Yesterday was pretty momentous if you treasure living in a democracy.
Any Supreme Court ruling granting the rights of a person to a corporation should be met with more than just a yawn by the major media. The New York Times addressed the situation by talking only about how the ruling might impact individual states, reducing all drama from this dramatic decision. It wasn't even the lead story.
I didn't even see mention of the story on the front page of the the Washington Post, and the L.A. Times seems to think that a British actress's death is preferable to the future of our democracy.
Shadows of 2000 fall across my desk tonight as I watch my 4 year old sleeping and wonder what his reality will be like in 30 years.
In retrospect, I wonder why we all allowed the election of 2000 to just go unchallenged...why we weren't protesting as Americans, taking up our place in picket lines? Why did I hold my breath and feel helpless?
This is another such moment--but this time the media coverage hardly shows any indication that this event is a Big Deal.
It's clear that Obama needs to stand up on this issue--to begin showing what he is made of--and stop trying to make everyone happy. Playing to the center just isn't working as the Mass. election shows. I was in Mass. that day, phone banking for Coakley, and I met many hang-ups and hostility. People are tired of Deval Patrick; people are tired of struggling, and the message of Brown sounds good--even if it's false below the surface.
Obama got my vote and my canvassing efforts in 2008, and he'll get it in 2012. At his heart, he is a good man doing good work and, most likely, trying to play center in order to gain traction to effect change. That strategy, however, isn't working--and allowing events like this to go unnoticed creates discord among Dems who worked so hard for change in 08.
What can we do?
Protest. If each of us can't take 10 minutes--or an hour--from our lives to stand up for the protection of freedom then do we deserve freedom? I write this jokingly, but we need to work together; to create community; and to say no to this outrage in a way that is clear, connected, and strong.
Create new organizations. If anyone has energy or time, a new organization to address this development, to spread awarenes and education, would help immensely.
Socially act. Letters to the Editor. Twitter. Facebook. Lawrence Lessig's Change Congress. Working for mid-term elections. All these can help.
Educate. Talk to our friends, coworkers, acquaintances, etc. The only way we can change is if we work together. An isolated populace is a weakened one.
Join together in a march or old-fashioned picket line. Howard Zinn once said that you can't ignore a million people calling for change. When I mention this option, people often balk and say that no one would cover the event, that it would go unnoticed. But what if 2 million stood up? What if 3 million?
Don't let this decision go unchallenged. Too much is at stake. As usual, the facade makes it seem as if nothing truly momentous occurred yesterday; it was just another day, just a complicated ruling. Have we become so numb to the assaults on our democracy that we truly can just turn away? Even here, even today, people are talking more about health care than this issue.
Democracy is based on we. Today, I'm going to try to do a little. If we all did a little, it would add up to a lot. I don't want to be sitting here in 2012 or 2016 wondering what if? What if we had protested--as I do about 2000. What if we had taken to the streets?
To end, remember simply that to cooperate with evil, Martin Luther King said, was to be complicit in it. I'm also remembering that he said that the moral arc of the universe was long, but it leaned toward justice.
Best wishes.