How dumb are we?

Before you decide to vote for the military man and the self-proclaimed hockey mom, ask yourself if you’re doing better than you were eight years ago.

Then consider the facts:

McCain, while once willing to take stands against his own party, has consistently capitulated to the Bush Administration and the religious right in control of the Republican party. That’s how you get to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Also consider this: Sarah Palin is the “made-for-TV” candidate. She studied broadcast journalism and worked for a time as a sportscaster. So she can read a teleprompter and deliver a script with style. She looks good, and she knows how to make a good impression. But she’s the real “empty suit” in this race. In fact, she has one of the lightest resumes (and a questionable record) ever in a candidate for national office, much like George W.

McCain’s now touting change, and using his VP candidate as a prop for that argument. So I have to ask, “How dumb are we?”

Are we going to fall for that because we’re uncomfortable with the idea of a black man as president, even though his policy will help 98 percent of us economically? Are we going to fall for it because a woman, any woman in the White House is more important than choice for our daughters and ourselves? Are we going to fall for that because we’re still voting on stupid measures like “likeability” and looking “presidential.”

Wake up America! This kind of decision making is what got us eight years of W. Instead of looking at Bush’s abysmal track record as a corporate executive and governor, we let the media focus on his folksy personality (which is largely a lie).

How dumb are we?

For once in your life read something, and look at what economic history tells you about the Democratic record versus the Republican. Turn off the TV and radio; quit listening to vapid sound bites and vote for your real economic interests.

I’ve spent an entire lifetime watching the lower and middle class in this country fall for these stupid campaign tricks. (Am I reliving 1980!?!) And we’re poised to do it again. You have to remember it’s not a candidate’s personality that matters, it’s the policies. Who’s going to provide healthcare, work for an equitable tax system, and rebuild our economy, national security and stature in the world?

Personally, I’m voting for the candidate who thinks I have a brain.

The Story of Willow Tree

On Dec. 27, 2007, we received a phone call from Curt’s mother. Her brother, Harold Kohler, had died suddenly, apparently from a sudden heart attack brought on by shoveling snow in his driveway on the outskirts of Minneapolis.

Upon learning of their grandfather’s death, Harold’s two grandchildren reacted very differently. His 10-year-old grandson, Ben, openly expressed his grief with tears. But his 12-year-old granddaughter, Allison, turned quietly and shut herself in her room. As her mother describes it, she emerged silently about five minutes later bearing the following poem, Willow Tree.

If I could picture you as anything,
I would pick a willow tree.
So graceful, sweet, and kind,
Giving lots of love to me.

Giving shelter to every creature,
That tries to hide from the rain.
So strong, that when you get chopped down,
You feel not any pain.

Just sitting there so peaceful,
Letting the wind carry you around.
Always holding a smile,
and never once a frown.

Your trunk so big, your leaves so small,
Your branches swing left to right.
If you take one look, you will see,
The most beautiful, man in sight.

Upon reading the poem a second time, I began to see this image of the willow tree planted outside Harold’s home. In American folk art traditions, the willow tree was used in memorial paintings and needlework as a symbol of mourning. But to Ally, the willow tree simply represented Grandpa Harry.

Republicans, McCain and the Pottery Barn rule

In 2003 during the run-up to the Iraq invasion, General Colin Powell warned the Bush Administration that military action in Iraq would follow the Pottery Barn rule: “You break it, you buy it.” And so here we are in 2008, bogged down in a quagmire of occupation with the tally of lives lost and dollars spent on this destruction rising hourly.

Similarly, the Republican Party should recognize their responsibility for their current presidential candidate. They may not be overjoyed with John McCain, but he is the product of the morally bankrupt administration they pushed into office in 2000 and 2004 – by any means necessary.

John McCain, once admired for his willingness to buck his party and take unpopular stands on principle, was broken by the Bush Administration, capitulating to their demands in his overarching desire to win the Republican nomination in the future. Now, they own him.

Once against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, now McCain wants to make them permanent. Once critical of the Iraq War execution, now he argues it’s a success. Once against torture, he quietly caved when the President watered down the legislation banning such practices. On so many issues, McCain has abandoned former thinking to embrace the stances of Bush Neo-con Republicans and their extreme agenda. This is only made more evident with the use of the current Karl Rove campaign tactics and talking points McCain was once the target of himself.

So I say to the Republican Party, “Good luck with McCain. You broke him; now you own him.”

