Recipient of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award
The Campaign To Change America has changed this American
Reposted from John Edwards Blog
http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/9/26/134626/195#12
user icon DonVila in Arguments & Analyses Feed of
9/26/2007 at 8:33 PM EST
This is the text of my commentary which will be aired by our local NPR station, WVPE next week - my third, so far.
(This is an amazing opportunity for an average person to weigh in. Most of these stations welcome citizen participation).
What I have to say is directed to people who think of themselves as progressives or liberals or lefties... Conservative listeners may want to click off their radios for a couple of minutes, or maybe fire up the ol' food processor. Go ahead, I'll give you a second.
OK, for those of you still listening, I want to say that we have an opportunity I haven't seen before and don't think will come again - at least in my lifetime, and I'm 51.
We can support the candidate for President who proposes the things we'd actually like to see happen. We can listen carefully to their positions and plans..analyze and criticize... And then what we absolutely must do is put real energy not just into that person's campaign - but into his or her vision (and hopefully your own) of what could be.
The reason I'm satisfied we have this luxury, is that people who tend not to pay much attention to the federal government's conduct are so ticked at the current goons of the Executive Branch, that they are quite open to listening to other approaches. But don't kid yourself, if we elect the "safe" candidate who doesn't want to rock the boat too much, those folks will note the minor improvement and shift their focus back to their personal situations. And the opportunity will have been lost.
No, this is a rare opportunity indeed.
Anyone who knows me, (or probably) even had a brief conversation with me knows who I support. But I'm not here to tout my candidate or the campaign so much as to tell you what being involved has done for me and how it's changed me.
Backing up a bit, because of the availability of information via the internet, it's now possible to know an amazing amount about a person running for President. In my case, I know more about my candidate than I've known about all the people running for office I've voted for in the past combined. And if you like what you find out, that can give you a lot of confidence in your candidate.
My candidate's campaign has an umbrella social action organization, and late last winter I made contact with the local chapter. Before I knew it, I was a captain of the chapter. We've been involved with food drives, peace demonstrations, health care advocacy, home repair for needy citizens and similar activities.
My candidate's blog is very open to supporters (and detractors for that matter) and eventually I started posting. That went pretty well, and since the campaign encourages local action, I later got the idea of starting my own blog - Progressives, South Bend. I call it a forum to promote and discuss social action issues, ideas and events in the Michiana area. That's exactly what I hope it will become, and I'm pleased to note I've gotten some nice reviews even though I'm pretty new at the whole business.
The way I see it is that those of us who think everyone should have health care, that we've no business in Iraq, that it's unconscionable that 37 million fellow citizens live a mean existence must take this rare opportunity to weigh in on these matters and be serious about effecting change. Find who you think has the best ideas, support that candidate and try to get those ideas happening - here. I've had a chance to do some of that and it sure feels good. Don't calculate, don't triangulate - support the person you think has the best plans.
Because there is a value beyond the Presidential race - though, I'm sure you can tell I believe it to be supremely important. My candidate and his campaign have energized me into real citizenship, and I believe this effect will last well into the future for me. I wish that for you as well. It feels good.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way - There comes a time, for all of us, when silence is a betrayal. Ghandi, whom he admired said this - We have to be the change we want to see in the world.
Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Don Wheeler
Writer/Editor
Progressives, South Bend
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