Graham

Earlier this year, I remember reading that some Republican leader criticized a sitting supreme court justice for doing research for a case by using the Internet.

This struck me not only as odd, but indicative of just how out-of touch nearly all American politicians are with the real world—especially Republicans who shelter themselves in a reality-free zone of cronyism, self-congratulating egoism, and hateful and exclusionary ideological vitriol.

It turns out it was everyone’s favorite politician, Tom DeLay, attacking Justice Kennedy [MSNBC] for his ‘incredibly outrageous’ Internet research.

Well, when I heard this, I then and there decided that this bullshit has got to be put to an end. America needs politicians who know what the hell is going on. The people in power think of the Internet of a haven for terrorists, pornographers, and pedophiles, and while that may be true in some way, saying so is about as worthwhile as saying that the Earth itself is a haven for them. The Internet is the world—well, not exactly, but it is quite possibly the most up-to-date and accurate reflection of the world.

Especially with the rise of the blogosphere and democratization on the web, reality is now being shaped and controlled more and more by the people, the public. This should have politicians running shit scared. It means that they no longer have a comfy iron triangle of their own vacuous talking points, complacent media, and a unquestioningly consuming public. We are now the reporters, the commentators. The readers and the writers.

Why shouldn’t we take over the last bit of the triangle-the one that was originally meant to be of, for, and by the people? Why shouldn’t we take the country back-as Howard Dean implored us to do—to make it our own again?

That’s what I would like to help do. I want to be a part of that movement—possibly the only just movement that could happen in the political sphere now. I discussed my desire to as much good as I can in my lifetime with my hardened Republican grandfather when I last saw him for my college graduation. Although I couldn’t get him to agree that a woman or man should, if they work 40 hours a week, not have to starve or feel financially insecure in the United States, I did convince him of my conviction to try and make the world a better place.

He is convinced the world is going to hell in a hand basket and that you might as well just look out for you and yours on the way down. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but a light that is blocked by the hulking forms of selfish thugs with just that mentality. They need to be brushed aside or shoved aside, if need be.

My grandfather said that with the state of the world, trying to do good by it is like chipping away at a mountain with a pick.

Well, give me a fucking pick then, and I’ll do my part. And if everyone else does there’s, that tunnel to the other side will be dug. And we’ll do it together, and on the other side then we can get on with just looking out for our own good. Because when that day comes, when all anyone has to worry about is how good their life will be, not whether they can go on living at all, that is the day when we can say that we have truly accomplished something, the world is indeed a better place, and that we have made it that way together.

NPR is the only radio I listen to. Since I have been in Europe, I download the podcasts of On the Media and listen to it as I walk around town. The program is right up my alley in terms of my area of study, and I would love to work for the program someday.

Alternatively, Ira Glass is an amazing storyteller whom I would also like to call boss. But ultimately, I want his job.

Of course, I probably won’t actually BUILD the house myself, but I do want to design it. I must design it because it must have secret passageways. But I guess, then, that if I want them to be truly secret, I would have to do the building myself. Hmmm. A dilemma.