Be-Think [Please visit BeThink.org]

Polls; Panoply of America's Age of Unreason

American Failure in Education, Reason- Moyers, Susan Jacoby

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org He is up.  He is down!  Thankfully, the opposition says, "Soon he will be out of favor and ultimately out of office!" If voters do not remove the renegade from his prestigious position, term limits certainly will do him in.  Liberal loyalists assert; President Obama is not the problem.  Congress is the cruel joke. It seems no matter the political persuasion, citizens of this country find someone to fault.  Surely, societal ills are thrust upon the public by an outside force.  Regardless, of whether the electorate places the onus on an individual, an industry, the nation's Chief Executive, or other government officials, the oft-heard battle cry in the Age of America's Unreason. is someone else is to blame.  The American people do not imagine themselves responsible for inertia.

This stark reality is perhaps most apparent in daily Presidential polls.  The Commander-In-Chief has a single four-year term to prove himself competent.  In truth, in the United States, the "first hundred days" determines how many minefields a President has managed to avoid.  The second turn of the calendar indicator follows closely behind.  If the Chief Executive has not proven himself golden in six months, his fate might be sealed.  Witness the woeful popularity numbers the Press reports most fervently.

In the Information Era, within a matter of weeks, an amplified and somewhat shallow assessment of American speciousness was available for all to see.  Periodicals and pundits alike announced, statistically speaking Mister Obama's personal magnetism is no longer viable.  His favorable numbers have fallendrastically. The American people are not swayed by speeches.   Nor do the plans the President submits speak to the general public.

The count was first publicized in early July.  Ohio citizens were given an opportunity to express their disdain aloud in an early public opinion Quinnipiac University poll.  

In Michigan, a locality which, for years, has been mired in a "one State recession" skepticism has never waned.  While a bit more hopeful after the 2008 election, constituents from this Great Lakes region remained cautious.  By mid-July it became apparent, Mister Obama's every promise would be scrutinized.  How could a population so severely depressed do much else.

By early August the raw data showed citizens countrywide were doubtful that Barack Obama was the correct choice. The public rated his job performance poor.  National Public Radio reported the results of a nationwide survey. By then, it was obvious; that the honeymoon lasted less than six months.  Indeed, it seemed, the registered voters, interviewed by a bipartisan panel, did not support the Administration's plans.  His policies were deemed a failure.  A whopping forty-two percent of American's stated they did not approve of Obama performance in office.  Perchance, many anxious Americans in the Age of Unreason were ready for a divorce.

For some, the "Recovery" plan did not revive the economy as promised. Others fear the Health Care coverage options the President has put forth will be catastrophic to them and their families.

The stimulus package did not serve to satisfy the people in the areas of the country hardest hit by the economic downturn. >Information that conflicts with raw rants does nothing to confirm slow yet substantive successes.  For the more vocal masses, the Recovery plan offered no relief for the Middle Class.  As the summer wanes, so too does support for the President. In the American Era of emotional Evaluations it appears, there is consensus.  The Obama White House has not helped improve the economy.  Countrywide, citizens clamor.  Change has not come.  

Chants, cheers and jeers are palpable  "Candidate Obama's commitments were only political ploys."  The latest polls illustrate, Independents and Republicans who once felt they could trust the Illinois Statesman, now believe he is no better than all the other politicians.  Driven by emotional elucidations, Americans rationalize Presidents have an omnipotent power.  The conventional wisdom is the people need only vote for a person with the Audacity to Hope. That person will inspire a nation to move mountains.  He [or perhaps she] will make my life better.  "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead" is the rally cry during a political campaign.

However, sadly, during the post election season reality set in .  Faith faded swiftly.

This angst is expressed as distress.  Anyone in a position of power is thought to be a disappointment to persons whose pocketbooks are empty and by the affluent who now may earn a bit less than they would like to.  The President of the United States, this time Barack Obama is thought to be responsible for all that is wrong with America.

Reactions, what we the people do as a result of what occurs, may reveal an irrationality all American's possess. In this civilized country, personal attacks are the preferred means for engagement.  Through film, theatre, and television, residents in urban and rural environs have been trained to seek quick answers.  In these mediums, a story can be introduced, involve an audience, and offer a resolution, all within twenty-two [22] minutes.

Advertisers, more prevelant post World War II, understand that the medium is the message.  A product can be sold within four [4] seconds.  Anger can be generated just as quickly

The cost for immediate gratification and irritation is dear.  Since the 1950s, credit has help to satiated urgent desires.  Americans have been inured to habitually react.  The population proclaims, "Do it now or do not do it at all."  "If you cannot turn down the heat, get out of our kitchen."

As is characteristic in the Age of Unreason, if there is a perceived problem, the President, Congress, City Hall, or whoever might be deemed liable for the public's pain, will receive the brunt of an American's wrath.

One might hear the calls wherever he or she may live.  Many amongst the electorate anxiously await the day voters will be able to once again "Kick the bums out."  Republicans may rage.  Independents become more impatient.

Progressive persons propose that the lack of follow through is not the fault of Barack Obama.  Individuals who still wish to believe that they are Organizing For America place the onus on Congress.  Their rant, "Representatives in each political Party are the problem."  Independents, Republicans, and those who lean Left have reached in accord; "Invoke term limits," they shout.

Accepted American adages in these less than reflective times are a constant.  Turn on the television and hear, "If you cannot get with the program, then, get the Hades out."  Stand on a street corner and listen; "You are either with us or against us." Stroll down the avenue and someone will screech, "Move on" or be mowed over.  In the States, there is no patience for a slow progression.  Ignorance, lack of full knowledge, and unawareness can lead to actions born  in haste.  People in the United States have no time to waste.  Attention spans are very short in the Age of Unreason.  In this nation, the blame game is popular, more so than the President, elected Representatives, proposed plans and public policy.

Thus we see the repeated tallies. As the two-hundred day term ends, the number of dissatisfied Americans rise.  The President's standing falls.  Fault is easily found; that is everyone is to blame for what ails this country, except the unreasonable citizens who wait for someone else to fix what the people choose to let stand.

Again and again, the American people do not think they are responsible for the nation's inertia.  Only others are onerous. Thus, he is up.  He is down, and the people are one more time out of luck.

Please ponder the video presentation; American Failure in Education, Reason - Moyers, Susan Jacoby, or peruse the transcripts, The Age of American Unreason. Please reflect on responsibility.  If you would, contemplate the reality; the President, prominent persons in Congress, paid Lobbyists, and persuasive corporations do not have the power that the people possess. If only the public truly chose to be the change they wish to see.

References for Unreason . . . 

• Obama's 'Renegade' Campaign For The Presidency. Talk of the Nation. June 10, 2009
• Daily Presidential Tracking Polls.  Rasmussen Reports. August 5, 2009
• America closes the book on intelligence,  By Laura Miller.  Salon.  February 15, 2008
• Is Race for Governor More About Obama? Some Voters Who Backed President Disillusioned Over Economic Pledges.  By Sandhya Somashekhar.  Washington Post. Wednesday, August 5, 2009
• Obama's New Tack: Blaming Bush, President Points to 'Inherited' Economy.  By Scott Wilson. Washington Post.  Saturday, March 14, 2009; Page A01
• Recovery.gov
• Obama, the healthcare Riddler, Why is the president suddenly so afraid of a single-payer solution to America's healthcare crisis? By David Sirota.  Salon.May 16, 2009
• Obama's Approval Drops To 50 Percent.  Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Half Say President Acted 'Stupidly' In Race Dispute.  Quinnipiac University National Poll.  August 6, 2009
• Obama's poll numbers dive bomb toward Earth, By Jimmy Orr.  Christian Science Monitor. August 6, 2009
• Audacity to Hope.  By Barack Obama.  The New York Times.  October 17, 2006
• What Do Poll Numbers Really Mean for Obama?, Dan Balz.  The Washington Post. July 30, 2009
• The 44th President's First Hundred Days.  Cable News Network.
• Second 100 days. Cable News Network.
• Obama's Approval Drops In Ohio, Critical Swing State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; 2010 Senate Race Tips Slightly To Democrats.  Quinnipiac University July 7, 2009
• Poll: Obama inspires, but some question toughness.  Cable News network. July 9, 2009
• Recovery.gov
• AP Derails GOP Spin On Stimulus Jobs, By Matt Apuzo.  Huffington Post.  July 10, 2009
• Have the Stimulus Programs Failed? By Gary Burtless.  Brookings Institute. August 4, 2009
• Credit Cards at 50: The Problems of Ubiquity.  The New York Times. March 12, 2000
• Advertising History Timeline.  A 295-year synopsis of the most important events in American Advertising, 1704 to 1999.  advertising Age.
• In a Cluttered Mediaverse, Some Ads Stand Out, By Elizabeth Blair.  All Things Considered. May 22, 2007
• The Age of American Unreason, By Susan Jacoby
• The Age of American Unreason.  Bill Moyers Interview.  Public Broadcasting Services. March 2008
• ;American Failure in Education, Reason - Moyers, Susan Jacoby

Capitalism; Dead, Alive, and Broken

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org For but a moment, whilst the Group of 20 [G20] met in London's ancient financial capital, ,"The City," the roars of remorse, could be heard.  Words of woe had been whispered in hushed tones for quite some time.  Scholars spoke of various possibilities on occasion.  Whether Senior Economic Fellows from various think-tanks thought a system to be dead, alive, or near doomed, there was perhaps a bit of agreement.  "I see what you mean.  It is broken," Economist Mark Thoma mused more than a year ago.

The public screamed out in pain for decades; however, few cared about the cries of countless common folks.  Those who argued against principles that place profits before people were easily ignored for they had no power and less influence.  Much to the chagrin of corporate titans, even Economistswarned; this could be the end of Capitalism.  Yet, until early in the day, only weeks ago, no one paid much attention to what has become a customary declaration for everyday workers.  Morning has broken, and Capitalism is shattered as well.  

America adopted and advanced a system that was unsustainable..  More than once, "systemic failures" revealed the folly of free enterprise principles.  Nonetheless, worldwide people were convinced to purchase damaged goods and premises.  Yet, as Journalist Professor, Robert Jensen contends, "most notably those in the business world and their functionaries and apologists in the schools, universities, mass media, and mainstream politics" do not want to admit that this is so.

Wanted; Dead or Alive 
The evidence is everywhere.  What was a question rarely uttered, "Is Capitalism Dead?" has become a statement, or perhaps the dream of those who have been severely affected by this most devastating downturn.

Wealthy watch breathlessly as stock markets crash.  Banks fail.  Blue Chip companies crumble.  Foreclosures flourish, and people, those once thoughtprosperous, pour out onto the avenue in search of a job, or some sense of stability.

Perhaps, that is why, average citizens felt a need to break the silence, to speak of the broken Capitalist system.  In the shadow of powerful and prosperous Presidents and Prime Ministers, who gathered together for the G20 Conference, 4,000 demonstrators pleaded, not for pity, but for relief from a fiscal system that requires poverty.  

Frustrated and forlorn by an attitude that fosters further advancement of free market principles, at least in the United Kingdom, dissenters shouted in disgust.  It would not be wise to work within an economic structure that changed the global culture in ways that ultimately brought international institutions down.  

On a fateful day, early in April a young girl in the crowd, Aeyla Windridge pleaded.  I want "the death of Capitalism."  The twelve-year-old spoke to what Heads of State had not for centuries.  "Capitalism isn't in crisis, capitalism is the crisis," so said another activist.  

Recovery, Reinvestment, and Rescue 
Few of the principal players, those who represented the twenty participant countries were willing, or able to acknowledge the free market theory is flawed.  Most of the prominent Heads of State were, and continue to be, content with sanguine assessments.  Up to 85 percent of global gross national product comes from the shores of but a score of countries.  Eighty [80] percent  of world trade comes from these territories.  Americans, who might be thought of as the authors of Capitalism, saw and see no reason to change the status quo, at least not substantially.

Borrow and spend had worked well in the past for the superpower, or so the US government attempted to advocate.  While the President poses this philosophy cannot stand, America must move away "from an era of borrow-and-spend to one where we save and invest," in the same breath, the Chief Executive who represents the country that gave birth to free enterprise, endorses the framework, just as those who preceded him did. (Please peruse the text What Ever Happened to Free Enterprise, By Ronald Reagan)

Capitalism, the Obama Administration states, was not the cause of the planet-wide monetary collapse.  Only greed, excesses, and a lack of regulations brought about the demise of the dollar, and the rate of exchange.  As he addressed other world leaders in attendance at the G20 Conference President Obama conceded, "the crisis began in the United States.  I take responsibility even if I wasn't even president at the time." However, Mister Obama contends all countries must be accountable for this massive macro-breakdown.  America's Chief Executive proposes plans intended to strengthen a Capitalist structure.

In his April 4, 2009 Action to Address to the Global Economic Downturn, President Obama encouraged more regulations in an attempt to expand a consumer-based Capitalist theory.  With little regard for how the American way of life, which the President does not apologize for, cripples common, people throughout the world, Mister Obama declared. 

"(W)e know that the success of America's economy is inextricably linked to that of the global economy. If people in other countries cannot spend, that means they cannot buy the goods we produce here in America,  . . . if we continue to let banks and other financial institutions around the world act recklessly and irresponsibly, that affects institutions here at home as credit dries up, and people can't get loans to buy a home or car, to run a small business or pay for college.

Ultimately, the only way out of a recession that is global in scope is with a response that is global in coordination."

One is reminded of why, in earlier years, no one spoke vociferously of the crisis that is Capitalism.  Ordinary people were busy.  For centuries, regular folks worked day and night only to bring home a nominal paycheck.  Even in prosperous nations, people could barely afford to put food on the table.  People took trivial jobs just to secure shelter.  Millions felt forced to pursue professional paths that offer few rewards.  The only goal for the average Joe and Jane was to stay afloat.  Few have had the time or energy to protest their circumstances, or what the powers-that-be had and have imposed internationally.  Today, and in the past, worldwide economic slavery has sufficed.  That is until now.  

Lest the President and Prime Ministers elsewhere forget, in the States, and abroad, people are out of work.  The promise of an ownership society,where "people, from all walks of life," would open the door of their private residence and say, "Welcome to my home" proved to be but a myth.  The pledge of plump stock portfolios for everyone through Capitalism was a claim never substantiated.  Contrary to the oft-voiced assurances, the American Dream could be achieved anywhere on Earth If people only invested in a free market economy, this current fiscal crisis has shown the world, words were but wishes promoted by the prosperous.

Regardless of how average people are punished by a fiscal formula that requires there be poor people, the current President intends to preserve the Capitalist principles that govern a global economy.  While Mister Obama may not profess a commitment to an "ownership society," he too wishes to encourage people to possess what they cannot afford.  

Broken Beyond Benevolence 
In contrast, more than a few Economists have begun to contemplate the wisdom of a system based on constant consumption.  Experts in monetary movements examine, What went wrong and, rather more importantly for the future, what did not. Other statistician who study the social science of fiscal affairs suggest there is ""Good Capitalism, (and) Bad Capitalism."  Certainly, no matter the belief, with cause, "Capitalism is under fire."  

William Pfaff, the author of eight books on American foreign policy, international relations, and contemporary history has pondered the depths of a paradigm profoundly broken. Mister Pfaff offers a perspective less limited than the simpler theories often presented by Administrations and Academics.  The  observer of intercontinental issues writes . . . 

