About if I ruled the world

And the song that is in my head today, maybe because of the proximity of the election, and the rueful look on President Bush's face every time I see him on TV lately:

Viva La Vida--Coldplay

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries Wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

About the fear of fear itself

Sometimes we need to listen to the pastor; sometimes to the poet; sometimes to the professor. In these days, we are often left listening to the politician and the pundit--unfortunately.

The politicians have too much at stake to be able to speak candidly--dare I suggest, even honestly? A handful of votes can decide an election, even a national one--hello, Florida. And the pundits have too much at stake, too, for common sense to prevail over hysteria--a ratings swing to another channel can mean one's job.

So I got to thinking about President Roosevelt's speech, which seems to be getting quoted by left and right, in miniature. How much more do we know of it than the "fear of fear itself" line? And if indeed that snippet is painfully true this October, how much more of the speech can we learn from?

There is much, and in that spirit, I reproduce the text and offer a video. The speech is President Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address, on Saturday, March 4, 1933.

---

President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunk to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone. More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.

Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True, they have tried. But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.

Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation is asking for action, and action now.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great -- greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.

Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.

Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, the State, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.

We must act. We must act quickly.

And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order. There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments. There must be an end to speculation with other people's money. And there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

These, my friends, are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 States.

Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment; but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally -- narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States of America -- a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that recovery will endure.

In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor: the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others; the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never realized before, our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take, but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress can be made, no leadership becomes effective.

We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good. This, I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.

It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations. And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

But, in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

For the trust reposed in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.

We do not distrust the -- the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.

In this dedication -- In this dedication of a Nation, we humbly ask the blessing of God.

May He protect each and every one of us.

May He guide me in the days to come.

---

And may cooler heads, common sense, and wise policies prevail!

About last night: Abraham, Martin and John

A lot of rhetoric, a lot of people, a lot of lights, a lot of history. Later, a lot of analysis and a lot of criticism.

I am truly a child of the '60s, for I was a child in the '60s--so far away, now. A dream long gone?

But I woke up hearing this song in my head:

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good in you and me?
And we'll be free
Someday soon
It's gonna be one day

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walking up o'er the hill
With Abraham, Martin and John.

About participation

So, Indiana being the new Iowa, or maybe Florida (it being spring break, and half the state repairing to Ft. Myers, our ersatz sister city), we settle into being the epicenter of political activity.
We see articles in Newsweek like this one, calling May 6 "The New Super Tuesday."
We see the Democratic candidates opening offices all around the state, even in Ft. Wayne.
We see Chelsea Clinton being asked personal questions at Indiana college campuses.
And best of all, we see political candidates actually visiting our city. There she is, right in the parking lot of Sara's Family and Friends Restaurant in the Village at Coventry shopping center, a place where I myself have eaten pancakes (albeit not the company of politicians).
Perhaps you have remembered I have declared myself a
political tourist, showing extreme willingness to attend functions of any political ilk.
So far, that's meant seeing two Clintons in two weeks, and doing some suffering to see both.
For the former president, it meant standing in line in a light rain for the better part of an hour, then standing in a hot room for another hour and a half.
For his spouse, it meant standing in said parking lot for over an hour in a chilly wind and again, standing up.
In other words: during these functions, I'm either hot, or cold; perhaps damp; always hungry; back aching; having to go to the restroom; and and bored with the waiting. Although not too bored--for I have discovered there is lots of entertainment at political functions. Signage of all kinds, buttons as well; people old and young; media everywhere; a sense of anticipation over all.
But how often do we get to observe politics in action, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana? It's worth the sacrifice.
I'm extremely hopeful that Barak Obama is going to have a big do sometime before May 6; and I'm REALLY hopeful John McCain will come to town, so I can re-establish myself in the eyes of all my conservative friends as an independent voter, for many of them now, I fear, worry for my soul, having attended two Clinton gatherings in two weeks. At least Ron Paul--he hasn't dropped out yet, has he?
Now, answer me this: if you come to the function, walk right by the roped-off area, and go into the Applebee's next door, snagging the corner booth with the windows, from which you have a bird's eye view of the proceedings--can you be said to have "attended the Hillary Clinton rally"? I don't think so, and I told my family members who did just that, that they cannot tell people "I was there," although, of course, they kind of were. But they didn't suffer.
We did ... but we true participants also surely appreciated that table, after Hillary had given her five-minute speech to we hardy souls in the parking lot at Sara's, and then we ran over to Applebee's to warm up, have a beverage, eat some dinner, and watch out the windows as the roundtable continued on the TV above us.
I can only take so much participation, and then I need a mojito.
Well, how about you? Are you participating?

