Who
I am a common man.
I know this because it’s my name, which originally was spelled Allmendinger. In German, an allmend is the village green, or commons. The suffix inger refers to one who lives there. Hence an Allmendinger is one who lives near the village commons, and can be fairly called a common man, or common folk. Having worked in academia, government, and non-profits my entire career, I knew I would never have the resources to donate as much to charities as I would like. Creating this website is one way hopefully to leverage my time into money and action for good causes.
History
In February 1941, the publisher of Time, Henry Luce, wrote an editorial in Life magazine arguing that the rest of the 20th century should be the American Century, where America would help guide the rest of the world into democracy and prosperity. This was, of course, before the 7 December attack on Pearl Harbor, when out of necessity America entered the world stage in a big way, setting aside its former isolationism. In 1942, vice president Henry Wallace offered a complementary point of view in a speech, wherein he suggested the next period would be the Century of the Common Man. Wallace was born in Iowa farm country and was Secretary of Agriculture before joining Roosevelt in the White House. His rural agricultural upbringing and progressive politics, somewhat like a 20th century Jefferson, meant that he too thought America could serve as a role model for the rest of the world, with an elevated standard of living for the common working man. Wallace’s vision for the common man so moved Aaron Copland that he wrote Fanfare for the Common Man in honor of Wallace’s speech.
I believe that America can lead the world in promoting the value and dignity of common folk. The best the world has to offer was built by folks with a little dirt under their fingernails.
Logo Origin
The body of an acoustic instrument resonates with the vibrating strings and hence amplifies the notes, whereupon the sound holes send the music outwards to be shared with a larger audience. Likewise, the Common Folk website sends forth ideas to be shared with a larger audience.