tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234893332012-01-27T14:09:44.899-08:00Pro·gres·sive: moving forward, advancing, promoting better conditions or new policies. Cog·i·ta·tion: thoughtful consideration. My name is Brian Solomon. I live in Madison, WI. Please note, this is the most infrequently updated blog in history. Check out my websites, below, to learn more about my campaign for City Council and my book, Sequestered (Goblin Fern Press, 2005). For more of my writing, check out the "In the News" section of my campaign website.B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-59415917151361792532008-03-29T13:54:00.000-07:002008-03-29T13:55:24.467-07:00

There seems to be a growing opinion that Barack Obama is all talk and no more. As a longtime community organizer, a Harvard Law School graduate, the former editor of the Harvard Law Review, a state senator, and a US Senator, one would think most people would recognize the likelihood that there is some substance behind the speeches.However, if that is not sufficient to convince you, I offer you

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-49851873084590064162007-03-29T07:39:00.000-07:002007-03-29T07:40:51.932-07:00

I’ve been reading recently about Downtown Madison, Inc. (DMI) and the failure of their organization to make an endorsement in the Mayor’s race. I wanted to respond to this criticism as a candidate for City Council who recently went through their interview and endorsement process. Entering this race, I was completely unprepared for the number of questionnaires, interviews, forums, and

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-44172483561259729952007-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:002007-02-17T18:42:26.661-08:00

It had been less than 24 hours since we’d finished unpacking from our trip to Minneapolis, and here we were, repacking the unfathomable, ridiculously immense pile of stuff necessary for our five-day trip to St. Louis. I paused to consider this pile that was stretching skyward and wondered how two adults, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old could possibly need this much. I shrugged it off,

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1169669892364172492007-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:002007-01-24T12:18:12.366-08:00

I first met Austin King during the sick leave debate. I was a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the lead committee on this proposed ordinance. I knew of him, of course, but had never actually met him. He talked to the EOC about why sick leave was an equal opportunity issue. I had some questions, so pulled him aside afterward. Here is the President of the Madison City Council,

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1169669570794021842007-01-24T12:11:00.000-08:002007-01-24T12:32:52.560-08:00

It is a rare moment when I find myself in agreement with Juliane Appling, President of the Family Research Institute. In fact, I can't think of a single occasion. Until now. In a January 18 article in the LA Times, Ms. Appling was interviewed regarding her opinion of the recently passed supplement to the oath of office, allowing Madison officials, after taking the oath, to vocalize their

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1160885277754045602006-10-14T21:04:00.000-07:002006-10-14T21:07:57.770-07:00

Fifty three percent is such a modest number. Just barely more than half; just a slight majority. It represents dramatic improvement over what likely would have been a much higher number just a decade ago. Which makes me wonder. Are we forcing a vote now, on gay marriage and on reinstating the death penalty, not because of our fear of activist judges, but because of our fear that the tide is

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1156481832038346562006-08-24T21:45:00.000-07:002006-08-24T21:57:12.056-07:00

"Ignore them, they'll go away.""It's not my problem." "What can I do?" "It's none of my business." We use statements like these to justify our consistent lack of action. We close our eyes to a theftoccuring in front of us, silence our ears to the domestic abuse going on in the upstairs apartment, and seal our hearts to a billion impoverished people.

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1146175494710521062006-04-27T15:01:00.000-07:002006-04-27T15:04:54.723-07:00

My rage increases around election time, but it's really not limited to November. I know I am not alone in bemoaning our nation's two party system on an almost daily basis.Most of us, of course, identify ourselves as Republicans, Democrats or independents, but the reality is that our two main parties can seldom encapsulate who we are and what we believe. I have Republican friends who can't stand

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1146020764768620842006-04-25T19:46:00.000-07:002006-04-25T20:19:38.486-07:00

I'm off the shuttle bus less than ten seconds before I remember how I can loathe and love this city so much in the exact same moment. Washington DC represents, possibly more than any other place on earth, the vast extremes of the human condition. Within its borders reside the most powerful people in the world, and the most powerless. The richest and the poorest. The most hopeful and the most

