Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Short Post on Palin and the Big Picture

This is a Blog on innovation technologies and use in higher education, but speaking on the Viet Nam war, MLK said "A time comes when silence is betrayal. " 
Now is one of those times. Invasion. Recession. Poverty. Homelessness. A government that protects the wealthy and allows New Orleans to disappear. A leadership that permits so many Americans to go without the simplest essentials while making enemies of the world. 

I watched the VP debate this evening and I am having trouble coming to terms with Sarah. She distracts me. Leaves me speechless. She's so sure and so grounded in the lack of need for knowledge. There is much of what she IS that I respect: funny, grounded, earthy, determined, energetic, charming, folksy, real. Pretty and rugged doesn't hurt. Ooh Alaska! 

What causes deep conflict is that she doesn't respect the things I hold inherent: intellect, study, discovery, knowledge, deep thought, ambiguity and wonder. She's read 'all' the newspapers but can't name one? Can't name one supreme court decision except Roe V Wade? Has no idea what the Bush Doctrine might be? Talks gibberish when asked direct questions? Doesn't suffer doubt or considerations of others' ideas? Doesn't worry about the big city people that now live in tents and lost everything while her family became comfy on Alaska bounty and oil revenue returns?

Sarah: this is not a game. America is hurting here!




MLK was right. Silence is betrayal when our country needs the voice of the people to speak up, speak out, be heard. I am an American and a woman and I admire Sarah Palin.  
But I do matter, and so do the homeless in tent cities and 'East coast' city dwellers SP dismisses with her crinkly grimace. 

I matter and I have a voice. I will soon be "Reduced in Force" (laid off) by a University I served for 17 years. My city has 20,000 empty homes in foreclosure and an anticipated 26,000 more to come in the next few months. We are a big city and we matter. We live in the desert and we matter. 

I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden in November.

2 comments:

timikt said...

I wish I could say that I like her. Aside from the valid and important points you address, I find her mean-spirited and petty. Is this what "feisty" means? God, I hope not.
Now Troopergate is with us, and it occurs to me that John McCain will dump her and scramble to get Romney on the ticket, screaming "Country First" in one last "bold" pandering attempt to win the election that seems to have made him a desperate man. While I admit to never being wild about McCain, I did have respect for him once. Now, I find this whole campaign so despicable that I can't imagine hoe he looks at himself in the mirror.

colleen said...

Pundits say that W won the election because America would rather drink beer with him than with Al Gore. I think that many will vote for McCain/Palin because, although they would drink beer with Biden, they wouldn't with Obama (let's not talk about why we don't drink beer with smart people) and they would with McCain. Sarah's secret weapon (feisty) is that with her, America would like to push the beer aside and go straight for the tequilla shooters.
Let's just hope they keep their guns locked up afterward ;)