[R-G] A Few Thoughts on an Early Snake River Country Morning

[Hunter Gray]

Been mulling over a few things. Some scattered thoughts:

 A couple of days ago, we had a spirited. but generally amiable, discussion on Redbadbear which wound up, quickly, focusing on FDR and the Democratic Party.  It was lively -- but didn't necessarily alter anyone's stand on all of that.  [Norla Antinoro and Edward Pickersgill captured  the discussion for the lively My Town and, if interested, one can see that colloquy at http://www.mytown.ca/nutshell/  ]  While aware of the deep flaws in the Roosevelt administration, I remain one of those who, on balance, is quite friendly to the role of FDR [and Eleanor.]  I was growing up in those very tough times and I remember them very well.  With the onset of U.S. entrance into the War, much of the New Deal faded -- WPA and CCC et al. -- since unemployment dropped drastically in the context of the domestic war effort.  But much of the New Deal continued and, however battered, still does.  

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 [and comparable legislation a bit later which focused on Oklahoma] -- all of this stemming from the long and tortured and often sanguinary history of a Federal "Indian policy" designed to put Native tribes and cultures out of business and out of existence to facilitate corporate seizure of Native lands/resources -- marked a very basic reversal of those horrific polices: stressed the importance of  supporting Native people and tribal nations and tribal cultures and Indian lands and resources.  The notable Indian Commissioner during the IRA etc. epoch was John Collier, a protégé of Eleanor Roosevelt. Those "Indian New Deal" reforms exist into our current times -- as the Native struggle continues.

But this is not an effort to resurrect our late FDR mini-hassle.

The basic issue in that RBB interchange did not really involve the Roosevelts as much as it did the nature and character of the Democratic Party -- and, implicitly, under the surface of the back-and-forth, the perennial question for "radicals", "How should one relate to the current electoral situation -- especially at the Presidential level?"

I think it's clear to anyone who reads my posts that, for a number of reasons, I'm in the Obama camp.  [ It looks like a majority of Idaho Democrats are at this point as well.]  I have voted and not infrequently for what I've viewed as sensible and honorable "third party" positions.  But not this time -- at least as things stand now. [Of course, if Hillary and Bill take the Demo nomination, I'll have to go up into the hills and commune-for-direction with our several good and helpful Spirits.]

While I certainly don't think that anyone with an ounce of honesty could deny the consistently negative role played by corporate capitalism, and its effects on, say, the Democratic Party and other institutions, we are presently in the midst of one of the very worst eras ever undergone by the people of this country and the world.  When I was the featured speaker at the annual 2005 Truman Day dinner, held at Idaho Falls and covering a good bit of adjoining turf, I began with the sentence, "This the worst national administration any of us can recall -- and I'm 71 years old" -- I wasn't giving away a rare, golden secret. Almost a month ago, following Iowa, I wrote in part ["Inevitable Sunlight"]:

"It wasn't too long ago, historically speaking, that people like many of
us had to fight to survive at a Woolworth lunch counter.

We see the tremendous influx of young people into the Obama -- and, to a
substantial extent, into the Edwards bailiwick as well -- as a damn
realistic harbinger of a better future and an ultimate promise of an
even better one.

JFK's election was never seen by many of us as any great millennium. 
But, fueled by many younger people and others of similar inclination, it
reflected the profound discontent and frustration that had festered in
the "dismal '50s."  The election of '60 ushered in a rapidly growing
atmosphere of Realistic Hope.

Movement picked up -- and up -- and People Wanted More -- and More. 
They pushed and More came.

It's always been my experience that, when folks start winning on good
and tangible fronts, they shoot higher -- and higher.  The Kennedys et
al.[and the System in general] were pressured from the grassroots For
More -- and More.  And a fair amount of More did indeed come.

There is always a place for Us Radicals -- especially if we try to avoid
the intricate theology of ideological nit-picking and its consequent
schisms and falling-away and, even more fundamentally, alienation from
the grassroots.

Whether times are lean or times are flush, it's up to Us to keep the
Vision high.  Whatever happens in 2008 and beyond, we all have our jobs
to do -- as we, via our hearts and minds, see fit:

Organize -- That remains Genesis.  Always and Forever."

In my opinion, American [U.S.] radicals who are oblivious to, or even sharply critical of, the rapidly growing grassroots movement within and around the Obama campaign are missing the Winds of History.  These are "big things" that greatly transcend the personality of any individual -- even Obama, who I certainly feel has substantial potential.  Long after this campaign has run its course -- for relative "better" or worse -- the fact remains that for the first time in decades vast numbers of younger people -- and many oldsters as well -- will have been sparked and stoked into good fire.  Some will fade away -- but a great many will remain in an least some sort of activist mode.  If what constitutes an "American Left" ignores this, it runs the great risk  of a retreat into meaningless monasticism.  People have to make their own decisions -- e.g., Obama or "third party" or otherwise -- but  don't ignore or attack the tremendous phenomenon presently underway, and building.

And much, much good indeed can and will come of this Wave as History travels its eternal River.  It's a very long and winding trail to Beulah Land but Humanity will get there, some way and somehow.

And then, as Humanity always does, It will continue to go on from there.

Yours, Hunter Gray [Hunter Bear]


HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR]   Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
 and Ohkwari'
 
Check out our Hunterbear website Directory http://hunterbear.org/directory.htm
[The site is dedicated to our one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
 
See Forces and Faces Along the Activist Trail:  http://hunterbear.org/forces_and_faces_along_the_trail.htm
And see also this companion piece, http://hunterbear.org/outlaw_trail1.htm