Amen

“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

A Reservoir of Emotion

Talking today with a friend about the Presidential election, we shared some stories of working forty and fifty years ago, as liberal organizers, to make a difference in a world that was then overtly racist and discriminatory.

It is amazing to consider. My first public effort occurred in the first weeks of December of 1963. I was a sophomore at Washington State University and, while involved in student government, organized a week long symposium called "Student Get Off Your Apathy." Some of you will recall the early stirrings on campus during those times. I was specifically responsible for a day dealing with civil rights issues. I invited a speaker to come from Monroe, North Carolina, where the so-called "Monroe Movement," was an early catalyst for the civil disobedience that would transform the South.

Just five years later I was working in the rural south helping to organize the disenfranchised and create opportunities (see posts on that subject at www.cybersamizdat.com). It was very basic, elemental work to provide basic services, and by the way, register people to vote who had never considered that to be an option. I know that is hard for people today to understand, but it was indeed the case.

Now, we are on the cusp of electing an African-American President of these United States. And, as my friend and I talked today, I could feel a reservoir of emotion, in some deep hidden place, begin to well.

It is a common thing, I believe. That the banal aspects of life, including those occasional soaring idealistic goals we commit ourselves to, leave small deposits of emotion as we move through our lives. A reservoir of emotion will fill, never to overflowing, until some event occurs; a trigger which releases the flood.

Somehow, I sense such an emotional release will come with the election of Barack Obama. It is time for that to happen. It will be transforming and liberating for a great majority of us and for those around the world who look to us. I believe that.

Washington State's former governor, Gary Locke, was just in China. A Chinese official, a woman, asked Locke who he thought would win the Presidential election. He said, "Barack Obama." The Chinese woman replied, "American people are beautiful."
I hope and pray it is so.

Democracy at Home and Abroad

It is so ironic that the Republicans and Bush the Lesser with their neo-con strike force profess such fervent belief in the democratic process and the spread of democracy across the world, and recently, especially in the Middle East, while they undermine it in America.

Remember how excited Bush the Lesser was about the red fingers of the Iraqi's when they had completed voting several years ago (right after Mission Accomplished).

The irony, of course, it that in that face of that professed passion for the democratic process, the Republicans are the masters and most aggressive purveyors of voter suppression techniques. While the Democrats are working the GOTV effort with all their vigor, the Republicans don't want people to vote. How ironic for such champions of democracy.

It appears that the Republicans may favor democracy and the democratic process overseas more than they do in America.

Marxist

Over the past several days a cabal of right wing nut cases have gotten on the Obama/Marxist bandwagon. I think I can follow the trail of this absurd talking point. It started with the Florida "newscaster" who asked Biden if Obama was a Marxist. Biden, appropriately, laughed and asked if she was serious and then provided a thoughtful answer.

In the media frenzy to find the latest pungent sound bite, the left picked up the video clip so that my pals and I could laugh out loud at the stupidity and vacuousness of the sheep on the right. Fox, true to form, picked up the Marxist theme. Fox moved the Marxist idiocy into heavy repetition. Then Fox bloviator O'Reilly(Oily)brought the Florida bimbo newscaster(and wife of a Republican operative)onto his show. Of course, Rush Limburger was all over the subject

Next, the Obama/Marxist talking point needed to gain support from senior, thoughtful Republicans in order to gain a strong perch in the political lexicon. Scanning the landscape for the most thoughtful, respected and well credentialed senior Republican to carry water on the Obama/Marxist tripe, they found the former pest control officer ("The Exterminator") Tom Delay.

Delay was thrilled to get some media time. As one of the most ethically challenged former members of Congress, Delay was rummaging in the dustbin of history and the dregs of right wingnut weekend symposia and was desperate for some time on the big stage again. The Obama/Marxist ploy was the perfect opportunity.

If Tom Delay thinks Obama is a Marxist then it must be true. Yeah, and Tom Delay is a great American and statesman when monkeys fly out of my ass.

Flat Screen TV

The economic shock of these past few weeks has been a body blow to the mindless consumerism that infects the United States. Consumer spending has fallen off a cliff.

I think this is a good thing. As I have been saying to friends, "Who needs another flat screen TV." When put in those terms it does seem patently ridiculous. Candidly, no one needs a flat screen TV. We need food and shelter, and given the stupendous increase in obesity and the proclivity for McMansion sized houses, it looks to me like we need a little less food and shelter as well.

Somehow, along the way, things have gotten grievously out of wack. We consume crap we don't need. We go into debt to consume more crap we don't need. I am reminded of the inspiring words from Bush the Lesser after 9/11 when he encouraged us to shop.

And, I am also reminded of the lines from the Dire Straits song from the early 1980's:

Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free.
I want my flat screen TV

An Elemental Observation

When we elect a President, we are electing the leader of our country. Implicit is the notion that the person elected should exhibit leadership. They should, with the advice and counsel of the people, through their elected representatives, shape the vision and direction for our nation and articulate that vision.

Organizations, over time, begin to exhibit the tone and character of their leader. Whether our experience has been in the public or private sectors we have all experienced that in our own lives. The organization becomes reflective of its leader.

In this presidential election we have certainly witnessed the force of leadership, or lack thereof, in each campaign.

Personally, I have never witnessed a campaign as well run as the Obama campaign. It has been extremely disciplined. It has stayed on message throughout. Its ground game has known no equal. There has been no apparent dissension among its ranks.
Contrast that to the McCain campaign. It has had no strategy but has lurched from tactic to tactic. Dissension has been rampant.

The stark differences between the two campaigns are nothing other than reflections of the sharp contrasts in the quality of the leadership of Barack Obama and John McCain. If voters were to do nothing more than look at the two campaigns and how they are run they would find evidence aplenty for making a thoughtful decision about who should be our next President.

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