Open Letter to “Governor” Lydia Sargent About TOM TOM
by Oxz (Richard Martin Oxman)

“Tom, Tom, the piper’s son,
He learned to play when he was young.
But all the tune that he could play
Was ‘Over the hills and far away.’” — (Likely) An 18th-century nursery rhyme

Benjamin Braddock’s father, in Nichols’ The Graduate, responds to some idea that his son throws out for consideration by saying, “That sounds like a half-baked idea to me, Ben” (or something of the sort). Dustin Hoffman’s character immediately shoots back something like, “Oh no, it’s fully-baked.”

Well, Lydia, the idea that I’m going to put on the table for your kind consideration here IS half-baked. However, I believe it deserves very serious consideration as it presently stands, nonetheless.

I’ve bothered your partner, Michael Albert, and Noam Chomsky with my idea for “taking over” the State of California (TOSCA). That is a fully-baked idea. Though it might not be clear enough to some to elicit their imprimaturs, other fairly high profile figures worldwide have permitted me to use their names in association with it. People that I believe Michael and Noam deeply respect, like Howard Zinn, Devinder Sharma, Marie Trigona, Jennifer Loewenstein, Henry Giroux, Bill Blum, and many others. A short list of supporters can be found at http://oxtogrind.org/archive/336, and an introduction of sorts to TOSCA can be had at http://oxtogrind.org/archive/364.

But I am not writing to you about TOSCA. Rather, I want to communicate my thoughts — half-baked though some surely are — about TOM TOM. The idea is so nice to me, I thought I’d repeat the acronym for “Taking Over Massachusetts” twice. I guess it could also stand for “Trouble for Obama in Massachusetts.”

I don’t really even want to think about leaving my home schooled nine-year-old, Marcello (www.marcelsgeo.blogspot.com), for any length of time. And Sylvie, my partner, is still waiting to receive the results of her recent biopsy… to find out if she’s going to need another mastectomy. Being away if she needs me for any reason seems unthinkable. That said, all else being equal (which never seems to be the case in life, yes?), I’m going to make a proposal.

Since I can’t seem to get enough people’s ass in gear in California for TOSCA, I thought that maybe I should at least consider what might be different elsewhere. I mean, the basic benefits of “taking over” a given state would probably amount to pretty much the same thing… as long as the state was “important” enough. And — I’m hoping — that “the situation” in Massachusetts… especially with you and Michael on fire about the whole kit and kaboodle… might make something viable. For all I know, conditions might be positively better where you are even without any solid connection with you. Regardless, same ground rules: a legal, nonviolent, zero budget, etc. affair — thoroughly independent of mainstream media — which aims to put twelve unaffiliated, non-politician citizens into the Sacred Seat in Boston in lieu of a single self-serving careerist.

Here goes with some of the half-baked thoughts, which I thought might encourage you and/or Michael to come on board in some capacity*, contributing some feedback in spite of the fact that you’re in the middle of fund raising (and God knows what else). For starters, imagine yourself as the working figurehead write-in candidate, and WHOEVER** as the Lieutenant Governor candidate.

*On a basis that suits your purposes.

**One of the fun challenges would be coming up with a good way to select or vote for a Lt. Guv candidate AND the ten other members of The Coalition.

If a Governor of the Commonwealth can take as much UNILATERAL action as what a Governor of the Golden State can (as per http://oxtogrind.org/archive/311), we’re in good shape. That would mean that the payoff was surely worth the candle.

I can’t stand the cold, can hardly function in weather which skiers embrace enthusiastically, no matter how much clothing I have on, regardless of how many heaters envelop me. That said, I’d gladly go door to door starting in the dead of the Commonwealth winter to stir up trouble. Just as Michael would, unquestionably, burn down whole libraries if such action would end wars, I would — without the slightest hesitation — subject myself to THE COLD(!!!!!!) in the name of getting others to burn for institutional change. Let’s face it, we’re not talking about looking down the barrel of an Israeli tank here. And it beats fasting.

So… since I’m going to do something… why not travel East with this Don Quixote mishigas? I do have a number of positive thoughts about Boston. It’s not far from my 39-year-old NYC daughter. I did canvass for Massachusetts Fair Share years ago in and around Bean Town. I could make use of my old Celtics jersey. And so on. [Pause.] I’m sure I could come up with a Top Ten for TOM TOM.

In closing (I do NOT want to wear out my welcome with this unsolicited missive!), permit me to underscore a few points in no special order. One, I have no intention of being a burden on anyone. Which means, among other things, I’d never surprise you with a knock on the door at Woods Hole. Two, PART OF THE PAYOFF WOULD BE THAT WE’D HAVE A CHANCE TO PUSH PARECON LIKE NEVER BEFORE. Three, whatever I did for TOM TOM could be easily combined with on ongoing effort to sell subscriptions for ZMag or the like. Four,… well, there surely must be tons of things that I could list here, but it’s getting late.

Speaking of “getting late” though, I feel obliged to point out one more thing before signing off. That is, in Michael’s absolutely brilliant REMEMBERING TOMORROW he makes a comment early on about how Eric’s generation — as in your son’s generation — probably won’t have the same relationship to their music as sixties’ kids did with theirs.

“A tumultuous world propelled sixties songs into our personalities and cemented their lyrics and sound into our consciousness.”

A little later, in talking about Jerome Weisner, he quotes the MIT provost as saying, “It is no longer a question of controlling a military-industrial complex, but rather, of keeping the United States from becoming a totally military culture.”

Well, the cold, cold culture of military dominance/degeneration has already descended to the point where its unmelodious beat is unbearable. And that is just one of the reasons (that I know of) why I would even consider the uncomfortable cold of your clime as a base for changing the world with a half-baked idea.

Warm blessings in solidarity,
Ricardo

Writer of the letter, Richard, can be reached at 831-688-8038 or at tosca.2010[at]yahoo.com. http://oxtogrind.org/archive/378 has some of his background. [Hey, why am I talking about myself in the third person?] You’ll see that aside from our being the same vintage (1942), we have singular Dramatic Art experience in common.