Logical Radical
I had expected my first blog since my England trip to be about that trip but, while working hard on Grade 8 math items, I put on my mp3 player and Supertramps’ “The Logical Song” started playing.
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I lean very far to the left, politically. I’m a bleeding-heart, leftist, socialist liberal. I like the Clintons though I think both of them are a bit too conservative for me, personally, and I am supporting Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency. I always go for the candidate that I think can whip my butt intellectually. Everyone has to have standards and those are mine. I can’t vote for John McCain because I think I could kick his ass at a basic history exam and I do not approve of the ritual slaughter of any animal unless it is in hand-to-hand combat and the winner eats the loser. Thank you, Les and Bear.
Anyway, in this morning’s Seattle Times, there was a small article about that “washed-up terrorist,” William Ayers, who is now a professor at the University of Illinois. So, that article is in the back of my head when these lyrics from “The Logical Song” play:
I say now, watch what you say
Or they’ll be calling you a radical
A Liberal
Oh fanatical criminal
It seems that in the past twenty or thirty years, the word “liberal” has gone from just a political viewpoint to a slander. (Much like, after September 11th, the words “Arab,” and “Muslim.”) Why? Liberals are just people who have progressive thoughts, aren’t they? Liberals are folks that want a better society for all members of that society, right? I can only speak for myself but here’s what I want: universal healthcare for every citizen of the United States; assistance for college education for all citizens of the United States; equal pay for equal work; equal rights for everyone whether they be gay, straight, transgendered, black, white, green, purple, red, blue, conservative, liberal. Yes, even to Ann Coulter, nut-job extraordinaire.
Now, William Ayers is an unapologetic former radical who participated in some despicable crimes, including bombings. One bombing claimed the lives of three people, one of whom (the GOP spin machine fails to mention) was Ayers own girlfriend at the time. He is still dissatisfied, still disgruntled, still angry at his country. But, maybe he has good reason to be.
I’ve been angry at my country. I’m angry that those lauded Founding Fathers somehow could not see the hypocrisy of writing the words “all men are created equal,” and turning a blind eye to the men they enslaved simply because those men were of darker complexion than they. I’m angry that the generations of Americans in the last two centuries were caught up in such a wind of national pride and fervor that they systematically erased an entire community of native civilians; they wanted equal treatment in Europe but they did not grant the same to the men, women, and children who had lived on this continent for over a thousand years before them. I’m angry that we went into Vietnam. I’m angry that we are still in Iraq, though Bush declared “mission accomplished” over 2,000 days ago (thank you, Keith!). I’m angry that it does sometimes seem like “politics as usual.” I’m angry that, in the 21st century, there are people who still hate me because of my skin color! I’m angry that a woman in Orange County put out a picture of Obama on a food stamp with pictures of fried chicken and watermelon and, when confronted, said that she didn’t mean it as a racial slur.
The point is that, as Americans, we have the right to be angry and disappointed with our government and our country. We are not forced to put on a smiling face and swallow our dissent by a totalitarian regime. But, it seems that finding dissatisfaction in our country means one is “anti-American.” Representative Michele Bachmann wants witch hunts done on members of Congress to see which members are “anti-American.” When did we become Soviet Russia or Fascist Italy? When did dissent, the very reason we are no longer a colony of Great Britain, become a treasonous act?
Non-violent dissent is as much a part of our history as winning wars (until the Korean War but that’s a whole other Oprah), military might, technological innovations, and civil liberties. Dissent forces us to look at ourselves with a critical eye and say, hey, maybe it isn’t a good idea to deny prisoners their rights under our Constitution.
Our country is not perfect, no country is. We have freedoms we have granted ourselves out of common decency, but there is still a divide and that will probably never go away. Long after I’ve shaken off my mortal coil, this country will celebrate its 3rd century of existence. Hopefully by that time—and I hope the United States of America still exists then—we will have shaken off the last of our “terrible two” tantrums and blustering and have matured. And maybe a beautiful dark-skinned Amer-Asian girl with an I.Q. of 200 will be president of the United States.
