tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post6969652516670616259..comments2024-03-23T19:16:01.555-07:00Comments on Can it happen here?: Michael Harrington: stranded "mid-air between sectarian irrelevance and successful betrayal"?janinsanfranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07548452260456734928noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-18696019592624914262013-02-04T14:39:55.852-08:002013-02-04T14:39:55.852-08:00Jan -
Re prevailing: I was in central New Jersey ...Jan -<br /><br />Re prevailing: I was in central New Jersey running for Congress as a democratic socialist. So, um, no.<br /><br />If you'd like to know what I'm up to these days, you can check out my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/whoviating" rel="nofollow">YouTube channel</a>.<br /><br />Oh, and having done that bit of shameless self-promotion, I should tell you that while I rarely comment - actually, yesterday may have been the first time - I come by here almost every day. Just FYI. :-) Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-3966490296007530492013-02-04T05:44:46.163-08:002013-02-04T05:44:46.163-08:00Hi LarryE -- some speech! Did you prevail?
Haven&...Hi LarryE -- some speech! Did you prevail?<br /><br />Haven't seen anyone make reference to Danilo Dolci in years and appreciate being reminded ... what a great quote. Thanks.janinsanfranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07548452260456734928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-27076502742735922692013-02-03T23:08:26.094-08:002013-02-03T23:08:26.094-08:00I understand the dilemma, the two-way tug between ...I understand the dilemma, the two-way tug between "now" and "future" that Harrington felt. For whatever it's worth, this is how I expressed it for myself in a speech some years ago (for context, I was running for office at the time):<br /><br />"Now I may sound like a philosopher, but the fact is that what I'm interested in is change: not slogans, not philosophies, but getting-the-job-done type change. That means being hard-nosed, practical, and factual in our programs. It was the Italian pacifist Danilo Dolci who said 'Faith does not move mountains. Work, exacting work, moves mountains.'<br /><br />"But when I say 'practical,' I don't mean practical in the sense of the neoliberals, those people who lower their sights, harden their hearts, darken their vision, and then congratulate themselves on their 'realism.' No, I mean something different. You know the saying 'I dream dreams of things that never were and ask "Why not?"' What we have to do is dream dreams of things that never were and ask 'How?' How? What are the practical steps we can take, right now, today? We have to approach the world with steel in our eyes.<br /><br />"But at the same time we can't let the steel in our eyes cloud the dream in our hearts. We have to hold to the vision of what we as a people, what we as a nation, can do, what we can be, and not settle, as so many do, for the mere hope that it will get no worse.<br /><br />"That's what I call on you to be: steely-eyed dreamers, people who know the hard, factual work to be done but never forget just where that work is supposed to take them."<br /><br />Like I said, FWIW.<br />Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-75066035005969729812013-02-03T09:53:33.763-08:002013-02-03T09:53:33.763-08:00We need a new movement based on the old stuff. Bu...We need a new movement based on the old stuff. But that would mean thinking and caring, wouldn't it? <br /><br />I've added this book to my overloaded reading list. Kay Dennisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02646717192332313215noreply@blogger.com