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Nov. 4th, 2004 04:57 pmMost of what I'm feeling now is a sense of lethargy, and a quiet amazement at my own naivete - I live in NYC, all of my friends are some flavor of progressive/liberal/pickyourownlabel - hell, my own mother puts in 50-hour weeks volunteering for Action AIDS in Philadelphia (they tried to give her a paying job, she wouldn't take it). It managed to totally miss me, the fact that I live in a bubble. Even in the NY Times there are articles about people feeling a similar sense, an "Are we really that out of step with the rest of the nation?" I wouldn't have credited it, myself, but the evidence is all right here, right now.
I don't want to give up on the Democratic party, deeply flawed though it is. I want to see it frame the debate better, more forcefully (by foreful I mean in clear, precise language, vitriol gets us nowhere, and as Al Franken has said - "I'm sick and tired of apologizing for being reasonable." i.e. being able to engage in consideration of opposing viewpoints without resorting to violent speech.), I want it to be unashamed about progressive ideals and social justice - the real moral issues of our time, our responsibilities to our environment, our fellow humans, and our future.
Am I dreaming? Possibly. Probably, even. Will I stop? Hell, no. I've got a lot of research ahead of me, to see if there's a position open in my local branch of the party, and to see if I qualify. I'm also solidifying the rest of what I can do in my mind. A lot of it is the same path I've been walking - being very careful as to how I spend my money of food, clothing, and other needed things, staying informed through several progressive action groups, etc., etc. I'm also planning on researching which of the Supreme Court justices are the most likely to retire in the next four years, and plan on possibly trying to organize a letter writing campaign asking them to hold off, just yet. (I feel kind of bad about that - say what you will about the positions, these people have given an awful lot of their lives and time to the job.)
As usual, it is solved by walking.
"Oh, the water's rising,
how will we get to the other shore?
Many hearts are troubled,
but we ain't got so far to go."
I don't want to give up on the Democratic party, deeply flawed though it is. I want to see it frame the debate better, more forcefully (by foreful I mean in clear, precise language, vitriol gets us nowhere, and as Al Franken has said - "I'm sick and tired of apologizing for being reasonable." i.e. being able to engage in consideration of opposing viewpoints without resorting to violent speech.), I want it to be unashamed about progressive ideals and social justice - the real moral issues of our time, our responsibilities to our environment, our fellow humans, and our future.
Am I dreaming? Possibly. Probably, even. Will I stop? Hell, no. I've got a lot of research ahead of me, to see if there's a position open in my local branch of the party, and to see if I qualify. I'm also solidifying the rest of what I can do in my mind. A lot of it is the same path I've been walking - being very careful as to how I spend my money of food, clothing, and other needed things, staying informed through several progressive action groups, etc., etc. I'm also planning on researching which of the Supreme Court justices are the most likely to retire in the next four years, and plan on possibly trying to organize a letter writing campaign asking them to hold off, just yet. (I feel kind of bad about that - say what you will about the positions, these people have given an awful lot of their lives and time to the job.)
As usual, it is solved by walking.
"Oh, the water's rising,
how will we get to the other shore?
Many hearts are troubled,
but we ain't got so far to go."
