One Blue Note More
I realize looking over my posts that I have written more often than I intended about coping with conservatism. The "Blue Notes" were intended to be happily assertive thoughts concerning progressive policies, but the "blue" clearly has overtones of depression about the political environment as well as the Democratic platform.
Despite any and all natural proclivity to be hopeful and optimistic, living in a world of hate speech is debilitating. You can get really tired of facing the public day in and day out, especially when you are continually overwhelmed by the desperate need of single parents and their children; older adults too young for Medicare but not too old for cancer or other major disease; young people who have fled horrific family situations before gaining the skills to be self-sufficient. And all the while, as you try to find sources of support, you keep hearing: "they just need to get a job."
Although many politicians and lawyers (often the same thing) view words as game pieces, it isn't so. Words have consequences. People internalize the horrible things they hear, and they believe every word issued by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. They build their life view accordingly, and they hate accordingly.
Which is why Senator Joe Lieberman must not be allowed the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. We have had enough of "leadership" that tosses loaded phrases out like Mardi Gras candy, without regard as to who is getting trampled as people fight for the loot.
Sen. Bayh says we can't afford an embittered Lieberman, because he might then vote contrary to all his professed, heart-felt beliefs in a Democratic domestic policy. This, in my opinion, is one more reason to take that gavel away. If he can toss aside everything he believes in because Senators held him accountable for fanning the flames of intolerance for Democratic candidates for President and Senate, then he is not the man we need in a position requiring judgment and intellect.
To her credit, Hillary did not let her clearly deep-felt grief at losing the primary campaign stop her from assisting the campaign that most obviously represented her value system. If Joe can't do that, and it appears he cannot, then Joe should go.
Hate Speech
Bill O'Reilly was interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show earlier this week in one of the funnier bits since the election. Jon's premise was that Bill has been talking a lot about his fears concerning an Obama presidency, and Jon was hoping to create a safe place so that Bill wouldn't have to worry so much. He gave Bill a small teddy bear, and brought out hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Apparently, there are a lot of people who need help finding a safe space right now, because despite the general national euphoria over the Obama win (70% of the population feels very positive about his coming administration), there are pockets of people who have been genuinely terrified of all the "palling around with terrorists" talk.
Unfortunately, they don't say, "I'm very frightened." No, many of them prefer to project outward.
Not far from my house, there is a small business selling t-shirts, bumper stickers and signs to "real Americans," the conservative "patriots" who are the only persons apparently entitled to live in the United States. Judging from the cars I see on the road, this store is doing landslide business. Anytime I'm out in my car, I see all kinds of bumper stickers with sayings like: "Beware of liberals posing as Americans."
The "love it or leave it" crowd has never been very attractive, with their platform that anyone who doesn't adhere to an extreme right wing platform is by definition a traitor who should be deported from the country (the most singularly unAmerican belief I can imagine). But now that they see the entire government slipping into the hands of the great "other," their fear has unleashed rage of epic proportions. The Secret Service is reporting direct threats against Obama and his family far in excess of those seen against any other president.
This rage is not new, of course. The hatred unleashed against the Clintons was beyond all reason, literally. Bill Clinton's personal life was not ideal, but there are plenty of Republicans, including those who led the charge against him, who have as much or more to answer for. All of us err, and those in power tend to sin more than most. However, Clinton's personal life could hardly account for the rage he inspired, and this during a time when the country was prosperous, 22 million jobs were created, the government started generating budget surpluses, and we were primarily at peace.
Now a Republican administration has led us into economic catastrophe, two wars, and a government so corrupt that it seems almost impossible to begin cataloguing all the ills. Most of us feel vulnerable, and those losing power feel the most vulnerable of all. So they lash out.
All the same, it isn't healthy, and it isn't patriotic. Above all, it isn't witty or funny. Slamming people as traitors because they look different and/or have different political views is hateful and small.
Dissent is vital to a functioning democracy, whether it comes from the right, the left, or the middle. But it doesn't have to be hate speech to be heard. We can do better than that.
Shaping History
My father died August 13, 2008.
On August 16, I gave the funeral address. As I walked to the front of the church, I realized that everything I knew, remembered and loved about my father was connected to his love for his family, his country, and the Democratic Party. For him, politics wasn't something you read about in the newspaper, but something you lived. Being a responsible citizen, working to make your nation better, nobler and stronger, was the guiding tenet of his life.
Daddy came by his belief honestly. His father served on a commission to update the Georgia State Constitution, and his mother was the first woman to serve as president of the Georgia Press Association. Her proudest moment came when she was elected to the Electoral College as a delegate for Franklin Roosevelt.
But although my father's political journey began with his parents, it grew with the times and adapted to his personal ideals. Born in the deep South, he never thought to challenge racial divisions. After his Army service during the last year of World War II, however, he realized the nation had to put aside its racial fears and prejudice, and that this effort had to start in the South.
When my parents moved to Atlanta, my father took up his cause in earnest. As a leading member of the Democratic Party structure, he was an important element in giving Maynard Jackson, the great mayor of Atlanta, his political start. He assisted in the elections of Julian Bond, Andrew Young, and other lesser known but integral elected officials. He led the campaign of the first Jewish woman to be elected to the Georgia State Senate. He believed in the Great Society, one that was full of opportunity for all.
In his own way, he was one of the small pebbles that eventually led to a mountain of change. He was proud of Barack Obama, and proud of the Democratic Party that recognized his genius and opened the door to his victory.
I cried when Barack Obama moved onto the stage in Grant Park, Chicago as our President-Elect. I cried because Obama's vision and oratory spoke to the deepest hopes I cherish, and I cried because my father wasn't here to witness it. I cried for all the men and women who, before they passed from earth, gave their hearts and souls to a dream of an America united across racial, economic and political lines. I cried for Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Rosa Parks, and the foot soldiers for a better America. Most of all, I cried tears of joy for my grandson, and all our children and grandchildren, who will grow up in a country in which equality is no longer just a dream.
Obama made history tonight. We can start shaping it tomorrow.
What It Means to Me
Last week I had the privilege of voting for Obama.
It’s common for people to speak disdainfully of politicians, as though seeking to serve our country is by definition dishonorable. Fellow citizens speak of voting for the "lesser of two evils,” and never admit to voting for someone they admire. I don't think looking down on our elected officials is constructive for our society.
I have voted for many people I greatly respected and admired, most of whom, admittedly, lost. Never have I voted for anyone I admired more than Obama. He represents so much that is good in our world. He is brilliant, informed, compassionate, and calm. He would have been my choice had he been white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Middle Eastern. But it made it all the sweeter that he was black.
When I was 16, I spent a summer working for Head Start. It was Head Start's first year of operation, and it was exciting to be in on the ground floor of a tremendous social movement, one that continues to make a profound positive difference in the lives of many. It also changed my world.
That first summer, Head Start was located at an elementary school near my house, and the children were drawn from a neighborhood less than a mile from my own. The community had been formed to supply the maids, cooks, laborers and gardeners for the nearby white communities. Most of the houses were owned by the residents, although many of the deeds and records were lost and based on oral tradition rather than court house documents. There was a great deal of pride in home ownership, but even more despair brought on by poverty. The white neighbors could no longer afford household staff, and no one else was hiring. Thus, the people who lived in Linwood, so vital to the creation of that section of Atlanta, were abandoned and forgotten.
The children coming out of that neighborhood were amazing. I fell in love with all of them. It was the first time I experienced the wonder of a preschool child, and I was lucky enough to be able to introduce them to so much - to the zoo, to big, wide open parks, to books and art supplies and toys. And I was ashamed that I had been so oblivious to what was in my own backyard. Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, so reviled now, was in fact a huge success, and not just for the children of the poor.
There is so much left to be done to repair the damage done to our poor, and especially our poor of African-American heritage. But being able to vote for a black man, one of incredible talent and intelligence, felt very good to me. The fact that he is almost certain to win says something very powerful to me.
I hope you find time to vote - it's an important election.