The essential question is, what capitalism are we talking about? Since the 1970s, two fundamental changes have been made in the leading (American) model of capitalism.

The first is that the "stakeholder," post-New Deal reformed version of capitalism (in America) that prevailed in the West after World War II was replaced by a new model of corporate purpose and responsibility.

The earlier model said that corporations had a duty to ensure the well-being of employees, and an obligation to the community (chiefly but not exclusively fulfilled through corporate tax payments).

That model has been replaced by one in which corporation managers are responsible for creating short-term "value" for owners, as measured by stock valuation and quarterly dividends.

The practical result has been constant pressure to reduce wages and worker benefits (leading in some cases to theft of pensions and other crimes), and political lobbying and public persuasion to lower the corporate tax contribution to government finance and the public interest.

In short, the system in the advanced countries has been rejigged since the 1960s to take wealth from workers, and from the funding of government, and transfer it to stockholders and corporate executives.

There is ample evidence to support the author's contention.  In 1970, the recipient of a Nobel Memorial Prize on Economic Sciences, Milton Friedman, encouraged an emphasis on corporate earnings. A culture that creates a vibrant community, Friedman insisted is counter to "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits"

Decades later, his disciples of sorts, Presidents Ronald Reagan,  George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, each implemented plans that increased earned income for the influential and decreased available dollars for the already disadvantaged.  Policies designed to protect and promote an American entrepreneurial taxonomy, or Capitalistic interests, were proposed as a means to spread democracy.  Planet-wide, people and economic practices were transformed. 

The second change that has taken place is globalization.  The crucial effect of this for society in the advanced countries is that it puts labor into competition with the poorest countries on earth.

We need go no further with what I realize is a very complex matter, other than to note the classical economist David Ricardo's "iron law of wages," which says that in conditions of wage competition and unlimited labor supply, wages will fall to just above subsistence.

There never before has been unlimited labor.  There is now, thanks to globalization - and the process has only begun.

The variance is vast.  Those who have possess so much.  The portion of population that owns little, have far less than even an average individual might imagine.  The wealthy cannot conceive of a life where food might be the most valuable commodity.  A world in which water is worth more than gold seems unthinkable to those who thrive in "civilized" communities,  Yet, this reality may come to towns in a Capitalist country.   Indeed, in some American communities, this truth appears today.

Nonetheless, agreements secured at the G20 summit ensure the adoption of a debt-driven American-style "democracy."  An arrangement, in which all are not created equal, will continue to be the practiced and preferred economic system planet-wide.  People will once again forget assessments presented less than a decade ago. 

Many of the radicals leading the protests may be on the political fringe.  But they have helped to kick-start a profound re-thinking  about globalization among governments, mainstream economists, and corporations that, until recently, was carried on mostly in obscure think tanks and academic seminars.

The reassessment is badly overdue.  In the late 20th century, global capitalism was pushed by leaps in technology, the failure of socialism, and East Asian's seemingly miraculous success.  Now, it's time to get realistic.  the plain truth is that market liberalization by itself does not lift all boats, and in some cases, it has caused damage to poor nations.  What's more, there's no point denying that multi-nationals have contributed to labor, environmental, and human rights abuses as they pursue profits around the globe . . .

(After a ten-year expansion of market capitalism around the world, as of the year 2000) The World Bank figures the number of people living on a $1 a day increased to 1.3 billion, over the past decade.

The extremes of global capitalism are astonishing . . .  If global capitalism's flaws aren't addressed, the backlash could grow more severe.

Indeed, the repercussions have been relentless.  Near a century of consumption, solely for the sake of profits, has weakened the world.  The current fiscal crisis reveals Capitalism was never the cure for what ails the people on this planet.  Persistent poverty, and the threat of increased insolvency, born out of a free enterprise system is an expense few, if any, can afford.  One need only look at the Capitalism and what it has wrought.  Avaricious individuals may acknowledge one reaps what one sows.  Independently, or collectively, as a global community anyone might come to understand, "If my brother is poor, I/we too will suffer.  Ultimately, I/we will pay for the poverty I/we accept."  

Without such a realization, and inspired by the spirit of an individualism that has flourished amongst free-marketers, people may, as President Obama proclaimed.  Worldwide, or here at home, we "want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that [has] been missing."  However, it is not another glorious "morning in America."  Nor is it a beautiful day in most neighborhoods.  Were the clouds to clear, globally people might avow, authentically, there need be an actual new dawn.  It is time to dream of economic structures that have never been.

The majorities in the States, and throughout the globe, are no longer silent.  Common folks have spoken.  Capitalism is broken.  It is not wanted, dead or alive.

Sources for economic and empathetic structures . . . 

• Is Capitalism Dead?  No. By William Galston.  National Public Radio. March 11, 2009
• Is Capitalism Dead?  Maybe. By J.D. Foster.  National Public Radio. March 11, 2009
• Is Capitalism Dead?  Yes. By Alan Reynolds.  National Public Radio. March 11, 2009
• I See What You Mean, It Is Broken, By Mark Thoma.  Economist View.  January 24, 2008
• 'The World As We Know It Is Going Down', By Marc Pitzke.  Spiegel International. September 18, 2008
• Systemic Failure: Capitalism "Lays An Egg," By Stephen Lendman.  SteveLendmanBlog. March 2, 2009
• Capitalism Under Fire, By William Pfaff.  The International Herald Tribune. 30 March 2006
• Is Capitalism Dead?  The Washington Post. October 20, 2008
• Recession Pain, Even in Palm Beach, By David Segal.  The New York Times. April 12, 2009
• Blair: Global economic fallout is nation's major threat.  Cable News Network. February 12, 2009
• The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, By Milton Friedman.  The New York Times Magazine. September 13, 1970.  Copyright @ 1970 by The New York Times Company.
• Colorado bank biggest US bank failure of 2009.  AFP. April 10, 2009
• Slump Humbling Blue-Chip Stocks, By Mark Healy.  The New York Times March 6, 2009
• U.S. foreclosure filings rise in February, By Lynn Adler.  Reuters. March 12, 2009
• In Defense of Income Inequality, By Peter Schwatrz.  Capitalism Magazine. March 28, 2009
• Congressional Finance Chair Discusses U.S. Economy. NewsHour.  September 3, 2007
• Disowned by the Ownership Society, By Naomi Klein.  The Nation. January 31, 2008
• The End Of American Capitalism? By Anthony Faiola.  The Washington Post.  October 9, 2008
• The G-20 and the Future of Capitalism - Part I,  By Jeffrey E. Garten.  Yale Global. March 30, 2009
• President Obama's News Conference; Transcript.  The New York Times. March 24, 2009
• Century of Self.
• Story of Stuff.  By Annie Leonard.  The Sustainability Funders and Tides Foundation.
• Address by Governor Ronald Reagan, Installation of President Robert Hill, Chico State College. May 20, 1967
• What Ever Happened to Free Enterprise, By Ronald Reagan.  Ludwig Von Mises Memorial Lecture at Hillsdale College.  November 10, 1977
• 12-Year-Old Protester: 'Death of Capitalism.' By F. Brinley Bruton.  MSNBC News. April 1, 2009
• Capitalism Under Fire, By William Pfaff.  The International Herald Tribune. 30 March 2006
• Global Capitalism,  Can it be made to work better?  By Pete Engardio with Catherine Belton.  Business Week. November 6, 2000
• Obama's G-20 confession: "I take responsibility." By Marc Hujer, Wolfgang Reuter, and Christoph Schwennicke.  Salon. April 7, 2009
• Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address, The White House. Saturday, April 4, 2009
• Globalization: A Reference Handbook, By Justin Ervin, Zachary A. Smith.  2008
• Capiatlism at bay, What went wrong and, rather more importantly for the future, what did not.  The Economist. October 16, 2008
• "Good Capitalism, (and) Bad Capitalism," By David Wessel.  Wall Street Journal.  Economist's View. May 10, 2007
• Drinking water costs lots of dollars.  MarketPlace. March 17, 2009
• Analysis: Obama takes 'morning in America' mantle.  Cable News Network.  February 25, 2009
• A Different Sort of Red America, By Tobin Harshaw.  The New York Times. April 10, 2009

Somewhere in America

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org Somewhere in America, a man loses the job he has held for more than thirty years.  Somewhere in America, a woman cleans out the office she had occupied for close to a decade.  Elsewhere in the United States, a teen unsuccessfully tries to find work.  He knows he needs to help his Mom and Dad; each toiled in the factory that closed just down the street.  A young woman searches for a professional position, just as she has for the two years since she graduated form the University.  Each of these individuals is not startled by the headline, Economy Shed 598,000 Jobs in January.    All ask, where have the "experts," Economists, and elected officials been?

There is a stark reality barely revealed in this report. For the many who live somewhere in America, the statistic is not news.  It is the culmination of life or strife as it has been in the United States for a long time.  Countless experience the misery of an economic crisis that consumes them.  There is no joy in jobs lost or the threat of more layoffs to come.

What occurs most every moment, somewhere in America is the reason President Obama stated in his recent address, this country needs a stimulus package now, not tomorrow, not in a week, or in a month.  At least, "3.6 million Americans  . . . wake up every day wondering how they are going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, and provide for their children.  That's 3.6 million Americans who need our help."

What the President does not say is that these numbers represent only the persons we know of.

Somewhere in America, in a rural residence, children cry.  There is no food in the cupboard.  Mom, who is the sole supporter in this family, has been out of work for months.  Dad, too depressed, left his loved ones long ago.  He labored part-time for years.  When the economic downturn began, in 2007, he realized he could not even count on temporary employment.  Nor can the young one who hopes to enter college; she understands "career path" may be a euphemism from the past.  Today in America, the streets are not golden.

As Senators and Congresspersons, all of whom are gainfully employed, bicker, and build an Economic Stimulus Bill filled with pork, and, or tax cuts that benefit only the rich, somewhere in America, a mother cannot buy food for her son.  A single father, without a High School diploma, wonders how he might hold on to his factory job and still adequately prepare his daughter for school.  Somewhere in this great country, educational institutions go without textbooks.  Perhaps, it matters not, the students cannot read.

Somewhere in America, a cancer patient is refused treatment, for, although he has insurance, the policy will not cover the costs.  

A firefighter is given a furlough.  In California, State workers are forced to take  an unpaid leave.  Somewhere in America, a  plan to bring recovery to America cannot wait.

Elsewhere in this country, citizens, the few secure in their circumstances, argue over the proposed stimulus package. Certain that all is well, at least for them, these affluent Americans say the situation is not dire.  They encourage their Representatives not to sign on to a incentive measure that might spend money on other than they, personally, think right.  Meanwhile, somewhere in the United States, a family in the frozen Midwest is thrown out on the cold streets.  The mortgaged house, the five had lived in for near a score, went into foreclosure.  

In a country, where the words "economic crisis" is not hyperbole, few wish to help move the nation forward.  People rather quarrel.  Free speech is fun for those who still feel safe.  Today, the public does not ponder the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota two summers ago.  August 2007, was eons ago.  The public does not hear the stressful sounds of a viaduct ready to crumble.  The roar of engines is too loud, or perhaps, when the conversation turns to fiscal responsibility the screams from silly squabbles drown out the noise steel makes when it bends and breaks.

People plump with power, profits, or an ideology can safely ignore federal government studies that show "Nearly a quarter of the nation's roughly 600,000 major bridges carry more traffic than they were designed to bear,"  When an American lives elsewhere in America, it may matter not that  the "Federal Highway Administration data from 2006 shows that 24.5 percent of the nation's bridges longer than 20 feet were categorized as "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete" (data from Utah and New Mexico was from 2005)."

Rarely do individuals reflect on what does not affect them directly.  Many are happy to refuse to see what is invisible to their eyes let alone the reality numbers might represent.  Empathy, elsewhere in America can be elusive.

People who have a roof over their heads rather rant.  Those who toddle off to the office much prefer to rage.  It is "pork" they say.  The Obama stimulus plan is nothing but needless government-funded expenditures.  "Taxes must be cut;" screech the tycoons and venture Capitalists.  These influential persons of means make telephone calls.  The rich reach out and touch Republican and Democratic Legislators alike.  Why?  Because they can.  Powerful persons have access, the privilege of the affluent.  The plight that occurs somewhere in America is alien to them.

Insulated and isolated, the wealthy worry not.  Elsewhere, many in the Middle Class cannot imagine what it must be like to live somewhere in America.  Most do not believe an economic catastrophe will become a personal truth.

Those whose children are enrolled in private schools, or in public school out in the suburbs subsidize their progeny's education.  They wonder why others cannot.  Perchance these individuals have not traveled to somewhere in America.  Persons whose families are well-funded, who hear, and see no evil on the streets of this nation, do not imagine that somewhere in America might ever be where they live.  

These citizens, comfy, cozy, and content with what is, have no need for the Head Start programs now cut from the stimulus package.  Education for the Disadvantaged, another program now eliminated from the Bill, will not have an effect on friends or family of the economically-established.  Persons who have the ability to care for their own do not understand the plight of those they have never encountered.

Thus, they exclaim, the "fat" must be removed from the stimulus package, and so it is.  

School improvement stipends were removed from the proposed fiscal plan.  These critical contributions, in a  country, which ranks low, or last, in many categories of learning seems unnecessary.  Child Nutrition grants are lavish in the minds of the physically and financially satiated.  Surely, the well-off say, there is no need for such remunerations.  

Individuals who are safe and sane do not wish to sponsor programs such as Funds for Violence Against Women.  These planned provisions were erased from the proposition.  Persons not in harm's way questioned why would society wish to assist those ladies who did not chose their companion wisely.  

Food Stamps surely are wasteful spending, say the scornful and satiated.

These same persons are happy to see an end to what they think exploitive expenditures.  Dollars expected to be doled out to The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA, National Science Foundation NSF, and the Western Area Power Administration were also expunged from the package.

Firefighters are now forsaken. Cash for the Coast Guard was deemed redundant.  Payments for better prisons, are said to be decidedly pointless.  Community Oriented Policing Services COPS Hiring programs, are among the allowances that have been cut.  Apparently, community safety is not critical, at least not for those who think private industry better cares for any communal needs.  

That may be why these same individuals decided dollars devoted to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC were also wanton.  Certainly, these would not stimulate the economy.

Perchance, the persons who live elsewhere in the United States, do not realize that cash spent on services contributes to jobs somewhere in America.

Possibly, the prosperous do not recall that poverty produces greater poverty.  Persons who love to engage in arguments, think it fun to find fault with each and every point,   These individuals, whose intention is to wrangle, do not wish to acknowledge, as Nobel Prize winner and Princeton Professor of Economics and National Affairs does in his most recent NewYork Times column.  "As the great American economist Irving Fisher pointed out almost 80 years ago, deflation, once started, tends to feed on itself."

As dollar incomes fall in the face of a depressed economy, the burden of debt becomes harder to bear, while the expectation of further price declines discourages investment spending.  These effects of deflation depress the economy further, which leads to more deflation, and so on."

Hence, as a country we stand still.  Democrats and Republicans are divided.  Congress cannot or will not decide to support an authentic stimulus package.  Policymakers will do as they have always done, dicker, and deliver little.  What may ultimately pass will likely be more irresponsible than it might have been.  

When somewhere in America is not where you are; nor is it a place you chose to imagine as real, then you do not reflect upon the parent who has not had a paycheck for years, or the child who cries out for a but a mere morsel of food.  Sadly, somewhere in America, for members of Congress, and for citizens comfortable in their circumstances, is a place far, far, far, away.  

