The View From Tonto National Forest
Pictures and Politics
that’s tiny town of Roosevelt Az. below.
I’m now in Tonto National Forest on a ridge just above the tiny town of Roosevelt Arizona.
Incredible views. The map tells me that is the Salt River, but it looks too wide and more like a lake formed by a dam from here. We’ll have to check that out. [Update: It is Teddy Roosevelt Lake – very low water level, muddy, suspect high salt content, and loaded with brush along shore. Bouy did not enjoy his brief swim.]
Skoolie – should I name her “Climate Chaos” or “Green New Deal”? We need a logo!
Yesterday we walked along the Gila River in the Mescal Mountains, just southwest of here. Despite a low muddy flow (and just 6-10 feet wide), that is an awesome river, after a month in the desert. Bouy immediately went for a swim.
The Bus is a huge improvement over the van. I can stay in a place for 5-6 days and relax. Cooking meals is an incredible improvement, enabled by propane, stove, solar, and refrigerator. Milk in coffee! Scrambled eggs! Butter! No need to buy ice all the time to keep the beer cold in the cooler (beer, not water, is now my limiting factor).
And, to offset my prior book only reading capability, I managed to find a device that gives me Wi-Fi in the bus 24/7 and unlimited data. It cost $70/month, but it is well worth it in terms of reducing my costs (and carbon footprint) far more than that. Staying in one place reduces my gas costs, book purchases, and restaurants.
And I get Pacifica (KPFA), NPR, BBC news and music! So the Wi-Fi more than pays for itself.
On the political front, I just came across an excellent debate.
It’s somewhat old (in terms of publishing), and I was aware of Nancy Fraser’s analysis (i.e. “Progressive Neoliberalism”), but I was not aware that she was engaged and responded back in a 3 part debate in Dissent.
Here’s Fraser’s reply to her opponent – really good stuff and I agree with Fraser, who I find to have the most cogent analysis and valuable strategic advice (it has links to original and rebuttal):
In my view, the Sanders option remains the only principled and winning strategy in the era of Trump. To those who are now mobilizing under the banner of “resistance,” I suggest the counter-project of “course correction.” Whereas the first suggests a doubling down on progressive-neoliberalism’s definition of “us” (progressives) versus “them” (Trump’s “deplorable” supporters), the second means redrawing the political map—by forging common cause among allwhom his administration is set to betray: not just the immigrants, feminists, and people of color who voted against him, but also the rust-belt and Southern working-class strata who voted for him. Contra Brenner, the point is not to dissolve “identity politics” into “class politics.” It is to clearly identify the shared roots of class and status injustices in financialized capitalism, and to build alliances among those who must join together to fight against both of them.
The Dems must navigate these issues of race, sex, and class to defeat Trump – thus far, it looks like Sanders is doing a very good job of that. Bernie keeps the focus where it belongs: (Gilens and Benjamin)
“economic elites & groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”
Here’s another good piece, that focuses on the history of white identity politics, with great excerpts from DuBois:
“The race element was emphasized in order that property-holders could get the support of the majority of white laborers and make it more possible to exploit Negro labor,” Du Bois explained in Black Reconstruction, his magnum opus on the conditions of race and class in the U.S. following the Civil War. He added, “But the race philosophy came as a new and terrible thing to make labor unity or labor class-consciousness impossible. So long as the Southern white laborers could be induced to prefer poverty to equality with the Negro, just so long was a labor movement in the South made impossible.”
We done! Hope you made it this far. We’re back to our easy chair:
Help me, help me, help me sail away
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay
‘Cause I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime. ~~~ The Kinks
room with a view