Thread/. “Big. Dreams. Never. Die.” Those are the words Elizabeth Warren used to end her Campaign. And I just can’t get them out of my head. It was such an honor to chat with Sen Warren, who dropped out of the race and immediately got 1/ thedailybeast.com/abigail-disney…
Back to work and who has been the best and brightest voice from the left about how to confront this pandemic. Her brilliance comes partly from how closely woven in her personal story is with the way she behaves as a politician. And the people I love best, perhaps because 2/
I can relate to just how hard this is, are those who have the courage to change. When she went into the bankruptcy work that started her career in law, she was convinced that most of the folks she was talking to were fakes and cheaters. But she changed. How inspiring. 3/
I can tell you how that brings on all kinds of conflict with the people you love most in the world. The first election I ever voted in brought Reagan to office. I understood exactly zero of the significance of that. But now, having spent four decades watching the 4/
Government dismantled, unions kneecapped, working people stripped of their dignity and the government laid waste, and wealth—not trickling down at all, but flooding upward in defiance of all reason and decency—I believe I understand well what his election meant. 5/
I meant it when I said that Margaret Thatcher’s “There’s no such thing as society” said it all about that decade and the years since. It has been the conservative aspiration for a century and more to sell us all on the idea that we don’t need each other and that each of us 6/
Swims alone in this pool full of sharks that passes for a culture these days. But that was always a lie. A bold, consequential and dangerous lie. But we are waking up now. We not only need each other; without each other there is no life of consequence to be had. 7/
I rank on Disney and I know you think I’m obsessed. But Disney is synecdoche. (Yeah yeah it’s a $50 word—look it up! ) It’s a part that represents the whole. Everything that has become of that company has become of the economy entire. And so when I watch what feels like a 8/
Total moral collapse with my name attached to it, I cannot help but feel a sense of obligation—especially when I know that as a leader in multiple sectors Disney could CHOOSE TO LEAD CHANGE!! 9/
The grotesque inequality that has become the hallmark of our age is not only a display of unfairness. It is actively corrosive to our social cohesion, to our expectations about what society is for, and to our democracy itself. Melodramatic much? Of course! But tell me 10/
How I’m wrong. What’s more, in this moment, the wealth itself represents a profound moral hazard to those who have it and those that spend their lifetimes seeking it out. You have to look the other way for a hell of a lot of abuse and violation to justify the absurd 11/
Comforts you’ve accumulated when so many people working so hard are clearly drowning right next to you. That is corrosive to character for sure. Outrageous for any member of the 1%to object to a 2% tax on the wealth they’ve either inherited or accumulated. Most Forbes listers 12/
Inherited and then accumulated, and then, like our nitwit president claimed to have “earned.” Those who object are either too stupid to understand how the world works or to venal to care. I think we will look back on this election 13/
And wonder what on earth we were thinking when we said no to Sen Warren. I think most people will think their parents and grandparents were out of their minds for quibbling with the sound of her voice or whatever encrypted bit of sexism they needed to excuse their obtuseness 14/
We need moral leadership now more than ever. And Elizabeth Warren is a breathtaking example of moral leadership in action. I, for one, hope to watch her soar even higher. End/
