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It Ain't Just Local -- It's Personal, Too
Buckminster Fuller’s famous dictum told us to "Think globally – act locally."
Tip O’Neill was fond of telling us that "All politics is local."
Well, I’m going to go them both one better. Because the way I see it: "All politics is personal."
Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about here.
The other night, I took myself out to dinner at one of our local casual-dining establishments. As will often happen in such circumstances, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that a lady at the next table was having with one of her friends. And she couldn’t help but overhear the conversation I was having with the lady who was serving us our casual dinners.
And I guess we must have both liked what we overheard, because after her friend left the lady at the next table struck up a conversation with me next. And we ended up sitting there talking for quite a while.
It turns out that this lady from the next table – I’ll call her Carol, because that’s not her real name – is a visiting nurse by profession. She’s also a writer, artist, and photographer, which is what originally drew her into conversation with me, but that’s beside the point.
Anyway, over the course of our conversation Carol deduced that I am, among other things, a writer too. So she asked me what I was currently working on. I opted not to tell her that about the latest unsold movie script that I am rewriting for the umpteenth time. But I did happen to mention that I had been doing some writing for the late great John Kerry presidential campaign blog.
Not much to my surprise, Carol emphatically agreed that Kerry is a good man and that he should have been president and that the neoconservatives basically suck rotten ostrich eggs.
So then I told Carol about what I’m doing with the Democracy Cell Project, and how our goal is to educate, integrate, and activate your basic everyday citizens to change the way politics works in this country from the ground up. And I invited her to come check out our website and see what she thought of it.
At this point, Carol demurred. Although she clearly was aware of politics with a capital P, as in every four years we try to keep some new idiot from getting elected president, she insisted that she had no room in her life for politics at the personal level. She said that her work and her life were focused around the here and now, that she was busy dealing with her patients’ lives on a daily basis and therefore did not have the time to care about all that political kind of stuff.
So I took a few moments to remind Carol that all that political kind of stuff directly impacted just about every aspect of her and her patients’ lives – what care they could get, what services were available to them, what medications they could afford, what they could afford to pay *her*, and so on. And then of course there’s the whole business of taxes, social security, workers’ comp status, and everything else that any employed person has to deal with no matter what their day job is.
So my point to Carol was that politics isn’t just some abstract thing that happens “out there” every four years – it’s something that affects her personally every day. And I sort of got through to her with that approach. But it was still pretty clear that she was like most other people, in that she thought "politics" only refers to elections and laws and voting and so on. You know, external stuff, not personal stuff.
Which is why I told Carol about another nurse I know, somebody who’s been one of my best friends since about the time that Ford pardoned Nixon. This other nurse I know – I’ll call her Julie, since that’s not her real name – isn’t a freelance visiting nurse like Carol. She’s been an on-staff nurse on the critical-care oncology floor of a local hospital – which I’ll call St. George’s, since that’s not its real name – which, let me tell you, takes a whole lot more gumption and inner strength than most any other job I can think of.
Anyway, I told Carol about how maybe ten years back, a for-profit corporation run by born-again bean-counters had bought St. George’s Hospital and decided that they were going to run it like a quote-unquote business. Carol remembered that whole affair, in fact it’s why she quit working on staff at the other big hospital in town and started her own home-care visiting-nurse business instead.
Anyway, this new bean-counter administration proceeded to implement a whole program of paper-based, bottom-line-oriented new systems at St. George’s which basically reduced patients to nothing but product. And the new management expected the nursing staff to spend 8 or 10 hours a week doing nothing but filling out forms and checking off boxes on charts and sitting around in meetings talking about what they could do to improve profit margins instead of actually taking care of sick people.
And my best friend Julie, who not only had gumption and inner strength to spare but also had enough seniority that she really didn’t care who she made mad at her because she could always get another better-paying job at the other big hospital in town on a moment’s notice, refused to spend 8 or 10 hours a week filling out forms and going to meetings instead of taking care of sick people.
Julie told her new bean-counter bosses that her job was to take care of people, not paper. And she wasn’t the only nurse to do so, either. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a revolt of the working class or anything, but let’s just say that the bean-counters figured out real fast that they had better let the nurses go back to nursing and find some other way to deal with their checkboxes and their pointless meetings every week.
