So here we go

Apparently, we're on the road again. No snags appeared, so now we have to pack up and get out. A colleague told me this evening that the thought of packing and moving everything was so intimidating it was a big reason why she and her husband were still in the same house even though it's no longer big enough. Damn I know how she feels.

Between packing and extra work shifts to help pay for this madness - the route from the living room to the kitchen is already becoming circuitous for all the boxes - plus various other assorted personal and financial crap I have no intention of getting into, this space will inevitably suffer.

What this means for Lotus is that posting will be sparse for the next few weeks. I'd even suggest to folks that they don't bother checking more than once a week during September. There will be stuff up, I'm sure, but I imagine it'll be commentary, not time critical stuff; if you read it a few days after it was posted, it won't matter.

However, I also intend to make a renewed commitment to this thing come early October - October 1 if no unexpected hassles intervene. Maybe even a change in appearance, I dunno about that yet, but I do know I intend to commit myself to posting something worth reading or at least interesting enough to note every day. The more I see people wrapping themselves up in the Obama campaign - Jeebus, is there anyone who is not going on about the damn convention? - the more I'm convinced that the relatively few of us who are independent left voices need to raise our banners ever higher.

In the wake of the 2004 election, I noted an essay by William Rivers Pitt of TruthOut.org, who wrote of a loss of morale among progressives, marked by an "odd silence" in the face of ongoing outrages. I said at the time that

yes, it's true, there is an odd silence. It has fallen over us at least partly because, foolishly but predictably, we tied everything to John Kerry, to "Anybody But Bush".... So of course when the election was over, win or lose but worse lose, there was nothing to do, no next step to take.

I see the same future for 2008: Everything is being tied to Obama and the Dimcrats. How bad is it? The folks running a local weekly peace vigil, who've been at it week after week for nearly five years now, have announced they are going to stop after the election because "if Obama wins, it's Mission Accomplished. If McCain wins, all is lost." Whatever happens, come November a significant portion of the supposedly "progressive" community will simply have no idea what to do next. Not just about the war but about the economy, about health care, about civil rights and constitutional liberties, about energy and the environment, about the list goes on. In their minds, if Obama wins, they need do nothing; if McCain wins, they can do nothing. They are leading themselves into logical and moral paralysis.

I believe that after November, the voices of independent leftists and radicals will be needed more than ever to avoid the twin evils of complacency and despair. We may just be candles in the rain, just flickers in the night, but we need do what we can. And there is that bit about lighting one candle - and since I've done a couple of music references, there's also the song about one voice. So raise your voice and your candle against the increasing darkness.

Footnote: It has nothing to do with the post, but since I included a Willie Nelson song I thought what the heck, I'll link to this one, too. It's one of my all-time favorite songs. Loving, hopeful, and a touch melancholy all at the same time: my favorite theme.

On the other hand, this is kinda related. Worth a look.