The Last Political Post...(Hopefully!)

I am so tired.  I am tired of all of this politics.  The state of politics in America is a joke and a disgrace to the idea of our democracy as a whole.  We are so divided and it has gotten to this point because radicalism has become the mainstream.  These political fascists are some of the most watched people in America and they spend all of their time grandstanded and claiming that the other side is destroying our country or tearing apart the constitution.  Even on the hallowed floors of congress we see this sort of talk between people that are supposed to be working together to make better our country and the state of our people.  It has gotten so bad that it has become personal.  One side no longer makes friends with people on the other side because that would show weakness.  Because of this these colleagues no longer seem to care about one another on a personal and human level.  Without that, they no longer care if they attack the other instead of working together to make history.  They lose the ability to dignify the other.  That is an important idea to a humanist:  to dignify the other.

An example of this was the Health Care bill.  It is not my favorite bill that could have passed, but it is a step in the right direction.  The Republicans refused to work on this bill.  All they cared about was defeating it and arguing it and grandstanding for their constituents.  This lead to the Dems having to force the bill through with some good ideas, but not the best.  If the Republicans would have stood up and worked on this bill in the first place, we could have one of the best bills and a high point in American government, but instead we have more anger and more hatred.

I am tired of this feeling.  I am tired of having to listen to these people that care more about showing up the other side then working for the greater good.  This is not how public service people should be acting.  My tax dollars go to pay for this garbage??

So much of the divisiveness is caused by the good ol' American 2-party system that we have in place.  This is an atrocity of reason and education.  During the past presidential election I was basically forced to vote for Barack Obama.  It was either that or give my vote to the Republicans.  I am not saying that I would not have voted for him any way, but I hate the fact that my choices were so limited.  A vote for a third-party is a vote for the people that your want in office the least.  This is a horrible state to be in.  This is not democracy.

Henry David Thoreau once wrote that you can vote if you want to, but it means nothing but a hope in a change for what you believe to be right, not actual change itself.  If you really want change you have to go out there and grab it by the throat, not just vote and feel like you did something without ever actually doing anything at all.  He also wrote that voting with a party and not with your heart is an injustice and goes against our civic duty.  After some rereading of the great American master, I have decided that if I ever vote with party again just to vote against the other party, then I am only supporting this system and telling the politicians that it works and is the right thing to do.

Fuck that.  It won't happen again.  I hate that feeling and for now on, I swear to you all, I will only vote for the person that I believe to be the best candidate and if I do not know the candidates, I will not choose.  If I failed to educate myself on candidates or a particular referendum, then I no longer consider myself educated enough to vote on that topic.  Party lines are shit and need to be scrapped.  The 2-party system just allows people to get away with not educating themselves.  It allows people to just choose the R or the D on a ballot and feel like they can sleep that night.  The American people deserve better than that. 

Thoreau also wrote to not concern yourself with politics, but only with what you find morally correct.  Your family and your friends deserve better of you.  As long as you have done what you feel is correct, whatever that may be, then you have done your duty.  That may involve politics if you so feel that, but your civic duty and your right under a democracy is to vote or not vote, but just do what you feel is morally correct.

I used to think that meant educating the people on the horrors of right-wing extremism, but I have realized that with the 2-party dominance, this only leads to a simple conclusions:  The Dems must be correct.  Now, I tend to agree with them, but they are not that much better when it comes to this divisiveness and grandstanding.  They are part of the system much more than they act in public.  I do not want to write about politics anymore because I do not want to take sides.  My side is and always has been for the freedom and dignity of people, not just Americans, but people everywhere.  If I write about social topics, it will be from the heart and from the mind, but not from the eye of someone that cares about the political game that these yahoos like to play.  I will attack stupidity on all sides, whether it be the lack of any caring from the Republicans or the lack of personal freedoms from the Democrats. 

I hope that my beloved readers will comment.  I want to hear your thoughts and ideas on this matter.  If you think that I am wrong, tell me.  If you agree, feel free to post your pledge as I have, to support democracy and deny politics.  Trust me, when I made this decisions a few weeks ago, it was like taking a weight off of my shoulders.  I felt better.  Listening to these morons in the news is now more of a joke than it ever was.  Mind you, it is a funny joke, but a sad one as well. 

It Has Been Awhile for Us All

The day has come.  For those of you that know me well, you might know what I am talking about.  Many friends and family back from my hometown will know about the events that transpired today which would cause me to make this post, but for you all, my new friends, you probably do not realize the outstanding mood that I am in.

I have been a baseball fan since childhood.  Not only a baseball fan, but a National League baseball fan, and on top of that, first and foremost a San Francisco Giants fan.  Every summer since adulthood has been spent religiously watching and listening to my Giants play the game.  In that time, my heart has been consistently broken by the end of our season.  In 2002 my G-Men made it all way to game 7 of the World Series, only to lose to the Anaheim Angels.  In 2003, we were expected to take it all only to end our season in the first round of the playoffs.  In 2004 my friends and I watched Steve Finley of the Dodgers break our hearts with a Grand Slam on the second to last game of the year.  Since that point in time, hope had diminished and October baseball in the Bay Area had been little more than a distant memory connected to a thousand pains, each pain connected to sight, a sound, a call, and a pitch.

Today was the last day of the regular season.  For the Giants this year has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, trades and acquisitions, and a fitting motto to our style: "Giants Baseball...TORTURE!"  I had almost forgotten until that final regular season pitch today just how good torture can feel.

On the 59th anniversary of the famed "Shot Heard 'Round the World" the Giants fought and clawed their way back into October baseball with a 3-0 win over our division rivals the San Diego Padres.  When Brian Wilson through a high fastball, when Will Venable swung at that pitch and missed, the roar was amazing.  The payoff was worth it.  Not one player on the Giants had been to the postseason as a Giant.  A couple of long-time great players have finally made it to the postseason for the first time in their careers. 

We clinched.

Not only did we clinch our spot and chance to make history, but we are taking the second best record in the National League with us.  We are taking the best pitching staff in baseball with us.  We are taking some of the best fans with us. 

San Francisco is a town that has never had a World Series title.  It is a town that loves their teams greatly, and the Giants most of all.  It has been through the ups and downs of having amazing teams that just cannot get the final job done.  It is a town that seems to always been the bridesmaid, but never the bride.  In the late 80s baseball wept with the great city after an earthquake ravaged the town and put the World Series on hold.  In the early 90s when it seemed all but certain that our beloved team was going to be moved to Tampa Bay, fans stepped in.  When the Giants traded the great Matt Williams for a bunch of "random players," we trusted in the move only to have it lead to some of the greatest Giants years and some of the greatest members of the Giants family.  San Fran always shows up to the games.  After years of trying to live up to the hype, when Zito put together a string of great starts, San Fran stepped up to chant "Barry! Barry!"  Only this time it was not the Home Run king they were rooting for, but a southpaw with the best hook in the game.  After two consecutive Cy Young Awards, our ace Tim Lincecum will get to feel what it is like to have that wonderful, loving, and forgiving city cheer for him as he starts his first career playoff game.

It was a season of pain and glory.  The Buster Posey era began, Molina started the season but did not last much longer in our uniform, Aubrey Huff proved that he was a winner, Andres Torres fought hard to show that he was more than a bench player but the leader of a team, Pat Burrell thrust himself into the Giants-Dodgers rivalry with a two run shot in the eighth, and Brian Wilson took a share of the team saves record with one of the best to play the game.

I respect the Padres game this season.  They played very well, but in the end they were the Mudville Nine and we were left with more games to play. 

Sometimes I turn off the game when I do not want to watch the outcome.  Sometimes I let a hard loss get to me and get depressed the rest of the day.  Sometimes I forgot when I care so much for this game and this team, but when we work hard for 180 days and earn our place, I am reminded of the simple beauty inherent to the sport.  It is a game of subtlety and thought.  A lot of Americans find baseball boring to watch, but those are people that think that nothing is going on between swings.  It is a far more cerebral game and I think that is what turns them away.  They do not give it enough of a chance to sit back and learn that it is a game where when it seems like nothing is going on, there is actually everything going on.  It is a game of strategy and tactics as well as execution.  It is a give and take, cat and mouse game where those slight contributions can turn out to be the plays that turn everything around, from an at-bat to a season.

