It seems fairly appropriate to talk politics on Independence Day, especially since every [most] oh-eight presidential candidate is in Iowa this week. Including Senator Barack Obama of Illinois who spoke at a local park this afternoon, with yours truly in attendance. I've come to the point where I realize that no one candidate's platform will line up perfectly with my own opinions, and that really, in U.S. politics at least, you have try to find a candidate that gets as close to what you want and make a lot of the decision based on the candidate's character, attitude and such. Now, do I agree point by point with Senator Obama? Not really. But I believe that his attitudes towards the issues at hand [education, healthcare, Iraq, the world's perception of the U.S., etc.] are agreeable to my own attitudes regarding such issues. Does this mean that he has my oh-eight vote? Not entirely, but he's close. And yes, I did get to shake the senator's hand and get a picture with him [see below!]. I've also had several good chats/readings/viewings recently about power, politics and revolution lately, so I thought I would post a few quotes and make you think a bit.
"It's hard enough to start a revolution, even harder to sustain it, and hardest of all to win it. But it's only afterwards, once we've won, that the real difficulties begin." - Mohammed Larbi Ben M'hidi, from the film The Battle of Algiers.
"Any system that demands power for its own sake will never be capable of doing what is truly good" - Myself, in a conversation with the ever brilliant Monica [back from Peru for a short while!], discussing the nature of governments and organizations in general that have great power.
"It is impossible to be both a Christian and a nationalist... Do we believe in the holy, universal church, the communion of saints? Or do we believe in the eternal mission of France [or maybe the U.S.]?" - Jean Lasserre, as quoted in Wind's Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Spoke in the Wheel. Later in the book it tells of the point in World War Two where parts of the German state church replaced the cross with a giant illuminated swastika. Nationalism became idol worship; it's sad and scary, but think about how easily it could happen in this age and day where fear abounds. Thank God for His Kingdom [and its theology]. you have my love.
[My apologies to those of you who thought that potato salad would be mentioned in this blog. It's just that I had some really good potato salad tonight and I couldn't really land on a titile for this post. It's totally whatev.]
Senator Obama, Monica, and myself.
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