The lump in my throat is manageable. The tears have dried up. The pink cloud of happiness has yielded to the bright light of reality. The Obama administration has a mandate to meet our great expectations for an economic turn-around and an energy revolution, health care and social safety nets, clean air, clean water, wilderness and habitat protection and improvement. But the mandate is not backed up with bullet proof majorities in either the House or the Senate.
In 2010 Obama will need our support to hang onto and improve the Democratic majority in congress. Newt Gingrich’s cultural revolution of 1994 must not be re-enacted. The wall between church and state must be strengthened. “Cultural conservatives” must be debunked. How do we respect the rights of the rigid and intolerant minority of Christian fundamentalist Republicans without yielding ground again to their destructive impulse? How do we prevent the army of libertarian and “objectivist” true believers from destroying the foundations of good government?
The answer, I think, lies in education. We need to strengthen the people’s understanding of the value of government and help them to feel their own power to bring positive change to our communities. Fighting against the destructive neo-conservative and fundamentalist ideologies is a sucker’s game. It’s more constructive to illuminate alternatives.
To bolster our position in 2010, you can tap into the network of training and support offered by Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development for the progressive movement, now. Wellstone Action’s “Camp Wellstone” is divided into three tracks: Citizen Activism, Working on a Campaign, and Being a Candidate. Click the link to find out more about how, where, and when you can take advantage of this opportunity to work for change in the 2010 mid-terms.
Camp Wellstone is coming to Madison December 5 – 7.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
