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<p>Wise words from the Peace Rabbi about what to do to defeat Trumpism.<br>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> Rabbi Arthur Waskow <office@theshalomcenter.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 28, 2016 6:21 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Ms. Ann Rennacker<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Leonard Cohen sings, “Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.” -- IS IT?
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<h3>The Shalom Report</h3>
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<h2 class="field-content"><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12893&qid=7445360">Leonard Cohen sings, “Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.” -- IS IT?
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<div class="views-field views-field-field-photo"> <span style="color:#800080; font-size:large"><strong>Or Are We Stuck with Trumpery --</strong></span>
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<p><span style="color:#800080; font-size:large"><strong>Fake Populism and Real Robber Barons?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">Leonard Cohen is no Pollyanna. When he sings the path through which “Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.,” you can see and hear the dark places, the deaths and infamies along the way. And yet, AND YET!! This is not mere “hope.”
It is determination. Commitment. Covenant. </span></p>
<p><br>
<span style="background-color:#ffff99"><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12894&qid=7445360"><span style="font-size:medium; background-color:#ffff99"><strong>Please join me on this journey by first listening and
watching here:</strong> </span></a></span></p>
<p><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12894&qid=7445360"><span style="font-size:medium"><<span style="background-color:#ffff99"><strong><span style="background-color:#ffff99">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-RuR-qO4Y&feature=youtu.be</span></strong></span>></span></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">I have included the words below to make sure you can hear them all. Please do actually watch and listen to Leonard Cohen sing them. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">After that, we will look honestly at what we are facing now.
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium"><br>
</span></p>
<p style="padding-left:60px"><em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming through a hole in the air,
</span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from those nights in Tiananmen Square. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming from the feel </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">that this ain't exactly real, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">or it's real, but it ain't exactly there. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">From the wars against disorder, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the sirens night and day, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the fires of the homeless, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the ashes of the gay: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming through a crack in the wall; </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">on a visionary flood of alcohol; </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the staggering account </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">of the Sermon on the Mount </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">which I don't pretend to understand at all. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming from the silence </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">on the dock of the bay, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the brave, the bold, the battered </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">heart of Chevrolet: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming from the sorrow in the street, </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">the holy places where the races meet; </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">from the homicidal bitchin' </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">that goes down in every kitchen </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">to determine who will serve and who will eat. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">From the wells of disappointment </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">where the women kneel to pray </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">for the grace of God in the desert here </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">and the desert far away: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Sail on, sail on </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">O mighty Ship of State! </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">To the Shores of Need </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Past the Reefs of Greed </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Through the Squalls of Hate </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming to America first, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">the cradle of the best and of the worst. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's here they got the range </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">and the machinery for change </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">and it's here they got the spiritual thirst. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's here the family's broken </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">and it's here the lonely say </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">that the heart has got to open </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">in a fundamental way: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming from the women and the men. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">O baby, we'll be making love again. </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">We'll be going down so deep </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">the river's going to weep, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">and the mountain's going to shout Amen! </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">It's coming like the tidal flood </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">beneath the lunar sway, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">imperial, mysterious, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">in amorous array: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Sail on, sail on ... </span></em><br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
</span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">And I'm neither left or right </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">I'm just staying home tonight, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">getting lost in that hopeless little screen. </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags </span>
</em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">that Time cannot decay, </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">I'm junk but I'm still holding up </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">this little wild bouquet: </span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-size:medium">Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. </span></em><br>
<br>
<em></em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:medium"><br>
</span></em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">*** **** **** **** *** </span><br>
<strong><span style="font-size:medium">So what is standing in the way, Brother Leonard?</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-size:medium">Trumpery is standing in the way. I didn’t invent the word “trumpery.” According to the Merriam -Webster Dictionary, “trumpery“ first appeared in English in the mid-15th century.</span></strong><br style="font-size:medium">
<strong><span style="font-size:medium">Webster's 1913 Dictionary defined “Trump´er`y” --</span></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left:30px"><br>
<strong><span style="font-size:medium">n 1. Deceit; fraud. 2. Something serving to deceive by false show or pretense; falsehood; deceit; worthless but showy matter; hence, things worn out and of no value; rubbish.</span></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left:30px"> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:large; color:#0000ff">Who knew a dictionary could speak words of prophecy?</span><br>
<br>
<br>
</p>
<p> <span style="font-size:medium">Donald Trump ran for President as a “populist,” meaning supporter of The People. Now we know that was the greatest fake of our entire history. Once elected, he turned from Trumpery to Naked Power. His appointees will set in
place a government of Billionaires and Bigots, presided over by a Bully. </span>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">Not just any old random Billionaires. Hyper-wealthy persons who hate democracy and want to stamp it out. There really is an American ruling class -- and now we know they are scared.
