A Green Iran

I cannot help but stand with the brave protesters of Iran, who are risking their lives in dissenting their government. Pictures of the Iranian bravery from Tehran and elsewhere are moving and inspiring. Never mind the question of the election’s legitimacy. The right of people to peacefully assemble in dissent of their government is something we should all support. The Ayatollah and his President stand against the protesters, threatening to crush the movement. The people’s President now faces a tough reality: Should he disperse his supporters, return to normalcy, or continue the struggle and risk thousands of lives? Are the Ayatollah’s words simply idle threats? It’s easy for us to say to the Iranians, go! Continue your protests! Be brave Iranians, the world is with you! Give us liberty or give us death, and all that. But our lives are not at risk. I do now know what I would do.

If the Ayatollah were to put down the protests with brutal force, it may backfire, leading to further unrest, maybe even some sort of civil war. At any rate, Ayatollah or not, one day the Iranian people will have what they desire.

Holocaust Museum Shooting

I was there, incidentally. I was there observing displays of Nazi propaganda on the fourth floor of the museum. I was there in the dark, cool room. Nazi-era video trumpeted in the background. Hitler’s distinctive voice roused crowds as he pounded on a podium and shook his fist – but that was decades ago, a lifetime ago for many. On a clear day in June, 2009, at least one elderly extremist was still listening. I was there.

“There’s been a disturbance! There’s…a situation at the front of the building. Shots were fired at the front of the building,” the panicked security officer exclaimed as he herded people away from the platform which overlooked the lobby.

Another guard tried to console us, and alleviate our concerns. “Everything is going to be okay. If you would like, you can continue looking at the displays on this floor. We should have the situation resolved shortly.”

But soon after, we were backed against the far side of the building. “Proceed very carefully and quietly down the emergency exit stairway.” Sounds of a Nazi parade prevented absolute silence. One of the guard’s two-way radios crackled and spoke in fragments about “securing the basement.” Behind me, an elevator stirred to life.

Did the guards have weapons, I recall thinking. Have they detained the gunman (I never doubted it was a man)? Are we sitting ducks in here?

Down the stairs, quickly, quietly. We emerged to see helicopters circling in the sky, with snipers hanging from their sides. Police sirens wailed. Car engines roared as emergency vehicles bolted from intersection to intersection. More and more police cars arrived.

“Take cover!” I heard someone shout. Police were forcing us back, back across the street, back into the field, farther and farther from the building. I saw panicked school teachers urging their children to stay together. I saw families separated in the chaos, searching desperately. Nearly everyone had some sort of recording device, camera phones, camcorders, capturing the scene. Others smiled nervously, confused. “This is like a movie,” someone exclaimed. Fear struggled with curiosity. Some tourists left the area, some stayed. “I want to see what happens.” Police blocked the streets. Two officers forced an eighteen wheeler truck to turn around. The annoyed driver U-turned the truck at an impossible angle, but pulled it off somehow. “I taught him that,” one of the officers said. The other grinned.

Blood spilled that day, at a memorial designed to appeal to our common humanity. Blood spilled, for reasons unimaginable to most- but to some, all too reasonable. Blood spilled for a way of thinking said to be dead, dying – in its “last throes,” if you will.  In two weeks, three people acted independently, decided to take lives in separate incidents to make a political statement. In a matter of hours, millions are made witness to their ugly ideology. Most turn away. But some take another look. They don’t represent America – not all of it, anyway. But they don’t have to. With a gunshot, they’re made famous. America stares, stares at the grotesque, appalled, mortified, yet curious – too curious to look away.

American Woman

“I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.” – Carrie Prejean, Miss California

Did you hear, despite being in a state of threatened collapse, the Pakistani government is currently going forward with plans to build a new generation of nuclear bombs?

No, of course not.  But I bet you did hear about this little side-story:  A hot chick says she’s against gay marriage.  Cue political pundits, give it a couple days, and you have a full-blown media blitzkrieg.  On the right, Miss California is brave and principled.  Enter stage right:  Morning talk show appearances and reiterations of stuff we’ve already heard.  On the left, Prejean is a hypocrite.  Enter stage left:  Shameful photos of a topless Prejean (complete with stars to obscure that most intolerable part of the body:  the human nipple).  Then, Donald Trump has to decide whether she keeps her crown.

