HOW TO JUMP START A MILLENNIAL

 

OUR GENERATION, OUR CHOICE DEMAND REAL LEADERSHIP ON NOVEMBER 9 from 350.org 7NOV15

THE political scene is heating up in Washington and it is not just because of the 2016 presidential campaign. The off year election results show just how much work has to be done to stop the national and international disaster that would be a republican president and congress. There will be a massive protest in D.C. this Monday for climate, economic, political and social peace and justice. Many will be involved in non-violent civil disobedience. This from +350.org gives the details if you want to attend and there is a list of this action's sponsors at the end of this post, contact them if you want to get involved but can't make it to D.C. on Monday, 9 NOV 15. THIS WILL BE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!!!!!

Friends,
Yesterday was a day for celebration. When we heard the news that the President had rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, we were thrilled -- but that doesn't mean we're sitting back to relax!
There are just two days to go until the Our Generation, Our Choice mobilization in DC.
Although we sure would have been happy to get a KXL decision sooner, the timing is great for Monday's mobilization. Why? Because we know organizing works. We know that taking to the streets in Washington can actually change the landscape of what's politically possible in this country.
The Our Generation, Our Choice action is bringing together a pretty unprecedented coalition: the movements for climate justice, for black lives, for prison and fossil fuel divestment, for immigrant lives and dignity, and more. This is the kind of broad, deep organizing that we need in order to show that the people who want justice represent a power too great for politicians to ignore.
We expect Monday to be the largest ever youth-led civil disobedience action across these many movements. Now, that’s epic.
Will you join us in DC?
Millennials are leading this charge, but to send a really powerful message, they need as many people as possible behind them! That means everyone, no matter what age.
Don't sit this one out. If you need a ride, click here. To see exactly where to meet, click here.
Yesterday’s Keystone XL victory is proof that when thousands of people march, mobilize, and organize together, the people win. If enough of us hit the streets on Monday, we can make sure the call for justice on race, climate, and immigration is heard loud and clear -- just in time for the most important international climate talks of the decade and right when 2016 presidential politics are really ramping up.
This is our moment -- let’s seize it.
See you in the streets,
Deirdre

---

350.org is building a global climate movement. Become a sustaining donor to keep this movement strong and growing.

This action is organized by youth activists and supported by:

350.org
Better Future Project
Bowdoin Climate Action
Center for Biological Diversity
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Divest Middlebury
Earth Guardians
Energy Action Coalition
Flood the System Youth Action Council
Fossil Free Williams
Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network
Generation RYSE Rising Youth For a Sustainable Earth
Hip Hop Caucus
Indigenous Environmental Network
International Forum on Globalization
LULAC: League of United Latin American Citizens
Million Hoodies
Responsible Endowments Coalition
Roosevelt's Network
SustainUS
United States Student Association
United We Dream
U.S. Climate Plan
Working Families

If Millennials Had Voted, Last Night Would Have Looked Very Different 5NOV14

IF this, if that....Maybe so many people who didn't vote on 4 NOV 14, especially Millennials, because they felt betrayed by a national democratic party that nominated, promoted, and funded too many candidates who really were little better than their gop / tea-bagger opponents and because our political system is so skewed to keep one of the two major political parties in power that they thought why bother? While republicans and tea-baggers are giddy over their victories nationwide, they should not see these election results as an endorsement of their extremist right wing policies but rather a rejection of jellyfish, blue dog, third way democrats. Proof of this can be seen in the results of votes on marijuana, personhood amendments and increasing the minimum wage in states across the country. This from +Mother Jones ....

If Millennials Had Voted, Last Night Would Have Looked Very Different

—By Jenna McLaughlin

| Wed Nov. 5, 2014 5:13 PM EST

The GOP’s big Election Day victory may have a lot to do with who didn’t show up at the polls—and one of the groups that stayed home at a record rate were young people. According to an NBC News exit poll, the percentage of voters aged 60 or older accounted for almost 40 percent of the vote, while voters under 30  accounted for a measly 12 percent. Young people’s share of the vote is typically smaller in midterm elections, but the valley between age groups in 2014 is the largest the US has seen in at least a decade.

