Randy Shaw: After watching a documentary on Jim McKay and the success of Wide World of Sports, I think another reason predominates: the emphasis on the “human drama of athletic competition” distinguishes the Olympics from other entertainment events.
Progressives Wrongly Alarmed by Roberts’ ACA Decision
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Randy Shaw: I was astounded to see so many progressive commentators and legal scholars interpret Justice Roberts’ health care decision as creating the legal edifice necessary to rein in future government programs.
How to Stop Urban Violence and Drug Dealing
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Randy Shaw: What separates Kennedy from so many other anti-crime strategists is that he has been down in the trenches in some of the toughest neighborhoods in urban America and documents what works and what does not.
Activists Must Start Political Careers at Community Level
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Randy Shaw: Activists seeking political careers should follow the lead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who got his career rolling by running for Burlington mayor after losing statewide races
In Wisconsin, Money Wins
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Randy Shaw: Progressive activists get so focused on mobilizing their base that they overlook the intensity of their opponents’ base. And Walker’s base was motivated.
California Primary Election: Most Boring Ever
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Randy Shaw: Expect a record percentage of absentee votes next week, which might lead to calls to make June contests vote by mail only.
Big Tobacco and the Lessons of California’s No on Prop 29
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Randy Shaw: In a tribute to the success of the generic No campaign, a Public Policy Institute poll released May 23 found support for Proposition 29 dropping 14 points among likely voters since March.
What European Elections Should Teach Obama
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Randy Shaw: Europe’s lesson is that Obama should far more aggressively promote public investment, job creation, and other economically populist – and popular – measures.
The Biggest Impact of Lugar Primary Defeat
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Randy Shaw: Centrist solutions are what kept slavery going for decades, and what allowed Senators who backed Jim Crow laws to be treated as respected figures in the national press.
A (Long Overdue) People’s Guide to Los Angeles
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Randy Shaw: The book is as much a people’s “history” as it is a guide, as it provides ample background on key sites in the city’s struggles around race, sexuality, development and workers rights.
Occupy Must Expand Beyond Activist Hotbeds
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Randy Shaw: Corporations and national politicians serving the interests of the 1% will not feel compelled to change course unless major protests go beyond traditional activist centers to where much of the 99% live.
Romney’s Plan to Eliminate Affordable Housing Ignites … Silence
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Randy Shaw: The United States has the most homeless persons, and the most families living in unaffordable and/or unsuitable housing in the industrialized world, and yet their plight –even when linked to a major political news hook – is not deemed newsworthy.
Will May Day Protests Rejuvenate the Occupy Movement?
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Randy Shaw: My chief concern about Occupy’s future is that I do not see enough resources devoted to organizing new people to get involved.
France’s Le Pen No More “Extreme” Than Mitt Romney
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Randy Shaw: The U.S. media refuses to acknowledge that Romney and the Republican Party are “far-right” and “extreme” by both international standards and prior U.S. history.
America Heads Back to the Future
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Randy Shaw: Many white Americans yearn for the days when racism was not “an issue.” White attitudes toward George Zimmerman’s actions confirm this.
Republicans Double Down Against Occupy Movement
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Randy Shaw: In case you missed it, the Republican Party has unified behind a budget plan that provides massive new tax breaks for the wealthy while cutting student aid, Medicaid, and nearly every federally funded non-military program.
Cesar Chavez Day Recalls 50 Years of Struggle
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Randy Shaw: The 50-year period since Cesar Chavez set out to organize California farmworkers has seen a remarkable growth in Latino political power, electoral clout, and in unionized Latino workers, while the plight of farmworkers has gone backward since the UFW’s high point at the end of the 1970’s.
Romney Ignites Democratic Base
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Randy Shaw: Barack Obama’s campaign has lots of money, but there is no way it could match Romney’s success at getting this base to align with the President.
Supreme Court Set to End Affirmative Action in U.S. Schools
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Randy Shaw: In accepting a Texas case of a white student challenging racial preferences, the United States Supreme Court is again set to reverse decades of court precedents and impose its own conservative agenda.
Republican War on Birth Control Will Boost Democrats in November
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Randy Shaw: Considering that polls show that 99% of all women and 98% of Catholic women who have had sex have used contraceptives, Democrats should follow Senator Barbara Boxer’s lead and aggressively frame the November elections around this issue.
Occupy Oakland Takes Wrong Turn
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Randy Shaw: For all of its claims to represent the true democratic spirit of the 99%, it seems that once Occupy Oakland decides to close down a public facility or seize a public asset, that’s all the democracy it needs.
Occupy Movement Recharges for 2012
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Randy Shaw: The Occupy movement could greatly benefit from choosing a similar big target that could engage activists across the world.
As Feds Abandon Cities, Corporate Clout Grows
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Randy Shaw: The federal government’s slashing of funding for urban America has made all cities more dependent on corporate investment than at any time since the 1930’s, raising new challenges for urban progressives.
The Top 10 Best and Worst of U.S. Politics in 2011
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Randy Shaw: Occupy Wall Street’s emergence in September raised progressive spirits, as has the unexpected rise of Newt Gingrich as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. Here’s my list of the top ten best and worst political events that occurred across the nation in 2011.
Occupy Movement’s New Threat: Media Election Coverage
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Randy Shaw: The voters 2012 have heard it all before. Only Occupy offers something new, which is why its agenda of inequality and democracy for the 99% could become the key election issues next year.
Student Activists Deserve Our Thanks
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Randy Shaw: On this Thanksgiving week, the students risking physical harm and school discipline to demand greater social and economic fairness truly deserve the nation’s thanks.
Obama Continues Alienating Onetime Core Supporters
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Randy Shaw: I expect many Occupy supporters to spend time from Labor Day to Election Day in 2012 on statewide initiatives seeking to raise taxes on the 1% in order to fund schools and other vital needs.
Occupy Movement at the Crossroads
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Randy Shaw: Successful movements must be flexible enough to change tactics in the face of roadblocks, and activists’ camping in public spaces is not strategically necessary for the Occupy movement’s success.
Wal-Mart Heiress Opens Lavish Art Museum As Company Cuts Worker Health Care
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Randy Shaw: Alice Walton and her family have earned riches by denying workers adequate benefits and living wages. What the museum really needs is a large painting of a Wal-Mart worker suffering from unmet health problems,
Occupy Movement, Labor on Collision Course with Obama
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Randy Shaw: If President Obama and fellow Democrats agree to a deficit reduction deal that cuts Medicare, Social Security, and other programs serving the 99%, expect an electoral calamity for Democrats in 2012.
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