Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/politics/page/170/)
Posts about politics and social change, from a spiritual progressive perspective
While race, culture and religion shouldn’t affect the care provided to older adults, the reality is simple: It does. The country’s heralded melting pot is quickly becoming a complex racial stew at both ends of the nation’s caregiving spectrum: for those needing care–and for the family members and hired workers providing it.
When Cornel West, a vocal advocate for the poor and a staunch critic of income inequality, compared Edward Snowden to John Brown, he knew the analogy would be seen by many as provocative or extreme. West’s intention was not to equate the liberation of slaves with the liberation of Americans from a growing security apparatus. Instead, it was to amplify the issue of NSA surveillance as one of critical importance.
AVODAH corps members sign up to staff women’s shelters, advocate for senior citizens, provide services to those living with HIV/AIDS, organize youth leaders, and feed the hungry. It remains an open question as to whether the collective action that would be necessary to make real systemic change in our cities is possible with a few dozen, or even a few hundred, faith-driven volunteers entering schools of social work and becoming community organizers. AVODAH may not have the answer yet, but it is pushing forward with plans that go beyond a one-year service placement for recent college graduates.
In 2013, the Obama administration is doing exactly what Senator Obama feared in 2005: that the Patriot Act would allow the NSA to engage in bulk surveillance on millions of American citizens unconnected to individual investigations.
This May, I had the joy of taking part in the first International Conference on Faith and Reconciliation in Peja, Kosovo. Little did I realize that in this corner of the Balkans, social media would have such an impact. Posting on Facebook about an upcoming dinner at the conference, I quickly received a reply from a friend in Washington, D.C. telling me that her father would be present. About an hour after that, her father came and sat down with me at a table full of diplomats from around the globe. It was a wonderful evening of dialogue.
The First Amendment and press freedoms are essential to a functioning democracy, and why it is considered in the United States, in its ideal form, as the ‘Fourth Estate.’ The right to report upon those things politicians wish to hide has always been a constitutionally-sanctioned check against government abuse.
Put another way: the press has always been a constitutionally-sanctioned whistle-blowing institution.
Sometimes I hear from readers who complain that I lay too much blame on AIPAC for our one-sided and failed Middle East policies. What can I say? I worked at AIPAC for almost six years (1973-1975, 1982-1986) so I know how it operates. Additionally, because I left AIPAC on good terms, I maintained friendships with its staff (no more!) and they filled me in on how the lobby was increasing its power over Congress. Of course, I saw that myself during 15 years as a House and Senate staffer.
By going after Snowden and Manning, the Obama administration is sending a message to all whistle-blowers: don’t tell the public what the government is doing wrong, lest you risk being severely punished, accused of being a traitor, and finding yourself hunted, jailed, and hurt in many ways. Don’t think that because you trust Obama, things will never get out of hand. The precedents now being set by the Obama administration will be used by future and potentially more fascistic presidential administrations and military commanders.
That a military judge, Denise Lind, would even have to consider a charge against American hero and truth-teller, Bradley Manning, that Manning “aided the enemy” speaks volumes about the warped institution that claims to defend our country from foreign enemies, even as it has become a collective expert in creating new enemies for the American people. Often overlooked, however, in discussions on PFC Manning and our current military enlistment system are the warped American parents who push their adult children into the Sparta subculture called the U.S. military.
I waited. My tears waited. In March 2012 when the story of Trayvon Martin’s murder became national news, I waited to comment. Like those who took to the streets in hoodies, I could not understand how George Zimmerman could shoot and kill an unarmed teenager who was simply walking home from the store, be taken into custody by the police, and then go home to sleep in his own bed the same night without being charged with a crime. Zimmerman told the police that he acted in self defense, and that was enough.