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Thursday, April 21, 2005

I signed a petition for Ted Kennedy

I like Ted because he was the Kennedy that couldn't party and get laid as successfully as his brothers and he didn't have the balls they did. And as a result, we still have him here to be a fair and sensible voice in politics. I don't know that anyone is taking him seriously, but whatever. I think he's cute.

The e-mail said "William Myers and the Republican leaders who are trying to seize absolute power by changing the rules of the Senate in order to silence their opposition. Join me in opposing their bausive tactics:

www.tedkennedy.com/NoMyers

I signed my petiton and had nothing to add in the comment portion, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity, right? So I wrote:

"I am a citizen whose only option to speak to powers that be much less inact change in the system is by e-mail. And we know how useless e-mail is. HEll, I don't even know the motivations of the people I'm aligning with here, I just know that in this day any concern for voicelessness is a concern of mine. If anyone reads these comments and has any consciousness about matters that leads you to think we are headed for a horrible horrible rift, consider what you can do to make things better -in your personal life, at work, where ever. Do it now."

I only preach to politicians, and may I say there was a bit of role playing. (I would never say "hell".) Because e-mail is not the only way to make change. It's just what I think the majority of the disenfranchised country is doing: watching the Daily Show, petitioning with Move On. For a country who likes results, this is a start, but I for one am already tired of it and am leery that it will take steam away from people who need to be using their mind power to enact and envision the next step of real change. Somedays I think Move On is a government plot. An opiate for the people.

But I still sign.

2 comments:

Ray (drawing by Michael Arthur) said...

Anne! Thank you for responding to this one. It's like a zit that's needed popping.

Well...

I haven't been researching the matters of the petition, I haven't been signing any more petitions, I haven't been stopping on the street for the workers who are out there with surveys trying to connect me to the systems of the world that need the support of my name or my specific attention. (What most of them need is money and I have none to give right now.)

I am not proud of this, but I'm not ashamed either, because I HAVE been working to fortify my life and mind so that I may with all my heart and head make the most of my artistic expressions. I do this because the brilliant minds that will solve string theory need music to listen to and books to read. I do this because every great movement is marked by song. I do this because there are whole nations of people who are still signing their names even though they are lost in their mindfulness.

I spent an afternoon at the anti-Bush demonstrations here in November - I felt them providing a vital service to everyone who needed to know there were people gathering for change. However - and I am more than ready to have my mind changed about this - most of them looked to me like they had a need for a deep personal connection that had nothing to do with Bush. To this, I say amen - this I can relate to - but I don't see a satisfaction for that kind of need in politics.

Anne, I'm gonna go deep here and say I think you are someone capable of initiating change and exercising a healthy power over such people as myself who need to be rallied and find purpose. But to do this, you have to mean it when you ask what have I been doing since signing the petition.

I hope you do, because I'm looking to you and the other great minds in my midst to help with the fortification of my life and mind, because my survival depends on being aware. And I know I'm not.

My bEst to you.

Ray (drawing by Michael Arthur) said...

Wurd, momma!