The past 14 months of my life have been dedicated to a project; to put Peace on the map.  I just safely made it home after 98 days on the road. I rode 11,000 miles on a 125cc scooter. Last year I rode 11,000 miles as well.  By the end of my trip, which started and ended in Washington D.C., I had traversed through 29 states, and created the largest Peace sign in history on the U.S. map.

I wanted to reach thousands of Americans and ask them, simply,  “How do you define Peace?”  In order to approach and develop conversations with a diverse sampling of Americans, I chose to leave politics out of our discussion. I’ve been immersed in Peace work for more than 15 months. Now that I am finally home and processing the journey, there has been time to catch up on politics and policy through blogs, diaries and video.

When I hit play on Mccain’s ad, the Summer of Love, every other sound in the house and neighborhood faded into a distant hum.  Transfixed by the manipulation of Obama’s campaign message of hope and change, as well as the patriotism of the 60’s generation, I hit play again. Repeat.

Mark, blogging for News Corpse, offers an acute psychological assessment of the ad.  Of course, anyone with sound mind recognizes McCain doesn’t have one. Sure, that’s snarky, but honestly, at this juncture we should be traveling upward in our evolution and I’ve simply had enough of those in power who prohibit it.
The article acknowledges the gravity of being a prisoner of war, while drawing the important conclusion that while McCains’ sacrifice was commendable, it is precisely the thing that restrains him.

“The fact that McCain cannot recognize the importance of that era, and the contributions of citizens who lived through it, is representative of a larger problem for him. The time he spent in captivity was a defining time for those of us back home. There were so many socially profound events that altered just about everyone who lived through them. John McCain was not one of them. The history that shaped millions of Americans, McCain only heard about secondhand, after the fact.”

So it may not be so surprising that McCain is trapped in a time warp, unable to relate to a country and world that shared these tumultuous experiences, but from which he was excluded. It may explain his hostility to a generation that was arguably more engaged in public service and community activism than any generation before or since.”

The article’s author was able to extrapolate on the sickening in my stomach.  I am infuriated by this recurring implication that those involved in peaceful civic engagement do not share the same love of country as those who use weapons to fight for it.  These antiquated ideas are still embedded deeply in the American consciousness and often interfere with our ability to apply new approaches to old problems. I see it in our leaders and I have seen it in thousands of my fellow countrymen-regardless of age.

“The announcer declares it a time of “uncertainty, hope and change,” skillfully associating uncertainty with two words that have become iconic within Barack Obama’s campaign. It then proceeds to insult an entire generation by asserting that McCain had “another kind of love - of country,” thereby implying that young Americans in the 60’s and 70’s were less than patriotic. As one of them I can assure you that it wasn’t because we hated our country that we dedicated ourselves to peace, civil rights, and free expression. Are those unpatriotic aspirations?”

What I have found is that all humans have very similar needs, convoluted by the various strategies by which we obtain them.  Not only am I disenchanted by political leaders who make it difficult to navigate what many see as an obtainable common ground, but also by the leaders of so called progressive movements.

My host in San Diego was the Regional Co-Cordinator for the U.S. Department of Peace. During one of our many conversations, he assured me that the biggest mistake made by the 60’s movement was the hostility generated towards the soldiers. In other words, directing animosity towards those enforcing policy, instead of focusing on those creating policy. Or, as he claims, that animosity was even part of the movement. When will we learn our lesson that we can’t mimic the same system we hope to change?

In a twist of the Western Machiavellian idea that “the end justifies the means,” Ghandi always promoted the idea that, “the end is inherent in the means.”
Quite simply, we have to be concerned with the process of how we achieve a goal, and make sure the steps taken resonate with the desired outcome. An easy example would be that violence doesn’t beget peace, it begets submission through conquering.

More convoluted and due for scrutiny are the past and current actions taken by those who claim to be working for Peace.

I have found that those who rage against the system, almost always mimic it. Their own systematic approach to changing the system is entrenched by the system itself!
Their responses are often relayed in the same manner as their opponents; in tones of anger, judgement, and defensiveness.  Organizations guard power; they fight for media spotlight, membership lists and autonomy.

