Well, I am now writing over at Vermonters for Obama, first post dated 30 October.   We have a strong crew here in Vermont, glad to be a part of it.

This post is from Dear Old Dad, who had no idea he was blogging when he was talking to me on the phone the other day.

I was watching the news the other night, and all these republicans were explaining why Bush had to veto the child healthcare bill. They all sat in a row and said “… but it would be Government health care …” and each time they did they would wrinkle up their noses to indicate disgust. And, I thought, when did the notion of government become such a bad thing? Look around at countries without governments … look at Myanmar, look at the Darfur, look at Iraq, where we went in and ripped out the government. They are not doing so well. Live is not so good there. It is not such a bad thing to have a functioning government.

Well, there you have it. There are a number of ways you could go with this. You could take the Bradshaw approach and wonder about those government politicians who think government is a bad thing. Just what are they doing in the job then? They must hate themselves, must have wicked self-esteem issues. And you know where that leads …

Or you could go look at the constitution, which says (I checked) that “We the people” established the constitution to “promote the general welfare”, among other things.

General Welfare … Public Good … Hey guys, however you say it, the purpose of the government is to look out for us, provide a collective mechanism to do things we need that we cannot do individually.

Maybe these republicans are wrinkling their collective noses because they realize they are unable or unwilling to serve the public any more. Or maybe they just find it distasteful. All those common, needly little people grubbing about in their ordinary little lives.

Or I could just leave it alone, cause Dear Old Dad usually puts it pretty well.

Before I throw my back into this campaign, before I get solidly behind this man, I thought, I ought to go see him. In person. Hear what he has to say, shake his hand.

Truth be known, I have already been leaning his way. Been out knocking on doors in NH, sent a couple of bucks. More than I’ve done any election since 1972, when, at age 12, solidly disgusted with Watergate and fed up with Tricky Dick, I went out leafleting for George McGovern.

So this morning, 5 AM, I am up and off to Concord, New Hampshire, for a rally in Rollins park. No NYC, this, but a decent showing. At 8:30, 100 people, ten minutes later the line had doubled. Don’t know the final numbers, but it was a good crowd. Beautiful sunny morning, some folks strolling up with lawn chairs. Dogs and kids, volunteers wandering through the crowd signing up supporters.

Senator Obama took the stage after a brief introduction full of the obligatory refrences to the Red Sox and New England fall days. There was a smattering of applause - these Granite State folks don’t give it away. And he started speaking.

I will cut to the chase here, as I was not in Journalist mode - no tape recorder, steno pad, or “A-list” blogger photographer tagging along behind. So I’ve few quotes and only these cell-phone pictures. I will tell you stright out - I will support this man.
Barack is intelligent, articulate, and confident. What he says has some thought behind it, some down-in-the-trenches experience. That is obvious. He has the right positions, far as I am concerned, positions could restore some sanity to this country.

But what struck me most about his speaking is his belief in the people of this country, and his sense of who we are as a Nation. Generous, kind.  Wanting to do the right thing and frustrated with how little help our government is giving us. What is broken about our government, he said, is the leadership, how we do politics. Not the people.

Barack Obama is asking us to support him in supporting ourselves. He knows about leadership, having been in public service for two decades. He knows that in a democracy, leadership is just that - service to the public.

It has been way too long since I heard anyone anywhere near the presidency talk like this. He knows government, but it is not in an abstract kind of way. He kept the connection between policy and people that so often gets lost, leaving candidate’s position statements sounding like so much moving of pawns around on a chessboard, trying to find some abstract optimal solution. In speaking today, Sen. Obama kept the connection alive. Policy is about serving ordinary people, helping solve problems we encounter in our daily lives.

I was moved. Because to Barack Obama, ordinary people are magnificent people. And this democracy of ours should be, can be, their equally magnificent government.

And he said “… I will occasionally ask you to sacrifice”. How refreshing to be asked to serve, to contribute to my own government.

I was inspired, and as I walked away a phrase came into my head, from another speech over a century ago, that seemed apt; ” … so that govenrment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth”.

At the end of the speeches, after the questions, he came out into the crowd. Talking to people, shaking hands. Listening, I saw, and real concern. I caught his eye, shook his hand, said “Thanks for your hard work”. He smiled.

