Dystopian Paradox

It’s been almost 15 years since I got a new pair of glasses. Monofilament nylon that runs in a grove on the bottom of lightweight plastic lenses secures them in the wire frame. Two times I’ve had to have the monofilament replaced.

The day before the election, the left lens fell out because the monofilament broke. I’m legally blind without my glasses. I figured there would be no one in Roswell who could provide a fix.

Wrong. Second phone call is to a locally owned eyeglasses place who knew what I was talking about and said they could fix them while I wait.

Ten minutes later I’m there. It’s in a strip mall. I walked in and they have frames on display and I could her a lens being ground by a machine. This place was its own lab.

A lady in her thirties said she would be with me in a minute. Off to the right was a baby in a carseat who was obviously the child of lady and her mate, who was behind the counter working on something.

I was embarrassed to show her my glasses they were in such sorry shape. I built a fiberglass airplane in those glasses and there is a glob of epoxy on one of the lenses. The wire frame had broken in one place and were so wobbly even with the monofilament in good shape, I had superglued the lenses in the wire frames to keep the thing together. Over the years, the nose piece disappeared and the plastic ear pieces wore through to the bare wire.

The lady didn’t look down her nose at me nor did she make any condescending comment. Rather she asked if I wanted to her to try to find another frame that the lenses might fit into. I said no, that I just needed to get these patched up so I can get back to Fort Worth.

After showing them to her husband, she came back out and asked if she should look for a new nose piece and ear pieces. I said yes.

Ten minutes later her husband brings the glasses to me, and like his wife, without any sort of patronizing behavior. He said it would be $7.00. I gave him a $10 and told him to keep it. He said, “Are you sure.” I said absolutely.

That sort of experience would have been great anywhere, but to have it happen while eight hours away from home and without a backup pair of glasses made it special. People like that will be the salvation of our country and the world.

November 6, 2008

The ten day period culminating in November 4, 2008, is one of the two most profound episodes in my life. The other was a trip of about the same length to Kenya in 1994.

What I got to see in 1994 was an example of the results of nineteenth century European imperial colonization of sub-Saharan Africa: the destruction of much of its environment, overpopulation and squalor, and the elimination of who knows how many indigenous cultures.

From October 26 through election day, I had the privilege of working with a group of like-minded people in Roswell, New Mexico, to help in the effort to elect Barack Obama president of the United States. What I learned from my experiences there will take more than 30 words to relate. But I’ve got to start somewhere or not at all.

Perhaps one of the most meaningful aspects of the experience was working with a group of people from Austin, El Paso, New York, Kansas and California that included entrepreneurs, electrical engineers, nurses and lawyers who were more than willing to work in the trenches. We canvassed door to door day after day and made phone calls seeking support for Obama. Volunteer groups with similar makeups were doing the same thing in all battleground states for weeks before the election.

This type of work is not fun. We gave of our time doing things we did not enjoy doing for a cause we strongly felt was in the best interest not only of our country, but of all living things on our Mama Earth.

But each day, we had good feelings when we talked to people who were going to vote or already had voted for Obama. At that instant, there was a connection and warm feelings between strangers.

I heard no rhetorical questions like “why don’t the locals do all this volunteer work?” I discovered a long time ago that a very small percentage of the population gets involved in political campaigns. 2004 was my first time and because of that unpleasant experience, I thought at the time it would be my last.

But Obama came along and I knew after reading Dreams from My Father that I would help in his campaign for as long as he was in the running. Growing up in Indonesia and visiting his siblings in Kenya provided Barack with a world view essential to deal effectively with the challenges we now face.

And then we won. That’s the way Obama would put it. It’s about us and not Obama. It’s about all of us. He made that clear Tuesday night when he said that he would be the president not only for his supporters but also those who did not vote for him.

Abraham Lincoln was the white man who emancipated our African American slaves. We now have an African American president who hopefully will lead us all to freedom from the bondage of our arrogance, hubris and greed.

There is nothing providential about the United States or its people. All that defines us as citizens are having been born within its geographical borders or becoming such by a naturalization process. We have no god given right to our parasitic way of life, and the rest of the world has no obligation to provide it to us. Nor do we have the right to dictate how the rest of the world should live or govern themselves, or to assume the role of the world’s police force.

My hope is that we Americans regain some humility (if we ever had any) and accept the reality of our limits. We are not exceptional, and the pretense we are has resulted in the economic crisis and a planet in peril.

There is no free lunch. The many we thought were free were on credit which has now come due.

A great thing happened to me today. My good friend and law school buddy Don Cuba practicing in San Antonio called me this afternoon with one thing on his mind which we finally got to after an hour. The first hour we talked about the election and where things were headed.

Don was a Hillary supporter while Don’s wife Nan, who is also a great friend of mine, was for Obama all the way. Like so many Hillary supporters, Don came on board the Obama bandwagon.

I was telling Don about going to Roswell to work. Don, who is very much self deprecating while lavishing praise on others, told me he rented a bus Tuesday and drove over 400 people to vote. Don and Nan got 100 percent bang for the buck. It made me fell great that they had participated in this way and to have them as my friends.

