Responses to the Health Care Debate

As is always the case, we post articles that we think present a variety of perspectives that are not given adequate attention in the public debate without necessarily agreeing with what they say. Tikkun's perspective is articulated only in the editorials in the magazine. You can subscribe at www.tikkun.org or support our efforts by joining the Network of Spiritual Progressives at www.spiritualprogressives.org
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Amendments to the US Constitution for Democracy & Corporate Responsibility

So here is the strategy: we will be working on 2 amendments to the constitution, one narrowly constructed to address overturning the recent Supreme court decision and the other a broader amendment that is aimed at educating the public about the need for corporate Environmental and Social Responsibility (hence the ESRA) and this second one will not pass but will be a way of articulating some parts of our vision for a society that could actually survive the 21st century. The 4 under consideration below are not final versions--that will happen after we get your feedback at our June conference. Meanwhile, you are invited to add your own specific language and versions of either the narrow or broad amendment, which we will happily consider.

Responding to the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision

It was generally agreed at the Feb. Tikkun/Network of Spiritual Progressives’ conference in San Francisco that NSP should endorse any legislative approaches that could be taken to offset the destructive impact of the Supreme Court's decision to consider corporations to be "persons" and hence protected by the 14th Amendment, and to consider spending of money in elections to be "speech" that would then be protected under the First Amendment. Reversing this decision is a high priority for all who wish to build a society based on spiritual principles of caring and generosity, since corporations necessarily have a different “bottom line” requiring them to maximize financial returns for their investors. It was also understood that any legislation passed by Congress would likely have only short-term advantages, because the Supreme Court might well block any such legislation as unconstitutional for the same reason that it has now struck down other attempts to restrain corporate power in the electoral arena provided by the McCain-Feingold legislation.

There was considerable sentiment at the SF conference that a short and narrowly constructed amendment to the Constitution might have more chance of passage, and hence that the NSP should join with other national organizations in the effort to get such an amendment passed.

There was also widespread excitement about the idea of using this historical moment to bring into national discourse the notion that democracy-loving Americans need more severe constraints on corporate power which had reached toxic levels even before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate “Citizen’s United” decision. S we have concluded that we need a three part strategy: a. endorse legislation to overturn Citizen’s United decision of the Supreme Court b. support whatever campaign develops for a short and narrowly constructed Amendment to the Constitution that would permanently overturn the notion that corporations should have the same rights in the electoral arena that American citizens have; and c. construct and launch a public education campaign for a much broader Amendment which would include b. but would also specify and require other elements of corporate ethical and environmental social responsibility.

The versions below are meant to be suggestive of different levels of inclusiveness, not final formulations which will be drafted by constitutional lawyers. But we want to get your feedback on the ideas of how much we should cover in this second broader Amendment, remembering that we will ALSO support a narrower and more likely to be accepted version. The point of the broader version is to bring a conception of corporate social responsibility into the public discourse—the goal is to change people’s conceptions of what politics could be addressing and to encourage a conception of environmental and ethical responsibility and democratic control of the economy that at this moment is far beyond what is accepted in public discourse as “realistic.” Just as the ERA never passed, but had a huge impact in changing people’s understanding of the need for equality for women, so the ESRA could have that same impact. So while we want your suggestions about how to refine one or more of these proposed versions, we do not need to be told that they are “unrealistic,” because precisely the point of this second versions of an Amendment in our 2 part strategy is to transform the consciousness of what is or is not realistic.

We will publish your ideas on the web and at lest some fo the alternative versions we are receiving, and continue this discussion at the June 11-14 conference in D.C., and then will try to combine the responses from both the Feb. and June conference, and come up with a strategy that is informed by your feedback.

Easter and Resurrection

Two very different approaches to the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter time. Christian theologian Walter Wink describes how Christians experience Jesus as alive. Jesuit thinker Joseph McCloskey speaks of the Resurrection as God's personal response to who we are.
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Talkling Points to Friends, Neighbors, Media & Elected Officials

Our proposed Constitutional Amendments, our campaign for a New Bottom Line, our Global Marshall Plan, our Spiritual Covenant with America, all of which you can find on this website, require a jump in consciousness for many people to "get" why we would be so "idealistic" or "unrealistic" or "out of step with the inside-the-Beltway and inside the media common sense." We are outside that discourse for good reasons--and part of what you need to represent our ideas is to defend being outside the corporate/media/politics-as-usual framework. Please read the Talking Points below as a jumping off point for that discussion.
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Proposed Letters to Congress and Media