I am going to put my back into this campaign.

Saw this headline this morning: “Leahy subpoenas Rove, Dems allege perjury on part of Gonzales”

Sometimes not so sure about being a citizen of the new American Empire, I am sure proud to be a citizen of Vermont. I feel represented here, with two Senators who get apoplectic over the very things I do.

Coverage from Barre Montpilier Times Argus here. Go Leahy!

I can’t recall a president that seemed so oblivious to not only public sentiment, but the whole notion of governance. Who is willing to push his agenda in general, and this travesty of a war against rational thinking, considered disagreement, and the will of those he is supposed to be serving.

Of course, I was just a kid when LBJ was president, eight years old when Johnson hung it up in ‘68, leaving Nixon to trounce Huphrey.

So the man isn’t listening. Was in DC Monday and saw these posters.

Stop the War March, September 15, site is here This might be a chance to shout a bit louder, get the message across.

For you local folks, here is another protest that promises to be good fun and a bit closer to home. August 24, at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport. The Peace and Justice Center is running buses.

At the Warren 4th of July parade, the 59th, which is, as we all know, is the bellwether of Vermont politics, I picked up a pamphlet from the Second Vermont Republic. The notion of succession has made more and more sense to me, as the US government becomes more and more imperialistic, drifts farther and farther from notions of radical democracy that undergird the declaration of independence and the constitution.

And, living where I do, about as close to the ghost of Ethan Allen as you can get, having the Republic of Vermont end it’s two hundred some odd year experimental alliance with the United States does not seem that far-fetched a notion, nor entirely improbable. After all, when Ethan was looking for some protective alliances for the fledgling Republic, a small chip of independence surrounded by hostile big boys, Washington (the person, not the town) was giving him the cold shoulder, he did think that perhaps the British might take us in. Washington acted first.

Yet, haven’t we all been in similar situations, perhaps with our eye on more than one fine lady, and lo, it is the one that acts soonest that becomes the wife? And, tell me this - do you really believe that each and every one of these matches made with perhaps more than a whiff of expediency lasts for the eternity pledged during the vows? But I digress …

Despite how normal the idea of a Second Vermont Republic seems to me, I have learned that what seems reasonable to me is often at odds with the majority view, and can be seen as radical - loony even - when viewed through the lens of Standard American Mainstream. So it was with interest that I looked over the Principals of the Second Vermont Republic. I expected to see things that would terrorize your average american - or at least cause a taciturn Vermonter to Hrumph a bit. After all we are talking about revolution here, folks. Succession. Last time it was over a hotly contested issue - slavery.

But instead I found a set of principals that are actually being circulated in some fairly mainstream circles today.

Sustainability, for example. That one is so common that it is starting to loose it’s meaning, much like “all natural” (yes, I am old enough to recall when “all natural” meant you were a free-love radical).

Human Scale - this is something we have been talking about in state for years. This is the fuss about the big box stores, the concern about sprawl, the McMansions.

Economic Solidarity - The labor movement is nothing new.

Neither is the principal of Equal Opportunity, something written into the constitution of both the Republic of Vermont and the United States several hundred years ago.

This gives me great hope. Because, this means that we can enlist those that might not be able to go all the way to seeing dissolution of our union with the other states as politically feasible, or even desirable, in our cause. While they might not be able to drink that last gulp of cool-aid, there are plenty of people in this state who are willing to work for things like Equal Opportunity, Sustainability, and Economic Stability. Given the current views on the war, working for Tension Reduction is something a lot of folks seem willing to get behind.

Let’s be sure, then, that we not let the Separatist portion of our rhetoric alienate us from these folks. Maybe even dispense with it altogether in certain venues, certain discussions. We do not want to loose common bonds with those that are working on the very things that our cause supports, just because they do not want to do it under the flag of the Green Mountain Boys.

Oh, and the float. A car with a banner. Kind of Lame. I know SVR might be a low budget affair, and I know that despite the heroic write up Ethan and his boys were not exactly high tone, but … we really ought to be able to do better than that. Perhaps, next year, the SVR might want to see if the statue of Ethan Allen over at the Museum can get the fourth off to attend a parade.