Sunday, November 2

Yesterday was my seventh day canvassing and time is going fast. Only today and tomorrow to canvass and then a bunch of work on election day.

General Wesley Clark is staging a get-out-the-vote rally today at 11 am at the MIA-POA Park. What’s amazing is that after the rally, he will be canvassing for several hours along with the rest of us. My theory has always been that to be a great leader, you have to be willing to do the grunt work along with those whom you lead.

Some would classify General Clark as an overachiever because he’s risen to the top of every venture he’s ever been involved in. To me, an overachiever is someone who finds themselves in a position they are aren’t qualified for. George W. Bush meets my definition of overachiever.

By contrast, General Clark and Barack Obama are people who continue to realize their potential. They are leaders who attract me. I’m willing to follow them and with enthusiasm.

It’s becoming more and more fun out here as time grows short, even though most of the day is spent in the trenches. But everytime I meet an Obama supporter at their front door, I get a great payoff that makes the work seem more than worthwhile.

Yesterday was the hardest yet. Because I’ve got a gps, Robert gave me the mission of making sure that the town of Lake Arthur would go Obama. It’s 30 miles southeast of Roswell and in the same county. Geographically this is a big county, but the population is well under 100,000 people.

There’s more chihuahuas in this county than people. Every household has two or three of the little ankle-biters.

Lake Arthur has about 20 square blocks laid out in a grid over maybe 640 acres. I figure there’s max 6 people and 24 chihuahuas per acre so the human population is less that 150. My guess is we’ll take Lake Arthur based on my canvass.

The rest of the day was a semi-wild goose chase in the countryside. I drove over every type of road known to mankind arriving at twenty homes in an area of 40 square mile. I was carsick after four hours. Each place had several chihuahuas and some with junkyard dogs. Most were unaccessible. Several addresses were raw land so someone’s playing the voter rolls. I talked to only one or two people and did see some Obama signs. I saw even more McCain signs.

McCain and wife Cindy are showing up Monday afternoon for a big rally at the airport. If they want to get some more votes, each should have chihuahuas under both arms.

The campaign is going well here in Roswell, Chavez County, NM. I have no idea what that means in terms of whether Obama will take Chavez county. What I do know is that the people who have come here from out of town and out of state are working hard.

The Obama field coordinators, John and Whitney, are putting in 14 hour days. I’m a slacker, doing only about 7. But in my defense, I’m old and my single task is to canvass door to door which is tiring no matter what age.

But some of the volunteers are canvassing like me and then coming in at night and putting in a couple of hours inputting the day’s canvassing results into the database. Yep, I’m a slacker.

Which brings up the canvassing program that begins tomorrow, November 1. It’s a new round with about 4000 doors to knock on over the next two or three days. That’s a bunch of doors. But that’s the way a grass roots campaign works.

This campaign strategy is a legacy of Barack’s community organizing experience in South Chicago. I can see his administration operating with the same efficiency, and with competent people in place at every level.

Probably the most satisfying aspect of this experience is working with people who know what they are doing, why they are doing it, and whose primary agenda is getting Obama elected. I see no self-seeking here. Not only are the paid people professional, but also the volunteers. All of us know without telling one another that we are working in a professional, efficient campaign for a common cause. That’s a joy.

But all work and no play sucks. The spirit of Halloween is with us. I walked in this morning at 9 am and Robert is at his computer donning a white witch’s wig. He’s young but looked almost as old as me. Maybe I should die my hair. Maybe we’ll have a Halloween party tonight. I won’t have to wear a wig to scare people.

NYT Op-Ed columnist Ed Cohen’s article this morning brought home a main point of Obama’s story as Barack tells it: “For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.”

Cohen tells his story in his piece.  He is a naturilized American, having been a citizen of Britain where sublte barriors of religion and class exist.  He spent part of his childhood in apartheid South Africa.  Cohen can certainly relate to Barack’s story.

I posted the following comment to Ed Cohen’s article:

Thank you for your story. There are so many reasons I’m behind Barack, but the emotional one is being a part of history, the very real prospect that an African American will be president. His victory may not redeem our past, but it will go a long way toward making amends.

I’m white, grew up in Texas in the ’50s and still live here. Somewhere along the way, intellectually at least I shed my racism.

Barack’s loss will likely result in our continued rapid descent into the darkness of fear and its progeny: hate, prejudice, greed, intolerance, and intractable ideologies.

The greatest gift this country can give to the world, and more important to itself, is an Obama victory.

Tuesday, October 28

Yesterday in Roswell, I canvassed one set of walksheets in the morning and one in the afternoon. I had no problem sleeping last night.

A lady who lives across the street from where I am staying has had as many as seven out-of-town volunteers crashing at her place at a time. We got to meet each other and talk last night. Great lady.

She’s now a medical examiner for the county for 18 years. Prior to that, she was with the police and worked her way up against all odds because she’s a she. Old ways die hard and it’s people with true grit who bring about change.