In truth, were the quarrelsome to look out their window, they might see, somewhere in America is right next door.

• Obama Announces New Economic Recovery Board, President: Job Losses "Devastating News."  CQ Transcripts Wire.  Washington Post. ?Friday, February 6, 2009; 12:38 PM
• Economy Shed 598,000 Jobs in January, By Edmund L. Andrews.  The New York Times February 6, 2009
• Obama Raises Stakes for Senate's Economic Stimulus Bill, By William Branigin, Paul Kane and Shailagh Murray.  Washington Post. Friday, February 6, 2009; 1:11 PM
• Grim Illiteracy Statistics Indicate Americans Have a Reading Problem.  Education Portal.  September  20,, 2007
• Schwarzenegger orders mass layoffs, unpaid furloughs,  By Patrick McGreevy and Jordan Rau .  The Los Angeles Times.  December 20, 2008
• Firefighters in Colorado Springs Have More Than Just Fires To Worry About.  Employment Spectator. January 26, 2009
• U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test,  By Maria Glod.  Washington Post. Wednesday, December 5, 2007; A07
• Lawmakers Seek to Revise Stimulus; Bill Now in Senate (Update2) By Brian Faler.  Bloomberg News. February 3, 2009
• Latest Cuts To The Stim Package: Head Start, Child Nutrition, Food Stamps Public Transit, By Greg Sargent..  Who Runs the Government.  A Washington Post Publication. February 6, 2009
• Baldwin Township couple, among millions facing foreclosure in U.S., turn to nonprofit aid program.  By Tim Grant.  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.August 28, 2008
• Experts: Leadership, money keys to building bridges. Cable News Network.  August 3, 2007
• Community Oriented Policing Services COPS.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA.
• National Science Foundation NSF.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC.

An Inauguration Invitation

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org I am asking you to believe, not just in my ability to bring about a real change in Washington, I'm asking you to believe in yours.  ~ Barack Obama The invitation arrived in an electronic mail.  As much as America wishes to be hopeful, I had none.  I saw the communiqué and thought it would not be possible.  I would never be selected to attend the inauguration.  Of all the millions who are moved by this historic occasion, while I am amongst these, my anecdote is and would be far less remarkable.  My personal reflection on the Obama election, would not be tragic.  Nor would any thought I might muse of move a reader to say, "Yes.  She should be seated at the swearing in ceremony." Whatever I might communicate is certainly of little interest to most, if not all.  Surely, the saga of a grandson, or grand-daughter, of a slave, one who worked as their ancestors had, might mesmerize more, or at least a legend such as this would enthrall me.  Indeed, it did.  Only yesterday, I saw and heard a film essay on James "Little Man" Presley.  This steady man in Mississippi began his career when he was six [6.]  On camera, this glorious gent recounted his reality of fifty years of work in the cotton fields.  He shared his sorrow; as a Black man, he was barred from restaurants and royalties that might be awarded to a white man.  "Little Man" Presley also presented his pleasure.

As he spoke of his thirteen children, wife, employer, and the Journalist who has known him since the day of the Correspondent's birth, I cried.  When Mister Presley at the mention of the President Elect Obama, and said he voted for him, I knew what I, and everyone else must feel. That individual his family must be bequeathed entrance to the formal investiture.

Once again, as I stood blubbering, I bemoaned what I had faith I had no right to feel.  Regrettably, I would not be able to attend the official observance.  The installation of Barack Obama into the Oval Office would be one I would miss.  It was true; my yarn could not compare to the composition an elderly man or woman, coal in color, might submit.  Some of these individuals never felt their tally counted.  For many, it did not; not until the Voters Rights Act 1965 was passed into law.  Yes, a request for my narrative could not negate the truth of my tale; it was nothing in contrast to what others might tell.  My complexion had always made me more privileged and that is wrong.  

To my core I felt and continue to feel if the new Administration offers free transportation and tickets to the event, they should not be given to me.  

I had never, through my actions, given up on the country I love.  I had no reason to.  Granted, I frequently felt there was no hope for my homeland.  However, these moments were fleeting.  Prejudice did not permeate my very existence. Nor did bigotry shade my second-by-second experience.  Every thought I might express was not filtered through a truth I could never forget, for I was not dark as pitch.  I did not realize repercussions for nothing more than my race.

I am an activist.  My current age does not make my participation worthy of note, at least not in the year 2008, or 2009.  I am one of millions.  Four or perhaps more will readily appear in the Capital Mall in Washington, District of Columbia.  Almost all will reach the destination without assistance from the Obama Administration.  Why should I not do the same?

For me, without tickets, which I vigorously tried to obtain through conventional means, I would not truly be part of this momentous occasion.  I would be disengaged, detached from the essence that bonds me and helped me to believe.  I imagine as one in a crowd of countless, all I would see would be projected onto a screen.  I would feel separate, not equal to those more worthy of the honor of an invitation.  

Surely, the historic significance would be not be as I hoped.  Were I to go, as a one amongst the masses might, I would grapple with what has long haunted me.  I would not feel as connected to what means so much to me.

Hence,  each time the invitation appeared in my mailbox, the opportunity to pen my prose, to state why this inauguration was so very important to me, I submitted what I knew was not enough, not special, and not unique.

Each time, I did not request what I hoped for, in many ways, more so than accommodations to the services.  My dream was not to merely be welcomed to the Capitol.  I wanted to find what was, and still is lost to me.  The people I think of as parents, biological proxy to me.  My desire was the President Elect and his staff might make a personal dream come true.  Thus, I engraved and placed into the ethereal Internet for weeks. 

Dearest Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha, and all those who consider themselves part of the Obama Family . . .

I know not how to best express what this inauguration means to me.  Attendance at the investiture would be the fulfillment of a dream, a desire to return the love that was given to me.  Perchance, a bit of historical context might help to explain why this occasion moves me.  My beginnings were not humble.  Some might say that my childhood was filled with hurt.  However, for me, the circumstances were joyous.

My parents had been together for years.  They prospered financially.  Yet, as a family they were disconnected.  My birth was accidental and a source of anything but delight.  It was decided another person, and her family would raise me.  Mary [Hazel] Washington, and her husband, Arthur, thankfully took me into a world that was not my own.  I became the white child who was far more accepted in a Black world, than she was in her own Caucasian community.  My complexion was light as was my heart when with the persons who truly cared for me.

Later, at an age younger than Natasha Obama currently is, I witnessed an extraordinary event.  My natural mother and father were home, together, in my presence.  The two had grown farther apart in my five years on Earth.  As they spoke of the 1960 election, they argued.  The conversation was animated, more so than any I had heard in the past.  My Mom, the ultimate Progressive mentioned she would not vote for the Republican candidate, register in the Grand Old Party; nor would she lie to the man whose bloodline I share and say she had.  I was intrigued and remained so forever.

The two, Mommy, and her husband whose home I lived in, but rarely saw, and never really knew, divorced. However, sadly, the Washington's exited.  Much occurred in the time of transition.  Mary and Arthur had reason to believe they were no longer needed.  Oh, what they did not know was how wanted they were, how honored I was to be raised in their world.  

The people who did not reject me, taught me to trust.  Mary mentored me in empathy.  Arthur, her spouse, and their offspring, through their actions, helped me to understand the principle, love thy fellow man.

I never forgot how safe and sane I felt when with what felt to be my family, the persons who served as my surrogate parents.  I could not have had a better home, more love, or been as welcome as I was in the neighborhood where residents did not appear as I did.  At the age of eleven or twelve, I had an opportunity, the first of many, to stand up for the rights of the people who gave me more than a physical presence in the world.  I marched for equality, civil rights for all.  With Civil Rights leader Father Groppi, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I was among the many who said and sung, "Set my people free."

As I aged, I searched for Mary [Hazel] and Arthur Washington.  While I never located the couple who bestowed upon me the freedom that comes with acceptance, as a politically active person, particularly in the 2008 election year, I saw them frequently.  The Washington's were within me each time I made a telephone call in support of Barack Obama.  My mother and father, brownish-purple in hue, were with me as I waved banners for a President Elect Obama.  Mary and Arthur drove to rallies, spoke to relatives.  The two were close at hand when I registered voters.

My hope is that if I am able to find my way to the inauguration, Mary [Hazel] and Arthur Washington will know that with thanks to them, "Yes, we can," and indeed, "We did achieve a dream!"

Mary [Hazel], Arthur, and sons, Arthur Junior and oh, how I wish I recalled the name of the younger, if you read this, please, please, please, get in touch with me.  For as long as I recall, I have, from time to time, searched telephone books, cyberspace communities, asked relatives, sought some clue of where you might be.  I wanted, I yearn for you to know what as a five and one half year old I could not, did not know how to share.  You, your kindness, commitment to my well-being, the care you bestowed upon me has forever meant more to me than mere words.

I speak of each of you, your family, even when my mouth is closed.  Who you are exudes from my every pore.  So much of what I think, say, do, feel, and am, at least all that I treasure of me, is with thanks to each of you.  Mary, I know my parents rejected what seemed the perfect reason to name me Hazel, your given name, as you requested.  Nonetheless, please trust that while you and I may not share a moniker, for me, we share sooooo much more.

I thank you for being my first and best teacher.  You are a mentor, one that money cannot buy.  If I have any hope in 2009, it is that perchance, one day, you and I will meet.  I wish to do more than merely greet you with a smile.  Even from afar, I will, as I have, embrace the being that is you, and express my sincere gratitude for the being you helped me to become.

The Washington family, this is my Inauguration Invitation to you.  May we begin to bring hope for a renewed future alive.

Hugs, kisses, and references for other realities . . . 

• Crossing the railroad tracks amid a new time in history, By Wayne Drash.  Cable News Network.  January 12, 2009
• Introduction To Federal Voting Rights Laws.  United States Department of Justice.
• Can Mall Be Filled For an Inauguration? 4 Million May Try It. By Nikita Stewart and Michael E. Ruane.  Washington Post.  Tuesday, November 18, 2008; A01

Yes Eddie, There is a country that can!

Obama's Victory Speech

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

It was the Friday before Election Day 2008.  The sun was low in the sky.  My spirits were also near to the ground.  As the days focused on "change," turned to months, and near two years, I had begun to lose hope.  Too much time had passed.  The Bush Administration overturned too many laws.  In the recent past, the country had transgressed back into the future.  Others were blissful, certain a better world would come.  I was not confident.  Near an hour before, Eddie, a young man who has lived on Earth for less than a quarter of a century, said he may not vote.  He did not have faith that we, or he, were the change a country could believe in.  for Eddie, "Yes we can" equated to "No he would not."

Betsy L. Angert :: America; Yes We Can!Eddie had lost the ability to dream.  As was true for too many Americans, the vision of what could be seemed but an illusion.  For some citizens who, decades earlier, had hoped the country could change, life had become a nightmare.  While this fine fellow may not have experienced a similar sense of dire desperation he did not aspire to do more than he had done.

Twenty-six months earlier, I accidentally discovered Eddie had never participated in an election.  On another occasion, moments after I cast a ballot during a primary campaign, I encountered the knowledgeable fellow. Then, oh so long ago, I learned Eddie had not registered to vote, ever.  When I asked him of his vote in 2006, he admitted, he did not even know an election was held.

I was fascinated, or was I frustrated.  I know not.  I am only certain that more than a year later, when I realized Eddie had submitted his application and received his voter registration card, I was overjoyed.

At that time, Eddie said he only chose to commit to possibly participate in the election process when his college Professor promised he would receive class credit if he registered.  The scholar truly did not expect to feel a deep desire to cast a ballot anytime soon.  Eddie barely paid attention to what went on beyond his personal play.  Parties filled his frame.  Politics, not so much.

Granted, Eddie, an extremely curious soul could carry on a conversation when the discussion turned to government or the economy.  However, way back then, he mostly asked questions and listened.  Eddie was polite when I shared story after story about this political event or that.  He could and did converse on the issues.  Mostly, when we talked, life was the topic of import.

Relationships, realities, reflections, and realizations filled our tête-à-têtes.  In time, we grew closer.  I first met Eddie at the recreation center.  I swim daily and he works as a lifeguard.  Hence, we speak with each other often.

I have witnessed, first-hand, growth I could have never imagined in such a short span.  I always accepted Eddie is very smart.  His curiosity is endless.  Eddie is an eager, enthusiastic student of the world.  He absorbs information like few I have ever known.  It is not what I shared that accelerated his evolution.  Eddie avidly exchanges with everyone.

Perchance, that is why, as the Presidential election became more important to his friends and family.  Eddie began become interested himself.  This fine fellow became the person with whom I could speak when I went to the pool.  He knew what I did.  He read.  He watched.  He tuned into television reports and connected on the Internet.  Eddie was engaged in the election.

Then it happened.  On All Hallows Eve, just before I placed my body into the pool, when I asked if Eddie had voted early, Eddie said, I see no reason to take part.  Barack Obama will win or he will not.  It is destiny.  Our fates are predetermined.  "Whatever occurs," Eddie explained, "is out of our control."  He shared his religious philosophies and stories from the Bible to further illustrate this thought.

I tried to reason with him.  I expressed my empathy.  I told tales of when or why I too wondered what was providence and what was within our power.  It was obvious to me, my words were of no avail.  Forlorn, I swam.  What else could I do.  No one can convince another to do what he or she does not wish to do.  I resigned myself to what I could not change, the mind of another human being.  I have long known, people choose for themselves.  Each of us has an effect on another.  Still, true transformations come from within.

As I was awash in water, my mind moved.  I did not think I could offer more to Eddie.  I believed there were no words that might be perceived as wisdom.  Indeed, I am no wiser than he.  I was left to be one with my thoughts.  When I emerged from the concrete pond, I approached Eddie again.

I shared my own story, my personal experience, and why this election, every election means so much to me.  I told Eddie a tale I had offered before.  I first became active in politics as a child.  At age eleven or twelve, I marched with my family in what would be my first Civil Rights demonstration.  

Just before my birth, by law, people of color could not attend school with white folks.  Even after African-American children were finally allowed to attend school with Anglos, there were still numerous other restrictions on persons who were charcoal in color.  Some boundaries were visible, many were not.

"In my lifetime," I affirmed, "Those whose complexion is dark could not enter a restaurant reserved for people pale of face."  In the few years that I have been on this planet, segregation was allowed to return to America.  The "privilege" to share a classroom was afforded in the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown versus Board of Education, and was virtually rescinded.  I asked Eddie to consider the future of the daughter he and his bride had recently conceived.

Yes, in two short years Eddie had experienced much change, within himself.  He was no longer the party person he had been.  His interest in his own education had grown.  The thoughtful chap now embraced knowledge more than he had before, and Eddie always was quite brilliant.  A booklover, likely from birth, intellectually Eddie grasped the veracity of government.  "Eddie," I quietly exclaimed, "the President picks Supreme Court Justices.  The appointments last a lifetime."  The Roberts Court has imposed edicts that will not be easily erased, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 Et. Al  

"Oh Eddie," my voice barely audible at this point, the Supreme Court, under George W. Bush has moved the country to the "Right."  Some, such as I fear, we have journeyed back more than a century.  Some of the current jurors are elderly.  There is reason to believe a few will choose to step down from the bench.  If we, the people, do not cast a ballot for Barack Obama, I fear the Court, will move farther into the private lives of citizens.

