“The very artiness of the events organized by even the most progressive artists showed thay they still saw themselves and their work as an elite – as somehow special. Nor could I sympathize with people who wanted to form an artists’ union or, to give a more proletarian ring to it, an art-workers’ union. To me such a pretence served only to emphasize the split between art and everyday life…Seeing art increasingly as a middle-class pretension, I had little choice but to give it up…I would have to sleep in a lonely bed.” – Roger Coleman

"Given the culture and psychology of self-sacrifice in progressive organizations, it's no wonder that turnover is so high, that so many talented younger organizers don't stay, and that those who do get burned out. They get burned out because they adapt to the perceived expectation that they give up their lives, their families, and their health for the chance to do mission-driven work. It's also no wonder that so many of them have such unhealthy lifestyles and that their gatherings are so often lubricated by alcohol.

Finally, there is an unspoken and destructive prohibition against talking seriously about the problem of burnout. To those caught in its terrible web, it would be like questioning the weather, or asking themselves why they need a paycheck, or why they should wear clothes to work. When burnout becomes embedded in a culture and reflected in a lifestyle fueled by the psychic predispositions of those living it, an honest discussion of its causes & effects becomes impossible."

"The Flat World Friedman at first advocated, & which he now treats like gravity—a force of nature outside our control—is a choice…a set of policies designed to benefit multinational corporations. Globalization is more politely refer to as free trade, which is where multinationals convince governments to drop trade barriers so that they—corporatists—are free to move their capital around & invest it in ways that amass the greatest amount in their hands. This means that in the US, corporations can avoid taxes, unions, environmental regulations, & active oppostion to their policies by locating manufacturing & other facilities in countries w/ lower pay & less controls.<br />
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Free trade has also come along w/ Devil’s bargain in the US, too, where states take on more the look-and-feel of third world nations by advertising themselves as ‘right to work’ states, which means that they have made union activities more difficult. Consider…Boeing planning to move jobs from WA to South Carolina."

"A minister from Ventura, CA takes West to task on the terms "progressives" vs "liberals"."

"Which has the superior economic model, the United States or Europe? The question keeps coming up and never gets resolved. It is having another go-round at the moment, with the adversaries lining up as usual. Conservatives say that Europe's social-democratic model is bound for the landfill of history. Progressives defend the model, even if they usually stop short of recommending it outright.

"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” ~ G.K. Chesterton"

"attempt to attract GOP support was pretext...used to compromise continuously & water down bill...desire for GOP support wasn't really reason...Given White House's central role in negotiating secret deal w/ pharmaceutical industry, betrayal of Obama's clear promise to conduct negotiations out in open, Rahm's protection of Blue Dogs & accompanying attacks on progressives & complete lack of any pressure exerted on allegedly obstructionists "centrists," it seems rather clear that bill has been watered down & "public option" jettisoned, because that was the plan all along...giving insurance & pharmaceutical industries most everything they want ensures that the GOP doesn't become the repository for the largesse of those industries...This is how things always work...industry interests which own & control our government always get their way...If progressives adhere to pledge...thwart industry demands & dictate of Beltway leaders...empower new faction in DC beholden to ordinary citizens"

"Progressive policies offer more scope for individualism and some kinds of freedom. Greater security gives people a greater chance to develop themselves as individuals in important spheres of life, not just money-making and risk protection and winning relative status games."

"My advice to candidates going back to Dean was & is to start implementing the change you seek before the election, while you have the full attention of the electorate. Ask us to give money, not to buy ads, but to buy health insurance for 50,000 uninsured people in a particular state, so we can see how powerful we are collectively, how we can do good, starting right now. We yearn for this, to feel our muscles flex collectively, and individually to make a difference, not just in your hype, but in real terms. Hillary Clinton could have gotten up yesterday and said "There's no time to waste. We can't wait until January 2009 to solve the problems. Let's start right now."...Maybe she won't get elected, but getting us organized now would make it more likely...JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."...See how that works??"

"dismissing something or someone as "so white&" has long been a favorite put-down among those who like to view themselves as right-thinking, hierarchy-defying nonconformists -- that is, White People. Recall those ads extolling "the new face of wealth," which contrast male, stone-faced WASP bankers with attractive, far less formally -- though far more expensively -- clad women, quasi-hipsters, and assorted exotic ethnics. The women and hipsters may be white, but they're not white -- they're members of the cool-looking pan-ethnic tribe, a tribe defined by economic and social status and by cultural and aesthetic preferences rather than by ethnicity ... "tolerance" highest on the list of virtues prized by White People. Of course, this group shuns the suburbs while it embraces certain neighborhoods as "authentic" and spurns other enclaves and cities"