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Democratic Convention Effectively Celebrates Ideal American Values United, Smiling and Caring; The Nation's Finer Soul Goes on Display GayToday's Editor: 'Edwards is my Brad Pitt & Theresa my Dietrich ' Editor, GayToday |
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My dear comrades, I thought, we've arrived at America's Be-In, 2004. Like every other alert citizen, I've been watching in horror for 3+ years as a national train wreck burns out of control under the thumb of the oligarchy's robot, George W. Bush. The next few months gives America what may possibly be its last non-violent opportunity for effecting major change, bringing hope to those who tremble without help while a selfish few, the money hoarders in power, imagine themselves noble and smart. It was Vice-presidential candidate Senator John Edwards who, in his speech tonight, put it nearly best: "Reward work, not just wealth." Most of the words that Edwards spoke, I reflected, inspired delirious passions in me, one's I hadn't noticed when watching him prior to tonight. My god, I said aloud, this man's face which I hadn't previously studied, reflects at his 50 years of age, true confidence and genuine compassion. Still, one must not enshrine such a leader in sainthood without a valuable skepticism in tow. Political promises were made to another land that every politician has made since 1948: support for Israel. I'd liked best what dear Jimmy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, had had to say on that subject, however. Essentially-and I'm paraphrasing here and making the accusation personal, which Carter didn't-- that the Bushies' bone-headed bumbling in the Middle East is undoing years of progress made toward peace in that area. When I saw John Edwards watching the crowds wildly erupt in appreciation of him prior to his speech, it was his face (that knew joy in the fact of being alive) that spoke loudest to me. There was a genuine graciousness in that smile, speaking what's most admirably ideal straight from the Heart of Dixie. Then there was his appreciative family. His mother's beautiful, telling face. These images are the kinds of strong faces we need most on the tube-faces graced with empathy and bravely struggling toward the best-these faces must stand at the levers of power if hope is to be part of America's landscape. Watching John Edwards' expressions? Its like, well, dare I say this? Like, he's my new Brad Pitt! I find myself studying his face, trying to determine, if possible, if there's something genuine going on behind a casual expression. Many things are making the 2004 Democratic Convention equally relevant to me. Its spirited diversity, a genuinely happy demeanor and the truly American pride-in-promise its attendees felt so intensely as, day by day, they became increasingly, powerfully, unified. The percentage of those delegates who voted for Dennis Kucinich pretty much matched his percentages in the primaries. I deeply respect Dennis Kucinich's perspectives. He took part in the Democratic political process and was counted. And, perhaps, as mass-citizen-movements go, the Democrats' 2004 version probably most embodies a host of Kucinich's canny perspectives. The Democratic Party, even its harsher radical critics must see, is, until November, our last best chance. We've got a hundred days or so to restore some semblance of honor to the White House.
For the first time, a week-long TV camp meeting such as I've avoided throughout life has been striking my highest chords in these dark times. Not anger on its face, but hope. John Edwards the Vice-presidential candidate knows about that. He made a big point of it. Hope is on the way, he repeated over and over. It was befitting at this inclusive Democratic Convention of 2004, that the President of the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization, the Human Rights Campaign, addressed the attendees. New political stars were born, such as Barack Obama. Ron Reagan, Jr. stepped in to fulfill the slant of an article I wrote eons ago, praising him in Florida's Weekly News as Ron Reagan, Jr., My Hero. He'd gone on TV and had slipped a condom on a banana to show folks how. Last night he argued against the current political stranglehold on health issues by religious fundamentalists: "But it does not follow that the ideology of a few," he said., "should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many." "They argue that interfering with even the earliest stage embryo, even one that will never be planted in a womb and will never develop into an actual fetus, is tantamount to murder," he continued. "A few of these folks, needless to say, are just grinding a political axe and they should be ashamed of themselves. But many are well-meaning and sincere. Their belief is just that, an article of faith, and they are entitled to it." Even if it kills them, this reporter nods. But these belief-niks mustn't kill us. 
Jack Nichols is GayToday's editor. He has written a newly published memoir, The Tomcat Chronicles: Erotic Adventures of a Gay Liberation Pioneer (Harrington-Park Press, a division of Haworth Press, 2004.)
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Sen. John Edwards 
Theresa Heinz Kerry