Saturday,
October 18
1 – 3pm PDT
Pasadena
City Hall
100 Garfield Ave
Let’s meet at 1:00 pm on the east steps of the City Hall on Euclid.
Please RSVP—Jill Shook, jill@makinghousinghappen.org or 626-675-1316
We will walk from there to be part of the crowd. Please bring peace-loving signs.
This spring I wrote an article for "Friends Journal," a national Quaker publication, called "We the People Want No King" in which I talked about steps we can take to restore our democracy. Martin Kelley, editor of FJ, interviewed me soon after the article appeared. Here are the links:
"We the People Have No King": Friends Journal
"Standing with the Marginalized": Interview
I concluded my article by saying that we need a vision and a strategy to restore our democracy. This plan must be both spiritual and political. We need to transform our culture
from being individualistic and materialistic to being communitarian and life-affirming. As Dr. King declared:
“…we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing‐oriented” society to a “person‐oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered…True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice, which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth…A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”—“Beyond Vietnam” (April 1967)
People of faith can play a vital role in fostering this "radical revolution of values" by living our faith and sharing it with others.
We also need a progressive political agenda that as bold and as radical as Project 2025 and the time to start crafting it is now. We can’t simply be reactive; we need to be proactive. What I propose may seem impossible, but if progressive Democrats win the House and Senate and White House, these proposals will not only be possible but also necessary. To win this trifecta, progressive Democrats need a vision and a strategy, and a charismatic leader who can lead the party to victory.
The
Trump regime has radically changed the nature of the US government,
concentrating power in an autocratic presidency and transforming the Department
of Justice and the Supreme Court into its enabler. The goal of the MAGA
movement is to change the system to ensure permanent control of the nation. That’s
why MAGA movement defied norms to secure a majority in the Supreme Court and
thereby thwart progressive legislation for the next 20 years. A progressive
president should be as bold as the MAGA movement and institute radical changes
to restore and strengthen democracy. When progressive Democrats control both
houses of Congress, and there is a Democrat in the White House, I propose that
the following measures be taken:
1)
Pack
the Supreme Court with
five new members, all of them under 40, and encourage justices over 70 to
retire so they can be replaced by younger justices. Without this change, the
Trump Supreme Court will block any meaningful change in our system.
2)
Suspend
the filibuster. Urge
the Senator Majority leader to suspend the filibuster so these justices can be
approved.
3)
Path
to Citizenship for All Undocumented Residents. Issue an executive order granting citizenship to anyone
who has been living in the US for more than 7 years and has no record of
violent crime. Undocumented residents must pay a fine of $10,000 (payable in a
lump sum or over a five-year period in installments) and pass a citizen test to
qualify. This executive order can be approved by a simple majority of Congress if
the filibuster rule is suspended.
4)
Universal
nonpartisan redistricting.
States must appoint nonpartisan bodies to redistrict in a nonpartisan manner to
qualify for federal funds. They will have one year to institute this reform.
5)
Reform
the electoral college through proportional allocation
based on the popular vote in each state. (I.e. if a state has 20 electors, and
one party wins by 51% of the vote, then 11 votes will go to the winner and 9
will go to the loser.) This will end the
winner-takes-all approach used by most states to award electoral votes. States
that do not agree to this reform will not receive federal funds since the
current system favors voters in swing states and thereby discriminates against
voters in other states. This reform will also ensure that Presidents will be
elected by a majority of popular vote. (George Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in
2016 both were elected even though they lost the popular vote.)
6)
Cut
the military budget (currently
a trillion dollars) by 20% so that the funds can be used for universal free
health and college.
7)
Fully
fund the IRS to catch tax cheats.
The IRS estimates that it lost $600 billion in revenue in 2021 due to income
tax evasion.
8)
Increase
taxes on the rich to
reduce the deficit and fund much needed social programs.
9)
Restore
the child tax credit to
reduce poverty rate among children.
10) Raise the threshold for Social Security
payroll tax to
$500,000, thereby ensuring the solvency of SS for the next 50+ years.
11) Rehire federal workers laid off during the
Trump regime. Funding
for foreign aid will be restored.
12) Encourage Washington, DC, and Puerto
Rica to become states,
thereby adding 4 new Senators to Congress. This would require abolishing the
filibuster so that Congress can approve this reform.
13) Cut
subsidies to oil and gas and use them to subsidize green energy.