I recently came across an article that addressed some of my internal reflection, “The American Left: Does a Nationwide ‘Progessive Movement’ Actually Exist?” by Ken Brociner. I‘ve spent the past year wondering the same thing.  What I enjoyed most, however, was the critique of that article by Don Mikulecky, in his Daily Kos diary.

Ken Brociner claims that, “Still, it seem clear that-thanks to the Internet and new connections between progressive organizations-”a movement” has come back into existence since Bush took office.”

Ken alleges that we must be having a movement just because enough people are incensed politically.
Don insights hit the mark as he challenges whether bloggers and internet content can reproduce the movement of the 60’s, “Things are said that would never be said in person. Liberties are taken that are often nothing more than destructive lashing out. Face to face I have seldom, if ever, seen people treat each other the way they do in this media.”

Another core problem within the peace movement, which I will amalgamate as both pro-peace and anti-war groups, is a lack of cohesion. An often echoed and irritating truth is that the right is far more organized than the left. A cry for unity is a shot in the dark if progressive groups fail to work cohesively. Coalitions must exist and the major and minor players must not scramble to guard what they consider precious resources.

Mikulecky says, “It costs respect for the opinions you so strongly disagree with and especially respect for their authors. It costs admitting that there may be more than one side to an issue and it costs the very great cost of coming to consensus.”

True leaders would know how to facilitate consensus, and they would know how to share resources.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found that to be true of leaders in the Peace movement. Surprisingly, not one pro-peace or anti-war organization endorsed my recent ride for Peace.  I sent out around 400 emails before and during my ride.  Some organizations wrote me back and promised things that they never delivered.

Like, CODEPINK, who responded to my letter for endorsement and support by saying, “Make sure to blog on our site the days you ride with a CODEPINK tshirt on, it will drive people to your story. Do you need a tshirt? We can send a tank top.”

Not that I would have worn it. I didn’t need a tshirt.

When I set out on the road, I was driven by our urgent need for Peace, driven by my heroes, driven by a naive belief that an alleged movement would reach out to support the ride.  My requests were simple. Endorse the ride, more people will hear about it. It was a reciprocal offer as well. I maintained a daily blog so that those in my audience could ride along with me and meet the people on my journey.

Imagine the impact had the so called national peace movement participated in my ride. Not to mention their ability to offer resources-much needed food, fuel, housing and media coverage. It is my belief that the intent of our peace forces across the world is to stand up , be counted,  expand the message, and implement long lasting positive change. But how are we doing so, in all honesty?

The list servers and databases of major pro-peace and anti-war groups swells because the people are ready for change-and group leaders have a social responsibility. If our own counter culture can’t jump to support and cover stories like mine and others, what fuel do we really have?

We need our leaders in the Peace movement to view our paradigm change with the principles of abundance-there are more than enough resources to go around.  We can take care of one another-the Civil Rights Movement swelled because of its community and the steadfast commitment to manage and volunteer resources to the cause.

The more we splinter as a movement, segregate, judge and cling fast to the sparse light the media occasionally grants us, the faster we will sputter out.

Last year while I was riding, there was also a cross country march for Peace happening and two different groups bicycling cross country for Peace. Did you hear about any of us? It was a summer of action. When I think about the sheer number of miles clocked between all the different activists-I get chills. It’s almost like these larger anti-war groups support the conservative agenda by their failure to promote and support all the direct action that happened.

But you know who did support me all around the country? Regular Americans. Mainly scooterists. People who heard about the ride and offered me food, housing, repairs, coffee and laughter.  They came out of the woodwork. People at gas stations would ask where I was from, what I was doing, and they threw money and encouragement at me.

For there to be any type of real movement, there must be a critical mass. I’m honored to have met thousands of people who never would attend a march, protest, or even read a political blog. I’m honored that something about my ride inspired them. I’m honored that they, the ones people say are sleeping-provided more support than any of those making the accusation. To those in the Peace movement-those Americans are the ones you want. How are you going to get out there and shine?

I have a lot more thoughts on the subject, and will be blogging about it here.

Tags: brociner, campaign ads, McCain, mikulecky, obama, peace, politics