If it was not apparent at the moment of his inauguration it is becoming very clear now that Americas electing of the western worlds first minority head of state was too much change for some. A sign of where the US is in terms of demographics, basic race size and strength. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority, surpassing African Americans. Increasingly children are not just black and white or hispanic but a melting pot of all different nationalities and even religions.
This change in our nations population is real and apparently a threat to a segment of our population. They seem to feel helpless in the face of what they see as too much government. A country over run with immigrants that don't even have the decency to learn "our" language. This is not the America that is told in the history books. This is not Ronald Reagan's "shining city on a hill". This is a mongrel society that threatens them and all they know be true about this great land. Sounds a little over the top but from the stories I have done around the country, (mainly in the south and midwest), this pervasive feeling of losing control of their lives and country is truly real with some . If you want to see how out of control this country is just look who they elected president
To some Obama's election was not historic but apocalyptic. Some on the fringe and not so fringe right are saying he's the anti-Christ. Look at the rise in militia activity and this "call to arms". A rally was called in Virginia that encouraged rally goers to bring their firearms. People and members of Congress still questioning the citizenship of the president. Such an edge and anger to our politics.
I think of something that Obama said during the campaign. It is something that I can remember many social justice leaders like MLK or Malcom even Ghandi often said, basically, that power will not give it up easily. That change is a struggle a fight. This uprising of what some call populism, is not about health care, gays in the military or carbon taxes on polluters, its about change. Change in our country or politics and mostly our president. Now we have to hope that hate does not kill hope.
For those on the right that have no legitimate ideas nor identity have chosen to fan the flames of paranoia and misinformation.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Where Are They?
Last week I traveled with my correspondent to Orlando Florida to do a story on the Tea Party Movement that is growing in that area. When we arrived we immediately went to a chain restaurant outside Orlando. About 60 self-titled Tea Party members had gathered to meet about a half dozen candidates running for local office. Although their numbers are small, the Tea Party Movement has shaken up politics. The candidates in the room were on a kind of Speed Dating circuit around the room. They seemed in a desperate rush to prove how "down home" they all were. Who was more country. I over heard two of the candidates boosting about their pickup truck ownership. They were not just trying to generate votes, they knew they needed these votes to have any chance to be elected.
Which brings me to the estimated 30 million Americans without health insurance or the self-employed person or the one's that have insurance but the deductible is so high that it renders the policy next to useless or the small business owner that has to lay someone off or not hire someone because of the cost of health insurance. Where are these people? Why don't we see them? Why are so many politicians finding it so easy to ignore them?
It would seem that these merging constituencies would be much larger than a group of Libertarians and disgruntled conservative, mostly white, voters. Yet say what you will about loonies in the Tea Party membership, they are passionate, vocal and for a while, omnipresent in the media. Republicans, like a kid trying to jump into a game of Double Dutch, are trying to figure out how to get in on the action.
President Obama was quoted as saying to a group of reluctant Democratic Congressmen, that the "strength of his presidency" depended on the passing of health care reform. The fact that this president who campaigned on health care reform has to convince large portions of his own party to follow him is shameful. Shameful because its political. Elected officials who are more concerned about the next election cycle than doing what is right for their constituents. Wrapping it in the guise of principle. The fact that the barely and uninsured don't have a louder voice is quizzical
Which brings me to the estimated 30 million Americans without health insurance or the self-employed person or the one's that have insurance but the deductible is so high that it renders the policy next to useless or the small business owner that has to lay someone off or not hire someone because of the cost of health insurance. Where are these people? Why don't we see them? Why are so many politicians finding it so easy to ignore them?
It would seem that these merging constituencies would be much larger than a group of Libertarians and disgruntled conservative, mostly white, voters. Yet say what you will about loonies in the Tea Party membership, they are passionate, vocal and for a while, omnipresent in the media. Republicans, like a kid trying to jump into a game of Double Dutch, are trying to figure out how to get in on the action.
President Obama was quoted as saying to a group of reluctant Democratic Congressmen, that the "strength of his presidency" depended on the passing of health care reform. The fact that this president who campaigned on health care reform has to convince large portions of his own party to follow him is shameful. Shameful because its political. Elected officials who are more concerned about the next election cycle than doing what is right for their constituents. Wrapping it in the guise of principle. The fact that the barely and uninsured don't have a louder voice is quizzical
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