June 30 Blog: Capitalism and a Happy Birthday Sing-Along for Canada Tomorrow

Dear Friends:

I think all of us watched with fascination the stunning victory of Zohran Momdani in New York City’s mayoral race. I have always thought of myself as part of the “radical middle.” I’m beginning to think that the radical middle looks a lot more like what Bernie Sanders, AOC, Elizabeth Warren and Momdani are offering than what the Democratic “old guard” offer. I understand the concern of seeming too far left for most of the country. I believe actually implementing the recommendations of the far left will – of necessity – moderate those policies; and they will get us out of the stalemate we’ve been in for decades. We are a nation (indeed a planet) in crisis and it seems to me that traditional 20th-century approaches are not going to work. We’ve got to try different approaches and we need to go big.

And, I believe that most of the American people understand that. I think a main message in Trump’s victory is that people want and need change so badly that they were willing to gamble on someone like Donald Trump. I think many are realizing it was a bad gamble, but we have to offer something new and better for regular people in this country to win elections.

While I think capitalism is likely the best way to run an economy because it lets economic forces, not government, decide which enterprises will do well and which will not, there need to be guardrails.  Once people and corporations get to a certain level of economic power, they can control the capitalist system to make sure that those without power will never have it. Then you get a system that creates unconscionable disparities in wealth with a few super wealthy people controlling most of the wealth in the world spending it on yachts, lavish weddings and multiple homes they hardly live in, while billions of people struggle many of them dying of starvation, disease and war. 

At this moment, one incredibly flawed human being, Donald Trump, wields power that is destroying our planet, condemning millions to misery and chaos, destroying hard won advances in medicine and science, stifling talent in the arts and sciences and setting the globe back by decades or more. The human species can – and must – do better.  As I’ve pointed out before, the basic message of the world’s great religions and philosophies is not “get as much as you can,” but treat others as you would like to be treated.

I do not think I’m alone in these thoughts, even among moderates. I think there is a large shift in thinking happening in our nation about what is possible politically that would yield a much better and fairer world than what we have now. What do you think?  I would be very interested in my readers’ take on the meaning of Mamdani’s primary win and this Guardian opinion piece by Bernie Sanders. 

Meanwhile, the Resistance grows as it must to save our democracy. My Rush Hour Resistance group took last week off for heat, but plan to be back out this week and, especially, on July 4. Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 1st, there will be a fun show of support for our neighbor to the north, Canada, whose national birthday it is. We’ll gather at 11:00 am at the Canadian Embassy downtown (501 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S.A., 20001) for a pop-up choir singing the Canadian national anthem and likely a group sing-along of Happy Birthday. It should be short and fun. And it makes an important point that we know who our friends are even if the current regime does not. I hope to see some of you there.

Yours in peaceful resistance, 

Libby