E-mails to SMS: Blue Grit - A Great Read for Dismayed Dems

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Blue Grit - A Great Read for Dismayed Dems

If you are half as discouraged as I am by the recent betrayal by the Congressional Democrats on the Iraq funding bill and if even Keith Olbermann's terrific rant did little to buoy your spirits, I'd like to recommend a wonderful book that is full of hope and courage and direction for these sorry times we are existing in. The book is Laura Flander's Blue Grit True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians. The book is dedicated to June Jordan and when I read the openng quote I thought, yes, this speaks to me at this particular moment:

And because revolution always takes place on the basis of great hope and rising expectations, I am not too worried about the future. One way or another a whole lotta change is gonna come. Through happiness realized or through and beyond the pain of betrayal, we will become the beneficiaries of our faith.

And even without revolution, we will prevail because we have proven to the world, and to ourselves that we are not "fringe elements" or "special interest groups"or so-called "minorities." Without us there is no legitimate majority: we are the mainstream. We have become the "people."

And let our elected leadeship beware the awesome possible wrath of a mighty, multifoliate, and faithful people whose deepest hopes have been rekindled and whose needs have not been met.

--June Jordan, "On the Night of November 3, 1992," Affirmative Acts: Political Essays

Another good quote from Blue Grit:

"If liberal funders spent half the time studying the sucesses of the Left that they spend obsessing over the Coors foundation, they'd be better informed, not to mention cheerier."
Laura Flanders, Blue Grit, p. 101

Keep the faith, folks, keep the faith...

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