Lone Star Democracy Builders Association

It was interesting to finally read the first essay in "Hackers and Painters" after just visiting the Boy Scout Museum in Dallas. One of the things that struck me heavily in the Scout museum was how much the scouts were proud to have done their part to support WWI and WWII, filling in for the adults that were overseas or otherwise busy with the war effort. Recycling efforts, victory gardens, selling libery bonds -- they had a purpose.

Very different than our "civilian sacrifice-free" wars of today (not totally fair to those affected by the absence by the full-time soldiers and the reserves, but mostly so).

And very dfferent from our "keep them out of the way" educational system described in H&P.

In thinking of improving our educational system, it seems like it's got to include ways for students to create value. What if students were asked to help build/maintain schools and parks, balance the municipal budget, etc? Give them applied uses for the math, science, and english we teach at those levels, and interest has got to rise. I'm starting to have more respect for Clinton's Americorps, which seemed good but a little tertiary at the time.

Posted by GlennM at 8:13 PM in Education | Permalink

I just visited another Republican friend up in Dallas. She was a Poli-Sci major, but more interested in political history than applied politics. Now she's a middle-school teacher.

She's pro-life, anti-death penalty, for smaller government, for a secure america (she didn't like it when we stopped Star Wars the first time, although she'll admit it might not be the best idea for our current threats), for marriage being between a husband and wife, against welfare. But after seeing the effects of lack of health care in her classroom, she's starting to be a little pro-semi-socialized medicine.

Again, since she doesn't like up exactly with the straight-line-issues (that socialized medicing thing), she doesn't feel like the Republicans are welcoming her. But she's still more likely to swing Republican than Democratic.

It was hard not to argue with her, but just to take it in. She's also tired of having most of the political discussions end in extremes on both sides, I had to push her to get this much out of her.

Since she's issues oriented, I couldn't help but think about whether some of the True Majority stuff could have reached her if it had been shown on TV in Texas. It's certainly not stuff she's likely to look for herself and/or get from her church.

It was also interesting to get her (albeit limited) insight on what it's like to be a middle school teacher in TX right now. With a mostly better administration, she's having a better time teaching gifted kids now than she was teaching non-gifted kids last year in Dallas. What seems to be driving the good teachers out of the classrooms isn't low salaries or lack of benefits. It's too much bureaucracy, especially the fact that the cirriculum is totally laid out for them. How can we teach children to be creative if we don't allow the teachers to use their own creativity in the classroom?

Posted by GlennM at 6:32 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

Marketing is going to be important. One of the best things that the Bush campaign did in 2004 was make its supporters feel like they were part of a team and that GW winning would affect peoples lives in a positive way.

One of the best writings I've seen lately about how marketing is changing is Hugh MacCloud's Hughtrain essay. He starts with a provocative statement: "THE MARKET FOR SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN IS INFINITE". That just blows me away; it shows the space where the ideas of representative democracy and good government can grow. We need to get the "brand" of government back in the good graces of people, and help them believe in its power to help their lives and other people's lives.

Posted by Ben at 8:18 PM in How To Communicate | Permalink

From the January 2005 Harper's Index:

• Average number of suicides per 100,000 residents in states carried by President Bush in November: 13.5
• Average number in states carried by John Kerry: 9.9

and:

• Hours after Kerry conceded that a New Yorker posted a personal ad seeking a Bush supporter for a "fair, physical fight": 5
• Number of people that volunteered within twenty-four hours: 3
• Number who asked to watch: 9

No replies expected, I just thought others might get a kick out of this too. But as the first poster, I'd like to express a welcome for equal-opportunity venting.

Posted by GlennM at 11:14 PM in Venting | Permalink

So I have a new friend that's on the fence between the parties. She wants to think of herself as a Republican, but is fairly pissed off at Bush right now. To the point that she's having a hard time remembering what she liked about him before.

