Salon.com > American Spring http://www.salon.com Thu, 23 May 2013 16:22:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Occupy heats up http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/occupy_heats_up/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/occupy_heats_up/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12837171 As winter thaws, the hot spots of the Occupy movement are seeing the first ripples of resurgence. From New York to Oakland, Calif., crowds are returning to the streets, but will the plan for a May 1 General Strike spark an American Spring or will the movement splinter and fade into Tea Party-like irrelevance? Watch the Salon webcast with Occupy correspondent Natasha Lennard to hear her thoughts on these issues:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/occupy_heats_up/feed/ 22 How to make Occupy catch on http://www.salon.com/2012/02/26/how_to_make_occupy_catch_on/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/26/how_to_make_occupy_catch_on/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12412991 Were history a guide to today’s politics, progressives would be redoubling their efforts to turn  the still-unraveling crisis of capitalism into an opportunity for system-changing reform. Certainly they would be doing everything within their power to combat the logic of austerity and entitlement-slashing that has crystalized into a new Washington “consensus,” and instead to shape the debate around issues of employment, inequality, the erosion of the safety net, and the unprecedented concentrations of wealth and economic power that have survived the Great Recession intact. But they would also move to engage the debate at a deeper level: in terms of what a just, equitable and socially as well as financially productive economy looks like and what roles the state and the market should play in bringing it about.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/26/how_to_make_occupy_catch_on/feed/ 58 America’s last hope: A strong labor movement http://www.salon.com/2012/02/19/americas_last_hope_a_strong_labor_movement/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/19/americas_last_hope_a_strong_labor_movement/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12370921 The fate of the labor movement is the fate of American democracy. Without a strong countervailing force like organized labor, corporations and wealthy elites advancing their own interests are able to exert undue influence over the political system, as we’ve seen in every major policy debate of recent years.

Yet the American labor movement is in crisis and is the weakest it’s been in 100 years. That truism has been a progressive mantra since the Clinton administration. However, union density has continued to decline from roughly 16 percent in 1995 to 11.8 percent of all workers and just 6.9 percent of workers in the private sector. Unionized workers in the public sector now make up the majority of the labor movement for the first time in history, which is precisely why — a la Wisconsin and 14 other states — they have been targeted by the right for all out destruction.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/19/americas_last_hope_a_strong_labor_movement/feed/ 166 America’s failed promise of equal opportunity http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/americas_failed_promise_of_equal_opportunity/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/americas_failed_promise_of_equal_opportunity/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12238731 Americans are increasingly aware that the ideal of equal opportunity is a false promise, but neither party really seems to get it.

Republicans barely admit the problem exists, or if they do, they think tax cuts are the answer. All facts point in the opposite direction. Despite various tax cuts over the past 30 years, not only have income and wealth inequality dramatically increased, but the ability of individuals to rise out of their own class has declined. Social stagnation is increasingly the norm, with poverty rates the highest in 15 years, real wage gains worse even than during the decade of the Great Depression, average earnings barely above what they were 50 years ago, and more than 80 percent of the income growth of the past 25 years going to the top 1 percent. In fact, since 1983, the bottom 40 percent of households have seen real declines in their income and the same goes for the bottom 60 percent when it comes to wealth. We know what the economic status quo does: It redistributes upwards.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/americas_failed_promise_of_equal_opportunity/feed/ 159 The progressive vision America needs http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_progressive_vision_america_needs/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_progressive_vision_america_needs/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12238361 The 2012 presidential election is rapidly shaping up to become a critical battle for the future of the American economy. In his State of the Union address, Barack Obama attempted to draw a sharp contrast with the “you’re-on-your-own economics” on display in Republican primary debates.

But progressives have their work cut out for them. Despite a triumphant election in 2008, a financial crisis that seemingly discredited the free-market deregulatory fervor and the significant policy achievements of the Obama administration in economic stimulus, healthcare reform and financial regulation, the very notions of government regulation, of social safety nets and of economic fairness are under attack.

For too long progressives have been content to work within an economic discourse largely set by conservative principles, hostile to state action while idolizing free markets and corporate power. Indeed, the last time a sitting Democratic president launched a reelection campaign with his State of the Union address, it was Bill Clinton, who declared proudly that “the era of big government is over.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_progressive_vision_america_needs/feed/ 59 The privatization trap http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_privatization_trap/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_privatization_trap/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12243351 Privatizing the government is one of the most active projects of the early 21st century.

Everything we once expected the government to do -- from education to regulatory rule-writing to military operations to healthcare services to prison management -- it now does less of, preferring to support markets in which these services are done through independent, profit-maximizing agents. Tools such as contracting out, vouchering and the selling-off of state assets have been used to remake the government during our market-worshipping era.

Privatization is one of the few political projects that enjoys bipartisan support: Conservatives cheer the rollback of the state, and liberals like to claim that the virtues of the free market are being used towards the egalitarian ends of public policy. The fraud and waste that often come with outsourcing these services has been well-documented. The private management in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the lobbying efforts of corporate prisons have all provided horror stories of what happens when cronyism guides decision-making on behalf of the state. But privatization as standard government practice has problems that go far beyond the abuses of any single incident.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/the_privatization_trap/feed/ 78 “It looked like a trap” http://www.salon.com/2012/01/29/occupy_oakland_open2012/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/29/occupy_oakland_open2012/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12258431 On Saturday, Occupy Oakland held their largest action since the Port Shutdown in December. It was “Move In Day,” and the goal was to Occupy a vacant building. I wasn't really sure how I felt about this action, in part because the Occupiers had to keep the identity of the building secret. I wasn't necessarily against, but let's just say I was undecided.

commune move in

When I'd first started visiting the camp back in October, I hadn't been sure about it either, but after I'd been there several times, I saw something beautiful grow that I'd never expected. So, I've learned to give Occupy Oakland the benefit of the doubt.

The day began with a rally at noon at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza. I asked many people if they were planning to enter the building. Almost everyone said they were uncertain, they would wait and see how things were going. There were about 500 people gathered.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/29/occupy_oakland_open2012/feed/ 295 Resolved: Kick the Amazon habit in 2012 http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/resolved_kick_the_amazon_habit_in_2012/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/resolved_kick_the_amazon_habit_in_2012/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12030631 I suspect I'm not the only person starting 2012 with a resolution to buy fewer books from Amazon. Resistance to the e-commerce giant and its crypto-monopolistic ways crystallized just before Christmas, when it offered customers a 5 percent credit to use its price-checking app in brick-and-mortar stores, thereby undercutting local businesses.

Booksellers have been complaining about "showrooming" -- the practice of using a bookstore to browse and learn about new titles while buying the actual books online -- for a while now. Amazon's holiday-season gambit, and a New York Times op-ed denouncing it written by novelist Richard Russo, alerted readers who value their local bookstores to the possibility that those stores will vanish if we don't make a point of patronizing them.

But what if you prefer e-books? Because of my job, I rarely buy print books. (I get too many sent to me as it is.) Yet, for various reasons, I've found myself purchasing a surprising number of e-books to read on my iPad. At first, I automatically opted for Kindle books; the Kindle app for the iPad works great, and if I decide to switch to reading on my iPhone, it will automatically keep my place. Above all, Amazon has the richest and deepest online books database, where I can instantly find out whether a title is available in e-book (or audiobook) format, scan reader reviews and follow reader-generated tags to find similar titles.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/resolved_kick_the_amazon_habit_in_2012/feed/ 87 Book recommendations from the heart of Washington http://www.salon.com/2011/12/23/book_recommendations_from_the_heart_of_washington/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/23/book_recommendations_from_the_heart_of_washington/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10808881 Featured bookstore: Politics & Prose
Location: 5015 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20008
Website: www.politics-prose.com

American Spring Book List:

"Ill Fares the Land," by Tony Judt

"Debt: The First 5,000 Years," by David Graeber

"The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity," by Jeffrey D. Sachs

"Death of the Liberal Class," by Chris Hedges

"The Change I Believe In," by Katrina Vanden Heuvel

"Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class," by Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson

"Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life," by Thomas Geoghegan

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/23/book_recommendations_from_the_heart_of_washington/feed/ 1 More books for an American Spring http://www.salon.com/2011/12/21/more_books_for_an_american_spring/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/21/more_books_for_an_american_spring/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10761021 Featured bookstore: Square Books
Location: 160 Courthouse Square, Oxford, Miss. 38655
Website:  www.squarebooks.com

American Spring Book List:

"Resistance, Rebellion, and Death," by Albert Camus (Vintage, $15), the leading 20th century philosopher and moralist whose primary concerns were for “those silent men who, throughout the world, endure the life that has been made for them.”

"All God’s Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw," by Theodore Rosengarten (University of Chicago Press, $21).  Shaw’s Homeric autobiography demonstrates both how it is possible to be born into severe economic and racial oppression and how, under such circumstances, one might manage a life of hope, courage, dignity and human triumph.

"Nickel and Dimed," by Barbara Ehrenreich (Holt, $15), a firsthand account of life in low-wage present-day America.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/21/more_books_for_an_american_spring/feed/ 3 The case for a national popular vote http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_case_for_a_national_popular_vote/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_case_for_a_national_popular_vote/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:33:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10644701 With all eyes trained on Iowa and New Hampshire as their decisive presidential nominating contests approach, the question once again is upon us: Why should these two states have such disproportionate sway over American politics? This is a particularly pressing question right now because our increasingly multiethnic, urbanized nation looks less and less like these two small, super-white, largely rural, comparatively older enclaves. In effect, the system promotes a form of generational tyranny whereby a disappearing mid-20th-century model of America continues to wield disproportionate power over today's 21st century America.

