Did Rodney King ever get his question answered?

Do you remember Rodney King, the guy in LA who was videotaped as cops used him as a pinata? There was a riot in LA when the cops were acquitted of all charges, and Rodney was famously quoted as saying "Can't we just all get along?"

A lot of my columns ask more or less the same thing. Haven't really heard much in the way of answers. In this weekend's column, I want to know -- I really DO want to know -- why it often seems we can't. We're still fighting over such stupid stuff. Would it help to understand why?

I keep thinking so.

How to make a Martian's jaw drop

There are lots of ways, actually, and they're all around us.  I'm calling them SHTIPOOFs.  A lot of them have to do with cars, so that's where I chose to start the inquiry in this week's column.   Enjoy.

Guns make us crazy

You may not know about Barack Obama's agenda to take everyone's guns away.  The Oregonians who are hip to this have been flooding gun shops to stock their arsenals before he takes the oath of office.

Where's this headed?  And can we even talk about it without foaming at the mouth?

 I'm trying to find out here.

Whose problem is hunger?

This isn't a theoretical question.  The economic meltdown that's worrisome and nerve-wracking for most of us is becoming life-threatening to more and more people in our own country.  In an earlier newspaper column I asked readers to be honest about whether or not they think this is their problem.

Most of them answered that they do.  They even have some answers that worth thinking about.  See what you think.

"Yes, we can." But will we?

The clearest thing Barack Obama said election night was "This victory alone is not the change we seek.  It is only the chance for us to make that change."

If you want this election to be more that an isolated feel-good moment, spend 3-plus minutes with this insightful Youtube video.  Then visit the Just 6 Dollars site to join a national effort that can make change more than a campaign slogan.

"Yes, we can."  But will we?  This is a crucial first step.

Immensely Possible Abundance

In just about thirty hours, people all over America will crawl into sleeping bags in mall parking lots in order to be first in line when big-box stores open at 5am on the morning after Thanksgiving.  I am, of course, not making this up.

You know what?  There's another way.

Not the biggest surprise

We're hungry. Where I live, and increasingly around America. We're getting hungrier.

Nobody paying attention to the big picture right now can be too surprised. What I asked this week was this: Is mushrooming hunger any of our business? And if so, how do we plan to take care of business?

A chance to cut through the bogus polarization

Obama's reminded us every way he can that he's not Superman.  Hearing the bliss of the last week, I'm not sure we've fully heard him.  He aptly pointed out last week that what we've won is not change, but the chance to create change.

Here's what I wonder this week in my Saturday column: do we have the chance to bust the paralyzing myth that this country's hopelessly paralyzed?  

Does Joe the Plumber still matter?

Yeah, I think he does. Barack Obama was talking about him the other night, too, though not by name.

So I decided to write Joe a letter....

UNAFRAID's triggering some unafraid conversations

I know, I know, it's been a while.  Mostly I've been focusing on getting UNAFRAID, which you can sample online, out into the world. 

What I especially like is how UNAFRAID has led to juicy conversations about how leadership and citizenship are joined at the hip-- if we want great things from the first, we better bring great things to the second.  But how do we do that?  I'm so glad you asked.  I was on a great 

panel at the Book Group Expo last weekend that nailed it.  Hope you enjoy viewing it.

Welcome to Unafraid the Blog

This marks a pivot point for Really Taking America Back, a merger, really, with the project that's taken most of my energy for months, and will until the election: the launch of UNAFRAID into the world.

UNAFRAID is a particularly powerful vehicle for much of what I have to say about Really Taking America Back. One of the first steps is to remember, despite the powerfully discouraging news around us, that we still can. Another way to say that: a foundational task is to decisively expand our notion of what's possible in politics and public life, to break out of the cynicism that shackles our efforts and hugely serves those who hold power over us today. That's the exact core of As If We Were Grownups, which you see promoted in the right-hand column.


UNAFRAID takes that same thread to a general fiction audience, posing an answer to what Boomers like me have wondered over the last 40 years: how would history have unfolded if JFK had survived Dallas and gone on to serve two full terms in the White House? The plot lets us imagine a leader who is, in his own words, unafraid of the American people.

So if unafraid is the mindset we need from both leaders and citizen/activists (that would be you and me) to Really Take America Back, and if we now have UNAFRAID the book ---excerpts from which you can easily read --- what if we make our interactive discussion UNAFRAID the Blog?

Welcome.