About when you go to see a president

Tuesday night, I had a choice: go to my book club, as I do every month, or go downtown to listen to President Clinton's speech.
Positive of going: I would see, in person, my second president (the first being the older President Bush, back when he visited Huntington with Dan "Puppy Love" Quayle in 1988).
Negatives of going: I would see, in person, a president who half the people I know hate, and would take much criticism (delivered with a smile, but sincere, nonetheless) for it.
Positive: I have book club every month, and I hadn't read this months' books anyway.
Negative: I would have to go straight downtown from work and get no dinner.
Positive: This was a Very Special Event in Fort Wayne, as usually our state is so thoroughly red that no candidates come here, and our primary is so late in the spring that races are long since decided, so it would be like being Part of History.
Negative: My mom and my mother-in-law would be mad at me, as they both hate our 42nd president.
Positive: I wanted to go, and I didn't care what other people thought anyway.
Negative: I really was a little concerned about that dinner thing.
Of course I went. And was glad I did: I love observing stuff like that. I got to stand right behind the media, and I love watching the machinations there--a few tweaks in my career, and maybe that would have been me. I had an unobstructed view of the President, as long as the TV cameras guys stayed put. I wrote in more detail about in on my other blog, Common Sensibilities; you can read it, and see some pictures, here»
[President Clinton is pretty chatty; the speech lasted the better part of an hour, I really had to pee, I was starving, and my back was killing me. It was all good, though.]
I don't know who I'll vote for in the primary--it's fun to think that for once my vote might actually mean something, so I'll weigh issues carefully before I make up my mind. Somebody's husband's speech is not going to sway me--or anyone else, I suspect. He might have motivated a few people to volunteer (not me).
And people's reactions were interesting--if I discovered half a dozen people at work who wished they could have come with me, I discovered three or four who wanted me disinfected before I came back into the building. As I told someone, "He's not the devil!" (Again, some disagreed.)
His personal choices were extremely ill-advised; his moral example, deplorable. He is not the first president, nor will he be the last, to disappoint us in his personal behavior. Still, I judge not: nor do I condone.
I just wanted to hear his speech, and be in a room of people who might think a little more like I do, than I'm usually in a room with. You know: those ones with the spray cans of Lysol who met me at the door on Wednesday.
And if any other candidates come to town, I'm there--Hillary, Barak, John McCain--sh00t, I'd go to see Ron Paul. Stuff like this just doesn't happen in Indiana.
How about you? Are you disinfecting your screen after reading this?

About exceptions and rules

The other day, I heard these words come out of my mouth:
"As a rule, I don't like to...."

"As a rule." My Gramma used that phrase a lot. "As a rule, I like to eat prunes every day." "As a rule, you shouldn't eat this ice cream before dinner, but we will this time." "As a rule, I like to plant the tomatoes after Memorial Day."

So I had a gramma moment when I heard myself use the phrase in casual conversation, then I got to thinkin'.

It seemed to me that as Gramma used the phrase, she was really was more like a pirate than I could have imagined -- she was sketching out her guidelines for living, rather than hard-and-fast rules. She often used the phrase just as she was about to BREAK one of her rules. ("As a rule, I don't drink, but just a little glass on Christmas.")

Now, there are personal rules and exceptions, such as the ice cream example above, and then there are rules -- and exceptions -- we kind of take for granted on a bigger scale.

If it's accepted that Indiana is a red state, and that our presidential primary is in May, as a rule, we Hoosiers don't have much say in the national dialog about who the Democratic candidate might be. (Not much in Republication, either, especially when that one's already decided.) We're going to vote red anyway; the primaries are long decided by May; we're too small to be much of a player. As a rule.

My Gramma, apolitical as she was, would not be surprised to see that those rules are about to be broken this year.

Red though we may be, there's a bluish caste around the edges, and suddenly the Democrats in Indiana aren't quite a superfluous as usual. And the 72 delegates we'll send to the Democratic convention are starting to look awfully juicy to the presidential candidates.

So juicy, candidates and their surrogates are actually starting to COME VISIT.

Barak Obama in Plainfield last weekend. Hillary around the state this week. And today--Bill Clinton is coming to Ft. Wayne (among other stops), campaigning for his own personal First Candidate.

What next? Political ads on TV?

"It's 3 a.m. Do you know where your favorite candidate is?"

This week, it just might be Indiana.

As a rule, I don't miss my book club meeting. But I'm going to tonight. National politics only comes around so often.

About politics

Hell of a way to wake up on a Monday morning, huh?

Indiana is not exactly a hotbed of presidential activity--no visits, no fundraising, no analysis of "what way the Hoosiers might go." So consequently, one feels as if one is watching an election happening in another country, not one's one. Kind of disconnected.

I used an online tool a week or so ago that let you answer a few questions on the issues, then it spit out the candidate you matched most closely. My political twin? Chris Dodd.

I had to go look him up. Didn't even know he was a senator from Connecticut. My bad. I need to listen to NPR harder in the mornings.

Locally, it's more fun, and more interesting. The mayoral race has been one of those juicy contests with a Republican primary upset, a new-kid-on-the-block campaign Republican vs. a veteran, experienced council member, a potential felony conviction, and then of course the cake controversy.

All politics is local, excerpt for presidential contests in Indiana, when we might as well be on Mars.

Well, what are you thinkin'? How many more debates can we stand?