A email between me and C about the election and Obama

Candy: I have not been this depressed about politics in years. Most of the hope I had that Obama was somehow different and could lead us in a better direction faded months ago but last nights election removed any hope I had for a better future for the people of this country. Obama and the Democrats fucked it up BIG TIME and as usual we all have to pay for it. Oh well I just had to cry a little on your shoulder. Also sad to report that the workers at DAM rejected the Union. But given the corrupt nature and ineffectiveness of most union I do not blame them. Most people did not believe a Union would help them and did not want to pay the Union dues to just get empty promises. That is what I was told by most people I spoke with before and after the ballot. I am on permanent disability now so I no longer work there.

Love River


Oh dear old friend. The more things change the more they stay the same. When we look outside, we feel pain and suffering--when we look inside we feel the peace we seek. I know you don't expect that to change. Resist manipulation by the tides of corporate media-fed perspectives on what it going on in this country and world.

So--how do I feel? I still feel proud that the US elected a man of African descent president. I still see that capitalism is a flawed economic system out of balance in its powerful grip on the planet. I still feel that you and the others from Kent SDS are uniquely beautiful beings--full of angst and pain and joy--full of intellectual analysis and heart. I still like music. I still seek community.

13 days from now will mark the anniversary of my son, Josh's, death. Watching him die on that bed is etched in my mind, and what I have to say to you today is informed by what I saw there--just as everything I'll do today.

We are alive River--we have the gift of life. That's nothing to take for granted and nothing to laugh about. One day that deathbed will be ours, and this moment--this breath--is all that separates us from an unknown experience. We are here, and our bodies force us--by their very makeup and nature--to see the differences between us. Our brains don't grasp that which is beyond the scope of one lifetime because we don't experience that in any direct way with our senses.

An analysis of what's wrong in the world is what makes the left strong. An analysis of what's wrong in the world is also what makes the left eat its own young. We have a hard time accepting that one man--one president--cannot make the changes we desire to see in the world. How is that a surprise to us? We are so isolated and powerless that we expect a president--one man--like some superhero in tight clothes--to put on the pressure to change coal into diamonds--to make the world turn backwards on its axis. Right? No. Without a powerful movement of the people--no politician can push change. He'd die just like so many we saw die before him if he tried. Obama can't win--neither can the Democrats--neither can the Republicans luckily. It's a chumps game--stacked deck.

Can't wait to hug you in May.

Love, c.