Well put, Frederick. Here voting is compulsory - and so it should be. Even
with the larrikin, antiauthoritarian nature of the Oz character, we all
proudly vote. And we have little enough to vote for in the way of champions
at times, but vote we must - 'hold your nose and vote' is a great statement
Fred.
Andrew
On 21/02/2008, Frederick Pollack <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kenneth Wolman" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:30 PM
> Subject: Re: "Remains of the Day"
>
>
> > Frederick Pollack wrote:
> >> Remains of the Day
> >
> > Oh God, and I thought I was having a bad day...
> >
> > I can't look at the word "liberal" anymore without thinking of Phil
> Ochs,
> > that misplaced prophet who has been gone (I cannot believe it) 32 years.
> > "Love me, love me, love me, I'm a lib-er-al!" You have helped me confess
> > that, having voted every year since 1965, I am not voting this year. I
> > don't feel obligated to water a manure pile.
> >
> > ken
> >
>
> If I really believed that hope, including political hope, were a childish
> parlor game I wouldn't have said so in a poem. I wouldn't write . I'd be
> dead. To vote this year could make a difference. I have no illusions
> about
> Clinton or Obama. But McCain would mean a big step closer to a the
> nationalist and overtly imperialist police- state we have not yet quite
> become. As well as the end of legal abortion, and other things you could
> name as well as I. I'm not claiming any moral high ground here. I'm a
> parlor Red. I've always been too timid, reclusive, mistrustful, and lazy
> to
> ACT on my convictions. I tell myself that writing poetry about my times,
> rather than - like the groups I despise - about emotional trivia or
> nothing
> whatever - is a political act, but I know this excuse is doubtful and
> self-serving. I know that democracy in our lifetime has become a narrow
> choice between evils, both of which get worse. But I also know that
> opting
> out serves only the stronger evil. I know students who are working for
> Obama because they think he'll make a difference in their lives, and in
> the
> lives of people who know only need. If they're defeated, or betrayed - as
> you and I have been so often - some of them will try again. If I can feel
> no other solidarity, I can with them. Qui tacet consentit. Hold your
> nose
> and vote.
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
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