Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919
The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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26-April-2019: A Blueprint for 21st Century Opportunity
Julian Castro Announces His Run for the White House
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On January 12, 2019, under a bright San Antonio sun, Julian Castro, the former mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban development under Barack Obama announced that he is running for President.
Julian started his speech by praising and thanking the press and calling them a "friend of the truth." Kind of a refreshing change from the way we hear the free press maligned and bullied by the current occupant of the White House!
When he actually announces that he is running, Julian repeats the key lines in Spanish. It is also kind of nice to hear someone running for the highest office in the land who is knowledgeable enough to speak two languages well. This is another contrast to the current president who ALMOST speaks one language!
He holds out San Antonio, Texas as representative of America: diverse, fast-growing, optimistic.
The organizing THEME of Julian's speech comes when he calls for the United States to be the "smartest, healthiest, fairest, and the most prosperous nation on earth."
To make our country the SMARTEST Julian says we can't afford to waste a single person. He promises to launch a nationwide Pre-K program to get children off to a good start and also to make two year colleges more affordable.
To make our country the HEALTHIEST Julian calls for Medicare for all.
To make our country the FAIREST Julian spoke in praise of Black Lives Matter and also says "We have to have border security but there is a smart and a humane way to do it." He also promises to protect the Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
To make our country the most PROSPEROUS Julian calls for raising the minimum wage, work for more affordable housing, and pass a New Green Deal that will protect the planet AND create great jobs.
Julian also stressed that he will work to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics.
One of his especially good lines I thought was "The American dream wasn't supposed to be JUST a dream."
Julian seems like a good candidate to me. In the crowded Democrat field he is one of my "Top 5." He is young and energetic, lays out a good program for America, and seems reasonably moderate.
Let's see how he does!
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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library
Books for Independent Thinkers
Truman
Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today
The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It
Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics
The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle
Eisenhower: The White House Years
The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison
Lincoln
Reflections of a Radical Moderate
Washington: A Life
The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority
Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party
Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life
Theodore Roosevelt: A Life
The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides
Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates
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Copyright © 2019 by Joseph Wayne Gadway
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