Cockeyed Optimist? "Cockeyed?"

Yes, it's been a while. Changes are underway (oh, really?) that will bring my manias -- really taking America back, boosting citizenship, building common ground, revving up realistic hope -- together in one place. More on that later.

My energy has been going almost fully to pushing Unafraid into the world. Haven't heard about it? It's right here.

Which earned me the tentative title of "cockeyed optimist" on the front page of a Sunday LIFE section in southern Oregon, You know--I've been called worse.

We want it because...well, we just do.

Sometimes we don't get what we want because we don't know exactly why we want it, or how much we want it compared to other things with a claim on our limited resources. Know what I mean? No? Well, this column is a prime example of what that can look like.

OK, so what do they want anyway?

If you're over 45 or so and don't have strong and not-very-comfortable feelings about the social, political, environmental and economic legacy we're leaving to the next generations, then this week's column probably won't speak to you.

There's not much value in beating our breasts and wailing about the raw deal we're passing on. Hearing from younger folks, though, about the support they need as they step up to take on this deeply bruised world -- that's worth our careful attention. This is an important list.

First Obama, then Obubba: Medford's on the map

One week after Barack Obama's flashy mid-March visit, Bill Clinton strolled into our off-the-fast-lane town of Medford. He was at the top of his game at North Medford High, reminding a crowd of a 1000+ and (through the national media) everyone else, that it's not over until it's over.

That's because most of the Democratic superdelegates. When you really start thinking hard about the superdelegates, you get close to the center of what's wrong. That's what I did this week, and this is what came out.

Obama's stated but unheard message, #2

This column is mostly a shortened, op-ed version of the previous post, noting how much Obama is talking about REALLY Taking America Back and wondering if we're listening.

What do you think?

And most importantly: should it be "Obamamania" or "Obamania?"

Using Obama: A Context for Immense Possibilities Radio

Barack Obama blew through our little town of Medford last weekend, dishing up hope and an unexpected opportunity to talk about how my new venture, Immense Possibilities Radio, fits into the mix. I accepted an offer to write a long-form article for the fascinating Ashland periodical Sentient Times to announce IPR's launch into the world. The link between Obama's visit and IPR came to me at the end of his Medford speech, when after listing great goals he said “That’s what can happen when YOU set the agenda. When democracy works the way it should. It requires you to be involved. It’s not enough just to vote…you and I together, we can change the country and change the world!”

What struck me was how often we've heard that in stump speeches and how little we act on it. That's exactly what I want IPR to take on, and that informed the essay. See what you think.

Some brilliant specifics on what we've been talking about

Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun Magazine has hit it out of the park again, putting into very clear terms what leadership that fosters true, necessary citizenship would look like. Take a look at this excerpt from one of his recent postings.

I highly recommend Tikkun, not least because of its laser clarity on the Middle East mess.

The Real Reason We Have to Take Names

People in my town argue over whether those who post comments on the newspaper's public forum should have to identify themselves. Some say that would put one more hurdle in the way of free expression, which is in short supply as it is. Others say posters would be less brazenly obnoxious, and the level of discourse would rise, if everyone gave had to pin a real name to the post.

I think something more serious is at stake here. That's what Tidings column #4 is about.

Where's Square One?

My third Tidings column admits that I might have overshot by assuming that most people are ready for a kind of Golden Rule of Discourse -- receive others' attitudes and perspectives as you would have yours accepted, grasshopper. I leaned on the practical, not the moral, imperatives for treating people right. I thought that could work as Square One for raising the abysmal level of discourse.

I may have been wrong. Your take is especially welcome on this one.

By Request: A People's Manifesto for Community

On an earlier post ("Selling Common Ground," October 20, 2007) you'll find what's becoming my stump speech to just about any civic group that wants to give me a microphone. Tonight I gave a version of it to the brand-new Medford (Oregon) City Club, a group on exactly the right track for Taking America Back.

In it I read a short manifesto about investing in community, a modest little document that I'd like, oh, about 200 million Americans to sign. During the Q&A I was asked to post it online. So that's what I'm doing here.

Does the same thing drive us all crazy?

In my second Daily Tidings column I wonder whether everyone goes on tilt when his/her motives and intentions are dissed. Or is it just me?

Plus...an old Walt Disney memory from almost a half-century ago. Isn't it strange what we remember?

The Columnist Returns

This may blow my cover and reveal me as a Baby Booming Luddite, but for all the ease of blogging I sure enjoy reading and writing op-ed columns. I've had the chance to write maybe 300 of them over the years, and they're just plain fun.

