The Oregon Way: A Common-Sense Movement
By Graham Bouldin of Portland, Oregon - who describes himself as "a graduate student in social work, a social progressive, and a frustrated voter."
During the late stages of the European Enlightenment, Paris was a bastion of free thought, world knowledge, science and philosophy. The greatest thinkers of the day found a city suitable to their views on progress, hope, and tolerance. Progressive thinkers flocked to Paris to escape other areas of Europe still locked in Middle-Ages thought, areas incapable of accepting the challenges of science and educated discussion to traditional ways of thinking and worship.
Portland, too, is seeing such a movement. People with a progressive bent have been steadily moving into this fair city for years; the most recent election is proof that the population is already here. The Movement, however, is not.
We have the coffee shops. We have the parks. We have the social service agencies. We have everything needed to create a coherent, culturally helpful, progressive agenda for the next few decades. If the American people are unable to remove a President who blatently fails to tell the truth, a President who blatently fails to practice what he preaches (an 'education-minded President' who claims he does not like to read), then it is clearly time for a new direction. Alas, our message of social tolerance and acceptance is not enough. The most beautiful part of our progressive beliefs is simply not enough.
Much progress has been made over the past 40 years in areas such as civil rights, consciousness about social welfare, and tolerance for difference in our society. However, the continued attempts to woo voters to our side by claiming to be the government 'of the people' has not worked. The prominence we have placed on our support for groups who are inherently and continually powerless--because of societial oppression and a horribly intolerant American history--has given progressives the support of those groups. In the process, however, we have lost the party focus as organizers of union labor, conscious watchdogs for economic injustice, and preachers of a better America through social sacrifice and individual perserverence. In short, we should continue to work for rights for oppressed groups and the disadvantaged. However, in the words of philosopher Richard Rorty, we need to change the conversation.
Perhaps this involves replacing the word "liberal" with "progressive", perhaps it involves a more direct challenge to American conservatives to confront their own hypocritical views while clearly showing that we have confronted our own. The answer lies not in my mind, or in yours, but in our minds working together.
It was exciting and positive to see hundreds of people working so hard to un-elect our President, and it was painful to see their disappointment. Now that we have recovered from that blow, it is time to get at it again. This time, however, sheer populism will not work. Getting out the vote does not guarantee a Democratic society. Great ideas do. Let us undertake, from here in Oregon, a "common sense" movement.
Let us meet one another. Let us read, and discuss, listen and challenge one another to come up with something better. Let us begin a new Enlightenment whereby any progressive minded thinker can easily and coherently explain our position without resorting to claims of past oppression and American guilt. Let us be hopeful, and forward thinking. Let us change our weak position on religion to one where our guiding religious beliefs are for a more tolerant, open, safe, and compassionate world for all. Let us invite our conservative friends to join us in living up to the tenets of our religious convictions. They have been duped too long, it is our turn to remind them what compassion and brotherly love is all about.
Find friends, find opponents. Hear what they are saying. Hear their stories, ideas and plans for a better America. Remain open to those ideas and carry them with you. Only by examining what has not worked for us, as progressive thinkers, can we come up with something better. Oregon, with the assistance of the internet and media markets such as Air America, might be just the place for such a resurgance. Undoubtedly it will take patience and tolerance for differences of opinion, but those are our strong suits. We know our social view is right, but we need to figure out how to explain it without tripping over our own words.
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Nov. 21, 2004
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Nov 21, '04
"Let us meet one another. Let us read, and discuss, listen and challenge one another to come up with something better."
name the place, date and time -- and I'm THERE.
signed, sincerely ready to mark my calendar with regular meeting times
9:42 a.m.
Nov 22, '04
Graham,
I like this post, and I think Portland might just fit the bill for the type of 21st century American renaissance that you describe. If nothing else, we can help each other to chase our dreams. Most of our conversations on politics these days, unfortunately, boil down to anxious, hand-wringing sessions on tactics. Turn out, redistricting, polling, registration, etc. This is how the battle, from election to election, is fought, but I think you are right that the larger issues of language and ideas deserve attention. We have to fight on this level, as well; and more importantly, living on this level, in my view, makes it possible for us to really make the most of our freedoms.
