I'm reposting a response I made to another (old-ish) thread, because I'd like to get others' thoughts on a couple of points:
- The befuddlement of supporters of a given candidate at others' inability to see in their guy what seems so plain to their eyes. E.g., Clark people, what mystifies you about why Dean people can't see what you're talking about? What do you think is behind it? (And can we have that conversation without slinging too much mud at each other?)
- This whole Anger/Hope thing, which is my example of 1., and the original point of my post.
onward...
Wow.
Sometimes I read stuff like this and wonder if we're occupying the same planet.
It remains a mystery to me why some people don't see the hope in the Dean campaign. It's so plainly evident to me that, to read things like this, it almost feels as if someone has told me they don't think water is wet or fire hot.
I assume Clarkies must feel similarly befuddled by those of us who aren't particularly drawn toward him, but that knowledge doesn't seem to make it any easier.
I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the pervasive cynicism about politics that has become the norm over the past few decades. It almost seems as if people outside the Dean campaign can't conceive of the possibility that these highly-motivated and energized Dean people might actually be, in a fundamental way, sincere. There's not supposed to be any sincerity left in politics. And yet, here is this army of self-organizing, energetic, active people, devoting their time and energy to creating change, and having a great time doing it. It should be an impossibility. To ease cognitive dissonance, people have to either deny its existence (all anger, no hope) or dismiss it as starry-eyed naivete, hypnosis, cult-think, Kool-Aid... anything but honest, open-eyed sincerity of belief and action.
People, I can assure you, it's real. We're not dupes. We're not culties. We're not naive. We are angry about some things, yes (so are you, or you wouldn't be here), but most importantly, we have the hope that comes from the courage to turn our convictions into actions. Someone came along and woke us the fuck up, and said, "You can make a difference." And we believed it. We are empowered. There is no greater source of hope (short of God, if you're religious).
We sincerely believe we can make a difference.
It's as simple as that.
That's not Kool-Aid talking. That's hope.