“America should be leading the world in green and clean solutions, and human rights. We shouldn't be leading the world in wars and incarceration rates and pollution. We can be a better country. I think we're going to be a better country.” ThinkingWorldShouldHumansWarCountryAmericaRightsSolutionsGreenCleanRateHuman RightsPollutionIncarceration Author:Van Jones
“Too often we think about the green economy as an elite market niche, one in which affluent people spend more money to consume greener and cleaner products.” PeopleThinkingEconomyProductsGreenElitesMore MoneyNicheCleanersAffluentGreenerGreen Economy Author:Van Jones
“I think there's going to be a tug of war in this country over who are the real patriots because at a time of national crisis, economic collapse and calamity, ecological peril and social dislocation, the American people deserve to be a partner to the American government.” PeopleThinkingWarRealCountryGovernmentSocialEconomicDeserveCrisisPartnersCollapsePatriotPerilCalamityEcologicalAmerican GovernmentDislocationTug Of WarEconomic Collapse Author:Van Jones
“Nobody wants a nanny state, where the government is stamping out initiative and telling us what to do, but the idea that the only alternative to that is to throw the American people overboard into a global economy with no protections to cushion us from some of these blows is absurd on its face. That's why I think there's been a concerted effort to distort my message. When you hear me speak beyond the sound bites taken out of context, I think I make a lot of sense to people, even those in Red States like the one where I grew up.” PeopleThinkingWantIdeasStatesGovernmentFacesSpeakSoundEffortEconomyTakenGrewMessagesGrew UpRedBlowProtectionAbsurdAlternativesBitesInitiativeGlobal EconomyCushionsNanniesOverboardOf ContextSound Bites Author:Van Jones
“I learned more in those six months [ in the White House] than in the prior six years. I don't think that anybody who has had the privilege to serve the country at that level should walk out and behave like a crybaby. And I plan to continue to serve the country in other capacities.” ThinkingShouldYearsCountryHouseWhiteWalksLevelsPlansMonthsSixCapacityPrivilegeBehaveWhite HouseSix MonthsCrybabies Author:Van Jones
“I think we were naive during the first two years of the [Barack] Obama Administration because the Republicans didn't fight us on this point during the 2008 Presidential Election. Obama and McCain both ran on a clean energy platform. But now, uncontested lies have eroded hard-won public understanding. So, we have to go back and make the case again.” ThinkingYearsFirstsTwoHardLyingFightingEnergyUnderstandingCasesRepublicanElectionCleanAdministrationBarackPresidentialRanTwo YearsPlatformsNaiveMccainPresidential ElectionClean Energy Author:Van Jones
“I've had a chance to meet some of my civil rights heroes and, more recently, members of the young generation around [Barack] Obama, people in their teens and twenties who were determined to make history and who were too idealistic to think that what they were trying to do might be impossible. They proved that visionary pragmatism can win over the majority. That comes from a particular place in your heart that generation Y is offering America. They just can't afford to be naive now, in terms of the ferocity of the opposition.” PeopleThinkingTryingHeartMightAmericaYoungWinningTermChanceRightsImpossibleGenerationsParticularHeroMembersTwentiesMajorityDeterminedCivil RightsBarackOppositionOfferingTeensNaiveVisionariesPragmatismIdealisticFerocityYoung GenerationGeneration Y Author:Van Jones
“To the God in myself is probably the most honest answer. I think everybody has a divine destiny.” ThinkingAnswersDestinyHonestDivineDivine Destiny Author:Van Jones
“There's a lot of things that I think you got to deal with. Hillary Clinton had to put down a rebellion in her own party, then she's going to have to put down the [Donald] Trump rebellion and then try to govern.” ThinkingTryingDealsPartyTrumpClintonRebellion Author:Van Jones
“The progressives have a challenge. Part of it is that you now have a lot of progressives who feel that 50 million, 60 million people voted to endorse the toxic parts of Donald Trump, that suddenly we now are in a country, you know, surrounded by people who, you know, are proud to be, you know, a part of this alt-right thing and they think it was an alt-right takeover.” PeopleThinkingKnowsFeelsCountryChallengesMillionsTrumpProudRight ThingToxicBe YouTakeoversWho You Know Author:Van Jones
“When somebody comes along and says, "I think Washington, DC, sucks," that's not wrong.” ThinkingWashington Dc Author:Van Jones
“Now I think liberals have gone from underreacting to Trump and saying that Trump is just a clown and a buffoon, and that Hillary Clinton's going to kick his ass, to now overreacting, and saying, "Oh my God, 60 million people consciously endorsed a white supremacist for president."” PeopleThinkingPresidentWhiteMillionsGoneTrumpClintonAssKicksClownBuffoons Author:Van Jones
“I think we have every reason to hope for the best but expect and prepare for the worst.” ThinkingReasonWorstHoping For The BestPrepare For The Worst Author:Van Jones
“A lot of liberals think all the Trump voters are a part of the alt right, neo Nazi camp, which is not true. That's a tiny, tiny slice.” ThinkingTrumpTinyVotersCampsNazi Author:Van Jones
“With the Democrats, they see themselves, we see ourselves as the party of the working folks, the striving, you know, the good. But, without anybody acknowledging it, there is now this little camp of folks who come across as very elitist, that look down on red state voters, who think that Republicans are dumb people.” PeopleThinkingKnowsLooksLittlesStatesPartyRepublicanRedDemocratStriveFolksDumbVotersCampsElitistDumb People Author:Van Jones
“I have become the poster child for calling all the Trump people racists, when, in fact, I don't think they're all racists, but they tolerated racism. And that's a problem.” PeopleThinkingChildrenFactsProblemTrumpCallingRacismRacistPosters Author:Van Jones
