Today’s Messages

To our elected officials in Congress, the President, and the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency:  I believe nothing is more important that wise climate policy.  If we continue the destruction of our planet, nothing else will matter.  Planet problems may initially be eluded by the rich because they can afford to seek out oasis spots, but ultimately the air we breathe–good or bad–belongs to us all.  Without good air to breathe, we are done.  Yes, this sounds dramatic.  It is, and you have the power to rectify the environmental situation before it is too late.  If you don’t,  then it’s likely no one will be able to rectify the damage, because the time for constructive action will have passed.

To our elected officials in the Texas legislature and the Texas Governor:  In this legislative pause–a pause likely to be short-lived  instead of eighteen months–I am reminding myself of the importance of finding new qualified, willing candidates who will be champions for the people of Texas. We need these candidates to replace those who this session worked to undermine progress. Job one is to inspire such candidates to run for office. Such inspiration will come from demonstrating our tenacious willingness to stand behind such candidates with our votes, our get-out-the vote efforts, our campaign support, and our applause.  To be clear, the kind of candidate I’m looking for opposes SB 2–and instead chooses to leave local finances to local governments; opposes SB 3–and instead understands that a strong public school system which keeps public money in public schools and charts a course for overdue school finance reform is the key to our economic future; opposes SB 4–and instead understands that healthy immigration policies foster thriving communities where we work together for public safety, not against each other; and opposes HB 35–and all bills that shame people and restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare. I want candidates that understand that one person’s religious view doesn’t reflect another’s.  I want candidates that understand caring actions hold the power of our future. The kind of candidate I’m looking for would oppose irresponsible bills like SB 6 and be outraged that a public official would make a bill like this a signature of his agenda, a bill that maliciously targets transgender people, twisting this position to supposedly make it about “public safety and privacy”.  We have some good political officials in office now, but we need many, many more like them.  To that end, we need many more reasonable voters to become engaged with the future of Texas.  I, for one, want to stay the course and to help find such candidates and voters.