What time is it?

So the question is: How do we change ourselves to live for something different than giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism?

“The definition of insanity is: doing the same thing and expecting different results.” ~Einstein

——

LIVING FOR CHANGE

WHAT TIME IS IT?
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan  Citizen,  Sept. 14-20, 2008

In the wake of the Democratic and  GOP conventions,  both claiming the
mantle of change, we  need a deeper discussion of the times in which we
live and  the kind of  changes  we   need to make —  in our way of
life and in our politics —  if we are to avoid the catastrophe  of the
“Good  Germans” after World War I.

Our times are promising  because the presidential candidacy of a
visionary African American  has energized a new generation of youth and
millions of Americans who for centuries have been left out of the
American Dream.

But our times are also perilous because it will take more than vision
and liberal politics to win over or at least neutralize some of the
social forces energized by Sarah Palin at the GOP convention.
Overwhelmingly white, suburban or small-town,  these Americans are,
understandably,  increasingly insecure because of the failed wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan,  our tanking economy in hock to China,  and
people of color becoming the majority in many cities.

That is why  this “pit bull with lipstick” and a girlish voice  was
selected as McCain’s  running mate  by Steve Schmidt,  McCain’s  new
head strategist . Schmidt has been trained by Karl Rove,  the  American
Goebbels whose  dirty tricks and  rousing of  the  Christian  Right
orchestrated Bush II’s rise to power.

Before Palin spoke,  the GOP delegates were confused and uncertain. But
after  she ridiculed Obama’s community organizing and lauded  McCain as
a “war hero, “ they were on their feet shouting “Fight, Fight, Fight,”
and “Drill, Drill, Drill.”

I was reminded of the “good Germans,” who,  humiliated by  defeat in
World War I and needing a wheelbarrow of marks to buy a loaf of bread,
turned  to a World War I vet for salvation.

There is no quick solution to this increasingly dangerous situation.
But we can begin
by acknowledging  that the main change we Americans now need to make is
in ourselves.   As  Martin Luther King Jr.  warned  in his 1967 anti-
Vietnam war speech over 40 years ago,  we need a radical revolution of
values against the giant triplets of racism, materialism and
militarism.

In a recent interview with  Bill Moyers,  self-described conservative
Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University Professor and  Ret. U. S. Army
Colonel who lost his son in the Iraq war,   reminded me of this MLK
warning when he pointed out that “Our major problems are at home, not
out there somewhere.”

“We want to be able to pump gas into our cars regardless of how big
they may happen to be,  to drive wherever we want without having to
think about whether or not the books balance at the end of the month.
What neither Obama or McCain can do is  persuade us to look ourselves
in the mirror,  So we rely increasingly on the projection of American
military power around the world to try to maintain this dysfunctional
system.”

Since the Vietnam War period, Bacevich warned,   the U.S. has become
an “empire of consumption. “We refuse to live within our means. So we
rely on our military power.  We can’t expect  Congress to change this
situation because “the imperial presidency” is its creation. It has
thrust  all power on the executive.branch and now exists primarily to
assure the re-election of its members.

The Bacevich interview  can be found on the August 15 Bill Moyers
Journal.  I urge readers to read and discuss it,  not only with Obama
supporters but  with those leaning towards McCain.   One way to begin
this conversation is by providing examples  of how we would be safer
and happier if we lived more simply so others could simply live and
also talking about the growing urban agricultural movement.  To learn
more about this movement, see Milwaukeerenaissance.org/