08-June-2008: Hope?
A year, or more, ago, when the American race for the presidential election to be held in November 2008 began, there was only one hope
on the horizon: that Americans would elect their first female president. Not that I had any hope of any great change as a result of Hillary Clinton
becoming president. I foresaw more of the same: Clinton trying to achieve laudable goals (like universal health-care) against insurmountable odds
(the insurance companies and the very deep pockets of some right-wing corporations), resulting in pretty much the status quo. Oh, I figured she'd be able to
pull off some small victories, like changes to social security so that widows will get a bigger payout from their deceased husband's funds (I don't even know if that is an issue in the USA; it
just popped to mind)—anyhow, that sort of thing. Still, in the battle between slightly-to-the-right and slightly-to-the-left, I thought it was time that a non-Republican
took office. George W. is leaving the presidency with the country in shambles, but, maybe a Bill Clinton type could get things turned around.
Last autumn, another figure started to get noticed: a black Democratic senator from Illinois. Now, that would be interesting: the USA electing its first female president and black
vice-president at the same time. And then an even more interesting thing began to happen: Senator Barack Obama's speeches were inspiring, while Senator Clinton's speeches started to sound
like whining, especially after Obama began winning primaries—and winning them convincingly. Could this be the real change that most of the world is hoping
for in the most influential nation on the planet? I started to think about the impact that just the fact that the United States had a black president would have on the world
where many would have us believe that the United States is crippled by an internal racial war. What would an impressionable Iranian teenager think when being told that the
United States is the enemy of the rest of the world, and its president next-of-kin to Satan, when all that teenager has to do is a picture and the name of the
American president: a dark-skinned man, with an Arabic middle name and a Kenyan first and last name: Barack Hussein Obama? So, what's all this crap
my teachers have been telling me, muses the teenager, about the United States being a racist hate-driven society determined to eradicate all Muslims? That is where
real and lasting change occurs: in individual minds.
It is sad that some noisy Americans have been preaching that Senator Obama is a secret member of an extreme-Islamic sect. I've just come from some web sites where
these "facts" are revealed in big black bold type-face. Some people use ignorance like fuel to fire their boilers of hatred. I know we are supposed to reach out to
everyone, but there are some folks who would rather slit their own mother's throat than admit that someone with a different point of view could be right. Which brings me
to the topic of this little essay...
Now readers of these postings, and all those who know me, realize that I have uncompromising views on certain subjects and have difficulty understanding how any reasonable person
could have opposing views. The fact that capital punishment does not work, encourages an atmosphere of violence, and that too many innocents die in the legal systems
of the few countries that have retained it, is just so damned obvious to me that it is an indisputable fact. Same as the earth is shaped like a slightly flattened ball.
Anyone who believes otherwise is seriously in need of an education, or is such a total crack-pot that there can never be any reasoning. But, I have to admit that there are some
well-educated sincere folks who are not nut-cases who believe that capital punishment is a workable deterrent to crime. I still can't understand them though.
Same thing with a lot of other subjects. You know I left the church because I could not figure out how to worship along side people who thought some of my closest friends
—as well as millions of gay, lesbian, and cross-gendered folks world-wide—
are somehow damaged and so not worthy to receive all the sacraments that they otherwise would be entitled to. It was such an important issue that I wrote a letter,
published in the Canada-wide Anglican Journal, trying to clarify my concern. I have no problem worshiping with homosexuals, but I have real difficulty with those
who do have a problem with it. So, I let my feet do the talking.
Which brings us back around to Barack Obama, who has promised, in speech after speech, to reconcile the entrenched positions of so many Americans. How is he going to
do it? I wonder. What can a "Pro-Life" advocate and a "Pro-Choice" advocate agree on within the context of abortion? One says no abortion should be permitted; the other says
it is up to the individual woman, and, if she so chooses, is entitled to the best medical care. I cannot grasp how any solution could be found that would satisfy both camps.
The same as same-sex marriage. Some think it's an abomination; others think it fitting that people, regardless of gender, should be free to commit to a life-long
relationship before the public and have that union recognized with all the attached rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex marriages. How can you have both? My
generation has been split down the middle since the end of the Second World War. There are those with a vision of egalitarian social justice and those who apparently
have a vision of a world where social order is paramount. Whether such goals are achievable is not as important as the energy they generate to motivate those who dream of
those goals. And so the pendulum swings back and forth. It is tiresome, and it has sapped much of the energy of the Western world during the past half-century. It is time
we moved beyond these divisions.
I am going to be very curious to see how Senator Obama—assuming he is elected; given recent American history, nothing can be assumed when speaking of the American
presidency—just how Senator Obama can pull it off. I hope he does.