NBC News

And that valley made a huge difference for Democrats, because younger voters have been trending blue. Some 55 percent of young people who did turn up voted for Dems compared to 45 percent of those over 60.
An interactive predictor on the Fusion, the news site targeted at millennials, indicated how Democrats could have gained if young people had shown in greater numbers. Using 2010 vote totals and 2014 polling data, the tool lets users calculate the effect of greater turnout among voters under 30 in several key states.
On Tuesday, according to preliminary exit polls, young voters in Iowa favored Democrats by a slight margin—51 percent—but they made up only 12 percent of the total vote, leaving conservative Republican Joni Ernst the winner. In Georgia, 58 percent of young voters went for Democrat Michelle Nunn, but they made up 10 percent of the total who showed up to cast their ballots. In Colorado, where a sophisticated political machine delivered Democratic wins in 2010, the calculator shows that a full 71 percent of young people voted for Dems in 2010; exit polls indicate that young voters made up 14 percent of the final tally, leaving Mark Udall out in the cold.
If historical voting patterns hold, it's possible that these Democratic leaning millennials will turn out in greater numbers in the future. If so, that will bode well for Dems—as long as these voters don't also become more conservative as they age.

Felix Salmon, Fusion

Jenna McLaughlin

DC Editorial Fellow

Jenna McLaughlin is an editorial fellow with Mother Jones in the Washington Bureau. RSS | Twitter

If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...

• Map: Watching Americans Share Their Votes On Twitter

  They came, they voted, they tweeted.

• Millennials Love Hillary Clinton Now

  Hillary Clinton isn't struggling with young voters anymore.

• Obamacare Could Have Turned Millions of Uninsured Americans Into Voters

  If the administration had enforced a 1993 voting law that applies to health care exchanges, more nonwhite voters may have turned out this year.

• Election 2014: Obama's Failure to Communicate

  It's not all the president's fault, but he hasn't been able to buck political trends that led to another disastrous election for his party.

Weekly Wrap from Sojourners: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week 16MAI14

Weekly Wrap 5.16.14: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

1. What the Media Can't Grasp About Pope Francis
"… the world is ready to talk about inequality, redistribution, and an "economy of exclusion" for independent reasons, and the pope's words — which are very much in keeping with Catholic tradition — merely resonate because ears are ready to listen."

Take Action on This Issue

Circle of Protection for a Moral Budget

A pledge by church leaders from diverse theological and political beliefs who have come together to form a Circle of Protection around programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world.

• +Take Action
• +Tell A Friend

2. Hack the Church
"I want participatory church … An open source theology.” While our congregations dwindle and church doors shutter, a new group of technology-minded Christians (and just faith-friendly hackers), are breaking open a pathway for the future of the church — one that's inclusive, community-oriented, and innovative.
3. Give Justly
It's your last chance to enter to win a $350 gift card for fair trade products or other prizes via Sojourners' Just Giving Guide! It's as simple as a Facebook like!
4. Young People Want Equality But Struggle to Discuss Bias
"One oft-employed generalization about The Kids These Days is that they've grown up free from the legalized discrimination and racial neuroses of older generations, and they will live in a more multicultural world with less racism. But do we even know if that's true?"
5. Guardian, AP, Others Challenge Lethal Injection Secrecy
The two news organizations and three Missouri newspapers have brought a legal challenge calling on the state to disclose the drugs used in lethal injections. "A Guardian survey has identified at least 13 states that have changed their rules to withhold from the public all information relating to how they get hold of lethal drugs. They include several of the most active death penalty states including Texas, which has executed seven prisoners so far this year, Florida (five), Missouri (four) and Oklahoma (three)."
6 . Are You Reading Enough Academic Women?
"Women read more than men, yet male authors still dominate literary journals." One writer and illustrator hopes to combat that fact social media-style with the Twitter hashtag #ReadWomen2014 and handle @ReadWomen2014.
7. Illuminating Video on Teen's Mental Illness
“Ask anyone that knows me now,” she says in the clip. “I’m the happiest girl because I know I’m getting the right support and help I need.”
8. Student Journalists Exposed Columbia University's Rape Crisis. Then One of Their Own Was Accused.
After uncovering a rape epidemic on campus, a student-run magazine blog wrestles with how to handle that crisis creeping into its own ranks — highlighting an institutional conflict of discretion and justice.
9. Are Millennials Really Leaving the Church? Yes — But Mostly White Millennials
“This is an opportunity for Christians to take a look at what they believe, and to ask, ‘Do we believe the Bible is good news for everyone?’” [Sojourners Emerging Voice Kathy Kang] says. “And if we do believe that, we have to find ways to communicate that good news with everyone.”
10. Humans of New York
"What's your greatest struggle right now?"
"Not being white."

humansofny

50988 likes

2694 comments 

Another Pro-Life Issue 10APR14

HERE is this weeks e mail newsletter from Sojourners....
verse of the day

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

- John 15:12-15

voice of the day

"In the Spirit which draws us into honest engagement with one another, including those who may be very different from us in various ways, God calls us to wake up and learn how to love and respect one another, period."