Under the surface, we have an argument about what the idealized American woman should be.  And to me, that makes all of this a little more important than your average left/right he said/she said bullshit fest.  Maybe I don’t have any business delving into this territory, but what can I say, I’m interested.  So give me a chance.  If I did have a stake, I would say something like, “You know, if we want our Miss Americas to be all pious and virginal, why do we take most of their clothes off and parade them across a stage for our entertainment?  Isn’t that a bit creepy?”  If I weren’t paying so much attention to Pakistan, I would add, “Seriously, you take a topless photo and you’re a filthy whore.  You take a bikini photo and you’re a role model for millions of budding American girls.”  I might say, “Okay, so she broke the rules.  But maybe the rules are fundamentally flawed.  We’re sexualizing our American women while simultaneously insisting that they remain chaste and unscathed.”  We ask their opinions and expect a prepared, scripted answer?  There are plenty of intelligent women out there – women who rival Ms. Prejean in beauty and absolutely kick her ass in intellect.  So, we trot out fifty bimbos who aren’t exactly stock, implore them to prance around and insist on boring, parroted answers to simple questions.  Seriously, this is our idealized American woman?   So when one says something different, something unexpected, something unpopular, she is reprimanded, threatened, crucified, and disrobed before the entire country – in a frightening display of intolerance from the the all-inclusive, live-and-let-live left.  She didn’t say what they wanted her to say, so they destroyed her.  And from the intolerant right, she is pardoned, uplifted, deified.  Never mind that she took some scantily-clad photos that they would normally find objectionable – they can use her.  She’s useful.

Never mind the politics – cast that aside for a moment and realize this is about more than that.  She may have whored herself out to Right-wing media in the midst of the storm, and she espouses a belief which I personally object to, and she may be a bit of a hypocrite (give me a break, who isn’t?).  This is about more than her.  It’s about the hers out there, who are perpetually confused about what’s expected of them in this dualistic whore/virgin society that we live in.  And political views?  Our idealized woman isn’t interested in such things.  We inform her of the correct answer, and she dittos it back to us with an awkwardly choreographed delivery – but with a smile (you’re a doll, babe).  What does it mean to be a woman in American society, what should our girls strive for?  Is it this?  A beauty pageant complete with a question-and-answer charade?  Oh Jesus, someone went off-script.  She doesn’t agree with you, she’s a “stupid bitch.”  But what if she answered correctly?  What if all went as planned?  What is she then?  And is this “she” what we want our “shes” striving to be?  Likable – not intellectual.  Sweet – not argumentative.  Complacent – not independent.  Detached – not engaged. Beautiful – but hollow.  Do we want our girls to be any of these women?

Carrie Prejean:  Sure, she’s probably not familiar with all the nuances of the gay marriage issue, but she gave her opinion – the real one.  And now, she’s swept into the firestorm.  It’s too late for her now.  We all know what follows.  The tabloids, the Entertainment magazine, the prime time interview – then the downward spiral, the meltdown, the vanquished gladiator lying beaten in the dusts of the arena.

I bet she’ll write a book.

Back into the fray…

“This is a person who is one of the most anti-American leaders in the entire world. He is a brutal dictator, human rights violations are very, very prevalent in Venezuela. And you have to be careful. When you’re talking about the prestige of the United States and the presidency of the United States, you have to be careful who you’re seeing joking around with. And I think it was irresponsible for the president to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez.” – John Ensign, Nevada Senator, as reported by Politico.com

Hold on a second there, Senator.  When you say “brutal dictator,” I think you mean the foreign leader who some officials have some very notable concerns about in regards to his commitment to freedom of the press and other essentials of a free society, but who otherwise is the democratically elected President of Venezuela.  I would not characterize Chavez as strictly “anti-American,” but he was certainly “anti-Bush,” particularly in the area of foreign policy.   And can you really chastise President Obama for shaking the hand of Chavez and smiling for the camera when the former President had a particularly puzzling and well-documented first-term bro-mance (God forgive me) with a foreign leader that is as bad (and probably worse) than Chavez (Last name Putin, first name Vladimir)?

I rest my case.

