Monthly Archive for September, 2010
We’ll be meeting in The Billiken Club to watch a livestream of President Obama’s rally in Madison, Wisconsin – where he plans to address young people across the country. Join us as we watch together and plan how we’re going to get out the vote on our campus.
This is a great opportunity to register to vote and learn what is at stake on November 2, 2010.
Una, the feminist voice at SLU, is preparing its second annual performance of the SLU Monologues. To learn more or to submit a monologue, check out the form below:
From the pages of The Progressive Billiken:
In 1773, indignant colonists staged one of the most famous scenes in early American history: the Boston Tea Party. This event, which involved the dumping of imported British tea into the Boston Harbor, was sparked by fury over unfair laws put into place by the ever-distant British government over the colonists. A key point in the pre-American Revolution era, the Boston Tea Party lived in infamy well past the time of the actual event, into history books and Americans’ minds for centuries.
Though the Boston Tea Party was actually a fight against imported goods and the taxes associated with those (which, incidentally, were lowered, causing concerned colonists to react), it’s hard to deny the involvement of taxes in early American history. These taxes led to the famous motto, “No taxation without representation”, and rightly so. The colonists, official British citizens, had no one in the British Parliament representing them and conveying their needs. Instead, the slightly offed British government tried to rein in their seemingly rebellious brethren through inordinate taxes and other laws. Rightly so, the colonists rebelled, and voila, we have the United States of America.
For eight long, difficult years, progressives, minorities, pacifists, feminists, and liberals watched as the Bush Administration invaded and destroyed basic human rights. From the ridiculousness and racism involved in No Child Left Behind to the complete disregard to rights of privacy in The Patriot Act, the Bush administration did its best to take inordinate control of the government, all the while further segregating minorities and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Bush and his administration finally vacated the White House, leaving behind an economy in shambles and a society essentially pillaged by a fascist government.
No one can deny that there was a lot of work to do when Barack Obama took office in 2009. With an overwhelming Democrat majority in Congress, the Obama administration went about trying to solve the plethora of problems left behind by an inept presidency. With a 52% majority of the vote (one of the most overwhelming majorities since JFK), Obama set out to do what he promised: change America.
A small, violent group of radical rightists were not pleased with the way Obama was trying to change America – led by extremists like Glenn Beck (who has publicly stated his dislike of 9/11 families(1) and called Obama a racist (2), among other radical statements) and Sarah Palin (one of the most undeserving names in national media today, Palin has publicly condoned violence towards liberal congressmen(3)), these hateful radicals united behind their self-sufficient causes and deemed themselves the “Tea Party”. It’s hard to see what these extremists are angry about; the fact that Obama’s ‘change’ was going to aid the poor and desolate, or that it would shorten the gap between the rich and the poor? Whatever their causes, the Tea Party was born, irrational, violent, and angry.
On their official website(4), the Tea Party discusses their main objectives: the “Core Principles” of “Fiscal Responsibility”, “Limited Government”, and “Free Market”. Qualities of a legitimate political ideology at first glance, no doubt. However, the radicalism with which the Tea Party takes these ‘principles’ is both frightening and almost humorous. For instance, Tea Party “Patriot” Rand Paul, in the running for a Kentucky Senate seat, thinks that “Limited Government” means the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making it illegal to discriminate against minorities, is too much. Paul also thinks that, contrary to the principle of “Limited Government”, Obama himself was “too hard” on BP following the catastrophic oil spill in April of 2010.
Tea Party rallies have happened in almost every major city in the United States. Usually consisting of white, middle-to-upper class, older men and women, one of the “Patriots” favorite things to do is create radical, offensive, and downright untrue signs attacking Obama, Democratic Congressmen, or just liberal ideology in general. In the Tea Party rally that took place in Saint Louis on September 12th, signs equating Obama to Hitler were seen, as well as signs begging for Americans to “Re-defeat Communism”. These rallies often consist of a couple hundred men and women who, aside from having little to no knowledge of what is actually happening in our government, have goals of spreading fear. These “Patriots” act much like their idol, Glenn Beck, does on his nationally syndicated lie of a radio show and joke of a television program.
Despite slight success so far in the election season, experts have expressed a lack of hope for the Tea Party. So far removed even from the mainstream GOP, candidates in the Tea Party, like Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, could actually prove more beneficial for the Democrats in Congress than one would expect. For instance, since the nomination of Tea Partier Christine O’Donnell to the Delware Republican nomination, two non-partisan political reports, Rotherburg and Cook, have switched their view of the end result from Republican to Democrat(5). Sharron Angle and Harry Reid are neck-and-neck in Nevada, but recent polls have shown that Angle’s radical statements regarding economics and social policy are pushing her farther and farther back(5). The separatist dialogue that Palin, Beck, and their radical Tea Party counterparts have utilized over the past couple months has dissuaded even legitimate Republicans from their candidates – this, in turn, will lead to a strong Democratic showing come November.
