I’m still alive, it just so happened that I was very busy running the campaign of Mark Johannessen, who was running for mayor of West Sacramento, we lost. When I took the job I really had no idea what all was involved with running a ground campaign. Working on one as a volunteer does little to prepare you for all the stuff that goes on in one of these things. I’d have been even more overwhelmed if the campaign hadn’t of had the services of a very good consulting firm (from what I hear, what do I know about political consulting?).
So, that explains my long absence, While I was busy trying to get my candidate elected the rest of the nation got Barack Hussien Obama elected! I’m optimistic that perhaps some positive changes will occur in the United States, though expectations for our President-Elect are through the roof, and the crises he’ll be facing on day one are enough to bury the greatest of Presidents. If I had a wish list of the things I’d like to see happen in the next four years it’d look like this:
- End the War on Terror, roll back all the laws passed because of it that have infringed on civil liberties
- End the War of Drugs and the militarization of our peace keeping forces (the police/firefighters/EMTs)
- Insure the Internet remains free and unregulated
- Re-examine the Fairness Doctrine and the consolidation of media, or free the airwaves!
- Stop growing the military-industrial complex
- Start providing policy that helps the majority of Americans as opposed to the privileged few
- Look into re-regulating of banks and credit markets, a balance between the complete unregulation of the early ’20s and contemporary times and the over regulation of the late ’70’s
The only one of these I see happening soon is a scale back of the War on Terror, as to an end of it… Doubtful. So, as a Democratic Progressive where do I go from here and what do I put my time and money into? I’m thinking about applying for the grand jury here in Yolo County and trying to use it as it was originally intended: protecting citizens from the government and trying to take it away from prosecuters and judges who see it merely as a rubber stamp for their actions… Speaking of activism, the greatest disappoint for me was the passing of Proposition 8 (and similiar bills in other states) and the loss of civil libertiess to homosexuals. This bill is bigotry, dress it up however you like, and homosexuals and progressives are going to sit down as rights are denied to them. I’m sick of hearing about tradition as well. “Tradition” generally means backwards, patriarchal, and based on nothing more than silly old stories. As a nation we’ve overcome traditional ownership (slavery), traditional suffrage (male property owners), traditional government (monarchy, oligarchy), and I look forward to overcoming traditional marraige.
It’ll be interesting to see where we go from here, as to moving away if things don’t work out just how I’d like, where would I (or you) go? I’m an American, this is where I live, this is where my forefathers lived, It’s my duty to them and my progeny to make here a better place.
Next post won’t be so heavy, promise!
I’m just concerned about the “progeny” part. All kidding aside, I’m rather frustrated with the progressive community right now. Where was all this demand for progressive ideals and a progressive candidate when Kucinich was running? I was under no illusions about Barack Obama, he’s more centrist than left. I do agree with most of his points but I know he’ s a politician and there’s no way he can fully state he’s pro-gay marriage or pro-impeachment and form any sort of coalition in the Congress. I think we can have some of what we want, ending wars of stupidity, etc, but not in any rapid timeframe.