Author: Brian

Democracy is unique in that it offers its citizens the chance to renew and repair itself, through the process of participation and voting. Other older forms of government were structured to resist change in leadership, but in a democracy, the people who are subject to the laws and responsibilities are also allowed to participate in the selection of the leadership.

Today at noon Eastern time, we the citizens of the United States are ridding ourselves of the undemocratic leadership of George Walker Bush, our 43rd President. Mr. Bush was not elected by popular vote of the citizens of the United States. Because our founding fathers did not entirely trust people, they set up a system known as the Electoral College, which is another layer between the direct vote of the people and the actual selection of our Chief Executive.

Of course, there was another layer even still between you and I and selection of the man who led the most powerful of the three supposedly co-equal branches of our government. Mr. Bush was selected by 5-4 vote of our country’s highest court in the unique and supposedly non-precedent-setting case of Bush v. Gore. Never before, and with the effort of progressive citizens everywhere, hopefully never again, will an undemocratic president be inflicted on our fragile democracy.

Strange how “supposedly” shows up a lot, when discussing Mr. Bush.

I was in the minority of citizens who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000. I was not paying attention. I voted but barely cared. I did not know how directly political leadership would affect my life.

I was wrong. With Bush v. Gore, and then again on 11 September 2001, and again as our leadership rushed into war with a country that did not threaten us, and billions began to be spent on killing and wounding human lives… I saw.

As 2004 approached, I recognized with fresh eyes the second chance our country was getting to reverse the decision made by a small elite. I did what I could to spread the word of how poorly Mr. Bush reflected the democratic dreams of we, the people. And again, through the work of a small elite, Mr. Bush remained in office for another four years.

Mr. Bush undemocratically locked away those who would disagree with him. Mr. Bush ordered the imprisonment and torture of people whose crime was simply to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mr. Bush undemocratically used his position to reward those who gave him money – a horror at all levels of government, brought into crystal clear relief as Hurricane Katrina tried to erase my favorite city in the world, and millions were turned into refugees. Mr. Bush enlisted corporate executives in his goal to listen in on the conversations of people who had not been accused of a crime – and Mr. Bush punished the executives who refused him.

And Mr. Bush believed, and was allowed by those entrusted to check his power to maintain the belief in, the most undemocratic idea of all: that the law should not apply to all the citizens of our country. “If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”

I thought about trying to find some good in Mr. Bush’s presidency. But I realized that finding even a tiny seed of positive would distract us from the many destructive policies he pursued and was allowed to enact. Our Congress, the first branch of government, allowed itself, first under Mr. Bush’s political party, and then under the supposed (there’s that word again) opposition party, to become much less than co-equal. Slow to investigate, weak in applying what consequences and punishments our founding fathers gave them, our directly elected representatives only worked to preserve their elite positions under Mr. Bush’s presidency. In spite of growing outcry from the majority of America’s people, our Congressional leaders re-arranged the chairs so that they could sit with their friends. Friends like Joseph Isidore Lieberman, a Senator from Connecticut, who was voted out of the Democratic Party in 2006 by a majority of his constituents. Our Senate leaders chose non-Democratic Sen. Lieberman over the voices of a majority of the people who elected them to high office.

As the outcry against the undemocratic reign of Mr. Bush grew from our citizens, our Congressional leaders first dangled the promise of using the powers granted them by our founding fathers in the form of “subpoena power”… and then took those powers “off the table” after increasing their power by those promises.

Abdicating their responsibilities is undemocratic.

If the people did not oppose Mr. Bush, he might still be in office today. He would not be leaving office with the lowest approval rating of any modern president. But we, the people, did oppose him, and we continue to oppose our Congressional leaders. It’s a process, not a goalpost. The endpoint isn’t getting rid of one, or several leaders; it’s about participating, and taking steps, big and small, every day to ensure that our system of government works to the benefit of all of us, and not just the elite.

But stopping to pay attention to the steps is important, too. They are the measure of how far we’ve come, and point in the direction of where we’re going.

Tomorrow we will celebrate a huge step. But today, I wanted to take the time to say: Goodbye, George Walker Bush. I shall not miss you.

Does writing over 2,200 words about outgoing undemocratic President Bush and incoming hopefully-democratic President Obama count towards my day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr?

I hope so.

Writing is what I do best, and my words will be free to anyone who wants to read them.

Stay tuned later tonight for part one, and tomorrow morning for part two!

On this day, in honor of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr’s life of service in the cause of unity, many blogs will link or mention King’s “I have a dream” speech.

Surely, it’s the most famous one he gave.

But for myself, living in an America that has elected Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency largely on his promise to end our Iraqi invasion, I would ask you to listen once more to the words of Dr. King on why he was opposed to the Vietnam War.

