Friday, August 10, 2007

My Vote for President, by Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)

Cross-posted from the
Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) Blog

In looking forward, into the future, there is no crystal ball certainty of anything. Our forward planning is designed around contingencies and “What If” scenarios.

What if John Edwards wins? What is the contingency plan and how would we rate that contingency in terms of probabilities, and how much time and resources are require to make or defeat such candidacy? And, what if a Republican wins back the Whitehouse, I ask again: What are the contingencies?

All former students of BP Marxism would understand dialectical analysis. This is a scientific approach, and not always accurate. But it is a methodology, nonetheless, that causes us to factor in other elements- the “hidden factors”.

Sometimes when a fact become so self-evident, we will still deny its existence and factor it out as a fact of life. We delude ourselves, which later leads to serious miscalculations.

We specialize in searching out miscalculations by self-delusion that leads to strategic and tactical errors. For example: A million cartoon characters do not equal one child of God. [Don’t even go there.]

I am amazed at how people can sound so much like a duck: Quack! Quack! Am I hearing voices? Good Lord, am I going crazy- people sounding like ducks?

My eye is on the Whitehouse. That is my last line of defense. I care about who might be the next President of the United States. Once, I didn’t care, and I didn’t even care to vote. Most black people could less about voting. Fact of life, let’s face it. And, white voters are nearly as apathetic.

These are two factors excluded by self-denial. In the meantime, I keep my eye on the prize of the White House. The next man or woman that goes into that office will have endured the fire and be proved true as a national leader.

So, don’t try to twist my arm one way or the other for Candidate X or Candidate Y. I must study all the factors and assess where the balance of power lie. Every contest is a tug-of-war for voters. This time I want the right to be a voter, not a party member. Maybe one day my vote will be the swing vote, the difference maker, that elects a president.



1 comment:

Francis Holland said...

Brother Eddie:

This is a deep essay. It had me on the edge of my seat from the first word to the last. 'Who does Eddie support for president? Why?' You are a very gifted writer as well as political theorist and I am deeply honored by your participation in the AfroSpear.

You know I support Hillary Clinton for president and Barack Obama for vice president, in spite of the wise counsel and fact-based rational arguments of those who say that the presidency won't make much difference one way or the other.

So, although I would rather have you say what I'm saying, I'm honored to have you give me and this audience a perspective based on generations of wisdom and experience, devoted to Black people rather than to any particular campaign, candidate or even any particular political system.

For a moment, when cross-posting this essay, I was tempted to edit the word "Whitehouse" to spell the expression as it is traditionally spelled. But when I saw that you had spelled it this way three times, I realized that you must have a philosophical reason for doing so, and I dared not touch your text and risk changing a deeply considered meaning.

Thank you for writing this essay and thank you for letting me post it at the Democratic Afrosphere.