No matter where each of us finds ourselves on Thanksgiving Day, we all no doubt have reasons to be thankful. I am thankful for family and friends; for my sweet dog, who found me in March; for the opportunity to work hard to bring about something that hasn't happened in my lifetime--a Democrat winning my state's electoral college votes. I am thankful for summer, for music, for the fact that Chicago is only a couple hours away. I'm thankful for the people in my life that challenge me to be better. 

I've been reading the book The American Presidency this year. It's been taking me a long time to get through because, honestly, non-fiction kind of bores me. Still, I have been learning all sorts of fun facts about our nation's leaders, so I thought I would share some. Eleven months after I started, I'm up to James Madison. I figure if I force myself to write about the presidents, I'll eventually finish the book. So, here we go:

Stuff I learned - George Washington:

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Yesterday, at Dagblog, I wrote about how I came to identify with the Democratic party. It was a specific epiphany moment for me that happened twenty years ago, and reflecting on it has resulted in deeper contemplation about what it means to be a Democrat or, as I prefer to think of myself, a progressive.

I've always been on the conservative side when it comes to personal decisions. I dress conservatively, I've never dyed my hair anything except my original color (to cover the gray), I have only two body piercings--one in each ear lobe, appropriately placed--I've never wanted to get a tattoo, my musical tastes run to, if not the super popular, the safely melodious, I drive a sensible car and I wear sensible shoes. In short, there's nothing remotely progressive about the way I live.

In thinking this through, I felt momentary panicked. Maybe, I thought, I am actually a Republican. Maybe I'd been voting the wrong way all these years. Thankfully, Tom Edsall has an article at HuffPo that talked me down off the ledge. About the religious right, he says: 

These voters are overwhelmingly anti-abortion; they see homosexuality as a sin and as voluntary; many believe that women are subordinate and obliged to submit to the authority of men. These deeply held beliefs are increasingly out of tune with an electorate that has, in the main, come to terms with the sexual and women's rights revolution.

And that, pretty much, is what being progressive means to me. It means embracing, not only the sexual and women's rights revolutions, but the steady march forward. We, as a society and as a world, are in constant movement toward social justice. Sure, the pace of the movement is akin to the earth revolving around the sun, but just because we can't always feel it doesn't mean it's not happening. And just like planetary rotation, it cannot be stopped (without utter and complete destruction, anyway). Barriers pop up and sometimes they are horrific, like genocide, for example. Specific economic, military, and social policies are implemented that sometimes cause us to veer off the path for a while. But there have always been, and will always be, course corrections. We keep moving forward.

I believe that conservative thought rejects this notion of forward movement. Conservatives want us to stay right where we are, or even to go backward. For a whole variety of reasons, they are not comfortable with change--with progress. Liberal leaders are not immune to mistakes, nor do they always embrace unfettered change. But in general, liberals are riding the roller coaster with their hands in the air. Conservatives are the ones with their eyes closed. Or the ones throwing up over the side. Which would you rather be? 

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You can read more about my progressive epiphany at Dagblog. And even though I was pretty sure that all major sports had been cancelled due to the election season, the Dag boys have been expanding into the sporting world. Apparently, there's some kind of game where men in helmets growl and throw themselves in each other's paths or something. Seems silly, but whatever.

I first learned about the concept of micro-lending in 1996, when I had the opportunity to meet Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank. Professor Yunus founded the bank in 1983, to provide small loans to poor Bangladeshi women who wanted to start small businesses. To date, the bank has served over seven million women and, in 2006, Professor Yunus and the Grameen bank were the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Grameen Bank was founded on some specific ideas. First, that access to credit is a human right. Second, that women and children who bear the brunt of worldwide poverty have less access to credit than men. And third, that self-employment for women is the road out of poverty for entire families.

Although things have probably been modified and improved, the original Grameen model was based on lending circles--small groups of women who borrowed at the same time. Each of these women had to pay back their entire loan before they had access to another. In addition, each of the women in a circle had to pay back their entire loan before any other member of the circle could borrow again. For women, this model worked to ensure a remarkably low default rate.

The Grameen Bank still lends primarily to women because in Bangladesh they have been traditionally underserved, and also because studies have shown that women are more likely to use their income to better the lives of themselves and their children. However, organizations in many countries are now following the Grameen Bank model for microlending and I'm happy to report that the model has been expanded in some places to include loans to men.

