The quality of intent: What is really at stake in the 2008 Presidential Election

“What is the quality of your intent?

Certain people have a way of saying things that shake us at the core. Even when the words do not seem harsh or offensive, the impact is shattering. What we could be experiencing is the intent behind the words. When we intend to do good, we do. When we intend to do harm, it happens. What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through. We cannot sugarcoat the feelings in our heart of hearts. The emotion is the energy that motivates. We cannot ignore what we really want to create. We should be honest and do it the way we feel it. What we owe to ourselves and everyone around is to examine the reasons of our true intent.”

--attributed to Thurgood Marshall
(emphasis mine)

Indeed, now more than ever we cannot ignore what we really want to create. The upcoming Presidential election is regarded by many people as a pivotal for our country. I agree. But I think it is pivotal less for the impact it will have on the issues that press to the forefront of our minds, partly driven there by politicians and the mainstream media: bailout bills, vice-presidential picks, whatever.

I think this election matters most because it poses a question to all Americans, but especially to Democrats, about the ways we find it acceptable to practice politics in our country. Many of my Democratic friends acknowledge that Senator Obama's campaign relied on less-than-savory, even dishonest, measures to secure his spot as the Democratic candidate; they will admit, when asked pointedly, that they are disturbed by Senator Obama's truth squads and training camps, by his manipulation of young children when he urges their parent to have them tell their grandparents to vote for him; by his refusal to denounce sexism or take concrete measures to affirmatively demonstrate that he understands the pervasiveness of that social ill; by his tepid stands on reproductive rights and equal rights for gays and lesbians; by his commitment to tying Church and state closer together.  But these friends excuse Senator Obama's methods by saying that he has done and is just doing what it takes to win, and after all, isn't that what Republicans have done for years?

I refer those with that point of view to the quotation above from Thurgood Marshall, an often overlooked hero not just of the civil rights movement on behalf of black Americans but a hero for all progressive Americans, because while he naturally enough, given his circumstances, began his career with great concern for black Americans, he ended it by fighting for the rights of all Americans who did not enjoy the equality of opportunity that has been the hallmark of U.S. democracy since the country's founding, and which was renewed by the programs that Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated.

Apparently, many Americans have found Senator Barack Obama's words to have a shattering impact. But what is the quality of the intent of a candidate who resorts to dishonest, manipulative, authoritarian methods to gain office?

And what is the quality of the intent of those who hurl accusations of racism against those who do not want this sort of candidate representing them as Democrats?

As the quality of Senator Obama's intent has become clearer to me over time - a will to power including the power to completely silence any diversity of expression within the Democratic Party itself - I find his words ever more grating, and certainly not inspiring.

I do not believe this country is well served by authoritarian political parties or politicians - consider for example George W. Bush and the Rovian Republican style. But Republicans do not have a monopoly on authoritarian attitudes and tactics, and neither do conservatives in general. The French Revolution - meant to end authoritarian rule in France - ended in The Terror - tyranny by mob rule.

The glory of the United States of America lies in its ability to encompass really difference and real diversity while at the same time creating an environment for equal opportunity, the protection of individual dignity, and the generation of prosperity that can be shared by all. Authoritarians try to make difference and diversity go away, first by pretending it does not exist and then silencing dissenters so it seems as if it does not exist. We cannot ignore what authoritians really intend to create.

At the same time, we have to reflect on what we really intend. I intend my country to have at least one political party that does not cram unity down my throat, that realizes that women's rights are human rights, that will not aim to put in office candidates whose vision of the presidency is an imperial one.

The emotions that I see and feel in my heart when I examine it closely: hope that Democrats will be the ones to keep our country democratic and determination to see the Democratic Party restored to its traditional principles and methods and returned to being a democratic institution.

These emotions undergird the reasons of my true intent when I argue that the only way to fix the Democratic Party is to refuse to support its Presidential candidate this year.

I do not want my Party, the Democratic Party, to be defined by an intent to win elections by any means necessary; I want my Party to be able to win elections on the basis of truly democratic and historically Democratic intent.

Comments

[Mirlo]

What a wonderful post, thank you Heidi Li; I share your hope.

[Mary Beth]

Heidi, I just want you to know, that when I get so twisted up inside and truly think I've fallen down the rabbit hole, because of this horrific situation I and many of us are in...I come to you and you give me calm.....you allow me to understand through your words,what I must do.
Thank you Heidi for all the hope you give and the community you serve so well.

[Car54wru]

I truly agree with your last paragraph. Great post, HLF.

[kavala007]

Well done Heidi. What many do not want to understand is that the way the Democratic nominee, the Speaker, the Senate Majority and the DNC have run this campaign is the way they want to govern. They are telling the American citizen what they are really like. People always tend to tell you who and what they are. They show your their character in their actions. If anyone thinks this group will miraculously change down the line they are deluding themselves.

[CKA in Red State USA]

Respectfully, I think the Democrat Party has now transformed itself fully into the Democrat Fascist Party.

To call them and their head fascist "authoritarian" is to be polite.

They have become enemies of the people.

And they've certainly been exposed as misogynists, through their behavior toward Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

They've also been exposed as racial arsonists who will creat turmoil and incite division to win.

So, indeed, this is a pivotal election.

If America chooses these fascists, there'll be at least two very long years, until the Republicans, conservatives and anyone else who cares, find ways to overturn the Democrat majority in Congress.

And then two years later, through the Marxist from Chicago and his angry mate out of Washington.

[twandx]

JACKBOOTS FOR JESUS

There is a glaring dichotomy in the BObob political machine. It presents BO as a very religious person who is honest and trustworthy. It has promulgated the idea that he is special, almost godlike and can do no wrong.