I chattered on.  My characteristic calm demeanor a bit less controlled as saltwater streamed from my eyes. "Eddie, for me, race and discrimination acted out against those of color is not the only issue that must call us to the ballot box."  There is so much more to consider.  Economic,environmental, and education policies.  "Eddie, think of your college loans, those you may have now and the prospects to pay for your later study."

"Oh my gosh Eddie,, President Bush may not have been the change I or we would believe in, but he trusted he could do as he wanted."  I reasoned or attempted to articulate every thought I had, to share my personal history, and relate it to Eddie's own truth.  Change, I mused, will come.  As individuals or as a country, we may not have control of all occurrences.  Nonetheless, as I learned in Elementary School, "Not to make a decision is to decide."

In my own life I realized, one by one Americans cast a vote. Collectively, we, the people, choose a President.  The nation's Chief Executive then selects who will rule the Courts, what regulations he will impose, and which laws he will sign.  "Eddie, in my own life, in yours, we have seen how the President can be the change, or the constituency can be what we believe in."

Throughout my tearful plea, Eddie was pensive.  He gazed into my eyes.  His stare never left my face.  Then, he asked, was I crying.  Initially, I made an excuse.  "It is the chlorine," I remarked. Then, more honestly, I said "Yes."  I tried to tell Eddie how much the election means to me.  I shared my sincerest belief.  The power that each of us has as citizens, if only we realize what we can do when we come together as one . . . My words could not express what I yearned to communicate.  Nevertheless, Eddie thanked me.  He said he would sincerely make an effort to get to the polls, to be part of the solution.

I was at a loss.  I feared I had not said what I might have.  Nor were my words as powerful as they could have been.  In truth, tonight when President Elect Barack Obama stated my sentiments, better than I might ever have done, he said to Eddie what I could not though my tears.  I invite reflection.  Please peruse the words of a man who speaks for all Americans.  Ponder the profundity of "Yes we can!"  

In America, government is as this Presidential campaign has been, of, by, and for the people.  Congratulations and thank you Barack Obama, Joe Biden, you, me, America.  Eddie, I am grateful for your empathy and decision to cast a ballot.  I have faith again; hope is alive. We, Eddie, and all Americans are indeed, the change we can believe in.

Transcript 
Obama's Victory Speech 
The New York Times 
November 4, 2008

The following is a transcript of Senator Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago, as provided by Federal News Service.

Senator Barack Obama: (Cheers, applause.) Hello, Chicago. (Cheers, applause.)

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. (Cheers, applause.)

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled -- (cheers) -- Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states; we are and always will be the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.)

It's the answer that -- that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America. (Cheers, applause.)

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain. (Cheers, applause.) Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. (Applause.) I congratulate him, I congratulate Governor Palin for all they've achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead. (Cheers, applause.) 
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton, and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.)

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady, Michelle Obama. (Cheers, applause.)

Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. (Cheers, applause.)

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Auma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given to me. I am grateful to them. (Cheers, applause.)

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe -- (cheers, applause) -- the unsung hero of this campaign who built the best -- (cheers) -- the best political campaign I think in the history of the United States of America -- (cheers, applause) -- to my chief strategist, David Axelrod -- (cheers, applause) -- who has been a partner with me every step of the way, to the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics -- (cheers) -- you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done. (Cheers, applause.)

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. (Cheers, applause.) It belongs to you. (Cheers.)

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington; it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause. (Cheers, applause.) It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy -- (cheers) -- who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep. It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the Earth. This is your victory. (Cheers, applause.)

Now, I know you didn't do this just to win an election, and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there. (Cheers, applause.)

Audience: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

Mr. Obama:: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance for us to make that change.

And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.

Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House -- a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity. Those are values we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. (Cheers, applause.)

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends -- though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too. (Cheers, applause.)

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. (Cheers, applause.) To those -- to those who would tear the world down: we will defeat you. (Cheers, applause.) To those who seek peace and security: we support you. (Cheers, applause.) And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals -- democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. (Cheers, applause.)

That's the true genius of America, that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She is a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election, except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. (Cheers, applause.)

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons, because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America: the heartache and the hope, the struggle and the progress, the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed, yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the Dust Bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

Audience: Yes we can!

Mr. Obama:: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

Audience: Yes we can!

Mr. Obama:: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We shall overcome." Yes we can.

Audience: Yes we can!

Mr. Obama:: A man touched down on the Moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

Audience: Yes we can.

Mr. Obama:: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there's so much more to do. So tonight let us ask ourselves, if our children should live to see the next century, if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time -- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.

Audience: Yes we can.

Mr. Obama:: Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.) 

I thank Eddie, Barack, and the American people.  The dream is reborn, and we, as a country, can believe again.  Yes we can!

History Referenced and Realized . . . 

• Civics. Activism. The Cure For Voter Apathy. By Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org. September 6, 2006
• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 Et. Al  Supreme Court. Argued December 4, 2006-Decided June 28, 2007
• Narrow Victories Move Roberts Court to Right, Decisions Ignore Precedent, Liberal Justices Contend. By Charles Lane.  Washington Post. ?Friday, June 29, 2007; A04
• Democrats blast Bush over arsenic rules.  Cable News Network. March 31, 2001
• The Bush Record.  © Natural Resources Defense Council.
• The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush, By Joseph Stiglitz. Vanity Fair. December 2007
• How Bush education law has changed our schools,  By Greg Toppo.  USA Today. January 8, 2007
• Bush Signs Sweeping Student Loan Bill Into Law, Adding an Asterisk, By Ian Shapira.  Washington Post.  Friday, September 28, 2007; A06
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965. United States Department of Justice.
• Brown Versus Board of Education. 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Obama's Victory Speech. The New York Times. November 4, 2008
• pdf Obama's Victory Speech. The New York Times. November 4, 2008

Universal Pain; Effect of Economic and Emotional Depression

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

Teresa Madison forlorn and torn by life's dilemmas contemplates a reality she never considered before. Death by one's own hand may be the latest and greatest in preventative medicine. Suicide can be a cure for what ails a person, or at least many have come to believe this is so. In her age group, more people deliberately take their lives. Only months ago, Ms Madison perused an article that appeared in The New York Times; Midlife Suicide Rises, Puzzling Researchers. Teresa was not perplexed. Ms Madison knows to her core society is consumed with ills. Physical, mental, emotional, financial woes, and a sense of finality overwhelm individuals in the United States. Teresa feels heaviness in her heart when she opens her mailbox and sees the bills. Her empty pocketbook cannot ease her pain. Nor does it alleviate the aches her family feels.

Ms Madison hears people speak of hope for the future. Countless say change is on the horizon. Yet, in this election year, this workingwoman does believe the solutions offered are realistic. She listens to the rhetoric and recognizes the aspirants do not feel the common peoples' pain.

Each of the candidates speaks of the current financial crisis and foreclosures. Health Care is also an issue. The Democratic Presidential hopefuls promise Universal Health Care. Yet, none of the possible nominees propose a Single Payer not for Profit plan. Each candidate expects Americans to pay for the insurance they desperately need. The cost of coverage may be reduced; nonetheless, citizens will be required to pay for the policies. A Choice Plan may claim to make Health Insurance more accessible; however, those who work and struggle to meet medical expenses understand this strategy will not serve them well. A Plan for a "Healthy America," provides little comfort for those who are not fit and already feel the pain of being a bit too affluent to qualify for assistance. "Potabilty" while a wondrous concept is not practical for a person who is uninsured, underinsured, or who can barely benefit from policies that exist.

Perhaps, Americans will not need adequate coverage in the future. If the country continues to experience an economic downturn, people may just choose to end it all. Some may sing the song, "Suicide is painless," as they pull the trigger, pop the pills, or inhale toxic fumes.

Historically, research shows, rates of depression and suicide tend to climb during times of economic tumult.

In an article published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press, researchers compared suicide data in Australia from January 1968 through August 2002 with economic problems such as unemployment and mortgage interest rates. The study found that economic trends are closely associated with suicide risk, with men showing a heightened risk of suicide in the face of economic adversity.

"For some people, suicide is the rational option when they see no future," says Ken Siegel, a psychologist in Beverly Hills. "One's house is very much a projection of one's self. To have a home taken away is tantamount to having part of yourself taken away. There is embarrassment. For many, it's overwhelmingly unconquerable."

In the most severe cases . . . authorities have linked suicides with the financial stress of foreclosures. . .
"Suicides are very much tied to the economy," says Kathleen Hall, founder and CEO of The Stress Institute in Atlanta. "It's a public-health issue."

Teresa works as a Realtor; she has for more than three decades. Ms Madison is well aware of how the housing market affects families. She read the report, Foreclosures Take an Emotional Toll on Homeowners, and thought how true the words were. Teresa Madison saw the housing bubble as it floated through the hills of Southern California. At the time, admittedly, she too was overcome with joy as the ethereal enthusiasm drifted through the air. Only a few short years ago, Teresa was as most in the Golden State were, elated as the equity in homes rose. For Ms Madison, the higher prices meant greater income, certain security, and a sense of stability, or at least that was her hope. When the housing bubble burst so too did Teresa's. Now, as Teresa Madison skims through the pages of classified advertisements in search of another job, she sees the headlines Foreclosures skyrocket 65% in April, and she thinks of how this will further her dilemma. How will she be able to pay her medical bills.

Although vibrant, Teresa Madison is aware of the fact that a serious illness could devastate, even destroy her. The middle age white woman, while successful in her work was never able to save as she had thought she might. Teresa was not a compulsive shopper as her dear friend Silvia is. Strapped with debt, Silvia slit her throat and every other part of her body. Depression or the drugs her physician prescribed almost did Silva in. While others may think Teresa has reason to resort to drastic measure, Ms Madison never would. Her faith in the Lord and her love for her family sustains her.

Teresa has two children that need her. Her daughters are adults now, and one would presume they could take care of themselves. However, Tammy needs more than merely emotional support. She needs someone to take her from doctor's appointment to surgeries. Trips to the drug store are numerous and while Tammy drives, she is not always able to get into her automobile and travel from home to the pharmacy. Movement is not easy, although Teresa daughter tries. Mostly, Miss Madison cries out in pain. Much of her distress is caused by guilt. The rest is all too real.

Tammy had tumors as a child; one was in her brain. Her thyroid was also a concern. Ultimately, the gland was totally removed. The younger woman is affected by other illnesses. None are observable in a casual exchange. However, health issues are omnipresent in the younger woman's day. Nights are not better. Indeed, as the sky grows dark, so too does Tammy's demeanor.

The medication necessary for survival slowly took Tammy's life. The girl, now near forty still breathes, and mentally, she is extremely active. However, with each twinge Tammy twists and turns. Her every moment is as torture.

As a lass, Tammy was told the drugs she needed would add pounds to her posterior. Her legs and arms would swell. The small frame she once had would be forced to carry quite a load. She did not imagine what would actually occur.

Serious weight gain placed pressure on Tammy's spine. Today, the vertebrae break easily and often. Stress fractures fill the severely ill woman's medical files.

Excessive amounts of cortisol have helped Tammy to exist. Yet, the side effects have lessened her quality of life. Her teeth deteriorated. Recently, they were all pulled. Dentures are in Tammy's near future. Before her fortieth birth date, she will be fitted with porcelain plates. Might Tammy or her Mom find a better policy to cover the burgeoning costs? Is this family underinsured? Perhaps, but most, if not all insurers consider preexisting conditions. Pre, post, present . . .

Tammy circumstances have been a constant in Teresa's life. She works and worries how will she continue too pay the price. Hospital invoices pour in, just as they did when times were good. Even when Ms Madison's earnings were greater, she was never able to afford a home. She helped others buy beautiful abodes and sell these stately properties. Still Teresa could never save enough to secure a down payment. Frugal as she is financial stability has escaped Teresa Madison.

Since the subprime mortgage meltdown altered her ability to make money, Teresa has fallen behind in her rent. A landlord who loved her, and whose house Teresa and Tammy had lived in for more than a decade finally insisted the Madison's must move. Teresa was grateful; the owner of the property considered all the upgrades Teresa had done and subtracted the cost from the amount owed.

Ms Madison with all her connections was temporarily able to secure another rental apartment; however, the stairs were a problem. Tammy could not climb these. A third residence was found. Still the two women once more were evicted. No matter how much money Teresa brought in, it never seemed enough. She was able to stay in a neighborhood that suffered little from the foreclosure catastrophe. However, Tammy's circumstances and hence the cost worsened.

Days ago, as Teresa pondered what would she do next she read the account . . .

On a brisk day last fall in Prineville, Ore., Raymond and Deanna Donaca faced the unthinkable: They were losing their home to foreclosure and had days to move out.

For more than two decades, the couple had lived in their three-level house, where the elms outside blazed with yellow shades of fall and their four golden retrievers slept in the yard. The town had always been home, with a lazy river and rolling hills dotted by gnarled juniper trees.

Yet just before lunch on Oct. 23, the Donacas closed all their home's doors except the one to the garage and left their 1981 Cadillac Eldorado running. Toxic fumes filled the home. When sheriff's deputies arrived at about 1 p.m., they found the body of Raymond, 71, on the second floor along with three dead dogs. The body of Deanna, 69, was in an upstairs bedroom, close to another dead retriever.

"It is believed that the Donacas committed suicide after attempts to save their home following a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options," the Crook County Sheriff's Office said in a report.

Teresa Madison reflects on the reality and realizes she cannot cry. She has shed too many a tear. Ms Madison is left to ask, how much more can any of us endure. Foreclosures and health care concerns are only a fraction of what consumes Americans. Teresa understands her story will not make the nightly news. Few will ever meet Tammy. Neither woman can afford to attend fundraisers. Nor do lobbyists represent Teresa or Tammy. If either of the Madison women had time or energy to travel to a free rally or a town hall forum the chances that they would be seen or heard are slim.

Teresa and Tammy have heard many platitudes from Pharmaceutical companies, private insurers, and even from politicians. Each has received pounds of boilerplate letters. These communiqués explain why Tammy must wait, or why a request for care is denied. Doctors who have attended to Tammy for decades cannot hasten the process. Nor are these proficient physicians powerful enough to alter a reality that enslaves them as well. When talking with many trained professionals in the field of medicine, Teresa hears of their frustration.

Those who believe in the Hippocratic Oath cannot avoid doing harm, no matter how hard they try to heal the ill and injured that enter their offices. Current policies preclude a physician from offering authentic and adequate preventative care. It is just too costly is the conclusion of many. Others note an investment in prevention ultimately will curtail the initial disbursement. Moreover, imagine the savings if the sick did not need to continually spend billions of dollars on drugs, diagnosis, and driving from doctor to doctor. Oh, how Tammy and Teresa would be blissful if they were not led by symptoms and side effects. The quality of life might have been different if much had been done differently and early on. At least thoughts of how death might relieve fiscal and physical trauma would have been diminished.

Doctors may not openly speak of how they too suffer when a patient passes or is parallelized by pain, However, quietly, on occasion, a practitioner may mention how he or she is hurt by the current structure. Had Tammy been more than a patient, in pain, and only assigned minutes to consult with a specialist, she may have seen the literature. In 2003, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released a Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance, which advocates that American policymakers adopt a truly Universal and not for profit plan.

Some say a Single Payer Not For Profit Health Care system will cause delays, and lessen the quality of treatment. The Madison's muse how might that be possible. Each day they wait and wonder, when will the doctor see them. How many more months will slip away before a surgeon is given permission to perform a necessary operation.

