Is it time for a change? Now? Who knew it would get so bad?---economy, war, environment
In the sixties we planted the seeds for an alternative culture----against war, poverty, destruction, materialism gone out of control.
We used to ask for “Spare Change for Social Change.”
We thought it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius----a new direction towards equality, humanity, cooperation, and interconnection with the environment, all peoples, cultures, plants, animals, and spiritual values of love, peace, respect, and understanding.
What happened? It got worse and worse.....desolation row, eve of destruction.
Now is the time for a change. A political movement inspired by Barack Obama has taken the seed values that we fought so hard to keep alive and energized a new generation to initiate a political power shift unlike any we have seen in our lifetime.
Support this change---in thoughts, words, deeds, votes.
In this shift we are connecting generations-----past, present, and future-----supporting values and policies that nurture humanity on our planet.
Flashback 8 years ago----the 2000 election----a few phone calls in Florida and progressive forces were defeated---with disastrous consequences.
This is the endgame. Change.
For now, though, with the first presidential debate of 2008 still echoing in my ears, I just want to savor the moment and throw out a few random thoughts while getting more substantial ones together.
Are you reading or have you read Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope? If so and if you're a Baby Boomer, Barack’s confession that he’d "always felt a curious relationship to the sixties" (p. 29) must have brought a smile to your face. It certainly made me, a person who entered high school in 1960, smile–not just smile, but actually grin. And sit up a little straighter. And read a little more attentively..
This video is dedicated to the movement that has taken place in this country. We couldn't have done it without Barack Obama and the millions of people who work for change everyday...
This year for the first time since the 1960’s many young people have become engaged in politics and now comes a new documentary film that compares today’s youth movement to the one of forty years ago.
The Bay Area’s own Arturo Perez showcases WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? You'll journey with him as he takes you down a hilarious and emotional roller coaster as he and his two friends search for the voices of the future. WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? premiered at the Wine Country Film Festival, and is being showcased online at www.FlowersTheMovie.com
Like Michael Moore's SLACKER UPRISING Arturo is streaming the entire film online for all to see for FREE with the hopes that even more people will become energized about voting for Obama this November!
Watch the entire film for FREE now at: www.FlowersThemovie.com
I have carried this story with me now for years. I decided to share it wih Senator Obama and now with you.
September 6, 2008
The Honorable Barack Obama,I am a child of the "Sixties", born right in the middle of the "boomer generation". As a young child, I was fortunate to experience a period of great optimism and hope - a brief glimpse of our country's potential. I can remember the universal excitement Americans felt about our opportunities in space. I remember racing around the track at my school, participating in one of the first President's Council on Physical Fitness events. I heard of older kids leaving for far away places, to help bring healthcare, education, and hope to those less fortunate. It was the greatest time of my life. I thought anything was possible and I knew I lived in the greatest country on earth.I also remember a very sad November day and the growing realization that the hope of that period was gone - I thought forever. I grew up and got "on with my life", drifting through the cynicism and doubt of the years that followed. I am truly blessed and can look back over a successful life. My wife and I raised three wonderful, caring, and thoughtful daughters. We lived most of our lives outside the USA and experienced the great diversity that only a "citizen of the world" can enjoy. I would like to share a story from one of my "encounters with diversity".On a business trip to Ethiopia, I struck a conversation with our company driver. It was our first encounter and he asked, "Are you American?" I must interject that this was during our first Gulf War and I often felt ashamed and embarrassed to admit my nationality. However, I responded, "Yes, I am.” I quickly added, "I haven't lived there for a long time and my home is now Switzerland." There was no response and we drove along in silence, though we were both deep in thought. Finally he said, "You know, I remember a time, many years ago as a young man, when the young boys and girls from the Peace Corps would play American movies on Friday night on the lawn of the American Embassy. We would line-up early in the afternoon to get a chance to get in. But, even if we didn't get in, we would stand outside and strain to see and hear the movie - hundreds of us would be there. When, I reflect back on those times I can remember how wonderful we thought America and Americans were. It's a shame that all of that has changed - a real tragedy." He continued after a brief pause, "You know, I believe this whole mess in Iraq could be settled if the Americans would send young men and women like that to Iraq instead of soldiers,. They would win the hearts of the Iraqi people and the change would come from within. They would see there is a better world and would throw-off any dictator that stood in their way of realizing that better world" He finished, by saying, "I know these are just the foolish and naive thoughts of an old man, but I believe it is possible." He thanked me for the movies (as if I were personally responsible) and we ended our trip with well wishes for peace.This story has stayed with me all these years as a reminder of what we were and what we can be. I had forgotten that spirit of hope I once had as a child. We have the ability to use the "uniqueness" of the United States to impress the citizens of the world with our grace and goodness, not our power and might. We left a lasting impression on a young man in Ethiopia many years ago. I believe we have the opportunity to re-ignite that spirit and resume our role of benevolent inspiration.In closing, I want to thank you, for once again, making me feel the hope and inspiration I felt as a young child. I believe in you, your message, and your cause. If there is anything I can do to help - your dream - my dream - our dream - become reality; don't hesitate to call upon me.Now is our time to rise to a higher purpose.SincerelyR Tracy Thomas
Whether it’s Billy Ayers or Bernadine Dohrn, Tom Hayden or Jane Fonda, or any of the other lesser-knowns, 60s Marxist radicals are lining up behind Obama.Obama’s young worshippers think they see something altogether new, a unique persona, seemingly magically transported to this moment in history to help them finally be the ones to net the elusive butterfly of socialism’s never-realized promise.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTNkNTU5MjE2MjUwNmQ2MWQ3YWRlYjhmNzQ4OTQyOGU=&w=MA==
From Times Online
June 5, 2008
Bob Dylan says Barack Obama is 'changin' America
Bob Dylan: for many, his work symbolises the 1960s revolution
Read the exclusive Times interview
His 1964 track 'The Times They are a-Changin' became the anthem for his generation, symbolising the era-defining social struggle against the establishment.
