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Obama talks a good game, but why should I trust his intentions?

Here's why I'm caucusing for Obama. He was a Gamaliel organizer. I'm very familiar with the organization as I put lots of time into the ISAIAH project in Minnesota. Gamaliel is a national network of grassroots faith-based community organizing groups.

People in Gamaliel are sending out a positive message about faith, values and progressive politics. These are people who are pounding the ground in the poor neighborhoods, in the white exurbs, in the demographically-changing inner-ring suburbs and in rural America. These are people who know how to get things done in our political process.

Obama has the kind of experience we need in a leader, Clinton does not. Obama deeply understands the needs of poor and working-class America because he spent an awful lot of his life organizing them. We need leaders who understand what it's like in the real world. Nothing that Clinton says convinces me she has a clue.

Obama talks about hope because once you start getting into the community organizing world and see how incredibly powerful it can be, you have no choice but to have hope.

Obama talks a good game, but why should I trust his intentions?

Here's why I'm caucusing for Obama. He was a Gamaliel organizer. I'm very familiar with the organization as I put lots of time into the ISAIAH project in Minnesota. Gamaliel is a national network of grassroots faith-based community organizing groups.

People in Gamaliel are sending out a positive message about faith, values and progressive politics. These are people who are pounding the ground in the poor neighborhoods, in the white exurbs, in the demographically-changing inner-ring suburbs and in rural America. These are people who know how to get things done in our political process.

Obama has the kind of experience we need in a leader, Clinton does not. Obama deeply understands the needs of poor and working-class America because he spent an awful lot of his life organizing them. We need leaders who understand what it's like in the real world. Nothing that Clinton says convinces me she has a clue.

Obama talks about hope because once you start getting into the community organizing world and see how incredibly powerful it can be, you have no choice but to have hope.

Amen.

There's a rebirth of social organization happening in this country. Unions like SEIU are finally throwing off the stale leadership of ineffective labor coalitions and are taking charge themselves. They're doing this by building leaders within their own ranks who are politically savvy and tuned into what power is really about.

And it's not just labor that is waking up. Faith-based community organizing is really taking off. Groups at the state level are engaging in serious power politics. And the right is taking notice. You know you're making an impact when an opposition group calls for a "<Name of your group> Watch."

This ain't your daddy's "Christian Right." The religious right is essentially a group of patsys co-opted to advance a conservative economic agenda. When you look at the actual issue campaigns of the religious right, almost none of the went anywhere. The only victory they might claim is a set of state constitutional amendments to ban equal unions for GLBT people. But even that was motivated by election politics, not the values underlying the issue itself. The religious right was and is being used by the conservatives. They're starting to wise up to that.

On the other hand, this new breed of faith activists is more than willing to take both sides of the aisle to task. There's a discipline to building public relationships with other people and especially with public officials. These groups and the new power-oriented unions understand what that is and that it is what is at the core of political power.

Interesting times, indeed.

Amen.

There's a rebirth of social organization happening in this country. Unions like SEIU are finally throwing off the stale leadership of ineffective labor coalitions and are taking charge themselves. They're doing this by building leaders within their own ranks who are politically savvy and tuned into what power is really about.

And it's not just labor that is waking up. Faith-based community organizing is really taking off. Groups at the state level are engaging in serious power politics. And the right is taking notice. You know you're making an impact when an opposition group calls for a "<Name of your group> Watch."

This ain't your daddy's "Christian Right." The religious right is essentially a group of patsys co-opted to advance a conservative economic agenda. When you look at the actual issue campaigns of the religious right, almost none of the went anywhere. The only victory they might claim is a set of state constitutional amendments to ban equal unions for GLBT people. But even that was motivated by election politics, not the values underlying the issue itself. The religious right was and is being used by the conservatives. They're starting to wise up to that.

On the other hand, this new breed of faith activists is more than willing to take both sides of the aisle to task. There's a discipline to building public relationships with other people and especially with public officials. These groups and the new power-oriented unions understand what that is and that it is what is at the core of political power.

Interesting times, indeed.

Come on now, you're blaming an entire belief system for this tragedy?

This guy did nothing recognizable as Christian, regardless of what he said. Yes, there are despicable people who call themselves "Christian." In fact scripture itself tells us to expect them. Although, let's be VERY clear, it is not a "future telling" set of documents!

Judeo-Christian prophecy is quite different and apart from mere "fortune telling." It is at the heart of the faith tradition, a challenging of society to be something better than it is. There are many, many, many, MANY Christians and people of other faiths doing good work, prophetic work, for real justice in the world. Ghandi was a prophet. Dr. King was a prophet.

I can't speak for other religions (though I suspect their followers would agree with me), but Christian faith is not at all guilt-ridden and does not promote self-loathing. Yes, many people teach it that way and that's tragic. But a good faith community will lift one up, not put one down. I've been in good communities and bad ones. I tend to stay with the good ones.

The core teaching of Christianity is quite simple: God cares about human beings, who are inherently good. It is our responsibility to use our gifts and talents to make the world a better place for everyone.

Now what's threatening in that?

Come on now, you're blaming an entire belief system for this tragedy?

This guy did nothing recognizable as Christian, regardless of what he said. Yes, there are despicable people who call themselves "Christian." In fact scripture itself tells us to expect them. Although, let's be VERY clear, it is not a "future telling" set of documents!

Judeo-Christian prophecy is quite different and apart from mere "fortune telling." It is at the heart of the faith tradition, a challenging of society to be something better than it is. There are many, many, many, MANY Christians and people of other faiths doing good work, prophetic work, for real justice in the world. Ghandi was a prophet. Dr. King was a prophet.

I can't speak for other religions (though I suspect their followers would agree with me), but Christian faith is not at all guilt-ridden and does not promote self-loathing. Yes, many people teach it that way and that's tragic. But a good faith community will lift one up, not put one down. I've been in good communities and bad ones. I tend to stay with the good ones.

The core teaching of Christianity is quite simple: God cares about human beings, who are inherently good. It is our responsibility to use our gifts and talents to make the world a better place for everyone.

Now what's threatening in that?

But in my experience (and I'm highly curious of others reading this) some of the best songs in my and my band's repertoirs are ones that just "came out", from either screwing around and stumbling onto things that rock, to making fun of something that happened, etc.

Right on. Deadlines really help too. Last fall we were planning a public meeting for the community organizing group I work with. I told the planning team I was going to compose a choir piece for the event. I had a month to do it and had never written anything for a full choir before.

I took some time kicking melodies around in my head. I knew the basic style I wanted (up-tempo gospel swing) and the chord structure (based on the standard "When the Saints Go Marching In") but melody has always been a challenge for me.

It turns out that I composed the melody one Saturday morning in about 30 minutes, including lyrics. It was completely different from everything that had been going through my head earlier. I even changed up and went to the blues for the verses, which worked great with the "Saints" chorus. I just convinced myself to get it done that morning. By the end of the afternoon I had the choir arrangement finished. It turned out very nicely though unfortunately the recording equipment at the actual event was subpar so the live take sounds worse than something recorded on a Gramophone. But it was great live and in person.

So yes, I absolutely believe that this kind of thing can motivate musicians to create great things. I might have even participated in it myself to get a demo CD I've been wanting to do out the door but I can't afford a good preamp at the moment.

I'm reading about people giving to food banks, Oxfam, Heifer, etc., all certainly worthy causes. But one of the things we are very good at doing is doing charity while ignoring justice.

It's the difference between helping the poor and working to eliminate the things that cause us to have poor people in the first place.

Consider giving to ISAIAH (Minnesota), MOSES (Detroit), UCM/MCU (St. Louis) or your local Gamaliel affiliate. These groups are organizing citizens to take back our government and ensure that we live in a society that reflects our broadly shared values including fairness, equal opportunity, community, hope and shared abundance.