Part of the reasons she's apolitical is her job (she works for the state) and gets enough politics at work. But she also feels like neither side is speaking to her. She's pro death penalty, and also pro choice, pro gay marriage, pro social services, etc. So mostly Democratic on the issues except for the death penalty. Since she gets to see the results of murders, she'd rather folks focus on how to reduce the murder rate than worry about what happens to criminals after they're convicted.

As for Iraq, the question is now how do we get out of it. Instead of bitching about who screwed it up, she wants to hear about how we're going to get it fixed.

For all the talk about the "apolitical folks that don't know politics could help them", there may be other issue-based folks that are just feeling left out of the conversation. Or just turned off by the finger-pointing instead of doing the "hard work" to get to solutions.

Posted by GlennM at 10:41 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

An interesting data point: only in four counties in the USA can someone making the federal minimum wage afford a one-bedroom apartment. Ideally, it would have been good to see the figure over time, and have similar stats for other countries.

Report: U.S. Rentals Unaffordable to Poor
By Genaro C. Armas
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Most Americans who rely on just a full-time job earning the federal minimum wage cannot afford the rent and utilities on a one- or two-bedroom apartment, an advocacy group on low-income housing reported Monday.

For a two-bedroom rental alone, the typical worker must earn at least $15.37 an hour - nearly three times the federal minimum wage, the National Low Income Housing Coalition said in its annual "Out of Reach " report.

That figure assumes that a family spends no more than 30 percent of its gross income on rent and utilities - anything more is generally considered unaffordable by the government.

Yet many poor Americans are paying more than they can afford because wage increases haven't kept up with increases in rent and utilities, said Danilo Pelletiere, the coalition's research director.

The median hourly wage in the United States is about $14, and more than one-quarter of the population earns less than $10 an hour, the report said.

"A lot of people continue to be squeezed out," said Judy Levey, executive director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky. "Housing here is relatively inexpensive, but because the wages are so low, people can't afford housing,"

The report quoted federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data that showed hourly wages rising about 2.6 percent over the past year, slower than the 2.9 percent rise in rents recorded in the Consumer Price Index.

In addition, Pelletiere said, government spending on Section 8 rental vouchers, which helps 2 million Americans - mainly poor - pay rent hasn't kept up with demand.

The study analyzed data from the Census Bureau and the Housing and Urban Development Department to derive the hourly wage figures.

In only four of the nation's 3,066 counties could a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage afford a typical one-bedroom apartment, the coalition said. Three were in Illinois: Clay, Crawford and Wayne counties; the other was Washington County, Fla.

California topped all states in the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment, at $21.24, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and New York.

States with more residents in rural areas were generally the most affordable, although no state's housing wage was lower than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, which has not changed since 1997.

West Virginia was the lowest at $9.31 an hour for a two-bedroom rental, followed by North Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.

Pelletiere said the coalition's data for 2004 could not be compared with previous years because of changes in the way that HUD calculated "Fair Market Rents," which is the cost of rent and most utilities for a typical apartment. The fair rent varies widely by metropolitan area.

Overall, though, utility costs appear to be rising at a faster rate than rents, Pelletiere said. Add in stagnant wages and the housing situation for the nation's poor "has gotten worse over the last year," he said.

Posted by GlennM at 10:35 PM in Economy | Permalink

I spotted this story over at kuro5hin, pointing to an editorial by Chuck Baldwin, a conservative Baptist minister who's angry at the direction the Republican Party is taking. The original article is an interesting read. I really like this quote:

It also appears painfully obvious to me that in order to sit at the king's table, the Religious Right is willing to compromise any principle, no matter how sacred. As such, it has become a hollow movement. Sadly, the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party.

Beyond that, the Religious Right is actively assisting those who would destroy our freedoms. On the whole, the Religious Right comports with those within the Bush administration and within the Republican Party who, in the name of "fighting terrorism," are actually terrorizing constitutional protections of our liberties.

It does seem that a lot of conservative voices are starting to appear with objections to the way the Republicans are running their party. I wonder how this will affect their unity over the next four years.

Posted by Ben at 1:38 AM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink