That BELIEF that whatever is wrong can be fixed… that we have a first amendment because the basic tenets of democracy say that if ALL the ideas are allowed a fair hearing, the majority will be able to recognize the right ones from the wrong ones. That's the core belief of our political system: the principle that we are all fundamentally rational, and can therefore RECOGNIZE the right thing to do, and that we are all fundamentally good and, having recognized it, will choose to DO IT.
It's antithetical to Millerism. It says the system works. It says that at the end of the day, we will choose not to blow up the other boat to save our own skins. There was an American Indian activitist on Colbert who mentioned that while McCain has the better record for the Native American, most NAs support Obama because, unlike other groups, they put what is better for the country before what is better for their particular niche. Wow. That's it. That's the ballgame.
I have mentioned privately how The Dark Knight movie is not a defense of warrantless wiretapping, the Patriot Act, or anything else - it is a mechanism to examine those issues. It is a hero mythos doing exactly what hero mythos is meant to do. When Batman as a hero legend hasn't been FUBARED as he is in the comics, when we know who he is and the ideals he encapsulates, then we can use him to work through whatever it is we're facing at this point in our lives. Specifically, what we are prepared to do in the name of safety, and what principles are simply more important.
That movie gave me back a lot of the hope that DC Comics beat out of me in the last 10 years.
Now we have this election. We've messed up huge in this country, and the whole world knows it. Today, they're going to see us going to the polls and choosing where we go next. There has been a record turnout so far. New voters registered, early voters… 5 o'clock this morning in Nowhere, North Carolina there were already 2 people in line. I remember noticing something similar in the early Democratic primary. There was a sense in New Hampshire that our Democracy is broken and by God we are going to FIX IT.
I've come to distrust hope, I really have. There are only so many beatings it can take, and if you risk its dying on you, you'll be spending the rest of your days in Millertown.
Knowing that, I see the voting going on, I see this in Javi's blog this morning, and I can't quite seem to keep Hope locked safe in its room where it will be safe.
It's election day in America. Here's hoping.
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