For some time I've been searching for a single image that simultaneous encapsulates and gelds the Neo Con approach to politics. This morning watching Oberman's Special Comment on FISA, I came up with a possible solution. I realized that in simple terms, the Emperor has no clothes.
The Neo Con approach is all about deception and misdirection. It capitalizes on our cultural desire for the quick, Cliff Notes summary. Some examples:
1. Want to pass legislation that will aid and abet corporations who use practices that taint the atmosphere? Simple, call it the "Clean Air Act". You can then simultaneously serve your corporate masters while touting your environmental record. After all, the average voter won't look into the actual legislation or its impact.
2. Your candidate has become a career politician who's position on issues changes with the vagaries of the political breeze the moment he seeks to become President? Paint your opponent as the epitome of these vices. It doesn't matter which candidate actually has the vices, only who the public perceives to possess them.
3. A freshman Senator from the opposition succeeds in putting together a package of Veterans benefits you worked to defeat? No problem, claim credit for spearheading the bipartisan effort.
4. Your candidate has policies that maintain the unpopular status quo? Make a commercial that claims that his presidency will result in all of the goals of a progressive agenda that would appeal to moderates without actually having any policies that will accomplish those goals.
The Neo Con strategy is based on the understanding that much of politics is governing through perception. Control the perception and you can control the populace. We need a sharp pin to help break the bubbles. A shorthand image that cuts through the spin and exposes it quickly with the truth. The Emperor has no clothes.
The Bush/Cheney/McCain doctrine doesn't accomplish what it claims. Because service was never it's goal. It's goal was to survive politically while achieving wealth and power. It preys on the people it purports to serve. So how do we cut to to the heart of the matter when our culture won't listen to a detailed rebuttal? Whenever the Neo Cons start spewing bubbles, get out a pin and point out that the Emperor has no clothes.
Abbott Smith
Redmond, WA
On May 17th, I was one of ~80 men who stood as candidates to become delegates to the National Convention from the 1st CD. Even though I came from one of the smaller delegations, I was honored to be one of the four finalists. I was not selected, but throughout the day and the weeks that have followed, I have received a number of comments thanking me for what I said. Here is the transcript of my one minute speech.
The Hope We Represent
My name is Abbott Smith and I'm from Redmond. Like many of you, I've spent months now working on my first campaign. But today isn’t about me. It isn’t about any of us as individuals. The delegates that we elect today will represent 700,000 Washington voters; their hopes, their dreams and their future. Not our individual pasts. Today isn’t about who gets to go to Denver because of what they’ve done for the campaign or the Democratic Party. Denver isn’t the prize. Our delegates need to help Senator Obama secure the nomination and heal the party. Our hope lies in ordinary Americans embracing the challenges of changing how we govern. Those challenges require a commitment that transcends the campaign. The commitment Barack Obama inspires. Our delegates must help others see our future beyond Denver; the work, the personal involvement and the rewards. I would be honored to serve as a delegate. But that honor pales in comparison to the hope we represent. My name is Abbott Smith and I’m in this for the long haul. Our future is the reason we are here today.
The process of selecting the delegation to attend the National Convention has one more tier. On Sunday of the State convention, 3 additional groups of delegates will be selected. The State Chairman will nominate 2 unpledged delegates. Then the Election Committee will elect 17 At Large delegates and 10 PLEO delegates. (The Elections Committee is comprised of the delegates to the National Convention who were elected at the CD caucuses.)
At Large delegates are used to round out the delegation and fill holes in representation. There are set demographic targets that need to be met. These include African American, Hispanic American, Asian/Pacific Island American, Native American, LGBT American, Disabled American and Youth (under 25) demographics. Once these demographics are met then the positions are open to all.
PLEO (Party leaders and Elected Officials) are positions that are open to elected officials down to the level of PCO who are not superdelegates.
As with the CD delegates, At Large and PLEO candidates must file the appropriate paperwork with the State Democratic Party prior to the State Convention. The deadline is 5:00 PM, Tuesday, June 10th. Additional information and links to forms can be found at
http://wa-democrats.org/index.php?page=display&id=283
Also note that the At Large and PLEO delegates are also apportioned by candidate. The latest numbers that I have seen indicate that Senator Obama will get
6 PLEO delegates
13 At Large Delegates
2 At Large Alternates
On Saturday, the following delegates to the National Convention were elected from the 1st CD.
Luis Moscoso 1st LD
Ronald Oshima 21st LD
Kendall Hamilton 21st LD
Jessica Beckett 23rd LD
Alternate: Marsha Scutvick 44th LD
Congratulations to all of the delegates who participated and to those who were chosen. Thank you for representing all of us and helping to insure that Senator Obama secures the nomination.
There will be two training sessions in preparation for the May 17th 1st CD caucus. One session will be held in Bothell this Sunday, and one will be held in Poulsbo next Saturday. These sessions are for Delegates and Alternates to the 1st CD caucus and anyone else who is considering running to be a national delegate.
The Bothell training session is from 1-3 at the American Legion Hallon May 4. The address is 19213 Bothell Way N.E.. in Bothell. We willhave transportation from the Kingston Ferry to the Legion.The Poulsbo training session is from 12-1 at Hern Hall at OlympicCollege on May 10. The address is 1000 Olympic College Place NW Poulsbo. Afterthe event, we are going to conduct a voter registration drive.
We look forward to seeing you there.
On Saturday, 12 APR 08, I was asked to speak at the Western Washington "One Voice for Change Across America" rally in Kirkland, WA. This rally was organized in just 3 days and had roughly 200 attendees. I originally expected to be a set up speaker, but discovered when I arrived that I had been promoted to the keynote. Here is a video of the speech and a transcript of the speech as prepared for delivery.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Oze9mpHJ4HI
Voices
Good morning Kirkland. My name is Abbott Smith and I'm a hopemonger from Redmond. Are there any other hopemongers here this morning?
It's Saturday morning in America and we are gathered on the village green. We are gathered to talk about the desperate need to change the course of our country. But before we continue that conversation, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the implications of this gathering. Our government was created to allow and encourage this. America was designed so that its citizens can gather and plot openly to change the course of our nation. That is still an amazing and revolutionary idea. America is a nation where the voices of its citizens not only have power. Those voices have authority.
Barack Obama hasn't just asked us to believe in his ability to change our nation. He's reminded us to believe in our own. He has reminded us to use the authority of our voices.
Our history is filled with amazing voices. Thomas Jefferson's voice established our authority when he declared that we are endowed with inalienable rights. Lincoln reminded us that it is for us the living to be dedicated to the idea that government of the people, by the people and for the people, should not perish. FDR challenged us to face our fears. JFK asked us to serve and Martin Luther King shared his dreams. Sometimes our deeds give voice to ideas in ways that words alone cannot express. Amelia Earhart climbed aboard an Electra and then climbed into the clouds and reminded us all of the human capacity to soar.
But it isn't only the national voices that matter. Each of us has followed unique paths on our journey to this village green. Those paths have been guided by voices big and small. The encouraging voices of friends. The mentoring voices of teachers & spiritual leaders. The wonder of a child's laughter. The calming voice of a parent in the dark. Think back on the voices that have brought you to this place, this time. How will you choose to honor those voices?
Barack Obama has said that one voice can change a room. That one voice can lead us all to use the authority of our voices. For years now, profiteers like Dick Cheney, have driven wedges into our society to keep us divided. They have preyed upon our emotions and our apathy. They have fostered our cynicism. They sow dissension in pursuit of their own agendas.
But our founders didn't leave us unarmed. They designed a country where our voices combat fear & greed. A nation where our voice is the tool that creates change. Look around you this morning. We are the government in America. This is our village green. But we must remember that our voices create change only when they rise in chorus. Partisanship dilutes our voices into babble. If we fight with each other all that anyone will hear is noise.
Across the nation, right now, men and women just like us have gathered to raise their voices in chorus. To add the weight of their voices to ours. We are here to show the world that we can unite behind an idea. To show that our nation is built upon ideas. To show that it is built upon our voices. We are gathered to raise up our voices in hope and to say with one voice, Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
Abbott SmithRedmond, WA
Got an interesting comment regarding my speech on April 5th. Someone tried to write me off with a single word: Idealist. Thought you might be interested in my response.
Thank you. Yes, I am an idealist. For me it's all about perspective. An idealist never gets everything they hope for and a cynic never gets everything they expect. But what a cynic does get is the full measure of everything bad that happens to them, because that is what they are focused on. While an idealist gets the full measure of all of the good things that happen. As the band Rush noted, all of us spend time in the gutter. But some of us spend that time looking at the stars.
On Saturday, 05 APR 08, I was asked to speak on behalf of the Obama supporters at the 45th Legislative District caucus in Kirkland, WA. This LD caucus was one of many taking place across Washington state. They serve as the second tier of Washington's three tier caucus system. I followed a surrogate for Senator Clinton who had been flown into Washington from New York specifically to speak at the event. It was an excellent demonstration of the differences in how the two campaigns are being run. The Clinton campaign chose a top down strategy while the Obama supporters chose me, a local delegate to the caucus from Redmond, WA.
Here is the transcript as prepared for delivery and a link to the video of the speech. I apologize for the sound cutting out. I was given a faulty directional microphone that appeared to have a short in its wiring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZjBv4Csdo
To Set Aside Our Differences
Hello. My name is Abbott Smith and I’m a delegate from Redmond.
