GENERATION HOPE(LESS)?

Droppin' some Shepard Fairey wisdom for your rainy Wednesday ...

Obama Check

Check out this critique of Obama. I agree with the writer on 90%. However, I think he fails to recognize the climate Obama must operate in. I disagree with the Afghan war escalation, but it does not surprise me. In general, the tenor of “normal” or moderate political conversation on issues has shifted so far to the right that Obama is being called a Socialist! Good ideas need to have a receptive audience to take hold and right now they don’t. Obama’s faults are in many ways reflective of a retarded audience. Maybe more people should serve in Iraq etc… to gain the writer’s perspective on war. That was not necessary for me… I’ve been a believer in the MLK approach for years. I think the realistic goal is to change the attitudes of the people, causing the leaders to fall in line. The leaders are credited too much with being the cause when they tend more to be the effect. Bush was atrocious and was still re-elected in 2004. I’m disappointed in Obama, but even more so in Americans. I’m working on a healthcare graphic right now, not waiting for Obama or congress to fix things without pressure. 

-Shepard (via OBEY GIANT)

 Word.

(I started writing this back in December .... Why has it taken me so long to formulate my thoughts?)

Although I was born and raised in one of the most liberal cities in the US (i.e. The People's Republic of Cambridge), I've never really even tried to align myself with any particular political party or school of thought. Frankly, I hate politics, despise theory, and tend to skirt around "friendly" debates, especially with the premise of mainstream American dirty politics.
I turned 18 just in time to vote in the 2008 Election and I was proud to vote for Barack Obama - and I still stand firmly by that decision. I cast my ballot in Los Angeles, but, of course, my hometown, Cambridge, went almost 100% for Obama, When people would ask me why I supported Obama, they tended to scoff at my reasoning that I could personally identify with the future leader of our country. Is it that ridiculous? While Cambridge prides itself on its "multicultural identity" and level of combined intelligence per abundance of prestigious universities, it's still been prone to serious racism, sexism, and all the other isms just as brutally and ignorantly in all its self-perceived liberal, post-racial, embrace diversity, granola glory. But, I digress.

As for the Obama Era, there are many things that have happened under less than optimal conditions (e.g. healthcare reform, economic recession, the war in Afghanistan, the emergence of Tea Parties, the BP oil spill*) but how much of that can be directly blamed on The Man himself? (The same goes for G.W. Bush, save for his general stupidity and severe lack of ... erm, intellectual vigor?) But my real concern is - since when did my generation, any generation, expect the government, the AMERICAN government, to pull all of our weight for us? Since when were we expected to just sit back and watch ourselves get screwed over? Since when, in the name of MLK, Ghandi, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and the countless other activists and fighters, did they ever sit back, twiddle their thumbs, and wait around to see the light of peace, justice, and equality? I share Fairey's disappointment in our fellow Americans. All y'all better quit your complaining, and do something! (Well, that is, except if you are brainwashed enough to join in on the Tea Party, that's just taking 100 steps backwards.)

[**UPDATE**: Okay, the BP Oil Spill is a bit of a sticky (no pun intended) situation when it comes to who to place the blame on. Clearly both BP and the Obama Administration are at fault on this one. There's some good analysis over at Balloon Juice.]

P.S.
Although a little dated to the late 1960s, this excerpt from Rules for Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky pretty much sums it all up.

It is not enough just to elect your candidates. You must keep the pressure on. Radicals should keep in mind Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to a reform delegation, 'Okay, you've convinced me. Now go on out and bring pressure on me!' Action comes from keeping the heat on. No politician can sit on a hot issue if you make it hot enough.

A final word on our system. The democratic ideal springs from the ideas of liberty, equality, majority rule through free elections, protection of the rights of minorities, and freedom to subscribe to multiple loyalties in matters of religion, economics, and politics rather than to a total loyalty to the state. The spirit of democracy is the idea of importance and worth in the individual, and faith in the kind of world where the individual can achieve as much of his potential as possible.

Great dangers always accompany great opportunities. The possibility of destruction is always implicit in the act of creation. Thus the greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.

From the beginning the weakness as well as the strength of the democratic ideal has been the people. People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people. ... Citizen participation is the animating spirit and force in a society predicated on voluntarism.

 We are not here concerned with people who profess the democratic faith but yearn for the dark security of dependency where they can be spared the burden of decisions. Reluctant to grow up, or incapable of doing so, they want to remain children and be cared for by others. Those who can, should be encouraged to grow; for the others, the fault lies not in the system but in themselves.

We've come this far, but have so much left to go. Let's not live up to the stereotype of a hopeless generation. The spirit of activism runs deep through my veins and my blood doesn't boil easily. How hot does the flame have to get before you are moved to act?

/ramble