Looking back on my life, I wonder what would have happened if I had not been prone to giving up too easily. I don’t think it was cowardice. I think it was something else that betrayed me – too much faith in logic perhaps. Time after time, I would sum up a situation and conclude that there was no way to win, so I might as well fold. But after all these years, I realize that logic does not necessarily prevail. Had I stubbornly stayed the course, I might often – or at least sometimes – have won.
Yeah, I know… Shoulda, woulda, coulda… “I coulda been a contendah”…
Today, as I try to sum up the state of the world – yours and mine – I cower in despair. I want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.
And then I come across a story about Bernie Sanders… I open the file and Bernie’s face appears, tousled hair, furrowed forehead, the scars of a thousand lost causes reflected in his eyes, yet the stubbornness of an old warhorse still holding his head high (photo above).
Battling Bernie is at it again, fighting the good fight, getting set to climb the unclimbable mountain … the ant that’s planning to move that rubber tree plant.
And he is calling on people of good will – you and me – to join yet another cause, a cause bigger than any he has espoused before, and even more daunting.
He is fighting to get money out of politics.
Yes, I know. You’ve heard that one before. It’s the latest thing. MSNBC-TV’s Dylan Ratigan has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures calling for a constitutional amendment to that effect. And I understand that there are numerous similar initiatives floating around Washington.
Does anyone really believe it can be done?
How many times must we be taught that money talks?
Logically, the forces opposing reform of the American political – and financial – system are overwhelming. Americans have fought them before – and lost. Logically, there is no way to win against such odds.
Didn’t Albert Einstein remind us that insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result?
Perhaps Bernie is insane.
The Vermont senator has introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in a case called Citizens United vs. FEC. You remember the case, don’t you? Basically, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are human beings and have the same rights of free speech as any American citizen. The ruling also assumes that speaking is equivalent to spending money. It allows global corporations to spend limitless amounts in support of American political causes and candidates.
The absurdity of the ruling highlights the fact that the court is stacked with corporate stooges, that years of maneuvering by Republican administrations are bearing poison fruit.
A logical man facing the massive corporate resources aligned against him would conclude that defeat is inevitable.
But Bernie is not being logical.
(And, by the way, the same argument holds true against the Occupy Wall Street movement.)
So why am I hoping against hope that perhaps this time the outcome could be different?
Perhaps I, too, am insane.
Bernie wants us to sign a petition supporting his amendment. Logically, I would consider this a waste of time. But not today. Today, I refuse to be logical. I am signing it.
And if you want to join us insane folk, you can sign the petition too:
