Joe the Community Organizer

I have failed to entirely see Joe the Plumber as being a working class hero in quite the way I suppose I ought. He is a white thirty-something, just like me, and a swing stater. We share a class, Joe the Plumber and I, although we differ in our understanding of how class affects us in terms of opportunity. I am a college educated person of working class background enjoying the semi-comfort of gov't work. He has chosen the path of activism--


Christ, Joe! I mean, Sam! I mean--you know--you! You know, I'd have become more activist if only my politics were so clearly understood or defined.

After all, see your clarity here:




Among my acquaintances growing up there was mention of food stamps and government cheese. We admitted government sometimes had solutions, because we saw them in action. I know people who went from row-house and struggling to professional and thriving. They did it with Pell grants and hard work. I was a little more fortunate in that my parents could do my bills. But I never forgot I wore other people's clothes from the Salvation Army sometimes growing up, and didn't know from Spring Break.

I blog because I have a lot to say in regards to social and economic justice, because I think religion has overstepped itself in regards to human rights issues, and because movies and novels don't review themselves. But Joe means to right wrongs with his bully pulpit, and if you subscribe, he'll eventually get around to doing what I do for free. Albeit not on a regular-enough basis.