The One Percent and the 99 Percent
It would be difficult to spend ten years working with drug addicts and ex-convicts and homeless people and undocumented immigrants and single mothers and unemployed fathers, without developing more of a social conscience and feeling more of a sense of solidarity.
Almost a year and a half of reflecting and running and volunteering has cleared my head. My politics are more balanced and more moderate, which (for me) means more “liberal,” and I believe that most Americans are more moderate than either political party, too.
At the national level, our leaders are partisan, and they are beholden to special interests. Our politics are polarizing, and our parties occupy the extremes, rather than the center.
At the local level, where I worked for thirty years, most of our leaders are good people, who really try to do the right thing and want to help their communities. In my experience, most of them work hard to balance economic considerations and social concerns.
Our President and Congress can learn a thing or two from our mayors and councilmembers.
