we need a new. approach.

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. When, then, did he come?”

    Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four

cross posted at writing in the rAw, dKos, and firedoglake

Maybe it’s time to objectify reality. Because while it is possible to look at facts and extract our own stories, the objective reality, the actuality of the record does not budge from the impersonal thing left… the truth.

I don’t think truth is good or bad. It is what is left. After all the factoring, analysis, posturing, lying, denial, optimism, idealism.

Maybe it’s time to stop wishing on stars. Or brand politics. Maybe it’s time to stop the hand-wringing and wailing. And please, don’t tell me we have no options but to vote for democrats.

Maybe it’s time to figure out what the fuck to do. Now that we begin to understand the depth of the problems we fact. Now that we begin to understand that the Great Depression is an inapt analogy for what is happening on the ground in the 21st century.

These are our times. They don’t belong to the past or the future. It is now. It is happening now. We have crossed oceans and continents, landed on the moon; we connect with people around the world with nothing more than wires. We can transplant organs and clone sheep for god’s sakes.

Don’t tell me we can’t start cleaning up this mess. Without violence. Without losing our freedoms.

We have an infrastructure in America. We have laws. We have a back door in: local government, revitalizing regional economies… small business and there’s lots of jobs if we go green. These are things achievable small scale.

Maybe the new campaigning should be something like this, when you knock on your neighbor’s door:

Not democrat or republican. Don’t care if you’re pro life or choice, for or against guns. Do you know somebody who’s lost their home or job or can’t get adequate medical care? Then we’d like to join with you to address these problems locally. Are you willing to sit down and talk about how to do these things?

We need a strong narrative that spotlights the crimes of the few against the many because when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. We don’t need labels and tags. We need to tell the story most of us already know, but in a way that redirects anger and fear away from each other, immigrants, and supposed terrorists.

How do we find each other? And slowly climb out of this mess?

You’re invited to join in the discussion at writing in the rAw