[FDL is pleased to welcome Daniel Biss for a Blue America chat today. As with all guests, please stay on topic and be polite. Take any off-topic discussions to the prior thread. Thanks much, gang, and please help give Daniel a big FDL welcome! -- CHS]
[Contribute here. -- Pach.]
Remember when we did the vlog session with John Laesch a month or so ago? Christina put together a memorable event built around that and I got to meet some of the best progressive minds in Chicago. One was a 29 year old math professor named Daniel Biss who Christina was especially keen on me meeting.
And now I’m keen on you meeting him.
Daniel is running for State Representative from a district just north of Chicago, the 17th. It’s a Democratic district with an unimpressive squishy Republican rep, just like the congressional district it overlaps (Kirk’s). The district includes a bit of Evanston, where Daniel lives, plus parts of Skokie and Wilmette, as well as Winnetka, Glencoe, Northfield and Glenview. Kerry and Gore each beat Bush handily here.
Obama swept the area when he ran for Senate. Beth Coulson, the current Rep., isn’t a monstrosity; but she is a Republican and she supports her party’s leaders and their venal and destructive agenda. She has enjoyed support from one-issue liberal groups like the Sierra Club and the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, whose heads are too far up their butts to be able to understand why Republicans are their enemies.
Daniel Biss is anything but wishy-washy or squishy. He’s a genuine progressive leader with a powerful understanding of what government’s role in society should be. “People in this district,” he told me, “believe government is capable of benefiting people. The Republican Party functions as if government has to be kept out of the way.” This primitive, anti-social Republican outlook helps draw the distinction between Daniel and Coulson. Mathematicians are logical and, above all else, they are problem solvers. Not only is that different from a Republican, that is different from most politicians of any stripe. It goes beyond the intellectual dishonesty that makes the political system a cesspool. Daniel, who graduated from Harvard and MIT, is a guy I found intellectually rigorous.
He finds the notorious shortsightedness engendered by our politics to be unhelpful to people and their problems and issues.
“They’re incentivized to focus on the 2-year election cycle rather than the 20-year plan. As an academic, I’ve spent my whole career thinking about long-term projects and goals. I think it’s no coincidence that the issues I stress most, education and environmental policy… these are places where common sense dictates that making major changes now is a great long-term investment, and yet our politicians can’t seem to bring themselves to make that investment, because they’re too caught up in the short term.”
He’s actually a guy who has spent a lot of time seriously considering what it means to be a progressive.
“I keep coming back to etymology: progressives like progress, which means that we’re focused on the future. Believing in a better future has to also mean planning for and making a better future. And I find it flabbergasting how little of that goes on in our politics today.”
Illinois, one of the richest states in America, is 48th in the country in dollars spent per pupil.
“In the last legislative session there was a bill to increase the education funding level per pupil by a few hundred dollars– rather than the thousand or more that many people feel is absolutely necessary– and [in a party line vote] Coulson voted against it.”
It doesn’t look like she’s in a position to do anything for her constituents even if she wanted to do so. She’s boxed in between the progressive and moderate voters of the 17th on the one hand and her own crazy, incompetent party leaders — the ones who imported Alan Keyes to run for Senate — on the other hand.
Daniel got his political start as a grassroots organizer, after despairing over the river of misdeeds flowing out of the Bush Regime. He organized volunteers for Kerry and three congressional candidates, but with Democrats controlling every facet of Illinois government, he sees dysfunction where there could be a model for good government.
He is hoping to help build a new independent power based within the Democratic Party — a coalition of workers, middle class African-Americans, people in suburbs not enamored of a Chicago machine politics that spits up corrupt reactionaries like Rahm Emanuel and Dan Lipinksi, latinos newly galvanized by the immigration issue, etc. He hopes to open debate in the party, debate that has never been welcome in the old style political machines.
Daniel Biss is the kind of young leader we need to help build a Democratic Party that will be worth something. There are 65,000 registered voters in the 17th and he intends on meeting every last one of them. We can help him.
