Making it happen at the state level

I haven’t surfed over to Nathan Newman’s site in awhile, but after reading a slew of anti-union comments at Wal-Mart Watch, I decided to check out one of my favorite pro-labor blogs. I’m glad that I did.

As regular readers probably have noticed, I’ve backed off writing (ranting) about national political issues, choosing to focus on more local, or grassroots causes of late. Probably part of this has to do with my new job, which has me focused on issues that are community-based and pertain to the geographic area that I’m involved in (a remarkably diverse five county region in Central/Western Maine). I also think that I’ve recognized the futility of one person trying to topple a system driven by corporate power.

One thing I’ve come to recognize over the past few months is that there are some very real opportunities to make substantive change at the local and at least in Maine, the state level. I don’t want to give anyone the false idea that state government functions efficiently, or that bureaucracy isn’t an issue—both are very real problems here in my home state and I’m sure, elsewhere. However, I’m impressed with the quality and commitment of so many local businesspeople, community leaders and others that I come into contact with regularly. Over the past four months, I’ve begun to believe that we the people do have the power to move Maine forward in a way that benefits everyone.

Back to Newman. He has a post about an organization called The Progressive States Network. Recognizing that conservatives have effectively run amok in many states, carrying forth their agenda in state legislatures across the country, this organization is building coalitions across the country, with a goal of taking back the power in key areas in each state.

With an agenda that is focused on increasing democracy, not limiting it, as conservatives want, growing local economies, building sustainability, bringing dignity and rewards back into the mix when it comes to work, as well as valuing families in a tangible way, not merely with lip service and campaign rhetoric, this organization is worth looking into further as a way to make some very proactive changes, state-by-state.

Newman’s site links to PSN’s legislative agenda for 2007. Here are the main areas of focus for this grassroots organization, as it seeks to build coalitions, one state at a time.

• Wage Standards and Workplace Freedom— assuring that American workers receive a decent wage and the freedom of speech in the workplace to stand up for their own interests.
• Balancing Work and Family- helping create a more family-friendly workplace and society through better family leave policies, sick days, support for child care, and access to contraception.
• Health Care for All- extending health care coverage to all Americans, while helping cut costs for those currently receiving health coverage.
• Smart Growth and Clean Jobs- promoting energy independence and job growth through new transit options, smart development to strengthen our communities, and new energy technologies.
• Tax and Budget Reform- creating more equity and accountability in state tax systems, economic development subsidies and public contracts.
• Clean and Fair Elections- reforming lobbying corruption, establishing public financing for elections, protecting voting rights, and election reforms like vote by mail to improve the voting process.

This is a great set of core items that people who care about people and place, like I do, can get behind and support—better yet, actually have a hand in moving this pro-people agenda forward.

Cynics need not apply

"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
--Bobby Kennedy, South Africa, 1966


When did Americans succumb to cynicism, nationally? We’ve been on a four decade slide down the slope of lowered aspirations and expectations from our leaders. I think part of this is directly connected to 1968, when in a span of just two months, a pair of dreamers and visionaries, one firmly grounded in the prophetic world of possibilities and the other, embedded in the political realm, were assassinated. While speculation and various theories abound concerning their tragic deaths, as a nation, the psychic scars still have not healed.

I was only six years old at the time, so all I have to work with are historical accounts, old newsreels and the voices of those who knew MLK and RFK. The sense of import that Bobby Kennedy’s assassination occupies in that arc of time since, was driven home to me last night, while watching the tail end of the PBS broadcast of American Experience, titled RFK. I only accidentally stumbled onto it because I was channel surfing during commercials, while watching the Green Bay vs. Seattle, Monday Night Football broadcast. I’m thankful I caught the last 30 minutes.

One of the things that I found striking while watching some of the archival footage, was the makeup of the crowds that Kennedy attracted, particularly during his ill-fated visit to Los Angeles, hours before he was shot. The frames, collected as Kennedy waved and motorcaded among throngs of supporters and others, in East Los Angeles, showed a diversity of Americans that is uncommon today in almost all of our public gatherings. African-Americans, Latinos and Orientals were all represented, as well as poor whites, lining the boulevard, hoping to touch Kennedy’s hand, or just catch a glimpse of this presidential hopeful, the one who had taken on their causes—racial and economic inequality, to name but two, as well as condemning the war in Southeast Asia.

What would a Kennedy presidency have meant for the U.S.? At this point, we can only speculate, as several men who knew Kennedy intimately, have done at the PBS/RFK site. Certainly, we would have been saved a Nixon presidency, the Watergate scandal that set the bar for all subsequent political shortcomings since and a reduction in American soldiers killed, or coming home maimed, physically and mentally. The doubters will always counter with more cynicism and maybe that’s better than asking the dreaded “what if?”

As I segue into middle age, the hopeful side of me wants to believe that someone might come along in my lifetime that could once more energize our country and fuel our dreams for the future with something other than numbness and escapism. Given our current sorry crop of political operatives, opportunists and outright ideological hacks that option seems unlikely in the near term. It’s quite possible that the idealism that lived during the sixties, was just as much a product of the times, as some window of opportunity or possibility—the “age of Aquarius,” or whatever label commentators, or worse, marketers choose to hang on the decade of the sixties.