It's tempting to feel glum about national politics, but we live here. We can make Portland an physical example of how a city can make the various pieces of a progressive ideology mutually reinforcing. And while someday never comes, we shouldn't underestimate the power of an energized populace to make their city what they want it to be. Edinburgh and Boston are two great examples. World famous now, of course, they were fairly tiny burgs, isolated from world currents, when prior to their fundamental transformations.
Borrowing from a recent New Yorker article, in Edinburgh, in 1697, an 18-year old student named Thomas Aikenhead was hanged for calling Christian theology “a rapsodie of faigned and ill-invented nonsense.” 75 years later, Edinburgh was home to Adam Smith and James Boswell, and other towering figures who ultimately redefined our sense of ourselves. The free market folks who either uphold or distort those classical theories of Smith seem to forget how radical they were a mere 250 years ago.
Early 19th century Boston underwent a similar transformation, after the war of 1812, when the town began to throw off the strict confines of Calvinism and Puritanism in favor of its own revival. William Ellery Channing founded Unitarianism, a radical faith at the time. Harvard flowered into America's first genuinely cosmopolitan intellectual environment, and Washington Irving of New York, James Fenimore Cooper of Connecticut, Thoreau of Concord and Emerson (who learned writing from Channing's brother) of Boston quickly gave us a lot of the revolutionary ideas that continue to define many of the best parts American spirit, here and abroad.
The intellectually weak practice of polling to determine policy remains a threat to our politics and to our democracy. For example, to critique Bob Shrum, I think it's a mistake to try to recapture the spirit of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s by attempting to take the DNC back into a time machine. Today's challenges call for new ideas, specifically tailored to the times.
From my admittedly myopic perspective, I believe that Portland is somewhat uniquely positioned to demonstrate how a progressive approach can work in these times. Oregon possesses an independent streak that encourages mavericks. We also, Measure 37 notwithstanding, have inherited a bold and largely successful experiment in land-use planning. In recent years, built upon the leadership of people like Robert Liberty, Bob Stacey, Mike Houck, Jill Fuglister and countless others, we've seen an integration of land use and transportation with other significant challenges like water quality and affordable housing.
On the artistic front, people like Kristi Edmunds of PICA, and their time-based art project, push the boundaries and help set the stage for local artists to shine. In architecture, look at Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works, etc. I've just scratched the surface, obviously. There are too many things happening to name everyone.
Brilliant young people continue to flock to Portland for a reason. They feel at home here. While they struggle to gain an economic foothold in this West Coast housing market, they are redefining our city. I think Portland, all of us living our lives together, can awaken a sense of the possible. Our lives don't have to be nasty, brutish and short. There is a better way, and we'll get there by applying our creative and intellectual energies in passionate pursuit of our dreams and beliefs. And you don't have to be an artist or an intellectual to benefit from this type of energy in your town.
Nov 28, '04
Graham, I am a first time poster- so I ask all of you reading to forgive any protocol errors I will make-and I'm about to make my first!. I want to talk about something that I think is related to this post but not right on topic- So here goes. I have attended for the past year a Catholic church in SE - no problems until the new Pastor shows up a few months ago and exhorts us to basically vote the straight Fundie ticket or we're getting a one way trip to Damnation.
