by Joe Courter
Sometimes one act can have huge impact that could not have been foreseen. The decision of Joe Biden to step away from the Presidency was contemplated for weeks, but that possibility was tempered with uncertainty as to what would happen next. That sure resolved quickly as Kamala Harris not only secured broad support in the party but was rather stunningly embraced as the obvious choice by people, and then her picking Tim Walz for VP was equally embraced. What a difference!
The recent State Parks controversy presented another case of a single event being a catalyst for change. James Gaddis was working as a cartographer for the State Department of Environmental Protection, and he became aware of a plan to add lodges, golf and pickleball to our State Parks in a rather rushed way, and he leaked the information out, costing him his job but, what difference it made. Citizens around the state mobilized with calls, letters, and sign-holding demonstrations and forced an embarrassing turn around on State officials.
A common thread between these two events is the citizen response, the tapping of a dormant activism and enthusiasm that led to an outpouring visible for all to see. And best yet, seeing that type of positivity is contagious, and especially with the Parks issue, a clear victory to people, many of whom who were feeling pretty beat down and hopeless. That empowering feeling that we can fight back, and succeed. Regarding the former, things are trending pretty good for Harris and Walz, and if things keep going, we may have a victory in November in the election. And if the victory is decisive enough, we may be able to squelch the expected challenge to the election results by the MAGA forces.
I’ve always felt it was important to work for positive social change in some way, but in my seven decades lifetime experience, there was the ever present knowledge that this nation, especially in the foreign policy arena, has a bloody record in supporting corporate interests and/or in the ideology of “fighting communism.” There was Viet Nam of course, but the US has overthrown elected governments in multiple countries. Guatemalans and El Salvadorans in the 60’s-80’s lived and died under brutal US supported leaders. Hundreds of thousands died in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War because of harsh sanctions. After 9/11/2001 the invasions and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and later elsewhere in the region, monumental human suffering was unleashed. Those were and are our tax dollars at work. And all through that period, those same dollars were helping support the state of Israel, created in 1948 by displacing folks who were already living there, an ill thought move not well received by those who were displaced. It’s what this nation does.
In his 1967 Beyond Viet Nam speech, Martin Luther King, Jr said: ‘The greatest purveyor of violence in the world: My own Government, I can not be Silent.’
They were brave words, true words, but in reality, in practicality, we do stay largely silent, because here in the belly of the beast, it is our reality. It is always in the background as we struggle for worker rights, human rights, environmental justice, and just live our lives.
That said, this democracy has never revealed how very fragile it is until the past eight years. We have grave threat to our democracy with an authoritarian presidential candidate for the Republicans, with his party lock step behind him. The Democrats are a far better alternative, not perfect, but it’s what we got.
Yes, the continued US aid to Israel during the genocide in Palestine has been awful to watch. However, this country is a well entrenched duopoly, with only two political parties invited to the game. Any third party vote helps Trump, and the blueprint of Project 2025 is there waiting in the wings to decimate so much of what our social justice struggles have achieved over the past decades. Is risking that worth a feel good protest vote?
Positive change in this country will only come with increased civic responsibility, rebuilding a labor movement, and getting better people to run and get elected. The difference makers for all that to happen, is us.