Wins, Losses and Unknowns

About a week and 1/2 ago I sat in the Washington Theological Union lobby in Washington D.C. and watched the presidential address to Congress. As Newsweek recently stated, this address was very much a “home run.” The ease with which our new president displays generosity while not compromising his ideals is remarkable to watch. Amid the jeers of the Rs he laughs confidently and not without a bit of irony at their lack of support for policies that just make sense–like the stimulus package, cancer research and the propagation of peace.

I have certainly been out of the blog loop. The return to work after recovering from surgery has truly sapped every bit of extra energy from me. But I have been no less interested in politics, both local and national. It is such an exciting time and as the traditional bastion of democratic politics in Idaho approaches this Frank Church weekend, I feel like making the effort to reflect on recent notable political moments is required.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is not perfect. But we elected President Obama in order to give him a chance to address our struggling economy. It was thus only slightly surprising to watch Republicans childishly dismiss his first attempt. Idaho has been greatly affected by the economic downturn and there are inputs in the stimulus package that can jump-start a clean energy sector in the state, help with education, and supply needed support for healthcare. It was disappointing to see the Idaho Congressional delegation reject the bill outright. The “alternative” provided by Congressman Minnick was a caricature of a real solution, and the effect was the bolstering of Otter’s impulse to not take hand-outs from the feds. Thankfully, Idaho will be taking stimulus money, much of it going to excellent locations–like energy efficiency for schools.

I made my own attempt to impact energy policy in the nation last week when I attended Powershift and Capitol Climate Action in D.C. Powershift was packed with 10,000 people eager to learn more about climate issues and I am happy to report that each one of the seminars on the problems with nuclear energy were packed. Capitol Climate Action gave me a chance to learn more about civil disobedience and demonstrations. On a very snowy day in D.C. over 1,000 of us marched to the Capitol Coal Plant and occupied the gates for 4 hours. This was a symbolic action and I am yet to feel like it had a direct policy impact–however, Nancy Pelosi did call fro the conversion of the plant to natural gas–which is certainly an improvement over the dirty coal plumes now put out by the plant right in the heart of the capitol.

Here at home, while I was in D.C. a very important piece of energy legislation was moving through the Idaho Legislature. S 1119 would have allowed, not required, Idaho utilities to offer low-income assistance to people who cannot afford to keep their power on. Idaho is one of the only states in the nation that does not allow such programs and it was time to add social justice to energy via this bill. The Senate voted 18-17 against the bill–with opponents arguing that it would create a burden on rate-payers. This is the news flash folks–the one I should have and would have been discussing with a few of the “no” votes if I hadn’t gotten sick and even sick, if I had known how close the vote was–YOU ALREADY PAY EXTRA WHEN PEOPLE DROP OFF THE SYSTEM CAUSE THEY CAN’T PAY. This would simply have made that more transparent–and it is likely that any low-income assistance program would require energy efficiency education–thus decreasing overall energy consumption.

Politics is full of wins and losses and unknowns. It is also full of multiple possibilities, diverging views that somehow overlap, and missed opportunities or unexpected gains. Each day, we can only do what we believe we can to make the world a better place. And each day we face dissapointment and vicotry and we keep going.

Poised on the Precipice of Change

The post I wrote did not publish. I waxed on about this moment…now Warren is being introduced…lets see.

WE ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

I heard a comment on the radio tonight concerning “Why people in this country are so willing to support dogmatic thinking?” That is the key to how Sarah Palin is being taken seriously as a VP.

What I have come to is that perhaps there is nothing that can be done.  Perhaps this is some charade, and we really don’t have a chance to affect change.

I understand there is a tendency for us to think of this as a race in the abstract.  In this race the “runners” are responsible for the “win”. But this is not a linear contest of crossing a line first.  This is a quantitative contest where numbers matter.  What is beign counted?  US!

We are running for president as a nation and we choose the person we want to embody that Presidency.  The policies, ideologies, beliefs , and vision for the future are all things we evaluate in this process.

Somehow though we have become distant from this.  Nowadays, it is like watching a movie unfold and you are unable to guess or surmise the ending–afterall, you had nothing to do with the writing of this story.

That is not what democracy is supposed to feel like.

I have started to just entertain the possibility that Obama will not gain that emobidment.  It would be mind boggling to me and cause a deep unease.  I heard McCain is ahead in polls.  I can’t even bare to look it up.

What if I just sit back and watch?  What if we all just sat back and watched ?

What if we moved and acted like we could affect the end?  Will WE?

I Was Wrong About Joe Biden

(Or at least the DNC has convinced me I was.)

See, his grandkids are really cute and his life story is so filled with tragedy and accomplishment and I really like that he cusses quite a bit, and he has a way for telling it like it is…

but I just had been having a hard time with his comments about convenience stores and ethnicity, and his evaluation of the way race was playing out in a “storybook fashion” for this “clean” black man.

That is simply hard to reconcile for me, although I understand the man is allowed an evaluation with those as an aside, but it has given me pause.