Emails don't work so well--you need to write directly to the person in charge in a typed snail-mailed letter signed in blue or red so they know it isn't a form letter (which so many emails are). For the same reason, we urge you to make your own personal changes to the letters below, though you can use most of it. Most important: let the elected official know that you are in their election district, or the media person know that you listen to their programs. Make any changes you wish that more accurately express your own perspective and desires. But be clear and challenging--when it comes to attention from the media or politicians, nice guys always finish last and the squeaky wheel gets all the attention.
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A Test for Spiritual Progressives

Below you will find the Platform of the California Democratic Party. It has many wonderful elements that I'm sure you'll agree with. Yet it is very very far from having won over the support of the majority of Californians. So here's the TEST for Spiritual Progressives: What's NOT here that should be here to win people's excitement and support? We want to hear your answers.

Hint: you can read our Spiritual Covenant with America on our home page at www.spiritualprogressives.org and then compare with this document.

Is it just that they miss some particular program that we advocate? Or is there a spiritual vision--and if so, what would you specifically tell the Democrats about what they should have added (lets say you were creating a Spiritual Caucus within their political party--what would you want that caucus to say to the rest of the party about what they had left out and what language they should be using?)

For purposes of this test, lets rule out the following responses: 1. Americans are too stupid or evil (racist,sexist, homophobic,etc) to appreciate the wisdom of this platform (this is the elitist sentiment that gets so many Americans to feel angry and distant from the liberals and progressives even when they agree with our programs) and it runs directly counter to the central strategic insight of the NSP: that we need to find the rational core (inside the irrational shell) that leads smart and decent people to not respond to liberal and progressive politics because a set of legitimate needs they have are not addressed in what they hear from "the Left" 2. that if only we proposed a full socialist program they'd respond to us (since some sections of the Left have done that for the past 150 years without much success in the US) 3. that the Democrats are so dominated by the corporate interests that they will never respond to what is really needed (because when movements challenged the racism, sexism, and homophobia among Democrats they were able to elect people who opposed those diseases, and as a result the Democrats changed--at least at the level of state parties).

So, rule out those answers, and then take the test by reading the platform, reading our Spiritual Covenant with America, and then applying your own wisdom.

Is this pointless? No. We urge people to go to the political party of their choice (we don't align with any political party--we are a 501c-3 and not allowed to be partisan in that way) and go to your local state convention and create a "spiritual caucus" that will articulate the critiques of this that you write, and propose a way of approaching the issues that do embody a new consciousness capable of winning the hearts of many who have not yet been moved by any political party or force.

Send your analysis, critique, and your new formulations to RabbiLerner@tikkun.org ==and send a written version of them to John Burton, chair of the California Democratic Party at the address below.He is a very decent and smart guy, and might even be moved by what you say; or send to the chair of any other political party to which you are affiliated a comparable critique of their platform from the perspective of a spiritual progressive!

Challenging Corporate Power Training (April 5, 2010) 6:30 Frist Unitarian Church, on Franklin corner of Geary, San Francisco

If you miss that meeting and want to be involved, send Rabbi Lerner a note telling him what ways you'd be willing to be active. RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org. Otherwise, see you at our meeting at the First Unitarian Chruch on Franklin near the SW corner where Franklin intersects Geary Ave in San Francsico. On monday April 5 at 6:30 p.m.
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A Rational Health Care Plan

Although the plan below is the most rational plan suggested for American politics, it desparately needs to move beyond its technocratic discourse and include a moral frame and to highlight the actual desire of most people to care for each other and feel recognized and recognizing others, the frustration of this desire being at the root of much of the alienation and hopelessness that is experienced by many Americans.
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Petition to Obama, US Senators and Congressional Reps

Please print this out, circulate it to all your friends and contacts, use it as the basis for educating them to the NSP perspective on why NOT to be "realistic," and then ask them to sign it get their friends to sing it before returning it to us at our mail box address: Tikkun/NSP, 2342 Shattuck Ave #1200, Berkeley, Ca. 94708
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Protecting Immigrants through Civil Disobedience

Rev. Donna Schaper, the senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan, tells of one way in which spiritual progressives can take action to defend immigrants under assault in the Obama years. She should know--she is doing it with her congregants right now!!!