The Good.She is not a great public speaker, nor a profound philosopher, nor highly educated (a history major and teacher in her former life), but even before the oge met her last night he was convinced that she was that rare public figure, an authentic person, who speaks the truth as she knows it, has the gift of righteous perception, and is motivated to confront the evil power that has captured our country.
She begins her talk with a confession that although she felt the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and wrong, she did nothing to protest it, not until her son, whom she could not persuade to refuse service, was killed---5 days after arriving in Baghdad.
From this humble position of guilt and grief she develops two simple propositions, that one person can make a difference, since social change begins with small numbers and works up, and, among her more intellectual convictions, that the opposite of good is not evil, but apathy, a lack of commitment to practicing good that characterized her own initial orientation and, continuing, that of many citizens, politicians, and media still. So her mission is to promote an active awareness of the need to confront the power of the established government, in pursuit of peace, escalating protest to civil disobedience as needed. Her focal issue is peace as a social and personal way of living and governance, but clearly this leads her to the related problems of corporate and political corruption.
The oge had the opportunity to ask a question: Given in 2008 a choice between a Republican demon like Frist and Hillary, if she manages to buy the Dem nomination, what will she do with her vote? She said, "I am not going to make the mistake of supporting a pro-war candidate," in which category she includes both Hillary and Feinstein (against whom she is considering a run at some point), indicating she would vote third-party. This gave her the opportunity to talk about the need for New Yorkers to pressure our congressmen on the issues and provided the local newspapers with featured grist (and a side bar) in reviewing her appearance (Hillary critics always being news). I knew what her answer would be, but wanted to use the opportunity to publicize the Clintons' shortcomings; too many casual liberals still regard them as benefactors.
Another question addressed the (spurious) Jewish identification of the neocons, likely prompted by her use of the term "cabal," which some of the neo spinmeisters are trying, nefariously, to represent as a codeword for antisemitism. She predictably and correctly answered that although a number of the better-known neos may be Jews, there are many gentiles in the cabal as well. She did not go into the difficult area of the dualists, which would have required too much intricacy and explication for a large public address.
At the booksigning afterwards we had a chance for a brief exchange, during which I urged her not to wait to run for congress. She impresses as a genuinely warm person.
The Sad.In a related
Star article, Kerry Rowe, 22, was described as a returned vet, who, with other partners from the 187th Infantry Regiment, was present to support her message. He termed the government's representation of events in Iraq a "complete fabrication." Rowe lamented what he felt was the under-representation of young people at the talk. The oge concurs; my estimation was that seniors comprised at least 60% of the audience. Why that should be, on the campus of a four-year college, with Hartwick just across the road, baffles me. Cindy Sheehan, however, who seems to have given more thought to apathy than I, may have offered a clue when she reminded the audience that Viet Nam was far more relevant to the youth of the 60's because a draft was in effect. Maybe too many of us require a clear and present danger. Then again, who would wait until he saw it, to dodge a bullet?
The Dutiful.At the White House protest in September, the oge was also struck by the large number of seniors, even, perhaps again, a majority. And I don't just mean the raging grannies, although they were there in good and boisterous numbers. (The raging grannies are a phenomenon; no matter from what state a chapter hails, they seem of a type---tough, seasoned, unstoppable.) The most affecting moment for me, however, was that one when two marchers escorted a very old man to rest on the bench beside me. He looked well past 80, recovering his breath, very thin but upright, holding to his cane. He seemed so frail and to have so tenuous a hold on life that I refrained from addressing him, just returning his nod, as he rested. I wished J were there with his camera, to catch that thin, worn profile with the Washington monument and blue sky in the background. Maybe the photograph would convey why that aged gent, who could not trace the ellipse at all, came out that day on his cane to add his presence to a protest against evil and power, certainly not for the comfort or security of what remained of his own life. Perhaps he was there simply to take the place of the student or young professional who hadn't discovered his own need yet.
To vote meaningfully is no longer enough. We have already lost the ability to vote meaningfully. Who wants to follow the pathetic T. S. Eliot in his lament that he was not at the hot gates? There is always a hot gate, and certainly here and now.
http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2005/11/30/sheehan21.htmlAnd even Jimmy Breslin picked up on her Oneonta answer:http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47653