Even better, give money and get involved . This is the civil rights movement of our time. We can no longer sit on the sidelines; we must engage our elected officials and each other to build the communities we want to live in.

I'm reading about people giving to food banks, Oxfam, Heifer, etc., all certainly worthy causes. But one of the things we are very good at doing is doing charity while ignoring justice.

It's the difference between helping the poor and working to eliminate the things that cause us to have poor people in the first place.

Consider giving to ISAIAH (Minnesota), MOSES (Detroit), UCM/MCU (St. Louis) or your local Gamaliel affiliate. These groups are organizing citizens to take back our government and ensure that we live in a society that reflects our broadly shared values including fairness, equal opportunity, community, hope and shared abundance.

Even better, give money and get involved . This is the civil rights movement of our time. We can no longer sit on the sidelines; we must engage our elected officials and each other to build the communities we want to live in.

I put a lot of personal time and effort into ISAIAH, a coalition of Minnesota churches working for social justice through systemic change.

This group is not about evangelizing. It's about getting down and dirty in the political process to effect real change. I am working on securing dedicated funding for public transportation in Minnesota. I have been amazed by what this group does. Immigration reform, brownfields cleanup, affordable housing, domestic violence -- the list just goes on. The Gamaliel Foundation has affiliates all over the country. Consider donating money, or even better, time to their work.

I put a lot of personal time and effort into ISAIAH, a coalition of Minnesota churches working for social justice through systemic change.

This group is not about evangelizing. It's about getting down and dirty in the political process to effect real change. I am working on securing dedicated funding for public transportation in Minnesota. I have been amazed by what this group does. Immigration reform, brownfields cleanup, affordable housing, domestic violence -- the list just goes on. The Gamaliel Foundation has affiliates all over the country. Consider donating money, or even better, time to their work.

I accept that - except that you (in north-central Minneasota) are not in my (northern Iowa) community.

Here is where we fundamentally disagree. We are connected on many issues. Our immigration platform is the national Gamaliel Foundation immigration platform. Immigration is a national issue.

Transportation is a national issue too. Currently, the pending federal transportation bill is stuck in conference committee. It's passed both the House and Senate. Our representatives are sitting on it, continuously extending the current bill. This is a problem because the new bill includes some important federal funding formula changes. This affects your state as well as mine and it is in both of our best interests to get it signed.

Schools are a national issue. No Child Left Behind has not worked. It needs to be funded or repealed. I'm fine with state school control. I think that's entirely appropriate.

Some issues are national, some both national and local and others strictly local. Many issues shift between these categories from time to time.

I am a memer of the ISAIAH organization, an interfaith coalition of churches in the Twin Cities and Saint Cloud, MN regions. We use faith-based organizing to work for social justice. We do this because our faith calls us to do it.

While not everyone is motivated by faith to work on these issues, most people share the common values that drive it. This past weekend, we got 4,000 people together to talk to our state and federal legislators about what matters to us.

Underneath all of this is an effort to change the current dominant worldview. We are constantly told to be afraid, that no one is there to help us -- we have to be self-reliant and go it alone and that there just isn't enough to go around.

We've been told this in many ways. Terrorists are going to attack us; we all need to take personal responsibility; individualism is supreme; taxes are an evil to be avoided at all costs; we can't afford to pay for schools.

4,000 people came together on Oct. 10 to reject this outlook. We put forth an alternate view: one of hope, community and shared abundance. We know there is enough to go around -- taxes are how we fund our society and we all have a responsibility to contribute. We know we are surrounded by community and by acting in community we have more power than acting alone. We have hope because we have put this vision into action with real results.

Some of our elected officials were "visibly shaken" according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. They did not expect ordinary citizens to declare such a radical vision and did not expect so many to support it.

I believe this new worldview is what Lessig is talking about. When we live and work in community, hope and abundance, we will provide for the future as well as the present.

It's time to define our own society and stop letting others define it for us.