Heidi Li Feldman

"I didn't know that at the FIFA World Cup, the 5th of July is now the 1st of April, April Fool's Day," Garcia said. "We're not defending the national team or the federation — we are defending football." https://www.npr.org/2026/07/05/g-s1-132061/folarin-balogun-soccer-reinstated-ban-suspended-fifa-belgium

Long interview with Hillary Clinton, absolutely worth reading in full. https://newsletters.democracydocket.com/my-conversation-with-secretary-hillary-clinton

May the words I've quoted inspire the fireworks of our imaginations and our spirits, exciting us to continue the 250 year old fight for a country that lives up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. I'm going to part of that fight to my last breath. 2/2

I've been sharing some extended quotations about the Declaration of Independence, democracy, and the U.S. Constitution from legitimate Presidents of the United States of America, people who wanted to preserve, improve, and strengthen American constitutional democracy, civil rights, and government in service to the general welfare. Focusing on leaders like this is one antidote to absurd, vain-glorious strutting of the current White House occupant. 1/2

"Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement.
As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it." 4/4

"The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations. ... 3/

"The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all. ... 2/

In the thread starting at the quoted post, I shared some words from Abraham Lincoln. This thread shares some from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from what became known as the "Four Freedoms Speech." FDR famously spoke about foreign policy. But the speech was also directed to the domestic affairs of the United States. Roosevelt discussed what is essential to "the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy". https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-franklin-roosevelts-annual-message-to-congress 1/

"That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world." 9/9

(end of thread quoting Abraham Lincoln's Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/speech-at-chicago-illinois/)

"... and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration, and so they are. ... 8/

"If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” ... 7/

"But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. We have besides these men—descended by blood from our ancestors—among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from Europe—German, Irish, French and Scandinavian—men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. ... 6/

"We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these meetings in better humor with ourselves—we feel more attached the one to the other and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age, and race, and country in which we live for these celebrations. ... 5/

"... we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men, they fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. ... 4/

I'm going to quote at length this part of Lincoln's speech.

"We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country,—with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men,—we look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity ... 3/

My spouse and I this morning at #Pride in #SantaFe for #LandofAction.

First up, Abraham Lincoln and his July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago, Illinois, sometimes referred to as "The Electric Cord" speech. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/speech-at-chicago-illinois/ Lincoln was campaigning against Stephen Douglas, to become the Senator from Illinois. His speech is lengthy and worth reading in full, though in places his less admirable prejudices are evident. It isn't until close to the end that he takes up the point and purpose of "4th of July gatherings". 2/

Land of Action, the initiative I launched to support grassroots progressive groups across #NewMexico, will be at #SantaFe #Pride festival on 6/27. We want to distribute literature introducing LoA and its work on free and fair elections this November. https://landofaction.org

I need to do a little fundraising to make this possible. Here’s my kofi link https://ko-fi.com/heidi36465. Donations of any size would help. Aiming for $500.

Samples of what we want to hand out are in the following posts! 1/

I have zero interest in anything the current occupant of the White House may say this evening. But I do enjoy certain passages about the Declaration of Independence and democracy from others who have lived and worked there. Thought I'd share a few. 1/

@paul_ipv6 I think you will understand why I was so proud in how I was described in a Santa Fe New Mexican article about Flock surveillance cameras in the area. https://enewmexican.pressreader.com/article/6867910421212284