cannabisnews.com: Convention Notes From a Recovering Republican Convention Notes From a Recovering Republican Posted by FoM on July 31, 2000 at 08:38:27 PT Me and My Shadows By Arianna Huffington Source: The Nation It's true, I haven't been a reliable Republican. For quite some time now, my newspaper columns have been peppered with shots at George W. and other GOP big-wigs. I've even taken to calling myself a "recovering Republican." But while I knew that some of my Grand Old Party pals were downright irked with me, I never thought I'd end up being persona non grata at next week's Republican National Convention. Let me explain. It was all Betty Currie's fault. I'm kidding, of course. Actually, I was at a friend's birthday party in Los Angeles back in May when I started chatting with Brad Freeman--a good buddya of Dubya and also his campaign's powerful California state finance chairman. After bemoaning the fact that the RNC had already locked up all the available real estate in Philadelphia for convention week, I asked Brad if he could do me a small favor and help me land a decent hotel reservation. "No problem, Arianna," he answered graciously. "Anything you want." Well, as it turns out, not quite anything. A month later, I was still roomless--and hadn't heard one word from Brad. When I gave him a call to check on things, he began to tap dance faster than Savion Glover. "Let me see what I can do," was the gist of his time-step. After another few weeks of silence, Brad and I happened to find ourselves co-hosting a book party for a friend. Cornered as he was--in his own house, no less--he finally came clean. "Austin," he told me, "knows about your plans. I should have put your room under my name." My first thought was, why would a perpetually horny fictional spy care about my room search? Then I realized that he meant Austin, Texas, not Austin Powers, and that my "plans" referred to the Shadow Conventions that will parallel the party fetes in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. "There's just nothing they'll any longer let me do for you," he told me. Apparently, the Republican nomenklatura is no longer amused by me. Well, you know what, guys? The feeling is mutual. As a GOP outcast (now I know how those people on Survivor feel when they get voted off the island), I guess I won't be attending the convention's opening-night gala on the newly renovated waterfront in Camden--just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Celebrating conventioneers will be treated to fireworks, a laser show and a parade of lighted boats. But they probably won't be seeing much of the rest of Camden--the fifth-poorest city in America. While in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago, I was given a tour of these decidedly not-newly-renovated parts of Camden by its former mayor, Randy Primas. Much of it seemed like a Third World country--filled with crumbling neighborhoods and dilapidated buildings. Pick any criterion for a troubled community--plummeting graduation rates, skyrocketing teen pregnancies, rampant drug use--and Camden fits the bill. Yet that is where the RNC has decided to hold its welcoming ceremony. And it will no doubt do so without even a nod to the ugly reality behind the opulent front. That unthinking gesture is both a symbol of why I'm in Republican rehab and the raison d'tre for the Shadow Conventions. In fact, one of the things we'll be doing at the GOP shadow is making a van available to the media for a guided tour of the "other Camden." In his first speech as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich said there was greater "moral urgency" in "coming to grips with what's happening to the poorest Americans" than in balancing the budget. But it didn't take long to recognize that this was only empty rhetoric. Becoming disillusioned with the Republicans didn't mean falling into the arms of the Democrats--not with their $26.5 million fundraising barbecues and their "everything must go, even our most sacred priorities" fire sale of public policy. Sadly, both parties are in deep--but well-funded--denial about the state of modern America. Their addiction to ever greater doses of campaign cash clouds their ability to discern the true crises of the society they claim to lead. And while both Republicans and Democrats pay focus-group-tested lip service to campaign finance reform, they collude and conspire not only to defend the corrupt status quo but to break new records in gobbling up hard money, soft money, PAC payoffs and the spirit of our democracy. Even as less than 1 percent of the population, the very wealthiest among us, now provide nearly all campaign contributions, our mainstream politicians continue to deny that a leveraged buyout of our political system is under way. The truth is that our representative Republic is being supplanted by a permanent and unaccountable government of powerful special interests. We all know this is true. Our politicians know it too. But mention it to them, and it is as if you've committed some horrible breach of etiquette--sort of like not clapping politely for the band as the Titanic goes down. The indisputable fact that America has become two nations is brought home every day that politicians celebrate our unprecedented prosperity while one in four children live below the poverty line and people with full-time jobs sleep on buses because of the lack of affordable housing. And it is no less obvious every day the same politicians fail to do, or even say, anything about our disastrous Drug War. Though it remains hugely popular with helicopter manufacturers and prison contractors, the war on drugs has turned into a War on Blacks--with mandatory-minimum sentences, powder and crack cocaine differentials, and 46 percent more black than white young people incarcerated on drug charges. Yet both parties deny that the drug war has not only failed to stem the tide of drug use but it is also driving America into an ever-tightening state of lockdown--with 2 million behind bars. And both nominees remain shamefully complicit in this onslaught that targets those who are most vulnerable and have the fewest resources to fight it. Against this dispiriting backdrop, I share with a growing number of Americans a growing frustration with politics as usual. The new politics will not be more left or more right, but more real. More about what works and less about who paid for it. More about where the crises are and less about where the pressure comes from. More populist than corporatist. More about the future than the past. The symptoms of political restlessness are inchoate but bubbling all around us. They glimmered in the protests in Seattle. The flashed in the excitement that drove John McCain's primary crusade. They surfaced when the immigrant janitors of Los Angeles touched the soul of the city in their fight for a living wage. And every day they simmer on scores of college campuses where United Students Against Sweatshops fight against child labor and inhuman sweatshops and demand that fair rules be written for the emerging global economy. Indeed, more and more, the new economy is putting into stark relief the need for a new politics. So, in the end, I don't really need that special hotel room in Philadelphia. I've made other arrangements--together with my fellow Shadow Convention conveners. For the four days and four nights of each party's convention, as our cash-addicted politicians preen and posture and pander, we--and thousands like us--will join with our best thinkers, our best advocates and our best activists to put the spotlight on three critical issues frozen out of the officially sanctioned debate: the corrupting influence of money in politics, poverty and the growing inequalities, and the failed drug war. These Shadow Conventions won't feature any lighted boat parades, but I guarantee there will be plenty of fireworks. See you in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. And in Camden. Syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington is the author of eight books. Her most recent is titled How to Overthrow the Government (HarperCollins). The Shadow Convention website is http://www.shadowconventions.com/Contact: letters thenation.comLetters To The Editor: http://www.thenation.com/print/lettersPublished: July 31, 2000 2000 The Nation Company, L.P. Related Articles & Web Sites:The Shadow Conventionshttp://www.shadowconventions.com/Shadow Conventionshttp://www.lindesmith.org/shadowconventions/Common Causehttp://www.commoncause.org/Public Campaignhttp://www.publiccampaign.org/ Shadow Convention 2000 News Boardhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Shadcon.htmMcCain In The Shadows http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6426.shtmlMapInc. Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://mapinc.org/shadow.htm CannabisNews Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=shadow Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Jerad on July 31, 2000 at 09:57:10 PT: Thanks Thanks FoM :) [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 31, 2000 at 09:16:26 PT I'll sure be looking! Hi Jerad,When I find an article I sure will post it! I hope it turns out the way we all hope!Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Jerad on July 31, 2000 at 09:01:43 PT: Question Has anyone heard what happened with Canada today? I can't find the outcome of the parliament deciding if they are going to change the marijuana laws or not.Anyways if you know what happpened, plz e-mail me [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: