Under this narcissistic cloud cover, politics post-1980 lurched to the right. Republicans became cowardly sycophants of oligarchy. Democrats adopted a mushy, centrist, "Republican Lite" approach. The end result was an attack on democracy. Education turned away from the noble ideals of Thomas Jefferson and John Dewey, who believed schools should strengthen democracy. Curriculums were stripped of the arts, humanities, and civics as education replaced critical thinking with a job training focus. The attack against Labor ushered in Gilded Age levels of wealth inequality. Black and brown bodies were imprisoned at an alarming rate. Our beautiful natural world, woefully neglected, was brought to the brink of ecological suicide.
But history isn't over. Progressive organizations like Move On emerged in the 1990s. The idealism of the Occupy Movement, launched in 2011, led to a resurgence of socialism that fed the rise of Bernie Sanders and AOC. Black Lives Matter was born after Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. Trump's election sparked the historic Woman's March of 2017-with its hopeful sea of pink p*ssy hats-and the birth of groups like Indivisible. Radical cultural figures like Michael Moore and Cornel West are frequent guests on major news shows. Jon Stewart, and his prote'ge' Steven Colbert, teach us how laughter can be a force for social change. Greta Thunberg is Time magazine's person of the year.
This Friday, my wife Claudia and I marched in our hometown of Hoboken, NJ with 10,000 strong in a peaceful, joyful, multi-cultural protest for change. Amidst this human mosaic of hope, we felt a loving sense of community and connection. It was a beautiful, authentic moment of solidarity without narcissism. Even the police were friendly, taking a knee to honor George Floyd. America is at a revolutionary crossroads. The moral clarity of the sixties is surging back into the public square; even in a pandemic. Once again we feel the clarion call of community. And Donald Trump, our Narcissist in Chief, seems powerless to stop it.
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