Join The Vote Common Good Tour!

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  Joelyn

  August 31, 2018 10:40 am

  Yes! I just love it that some folks have stopped complaining and have joined the revolution. Woo Hoo!. I hope to meet tour in several cities where I have non-voting relatives. See ya the polls. Cheers.

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  • 

    Joelyn

    September 4, 2018 10:19 pm

    Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting. Franklin D. Roosevelt

    To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. Louis L’Amour

    Too many people fought too hard to make sure all citizens of all colors, races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities can vote to think that not voting somehow sends a message. Luis Gutierrez

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  • 

    Joelyn

    September 4, 2018 10:38 pm

    The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river. Henry Ross Perot

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    • 

      joelyn

      September 6, 2018 7:13 am

      It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. THE MAN IN THE ARENA Theodore Roosevelt.

      Reply
  • 

    gdd

    September 6, 2018 3:04 am

    Dear Joelyn:

    What revolution have you joined? Who is on the steering committee? What orders of arrest of high profile officials has it issued? What political charges have been laid against them? Which ruling elite assets have been confiscated? Has it called for the establishment of a committee of constitutional experts to draft a new constitution for the Second United States Republic? Has it declared intention to convene a National Convention to suspend the existing constitution, to ratify the new constitution, and to call general elections for the establishment of a just and lawful regime with a legitimate claim to speak as the federal head and to act as the legal representative of the US working class?

    It is important to call things by their proper name, Joelyn. And I call your use of the term, ‘revolution’ a rhetorical fraud employed cynically to redirect support of the alienated masses back into the Capitalist system. That isn’t revolution. That is called reaction.

    Should you ever desire honest conversation about the difference between reaction and revolution, let us know.

    Blessings!

    GDD

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  • 

    joelyn

    September 6, 2018 1:33 pm

    Can Teenagers Save America? They’ve Done It Before!
    Young folks are not just marching for these lives, they are voting for them too! Millennials may save our republic if we can convince enough of them to vote. C’mon people; let’s help them rock the vote. Lower the age of voting to 16! Enjoy the article. Cheers.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/opinion/teenagers-gun-rally.html

    Reply
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  Gayle Evans

  August 31, 2018 1:21 pm

  Fantastic idea put into action. This is what the public needs, true info so they’re able to make an informed decision in voting. I appreciate all of you & genuinely love you too. Thanks a bunch.

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  Wendy Patterson

  September 2, 2018 11:06 am

  Im a friend of the late Francis Ackerman. Saw you at his funeral. I read your works years ago as I considered Russia Orthodoxy. Now, seeing the political/religious corruption in Russia and in America, it gives me great pain and skepticism of Christian activism. The obedience factor is easily manipulated for power. What do you do differently?

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  gdd

  September 4, 2018 3:16 pm

  Dear Frank Schaeffer:

  Interesting that you cite John Pavlovitz. John recently posted a piece saying that he doesn’t understand people who refuse to vote. He wrote, ‘I don’t understand these people.’ In response, and as an aid to his understanding, I suggested some possible reasons for a conscientious refusal to vote. John’s rejoinder was to refuse to publish it. I offer it to you in the event that you may allow it to stand. It is essentially unchanged.
  ____________________

  Dear John Pavlovitz:

  People elect not to vote for varied reasons. Since you wrote, ‘I don’t understand these people,’ maybe you should listen to those who elect not to vote. If you care to do so, I can give you that opportunity.

  You say that the refusal to vote is an indictment of the US political order. Agreed! But what is the basis or nature of that indictment? Twice, you mention ‘apathy.’ Is it for its failure to capture the collective imagination that the US political order stands indicted? Why blame apathy? Might other things be at work here?

  Have you considered that a refusal to vote may not be the ‘reason’ for but the response to this ‘unprecedented mess?’

  Have you considered that a refusal to vote may be a solemn intention born of outrage tempered with reserved and sober reflection?

  Have you considered that a broad cross-section of the public deems public policies offered in past decades to be socially, morally and economically acceptable?

  Have you considered that the refusal to vote rejects a political order that tolerates no resistance to attacks on civil liberties, endless war and astronomical social inequality?

  Have you considered that the refusal to vote may intent to protest voter repression, and that so long as some are denied the right to vote, we will identify with them through our own REFUSAL to vote?

  Have you considered that the refusal to vote may register rejection of attacks on refugees, education, public health, and the working poor at home and abroad, which have unfolded under successive administrations?

  Have you considered that the refusal to vote states that the public is finished with this, is extending no more ‘chances,’ and that it is time to withdraw the consent to be governed?

  Have you considered that while refusing to raise arms against countrymen or the State, many millions already made the decision ‘to dissolve the political bands which have connected them?’

  Have you considered that the ‘incomprehensibility’ of not voting is equally the measure of citizenry alienation from the whole political order, or that it is also the measure of perceived citizen desertion by the whole political class?

  Have you considered that the refusal to vote may indicate the conclusion that history has come for the United States, that our present woes indicate God’s just judgments on a malfeasant state, and that we should rejoice and give thanks that judgment of the beast draws nigh?
  ____________________

  I would add that if one is to vote for the common good, that election somewhere must offer a program that represents what is ‘good’ for the 90% which is the working class. Lacking that, elections have the import of a ruling class ‘in house’ argument in which the 90% zero percent investment.

  We knew Trump was a crass, bigoted, underworld crime lord of highly limited intelligence before his oval orifice was elevated. If the 90% is to vote, they’ll need more substantive reasons than the coalition for Common Good presents. John’s refusal to publish reasoned and respectfully submitted statements intended to elicit dialogue doesn’t move in that direction.

  Pentecost blessings!

  GDD

  Reply
• 

  Joelyn

  September 4, 2018 10:03 pm

  It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
  THE MAN IN THE ARENA Theodore Roosevelt.
  Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.

  “We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better because America has no choice but to do better.” — Thurgood Marshall

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  Joelyn

  September 5, 2018 11:42 am

  Interesting article in VOX. “One big reason Congress ignores the poor: they don’t vote ” Check it out. Enjoy. Cheers.

  https://tinyurl.com/whyyourvotemattersnomatterwhat

  Reply