Then, generally behind the scenes and certainly unseen or unheard by the msm media, the BObob machine grinds out a completely different agenda.

Christi Parsons writing in the Chicago Tribune reports on the formation of Obama Youth Camps where campers will be schooled in the policies and promises of BO. Also they will be taught campaign skills and hear lectures by old friends of BO who will indoctrinate them in his biography and policy positions.

This sounds eerily like the way a European dictator in the past conditioned and maintained a huge corps of youth to blindly follow him, even to betraying their own parents.

And what is one to make of the chorus of 22 children, aged 5-12, uniformed alike in blue Obama shirts singing to their dear leader. It too brings back memories. [Watch both videos for yourselves].

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/too-close-for-comfort/

All the time, to give his not-so-Christian endeavors cover, BO has relentlessly reached out to evangelical voters and their pastors. His effort is to increase participation in his Matthew 25 PAC by young, moderate evangelicals, Catholics and Protestants committed to electing him president.

And to keep any protester or non-believer in line, his Truth Squad makes itself felt all over the country. Truth squad video - http://tinyurl.com/4jf22f

When the Missouri public prosecutor announced that public officials of the state would be “joining Obama’s Truth Squad, there was concern. Could this lead to police threatening or arresting anyone who questioned anything about him?

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is not amused. “The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.” http://tinyurl.com/4aqvao

Apparently Missouri is not the only state targeted. It has been revealed that Obama legal teams in Pennsylvania and Ohio are accosting radio/TV stations. This is to prevent them from broadcasting NRA ads that challenge Obama’s anti-gun agenda.

Teddy Roosevelt’s foreign policy was “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Obama’s domestic policy appears to be “Praise Jesus and if you dissent I’ll have you clubbed and your children re-educated to worship me."

[stateofdisbelief]

Excellent Heidi. It really distills the whole problem with this election into a consise statement:

I do not want my Party, the Democratic Party, to be defined by an intent to win elections by any means necessary; I want my Party to be able to win elections on the basis of truly democratic and historically Democratic intent.

[Patty]

Barack Obama is an absolute danger to the nature of this republic. Eleven months of watching and researching this man reveal an allegiance only to self and the advancement of that self interest his entire adult life through the rigid and unyield practice of the Alinsky method of advocacy..no bounds, no means disallowed, no
action inappropriate to serve the end: self interest. Barack Obama is an absolute fraud and he must be defeated or we are doomed to the extinction of this country as we know it, even in its worst times and history, let alone its best.

[Fran]

I'm still with you Heidi. This has been a painful election, and I see many Democrats folding under the pressure to support the Party, regardless of how we got here. I cannot forget the abusive and corrupt methods that were used to secure the nomination by both Senator Obama and the DNC leaders. It is a fundamental violation of our democracy, and I will not endorse it with my vote.

[carolinaPuma]

I totally agree with Heidi Li.As I set and watch this election unfold,It amazes me as to the extent one man can get by with,being corrupt,stealing a Primary,committing voter fraud through ACORN,associating with known Anti-American terrorist WILLIAM AYERS,His racist Preacher REV.WRIGHT and even as to go so far as to try and underhandedly negotiate the return of our troops behind the current Presidents back.When will it all end? It has to.I just cannot see this kind of person as our COMMANDER in CHIEF,can you? This Democrat is disgusted with the Democratic Party in whole.Not only did some of them cover up the FANNY and FREDDY fall out,they have given us a PRESIDENTIAL candidate with NO MORALS and NO EXPERIENCE.

[bev]

Bravo Heidi. Thank you for this, I will print it out and email to as many people (democrats) as possible.

[gonzotx]

i can not and will not support the Fraud!

[Firelight]

Not so coincidentally, I suppose after the events of this election season, last night and this morning I was thinking about some of the same ideas that are in your post. Obama has always seemed a fraud to me, so who is he really? He seems to me, to be an authoritarian looking for a country to be dictator of!

[Lexia]

It's hard to lionize Thurgood Marshall because of the very qualities that made him exceptional. No one epitomized existential courage as he did and few have resisted, as he did, the temptation to let the media define who they are.

Obama is not worthy to share the same country with Justice Marshall. It would have restored my faith in this 200+ year old experiment in the right of all to self-government had I been able to vote for someone of Marshall's caliber. Obama has made a travesty of that process.

[Chevalier]

"The French Revolution - meant to end authoritarian rule in France - ended in The Terror - tyranny by mob rule."

Thank you for reminding me of that one. There're so many examples of one dictatorship brought down for one of a different, and worse kind even if everyone initially thought the change was for the better. I keep citing examples from Afghanistan in the 1980's (the USSR brought down by the mujahedeen who then proceeded to become tribal warlords and were replaced by the crazy Taliban), or Iran (the Ayatollah came in saying he wanted to introduce "change" and "hope" for the future of Iran and go back to a time when Iranians were proud of Iran), or multiple African nations in the late 20th century.
Most Obama supporters I speak to have NO knowledge of what I'm citing and so it makes no impact. Maybe giving them examples from the French revolution will be better.

Or maybe they - and we - are doomed to re-learn the painful lessons of the past by living through them.

[Ani]

Beautiful, Heidi.

And absolutely spot on.

I cannot support the Democratic nominee. Anyone who obtains the nomination by means of fraud and disenfranchisement does not deserve my support.

Just because he shows himself to be similar in tactics to his distant relative Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove, doesn't mean I should side with him, knowing that he has imitated and even surpassed dirty tricks used by the other side of late.

No thank you. This is not the Democratic Party I knew.