Remember, Illinois practically has no campaign finance laws and the big corporations have a history of buying elections. Campaign mailers and even cable TV spots are not prohibitively expensive…but they cost something. Daniel is one of us, a friend of Rick Perlstein’s and Siun’s. Let’s welcome him to Blue America and help him raise the money he needs to conduct a competitive campaign.
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Hi everybody; great to be here!
I’m delighted that Blue America is including state-level candidates and I’m honored to among them.
Welcome Daniel! We’re so glad to have you here.
Welcome to FDL Daniel. I left something out of the story that I wanted to ask you about– well two things. First, can you explain how your plan for emissions standards will impact the whole country? And second– how was breakfast with Rahm?
I just realized that I forgot to put in the link for the Blue America ActBlue page where you can contribute to Daniel’s campaign. Sorry about that.
howieklein @ 4
Emissions standards: well, at least a dozen states now have tough emissions standards for vehicles (which is a good start until the federal government gets in on the act). All those state are on the coasts (California, Maryland, and so on). If a large midwestern state passed these stronger standards, it would quite likely become financially more efficient for manufacturers to adhere to them nationwide rather than building two different fleets and and shipping one to the east and west coasts and Illinois, and the other fleet elsewhere. In other words, we could pass statewide legislation here that might well have a nationwide impact on our carbon footprint. A great opportunity, and one we shouldn’t pass up.
RE: Rahm, it was actually quite pleasant. I believe in a different political style than he does but he didn’t bite or anything :)
Daniel, two basic questions:
1. What do you consider to be the most important issues facing your district, and how will you approach them?
2. How are you different from your opponent? What’s the rationale as to why we should support you rather than the incumbent?
Daniel Biss @ 6
Does he chew with his mouth open? Did he curse? Did he write a check for your campaign or just give you that old line about how he’ll get him mom to help? Did he mention that his brother Ari donated $10,000 to the RNC? Come, on Daniel, none of us have ever had breakfast with Rahm. Did he say anything?
Daniel, another child was shot to death in Chicagoland on Thursday (in your general neighborhood). What do you think can be done to stop the carnage?
Good luck.
vulture @ 7
1. The most important issues in my district are transit, school, and property taxes. We need to invest in a serious way in public transit (and, to get specific and local, we need to make sure the yellow Skokie Swift train continues to run and we need to extend that line to Old Orchard mall). Our schools are good, but many of them (particularly some elementary school districts without commercial or industrial tax bases) are strapped for cash (which results in a crunch for space as well as classes that are sometimes too large), and property tax bills are simply absurdly high and escalating fast. In order to address this, the state government needs to increase funding for education.
2. My opponent hasn’t really been taking leadership on the above issues. Right now, Illinois’s government is pretty frustratingly dysfunctional, and it’s been easy for most politicians, including my opponent, to just watch the inaction and blame everybody else. I intend to go to Springfield and work hard to move things forward instead of just complaining about what everyone else does wrong.
Hi Daniel, and thanks for coming to speak with us today. As a teacher, you must have a unique insight into schools, particularly high schools. Please describe educational challenges in Illinois today.
Daniel,
What is your long term plan on education? Right now, education is filled with conflict of interest; especially, in the area of math and science curriculum development and the marketing of such curriculum. My children have been exposed to poor quality curriculum that was funded by the NSF. In your own”backyard” an academic institution has developed a very weak curriculum with funding from tax dollars via the NSF. Are you paying attention to the fact that the standards are being lowered not raised in terms of k-12 education? Are you aware of the impact the NCLB Act is having even on schools?