Because Grameen Bank is now fully funded by its borrowers and customers, the organization no longer accepts charitable donations. The good news is that you can still get in on the microlending phenomenon. Kiva is a Web-based organization that partners with microlenders worldwide to grant loans to existing and potential entrepreneurs. On the organization's Web site, you can sift through the stories of hundreds of prospective borrowers and make loans as little as $25.00. That's loans. You'll get your money back. And when you do, you can loan it to someone else. Or you can spend it on Starbucks. The point is, it's your money and you're choosing to invest it in human capital to improve the world.

Today, I made a loan to Gloriose in Byumba, Rwanda. Gloria is a 44-year-old mother of 6 who runs a clothing and shoe shop in the Byumba Market.

From Kiva: "She believes that once she gets this loan, her shop will become bigger because she is planning to buy men's clothes, which are more desired in the market. Furthermore, she says that this loan will increase her profit, which will enable her to feed and pay the school fees for her children."

I only gave what I could afford, which isn't much, but my loan was added to other loans that had already been made. Now, Gloriose only needs another $25 to meet her target.

I've made charitable donations before, but this time it feels really good to know exactly where my money is going. Gloriose gets it all. And someday soon, I'll be getting it back. If a friend asked for a small loan, I wouldn't think twice, because when I help somebody out, I know that the person, or somebody in his or her place, will be there to help me when I need it. But what happens if you live in a place where all your friends are as poor as you are? What happens if the traditional banks won't loan you money because it doesn't make sense from a profit standpoint for them to manage microloans?

That's the brilliance of microfinance. While traditional banks are now stuck in a credit freeze, we can keep making a dent in worldwide poverty. These small loans make a huge difference in the lives of the borrowers. Helping to ensure that one more family somewhere in this world is able to feed and educate its children lifts all of us.

So, I encourage you to go to kiva.org to make an investment in wealth creation that matters. If you do, please come back and share the story of your borrower. I'd love to hear it.

 

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Cross posted at Dagblog.com, where the estrogen level is on the rise. I think the Dag boys are a little alarmed.

I've always been a bit puzzled by our rush to declare something over. I suppose it shouldn't be so surprising since, as a nation, we suffer from a mad case of ADD, always enthusiastically moving on to the next new craze, be it hoola hoops, cabbage patch dolls, energy drinks, or those cute boy bands made up of brothers with floppy hair. 

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Today, I live in a blue state.

Indiana hasn't mattered in presidential politics in a long time. In my entire lifetime, actually. I spent a good number of years living in a blue state, so when I returned home, it was a bit of a shock. I wasn't treated like a leper, exactly, but an oddity, at the very least.

When the campaign started, I told some people, confidently, that Obama would win. The first few times I said it, it was like saying every April that the Cubs are going to win the World Series--false confidence. But the more time passed, the more it looked possible. When he won Iowa, I was certain, and I jumped into his campaign with both feet. I did everything that I had the time and resources to do because I had never been so inspired. I had always wanted my country to be better, but I suppose before Obama gave me push with his "We are the ones we've been waiting for," I wanted somebody else to make it so.

I worked hard in the late winter and early spring, leading up to the Indiana primary. Clinton was favored, and she did win. But barely. With his big win in North Carolina that same night, it felt like we'd pulled it out. The best part was that we'd developed a statewide field and volunteer organization in the process.

The campaign left, but not for long. They were back before the fourth of July and we never really stopped working, even while they were off finishing up the primary. And so the work began for November. It's grinding work, going door-to-door, talking to people. Some days, absolutely nobody is home. On good days, you catch 20% of the people on whose doors you knock. But it's the way campaigns are won. The Obama campaign understood this. I guess the McCain campaign did not.

So, we went about our business, registering voters and identifying supporters, in a state that had really never done it before. Most McCain supporters were pleasant when we knocked on their doors. A few were not. But we didn't let it get to us.

Most people couldn't believe that Indiana could ever possibly vote for a democrat for president, especially after going for Bush by 20 points in 2004. But we knew something they didn't, because we were the ones out talking to the people who actually live in Indiana. And something was in the air.

There were more bumper stickers. There were more signs. There was the delicate broaching of the subject with strangers and co-workers and even friends in casual settings, the relief to find that we were on the same side, and then the tidal wave of conversation about how exciting it all was.

Going into the final weekend, I was sick with nerves. It was close, the closest state in the country, in fact. We had the plan and we knew what we had to do. The question was, could we do it?