As Teresa and Tammy Madison watch the election coverage, they think of there own. They too are exposed to much scrutiny. The Madison must also address the issues. These two ordinary citizens understand every person has his or her tales to tell. As Teresa and Tammy sit by the television far from the crowds and the candidates, they ask, 'Will those who aspire to live in the White House ever address what affects the average American?'

Teresa, who has long trusted in the Lord, continues to "hope" that he will be the agent of "change." Daughter Tammy, who has also been a person of faith, at times, fears her conviction wanes. Suicide may not be painless; nonetheless, she trusts she can endure whatever anguish death may bring. She has withstood life, a broken health care system and an economic structure that causes much distress. Tammy frequently thinks "yes, she can" live or die.

Scars, Sores, Suicide, and Sources . . .

Suicide The American Association of Suicidology.

Midlife Suicide Rises, Puzzling Researchers, By Patricia Cohen. The New York Times. February 19, 2008

pdf Midlife Suicide Rises, Puzzling Researchers, By Patricia Cohen. The New York Times. February 19, 2008

US foreclosures increase for seventh consecutive quarter. Forbes. April 29, 2008

Subprime zeitgeist. The Boston Globe. May 18, 2008

How's the recession going? Analysis: Lost jobs, falling wages signal mild downturn in economy. By Rex Nutting. MarketWatch. May 19, 2008

Providing Affordable and Accessible Health Care. Hillary for President.

Plan for a "Healthy America." Obama '08.

Making Health Insurance Innovative, Potable, Affordable And Portable. John McCain.

Foreclosures Take an Emotional Toll on Homeowners, Stress, Depression, Suicide Can Accompany the Loss of a Home. By Stephanie Armour. USA Today. May 17, 2008

Foreclosures skyrocket 65% in April, By Stephanie Armour. USA Today. May 14, 2008

Cortisol (hydrocortisone) Vitamin Supplements Guide.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance, American Medical Association. 2003

Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance, Physicians for a National Health Program.

Does Preventive Care Save Money? Health Economics and the Presidential Candidates. Joshua T. Cohen, Ph.D., Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D., and Milton C. Weinstein, Ph.D. The New England Journal of Medicine. February 14, 2008

The real cost of preventive medicine, By Sarah G. McC. Moïse. Charleston Regional Business Journal. October 20, 2003

Posted by Betsy L. Angert on May 20, 2008 at 02:35 PM in American Dream, Americana, Economics, Emotional Decisions, Health Care, Health Insurance , Heartbreak, Heartache, Individual Health Care Coverage , Psychology | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Issue Number One; Economic Insecurity Breeds Bigotry, Bias and Bitterness

Fear Itself

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

He was a beautiful bouncing baby boy. He was born to two parents that love him dearly. Even before his birth, indeed, prior to conception, this little fellow was the apple of his parent's eyes. His biological beginning was carefully calculated. As the seeds of life developed into a bright-eyed baby, the people he now knows as Mom and Dad thought of little else but Maxwell. The soon to be proud Papa and Momma anxiously anticipated the day they could hold this bundle of joy. Each of his parents was eager to meet and greet the small, sweet face of the guy that they would call Max. Maximum value, supreme significance, marvelously magnificent, all this was and would be their son. After Max was delivered and during any political season, such as this, Mom and Dad feel certain Max is issue number one.

The guardians look over their angel. They plan for his future, and they are apprehensive, just as their parents and grandparents were before them. For generations the realities of daily life have shaped parental priorities. First and foremost, families want to survive, to feel safe and secure. Yet, much that accounts for stability is beyond the control of a parent or any single person. Moms and Dads agonize, as do all individuals. Economic, educational, environmental concerns have an effect on caregivers and all citizens. Military engagements also affect households, even if only one lives within the domicile. Mothers, fathers, and babies, boys or girls learn to fear.

Ultimately, in the course of a life, each individual will ask, how does any matter affect me, my family, and friends of mine? Countless citizens sense we have loss the sense that within a society, each individual works for the commonweal. The words of Thomas Paine On the Origin and Design of Government in General are principles from the past. In America today, the common folk feel they can no longer trust the government. In recent years, people profess too many promises were broken; lies were told. Intelligence was not wise. Still, Americans sense there is an enemy.

In the minds of most Americans, the foe exists outside self. Few have fully internalized the truth of the words uttered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." As people do, citizens in this country trust themselves. People know their faith will guide them. The Almighty will not disappoint them. Proud of their personal strength and all they survived throughout the course of their lives, the American public, no matter their economic station believes their family will be fine. All Americans trust in their ability to fight the opposition. Residents in the United States are not afraid to take up arms if they need to protect themselves from evil forces.

Nevertheless, Americans are "bitter." People in the cities, the suburbs, and in the countryside, resent the precarious position their leaders have placed them in. In the "Land of the free and home of the brave" the public is "looking for strong leadership from Washington." Individuals and communities recognize they cannot go it alone. Sadly, those previously entrusted with Executive privileges have not served the common folk within the United States well. Citizens have expressed their ample concern for quite a while and no one seems to hear the cries. While some of the Presidential aspirants wish to believe Americans are not indignant . . .

Poll: 80% of Americans Dissatisfied
By Associate Press.
Time Magazine
April 4, 2008

(New York) — More than 80 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the highest such number since the early 1990s, according to a new survey.

The CBS News-New York Times poll released Thursday showed 81 percent of respondents said they believed "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track." That was up from 69 percent a year ago, and 35 percent in early 2002.

The survey comes as housing turmoil has rocked Wall Street amid an economic downturn. The economy has surpassed the war in Iraq as the dominating issue of the U.S. presidential race, and there is now nearly a national consensus that the United States faces significant problems, the poll found.

A majority of Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school say the United States is headed in the wrong direction, according to the survey, which was published on The New York Times' Web site.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was doing better . . .

The poll also found that Americans blame government officials for the housing crisis more than banks or homebuyers and other borrowers. Forty percent of respondents said regulators were mostly to blame, while 28 percent named lenders and 14 percent named borrowers.

Americans favored help for people but not for financial institutions in assessing possible responses to the mortgage crisis. A clear majority said they did not want the government to lend a hand to banks, even if the measures would help limit the depth of a recession.

Intellectually astute, each individual understands to his or her core, a country must work well as a whole. If we act independently of others, with little regard for those who reside in our nation, we all will realize a reason to feel insecure. No family can survive alone. Maxwell's parents can plan and work to provide, but if the country suffers from a crisis, be it fiscal, a protracted feud, the cost of food, or fuel, the family will also find themselves in situation critical.

In a society, we are our neighbors' keeper, for what affects those in adjacent abodes will influence us. If one person is poor, so too is his brother.

The tenet is true in the abstract; it is also viable concretely. We need only consider what occurs when one domicile on the block is in disrepair or foreclosure flourishes in an enclave. Property values for all homes in the area plummet. A family functions best as a unit. A nation fares well when we are one.

Our most conservative estimates indicate that each conventional foreclosure within an eighth of a mile (essentially a city block) of a single-family home results in a 0.9 percent decline in value. Cumulatively, this means that, for the entire city of Chicago, the 3,750 foreclosures in 1997 and 1998 are estimated to reduce nearby property values by more than $598 million, for an average cumulative single-family property value effect of $159,000 per foreclosure. This does not include effects on the values of condominiums, larger multifamily rental properties, and commercial buildings.

Less conservative estimates suggest that each conventional foreclosure within an eighth of a mile of a property results in a 1.136 percent decline in that property’s value and that each foreclosure from one-eighth to one-quarter mile away results in a 0.325 percent decline in value. This less conservative finding corresponds to a city-wide loss in single-family property values of just over $1.39 billion. This corresponds to an average cumulative property value effect of more than $371,000 per foreclosure

In 2008, this consideration consumes millions of persons who thought they were safe and secure. As the subprime debacle ripples through every community, people realize their very survival is at risk. Everyone, even some of the elite now experience a profound sense of insecurity. Again, people ask who or what might they trust. The average American has faith only in what is familiar. Max, Mom, and Dad, families turn to what is tried and true. Whatever has protected them in the past, they hope, will save them from what is an uncertain future.

Certainly, people have no confidence in government. Many are frustrated. They resent those who placed them in such a precarious situation. Mothers, fathers, sons such as Max, and daughters are reminded, without regulations only the few profit. Dreams die. Witness the subprime debacle.

Mortgage companies and banks, such as Wells Fargo, have twisted the average prime mortgage loan into something much more incapable of paying by the recipient, but profitable to the company. Subprime loans, as “adjustable rate mortgages,” are packed with deceiving modifications that have low “teaser” rates that expand in interest exponentially after an initial low pay period. Families that have received Subprime loans have bit into a bitter center of the sugar-coated American dream.

Citizens in this once prosperous country wonder whether they will ever again be able to trust that they can aspire to greater heights. Homes are no longer worth what they were at the time of purchase. Payments on adjusted rate mortgages [ARM] are exorbitant and balloon expenditures are now due. Americans feel pinched. Businesses are also affected by a slowed economy and bad investments. Bankruptcy is an option, although brutal. As the cost of fuel and food rises, financial fears become more real. Existence takes a toll. As Americans assess the circumstances within their home region, they realize there is reason to hold on tightly to what they know and love.

Perchance G-d and country are all citizens can believe in, and maybe there is no longer reason to believe either of these will save them. Certainly, Administrations in the recent past and present have not protected us well. After all, our Presidents, Congress, and the Federal Reserve were responsible for the Demise of Glass-Steagall Act. This law once regulated banks and limited the conflicts of interest created when commercial depositories were permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds. Without such oversight, Americans lost their security. Survival no longer seems possible. The American Dream is a nightmare.

The Next Slum?
By Christopher B. Leinberger
Atlantic Monthly
March 2008

Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses, they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.

At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, 81 of the community’s 132 small, vinyl-sided houses were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in. In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.”

In the Franklin Reserve neighborhood of Elk Grove, California, south of Sacramento, the houses are nicer than those at Windy Ridge—many once sold for well over $500,000—but the phenomenon is the same. At the height of the boom, 10,000 new homes were built there in just four years. Now many are empty; renters of dubious character occupy others. Graffiti, broken windows, and other markers of decay have multiplied. Susan McDonald, president of the local residents’ association and an executive at a local bank, told the Associated Press, “There’s been gang activity. Things have really been changing, the last few years.”

In the first half of last year, residential burglaries rose by 35 percent and robberies by 58 percent in suburban Lee County, Florida, where one in four houses stands empty. Charlotte’s crime rates have stayed flat overall in recent years—but from 2003 to 2006, in the 10 suburbs of the city that have experienced the highest foreclosure rates, crime rose 33 percent. Civic organizations in some suburbs have begun to mow the lawns around empty houses to keep up the appearance of stability. Police departments are mapping foreclosures in an effort to identify emerging criminal hot spots.

The decline of places like Windy Ridge and Franklin Reserve is usually attributed to the subprime-mortgage crisis, with its wave of foreclosures. And the crisis has indeed catalyzed or intensified social problems in many communities. But the story of vacant suburban homes and declining suburban neighborhoods did not begin with the crisis, and will not end with it. A structural change is under way in the housing market—a major shift in the way many Americans want to live and work. It has shaped the current downturn, steering some of the worst problems away from the cities and toward the suburban fringes. And its effects will be felt more strongly, and more broadly, as the years pass. Its ultimate impact on the suburbs, and the cities, will be profound.

Perchance, more weighty than the influence of a social degradation on a community is the impression such dire circumstances leave on a little lad such as Maxwell. Young Max will learn, just as his parents had. Likely, he too will come to believe that he can only depend on himself. An older and wiser Max will not fully grasp how extraordinary he is, or perhaps he will know all to well that no matter how glorious he is, someone might jeopardize his stability. No matter how well he lives his life, another force, power, person, or authority might cause his dreams to go awry.

Maxwell sees how hard life is for his parents. He comes to understand that he too will always and forever, need to prove his worth. How else might he hold onto his job, his home, his money, or his sense of self? For Maxwell, as for us, anyone, innocent as they may be, might seem a threat. His Mom and Dad, fearful that they might lose their livelihood, health care benefits, the family home, and their ability to provide, let alone survive, teach their young son trepidation.

Mom and Dad look around the neighborhood and they see society is shifting. People of other races, colors, and creeds are destined to overtake the white majority. This can be nothing but trouble, or so they think. Maxwell trusts this sentiment to be true. The parents wonder; might immigration and Free Trade deprive them of their life style? In the United States, Anglo Americans react more to what they muse might be so. However, ample evidence affirms the contrary. A 2006 study, by the Pew Hispanic Center avows, the sudden rise in the foreign-born population does not negatively effect the employment of native-born workers.

Growth in the Foreign-Born Workforce and Employment of the Native Born
By Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research
Pew Hispanic Center
August 10, 2006

Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center that examines data during the boom years of the 1990s and the downturn and recovery since 2000.

An analysis of the relationship between growth in the foreign-born population and the employment outcomes of native-born workers revealed wide variations across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. No consistent pattern emerges to show that native-born workers suffered or benefited from increased numbers of foreign-born workers . . .

The size of the foreign-born workforce is also unrelated to the employment prospects for native-born workers. The relative youth and low levels of education among foreign workers also appear to have no bearing on the employment outcomes of native-born workers of similar schooling and age.

Nevertheless, people continue to fear what is less than familiar. Maxwell's mother and father often speak of the immigrants. The words voiced are unkind. Assessments often are unrealistic. In this country, on this globe, our apprehensions, our insecurity, the fear that we might not survive divides us. Self-surety is issue number one.

When individuals do not feel as though all is fine, when distressed, emotional reactions may be exaggerated. Many persons prefer to deny that they feel distraught. The press, the powerful, and persons who wish to be more prominent understand this. Each is expert in the art of persuasion. Tell us that we are doing well, that we are strong, that they will help bring certainty, security, and safety to our lives, and to our country, and we will croon along with them.

Anxious Americans, at home and abroad, such as the parents of young Maxwell attack. Anyone can be considered the enemy. Bankers, big business, bureaucrats, billionaire oil magnates, migrants, and of course, mutineers of Middle Eastern descent. Our fellow citizens are easily terrorized, if not by the persons who they think might destroy the neighborhood, or take their job, the people who crashed a plane into the Twin Towers must be a target. Since September 11, 2001, Maxwell parents have thought it wise to protect United States shores.

Some Americans say we must stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan. These persons may fear terrorists from the Persian Gulf. There is great consternation when people do not think they are physically safe.

Citizens feel a greater concern when they discover the reasons we went to war are invalid. Again, the people in this country recognize the adversary is the American Administration. Lie by lie, the Iraq War Timeline reveals greater reason for antipathy.

Those who cite security and survival as the primary concern proclaim, "It is the economy." They say, this is the number one issue Americans must address. Too many persons, today, cannot even live paycheck to paycheck. Disposable income, discretionary spending, savings to fall back on are luxuries of the past. People dream of the cushion they hope to create. Yet, in the back of their minds, they fear. Again, foreclosures are in the forefront in people's minds. Many are mired in debt. In February 2008, another sixty percent (60%) of Americans concluded they could no longer pay the mortgage. Mortgage Woes Boost Credit Card Debt. Balances on charge cards cannot be reconciled.

Plastic Card Tricks
The New York Times
March 29, 2008

Americans are struggling with a very rocky economy while they are also holding almost $1 trillion in credit card debt. In most cases, those cards provide a little flexibility with the monthly bills. But an increasing number of people are defaulting because of the “tricks and traps” — soaring interest rates and hidden fees — in the credit card business.

