grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Lincoln delivered this famous speech, noted for the phrase “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” when accepting the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Illinois in June of 1858. In July of that year he challenged his Democrat opponent, Stephen Douglas to a series of debates over admitting Kansas into the union as a slave state, and, to a large extent, over the future of slavery and of the union itself. Lincoln, of course, represented the anti-slavery position. The skill with which Lincoln debated Douglas helped catapult him to the Republican Party’s nomination for president in 1860, a race which he won.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifty year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting and end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crises shall have been reached and passed. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”
- at http://www.nationalcenter.org/HouseDivided.html

The Bully Pulpit

According to Wikipedia, a bully pulpit is  “a public office or other position of authority of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter. The bully pulpit can bring issues to the forefront that were not initially in debate, due to the office’s stature and publicity.”

In the current Houston mayoral race, however, the bullies have taken over the pulpit. And in what’s supposed to be a non-partisan race, they have emerged from the partisan hacks on both sides.

When I first started paying attention to the mayoral race, I thought, “This is great: for the first time in a long time, the three most viable candidates for the position have similar positions on the issues; and, for the most part, those are positions I agree with. We’ll be able to vote for the BEST of three candidates, rather than the lesser of several evils.”

As a staffer for former City Council Member Gordon Quan, I knew a bit about Peter Brown and Annise Parker, and was inclined to support Brown. Then I went to a couple of mayoral forums and saw what the candidates had to say on the issues. That was my introduction to Gene Locke. After seeing and hearing his answers to a variety of tough questions, I thought he was the best candidate to lead Houston. And when his campaign came knocking on my door, I wholeheartedly agreed to support Gene as his social media strategist. Then, as his liaison for Asian/Pacific American outreach. Then, as his liaison for Young Professionals.

One Nation …

Now that he’s made history, can Obama deliver on his promise of bringing our country together? Or, the real question: will the partisan hacks around the country let him?

After his acceptance speech Tuesday night, I was inspired by his hope that we can move beyond being a collection of blue states and red states and, instead, stand together as one United States of America. After weeks of hearing about “pro-American” parts of the country (which implies there are “anti-American” parts), and being hammered by divisive “us v. them” rhetoric, I feel that it will be a long struggle to heal those wounds.

McCain’s campaign staff did such a good job of painting Obama as anti-American, socialist, and a terrorist sympathizer that when he gave his concession speech, the crowd booed. To McCain’s credit, he tried to quiet them by saying Obama had been duly elected President, and, as such, would be his President. The speed at which he made this 180-turnaround from smearing Obama to praising him was incredible to watch.

But then I read the next day about Buck Burdette being kicked off the UT football team for posting the following on Facebook: “all the hunters gather up, we have a n***er in the White House.” (http://tinyurl.com/5fdpoh) And my parents still think he’s Muslim. (He’s always professed his Christian faith: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp.) And possibly still unqualified to be President because he may not have been born in the U.S. (He was born in Hawaii: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html) 

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