Innocence

[hootinholler]

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.


I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

Moving words indeed. Since the moment I heard them they've been percolating. Yes what a notion. What a goal to strive for. What implications should this grand and comforting remark have?

Let me give you some background. I am slightly older than President Obama, from a very different upbringing. I was born when Ike was a lame duck. At 9 I was living with my single mom in Ligonier, a small town in the Laurel Mountains of Pa. east of Pittsburgh. Gramma and Pap lived down the street and we were Republicans. My friends and I had the run of the town on our bikes, sandlot baseball in the backyards, forts, cowboys N indians, and of course war. The town featured a National Guard Armory, complete with tanks and other things to capture the minds of youth becoming aware of the traditions of our country. I recall an exercise that used the high school students as a mob for the guard to herd down the street and corral them at the football field and prove they were able to handle a bunch of damned uppity hippies if they ever rolled into town in their VW micro-buses to have some kind of love in on The Diamond.

I learned about the rule of law where the horse thief gets the fair trial before he's strung up. Where the family lore reached back to colonial times in that very spot where the Frenchies and the Mohawks attacked General Gates in his campaign to take Fort Duquesne. A proud history where a distant uncle served as president of the continental congress (although my later research is inconclusive). A double Great Grandfather who took a long walk all around Virginia Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1860's. I learned truths about our country, our character as a people. There were things that were certain, like only the bad guys torture their captives. You must protect other's rights to protect your own. That man's activity was killing the earth.

I maintained a lot of that innocence into the middle of the last decade, until the Abu Ghraib incident caught my attention. The stories of rendition, the CIA officers tried in absentia in Spain. I'm sure you can add your own instances of human outrage inflicted with the utmost disregard for our traditions or laws.

And hearing those words above, brought me back to imagine in the context of my youth. I would so love to be able to set these things aright, to live up to my own expectations of my country when I was 9. But Sir, it is beyond my capability to bring those who would torture to justice. It is beyond my capabilities to stop spending our national treasure to benefit the corporate class. It is beyond my capabilities to stop manufacturing the mortal enemies of our country that, in the eyes of that long past innocence, should be the beacon of hope to the oppressed. It is beyond my capabilities to effect that sort of change, I thought that's why we hired you, Mr President.

-Hoot

[johnroshan]

1. Was there ever a time when such values mattered?

I want to know if it was all a lie. Did it all exist only in people's perception?

[hootinholler]

2. Personally I think it is always the time for such values...

But then I tend towards idealism.

-Hoot

[emilyg]

3. Yes. k/r

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear hootinholler...

THIS sentence, this one, cried out to me...It is that effective. Thank you!

It is beyond my capabilities to effect that sort of change, I thought that's why we hired you, Mr President.

Recommended.

:patriot:

[hootinholler]

5. My dear kind soul CaliforniaPeggy...

I throw so many bricks into GD, I never know how they will be received.

Your compliment means much to my mental state right now, thank you for helping me to feel the effort was worthwhile. I think perhaps I was too long winded for many to read that far.

I must be off to bed now.

-Hoot

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. You did really well...

Not too long, not IMHO...

Sweetest of dreams...

:hug:

[hootinholler]

7. Kick for the lunch crowd n/t

[Catherina]

8. Rec'd! n/t

[hootinholler]

9. Thank you! n/t

[H2O Man]

10. Recommended.

Well said.

One of the sad truths is that even in that era, when belly-buttons were only knee-high and Mayberry was real, the US had torture programs. It's just that no one talked about them. But they existed at that time, and continued even under the Kennedy administration.

[hootinholler]

11. Thank you

I have a high regard for your essays, and thus, your compliment.

Perhaps I should have put more effort into the title, invoking Mayberry or Matt Dillon or other heroes of the black and white era.

On the existence of torture at the time, yes I am aware it existed at the time. The thing is that we don't deal with it within the construct of lawful activity. It seems to me that if the ends truly justify the means, to be true to our national ideals, the torturer should be tried, convicted and pardoned.

-Hoot

[H2O Man]

12. Few people know

that now, and surely far, far fewer were aware of it in that era. What amazes me is that people DO know that the US has an entrenched policy of torture today, and one that is not limited to "bad guys from distant lands." Yet it is not resulting in widespread outrage. Those who do not strongly oppose must, by the very nature of the situation, begin to accept it. And it is this acceptance of the outrageous that offends us. I do believe that the residents of Mayberry -- the world you and I grew up in -- would have said, "No! Not in my name!"

