Editing Thom Hartmann (section)

==Early life==
Hartmann was born in [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]],<ref name="Who's Who">"Thom Hartmann". ''Who's Who in America'', 63rd Edition.</ref> one of four children of Jean and Carl Thomas Hartmann.<ref name="Jean Hartmann dies at 82">{{cite web|author=Jones, Judy|title=Jean Hartmann dies at 82|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113023124/http://www.horatioalgersociety.net/newsboys/nb09-3.pdf|archive-date=November 13, 2013|url=http://www.horatioalgersociety.net/newsboys/nb09-3.pdf|date=May–June 2009|work=Newsboy|publisher=Horatio Alger Society|page=5}}</ref> His paternal grandparents were from [[Norway]], and his other ancestry includes Welsh and English.<ref>{{cite web|title=July 13, 2009 show notes|url=http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2009/07/july-13-2009-show-notes|work=Thomhartmann.com|date=July 13, 2009|access-date=December 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Thom |last=Hartmann |title=The Genetically Modified Bomb |url=https://www.commondreams.org/views/2003/09/10/genetically-modified-bomb |work=Common Dreams |date=September 10, 2003 |access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref> He lived in Detroit at age two, and later grew up in [[Lansing, Michigan]].<ref name="billionaire plan for Detroit">{{YouTube|L9b_SMgq4PM|"Is there a billionaire plan for Detroit?"}} ''The Thom Hartmann Program'': July 25, 2013.</ref><ref name="buzzflash april 2010">{{cite web|title=Thom Hartmann's April Exclusive "Independent Thinker" Review for BuzzFlash: The "Birth of a Nation"|url=http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/9181-thom-hartmanns-april-exclusive-independent-thinker-review-for-buzzflash-the-birth-of-a-nation|work=Buzzflash.com|access-date=July 26, 2013|date=April 10, 2010 |author1=Buzzflash }}</ref> Interested in politics from a young age, he was raised in a conservative, right-wing, Midwestern household. He campaigned with his staunch-Republican father for [[Barry Goldwater]] during the 1964 presidential election when he was thirteen.<ref name=7days>{{cite news|last=Picard|first=Ken|title=Radio Activist|url=http://www.7dvt.com/2004/radio-activist|newspaper=Seven Days|date=March 3, 2004}}</ref> Hartmann was expelled from high school during tenth grade for starting a newspaper that protested against the Vietnam War. He later earned a [[General Education Development|GED]].<ref name="American Dream">{{cite web|author=Hartmann, Thom|title=The American Dream – Thom's personal story|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUSgwA7tgE|work=The Thom Hartmann Program|via=YouTube|date=September 27, 2012|access-date=October 6, 2012}} (Hartmann describes being expelled from high school for publishing a news paper that protested the Vietnam War according to Thom Heartman himself on the Thom Heartman Program aired on August 31, 2021, at the 0:15 mark and describes being in his school's gifted student program at the 1:35 mark.)</ref>

Hartmann enrolled at [[Lansing Community College]] and transferred to [[Michigan State University]], majoring in [[electrical engineering]].<ref name="Alternet 2011">{{cite web|last=Stan|first=Adele|title=Progressive Profiles: With New TV Show, Radio Talker Thom Hartmann Brings Substance to Style|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/149540/progressive_profiles%3A_with_new_tv_show%2C_radio_talker_thom_hartmann_brings_substance_to_style?page=0%2C5&paging=off|work=Alternet|access-date=October 6, 2012|date=January 14, 2011}}</ref> In 1968, Hartmann opened his first business, a repair shop named "The Electronics Joint" located next to Michigan State University and became a part-time disc jockey at local country music station WITL-FM.<ref name="repair shop">Thom Hartmann, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SD2WCRgsw94C&q=%22michigan+state%22&pg=PT148 Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture]''.</ref><ref>Hartmann, ''[https://archive.org/details/rebootingamerica0000hart/page/97 <!-- quote="thom hartmann" "michigan state". --> Rebooting the American Dream]'', p. 97.</ref> With [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)|Students for a Democratic Society]], Hartmann protested against the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111001084107/http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZMST/insideradio/Interviews/HartmannArticle09-11.pdf Man's Got Heart]; Insider Radio – Personality Interviews; September 11, 2006</ref> Hartmann had been interested in consciousness and spirituality since childhood, and by 1969 his interest evolved from [[hippie subculture]] to [[Christian mysticism]]. During that year, he met the head of the Coptic Center, Kurt Stanley, called Master Stanley.<ref name=coptic>{{cite web|last=Hartmann|first=Thom|title=The Prophet's Way: Meeting Master Stanley|url=http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/1997/01/prophets-way-meeting-master-stanley|work=ThomHartmann.com|date=January 1997|access-date=November 14, 2013}} An excerpt from ''The Prophet's Way''.</ref> In this case, ''Coptic'' is an acronym for ''Center Of Personal Transformation In Consciousness'' and has no relation the [[Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States|Coptic Orthodox Church]].<ref>[https://thecopticcenter.org Website of the Coptic Center]</ref> In 1971 Hartmann was ordained as a Minister with Coptic Fellowship International. He has since been a keynote speaker at many Coptic Conferences nationally. In 1973, Hartmann returned to Detroit to work as an engineer with [[Radio Corporation of America|RCA]].<ref name="billionaire plan for Detroit"/>