The Pope and the billionaires. I have not seen too much news coverage of this, but Pope Francis met earlier this month with some of the world’s wealthiest business people. The Fortune-Time Global Forum, convened in Rome by Time and Fortune magazines, focused on the Pope’s call for a fundamental renewal of the global economic […]
Love and Public Policy
I recently attended a convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont with the theme “love heals.” The convention highlighted the work of Magdalene and Thistle Farms, located in Tennessee, and its amazing founding director, the Rev. Becca Stevens. According to its website, “Thistle Farms is a powerful global community of women healing from prostitution, trafficking and […]
Preserve the CFPB!
I have mentioned the great work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the past, but it needs to be highlighted again. It is extremely important to note that this government agency works for you! Here are some of the successes that the CFPB (the brainchild of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren) has had on […]
Helping Small Businesses Succeed: Initiatives from the Left
November 26, 2016, has been designated “Small Business Saturday.” This is a good time, then, to contemplate an area where both conservatives and liberals/progressives can probably agree: small business is extremely important to the US economy. How to support small business, however, is often a sticking point. While conservatives might argue that the “government needs […]
Voting, Here and There
Now that we’ve voted… Or at least some of us have voted. Many Americans, once again, stayed home; the latest statistics reveal that only about 52% of eligible voters exercised their right. (That’s the lowest turnout in two decades – very sad…) Many Americans may have felt intimidated because of the many attempts at voter […]
What’s next?
What a stunning election result! I guess we will need to wait and see what a Donald Trump presidency will look like, especially if he is backed up by a Republican Congress, but as a person of faith and supporter of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, I will attempt to remain positive, hopeful, and helpful. […]
The Southern Poverty Law Center on the Alt-Right
“Alt-right,” a new term that has gained traction in the current election cycle. Short for “alternative right,” it has most recently been especially linked with Donald Trump’s newest campaign CEO, Steve Bannon. Bannon has been chair of Breitbart News, a conservative media group that promotes ideas more extreme than mainstream conservatism. “. . .[W]ith the […]
The Problem of Hyperindividualism and its Impact on American Life
“Hyper” – from the Greek “huper,” meaning over, beyond. “Individualism” – the stance or philosophy that values the moral worth of the individual as well as independence and self-reliance. In the US, individualism generally has a positive meaning and often (or at least should) lead to the development of each person’s fullest potential. Hyperindividualism, on the […]
First Anniversary!
One year ago, I posted my first blog on WisdomWordsPPF.org! I thought I would provide a review of the topics and topic areas, to give new visitors a feel for what I have been covering and to help sporadic visitors to get caught up. (Note that there are overlaps in the following selections.) Posts on […]
Thecla, Paul and the Prehistoric Goddess
What do Chicago, Clinton Township, Michigan, and Pembroke, Massachusetts have in common? They are all home to churches named for St. Thecla. Who was Thecla? The story of Thecla is found in the apocryphal book, The Acts of Paul and Thecla, written in the late second century. Church leader Tertullian, writing about 200 in de […]