We Need One Another

I saw Vince Gill, Winona Judd, and Bebe and Cece Winans perform this together live on Oprah last week. The song put to the images here is even more moving - enjoy!

Marianne Williamson on America's Non-Violent Revolution

OK, so I'm continuing my examination of the outcome of last week's presidential election for a little longer. The following certainly isn't poly-specific, yet I know how much it resonates with the idealists amongst us.

I've been a fan of Marianne Williamson for many years. Her latest blog post on the election of Barak Obama is, as is often true for her, an inspiration that superlatives fail to adequately describe, so as always, I'll leave it to you to judge for yourself. Williamson writes:

In the l960's, we wanted peace but we ourselves were angry. This time, after hearing Gandhi's call that we must be the change we want to see happen in the world, we came to our political efforts with an understanding that we must cast violence from our hearts and minds if we are to cast it from our world; that we must try to love our enemies as well as our friends; and that when a genius of world-historic proportions emerges among us, we cannot and we must not fail to do everything humanly and spiritually possible to support him. For his sake…and for ours.


Having gone to a higher place within ourselves, a higher level of leadership began to emerge among us. A higher level of leader now having emerged among us, he calls us to an even higher place within ourselves. These two forces together can and will, as Obama has said, truly change the world. Having moved one mountain, we'll now remove the ones that remain.

President-Elect Obama!

WOOOO HOOOOO! Today was an amazing, amazing day. Hope and sanity have returned to the United States. Beginning in January it's going to be a lot more fun working a block from the White House than it has been for the last eight years.

And THANK DIETY that Sarah Palin won't be vice president. That woman is seriously scary.

Seriously.

McCain is giving a gracious concession speech as I write this. He has acknowledged the significance of this day for African Americans. I am so happy for my African American friends and the African American community. Some thought they would never live to see this day come. Sadly, Obama's grandmother died yesterday, the day before her dear grandson made history.

This just hit my in box. One of the things I've enjoyed as an Obama supporter has been how personalized the Obama campaign's correspondence with supporters has been. This is what Obama has to say before even making his acceptance speech.

From: Barack Obama
To: Anita Wagner
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 11:34:44 PM
Subject: How this happened

Anita --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

A Vote for Obama is a Vote for Freedom of Relationship Choice

OK, folks, for the next 72 hours or so I'm going to go all political on ya, but I'll do my best to keep it light. If you're a regular reader and you don't want to hear/read it, feel free to move on, but please come back soon! I'll miss you.

Yes, I'm a proud Obama/Biden voter. I believe him to be fair-minded and open-minded. I'm hoping that will translate to at least not actively opposing alternative relationships. He's shown no sign of intention to do so, his unwillingness to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples notwithstanding.

I'm greatly impressed with Barak Obama's intellect and approachable persona. He reminds me so much of Bill Clinton in that regard. Whatever he may lack in long-term Washington experience is to my mind a good thing. He's been a senator long enough to know how things work there, but not long enough to become like so many of the long-timers in Congress, i.e. cynical, jaded, and out of touch.

Like so many others, I'm very tired of the Washington political operative game. Still, I like Joe Biden just fine. I have always believed he is one of the exceptions. He's managed to keep his head on straight and to work the political process to his constituents' advantage, and as a long-time senator he will bring that long-term knowledge of how things work in Washington, as well as his significant foreign policy experience, to the Obama administration.

Considering how the Bush administration has stripped away significant portions of our right to privacy and personal freedom, I've been ready for a change for about seven and a half years now. Considering Bush's cozy relationship with the religious right, there was no way in hell anything would happen that would facilitate the furthering of rights for polyfolk. In fact, for a good while Bush sought to have the U.S. Constitution amended so that legal marriage would only be available to ONE man and ONE woman only.

I think Sarah Palin is both annoying and downright scary, what with her religious extremist views, her smug rejection of global warming as a concept, her inability to cite one major newspaper she regularly reads to stay informed, and her inability to put together a complete, intelligent, non-bullshit sentence. (Sound familiar??)

Palin doesn't and really can't have a clue. Her educational background is shoddy at best, and as a public servant limited to a backwater town and state that in no way is representative of much of the rest of the U.S., she has been used to being able to abuse her power (troopergate) in a way that was stupidly naive. McCain's picking her as a running mate is abusive, cynical, and downright cruel. Clearly he doesn't think he needs a functional VP, and clearly Palin doesn't have the brains to see that she's being exploited, or that said exploitation has backfired bigtime. Besides all that, she and George Bush have way too much in common - why would we want to give a female version of W a chance at the oval office? We've had enough of that kind of idiocy.

I suppose I could live with John McCain if I had to - if God forbid he wins, I don't have much of a choice unless I'm willing to move to Canada or some other country, which I'm not. I'm one of those patriotic Americans who thinks that moving out of the country makes a person a big part of the problem. I believe in staying put, speaking my truth, and working for change. Yet I'm also all for personal freedom, including the freedom to not love America, to not live here, and to not be an American citizen. I won't like you much if you do that, but I support your freedom to make that choice.

I think Obama's meme that McCain will bring another four years of disastrous Bush policies is right on and not simply an empty soundbite. It's clear to me that McCain is just as out of touch with all but the wealthy elite in the U.S. as Bush is.

There are a few conservatives with whom I am close. One good friend, one quasi-partner, and just about all of my family of origin, though saying I am close to the latter is probably an overstatement.

Please tough out the long lines, assuming that's what happens, and cast your vote. Please cast it for Barak Obama. Neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin are poly-friendly people AT ALL. We've just experienced eight years of an administration that actively seeks to limit our personal freedom - why would we elect someone who brings four more years of the same?

I promised to keep it light so here ya go - enjoy!