JebbieTeacher @ 9
The first step needs to be responsible gun control laws, along with economic development in underresourced communities. But we also have to try to make structural changes to move away from a culture of violence; doing this effectively would require seriously revising our law enforcement strategies.
newtonusr @ 12
Thanks for the question. Our high schools are facing a variety of challenges. Classes are often too large, teacher recruitment is incredibly difficult, particularly in the sciences and particularly in underresourced communities, and our legislation has focused so intently on high-stakes tests as a panacea that we’re wasting resources and time worrying about tests instead of actually educating.
KLynn @ 13
Let me address these important questions in reverse order: the impact of NCLB has been pretty negative. Like I indicated above, it treats testing as a solution, rather than a strategy with limited benefit, and this has proven to be a distraction in many of our schools.
I’d like to hear more of your comments on poor curricula funded by NSF, since I’m not 100% sure what you’re alluding to. Math and science curriculum design is pretty complicated, and well-meaning “experts” have been getting it wrong for decades, unfortunately. In my experience, what works best is a curriculum that encourages students to invent and discover things for themselves. I’ll be teaching a couple of courses using the Moore method next year and I’m very eager to see how that works.
In terms of long-term planning, it’s important to mention the importance of early-childhood education, since all research (not to mention common sense!) indicates that the stimuli a child is exposed to before the age of 5 (or even 3, actually) are the best way to impact long-term academic success.
Matt Stoller @ 10
Thanks, Matt :)
I’ve known Daniel for…sheesh, 13 years now, and am absolutely stoked to see him running for office. He’s a great progressive on policy, and perhaps even more important, he understands the value of strengthening the grassroots movement for the long haul.
Now, enough nice stuff, here’s a question :-)
Daniel Biss @ 11
Can you explain in a bit more detail how decreasing property taxes and increasing education funding fit together?
Where I grew up (in Virginia) my understand was that the public schools were overwhelmingly funded out of local property taxes — so wealthy districts had reasonable funding and poor districts had tragically low funding. Is your approach to decrease property taxes and then use state funding to provide uniform per-pupil funding across the state?
Dear Dan,
Best of luck. Had heard thru the grapevine that you were thinking of running, but being outside the area didn’t realize you’d actually taken the
plunge.
Hope things go well,
(: {)} Jack
“I just realized that I forgot to put in the link where you can contribute to Daniel’s campaign...”
You can hide, but you can’t run, Howie. :)
I’m in. We need more people like Daniel Biss in our government.
Thanks for the kind words, Ben! Say hi to Kathy…:)
Benjamin Rahn @ 18
So your Virginia situation is more or less what exists in most states: the feds provide a bit of money, and the bulk of the cost of running schools is divided somehow between local property taxes and state funding.
Illinois is one of the states that relies most heavily on local property taxes (and consequently least on state funding). As you point out, this has the effect that wealthy districts have reasonable funding and poor districts have tragically low funding.
My proposal is sort of what you say, only chronologically reversed. I would use state funding to provide a per-pupil increase across the state, which would then free up many districts to lower property taxes while maintaining the current levels of funding; other districts could keep property taxes at current levels to increase total funding levels. (Some proposals being floated would actually legislate both steps on a state level, which is also a reasonable possibility.)
Jack Morava @ 19
Thanks, Jack :)
(Jack is an old friend and mathematical hero of mine.)
I’m in for $25.
Pachacutec @ 23
Thanks, Pach!
I also put the contribution link prominently at the top of the post.
Howie’s intro included a reference to the incumbent, “an unimpressive squishy Republican rep”. Can you elaborate?
Since I get such good props I’d better be in
for $100.
And for FDL classical music fans, you may already have guessed but, yes, Daniel’s younger brother is Jonathan Biss. In fact, Daniel’s whole family are classically trained musicians. If you’re a Schumann fan, you may enjoy this.
newtonusr @ 26
While George Bush has been pretty terrible for the country & world, he’s actually been pretty great for the progressive movement — as more alarming policy has been enacted nationally, more people have stepped up to make change. (For example, had you told Ben Rahn and me that we’d both be pursuing careers in politics back when we met in 1994, we never would have believed you!)
