We're looking ahead with a sense of hope. Not the passive hope of wishful thinking, but the activist hope of knowing that —
"In the unlikely story that is America, there's never been anything false about hope."
This site is to serve as a forum for thoughts and ideas, but also as a device for reaching out. We'll be posting info about things people right here in town are doing to try and make a difference: house parties to watch the debates, phone banks and canvassing, letter writing.
Whatever the skills or passion offered, there's a place for them right here —and a need.
Could we have our first ever inaugural featuring a face melting guitar solo? (Like the one's you get from Nels Cline of the best damned rock & roll band in America, Wilco)
Thanks to Ellen George for sending this along. After reading the paper this morning —I think we really needed this.
I got an email this morning from a "concerned citizen" who wanted me to know that Barack Obama would give Mohammed Atta a driver's license.
It's becoming a lot plainer isn't it? What we're deciding between in this election is something very fundamental about how define this country. It sounds corny but it really is our decision —whether we take ourselves to represent hope —or fear.
I am glad to be here today for this voter registration drive and for Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.
I've spent 35 years writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The Promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real: opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence. These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.
I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.
I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.
They will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts, and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, compassion, toughness, and faith, to help us rebuild our house once again. But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I want that dream back, I want my America back, I want my country back.
So now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come on up for the rising.
This blog is place to share your thoughts, hopefully about the future much more than the past, about what we can do to make it better —for this community, for our country, for each other.
Do something about it
We'll be posting information on events here in Holliston regarding the election. Well have info on debate watching parties, canvassing ventures and phone banks. Watch here for the info and let us know about the things you're doing, too!
Upcoming Dates
Then, of course:
There's November 4th! —Vote!
Holliston Voices
There's lots of things we can do and good reasons why. We want to see a conversation started about those things. Barack Obama is the leadership we need to enable and empower that conversation with meaningful purpose. He understands that government can be our own sense of responsibility to each other —put into action.
It really is about community organizing after all.
So consider adding your own thoughts here. Send us your thoughts on Barack Obama's campaign, what the country needs and what we're hoping to achieve. We hope to see and hear voices from own community and we want that neighbor to neighbor discussion to make something happen.
Holliston Hoping voices will be put to good use. We'll draw from the posts on this blog —and the comments —to describe that grass roots appeal to each other —in the conversation we engender with this forum but also in mailings we plan on sending out around our community, and maybe further still.
Be a part of this! Send along a message for a new post or comment on the one's you find here. Then find someone else and convince them to join in, too.
That change we hope for —
We're it and the time is now!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”