And that’s what I explained to my new friend Carol. I told her that what Julie did, and the other nurses who did it along with her, wasn’t just about dealing with their patients’ lives on a daily basis. Sure, that was the main focus for them. But what they were doing, without there being any elections or laws or voting involved, was still very much politics in action. Real-world politics. Day-to-day politics. Personal politics. Which is how it works.
I explained to Carol that, in her own way, Julie was being a citizen-activist when she told the new bean-counters at St. George’s that her patients’ lives mattered more to her than their pointless paperwork. And Carol understood that, because I was talking to her in terms she could directly relate to on a very personal level. Carol, as they say, Got It.
And that’s the way we do it. That’s the way we help people understand that politics isn’t something that happens "out there." Politics is something that affects every aspect of their own lives, every day. And politics is something that they can affect every day, just by the way they live their own lives, too.
Oh, and just by way of a postscript – I told Julie this very story tonight over dinner. And she laughed her nursely head off when I did. Because, after all, she Gets It, too:
When everything is said and done… all politics really *is* personal.
BWAAAHHHHHHH!
Frist at last!!!!
This is a great story, Rick. It is often through such serendipitous encounters that change can happen, one person at a time.
And even though I know you dislike the concept, what you did for Carol was a reframing of sorts--a shifting of the lens.
When people are so disempowered, it is easy to create a boundary between "me" and "we", "us" and "them". One's locus of control becomes quite proscribed.
By bringing the very word "politics" into her personal frame, you opened up a world of possibility, and a sense of empowerment.
That is what te DCP is about.
Oh, no, Karen, it's not that I "dislike the concept" -- I very much Get It about the need to put our messages into the right context for the people we're talking to at any given time -- it's the actual *word* that gets to me.
You see, it's just that after all of our discussions of Lakoff's book in the Book Chat part of the Forums-- which, by the way, all you happy bloggers should go and check out for yourself, it's very thought-provoking, ahem -- I've heard the word "re-framing" used so many times in recent weeks that it's turned into one of those pesky earworms for me... *grin*
Rick:
It sounds like you are like me. Gently introducing people to the idea of politics being more than what some politician does. Also, introducing people to the idea of how corporations don't care about people but instead the bottom line. And also introduced people to the idea of involvement.
Good for you! Great article.
"We cannot resolve the problems of today, at the same level of thinking that created them.".
Albert Einstein
See for yourself how your SS benefits will be cut under Bushco..
http://democrats.senate.gov/ss/calc.html
Marc,
"Hey, hey, hey!"
--Fat Albert
Oh, criminentlies, b-bob! Looking at those existing SS numbers is depressing enough in my case even without factoring the latest version of Shrub-style voodoo economics... that's what I get for freelancing most of my life and for running one-man creative design companies that rarely showed a profit on paper, my accumulated SS benefits are but a mere pittance already anyway... there's no hope for the likes of me, I know I'm gonna end up being a frail old geezer living in a box under a bridge and cadging quarters from passers-by who pity my poor old lame and sorry self... *sigh*
buddy can you paradigm?,
Otter
Otter,
Hate to rain on your tirade, but you know that bridge you had your sights on? Well, that one's no longer available. Apparently, the prez already sold it to half the electorate . . .
The Boondocks
http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sfile=bo050224&vts=22420051345
Cartoon referencing media... :-)
Pro-privatization Social Security experts on TV are paid for by the right
http://mediamatters.org/items/200502240008
A Media Matters for America analysis of guests who have appeared on cable or network news since the November 2, 2004, election to discuss Social Security failed to find one independent expert with a graduate degree in economics who supported allowing workers to divert Social Security payroll taxes into private accounts.
Media Matters found eight guests who held graduate degrees in economics; three supported privatizing Social Security, and five opposed it. While all five opponents of privatization are supported by independent universities and organizations, all three privatization proponents are funded by right-wing organizations and foundations.
[Click on link to read more.]
Looks like Gannongate is picking up more and more steam. The MSM is being dragged kicking and screaming to cover it, but they finally are. We all know it would not have taken this much effort to cover this if it was the Clinton WH.
Oh and here's a funny....
Need White House press pool credentials? Fill out this application....
http://www.whitehouse.org/media/application.asp
Found this interesting over at DU. This is a good way to show WHOis doing WHAT.
During last year’s presidential campaign, the right-wing offered any number of reasons to fear a Kerry presidency.
John Kerry, the typical tax-and-spender, would negotiate with the terrorists, undermine efforts to ban gay marriage, bring salacious scandals back into the White House, increase government spending while cutting vital missile defense, and get buddy-buddy with his surrender-monkey European allies, like close associate Jacques Chirac.
