1968 DNC Convention revisted.

I have been a little despondent lately looking at the social and political condition in this country. The hatred and discontent is not what we imagined when we worked for social change in the 1960s. I was devastated and confused about where our movement had gone. It seemed as though we had failed miserably.

Every generation has it’s political moment...it's political showdown. My generation just had it’s. The Progressives of the 60’s on one side..(Clinton and Sanders)…..and the rich, “privileged” Conservative kids on the other…(Bush and Trump). Just like in the 1960s.

After watching the Democratic Convention, from start to finish on C-SPAN (No commentary or commercials) I was reborn and rejuvenated. This truly was a convention created and produced by children of “The 60’s.” The Bill Clinton Era of the 1990s was just a warm up. This is serious and for real.

The people, the focus, the platform are all ideas that were hatched back in the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s. The sentiment that played throughout the Convention was identical to the one we had back then…..with one exception: It was the mature version. The doable version. The version that resulted from facing our problems from a realistic position as opposed to an idealistic one. The version created by experience and open eyes.

All of the players, who are my generation, learned that you have to compromise and get inside the system in order to make the changes we so desperately wanted and needed. You need to know how the system works in order to change it. And they also realized that we will not always get everything we want, and that getting most of what you want is better than nothing at all.

Bill and Hillary Clinton realized this long ago. So did Donna Brazile.......and all the other people who have molded today’s Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders did not learn that, but, in the end, his ideas were included……..by compromise. That is the way it is done.

Yes…we have a lot of work to do…..but….we are on the right path. Respect and equal treatment for all is our goal…..and, slowly, bit by bit, we will get there.

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are a perfect combination to get that job done. I have not been so proud to be a Democrat since Barack Obama was elected President in 2008.

Onward.

What race??

Race means nothing to me. I am an Asian spirit living in a White body. I've known that most of my life. I don't care who was first on earth. I would be proud to be part African or any other race and probably am. Most of us are not "Pure" anything. I have an African grandson. I have an Vietnamese wife. I have a Japanese sister and a Japanese neice. My daughter is Afro-Cuban, Syrian, and Chinese in addition to my own blood line. I have Scottish, English, German, Jewish and French blood running through my veins....and those are only the ones that I know of for sure.
The thing that matters most to me in people is their character and their spirit, not what god they pray to, who they love or what they look like.

Dallas. No surprise here.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone would be surprised at what happened in Dallas last night.

Rogue racist police shoot people in the street, the large majority of them being black and innocent. The killers almost never get prosecuted much less brought to trial.

We have a political party in the GOP and a news industry that is owned and run by Conservatives that rants daily against the people of this country and favors white supremacy.

We have a Congress, controlled by Republicans, a party that has, for the last 25 years, done nothing but to try to tear the fabric of our country apart by pitting straight white people against everyone else who is not like them.

The defiance and hatred that spews from the mouths of Conservative leaders and talking heads is relentless. It goes on day after day, week after week, year after year.

Our news is filled with dissension, hatred and violence every day. Peacemakers are ignored or called “Bleeding Hearts”, while hateful messages by preachers, “faux News Anchors” and Right and Left Wing extremist politicians receive top billing.

We have a defiant Congress that refuses to do the work of the people but instead uses their positions as political theater and their power to do political witch hunts. Their demeanor is nasty, mean and clearly anarchist.

No. I am not surprised at what happened in Dallas yesterday. I am surprised that it took so long. I will not be surprised when it happens again in some other city. And I will not be surprised when the Republican led Congress does nothing…..again…..except to blame others.