Now Bob Dylan - who could justifiably claim to be the architect of Barack Obama's 'change' catchphrase - has backed the Illinois senator to do for modern America what the generation before did in the 1960s.
In an exclusive interview with The Times, published in T2 today, Dylan gives a ringing endorsement to Mr Obama, the first ever black presidential candidate, claiming he is "redefining the nature of politics from the ground up"
Dylan, 67, made the comments when being interviewed in Denmark, where he stopped over in a hotel during a tour of Scandinavia.
Asked about his views on American politics, he said: "Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor.
"But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up...Barack Obama.
"He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to."
He added: “You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future."
Dylan's endorsement contains much symbolic significance. The legendary singer-songwriter, who has an art exhibition opening in London next week, became a focal point for young people worldwide when he released the album 'The times they are a-changin'," including the famous song of that name, in 1964.
The track, which he wrote as the social liberation of the '60s astonished politicians and parents, included lines urging people to accept and embrace what was happening around them.
Memorable lines included: "Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall," and: "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticise what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin'."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4076339.ece
Maybe they'll do a joint fundraiser at the Xcel Energy Center when he returns from overseas! This whole week makes me proud to be a Minnesotan...
My mother is 63 years old. She was in her 20's during the 60's. She wasn't active in the movement of the time, but she recognized it and agreed with it. She understood that the country was in desperate need of something different. She remembers exactly where she was and what she was doing when John and Bobby Kennedy and MLK were shot. She wanted that change for us kids. My brother was born in 67 and my sister and I followed later. She didn't want to see us growing up watching a war stuck in neutral and wondering where the country was going.
Fast forward to now. There is a war stuck in neutral. There is an economic crisis upon us. The environment is crumbling. As a country, we are hated world-wide. Our "friends and allies" only like us because they'd rather not be blown up. In some ways, a new direction is needed more than what was happeneing in the 60's.
My mother is a staunch HRC supporter. She wavered towards Obama until the antics just preceeding New Hampshire. I was upset at first. I thought, "How could she fall for that?" After all she's seen in all this time, how could a hint of alligator tears turn this woman in to a defensive supporter.
After some time, I figured something out. This is how she thinks the "game" is to be played. So many in this country have been conditioned to believe that this is the way election season is suppose to go. After 45 years of watching elections and the shift to nastier and nastier things since I would say '88, she's conditioned to attack campaigns. I haven't been around long enough to go back further, but I'm sure there were other nasty ones in the past. Obama can be view by conditioned people as guilty because he stays above all the negativity. In a conditioned persons eyes, he's not staying above it. He's hiding and hoping it goes away on it's own. They believe the attacker and deny the truth.
What I'm trying to subtley explain to my mother, who is now amother of three grandmother to four (not nicluding twins on the way), is how this time isn't much different than the 60's. A vote for HRC is a vote to basically sustain. I do think good things could and would be done with HRC in office, but this time we can't afford good. We need great. She needs great for her children and grandchildren, just as I need great for my daughter.
My father was born during the depression, my mother during WWII, my brother and sister during Vietnam, and me shortly after. Twenty years from now, I'm sure I'll relate that my nine month old daughter was born during the Iraq war and economic crisis. I would hope she could grow up in a time like my father did. He was too young to remember most of it, but FDR came in the year he was born and transformed a nation. He did great things in a time when "good" wasn't good enough. Only one person running has the ability to bring greatness back to this country.
Wish me luck. Oh yeah... my brother is an Evangelical minister with 3 theology degrees who listens to Limbaugh and Bill-O. I'm not going to touch that one just yet.
Okay, so it seems that many people here are inspired by the Sixties. There was especially this post here in which this guy (who didn't even live through the Sixties) essentially equates any and all positive political change with the Sixties.
I found this interesting because the reason I'm so into Obama is because I consider his approach to be a movement away from what I've always defined as the spirit of the Sixties, so I thought I'd explore that a little.
