THINKING FOR OURSELVES

Resolve in the New Year

By Shea Howell

Michigan Citizen, Jan.6-12, 2008

It is the turning of the year. Such moments are opportunities for reflection and reassessment. 2007 began with promise of a new direction in the U.S. war in Iraq. The newly-elected Democratic Congress had been given a mandate to end the war. It had been elected in the hope of finally bringing constitutional authority to bear on a corrupt and imperial presidency.

By year’s end little of this promise has been achieved. Instead of ending the war, the president declared a “surge.” As a result, we have seen the growth of the U.S. military in Iraq and have witnessed the single deadliest year for U.S. soldiers serving there.

Meanwhile Guantanamo continues. Torture continues. Violations of civil liberties and human dignity continue. And the Democratic Congress refuses to impeach the two people most responsible for violating our constitution, President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Our democracy is in a crisis. It is a crisis that cannot be fixed by another election. Since 2000 the electoral process itself has been broken almost beyond recognition. From Supreme Court decisions to hanging chads, most of us have become painfully aware of how money and power have distorted and corrupted the political process designed to express the will of the majority.

Today the will of the majority is carried through opinion polls, reported dutifully in the media. Politicians are invited to comment or ignore them. But majority sentiments rarely turn into political power.

Now we are in the midst of a presidential campaign where candidates of both parties have said little that matters. They have engaged in prepackaged, carefully-staged public appearances contributing little to the public’s understanding of our responsibilities to one another, to other countries, and to the Earth.

This year we need to create a public conversation that challenges this deadening political process.

We cannot continue to evade the consequences of our actions. Denial and distraction have been the greatest of American pastimes. But now their cost is too great.

For this reason we should celebrate one of 2007’s better moments: Oprah Winfrey’s entrance into politics. More important than her backing of Obama was her motivation for doing so and her willingness to step out of the scripted, protected role of talk show personality.

In her first appearance in Iowa Winfrey walked out on stage to thunderous applause. Uncharacteristically she began somewhat nervously and explained that the reason why she had decided to speak was “because the country is in a crisis.” She explained she has become deeply concerned about the kind of country we are becoming and she could not “stay on the couch” and watch us turn into a nation she could no longer recognize.

Whatever the trappings of political theater, Oprah spoke a truth that the rest of us have to acknowledge. We are at a moment of crisis for which there is no easy fix. It is a moment that demands the best of us, our deepest and most expansive thinking.

It is also a moment that demands a new understanding of how we measure what we want of government and of collective action. For nearly two decades our political process has been shaped by fear. Those seeking political power have encouraged us to fear one another. We have been told to vote against gay people, affirmative action, and now the right of immigrants to even survive. We have been told that our security from terror requires inflicting terror on others.

This coming year we have the opportunity to turn away from the kind of politics that narrows our hearts and dulls our minds. We should follow Oprah’s example and resolve to make the world anew.

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