On 30 April 1967, Dr. King stood up in Ebenezer Baptist Church and preached the following sermon:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U&hl=en&fs=1]

Transcript of the speech can be found here.

Bring them home, Barack Obama. End both our wars.

Had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night, via text. I was out and about, on my way to catch the mid-season premier of Battlestar Galactica’s final season. As I waited for a bus transfer, I spotted a small group of guys wearing clothing that identified them as employees of the same company as my friend. So I shot her a text, just as a tease. This was around 8 PM, not work hours, so such a gathering seemed odd to me.

She replied back and asked if it looked like they were unionizing.

Aha.

I had caught my bus by this point so I couldn’t examine the group any further. I replied back and reminded her that I’m pro-union, just like I’m pro-democracy (which, to me, are one and the same).

She responded that she’s anti-union but pro-democracy.

Hrmmm.

I sensed that this conversation was getting too big for SMS, with its 160-character limit. But I wanted to challenge my friend, who is intelligent and motivated but perhaps had never considered the connection between representative government and representative unions. They’re one and the same.

So I just told her, as an open-ended offer, “I welcome your counter evidence!” Implying that there will be a future conversation on this topic (I hope that’s what I implied).

She responded “No need 2 sell what ur not buying.” Sounds like an admission of defeat to me. But, seriously, I’m fascinated to learn what evidence would allow one to be in favor of people voting for their leaders in one sphere of life, and be actively against it in another area of life. I just don’t see it.

Uh, workplaces without unions are dictatorships. Some may have benevolent dictators running them, but not all. That’s a simple fact. Unions are the only democratic institution in the workplace.

Of course, my friend is in management at the company I will not name to protect this organizing effort. I can understand why someone would see a union as perhaps threatening their privileged position. But perhaps she never made the connection between the idea that the people are justified and enabled to elect their political leaders in a democracy, and the idea that employees can use their organizing powers in the workplace to effect positive changes for themselves and to the benefit of the company.

Let me clearly state that I’m not blind to the flaws in actual, functioning unions – just as I am not blind to the flaws in our current, damaged but still functioning, democracy. That’s a point for another day and another post. But the solution is the same in each case: more participation and involvement from people, and better leadership, will resolve those problems. It’s not a coincidence that low turnouts in elections favors anti-democracy Republicans, and more voters than have ever voted before were required to elect pro-people Democratic President(-elect, until Tuesday) Barack Obama. Obama is not perfect and I will not always agree with him, but our country functions better when I, and all of you, too, join in the conversation and make your voices heard.

To that end, it is imperative that the Employee Free Choice Act be passed into law. I intend to write more on the EFCA in the future, and on this topic in general. The law, in its current form, will make organizing unions easier, and will take power away from the employer (the current dictators and royalty) and put it in the hands of the employees.

And bring more democracy to the workplace, where it belongs.

I can’t make a doctor’s appointment without feeling like a hypochondriac.

Seriously, unless I’m actually bleeding or something (which almost never happens), it takes a lot to convince me to pick up the phone and call the the appointment nurse.

And sometimes, I’ll make an appointment, then when it’s time to go in (usually at least several days later), I’ll cancel or just not show up at all.

Which means, the next time I need to make an appointment, in addition to my normal resistance to accept as real any symptoms I think I have, I have to deal with the guilt of having stood up my doctor from the time before.

I like my doctor. I’ll call him Dr. Carl. For one thing, he just looks like a doctor, a classic TV doctor. Handsome, mature, late middle age, tall, not overweight. Blond hair, blue eyes. Tasteful wire-frame glasses. Friendly but not overly so; doesn’t flirt with the nurses or female patients; professional but approachable.

My work insurance is not an HMO. It allows me to choose my own doctor, and years ago, I chose Dr. Carl. His office is in my neighborhood so I can walk, or, if I’m ill (hardly ever) I can take the bus and it will drop me off right in front of the door, even though it’s just 10 blocks away.

But… still, I wonder when I make an appointment. Is this serious enough to take up Dr. Carl’s time? Is this something silly, something frivolous? Does he roll his eyes when he sees that I have an appointment, think to himself (or, worse, chuckle and mention to his staff) “Oh, it’s that guy, Brian. Wonder what he thinks is wrong with him this time?”

I guess what I’m saying is that I feel like I don’t deserve Dr. Carl. That’s what I’m saying, isn’t it? I’ve got an inferiority complex.

It’s my health, though. I’m the one making the decisions. If something is bothering me, no one else is going to see to it that I get it taken care of.

Part of it is that I live alone. Ever have those lonely nights when you can’t sleep and you wonder “If something were to happen to me right now, how could I get help?”

I suppose, especially so since I don’t really endear myself to my neighbors. Neighbor, I mean. Specifically Old Barfy. Ugh. The thought of having to rely on that old drunkard makes me even more anxious. But I accept the consequence of my actions; I don’t rely on O.B. because I don’t think he’s reliable.

That just circles around back to the idea that I have to take care of myself. Which means, if I think something is wrong, I need to pick up the phone and call Dr. Carl, or his nurse, technically, and make sure I go in and explain what’s going on.

I learned a rule from a friend, who told me once, “My doctor and my lawyer get the full truth, no exceptions, all the details. They can’t do their jobs unless I speak up. Everyone else, though…”

Even when I might be embarrassed, I force myself to tell the complete story to Dr. Carl. Even when I’m having problems in an embarrassing part of my body, like, say, my brain.

Luckily, I’ve only had to do that with a lawyer once.

I’m getting ready to head over to the Bagdad Theater, to drink beer and eat some dinner with friends. Oh, and to catch the first of the last Battlestar Galactica episodes.

I’m hoping that the build-up for the final hours of the show does service to the awesome three and a half seasons of drama and metaphor and character that have preceded it.

And if not, at least I will have my friends and beer and food.

I consider this a “warts and all” blog about myself. I will (and have) post about things that may not put me in a very good light. I’m not ashamed to say that I am human; I have flaws; I make mistakes.

This week is an example. I’m hoping that people will feel free to comment, pro, con, or indifferent, on this. G’head, I’m an adult and responsible for my own actions.

I’ve written about Old Barfy before, the guy that mooches off my neighbor and sits on her front porch, a 40 in his hand, smoking like a chimney.

A couple of nights ago, as I was walking up to my front door, he approached me. “Hey, Brian,” he said. I ignored him. “Brian, hey, Brian,” he kept repeating. I ignored him until he was almost next to me. Finally I looked over my shoulder at him. I stood on my front porch, facing the door, key in hand and, basically, my back to him.

“Do you have fluorescent lights in your kitchen?”

“Why?” I said. Not “yes” or “no” but “why?” Can you tell I don’t like him?

“W-well,” he stammered, paused, and continued, “We’ve got a bulb out, and I bought a replacement tube, but it don’t work.” His words were a bit slurred around his lack of teeth and his apparent blood-alcohol level. “I was thinkin’ I could try it in your fixture, if you’ve got the same kind as we do…”

“Ask Chris,” I said, flatly. Chris is the landlord. He’s actually very helpful, I thought. Why wouldn’t you ask the landlord for help like that?

“Oh, well, I didn’t wanna bug him. I just thought…”

“Or take it back to the store.”

“I, I mean, I don’t… I don’t have eight dollars to blow on a light bulb, y’know!”

I said nothing further. Still wasn’t my problem.

“Oh, well… nevermind.” He hunched over and went back to the stoop of the apartment he shared with my next door neighbor.

I went inside, fuming. Why does he continue to talk to me? I resent his attention. I just want him to leave me alone. Is that so hard to understand?

I did not want him in my apartment, not at all. I’ve seen him digging in other people’s garbage. He’s shown a level of interest in me and my things that makes me feel creeped out. He keeps a shopping cart in the narrow strip of yard behind my building, and fills it with bottles that he cashes in regularly. One Saturday morning I woke up, opened the curtains to see the sun – and there was Old Barfy, messing around with his scrounged cans. He immediately ducked down to avoid being seen.

Yes, he’s shown some compassion for my problems in the past – particularly with regard to Smacky, my cat, who went missing last year. Yes, O.B.’s son died in Iraq, and I think one of the worst tragedies in human existence is a parent who outlives their children.

But when he talks to me, I feel a skin-crawling need to get away. I can’t avoid him enough. And the fact that his contribution to the neighborhood is to sit for hours on end, drinking, or collecting cans for the nickle deposit, or that he was apparently evicted a year or two ago but managed to talk a lonely old lady into sympathizing with him enough to take him in, like a stray… He can do what he wants, and other people can respond to him as they want.

Me, I just want him to leave me alone.

Today is payday.

Thanks, job, for giving me a regular paycheck, and benefits, and a nice warm place that is not my apartment to spend 9 hours in five days out of the week.

What? I’m just sticking to the basics.

Didja ever notice that there’s a lot of candy bars named for financial concepts? Payday. $10,000 Bar (or more recently, the 10 Grand). Mounds.

Snickers is actually a slang term for loose change in Zimbabastan. True story.

I may have found the perfect place to celebrate our newest president. I’m pretty sure there were no parties in Portland for President Bush that featured dancing girls. I could be wrong, though.

I definitely remember dancing girls when President Clinton was elected, though. Of course, that’s around the time I started hanging out in strip clubs, so there may not have been any actual connection to the inauguration; it just might’ve been my normal Tuesday night.

This year, though – both dancing girls and a celebration of our new Democratic President!

Apparently the very same bar in which I watched Obama’s acceptance speech on election night, The Slammer, is having an inauguration party next week that will feature dancing girls on the roof.