The Long Dark Night Of My Soul

Rip comments below:

The question, at least for me, is 'What can I do that will actually make a difference?'

Sure, there are lots of things I can do on an individual basis so that I'm, at least, not contributing to the problem. (And I'm far from perfect in my personal actions, but willing to put more effort into it.) But what action can I take that will actually cause a change in course? While 'participatory democracy' sounds great and all, how much influence does the hoi polloi really have?

This isn't to say, 'let's just sit back and see what happens' but an admission of confusion, I guess. What should I/we do? I don't see the 'contact your rep' as very effective, frankly.

First of all, this pretty much hits on my main point: contacting your rep is not very effective at this juncture, so we need to do things individually and collectively that go beyond such acts by proxy.  Thus, my question: what are you willing to sacrifice and risk to do more?  I think that's the starting point from which you can sort of "work backwards" to figure out what kind of engagement would be appropriate for you.

Would you be willing to give up your job to stop the war?  Your house?  Your life?

Those are extreme, to be sure, and I don't suggest people must do that to wash the blood from their hands.  Yet I think up to now pretty much nobody, save brave people like the SP4, have asked questions like those, let alone answered them and acted as a result.  As I've observed elsewhere, a common criticism of "chickenhawks" is that they don't enlist to fight their war and yet, it seems to me there are "chickendoves" who haven't enlisted to fight against their war.

I know there are a lot of personal reasons why you might not feel you can take action.  Not to be mean, but Jonah Goldberg had a litany of them himself:

As for why my sorry a** isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice.

It's natural and easy to come up with reasons why you can't get involved.  What we need to do is come up with reasons why we should.

Our responsibility for this war--any war for that matter--is not limited to whether we voted for Bush in 2000/2004, or gave money to Dems during the 2006 cycle, or have written to our Congresspeople.  This is allegedly a democracy (for sake of argument, so don't go all pedantic on me) and our citizens are acting like the only way to effect change is through somebody else.  In the United States, founded by revolutionaries who through the massed efforts of Ordinary People overthrew the superpower of their day!  Now we act as though we have no power and wait for a Great Person to fix our problems.

Tell that to Las Madres in Argentina, who forced a truly a violent and despotic regime from power.  Hell, tell that to Cindy Sheehan.  What would happen if more ordinary mothers aggressively and persistently protested Bush's policies?  Withheld their income tax payments?  Organized a general strike?

I wrote before that I think the Democrats are doing things exactly right from a tactical and strategic perspective in the political sphere.  Congress has a Constitutional role to play and that's great up to a point.  It's not enough when we see the deliberate legislative process continue to grind the gears slowly whilst Americans and Iraqis are ground under relentless war.  Very easy to do when it's other people who pour their blood into the sand.

So we complain that Congress isn't doing enough.  Neither are we as as inheritors of a nation that Jefferson thought would experience a revolution every generation.  The surveys that show Americans want out of Iraq are in a sense an indictment of us all because the most we've invested in this issue is to say "Bush and his war suck" when a pollster calls us, then passively wonder why Congress won't listen to us.

Congress should still go about its business in a legal fashion.  That does not, however, preclude the rest of us from playing an aggressive role in changing the country's path.  Again, polls show the vast majority of Americans think we're on the wrong track.  Who do you think is the engineer of this train?

Now I don't recommend people run out to the barn and grab their pitchforks for a fun time storming the White House.  Gene Sharp identified 198 methods of non-violent action back in 1973 and you might consider one or two or several of these things you can do as an individual, or perhaps convince others to join in for a collective effort, which is of course necessary for ultimate success.

One of the reasons I supported Howard Dean back in 2003/2004 was his message, "you have the power!"  He was absolutely right.  We do have the power, but whether it be through complacency, apathy, ignorance, all three or something else altogether, we've abdicated our responsibilities as citizens.  His campaign showed that mass mobilization could vault a candidate from obscurity into prominence with just a few hours a week and a couple bucks from each of his many, dedicated, ordinary supporters (and before anybody cracks, "dude...he lost," remember that battles are lost in every struggle). 

So let's extrapolate from Dean's example and redouble our efforts on something of the utmost importance.  As with global warming, the more we invest in solving the problem now, the less it will cost us later.

After a lot of angst and thinking, I've decided to make a personal investment to rediscover the wellsprings of our national soul, as well as my own. Care to join me?

ntodd

PS--Here are some resources that might help you figure out what you can do:

• American Friends Service Committee
• War Resisters League
• National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
• The Objector
• Nonviolence.org