Letters to the Editor

• Salon Priorities: some nominations

  [Read the article: All together now]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  The drama and the pageantry of the primaries are finally over. Thank you, Salon for giving it closure.

  Now, as so many letter writers seem to be saying: LET'S MOVE ON. It's not that we don't care about Obama or Clinton and aren't easily sucked into the psychodrama of our projections. One glance at the letters tells us this will continue as long as there's still a bit of sizzle left in the pan.

  But there are more important things and, as we've been told by everybody from the leading candidates to the editors here, this is a "historic" election where the stakes are too high.

  So I'd like to nominate some topics for reportage and discussion that are NOT about the personalities involved and NOT about the horse race:

  • Let's discuss how we're going to build a winning coalition committed to a comprehensive Apollo-style mission for renewable energy, energy independence and decreased carbon emissions. It's a given that Barack Obama's worlds better than McCain on this. But the bar for success needs to be a hell of a lot higher than "better than McCain." What's the Obama agenda, the Democrats agenda? What's the Big Idea we can now start getting behind? Because we human beings very seriously need a plan.

  • If health care is so terribly important, why are we not dissecting the plans being put forth, challenging them on their weaknesses and, most importantly, discussing how we are going to pass such monumental legislation in such a divided and easily distracted body politic? What's the plan? Why not shine a light on those in Congress who are most likely to dig their heels in with the insurance lobby? Better yet, let's find out who has credible primary opponents worth taking a gander at?

  • Our civil liberties have long been in danger and yet the public and the media remain complacent. One key reason for this is a lack of accountability. What do we demand Obama and the Democrats prioritize in terms of a restoration of our Constitutional rights, checks and balances and the rule of law? Why isn't there a Writ of Particulars of every damn thing we are owed - principles whose only cost is having some spine and spending some political capital? If telecom immunity is not the line in the sand which must not be crossed, I for one, want to know what is? Half the country is working like hell to get this guy elected and - thank God the citizenry is at least slightly more awake than usual. But what are we demanding in the "change"?

  • When are we going to get true electoral reform? After the patchwork craziness of the primaries and the very tragic lessons of Florida and Ohio, how can we enter into the "most consequential election of our times" without even a PLAN for true electoral reform? The potential agenda here is long but it's vital if we're ever going to see sustained "change we can believe in" - primary reform, the Electoral College, verifiable and consistent balloting, consistent recount procedures, enfranchisement of the poor and ex-felons and, not the least of it, true public financing of elections. Are we really going to wait for another train wreck before we tackle this?

  • The Parties: are we going to get sucked into petty bickering about the merit and consequences of third parties or is it possible for Salon to cover two related topics that will educate and engage its readers rather then putting us through a repeat spin cycle? They are; how can ordinary citizens reform the Democratic Party? Who has the power and how can the positive changes we've seen become institutionalized and more transparent? Second, let's take the Green Party. Great idea and yet we are given zero sense of what their actual agenda is and how they think they can institute it. Why not scratch below the Naderite surface and find out what's happening on the local level? This party has been around most of my life and yet I have yet to hear about ANY local success or achievements. Does that mean they don't exist? That the party's putting all of it's focus on quixotic quest every four years? We know the ideals but what's the political agenda? With some transparency, maybe we'll actually get a bit of competition for ideas between the Democrats and the Greens.

  • Identity politics. There's been a wealth of coverage of this in this all so fascinating year - but it's unfortunately been focused entirely on two singular personalities - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. As fascinating as each is, no two people can or should be the prisms through which we look at such monumental concerns as racism and sexism. (And badgering Joan is even more tiresome and irrelevant.) How about a bit of an oral history of say 10 political pioneers who happened to be women, African American, Asian Americans, Latino/a, gay etc. Seriously, perhaps a way we can get past the attachment to our most recent wounds and obsessions would be to get some historical perspective from the many many heroes in our midst. We've made such progress but, as much as I admire them, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been the BENEFICIARIES of others' hard work - and they well know it. Why don't we?

  There. That was off the top of my head.

  I bet that the editors at Salon can come up with something more impressive than me. If not, there's NO POINT in having an alternative press if we can't get past the politics of personality and the same old horse race crap. Of course who wins in November matters - but we cannot assume that there's a governing agenda that's got a chance in hell of passing if we don't refine our public discourse and start addressing what really matters. Let's sink ourselves into that "what" while we've still got some leverage over the candidates.

  Thoughts?

  Permalink Saturday, June 28, 2008 01:15 PM