But — and forgive the roundabout answer — I think that our focus on defeating the most egregious Republicans could potentially have the dangerous effect of lowering our standards.
My opponent isn’t a monster. She’s pro-choice. She’s not racist or homophobic. She’s kind of harmless and mediocre. But I don’t think that’s what our country and state need, and I don’t think it’s what my district wants. I think we have big structural problems that require bold solutions, and my opponent just hasn’t been interested in that sort of thing. The status quo is okay with her. It’s not okay with me.
Jack Morava @ 27
I thought flattery was supposed to get you nowhere. I also thought stable homotopy theory wasn’t supposed to be useful in politics. Weird.
Anyway, thanks, Jack. I appreciate it.
Care to comment on two things?
The relationship of math to music.
And how principle trumps pragmatism in politics.
howieklein @ 28
Ah, even in this political setting I have to be the black sheep! :)
Actually, Jonathan (and assorted other relatives) will be playing in Ravinia a few times in the coming weeks, and we’re planning some campaign events around his visit. Drop me an email if you’re interested in joining.
Daniel Biss says @ 16
Parents are responsible for recognizing and encouraging this, too. Hobbies lead to professions. For kids to really get things in their heads, they have to be supported at home. It is also a matter of having the space to concentrate in order to command the requisite thoughts. Does everyone have that domestic tranquility? How can science progress when the future scientists can’t access the tools and the tradecraft? Not everybody has one of these to gaze at for hours on end… (But they should!)
And another thing — We win by deconstructing denial. The old media mouthpieces are unable to withstand this incandescent progressive pushback. Now (as always) the Left is the voice of the people. The will to fight tyranny at home is the bond of free men.
Give the people a voice and you’ll have job. It isn’t so much telling them what to think — it’s giving them the data in readable form.
Stick around!
Jack Morava @ 27
That was my number, as well. Too bad it isn’t the nineties, I used to be flusher.
Hi Dan,
I’m an NU alum, so know your area in a general way from about 20 years ago, though I’m in the SF Bay area today.
How has the media coverage of your race been in the local suburban papers, the big Chicago dailies, and radio/tv?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 31
I’m going to pass on the first question, since I really don’t have a good answer except to say that I think they’re two of the most abstract things people do. Oh, and to tell the story of my grandmother (who was a cellist) playing chamber music with Albert Einstein. I asked her how good a violinist was and she said “He couldn’t count!”
I love your second question. My mother keeps asking me why someone as idealistic as me would do something as pragmatic as politics. And my answer is that principle and pragmatism need not be antonyms. The easy way to be pragmatic is to throw your principles out the window.
It’s harder, but not impossible, to chart a course that’s pragmatic and effective but still based on principle. One of my local political heroes (and a supporter and future constituent!) is a woman by the name of Debra Shore. She’s a a Commissioner of the Water Reclamation District. This is an elected office that’s typically been awarded to machine candidates as a reward for their loyalty, rather than because of qualifications. (And it’s a county-wide office, and our county sits on Lake Michigan and contains the Chicago River, so it’s actually a critical job.)
Debra, a lifelong environmental activist, writer, and volunteer, ran for the position against the party’s endorsed candidate slate. She didn’t have the endorsement, but she had great ideas and she was highly qualified for the job. On the downside, most voters (myself included, to be honest), had never even heard of this office.
Well, to make a long story short, she won. Handily.
She did it by working her tail off, reaching out to anyone who would listen, and talking about how the job mattered, how water mattered, and how she was the right person for the job. And she managed to get people excited about a race for an office they’d never heard of before, because most people are hungry for integrity and competence and transparency in government.
But she also did it by being incredibly smart and strategic (i.e. pragmatic) about where she was going to get the votes, how she’d raise the money she needed to get her message out, etc.
We need to remember that there are ways to win and wield power that are consistent with our values.
I have found the largest impediment to child learning, from elementary through high school, is the lack of involvement by the parent(s) with the child, and support for teachers.