(This is a reflection I gave at ICUJP on 9/5/25)
As a Quaker, I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica because it’s the only nation on the planet to have abolished its military and has become a leader in peace studies and environmentalism. During our two-week trip, Jill and I had a chance to visit two important peace centers in Costa Rica, the Quakers in Monteverde and the University for Peace just outside of San Jose, the nation’s capital. We also had a wonderful visit with Grace Dyrness, one of the founders of ICUJP, and a giant of justice and peace. An activist as well as an academic, Grace takes after her remarkable grandmother, Susan Strachan, a missionary/nurse/educator who went to Costa Rica in the 1920s with her husband Henry. In 1929 this dynamic couple founded the Clinica Biblica, which became the major private hospital in Costa Rica. Grace lives in the suburbs of San Jose with her husband Bill, a retired Fuller Seminary professor. She took us on a tour of the University for Peace that I will never forget. I could easily take an hour to describe these amazing experiences, but I will limit myself to seven minutes.
As I mentioned, Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 following a brief civil war. This was a smart move since the military in Latin America is usually used to defend dictators rather than the people. As a result of not having a military, Costa Rica has had a stable democracy and a “peace dividend” it has invested in education, health care and the welfare of the people. It has one of the highest living standards in Latin America and scores high on the happiness index.
I don’t want to suggest that Costa Rica doesn’t have problems. There is a lot of corruption, and an influx of drugs and crime and immigrants struggling with poverty, but the overall situation in Costa Rica seems far better than in most of Latin America, or the United States.
We loved getting to know the people of Costa Rica, whose favorite expression is “la pura vida,” meaning literally the “pure life.” They use this phrase to greet you and to express gratitude.
We visited the Quakers in Monteverde who are few in number but are widely known and respected. This small Quaker community was founded in 1951 by a group of eleven Quaker families from Alabama. Four young Friends had been jailed for refusing to serve in the Korean War and the families were seeking somewhere they could live in peace. They went to Monteverde and established a dairy farm, a cheese factory, and a thriving school.
In 1983, at a time when many Central American countries were torn apart by war, Costa Rica declared its permanent neutrality. At this time, the Quakers established the Centro de Amigos para la Paz (CAP), a peace center in San Jose, to protest the human rights violations in neighboring countries.
In the 1990s, with the support of Quaker Earthcare Witness, a network of American Friends, Monteverde Quakers worked with the local community to establish Finca la Bella community farming project in the San Luis Valley, an area where the land had traditionally been held by a few wealthy landowners. Monteverde Friends have also been deeply committed to the preservation of nature.
We attended a meeting for worship in a meetinghouse which members built themselves. It has huge windows that provide lovely views of the surrounding rain forest. After worship, we met with Friends and talked about affordable housing. The lack of affordable housing is an urgent problem in Costa Rica in part because foreigners buying up homes and properties have caused property values to skyrocket. We brainstormed about possible solutions and shared about our work.
Most of our trip involved enjoying the natural beauty of Costa Rica---visiting a chocolate and coffee farm, zip lining over the rainforest, snorkeling amid the tropical fish, kayaking through the jungle, nature hikes through the rain forest and up the slopes of volcanoes, watching giant green sea turtles lay their eggs under a cloudy night sky. We saw monkeys, frogs, Jesus Christ lizards (a kind that run on water), iguanas, caimans (a kind of alligator) and of course, the national mascot of Costa Rica, the sloth.
We also had an interesting experience at a restaurant called Avion in the Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast. This restaurant is built around an airplane with a fascinating history. This C-123 cargo plane was stuck in San Jose in the 1980s after the US government purchased it to be used by the Contras. When its purpose became known, the Costa Rican government confiscated it. A restaurant owner purchased it for $3,000, shipped it to Manuel San Antonio, and built a restaurant around it. There is a bar in the cargo hold and you can climb into the cock pit. Instead of turning swords into ploughshares, this clever Costa Rican entrepreneur turned a war plane into a bar. La pura vida!
During the final Friday of our trip,
Grace arranged for us to go to the University for Peace with her step brother, Fernando Zumbado, former Costa Rica Housing Minister.
Under Fernando’s watch, the government
built 400,000 units of affordable housing. He also helped to start the
University for Peace. It was established as a treaty organization by
the United
Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral,
and executive
programs related to the study of peace
and conflict, environment
and development, and international law.
It also encourages research and has produced an impressive array of
publications.
