Abby Kelley–Radical Woman
Posted: 23 March 2011 Filed under: Civil Rights, History, News, Observations, Professor's Classroom, Society | Tags: Feminism, Postaday2011, Radicals, Women, Women History, Women's Rights 10 Comments »College of Political Knowledge
Subject: American History/Women’s History
I try to do my part to educate the people on things that they may not think about or realize…..it is March and Women’s History month…..I also try to find people that have contributed to the making of this country and have not been given the respect that they deserve……and Abby Kelley is such a person…….
Abigail (Abby) Kelley was born in 1811 into a strict Quaker family…..being a female her education was that in Quaker schools….after her education was complete, as much as any woman could hope to obtain, she taught school and her road to radical feminism….she lectured and wrote about temperance, pacifism and anti-slavery…..she became more and more progressive while involved with abolitionists, but she not only lectured about freedom for slaves but also a full civil equality…she not only opposed war but also all forms of government coercion, as well as calling for equality for slaves she lead the talk on equality for women……
Her radical abolitionist views continually garnered her recognition as well as hatred even among her male comrades…they especially distanced themselves from her when she began lecturing to “mixed gender” audiences….this promoting many to pull away for her and her endeavors…..she was ridiculed and hated by many within the movement….
In 1838, Kelley began her speaking career and over the years she was criticized over her lectures to men…..she continued to lecture and to be a fundraiser for the cause of anti-slavery up until her death in 1887…her farm in Mass was labeled “Liberty Farm” and was a meeting place for reformers and radicals, as well as a stop on the Underground Railroad, a path for escape slaves to make it to safety and freedom…..she remained a staunch reformer and radical for equal rights for women as well as slaves until her death…
Abby Kelley was a cornerstone of radicalism in the US and she has not gotten as much respect as she deserved….for she played a major roll in the fight for equal rights…she like so many others, deserves more recognition that she has received….we Americans seem to forget that we owe radicals a large thank you for their work…for without them the country would not be the country it is today……
Thank You, Thomas Paine
Posted: 8 June 2009 Filed under: History, Politics | Tags: Historical Events, Personal Story, Radicals, Thomas Paine 2 Comments »We as a people and a country could NEVER thank this patriot enough for his contributions! He is truly the “Father of the American Revolution”.
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Thomas Paine (June 8, 1809). The English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, and intellectual. He lived and worked in Britain until age 37, when he emigrated to the British American colonies, in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contribution was the powerful, widely-read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), advocating colonial America’s independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and of The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series.
The strength of Common Sense was not in the originality of its ideas, but rather in the simplicity of its style.[ Paine was a pioneer in a new style of political writing suitable to the kind of democratic society he envisioned. Common Sense rendered complex ideas intelligible to average readers, with clear, concise writing unlike the formal, learned style favored by many of Paine’s contemporaries.
He was, in my opinion, the first blogger. He is also a largely forgotten Founding Father. History has not been kind to this extraordinary man. Without Paine’s input with his pamphlet “Common Sense” the revolution that the rich elite had started would have failed. Paine made it understandable to the masses, thus they became the power behind the revolution. He took the abstract theories and made them simple and easy for the normal colonial to understand. Without his capability of the written word all would have been lost in the revolt against England. All those wealthy land owners would have been hanged and the rule of the day would have stayed around for many more years.
When I was a young boy of about 12 years old, my grandfather gave me a copy of Common Sense, and to say that it changed my life would be an understatement. At first, it was just words, but as time moved on I started seeing what Thomas Paine was saying and from about 14 or 15 I became the radical independent I am today. His style of writing inspired me in my later years to try and write in a style where normal, average Americans can understand complicated political theories. I have refused to cloud things up with words no normal individual would use, that is Paine’s influence.
The United States cannot do enough to thank this patriot for his contribution to the establishment of this country. But for some reason he has been left out of the history books, with the exception of his “Common Sense”. I have even gone so far as to suggest that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence from notes given to him by Paine. I do not think that Jefferson was capable of writing such a document on his own.
On this day, the day of his death, all I can really say is THANK YOU, THOMAS PAINE! We owe you so much and gave you so little….I am sorry.
Does Ayers Equal Keating In The Media?
