Community Organizers, Sarah Palin, & America

Hi.

My name is Gunfighter, and I am a community organizer. 

"But... but.., GF, we thought you were a firearms instructor for the feds!"

Yes, I am... but, I'm an organizer too!  Well...maybe you couldn't really call me an organizer, but I do provide a specialized service to the community that government doesn't (and shouldn't) provide. 

I teach Sunday school. 

Yeah, that's my own little bit.  I also helped to co-ordinate our Church's Vacation Bible School this summer (which was REALLLY cool, by the way).

As minor as my teeny-tiny service to my community is, I have great admiration for those who are out there, really making a difference in the lives of those people that our country seems to have largely forgotten. 

At the recently concluded Republican National Convention, Vice Presidential candidate (and 1st-rate moose skinner)Sarah Palin used the occasion of the acceptance of her party's nomination to attack Democratic candidate Barack Obama.  In her shrill, smarmy, and downright nasty screed, Palin compared her work as a mayor to that of a community organizer, she said "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,"

What a shame. 

How sad for you, Governor Palin, that you would denigrate people that are actually trying to get things done in the places that they live, rather than spend their time and efforts slurping at the trough of government largesse like you. 

Since you are in the mood to make comparisons Governor, I thought I might give you a little lesson about a few community organizers whose efforts changed not only communities and nations, but changed the whole world.

Samuel Adams (you may have heard of him) organized the patriots of Boston to form the Sons of Liberty to take active measures against the rule of the British Crown.  He also organized a political party (the Country Party) from a group of disaffected rural Massachusetts farmers. 

 

Susan B. Anthony was a steadfast advocate for abolition and was an early and important leader in the women's suffrage movement.  Anthony was also an early organizer in the fight for women's rights to individually own property.

 

Cesar Chavez organized agricultural workers, particularly in the southwest, and was the founder of the United Farm Workers Union, which advocated on behalf of abused, underpaid, and often mistreated farm laborers.  Chavez was also a civil rights activist who worked tirelessly in the struggle to educate Mexican-Americans and get them to register to vote.

 

Martin Luther became a community organizer after having spent most of his adult life as a Monk.  Luther not only rebelled against the practices of the Roman church, he also advocated on behalf of the people, so that they could read the bible and hear the mass in their own language.  His efforts led to the Reformation, it's following wars, and to the right of most people to be free to worship as they choose. 

Like the man he was named after, Martin Luther King, Jr.was also an organizer who rebelled against unjust practices.  He was a man of peace whose efforts to do things greater than himself allowed a people to be lifted out of oppression in a country where you wouldn't think you'd still be seeing it in 1964... let alone 2008.

His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, is another organizer.  He leads a Tibetan/Buddhist nation-in-exile, and is spiritual leader to millions scattered across the globe.  A teacher, monk, and man-of-peace, the Dalia Lama is a moral teacher that everyone reading this can learn from.

Well, do I really need to explain how this man took a message to a nation through preaching an advocating for the poor and the unwanted?  Do I have to tell you that this guy once said that what you do to the poor, you also do to me?  Do I have to tell you that this fellow named Yeshua, whom we call Jesus, changed the world in just three short years of community organizing?

If you all don't mind, I think I'll get in the pulpit for just a minute.

Governor Palin,  most of the American people live outside of the DC Beltway, and they have more contact with community organizers than they do with their mayors... or hadn't you noticed that?  Community organizers bring attention to things that Governor's (and small town mayors) need to address or fix.  Community Organizers advocate for schools, churches, the homeless, the poor, the unemployed, the underemployed, and just about any other group you can name.  Included in that group, by the way, is the middle class. 

Community Organizers can come from the local La Leche League, Home schooling groups, unionized workers, firefighters, cops, youth groups, and religious groups. 

Shame on youfor denigrating those who believe in doing something bigger than themselves.

Shame on you for even thinking that community organizers don't have responsibilities.

Shame on youfor your childish ridiculing.

Shame on you for your ignorance of history.

Our country deserves better than you, Governor Palin, and hopefully, we'll send you packing, back to your beloved hunting grounds in November.

Can I get an amen?