Belated Resolutions
I know it's not January 1. But I just found this list of 9 New Year's resolutions for the Left from Katha Pollitt at The Nation and it's dead on. These are the kinds of things that it does one well to hear at any time. Here are my four favorites; you can read the rest here.
4. Don't think your lifestyle can save the world. I love slow food! I cook slow food! I shop at farmers' markets, I pay extra for organic, I am always buying cloth bags and forgetting to bring them to the supermarket. But the world will never be saved by highly educated, privileged people making different upscale consumer choices. If you have enough money to buy grass-fed beef or tofu prepared by Tibetan virgins, you have enough money to give more of it away to people who really need it and groups that can make real social change.7. Be honest. Withdrawing from Iraq may be the right thing to do, but it won't mean peace, at least not for the Iraqis.
8. Stop treating race and gender and sexual orientation as annoying distractions from the big manly task of uniting America behind class politics. Like it or not, women, gays and people of color make up something like 80 percent of the population. Get used to it! Discrimination--whether it's racial resegregation or denial of reproductive healthcare or antigay legislation--is not some touchy-feely issue of "identity politics." It's a central feature of the social injustice we all claim to be fighting.
9. Have some fun. Party like it's 2007!