Anyone looking to double their contributions? I’ll match all the $5 donations that come in between now and 1pm. That makes your contribution worth $10. It would be great if we had twenty folks kick in $5 each. $5 isn’t much but that scenario will give Daniel a TV spot on the local Comcast Cable network. Here’s where you can depoit the $5. Of course, if you want to give more– or match my match– don’t let me stop you.
Peterr @ 35
The race hasn’t had any coverage at all yet, and it probably won’t for quite some time. Big Chicago media has literally hundreds of races at or above this level to cover, so they won’t talk about it much; the key will be local suburban papers.
In recent cycles, this race only really got much attention in 2004, when the media really beat up the Democratic candidate (Michele Bromberg) for going too negative. As I hope you can tell from my comments, that’s not something I intend to do. It’s not my style of politics, and I don’t think it’ll be effective against this incumbent.
Dan,
I was just checking out the “About Dan” section of your website, and was quite impressed with this:
For folks not familiar with Chicago, you could say that most youth on the west side are considered “at-risk.”
It sounds like you are both principled and pragmatic, if you are teaching at both U of C and North Lawndale. What do you think these dual teaching posts has shown you, that could enhance your work in Springfield?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 37
Yes, and of course a great struggle for policymakers is that one can’t legislate this. (One can, however, try to pass laws that foster and nurture healthy communities.) However, even when we do start with this roadblock, targeted intervention programs can make a big difference.
Hi everyone — I’d like to introduce my wife, Karin Steinbrueck, who’ll be joining us for the next few minutes. She’s a historian (and photojournalist and peace corps volunteer and lots of other things to boot) and she probably has a better vantage point to comment about the campaign than I do!
Daniel Biss @ 43
Hi everyone! I don’t blog or comment much, so your patience is much appreciated!
Hi Daniel, Welcome Karin, thanks so much for being here today. We really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us.
Karin Steinbrueck @ 44
I don’t have a blog either, so don’t feel shy. Dive right in, the water here is fine!
Peterr @ 41
Thanks for the comment. Teaching at these two schools has certainly provided me with two very different experiences. One interesting bridge between them is something called the SESAME program, a program at the U of C that teaches mathematics to middle school math teachers in Chicago Public Schools. That’s been a great program and I think it’s also helped to show our faculty and graduate students what (mathematical) life is like outside the ivory tower.
That connection is critical. We don’t do enough to use our university communities to address our math and science education crisis in America. I’ve tried to create opportunities for other folks at the U of C to volunteer in underresourced schools (for example, I’ve designed a course that one of our grad students will be teaching next year), but it’s not something we’re doing nearly systematically enough.
There’s a program based in New York called Math for America that tries to do just this (by offering fellowships and training to outstanding mathematics teachers recruited from the university system), and I think we should look at whether a similar model could be effective in Illinois.
I live in Evanston near South Blvd. beach. Although I’m probably out of your district, I’d definitely like to become involved.
The CTA mess is unacceptable. To threaten my two main sources of public transporation (Purple Line and the 147 Express Bus)at the very same time is completely intolerable.
Hi Daniel. We met at the dKos Chicago meet-up last year when Dan Seals was a guest. Delighted to see that you are running and that Dan is also planning to run again. Dan is a very impressive guy. Am out of your district now (having lived there for 30 years), but I’m typing this from a friend’s computer who lives in the district and am reading him your platform. Will encourage him to go vote for you.
Daniel… I also want to state my opposition to any more filling of Lake Michigan, whether it is for an extension of Lake Shore Drive or the construction of a boat harbor in Evanston.
Unfortunately, Jan Schakowsky hasn’t been very clear on her position regarding either of these issues.
Dan, I love your stance outlined in the “choice” section of your website. How does your support for “comprehensive, responsible, age-appropriate sex education” go over in your district? If I’m not mistaken, your district includes a number of sizable conservative mega-churches, who push for the laws that you rightly note pretend that there are no families where abuse, violence, and neglect are present.
