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Brava, once moreโ—๏ธ

You said it long ago.

You said it again & again.

You have said it well & truly.

All I can say is,

Yes, yep, ditto. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ

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Love this! Thank you!

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Well said piece, Ramona. I'm with you 100% on all of it, as a fellow Liberal - a Kennedy Liberal, a Kerry Liberal. Much to the chagrin of many, I think Liberalism will stay the course long past our time.

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Thanks. I'm rooting for Liberalism. All the way!

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Me too! Very proud to be a Liberal.

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Oh my God, Ramona I so miss Matt Santos. From my vantage here in Canada ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ my heart goes out to you.

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Thank you. We keep trying to send those bad rascals over to you but you've got enough sense not to take them. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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Ramona

I didnโ€™t see this post because for some reason I only get Writer Everlasting in my email and was unaware of this other Substack of yours

I only became aware of it because of your post today

I bet i am not alone in this

Best

David

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It makes it difficult when we have more than one Substack, since we can only use one with our avatar on Notes. I can switch it and I do from time to time, but I'm afraid that's confusing. Apparently a lot of people don't know that if they click on our avatar pic it'll show a broader bio.

Thanks for being here!

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๐Ÿ’ฅ Boom and mic drop! All of this is what I would like to say (straight faced) to my "all too" Republican family. Luckily I live states away. I think the beauty and the curse of liberals is we work behind the scenes and do not shout enough from the top of the mountains!

Thank you for laying it all out there. We will always have work to do...

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Yes, we do always have work to do. That's because we do the work. ๐Ÿ˜โค๏ธ

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No lies detected. Nothing controversial in this piece. I'm tired of being treated like a bad person for caring about others and our society and our democracy.

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You're not alone, Lorraine. It's time we spoke up, if only to tell others like you and me that we are here. We exist. And we number in the millions.

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Right on, sis.๐Ÿ’™

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๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’™

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Housekeeping: (1) We've been here before, Mona, and we're back: I didn't get this Constant Commoner in my inbox. I just went back and checked Spam, Trash, and Inbox. The last one I received was 12/31, your essay on using three names and the book you'll be writing. (2) I've made the same mistake, inadvertently forgetting to deselect the radio button relegating comments to paid subs only. In fact, in case you don't know -- if you get your post all situated, click the appropriate "For Everyone" buttons, but then go back and make one last edit, one or both of those buttons revert to the default setting. That's what happened to me. I'm still frosted about it.

Reflection: I don't know if it's the inherent cynicism of human nature, or fear of losing a place of status, but my take is that no one wants to believe that equity and kindness work. They're not not cunning enough. Not smart enough. Can't possibly work. But they do. They do!! And still, they're just :flaps arms: not enough!! No! We must have dominance. We must have war! We must have power!

It's exhausting. But we keep pressing forward, keep pressing forward, keep pressing forward. Thank you for being persistent. Thank you for knowing who you are.

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This is so on target Ramona!โœŠ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’™

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Yes. Exactly. Liberals need to be fiercely assertive of their Liberalism, against the reactionary right and the "revolutionary" (or revolution-lite) totalitarian-inclined left that stole the label "Progressive." (Teddy Roosevelt was called a progressive!) They haven't always been that. The disdain of the further left for Liberals (NOT, as you say, small-L liberals as in "classical liberalism"), is at least as old as the Russian Revolution, when the Bolsheviks were greater enemies of Kerensky and the Liberally inclined Socialist Revolutionaries than were the Tsarists. Though there will be practical alliances, current progressives do not share important fundamental values with Liberals and are not friends of Liberalism. Liberals need to be strong in their commitment to Liberalism. Like democracy, its the worst political philosophy we have, except for all the others.

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Jan 16Liked by Ramona Grigg

If you donโ€™t stand for something you will fall for anything.

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Great piece. I especially appreciate the comments on WWII, and would love to know more about your experience living through it, if it's something you're interested in writing about.

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Jan 17ยทedited Jan 17Author

Hi Jack, thanks for asking! I wrote a little about growing up during WW II in this piece.

http://bit.ly/4b3k3qe

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Been preaching this gospel for a LONG time! Thank you!

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One In The Struggle

Written 1985 during Willie Nelson's Farm Aid projects

I am a farmer, Iโ€™m trying to grow some food

Locked in a system that donโ€™t do me no good

They think Iโ€™m beneath them, like the dirt under my nails

I am a farmer, but my farm is up for sale

I am a worker making money for my boss

When times are good he profits, when theyโ€™re bad we take the loss

Weโ€™re treated like children: supervised all day

Iโ€™d quit in a minute, if I didnโ€™t need the pay

And the bottom line is greed and the

Bottom line is ignorance

and the bottom line is fear and the

Bottom line is power

And the bottom line is here and now

I have to realize

Weโ€™re all in this together

In the struggle to survive

We are one in the fight

To take control of our lives

We are one in the struggle,

We are one

Iโ€™m unemployed now

My job has taken flight

To some far country,

Where the workers have no rights

Iโ€™m deep in debt now

My insurance has expired

My wife is pregnant,

Some days I feel so tired

I am a refugee,

My country is at war

Itโ€™s the same old story,

The rich against the poor

And the rich get fatter on the

Lies the poor are fed

When I speak the truth,

They put a price upon my head

And the bottom line is greed and the

Bottom line is ignorance

and the bottom line is fear and the

Bottom line is power

And the bottom line is here and now

I have to realize

Weโ€™re all in this together

In the struggle to survive

We are one in the fight

To take control of our lives

We are one in the struggle,

We are one

I am a senior, living the golden yearsโ€“

The pride of the drug firms, theyโ€™re playing on my fearsโ€“

And theyโ€™re mining my pockets to line their own with goldโ€“

I am a senior, some days I feel so old

I am an Indian

I am an African

I am a woman

I am a homeless one

And the bottom line is greed and the

Bottom line is ignorance

and the bottom line is fear and the

Bottom line is power

And the bottom line is here and now

I have to realize

Weโ€™re all in this together

In the struggle to survive

We are one in the fight

To take control of our lives

We are one in the struggle,

We are one

https://youtu.be/GkPuwO_5cyQ

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Thanks Chandra.

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Thank you for this! KB

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That song is fabulous, Malcolm, and so is your singing. Wow! I looked for it on your Substack but couldn't find it. I would love to share it and restack it.

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Rah-Rah! Boo Yah!

Totally agree, Ramona!

When I was a young liberal, my dad called me a bleeding heart and a do-gooder. I said to him in my strongest, but respectful voice-clearly-

โ€œYou say that like itโ€™s a bad thing! All I want to do is help people!โ€ *It shut him up for once. 8-)

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LOL. That's always been my answer to 'bleeding heart', 'do-gooder', and of course up here, 'Bambi-lover'.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing." Great minds think alike!

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