- I. Carter Heyward
 


Another Pro-Life Issue

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Donate Today!

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the closest American prelate to Pope Francis, took nine other bishops to the Mexican-American border for three days of listening to the stories of people who are suffering from America’s horribly broken immigration system. The bishops celebrated a dramatic mass with hundreds of Mexicans, taking communion through slats in the security fence, and laid a wreath at the border commemorating the estimated 6000 people who have died trying to cross.
“We can no longer tolerate the suffering caused by a broken system,” the Cardinal said. “The suffering and death must end.”
When asked how important immigration reform now is to the Catholic Church, O’Malley replied, “It’s another pro-life issue.”
Indeed it is.
Immigration reform is not just an economic issue — although it plays a big role in attracting and retaining talented people who will contribute to our economy. Common-sense immigration reform — as the Cardinal affirmed — is part of a consistent ethic in which all of life is treated as sacred. This includes issues such as abortion, but extends to anything that promotes human flourishing and protects human rights. A consistent life ethic keeps families intact and protects the voiceless. ...
READ THE FULL COLUMN HERE.
Jim Wallis is president of Sojourners. His book, On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good, is now available. Watch the Story of the Common Good HERE. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.

ON THE GOD'S POLITICS BLOG
View the latest articles from the God's Politics blog »

Remembering That Out of Death Comes Life
by Nikole Lim
Editor's note: The "On Pilgrimage" series features the stories that impacted artist Nikole Limme the most during a pilgrimage to Uganda and Rwanda. The juxtaposition of these stories, themes, and values are conveyed both in narrative and visual storytelling, with each series released weekly starting April 7, 2014, the day the genocide began 20 years ago.
 
Christianity's Most Common and Subtle Sin
by Stephen Mattson
Christianity's most common and subtle sin is … rationalization. Essentially, rationalizing is a way of making excuses. Creating logical, plausible, and valid explanations to justify our sinful actions — or inactions — is easy. We do it all the time because instead of being obviously and visibly wrong, it's covert, motivated by fear, doubt, shame, and guilt, and mixed with what we assume is intellect and reason — in reality it's a form of spiritual escapism. How Conservative Evangelicals Misunderstand Millennials
by Brandan Robertson
News broke recently that Christian relief organization World Vision lost more than 10,000 child sponsorships from people who disagreed with the organization's policy change on hiring people in legal same-sex marriages. To many who watched this controversy unfold, this is an utter travesty. It seems simply unfathomable that anyone who claims to follow Christ could justify removing support from the impoverished children that they know by name because they disagreed with the organization's hiring policy. I am trying my best to be a committed follower of Jesus, and I have been handed a picture of God that I'm discovering is radically inconsistent with the scriptural, historical, orthodox image of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The same could be said, I am confident, of most millennial evangelicals who are, in fact moving away from the version of faith that they inherited in their youth. The Tribes of Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, John Piper ... and Jesus
by Stephen Mattson
Christianity consists of thousands of tribes, cliques, and communities — each with different theologies, traditions, and doctrinal beliefs. Within a Westernized society obsessed with celebrity, entertainment, popularity, conflict, and money, it can be easy for Christian groups and communities to clash with each other. For the modern church, much of its recent legacy has involved conflict, division, and controversy. Christians have developed a love-hate relationship with theologians, pastors, and church leaders — and it's dividing the church. Many Christians see their faith journeys as a series of either/or situations and decisions — this is bad. Because as much as we want things to be clear, concise, and black-and-white, reality is complex and messy.

10 Reasons Americans Should be Wary of Rand Paul's Libertarianism, Especially Young People 2APR14

SEN +rand paul r t-b KY wants to transform the US into a plutocracy. His immoral agenda of greed and lust for power is being spread by a propaganda campaign financed by his corporate masters, and it is deceiving and manipulating the very people it will hurt if any part of it becomes law. He may be good looking, he may be well spoken, but a closer look exposes a man with a cold and corrupt soul. This from AlterNet.....

Sen. Rand Paul is trying to attract millennials. Don't fall for it!

April 2, 2014  |  

 Republican Senator Rand Paul has been making a big play for millennials lately, most notably by taking his civil liberties pitch to colleges around the country. Paul has got the right idea when he says his party must “evolve, adapt or die” (although I think the first two are virtually the same thing). Katie Glueck of Politico wrote that “The Kentucky senator drew a largely friendly reception at the University of California-Berkeley as he skewered the intelligence community."

