"I will celebrate for one day. I'll break-dance in the morning and party in the afternoon. But the next day, I'll become one of his major critics. His calling is one of progressive goverance, and my calling is Socratic and prophetic. But all the criticism will emanate from my deep love for him."
-- Cornel West
I can only hope to emulate Dr. West's as a prophetic and Socratic questioner of our society and government. On my educator blog, The Forum, I recently implored my students to question and debate...but in measured fashion. My most recent post urged my students to disagree...but with respect.
Unfortunately so many people hurl insults and not ideas. Many bristle and cast aspersions when threatened by even polite criticism. It's not even worth my time to log into Facebook because any time a criticism is lodged toward George W. Bush, his dogmatic defenders throw out words like "those liberals" and "libs" despite the fact that I am not liberal (or conservative) and that any educated student of conservatism would see how Bush was anything but a conservative. And to suggest that John McCain was a conservative is fallacious. I actually supported Bush on immigration and abortion issues.
I voted for Barack Obama despite some major philosophical differences. No candidate I have ever voted for has ever meshed with my ideology completely and I seriously doubt one ever will. But just because I voted and supported Barack Obama does not mean I cannot critique or question his policies. Three concerns jump out immediately on day two of the new administration...
1.) Rescinding the "Mexico City" doctrine of prohibiting tax-payer support of international organizations that include abortion counseling in their programs.
2.) The installation of too many recycled "Clintonites" into the new administration.
3) The selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Her husband's Global Initiative reeks too closely of being an influence peddling operation. The Clinton foreign policy position in Bosnia in the 1990's was tardy and intentionally stalled due to Hillary's focus on a failed healthcare initiative and their position on Rwanda was shamefully non-existent.
Some of the things that I'm happy about on day two...
1.) The closing of Gitmo and other CIA "Black" sites around the world.
2.) The denuncuation and the elimination of torture, especially waterboarding, in our intelligence and armed services communities.
3.) The 16 month timetable of removing troops from Iraq. This has been supported by both Bush and the Iraqi government. A timetable places the onus on the Iraqis to get their democracy off the ground without being infanticized by the continuing presence of thousands of American soldiers. We will still have the largest embassy in the world located in Baghdad.
I just long for rational and respectful debate in our society. Unfortunately that is a too seldom an occurance.
photo: President Obama and Cornel West
