Bluto's Speech

From a friend:

“Not saying that this is "right" but I suppose I'm less of an idealist, less out of the box, more work within the system that we have. If such a political movement could take place, it would be great!”



My Response:

The political movement has already started. Check out Coffee Party U.S.A. It seems to be one option for sane dialogue and non-partisan discussions.



If the system includes the halls and meeting rooms of Congress and the White House; if the system includes the executive, judicial, and legislative branches; if the system includes our constitution; ----I agree that we can still work within the system while thinking outside the box. It's broke and we have to put all of our heads to together and get it fixed.



Think about this. If there was a Tea Partier a full-blown conservative Republican, and a dedicated Progressive Democrat in the Apollo 13 module, they would only be thinking about how to survive so that they could see their families again.



They would listen to every idea that was proposed, debate their options as calmly as possible (have to save oxygen), and come up with a plan that worked just like the actual astronauts did in April 1970.

Good ideas (life-saving ideas) trumped any rivalries or petty resentments among the crew. Their mission was more important than their egos or anything else.



Why do I feel like Bluto making the speech to the rest of the Animal House frat right before they fought back against the Dean for being put on “double secret probation”?



Anyhow, back to the Apollo 13. It's kind of like that for us right now. We are all in that module and we damned well better listen for good ideas and give them a shot. And if the first good idea doesn't work then we try the next one. It’s a matter of life and death for us, also. But we can do this. We can hear the good ideas if we all listen with our intellects AND with our hearts. And I honestly don't give a rat's ass if the great ideas come from Tea Partiers, Conservatives, Liberals, or Moderates.



I just want us to save ourselves. I do not accept that there is nothing we can do about the 1.5 million homeless children tonight in this country. I know we can fix it. Someone in this country has the solution.



I don't believe it is right that people I know and love have to live without health insurance in order to pay the rent or the mortgage or buy shoes for their kids. Someone in this country has the answer.



There is a way for corporations to make a fair profit, pay fair taxes, and create jobs in this country. It is not necessary for corporations to wring their employees for one more drop of productivity with no more compassion than one would extend to a dish rag. Someone knows how to change this so that families have time to be families AND to be productive employees who work for profit-generating companies. Someone in this country has the plan.



Kris--you are an intelligent, politically aware person. Think about how sad it is that you wrote "I suppose I'm less of an idealist, less out of the box, more work within the system that we have." This is NOT a slam and it is NOT meant to be condescending. I swear it’s not.



It genuinely saddens me. If bright, politically aware, respectful, and kind people like you see ideals as things to be abandoned while accepting the status quo (when the status quo is corrupt, controlled by money and those who use it to buy the attention of our elected officials), that is sad and it should be a wake-up call for all of us.



Being idealistic is not a bad thing. It is a GOOD thing. We can make positive changes but we have to stop using the word CHANGE as a noun and start using it as VERB. Maybe we could start using “Transcendence” or we could talk about "bringing empathy and fairness" into every interaction, transaction, legislative activity, political debate, etc.



No more screaming. No more bumper sticker philosophies. No more blue states and red states.



Let's refuse to fall for the simple parlor tricks that have dazzled us and confused us for too long.



When a politician, a CEO or a CFO, a President, the head of the Federal Reserve or a Lobbyist tells us to watch his or her right hand while pulling the rabbit out of the hat, let us look instead at what the left hand is doing. That should generate some ideas!



We have become mesmerized and we have been turned against each other by those who benefit from it. If we are fighting each other, our attention is not on those who are really making the decisions that are destroying the Middle Class in this country.



The real decision makers in this country are horrified that we might stop fighting each other long enough to look up and catch a glimpse of one of them staring down at us with a bemused smirk from the balcony of one of their mansions. We can turn this around. We really don't have a choice, do we?



You ARE an idealist, Kris. We all are. We've just been kind of sleeping for a while. See you when we all wake up, man.