IS THIS WHAT WE ARE?

Coffee with Questions 9:15am Sunday May 15, 2016 with Don Metivier moderating

In the Sunday, May 1, New York Times Book Review, Beverly Gage reviews two books, Thomas Frank’s ‘Listen, Liberal’ and Steve Fraser’s ‘The Limousine Liberal’, opening with this paragraph:  “Liberals may be experiencing mixed emotions these days.  The prospect of a Trump presidency has raised urgent fears: of the nation’s fascist tendencies, of the potential for riots in the streets.  At the same time many liberals have expressed a grim satisfaction in watching the Republican Party tear itself apart.  Whatever terrible fate might soon befall the nation, the thinking goes, it’s their fault, not ours.  They are the ones stirring up the base prejudices and epic resentments of America’s disaffected white working class, and they must now reap the whirlwind.”

Gage writes that “Frank poses another possibility: that liberals in general – and the Democratic Party in particular – should look inward to understand the sorry state of American politics.  Too busy attending TED talks and vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, Frank argues, the Democratic elite has abandoned the party’s traditional commitments to the working class.  In the process they have helped to create the political despair and anger at the heart of today’s right-wing insurgencies.”

The “well-educated elite” has completely missed the big question – a question that has been with us for centuries – “the conflict of management and labor, owner and worker, rich and poor.”  It’s “‘the social question’…nothing less than the whole vast mystery of how we are going to live together.”

Is that us!?  We’re Unitarians!  Don’t we satisfiedly affirm that we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Join us this Sunday morning, May 15, at 9 o’clock in the Spirit Play Room for another lively discussion.  There’ll be coffee and food for body and soul.  Child care available upon request.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *