Jason Toney

Let it Burn (The Fire. Inside Ya.)

“Can you blame my generation?” - NaS and Damian Marley, My Generation

Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer were executed earlier today. I watched it unfold via the tweets of friends and news organizations via Twitter. I watched the emails stream in from progressive organizations that I’ve allied myself with (at least via email subscription if not monetarily or through real action) and…

And I did nothing.

I guess that’s not true. I did do some small part in advocating for Troy Davis. I did sign an online petition a few days ago. I did send a letter to my congresspeople and to the State of Georgia. I did spread the word via social media.

But, on the real? That’s not enough. Not nearly enough.

“I heard change start with the man in the mirror.” - Lil’ Wayne, My Generation

Last week, the universe was talking to me. 

Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote this

If you don’t like the current iteration of America, you need to remember that you are America. The failure to build a more progressive America isn’t merely a testimony to dastardly evil, it’s a testimony to the failure of progressives.

It was in response to something Matthew Yglesias had written

If you’re a progressive and you feel that the political system isn’t doing what you want, it’s misguided to look at this as a personal failure of elected officials. It’s, if anything, a personal failure of you and people like you. Justice and equality doesn’t just happen because it’s nice, people need to make it happen. If it’s not happening, then its advocates are failing.

And then, my dad made it plain with some well known words of wisdom in an email he sent

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Right. I’ve been frustrated. Angry, really. If I was asked one of those key political pollster questions, “Is America on the right track?” I’d have to answer in the negative.

The wealth gap. The poverty numbers. The rhetoric. The policies.

And, yet, I go about leading my idyllic life being mad at the politicians and the talking heads instead of questioning my own lack of activism.

Jon Stewart, last year, when Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin were rallying all over the place, said something to the effect that reasonable people are too busy going to work and taking care of their kids to be out doing the same thing.

Maybe that’s true but, you know what, it’s not good enough.

Not for me, anyway.

“If we all come together, they can’t divide one.” - Lil’ Wayne, My Generation

But the question is, what to do? What do I care about? Where do I fit in?

It isn’t the rallies and the public displays of outrage. That’s not my thing.

No, I think it’s policy. It’s really defining for myself what the issues are that I truly, passionately care about and working to make those changes happen whether with the organizations who align with my world view or on my own.

Someone on Facebook posted earlier that politics and such are really no different than religion. They are acts of faith. It’s about what you believe.

I believe in the ability of government to improve people’s lives.

I believe in the social contract and social safety net.

I believe a civilized society should establish laws that appeal to it’s citizens best selves.

I believe everyone should feel welcome, equal, valued, and protected.

This is what I believe.

Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer were executed today.

I failed them.

What am I going to do about that?

"I hate losing. I refuse to make the same mistakes." - Black Thought, The Fire

Nothing Better - The Postal Service

"It will all be clear, if I wake up and you're still here with me in the morning." - The Postal Service, Be Still My Heart (Nobody Remix)

The kind of service I get from USPS:

• My mail finds me even though I've moved a few times over the last 7 years.
• I can send things to people for less than a dollar most of the time and it usually arrives in a couple days.
• We get all kinds of packages delivered to the house and 99% of the time they arrive uninjured and right on time.
• There's a post office everywhere I need one to be. Right now, there's one walking distance from my house (as in less than a block) and there's one walking distance from my office. But, better than that, there's another one halfway between my house and my office as well as mailboxes just about everywhere I need them to be. It's like Disneyland where there's always a trash can right where and when I need one.

This is the kind of service I get from Federal Express:

This is a gift from a friend sent via Fed Ex by another friend who is our favorite clay thrower. It was packed well in paper, and bubble wrap in a box filled with packing peanuts. If this had been delivered by our neighborhood postal worker, he or she would've known to put it on the window sill outside our kitchen. It's well hidden from the street by a large bush and our packages remain there even when we've been away from the house for more than 24 hours. Or, because we aren't a high crime area and have lots of lookie loo neighbors on this street, you can even leave large boxes at the front door. 

The Fed Ex person must not have known this. They decided, instead, to toss it over our side gate, an over 6 foot tall wooden door, to the concrete walkway below and leave a note. When I saw the note, I wondered how the Fed Ex person had gotten the box behind the door. Then when I opened the lock and saw the box I was filled with dread. Unless it was something soft or something sturdy, it was going to be broken.

And, well, you see.

Why is this important? Because the Postal Service is said to be on the verge of collapse.

Read that again. An institution older than our constitution could close this winter if Congress doesn't act.

When others talk about our "bloated, do-nothing" government, I often think of the Postal Service. It is one of the most effective services we have in our daily lives. So effective even, that we hardly think about it. It's a service, one that every American (even those without an address) take advantage of. It's a service that takes incredible care of it's workers (to the point that it actually accidentally overpays them) and one that has no mandate to make a profit. No mandate to be a vicious business. It only has to do this: send and deliver mail to every American, no matter where they are, in all conditions, whenever possible.

As Allison Kilkenny points out in this article (h/t Maurice Cherry):

UPS and FedEx aren’t required to do what the Postal Service does and that is deliver the mail to every place, even if the recipient is located in hard-to-reach rural terrain, or an inner-city neighborhood deemed too “dangerous” for other services, like taxi cabs, in which to travel. If the USPS falls, it will be another strike in the class war where poor people are yet again cut off from a service that used to belong to everyone.

So, Congress, do something you haven't done much of this session: Act. Do something for a part of our government that works but don't screw it up. Don't change it's mandate. Don't pretend it's a corporation. Don't forget that it serves the people. All of us. Even the ones who don't vote for you. Even the ones who don't live in your district. Even the ones whom you might forget (or hope to forget) exist.

Do something that stems this tide of backwardsness we've been on this past decade. Or maybe you just like boxes filled with shards of broken promises.

*Thanks for the thought and the hard work, Sho and Cheryl. We appreciate it greatly even if it didn't make it here whole.

Question: What are your favorite blogs?

Requirements:

• Blog is personal. It can be a part of a more official publisher but the author's voice is their own (like Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic)
• Blog is mostly original written content. Not a link log or curator (which probably tosses most tumblrs)
• Blog is active. Writer doesn't have to write every day (or even every week or month for that matter but this question isn't about nostalgia. No former blogebrities with wastelands for websites, please.

That's about it.

The reason? I don't believe I read many active personal blogs anymore and I know there are still great ones out there.

Anil Dash has me thinking about blogging again and I need a little inspiration.