Readers Respond

A NOTE ON LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We welcome your responses to our articles. Send letters to the editor to letters@tikkun.org. Please remember, however, not to attribute to Tikkun views other than those expressed in our editorials. We email, post, and print many articles with which we have strong disagreements because that is what makes Tikkun a location for a true diversity of ideas. Tikkun reserves the right to edit your letters to fit available space in the magazine.

RE: STRATEGY FOR PROGRESSIVES

I've read Michael Lerner's strategy for dealing with the new political situation we face. Yes, working people in all of their diversity are allies and have much in common when it comes to basic values, vulnerabilities, and wishes for a better life. Respect, not disdain, can bring us together to change the world. Yet, how do we translate our underlying values into actions that address the very real and immediate issues in people's lives?

Democratic socialist Michael Harrington argued that we on the left should build "the left wing of the possible within the Democratic Party." That still strikes me as good counsel. Political power in the US is transacted through the electoral system of mainstream parties and the state, and if we are to be effective, we'll have to engage with that system.

It's worth keeping in mind also that there are many progressive Democrats in Congress and state legislatures, and if we roll up our sleeves and get to work, there will be more. Together, we have the capacity to bring an end to repressive mechanisms such as voter suppression, gerrymandering, and Citizens United.

If more spirit-minded folks were willing to work within the Democratic Party, then who knows what can be done to carry out the specific strategic recommendations made in the pages of Tikkun? This might be a good time to form "Sister Democratic Clubs" and "Sister Cities" linking red and blue districts and advocating for the humane vision that Tikkun elaborates. There are already groups in existence that are devising nationwide collaborative strategy of this kind, e.g. The Sister District Project and Swing Left.

The sister city concept encourages people-to-people relationships that link a city council, religious congregation, Democratic club, or professional association to its counterpart in another city. Sister Democratic clubs, for example, could work out principles of unity that reach beyond the Party Platform in support of the creation of a fundamentally better social order than the one we inhabit today. These principles will of course draw upon the spiritual values of openness and generosity. This is one way in which grassroots activism could reshape the entire Party.

—Raymond Barglow, Berkeley

Dear Rabbi, I am one of your subscribers and I have been reading you for years. I am female, African and a Christian. I agree with you that we should de-emphasize our differences and obey all the holy books which speak of love. God is love, please keep up your good work.

—Hon. Justice Nogi Imoukhuede, High Court Judge, Nigeria

Tikkun magazine is …

… a vehicle for spreading a new consciousness. We call it a spiritual progressive worldview. But what is that?

What Do You Mean by "Spiritual"?

You can be spiritual and still be an atheist or agnostic. To be spiritual, you don't have to believe in God or accept New Age versions of spirituality. You don't need to give up science or your critical faculties. We use the word "spiritual" to describe all aspects of reality that cannot be subject to empirical verification or measurement: everything pertaining to ethics, aesthetics, music, art, philosophy, religion, poetry, literature, dance, love, generosity, and joy. We reject the notion that everything worthy of consideration to guide our personal lives and our economic and political arrangements must be measurable.

What's a Spiritual Progressive?

To be a spiritual progressive is to agree that our public institutions, corporations, government policies, laws, education system, health care system, legal system, and even many aspects of our personal lives should be judged "efficient, rational, or productive" to the extent that they maximize love...