Before more Americans get in so deep that they cannot dig out, Washington needs to change the way these companies do business to ensure that consumers are treated fairly.

The stories about deceptive practices are harrowing. At a recent news briefing in Washington, a Chicago man told about what happened when he charged a $12,000 home repair bill in 2000 on a card with an introductory interest rate of 4.25 percent. Despite his steady, on-time payments, the rate is now nearly 25 percent. And despite paying at least $15,360, he said that he had only paid off about $800 of his original debt.

Once more Americans are confronted with what causes great bitterness. No one, not Congress, the companies that lend citizens cash, the corporate tycoons, or candidates can imagine why Americans might be bitter. None of these entities care enough to help the average Joe, Jane, Maxwell, or his parents.

Why might inhabitants in this Northern continent be cynical, or feel a need to cling to religion, weapons, or hostility. Perhaps, these sanctuaries feel more tangible. Faith, as an arsenal, and anger too, are at least more affordable than other options.

Petroleum prices are also an issue of import. Citizens cry, I now work for fuel. Only four short month ago, oil hit $100 a barrel for the first time ever. The rate charged for petroleum continues to climb. Now the expense exceeds what was once unimaginable. The cost of crude is the cause. The effect is, Mommy and Daddy do not drive much anymore. Each trip is evaluated. Carpools are common considerations. Vacations are not thought vital. Parents who had hoped to show Max the seashore this summer cannot keep the promise they made to themselves and their progeny. Plans did not prove to be predictions.

In 2008, the inconceivable is classified as inevitable. Scientists share a stingy assessment. The environment is no longer stable. Nor are our lives on the planet Earth. We, worldwide, have passed the point of no return. Globally, groups and individuals pooh-pooh this determination. For them, immediate concerns take precedence over the future.

The question we all inevitably ask, even if not expressed aloud, is, "Will I continue to exist?" If so, "Will my family and I be comfortable?" The answers shade our sense of what is right or wrong. Maxwell hears his Mom and Dad speak of free trade. This is another hazard that haunts them.

The link between economic integration and worker insecurity is also an essential element of explanations for patterns of public opposition to policies aimed at further liberalization of international trade, immigration, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in advanced economies. Economic insecurity may contribute to the backlash against globalization in at least two ways. First is a direct effect in which individuals that perceive globalization to be contributing to their own economic insecurity are much more likely to develop policy attitudes against economic integration.

Second, if globalization limits the capacities of governments to provide social insurance, or is perceived to do so, then individuals may worry further about globalization and this effect is likely to be magnified if labor-market risks are heightened by global integration.

It seems every issue intimidates us. Each challenges the security we crave. All beckon us and cause us to question whether we, Maxwell, or his parents will survive. Our serious fears force us to believe we must separate ourselves from others, from our brothers and sisters. In an earlier speech, echoing the words of Franklin Roosevelt, the eloquent Barack Obama spoke of this situation and how our own anxiety harms us.[ The Presidential hopeful offered solutions.

[W]e need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all . . .

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial [or economic] injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the [any] community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered . . .

Legalized discrimination . . . That history helps explain the wealth and income gap . . . and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity . . . and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of [all] families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban [and now with "no new taxes" suburban] neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

Potential President Obama understands and hopes to help all American realize that we are one. While this vocalization was meant to focus on the more obvious rift between the races, the Senator from Illinois, the community organizer, attempted to advance awareness for what troubles Americans as a whole.

In fact, a similar anger exists within [all] segments of the . . . community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense . . ..

Americans, no matter the color or circumstances might contemplate that anger is "often proved counterproductive" as are resentments. These attitudes distract attention and widen any divide. If Americans are to find a path to understanding, we must accept that our insecurity, our fears need not distract us. We will survive if we work as one.

This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of [any child] black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy . . ..

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics [poor and those the government classifies as affluent] who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

Today, we must be honest with ourselves. We can admit that we are incensed, irritated, infuriated, and irate. These feelings do not immobilize us. Nor do we necessarily need to fight, and be combative. It is time we teach Maxwell and also Maxine, distress can inspire us to dream the of impossible and make it our truth. We, Americans can rise above our bitterness and build bridges to a fine future if we unite.

It is not elitist to speak truth. It is ignorance and obfuscation to deny how we feel and what we fear. We cannot change what we do not acknowledge. Elusion will not bring bliss. We may be insecure; we may question whether we can survive. Indeed, if we act as we have in the past, if we focus on our faith and antipathy, there will be no reason to hope. Americans, divisions have distracted us for too long. To negate our natural response is to restrict our growth. This time citizens of the United States, let us come together. Bitterness can become sweet.

Sources of insecurity. Resources for survival . . .

How Fear is Learned, By: Rick Nauert, Ph.D. PsychCentral. March 16, 2007

Economy. Cable News Network.

Education. The New York Times.

Environment. The Los Angeles Times.

Bush Vows to Stay the Course in Iraq, By Kenneth T. Walsh. US News and World Report. March 28, 2008

Survey: Young people losing trust in government, By Carl Weiser. USA Today. Gannett News Service. January 16, 2004

What is insecurity? By James J. Messina, Ph.D. & Constance M. Messina, Ph.D., Coping.org.

Maslow's Holistic Dynamic Needs Hierarchy. Personality & Consciousness.

Trust in Government at a Very Low Point, By Majorie Connelly. The New York Times. July 16, 2007, 3:56 pm

Using Our Fear, By Eugene Robinson. Washington Post. Friday, January 27, 2006; Page A23

Issue #1: America's Economy. Cable News Network.

Oil Hits $100 a Barrel for the First Time, By Clifford Krauss. The New York Times. January 2, 2008

Foreclosures up 60% in February, By Ben Rooney. Cable News Network. March 14, 2008

Environment in crisis: 'We are past the point of no return.' By Michael McCarthy. The Independent. Monday, 16 January 2006

Climate chaos? Don't believe it, By Christopher Monckton. Telegraph. May 11, 2006

On the Origin and Design of Government in General With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution. By Thomas Paine. Common Sense. The Founders' Constitution

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." FDR’s First Inaugural Address. History Matters.

Americans unhappy with economy, looking for strong leadership from Washington. NDN: A 21st Century Progressive Advocacy and Political Organization. November 6, 2007

There Goes the Neighborhood: The Effect of Single-Family Mortgage Foreclosures on Property Values. By Dan Immergluck and Geoff Smith. Woodstock Institute. June 2005

The Long Demise of Glass-Steagall. Frontline.

The Subprime Loan Crisis. By Carlos Albano. The University of Wisconsin Post. February 11, 2008

Poll: 80% of Americans Dissatisfied By Associate Press. Time Magazine April 4, 2008

Clinton Attacks Obama For Small - Town Voter Remarks. Reuters. The New York Times. April 11, 2008

pdf There Goes the Neighborhood: The Effect of Single-Family Mortgage Foreclosures on Property Values. By Dan Immergluck and Geoff Smith. Woodstock Institute. June 2005

The Next Slum? By Christopher B. Leinberger. Atlantic Monthly March 2008

Lie by Lie: The Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline (8/1/90 - 2/14/08). Mother Jones.

Mortgage Woes Boost Credit Card Debt. US New and World Report. February 28, 2008

Plastic Card Tricks. Editorial. The New York Times March 29, 2008

Economic Insecurity and the Globalization of Production, By Kenneth Scheve, Yale University and Matthew J. Slaughter, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. July 2003

Growth in the Foreign-Born Workforce and Employment of the Native Born, By Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director. Pew Hispanic Center. August 2006

Gas prices fueling alternate vacation plans, By Greg Jordan. Bluefield Daily Telegraph. April 11, 2008

Barack Obama’s Speech on Race. The New York Times. March 18, 2008

pdf Barack Obama’s Speech on Race. The New York Times. March 18, 2008

Posted by Betsy L. Angert on April 11, 2008 at 11:00 PM in American Dream, Americana, Domestic Security, Dreams Live and Die , Economics, Elections, Immigration, Immigration Politics, Iraq War, Looking at Life, Oil, Politics, Ted Stevens, Republican Senator, Terrorism, Xenophobia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Reverend Martin Luther King, Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Edward Peck; Fierce Urgency of Now

Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. ~ Martin Luther King, Junior

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
~ Martin Luther King, Junior.

Days from now America will commemorate an anniversary. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Junior was brutally assassinated. Citizens will recall the wisdom of a man who lived for peace and yet, fell victim to violence. Homage will be bestowed. The American people will praise the preacher, the teacher, and the man who taught us all to speak of what remained tacit for too long. In the United States of America, all men are not equal. As a country, we do not treat people well. Nor do government officials lead us to the promised light of world harmony.

Reverend Martin Luther King spoke of the sorrow that Americans gives rise to throughout the globe. However, most recall only portions of his homilies. In memorial, people do as is characteristic. They remember the platitudes oft repeated and conveniently forget the profound angst expressed.

"I have a dream," is imprinted on the minds of most Americans. The words ring out. They are spelled out in historical accounts that focus on achievements. Anglo Americans believe in this the "land of the free" we have accomplished much. Perhaps, the mission is complete. Caucasians remind themselves of what they believe is infinite progress. Yet, those who experience the nightmare that lives large in their day-to-day experience recall another statement the Reverend made.

As Doctor Martin Luther King Junior reflected upon what was and what might have been he saw the gains were never fully realized. As an imminent war evolved into an extended and bloody encounter the Preacher proclaimed . . .

[M]y fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents . . .

There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam [Afghanistan, Iraq, name of war or incident you choose] and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago, there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam [insert the name of another battle] and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.

Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population.

We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit.

Martin Luther King, advocate of nonviolence and peace witnessed that America had not truly come together to bring about racial harmony. Persons with darker skin tones were called to combat in numbers that far exceeded the percent evident in the population at-large. King understood classes were not integrated. The divide between the rich and the poor had not been eliminated. Indeed, the evidence of this was prominent in the Corps.

Reverend King felt as many Americans did, particularly those most profoundly affected by policies and practices that remained unchanged. The impoverished, those who have fewer opportunities in a nation forever fractured, are asked to fight for the rights they do not realize. The underprivileged, the deprived, those reduced to ruin are expected to serve a nation that does not provide for them. Doctor King declared on April 4, 1967 before a Riverside Church congregation . . .

I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor. My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years -- especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam [Iraq, Afghanistan, or perhaps Iran, Korea . . .]?

They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, a year to the day before his demise felt it was time to speak to the injustices he saw within his own nation and how the approach of the Administration circumvented attempts to reach the mountaintop known as tranquility. For too long, too many, Doctor King among them, had remained silent. Americans accepted truths, for talk of what is real was thought taboo. No one wishes to defame the land they call home. However, reluctantly, as Reverend King acknowledged . . .

"A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam [September 11, 2001, wars in Afghanistan . . .]

The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don't mix, they say. Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. In the light of such tragic misunderstandings, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church -- the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate -- leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight.

I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation.

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King felt he must address an issue that remains stalwart. Today, the situation has not changed, much to the contrary of claims among Caucasians and the affluent.

Regardless of the principles presented in the Constitution, in this country Black Americans are not free. However, those whose skin is dark are asked to defend Anglo Americans from supposed enemies, and they do. People whose complexions are purplish-brown fill the battlefields; they patriotically serve the homeland. Frequently, too frequently, African-Americans, who were never fully accepted in their native country fall. Before they ever experience what has long been a dream, equality, Black Americans perish. In a desire to protect the freedoms they have never had, our Black and Brown brethren pass.

Anglo Americans know this; yet do not wish to acknowledge what is true. Instead, Caucasians criticize anyone who might mention what is fact. Recently, Reverend Jeremiah Wright has been the source of scorn. Wright dared to deliver a sermon, which addressed the issue of inequity.

After the September 11, 2001, tragedy, Americans again chose the path of war. African-Americans were once more called to battle. The then Pastor of United Trinity Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois Jeremiah Wright was distressed about what he saw as a shame. In a nation founded on the noble principle of freedom, people of color were not.

Reverend Wright spoke of his anguish. Yet, few outside the congregation heard more than a minute of what was said. Anglo-Americans not in attendance assumed they knew the essence of the message, although they had not read the text. The pinkish people, pale of skin did not realize he Reverend quoted the words of a white man, an United States Ambassador to Iraq, and Deputy Director of President Ronald Reagan's task force on terrorism, Edward Peck. Anglos did not realize that words and thoughts Jeremiah Wright discussed were those of a white man who believed America's foreign policy was the cause for the calamity that placed this nation in peril.

Nor did the masses and classes, those not subject to racism reflect on how the words Wright offered were similar to those of another leader, one often honored as a Saint might be. White Christians and Jews forever forgiving did not consider that Reverend Wright quoted the sentiments of a white man, a right-winged Republican official, a man who served with the esteemed Ronald Reagan in his sermon. Pray tell, might we consider the full text of Jeremiah Wright's homily.

“I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him? He was on FOX News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the FOX News commentators to no end, he pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, he pointed out that what Malcolm X said when he was silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, he said Americas chickens, are coming home to roost.”

“We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism.

“We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.

“We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.

“We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.

“We bombed Qaddafi’s home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against the rock.

“We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they’d never get back home.

“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.

“Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

“Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that.”

Indeed, Anglo Americans must come to terms with the turmoil those who claim to be free of judgment, and ready to forgive, have done to destroy the likes of a passionate preacher and a Presidential aspirant. Pinkish people in the "United" States need to ponder the power of punitive pronouncements. We, the white people must wonder, in what way we resemble the Almighty when we slam and damn our brethren and banish him from our hearts.

Currently, Caucasians claim to be colorblind. Indeed, Anglos are merely colormute. Anglo American citizens call for patriotism. In truth, jingoism justifies the combat that benefits the affluent and the pinkish Americans who administer the Armed Forces. Military missions are a show of might, in the name of right. Actually, fear of our fellow man leads us to fight against those whose appearance differs from ours, whose ideology does not reassure us. Anglo Americans may cry, "We honor the soldiers and support the troops." In truth, in a show of love, we lead our dark complexioned young and our poor persons of all colors to their death. Anglos and affluent individuals might realize as Reverend Jeremiah Wright did, "This is a time for self-examination." "This was a time for me to examine my own relationship with G-d [or whatever force brings personal enlightenment to you.]" If America is to change, to progress to become a nation of equals, perchance, pale persons might ponder the words of the honorable Martin Luther King Junior and remember.

A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept -- so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force -- has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love, I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John:

Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil.

Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word." We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity . . .

We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam [Afghanistan, Iraq, name of war or incident you choose] and justice throughout the developing world -- a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter -- but beautiful -- struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.

Anglos and the affluent, your actions, reactions determine our future. Will we be separate and unequal or join as one. Can we continue in silence, pretend to be colorblind, and remain colormute? The time is now. The import is intense. We must speak of the pain and plight of the impoverished. It is vital that each of us ask ourselves and our brethren to reflect on what is too real for those who are less privileged, or for people of color.

If we are to be united within the States, if we are to work as a world, one in harmony then we must all heed the words of our Pastor's, Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and the Reverend Doctor Jeremiah Wright. Let us not demonize those who speak of love and fellowship. Might the white people in their wondrous glory forgive those who did not trespass, but spoke the truth that haunts those who remain silent.

