This is Our Moment
On January 16, 2008 I chose to support Barack Obama for President. Today, my reasons ring as true as they did back then, but this one particularly stood out for me:
But Barack Obama has something more. He has the ability to transform the attitudes in this country from mistrust and fear to community and participation. He has the ability, more than any other candidate, to inspire the best in us, to call the GOOD in people out for the bettering of our country.
Now we are here. Tomorrow is Election Day. This is our moment. This is the time where we can stand up, stand in line if we have to, be vigilant and be patriots. Barack Obama has organized and run a transformative campaign. I have seen the transformation with my own eyes. I watched my oldest son, a veteran, change from a cynical and disenfranchised voter to one who is engaged and enthused. He was checking the poll opening times last night so he could be sure to be there first thing in the morning to vote.
This was a young man who swore he’d never vote again after 2000 (his first national election) and 2004.
Transformative.
I wrote this in February:
The foundation of this movement is NOT a cult of personality. It is the cry of people who have been disenfranchised and disconnected from the governance of this country. We are governed, but not represented. We are spied on and not defended. Our sons and daughters are sent to die or be maimed in Iraq but not cared for and abandoned by the very Administration that sent them there when they return.
We’re tired of what the politicians say “they” will do and are ready to show this country what WE can do as a collective group of energized voices ready to put our wallets, our voices and our feet on the line.
We are the new American majority. We have a voice. We walk streets, we make phone calls, we give what we can, even if it’s just $3.01 at a time. We are speaking for ourselves rather than waiting for someone to speak for us. We want our country back, and we want our standing back in the world. We’re tired of the naysayers who leave our fates in the hands of Wall Street and the Halliburtons, Diebolds and Blackwaters of the world. We are no longer going to stand idly by and have our lives and quality of our lives dictated to us by lobbyists and corporations.
This is not hate. It is democracy..
This is our time. This is our moment. We hold our democracy in our hands. Please, vote. Take tomorrow off, and make sure others vote. There are organized GOTV efforts in every neighborhood. Help where you can, but vote, foremost.
Democracy is coming…
And believe. Yes. We. Can.
Sphere: Related ContentIn these final hours…
Hope. And believe.
Obama on 8: That isn’t what America is about
Hopefully this will counter the shameful mailer the Yes on 8 folks sent making it look like Obama supported the Yes movement.
Sphere: Related ContentArnold, Obama and Dianne Feinstein: No on Prop 8
The ‘righteous ones’ praying at Qualcomm stadium sent a mailer out targeting black, urban and poor communities saying that Obama supports Proposition 8.
The only problem? It was a flat-out lie.
Barack Obama, Arnold, and Dianne Feinstein all oppose Proposition 8. And if you oppose discrimination, please volunteer to help, or donate.
Sphere: Related ContentSamuel L. Jackson: No on Prop 8
Jackson takes 30 seconds to say what it took me 300 words to put together. Just watch:
Sphere: Related ContentProp 8 and Candidates: Divided Evangelicals
This video moved me. Not because it mentions a candidate or because it endorses a position on anything, but because it speaks to the version of Christianity that I understand and believe.
In contrast…
On Sunday, Dr. James Dobson will be making an appearance at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium to stir up the masses for Proposition 8. In Dobson’s view, he is rushing to California to “save marriage”. Every Yes on 8 person I’ve asked cannot give an adequate answer to the question of what they are saving. What is threatened? What is at stake? Yet, there’s this:
Dobson had to call his son to tell him he couldn’t babysit for his grandson this weekend as planned and his son Ryan then confirmed that God wanted him in California instead. Dobson could barely keep it together when he explained that “the Lord must be involved in this” and then hands over the program to Garlow, who also gets choked up and speaks of their level of spiritual desperation and their constant “crying out to God” to save California because they are “watching the destruction of Western civilization.“
Jim Wallis at Sojourners has a different view of the role of Christians in politics, and what they should be focused on:
Finally, there are biblical roles for both the church and the state, and both are necessary according to scripture, in good Christian theology, and even in the Anabaptist tradition which we are both attracted to (including my living room talks with Yoder). The body of Christ must demonstrate what the kingdom of God looks like and offer a prophetic witness to the state. But churches, by themselves, cannot provide for “the common good” as government is supposed to, in conjunction with many other institutions in society—including the churches.
To be clear: What is at stake here for evangelicals is really the alienation of a generation or more of people they wish to reach.
Proposition 8 is an effort to create two classes of people in California and confer certain rights on only one of the two classes. They use a ‘separate but equal’ argument to justify it, but that argument has already been rejected by the courts.
The choice for Proposition 8 is to discriminate or not to discriminate. It has nothing to do with gay marriage. It’s about creating disparate classes in a society which was founded with equality as one of its core values.
The LDS and Baptists have done themselves no favors with this campaign. They are in very real danger of losing one and possibly two generations of people they should be trying to reach. In the meantime, Jim Wallis’ words are welcome:
I do think you could call upon your listeners to vote, no matter who they vote for, and then ask them to get busy in showing the nation how Christians are supposed to live and hold whoever wins accountable to the agenda of a movement.
Please, vote no on Prop 8. And help them get the word out with a donation or by volunteering.
Sphere: Related Content