Sen. Paul spoke of “dystopian nightmares” and added that “your rights, especially your right to privacy, are under assault.” Paul also said he perceives “fear of an intelligence community that’s drunk with power, unrepentant and uninclined to relinquish power.” 

Virtually all of the other politicians taking that stand come from the left side of the political spectrum. They include figures like independent socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. Rand Paul is not like these other defenders of civil liberties.

Rand Paul, like his father, prefers to package his fairly old-school brand of economic conservatism under the trendier name of “libertarianism.” That’s not just a labeling change. It also means Paul has paired his retrograde economic ideas with a very outspoken stance against militarism and the espionage state. It’s a mixture that Paul hopes can make inroads with groups that are not traditionally Republican voters.

Paul’s play for millennials was almost inevitable. As a recent Pew study reported, that generation’s disaffection with the two-party system appears to be at record levels. Fifty percent of millennials polled said that they do not associate themselves with either party, which is the highest percentage recorded thus far. It’s also a 10 point jump from their equivalent age group’s level of political affiliation only seven years ago.

But Rand Paul gravely misunderstands the nature of that political disaffection. Yes, millennials feel alienated toward political and other institutions. They have a right to feel that way. As Joshua Holland says, millennials didn’t abandon these institutions. The institutions abandoned them.

But Rand Paul and libertarianism are not the answer. His economic strategy can be summed up in a quota used for one of his bills: “remove the shackles of big government by reducing taxes, regulations, and burdensome union work requirements.”

In other words, more of the same conservative philosophy that got us in this mess in the first place. Here are 10 reasons why millennials should be extremely wary of the senator from Kentucky.

1. His philosophy of deregulation created your jobs problem.

Rand Paul loved to preach the gospel of deregulation. He went so far as to proclaim that Obama was putting his “boot heel” on the neck of—get this—British Petroleum. Why? Because BP was being asked to bear part of the cost for the oil spill it created.

That’s right. Rand Paul believes “regulation” is evil, even when it’s only asking a reckless private corporation to clean up its own messes.

Wall Street deregulation crashed the economy in 2008. As a result, the millennial generation is entering the job market at the worst time in modern history. Millennials are facing record levels of unemployment and under-employment. What’s Rand Paul’s solution? More of the same.

2. He doesn’t believe in jobs programs.

Those of us who are fighting for jobs programs and infrastructure investment—two things that would help the millennial generation significantly—have a fierce opponent in Rand Paul. Paul believes government spending is inherently bad, and tax cuts are inherently good. There are jobs proposals that target millennials for assistance. Rand Paul is against them.

3. He thinks “tax cuts” create jobs.

There’s a simple answer to that, once we remember that the wealthy and corporations are paying lower taxes than at any time in modern history.

So where are the jobs?

Rand Paul’s solution is to eliminate the income tax altogether. That would be a red letter day for billionaires, millionaires and corporations. It would spell the end of vital services for the rest of us, in everything from public health to military defense.

Create jobs? Not so much.

4. Those “burdensome union work requirements” gave us Saturdays and Sundays off.

Without unions we would still be working six or seven days a week with no overtime pay. The weekend as we know it wouldn’t exist if we lived in Rand’s world.

Neither would paid vacations, the minimum wage, health and disability benefits, and quite a few other things a lot of working people count on to help them get by. (Sen rand paul is against every one of these benefits listed in my post 36 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD THANK A UNION http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/36-reasons-why-you-should-thank-union.html )

5. Civil rights for African Americans and other minorities wouldn’t exist.

Rand Paul believes businesses have the right to discriminate against minorities, or against pretty much anybody, because he thinks that’s part of their First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment, as most of you may know, reads as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

There’s nothing in there about “businesses that want to force women like Rosa Parks to stand at the back of the bus when there are empty seats in the front of the bus,” or “lunch counters that won’t serve black folks.”

No, the First Amendment doesn’t say that. But Rand Paul thinks it does. He also says he would’ve voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Here’s a newsflash for Sen. Paul: Millennials come in all races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. They value their rights just as much as Americans of other generations do.

6. He wants to eliminate Social Security.

Because, you know, the “free market” has done so well in protecting Americans’ financial security when they’re disabled or elderly.

Many millennials are collecting Social Security survivor benefits, like Rand Paul compatriot Paul Ryan did. Or disability benefits. Or they have parents and grandparents who are collecting retirement benefits.

Most millennials will live to collect those benefits themselves—if Rand Paul doesn’t get to them first.

