I've always been a democrat. A democrat among republicans. Liberal among conservatives. Progressive among southern traditionalists. If you consider building an outdoor movie set and renting a popcorn machine to host a poolside "Fahrenheit 9/11" showing in our suburban backyard extreme, then maybe radical among moderates. I'm a lawyer, and I love democracy. Also, I grew up in the south. The south has its own kind of grit and gooey sticky lovely variety. I grew up alongside debutantes, rebels, rich folk, poor whites, disenfranchised blacks, black law school professors, cops, inmates, Episcopalians, Jews, baptists, atheists, politicians, artists, musicians, homeless, activists, good ole boys, all kinds. All laid out before me in slow cooked southern style decorum. I have a high threshold, no an insatiable craving, for diversity. So no wonder I'm excited about Senator Obama and what he represents and what he speaks for and what he believes.
But many republicans are fired up too. Who's right? And why are some people complacent? What's the explanation?
Truth.
When I prosecuted, I took some wicked cases. I also worked tirelessly on some enormous cases that were not my own. I visited crime scenes, walked past things in ordinary living rooms that were not ordinary. Relived scenes played out in household kitchens, hotel rooms, plant facilities, and wooded parks that were not right. Scenes that were horrific and awful. And then the job was to try to prove to a jury that the stuff really happened. I dismissed cases when I thought the stuff hadn't happened. I was no zealot. The stuff that went to juries was the worst of the worst that had happened in Asheville, NC. We would lay out the ugly facts. The awful truth. And let the juries decide. And sometimes the jury convicted. And sometimes not. When a jury acquits, it is possibly because the case didn't seem strong enough. It is possibly because the poor guy didn't do it. But also, it is possibly because some things are too much for jurors to accept. They just can't buy some of the really really bad stuff.
Some things are just too awful for some people to swallow. There are places we can't go in our minds sometimes. We all have these little survival mechanisms. What we can think about, what we can't think about. That's ok with me, that some people can't go to the places I went. If it means they couldn't convict, fine with me, that's how the system works. If it means they can't understand the passion I feel for the election, fine too. While some do seem to think of this election as a football game or American Idol contest, most Obama supporters are his supporters because they have made a conscious decision to be informed. For me, to be informed sometimes means losing sleep to read everything I can find on every issue I don't understand. And then losing sleep because I'm starting to understand.
There are people who are informed and people who are not. It's not easy to be informed. It takes lots of time, lots of independent reading, lots of fact checking. You have to be willing to consider things that make you sick. You are like the person who walks or works the crime scene. You know the scary sad details. You know what happened. What's happening. When McCain and Palin use buzzwords like terrorist and socialist and invoke racism and hate into the republican narrative, you see it for what it is. When Joe six-pack and Joe the plumber get priority in the national dialog while CEO's walk off with our money, and the Bush administration systematically chips away at our constitutional rights all the while readying Martial Law, you see it for what it is, as hard as it is to look at.
Truth. Some people know it and some don't. Some want to find it. Some want to hide it. Once you see some of the truth, you seek more and more. Eventually, knowing the truth is all that matters. No more blissful ignorance for you once you are there. It is a restless, hard place to be at times. But sooner or later, it is a place where we really must go, con ojos abiertos.