</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">Something about the last few years – Black Lives Matter; the Dreamers; women who slap a “Star,” a Billionaire, in public when he molests them; Bernie’s movement –- scared them. Even the anger of white blue-collar men scared them,
and they realized they had to collar those guys for themselves before somebody got them who really cared about The People. So here they come, The Billionaires and Bigots:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left:30px"><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">• To head the Department of Education: A person who hates public schools., which were the first great American effort to make sure that everyone knew how to be a farmer, a carpenter, above all a citizen.
</span><br>
<span style="font-size:medium">• The Treasury: A banker who hates the regulations intended to keep banks from bankrupting the public while enriching themselves.
</span><br>
<span style="font-size:medium">• Secretary of State: Big-Oil executive who is gleefully burning up the Earth for the sake of enormous profits. If he gets his way, all those countries he’s supposed to be negotiating with will be burnt to a crisp, and his
own country too. Why not? </span><br>
<span style="font-size:medium">• To head the Department of Justice: a person who sneers at Black folks and supports the use of torture.
</span><br>
<span style="font-size:medium">• To oversee our ways of helping people who get sick: officials who want to wreck Medicare, abolish the Health Care Act that added millions to the insured public, starve Medicaid to death, deregulate the rules that keep our
chickens from being drenched in pesticides and poisons, our water from being filled with mind-destroying lead.
</span></p>
<p style="padding-left:30px"> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">OK! What do we do? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium; color:#800080; background-color:#ffff99"><strong>“Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.” only if we do it.</strong>
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">I suggest three rules of strategy: </span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">1) In contesting over national policy, try to choose issues -- like health care, job creation, and a major rise in the minimum wage -- that will meet the legitimate needs of those who voted for Trump as well as others who have
been “left behind” or pushed out onto the margins. Treat those needs and those voters with respect. Aim to show though deeds, not merely words, how fake and phony Trump’s “populism” was.</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">2) In cities and states where prophetic, progressive, and real populist policies already have strong majority support, build coalitions to move forward even more vigorously.
<em>For example:</em> organize to solarize whole cities, including all schools and other public buildings and providing strong start-up grants and loans for low–income households to solarize their homes, if possible through neighborhood solar co-ops.
<em>For example:</em> create a public bank that can invest large sums of public money in meeting public needs. Urge each of these islands of progress to adopt a Declaration of Resistance, and connect them by setting up a Continental Congress. (Sound familiar?
Exactly!) </span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">3) Make special efforts to awaken and empower the sleeping giants of American democracy -– the religious and spiritual communities that carry prophetic and democratic values in their prayers and sermons but not yet in their
public actions. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">To do this, draw especially on our prophetic inheritance from Dr. Martin Luther King. On April 4, we will reach the 50th anniversary of his most profound speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence.” In it he named
racism, militarism, and materialism the deadly “triplets” afflicting America and called for a profound revolution in values.
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">One year later, we will reach the 50th anniversary of his death. During that year he worked to create the Poor People’s Campaign that included the blue-collar whites who voted for Trumpery because it came in a Populist mask.
</span><br>
<br>
<span style="color:#800000; background-color:#ffff99; font-size:large"><strong>We can make that year MLK + 50 — A Jubilee Year of Truth and Transformation. </strong></span><br>
<br>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px"><span style="font-size:medium">Perhaps the best way to begin that journey is to take part in a four-day retreat from January 16 to 19 at Stony Point retreat center on “BEYOND ‘Beyond Vietnam’: — Reclaiming King’s Courage for Movement
Building Today.” The discussions will be led by three of us who have invested our lives in awakening the dozing giants of our different religious traditions: Rev. Anthony Grimes of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Al-Hajj Imam Talib ’Abdur-Rashid of The Mosque
of Islamic Brotherhood (in Harlem) , and me. </span><br>
<br>
<span style="color:#800000; background-color:#ffff99"><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12895&qid=7445360"><span style="font-size:medium; color:#800000; background-color:#ffff99">You can see further details and
register at </span></a></span><br>
<span style="font-size:medium; color:#800000; background-color:#ffff99"><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12895&qid=7445360"><span style="color:#800000; background-color:#ffff99"> <http://stonypointcenter.org/book-a-room/upcoming-events/event/58-winter-institute-2017-beyond-beyond-vietnam-reclaiming-king-s-courage-for-movement-building-today</span></a>></span><br>
<br>
</p>
<p><span style="font-size:medium">In the next days and weeks, I will be exploring these themes more deeply in my Shalom Report letters. </span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:medium">Determination, Commitment, Covenant will be our goal.
</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:large">Thanks! -- Shalom, salaam, peace, Earth! -- <span style="color:#800080">
<em>Arthur</em></span></span></p>
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