Confluence of events

For the last several months, I have been obsessed with the presidential election and the state of our nation. I am fascinated and appalled at the divergence of threats: our crumbling infrastructure, the mortgage crisis, rising gas prices and unemployment, further political breakdown and violence in Iraq, intra-party sniping among Democrats, eroding consumer confidence, and on and on.

What may appear to be an amazing confluence of events to many only reinforces observations I’ve made for years.

First, as an artist, specifically a drawer, I have been trained to observe -- and to observe relationships between objects so that I can reproduce them realistically. Nothing is ever seen in isolation. So I tend to connect events and actions in relation to other events and actions, as well as on the continuum of history.

Additionally, this observation requires an attempt to view things objectively, with as little emotion as possible. In fact, when you are truly observing and drawing with your right brain, there is a sense of detachment which allows you to analyze without making evaluations.

Similarly, when I observe political and current events, I view them as related. Thus for many years, I have observed that America’s economy, based on consumer spending and wall street stock prices, is a teetering house of cards. One stiff breeze would be enough not only to blow it over, but to scatter the cards in all directions.

So how did we think the War in Iraq was going to affect our economy, especially gas prices? When you attack and destroy the production capacity of one oil-producing nation, not to mention the surrounding oil-rich countries, do you really think gas prices will remain stable?

Also, based on the history of war in America, did we really think we could sustain tax cuts and support a sustained military offensive?

Add to these problems our long history of spiraling medical and drug costs, loss of jobs and spiraling education costs.

Yet as a culture, we compartmentalize these concerns. The presidential candidates and campaigns parcel their positions on individual topics: health care, energy, education, the military, the War in Iraq, etc. But the reality is these issues are a great complicated web.

For example, I want the candidates to discuss the possibility that universal single payer health care (yes, socialized medicine!) could provide a great economic stimulus by encouraging entrepreneurship and small business enterprise, as well as freeing capital for existing companies to retool and grow. I have always been taught small businesses were the best drivers for stimulating growth.

In addition, to battle unemployment as well as rebuild infrastructure, why not develop a new Works Progress Administration for the 21^st century? This could dovetail with a new national service requirement for all youth that would include civic as well as military options.

And as we repair our own country with service and shared sacrifice, we can rebuild our relationship with the rest of the world. Because it is not our freedoms that are hated, it is our foreign policy, especially with regard to the Middle East. As a nation, we must step back and observe our own actions dispassionately from another viewpoint if we are to change things for the better.

Viewed on the continuum of history, I see America where we were a century ago. And it will take a similar pendulum swing in the opposite direction if we are to undo the damage of 40 years of conservative greed. Because in historical terms, that what conservatism represents – individual greed and self-serving motivation over the community good. We Americans need to learn from our own history, not to mention centuries of world history.

Who really got thrown under the bus?

Fifteen months into this presidential campaign I’m sick of it all. Sick of the candidates hammering away at each other as another state’s contest rolls nearer. Sick of the media echo chamber presuming to speak for the American people. Sick of Republicans and Democrats. Sick of endorsements and ads. And sick of hearing who got “thrown under the bus.”

Let me tell you. It ain’t Patti Solis Doyle or Barack Obama’s grandmother. It ain’t Jeremiah Wright or Mark Penn. It sure ain’t George Stephanopolous or Charlie Gibson.

It’s the American people.

While elected officials try to determine whether or not to endorse and mainstream media personalities chatter on about the latest trivial non-issue, we the people are gasping for breath out here. We can’t afford to fill up our cars and buy groceries. We’re praying no one in the family gets sick or has an accident. We’re hoping we can make the next mortgage payment while Charlie Gibson is worrying about his capital gains tax. Honestly! And it’s been like this for years.

I say it’s time we throw our political elite and media mavens under the bus. Vote ‘em out and unplug the radio and TV. Enough is enough.

Tired of whiney women!

I am sick of hearing from whiney women about how sexist everyone else is. Enough already!

I’ve spent a lifetime listening to self-proclaimed feminists pontificating about how the world hates women. And I’m a woman.

I grew up the youngest of three sisters with one brother. My oldest sister gave me a “Sisters Unite” t-shirt, complete with raised clenched fist, that I lived in at age 8. And when I was in college, my brother’s girlfriend gave me a “69 cents” t-shirt that I wore at least once a week. My college roommate also referred to me as “Woman” because I insisted it was condescending for people to refer to us as girls at 18-plus years of age.

In graduate school, I pointed out to two of my professors that I felt there was some bias involved in providing older, single guys with teaching assistantships that put them on their own in classrooms, while some of us women were overlooked or given graduate assistantships pairing us with professors.

