THE STAKES ARE SURVIVAL . . .
. . . and we can DO something about it
In this nuclear era, especially, it is madness to incite holy war or a war of civilizations. Yet that is just what Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo is risking with campaign statements like "We are the last best hope of western civilization." This is tame, however, compared to his "The best way to deter a nuclear attack on US soil is to threaten to retaliate by bombing Islamic holy sites like Mecca and Medina."
This isn't actually new news. Tancredo first made statements to this effect in 2005 and most recently reiterated them at a campaign stop in Iowa. It would be somewhat comforting to be able to think of this as simply the paranoid ranting of one off-balance individual, but it's troubling to realize it may represent substantially more than just this considering that Tancredo was showing up in the polls at 1 percent, below all other Republicans, when he made the statement on July 31st, yet less than 2 weeks later he came in 4th in the Republican Party of Iowa Straw Poll.
All campaign rhetoric and political opportunism aside, the bottom line is that the survival of humanity is served by neither jihad nor crusade.
Yes, but what can we DO?
The outcome of the 2008 US presidential election is going to affect everyone on the planet, directly or indirectly, but only a small percentage of the people who will be affected will be able to participate. Moreover, this election is going to affect Gaia, the living planet herself, and she will not be able to participate—at least directly (it may be that Katrina, offset by three years, will serve as Gaia's effect upon the election).
Because it will set the stage for a possible redirection of US environmental policies and the way we interact with the rest of humanity, this election is going to be of utmost importance. On a purely geopolitical level, this election represents very possibly the last chance US citizens have for redemption in the eyes of world opinion as it will represent a plebiscite referendum on the isolationist and imperialist posture adopted by the Bush / Cheney administration. To reconstruct Bush's aphorism, US citizens will have the chance to either be with the policies of the administration or against them. In this respect, the rest of the world will learn whether the US (both the government and the citizenry) should be considered, on the one hand, to be cooperative partners in finding solutions to the global challenges of environmental degradation, unrestrained corporate rapaciousness, and militarism or, on the other hand, to be a continuing and unrepentant primary source of the problems.
Yes, but WHAT CAN WE DO?
Here is what we can do: We can positively influence the outcome of the 2008 US presidential election. We can do this by changing the nature of the campaign leading up to the election.
Campaigns in the past have been very much about the candidates (and the interests behind them) setting the table for what is and isn't discussed by way of issues. The news media, who have the ability to interject more pertinent (and from the candidates' perspective, less convenient) issues into the debate, have been generally tractable and docile, not functioning at all in the manner expected of them in exchange for their first amendment rights and privileges.
We, as stakeholders in this election, cannot rely on anyone except ourselves to frame the discussion that needs to be addressed by the candidates.
With the advent of the Internet we have never in the history of the world been so empowered to do just this. This is an unprecedented opportunity that we disregard at our peril.
But the critical thing to consider in taking this power into our own hands is that it is not just a question of insisting upon the issues to be addressed. This is fundamental, of course, but it is not sufficient. Even if we are successful in raising the most salient issues, if the candidates are left to their own devices in shaping the discussion we will have precious little hope for affecting either the debate going into the election or its resulting outcome—a slightly embellished rendition of business as usual.
Therefore:
AS STAKEHOLDERS WE MUST RAISE THE CRITICAL ISSUES AND MONITOR THE ETHICAL STANDARDS OF ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE DISCUSSION.
If we define ethical standards not in a legalistic or philosophic manner but rather in a spirit-informed manner, we can see that it evokes our most fundamental sense of what we understand ourselves to be as human beings infused with human spirit. This, of course, varies from individual to individual in terms of what we each understand human spirit to be; this is where our diversity shines—as long as we can recognize this as our human strength rather than a human weakness.
If the election campaign is allowed to proceed without framing the discussion in human spirit-informed ethical terms, the chances for our most fundamental human needs being addressed will be minimized and this will set the stage for the outcome of the election.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we illuminate the campaign discussion with a consistent spotlight of ethics-informed consideration. This means we must apply ethics-informed scrutiny not only to the candidates, their campaign organizations, their activities (platforms, positions, promises, statements, etc.), and their supporters (corporate interests, lobbyists, fund raisers, grass-roots organizations, citizen activists), but we must also apply this same ethics-informed scrutiny to the activities of anyone and anything that has a potential to affect the outcome of the election.
Citizens For Ethical Elections—this website—offers a venue for helping to shape such an ethics-informed campaign discussion.
Citizens For Ethical Elections is an online community of people who are actively working together to illuminate the ethics-related factors that stand to affect the outcome of this election, including the activities of the candidates, their organizations, and all other pertinent individuals and influences. As such, participation in Citizens For Ethical Elections is not just for US voters, it is open to anyone on the planet who has a stake in the outcome of the election and who hopes to assure that the campaign discussion is conducted with the highest level of human-spirited ethics.
If you agree with what you have read here, please consider becoming part of the Citizens For Ethical Elections community.
You may click here for more information.
To access the main content of this website, simply click on CFEE Blog near the top of the menu on the left, or use the menu to navigate to a particular candidate's or stakeholder's blog directly.