By Jim Heffernan
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Working Families Party and what it represents. My historic affiliation is to the Democratic Party and will remain so.
But it’s plain that my beloved Democrats somehow lack the brio and pizazz needed to capture young and working-class voters.
I’m not sure if the best solution is attempting to shoehorn everyone into one big tent. Maybe we should have two tents.
The Working Families Party is the other tent we need. My experience with them is limited, but I think they are the extra tent that we need. Fusion voting makes it work.
I’ve peeked into the Working Families tent and I can see that their hearts are in the right place and they are just the people that are missing from our tired old tent. They’re a little strange to an old guy like me, but I like them.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that both tents are missing the fervor that we need to regain control. It’s very tempting to blame our lack of control on seen and unseen forces. We look too far. We lost because we let it happen. It was a failure of citizenship. The blame is within us.
We need to do something! We need to become “sworn-again” citizens. We need to ACT locally to build our community. We need to get ourselves out of our screens and talk to each other again.
If it’s arguing to seek the truth, so much the better. That’s how science and knowledge are refined If it’s arguing to “win and to attack others” it is destructive to both sides.
The “Tao Te Ching” says “When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready… The teacher will disappear.”
I am convinced that Eric Liu is the teacher. His doctrine of becoming a “sworn-again citizen” is key to “we the citizens” regaining power over our lives.
How does this happen? I propose you join me in listening to Eric Liu civic sermons. We’ll launch Tillamook’s Civic Sermons in 2025 – watch for more deatils. If you want to do it all on your own, I heartily recommend his book “Become America” either as a book or and in the audible version. (I have both versions and enjoy listening and reading the text simultaneously.) Here’s the link to my book review – https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/book-review-become-america-by-eric-liu/
In the meantime, here’s his oath to become a “sworn-again” citizen. It’s a non-partisan oath, but it is chock-full of moral imperatives.
I pledge to be an active American
To show up for others,
To govern myself,
To help govern my community,
I recommit myself to my country’s creed:
To cherish liberty as a responsibility.
I pledge to serve and to push my country:
When right, to be kept right; when
wrong, to be set right.
Wherever my ancestors and I were born,
I claim America
I pledge to live like a citizen.
As always, discussion is welcome at codger817@gmail.com