It could happen. Couldn’t it?
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I lean very far to the left, politically. I’m a bleeding-heart, leftist, socialist liberal. I like the Clintons though I think both of them are a bit too conservative for me, personally, and I am supporting Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency. I always go for the candidate that I think can whip my butt intellectually. Everyone has to have standards and those are mine. I can’t vote for John McCain because I think I could kick his ass at a basic history exam and I do not approve of the ritual slaughter of any animal unless it is in hand-to-hand combat and the winner eats the loser. Thank you, Les and Bear.
Anyway, in this morning’s Seattle Times, there was a small article about that “washed-up terrorist,” William Ayers, who is now a professor at the University of Illinois. So, that article is in the back of my head when these lyrics from “The Logical Song” play:
I say now, watch what you say
Or they’ll be calling you a radical
A Liberal
Oh fanatical criminal
It seems that in the past twenty or thirty years, the word “liberal” has gone from just a political viewpoint to a slander. (Much like, after September 11th, the words “Arab,” and “Muslim.”) Why? Liberals are just people who have progressive thoughts, aren’t they? Liberals are folks that want a better society for all members of that society, right? I can only speak for myself but here’s what I want: universal healthcare for every citizen of the United States; assistance for college education for all citizens of the United States; equal pay for equal work; equal rights for everyone whether they be gay, straight, transgendered, black, white, green, purple, red, blue, conservative, liberal. Yes, even to Ann Coulter, nut-job extraordinaire.
Now, William Ayers is an unapologetic former radical who participated in some despicable crimes, including bombings. One bombing claimed the lives of three people, one of whom (the GOP spin machine fails to mention) was Ayers own girlfriend at the time. He is still dissatisfied, still disgruntled, still angry at his country. But, maybe he has good reason to be.
I’ve been angry at my country. I’m angry that those lauded Founding Fathers somehow could not see the hypocrisy of writing the words “all men are created equal,” and turning a blind eye to the men they enslaved simply because those men were of darker complexion than they. I’m angry that the generations of Americans in the last two centuries were caught up in such a wind of national pride and fervor that they systematically erased an entire community of native civilians; they wanted equal treatment in Europe but they did not grant the same to the men, women, and children who had lived on this continent for over a thousand years before them. I’m angry that we went into Vietnam. I’m angry that we are still in Iraq, though Bush declared “mission accomplished” over 2,000 days ago (thank you, Keith!). I’m angry that it does sometimes seem like “politics as usual.” I’m angry that, in the 21st century, there are people who still hate me because of my skin color! I’m angry that a woman in Orange County put out a picture of Obama on a food stamp with pictures of fried chicken and watermelon and, when confronted, said that she didn’t mean it as a racial slur.
The point is that, as Americans, we have the right to be angry and disappointed with our government and our country. We are not forced to put on a smiling face and swallow our dissent by a totalitarian regime. But, it seems that finding dissatisfaction in our country means one is “anti-American.” Representative Michele Bachmann wants witch hunts done on members of Congress to see which members are “anti-American.” When did we become Soviet Russia or Fascist Italy? When did dissent, the very reason we are no longer a colony of Great Britain, become a treasonous act?
Non-violent dissent is as much a part of our history as winning wars (until the Korean War but that’s a whole other Oprah), military might, technological innovations, and civil liberties. Dissent forces us to look at ourselves with a critical eye and say, hey, maybe it isn’t a good idea to deny prisoners their rights under our Constitution.
Our country is not perfect, no country is. We have freedoms we have granted ourselves out of common decency, but there is still a divide and that will probably never go away. Long after I’ve shaken off my mortal coil, this country will celebrate its 3rd century of existence. Hopefully by that time—and I hope the United States of America still exists then—we will have shaken off the last of our “terrible two” tantrums and blustering and have matured. And maybe a beautiful dark-skinned Amer-Asian girl with an I.Q. of 200 will be president of the United States.
It could happen. Couldn’t it?
Comments
You are one smart cookie and I'm glad I know you. :oD