"Before passing judgment on the man, please consider that a good sermon is a conversation between three partners: scripture, a preacher, and his or her congregation. A church member's belief functions like a blade. It is in the dynamic interchange between the two, often in the resulting sparks and tension, that a keen and sharp faith can develop." ~ Reverend Matt Fitzgerald. Senior Minister, Wellesley Hills Congregational Church. [Caucasian Cleric who worked with Reverend Jeremiah Wright]

FOX Lies!! The real sermon given by Pastor Wright

Homilies, Sermons, Sources . . .

Beyond Vietnam. by Martin Luther King Junior. The King Center.

The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s 9/11 sermon. Cable News Network.March 21, 2008

Reverend Doctor Jeremiah A. Wright, Junior. The United Church of Christ.

Rev. Wrights' work, views demonized, By Reverend Matt Fitzgerald. Senior Minister, Wellesley Hills Congregational Church. Boston Globe. March 30, 2008

Are African-Americans Black Enough or Anglo Americans Too White?

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

This year, perhaps more than any time in the past, Americans are reminded of race relations each and every day. On televisions, on the radio, airwaves are filled with talk of the current Presidential campaign. For the first time in this nation's history, a viable Presidential hopeful is not a white. Barack Obama is a Black man; he is profound and has purpose. Early on, Anglo Americans, and even some people of color, wondered if Obama authentically represented African-Americans. Countless inquired of Obama's experience, not in Congress, but in the ghettos of this country. The prominent periodical, Time Magazine, published a cover story titled, "Is Obama Black Enough? As Sociologists assess, there is reason to believe another question is apt, "Are Caucasians white enough, or are they too white to understand the Black experience?"

The Black experience is as all other occurrences. Each is unique to the individual. Nevertheless, in a society where clear delineations are evident, we can observe, life as an African-American is not as easy. Circumstances common among Blacks are unthinkable to Caucasians. Anglos rarely appreciate persons of color are not truly different, only the conditions they live under vary.

While white Americans are happy to acknowledge that the Black man or woman they work with, as a singular person, is wonderful, Caucasians are quick to avow, that the individual they know is not like the rest of "those" people. Pinkish people do not understand. Hence . . .

Whites Underestimate the Costs of Being Black
Columbus, Ohio – How much do white Americans think it “costs” to be black in our society, given the problems associated with racial bias and prejudice?

The answer, it appears, is not much.

When white Americans were asked to imagine how much they would have to be paid to live the rest of their lives as a black person, most requested relatively low amounts, generally less than $10,000.

In contrast, study participants said they would have to be paid about $1 million to give up television for the rest of their lives.

The results suggest most white Americans don't truly comprehend the persisting racial disparities in our country, said Philip Mazzocco, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Mansfield campus.

“The costs of being black in our society are very well documented,” Mazzocco said. “Blacks have significantly lower income and wealth, higher levels of poverty, and even shorter life spans, among many other disparities, compared to whites.”

For example, white households average about $150,000 more wealth than the typical black family. Overall, total wealth for white families is about five times greater than that of black families, a gap that has persisted for years.
“When whites say they would need $1 million to give up TV, but less than $10,000 to become black, that suggests they don't really understand the extent to which African Americans, as a group, are disadvantaged,” Mazzocco said.

What Anglos do understand are the generalizations they hold dear. Black persons are different than whites, and they are, in large part because a society that favors people of pinkish paler hues has created a cast system that bars African-Americans from achieving as they might.

Incomes are lower, access to adequate educational facilities are few. Health Care coverage is out of reach for those with limited opportunity and wealth. Discrimination against those whose color differs from the main is ample. In the abstract, Anglo Americans grasp that those placed lower on the socio-economic ladder suffer. White Americans know they would not wish to live as a Black American does.

[I]n one study, whites were told to imagine that they were about to be born as a random white person in America, but they were being offered a cash gift to be born as a random black person. Once again, white participants requested relatively small sums to make a life-long race-change. In addition, some were given a list of some of the costs of being black in America, such as the racial wealth disparity. The result was that whites in this latter scenario requested significantly higher amounts than those in the previous studies – about $500,000.

Finally, some participants were given a similar scenario except all references to blacks, whites, and America were taken out. They were asked to imagine they were born into the fictional country of Atria, and were born either into the “majority” or “minority” population. They were given a list of the disadvantages that the minority population faced in Atria (which were identical to the real disadvantages faced by blacks in America). In this case, white participants in the study said they should be paid an average of $1 million to be born as a minority member in Atria.
“When you take it out of the black-white context, white Americans seem to fully appreciate the costs associated with the kinds of disparities that African Americans actually face in the United States,” Mazzocco said. “In this case, they asked for a million dollars, similar to what they want for giving up television.”

Mazzocco said blatant prejudice was not the reason for the findings. Results showed that whites who scored higher on a measure of racial prejudice did not answer significantly differently than others in the study.

Often those who are out of touch with what is true for another are not knowingly bigoted. As children, we learn to believe as we do. Most Americans are oblivious, no matter how well informed they, we might be.

However, if we are honest with ourselves, people know what is philosophically true for them personally, may not be valid. We are each similar, yet, never the same. A human desire to categorize places us in jeopardy. When we define others, or ourselves as Black or white we cripple our communities, as evident through statistical data. The numbers speak volumes, so too do people if we bother to ask them of their values.

Social Scientists surveyed those of disparate groups, and discovered what we could know intellectually. Those who physically do and do not resemble us share our values. Although experiences may be divergent, we need only think of our siblings to realize the adage "All men are created equal," does not mean every being is identical in appearance; nevertheless, essentially we are related. My blue eyed-sister is not as I am. She sees the world through her own lens. A brown-eyed brother cannot think, say, do, feel, or be as me. Still, we are akin. Biologically persons may be similar. They are never the same; nor are there stark contrasts.

Every human values principles that honor all men, women, and children unvaryingly. Innately, two-legged creatures crave caring connections. We all want to have the rights reverence affords, just as our brethren do. Every person is made of blood, sweat, and tears. Humans have inherent worth. Shared ignorance does not allow people to act on our deepest beliefs. the essence of our beauty is not just skin deep. It is part of our being whether we are Black or white.

Researchers remind us, in November 2007, it is time to "Redefine What It Means to Be Black in America." The Social and Demographic division of Pew Research Center, in conjunction with National Public Radio surveyed a large group of Americans, a large portion of those who participated were Black. This fact alone sets this report apart from earlier examinations which most relied on data from white Americans. The review titled, Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class, Optimism about Black Progress Declines, we discover the times and trends are changing, or perhaps our awareness of what is has been altered. Many African-Americans do not identify themselves with the accepted definition of Black.

A Single Race?
Another revelatory finding in the Pew poll is that 37 percent of African Americans now agree that it is no longer appropriate to think of black people as a single race. A little more than half of the black people polled, 53 percent, agreed that it is right to view blacks as a single race. And the people most likely to say blacks are no longer a single race are young black people, ages 18-29.

Forty-four percent of those young black people say there is no one black race anymore, as compared to 35 percent of the 30- to 49-year-old black population, and 34 percent of the black people over age 65.

The split in the black race comes down to a matter of values, according to the poll. In response to the question, "Have the values of middle-class and poor blacks become more similar or more different?" 61 percent of black Americans said "more different." White Americans agreed, with 54 percent saying there is a growing values gap between the black middle class and the black poor; 45 percent of Hispanics agreed, too.

At the same time, 72 percent of whites, 54 percent of blacks, and 60 percent of Hispanics agree that in the last 10 years, "values held by black people and the values held by white people (have) become more similar."

While the ethos may appear equivalent, upon closer examination a variance among respondents emerges. In nationwide telephone interviews, with a representative sample of 3,086 adults, conducted from September 5-October 6, 2007, we learn what an "over-sampled" total of 1007 African Americans, 388 Hispanics, and 1671 Anglos believe.

Big gaps in perception between blacks and whites emerge on many topics. For example, blacks believe that anti-black discrimination is still pervasive in everyday life; whites disagree. And blacks have far less confidence than whites in the basic fairness of the criminal justice system.

Over the past two decades, blacks have lost some confidence in the effectiveness of leaders within their community, including national black political figures, the clergy, and the NAACP. A sizable majority of blacks still see all of these groups as either very or somewhat effective, but the number saying "very" effective has declined since 1986.

These statements may correlate to what is real for too many African-Americans. Income Gap Between Blacks, Whites Expands. The Brookings Institute in cooperation with National Public Radio revealed in a recent report, while Black Americans can no longer be thought of as a distinct group, if they ever were, as a whole, people of color have not benefited from a "free and open" society, as Caucasians have. Anglos remain oblivious. Intolerant attitudes inform whites. The same bigoted perspectives hinder an ability to relate, and recognize how different the Black experience is.

Again, in November 2007, Americans were given an opportunity to assess the clash bias has created. In a culture, founded on the principles of equality, Americans prefer to practice prejudiced policies. In the United States, people whose skin is dark are not afforded the opportunities bestowed upon their counterparts, Caucasian Americans.

Economic Mobility of Black and White Families

In brief, trends show that median family incomes have risen for both black and white families, but less so for black families. Moreover, the intergenerational analysis reveals a significant difference in the extent to which parents are able to pass their economic advantages onto their children. Whereas children of white middle-income parents tend to exceed their parents in income, a majority of black children of middle-income parents fall below their parents in income and economic status. These findings are provided in more detail below.

Median family income for both black and white families has increased over the last 30 years, but income gaps still persist.
Between 1974 and 2004, white and black men in their 30s experienced a decline in income, with the largest decline among black men. However, median family incomes for both racial groups increased, because of large increases in women's incomes. Income growth was particularly high for white women.

The lack of income growth for black men combined with low marriage rates in the black population has had a negative impact on trends in family income for black families.

There was no progress in reducing the gap in family income between blacks and whites. In 2004, median family income of blacks ages 30 to 39 was only 58 percent that of white families in the same age group ($35,000 for blacks compared to $60,000 for whites).

Black children grow up in families with much lower income than white children.

White children are more likely to surpass parents' income than black children at a similar point in the income distribution.
Overall, approximately two out of three blacks (63 percent) exceed their parents' income after the data are adjusted for inflation, similar to the percentage for whites.

However, a majority of blacks born to middle-income parents grow up to have less income than their parents. Only 31 percent of black children born to parents in the middle of the income distribution have family income greater than their parents, compared to 68 percent of white children from the same income bracket. . . .

White children are more likely to move up the ladder while black children are more likely to fall down.
Startlingly, almost half (45 percent) of black children whose parents were solidly middle class end up falling to the bottom of the income distribution, compared to only 16 percent of white children. Achieving middle-income status does not appear to protect black children from future economic adversity the same way it protects white children.

Black children from poor families have poorer prospects than white children from such families. More than half (54 percent) of black children born to parents in the bottom quintile stay in the bottom, compared to 31 percent of white children.

Perhaps, the way in which the Black population experiences income inequity and discrimination, accounts for the lack of confidence in African-American leaders among the population, or did until very recently. In the Fall of 2007, before the first caucus in Iowa or the initial primary ballots in New Hampshire were cast, people of color in the United States expressed a glimmer of hope. While many people whose skin cast a brownish-purple hue were devoted to the Clinton campaign, they recognized that Barack Obama shed a powerful light on the issue of color. Again, the Pew Research Center, Social and Demographic Trends division concluded . . .

The most newsworthy African American figure in politics today - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama - draws broadly (though not intensely felt) favorable ratings from both blacks and whites. But blacks are more inclined to say that his race will detract from his chances to be elected president; whites are more inclined to say his relative inexperience will hurt his chances.

Three-quarters of blacks (76%) say that Obama is a good influence on the black community. Even greater numbers say this about Oprah Winfrey (87%) and Bill Cosby (85%), who are the most highly regarded by blacks from among 14 black newsmakers tested in this survey. By contrast, just 17% of blacks say that rap artist 50 Cent is a good influence.

Months prior to these results a conversation ensued that may have helped to alter a long accepted perception. The son of a white woman from Kansas, whose father was native to Kenya, Barack Obama was asked, "How important is race in defining yourself?" Perhaps, esteemed Senator, and Presidential candidate, Obama spoke for many African-Americans, most of whom understand their bloodline may be mixed. He might have also addressed what Anglo Americans understand, if not consciously. No matter the color of our skin, few of us are purebred. While people may presume to know who we are based on a preconceived notion, we are all more than our appearance. [If only as a society, we acted on this veracity.]

Obama: I think all of us in America and particularly African-Americans have to think about race at some point in our lives. The way I like to think about it, I am rooted in the African-American community, but I'm not defined by it. I am comfortable in my racial identity and recognize that I'm part of a very specific set of experiences in this country, but that's not the core of who I am. Another way of saying is that's not all I am . . .

One of the things that helped me to resolve a lot of these issues is the realization that the African-American community, which I'm now very much feel a part of, is itself a hybrid community. It's African. It's European. It's Native American. So it's much more difficult to define what the essential African-American experience is, at least more difficult than what popular culture would allow.

What I also realized is that the American experience is, by definition, a hybrid experience. I mean, you know one of the strengths of this country is that we have these people coming from, you know, all four corners of the globe converging, and sometimes in conflict, living side by side, and over time coming together to create this tapestry that is incredibly strong.

And so, in that sense, I feel that my background ironically, because it's unusual, is quintessentially American.

Americans of any race know that their ancestry is likely mixed. Whites are not pedigrees; nor are Blacks. Yet, pinkish people feel they can or must delineate when they define a dark complexioned person. Too often, in the United States, an African-American is described by their visible lineage, set apart because of the color of their skin. Yet, what of whites? How do we classify a paler person who may be part Irish, Italian, German, or English?

Apparently, a year ago, in February 2007, 60 Minutes Host Steve Kroft thought he knew what it meant to be Anglo or to be raised among white people. Mister Kroft made repeated references to the candidate's Caucasian mother, and Obama's childhood history. He said, "You spent most of your life in a white household." "I mean, you grew up white." "You were raised in a white household?" These statements were presented as though they were significant. The presumption was, in a white home people think, say, do, feel, and are different than those in a Black family. The evidence says this is not so. Yet, the myth remains firm. Hence, the journalist offered an observation, odd as it may be to some.

Kroft: [A]t some point, you decided that you were black?

The answer might have informed Black and white alike. The response may have encouraged African-Americans to be more vocal by the time they were surveyed nine months later. Possibly, the response had no influence. After centuries of racial discrimination, Black person may just be sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Whatever the reason for the realizations that emerged in the Pew Research report, finally, there is an incentive to believe. Hope is alive. A Black American, or many African-Americans, together, can change the persistent culture.

Presidential aspirant, Senator Obama spoke a truth that rattled a rigid reality. Stereotypes are exactly that. They need not characterize any of us, nor do we, as a nation need to endorse what divides us. Barack Obama explained . . .

Well, I'm not sure I decided it. I think if you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American. And when you're a child, in particular that is how you begin to identify yourself. At least that's what I felt comfortable identifying myself as . . .

[T]here is racial prejudice in our society that we do continue to carry the historical legacy of Jim Crow and slavery. We've never fully addressed that. It manifests itself in much higher rates of poverty and violence and lack of educational achievement in minority communities. But I know in my heart that there is a core decency to the American people, and that decency can be tapped.

I think America is at the point now where if a white person has the time to get to know who you are, that they are willing on average to look beyond race and judge you as an individual. That doesn't mean that they've stopped making snap judgments. It doesn't mean that before I was Barack Obama, and I was just Barack Obama, that if I got into an elevator, a woman might not clutch her purse a little tighter. Or if I'm walking down the street, that you might not hear some clicks of doors locking, right. I mean, there's still a host of stereotypes that I think a lot of people are operating under. But I think if they have time to get to know you, they will judge you as they would judge anybody else, and I think that's enormous progress.

