Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer-During Holidays We Celebrate Progressive Values
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:07:27 -0500 (EST)
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

During the Holidays  We Celebrate Progressive Values 

I was struck several days ago to hear Arizona’s Senator Jon Kyl  claim that 
the Democrats’ insistence on considering the new START nuclear  inspection 
treaty in the short time before Christmas somehow defiled the  holiday.   
Perhaps, I thought, Senator Kyl forgot for a moment that  Christmas 
celebrates the birth of the “Prince of Peace” – that the Christmas  story is about 
“Peace on Earth, good will to men.”   Could there be a better way to  
celebrate Christmas than to approve a peace accord that would reduce the risk of 
 nuclear war? 
Of course, this particular episode is actually emblematic  of the 
fundamental disconnect between the values held by Senator Kyl and many of  his 
radical conservative colleagues, and the progressive values that have served  as 
the very definition of human morality, freedom and progress. 
When you think of the heroes and heroines of American –  and World – 
history you think of the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther  King, Nelson 
Mandela, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Cesar Chavez, Robert Kennedy,  Mohandas 
Gandhi and Franklin Roosevelt. 
They are people who expanded the realm of human freedom  for everyone.  
They stood up for  everyday people – not the rich and powerful -- of their 
times.  They are the people who ended wars, not  those who began them.   They  
are the people who created mechanisms that help us avoid violence; who 
enhanced  the ability of every child – no matter her background or income -- to 
live a  fulfilling life; who stood up against ignorance and oppression and 
greed; who  understood that we’re all in this together –not all in this alone. 
Most of all they were people who believed that what is  important in life 
is what you can do for other people – not simply what you can  do for 
yourself. 
The progressive values that have always truly defined  human progress are 
about hope not fear; unity not division.   They are about mutual respect and  
loving your neighbor as yourself. They are the values that are celebrated  
in this holiday season. 
Let’s be clear: “Greed is good” is not being  celebrated at Christmas. The 
values of Ebenezer Scrooge do not define the  Christmas spirit – past, 
present or future.  More tax breaks for the top one percent  is not the moral of 
“A Christmas Carol.”    
The Right often characterizes progressive values as  “soft,” “utopian” 
and “naïve.”  But  the hard fact is that progressive values have not only 
defined human progress in  the past, they must prevail if human beings are to 
survive and prosper in  the world of the future.  Far from  being “pie in the 
sky,” “utopian” or “soft-headed,” progressive values are the  most 
precious, adaptive possessions of humanity – and they have provided the  moral 
foundation for the unfolding story of American democracy. 
The future of our society and our planet depends on our  ability to create 
a world that reflects those values.  And the growing power of our technology 
 – our new ability to destroy human civilization, or alter our climate – 
means  that we don’t have forever to get ourselves on the right track.   
A few years ago a planetary scientist named David  Grinspoon wrote a book 
called Lonely Planets, that explores the question  of extraterrestrial life – 
both basic biological life and intelligent sentient  life. 
Toward the end of his book, Grinspoon speculates on the  chances of 
survival for intelligent life in the universe.  He argues that every civilization 
of  intelligent creatures must pass through a gauntlet that tests whether the 
values  and political structures of the society are capable of keeping pace 
with the  exponentially increasing power of the society’s technology.  If 
its values and political structures  can keep pace with technological change, 
the society may pass into a phase of  enormous freedom and possibility.  If 
it does not, the power of its own technology will destroy it.  Perhaps, he 
postulates, civilizations  are like seahorses.  Many are born,  but only a 
few survive. 
For the first time, a little more than half a century  ago, human society 
entered that gauntlet.  The autocatalytic nature of technological growth 
reached a point of  takeoff that for the first time gave us the power to destroy 
ourselves and all  life on our tiny, fragile planet.  From that moment on, 
the race began. 
The next several generations of humans will decide how  that race turns 
out.  They won’t  simply observe it, or describe it; they will decide it.  
Whatever the future holds will be a  result of human decision for which we are 
all responsible. 
We will decide if we pass through that gauntlet or – like  our cousins the 
Neanderthals – become evolutionary dead ends.  We will decide if humanity 
passes into a  new era of possibility and freedom – or the human story simply 
ends. 
Progressive values are humanity’s most precious  possession. We must 
nurture them, fight for them, stand proudly for them, and  celebrate them now 
during the holidays – and in all the battles we face in the  coming year. 
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and  
author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on 
_Amazon.com._ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213241439&sr=8-1)  

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