We were taken on a tour of the University
by its current director, Dr. Francisco Rojas Aravena. He was first elected
in 2013 and secured a second term in 2018. He took us around the campus and
explained the history and activities of the University. Its headquarters are
located in a natural area near Ciudad Colón,
Costa Rica. However, the university also has a presence in other countries,
notably Somalia and the Netherlands. UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, who
received the Nobel Peace Prize. Annan, encouraged the University for Peace to go
global and reach out to Africa and other parts of the world.
The University for Peace has a total of over 7,000 alumni from more than 120
countries, with 65% being women. It also has an interfaith component. The
Jewish World Congress, the Vatican, and the World Muslim League all provide scholarships.
It was encouraging to see so many bright,
enthusiastic young people from around the world attending classes on this idyllic
campus. And many more attend online classes.
I think it would be worthwhile having a whole Friday Forum devoted to the work
of the University for Peace. Maybe invite one of the professors to speak to us. With
so much going so wrong in our country, and in the world, it is important to
know more about what people are doing to pursue peace and “la pura vida.”
ICUJP has held over 1,000 forums over our 24 years of existence, from our home at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, to now meeting virtually on Zoom.
This week, instead of an online forum, we are asking all of ICUJP's members on this July 4th holiday to focus on the activism and perseverance that each of us is being called to display at this time in history.
ICUJP's Chairperson, Steve Rohde, has had a piece reprinted in the LA Progressive titled “A New Declaration of Inter-Dependence”. This piece written in 2005 is reprinted today with a new preface by Mr. Rohde:
I wrote the following Declaration of Inter-Dependence 20 years ago, on July 4, 2005, as a member of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. My purpose then was to condemn the lawlessness of President George W. Bush. Today I was inclined to update it by removing the references to Bush and replacing them with a description of the lawlessness of President Donald J. Trump. Instead, I have decided to publish it as it was, without changing a single word. I want it to stand as a testament to the reality that Trump and his ilk are not some aberration in American history. I also want to remind us that when we fail to hold presidents like Bush accountable, we set a dangerous precedent and invite further abuses of power.
...The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence declares that Governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” No power that a Government purports to exercise is just unless and until the people have consented to grant that power to the Government. Consequently, Governments are not sovereign; they are not free to exercise any and all powers they choose, contrary to the will of the people. This fundamental principle would be reaffirmed thirteen years later in the Constitution and then in the Bill of Rights. It must be reaffirmed today as the Trump Administration attempts to exercise powers, domestically and internationally, to which neither the people nor their elected representatives have consented.
Today, as has been true throughout our history, the defense of democracy must be driven by the power of the people. Yet again We the People cry out “No Kings!”
You can also view a reading of the speech here delivered by five of Frederick Douglass' descendants:
“No Vigilante Act,” also known as Senate Bill 805, is a proposed California
law aimed at strengthening identification requirements for law enforcement
officers, particularly during immigration raids, and preventing impersonation
of law enforcement. It would require law enforcement officers to display
identification (name or badge number) and would authorize law enforcement to
request identification from anyone claiming to be law enforcement if there is
reasonable suspicion of impersonation or a safety concern. Additionally,
it would prohibit bounty hunters from engaging in any form of law enforcement
activity. Contact Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) to express your
support.
GLENDALE
OFFICE PHONE
GLENDALE
OFFICE ADDRESS
601 E. Glenoaks Blvd. Suite 210 Glendale, CA 91207
To contact elected officials in Washington calling on them not to fund mass deportation, you can use the websites below which enable you to email your elected officials on a wide range of issues from immigration to humanitarian aid to Gaza, protecting foreign assistance, opposing the “big, beautiful bill” (that will gut social programs to provide massive tax cuts to the rich), reducing military spending, etc.
https://www.umcjustice.org/what-you-can-do/take-action-2025
More things you can do:
1. Visit Adelanto Detention Center. Join faith-based groups that are visiting. To find out more, contact Anthony at interfaithquaker@aol.com
2.
Support
NDLON’s Immigrant Defense Fund. Through
the Immigrant Defense Fund, NDLON is summoning individuals, lawyers, advocates
and artists to the job of shielding immigrants from unjust arrest and
deportation, from labor abuses and discrimination and other forms of
oppression. We
are helping local communities and neighborhoods build webs of mutual support.