Will Rogers used to say that he didn’t belong to an organized political party. He was a Democrat. Yet here we are, over 1,000 organized Democrats, men and women who have chosen to take an active role in our democracy. For most of us, our opportunities to be active are rare. We vote. We may serve on a jury or a community board. Some of us are veterans. Yet here we are, the living embodiment that ours is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Look around you. This is what our society looks like when we are active. Now, imagine what we can do if we are unified. How fast could this room full of people clean a park? How many at risk children could we help? What can we accomplish if we work together?
That is the central idea of our nation. That no matter what our differences, we can set them aside and govern ourselves. Consensus building is so important that our founders made it the first purpose of the Constitution. We the People, in order to form a more perfect union…
And it is a pillar of Senator Obama’s candidacy. E pluribus Unum. Out of many, one.
This is a campaign of the people. Senator Obama has brought millions of new voices to the conversation. He has given average Americans a seat at the table. This is a campaign run by the people. Senator Obama gave us the tools we needed to organize, asked us to be civil and rallied us to heal this nation. This is a campaign for the people. We’ve funded it. Not the lobbyists, corporations or special interest groups. Senator Obama isn’t beholden to them. He’s beholden to us. And when faced with crisis, Senator Obama has calmly sought to be honest and transparent with us. He hasn’t pandered to our fears. He’s challenged us to live up to our ideals. He trusts us to think for ourselves. I am thrilled to have a candidate who treats me like an adult.
For too long, our politics and government have been viewed as a game: a blood sport of sound bites, partisanship, corporate sponsors and smear tactics. Candidates have been judged by how well they throw things. They have been judged by how well they fight. But any parent can tell you that you don’t solve problems by throwing things. Fighting won’t solve our problems because our lives are not a game. The mortgage crisis, global warming, gas prices, healthcare costs and the Iraq war are not games. They are American and global problems. In order to solve them, we need to stop bickering and work with the rest of the world.
It all comes back to the central idea of our nation. We solve problems from the bottom up by working together. This is how our government is designed to work. It is designed for us to find common ground and build consensus. And it works best when we choose leaders, like Barack Obama, who foster cooperation and transparency.
That is our purpose today, to help choose the next leader of our nation. We have two candidates who excel at creating policy. But this isn’t a choice about creating policy. It is a choice about how we accomplish policy. Do we want to continue to fight with each other or do we want a government where we seek consensus and actually solve problems? Do we want to continue to have a stubbornly partisan country where only the profiteers win? Or do we want an America that strives for balance and shared prosperity? Consensus isn’t easy. But it is effective. It solves problems and it benefits us all.
We are Democrats faced with a choice. We can continue to bicker and squabble. You can pass this hard decision to other people, in other districts and other states. Or we can decide that unity has to begin somewhere. We can accept our responsibility to find common ground. The change we seek is possible, but to achieve it we must let go of our anger.
I believe in the American people. I believe that we can overcome our fears and govern ourselves. I believe that if we work together, there isn’t a problem we cannot solve. I am asking you to take a stand. I am asking you to believe in the United States of America. I am asking you to vote for Senator Obama.
Yes, we can.
Thank you.
Good evening Washington Veterans.
The grassroots campaign in the 36th LD has asked if a Washington vet in Seattle area would be willing to give a short speech on behalf of the campaign at this Saturday's 36th LD caucus. You would be one of three speakers who they hope would give a "concise and compelling testimony" of why you support Barack. They particularly would like your views on how Barack's leadership will impact and help veterans and active duty service members.
If you can help, please contact me at
abbottasmith@yahoo.com
Thank you for your time and assistance.
We are about to choose a new leader for our country. So we must ask ourselves, who will be the best leader? The answer is simple, because there is a very simple test of how someone will lead. Look at how they rally support for their cause.
Do they prey upon our fears or do they ask us to dare to hope? Do they pander to our worries or do they urge us to follow our dreams? Do they call us to action or do they rely upon our apathy? Do they want us to look backward with nostalgia or forward with determination? Do they point out how your neighbor differs from you or do they seek the things we have in common? Do they appeal to our greed and hunger for power or do they ask us to share our gifts and our bounty? Do they ask us to remember our ideals or do they attempt to distract us with minutiae?
Determining how someone will lead is easy. Look to how they rally support for their cause. Because if we don’t, we will be left, yet again, with a person who will look to protect their own prospects in a time of crisis instead of standing up for the principles that give value to our lives.
The answer is simple. Do you want to be lead by your fears or do you want to be lead by your dreams? I choose to be lead by my dreams. I choose Barack Obama.