[hootinholler]

13. I'm surprised

That given your sociological background you of all people here would be drawn to the romantic vision of human nature. That was the portrait of America portrayed by The Duke et. al. that put the cover on the simmering pot. In retrospect, I'm surprised that pot hasn't quite boiled over by now.

I'm not sure that people even connect to a personal responsibility on the subject, even here in this paragon of progressivism. I certainly have shouted not in my name as have you and a number of others, but not nearly enough.

-Hoot

[H2O Man]

14. Point taken.

I've wrote about my joining the effort in Sidney, NY, where the Town Supervisor made national news by insisting that the remains of Islamic people be removed from one of the town's cemeteries. For a period of time, a good number of citizens were outraged, and lended support to the effort to support the Sufi settlement. But that interest has faded.

Even among those still active -- and, as you know, a Tea Party activist in office can cause lots and lots of problems -- there is a lack of willingness to step up to the plate. In some instances, it is perhaps understandable: a man approached me after a public meetinglast week, and told me that he wants to do something more .... specifically, he wants to write a letter-to-the-editor to a couple local papers. But he said he does not know how. Of course, he does know how, but he lacks the confidence. So I will assist him. Building up a person's self-confidence in this context is about the same as teaching a youngster to ride a bike.

It's among those who are already capable that I find more frustration. One fellow was very interested in speaking to reporters last fall, to say that the Islamaphobia was hurting businesses like his own. Now that this has passed, he no longer is participating in our efforts. Another fellow who talked a lot about running for office has withdrawn without any explanation, merely saying he is not going to run for office, and that we should ask the current supervisor to run again. The chip on his shoulder is located between his ears.

Yet I am still confident, and take a positive approach. You may be right, that I have an unrealistic, romantic vision of human nature. I'd like to think it's a belief in human potential. We sure as hell see more than enough of the negative potential!

[hootinholler]

16. And well rebutted.

My comment was not in any way intended to chastise, but simply express wonder that you can still go there after all you have dealt with. Perhaps I shouldn't be that surprised, since I too go there often, but I haven't dealt with things you have. I think perhaps I am simply wired that way.

It takes courage to stand in support of those who are wronged. Something of which I wish I had more, or at least the resources to allow me to stand taller in the quest for a humane society.

-Hoot

[H2O Man]

17. Oh, I know.

I understand that. It's a question that I ask myself, from time to time. I've talked with a few DUers (and some family & friends) that I'm conflicted by the way that some of the people in Sidney have identified me as, and I hesitate to use the word, a leader. And that, I'm not. I do not look to leaders, nor have any desire whatsoever to pretend that I am one. I want people to be their own leader. Don't pass that personal responsibility onto me. I can't do that, and couldn't say that I'd be interested, even if I could.

My wife, who is my best friend, lover, and psychiatrist, tells me that I really have no choice, as long as I'm involved in things such as the conflict in Sidney. So I'm always questioning myself, far more than I question other people -- friend or foe.

[hootinholler]

18. I'm unaware of your help in Sydney

Or even the situation there. Perhaps I'm not paying attention well enough.

If I find myself in upstate New York, I'll be sure to let you know, I'd love to sit by your pond and share a beverage. If you find yourself in DC, please let me know as well.

Oh, BTW, let your therapist she's done a wonderful job with you, I'm envious.

-Hoot

[H2O Man]

20. It's the bit

that Keith Olbermann, etc, reported on last fall. I'm from Sidney (many years ago), and people there contacted me to ask for my assistance. The Town Supervisor is a Tea Party activist; two of the four board members are, as well (his step-son and his best friend). They hate all Muslims; believe DWI laws are "unconstitutional," and are damaging county services (fired one lady); want to close the community's Boy & Girls Club ('it serves hoodlums who will end up on welfare, anyhow"); and have some very real problems with book-keeping: money has "disappeared."

His "best friend" was one of my high school classmates when I introduced the case of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. He wrote Rubin to say he could tell by looking at pictures that he was a murderer,who belonged in prison. He hasn't changed over the years.

And yes, definitely, if you are in NY, or I am in DC, we must get together. I'd like that. My home & property is always open to you & yours.

[hootinholler]

21. Sydney, NEW YORK!

:rofl:

I was totally thinking Oz!

Yes, I remember now. I'll blame the aging synapses.

-Hoot

[Uncle Joe]

15. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, hootinholler.

[hootinholler]

19. I'm glad you were able to find it,

Thank you Uncle Joe.

-Hoot

[hootinholler]

22. One for the dinner crowd.

I'm beginning to think this is not a popular subject. Perhaps I should try again with a different headline.

-Hoot