He would not be shamed into reverting to middle-class politics. Now he outflanked even Bevel, his usual barometer of going too far. King had to stand with the poorest of the poor and afflicted; otherwise he was not really a follower of Jesus." (p. 213)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.5406/amerjtheophil.37.3.0197.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Afe246188b54d823919940aa4628b7238
And, a reflection of a larger, critical work: Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel by Gary Dorrien.
06/03/2020
Former defense secretary Jim Mattis’s full statement criticizing Trump In an extraordinary criticism, former defense secretary Jim Mattis accuses President Trump of trying to divide Americans.
06/02/2020
As part of my prior Congressional campaign I ran. 400 miles in four weeks from one end of NY23 to the next. Not for exercise, not to get away, but because a part of who I am is a runner. But who I am, who the vast majority of NY23 is, is White, and a male to boot. Despite many of our communities being gutted of opportunity, despite poverty being significant and with prejudice against the poor being real, for sure I, and all who are white, are in a position of privilege.
I ran seeking immersion, experience of place, and connection to community. I ran solo, mornings, evenings. Through back roads in the hill country. Along desolate railroad tracks. Through urban'ish areas, wealthy and poor neighborhoods. On one of those days, driving back from finishing a full day, I found myself driving behind another vehicle laced with Confederate Flag stickers. While not surprising, it was ironic, knowing, as I had just passed it on foot only an hour prior, that just ahead, no doubt in that car's neck of the woods, stands a sign commemorating a Union Calvary Officer who fought and commanded throughout the Civil War. Whose family was rooted in those hills. Who survived the war and went on to found businesses, one of which may still exist. They are the roots in those hills, the spirit of whom my feet on that day shared the tracks of. I'd guess that car and that ideology, would not have been welcome there. That it disrespects the lives lost, families and communities torn apart, and what that Calvary officer fought for. While it's possible a person of color, or even female, may have covered those 400 miles unscathed, it's quite possible, if not likely, that they may not have.
How long to get to a place where that wouldn't be the case? That's a world that Jesus, whether you see him through an agnostic historical lens, or that of a Christian, implored us and gave his life to realizing. I don't know that we get there before our nation and world are literally torn apart. The control and manipulation of our collective hearts and minds, the intentional division into opposing sides, preventing us from joining together to create a new way, that is the death knell.
Love, empathy, respect, humility, "Justice for All". We need to find a way to those being the hallmark of our communities if this nation is to survive. I can start by checking my own inner demons in remembering that Jesus was a person of color endurance-walking the countryside in his finest, if not only, athleisure wears. And it's that guy whose vision can save our nation. It's that guy, or gal, I wanna run with next time I cross this District on foot.
Ahmaud Arbery and the Trauma of Being a Black Runner I wish the world saw me as a Christian first, not as a threat.
05/15/2020
Join Sen. Bernie Sanders and the leaders of major Postal Trade Unions for a live town hall, starting at 7 PM ET.
https://youtu.be/frWAnhjcXCg
https://usmailnotforsale.org/
SAVE THE POSTAL SERVICE (7PM ET) SAVE THE POSTAL SERVICE: During this public health emergency and horrific pandemic, the Postal Service is needed now more than ever. Join our virtual town ha...
04/10/2020
04/09/2020
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04/04/2020
Not all are lucky enough to still have their parents with them. For those of us who are lucky enough, the fear is real, as are the realities of the forced separation. So here's a hopeful one...
104-year-old vet recovers from coronavirus – just in time for his birthday This 104-year-old WWII veteran from Oregon survived the the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and World War II. Now, he's recovered from coronavirus – just i...
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