I've recently been given the central space on the op-ed page of every weekend edition (Saturday only) of The Daily Tidings in Ashland, Oregon. I'm going to use it primarily not to opine but to explore why the prevailing level of public discourse is so lame, and what we might be able to do about it. And I'm going to run it like a talk radio show. The ongoing name of the column, in fact, is "Talk Newspaper."

The first one ran last three days go on Saturday, and this is what it said. I'll post future columns after I write them. Comments always welcome.

A Valentine's Day Challenge

I LOVE my friend Steve "Swami Beyondananda" Bhaerman's newsletter, Beyondanews. It's trenchant, smart and funny. In his latest issue he relates a story that I find barely believable...but believable. I figure if it's even one-quarter accurate, it has clues we'd better pay attention to.
It goes like this:

In her book, Not By the Sword, Kathryn Watterson tells the story of Michael Weisser, a Jewish cantor, and his wife Julie. They had just moved to their new home in Lincoln, Nebraska in June 1991, when their peaceful unpacking was interrupted by an ominous threatening phone call.

Shortly after, they received a package of racist flyers with a card announcing, "The KKK is watching you, scum." The Weissers called the police, who told them it looked like the work of one Larry Trapp, a self-described Nazi and Grand Dragon of the local Ku Klux Klan. Trapp, in fact, had been linked to fire bombings of African-American homes in the area and a center for Vietnamese refugees. The 44-year-old Trapp was wheelchair bound and suffering from diabetes, yet was a leader of the white supremacist movement in the area. At the time, he was making plans to bomb B'nai Jeshuran, the synagogue where Weisser was cantor.

Julie Weisser was frightened and even infuriated by the hate mail, but she also felt a spark of compassion for the man in the wheel chair who lived by himself in a one-room apartment. She decided to send Trapp a letter every day with passages from the Proverbs. When Michael saw that Trapp had launched a TV series spewing hatred on the local cable network, he called the Klan hotline and kept leaving messages: "Larry, why do you hate me? You don't even know me."

At one point, Trapp actually answered the phone and Michael, after identifying himself asked him if he needed a hand in doing his grocery shopping. Trapp refused -- politely -- but a process of rethinking began to stir in him. For a while he was two people -- the one still spewing hateful invective on TV, the other talking with Michael Weisser on the phone saying, "I can't help it. I've been talking like that all my life."

One night, Michael Weisser asked his congregation to pray for someone who is "sick from the illness of bigotry and hatred." That night, Trapp did something he'd never done before. The swastika rings he wore on both hands began to itch, so he took them off. The next day he called the Weissers and said, "I want to get out, but I don't know how." Michael suggested that he and Julie drive to Trapp's apartment so they could "break bread together." Trapp hesitated, then agreed.

At the apartment, Trapp broke into tears and handed the Weissers his swastika rings. In November, 1991 he resigned from the Klan, and later wrote apologies to those groups he had wronged. On New Year's Eve, Larry Trapp found out he had less than a year to live and that same night, the Weissers invited him to move in with them. Their living room became his bedroom and he told them, "You are doing for me what my parents should have done for me."

Bedridden, Trapp began to read about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and learn about Judaism. On June 5, 1992 he converted to Judaism -- at the very synagogue he had once planned to blow up. Julie quit her job to care for him in his last days, and when Larry Trapp died on September 6th of that year, it was with Michael and Julie holding his hands.

This is one extraordinary story, perhaps the exception that proves the rule. I'm willing to bet there are thousands and thousands of other stories like this one. Remember, forgiveness doesn't excuse or condone a hateful, violent act. Rather, it releases us from what has been done to us, and frees our emotional energy to move life forward. This seemingly "selfless" act is actually quite selfish, only on a higher level.

Maybe, then, "higher selfishness" is the way of the future.

A smart new use of citizen wisdom

There's a new project in Oregon that could be the prototype of a great TAB tool. It's called the Citizens Initiative Review (CIR) and it could help make direct democracy work better.

We're seriously attached to citizen ballot initiatives in Oregon as a way to reclaim some governing power. But they can be crude instruments, subject to a lot of deception, covert agendas and (supposedly) unforeseen consequences.

Can citizen-initiated lawmaking work more like it's supposed to? Here's a letter I just got that starts to explain CIR and the group behind it. See if you're intrigued by what they're up to.