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1145223707004867092006-04-16T14:20:00.000-07:002006-04-17T11:05:10.206-07:00

I received an interesting spam email the other day, indicating that the end of American democracy is upon us. It began with an Alexander Tyler (Scottish history professor) quote from 1787 regarding the fall of Athens."A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1144819325503847062006-04-11T21:14:00.000-07:002006-04-14T20:05:15.586-07:00

On April 10, 2006, ten thousand Latinos and supporters marched on the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison to protest HR 4437 and other anti-immigrant legislation currently working its way through Washington and dozens of statehouses throughout the US. This has become a predictably partisan issue, with those on the left screaming "racism" and those on the right screaming "law breakers."There is some

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1143584473263071042006-03-28T14:19:00.000-08:002006-03-30T19:21:18.123-08:00

It is a well-known and well documented strategy of those in power to keep the masses in a constant state of fear. This is nothing new. However, we seem to be approaching an era of such mass paranoia that I wonder whether we'll ever be able to actually recover. The most recent manifestation of this crushing reality was initiated on September 11, 2001. Since that day, we've been terrified of

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1142089376707599292006-03-11T07:01:00.000-08:002006-04-25T20:12:26.863-07:00

Several years ago, I wrote that “we are in the midst of a blip in a century that saw civil rights, suffrage, worker rights, and the environmental movement blossom. A century that created Social Security, Head Start, the National Park System, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Clean Air Act.”The 20th Century was so wrought with dichotomy. It witnessed two world wars but also the most positive

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141703273825285492006-03-06T19:44:00.000-08:002006-03-06T19:47:53.830-08:00

The Democratic Party is in serious trouble. The 2000 and 2004 elections were extremely close, but I do not think our current reality can be measured in those terms. There are a few simple facts that cannot be denied:We have lost the South. Southern Democrats were never really Democrats anyway, but now they are outright hostile to the party. It does not matter if our candidate is from there or

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141702443172671202006-03-06T19:29:00.000-08:002006-03-06T19:34:03.176-08:00

Five young African American kids look up, mostly uninterested, as I climb the hill toward the porch stoop on which they sit. It’s 10 am, Saturday morning. One of the first great days of spring, it’s sunny and clear, in the mid 50s. There are two girls, three boys, and a dozen pieces of broken glass strewn about the grass on which they play. I say hello and they say hi back. A young woman, maybe

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141702075956876142006-03-06T19:26:00.000-08:002006-03-30T19:22:14.090-08:00

I think about people who allow certain aspects of their religion to guide their beliefs at the exclusion of all else. Those who would cling with indomitable vigor to their positions and cloak themselves in their absolute conviction that God is on their side. Those who are absolutely positive that gay marriage and abortion are more important to God than war, poverty, and the death penalty. We are

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141621218060661662006-03-05T20:49:00.000-08:002006-03-30T19:25:04.220-08:00

Leo Tolstoy said, "A vegetarian diet is the acid test of humanitarianism."It is an interesting concept, that of connecting the food we eat to morality. When we look at it from an individualistic point of view, which is what we pretty much do, it’s easy to just make the choice – to eat meat or not to eat meat. Because, like most other things, what difference does ONE person really make?Like all

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141620532085983722006-03-05T20:46:00.000-08:002006-03-05T20:48:52.086-08:00

Invoking yet another "eventually we'll tire them out" strategy, the religious right and their pandering mouthpieces (Fox News, et al) have now managed to turn the Constitutional right for religious freedom into an assault on Christmas. This is really pretty simple: Courthouses and Capitol buildings represent the citizens of the state and nation in which they reside. The dollars to construct,

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23489333.post-1141620345430689312006-03-05T20:43:00.000-08:002006-04-25T20:14:44.960-07:00

March 6th, 1930. It probably doesn't ring a bell for most of us. I have to admit, it wasn't ringing a bell for me. 75 years ago seems like another world. A postage stamp cost two pennies. It was the year Pluto was discovered. A man named Clarence Birdseye put his frozen food on sale in a store in Massachusettes. The Great Depression had just begun. Unemployment shot to 25% and much of America

B4Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06673753686220312173noreply@blogger.com0