Integrity, American-Style

I watched the Obama victory from a crowded pub last night. Everyone there cheered as announcements appeared on the wide-screen that Obama had taken Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida... and we booed when it was announced that McCain had claimed Alabama, Texas, etc.

When McCain conceded the election, I applauded his presentation. McCain spoke patriotically; he spoke of Americans united. At that moment, walls of political and racial division seemed to evaporate.

Obama spoke with as much integrity as did McCain. He quickly and quietly turned the country's attention toward the reality that there is a lot of work to be done. The celebration was sweet, but the lasting feeling to me is the appreciation of living in a great country that has power to do good: Power to ensure that people have jobs to feed their families. Power to protect our natural environment. Power to alleviate the problems across the world caused by our own misdeeds. Power to educate. Power to find cures for disease and illness. Power to evolve as a people.

With broad smiles of contentment, we slowly navigated through streets cars blowing horns, people on the street shouting and celebrating. We cranked up Manu Chao's Politik Kills, sated with the feeling that politics had been killed, at least temporarily. We rolled beneath roof-top revelers chanting "Obama", strangers on bicycles waving and smiling, others yelling victoriously out of car windows. Of course, we blasted our own victorious horn, and let fly a few "barbaric yawps".

There are concerns in this world far more serious than how much a politician spends on clothes, more important than questioning funny middle names, more deserving of our time than contemplating guilt by past associations. We have the present moment to analyze real problems, re-prioritize, assess, and create plans to solve them. We have vast resources and talent to work for change.

The problems facing America and the world in 2008 are quite real and require immediate attention. We've made it through the labyrinth. Let the walls fall.

John Cusack's blog: www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack/no-currency-left-to-buy-t_b_140250.html

Today, I'm turning the blog over to that of actor John Cusack, who has written an extraordarily clear analysis of why Obama must be our next president. Happy reading!

Politik Kills

I'm growing weary of the distraction of hate. I guess it makes some people feel good. I saw it coming from the beginning... people seemed to decide that just talking about the real issues might not be enough to win... so...

It's so easy to feel better about ones' self by projecting problems and negativity on others. Hmmm... Let's review a few accusations that have successfully distracted lots of Americans:

• His fomer pastor is a radical african-american preacher (and he, therefore, a black militant himself).


• Since he has had contact w/ a certain William Ayres, he's certainly friend of terrorists (ergo, a terrorist, or a "one man terrorist cell" himself, who palls around with lotsa other funky terrorosts in D.C.).


• He attended a Muslim school as a child so... uh... that proves that he's a muslim, and we all know what that means.


• He's a liar (and Bush and McPain are honest?).


• He's a rock star (millions of people love him- even europeans!).


• He's a socialist (and we all no what socialist democracies often lead to... prosperity, shorter work weeks, improved healthcare and dangerous things like that).


• He refused to sign legislation that would have helped saved dying enfants.


• He tried cocaine as a teenager, and any fella knows that a "presidential" dude would never have a past containing mistakes.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_substance_abuse_controversy)
• "Liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God.
  

All of this... is making me sick. Not because they're lies (many people are dishonest - nothing new), but because they bury the real issues that america should be considering at this moment in time.

It always takes focus and action to do good in this world. So why don't the candidates and their supporters focus and discuss the things that they and we can improve?

When I heard Manu Chao's Politik Kills, I knew what he meant and intuitively felt him to be right--- but for my own seeking of truth, I wondered ... in what way do politics kill?

Filling our minds with politics of hate renders our ability to focus on achieving good in this world useless. With a hefty load of mud slinging through our minds, we become indifferent to the things that really matter. You know... little bitty ole things, like starvation, disease, murder, genocide, education, discrimination, crime, healthcare... and layers of mud have masked our awareness and inclination to focus on the real problems in our country, and those that we have created elsewhere (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/).

Indifference causes inaction. While well-chosen actions and well-discussed plans for action can and do bring more good to our world, inaction kills. So, I think it's clear that Manu's right: Politik Kills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viFQOLGP7fI