Our
Liberal Spirit #9
Avoiding Cynicism
Email from a Cynic
In response to my expression of frustration with the low attendance at
our potluck, one of our members expressed her thanks for what I do, while
expressing her cynicism which prevents her from participating. She described her past volunteer activities
for which she received no appreciation.
She believes that our politicians may start out idealistically, but
soon become irresponsible. They quit
wearing tennis shoes and don’t even attend legislative committee meetings. Elections don’t matter. We vote against funding stadiums which get
built anyway with tax revenues. We are
forced to choose candidates from only one party in primary elections. Voters are sheep who follow false leaders.
We have too many
people in jail, including immigrants. By
executing more people, we would send a message to criminals. We allow abortions and send 18 year olds to
die in
My Response
Why become civically involved
I have received much appreciation for my efforts, especially our
newsletter, canvassing to get out the Democratic vote, promotion of block
parties, and our research concerning crime prevention, disaster response and
raising successful children in Lake Hills.
But I believe I would continue (although with some resentment) even if I
received no appreciation.
My motivation for my career spent doing community development in our
U.S., India, Indonesia, Peru, Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Philippines and my
current political action is two-fold: (1) providing opportunities for others to
act together to improve their lives and those of future generations and (2)
personal adventure. Neither alone would
likely suffice, but together they keep me going. Of great importance is regarding myself as
part of a global network of people who are bending history, even though it is
typically difficult to trace specific results of my own actions.
I am frustrated by not having been able to stimulate more apparent
involvement by our members. But there
have been long periods in my life when I was not civically active. I regard my civic activities as a hobby like
my reading, genealogy, elk hunting and others.
No one is required to share my hobbies.
Our glorious Liberal Struggle
Voting and civic involvement does make a difference. The list of accomplishments is endless. Liberals have freed our colonists and slaves;
protected our workers, consumers and environment; enabled women to own property
and vote;created our safety net; abolished much legal discrimination and
more. Our current struggles are to
extend equal freedoms and opportunities to gays and lesbians and to provide the
same legal protections to current immigrants that our immigrant ancestors
enjoyed. Much will always remain to be
done; but without our forbearers’ liberal activities, our lives would be much
worse.
I agree that much deception, incompetence and corruption occurs, but I
think most of it by our New Conservatives.
But this is reason to get involved, not give-up. Both political parties have conspired to
create safe seats for incumbents, and against the emergence of new
parties. When Republicans in control are
distributing massive amounts of pork, Democrats can’t change the system and
only commit political suicide by not getting their share. To stop stadiums and other subsidies, we need
public campaign financing.
In spite of necessary compromises, I believe that most politicians
maintain their idealism and work extremely hard. Most, who are corrupted by power and greed,
began that way. But admittedly, the
adulation that
Liberals support stem cell research.
We prefer contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually
transmitted diseases, opposing abortions except when other measures have
failed. We oppose sending young people
to war, except in defense of our country (which most of our recent wars haven’t
been) or as part of an internationally sanctioned effort to stop enormous
injustices (as in
Liberals believe improving cultural and social conditions will prevent
more crime than punishment afterward. We
believe that rehabilitation instead of jail is most appropriate for many who
abuse drugs. We believe that we must be
protected by jailing violent criminals and those white color criminals who
steal or otherwise cost us enormous amounts of money. We believe that long sentences are just as
effective, less expensive and more correctable in case of error than
executions.
Immigrants are not filling our jails.
Crime rates are higher among our natives. Immigrants come to work, which supports our
economy (and social security), contributing much more than they cost the public. Being young, they are healthier than our
native population and receive retirement benefits later only if they have
qualified by paying FICA taxes.
Educating children of immigrants is an investment no different than
educating native children.
All of these challenges will only continue to the extent that we become
cynical and inactive. During years of
community development, we often encountered two objections. Some would say we spent too much time
planning and should simply run out and do something. Others would say we weren’t planning enough
to solve all the problems. For them,
perfection is the enemy of progress.
Those of us who have never learned to play well with others can always
find an excuse. Better to practice, gain
skill, gain confidence, practice with larger projects, etc in a virtuous
spiral.
Bending History
We are all stick figures blown away be the winds of history. A question is: Did we bend history as we were
being blown away? As Reinhold Neibuhr
expressed, some of us ride on history, others stand at the cutting edge,
sensitive, responsive and exposed. In
religious terms, we are all God’s people, some of us have chosen to be people
of God.
With my birthday this weekend, I enter another decade of life. I hate to think of all the fun I’ve missed by
being too cautious. I said this, not Mae
West, but she would agree, as I agree with most of what she said. Now that I have less to lose, look out.