January 2008 archives

I grew up in a family where two topics typically dominated the evening dinner conversations: religion and politics.

JP was a towering influence; he didn't just have an opinion. Opinion is far too basic of a term anyway. My father had, and does to this day, a grasp on these two subjects that borders on scholarly. As a result, you couldn't belly up to Wednesday night's meatloaf and mashed potatoes and expect to regurgitate some offhanded remark you might have happened to hear on the news, and do him the favor, if you would, of not making it apparent that all of his hard-earned money being spent on your education is going to waste because you don't still understand all three branches of the federal government and their basic functions.

I had to memorize the preamble to the Declaration of Independence long before any teacher required it of me.

While I don't remember it even being said, it was always understood that there was a certain beauty to politics. There was majesty in the intricacies of how not only our government works but also our political system. Dissecting politics and government seemed to hold a key to how we as Americans are as a people and they say something about our society as much as a piece of literature or a painting. Whether you agreed with a particular policy or a candidate was beside the point, though it didn't hurt if your leanings fell more to the left than the right.

Taking a stance was never as good as having the knowledge to formulate why you held a belief. JP and Lynette would continually challenge my sisters and I to forego our biases in an effort to find the truth, and the road you took ought to be paved with a practical sense of how politics, not just a politician, really works.

All pragmatism aside, it was this reverence for politics and government that has left with me a whimsical bent that others may find strange. After all, you can't spend a lifetime approaching the subject, leaving the majority of your emotions and passions at the door, and believe there is idealism left to be had. But I think that it is because of this that I am forever looking for the inspiration. The person who truly does hold these truths to be self-evident. That life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness truly are inalienable rights of all Americans, not just the ones holding the checkbook or screaming the loudest from the higher bully pulpit.

There is such magic contained within this idea, and while America's history has left skid marks all over it, there are those of us who wait for the person who will step up and say, "I believe. I believe. I believe." Because I want to believe too.

We all want to believe.

Admittedly my age prevents me from having a breadth of experience from which to cull the following, but I am astounded and in awe of the political climate right now. Never in recent history have I understood the people of our country to be this engrossed in what course it will next take.

What's going on, for the most part, is the fight for what each of us considers to be our inalienable rights. Whether you think those rights are being threatened by terrorists or by the current administration, the struggle boils down to preserving the sanctity of those rights.

The element of the Preamble that is so often lost in the scuffle is this: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." This sentence isn't as pretty, but it is the most important. It is the impetus that ultimately protects these rights. In fact, there is so much action taking place in that sentence that it can make your head spin. At its core, this tells us that ultimately this is our government and we are the ones who make it so, and the only reason these men and women have any power in the first place is because we're giving it to them and because we're allowing ourselves to be governed at all. We are charging them with the task of maintaining and improving our lives and they'd best sit up straight, cover their mouths when they cough, and mind their Emily Post if they want to keep doing so.

Strangely enough, you can find a crowd of people pontificating on the state of our country and half of them will proudly tell you that they do not and will not vote. There are particulars to this, but usually they're reduced to lazy excuses centering on a person's apathy toward both candidates. And while this is a common, and oftentimes understandable argument, mostly I find it a shameful abuse of their citizenship. You can't tell me that there is not one issue from which these candidates build their platforms that a person does not hold near and dear enough to make sure his or her voice is somehow heard.

Lazy, lazy people.

It is this inaction that infuriates me most, but it is probably the fundamental reason why I am always holding out hope for the inspiration. That someone will say to each of us that, "Yes. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are your rights but Damnit if you don't share some responsibility in the process," and we will believe in him or her so fervently that we can't help but get involved.

We all want to believe.

Unless you've been living under a rock, I doubt there is much of a chance that you don't know who Barack Obama is. While much is being made of his political star, he is the first person — not even Bill Clinton did this, let me add — who has made me believe again. Someday, I'm going to be able to unearth this photo — not to mention the man's autograph on his campaign sign [Thank you, Mr. T] — and bore my grandchildren to tears about how lucky I was to have shared the same breathing space, and to say for myself ...

I believe. I believe. I believe.

"We gather to affirm the greatness of our nation -- not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'

"This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we are measuring up, to the legacy of our forbearers, and the promise of future generations." -- Barack Obama, July 27, 2004.

Get involved. Obama 2008!

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