thomascwaters.com

I am just sick that I’m not in Pittsburgh right now, in the middle of Netroots Nation. If there was a way to be in two places at the same  time, I need to know about it. How much I would have given, to be at Bill Clinton’s speech to watch real democracy in action. Or is that interaction? A blogger, Lane Hudson,  was preparing a question to ask Clinton, until it became clear that there would not be a time for questions. So he interrupted the speaker. Clinton made a dismissive comment about the recent town hall events, but in great democratic form, he asked the blogger to sit and he spoke directly to the questions, and tied it back into his speech overall. In the end there was no element of it which was like the republican orchestrated craziness at town hall events. And another highly respected person who has spoken emphatically about being against DADT and DOMA.

Clinton laid most of the blame for DADT on the activist community, saying that we didn’t give him any support in Congress, which may or may not be true. I tend to think it was, and it highlights how much our civil rights issues can not and should not be left up to the President alone. Almost like little children, we so often seek out the “person in charge at the top” and then think if we can get them to say the magic words, everything will be OK. but the reality is, our strategy must shift dramatically if we are going to achieve our goals of equal rights for everyone. There must continue to be a push to get the person at the top, on board, but the primary focus must sift in big ways to the legislative arms at all levels of government. This is why having everyone who supports equal rights contact their representatives and senators is crucial to any legislation.

Why is the average person so unwilling to get involved and helping to change our system to meet te needs of all?

I’m now off to learn about databases, and will continue wishing I were there in Pittsburgh.