That's what today is. I'm not worrying about the election this afternoon- for some reason I'm at peace right now. Not confident mind you, simply at peace. I am going to pick up my son from school in a few hours and we are going home to make cookies and brownies to hand out to voters and election workers. We'll have dinner and then get to bed early because tomorrow is the big day- read below the fold for where I've been and what I'm doing tomorrow- I'm diarying this now because I'm hoping that you'll see a bit of yourself and share some of the good vibes I'm feeling right now...
Tommorrow starts at 4:30. I have to get my wife, who normally doesn't even bother voting in primaries, up and ready for her 14 hour day of driving sick and elderly Philadelphians to the polls. Then it is time to dress the kids- my son (only 5!) has been disobeying me and getting some grief at school by bringing in Kerry paraphenalia (the school has a no buttons at all policy, so I'm backing the school)- tommorrow he can wear anything he likes. Then it is time to check in with the vote protection team- I'll be in the hot seat from 9:00-3:00 and then from 8:30 untill the legal fun is over. But first I'll have to get my kids to school- and when I drop them off and tell them I've got work to do, I'll have all the motivation I need to fight as long as it takes.
It took a long time to get to the point where I would spend a beautiful fall day looking forward to litigating election issues, but it has taken a long time for our Country to find itself in such a moment of crisis that families like mine are called- husband wife and children- to sacrifice in the struggle for redemption.
Four years ago I felt like Cassandra while an autocrat with all the hallmarks of a fascist was illegally installed as the head of state in my United States of America. Many of my friends told me that I was being unpatriotic, that stability was more important than justice- that an illegetimate autocrat would somehow be moved to rule from the center. So I shut up. I shut up, because in some ways I'm used to shutting up.
I used to teach Islamic Studies at NYU, I was an adjunct there while I was finishing my dissertation. As many of you who read Juan Cole may already know, scholars of Islamic and Near Eastern history are subject to a great deal of harassment and abuse if they do not tow the Likud line on anything to do with the Middle East. My response was, despite interest in current events, to specialize in medeaval economic history. In hindsight I'm not surprised that I left academia, I found it dissapointing. Not the subject area but my own response.
Unlike may American's 9-11 was not personally transformative for me. Like many experts on the Near East, my expectation of a major terroist attack on the U.S. was such that I was not shocked when I got to school just in time to see the towers burn then fall on the big screen in the lecture hall. I went directly to grief for the senseless death and rage at the terrorists and the U.S. policies that made such an attach a matter of when, not if.
However, it didn't take long for the autocrat's plan to exploit 9-11 to create a "clash of civilizations" become apparent. People of good will were sucked in to the war fever, either because they did not understand the Middle East or because they did not understand America and its autocrat. Seeing my own civilization about to embark on a mutual death dance with a civilization that I have at least a familiar fondness for got me off my ass again. I tried to systematically explain each untruth put forward to adavance the drive for war, I raged at those who said war was inevitable but we should go along so as to be able to moderate the actions of the autocrat. Again I felt like Cassandra and shut up.
And then Howard Dean came along. I initially supported Grahm and Dean for the Dem. presidential nomination- because they had the best combination of environmental and pro-small business records in the field. I sent them each $50.00. Then one day, my 2nd choice dark horse SBA friendly candidate got up and said that the autocrat was full of sh*t.
I was like a guitar string near a tuning fork. I picked up Gov. Dean's energy and it took me to Iowa and a 1st ever maximum political contribution. I got back from Iowa dissappointed, but fired up. I'd met hundreds of American who were willing to speak truth to power and I prayed that they would continue(BTW, they sure did, Philly4Change is an amazing grassroots group that you will be hearing more from.) But the Kerry campaign seemed to be adrift and while I continued to be active for some local candidates, I was once again ready to shut up about the autocrat. After all, I'm demographically a member of his base.
But then the Greatness of America and Americans intruded into my funk. I started to get phone calls and e-mails from my friends, the same ones who used to tell me to pipe down- asking how to volunteer for the Kerry campaign or GOTV efforts. I found one of my friends posting brilliantly researched diaries here on Daily Kos, exposing the autocrat's machinations toward a permanent war in the Near East. I remembered the goodness and intelligence of my fellow citizens and I resolved not to shut up. I've contributed what I could- money and knowledge (if there really is any utility to creating a collectivized reasearch and commentary device like the DK, I hope I've been a tiny part of it.) I've steered anyone who would lisen, including my wife and kids, to volunteering in the campaign against the autocrat.
And now I'm going to do one last thing- apologize to BooMan23 and everyone else I called a fascist stooge and running dog. My friends have shown their true colors and I was wrong to doubt them. Tomorrow America will show me I was wrong to doubt her. She'll show you that too.
So tomorrow, do your thing with a smile on your face and a song in your heart- and if you are working or voting between 3:30 and 8:00 tomorrow evening- look for a little boy and his father handing out cookies, because they will be absolutely the best cookies you've ever tasted.
Peace,
Mark