Hey Jon, been thinking about the military too. At first, i thought the duty bound military would resist unconstitutional/unlawful/obscene orders from him. But then thought, and you confirmed, he will purge all of the military complex of those loyal to the constitution rather than to "him". In that quiet way the groundwork is laid for "his' dictatorship/ putin playbook/staying in office in perpetuity. It really is too much to think about. Where is the seed of opposition? Where to i sign up? Should the rest of us go and get guns as the nra has been telling us forever?
I am prepared, as my part, to mount a serious campaign for Congress, in a District that has been Republican for many years. I am sort of a relic from the old days, a labor Democrat, who talks the talk of the loggers and other mountain folk in our neck of the woods. I have a case to make, based on the carbon economics of forests recovery, which is a long way of saying JOBS!!!
An obstacle in my decision is a natural Fear of the Eye of Sauron.
My family's business involves interaction with the Federal Government. As soon as I stick my head above the parapet, one way or another, the Eye aims this-aways. Our beloved enterprise, which has delivered more psychic than pecuniary rewards over the years, is a natural target for the Musky Orcs of Maralago.
Not knowing your your exact situation I can only say that 1.) There may be more support all around you than you have yet plumbed or engaged. It is certainly worth having a lot of conversations locally. And, 2.) There are many things short of running for Congress that one can do, including the work of laying the groundwork for someone similarly situated, but risking less. Again,, worth a lot of good conversations! Good luck!
Heh. In our small logging communities there is little need for me to have more conversations. My positions on forests policy are well known and widely popular.
Persuading the Democratic Party mainstream has been harder: there has bad feelings between the working-class loggers and the college-educated Democrats, many transplants from Down Below. My job, having spent enough time Down Below to pass as a sophisticated Berkeley-San Francisco guy, is to persuade the kind of people who read and write here that my logger friends and kin are the front-line workers in meeting the carbon crisis, and deserve [y]our support.
As far as pronouns are concerned , "we" pretty much always works!
I would love to have someone younger. I turn 69 this spring. That's too old. Alas, the Democrats keep sending up candidates who are understood to despise us uncouth mountain folk.
Also despised have been the uncouth immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many part of the diaspora of Evangelicals from Ukraine, who have established a thriving community in Roseville, the district's largest population center. Our last inept Democratic candidate excused her failure to address support for Putin's victims by...explaining that Kiley had voted for aid to Ukraine. This is a winnable block that has never voted for Democrats. High rates of union participation in Roseville, which is also good for a labor Democrat.
Roseville/Folsom/Auburn, known as suburban exurbs of Greater Sacramento, are also traditional Republican strongholds. Less well known is that this area is the center of the California electric power industry, clustered around my former employer, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Lots and lots of the engineering types with whom I have been working for decades. Our forests policy is a carbon-saving policy, which comes right out of power-industry best practice, complete with some of the best organizations in the world (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power comes to mind).
You commented on risk. Yes, my family's business is exposed to the Muskian Mini Maniacs. The fact is we are exposed whatever I do. My cousin's head is already above the parapet (recently elected DA in a major Western city), and our class of government-involved business was targetted for looting during the W Bush years, having been on the Heritage Foundation list since the Reagan years.
I know who I would like to run. It is one of the leaders of the Wildland Firefighters union in our area, a hotshot, who gives every indication of being up-to-date on American Indian Movement ideology and practice. But he already has a job, organizing his brothers and sisters, Maidu, Miwok, and 'Merican NESd, as we all work together for, and as, members of the forests which we tend of the seven generations that follow.
Thank you for responding to my comment. I need conversation. One of the structural challenges of Doing Politics in rural communities is to build the connections with the people outside whose help we need to do our work.
As I like to say, leaning on my long experience in the industries with high fixed costs, low marginal costs, and distributed benefits:
Seems like you have a very good purchase on your local social/political ecosystem. There are groups that focus on efforts and connectivity in rural areas. I can share some with you if you aren’t aware of them.
Thank you. I got an inbox full of ideas on how to sing kumbaya. What I really want is people who are ready to learn about the carbon economics of forests recovery.
Alas, I am one of those strange people who thinks (s)he has a technical solution to multiple crises, and the political skill to make it happen.
The shortage here is not so much of brainpower (although more is always better) as of ears that are connected to brains, without too much earwax in between. Rare, that.
You were THE first person I thought of when The Kennedy Center fiasco unfolded and yet, in spite of your disappointment and pain, you continue to show us a light forward!
