17th article by Cendrars

The Next Governor of California Will Not Be From An Established Party
by Marcelle Cendrars

“It’s easy if you try.” — John Lennon

Just a little over three years ago, Tony Blair gave a speech on climate change. He noted that “there is a mismatch in timing between the environmental and electoral impact.”

Translation: Once a politician makes a legitimate/wise decision that’s designed to fight climate change (involving the requisite personal challenges, demands for changes in public behavior) there’s lag time…which keeps the effectiveness of the decision from manifesting itself until long after said politician is out of office. Whereas, if said politician allows The Constituency to keep their comfy status quo…and things go to hell down the road…”effects are delayed, diffuse and hard to blame on any one source.” (1)

If someone likes to fly to Thailand on sex junkets, for example, and a politician draws the line on that kind of frivolous air travel, said politician is probably headed for an immediate confrontation…which could threaten his well-paid position. (2) On the other hand, common sense tells you what scenario follows if said politician attempts to do nothing substantial. Nothing beyond declaring this and that “emergency,” and following it up with support of meaningless studies…which lead to failure, no change. But which keep The Constituency close to said politician’s teat.

It should be clear to anyone who’s been around electoral politics long enough that nothing significant is going to change (in terms of what’s needed to address our Chaotic Climate) in the hands of either Democrats or Republicans. Bush hasn’t been the only problem. The Clinton Administration killed the Kyoto Protocol, and Gore “used the same mendacious formula George Bush now employs, claiming that limiting carbon emissions the US might otherwise have produced in a hypothetical future equates to real cuts in actual emissions.” (3) When Gore was a politician, formally (in office), he spoke very differently than he does now. For obvious reasons.

The other parties? They may have guys and gals with more scruples, BUT…they’re not going anywhere, are they? Peter Miguel Camejo, representing the Green Party, in a gubernatorial race against a pathetic Angelides and an astonishingly/blatantly disingenuous Arnold did a not-so-grand 2.3% (at not quite 206,000) That against Dem Phil’s 39% (3,376,732) and Rep Schwarzenneger’s 55.9% (4,850,157) suggests that seeds aren’t being sown. ALL the other candidates put together only gathered slightly more than Camejo (246,164). Not a half-million to speak of…for four candidates? Far from it.

I mean when does one give up on running one’s wheels in the mud? With or without rigged machines.

If we’re stuck with trying to work to some extent with electoral politics, however, there is a way around this dilemma.

A colleague of mine has written to some major activist organizations within the “Great State of California,” suggesting that there’s a way to put OUR Governor in office in 2010. The method for doing so requires very little time, believe it or not, and absolutely no budget is necessary. I know that that sounds incredible, BUT…the paradigm proposed –I’ve seen it– could work. It’s very impressive. And just what everyone needs.

I predict that it’ll make a permanent dent in public apathy. Even if it fails to win the Sacramento seat. For to wage a campaign without funds and to, nevertheless, capture more votes than one of the two major parties in losing is…nothing short of historic.

Especially if it’s accomplished in pre-election low-profile. Strains credulity, I know. But my buddy has conducted all of his meetings with individuals thus far…in confidence. He says that part of what’s going to make the run successful on all counts is the element of surprise. Imagine waking up to one of the World Trade Center towers reconstructed outside of your bedroom window. That’s the kind of shock that people can(’t) expect.

In his missives to the organizations asking for a meeting (for the purpose of giving his sales pitch), my colleague has pointed out that –ideally– only representatives with an imagination should get together with him. That activists who are compassionate, intelligent and hard working only…won’t cut the mustard. That they might detract from a meeting…in which he’ll be trying to recruit a highly creative core group.

He notes that when he gets with them it’s going to be like someone making a pitch for jet airplane travel to people who’ve only known horse and buggy, leisurely trains and  funky automobiles. That people are going to have to “open up” in order to appreciate what he’s putting on the table.

But I shouldn’t go down that road. For now, here, I think that it’s my job to ask you to use your imagination at this juncture. To ask you to believe that it’s possible to come up with something entirely new…that’s simple to implement…that’s been there all the time, begging for an embrace. Fresh.

That IS the case.

He claims that the candidate for Governor will be honest and incorruptible, with the ability to make use of talents never before displayed by traditional politicians. The person will have a volunteer group of advisors, and there will be many unprecedented actions taken immediately upon assuming office. And there will be more daily democratic participation in determining policies than ever before.

Know anyone interested in applying? He’s still scouting the horizon.

Do use your own imaginative powers for a moment. Think about (or research) what powers –all of them– the Governor is blessed with, and to what use he/she could put them to…. A pardon here, parole altered there? Check out the list…all the way down to his/her ability to determine what’s a state of emergency. And don’t forget to what degree a Governor –any Governor– can dictate what the news is for a given moment. Extrapolate.

My colleague swears that the campaign he intends to wage will be the first in history not dependent on media coverage. A fact which is directly related to there being no need for fundraising, no budget. Take a moment. If that’s true…what kind of precedent will that set? What ripples created?

I can remember Howard Zinn being fond of saying, “When you put up a given ‘wall’ to stop terrorists, it never works. It can’t because the nature of terrorism is such that it’ll find a way around the obstacle, like a turbulent section of a stream around a rock, like Spring cracking through cement .”

In Santa Cruz, California –supposedly a Berkeley-like bastion for The Left– Camejo only brought in 5% of the vote in that 2006 gubernatorial election. It’s also where I heard Zinn speak the above words in a lecture near the University of California there. And it’s where I first noticed that truly new ideas presented to activists often generate what I call “territorial trauma.” That’s a phenomenon that kicks in sometimes when firmly ensconced leftists resent new guys ‘n gals on the block moving in on their realm. Threatening their financial base, their following, their spotlight.

I bring this up because you –the reader– might want to check out what my colleague has to offer if you live in California, or plan to visit there soon. My friend would probably welcome your individual attention, your consideration of his new paradigm for change. I’m sure that he’d want to meet you…in confidence. To build something historic.

You might make a difference if the organizations drop the ball, and decide to remain within The Orbit of Habit.

Enough said about sad said politicians. Time to take fresh action. To believe again.

What Blair’s UK could have used was some Diggers. Is California poised to be an influence in the U.S. like Chiapas was for Mexico? For the world?

This plan says YES…and YES without any violence whatsoever. (4)

Footnotes:
1) George Monbiot, Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning (South End Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007), p. 22.
2) Have you seen the number of sex ads in the back of your local publications, the online appeals to draw one and all abroad? There would be lots of opposition, undoubtedly. Seriously, Kevin Rudd can win for the Labor Party in Australia with a pledge to sign the Kyoto Protcol –which is only slated to cut carbon emissions by a very mild total of 5.2 per cent– but it’s as “weak” as his promise to cut combat troops in Iraq while increasing “security forces” there. Gore had good political reasons to stay away from even the very mild Kyoto Protocol.
3) Monbiot, op. cit., p. v.
4) Reader, you’ve got nothing to lose with this…and everything to lose by not trying.

Marcelle Cendrars can be reached at bcendra[AT]  yahoo{DOT}com.