I’ve witnessed or experienced bias all my life. But I didn’t whine about it.

I simply spoke honestly when appropriate and went on to do the work, whatever it was. And I tried to do it better, smarter and more completely, acting as a person first.

So the Geraldine Ferraro flap sent me over the edge. I’ve been seeing for months whiney, self-righteous, bloviating statements and posts all over the Internet about how Hillary Clinton is so discriminated against. Cry me a river!

This woman has floated along on her husband’s coattails. Experienced! Only if you give her credit for her husband’s years in office. And what kind of “feminist” takes credit for her husband’s resume? Shouldn’t she do it on her own?

In reality, Clinton’s only served seven years in public office. And her resume of “working for change” includes one year with the Children’s Defense Fund. Most of her working life has been as a corporate attorney, and there are some questions of conflict of interest with that experience. Yet the mainstream media has given her a pass on her resume and tout her “experience” versus a man with nearly 11 years service as an elected official, plus years of public service as a community organizer, civil rights attorney and teacher.

But because she’s a woman, other women refuse to look at her as a person and evaluate her more broadly. I’ve seen post after post by Taylor Marsh, Kathleen Reardon and Roseanne Barr, among others, touting the knee-jerk reaction that everyone is a woman-hater. Can they not comprehend that some of us are choosing to evaluate the candidates based their resumes, experience and skills? That we’re evaluating them as people? That perhaps Hillary being a Clinton is more of a detriment to her candidacy than the fact she’s a woman?

I’m tired of women who want to blame all their troubles on how someone else perceives their gender. I’m a human being.

Being the change

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person – or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” -- Barack Obama

I take this 2008 presidential race personally. Yes, I have chosen to support Barack Obama with my time and money. But let me tell you why.

In June 1998, my family and I came back to Iowa to visit my parents at their farm. During that week, I drove my parents to Nebraska Methodist Hospital Oncology Center for their comprehensive check ups. Mom, who was battling colon cancer, had now developed two tiny spots on her liver. And Dad, who was a five-year survivor of pancreatic cancer, was holding his own, but barely. The long-term outlook for both was not optimistic.

Later that week, my dad and I sat at the picnic table in the backyard talking about what would happen to the farm. He shared his disappointment that Iowa had never developed the economic opportunities to keep his three daughters and one son closer to home. He also mourned the loss of rural culture. That conversation, Dad’s deep disappointment and cracking voice, have stayed with me.

A little more than a year later, Mom and Dad were gone. We spent two years sorting out the estate. My older sisters inherited 80 acres of farm ground, the land where Dad had grown up, now rented and farmed by our cousin. My brother and I (the younger two) inherited the farm and house where we’d grown up. My brother, who was best suited to live here and maintain the place, searched for employment, but ran straight up against all the economic factors Dad lamented. So my husband, a special education teacher, found a job, and we moved almost two years after dad’s death. I was not upset to leave my corporate job behind and concentrate on our kids, then ages one and 13.

I did not anticipate what happened next. Six months after returning to the place of my birth, my neighbors approached me about becoming a write-in candidate for school board. Knowing the abysmal turnout for school board elections, I said, “Sure.” Much to my surprise, I won the election, and the work has been non-stop ever since. (For the record, school board directors are not paid in Iowa.)

In addition to taking on school board leadership, I ended up with leadership roles in my Methodist church and a historic preservation group. The new work included: starting an after-school program at the church, writing and administering grant dollars, helping our school district develop a vision, establishing 501(c)3 status for the preservation group, and on and on. On top of this, my son entered and graduated high school and my daughter went from toddler to elementary school.

Behind it all, though, replaying in my brain was that conversation with Dad. I had returned to this place I love, disappointed to see so little had changed in the 18 years I’d been gone. Decline was the only change. And I was surrounded by people discouraged and confused – too cynical or worn out to fight for change. Many didn’t know where to begin.

Yet I returned at a good time. A few stalwart leaders are building some things here: exploring economic development, opening small businesses, and pooling resources. We’re beginning to show people that, “Yes we can” make a difference, whether it’s picking up the neighborhood or reopening a park. But it’s a battle every day to get people to work for change; to believe it’s possible.

As a community organizer and civil rights attorney, Barack Obama wrestled with these same challenges and barriers on the South Side of Chicago. So for me, it’s exciting to see a national leader, who has lived this experience, speak this truth and ask us to believe in ourselves. Because until we decide to make America a better nation and to work for it, nothing will change.

