Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. A day to remember a proud history of civil rights in America. You wouldn’t know it judging by the Daily Kos REC list, because when Martin Luther King Jr. came up, it was the focus of a diary centered around either of the presidential candidates.
In forums nationwide, we’re having grand discussions of the big issues. Campaign finance reform and bank-breakup talk dominates huge numbers of conversation around the the left-leaning political community. I’ve been told more than once that the solution to most of America’s ills exists within these two items. Fix the banks, they tell me, and things get better. Or, maybe if we fix gun control. It could be that if we fix campaign finance, things will improve for everyone.
The reality is a lot more difficult. When you are broke & poor, worried about paying rent or mortgage thinking about campaign finance reform will never, ever be your top issue. When your son or relative has died due to gun violence, you may care about gun control, but you also care about poverty and hatred. If you water is poisoned due to the actions of politicians who decided they don’t care about you, then you worry about what happens for your kids far more than you worry about Glass-Steagall.
Kos has commented more than once that Daily Kos is a predominantly well educated, middle class or higher income community. It’s also, frankly, predominantly white middle class. That’s OK. But I want to talk about the realities of Maslow’s heirarchy. The candidates seem to get it, but that doesn’t mean we all do — I’ve been guilty of it as much as anyone in the past. We just have to try and be better about it.
In his letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this:
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
"I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Many will see their candidate in this comment; no matter who they back. I’m asking you, please do not leave those comments in this story. While you may see your candidate, what I see is delay. What you see as hope for the future, I see as basically counting on an event nearly a year away in order to start working on a site like this one to bring attention for change.
In Jefferson City, Missouri today, Republicans held meetings about new voter restrictions; in state houses around the country more policies are being advocated that we oppose. In the day to day conversations here, those are the conversations that just don’t get “above the fold”.
They don’t because we are all focused on November. 10 months away. Ten LONG months away.
Maslow’s heirarchy of needs tells us that people have basic items they value; at the most basic level is food, health, life. In a poll conducted by SHS in Kansas last week, 61% of Kansans say they felt insecure about their finances.
When you are unsure of your next meal or your safety, campaign finance reform isn’t what you want to hear from your allies. When your house is on fire, you expect your allies to show up with as many hoses as they have to provide help; and right now, frankly, we’re doing a pretty terrible job of it.
In a reveal this afternoon, the crisis for Michigan water is far worse than we anticipated.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/19/us/flint-water-crisis-whats-next/
Then there's the very real danger of lead exposure. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, while exposure to lead isn't good for anyone, "no safe blood lead level in children has been identified." The Mayo Clinic points out that lead poisoning "can severely affect mental and physical development" and can even be fatal at high levels.
For months, officials claimed all was well.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who works in the pediatric ward of Flint's Hurley Medical Center, recalled tests showing toddlers' blood lead levels had doubled and, in some cases, tripled. She told CNN that state officials spent a week denouncing these findings and added that "there was almost ... blinders on," before they admitted the findings' validity.
How much damage this lead has already done, to how many children, remains unknown. There is a sense that it's a real threat that must be addressed, why is why groups like the Flint Child Health & Development Fund have arisen to raise money to "address and mitigate the short and long-term impacts."
In Mobile, Alabama, KKK fliers were passed out on Martin Luther King Jr’s Holiday, announcing that the hate group also “had a dream” for the future.
In New York, a young immigrant was shot 41 times by officers who mistook a wallet for a gun…
and it still happens today, all over the nation.
These are simply not issues that will be solved by Bank Regulations, Environmental Policy, Wall Street Reform.
Systemic hatred doesn’t work that way; the people who have hate in their heart are not all rich, wealthy bankers who benefit from loopholes and tax schemes; they do not donate in the tens of millions to campaigns.
They too, are often poor and middle class Americans who are motivated by their worst fears and preconceived notions regarding race, gender, sexual identity, and relationship preference.
Last Thursday, I sat in a statehouse and listened to legislators attack transgendered persons as “deviants” and “problematic” while expressing their distaste for the idea of non-discrimination; today, I heard legislators discuss why preventing you from voting was an unintended consequence, but one they were content to live with.
These issues exist nationwide, everywhere, today. Not tomorrow. Not next year.
What time table is OK for us to worry about solutions? Based on too many conversations I have daily, maybe we should just all wait until November. After all, we’ll elect Bernie/Hillary (alphabetical, no favoritism, thanks), and they will solve it.
I’m glad so many are inspired by the primary campaigns. Good for you. I want to ask so many of you for something small, though. Numerous writers and advocates are here on Daily Kos are writing about issues of critical importance from everywhere in the country. They deal with civil rights. With poverty. Hunger. Racism. Sexism. State house laws. Hatred. Fear.
They are issues that do not involve the presidential race, but they need more attention. If you’re sole interest in being here is to shill for your candidate, good for you. I’ll root for you now and again. But I’d like to tell you this: all Democratic candidates are trying to talk about some of these issues not because of some critical calculation or plot, but because that is what the people deserve. When they discuss Flint, Michigan or police brutality, realize THAT is the issue they want discussed; they are only a way to give that issue importance.
Every diary I read focusing on these issues that quickly turns to a presidential debate sounds a siren in my head from Martin Luther King Jr’s letter: “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
Do not accept the pain, suffering, fear and anguish that so many Americans are going through and use it as only a tool to discuss a candidate. They deserve better. They deserve our advocacy, today as much as in a year where there is no presidential election.
This doesn’t mean you can’t discuss your candidate. It means let’s respect many stories are not about your (or any other) candidate, they are about fellow citizens and should be discussed that way. It means that occasionally, you can rec and participate without dragging your candidate into the issue. It also means that you can demand change NOW, TODAY, not 10 months from today.
It is literally the least we can do if we are individuals who can be respected for acting on our beliefs.