Celebrate What?

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4th of July, anger, blogging, danger, diversity, division, faith, fight, freedom, humanity, July 4, life, politics, protest, question, reflections, struggle, tyranny, writing

I’m not sure anyone is feeling patriotic this July 4. In past years, I’ve taken part in readings of Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again,” and took pride in reading the stanza:

“O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!”

This year I can’t even do that. With the constant horror stories of inhumane treatment in the concentration camps on our southern border, the build up of the alt-right’s “Straight Pride” parades/facades planned for August, and the perpetual attacks on female autonomy under the banner of pro-life heading towards a horrendous crescendo at the now conservative Supreme Court, who feels like celebrating America? Who feels like celebrating even the concept of America while it is being smothered with a pillow in front of our eyes? While this administration complains it doesn’t need to provide basic prison necessities to asylum seeking refugees held in captivity, they tweak numbers to find $9 million for a military parade to soothe the huge ego of “President” tiny-hands. Day by day, elected government officials erode the basic tenants of our democracy in exchange for power and wealth all the while claiming to be true patriots. It’s impossible and insulting to celebrate freedom from tyranny when a tyrant rules our daily lives.

So I’m joining the boycott of July 4 this year. If we are to remember that the first Gay Pride march was a riot, we must remember that the first celebration of American freedom was a declaration of war. Like then we have people who are loyal to the crown, and rebels demanding their rights. The problem those loyal to the crown think they are the rebels. The more this country starts heading in the right direction towards diversity and equity, the more a small but loud group of people that feel extending the rights they already have to everyone else feel marginalized; they aren’t marginalized, they just don’t like to share. This is why they feel their spray tanned leader is a God-sent messiah; he isn’t, he just hates to share even more than his base, which is why they love him. You can’t have a rational discourse with a person who feels his entire identity is wrapped up in status, prestige, and privilege; unless they are looking down on someone, they feel less than. All this does is give migraines to those of us that care about each other and how everyone is treated. Empathy is seen as weakness, compassion seen as deficient, dissent seen as unpatriotic. To celebrate our country in this environment is backwards, if only for the reason that it will affirm all that the tyrants believe. This year the truly patriotic thing would be to remember Bastille Day—guillotine and all. But I can be moderate and simply say don’t show those in power that we tolerate their actions, edicts, or behaviors. Join a protest, stage a sit in, write your representatives, refuse to buy anything, donate to the ACLU or to migrant legal fees or incidentals, turn off your TVs, and listen to N.W.A., Public Enemy or Rage Against the Machine all day. I’ll leave you with the end of Hughes’ poem, which better fits the message of the day:

“Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!”

Fourth of July

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4th of July, anger, blogging, faith, Frederick Douglass, freedom, help, hope, humanity, James Earl Jones, liberty, politics, question, reflections, slavery, social justice

With all that has happened in the last few months, this 4th of July doesn’t seem to be a time of celebration. It’s not exactly a time for mourning, but it is close. That which we thought was the promise of America has disappeared in the worst bait-and-switch act ever in our history. The oligarchy we were becoming has morphed into the fascism we once fought against; worse yet, a large part of the population have embraced it, and to the rest it is becoming normal. It is not a birthday worth the candles.

However there are strange glimpses of hope. When conspiracy radio talk host Alex Jones said the liberals will be launching a second Civil War today, people took to Twitter in the best satirical fashion to create notes from the front as “Second Civil War Letters” (I urge you to search #secondcivilwarletters on Twitter and laugh your ass off; I also created my own letter on another blog here). I also took to reading Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July.” Written 166 years ago, it is amazingly prescient today and can help to inspire most of us. If we can come out of those darkest times, we can again.

For today’s 4th of July, I present you with one of America’s greatest treasures with one of America’s great speeches: James Earl Jones reading excerpts from Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July.” This was presented as part of Howard Zinn’s “The People’s History of the United States.”

 

 

The speech itself is worth reading in its entirety, and you can here.

On the Ethics of Voting

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anger, beliefs, Bernie Sanders, coercion, democracy, election, ethics, immorality, philosophy, shame, vote shaming, voting

I’m a Bernie supporter, I’ve always been blatantly obvious about that on my show, my tweets, my blogs, my Facebook posts. I am however transitioning over to the Jill Stein camp as Bernie’s official run for the Democratic nomination seems to be winding down and Stein remains the best options for me and other progressives. However as the two major parties present their nominees, the battle for votes is heating up. The lines are drawn more narrow, the arguments are pitched higher, and the anger is even more palpable. And with it some dangerous arguments are being made.

