Welcome to the New DSA Seattle Metro Blog

  The word Change has been thrown around for some time now.  It's time for a change.  Change has come to America. We must change course.  I've heard them all.  And the more we call for change, the more things stay the same.  The reason things never change is because, we never change them.  We talk big about changing the way we live, the way we think, the politics of this country.  But in the end we only wake up to hear the same of thing over and over again.  I've been around this call for change for over 40 years.  I've work in the union movement, in the political parties, and with community and grassroots groups.  I've exchanged ideas with every kind of individual.  I've traveled the globe looking for the answer to the question, why can't we change things in this country?  Why can't we help the poor, cure the sick, house the homeless, feed the children, and accomplished all those great ideas and causes we've talk about doing all our lives?  Why can't we change?
 
     Well, the main reason we can't change is because we don't have time to change.  We are involve in the day to day struggle of survival.  We are trained by our culture to keep out noses to the grindstone.  We are taught our places in society.  A 24 hour media blitz tells us we must buy, consume, be good Americans.  Listen to our elected leaders.  Listen to the experts. We are bombarded with the correct way to act, the hip way to dress or talk, the latest fad, the newest toy.  We are told who our enemies are and how we should deal with them.  The world is against us and we alone are right and everyone else is wrong.

     So if there is going to be real change, we have to first change the cultural hegemony which controls and directs our society.  We have to be like Howard Beale and just stand up and say, we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!  That means we MUST change.  And the only way to do it is to change our society.  We must change the way we discuss things, change the way we relate to others, change the way we look at our society.  We have to escape this society based of monetary accomplishments.  We must get away from the "me" society and move to a "we" society.  We must stand up for equality, justice and peace.

In our struggle to achieve change, we must sometimes compromise in order to move along the path to justice and equality.  That means we must work with others who share out views.   But we must never compromise out core values.  For this reason, a democratic socialist component must be part of any movement for change.

I ask you to join me in that movement.  Let's make it so the word "socialist" in no longer a dirty word to be use only in a derogatory way.   Come out of the closet and into the light.  Our brothers and sisters in the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and women's movement know this truth.  As Gandhi said, " You must be the change you wish to see in the world".    


In Solidarity, Peace, Love,

Bill Yates