So, how do we proceed? Do we just throw up our hands and succumb with the usual, “it doesn’t do any good, so why try” futility? I think the grassroots approach to activism, working on smaller projects is something we can all begin with. In fact, history tells us that most mass movements began small and local. For me, my focus is going to be on something like instant runoff voting, which I think is a vehicle which might allow third parties some traction and possibility, to offer an alternative to the basic one-party system we now must endure. Local politics and state-level initiatives are also good areas to help dispense with our despair.

On a personal note, I also think I’ll head out this weekend and see the Emilio Estevez cinematic treatment of Bobby Kennedy’s final day, purportedly using a series of vignettes, leading up to assassination, which robbed us of someone that history shows us that we were desperately in need of at the time.

That special time of the year

We’re in that time of the year where everything is measured by how many trips you make to the mall, or toy store. Americans, who at one time took pride in their ability as pioneers, craftsman and revolutionaries, have been reduced to meandering sheep, grazing at the local retail trough.

I made a brief stop at the Maine Mall, yesterday—Best Buy specifically—to get an idea on what’s available for digital cameras. The digital camera I’ve been using for the past several years is bulky and limited in what I need it for and I’m thinking about an upgrade. I lasted about 15 minutes before the thump, thump of the music and the chattering shoppers near me, made me run screaming from the bowels of this mega-box.

Each and every year, the holidays get moved up—at one time, waiting until December, now, the advertisements arrive pre-Thanksgiving. Back in the day, when Christmas still had some religious connotation, the season took on an air of family, school pageants and carols playing on the AM radio. Now, we’ve placed Christmas in its politically-correct prison, making it part of the innocuous “holiday season,” but it’s become just an excuse for American consumers to stuff their mini-vans and SUV’s with worthless junk, much of it made in third world sweatshops, to fill some nook and cranny of their oversized and overpriced McMansions. Meanwhile, corporate bean counters salivate at the prospects of profits, built on the ballooning credit lines granted by credit card giants, who will just pass on higher interest rates at some post-holiday point. No one worries about paying the piper now, however. It's onward and upward, for a-shopping we must go!

Over the weekend, feature story after feature story was geared to people lining up for an early, post-Thankgiving opening at the nearby retail conglomerate. It’s as if our nation has become nothing more than a bunch of drooling zombies, exhibiting some strange Pavlovian response to an imaginary signal that’s triggered, making them want to stumble amongst soulless outlets, chain stores and big boxes, credit card and cell phone in hand.

As hard as I try each year, like a hopeless Charlie Brown, to get into the spirit of what I hold the holidays to be, in my own skewered version of the world, it becomes harder and harder to muster much enthusiasm for any of the trappings of what the next four weeks have become. I’m curious if I’m just getting crankier each year, or do others feel a sense of disconnection this year that they’ve never experienced before?

A bad day for turkeys

Most U.S. holidays leave me somewhat conflicted. Like much that gets passed off as acceptable by those in power, Thanksgiving is infused with myths and misinformation that are designed to keep us fat, happy and confused. Rather than delving into that well today, however, I've decided to offer my own alternative to the traditional and the trite. There are certainly aspects of the American turkey day that can benefit us all, like taking a moment, or two and reflecting on the things that we do have that we can be thankful for.

That two-headed hydra of Maine blogging, Jason Clark and Lance Dutson, have shifted their focus over at Maine Impact. Now that election season has come and gone, Jason and Lance will be offering podcasts with a slightly different focus. I'm not sure exactly where they will be going, but today's Maine Thanksgiving version is a nice place to start. I hope you'll make Maine Impact one of your regular stops while trolling for information, particularly pertaining to the good ole' state of Maine.

Jason contacted me and asked if I could put together a two minute spot on what Maine things I'm thankful for this year. I was honored by the invitation, so if you care to, you can head over to Maine Impact and hear three Mainuhs' share their own personal takes on Thanksgiving, with a uniquely Maine orientation; Representative Emily Ann Cane (D-Orono), from District 19, fellow blogger Michelle Souliere and of course, yours truly, are given an opportunity to share the things that we appreciate and are thankful for as it pertains to the Pine Tree State.

Here's wishing readers a festive day, in whatever form you choose to celebrate it. I'll be spending the day with family and friends, enjoying the culinary skills of my better half, while watching a bit of football and having some time to get out and take an unhurried stroll up and down the less busy thoroughfare that is Route 9, here in my hometown.

I miss my amp

I should have known better--when you have a vintage tube amp that is on the fritz, take it to real repair professionals, not some L/A wannabes. Well, actually that would be unfair. The store where I dropped my buzzing Fender off at have been in business in Lewiston for decades, it's just that they don't appear to have a clue when it comes to repairs.

I knew in my heart, I should have taken it to Buckdancer's Choice, in Portland, but I thought it would be a hassle going into Portland three weekends ago and the music store in Lewiston told me that their amp guy could get it done--they also warned me that he was backed up.

So here I am, three weeks later, jonesing to plug in my electric and growing sick of the laid back sounds of my trusty Yamaha acoustic. The only solace I'm feeling tonight is that I wacked my left thumb with a hammer, driving nails on Saturday and couldn't hold a guitar if I wanted to tonight, or for several nights for that matter. Why is it that every time I start to build up momentum with my guitar playing, something inevitably gets in the way? Just when I had started to learn a few songs and didn't have to plod my way through the changes, once more, the reality that I'm never going to taste musical fame and fortune gets shoved in my face (heck, just becoming proficient on the guitar would be fine at this point).

Well, it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to plug in and make some noise again--maybe my amp will be ready by the weekend?