Some of us feel surrounded by angry, self-proclaimed, in-your-face assertions of populous democratic rights, but too often with nary a drop to acknowledge and nurture the great tradition of enlightened democratic achievement that organized labor and its progressive political allies fought to enshrine in our social contract over the last century.

The albatross? You decide.

Judy Rosenstein is “excited” about the challenges facing her as the new leader of the RTC’s New Jersey section and about “pulling together” as many of the 4,750 UFT retirees living in New Jersey as she can. “With 55-and-over communities springing up all over the state,” she pointed out, “we are growing fast.”

After 31 years in the classroom as a life science teacher, Kim McCarthy has traded in her microscopes and lesson plans for the Wobble, the Cupid Shuffle and Booty Call. McCarthy signed up for salsa and belly dancing classes at the Bronx Si Beagle Center, but was always on the lookout for an urban line dancing class. When she didn’t find one, she created one that has grown into two Si Beagle classes.

In 2000, after several frustrating years, the UFT, NYSUT and the rest of the state’s labor movement convinced New York State to provide an annual, permanent cost-of-living adjustment to retiree pensions.

As a new retiree, you are eligible to become a member of the exclusive 66,000-member UFT Retired Teachers Chapter. Since its founding in 1960, the UFT has kept its retirees engaged and provided a broad array of social, educational, legal and economic services so that the RTC program today is widely considered the best offered to public school teachers nationwide.

In reaction to one of my columns on the union’s endorsement procedure, I received a message from Ed Beller, a retiree colleague who has a different view on the politics of endorsement. It set me to thinking about the positive nature of internal union discussions on such matters.