We are supporting litigation and legal defense, raising immigrants' profiles
and pressing the urgency of rescuing America's professed ideals — inclusion,
tolerance, democracy — from this path of self-destruction. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/idf2024
I gave this reflection at ICUJP today, and will be leading an adult study on this topic at Orange Grove Meeting on Sunday. Jill will be preaching at the First United Methodist Church this Sunday. Her topic: "Lady Wisdom and the Call to Housing Justice. We helped start a peace and justice committee at the Methodist Church that is thriving. We're pleased to be activists in two faith communities, the Methodists and Quakers, that have been working together for social justice for over 200 years!
“We the
People Have No King”:
What We Can Do to Preserve Democracy
The Bible makes it clear that it was not
God’s intention that people be ruled by a king. According to 1 Samuel 8-21, the
Israelites went to Samuel (a judge, soon to become a prophet) asking for a king
so they could be like other nations. Samuel warned them of the dire
consequences of having a king rule over them (such as war, exploitation, excessive
taxation), but the people insisted, and God reluctantly granted their request.
For the next 600 years, the Israelites were ruled mostly by bad kings, finally
culminating in the destruction of Israel and the Babylonian captivity. God also sent prophets to hold kings
accountable, to remind them to show mercy, practice justice and be faithful to
God’s commandments, especially to care for the poor and immigrants. That has
been the role of prophets to this day.
Prophets are needed now more than ever. We
are living at a time when 49.8% of Americans voted
for a would-be king, a man who said he would be a dictator on Day 1 if elected,
and who seems intent on ruling like an autocrat. On February 19, 2025, he even posted about
himself on Truth Social: “LONG LIVE THE KING!” This message was reinforced when
the White House recirculated it on Instagram and X with an illustration of Trump wearing a crown
on a cover resembling Time magazine. The founders of our nation, who
risked their lives to oppose kings and tyranny, must be rolling over in their
graves!
Trump has made his autocratic intentions clear. He
is aggressively seeking to take control of schools, universities and the media
and crush any form of dissent. He has attacked our legal system, ignored the
Supreme Court and cowed many major law firms into doing his bidding. He is
sending the National Guard and Marines into our city. Finally, he is planning an
immense military parade in Washington DC to commemorate his birthday.
Millions of Americans have taken to the
street to protest. Quakers in the Pacific Northwest recognized the need to be
prophetic, with these compelling words: “We are called to live in the
brave faith that our prophetic voice is the most powerful force available to us
in our times.”
What can we do individually and
collectively to be a prophetic voice for our times?
Here are some ways we can demonstrate a
brave faith:
1)
Support
organizations that are resisting assaults on our democracy like the ACLU and FCNL
makes is super easy to write our elected officials simply by going to www.fcnl.org/act . They are our best defense until
voters choose candidates who support democracy.
2)
Support
progressive leaders who are launching a “fight the oligarchs” campaign. Rallies
are what galvanized the Maga movement. When I go to rallies and see thousands
of like-minded protesters, I feel a surge of hope and I strongly suspect that those
in power feel uneasy (though they are loath to admit it). Tesla profits have dropped
71% since January, 2025, in large part because of protests. The documentary The
Madman and Movement, produced by Quaker Robert Levering, shows that when
millions protested in 1969, President Nixon gave up his plan to use nuclear
weapons to subdue North Vietnam. In the Commons: Social Change website George
Lakey has documented 40 cases in which mass movements have toppled
dictatorships nonviolently. Those in power want us to feel we are powerless,
but when we the people are united, we can overcome. Si, se puede!
3)
Stand in solidarity with those who are under
attack: the LGBTQ+trans community, immigrants, the disabled, federal workers,
and people of color.
4)
Choose
to be joyful. Sing. Dance. Rejoice. Even if you feel discouraged or depressed! Freedom
songs helped empower people during the Civil Rights and the anti-war movements
of the 1960s. Take to heart the
words of Dr. King: the struggle for a new world is long and bitter, but also
beautiful!
To act collectively and effectively, we need a vision. The far-right movement
has a vision, embodied in Project 2025 and Project Ester; and they also have a
plan to implement their vision. That’s why they are effective. As progressive
people of faith, we need a vision for the kind of future we seek, and we need a
plan for making this vision a reality. The Bible says, “Without a vision the
people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). The crucial question for us at this critical
time is: What is our vision, and how can we come together to realize it?
***
I am thrilled that young Quaker adults at Orange Grove Meeting have organized this and I plan to attend. I also plan to attend the "No Kings" event in Pasadena which will take place on the corner of Colorado and Lake Ave from 2:00-4:00 pm.
