Richard Eskow — It’s Time to Re-Declare Independence – Politically, Economically and Spiritually
This year the message has gone out to the young, the disaffected, and the idealistic: Don’t hope for too much. “Don’t compare us to the Almighty,” says the politician, “compare us to the alternative.” Ironically, this comes from the same people who told us four years ago: Yes, we can. Thanks to the rhetoric of hope, our President and his party saw their most improbable dreams come true.
When do we get our turn?
This is Independence Day. It’s a day to renew our most ambitious hopes and ideals. It’s a day to, in the words or Bob Marley, “emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.” What did you say? Bold dreams aren’t practical? Tell that to the Founding Fathers. Or the Suffragettes. Tell it to Gandhi or King or Mandela.
The fight for independence didn’t end in 1776 or the years that followed. We still fight it it every day. It’s a political and economic fight. And yes, it’s spiritual too — not necessarily in a supernatural sense, but in the sense that the spiritual is that which is good and beautiful and yet intangible. The spiritual world reaffirms our belief in those things which can’t be seen or measured, but which make us who we are — or would become.
Politics used to be the art of coming together to seek the highest in ourselves, both as individuals and as societies. The 2008 election was a choice between pursuing our best selves or succumbing to cynical self-centeredness. I remain immensely proud of our nation for voting as it did. We voted, not just for a politician or a party, but for our own higher selves.
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