The volunteers staying with her are from LA, Arizona, Austin and Chicago and other places. People from all over the country are answering the call for change. No telling how many out-of-state volunteers are in Ohio.

All work and no play sucks. Yesterday evening, three of us were kidding around about 5pm at the office and they were bringing up ObamaLantern stencils on their computers. The raw material is a real pumpkin. If you want to make one, you can find patterns on the Internet. One of my new friends, a lady from Austin, says she’s dressing up on Halloween. I have a beard and my bike helmet with me. I’m wearing it and my huge fitover sunglasses and arriving Friday as the Unibomber on a bicycle.

Unofficial word last night was that in Albuquerque, the Demos are out-voting the Repubs 2 to 1 in early voting. That’s a good sign but no one is letting up here is Roswell.

<!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

Sunday October 26

Blogging has had to take a back seat the last few weeks because my time’s been spent getting stuff out of the way in anticipation of the trip to Roswell to help out in the Obama New Mexico campaign. I left with some stuff still hanging like renewing my PO box which expires on November 1.

I started working in Roswell today. Got here yesterday evening and stayed in a Motel Six, which is false advertising. Should be called Motel Zero. I asked for the first floor and all they had was one for the handicapped. The deskclerk said the difference was that it had a walkin shower. I didn’t know there was any other kind.

I said Ok and got the stuff from my car and used the card key to get in the room. It wasn’t a walk in shower. It was a walkin bathroom about 7 feet square all white tile floor and walls with a head, a small sink with no counter space, a shower head on the end of a hose, a white plastic chair and two drains in the floor. It wasn’t for the handicapped. It was for the criminally insane.

The whole room, bedding, bathroom and everything else stunk like bordertown bordello perfume. I stayed the night and never got used to the stink.

People here are great. Several Texans have worked here and they need us. The Obama campaign is getting more local volunteers than the local Democratic party. But we need more so come on over if you can. Robert is the Obama paid field organizer here and his phone number is 575 680 6197. He would love to here from you.

I spent the day walking mainly urging people to vote early. NM’s early voting goes through next Saturday. The main concern is complacency because Obama’s leading in the polls. NM is a battleground state and both Obama and McCain were through here yesterday.

They’ll be working here all day November 4 getting people to the polls, so I’m going to see it through. I’ll miss being in Fort Worth election night.

Let’s hope that in 2008, Barack will be running for a second term and Texas is a battleground state. Or even better, it’s already turned a deep true blue.

Don’t miss the PBS Frontline episode “Heat” tomorrow evening. It’s a new two hour program covering big business’s vow to reshape its approach to the environment.

I’m anticipating this program with mixed emotions. It makes me sick when I think about what we our doing to our planet. But I’m hoping that this program provides information that will give us hope.

The current economic situation and even the coming world peak oil is nothing compared to the disastrous consequences of global warming. Obama has made one of the planks of his platform for America to become energy independent within ten years. I somehow feel that his primary agenda is for America to be a leader in bringing to an end human behavior as a factor in global warming.

I listened to Judy Woodruff interview Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr today. When asked why he was running, he began his response “Our goal over the next two weeks is to acquaint as many American voters as we can with the fact that there is a real choice out there . . .”

The Libertarians and Ralph Nader both offer a choice. In this campaign, not only can neither win, but they are not even influencing Obama’s and McCain’s campaign rhetoric.

I took a look at the Libertarian website and found an Introduction to the Libertarian Party, which reads as follows:

What is The Libertarian Party?

The Libertarian Party is for all who don’t want to push other people around and don’t want to be pushed around themselves. Live and let live is the Libertarian way.

This rhetoric sounds warm and fuzzy and touchy-feely. I looked at their campaign platform adopted in May of this year. It gets a little more specific and makes it clear that they feel the government is trouncing all over our rights. I can’t argue with that.

Even so, I don’t think the Libertarian Party is for me. However, if Obama wins, my plans are to post articles directed at the excesses of our federal government as well as my state and local governments.

The more I got to know about Obama the more confidence I’ve felt in my decision to work in his campaign. One of the last things I learned about him, and that was several months ago, is that he is pragmatic. He will compromise to get his foot in the door on an issue he wants to pursue.

An example is giving lip service support to offshore drilling to get an energy bill passed that included some funding for alternative energy. He’s against off shore drilling for all the right reasons and supports it for the right reason: to get something going on alternative energy.

If he wins the election, I’ll be posting articles about our national security ideology which has rendered us less secure and more insolvent. That means quit supporting the Iraq and Afghanistan dysfunctional governments but root out the terrorists. Kill the rats in place but don’t buy the house they live in to do it. We must bring our imperialism to an end if we are to regain control of our own destiny. That position shoud be consistent with Libertarian thinking.

If McCain wins, I may be posting the same stuff but with the realization it won’t be happening while McCain’s in office. Because of his military mindset, he will do anything to avoid losing a war including finishing what W set out to do, which is to run this country into the ground. This “we must win” ideology is a an instance of the dark and deadly mentally-ill state of false pride.