Unless you have never been wrong.

Oregon's primary on Tuesday may be the harbinger of the autumn elections. Yes, I know; pundits, pollsters, and sound-bite aficionados are quick to point out that there's a near certainty that it will be a "split decision" when the votes are tallied in the two primaries. Yet the rally on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland on Sunday (18 May 2008) seems to indicate that one candidate's campaign has captured the collective imagination of the voters.

Beyond the forecasts and the numbers, beyond the sorts of events that are sought by ratings-hungry media organizations, the fall election in the U.S.A. hinges on a unification that must be accomplished by whichever candidate eventually prevails. While each newly elected President enjoys a form of honeymoon with the voters and the Congress (that they often seek to characterize as a "mandate") the truth has been expressed in one of the most fundamental tenets of this country: United We Stand.

Angry rhetoric and subtle innuendo intended to undermine an opponent's support among the public surely make the challenge of unifying the electorate in 2008 daunting. Fear and intolerance have been fanned by those who seek to divide and conquer since before we began recording history. Students and observers of politics have no trouble citing examples from this election cycle, and doubtless there will be more to come. Yet history also teaches that there is a simple formula for moving forward despite the cunning practitioners who rely on misinformation to separate us into manageable-sized chunks for them to dominate: respect.

Mutual respect is what enables mature debate. Disagreeing with a person's beliefs or conclusions without being disagreeable is entirely possible. Only when I trust that while you disagree with what I say yet will defend my right to be "wrong" is it possible for us to approach each other with an open mind. Those who adamantly support Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), for one example, believe they have examined the issues and attained an understanding sufficient to advocate that his is the best course to follow - they act in what they believe is the best interest of the country. But so, too, the supporters of Senators Clinton (D-NY), McCain (R-AZ), and Obama (D-IL). Ironically, there's no way to know who's "right." One of the candidates for the Presidency will prevail, and be faced with steering the country for some number of years, and we will never have the chance to test the others under identical conditions, so at some level the disagreement will persist, we can only actually test one of them.

According to Francis Bacon, "Assuetude of things hurtful doth make them lost their force to hurt." Let us resolve to respect those we disagree with, and have fought with, both here in the United States and abroad. Let us hope that whoever voters select to take over the Office of the President of the U.S.A. in January 2009 has both the wisdom and support necessary to improve our lot at home and our standing in the world by renewing our unified strength. Let us recall, too, that one person in the Oval Office, even with their obvious influence and the power to make political appointments does not hold the key - the President deserves neither all of the credit nor all of the blame for how the country fares. Neither the voters nor the candidates know today what challenges will come tomorrow. The best we can do is use the tools of democracy to elect a leader, and hope the wisdom, instinct, and advisors of our President are up to the task.

We are the world's greatest melting pot.

We can allow ourselves to grow apart, isolated and increasingly vulnerable, or we can choose deliberately to grow together. Let us respect each other, and exhibit that respect, because despite our disagreements on nearly countless issues it is as true today as it was in 1776, we are still seeking to form a more perfect union, and we flourish by combining the myriad diverse strengths of individuals into a synergistic, unified democracy.

DIGG it!

NYTimes Obama's Voting Record with over 800 Bills Sponsored

Graphic of the 800 bills, broken down into Crime, Health Care, Economy, Education, Ethics, Etc. Showing his strong and persistent record of public advocacy and proving his words match his actions.

Click to enlarge

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I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into believing I had.

A handful of quotes, to start you thinking:

"If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place."

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

"For the very first time the young are seeing history being made before it is censored by their elders."

"Instead of being presented with stereotypes by age, sex, color, class, or religion, children must have the opportunity to learn that within each range, some people are loathsome and some are delightful."

"We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet."

Those are all thoughts from one insightful anthropologist, Margaret Mead. If you don't know who she is, obviously you should. What about these next four names... do they ring any bells? Do you know why they matter?

• Bob Geldorf
  
• Betty Williams
  
• Peter Benenson
  
• Nelson Mandela

I hope you recognize at least one from that list. In each case, their story is how one person who cares can matter immensely - how one person, moved to act, can change the world. The following video, from Nickelback, may help you understand. They get it.

Do you?

Patience is a virtue

There's a life lesson for all of us that Barack Obama has been trying to explain. In so doing, he offers more than slogans, he represents an opportunity. Some of us grasp his lesson intuitively, some of us learn it through our own experiences, and others rely on pithy phrases, such as "Don't throw out the baby with the bath water." The lesson is about the power of, and increasingly urgent need for, forgiveness. A leader needs more than patience, compassion, and forgiveness, (and the Senator clearly has extensive, well-articulated, widely documented plans,) but this acceptance and willingness to forgive is arguably the cornerstone of Barack Obama's personal philosophy, which he is translating into a political call to action.

Anger is valid; it's real. Yet if we cling to the offenses of the past, if we use them to justify escalation, if we prefer old quarrels over the opportunity to move forward, we are wasting time. Anger cannot be allowed to flourish and grow - down that path there is nothing but escalation.

The wisest parents know this, though even they sometimes forget. Nobody's perfect. When you're dealing with human beings it is often necessary to separate the actions (or words) from the person. When a child makes a mistake should you love the child less? Their behavior may be wrong - unacceptable - but that doesn't ordinarily equate to loving them less. We all make mistakes.

