MOVING FORWARD SLOWLY, BUT MOVING

If the plan is moving forward, it’s fair to ask, “Moving forward from what?”

I was in traffic and saw a 1964 Ford Galaxy. That’s it in the image.

Spoiler: It was yesterday, not 1964, though I was a robust ten year old back then. By the time I was in high school the same Galaxy was rated ‘Cool Car.’ Especially in turquoise. With two doors. Hey Dan.

Do we want any more of 1964?

From a story titled ‘The surprising history of abortion in the United States‘ on CNN:

There was a time when abortion was simply part of life in the United States. People didn’t scream about it in protest, and services were marketed openly.

Drugs to induce abortions were a booming business. They were advertised in newspapers and could be bought from pharmacists, from physicians and even through the mail. If drugs didn’t work, women could visit practitioners for instrumental procedures. 

The earliest efforts to govern abortions centered on concerns about poisoning, not morality, religion or politics. It was the mid-19th century (1800’s), long before abortion became the hot-button issue it is now.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the estimated number of illegal abortions ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. 

Inspired by the civil rights and anti-war movements, the women’s liberation movement gained steam in the 1960s – and reproductive rights took center stage.

Moving forward today means fewer stealth judges proclaiming settled law and whatever else they’ve been coached up to say to land their appointment.

It should also mean fewer people with Michele Bachman Eyes.

All in favor say, “Aye.”

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No one wants a repeat of 1964, but the guy in the image is doing his best with a fresh lung dart heating up in his wheel-hand.

The landmark study of Smoking and Health from 1964 shows how far science has come.

Lung cancer was the leading cancer death before chemo was safer.

Covid shows how far we are from agreeing in basic health.

It all looks so oddly familiar today

It took a man like Lyndon B. Johnson to move the civil rights needle in 1964.

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, calling on U.S. citizens to “eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in America.” The act became the most sweeping civil rights legislation of the century.

The South had traditionally supported the Democratic Party, but became a Republican stronghold within 20 years of the act’s passage.  “I know the risks are great, and we might lose the South, but those sorts of states may be lost anyway,” said Johnson, a native Texan.

Where is Texas today with their Governor Abbott rolling back the clock? Shouldn’t a leader in a state rated in the second tier of education make better news?

It takes men and women in those same states to cower down to their last common denominator of their place in the world: their complexion.

This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

Moving forward with confidence

Baby boomers need to trust the future to the people who will live there, Millennials and Zoomers.

You know, young people, young adults, our kids. How many boomers helicopter their kids to vote on days like today, Oregon Primary Day?

How many of those kids are exceptional? All of them, right? Talented and Gifted and the stuff that comes next.

At least that’s a nice way to think of it.

I met two workers taking a break between knocking on door. They were talented and gifted.

He was Harvard on a break with a year and a half left.

She was a University of Pennsylvania grad. Just a couple of Ivy Leaguers out in the Oregon woods helping their guy Carrick Flynn.

Mr. Flynn is a tech guy advising the Biden Administration. My Harvard guy is taking a year off for tech work at Berkeley. I sense a theme. Did I just meet the next Bill Gates?

I gave them an earful of why their work was important, finishing what you start, and moving forward.

What I didn’t tell them was the evening I spent in Smokey Joe’s Cafe hanging out with guys who knew and played rugby with the team that cashed in the Andes.

Or walking down South Street and finding George Thorogood playing outside of J.C. Dobbs.

Or the year I did the Census Report and knocked on every door that the first census taker couldn’t finish.

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– I’m here with the census.

– I’ve already talked to you.

– That was the other guy, not me.

– Same thing.

– He didn’t finish the interview.

– I did.

– I’ve got a few lines to fill in. This is how federal money gets funneled into the communities. If there’s enough need, there is a response, and this shows need. It’s how English As A Second Language got started.

– I doubt than anyone else has an adopted child from Cambodia.

– Ma’am, you’ve given me enough information to nearly close this file.

– No I haven’t.

– Did you tell the other guy about your kids.

– No, and I’m not telling you.

– Yes, ma’am. All I’m asking for is a few minutes. Look, this is the form I’m working on. We can finish, or I can come back and talk to your neighbors. The idea is getting an accurate representation and you can help. Will you?

– Okay, what do you want to know?

This is one reason why moving forward takes extra time with some people.

Get started today.

Vote.