Unfortunately, this problem doesn't get much better in the general election. Thanks to the undemocratic Electoral College, presidential elections take place in a few big swing states, but nowhere else. Essentially, the campaign for president becomes a glorified campaign for governor of Ohio, Colorado and Florida, with small cities like Dayton, Grand Junction and Fort Lauderdale being treated as much more important than huge population centers like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago where far more voters actually live.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_case_for_a_national_popular_vote/feed/ 101 My bookstore supports the community in ways Amazon never will http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/my_bookstore_supports_the_community_in_ways_amazon_never_will/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/my_bookstore_supports_the_community_in_ways_amazon_never_will/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:10:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10303699 Featured bookstore: McLean & Eakin Booksellers
Location: 307 E. Lake St., Petoskey, Mich. 49770

American Spring Book List:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Big Short
Shock Doctrine
People's History of the United States
The Forever War
Smartest Guys in the Room
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago
Here Comes Trouble

About McLean & Eakin Booksellers

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/my_bookstore_supports_the_community_in_ways_amazon_never_will/feed/ 15 Film-in-progress traces Iraq War protest legacy http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/film_in_progress_traces_iraq_war_protest_legacy/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/film_in_progress_traces_iraq_war_protest_legacy/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:40:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10302548 On Feb. 15, 2003, the planet experienced the greatest single non-military mobilization of humanity in the history of the world. People in 800 cities (and Antarctica) marched to voice their opposition as George Bush's countdown clock ticked away the days toward the threatened U.S. invasion of Iraq. Estimates of the total numbers of protesters vary widely but it seems plausible that 15 million took to the streets.

It turned out even worse than we feared. Eight years of war. More than 4,700 soldiers killed. How many Iraqis were killed. Infuriatingly, we don't know, but 650,000 is a conservative estimate. And it cost $800 billion, more than we spent on World War II. What we could have done with that money.

The huge protests failed to prevent the war -- and the day itself has been almost universally dismissed as a failure. But is that the end of the story? We Are Many, a new film-in-progress, makes a passionate case that to dismiss that day as a failure is to misjudge politics and misunderstand history. The filmmaker, Amir Amirani, aims to trace the story of that one day -- the who, what, where, why, and how of it -- and offers a new interpretation of  its meaning and legacy. He ties Feb. 15, 2003, to a new kind of people power born with the 21st century and connects it to the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/film_in_progress_traces_iraq_war_protest_legacy/feed/ 2 Salon’s Occupy panel http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/salons_occupy_panel/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/salons_occupy_panel/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:37:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10289615 Salon’s founder and CEO, David Talbot, moderated a panel discussion and Q&A last Thursday in San Francisco with veterans of social movements and organizers of Occupy San Francisco, Oakland and the University of California, at Berkeley. Speakers included Dan Siegel, civil rights attorney; Matt Haney, executive director of UC Students Association; Rebecca Solnit, author, contributor to “Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America”; Peter Coyote, actor and activist; and Melanie Cervantes, activist, artist and co-founder of Dignidad Rebelde.

Watch Salon's Occupy Panel Discussion

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/salons_occupy_panel/feed/ 4 America’s beloved independent bookstores http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/americas_beloved_independent_bookstores/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/americas_beloved_independent_bookstores/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10278548 Independent bookstores are facing a perfect storm -- the economic downturn, the rise of e-books, competition from Amazon. But these stores make our cities unique. They drive the local literary culture, bring authors to town and match readers with books better than any online algorithm can. When we asked Salon readers and Open Salon bloggers to nominate their favorites, we were overwhelmed by amazing responses. Here are nine stores across America that prove what a special role these shops play in fostering a love of reading, promoting great writers and bringing book lovers together.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/americas_beloved_independent_bookstores/feed/ 14 A reading list for our times http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/more_than_an_independent_bookstore/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/more_than_an_independent_bookstore/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:15:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10276573 Featured bookstore: The King's English Bookshop
Location: 1151 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www.kingsenglish.com

American Spring Book List:
Buy the books here.

