Blowing Off The "Most Powerful Man In The World"

Came across this little news story courtesy of Rachel Maddow's website blog:

Reaching Out, Finding Nothing

The TL:DR version is this: President Obama, in an effort to encourage more bipartisan communication and cooperation, invited several prominent congressional Republicans to a movie night at the white house. Not a single one accepted the invitation.

Understandably, the writers at the Maddow Blog use this story to highlight the utter lack of partisan cooperation coming from the Republican side of the fence. That's all well and good and very true, but what I find most remarkable in this story is this: when you set aside the partisan aspect, what you have here is a situation where the President of the United States gave some political underlings a chance to come and schmooze, and they didn't feel they needed to take it.

In the world of political power, this sort of thing should be unheard of. You don't turn down a chance to be seen by, be heard by, and influence the most powerful man in the land. Unless, of course, he's really not all that powerful after all...and you know it.

Who REALLY wields the power in our world right now?

When The World Sucks, I Remember This

Photo by Justin Ormont, courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When the world seems to suck and it seems like nothing will ever get better, I remember this bit of wisdom:

"The responses are never adequate, until they build and build and something changes. People very often think that there must be some magical tactic, beyond the traditional ones–protests, demonstrations, vigils, civil disobedience–but there is no magical panacea, only persistence in continuing and escalating the usual tactics of protest and resistance. The end of the Vietnam War did not come because the Left suddenly did something new and dramatic, but because all of the actions built up over time."

- Howard Zinn 

...and I remember that it is true, absolutely true. I also remember all the things that are better now, all the things that have gotten better because human beings decided they needed to be changed and did it. I remember that there are now fewer people dying in wars than ever before. I remember that good stories, once thought to only be sources of escapism and entertainment, are uniting people worldwide in social justice movements.  Because the world is shrinking, because we're all talking to each other, because we're telling the same stories together.