[Note: after getting my degree in math/econ at NU, I got my divinity degree from LSTC, just across 55th from U of C.]
dannyM @ 48
Yup, you’re out of the district, which means you have the privilege of being represented by Julie Hamos, who’s single-handedly trying to bring the CTA/RTA mess to the table in Springfield. She’s doing wonderful work, and I can’t wait to join her in her efforts.
The CTA situation is just preposterous right now.
We’d love to get you involved in the campaign! Sign up for our emails on the website, or drop me a line (email or phone). My background is grassroots organizing, so there are tons of ways to get involved. Thanks!
grayslady @ 49
Hi — good to “see” you again! Thanks for the kind words and for your help in persuading your friend :)
Hello, Daniel and Karen – i’m just lurking as i’m out of state, but want to wish you both the very best.
I’m just getting to this thread, which I haven’t read. I’m just going to jump right in and make an argument why every FDL’er should be giving to promising state rep candidates. Remember “devolution”? The Gingrich ideology that the federal government should be dismantled in favor of putting power in the hands of states and municipalities? Of course, like most conservative ideas, this wasn’t some noble attempt to make people’s lives better, but an authoritarian power-grab strategy. Simultaneous to the Republican takeover of Congress, conservative interest groups worked concertedly to take over power at the level to which the power devolved. And since these were races and institutions under the national radar, it served brilliantly to slash and burn all that was decent and true, without the national media bothering to notice.
For instance, the NRA looooooves state legislatures. Because they can create a whole new national policy environment, and Cokie Roberts never will notice. Like the way they’ve passed “stand your ground” laws in dozens of states now that basically let you should anyone you merely FEEL threatened by with civil and criminal impunity.
Congress could never pass such laws. But by working state by state, they’ve been able to pass a de facto national “stand your ground” law.
See why state legislatures are important to a national progressive movement?
See why you need to donate to Daniel? We need a devolution-fighting bulwark.
At that, I’ll actually go back and read the thread. Blue America Forever!
Peterr @ 51
Wow, LSTC — my office is at 57th and University — just around the corner!
Actually, my district is very pro-choice. In fact, my opponent is also very pro-choice. And while on some issues (e.g. health care) she claims to be “essentially a Democrat” but is really a very mixed bag, I have to say that she’s been reliably pro-choice. So I can’t imagine that my position would hurt me. Actually, I think it might hurt me not to take that position!
Kathryn in MA @ 54
Thanks :)
(Karin was born in New Hampshire and lived in MA for many years. And now my parents are in Boston while most of Karin’s family is sprinkled throughout MA.)
Rick Perlstein @ 55
Thanks for providing some historical context, Rick. And thanks also to you and Kathy for throwing a party for the campaign last weekend. We had a great time.
Rick Perlstein @ 54
Thanks Rick! I hope that will encourage some more of those $5 donations I’m matching today. We have 15 minutes more.
Hello Daniel:
I just visited your website. Very impressive. I hope more intellectuals interested in grassroots get into politics. I live in Minnesota but have friends in Skokie. I’ll alert them of your candidacy, although I don’t know whether they live in your district. (They live on Dempster Street.)
I’m coming to YKos2 – will you both be there?
Biodun @ 60
Thanks! Most of Dempster is in the district, so I’d appreciate your passing my information along. Here’s a map.
Illinois has very serious, looming budget issues. As do many local governments, agencies, authorities, etc.
Yet all I read about in the newspapers are half-baked schemes like Casinos, Olympic Games, more TIFs, etc. It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone thinking seriously about our current situation.
Thanks for your invitation. I will check out your website and make contact. It is currently the most beautiful weather imagineable in the Chicago area. I’m about to go jump in the lake (water temperature currently 63 deg F).
Good to see Rick P. here too.
Rick – i take your point – i am happy to donate next week! dratted job did not deposit pay check yet!
