It's not a direct comparison, but I've often wondered what would happen if a religious prophet were to appear on this planet. Chances are that the prophet would be accused of any number of negative traits to which we have become acculturated, which has been our historical and multi-cultural response to prophets of the past.
Yes, worldly adults must invoke a certain amount of cynicism as a defensive mechanism. But on the mobius band of fear and faith, one must sometimes try on hope to see if it could possibly, maybe just once, fit. Reality is in the eye of the beholder and it's worth remembering what we once thought was possible.
There is a currency that is funding the Edwards campaign and it is not a zero-sum currency. It's a currency called hope. The Edwards campaign moves forward without a get-out-the-vote effort. Those who caucus for Edwards will do so of their own volition, of their own free will and of their own hope.
As for polls that construct the very environments that they purport to sample, their observations amplified a thousand-fold by technology, individual humans need ask themselves only one question. Do you believe the claims of remote organizations (media, poll, pundit) of unknown methodology? Or do you believe your own eyes and ears and feelings and vision?
The Iowan caucuses are unique in having a social component, in comparison to the isolated decision one makes in the solitude of a voting booth. Humans are social creatures, which is another way to say that our influential environments include other humans. Those who would influence caucus-goer decisions must amplify the influence of their human representation at the caucuses.
One version of influence is raw numerical strength, the sledgehammer approach. Another version of influence is communication, using the multi-gigabit channel supplied by our five human senses in F2F contact. Face-to-Face and Eye-to-Eye are the sensory foundation of caucus democracy.
Polls are taken singularly, each claimed caucus-goer at the end of an isolated telephone. The caucus is social, each actual caucus-goer in sensory distance of their neighbors, friends and community. The result of their interdependent decisions will be experienced in their local community for the next four years.
As long as Iowans try on hope, even once, even on Monday in the presence of their neighbors who are sharing their support for John Edwards, we (the peanut gallery on the planet external to Iowa) can also have hope.
Posted by dotpeople at January 14, 2004 08:23 AM | TrackBack