Political Capital

I'm no genetic scientist or any kind of scientist at all, so don't ask me how to define or explain any of this as genetics! But without vouching for the truth of the science or even the truth of this story and its reporters and commenters, I'm fully qualified to see this as part of a shift in understanding reality that is culturally significant, and to imagine (hope? Work to insure?) that we will digest it properly in time, like the one-big-extended-family meal it seems likely to be. . .

Can you tell if you're black or white?

Category: Genetics
September 27, 2006

Last winter a story surfaced about "black" and "white" twins.

As you can see by the picture the main difference is in skin color, though genetically full sisters (fraternal twins), one twin has the complexion typical of a northern European, while the other is darker skinned.

Contrary to the news reports the darker skinned twin does not seem to exhibit the modal complexion of sub-Saharan Africans, rather, she is several shades lighter. In fact, the photo suggests that she is about the same color as her parents, who are both genetically 1/2 European and 1/2 black. . .

Dear Eliot, Dear Hillary,

Congratulations on your respective (and quite respectable) victories in the Democratic primary on September 12th. You earned a resounding mandate for the November elections from the party rank and file, and now, you can both look forward to the general election with great confidence.

The same primary confirmed, at least for you, Madame Senator, that you'll be running against a rather pitiable lot. John Spencer, now the official republican designee, inspires "a serious case of the icks" even among republicans - quite remarkable. As to your opponent, Eliot, the less said, the better.

Both of you, in short, and fifty-one days out, seem assured of victory. You have bulging war chests, with millions of dollars that, quite frankly, you could pile up at The Battery and burn, and still get elected with Schumer-esque margins.

I'd like to suggest a better use for those millions than a bonfire. This better use, incidentally, also ties in with your own goals, because both of you, for reasons of your own, need resounding victories all across the state. You need a mandate.

What better way to create that mandate than to finance a huge, statewide get out the vote operation that not only benefits you, but Democrats further down your ticket? Concretely, we have six competitive House races – including the one that always gets overlooked, in the Thirteenth District – and a number of competitive State Senate races. You, Eliot, can't change everything from Day One if Joe Bruno remains as Senate Majority Leader. And you, Madame Senator, whatever your future plans are, would be in a far better position to execute them if you could point to six shiny new Democratic Members of the House that you helped get elected. Campaign with these candidates, print palm cards, help them raise money – you know the game.

Best of all, this is a win-win proposition. If, say, both of you spent $5 million on GOTV, that would directly benefit your own campaign. What it would also do, in a way that television ads won't, is exploit that most precious of political commodities, coattails. Both of you have them, and our party needs to make good use of them.

So what do you say? Do we have a deal?

Here are some comments from outsiders on the actions of IND insiders in the recent disenfranchisement of nearly 100 new memebrs by the Independent Neighborhood Democrats executive board:

From a Brooklyn activist and organizer who is watching this from as much of a distance as he can:

“If I were advising IND, I would have said that there really isn't much that they can do if the process they set out makes it possible, except change it for the future; but to change the rules of engagement during the process, as it appears they did, is simply un-democratic with a small "d". As you note, that has Tammany Hall written all over it, and it's sad to have that happen; it might be preferable to have IND make an endorsement that the 'old guard' does not agree with rather than to acquire the reputation they seem intent on getting. Short-sighted and knee-jerk, that response, in my view.

[Note from M. Loutre: The following call-to-action essay was originally posted as a blog comment-thread header on the Democracy Cell Project website on 1/14/06. It was co-written by well-known citizen activists Karen Bradley and Dick Bell, after a morning discussion about people and groups floundering between despair and hope over the past week. Karen and Dick co-founded The Democracy Cell Project, along with a group of remarkable citizen-activists, in 2004. They live in Washington, DC.]

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CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS WATERS RISING FAST

The understanding that Bush has provoked a "constitutional crisis" is taking root and spreading. Al Gore is expected to deliver a speech on Monday that is going to focus on this. (We will be there and hope to do a little live blogging, if possible.)

We think we are entering a period of extreme fluidity; Bush's ability to control the many dark forces that he has unleashed is diminshing by the day. But, this is a time of both great danger and great opportunity. Watching Americans slowly coming to grips after years of indifference is not a pretty picture, but it is movement in the right direction. In American history, we know that there are periodic convulsions in which the forces of evil sometimes get the upper hand. (i.e. The Alien Sedition Acts of 1798, the red scare of the early 1920's, the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII, McCarthy, decades of J. Edgar Hoover's illegal actions, COINTELPRO, and now Bush, the NSA, and the Patriot Act.)

In each of these dark times, the ideals on which the country was founded appeared to be headed for the junk heap of history. But time and again, the American people have ultimately returned to the arms of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The ability of the American people, again and again, to find ways to transcend these efforts to subvert freedom and liberty is the true exceptionalism that has made America a beacon of hope for lo these two centuries.

History shows that we can do what we need to do; the biggest obstacle is persuading enough people that all is not lost, and that by working together, as our ancestors have done repeatedly, we can win this fight.

As one of the spirituals would have it, "Freedom Is A Constant Struggle."

In practice, we need first to keep on keeping on with what we have been doing; second we have to be ready to act boldly and seize the opportunities that we know are coming as Bush's criminal enterprise unravels. History being the elusive prognosticator that it is cannot tell us where the openings will be. What revelations are still to come that could light such a fire for impeachment that even the Republican House would at least have to hold hearings? Jack Abramoff may implicate enough Republican members to switch the House of Representatives all by himself! And then, of course, there is Iraq, as well as the deepening crisis over Iran's nuclear weapons intentions.

No matter how bad things get, however, Bush will never voluntarily surrender an iota of the power he has grabbed. Our energy has to go into organizations, be they existing organizations, or brand-new ones that we found, to push Bush and his congressional support out of power as soon as possible. These are opportunities and they abound.

Organizations such as AfterDowningStreet, Code Pink, the World Can't Wait, United for Peace and Justice, Progressive Dems of America, MoveOn and many many other groups sponsor town meetings, rallies, petitions, mobilize, march, and conduct nonviolent civil disobedience and street theatre, or run serious vigils and gatherings; PACS raise money to support candidates, blogs report new findings faster than the mainstream media -- all of this is worthy because we simply do not know the threshold or when critical mass will be achieved.

Neither of us is suggesting there is a need to choose BETWEEN actions or that any of these groups have THE answer. The solution is in our daily actions, saying "yes, and..." to all the opportunities. We each need to contribute, in the largest sense of that word. It could be a simple as forwarding an email that you know has truth. It could be as complicated as building an online community for a cause or a candidate. It probably needs to be "all of the above."

In business, managers and consultants are always talking about "capacity building" -- growing the organization to the right size so that more growth can happen, building on the infrastructure set in place. We each must build our own capacity for taking action, making sure the infrastructure is in place, contributing to the hands reaching out for us, and joining them.

We don't have to say yes to everything asked, but saying no brings the effort to a halt. Offer something back -- a suggestion, a small check, a networking moment, a hug of encouragement.

Think of it as being a good citizen.

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To read this essay in its natural habitat and to read or post comments on it there, please visit it in situ on the Democracy Cell Project's blog.

The Democracy Cell Project is a learning- and action-directed community of dedicated citizen activists, one which I'm proud to be an active part of. I encourage you to visit the DCP's website and learn more about its mission and its activities, and I invite you to join in the ongoing conversation that centers around the site's blog area. (Trust me -- if you like it here, you'll like it there too.)

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all that is necessary for evil to fail is for good persons to do something,
Otter