By now, you all know the answer--YES WE CAN!

It took a lot of help from our fabulous Chicagoland friends. Half the city and suburbs emptied into Indiana on Friday night and they didn't leave until about 2 pm yesterday. Our polls weren't closed yet, but we understood that they had a party to attend.

Going into election day, we were 1% down. The political experts say that a good ground game can make a 3 to 4% difference. Well, we tested that theory and found out they were right.

I've never been so tired and I can't remember the last time I was so happy. I've been walking around all day with a stupid grin on my face.

So, today I live in a blue state. But tomorrow, I won't. Tomorrow, I will live in one of the United States. Tomorrow, the work begins, and we all have to be a part of it.

But today, it feels so very good to be blue.

Joe the plumber says:

Get out there and vote; it's very important...You get out here and get the American people back in charge of our government. Hold politicians' feet to the fire when they mess up. That's what we're out here to do. All right? Smaller government, you know? As far as everyone else here, well, that's the question and go ask them to vote for a real American, John McCain.

You know what, Joe? Go to hell.

I am a real American and I am voting for Barack Obama. 

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I can't sleep, I can't eat, I'm totally stressed out. I am living each day in three phases.

Phase 1: pretend like I might actually accomplish something at work while I compulsively read news and blog sites, alternatively feeling nervous and calm, depending on what I'm reading.

Phase 2: leave work and volunteer. This is the part of the day, when I can actually concentrate on a finite task--knocking on doors or making phone calls. The best part of phase 2 is that I don't have access to the internet.

Phase 3: pretend like I might actually go to sleep at a reasonable hour while I compulsively read news and blog sites, alternatively feeling nervous and calm, depending on what I'm reading.

I can't wait for this to be over.

A little over a month ago, I wrote a post called Do Something.

I wrote about my feeling that we are in a fight for the very soul of our beloved country. That was before McCain and Palin started inciting violence at their rallies. That was before an Obama volunteer got punched in the face. That was before tires got slashed. That was before we had video evidence of the simmering anger that some on the right are feeling at the thought of an Obama presidency.

Well, it's crunch time. Two weeks left. Fourteen days. The last chance to take back America. Our opponents are trying everything they can think of to reverse the tide and our victory is not inevitable.

We know we have the momentum. We know we have the numbers. We know we have the moral imperative. But it is not enough to know. We also have to do.

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The other day, I was working away at my desk, listening to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR, as I often do. The subject of the hour was a new memoir called Tears of the Desert, written by a Sudanese woman named Halima Bashir.

Diane Rehm led Bashir gently through a line of questioning that became so intense and so painful that it brought me to tears. What follows is the story I heard Bashir tell.

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I am really enjoying the new MyTPM features. But it seems like posts are falling off the "All Reader Posts" page at an even faster rate than before.

 

So, if you've got a long post, please consider putting a couple of paragraphs in the "Body" tab and the remainder of your post in the "Extended" tab.

 

Like this...

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Since the 1970’s, we Americans have overwhelmingly identified terrorism with Middle Eastern Muslim extremism: the PLO, Hamas, Hezzbollah, and Al Queda. England had the IRA and we had our own Oklahoma City bombing, which was sort of half-heartedly referred to as terrorism, but whenever a public figure invokes the boogey man of terrorism, the image in our brain is an Arab.

But terrorism has a definition that has no ethic or religious affiliation:

ter-ror-ism (noun)
  1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.
  2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
  3. a terroistric method of governing or resisting a government.

I’m especially interested in the first definition—the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes—because using the threat of terrorism to tamp down opposition to your policy agenda or to gin up enough hatred and fear to win an election are terrorist acts in and of themselves.

As Josh so eloquently put it yesterday, “[the American right] has not lost its telltale imperviousness to irony”, so I doubt that the McCain campaign understands that they are committing and condoning terrorism. And, I doubt that the Bush administration has been lamenting their use of fear-mongering to intimidate and coerce the electorate, except insomuch as they used the tactic one too many times and the public started clearly to see Peter where George Bush was still crying “wolf.”

So far, Republican terrorism has only extended to intimidation and coercion. No violent acts have been committed. No citizens have been harmed. But that could change in a sudden and destructive way. After all, it only takes a single suicide bomber to destroy lives and wreak chaos and fear.

I abhor terrorism and, even though I try to live my life as a pacifist, I would very much like to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice, wild west style. But at least when that man sees terrorism carried out as a result of his call, he understands that he and his ilk were the instigators. But what if something devastating happens as a direct result of the deep-seated hatred and anger that McCain and Palin have doused with gasoline?