Or, in other words, Kerry might have…
– Suggested raising taxes to pay for the costs of his massive $2 trillion pet reform project
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/2005...
– Entered into negotiations with the terrorists in Iraq
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,102980...
– Proclaimed that “nothing will happen in the Senate” on the anti-gay marriage bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A12570-2005Jan...
– Nominated a possible cabinet member who once engaged in adulterous romps in a motel room reserved for exhausted 9/11 workers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Kerik
– Offered White House press privileges to a partisan activist with an alleged history in gay prostitution
http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Jeff_Gannon
– Released the largest budget in U.S. history
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-02070...
-while slashing missile defense spending by $5 billion over six years
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=643570&C=america
– During a “warm” and “friendly” tour through Europe, declared that Jacques Chirac could make a “good cowboy”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=519648
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3171899
NO SURRENDER !!!
Speaking of Gannongate, I'm proud that Sen. Durbin is my senator. Looks like he's doing his best to find out the "truth" (if that's ever possible with this adminitration...) and Kerry is right in there with him.
Durbin letter slated to be delivered to President Bush Friday morning
2/24/2005 @ 5:47 pm EST
Aide says senators being given time to sign call for inquiry
An aide to the senator who is circulating a letter calling for an investigation into how ËœJeff Gannon" got access to the White House told RAW STORY Thursday the letter would be delivered to President Bush Friday morning.
The aide, who asked not to be named, said Sen. Durbin's office had experienced difficulty tracking down Democratic senators in their home districts and were allowing other member offices more time to decide.
Congress is in recess this week.
Durbin's aide declined to say how many senators had signed on. The senator's office has said they will brief RAW STORY on the letter and provide more detail Friday morning.
Five senatorial offices'-- Durbin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg and Reid -- have said publicly that they had or will sign the letter to President Bush, which demands a full and transparent investigation into how a conservative correspondent allegedly got access to classified information and the president.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=127
The personal is political - is what we said in the 70s in the feminist movement.
Every choice we make is inherently political, even being apolitical. That makes the political statement that we don't care.
KerryDem--
great post!
Will Pitt - FYI
Will Pitt - Overview T O needs your help
BREAKING: Kerry/Edwards File More Ohio Election Motions
By WilliamPitt,
Thu Feb 24th, 2005 at 06:32:43 PM EST :: Voter Rights ::
Kerry-Edwards 2004 has just made two filings in the Ohio recount case currently pending before Federal Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus, Ohio.
Kerry-Edwards 2004 has been relatively quiet in this case for the past several weeks and its filings today indicate its continued interest and involvement in this litigation.
In December 2004, presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik filed extensive documentation with the court demonstrating that the recount they had requested in Ohio of the 2004 presidential vote had been conducted with inconsistent standards throughout the state, in violation of the equal protection and due process guarantees under the US Constitution (see Bush v. Gore).
Cobb and Badnarik filed amended counterclaims seeking a new recount to be conducted with uniform standards, in accordance with the US Constitution. (As an example, 97% of the ballots have yet to be counted by hand in Ohio and, more than often, the 3% of the vote that each county counted by hand was not randomly selected, as required by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's own guidelines) To access the amended counterclaims, see this document (Adobe required).
In addition, in December, Cobb and Badnarik filed a motion to preserve all ballots and machinery connected to the 2004 presidential election and to take limited expedited discovery to investigate the Triad voting machine company's tampering with the recount. To access the memorandum in support of this motion, see this document (Adobe required).
The amended counterclaims and these motions are pending before Judge Sargus.
On February 11, 2005, Cobb and Badnarik filed a motion for a hearing before Judge Sargus on these pending matters.
On February 14, Judge Sargus issued an order granting the motion to dismiss the Delaware County Board of Elections' complaint (which had sought to prevent the recount in that county) and asking for briefing in 15 days on the question of whether the case should be transferred to Judge Carr in Toledo (for the Northern District of Ohio) where a prior case seeking to expedite the recount had been filed in November 2004.
Yesterday, Cobb and Badnarik filed a statement on the transfer question.
Today, Kerry-Edwards filed a document in support of that statement. Most significant, Kerry-Edwards also filed today a separate document in support of the motion for hearing with two critical attachments: 1) a declaration from Kerry-Edwards attorney Don McTigue regarding a survey he conducted of Kerry-Edwards county recount coordinators; 2) a summary chart of the results of that survey (which highlight the inconsistent standards applied during the recount).