An article circulating on Facebook and other interwebs by Olivia Goodwill is about the ethics of voting. In a nutshell, ethics professors point to the utilitarian purpose of voting–voting to produce a particular outcome–over the deontological approach to voting–voting your values and worldview as reflected in a particular candidate–as the way to approach the 2016 US election. The idea is that to vote with your heart and conscience without considering the downside of that outcome is immoral. While I do agree with some of the article in principle, how people are using this article is immoral.

Numerous Clinton supporters are using this article as well as the Dan Savage rant against third-party candidates (Specifically Jill Stein) as arguments against voting for anyone other than Hillary. It’s basically another way to break up those that want to write in Bernie Sanders or vote Jill Stein in November. It’s the same “a vote for anyone other than Hillary is a vote for Trump” argument while using these articles as a bludgeon. In other words, you’ve heard of “slut-shaming” and “fat-shaming’; welcome to vote-shaming. That you should be ashamed to vote for anyone other than Clinton or any third-party candidate. Like slut and fat shaming, I reject that notion wholeheartedly.

Firstly, the assumption becomes that people are “blindly” following Bernie Sanders. While I admit there are more than a few Berners that scare me more than a little, the majority of Bernie supporters I know are lifelong Democrats or progressives that are staunch believers in his message and his policy ideas, They are people of courage and integrity that have come to their conclusions through thought and experience. Many of them are switching to Jill Stein because she is the next best option where Bernie leaves off–also come to through thought and research.  They also are voting a political outcome, but it is a different outcome from that of Hillary supporters.

This leads to the second point: while many Bernie supporters won’t back Clinton, they are trying to elect more progressives to office. This election gives them the best chance to take back both houses of Congress. Berners are trying to keep track of those running on a progressive platform (especially those endorsed by Bernie or who endorsed him during the primaries) and contribute to them and vote for them. Getting a firm Democratic hold in Congress can keep a majority of Trump’s platform down if he wins (it’s STILL a constitutional democracy we live in with all the checks and balances in place) and push for more progressive concessions if Clinton wins (she doesn’t want to go more left than she has in the primaries and has said as much). Sanders supporters have been helpful for down ticket ballots where Clinton seems to falter, and they have registered all the new Democratic voters thus far in the primary season (which the DNC didn’t do because new voters broke 2 to 1 towards Bernie). The outcome here would be to push the political spectrum back to the left from how Bill Clinton moved the parties more to the right. So the Bernie supporters voting against the interests of others or without an eye towards outcomes is wrong.

Lastly, however genteel the language, reasoned the argument, or good the intent, trying to shame people into voting for your candidate is in itself immoral. Voting is almost our only way to have a voice in how our country is run. Ultimately how you vote is a matter of conscience and personal political beliefs, and no one has the right to tell you how to think or believe. Anyone who has to have people shame others into voting for them isn’t worth your vote, even if they say it’s supposed to be for the greater good. It’s the same as bullying, using different forms of emotional manipulation and that is as reprehensible as it is immoral.

I may be passionate in my beliefs, but if my persuasion doesn’t work, I can’t force you to you change your mind. You have as much right to your own beliefs and votes as do I, but we haven’t gotten to the point of respecting this anymore. IF people need to change your mind in order to justify their own voice, their point of view has to be highly suspect. If people need to be shamed into voting for a candidate, that candidate is not worth voting for.

Best Response to the Bernie Sanders Interruption in Seattle

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action, activisim, activists, anger, beliefs, Black Lives Matter, blogging, change, civil rights, communication, Community, debate, politics, protest

After Bernie Sanders was interrupted by two activists on behalf of Black Lives Matter, I was stunned by it. A lot of it had to do with that he was the candidate I truly support; other had to do with the fact that he would be targeted. I wasn’t sure what to think, so of course I started to read more accounts and responses to the event (other than people angry at the Black Lives Matter movement). First I have to commend Mr. Sanders who was able to express how he felt yet still be an ally to the movement by stating in a statement that he was “disappointed that two people disrupted a rally by thousands”; by mentioning the two women activists rather than the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole, he takes issue with the tactics of two people rather than the issues behind the movement. Second, of the articles I’ve read so far, the one linked to below is my favorite. It was written by Pramila Jayapal, who is a female person of color State Senator in Washington state and was at the rally that was interrupted (she was the speaker just before Mr. Sanders). It’s good to get an eyewitness piece that is as thoughtful and cogent as what she wrote concerning the event. Please click on the link below to check it out.–it’s a very important red.

Guest Editorial @ Stranger.com