The truth is though that my parents are so pleased with the Obama’s selection.  It is like they let out a sigh.  Even for my mom, who loves Obama and has equated him, before others were, with JFK (one of the most fundamental political inspirations of her life) Biden eases her mind and lets them believe that an Obama presidency is possible.  “He reminds me of Johnson” I say.  and she scolds me for a misrepresentation.  But he looks a little like Johnson, and…

I said if I were elected to go to Denver that I would write everyday of my experience.  Thank goodness I am not there, especially after now knowing what my work here requires of me.  But in any case I have tried to be engaged with the Convention from afar.  When I heard Obama say that they were moving to Mile High tomorrow, so that anybody who wanted to could come in, I wanted nothing more than to be there.  I sense a shift in angles.  So far we have seen the (fancy) blue collar smiling Democratic Party.  Some of the speeches were so polyannish I began to tremor with an eerie feeling of artificiality.  Then, I felt a change tonight and I am looking forward to tomorrow.  There is a tide, and it is rising.

WELCOMING JUSTICE WITH OPEN ARMS

Liz at the U.S. Supreme Court (After Hours)

Unfortunately none of the Justices were there. Night time at the U.S. Supreme Court is a magical time, but we found out shortly after this picture was taken that it is illegal to stand on the steps at night (this is a recent new rule, since a long-standing rule prohibits running up and down the steps and this was hard to enforce at night.) My friend who took the pic was also informed that lying down is not allowed–but it is how she got that good angle.

Don’t Just Take My Word For It

Amory Lovins on a renewable energy future without nuclear power.

Operating with Care

This is just a post to let anyone reading this blog know why I have password protected the post below.  The post was written for a particular audience as a presentation at a workshop I recently attended in D.C.  As part of the presentation I wanted the other participants to view the effect of writing on a blog.  My argument was that the blog is a critical tool of activism that we cannot overlook as we create a movement for a Carbon-free and Nuclear-free world by 2050.  While the CFNF concept is currently controversial, I believe in the near-term the necessity of such an approach will become evident, and a key element of any progressive agenda driven by environmental and economic concerns.  For the moment however,  I want to operate with care to ensure that some of the concepts I discuss in that blog-post regarding the origin of my politics do not interfere with the message as a whole.  I am very willing to share the password for this post with anyone who would like to read it.  Please e-mail me at woodliz@peacemail.com.

I have a great deal to share regarding my trip to D.C. and my perspective on the current frame of the Presidential election.  But, I am so busy right now instigating the CFNF campaign in Idaho and taking care of my family, it will have to wait a little longer.

Liz Did Go To D.C.! And Has Found Faith.

And I am still here, as a matter-of-fact I just arrived late last night.  It is wonderful to be in the Nation’s capitol.  When I saw the Capitol from the plane last night it was almost surreal, “Wait,” I thought to myself, “That is the REAL capitol!”  The last time I was here I was pregnant with my now five year old son and protesting the war that had not yet begun.  We marched around that capitol and I remember the terrifying feeling that it didn’t matter, that the people inside, despite the hugely underreported numbers of us on the streets letting them know how we felt, were not listening. 

This time I am enjoying a vision of new leadership in this town and country, I am excitedly anticipating the shift that will come when Obama is elected.  When Obama is President, perhaps that invisible soundguard, that blockage of deceit and condescension will finally be lifted.  Perhaps we will, at least, have a president who looks out the window, at the people, and if he sees them marching and speaking against his actions, we will be able to know he is interested and listening. (I expect we will have a President that is far greater than that, but the sad fact is that would meet my expectations at this point, hopefully, soon, I can raise the bar again).

I must admit, it took me by surprise to see the slight shifts Obama has made to proactively position himself against attacks that he is weak on security.  I have to confess I was dissapointed by some of his rhetoric on the war, and also troubled by his new comfortability with wiretapping.  But I understand.  I remember (we all should) that only 4 years ago a Vietnam Veteran, who many considered a war hero, was defeated by a draft dodging, awol, war mongerer.  He was defeated via the assertion that he was weak on national secuirty.  Obama cannot afford to be put in that place. 

I want him to transcend that dichotomy.  I want him to hold firm to his position, I want him to embrace the opposition to the war wholeheartedly and continue to speak in inspired terms about the necessity of ending the war.  But, I don’t want him to lose because of it, and I am not confident that he can transcend it.  So, now is the place where I change out my hope for faith.

Faith is something I am not always comfortable consciously deploying.  Faith has always taken on a kind of apathetic “just believe” kind of mode for me, one that I find often to be the inhibitor of social action (I do not mean to demean religious faith by saying this, but it is not a paradigm I have ever, personally, felt an affinity for).  If we only have faith in change, then we don’t effect change.  To make change, you need much more than faith, you need courage, support, and decisive stategic action.  But right now, I am willing to go with faith.

Faith that Obama is the President we need.

Faith that Obama is committed to democratic processes and will be able to make decisions based on democratically determined will.

Faith that he is not “selling-out” or “giving-in” that he has not been bought, that he cannot be bought.

Faith, that he and his advisors, are simply doing what needs to be done to win, and faith that they know best.

I am willing to go there, because I am here, in our nation’s Capitol, and despite all the things our country has done to jeopordize what we stand for, I can say here that the core of what this Nation is about is still in tact.  It may be sleeping, it may be moving through a darkness that muddies the light, but it is not gone. 

Because this is a crucial time, I will turn to faith and I will keet that rolling until we have our President.  Faith is a vehicle for now.  I will get off that ride at some point and insist on demonstrative action.  But the ride is too long to hope for that at this stage in the journey.