3.5 Politics: Sidelined Left to Involved Center-Left
My first memory of politics was “I Like Ike” buttons in largely Republican Kansas in the early 1950s. That Democrats were “the bad guys” was just a part of the air one breathed. My post-WWII midwestern, rising middle class family was fairly apolitical; actually, my father was anti-political. He thought all politicians were crooks.
My first personal experience with politics came when I ran for class president in the 9th grade. I beat a much more popular athlete with a “sympathy” vote, because I was in the hospital during the campaign (an important lesson concerning popularity and qualifications, or the lack thereof, for political office).
Like many young Americans in the early 1960s, I was energized politically by John Kennedy and Camelot idealism. From that time on, I’ve been a Democrat, though not an uncritical one. I was a sophomore in college when JFK was assassinated, and it turned my political world gray. However, I was very pleased by the Johnson administration’s Civil Rights legislation and War on Poverty emphasis, though totally opposed to the military escalation in Vietnam. |
I got involved in school politics again at Wichita State and was student government president my senior year in 1966. Name recognition was an important factor--beside my local sports background, I was the brother of WSU’s very popular basketball coach. I enjoyed this very interesting extracurricular activity and felt felt good about what I was able to help accomplish. I also learned some very valuable lessons first-hand. I’ll share just one with you here that’s particularly relevant to our topic. |
From it, I learned just how deviously dominating power is often employed and how media coverage of controversial political events can be unfairly reported for money-making, sensationalist effect. The very politically conservative student radio station invited campus organizations to a meeting to see if they wanted to support a blood drive for the wounded in Vietnam it was sponsoring. When we all got there we found that we were surrounded by various local Wichita media, and they proceeded to assign each group something to do for this event. It soon became obvious that it was being planned as a pro-war rally.
I responded that, of course, as a campus organization they had the right to sponsor such an event. However, because the student government represented all students, many of which were against the war, we could not officially co-sponsor the event. I also expressed my anger at being blindsided by this “railroad job.” By the time I got home, I found my mother crying because she had just seen me being portrayed on the evening TV news as a student Communist who was denying blood to our wounded American servicemen. It was much worse in the next day’s paper. The Dean of Students advised me to issue one short, factual response and then let it go. He was right; we weren’t going to get a fair hearing from the sensation-seeking media. I imagine I have an FBI file over this.
I responded that, of course, as a campus organization they had the right to sponsor such an event. However, because the student government represented all students, many of which were against the war, we could not officially co-sponsor the event. I also expressed my anger at being blindsided by this “railroad job.” By the time I got home, I found my mother crying because she had just seen me being portrayed on the evening TV news as a student Communist who was denying blood to our wounded American servicemen. It was much worse in the next day’s paper. The Dean of Students advised me to issue one short, factual response and then let it go. He was right; we weren’t going to get a fair hearing from the sensation-seeking media. I imagine I have an FBI file over this.
Even with the seeming "respite," as I’ve now come to see it, of the Clinton administration, I pretty much felt sidelined left politically by the extremist turn to the right that started with Ronald Reagan and, finally (I hope!), ended with George W. Bush. During this period, I basically worked internally within interfaith religious groups to promote the Common Good and Social Justice. During those “decades in the political wilderness,” I became much more interested in both politics and the responsibilities of faith communities to exert healthy political influence (in contrast to the religious right of that time), and from my studies and experiences I gradually moved from the left to the center-left.
After the 2004 election, I, like many of the resources I’m highlighting, felt compelled to become much more of an activist for center-left political causes both in public and in faith communities. With my retirement and the 2010 election, this calling has intensified. This website is one of the ways I’m called to be active in the 2012 election, which I believe will determine the health of our democracy for a long time to come. The extreme right is determined to retake power again in 2012 and make the Obama center-left first term as well as any center-right legislators who would work with a centrist administration, irrelevant to their interrupted dream of having a far right with dominating power for the entire 21st century.
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As a Coloradan, I feel fortunate to be represented by “principled centrists” at almost all levels at this time (from my perspective, all happen to be center-left Democrats), and I’ve gotten personally much more involved to help keep it that way. Each has his own unique way of combining various ideas and values to make his own distinctive centrist position.
Now that you’ve come to the end of the first three, introductory sections of the website, I invite you to use the navigation bar at the top of each webpage to explore the other main sections. The lists of my reviews of the resources I have ready for you to see are found in sections 4, 5 and 6; the ones that will be coming soon are also listed there.
(Remember you can contribute to the future shape of this site by contacting me with your views.
See form on Section 10. What I'm Learning from You.)
(Remember you can contribute to the future shape of this site by contacting me with your views.
See form on Section 10. What I'm Learning from You.)
(Click button to go to Part II: Resource Review Sectiions.)
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