Those who participated in the Boston Tea Party in 1773 would be disgusted by the actions of today’s Tea Party. The Bostonians were looking for independence from a foreign power so that they could create their own, united, dynamic country. Today’s Tea Party is about fear-mongering and lying, about tearing apart a country and a government that was legitimately elected and represents all citizens and their ideals. The Tea Party is anything but dynamic – rather, it is one-minded and a horrible representation of true Republican values. Those far-right extremists who identify with the Tea Party need to get off of their high horses and recognize the facts: they are falling farther and farther out of touch with the general American public, and even their conservative counterparts disagree with them on many issues. They need to understand the ideas of compromise and help convert the Party of No back into something at least remotely bipartisan. The Tea Party is not patriotic, it is not virtuous, it is not good. The Tea Party is a violent, anti-American, hellishly partisan movement, geared towards destroying our beautiful country. But, above all of that, the Tea Party is merely a trend. A trend that, while vocal right now, will eventually die.
Let’s pray it dies soon.
1) “[Y]ou know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims’ families? Took me about a year” http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200509090003
2) “This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,” http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0709/Foxs_Beck_Obama_is_a_racist.html
3) http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=24718773587&s=80#!/note.php?note_id=373854973434 (notice the crosshairs on the map), See Also: www.examiner.com/city-buzz-in-san-diego/sarah-palin-suggests-violence-on-twitter-facebook – “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”
4) www.teapartypatriots.org
5) http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/15/republicans.senate/index.html?iref=allsearch
6) http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/12/harry-reid-sharron-angle-running-neck-and-neck-in-nevada-senate/
Tomorrow (9/21) we will be meeting at 7pm in the Busch Student Center Senate Chambers.
At the meeting, the Executive Board will be presenting our comprehensive strategy for victory on November 2nd, as well as sharing information from last weekend’s Missouri Youth Vote Summit.
Also, we will announce two major upcoming events:
-On September 28th, the President will be holding a rally in Madison, WI focused on the importance of the youth vote in November. We will be holding a watch party and rally to energize SLU students to vote in November. Get the inside scoop at the meeting tomorrow!
-On Friday, September 24th, State Auditor Susan Montee will be having a rally/meet-and-greet in Saint Louis. This is a great opportunity to meet a statewide elected official and learn what is at stake in November. Again, make sure you come to the meeting tomorrow to get all the details!
College Democrats across the state and across the country are fired up and ready to take America forward in November – Don’t miss your chance to be part of this movement here at SLU!
Our meeting this week will be tonight, Tuesday September 14th, at 7pm in the Senate Chambers in the BSC.
Come out to sign up for our voter registration tables and the Missouri Youth Summit.
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________
THE PRESIDENT: Today, we pause to remember a day that tested our country. On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the deadliest attack on American soil in our history. We will never forget the images of planes vanishing into buildings; of photos hung by the families of the missing. We will never forget the anger and sadness we felt. And while nine years have come and gone since that September morning, the passage of time will never diminish the pain and loss forever seared in the consciousness of our nation.
That is why, on this day, we pray with the families of those who died. We mourn with husbands and wives, children and parents, friends and loved ones. We think about the milestones that have passed over the course of nine years – births and christenings, weddings and graduations – all with an empty chair.
On this day, we also honor those who died so that others might live: the firefighters and first responders who climbed the stairs of two burning towers; the passengers who stormed a cockpit; and the men and women who have, in the years since, borne the uniform of this country and given their lives so that our children could grow up in a safer world. In acts of courage and decency, they defended a simple precept: I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.
And on this day, we recall that at our darkest moment, we summoned a sense of unity and common purpose. We responded to the worst kind of depravity with the best of our humanity.
So, each year at this time, we renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act of terror and who continue to plot against us – for we will never waver in defense of this nation. We renew our commitment to our troops and all who serve to protect this country, and to their families. But we also renew the true spirit of that day. Not the human capacity for evil, but the human capacity for good. Not the desire to destroy, but the impulse to save.
That is why we mark September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. For if there is a lesson to be drawn on this anniversary, it is this: we are one nation – one people – bound not only by grief, but by a set of common ideals. And that by giving back to our communities, by serving people in need, we reaffirm our ideals – in defiance of those who would do us grave harm. We prove that the sense of responsibility that we felt for one another was not a fleeting passion – but a lasting virtue.
This is a time of difficulty for our country. And it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness – to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common. But on this day, we are reminded that at our best, we do not give in to this temptation. We stand with one another. We fight alongside one another. We do not allow ourselves to be defined by fear, but by the hopes we have for our families, for our nation, and for a brighter future. So let us grieve for those we’ve lost, honor those who have sacrificed, and do our best to live up to the values we share – on this day, and every day that follows.
Thank you.
This Saturday, September 11th, the SLU College Democrats will be canvassing for Robin Carnahan between 10 and 2. Grassroots door to door campaigning will be the key to victory in November, and the College Democrats will be sure to do their part! Meet at the clock tower on campus at 9:40 am and we will carpool there.
Also on Saturday, the Young Democrats of Greater Saint Louis will hold their annual Luau at Trueman’s Place Soulard. Tickets cost $15 and include 2 drinks. Details can be found on Facebook. Meet at the clock tower on campus at 8pm if you want to carpool.
There will not be a College Democrats meeting tonight, 9/7/10. Please check back frequently for details about our next meeting and events.
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