"There is Something happening in America"

I know its time for me to get back into the woods for sure now, since I’m sitting here thinking about politics.

The Democratic National Convention finally really got going after a slow build up, outside of Ted Kennedy’s speech which I enjoyed. I don’t know much about the VP nominee, but I like what I heard earlier at the Convention. Clinton and Biden both had great speeches.

Change is brought from the bottom up. That’s what Obama said. I agree.

All this political puppetry and theatre is finally going to get somewhere maybe.

But as the convention continued I kept thinking about the ghost of Hunter S Thompson roaming around the halls there in Denver. I’m sure he was there in spirit. Slick Willy gave a helluva speech earlier. All the facts were touching , but it is always the intangible that stands out. The parts of his oration that really gave it meaning, really connected me as a listener and I’m sure many others, included his mentioning of Hunter’s favorite topic: the American Dream.


Hunter's visceral hatred for Nixon and everything that was wrong with our country hit a nerve for many Americans, and his questions about the Fear that was running this country was so dead on in so many instances that I sometimes wish people hadn't become so obsessed with his excessive character and listened to his worried words more. His predominant theme through most of his work was with the Death of the American Dream, and it is still something I think about often.




He knew what was going on before many people did and it scared him. He always stayed close to politics, a self proclaimed political junkie ever since he wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 1972 when George McGovern lost to the greed head swindler Nixon.




He also got me into writing as I became familiar with his work. The Collegiate Times had no time for my thoughts of Gonzo Journalism but he still lit a fire under me I will never forget. Long live Gonzo.



But back to Slick Willy and the Dream, first the past president stated,

The American Dream is under siege at home, and America's leadership in the world has been weakened. Middle-class and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining, job losses, poverty, and inequality rising, mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing, health care coverage disappearing, and a very big spike in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.
And our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation...
(APPLAUSE)
... by a perilous dependence on imported oil, by a refusal to lead on global warming, by a growing indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders, by a severely burdened military, by a backsliding on global nonproliferation and arms control agreements, and by a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy, from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.
(APPLAUSE)
Clearly, the job of the next president is to rebuild the American Dream and to restore American leadership in the world.

Clearly.

Intense words. They felt genuine as he stood up there, either the sign of a good politician or a good man speaking, or just maybe both.

Biden teamed up on the theme adding, “The American Dream seems like its slowly slipping away.”

But for the big kicker Mr. Clinton called The Big O’s life ‘a 21st century incarnation of the old-fashioned American Dream.’

Deep. Nice.

He continued...

His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal opportunity, which have given him his historic chance, will drive him as president to give all Americans -- regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability -- their chance to build a decent life and to show our humanity, as well as our strengths, to the world.

They really worked the American Dream. It is time for the rebirth of that dream. Many folk said sometime between the end of the 60’s and now we witnessed the death of the American Dream. We did, countless times, all over the place.

What is life but the ever shifting balance and struggle between the birth and death of dreams.

But now we have a concentrated chance of redefining that dream and manifesting it back into reality in the midst of this dire mire where we so desperately need a new kite to fly. New ideas. Change. Will Barack be our new kite flying in the clouds, leaving us squinting into the sky dreaming and smiling like happy barefoot children.

I don’t know about that, but he does seem eerily like some astronomical avatar of hope.



Obama is not going to solve our problems, but he is allowing many people to look at things in a different light, a light of hope. Obama is just a normal man, one who believes in the power of the people. The power of communities united.

2012 is not a date for the end of the world, it is a projected date for the end of an age. Perhaps the age of unreason will dwindle into this flickering candle of one last chance. We’ve about ran out of chances of shifting the societal mythos that is digging us into an ecocidal grave, lets hope we can get it right this time. Perhaps this is the great shift on the balance beam of homeostasis. Can you feel it in your bones, the barely present tingling of a better tomorrow?

This election is interesting because these themes are so emotional and real. People’s hopes and dreams. I suppose they always talk about it, but something is different this time. It doesn’t feel so phony.

Joe Biden declared about Barack’s heart:

I watched how he touched people, how he inspired them, and I realized he has tapped into the oldest American belief of all: We don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear.
We have the power to change it. That's Barack Obama, and that's what he will do for this country. He'll change it.

Let us hope so.

Let’s help him do it.

And since this has been a quote frenzy post, I had to add some scribbling I found from long ago about now and that ethereal dream.

The start of the 21st century is beginning to look like a bad Orwellian novel, or possibly an incredible miscarriage of justice and freedom from the bowels of the American Dream. But in the midst of all of this there is also a great wave of hope and passion building towards ideals founded in being stewards of this beautiful country and world we all share. How did we get so detached?

Above all is the concern of the seeds we sow for our children. The reaping of this intergenerational issue is one of dire importance, one we can be proud of if we decide to step up and do the thing we do best: use our drive, care, and ingenuity to rise above our fallacies thereby ensuring our continuance in the face of great odds. Lets not be that ship that drifts aimlessly until it sinks, let us navigate the unruly waters to the destination we all truly feel deep in our bones and heart, one where our offspring and those yet to be born won’t look us in the eye asking why we did nothing, but one where they sincerely thank us for caring about more than our comfortable lives, one where we earnestly care for theirs.


picture from RollingStone


Its been a few more days now, Barack gave his speech, which was awesome, and McCain surprised us all with the picking of his running mate. Not the boring ole predictable man anymore eh? An interesting move and I don’t know if it will help or hurt him.

Obama kept the American Dream theme going, but I guess for the sake of him being a piece of that dream he called it the American Promise.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough!  This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive.

Then later…

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring.  What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me.  It's been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past.  You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result.  You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington.  Change comes to Washington.  Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.