Collins, Chuck. _Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good_. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016. # Progressive Summary At the age of 26, Chuck Collins gave away his inheritance, a portion of the wealth that had been created generations ago by his great-grandfather Oscar Mayer, a Chicago meatpacker. He argues for a movement that includes both the working class and the "openhearted wealthy", those wealthy individuals who are uncomfortable with current levels of inequality, and who do not want to live in an apartheid society. # Key Points # Resonances The approach that Chuck Collins recommends is very compatible with Miki Kashtan's approach and of Nonviolent Communication. #NoEnemyImages # Oppositions # Questions / Comments # Quotes ## Chapter 2: Proceed with Empathy > My labor activist friend, Les Leopold, wrote in his book Runaway Inequality, “Economic elites will only give up power and wealth when they’re forced to do so by a powerful social movement.”¹ This echoes the famous speech by black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Less than a decade ago, I would have agreed. I still believe a mighty struggle will be required, that movements of workers and the excluded will be the driving force in change. But I believe these movements will make swifter progress if they open up another set of tactics, based on our growing knowledge of empathy. This will require us to have a deeper understanding of who these power elites are—and where alliances can be forged. > The vast majority of the top 1 percent is coasting along, happily benefiting from a system that disproportionately rewards them. They are, like the society as a whole, busy, distracted, addicted, or focused on caring for children and elders. > > I carried on with my spoken thoughts. “The reason we are organizing wealthy people is because we think, in order to build a powerful countervailing movement to the rule riggers, we need wealthy allies in our camp. Some rich people will be unreachable,” I acknowledged. “And some people will be incredibly thin-skinned and feel personally attacked if we simply talk about the percent of wealth owned by the 1 percent.” > > “The big difference I see,” said Steve, “is those people have an entire police-military-industrial-complex at the ready to defend their property rights.” > > “But the human reality is we are all thin-skinned,” I replied. “When we are poked, we bleed. No one likes to be stereotyped or feel as if they are targeted as a group for wrath. Think how you feel when someone makes a sweeping statement about unions.” > > Steve nodded. He and his colleagues were still with me. There was a lot more to say here, but I didn’t want to distract the discussion too much. It felt like we were getting closer to the heart of the matter, both the power issues that hold inequality in place and the possibility of enlisting wealthy allies into movements for justice. > To fix the system, we need to alter the rigged rules. To change the rules, we need to build a powerful social movement. To build a movement, we need to win hearts and minds to the shortsightedness of an economic system that funnels most income and wealth to the few. Ultimately, we need to change the story of wealth, how it is created, where it comes from, and why it is distributed the way it is. > The current system is built on fear. Fear and insecurity ripple through the households of the American working class, the impoverished, and the precarious middle class in a nation where one job loss, illness, or other misfortune could leave one destitute. And at the very top of the economic class pyramid, the wealthy are afraid, too. They are afraid that they and their children will fall from economic comfort and status. They are fearful of pitchforks and race riots. And they are wounded by verbal attacks as well. > > Fear is very powerful. If people feel attacked, they respond from fear. If they are shamed, they respond from anger. If ridiculed, they withdraw. But if they are respectfully engaged, people show up. > > Think about the last time you fundamentally changed your behavior or view about something. What were the ingredients of your shift or transformation? > > Adults change through a combination of respect, affirmation, challenge, inspiration, and accountability. People don’t change when they feel shamed, hated, targeted, and disrespected. > > In a quote attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald, he said, “The rich are different than you or I.”¹² But my life experience observation is that the rich are no different than the rest of humanity. There are structural, cultural, and class identity reasons why we disconnect and stay in our own lanes. But we are no different. > > People don’t become a different breed when they accumulate wealth. But they do unplug and disconnect from large swaths of humanity. And there is a weakening of empathy. > > The comforts of privilege are frankly narcotic. Privilege dulls our sensibilities and emotions. It shuts down empathy, allowing those of us with advantages to disconnect from our humanity and place in the natural order. Privilege enables us to distance ourselves from huge parts of the human experience, both the suffering and the joyful aliveness. > > So what is to be done? The alternative to class war is empathy and love. > > How do we teach empathy to someone? We treat them with empathy. Here’s my suggestion: Proceed with empathy. Consider us your long-lost cousins who have been taken from you. Find a way to welcome us back to the full human fold. > > Given that most approaches haven’t changed the picture, it might be worth a try. ## Chapter 3: Cracking Hearts Open