Posted: 17 October 2008 Filed under: Elections, History, News, Politics | Tags: McCain, Obama, Radicals Leave a comment »I was hoping by now that I would not have to address this subject too much more. But as usual I was mistaken at the stupidity of a political season.
The two stories are not at all similar. Obama has had passing contacts with Ayers over the years, mostly via the board of a small non-profit; Obama once held a fundraiser in Ayers’ house. (Ayers, who helped carry out a handful of nonlethal bombings in protest against the Vietnam War, is an academic in Chicago and well known in education policy circles. Federal charges against him in connection with the bombings were dropped in the 1970s.) The New York Times story that launched Ayers back into the media spotlight found that “the two men do not appear to have been close.”
It’s hard to describe McCain’s role in the savings-and-loan scandal as “peripheral”; as one of the Keating Five, he was a key player in the highest-profile political scandal connected to the financial disaster. Though a Senate investigation cleared McCain of serious wrongdoing (it did flag his “poor judgment”), McCain’s ties to Keating were well-established: He had received over $100,000 from Keating, had traveled on his private jet and had vacationed in the Bahamas with him; McCain’s family and Keating were also involved in a business venture together.
McCain has claimed for many years that the shame of the Keating scandal was what motivated his interest in campaign finance reform. But does that mean that the Keating history is off limits? Should reporters treat criticism of McCain’s conduct in the scandal as a low blow, given that more recent stories have suggested that the senator is still doing favors for influential constituents, lobbyists and contributors (New York Times, “A Developer, His Deals and His Ties to McCain,” 4/22/08; Washington Post, “McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer,” 5/9/08)?
There is an unfortunate tendency among campaign reporters to suggest “both sides” are equally at fault in situations like this. In this case, the McCain campaign’s accusation that Obama is friendly with a terrorist is considered somehow on par with Obama raising McCain’s political record on a matter of actual relevance.
For now Obama does not need to go there, McCain is doing a fine job of hitting his political thumb with the hammer of negativity. (damn that was good!)
Finally, They Got Around To Saul
Posted: 16 October 2008 Filed under: News, Political Theory, Politics, Society | Tags: Radicals Leave a comment »Saul Alinsky that is…..who is he, you will ask? If you listen to McCain and the conservatives he was a Marxist writer that set down some rules for a Marxist take over of society. Well that is a pipedream and an outright lie. Yes he was a writer, but he was also the father of modern community organizing. And we know what the McCain group thinks of community organizers, right? By labeling Alinsky a Marxist makes all Organizers look like Marxists. The Republican demonizing machine at its best.
With all the talk about this person or that I was afraid that McPalin would miss Alinsky. I am so glad to see that I was mistaken. In the last couple of days his name has made an appearance even on Monday Morning in an interview on MSNBC, Jon Voight, a McCain supporter made reference to Alinsky as a Marxist.
Alinsky is considered the father of community organizing, that is to get communities to act in organized self-interests. He was a critic of mainstream liberalism, but that does not make one a Marxist. In his book, the Rules For Radicals, Alinsky wrote:
“There’s another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevski said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution. To bring on this reformation requires that the organizer work inside the system, among not only the middle class but the 40 per cent of American families – more than seventy million people – whose income range from $5,000 to $10,000 a year [in 1971]. They cannot be dismissed by labeling them blue collar or hard hat. They will not continue to be relatively passive and slightly challenging. If we fail to communicate with them, if we don’t encourage them to form alliances with us, they will move to the right. Maybe they will anyway, but let’s not let it happen by default.”
The very first sentence is non-Marxist, for a Marxist would not work within the system, but rather by a working class revolution. Ayers may have been a “terrorist” back in the 60′s, but Saul Alinsky was no Marxist and should not be held in disdain because he showed the way for community organizing. Many, many organizers are from the Alinsky school, such as, Caesar Chavez, even the great Hillary Clinton was an admirer and we all know by now that Obama was also from the school.
To call Alinsky a Marxist is just the typical conservative ploy to lessen the individual of whom they talk. Once again the McCain camp is using tactics from the past. After all, it is the 21st century and time for the US to look to the future. It seems that Repubs are afraid of the future, they prefer to fall back on the tired policies of the past.
Saul Alinsky had a profound influence of the fight for social justice in the US. He should be remembered for that and not some made crap used to influence voters and win elections. Alinsky may have been a radical, but that does not make him a Marxist.
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