This is my mother this past Friday marching at the Ohio Statehouse. She decided she needed to make a personal appeal to Ohio voters
These are her words, that she prepared for those interested in knowing what she was doing and what she was thinking.
The Manifesto of a Grandmother of Privilege
I have lived an American Dream, a comfortable and secure life. I have had time to become grateful and to reflect upon a fast changing world that less and less mirrors my own experiences and expectations. For more and more Americans my Dream has not become a reality but a meaningless slogan. Their nightmare is that our Country has let even more people slide into poverty, let alone try to find creative solutions for helping those who were unfortunate enough to be born into it. And we have taken to demonizing the poor. A self-evident truth is that an opportunity is only an opportunity if a person has the wherewithal to pick up on it. Ill health, lack of education and poverty do not foster initiative in a society.
During most of my lifetime I believed that fairness, although it would take much work and persuasion to obtain it, and constant vigilance not to lose it, was ultimately this Country's destiny. There were times of doubt-- the McCarthy era, for example. But there was also the Civil Rights Act, and we were back on course. But what about today? I am not so sanguine. Can we accommodate our differences? Can we honestly, thoughtfully, and less cynically deal with our enormous problems?
Is it possible that my grandchildren could live under a regressive and repressive government? Could they be denied the rights my generation fought for? I am also worried about the role of religion any religion, in government. Are we inching towards a theocracy? In a democracy religious ironies abound. Most religions try to take care of their own , recognizing that followers can encounter hardships along the way. Doing so is a sound, admirable policy. But what if you are not religious or if your church is overwhelmed. Who steps in, then?
I believe that Barack Obama has the heart and brains to lead us while we figure out what we, and our institutions, can do to help us get back on track. We the people, all of us, are this Country's best resource.
Read More