Taking Hillary at her word

I should have known what was coming when Hillary Clinton announced her intention to run for president. “I’m in it to win it!” she said. And with the Clintons, that means by any means necessary. Which is why I don’t see much difference between Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush.

I know, here it comes. Now I’m a Hillary hater.

Far from it. I voted twice for Bill Clinton, although I had reservations about his support for big business and NAFTA. Personally, my family was able to recover some financially during his tenure in the White House. And I always felt Hillary took way too many hits for being a strong woman.

During the impeachment debacle, I joined Move On because I felt Congress should get on with the people’s business, not the Clinton family’s personal affairs. Now, I’m ready to tell the Clintons, “Move on.”

Why this change? Since becoming a senator, Hillary’s record on key votes has not impressed me. And her inability to admit mistakes, such as voting for the resolution leading to the Iraq War, only serves to remind me of the current occupant of the White House.

As does the Clintons' current behavior on the campaign trail. Lies, innuendo, allegations of voter suppression – all the things we have lived through under George W. Bush.

It simply appalls me. How could a former president and his wife so endanger their own legacy? Do they care about their party and country?

To me, it demonstrates a lack of concern for the people’s needs and the people’s business. “In it to win it” tells me all I need to know. For Bill and Hillary Clinton, the presidency is about them, not me and my family. That’s why Hillary won’t get my vote.

What’s wrong with Hillary?

I keep hearing this question – from the media, pundits and Hillary supporters. And I’ll try to give my perspective, as someone not quite 45 and in the Obama camp.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Hillary. It’s who she associates with and what she represents. It’s her ties to Wal-Mart and her support from Rupert Murdoch – you know, of Fox News.

It’s her fundraising help from Alan Quasha, who helped bail George W. Bush’s failing oil company out by folding it into Harken Energy. She also hosted Ken Lay at the White House. You remember Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron?

It’s her ties to failed healthcare reform, NAFTA, Monica Lewinsky and impeachment proceedings. Yes, it’s her ties to Bill Clinton.

It’s her association with the Iraq War, and like George W., her inability to admit a mistake. It’s her association with the politics of “triangulation.”

It’s her association with James Carville, Bob Shrum, Terry MacAuliffe and all the other Democratic Leadership Council strategists who have consistently lost the Democrats elections with their focus on fundraising and polls over grassroots activism. They’ve got theirs; screw the rest of us. We’re simply votes to be won, not people to be served.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Hillary. I believe she’s a good person, very intelligent and capable. But her time is past. All her ties will lead us straight back to politics as usual.

I want a president who will lead Americans to shared sacrifice and service. Hillary, because of these associations, will only perpetuate old divisions.

If only she and Bill could see it.

Thank you, Mrs. Hoogeveen

As American Education Week (Nov. 11-17) came to a close and I concluded my week at the Iowa Association of School Boards Delegate Assembly and Convention this year, I was steeped in memories of 8^th Grade Social Studies.

That year, I was blessed to study American history and civics under Mrs. Lila Hoogeveen. She had taught my sister, Linda, art, and she had been my first grade teacher – the wonderful lady who rescued my new doll, bringing it to my home when I’d left it at school. Somehow, Mrs. Hoogeveen knew I’d be distressed.

So I was expecting an invigorating year. Mrs. Hoogeveen was obviously an accomplished teacher. And she was known among middle school students for her signature project – the Constitutional Convention of the Continental Congress.

A masterpiece of integrated instruction, this activity included a homework assignment to make a powdered wig to wear while the Congress was in session; a reenactment of the Congress’ agenda to create a Constitution for the United States; and ongoing personal journals, written in the voice of the characters we were assigned.

The entire process modeled democracy in a way which still resonates with me. The hours we delegates spent arguing our positions demonstrated powerfully the difficulty of our founding fathers’ work. We could not adjourn until we completed a Constitution. And not surprisingly, ours did not match the Constitution developed by the real Continental Congress. We learned via experience that democracy depends greatly on the people who participate.

The long hours of discourse and disagreement taught us the hard work that is democracy. And I find myself revisiting that experience as I work at the school board table and as I see our nation prepare for the 2008 elections. Too few people get involved; too few people discuss policies and events; too few people communicate with their representatives.

Although it wasn’t always pretty, Mrs. Hoogeveen’s Constitutional Convention modeled how democratic government should work. And it’s a lesson I’m coming to appreciate more all the time.

So thank you, Mrs. Hoogeveen, for teaching about democracy in way that stuck.