August 2011 RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call: Use the August Recess to Meet with Members of Congress

The RESULTS August 2011 RESULTS Domestic national conference call with some reflections on the budget deal from RESULTS Executive Director Joanne Carter. Joanne shared this excerpt from historian Howard Zinn's 2004 piece, The Optimism of Uncertainty:

It's clear that the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience--whether by blacks in Alabama and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union itself. No cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded that their cause is just.

I have tried hard to match my friends in their pessimism about the world (is it just my friends?), but I keep encountering people who, in spite of all the evidence of terrible things happening everywhere, give me hope.

An optimist isn't necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Guest speaker Melissa Boteach of Half in Ten: The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years then gave an overview of the debt ceiling deal and reviewed the great resources they've compiled, including their Road to Shared Prosperity storymap. That led to an overview of our August Action: Use the August Recess to Meet with Congress, and the importance of specifically pushing for Head Start and child care investments. We also heard from South Central Pennsylvania RESULTS volunteer Bruce Kessler about his recent opinion piece on how Head Start and other early childhood programs break the cycle of poverty in the Chambersburg Public Opinion, reviewed key parts of the RESULTS website, and briefly discussed how to broaden your advocacy through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to the August 2011 RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call: Use the August Recess to Meet with Members of Congress for all the details!