Hey Jon, been thinking about the military too. At first, i thought the duty bound military would resist unconstitutional/unlawful/obscene orders from him. But then thought, and you confirmed, he will purge all of the military complex of those loyal to the constitution rather than to "him". In that quiet way the groundwork is laid for "his' dictatorship/ putin playbook/staying in office in perpetuity. It really is too much to think about. Where is the seed of opposition? Where to i sign up? Should the rest of us go and get guns as the nra has been telling us forever?
Thank you Jon.
I am prepared, as my part, to mount a serious campaign for Congress, in a District that has been Republican for many years. I am sort of a relic from the old days, a labor Democrat, who talks the talk of the loggers and other mountain folk in our neck of the woods. I have a case to make, based on the carbon economics of forests recovery, which is a long way of saying JOBS!!!
An obstacle in my decision is a natural Fear of the Eye of Sauron.
My family's business involves interaction with the Federal Government. As soon as I stick my head above the parapet, one way or another, the Eye aims this-aways. Our beloved enterprise, which has delivered more psychic than pecuniary rewards over the years, is a natural target for the Musky Orcs of Maralago.
MOM! Help!
Not knowing your your exact situation I can only say that 1.) There may be more support all around you than you have yet plumbed or engaged. It is certainly worth having a lot of conversations locally. And, 2.) There are many things short of running for Congress that one can do, including the work of laying the groundwork for someone similarly situated, but risking less. Again,, worth a lot of good conversations! Good luck!
Heh. In our small logging communities there is little need for me to have more conversations. My positions on forests policy are well known and widely popular.
Persuading the Democratic Party mainstream has been harder: there has bad feelings between the working-class loggers and the college-educated Democrats, many transplants from Down Below. My job, having spent enough time Down Below to pass as a sophisticated Berkeley-San Francisco guy, is to persuade the kind of people who read and write here that my logger friends and kin are the front-line workers in meeting the carbon crisis, and deserve [y]our support.
As far as pronouns are concerned , "we" pretty much always works!
I would love to have someone younger. I turn 69 this spring. That's too old. Alas, the Democrats keep sending up candidates who are understood to despise us uncouth mountain folk.
Also despised have been the uncouth immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many part of the diaspora of Evangelicals from Ukraine, who have established a thriving community in Roseville, the district's largest population center. Our last inept Democratic candidate excused her failure to address support for Putin's victims by...explaining that Kiley had voted for aid to Ukraine. This is a winnable block that has never voted for Democrats. High rates of union participation in Roseville, which is also good for a labor Democrat.
Roseville/Folsom/Auburn, known as suburban exurbs of Greater Sacramento, are also traditional Republican strongholds. Less well known is that this area is the center of the California electric power industry, clustered around my former employer, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Lots and lots of the engineering types with whom I have been working for decades. Our forests policy is a carbon-saving policy, which comes right out of power-industry best practice, complete with some of the best organizations in the world (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power comes to mind).
You commented on risk. Yes, my family's business is exposed to the Muskian Mini Maniacs. The fact is we are exposed whatever I do. My cousin's head is already above the parapet (recently elected DA in a major Western city), and our class of government-involved business was targetted for looting during the W Bush years, having been on the Heritage Foundation list since the Reagan years.
I know who I would like to run. It is one of the leaders of the Wildland Firefighters union in our area, a hotshot, who gives every indication of being up-to-date on American Indian Movement ideology and practice. But he already has a job, organizing his brothers and sisters, Maidu, Miwok, and 'Merican NESd, as we all work together for, and as, members of the forests which we tend of the seven generations that follow.
Thank you for responding to my comment. I need conversation. One of the structural challenges of Doing Politics in rural communities is to build the connections with the people outside whose help we need to do our work.
As I like to say, leaning on my long experience in the industries with high fixed costs, low marginal costs, and distributed benefits:
You are critical infrastructure. Thank you.
Seems like you have a very good purchase on your local social/political ecosystem. There are groups that focus on efforts and connectivity in rural areas. I can share some with you if you aren’t aware of them.
Thank you. I got an inbox full of ideas on how to sing kumbaya. What I really want is people who are ready to learn about the carbon economics of forests recovery.
Alas, I am one of those strange people who thinks (s)he has a technical solution to multiple crises, and the political skill to make it happen.
The shortage here is not so much of brainpower (although more is always better) as of ears that are connected to brains, without too much earwax in between. Rare, that.
You were THE first person I thought of when The Kennedy Center fiasco unfolded and yet, in spite of your disappointment and pain, you continue to show us a light forward!
Adelante!!!!
It is not pleasant but good to know that Nixon tried abolishing whole departments in the government and had to go through Congress.
True, but Congress united against him and SCOTUS was not siding with him against the Constitution.