I could leave the chuch - but I'm in a fight'n mood now and I am looking for advice on what to do to stand my holy ground. Thanks for any advice- Jack
Nov 28, '04
Jack, I wish I could give you some witty response for your dilemma. I don't have one. I guess my best advice involves two steps: 1) talk to other members of your congregation. Ask them what they think about threats regarding one's eternal life in hell and one's political choices. See if they think that an all knowing, all caring, all loving God would really praise the idea of voting for someone who killed more people in the electric chair or Iraq than anyone else. 2) Talk to your pastor about it, tell him/her your difficulties with it and ask why it is necessary to make these issues so black/white. Ask him/her (probably him) why Jesus does not mention anything in the bible about abortion, homosexuality, or marginal tax rates. Then ask him why Republican's get his vote even though Jesus mentions roughly 2,000 times the need to help the poor. Remind him which party truly cares about the poor. Remind him that 40% of African American youth grow up in poverty and that African American's (and really all oppressed groups in our country) voted overwhelmingly Democrat despite their strong religious convictions. Ask him if he would have fought for the Confederacy in the Civil-War, because that is basically the divide we are dealing with now between North and South. Ask him if he thinks that social workers are all going to hell because most of them are liberals. Ask him if he thinks that we should just shut down places of higher education because something like 9/10 of professors are self-proclaimed liberals. Ask him if anything has changed since the days when priests and clergy tried to keep people uneducated and illiterate so they could retain power and social control. Ask him if Buddha or Ghandi or Socrates are currently burning in hell because they were progressive non-Christians. If not, then you won't either. If so, then say you're proud to be with them in hell and that it doesn't bother you too much.
I guess my best advice is to challenge people to think for themselves. If you tell people in your congregation that you have deeply-seeded moral issues with some conservative policies (especially as they deal with poverty, health care, war, Christian values) then maybe you will find people who agree. If you do, see if they will visit with the pastor/minister with you and threaten to boycott that particular church. There are a lot of churches in this town.
I am sorry if that sounds harsh. I don't want to disrespect your religious convictions, but I also know the pain of living a split life between political and religious convictions. It is not fair that your church life has come to this, but it has, and it represents the worst of our society.
Suggested Reading: Blaise Pascal's "Thoughts" (Les Pensee). He was a devout Christian from the Enlightenment who did not understand the divide between people trying to help other people and their need to stick with their religious convictions. He basically said "hey, we can have the best of both worlds" helping people AND go to heaven.
Good Luck, Graham
P.S By the way, doesn't Christianity usually say something like "judge not, lest ye be judged"? Wouldn't that apply here? Couldn't you tell your pastor/minister that you would rather just wait for God to put you in hell for wanting to help your fellow brothers, rather than letting him condemn you beforehand?
Good luck
Nov 29, '04
Graham, thanks for your reply, I will take your advice and talk to the pastor- Hes young (40's) I'd guess and seems to quite full of ...himself... He's also very bright. So I can discuss spinoza and pascal and he can more than keep up. What about other thinkers? surely the world has faced fundamentalism before - During what periods? What thikers opposed it? I can think of the war of the roses in the 1640s' That conflict brought us Miltons Areopagitica. What other great texts are there on this topic?
Nov 29, '04
Jack, Surely there is more than one Catholic church in Portland? My former state legislator was a Catholic who had the "gall" to cast a vote not everyone in his congregation agreed with. As I recall, the family finally got fed up and switched to another parish. It might be worth visiting other Catholic churches to see if there is a difference? And what do you know about the Paulists? As I recall, the Kerrys attend a Paulist Catholic Church, or so I recall reading somewhere. Might be worth a web search.
Nov 30, '04
Jack, Well, I have few favorite texts about fundamentalist religion vs. reason. First, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Second, Kierkegaard, I'm not sure which book its from (possibly "either/or" or "Fear and Trembling"... i think its the latter). My favorite, though, is Ludwig Feuerbach's "The Essence of Christianity" which is an anthropological examination of Christianity. It is really cool.
Dec 1, '04
Thanks Graham, and all who replied. I will check out the paulist (theres a paulist church near my home :).
And on the topic of great texts how would it be if I do some research on the texts above and excerpt it to you possibly for a future post by you or someone else at BlueOr? I really think we can beat the fundies at thier own game. If we can be authoritative in the biblical scholorship. (and if I can learn to spell :)... Jack