This is my first post here, though I've been lurking for the past couple years. I've working over these ideas in my head for a while and I hope you find them useful/interesting/whatever. It's more personal, than policy so be forwarned.
My roommate Cam made an excellent point a few months ago that has kind of thrown me for a loop and has taken me some time to figure out. We were talking about something and he pointed out that a lot of our political beliefs are based on outrage. Something is pissing us off and we want to fix it. It’s an inherently negative position to come from, as everything stems from having some problem, so you start to view politics as the profession of having to fix things; everything carried out by the government is an obligation, to yourself or your constituents, to correct some error or injustice. That’s the way I’ve looked at it, knowingly or not, for a long time and definitely the way a lot of other people have looked at it.
Then along came this long, long primary season and with it a new and improved John Edwards and Barack Obama. Edwards was my favored candidate in 2004, but more by default than on his own merits; he just sucked less than everyone else. Dean was cool, and has since gotten cooler, but that’s another topic for another time. The point is this go around Edwards really hit all the right notes for me. He ran a campaign about fixing problems, but his motivation was more about "This is what should be" than "This is what shouldn’t". It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s massively important.
I’ve realized that I just want to be left alone most the time, meaning I don’t want other people, corporations, or government agencies to interfere with my plans for my life. I just want to do the Collin thing; live my life and not have other people make my life hard. By no means does this mean there is no place for community, government and corporations in my little world, I just want to be able to choose my involvement rather than have it foisted upon me. It’s a very NIMBY attitude. I get pissed off and get involved when others when the problem comes to my backyard. It’s not as though I don’t feel that the outrages that happen to others are unimportant, I’ve just never gotten that motivated to do something to help fix them. Simple as that. This explains my ill-fated fascination with Ron Paul (which is over, let me be clear).
Back to Edwards 08: this is a man with a plan. He’s pissed off about the same things I am: the government and corporation making my life hard. But on a deeper level, reflected in both his actions and his record, he’s a man who wants America to be better. Not because America is broken (regardless of whether it is), not because the government and corporations are making his life hard (regardless of whether they are), but because it would be good for America to be better. There are better things for us and we should strive to achieve them because life would be better. I’m sorry if that sounds vague, but that what it is in my mind.
As you can probably tell, I’m upset that Edwards dropped out. He’ll continue to be a positive force on politics in America, I think, and the Democratic Party in specific. However, in thinking about this I’ve come to appreciate and support Obama. For quite some time, Obama supporters really bugged me because they were so into this "hope" thing. Republicans have made about as much noise as you can about "You can’t run a country on hope and where’s the substance and blah blah blah" and I was towing that line to some extent, though I prefer to think I was waiting to make sure Obama had credentials to back up the rhetoric. In short: he does. However, that’s not the really important thing. The important thing is that the positive attitude is actually important, the politics of hope, as Obama put it, are important.
We go through cycles in this country where we fight hard for our rights and our freedoms and then when we get them we sit on our asses till the start to slip away and we are forced to fight for them again. My mindset has been contributing to this; if it ain’t making my life hard than let it slide. Hope is different though; hope is fighting to achieve those rights and then saying "This is great, how can it be better?" The goal is continual betterment, not getting to good enough. We might not get to that goal, but that, call me idealistic, is no reason not to try.
Don’t get me wrong, Obama (or Edwards) is no savior. He’s a good policy maker, a smart man, and the slickest orator this side of anywhere, but a savior he is not. However, the ideas he espouses have gotten remarkable numbers of people motivated to better this country. Not just to fight back against injustice and remedy tragedy, but to make things better in general. That’s amazing and that is inspiring. The movement around Obama is what moves me and what I support. It’s the commitment from the supporters and that comes from this "hope" business I was so skeptical about. It’s important that people be involved and inspired and I’ll support that.
In summary, I’m trying to focus more on what I want the country to look like, not what is going wrong. I’ll still get pissed off and mobilized when someone barges in on my world and messes things up, but I’ll also get mobilized when things are good instead of sitting around with whatever is deemed good enough. I’ve registered Cam and I for a Democracy for America organizing class next weekend. I’ve been writing my representatives, no matter how futile it feels. I’ve been contributing to campaigns I feel are deserving. One of my coworkers roommate is an organizer for Obama and I intend on getting in touch with her to work on Get Out the Vote efforts come November. That’s the value of hope, at least for me.