“If you think love is weak, that's a personal problem because real love is the strongest thing in the universe.” IfsThinkingRealProblemUniverseLove IsWeakStrongestReal LovePersonal Problems Author:Van Jones
“That old Bobby Kennedy 1968 form of liberalism where you could be holding hands with the Appalachian family on one day and then be in Harlem the next day and nobody thinks it's weird, that is something that isn't as strong. It was strong in 2008. It hasn't been as strong since then. That's just a reality that we have to deal with that it's not just that the Republicans ran a terrible candidate who had bad ideas, it's also that the circle of love and affirmation that we have as progressives can sometimes just not be big enough.” ThinkingIdeasSometimesEnoughHandsBigsRealityFormNextStrongDealsTerribleRepublicanOne DayCirclesRanCandidatesLiberalismAffirmationNext DayBad IdeasHolding HandsHarlemBobby Kennedy Author:Van Jones
“My point is you can fight racism and sexism and homophobia more effectively if you're doing it from the position that you're standing for the dignity of all people, and that you're actually standing for the underdog in the red states and the blue states. I think it's more effective when you're anti-racism and anti-sexism and anti-homophobia and that is the centerpiece for a project to uplift all humanity, and frankly to defend and uplift the children of all species.” PeopleIfsThinkingChildrenStatesHumanityFightingPositionProjectsRacismRedStandingDignityBlueSpeciesUpliftingSexismHomophobiaUnderdogAnti RacismCenterpieces Author:Van Jones
“I do think it's dangerous when you are overly secularizing, and sometimes you get very smart, and sometimes [you] gain a lot of smarts, but you lose a lot of wisdom.” ThinkingSometimesLosesDangerousSmartGainsVery Smart Author:Van Jones
“What I saw during the Hillary Clinton campaign [2016] with data dummies who were more concerned with polls than people, they were more concerned with donors than voters. And it wasn't a lot of heart felt on that campaign and I think it left us vulnerable.” PeopleThinkingHeartLeftFeltSawsConcernedClintonCampaignsVulnerableDataVotersPollsDonorsDummyHeart Felt Author:Van Jones
“For me, I think that the struggle around how to deal with Islam in the United States is the defining moral struggle of this half of the new century.” ThinkingStatesUnitedDealsHalfMoralUnited StatesStruggleCenturyIslamDefiningMoral Struggle Author:Van Jones
“I think that America could not become America until it dealt with the disenfranchisement of women and African Americans in the last century. It had to. America could not become America until it dealt with that. And did it deal with it perfectly? No. But it had to confront it.” ThinkingLastsAmericaDealsCenturyAfrican AmericanDisenfranchisement Author:Van Jones
“I think the African American community, the Latino community, the Native American communities have borne an unfair burden in the last century, and continue to.” ThinkingLastsCommunityCenturyBurdenAfrican AmericanNativeNative AmericanUnfairLatino Author:Van Jones
“I think the Muslim community is now being asked to bear an unfair burden to save a great faith from the fundamentalists and a great nation from bigotry.” ThinkingNationsCommunityBearsBurdenBigotryUnfairGreat NationsGreat FaithMuslim Community Author:Van Jones
“It is the Muslim community that has the best chance of stopping and checking and pushing back on people who are trying to politicize their own faith. So this attack on Islam is an attack on a great faith. It undermines the people who are trying to rescue this faith from these horrible people. It endangers every human being on earth because it accelerates the radicalization of some and emboldens the worst elements of that faith. So this fight is a fight I think that we have to take on.” PeopleThinkingTryingHumansEarthFightingCommunityChanceHuman BeingsWorstElementsIslamHorriblePushingRescueStoppingAccelerateGreat FaithMuslim CommunityPushing Back Author:Van Jones
“I think it would be good to get somebody a job. Right now we're in a bubble of green rhetoric and a bowl of actual green investment and job creation. So my goal for next year is to move from inspiration to implementation on this stuff.” ThinkingInspirationMovingGoalCreationInvestmentBe GoodBubblesRhetoric Author:Van Jones
“I think parenting is one of the most important jobs, because you can hit two or three generations with the values in your house and the traditions you establish. But I don't think I'm very good at it, and I don't know anybody who thinks they're very good at it. Probably almost everyone gets an A in grandparenting, but in parenting, if you get a B- you're doing pretty good.” ThinkingImportantValuesHouseTraditionVery GoodGrandparent Author:Van Jones
“I think the most important thing is discovering an idea that moves you, and then letting people who are moved by that idea find each other, and work together. A lot of times people focus on the technical side-"oh, I've got to take a class on non-profit development." Too few people allow themselves to think outside the box with regard to their issue areas.” PeopleThinkingImportantTogetherMovingFocusMovedWorking TogetherOutside The Box Author:Van Jones
“I think that for those of us who come from oppressed backgrounds and who do our work in marginalized communities, recovering our innocence is one of the most important acts of self-liberation and de-colonization. Not letting the requirement that we adapt to impossible circumstances and unconscionable crimes leave us shackled to the kind of cynicism and armor such that we can't breathe and laugh and magnetize to ourselves all the genius and love and support that we need to transform the situation. That's probably the biggest challenge, is to recover our innocence.” ThinkingKindImportantCommunityChallengesSituationSupportLaughingImpossibleCrimeGeniusCircumstancesBreatheInnocenceCynicismOppressed Author:Van Jones