The Republican party has always exhibited a classically paternalistic “do as I say, not as I do” attitude toward the citizenry, so I think it’s safe to say that the McCain/Palin campaign isn’t engaged in taking an honest look at the dangerous feelings they’ve been antagonizing over the past several days. They are concerned with the backlash, sure, but as Steve Schmidt, in a moment of rare honest, said, “We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.” Win at all costs, right Steve-O? But what if the cost is violence or loss of life? What then?

Cindy McCain says Barack Obama is running the dirtiest campaign in history. Sarah Palin says Americans have a right to get to know Barack Obama. John McCain suggests Barack Obama is erratic. Now, Rep. Heather Wilson says that Barack Obama is getting more and more desperate.

It’s surreal and it had me feeling a little off balance. I was starting to wonder if the McCain campaign was living in some sort of alternate reality that only true conservatives could see. But then, I figured it out. John McCain likes to keep things light and fun.

Remember back in the summer, those Brittney-Paris celebrity ads. Yeah. Those were a hoot. And the hair plugs joke that Johnny McCarson pulled out of his hat at the debates. Woohah, that was a knee slapper.

So, now I know what the McCain campaign is doing. They’re playing a game with us so things stay light and fun to the end. It’s OPPOSITE DAY!

Well, I want to play too. In fact, tomorrow morning, I’m going to march right up to my boss and tell her she spends way too much time on the internet at work. Then, I’m going to yell, “OPPOSITE DAY!” and squeal with delight. I’m sure she’ll get the joke.

Who else wants to play? What are you going to do in honor of Opposite Day?

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All presidents have a legacy for which they will be remembered. Historians will probably argue for a long time over which major disasters of Bush’s two terms is most notable as his. We’ve got an embarrassment of riches in that department.

There’s lying to take the country into an unjust and unprovoked war. Or promulgating a policy of torture. Or untargeted spying on our own innocent citizens. Or bungling the Katrina relief effort while America watched the horrors unfolding on our television screens. Or stonewalling investigation after investigation into the blatant misconduct of his office. Or driving the economy into the ground. And those are just the highlights, to say nothing of his education policy, his energy policy, and his utter disregard for the health and well-being of veterans.

But his greatest achievement, in my opinion, is a societal attitude shift. It didn’t start with him, but he sure picked up the mantle of the conservative talk show hosts and ran with it.

George Bush’s legacy is “The Fuck You Society.”

Just because you’re of my neighborhood or my nationality or my species, don’t expect any sort of innate kindness or respect. If you don’t agree with me, fuck you. If you have a different experience than me, fuck you. If you don’t look like me, act like me, or share my values, fuck you. If you think I’m wrong, fuck you. If you think I’m lying, fuck you.

This legacy is permeating our workplaces, our local governments, and our schools. It’s becoming a part of our daily lives. Agree with me or you are innately worthless, except so far as I can mock you. We all participate to some degree and it is a sad development in the evolution of our culture. It’s made compromise nearly impossible, and significantly undervalued, because if anyone different is worthless, why on earth would we waste our time attempting to find common ground?

It’s clear to me from John McCain’s behavior that he is a charter member of The Fuck You Society. He seems to revel in discounting the opinions and values of others.

Barack Obama doesn’t. My favorite passage in The Audacity of Hope comes from chapter 2. Obama writes:

Like most of my values, I learned about empathy from my mother. She disdained any kind of cruelty or thoughtlessness or abuse of power ....Whenever she saw even a hint of such behavior in me she would look me square in the eyes and ask, "How do you think that would make you feel?" ... I find myself returning again and again to my mother's simple principle -- "How would that make you feel?" -- as a guidepost for my politics. ... It's not a question we ask ourselves enough, I think; as a country, we seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit."

I like Obama and I trust him. I’m aligned with him ideologically on most issues. He spent a couple years at my alma mater. We adopted the same city. He’s intellectually curious. His wife is the bomb.

But more than any of that, why I will vote for Obama is because he asks himself “How would that make me feel?” He talks of being president of everyone in America and he actively seeks common ground. These qualities are hard to find in The Fuck You Society.

I take comfort in the fact that a president’s lasting impact is truly permanent only in the way that future generations will view that president. I will take even greater comfort when Barack Obama wins, and begins to dismantle George Bush's legacy.