Still entertaining…

I say, there’s nothing more entertaining than a mutually contradictory story coming from liberals, who believe Obama’s centrist appointments indicate he isn’t as left-leaning as advertised, and conservatives, who still insist Obama is probably the most radical leftist President in our history.  Hilarious, to be sure.  I’m enjoying the hell out of it all.  The Left is sweating, believing the only “truly progressive” appointment they’ve gotten to be Susan Rice, the freakin’ UN ambassador.  All of those recycled Clintonites are, apparently, a shade away from DINO territory.  And the Right!  Oh, the right!  How they puff with anger and worry at the thought of the looming Obama presidency!  Worse than Carter, they declare, assuming failure from the beginning.  Seriously, the most left-wing President in history?  When are you guys going to realize that Obama was never as far-left as believed, but he isn’t exactly William F. Buckley either.  Hell, I think Nixon was probably about as far to the left as Obama, what with proposing universal healthcare in the 1970s, talking with dictators, and instituting price controls.  Do you fellows even know the history of your own party?  Really, do you?

This comes as the Governor of Illinois finds himself in the custody of federal agents for allegedly trying to sell a Senate seat.  Christ!  It’s like something out of a movie.  But, don’t be so pessimistic people.  This could be Zimbabwe.

Proposition 8: Fear and Opportunity

What we have here is, failure to communicate.  That’s right, friends. 

Poof, up in smoke went gays’ right to marry.  A majority of Californians voted to overturn localized measures allowing gays to marry, snatching a right from homosexuals that they had just begun to enjoy.  This is as fine an example as I’ve ever seen of what the founders called “the violence of the majority,” or majority tyranny.  A majority of people cannot be allowed to take from the rights of minorities as they please if we are to foster a healthy republic, those long dead would say.  Those too long alive, the elderly, turned out in droves to outlaw gay marriage in California.  In Arkansas, gays can no longer adopt children.  To say the least, these are giant steps backwards for the gay rights movement.  Pundits are crowing about how higher black turnout was the deciding factor – and terrifyingly, that may be true.  70% of African-Americans voted for the ban in California, as compared with a minority of Whites and a slim majority of Hispanics. 

Surely, this isn’t the end of the gay rights movement.  Right, they’ll continue on as always, hold protests, make demands, and perhaps they should.  But is this the best approach?  Acceptance of gays has taken a remarkable turn from the 1992 survey which showed a majority of US Congressmen believed homosexuality to be immoral.  But how has it come about?  Protests?  Rallies?  Or through more subtle means?  It’s up to them to decide the best approach, and they can treat this as a defeat, which it certainly is, or they can treat it as an opportunity, which I believe it could be.  For one, clearly gays need to reach out to minority communities, especially blacks.  Gay and Gay-friendly minorities should lead the effort.  Most homosexuals realize that holding protests outside black churches would probably be counterproductive.  Likewise, mass protests across the country will result in little, if any, change.  The effort has to be subtle, through entertainment, support groups, soft diplomacy, alongside court battles. 

Republicans may already be divising strategies to uproot some minorities from the Democratic party, on the basis of this issue alone.  When 70% of a population, which is ever-so-important to the success of a political party, votes against a measure most Democrats and many Democratic officials are openly supportive or at least silently sympathetic to, you should hear alarm bells.  There is no bravery in politics, to be sure, and you won’t see many high-level Democratic officials coming out in direct support of gay marriage until this segment of the population gets on board.  You don’t have to get all, and you won’t, just get most.  I assure you, however farfetched it may seem, Republicans are paying attention, and for good reason.  They don’t necessarily have to gain the support of African Americans, all they have to do is cause a schism. 

Hang in there, and dare to hope.

Election 2008: Did Race Matter?

Now that America has at least partially exonerated herself from foreign charges of racism and ignorance (how many Western European countries have elected minority candidates for their top office, I wonder?), we can all move on and begin the healing process.  Right?  Wait a second, Obama didn’t win the white vote.  That means whites are de-facto racist, right?  Not so fast.  Obama only received 43% of the white vote, true.  McCain received 55%, a clear majority.  But let’s take a closer look. 

Allow me to invoke the previous election in 2004.  Kerry only received 41% of the white vote.  That means Obama, who is black, received a larger percentage of the white electorate than Kerry, who is white.  Bush received 58% of the white vote. 

Maybe blacks are racist because they voted overwhelmingly for Obama at 95%.  But hold on a second.  They voted for Kerry at a rate of 88%.  Essentially what we’re seeing here is, more whites are Republicans than Democrats, and blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic, regardless of skin tone. 