Presidents make mistakes. If Hillary Clinton could not separate her husband's actions from who he is as a man, if she could not forgive him, the scandals that rocked his presidency would have been their downfall as a couple. Hillary took some heat for this, she still does; there are those who say his mistake was too egregious to forgive, but Mrs. Clinton distinguishes what her husband has done from who he is.

We have all been wronged.

When wrongs are committed by institutions it is our collective moral obligation to respond by standing firm and changing that structure, up to and including abolishing the institution and/or its influence over people.

"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

When a transgression is committed by an individual, acting not as part of some larger whole but out of their own, momentary will, the needful responses are less clear. The commission of a crime against one person or their property impacts and diminishes us all. Centuries of practice have not resulted in wisdom adequate to forecast and codify the proper response(s) sufficiently to remove human judgment from the exercise of justice.

Human experience has taught us that we must, at times, find a way to get beyond even the most horrific actions. Where would we be today if the people of Japan could not separate the nuclear holocaust that ravaged their nation at the conclusion of World War II from the people who undertook those actions - if they pursued to this day some form of retribution for the deaths of innocent relatives, defining that as justice? Most if not all vibrant religions and widely embraced philosophies have incorporated a, "turning the other cheek," and forgiveness based on understanding and acceptance of transgressions as a fundamental tenet.

The studious observation of teaching, particularly parenting, has taught us the value of distinguishing the actors from their actions. One need not rely on religious pronouncements to agree that unacceptable behavior must have consequences associated with it. Yet if we did not allow for any possibility that most people can and do learn from experience, that they will grow, and improve, it follows there would be no point in lessons, patience, or ever trying to foster development. No child is a failure simply because they haven't yet mastered tying their shoes, controlling their bladder, or long division. In most circumstances it is efficacious and appropriate to reserve our judgment(s) for a person's words and deeds, distinguishing that explicitly from judging them, no matter how much consternation their actions cause.

That is Barack Obama's message; it resonates through everything he advocates. He is right in renouncing Reverend Jeremiah Wright's most excessive, divisive, and inflammatory rhetoric, which has particularly aided those those who seek to perpetuate divisions based on skin color, yet Barack is righteous to abstain from judging, or rejecting, the man. That is the Audacity of Hope that Obama's supporters understand and cherish.

Every journey begins with a single step

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

~Robert F. Kennedy

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

~Anne Frank

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

~Edward Everett Hale

History beckons.

When history beckoned, Ruby Bridges answered.
When history beckoned, the Little Rock 9 answered.

History beckons. Answer.

The Road Not Taken Robert Frost TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Don't tell Peter he can't do it.

What does it take to break into politics in America, if that's your dream?

Does it matter if you're a person of color and the United States population is approximately 75% white?

Would success be too much to expect if you were born on an island far from North America and educated partly outside the U.S.? Would voters approve of that "worldly" heritage?

What if your name was less familiar than McCain or Kennedy? What's in a name?

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942

London-born African-American Peter Idusogie began his political career with Clean Water Action as a grassroots canvasser, field manager and lobbyist, and he ran unsuccessfully for political office in Minnesota in 2004. Peter went on to found and host “Inside Minnesota Politics,” the first regular podcast focused on Minnesota politics. He could have stopped there, and worked as a commentator and pundit, but instead he stepped down from his duties to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest as he sought the U.S. Senate seat ultimately won by Amy Klobuchar in 2006. Idusogie, a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus college in St. Peter, Minnesota, had a dream. Recognizing the advantages (particularly name recognition) his major-party opponents had in 2006, Peter, who had run as an independent, is now seeking the endorsement of the Democratic (DFL) party in MN over former Watertown Mayor Steve Sarvi to run in the 2008 elections against the incumbent Republican in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. Idusogie, it may be noted, is approaching the election much the way U.S. Senator Barack Obama has, organizing a very grass-roots style campaign which is attracting considerable interest from voters representing a wide range of ages and backgrounds, celebrating a worldly heritage highlighted by a relatively unfamiliar name.

How will Obama and Idusogie fare? Judging by the primaries in early 2008 in Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, richer backgrounds suggesting broader sensitivity and awareness seem to be trumping skin color in the upper midwest in the 21st century. While Idusogie clearly still faces name-recognition issues despite prior political campaigns, the voters of the state that not only elected the first Asian-Indian (Satveer Chaudhary) state Senator but then also sent the first practicing Muslim (Keith Ellison) to the U.S. Congress embrace diversity despite suggestions in the national media that ethnicity remains a significant, divisive factor when considering the "white vote."

The American dream, the belief that here anybody can be anything, is alive and well. While we may not have yet reached the point where skin color is irrelevant, (let alone an advantage, as optimists have recently suggested,) surely Barack Obama’s ascendancy, and his audacious insistence that we remember the self-evident truth that all people are, in fact, created equal, will continue our progress in that direction. If Peter Idusogie can win sufficient support to become his party’s nominee he still faces a daunting contest in the autumn elections, but don't tell Peter he can't do it.

Consider the postage stamp:
its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

~Josh Billings