BE THE CHANGE

The primaries are not so much a national referendum on issues as a national Rorschach test. For those unfamiliar, that's a psychological tool to reveal the subconscious conflicts and desires. The client looks at ink blots and free associates. No, I'm not saying Obama or Clinton are merely symbols. They are real passionate human beings willing to be in the hottest fire there is. I'm saying if we don't watch out, we'll be polarizing and vilifying based on symbols, not facts.

People around me and "like me" (Progressive Cultural Creatives, Green Liberatarians, Spiritual Pragmatists, something like that) are overwhelmingly Obama supporters. I am too for reasons i said in the last post.

But people like me also sign their emails with Gandhi's quote: Be the change you want to see in the world. So if we mean that, if we support Obama precisely because he is promising a change in the polarized politics of class, race, party, gender, religion, and abetting terrorism by labeling whole populations as terrorists, then we need to find some way to be that change in the next 5 months. We can't support Obama by unleashing hatred against Clinton.

In reviewing 600 questions submitted for Conversation Week (www.conversationweek.org), i came across a very poignant one from a conservative christian who wondered how he and others like him might express their views about non hetero people without being labeled a bigot. There were many questions in there - the one i pulled out was: "What is the difference between holding strong convictions and being prejudiced?"

I think about this for our election. Important issues hang in the balance. If we don't get national health care, if we don't get out of Iraq, if we don't change our energy policy, if we don't take swift action towards drastically reducing climate pollution - we are in deeper trouble than the deep trouble we are in now. It's no joke. But it's also not just about if we like Obama and hate Clinton or vice versa.

I just hope we don't expend our political energy and bank account in the next five months and arrive at the supposedly real debate between the GOP and Dems with only slogans and battle scars and whoever the standard bearers are, they are stale and weakened by the drubbing they just got from their supposed allies.

Maybe my "being the change i want to see in the world" is hosting Conversation Week with a great group of colleagues, trying to bring civility and dialogue into a world of debate. Pronounce da BAT - like the kind you hit others over the head with - and you are closer to what substitutes for conversation in America.