It has been too long between posts. End of summer projects (installing some new blinds, removing paint from a small deck so that it might be stained) and gearing up for Fall church programming have consumed my time – as have the Olympic games and the political conventions.

I have been interested in politics since junior high school, and don’t ask me why. My parents were not particularly politically active and I don’t remember political discussions around the dinner table. Somewhere along the way I became interested in elections, political processes, history and I have remained interested since. My doctoral dissertation focused on Christian political ethics and theories of democracy. My children will remember political discussions around our dinner table.

So I watched the political conventions and I must say that I am delighted that this year in our presidential politics we will be making history. Barack Obama accepted the democratic nomination for president on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. If elected, he will be our first president with African ancestry – this in a country that at one time considered persons with even a drop of “African blood” less human, less than equal. King’s dream of a country where the content of character rather than the color of skin matters is coming a little closer. It is not here – that people still ask whether the country is “ready to elect and African-American president” tells us as much. We are also closer to a dream of a country where women have equal rights with men. If elected, Sarah Palin will be the first woman to be elected to the office of Vice-President. We are not there, yet, either. Questions about the appropriateness of a mother of five running for the office of Vice-President smack of sexism. Do we ask such questions of fathers of five? With both Obama and Palin, we should ask searching questions about their political records, their policy plans and their hopes and dreams for our country. That some questions will reflect our nation’s continuing struggle with racism and sexism tells us that we have on-going work to do – but we knew that already.

Speaking of on-going work, one of the most moving moments of either convention was the appearance of Senator Ted Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention. Whether you agree with him politically or not, the Kennedys have given years of public service to our nation, and it was good to see Senator Kennedy, dying of brain cancer at this convention, and to hear him address the delegates and the nation. This will probably be his last convention.

Politics is about more than elections and elected officials. Politics, at its best, is about how we decide to live together as a nation, how we will organize our common life and care for one another. Such decisions must not simply be given over to elected officials but must remain our shared concern. After the election we need to keep working to make a dream of a better county more real. Just as Dr. King said 45 years ago – “now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children.” And as Ted Kennedy reminded us in 1980, “the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

On Wednesday, August 27, I joined others in my community to do a little something to make the dream of a better world more real. Our prayer-walk through the Central Hillside in Duluth made the news. If you want to see that clip, here is the link:

Norhtland News Center story

With Faith and With Feathers,

David

I have also posted some thoughts about the concept of “vision” on my other blog, Bard’s Brushstrokes if you would like to check that out.

Bard's Brushstrokes