Zinn: spend your time on Direct Action, not Oba-Clin-cain

Howard Zinn makes a lengthy statement about why we should be more concerened with foreclosures than Hillary’s clothes, Barack’s childhood travels.

Historically, government, whether in the hands of Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, has failed its responsibilities, until forced to by direct action: sit-ins and Freedom Rides for the rights of black people, strikes and boycotts for the rights of workers, mutinies and desertions of soldiers in order to stop a war. Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens [emphasis added]

Critical support of Obama, says Bill Fletcher

My attention is not only at the top of the ticket/ballot, and will be getting back to local and state campaigns, candidates, issues and possibilities soon enough. Yet, this perspective from BC Editor in Chief Bill Fletcher may well hit the nail on the head:

My conclusion, and I offer this with great caution, is that critical support for Obama is the correct approach to take. Yet this really does mean critical support. It means, among other things, that Senator Obama needs to be challenged on his views regarding the Middle East; he must be pushed beyond his relatively pale position on Cuba to denounce the blockade; he must be pushed to advance a genuinely progressive view on the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and the right of return for the Katrina evacuees; and he must be pushed to support single payer healthcare.

As I emphasized in an earlier commentary, it is up to the grassroots to keep the candidates honest. Silence, in the name of unity, is a recipe for betrayal.

The Best Reflections on ‘what was Iowa’

Maureen Dowd said in ‘Voting for a Smile‘ how:

It was understandable that Hillary’s “Golden Girls” acolytes would freak out when they saw the throngs of young Obama hopemongers swarming the caucuses.

Meanwhile, Mother Jones’ article, written back in November ‘07, foretells some of the old-skool media-politico dynamics relevant to what was expected vs happened in Iowa:

As the 20th century progressed, American politics became increasingly organized around broadcast media. But now top-down, one-to-many communication is giving way to a very different kind of media—diffuse, participatory, individualized…. The GOP’s success in old media—think Morning in America, Pat Robertson, Willie Horton, Rush Limbaugh, Swift Boat—was essential to its ascent, while the emergent blogosphere and social networking sites play to progressive strengths. (Finally, decentralization and lack of hierarchy are an asset rather than a liability.)

And finally, I gotta give a nod to Frank Rich for his critique of not only the fear-based politics and political reporting of yesteryear, while getting that Culture (along with Charisma) is just as important if not more so policy/experience/showing strength. Ahem,

The “they” who did not see the cultural power of these men, of course, includes not just the insular establishments of both their parties but the equally cloistered echo chamber of our political journalism’s status quo.

This LA Times article, Guatemala’s New President Will Assume Great Burden (mirror: portside), makes it sound like there is a tremendous political shift afoot in Guatemala. With an electoral victory this past weekend, Alvaro Colom is the first presidential candidate to win an election after losing the vote within the capital city in the nation’s history! But such are the possibilities when you win 20 of the 21 provinces.

According to this LA Times article, Colom is one of few non-Maya to be trained in “the rites of the Mayan shaman.” So, fitting that a mestizo, city dweller would say the following about a largely-indigenous nation:

People see the existence of so many cultures in our country as a threat. But it’s a resource and source of strength.

Two Prospects for ‘08: the Millennials, the Senate GOP

One is daunting, and another is promising:

In this assessment from an AEI Fellow posted Wednesday on thehill.com, the GOP faces some gynormous obstacles in the US Senate next year:

Democrats may have six real chances to pick up seats to the Republicans’ one. That imbalance points to Democratic gains of two to four seats.

And this is coming from Fortier, as the byline points out is a Fellow with one of the most conservative thinktanks in the Beltway.

Meanwhile, a July article on wiretap ponders who and what the under-35 age range — a voting bloc, in formation — oversimplifies who did the new voter registration in recent federal election seasons. While the Hip Hop Action Summit Network, Rock the Vote, PunkVoter, musicforamerica were vital there were many grassroots and local voter registration, voter education and get-out-the-vote campaigns. Local efforts were done with far fewer dollars yet much more local knowledge, context and networks.

But the biggest questions to ponder are: Who will shepherd the Millennials into politics and political engagement? And how will the 18-31 year olds participate (particularly in ways that are different from their parents, elders and older siblings)?

As Michael Connery states:

Four years later, many of the organizations that helped drive that cultural shift are closing up shop or scaling back just as the Millennial generation is beginning to come into its own. In 2008, 50 million Millennials (those aged 18 to 31) will be eligible to vote. Some studies show Millennials are already rivaling Baby Boomers in size.

Why the Youth Vote Matters

or why we — those of us up to 29 — mattered in the 2006 mid-term elections is decipherable from this pretty image from the MFA folks: