Once upon a time, I was a finely tuned political person. I worked on Capitol Hill for a leading wilderness concern, and I believed deeply in the importance of participating in our so-called democracy. Looking back, I may have gotten too close to the reality of the situation–that our nation is, in fact, an oligarchy–leading me to turn away from the overtly political and toward the personal, or spiritual. My new mantra became, “If you want to change the world, start by changing yourself.”
I did change myself. I exorcised the anger that threatened to destroy me. And while anger can clearly fuel one’s work, it makes it hard for people with opposing views (or similar views, for that matter) to accept anything you have to say. One thing I had to say, then and now, is political dissent is often generated from love. Love of country, in particular. Dennis Kucinich is coming from a place of love. That’s why he is so utterly remarkable.
I came of age in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s shenanigans. Now, we face more of the same from the Texas oilmen in possession of the White House. Thus, my political consciousness, and those of millions of Americans, is being re-ignited. It is time to act again, to speak out, and do whatever is necessary to dethrone this illegitimate would-be-king and his sycophantic court. For not only are foreign nations under attack, but our entire way of life, as granted in the Bill of Rights, is under attack.
Greenpeace is under attack for acts of civil disobedience off the shore of Florida. Protestors in Iowa are now under attack. Anybody who dares oppose King George and his idiot lawyer from Missouri could be next. At times like this is it crucial to know our nation’s history–the sickening facts and the noble truths. There’s a long history of dissent and an equally long history of attempts to quell it. Boston-based scholar Howard Zinn is the de-facto expert on these matters and I urge you to read or re-read his landmark book, A People’s History of The United States (shown below).
