Left In Lowell

I woke up to my alarm this morning, which is set to WBUR, and was reminded that this new year will be very different. Rep. Louise Slaughter (NY-D) was being interviewed about her new position as chair of the Rules Committee. She practically talked over the interviewer in her eagerness to discuss the ethics reform she’s going to propose in the opening weeks of the new Congress. Earmark transparency (owning up to your pork) and serious lobbyist reform are top on the list.

We’re going into a new year and for the first time in quite a while, I’m feeling a little hope and optimism for the future. The problems we have to solve are grave…there’s a commander-in-chief running our armed forces into the ground in a badly botched war; it took until past Christmas for a steady cold and some snow to settle in to New England, and we’re so far behind in battling our carbon addiction that it will only get worse (likely even devastating) before all’s said and done; and the fight for the soul of the Democratic party still wages between the hacks (Lieberman) and the renewal of transparent, people-powered politics. Forget the Republican politicians - they are lost in the wilderness for the next generation. Perhaps they will soon reject the extremism which has failed to represent most of their constituents, and come back to sanity, but frankly, I don’t think they’re that bright.

But there’s been progress. The public is fed up with hackery and I believe will reward those leaders who break the cycle. Most of the country has become aware of the peril of ignoring CO2 emissions, and they’ve seen through this terrible, stupid, meaningless war. And we elected, in 2006, a new set of leaders to the US Congress and to the state house here in Massachusetts, people who are populist and smart and who live and die by the grassroots, at least for now. We the people of the United States have not had this much clout in our own politics for a long, long time. If we don’ t take advantage of it, we have only ourselves to blame.

Happy New Year! I hope you take the time to look back and appreciate all the hard work you’ve done, whether that’s in your job or personal life or in politics. Don’t linger too long on the past, though…we have a lot of work still to do!