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Vote
Swap '04 This column is all about love and voting. The stars of this romantic entanglement, however, are not Hugh Grant, Pierce Brosnan or Emma Thompson. No sirree, it's you, Ralph Nader, and some mysterious stranger you haven't even met. Disgusted? Confused? Turned on a little? Let me explain. Perhaps you remember late in 2000, when an enterprising group of left-wing techies launched The Nader Trader site — allowing voters a chance to strategically "swap" Nader and Gore votes in states where the electoral outcome was obvious. The theory was (and still is) pretty smart: Green voters want to show Democrats their true numbers, to get a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Vote swapping allows this to happen, without turning Green voters into spoilers. Everybody wins, except for George Bush. Vote swapping doesn't involve arguing, yelling, or shaming Nader voters into holding their nose when they vote. What it does require are thoughtful peer-to-peer conversations, trust, and maybe just a little love between distant strangers who are basically kinfolk in the same tribe. Sound good so far? You bet it does. Of course, the $64,000 question still looms large: just how do you find a vote-swapping partner? And will doing that be as painful as your first dance in junior high? Never fear. As Oregon voters in a key swing state, I gotta tell you that we are pretty hot property on the vote swapping scene. The fact is Desperate Democrats in Dixie states will do just about anything to swap with a Duck who is ready to Ralph. Making multiple connections won't be hard either — websites will soon be popping up all over the place so you'll have your pick of partners (and most experts believe that legal roadblocks thrown up by some states in 2000 will be easily surmounted this year). But why wait for Internet dates — you're creative and good-looking right? For example, why not find your special voting friend using the personal ads? Let me show you how. Here's a draft of my ad (now awaiting spousal sign-off): LWM, 46, IS SEEKING OUT (ISO) GREEN VOTER FOR ONE-TIME SWAP, NO PERMANENT COMMITMENT NECESSARY. Me: Into a smarter war on terrorism, living wage, The Apollo Alliance, a global commitment to girls' education and winning elections. Will consider three-way swaps under special circumstances. You: Live in a "red state" that the Democrats will never win, like Alabama or Kentucky. You can like Nader or Kerry, but mainly I need you to dislike Bush. I'll trust you to vote Nader. Trust me, I'm voting for John Kerry. No photo necessary — I'm happily married. Looking for a vote-swapping relationship with more long-term potential than I am? No worries. How about posting something a bit more mysterious like this: BROADWAY BLUES. I saw you at the corner of Willamette and Broadway. You were wearing a "Ralph Rules" hat. I was driving a Honda with a Kerry bumper sticker. Our eyes met for an instant — then you looked away. Can't we try again? Still feeling too shy to try? Remember it's also your job to encourage others to vote swap — no reason to keep a good thing secret. Here's an ad I'm encouraging a friend of mine from Texas to post, to hook up with a hard-core Nader supporter in Oregon: YDD (Yellow Dog Democrat) STUCK IN CRAWFORD ISO OREGON ANARCHIST FOR A VOTE SWAP QUICKIE. You: are into breakfast at Keystone and vegan muffins but respect my love of grits and grazing animals. Together we're 53 million votes to Bush's 50 million. Whaddaya say? All kidding aside, vote swapping is an interesting mechanism worth considering in some cases (and some places) to ensure that Democrats and Greens do vote, and vote strategically. The idea won't work for everyone, but that's OK. We've got five months to work out the kinks, make friends and vote-swap if it feels right. In the meantime, love the one you're with. Dan Carol is a Democratic political strategist and a founding partner of CTSG (www.ctsg.com),a progressive consulting firm based in Eugene and Washington, D.C.