Kathryn in MA @ 61
I will; hope to meet you there! I’ll let Karin speak for herself (although she’s not registered as of now).
Good luck to you, Dan — I’ve got to go, but I look forward to hearing more from you!
Thanks, Howie, for including important state representative races in the Blue America chats! Rick @ 12:40 is right, and let me add one more reason to his: if we want good progressives in Washington, getting them some experience in state legislatures is a great way to build for the future.
It sure beats letting “old style political machines” do the party-building and candidate-pushing.
Peterr @ 65
Thanks for being here, Peterr.
Daniel Biss @ 63
I’m not sure if I will register, but I might stop by. There was an idea floating around about trying to get some Kos folks rounded up for a 17th district canvass before or after the conference. If we organize that, I will definitely be there. Sorry Daniel, did I spill the beans :) ?
do you have any message for the creationists who are trying to dumb down our curriculum? and are you promoting the teaching of civics?
One comment I want to make about campaigning from the family’s perspective is that we get a lot of condolences, which I’m trying to figure out. People lament that our “private” lives may become public, but they don’t think about what it’s like to be engaged with what’s happening in our community. They lament that my husband will be working in the state’s capital, but don’t think how great it is to have a partner working for change. And, they have the perception that campaigning is miserable, but don’t think about how great it is to learn what people in our community (neighborhood, district, state) are concerned about Maybe I’m sounding naive, but one of the best things about being a photojournalist was meeting people and hearing what they thought about things. I think the same goes for being part of a campaign. Someone call me on this in a year…
Karin, i have extra hours Sunday. put up a sign on the Community Bulletin Board!
Kathryn in MA @ 69
Great suggestion. Thanks!
howieklein @ 38
It’s 2:55 here. I HOPE that offer was in Pacific time. I wish it could have been more.
Karin Steinbrueck @ 69
Not naive – human! this is the stuff of champs!
OK. I’m almost caught up. Let me make a comment on pragmatism and principle. When I had a fundraiser for Dan at my home, that was exactly how I introduced him: as someone with a rare sense of how to balance the two. And really, everything I know about politcs–much of which came from spending two weeks of my life listening nonstop to recordings of Lyndon Johnson’s phone calls–is that each without the other is truly meaningless.
So anyway, a question: how can we help girls flourish in mathematics? Is their a legislative solution to this to bring up in Springfield?
The BusChen War on Science continues apace. It must be stopped. The damage done to our science infrastructure is crippling our future and our ability to compete for discoveries. (Let alone the complete buffoonery of a policy apparatus.)
Your friends in the Physics dept. probably wish they didn’t have to go to Europe to see a Higgs boson. You could make it happen right here at home. Push for Leadership in Science. Push for a project. We may not synthesize dark matter in the lab tomorrow, but how’s about by the time you’re Senator, eh?
Put Science back on the list of things to do.
Understanding beats war in my book.
Hi Daniel. Welcome and good luck.
My husband is also an assistant professor; the most immediate question that arose in this house was, “how on earth is he going to do this pre-tenure?” :-)
Lindy @ 72
Yes, and I’ll extend it for as long as this chat lasts
Kathryn in MA @ 68
I don’t really have anything to say about creationism that you haven’t already heard, except that whenever someone tells me that evolution is only a theory, I respond that gravity is also only a theory.
I think the teaching of civics is really critical. One important thing to me about this campaign is the opportunity to open up the process and be more inclusive and transparent. But the reason that’s important to me is that I think the best thing we could do for our future as a country is to increase political engagement and participation.
Running inclusive campaigns (and governing in a transparent manner) is one part of a plan to increase engagement and participation, but it needs to be coupled with other efforts. Like the teaching of civics. And like the creation of new spaces where more of us can express our political ideas (e.g. the blogosphere).
Rick Perlstein @ 74
This is a huge problem, Rick. And we’re not making nearly big enough strides. I wonder if Ben is still around — his wife Kathy is a wonderful mathematician and has thought deeply about this issue; I’d love for her to jump in.
