InvasiveThoughts.com

“Listen Dammit, We Will Win”

by John Heller

Photo of Heller by Margaret Fuller

      I’m not here to rip off Metallica’s “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).”

      What I wanted to do most here was recommend a book by Rebecca Solnit, titled “Hope in the Dark.” It’s short, easy to read, and has lots of tangible reasons why we can be positive, and confident that our efforts for positive change will be worth it.

      There’s not a whole hell of a lot I can say here, and much of it would be borrowed, if not outright stolen from her…. But here goes…

          The thing is, with all the horrible shit that is going on in the world right now, I need just as many reminders as anyone else that there are also all sorts of groups that are doing wonderful things. (Utne Reader is a publication that is really good about showing what people are doing positively, as I think of it.) Thankfully, Ms. Solnit points out, among other things, that a significant majority of the world … “gets it.” This vast majority understands that too many of the wrong people have “led” for too long, that war is a bad idea, that we need to take care of those most vulnerable, and that way too often, the rich and powerful are getting away with heinous crimes. That many things are more important than money- priorities and values are skewed, especially in our Capitalist Porn Complex America (term borrowed from Dan Brachtesende.)

      A while ago, on Democracy Now, I heard folksinger Pete Seeger talk about social justice in terms of a scale, and the people of the world who are contributing on the “right” side each adding a teaspoon of…justice, I guess, though it sounds dumb, especially when I try to explain it. Eventually, the one side of the scale will come crashing down, and we’ll be where we want to be. Simplistic, yes- it still inspires me.

       I heard another analogy by Noam Chomsky as well. He noted that in America, where we have tremendous freedoms (for the moment, anyway), people complain about not knowing what we can do. In other parts of the world, some of which have much less freedom than us, people aren’t asking what they can do- they’re doing things. At great risk, to put it lightly.

       And here we are in 2008, with another election coming up. Of course, this could be a very historic year, with Obama getting the Democratic nod. One of the things I like about him is that he is getting people who have never voted before excited to vote. [Nod to the feminists whose pants I’m always trying to get in- Hillary was inspiring many to vote for the first time as well.]

       But in my home state of Missouri, we have a huge election as well, for governor. We have a chance to put a Democrat in office to try and stop the Republican reign of hypocritical Christian assholism. A lot of people don’t even vote for these elections, which is awful- yeah, I know it’s hard to learn about local candidates, which sounds moronic until one realizes Americans work 40 if not more stupid hours weekly, and the Asshole Powers that Be really like keeping us busy with work, sports events (of which I’m guilty of following) or Paris Hilton’s (if there was a way to spell the sound of whistling, I'd insert it here)… You get the idea. But these local elections are SO important!

      And a lot of people write off politics as, “They’re all liars, what difference does one vote make?” Well- look how fucking close the Florida election was in 2000. Think we’d be any better off now if Gore was president? (I wasn’t the biggest fan either, and Gore 2008 is light years cooler than Gore 2000, but I don’t think Gore would make Third World countries agree to an Abstinence Dance in order to receive AIDS funding, as Bush has done.)

And in Missouri, in 2004, many voted for Republican Matt Blunt (son of US Congressman Roy Blunt, of southwest MO) over upshot Democrat Claire McCaskill. Some I knew thought McCaskill was one of those words that rhymes with “Witch” and decided to support the young Navy boy instead, falling for his good looks, if you like that type of Never-Lacked-For-Anything-Shitkid-Look. In his four years, he slashed Medicaid for disabled people, and even refused to meet with disabled advocates. He also closed Planned Parenthood clinics that didn’t even perform abortions, just because they say Planned Parenthood on them, eliminating a source of medical help for women of southwest Missouri. All while crowing about his commitment to helping our most vulnerable. Meanwhile, McCaskill is now one of our US Senators, and crossing the political aisles to get shit done- much of it to my liking. 

       Blunt won that 2004 election by about 80,000 votes. Within months, he cut 90,000 plus off of their medical coverage. Look at that math- I hope you see it the way I do--We can do this!

       That’s a long way of saying, “Yes, your one vote certainly does fucking matter.” Elections in many states will be tight this year. And as my friend Craig Horn says, in this country we have a pretty grand experiment, of giving everybody the right to vote. Yet it hasn’t been fully tested yet. Not even close.

       No doubt, Karl Rove or some other GOP cheat is gonna find a way to try to shampoo the country with a theft of the election, and find ways to discredit Black voters, etc. I didn’t say any of this shit would be easy. We need everyone to be vigilant, people.

        And for all the Republican bashing I’ve done here… Those who know me personally know that I try pretty hard to see the good in everyone. I’ve certainly been better at it in the past than I am now… Anyway, a lot of lifelong Republicans are disgusted by what certain people have done to their party of less government, fiscal responsibility… Shit, in the 1960’s, it was the liberals who were hawks and wanted the Viet Nam War to continue- Republicans were saying that we didn’t need to be involved over there.

      Lots of changes are going on in this world. We’re living during them. Some are good--the curve showing increasing acceptance of gays is way steeper than the curve showing increasing revulsion of racism. But those are positive changes I’ve seen in my lifetime. We also saw Bush get elected- um, appointed- and fuck every one but oil barons and Billy Graham, which I never saw coming either.

        I digress-- we need to behave the right way. Allies exist all over the place, often where we least expect it. Many conservative Christians here were horrified by Blunt’s actions, and will cross the American political line in the sand to vote Democratic to help out Missouri’s poor. And courtesy trumps politics- something I need to be reminded of constantly. I wouldn’t mind if a lot of Republicans decided not to vote on election day this year. But I want them contributing. And I insist that they have the right to do it. If it came to an either-or scenario, I’d rather they vote against My-View-Of-How-Everything-Has-To-Be/ It’s-My-Bass-And-I’m-Going-Home than have them feel like their efforts won’t matter. That’s gotten us nowhere. Worse than nowhere.

        I think the most important thing to remember is that every single thing we do affects others, and matters. And makes a difference. Shit- Please, Please, I’m On My Knees, read Rebecca Solnit’s book- anything good you read here was probably lifted or borrowed (but not plagiarized) from it.

 John Heller lives in Columbia, Missouri, and is the bass player of the Hanukkah Jones Band.