Linden-hills.com
Response to the prevous article on "Attainable We"
We love hearing from our readers and are thrilled to publish a recently received response. It is one of our goals to be a gathering place for discussion, reflection and debate. Please contact us if you have some thoughts on "Attainable We" or other topics. Thanks to Liz Lofgren in what we hope to be a first of many "dialogues" between our Linden Hills Readers.
Mikki Morrisette's essay on Sustainable We is really good.
Trump's core following has been touted by "we privileged people" as white men who don't have college educations. That way they can be easily dismissed as other than us.
The more groups we define as 'other,' the farther away we are from a classless society. The US has never been classless--not since Jamestown-- Jefferson's fabulous line "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," was exclusive to men of property--men who owned and bred slaves. Yet our hope is to achieve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone.
So I fell for that category of "white men." I had the feeling that it was wrong of me. So as a corrective I read "Hillbilly Elegy," by J.D. Vance --a memoir of his heritage and upbringing as a Hillbilly--a heritage of violence and dysfunction of those who settled in the hollers of the mountainous S.E. For all the dysfunctional addiction and feuding, Hillbilly values were honor (defended with knives and guns and beatings) and steadfast love. J.D managed to move way up in class with a Yale law degree. He transcended class. I've admired, studied and played Hillbilly music for many years. I've had Hillbillies at my house for parties. The lure of that music is powerful and raw--and what drew us citybillys to it was a rough authenticity.
I'm wondering how you younger people will make Linden Hills a Sustainable We Community. I think that's a great idea. Maybe Mikki and friends could start some discussion and outreach groups.
Liz Lofgren