Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, August 31, 2008
We can have hope in our politics
Lately I have been thinking about hope. Hope is one of the seven cardinal virtues of our western cultural tradition and joins with faith and love as divine qualities available to all human beings. One dictionary definition of hope is “the expectation of a positive outcome related to events or circumstances in one’s life.” The implication is that a positive outcome is possible despite a certain amount of evidence to the contrary. The opposite of hope is despair.
I will confess to a certain amount of despair over the past decade about the course of public affairs in my country. Equally disturbing to me is what passes for political discourse.
The “talk radio” mindset and “gotcha” tactics have reduced public dialogue. Fear and greed have too often prevailed over faith and charity on the American political scene. I have, at times, been very cynical about democracy in the United States, and despairing of any change in the actions of our national leaders.
However, I have long felt that positive change is possible on the local level. Coming of age in the 1960s I embraced the adage “think globally and act locally.” I continue to believe that positive change is possible on the local level. Individuals can still make a difference in a community the size of
La Crosse. And more importantly, individuals of modest means and influence, acting together, can initiate and accomplish positive change.
Therefore, I became quite intrigued with both the message and success of the Obama campaign during the primary season this year. I started to pay more attention to the presidential race and read both books by Sen. Obama. There is a congruence between the public figure and the personal history of the man. Of particular interest to me is his experience as a community organizer in Chicago using a model of grassroots political action that was developed decades ago by activists working for economic and social justice.
The mostly young, cyber-hip Obama campaign organizers have applied aspects of the community organizing model to the presidential campaign with great success. I attended two “Unite for Change” Obama campaign events in La Crosse this summer. What impressed me about the presentation was the emphasis on organizing for change on the local level and not the person or political career of Sen. Obama. He himself has said that the campaign is not about him but what people coming together can do to improve life in their own communities. That is a message of hope.
For me, the Obama campaign has already succeeded on a personal level. This summer I have become more optimistic about being part of positive change in this community. I have written before about my specific interest in historic preservation, heritage tourism and nonmotorized transportation in La Crosse. No doubt, you who read this column have other issues of particular interest. Perhaps the Obama campaign will inspire you to initiate or continue your involvement in organizations and events that improve our community. I hope so.
Eric J Wheeler of La Crosse is one of 13 Tribune community columnists, whose writing appears on the Sunday Opinion pages.
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