7. He wants to eliminate Medicare, Obamacare, and even the private insurance you get through your employer.

“The fundamental reason why Medicare is failing is why the Soviet Union failed,” said Sen. Paul. “Socialism doesn't work.”

Unfortunately for Paul, Medicare is not failing. It has lower overhead than private insurance, lower cost than private insurance, and a lower rate of inflation than private insurance. It is the most successful, and the most popular insurance program in the country.

But as flawed as it is, private health insurance is critical to a lot of people’s physical and financial health. Rand Paul’s so right wing he doesn’t even like that. “We need to get insurance out of the way and let the consumer interact with their doctor the way they did basically before World War II," said Paul. (A lot of people didn’t interact with doctors at all before World War II; the morbidity and mortality statistics show it.)

Speaking as an ophthalmologist, which he is, Paul also said this: “If you think you have the right to healthcare, you are saying basically that I am your slave.” Sen. Paul is not just a conservative, he someone with a poor grasp of concepts like slavery. Healthcare providers are in fact paid under all systems of public and private insurance. They are also free to change professions, take a day off, set their own schedules, and do any number of things that are not associated with the practice of slavery.

Millennials need to know that medical care will be available when they need it. That’s not just something they want. It’s a right.

8. He wants to eliminate Roe v. Wade and have a woman’s right to choose decided by politicians at the state level.

Said Paul, “I would introduce and support legislation to send Roe v. Wade back to the states.”

Why? So that decisions about what a woman does with her body can be made by politicians like that guy in Virginia wanted mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds for any woman who wanted to terminate a pregnancy?

It may come as a surprise to Sen. Paul to learn that a great many millennials are, in fact, women.

The Supreme Court has established that a woman’s right to choose is constitutionally protected. Since then that right has been eroded in a thousand different ways at the state level. Rand Paul would remove this right forever, turning this fundamental principle of autonomy into a campaign issue to be decided by right-wing career politicians.

Way to go, “Mr. Civil Liberties.” And about that …

9. He’s not as strong and advocate for civil liberties as he seems.

At least Rand Paul is uncompromising in his defense of civil liberties, right? Well, not so much. Consider this quote:

“I'm not for profiling people on the color of their skin, or on their religion, but I would take into account where they've been traveling and perhaps, you might have to indirectly take into account whether or not they've been going to radical political speeches by religious leaders. It wouldn't be that they are Islamic. But if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that's really an offense that we should be going after— they should be deported or put in prison.”

“It wouldn’t be that they are Islamic,” says Rand Paul. But it’s clear that he’s only talking about a certain kind of terrorism. A lot of Tea Party leaders have “threatened the violent overthrow of the government.” Does Rand Paul think “they should be deported or put in prison”? Or are his brand of civil liberties only for white conservatives?

10. He’s picked the wrong oppressor.

Rand Paul’s brand of libertarian believes that “liberty” is freedom from an oppressive government. But in a democracy the government is us. The real oppressors in today’s economic and political system are the corporations which increasingly dominate all aspects of our public and private lives.

Rand Paul doesn’t have much to say about that. We applaud his stand against drone murders by the US government, but where is his stand against the kind of espionage Amazon and other corporations could use through the use of unregulated drones in the United States? We admire his stand against the NSA, but where is an equally courageous stand against invasions of privacy by corporations like Google? (For more on that topic, see our interview with Yasha Levine.)

Rand Paul would have us turned against the “oppression” of the Democratic process, while turning us over to the real oppression of the Corporate State. That’s not fighting for liberty. It’s fighting for corporations.

Underneath all the freedom jargon, Rand Paul’s pushing the same kind of economic conservatism that has increasingly dominated our political discourse over the last 40 years. He’s resolutely opposed to all of the civil rights advances of the last 50 years, and to any of the government interventions that could make things better for millennials and other Americans now.

Rand Paul wants more of the same tax cuts we’ve already given to him billionaires and corporations. He wants more of the deregulation that ruined the economy in 2008 and has caused so much harm to the environment.

How’s that working out for you?

Feel free to admire Rand Paul’s stands on civil liberties and military action, as selective as those stands may be. Then look for politicians who represent the full spectrum of your moral and economic beliefs. Better yet, become those politicians. We need your talents and your energy, to make right what previous generations (in the Paul family and elsewhere) have gotten so tragically wrong.

RJ Eskow is a senior fellow with the Campaign for America's Future.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-americans-should-be-wary-rand-pauls-libertarianism-especially-young-people?paging=off&current_page=1