This past week I cast two absentee ballots for the upcoming Illinois Primary on 5 February 2008. I am confident I won't be the only one voting for a man named John that day. I understand there admittedly is a difference of opinion on this site regarding whom to back in the 14th CD in Illinois, and because of this and my place in the world I will try and limit my comments to a strictly narrative nature. I am not here to persuade anybody about anything. For my brother this is a pivotal moment in the journey of the last five years. He has in the years I've been gone, matured and aged quite remarkably well. John, has always had a natural knack of bringing people together. That natural skill that God has blessed him with is something that doesn't abide in very many of us at all. This is a look back.
Recently, John Laesch was endorsed by Studs Terkel. Jane Hamsher of firedoglake has already covered that endorsement and here are his words from youtube
Watching that brought back a lot of memories of an evening back in 2003. I was living with my brother at the time prior to going back into the Army and he was diligently working to get votes for Dennis Kucinich. The campaign event was at the O'Hare Hilton in Chicago and Dennis Kucinich was supposed to have flown in to meet his supporters. Studs Terkel was supposed to have been the introductory speaker for Dennis, but he ended up being the main attraction. My memory is a bit vague on how I ended up being his escort for the evening, but my brother has some video footage stored up somewhere of me spending the evening repeating questions into the ear of Studs Terkel. Studs has a wonderful personality and a very strong spirit and will. I guess the thing that kind of amazed me about watching the above video is that Studs Terkel is not as young as he used to be when he was 93 (his approx. age in 2003.) Perhaps, I can only dream of being as feisty as Studs Terkel when I'm 93.
There are other reasons that are not lost on me as to why the power brokers, and the party establishment would prefer a different candidate in the 14th CD in Illinois. A lot of these reasons can be seen in the following video.
I'm not going to quote the text of that video at length, but I will hit upon a few of the ideas that are inherently hazardous to the health of those who roll in the corrupt corporate cash and pull all the levers of power.
- The idea that government belongs to all people, of all ages, and races.
- John states that the first twelve words of his first political speech are thus:
"The task of my generation is the separation of Corporation and State."
The first concept threatens the public perception managers in mainstream media. Rich people never do take kindly to having the poor amongst us tell them what to do and where to go. The second point wraps around back to what Studs Terkel was hitting upon. At no point in our recent history has corporate America flexed its muscle as rawly as it has during the Bush Administration. I have pondered if we (as in all of us) don't have a case of Bush Depression and the candidate that shows the most promise of curing us will win the White House.
I was also present for my brother's first speech. This one you see video taped here is a lot better. John's come a long way in the last few years.