Defeating the Forces of Division and Intolerance

I watched Obama's 30 minute paid advertisement this evening and must confess that I was moved by it. True, it is a piece of propaganda so to speak, but I do truly believe that there is a level of sincerity in Obama that we have not seen in out nation's top leadership in a very long time. Obama has exemplified the American Dream with his life and based on his family upbringing, I believe he can empathize with people in a way that John McCain, the privileged son and grandson of famous Admirals can never ever achieve. Listening to the stories of some of the everyday Americans who were featured, the segment also highlighted in my minds eye the difference between the change Obama seeks to bring versus what John McCain and the Republican Party now represent. Perhaps I am naive, but it reminds me of Luke Skywalker and the rebel alliance versus the Evil Empire as embodied by the GOP and its Christianist allies (in point of fact, Mark Hamill who played Luke has endorsed Obama as has its creator, George Lucas).

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I am not the only one who has these thoughts it seems. Jane Smiley has a column at the Huffington Post that looks at what an Obama landslide and increased Democrat majority might mean for the country. Here are some highlights from her reflections:

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The world would be a better place if the American right wing had never existed. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis would still be alive, tens of thousands or Iraqis would still be living in their own homes. . . . . But the issue goes deeper even that these practical matters. We would, in fact, be happier people if the right wing had not terrorized us with their horror-filled systems of belief.

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As bad as this is, far worse has been the effect of religious fundamentalism on the individual spirit and the national mood. . . . The religious right has been determined to enforce the unhappiness of others, no doubt so that that unhappiness will match their own. After all, they want to make sure that gay people understand that no matter how much they pay in taxes, they are second class citizens. They also want to make sure that every woman in the world understands that her interests are secondary to those of any embryo, any man, even, indeed, any sperm cell. This would be the "James Dobson Position". . . . The best they offer is to forbid questioning, and to punish those who do. Because the right wing experiences the world as cruel and arbitrary, they have no inhibitions about enhancing that cruelty -- as in "Hurricane Katrina", as in "Iraq War", and in "Abu Ghraib".

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In a week, we have a chance to leave this world behind. If we look at our two candidates, the differences between them are stark. . . . When we choose between these two men, we are choosing between two worlds -- the world of ignorance, fear, manipulation, and cruelty, and the world of rational investigation, weighing of options, and planning. This world is a world where sexual preference is not such a big deal, salvation is not an eternal mystery, and life goes on. It's a world where bad things happen, but there is no malign Godly intention behind them. It is world that understands the temptations of human nature and attempts to deal with them rationally and systematically. Some of these attempts will fail, but on balance, not as many as have failed in the last twenty-five years.

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Most of my friends see the coming election as the most important we have known. The right wing has damaged our country, our livelihoods, our national honor, and our planet, but not yet fatally. If McCain gets elected, that could change.

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The ultimate irony of course is that the forces of evil as I see them claim to be compassionate and, worse yet, Christian even though in fact they are neither. They are selfish, self-absorbed, and only truly look out for those who look just like them and love members of the opposite sex. Blacks, immigrants, gays and lesbians, Hispanics, and non-Christians are viewed as annoyances to be controlled and put in their subservient place. These intolerant and hate-filled false Christians MUST be defeated at the polls next week.