Human
Liberation Marriage is an agreement between loving adults, to provide for the continued maintenance of the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of at least the pair bond, as well as children, elders, and other kin; and of course, property. Traditions of incorporating sexual minorities as a valued and integral part of society existed on this continent and in Africa, long before white people came to either place, to suppress those practices on racist and Biblical grounds. As a Black Indian (Yoruba-Choctaw), raised as a Liberation Theologist by my Southern Black Baptist preacher grandfather, I am moved to write about some of the historical, cultural, economic and human right issues raised by the issue of gay marriage. Africans continue to practice many different kinds of marriage, so did indigenous peoples on this continent. As an Indian I note that in 117 indigenous North American languages there was a word for a third gender. Known generically today as two-spirited, that term denotes a sacred, revered, and useful place in indigenous societies that the English acronym GLBT does not. Two-spirited people could freely love each other as citizens of their respective nations. Respect for two-spirited people waned under the influence of the conquistadores and their war dogs, as well as the Puritanical English who, among other things, burned them at the stake. (Hence the term faggot, a piece of firewood.) This suppression was perpetrated against Indian people centuries before Hitler and his death camp pink triangles. The black lesbian poet Audre Lorde noted in her book Sister, Outsider: "On the West Coast of Africa, the Fon of Dahomey still have 12 different kinds of marriage. One of them is known as 'giving the goat to the buck,' where a woman of independent means marries another woman who then may or may not bear children, all of whom belong to the blood line of the first woman. Some marriages of this kind are arranged to provide heirs for women of means who wish to remain 'free,' and some are lesbian relationships. Marriages like this occur throughout Africa, in several different places among different peoples. Routinely, the women involved are accepted members of their communities, evaluated not by their sexuality but by their respective places within the community." That this type of marriage would be supported by traditional African versions of Christianity would not surprise an African liberation theologist. We (that list includes Nzingha, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass) believe Ieshua (Jesus) was an African, and Christianity was born in an African context, with a message both encouraging human liberation from all kinds of bondage, and reconciling superficial differences in an underlying spiritual unity. That his words could be used by both liberator and oppressor, racist and reconciliator, is testimony to their power. White supremacists justify their beliefs using the King James Version of the Bible. Depicting a white Jesus, it has been interpreted to say that God forbids interracial marriages as unnatural because the races should be separate (God cursed black people, thus justifying slavery and white racism). A similar justification is used to condemn homosexuals and gay marriage as also being against the laws of nature. Before Columbus, racism and heterosexism were against the laws of nature here. Like it or not there is a connection between the civil rights struggle of people of color and so-called sexual minorities. (Though to be sure, many Oregon black gays and lesbians feel gay marriage is a "white" issue, because "they ain't rushing to marry us." Interracial relationships are probably even rarer than among heterosexuals for similar racist reasons). Sexual minorities have long been part of black civil rights movements. Suppose Bayard Rustin had not organized the March on Washington, would Martin Luther King Jr. have a holiday named after him? Given Langston Hughes' James Baldwin, Marlon Riggs, Audre Lorde's contributions, shouldn't they be legally happy with the people they loved? Huey P. Newton was a revolutionary who called for heterosexual Black Panthers to assist the women's and gay liberation movements, because their struggles were legitimate freedom struggles. Yeshua / Jesus was a revolutionary of love who did not focus on who was what color, or who slept with who, or who loves who. He was concerned with (as ya'll should be concerned with) feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and keeping people from stoning other people, and lovin' yo' neighbor as yourself. Didn't say except if they're of color or gay. Mark Harris is on the faculty of the Counseling & Ethnic Studies Department at LCC. He is co-author of I, Too Am Eugene: A Multicultural History Project.
Gang
of Nein It's only been a few weeks since city government took a progressive turn in the May elections, but the alarmist predictions have already begun. In a letter to The Register-Guard on Friday, May 28, Steve Hawke warned that the left-leaning council majority will nix proposals for economic development: "The liberal group will chase away any prospective businesses," claimed Hawke. Hawke predicted an exodus of businesses across the river. "Any business that saw the election results knows that Springfield is now its new ZIP code." (When you're bawling out progressives, you have to give Springfield its props as the model of no-nonsense government. Springfield hasn't been this hot since the premier of The Simpsons.) Hawke's letter harkened back to the tirades of the "Gang of 9." This conservative group, which formed in 2001, published political cartoons that excoriated progressive councilors. Who can forget the image of Mayor Torrey pushing a boulder labeled "economic prosperity" up a hillside, while progressive city councilors pushed the other direction? Or the cartoon featuring the "no-growth enforcement unit" — clad in trench coats and dark glasses — forcing children out of a ramshackle treehouse labeled "Eugene Chamber of Commerce"? Or the cartoon portraying city councilors as pirates attacking boats labeled "jobs" and "corporations"? My favorite cartoon by the Gang of Nine showed a trembling child in his bed, too scared to sleep. Under the bed were devilish-looking city councilors, one bearing an ax and another carrying a chainsaw. As the boys' parents left the room, his mother reasssured him. "Oh Honey! It was just a bad dream! Ain't no City Council hiding under the bed waiting to kill our economy with non-development!" The authors of these cartoons weren't great wordsmiths, and their caricatures were pretty sophomoric, but the Gang of 9 achieved great success. The Gang helped to elect a more conservative council in 2002, including one of the Gang's own members, Jennifer Solomon. Now the pendulum is swinging again. After years in the minority, the progressives may be able to muster a majority on some issues. Those who have lambasted progressives in the past are worried. To quote Bugs Bunny, "It ain't so funny when the rabbit has the gun." The conservatives' alarm is unwarranted. I think the next few years will show that the critics of progressives have mischaracterized them unfairly. The progressive group doesn't oppose every proposal for economic development. To the contrary, the progressives have advanced several proposals that would foster the growth of our local economy. Consider the economic plan that Mayor-elect Kitty Piercy circulated in April 2004. This plan calls for greater attention to Eugene's economic infrastructure, from airport services to telecommunications to train service to auto and alternative transportation systems. Piercy's plan includes an initiative to nurture sustainable businesses in Eugene. With careful use of enterprise zones, Piercy's plan would seek to revitalize the urban core. Redevelopment of brownfields would be a high priority. Piercy is also committed to streamlining the permit process and working to improve Eugene's business climate. I guess that means that the city will mothball its pirate ships. Hopefully the acrimony will subside. Eugene doesn't need a Gang of 9 or a Gang of Nein. The only group of nine that we need is a City Council working harmoniously with our new mayor. Tom Lininger is a law professor and former Lane County commissioner.
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