The five documents filed by Kerry/Edwards are here, here, here, here, and here. Adobe is required for all of them.
http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/2/24/183243/756
NO SURRENDER !!!
"We cannot resolve the problems of today, at the same level of thinking that created them.".
Albert Einstein
Posted by: Marc Trager at February 24, 2005 07:12 PM
I actually saw this on a bumpersitcker driving home just now! The car had TEXAS license plates, too! lol
Senator John Kerry A Conversation with Senator John Kerry
Monday, February 28, 2005, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Senator Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States will receive the distinguished American Award from the Kennedy Library Foundation. He will share his thoughts on U.S. policies both home and abroad with Pulitzer Prize winning Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant. Call for further information.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/
He most definitely deserves it.
NO SURRENDER !!!
Posted by: KerryDem at February 24, 2005 09:48 PM
re all those reasons raised by right-wingers to fear a Kerry presidency (that are coming to pass under the Bush presidency), I have one more to add to the list.
Remember how the wingers immediately attacked Sen. Kerry for saying pre-emptive U.S. military action would have to pass a global test? Well, CNN's Jamie McIntyre, in a story this morning on the prospect of a U.S. air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, reported:
"Pentagon officials say the key to a successful preemptive strike is to couple it with a strong warning that any retaliation would be suicidal AND TO PRESENT THE REST OF THE WORLD WITH STRONG EVIDENCE THAT THE STRIKE WAS JUSTIFIED." [Emphasis mine.]
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/24/lad.02.html
Posted by: Bob Evans at February 24, 2005 10:53 PM
I certainly do remember that Bob. Astonishing isn't it.
NO SURRENDER !!!
Looks like Bush is being what the Republicans called an "appeaser"
Jim Hightower was talking tonight about how Republicans want less government interference but then are more than happy to shove their "peculiar" agendas down the publics' throat, including locally.
In Texas, the state legislature was presented with two new initiatives:
1. No one who does not have a Meteorology degree can talk on tv about the weather.
2. There will be no nude youth camps in Texas!
(There already are not but they want a pre-emptive law just in case).
You would think that after Iraq the word PREEMPTIVE strike would be so taboo no one dare speak it aloud.
I keep forgetting we are in the 'other reality'..
Its creepy here can we ever go back?
BTW-- just a reminder, y'all:
This DCP website is dedicated to increasing the power and scope of citizen-activated "democracy", with a small "d" -- *not* to advancing the causes of a specific political party called "Democrats", with a large "D".
I know that plenty of people with intense opinions and passionate beliefs come to share their thoughts here. And that's fine. I think it's pretty safe to say that all of us are appalled by the way the neocons have co-opted our society and tried to remake into into something that we all quite rightfully abhor.
But that is not reason why the DCP put together this website, and it's not why they asked us to come here and interact with each other using the online tools and tool kits they've provided for us.
We are not here to bash Bush, or rail against Rove, or to tell the DNC what we think it should do next -- or to let discussions devolve into fractious factionalizing and needless namecalling, as has been known to happen from time to time.
We are not here to be *against* this, or that, or the other, y'all. We're here to be actively *for* something instead -- and that something involves encouraging people from all backgrounds and of all political stripes to join together and take democracy, *real* democracy, out of the cynical and selfish neocons' junkbox and put it back into the hands of everyday people again.
This isn't about popularity; it's about populism. This isn't about antagonism; it's about activism. This isn't about censorship; it's about citizenship.
So let's concentrate our efforts on being good citizen-activists, spreading the word personally as well as ppolitically, and practicing democracy with a small letter "d" instead of a big "D."
Otherwise we're no better than anybody else out there, and worse than many of them -- which is a whole lot worse than we want to be, or deserve to be, or most definitely can be.
Educate - Integrate - Activate. That's what we're here to do, and that's what we can achieve when we work together for something that's right, not just against something that's wrong, in the world in which we find ourselves in every day.
just my $.02 -- your mileage may vary,
Otter
Rick--
This thread is something I've been waiting for. Learning how to make the message fit the listener isn't always going to be easy. I don't know all the time exactly what I'm going to say, and I don't think we can practice a one size fits all message. When you find yourself with a 'Carol' you are in a sense giving a person their learners permit. The 'Julie's' already know how to drive.
