A Bit of Perspective

This has clearly not been a good couple of weeks for those working for social justice, health-care, racial and gender equality or any number of other issues. With such great change lingering seemingly inches out of reach, we can do well to remember how far we've come already. While providing universal health-care (which I believe is a right) is certainly a noble goal, and something we should strive for, taking a minute today to look back on things that have happened in the past that make the fact we're even discussing an idea like that incredible.


On August 13, 1965, Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal Seminarian, was arrested with 29 others for simply picketing a Whites only store. He sat in jail for 6 days with the other adults refusing to be bailed out unless all were granted bail. As they walked to the only store in town that served non-whites they were accosted by a "Special Deputy" armed with a shotgun.

The man, Tom Coleman, leveled his shotgun at a 17 year old girl named Ruby Sales. Daniels moved quickly to shove Ruby out of the way taking the full brunt of the shotgun blast himself. He was killed instantly. John Morrisoe, also a protester and a Catholic Priest, was shot in the back as he fled with the other black protester.

Thomas Coleman was acquitted by a jury of his all white peers after Shooting a priest and a priest-in-training downtown in broad daylight.


July 23-28, 1967 had one of the worst riots in American histories. The streets of Detroit saw 467 injured, 2,509 stores looted, 388 families left homeless and 43 killed.

Clifton Pryor was mistaken for a sniper and shot dead by the National Guard. Ernest Roquemore was shot in the back by a US Army Paratrooper. He was 19. Roy Banks was shot when he was mistaken by a National Guardsman for a looter. He was a deaf mute. A tank rolling through the streets of Detroit shot Tanya Blanding. She was upstairs in her house. She was four years old.


On May 4, 1970, nine unarmed students were wounded and four more shot and killed when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd with live ammunition. Jeffrey Miller, 20 (Pictured), was shot through the mouth and killed instantly while standing 81 meters from the National Guard. Allison Krause (19), William Schroeder (19), and Sandra Scheuer (20) were also unarmed protesters shot by the Ohio Army National Guard.

As the US invaded expanded involvement in the already unpopular VietNam War into Cambodia, these students who were protesting the expansion of the use of force were unarmed themselves, but cut down by the US military. Again, none of the shooters faced criminal charges.



These were dark moments in American history, in fact, they were some of the darkest. As we debate now our views and lament our losses, whether they are a lack of legislative achievement or a perceived loss of American values, we would do well to remember that a generation ago Americans were killed at home with impunity, often by our government. Those in my generation could not conceive of tanks rolling through any of our cities instituting martial law and backing it up with lethal force. Shooting even the most unpopular people point blank in broad daylight would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, just ask Scott Roeder.

Though we have far to go and much work to do, we should in our defeats draw strengths from our victories over violence and hatred and be glad at least, that we no longer have to fear the bullets of our own soldiers turned against us as a method of crowd control. So let us continue to debate passionately about our future, but let us remember together how far we've come.

How could this week get worse?

This week this happened:

The Democratic Party lost Edward Kennedy's Senate seat.

Seriously.

Our party totally caved on saving the lives of 46,000 people a year.

The Supreme Court decided that corporations are actually people, just like you and me.

Conan O'Brien had to step down from The Late Show.



I'm not sure how this week could get any worse.

I hope there isn't a way.

A man, a plan, a truck; a total missing of the point!

The morning after Republican Scott Brown not quite stunned Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate race, I, like so many others, want to throw in my two cents. While many are urging the Democratic Party to move to the right, I'm looking at you Lieberman, that seems to be exactly the wrong way to go.

As a Democrat, I feel I'm in a position to talk about why many people are either turning away from the party or not showing up to vote. Here's my conclusion.

We suck.

Really, really suck.


It's not that we have bad ideas, or unpopular policy, it's that we're governing as if Republicans matter. We have an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate, even with the Brown win. We have the American public behind us. Seventy some percent of Americans STILL want a public option. Yes, employment is a major issue, but with the numbers continually improving, we (as a party) have to accept that we are going to lose some folks who don't recognize it can't be fixed overnight.

Our main problem is that in spite of all the support on the issues, and all of the majorities we have, our electeds sit around on their thumbs, fretting and wondering how much they should water down what they want to do.

Here's a hint, when the electorate hands you a landslide presidential victory and the largest majorities in Congress in around 40 years, you go big.

The people who are walking around in Revolutionary War costumes with Lipton Tea bags hanging off their hats and signs that say "Gov: Hands off my Medicare" aren't going to vote for us whether or not we pass insurance reform. Ever. We can't satisfy them, and with our majorities we shouldn't even entertain the idea of trying.

President Bush didn't even win a majority of the vote in 2000. His response to that was "So what?" A w. is a w. for W. And he was right.

I disagree with nearly everything President Bush did as President, but even I have to admit he was a terribly effective president. When he wanted something done, he got it done. At the moment, we have folks like Lieberman, Nelson, and Stupak doing something Republicans would never ever consider doing by attempting to torpedo torpedoing their own party's signature issue.

I know not every bill is exactly what we want, but I'd a lot rather have our fairly pathetic Senate health-care bill than the Republican's plan which seems to be, mostly, "don't get sick." It's time to get it together and start passing meaningful legislation that helps people instead of hand-wringing and fretting about how much that meaningful legislation is going to tick off Glen Beck.

While I can offer assurances I will keep voting, working, and doing all I can to advance a progressive agenda, I can also strongly sympathize with all those who are disappointed that our party is acting like a bunch of pathetic, lily-livered weaklings. The lesson we take from this election isn't that we should moderate ourselves even deeper into the ineffective abyss, it's that it's time to wake up, flex some muscle and show voters we can deliver on our promises.



EDIT: Shortly after posting this morning, Huffington Post reported on THIS poll, basically confirming what I said. Voters punished the Democratic Party for being weak on health care and Wall St.

New Year's Resolutions, only two weeks late

In the past this blog has been primarily short essays, if you will, posted roughly once a week. Alright, once every week and a half to two weeks. Also, though I intended to keep this blog restricted to about three subjects, it has overwhelmingly focused on things with a decidedly Episcopalian bent. Part of that is my preference, part is that way more people who are way more knowledgeable in their fields get paid way better than I do to write on sports and politics. While lots of people get paid more to write on religion, I at least feel I occasionally have a viewpoint worth contributing there.

As a result, I'm planning on posting more. Way more. And mostly shorter posts. I'm going to try and post at least every other day, and more likely every day. I'm still planning on occasionally writing lengthy (for the web) thoughts on things that move me to write, but I'm going to loosen up the filter here a bit and stop just writing on things that move me like the death of Ted Kennedy & the Sewanee Community after Tragedy. Hopefully this will make this whole enterprise more enjoyable for you, the reader, and for me, as the poster.


To mark my departure from the purely serious and sincere, I'm going to post an exceptionally silly clip. This isn't indicative of the tone this blog will take in the new year by any means, but it's funny and irreverent, and with all of the horrors in the world today, the immense tragedy, the suffering, and the hopelessness one has to feel in the wake of the Haiti tragedy, hopefully this will brighten everyone's day (if you'll excuse the moderately coarse language.)

Just not before you make a donation to Episcopal Relief and Development, because before you can escape for a minute, you really should help out.


And now for something completely different.