Category Archives: politics

“Democracy isn’t a spectator sport.”

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“Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love—be it song, sermon, or Science—blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.”
– Mary Baker Eddy

Man, I am really going to miss President Obama. I’m sitting here, wiping the tears and snot from my face, having just listened to his speech. We have been so blest to have him at the helm the last eight years. Here are some quotes from his speech that really inspired me (and I really needed to feel some inspiration right now):

“It can be frustrating, this business of democracy. Trust me, I know… when the other side refuses to compromise… (but) I promise you when we keep at it, when we change enough minds… then progress does happen. Democracy works, America. But we gotta want it. Not just during an election year, but during all the years in between. We all need to be as vocal and persistent as Bernie Sanders’s supporters have been this election… Feel the Bern! “
– Pres. Obama

“The American dream is something no wall will ever contain.”
– Pres. Obama

“We can honor police and treat every community fairly – we can do that.”
– Pres. Obama

“Democracy doesn’t work if we constantly demonize each other. For progress to happen we have to listen to each other and see ourselves in each other and… fight to find common ground.”
– Pres. Obama

“Democracy isn’t a spectactor sport. It isn’t about yes, he will. It’s about yes, WE can.”
– Pres. Obama

“America is already great… and I’ll tell you that our greatness does not depend on Donald Trump. He’s betting that if he scares enough people he might just score enough points to win this election… He’s selling the American people short. We’re not a fragile people. We’re not a frightened people… we don’t look to be ruled. Our power comes from those immortal declarations “WE hold these truths to be self-evident…” It’s not about what one person can do FOR us, but what we can achieve together.”
– Pres. Obama

“We’re not done perfecting our union…and that work involves a big choice this November… this is not your typical election… this is a more fundamental choice about who we are as a people and whether we stay true to this great American experiment in self government…what we heard in Cleveland wasn’t particularly Republican, and it certainly wasn’t conservative… (when) we turn away from each other and isolate ourselves from the world… that is not the America i know. The America i know is full of courage and optimism… decent and generous… we are challenged to do better, to be better…(as I’ve traveled around the country) what I have seen more than anything is what is right with America…I see a younger generation full of energy and new ideas.. ready to seize what ought to be… I see an America of every party, every background, every faith…. who believe we are stronger together… that’s the America I know.”
– Pres. Obama

In 2012 I was a delegate for Pres. Obama at the 2012 Washington State Democratic Convention. Here I am with Cory Booker. Yeah, I was a little excited. 🙂

Cory Booker and Karen

Half-Staff Flag

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The flag is at half-staff again
or still.
I can’t remember the last time
I saw it waving from the top
of the pole.
Days? Weeks? Months? Years?
Someday it will rise again,
someday when we put our fears
to rest, and begin
to trust each other once more,
put down our weapons of words
and steel, and pour healing
love into our nation’s wounds.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

half-mast flag

We Owe It to the World

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we owe it to the world

Let’s Not Stop Fighting for the Ideas, Okay?

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I took my Bernie bumper sticker off my car before I left for work yesterday morning. Bernie Sanders had a noble and honorable run for the presidency. I believe he accomplished a lot that was good and important during his bid for the White House, and I’m beyond grateful to him for that. But, for me, it was never about rooting for a personality – it was always about the ideas Bernie supported. I’ve always tended to follow ideas more than people. People die or they don’t get elected or whatever, but the ideas live on. Let’s not stop fighting for the ideas, okay?

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

My Bernie bumper sticker.

 

 

Lincoln and Bush in the Same Lump?!

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The weapons of bigotry, ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.
– Mary Baker Eddy

This will maybe tell you something about me. When President Obama got elected the first time and my friends and I were all excited and celebrating, someone – or probably a bunch of someones – said how awesome it was that we had finally elected an African-American to be our president. And – honest to goodness – up until that moment this hadn’t even occurred to me. When I voted for Barack Obama I was just voting for the person I thought was going to make the best POTUS. His race had never entered into any of my political conversations or been any kind of factor for me in deciding that I would like him sitting in the Oval Office.

Just as I don’t believe people should be denied equal rights because of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, non-religion, or sexual orientation – I don’t believe we should vote someone into the presidency just BECAUSE of her or his race, ethnicity, gender, religion, non-religion, or sexual orientation. There is too much at stake to focus on a person’s color or gender as a deciding factor in a presidential election.

So when I came across this while internet surfing, I was… well, “dismayed” might be the right word…

old bald white guys

emoji art by Laura Olin

To lump all “white guys” into one big monolithic group doesn’t feel right to me. To put Abraham Lincoln in the same lump as, say, George W. Bush, is… well, it’s a little appalling, isn’t it? To paint FDR with the same brush as Herbert Hoover just because they both happened to be males is, I believe, a kind of bigotry.

If we’re going to vote for a woman for President, it would be awfully nice if we did it for the right reasons rather than just because she happens to have two x chromosomes. To vote for a woman just because she happens to be a female seems… well, in a roundabout way it’s disrespectful to the female candidate.

Okay. That’s all I have to say about this, I guess.

Carry on then…

Yeah. I was a little excited.

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A picture of Cory Booker just popped up on my Facebook page. It was taken four years ago when I was a delegate for Pres. Obama at the Washington State convention. For a few hours I got to hobnob with Cory Booker and other movers and shakers and political celebrities. I also met some really amazing people who were not celebrities or stars – but who, every day, are in life’s trenches, working to improve the lives of the people in their communities.

And at the end of the day, I came home, changed into my jeans, got out the sponge and scrubbing brush, and cleaned the toilet. That sort of thing always helps put things into perspective for me.

Viva la cleaning agents!

Cory Booker and Karen

Cory Booker et moi. 

 

Hey, anybody seen the nuts?

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ignoring voters 2

I want a leader who…

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I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the kind of person I’d like to see running for President of the U.S. of A. Here’re my thoughts, thus far:

  • I do not care what gender this person is, or what religion or non-religion this person practices. I don’t care about this person’s ethnicity, or what generation this person is from, and I don’t care if this person ends sentences and phrases with dangling prepositions.
  • I want a leader who can inspire the people of my nation to be kinder, braver, more honest, more selfless, less hateful, and less bigoted.
  • I want a leader who values education, and has made an effort to keep learning and seek wisdom.
  • I want a leader who is humbled by power, and knows when to use it – and when not to use it.
  • I want a leader who understands that a President is an employee of the people – elected by the people to serve, not be served.
  • I want a leader with a vision for the future that includes peace and prosperity for all.
  • I want a leader who can give us hope.
  • I want a leader who cares about others.
  • I want a leader who believes that good can win.
  • I want a leader who believes that love is power.

Anybody got anything they’d like to add?

heroes

Birds for Bernie

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Did y’all see the clip of the little bird landing on Bernie Sander’s podium? Isn’t that cool?! 🙂 I can’t imagine a little bird flying to the podium of any other candidate – thousands of people hooting and screaming around him – and happily sitting there for a minute to commune with the speaker. I also can’t imagine any other presidential candidate responding to that little bird in the same way Bernie Sanders did. I’m thinking if that small feathered earthling has the good sense to recognize a friend when he sees one, why shouldn’t human earthlings be able to do that, too?

I am caucusing in Washington State today. Four years ago I caucused for the first time and ended up going to the state convention as a delegate for President Obama. That was such a blast! (You can read all about that little adventure on my Humoristianity blog.) I’m not voting for Bernie today because that little bird endorses him – I have known from the moment Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy that I would be supporting him – but that video clip surely does help validate my choice for me.

Birds for Bernie