Why is this? I could be writing every day about the evils and incompetence of the Bush Administration. I could be writing in support of Senators Kerry and Edwards--truly accomplished and thoughtful men. It is only two months away from the presidential elections, and yet I am tempted to sit the election out in comfort, minding my own business, enjoying my insignificant life. But today I ran across this piece by Rick Bass which echoes my feelings and encourages me to take a more active role--The War of the Senses: The Battle for the Heart of America from Orion magazine (via wood s lot):
Nearly everyone I know, it seems, is angry at our ghost of a government -- at a federal government that we have allowed to go AWOL, leaving only a handful of corporations to run the show. This is the biggest government, the most power-mad, heartless-son-of-a-bitch machine-of-a-government this country has ever known, yet the safeguards of government are nowhere in evidence.It is not true that everyone is angry at the Bush Administration; about half of Americans are prepared to vote for the most evil and corrupt (or incompetent) administration this country has ever had. How can the obvious truth not be seen by half of Americans? Mr. Bass concludes with a call to action:
The election of 2004 will come down not to federal deficit fears or intelligence betrayals, nor even likeability. I think it will -- and should -- come down to the condition and capacity of the human heart -- and to courage: The courage to demand something better, the courage to rekindle the senses -- our sense of home, sense of place, sense of duty -- the courage to awaken.My fear is that the opponents of the good are also sharpening their knives--they will do anything to hold on to power. We must stop them.
This nation's future is not about capturing or not-capturing any one mad-dog terrorist. It's not even entirely about any one Texan in the White House. Instead, it's about what is really in our hearts. Are we a nation ready to cede our power completely, with neither check nor balance, to misleading zealots?
FORTY YEARS FROM NOW, young people will be calling upon us to tell them what it was like, in this crucible-forged time when democracy was attacked not just from abroad, but from within. What was it really like, they will ask. They will want to know how close and intense it was, and how we achieved our victory, their victory.
We sharpened our knives, we will tell them. We were frightened, and we were fearless. We chose courage rather than silence. We turned our backs forever on the myth of pure self, on the myth of utter independence and disconnectedness. That myth, we will tell them, was no longer compatible with the genius of democracy.
We were frightened -- terrified -- of the seeds, the sprouts, of dictatorship arising in our own homeland, we will tell them, but we cut it down, just barely in time, by throwing everything we had at it -- body and soul, intellect and intuition, everything. We rose above our fears, we will tell them, and chose action.
It was terrifying, we will tell them. It was glorious.
(Long-time readers of Ghost Town Orange (are there any?) may remember my post about one of Rick Bass's stories.)
Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)
