We Are the Government; So if Government Sucks...

I've read several posts in the past few weeks about the BP disaster and inevitably, they address the issue of blame. The catchall statement is that we are all guilty for BP's swath of environmental destruction because of our dependency on oil.

I understand the rejection of the mantle of guilt by those who have favored environmental policies and who have never supported deregulation of the oil drilling industry, but I have been disturbed by the trend to disavow any responsibility and blame it all on the failings of government. The litany goes something like this: the government has failed to promote the development of economically priced electric cars, or other environmentally sound vehicles; I would buy such a car if it were available at a reasonable price.

I have been intrigued for decades by this tendency to speak of government as if it were some autonomous beast, making decisions to control our existence. We are the government. We may not always get the people that we choose into office but nonetheless we are responsible for government. We decide how much we want to be involved and overall, we do a pretty sorry job of it. Voting is a precious right that more of us choose not to exercise in any given election than those of us who do. Campaigning is hard work and takes a massive number of volunteers, but most of us have never worked on a local or national campaign for any candidate. Every citizen has a right to lobby elected officials but most of us have never lobbied state or federal elected officials on any issue. However, we are far too willing to insist that big bad government is the source of all societal ills. The right insists that it is too much government that is the problem, and the left expresses that the government fails to take the lead in promoting the common good.

Are all of us guilty for the oil spill? I don't think so but do we share the responsibility? Oh yes. We share a collective responsibility for the common good; it is our refusal to step up to the plate and accept this responsibility that leaves us constantly bemoaning the failures of government. We can't fix anything because it's not our fault; it's the government's fault, " I drive a small car that gets good mileage so I'm not responsible for our over dependence on oil." Poppycock!
 
Our biggest failure is our inability to accept individual responsibility to do all that we possibly can to promote the common good. Who is responsible for fixing all of these problems if we sit on our collective asses denying responsibility for the arc of ills that bedevil us because we personally didn't vote for GWB or some other incompetent leader? It's not about what you didn't do, the question to ask yourself is what have I done, and what am I willing to do to improve this world that I share with the rest of creation?
 
Merely sitting back and shaking your head in disgust and dismay is not a solution. Announcing which candidates you didn't support is not a solution. Declaring that you personally recycle and drive a small car is not a solution. If you aren't actively and consistently taking steps to effect change, then you're useless and all of your disgust with the status quo is self-indulgent.
 
Get involved! Join organizations that advocate for change and become an activist. Know who your federal and state legislators are. Call, write, email and let them know what you support and what you are against. Collect signatures and send petitions from voters who agree with you. Make certain to be informed on all issues in elections and vote! Volunteer to pass out information, drive people to the polls, get the word out about the issues. Effecting change is hard work but nothing has ever been changed by declaring your lack of personal responsibility and bemoaning the inadequacies of government.
 
Government is only as good as we make it. So what have you done lately to contribute to the common good?

Generational Voting

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I intend to drag my young child out of bed & to drag said child to the polls to stand in line to vote. I warned said child tonight about the morrow’s itinerary & was asked about breakfast – we will eat it in line, I said. And make sure your game-boy battery is charged.

Said child is off from school tomorrow for the election so, no doubt, other children in my state will be standing in line with their parents as well. And no doubt they – like me – will warn their children about behaving & being patient. I explained the importance of voting to my child – telling said child that I was going to vote no matter how long it took. Because IT WAS IMPORTANT.

Said child voted with me once before. In the primaries. About a month ago when I put an Obama bumper sticker on my car said child was curious about why it was a different name than the one I voted for in the primaries. I was delighted to TRY and explain the situation to my 7 year old. Whilst explaining the process of electing a president from primary to final election I made sure to oh so subtly emphasize the fact that the person mom voted for the first time was a SHE but that SHE did not win so now mom was voting for Obama because he was her next favorite choice. I refrained from mentioning his race – figuring he’d get that eventually.

Hopefully – in time – he will understand his mother’s heady experience during the primaries of having a choice between a woman & a black man. Honestly – I thought the day would NEVER come. All day I have found myself thinking about MLK, Harriet Tubman, & others looking down from above & thinking to themselves – yes, it was all worth it. May we PLEASE as an electorate tomorrow deliver for MLK & HT & so many others that have struggled & gone before. May the dream be a reality.

Hopefully my child will remember tomorrow’s historic election experience. And carry it forth into a future of responsible civic duty by voting.

And what parents do politically – or not – matters. The only campaign sign my parents ever put in our yard when we were growing up was for George McGovern. Remember him? I remember this – though at the time it would take awhile for the significance of this to sink into my young mind. I remember my mother being glued to the Watergate hearings – absolutely glued - refusing to talk to children who interrupted the hearings. I have never to this day seen my mother so intent & ANGRY.

These things I remember.

Tomorrow these same parents – my son’s grandparents - will be heading to the polls – my father in a wheel chair. You couldn’t keep him away from voting if you tried. How will they cast their votes? Always democrat.

So on to tomorrow – hopefully planting the seed for another generation of voting in my family tree. A family tree that includes a black sister. My said child’s godmother.

I posted a sign on my office door warning students that I might be late for office hours – because I was voting. Yes – it’s that important – even for people like me who live in a state so red that both Obama & McCain wrote it off months ago. Obama probably won’t win here. But he will still get my vote. I will be counted because – it does matter.

And may we all wake up to an Obama presidency Wednesday morning.