It's time to take our idea of crowdsourcing part of my book tour to the next level: having you decide where I should go to talk about the issues contributing to our country's slow slide into Third World America, and the practical steps we each can take to help one another through the hard times and strengthen our communities.
Over 200 people wrote in to suggest their group, school, or community organization as a place I should add to my tour schedule. We have winnowed these down to 15 finalists, featured in the slideshow below. Now it's up to you to pick the winners. Vote for your favorite -- and share your picks with your friends; see if they choose the same venue as you.
On HuffPost's Third World America section, we talk about the 7 steps you can take right now to stop America from becoming a Third World nation. The first step is to share your story, so we are really grateful to everyone who sent in a submission, and I really look forward to meeting with the groups our community picks -- and discussing what we can do to rebuild the middle class and restore the American Dream.
And since I won't be able to personally visit each of the groups that wrote in, we will be hosting a webcast at 8:30 pm ET on Wednesday, October 6. People can log in to discuss the problems facing America's beleaguered middle class -- and the steps we can all take to turn things around. Anyone with an Internet connection can join the event -- but we think the best way to be a part of it is to host or sign up for a HuffPost Meetup:
Whether it's two people meeting for coffee or 50 people having a house party, nothing beats an old-fashioned face-to-face conversation when it comes to making a connection. So whether you're facing adversity as a result of the economic crisis or want to help those who are, the first step is finding each other. Click on the Meetup tool above to find a HuffPost Meetup near you -- or start a new one.
Join us on October 6 -- then continue the conversation with regular Meetups. For the webcast event, we will be sending Third World America packets -- including a signed copy of the book -- to the top 25 Meetups to help fuel the discussion. I'll be taking questions that night live via Skype, but you can also post questions in the comment section below. I look forward to "meeting up" with you all on October 6th.
So vote for the place I should add to my schedule... and sign up to host or join a HuffPost Meetup in your community.
SLIDESHOW:
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Nuclear fusion power plants. The first fusion power plant comes on-line in France in 2016.
Scheduled space flights. The first space liner will begin carrying passengers in 2011.
Carbon fiber becomes the construction material of choice
Space elevators become the crucial conduit between the solar system and Earth.
By 2030, Mars, Titan, and Luna provide raw materials for industries on Earth. The vast fortunes earned in mining camps across the solar system become legendary and they surpass mines Earthside before the end of the century.
Hmm. What altered the landscape of the world between 1910 and 1930? Lets see: World War 1, the Roaring Twenties and the Stock Market Crash of 1929 come to mind, as well as autos, airplanes, submarines while the first glimmerings of missiles and nuclear weapons are just off stage. Even more important, the European giants of 1910 (England, France and Germany) will be shoved aside by 1945 by the outsiders, the United States and Russia. I doubt if any prognosticators in 1910 would have imagined such an future.
If 1910 to 1930 turned the world on its head, why would 2010 to 2030 would be any less?
Brazil is a growing 21st century Third World superpower. The US is a diminishing self-absorbed collossus pondering it's own fascinating navel.
we are NOWHERE Close to the top on either of the 3 U list: literacy, life expectancy, employment rate.
Look especially at life expectancy and infant death-rates (are we above Cuba on the latter? I can't remember) .
LOOK AT : # of poor at all time high and "rich few"at all time high; same for people on food stamps!
STOP listening to Beck. Limbaugh, Hannedy fascist propaganda, TV News is like PRAVDA 1 Pravda 2 ,3, (That's what an immigrant from the USSR told me* way back under Reagan ;it was already true. Can U imagine what she'd say NOW? READ!
* this is true she was a well educated immigrant from Russia who thought we had free press here until she started to read it religiously!
I lost touch w her but know she'd want to live this fascist state falling into total financial bankruptcy and third world conditions ((What Reagan and alike wanted all along of course!)
Americans for Prosperity in Wisconsin has been busy shutting down any advances on commuter rail between Chicago and Milwaukee to bring people to good jobs and they have also been key to obstructing discussions on climate change and environmental responsibility even though coal ash has made water undrinkable for nearby communities.
Please cast your vote for Racine, Wisconsin. We have been working on great programs at the community level, but find it difficult to combat the kind of money and influence corporate interests can generate.
Once again the right wing view is divorced from reality.
http://www.steve-hutcheson.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66:the-forgotten-people-&catid=42:america
After participating here for a few weeks a few flaws have became evident to my way of thinking, maybe not yours but mine, that I would like to put fourth for your consideration.
The first is there is some much going on in the world today that are so interrelated we can’t keep up with it all, it overwhelms our known mental processes of dealing with so much at one time. Few have the mental capacity to know how to separate them out in small manageable pieces , even then trying so come up with a solution that will not interfere with other problems it daunting for the best of minds, though many times the experts are so focused on the complications of it all it overwhelms the obvious.
Is there a solution to this, I am not sure, but I am sure of one aspect of it all, we all need to give more careful consideration to the things going on around us, think a little deeper don’t be so quick to fire off one liners, think about how your solution might interact with some other problem we may have going on that could be affected by your thoughts on a cure.
I am so poor now, I can't afford to purchase your book! Thanks for writing it though.
Stephen in Sherman Oaks