Liberty and Justice for All
My, what an exciting week. Samhain and Elections – as Swedish musician Erik Ask-Upmark observed at the Draam concert last night, it’s hard to say which is the most scary. There is, however, a way to combine them–
As you call on the ancestors this Samhain, pay some extra attention to our American heroes and heroines, who fought for liberty and justice in their various ways, and surely have an interest in preserving them.
At the Spiral Samhain celebration next week (Tuesday Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Fellowship hall on Cedar & Bonita– Spiral observes the quarter and cross-quarter festivals at its “Gateway” series, on the first Tuesday of each month), Charline Palmtag and I are going to be calling on the Founding Fathers and a selection of other American notables from Abraham Lincoln through Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Just because they’re dead doesn’t mean they can stop working. Unfortunately today’s conflicts are actually evidence of continuity in American culture. The moment the British left, the factions that are still fighting sprang into being. Washington’s genius was his ability to balance them. So as the American ship of state wallows through the currently troubled waters, hang on.
The immediate problem, of course, is the election–not so much who is going to get the most votes, but whether all those votes will be correctly counted. I’m willing to bow to the will of the People, but I want to make sure that the published results in fact express it.
My plan for the next week or so is to spend some time every evening visualizing Lady Liberty shining her torch across the land. As that light penetrates every dark corner, it banishes fear, confusion, and deception. I ask her not only to inspire people to vote for the laws and candidates that will be best for the country, but to illuminate the vote-counting process so that the true will of the people is known.
If you like this idea, spread the word. The more of us who hold that image, the more powerful it will be.
God(s) bless America.