The truth will eventually be known. There were other times when we were so divided. In my youth I watched fire hoses and police dogs turned onto unarmed women and children who only wanted their place at the American table and I saw students shot down and beaten who only questioned participation in a devisive war. As a nation we learned something from that turmoil and Obama stands as testament to that lesson. It took over half a century. Perhaps in half a century we shall celebrate the truth of what was accomplished these last few days. The extremes have always been with us. Today, they just have instant access to every living room and automobile and workplace in the country. They have the means to threaten and cause havoc that make them seem vast and omniscient. They are not, and the truth will silence them. When jobs and the economy stabalize the teabaggers will vanish into the woodwork like the Gray Panthers did three decades ago, just as the Civil Rights Act brought an end to the Symbianese Liberation Army.
There is change in the air. People are beginning to see through the divide to win strategy. Too many young people now recognize it for what it is and the parties will follow suit. This was in the news today and, as a victim of Jesse Helms, it made me so angry I wanted to scream, but it still struck me as really, really funny and a sign of 'the times they are a changin'." The estate of Jesse Helms today announced that they were disturbed that the media was painting Helms as an enemy of the gay movement. They claimed he was actually a longtime supporter of gay rights. Other than, at one time, having a young speech writer named Armistead Maupin who left him and moved to California, I can't think of a single instance of support to anything gay Helms ever gave. But his estate suddenly finds it important to paint him in that light. Go figure.