Maybe you attribute Obama’s victory to high African-American turnout.  Even this proves dubious, as the black turnout was only 2% higher than in 2004.  Given this information, I think it’s safe to say that race at least wasn’t as big a factor as most pundits believed it would be.  At least to me, it appears it wasn’t much of a factor in the outcome. 

What do you think?

A Blank State

“I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.” – Barack Obama

People said of Reagan, after a difficult time, he made us proud to be Americans once again.  He offered hope when there seemed little to give, optimism when there seemed little good to dwell on.  And so, here we are again.  Our generation met its own tabula rasa - blank slate – last night, when we elected Barack Obama the next President of the United States of America.  Less than half a century ago, Jim Crow laws disenfranchised African-Americans in the South.  In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. published his first book entitled Stride Toward Freedom:  The Montgomery Story.  Today, we see the result of that stride, now an American story, one we can tell our grandchildren about many years from now.  In a time of difficulty, Barack Obama offered hope.  We Americans enthusiastically sent him to the White House. 

I’ve been guilty of saying this was just another ballgame, that the only difference was the black man, as Huge Chavez would say.  For the first time, I genuinely hope I’m wrong, perhaps even believe I was wrong, and for that I have Obama to thank.  People say a President has to do more than give a good speech, but those same people laud Reagan as “The Great Communicator.”  The truth is, there is value in the ability to inspire, to encourage, to exhilarate and excite.  America’s faith in itself must first be restored, before we can begin digging.  And we have a lot of digging to do. 

America must answer the cries of the uninsured in this country, but she must not go too far.  America must end her wars abroad, but she must not go too far.  America must regulate her industries, but she must not go too far.  America must research new technologies, but she must not go too far.  America must do what she can to raise the standard of living for those less fortunate, but she must not go too far.  America must protect her interests abroad, but she must not go too far.  America must continue to trade openly with the world, but she must not go too far.  America must balance her budget, but she must not go too far.  America must roll back the Bush tax cuts, but she must not go too far.  America desperately needs change, but she must not go too far. 

Above all, moderation is key.  If you fill the cup to the brim, it will surely overflow.  Swing the pendulum, Obama, but please, don’t swing it too far, use your scalpel and not your hatchet, I beg you.  And remember, above all, moderation is key.  Avoid extremes.  Be decisive, yet thoughtful.  Be bold, yet restrained.  Be confident, yet humble.  Be practical, not ideological.  In the face of disaster, do what Bush could not, and do what Roosevelt, and Reagan, and Lincoln could.  It is good to be conflicted.  Contradictions are human.  Embrace it.  Embrace your humanity.  Remember your vulnerabilities. 

Do this, and we’ll be with you every step of the way.

Good government

Mr. President-elect, whomever you may be, accept the advice of the long dead, but forever wise.

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

“If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.”

“In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.”

“How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.”

“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”

-Thomas Jefferson

“The more laws and restrictions there are,
The poorer people become.
The sharper men’s weapons,
The more trouble in the land.
The more ingenious and clever men are,
The more strange things happen.
The more rules and regulations,
The more thieves and robbers.”
“A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,
And is therefore good.
A foolish man tries to be good,
And is therefore not good.
A truly good man does nothing,
Yet leaves nothing undone.
A foolish man is always doing,
Yet much remains to be done.”
-Lao Tsu

“Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.”
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
-Voltaire

“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

“A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.”
“And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
-James Madison

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”
“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”
“I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”
-Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday looms

And so, here we are.  The final act.  Obama appears ahead an average of 6.5%, yet Drudge insists McCain still has a chance, and most recently, now declares him ahead.  Republican fantasies are cute, aren’t they? 

I don’t pretend this couldn’t all come crashing down rather quickly, because it could.  But Drudge has been selectively picking the polls which show McCain the closest for weeks now, and it’s beginning to get on my nerves.  There aren’t enough Saturday Night Lives left for McCain to come back, and yet I don’t think this will be a landslide.  The people saying this will be the biggest Democratic victory since Johnson over Goldwater have another thing coming.  But I think Obama will win.  

What’s in store for us?  Well, maybe we should wait until the fat lady sings, right?  Here’s hoping she doesn’t do any dancing afterwards.  I’ll see you in the post-Bush era.