Fiction

  • "All the King’s Men," Robert Penn Warren, Mariner, $15 (Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that could as easily be set in today’s world as in that of the Depression, this layered and compelling book is the indisputable king of American political novels.)
  • "Pastoralia," George Saunders, Riverhead, $15 (Darkly dystopian — but funny — tales of the haves and [naive] have-nots in a world in which capitalism has fulfilled the darkest prophesies of its naysayers.)
  • "Last Night at the Lobster," Steward O’Nan, Penguin, $13 (A lovely, quiet gem of a novel that juxtaposes the decency of blue-collar men and women with the callous indecency of corporate America.)
  • "A Week in December," Sebastian Faulks, Vintage, $15 (A compelling and blistering satire of contemporary London that brings to vivid life malfeasance in the banking industry, the subprime mortgage crisis, and fundamentalism — among other things)
  • "Salvage the Bones," Jesmyn Ward, Bloomsbury $24 (The 2011 National Book Award was won by this searing, understated, and big-hearted novel that has at its heart a motherless family in the grip of Katrina, the mother of all hurricanes.)
  • "Jayber Crow," Wendell Berry, Counterpoint, $15 (This gentle tale of a man in the context of his community — Port William, fictional home for most of Berry’s characters — has as its theme not just the importance of community but the way it shapes us. Berry, a poet, novelist, essayist and activist, has our vote for the conscience of our nation.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/more_than_an_independent_bookstore/feed/ 5 Why my small bookstore matters http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/why_my_small_bookstore_matters/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/why_my_small_bookstore_matters/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:56:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10252996 Featured bookstore: Changing Hands
Location: 6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe, Ariz.
Website: www.changinghands.com

American Spring Book List:

  • "Union Atlantic" by Adam Haslett
  • "Griftopia" by Matt Taibbi
  • "The Caretaker of Lorne Field" by Dave Zeltserman
  • "Babbit" by Sinclair Lewis
  • "Oil" by Upton Sinclair
  • "Super Sad True Love Story" by Gary Shteyngart
  • "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
  • "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenrich
  • "Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream" by Arianna Huffington
  • "The Financial Lives of the Poets" by Jess Walter

Buy these from Changing Hands

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/why_my_small_bookstore_matters/feed/ 11 Support your indie bookstore! http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/support_your_indie_bookstore/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/support_your_indie_bookstore/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10252265 If you're like most readers, chances are the last time you discovered a great book by a new author it was because a friend recommended it. Maybe you read that book on an e-reader, or you picked up a used copy online or downloaded the audiobook. Maybe that's how your friend read it as well. If so, chances are that neither of you realizes the key role independent bookstores played in helping that new favorite find its way to you.

An independent bookstore brings a lot to a city or a town: a showroom for the latest literary releases, an auditorium where authors share their work and meet their fans, a bookish environment in which to sip coffee and a fun place to browse in the 20 minutes before the movie starts. But what's less immediately visible is your local bookseller's expertise and influence when it comes to introducing great books to your community and, ultimately, to the world.

Name the last book you really loved -- be it "The Help," The Hunger Games," "Like Water for Elephants" or "Game of Thrones." The authors of all those popular titles and many, many more can testify that independent booksellers were crucial in moving their work from a sleepy shelf against the back wall to a stack prominently displayed on a front table. They're  the people who helped Harry Potter take off. Local booksellers know their customers better than any computer program, and when they press a book into the right hands, insisting "You've got to read this," their recommendation really counts.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/support_your_indie_bookstore/feed/ 42 How to give back this Thanksgiving http://www.salon.com/2011/11/24/how_to_give_back_this_thanksgiving/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/24/how_to_give_back_this_thanksgiving/#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10251968 The annual celebration of Thanksgiving -- looking beyond its function as a filler of stomachs and provider of marquee football matchups -- is perhaps America's clearest exercise in mixed signals.

On one hand, the act of gathering around a dinner table with loved ones, taking stock of our lives and giving thanks, isn't just one of our nation's most staid traditions; it's also a fundamentally humble act that harks back to the collectivist underpinnings of America's founding myth. Consistent with that ethos, giving has become the order of the day; and each November, millions of Americans do.

It's no small irony, then, that this modest yearly ritual is followed by Black Friday -- the high holiday of conspicuous consumption.

Economists may quibble over whether we're still in an official recession, but for millions of jobless Americans the answer is clear. Occupy Wall Street has drawn much-needed attention to the specter of income inequality and helped to reinvigorate the national dialogue about social safety nets. But whatever future improvements the movement might yield, there remain many, many people across the country who need help now. Forty-six million Americans currently live below the poverty line, the largest number in a half-century.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/24/how_to_give_back_this_thanksgiving/feed/ 9 Tavis Smiley speaks http://www.salon.com/2011/11/07/tavis_smiley_talks/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/07/tavis_smiley_talks/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10161674 [video src='http://media.salon.com/video/20111103TavisSmileyOutput.m4v' width='445' height='307']

I recently turned the tables on crusading talk show host Tavis Smiley, sitting down with him in his dressing room at KCET in Los Angeles. I asked Tavis about his poverty campaign with Cornel West, his criticisms of President Obama, and his reactions to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

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