HELP WANTED: A FUNCTIONING MORAL COMPASS
Though he garnered just 36% of the vote in his IL Sixth Congressional race against incumbent Peter Roskam, 26 year old Ben Lowe ran a classy and principled campaign which did him and the Sixth District proud. His tender years belied a sense of maturity sorely missing from the political landscape which could serve as a model for anyone seeking elective office.
Lowe raised just a bit over $56,000 due to his refusal to solicit or accept corporate donations which bring obligations contrary to the needs of the powerless, the needy and the declining middle class. Lowe never raised his voice in anger or disrespect or sophism, but instead focused on a positive message addressing the critical issues of our time such as senseless war, jobs, health care for all, fair taxation, equal treatment for the marginalized, transition from on oil based to a green energy economy, and on and on.
Lowe tried to provide our 700,000 residents with a public debate but got just an emphatic "NO" to his plea for one when he encountered the Congressman at an event.
When a career politician, funded with over a million dollars from PACs, can flippantly dismiss such a critical request, the opponent doesn't suffer, democracy does.
As Lowe contemplates his next career move, he leaves us with one of the best campaign slogans of this or any political season: RESTORING OUR MORAL COMPASS.
That slogan assumes what anyone with a conscious and a heart already knows: America's moral compass is spinning wildly out of control as if radioactive.
When labor agitator Joe Hill was executed in 1915, for a Montana murder he probably didn't commit, his parting words to his union brethren were "Don't waste time mourning...organize". Ninety-five years later, those words still ring true for those of us looking to restore the Sixth District's and America's moral compass.
Lowe raised just a bit over $56,000 due to his refusal to solicit or accept corporate donations which bring obligations contrary to the needs of the powerless, the needy and the declining middle class. Lowe never raised his voice in anger or disrespect or sophism, but instead focused on a positive message addressing the critical issues of our time such as senseless war, jobs, health care for all, fair taxation, equal treatment for the marginalized, transition from on oil based to a green energy economy, and on and on.
Lowe tried to provide our 700,000 residents with a public debate but got just an emphatic "NO" to his plea for one when he encountered the Congressman at an event.
When a career politician, funded with over a million dollars from PACs, can flippantly dismiss such a critical request, the opponent doesn't suffer, democracy does.
As Lowe contemplates his next career move, he leaves us with one of the best campaign slogans of this or any political season: RESTORING OUR MORAL COMPASS.
That slogan assumes what anyone with a conscious and a heart already knows: America's moral compass is spinning wildly out of control as if radioactive.
When labor agitator Joe Hill was executed in 1915, for a Montana murder he probably didn't commit, his parting words to his union brethren were "Don't waste time mourning...organize". Ninety-five years later, those words still ring true for those of us looking to restore the Sixth District's and America's moral compass.
posted by Walt Zlotow at 10:16 AM
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