We've made progress. Yes, things are better. But better is not good enough. And we've still got a long way to go.

Indeed, America has much to do as a nation if we are to heal what has harmed us as a people. If this country is to be truly healthy and authentically honorable, we must act as equals. To allow Black Americans to suffer at the hands of "compassionate" Caucasians, to deny the similarities, and amplify the differences does not bode well. A man, woman, or child must be judged by the quality of his character, not the color of his skin. Let us have the courage of our convictions. It is time to create a culture of community.
Once you label me, you negate me
~ Soren Kierkegaard [Danish Philosopher]

Sources and Stereotypes . . .

"Is Obama Black Enough? By Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. Time Magazine. February 1, 2007

Whites Underestimate the Costs of Being Black. Researchers, Phil Mazzocco, Timothy Brock, Gregory Brock, and Kristina Olson. Article By Jeff Grabmeier. Ohio State University. June 25, 2007

Philip Mazzocco.

"Redefine What It Means to Be Black in America." National Public Radio. November 13, 2007

Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class, Optimism about Black Progress Declines. The Social and Demographic Division. Pew Research Center. November 13, 2007

Transcript Excerpt: Sen. Barack Obama. CBS News. February 11, 2007

Posted by Betsy L. Angert on February 18, 2008 at 01:45 PM in American Dream, Americana, Being Black in America, Black History, Past/Present, Black Men, Civil Rights, Communities, Economics, Education, Effects of Poverty , Income Inequity | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Life of a Believer, The Rare Reality of Courage to Dream

copyright © 2007 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

He was a beautiful, bouncing, baby boy. He entered the world enthusiastically. As an embryo, he seemed to absorb all the energy that surrounded him. Once a fetus, the soon to be "Dennis" delighted in the warmth of his mothers womb. He turned and tumbled as the unborn do when some event in the outside world stimulates a response. Once infant Dennis entered into an Earthbound existence, he was delighted. His brown eyes shone with joy. Little sponge that he was, Dennis showed an instant interest in everything.

Dennis' parents encouraged the young toddler to think. The little lad had zillions of questions. He inquired fervently and frequently. "What does this mean?" Why does this occur? How might that affect him, her, you, or me? The tot cared; he was concerned. Young Dennis was infinitely curious. However, as occurs with most of us, this sweet child began to learn what ultimately deadens the desire we each feel or felt. Dennis discovered that if he were to be accepted and acceptable, he could no longer be the person he was born to be.

At home, the youngster, once praised for his inquisitive inquiries was told, his mother and father had no time to answer all his questions. Tired and torn by the stress necessary for survival, Mom and Dad could not devote themselves to their son's scientific search for truth, knowledge, and the wisdom that might better the world.

Father, Frank, drove a delivery truck. Mother, Virginia, cared for the children at home; that is, when the family could afford a conventional dwelling. There was a time when the car was the family's shelter. Among the working class, life could be quite grave. The times were tough when Dennis was a boy. His Dad "salary" was meager. As the sole source of income for the family, frequently Frank did not make enough to pay the rent,

Dennis entered school and discovered there, he could consume more information. Facts, figures, formulas, and the fluid data that changes in a chaotic culture called life. Scholar Dennis dived in deeply. This active academic was challenged in the classroom; he was ready to reach for the stars. Sadly, the road was, at times rough. There was little money to secure the basic needs. Staples were short in supply. Extras were that. There was no money for stylish garb.

The lad was chided for his distinctive clothing. In appearance alone, Dennis was different from his peers. The apparel available to this youngster of little means set Dennis apart from his classmates.

While the young lad understood what was true for most, a certain amount of conformity is preferred, Dennis could not do the accepted thing even when he wanted to. He had fewer choices than most. His wardrobe consisted of a pair of turquoise blue pants with black pinstripes. Later in life, he would describe these "like something out of a psychedelic prison." Yet, he wore them pridefully.

One of the nuns at his school noticed other kids making fun of him for wearing the same pants a lot and provided clothing for the entire family.

As an adult, Dennis would recall, upon reflection, his younger years helped him to realize the importance of being rather than having. Through the strife and the struggles . . .

"Every step along the way, there was someone who offered the roof over our heads, clothing, or financial help." . . . "Any family who's ever been through that knows you don't make it through life alone."

People care. Neighbors within a community provide. Perhaps, love is all we truly have. For Dennis' family a shared fondness was as gold. Affection and appreciation were available and abundant in the world of this wondrous child.

Dennis made friends easily. He did not fret for what he did not own. He reveled in what he might be. Although, many adolescents lost their spirit to soar as children, confronted with comments such as , "you ask too many questions," "I do not have time for you and your antics," or "do it, because I said so," Dennis did not lose his. For him, the absurd was achievable, if only he believed. Dennis did.

The wunderkind had faith in himself, and in humanity. At times, he was distracted. When he saw people at war, he worked to resolve their differences. If his parents bickered, Dennis concentrated on prompting peace and talk between them. On these occasion, his siblings did not always understand. Brothers, Larry, Frank Gary, and Perry; and sisters, Theresa and Beth Ann might have felt slighted when their elder brother paid more attention to Mom, Dad , and their immediate needs than he did to them.

In the hallways at school and on the streets, as a teenager, Dennis was often misunderstood for his focus. When the whimsical fellow observed another in distress, he acted to alleviate whatever caused the harm. Some friends thought this folly. They wondered why Dennis did not do as his peers did. There was fun to be had. For a few, the fight was exciting. To watch others engage in physical or verbal combat, that is entertainment. For the deliberately tranquil Dennis, strife seemed nonsensical.

Oh, there were times in his younger years when Dennis was viewed as confrontational. He was easily angered by what he thought unreasonable. The excessive bothered Dennis even as a boy. It seemed the elite prospered, and the poor fell further into poverty. When the young man witnessed what he thought unwarranted, he did not always deliver his message well. Frequently, he felt the soul pain of others so deeply, he did not know what to do other than what he had seen others do, rage.

Yet, even when he emulated the behavior of an angered individual, his concern was less for himself, and more for the good of the community. That, for most was difficult to discern, or understand. Most people are more interested in them selves and their personal success. Dennis John was a man of the people. Yet, he seemed strange among them.

Sure, Dennis could try to fit in. He could go along to get along. However, for this special person, being popular was less important. Dennis had principles, among these love and peace. Sadly, when in his early thirties, he was unsure how to create harmony when confronted with those whose power seemed limitless. This hindered Dennis' early rise.

Many of us might relate. In our youth, we see societal ills and we long to change what is. We are stopped at every turn. If we were not defeated as children by the words of our elders, "you cannot, you will not, that is unacceptable,' then, after years as a rebel, a person with promise may come to believe they have no cause, or at least no way to move the mountains of mildewed minds. Without hope, dreams are left behind. As the defeated among us say, "We are born, and then we die."

Dennis John Kucinich conceived he could help change the world. He trusted he would achieve. Dennis wanted no war; nor did he see a reason for the woes inflicted on the impoverished. At an early age, this lively dreamer was confident, all men were created equal., just as the founders of the United States of America declared in the Constitution,

As a student, Dennis loved history, He learned his lessons well. His own life experience taught him to empathize with his brethren. If an individual was discussed unfairly or dealt with in a manner that was not just, Dennis took the time to assuage the situation. He calmed the combative, and quieted any chaos. However, on occasion his own enthusiasm seemed contrary to his message.

Nonetheless, at the young age of thirty-one years, Dennis John Kucinich was recognized for his genius. Citizens of Cleveland, Ohio elected the boy wonder as mayor.

Kucinich ran as a populist, railing against the city's tax policy and strongly opposing its plan to sell the struggling municipal power company to a private competitor that local banks had a vested interest.

"The next mayor of the city of Cleveland must be his own man," Kucinich declared during a debate. "[He] must be willing to take the chances in going after the utility interest, the banking interests, the big business interest for exploiting this community."

Dennis Kucinich served the city well. When a huge corporation sought to privatize the city's utility, Mayor Kucinich stood strong. He remained true to the people, the common folk, the citizens of Cleveland, much to his own political demise.

In 1978, Cleveland's banks demanded that he [Kucinich] sell the city's 70 year-old municipally-owned electric system to its private competitor (in which the banks had a financial interest) as a precondition of extending credit to city government.

When Mayor Kucinich refused to sell Muny Light, the banks took the unprecedented step of refusing to roll over the city’s debt, as is customary. Instead, they pushed the city into default. It turned out the banks were thoroughly interlocked with the private utility, CEI, which would have acquired monopoly status by taking over Muny Light. Five of the six banks held almost 1.8 million shares of CEI stock; of the 11 directors of CEI, eight were also directors of four of the six banks involved.

By holding to his promise and putting principle above politics, Kucinich lost his re-election bid and his political career was temporarily derailed.

While heartbreak and defeat may have done another in, the forever idealist and lover of life's lessons learned. He reflected on what had happened, and realized that if he were to give birth to tranquility, he must be the calm he intended to create. Four years after his expulsion from the office of Mayor, a humbled Dennis J. Kucinich returned to public service.

The Kucinich who returned to the Cleveland City Council was not the same firebrand who had antagonized and frustrated the council as mayor. He so abandoned his confrontational style that Council President George Forbes said at the time, "He's not the same person. He has done a good job on the council. I have a lot of respect for him."

There were many words of vindication. Absolution from those once labeled adversaries was abundant. The city praised the man once blamed and banished from City Hall. Appreciation and admiration for the outcast was ample.

[T]oday, Kucinich stands vindicated for having confronted the Enron of his day, and for saving the municipal power company. "There is little debate," wrote Cleveland Magazine in May 1996, "over the value of Muny Light today. Now Cleveland Public Power, it is a proven asset to the city that between 1985 and 1995 saved its customers $195,148,520 over what they would have paid CEI." He also preserved hundreds of union jobs.

Ultimately, although this small in physical stature of a man still did not seem to be the average Joe, John, Bill, or even a Barack, he was endearing, engaging, and had great appeal. He may not have been the conventional conformist a Hillary, Nancy, or Diane might be. However, perhaps, that was his beauty. Ohio residents elected Dennis J. Kucinich to the House of Representatives, in 1996. At home in Congress, where the populist could truly serve the people, Dennis fought tirelessly for Union workers, civil rights, and human rights. He strived to bring the world to peace. Kucinich did not vote to fund the war, nor would he advocate for fellow Democrats who did. Dennis John Kucinich, true to his principles worked to restore the State of the Union.

In Congress, Kucinich has authored and co-sponsored legislation to create a national health care system, preserve Social Security, lower the costs of prescription drugs, provide economic development through infrastructure improvements, abolish the death penalty, provide universal pre-kindergarten to all 3, 4, and 5 year olds, create a Department of Peace, regulate genetically engineered foods, repeal the USA PATRIOT Act, and provide tax relief to working class families.

Kucinich has been honored by Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters as a champion of clean air, clean water and an unspoiled earth. Kucinich has twice been an official United States delegate to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (1998, 2004) and attend the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In his district, Kucinich has been recognized by the Greater Cleveland AFL-CIO as a tireless advocate for the social and economic interests of his community.

Kucinich led the effort to save Cleveland's 90 year-old steel industry and the thousands of jobs and retiree benefits it provides. While hundreds of community hospitals have been closed throughout the country, Kucinich led a community-based effort to reopened two Cleveland neighborhood hospitals.

Kucinich worked with the nation's largest railroads to create a merger agreement that improved rail safety while diverting a heavy volume of train traffic away from heavily populated residential areas of his district.

In Cleveland, Kucinich has been honored by the Cleveland AFL-CIO, the Ohio PTA, the NASA Glenn Research Center, the Salvation Army, the United States Post Office, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Ohio’s Boys Town, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Gratified with all he had been able to do for Cleveland residents, and those in Ohio , cognizant of how as a Congressman, he was also able to assist people throughout the country, Dennis Kucinich felt a need to do more. This caring gentle man decided it would be wise to help more people help themselves. Thus, Dennis J. Kucinich chose to seek a higher office. Congressman Kucinich concluded he would pursue the office of President of the United States.

The man who since birth, was never fully understood struggled to reach those who learned to conform. Those who had given up on dreams and could no longer envision equality and justice could not conceive as Dennis could, or does. Again, the commerce elite thought this profoundly principled person was a threat. Talk of trade agreements gone awry frightens those who profit from the sweat and toil of cheap labor in foreign countries. Business persons, who benefit from war, and earn billions as long as America continues to bomb innocent Iraqis tremble at the thought of Dennis Kucinich in a debate. Just as Muny Electric worked to quell the message of this ethical giant, so too did the powerful Corporate Chief Executives.

Those who own and operate media markets, manufacture weaponry, and feed the nation did all they could to ensure that Dennis Kucinich never spoke to a national audience for more than a minute here or there. The Big Business Bosses slammed Kucinich, damned him, and better yet, they silenced a man who would, as President destroy the possibility of ill-gained profits.

Kucinich was barred from debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina. This man of the people was kept off of ballots and prohibited from campaigns in state after state.

Once more Dennis was distracted. As he worked to bring peace and understanding, just as he had in his youth, those close to him felt left behind. The people of Ohio believed as his siblings and peers might have when Dennis was on a quest. "What about us." Those who know America's Don Quixote well, those who he has helped to succeed and believe want him back home. The industrialists who would welcome the demise of the decent Dennis Kucinich are happy to have an opportunity to destroy him.

Americans who have never accepted the man, who live as almost everyone of us is told to do from birth, barely miss Dennis Kucinich. All along, they wanted to support a presumed winner, not a moral man [or woman] to be President of the United States. Citizens of this country, beaten down as children, now repeat as their elders did, "Do not ask questions." "Do not stand up for truth." "Settle for what you are supposed to think, say, do, feel, or be." "If you never expect much, you will never be disappointed."

As children we learn, it is important to be popular, pretty, perceived as acceptable [electable.] A peaceful person cannot get ahead. It is a tough world out there and if you are to get ahead, you better do as you are told or as others do. If you dare to be different, only those who took the time to know you will want you. Those who are dear will treasure you.

To the beloved people of Ohio, please honor the man who cherishes you, and please pity superficial Americans not ready for the change they crave. Ohio residents, I hope you will reelect Dennis Kucinich to Congress. We need Don Quixote, Dennis Kucinich to remind us that dreams do come true, and we can create what other tell us is impossible.

The Life of A Believer, Biographical References, and a Rare Reality . . .

Kucinich speaks from experience on homelessness, By Holly Ramer. Associated Press. Boston Globe. August 15, 2007

About Dennis. Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Kucinich Took On Powerful Interests in Mayoral Race, By Cheryl Corley. Day To Day. September 26, 2007

The Buying of the President 2004. The Center for Public Integrity.

Debates Are On; Debaters Are Off, By Michael Getler. Public Broadcasting Services Ombudsman. September 20, 2007

NBC Wins Battle Over Debate, By Brian Stelter. The New York Times. January 15, 2008

Kucinich contests debate exclusion by ABC. The Seattle Times. January 5, 2008

To debate in S.C., Kucinich must be in Nevada's top 3, By Sabrina Eaton. Cleveland.com. January 18, 2008 17:38PM

Posted by Betsy L. Angert on January 25, 2008 at 09:00 AM in American Dream, Americana, Presidential Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack