A few months back, I was thinking about how Independence Day has traditionally made me cranky. I was going to do a piece called The Wrong Question/The Right Question, and I even asked folks to help me.
Some examples:
The Wrong Question: Whether we need voter ID.
The Right Question: Whether we have polling places open long enough, and staffed well enough, to accommodate voters. Failing that, whether mail voting would be a credible solution.
The Wrong Question: Whether people on food stamps should use them for buying steaks.
The Right Question: Why many of the working poor make so little that they’re eligible for food stamps.
The Wrong Question: Let’s worry about wacko conspiracy fantasies.
The Wrong Question: Let’s worry about reality-based conspiracies.
The Wrong Question: Why don’t we spend more on war?
The Right Question: Why don’t we spend more money on infrastructure?
Then the piece got scuttled by something I don’t usually look for in me: a faint, yet perceptible streak of…I’m afraid to say it, lest I jinx it…bridled optimism.
Since I have a difficult time articulating that, I’m going to suggest reading The Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality “identifies the pillars upon which healthy social structures can be built.”
Toni Morrison called for a return to citizenship spoke to me.
But the piece that sounded most like the voice in my ear had to be “We are in a revolutionary moment”: Chris Hedges explains why an uprising is coming — and soon. Yes, as he notes, “If things unravel [in the U.S.], our backlash may very well be…a very frightening rightwing backlash.” Or:
If you look at what’s happened after Occupy, it’s either spawned or built alliances with a series of movements; whether it’s #BlackLivesMatter, whether it’s the Fight for $15 campaign, whether it’s challenging the TPP [even though TPP unfortunately seemed to have succeeded]. I think they are all interconnected and, often times — at least when I’m with those activists — there is a political consciousness that I find quite mature.
Just last week, same-gender marriage was affirmed: “The petitioners, far from seeking to devalue marriage, seek it for themselves because of their respect — and
need — for its privileges and responsibilities.” Oh, and Obamacare survived.
I’ve had that first song from West Side Story stuck me my head, but I need to alter the lyrics:
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something hope it’s good,
If I can wait!
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is,
ButPray it is
Gonna be great!