There will be two different conversations, both of which are then scaled to the skill levels of your listener.
You took a real life experience any one of us might have, and break it down into a conversation we can all start, and carry to a good conclusion. Of course politics is personal. All a person need is the proper introduction to their part in a political life. And, you remind me that I don't have to complete a mission of turning a person into an activist full time, but that I have to ask people to THINK full time.
I'm very much into hearing how personal interaction is working for each of us. I want to know about conversations where you walked away knowing that you helped someone to 'get it.' Rick scored a hit. That is a success. I have the same trouble thinking in 'frame mode' as you Rick, but maybe some of those frames already exist and you are employing them from your own well formed thoughts.
Here, here, Rick. Proactivism is in, reactionism is out. Let the games begin.
Bin Laden -- a Brand You Can Trust
Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:23 AM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - Swiss authorities have ruled that a Geneva-based half-brother of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has the right to use the family name as a trademark.
But businessman Yeslam Bin Ladin said he had no immediate plans to bring out any goods under the name.
"I don't intend to exploit the brand Bin Ladin commercially for the time being, but registering it will prevent others from using my name to bad effect," the daily Tribune de Geneve quoted him as saying.
In July 2002 the Federal Intellectual Property Institute revoked the trademark which it had initially granted in August 2001 -- a month before al Qaeda launched suicide plane attacks on the United States that killed 3,000 people.
In revoking it, the Swiss authorities argued that the trademark could "morally wound" Swiss and disrupt public order.
But an appeals body, in a decision taken last June but only just published, said public order had not been disrupted and that trademarks should be revoked only in exceptional circumstances.
Bin Ladin has repeatedly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and loss of life.
A dual Swiss-Saudi national who has lived in the Geneva area for two decades, he plans to market a perfume under the name "Yeslam" with the "YB" logo later this year.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
I think Otter makes an interesting point. But, if we are to educate we need to point out the hypocrisy of Bushco, and the effects that our government is having on our country and other countries. Not only that, we have to demonstrate what the problems are. Many times, these appear to be "bashing" stories because they are so outrageous. Yet, these stories fill a very useful pupose. They help to motivate people to take action.
If we are going to call for active participation we have to show what alternatives or options people have at their disposal. As an example, who hasn't received countless on line petitions? These petitions are generated not by a single political party, but by various organizations. Yet, many times the sponsors of various activities are aligned with a single political party. By promoting those activities we are not promoting the party, we are promoting the process of change.
If we are going to ask people to integrate, we need to know with what and whom they are going to integrate.
Are the options necessarily part of only one political party? Probably not.
Center for American Progress site today is about preserving the right to filibuster. Check it out. It was sent out to all members of our Democracy Cell today.
There is also a big list that was discussing Social Security. It reached a lone Republican (one I think who is a bit reasonable) and he challenged any of us to "coffee" to discuss Social Security. Ben Doko, an Indonesian immigrant and community activist, was the one to take him up on the challenge.
Fallwell's name is at the top of the info from Center from American Progress. He says (re the filibuster): "You guys are dead in the water." Fallwell and the Pope are both in the hospital with pneumonia. I'm not sure either will make it for the Rapture.
Sometimes I believe in prayer and I always believe in karma.
OnCall
I will stop bashing Bush when he stops doing stupid things. Actually, I'll probably still do it from my grave because he's set us back 40 years in 4 years.
I think it can be constructive, as there is so much active Bush worship in this country and he is in such a bubble. I do agree that concrete things that people can do besides bash should be emphasized.
I would like to add to my post.
Some on this blog make it clear that we should consider ourselves Americans and not promote any political party. Nobody can disagree with that. They say we should try to refrain from labeling ourselves liberals, progressives, etc. Instead we should refer to ourselves as Americans. I can't find fault with that either. But, I think it would help to distinguish our concerns if we thought of ourselves as not only Americans, but ENLIGHTENED Americans. For all of us, and that includes those in political power, are Americans. Yet we know that those in power do not behave with the ideals we perceive as American.
It is far from humble, but I will start referring to a group of Americans who expect our country to live up to its intended goals as enlightened. Isn't that an interesting way to "frame" it?
Otter---
Couldn't agree with you more about the role of the DCP. One lively chat in IRC can get a lot of mileage, maybe more than that $.02. Taking little 'd' democracy into the wider world is a responsibility belonging to all of us.