I believe that the biggest struggles here have to do with cues made by our culture, and that’s not something that Springfield can do much about. But there’s plenty of evidence that elementary school teachers treat girls differently than boys when talking about math, and that’s a huge problem. We need to work to elevate awareness of that issue among primary school teachers. The state can do something about that (and it shouldn’t do it with an unfunded mandate!).
We’re working to root out sexism in higher education in mathematics departments, but unfortunately it’s the sort of thing which everyone likes to (falsely!!) claim is no longer a problem.
God bless a free internet. we were trying to find the website where physics students could build their own rollycoaster – and learn about the forces therein. I bet there are more of these sites that should be a help to curriculums (curriculae?)
Kat-CA @ 76
Thanks. I just have to win, I guess! :)
neokneme @ 75
Thanks for your comments. Maybe everyone here is on the same page, but I have to say that this feel very personal to me because of my job and my training. A society where intellectual exploration is not welcome is a society where I’m not welcome. Literally.
What’s remarkable is how long the list of policy decisions driven by faulty science is: creationism, AIDS, global warming, physics research, stem cells…
It’s unbelievable that this is happening in the 21st century.
Oooh, be still my heart. Just what this country needs to get back on track.
I have to take off. Thanks everyone for wanting to learn more about Daniel and our campaign. And, thanks to FDL and Blue America for making the space for it to happen. See some of you (maybe) in August in Chicago.
Kathryn in MA @ 80
Yeah, the internet has remarkable promise as an educational tool. I don’t know if it’s realized its potential yet.
I remember the first time I was about to explain a concept to a student and he said “don’t worry, I’ll just google it”. I was flabbergasted — and thought I’d be out of a job soon! :)
Karin & I have a friend who’s about 9 and got interested in dodecahedra (because of The Phantom Toolbooth) and managed to learn all about Platonic solids on-line. Amazing.
..society where you are not welcome… well, we’re close – fascist states do go after the intellectuals first. God forbid.
I should get going also. But thanks again to Howie, Jane, Pach, Christina, Rick, and all the rest of you for a great discussion. I really appreciate the chance to be here today and I hope to be in touch with many of you as the campaign progresses.
Let me encourage anyone who’s interested to sign up for my campaign email list (you can easily do it at danielbiss.com). I’ve promised myself to try very hard to neither send too much email, nor to send boring platitudes! :)
Thanks again. The financial support also helps a great deal, particularly in a race like this where on the one hand dollars go a long way but on the other hand it’s hard to get most casual political observers interested.
thanks for being here – great conversation – more power to you!
Daniel, thanks for the great session. Let’s make sure we do it again closer to the election.
Next week we have Donna Edwards as our guest.
Welcome to FDL Mr. Bliss and karin, and I hope the future months and the hectic pace are a joy and great experience. It is all in the mind set. Meeting new people, discussing things one is passionate about, is a great way to spend some time.
Ot – I wish we had a cure for students (granddaughter) who tests in a very high percentile in math and isn’t the least bit interested in taking that to the next level. Durnit. There must be a vaccine for this.
Back on topic, A very good friend is a math professer (in TX no less) and a good democrat. I will tell him about your running for office. Let’s see if he can help a bit.
And thanks from a neighbor, Minnesota, in all you are doing and hopefully will do in the future to first help your state, and then our country. All hands on deck, as Howard Dean used to say.
Not enough $5 contributions came in. So I’ll match Jane’s $100 instead. Daniel deserves support from progressives. Here’s the place.
Jane has a new thread upstairs…
Damn …. I missed it! we moved yesterday and just now got our net connection back.
I had the pleasure of attending a house party at Rick Perlstein’s for Daniel and tossed in $100 then … I’ll be continuing to support Daniel’s campaign though I’m not in his district because we really need strong voices like his at all levels of government!