Activism

The words “common good” recently popped into my brain and I have been trying to understand what that means in a world that is increasingly being turned upside down on a daily basis. I looked for definitions of the common good and have come up with one, from the web site ThoughtCo, that describes what I am thinking about.

“The “common good” refers to those facilities or institutions that benefit all members of a given community. The common good contrasts with those things that benefit only specific individuals or parts of the community. Examples of elements making up the common good include basic rights and freedoms, police and fire departments, national defense, courts of law, highways, public schools, safe food and water, and natural resources. In most cases, providing the elements of the common good requires a degree of individual sacrifice such as the payment of new or higher taxes. Today, many impactful social problems are caused by the lack or failure of essential elements of the common good.”

Over the past 50 or more years we have heard just about every possible argument for and against abortion. In 1973 the issue seemed to be settled from a legal perspective when the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, making abortion a constitutional right.

But the debate never ended and the anti-abortion forces have been patiently packing the courts with sympathetic judges with the hope of once again making abortion a criminal act. In 2021 we are now on the verge of having a country where abortion will no longer be a constitutional right. The Supreme Court could go further and turn pregnant women who have abortions into criminals.

When it comes to abortion and the law I have a simplistic view. The courts should not be telling a woman what she can and can’t do with her body. There are many other issues to consider and I will not rehash them.

There seemed to finally be hope that the American health care non-system would finally be scrutinized in a new way. It became clear that as the pandemic unfolded our public health infrastructure was inadequate to meet even the most basic of needs. It also became clear that what we call health care in this country is really a reflection of the socioeconomic divide that is growing wider every day.

We learned that if you have money and live in a “good” neighborhood you have a better chance of staying healthy and avoiding the ravages of the pandemic. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has had their eyes open for the past few years.

It’s the same old game. One side doesn’t like what the other side is proposing so they will block every attempt to pass the other party’s legislation. The difference this time is that the entire country’s infrastructure hangs in the balance.

Even Washington politicians of all parties know that this country lags behind most of the industrialized world in keeping bridges, roads, railways, drinking water, internet access and a host of other basic necessities up to an acceptable standard. These issues have been with us for decades and we finally have an administration willing to make the effort to make life better for all Americans.

Everyone knew that such a project was going to cost a lot of money, even in Washington dollars. It started out at around six trillion dollars and the political process has whittled it down to 1.5 trillion. The Democrats want to pay for the plan by taxing the rich and making them pay the fair share that they have not been paying for years.

The longevity of the political life of Bernie Sanders is nothing short of amazing. I think too many of us tend to take him for granted as our lone voice in the wilderness for what is just and fair for the American people.

Bernie is a political anomaly because he does what he says he will do and he has never wavered from his core principles over the decades of his political career. There are not too many Washington politicians who fit that profile and Vermonters, as well as the rest of the country, are lucky to have such a mensch in office.

We need to remind ourselves from time to time just how valuable Bernie has become to the national political process, especially during these times of political rancor and turmoil. I have always been amazed at Bernie’s ability to stay above the fray and forge straight ahead, despite the fact that Washington power brokers have tried to marginalize him at every turn.

Join the Windham County No Más Polimigra campaign and Migrant Justice for an on-line information session on loopholes in the county’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy that allow the Sheriff’s Department to collaborate with federal immigration authorities–and what we can do to close those loopholes. We will be joined by a farmworker from Migrant Justice who will talk about why this is important to the human rights of their community and we’ll hear about how this affects our local asylum seekers. Aug. 30, 6:30-8:30

Register at bit.ly/KeepWindhamSafe to get the Zoom link.

Shock. Sadness. Anger. Those were some of the emotions that grabbed me as I read the account by Mindy Haskins Rogers in the August 11 issue of The Commons of Brattleboro. She told the story of alleged sexual abuse by a former Brattleboro Union High School English teacher, Zeke Hecker, and the years-long cover up of his behavior.

We hear about sexual abuse nearly every day and we have come to realize that not enough abusers are ever brought to justice. You only have to look as far as a former president to understand that the deck is stacked against the abused.

Silence is one of the best weapons that abusers have. Sadly, there are too many examples of child sexual abuse, including that of the Catholic church.