If we can come here and use all the tools and information provided, and do some providing for others, the task of returning the country to the people will become as natural as breathing. Our lives have been impacted by the direction the country is headed. It is time to do some impacting of our own.
We came together under the heading of vote reform and media reform. I'll go out on a limb here and say blogs, (and not just ours) are going to go a long way in creating an atmoshphere that demands reform of the media. We still need to write LTE's and contact the MSM (or the former MSM) and tell them we are not pleased. We still need to commend good writing when we find it.
Vote reform will be ignored unless the citizens of this country lose their voter apathy and their mistrust of voting methods availabe to them. How many people know about the proposal introduced last week? (thanks for nothing MSM)How many people believe any longer that their vote does count? People need to know that the power to change that belongs to them. This is where we are all responsible for contacting representatives from all parties and making it known we consider this the one issue that we will hold them responsible for.
I'm much better at being 'for' something. What I'm against stares me in the face all day long. I have plenty of outrage under my belt, more than enough to energize me and get me out among my neighbors. It's time to reach out and form bonds with all people. It stopped being partisan party ideals for me a long time ago. It's all about the people. There are good and very angry people out there. We are directing our anger into action and producing solid ground to stand on. The next step is to introduce that solid ground to others.
IMHO--the time to use every bit of energy, skill and passion you have is now. The choir here already sings the same tune, with only a few lapses in harmony. We are now called on to sing to our fellow citizens.
DiAnne,
I agree with you. I was refering to Otter's post. All I was saying is that Bush does so many outrageous things we can't help but comment on them. And those comments are necessarily going to be critical. I don't consider that bashing.
There is also a big list that was discussing Social Security. It reached a lone Republican (one I think who is a bit reasonable) and he challenged any of us to "coffee" to discuss Social Security. Ben Doko, an Indonesian immigrant and community activist, was the one to take him up on the challenge.
Posted by: DiAnne at February 25, 2005 09:23 AM
Just curious...did anyone else out here have any success in meeting up with congresspeople about Social Security (or anything else) during their recess this week? I know I called our (Rep.) representative to ask for a public meeting/informal coffee/anything to discuss the issue and got the standard line, "We have nothing planned at this time but will be happy to let you know if/when we do..." I'm going to keep at him about it. And, in fact, maybe our cell should organize an event and invite him... Hmmmm.
Madame, I just posted this on the *new thread*--
Madame et alius:
I called my Congressman, John Sweeney (R) and asked if he was holding any meetings this week while he is home to discuss Social Security. He is not. I then put out the word to my homelist of about a hundred people in his district, to call and ask this week if he was holding any meetings and if not, why not. I haven't heard any stories back from them yet, but when I do, I will be sure to post the interesting ones.
My Congressman continues to avoid the issue like the plague. And I understand about being For something, Not against something, you can be both at the same time. Sometimes we need to educate people who have been misinformed by our ill-informed media as to what the truth is, and sometimes we need to educate people as to the true extent of the damage done. Sometimes this sounds like Bush bashing. It is bashing to the extent that he is responsible for his policy. But at every opportunity, I like to respond to the people who say we "Liberals" (which is kinda funny to me because I was a registered Republican for ten years) are always complaining about what we don't like, blah, blah, blah, and is there anything that we DO like?
Here is my short list:
We like intelligent and thoughtful comments or questions that have at least a passing relationship to actual facts.
We like reading books, not banning them.
We like the constitution, just the way it is.
We like science and the arts.
We like reason and logic and respect for humanity.
We like a world-view that includes people other than Americans and Christians.
We like that activities involving God or sex lives are none of your business, or the government’s either.
We like the concept that healthy people are a boon to society, not a burden.
We like education and we'd like to see more of it happening regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or ability to pay.
We like a decent living wage for a day's work.
We like the truth. And we'd like to hear some of it from our government sometime.
And,
We like peaceful coexistence to the extent that it is feasible and reasonable. Even with people who disagree with us.
And, to quote a certain Mr. Edwards while we're at it:
"We believe in hope over despair, we believe in possibilities over problems, we believe in optimism over cynicism. We believe in doing what's right even when others say it can't be done. And we believe in fighting desperately for those who have no voice in America."
'liberal' is not a 4-letter word,
Otter
Kerry Dem--
Thanks for all your posts today, especially for the alert on the Oliphant-Kerry interview at the JFK library. Tom Oliphant is one of the most thoughtful columnists out there. . it should be a great conversation.
Yes, NO SURRENDER!