I have had many girlfriends, friends, and lovers over the years and almost all of them cannot understand why I want to watch every game.  They give me the "...but you watch it every day" or the "can't we listen to music now" speeches and occasionally I am persuaded to skip it for the night, but even my wife was smiling as my boys earned their contracts today and reminded us all why San Francisco, the Giants, and Baseball are parts of the heart and soul of the American culture. 

I Had to Share This

I read this recently and it just made me smile and lifted my spirits.

There was once a good man and powerful orator by the name of Eugene Debs.  Now, Eugene was a strong headed man that fought for the common man against profiteering companies and worthless governments.  There are a couple of sayings that you may have heard in your life but never knew that it was Debs that said them.  First of all, this quote:

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.

That was a wonderful line, but his most famous quote is this one:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

...but I read something tonight that blew me away.  Mind you, the people he fought for were the people of this country, and the corrupt government that he fought against was the government of Woodrow Wilson, who branded him a traitor to America.  In 1918 Debs was giving a speech to against the draft in WWI to which he urged people to resist it.  This got him in trouble in which they found him guilty of sedition.  During his trial he spoke for nearly two hours, and then a few days later at his sentencing, he spoke again.  This speech is one of the most amazing things you will ever get a chance to read (This is also the same speech that the quote above came from.)  Debs had a power of words that was inspiring, poetic, and both angry and moving at the same time.  Here is the small section that got to me tonight:

Your honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the form of our present government; that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in the change of both but by perfectly peaceable and orderly means....
I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and factories; I am thinking of the women who, for a paltry wage, are compelled to work out their lives; of the little children who, in this system, are robbed of their childhood, and in their early, tender years, are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon, and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the machines while they themselves are being starved body and soul....
Your honor, I ask no mercy, I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never more fully comprehended than now the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of freedom. I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. In due course of time they will come into their own.
When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the Southern Cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches the Southern Cross begins to bend, and the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of Time upon the dial of the universe; and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the look-out knows that the midnight is passing – that relief and rest are close at hand.
Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

 When I read this was a filled with a renewed hope.  Yes, this was almost 100 years ago now and a lot of what he was hopeful for has yet come to pass, but still it is refreshing to see.  One of the most sad things was that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime disenfranchisement.  I did not even know that they could legally give someone that sentence?!

Debs appealed to the Supreme Court, but that appeal failed.  He was branded as anti-American and really never recovered.  Afterward there were multiple attempts to grant Debs clemency, but President Wilson denied them all, stating:

While the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines sniping, attacking, and denouncing them....This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration.

Wilson felt that Debs was basically a terrorist for not agreeing with his views and wanting people to stand up for what he felt was wrong in this world.  Debs was eventually released from prison when his sentence was commuted by President Harding in 1921.  Three years later he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Karl Wiik, stating that "Debs started to work actively for peace during World War I, mainly because he considered the war to be in the interest of capitalism," but he did not receive the award.

He died two years later...

I just wanted to share some of the life of Eugene Victor Debs with you.  Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

One of the reasons that this speech hit me was that it reminded me greatly of another writing that touches me deeply and that is the "Great Wave" speech of Hunter S. Thompson from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."   Hunter used the same poetic style, but to describe the opposite of Debs, the loss of hope and meaning.  These are polar opposites, but they were both inspired by the loss of freedom and human rights in the United States bought on by corrupt Republican administrations.  Hunter just did not see that light that Debs saw.  Hunter only saw the "high water mark." that it left behind as hope was enveloped by darkness and greed.  Hunter was not a socialist or labor rights leader as Debs was, nor did they share much of the same political opinions, but in the end they wanted the same thing for all people.  That thing is what a lot of politicians, especially on the right, never seem to care much about anymore and that is basic human dignity.

Dignity for all people is the basis of human rights and freedoms, but in today's society it seems that dignity only goes to large companies and those people that can afford it.  That is exactly what Debs and people like him fought so hard to prevent from happening, but maybe Hunter was correct.  Maybe the time is past.  Does dignity still belong in today's America?

I still think so.  I also believe that it is still worth fighting for, but most people seem to have fallen into apathy and forgotten about the fact that they have a right in this country to be an artist, a writer, a painter, a musician, a mechanic, an inventor, an astronaut, a fireman, an uncorrupted policeman, or whatever they want to be.