A crucial episode to the West Wing

“When in the course of school class events, the air conditioning unit conks out, it becomes necessary for the students to …” began what would have been an exercise in the dissent of the governed at my Civics’ class last week. Our vice-principal apologized several times for the seeming inability of the repairman to disengaged himself from the other units being repaired in the other rooms to come and check on ours. Two weeks after he was first notified, the repairman finally showed up only to point to us that someone accidentally tripped the switch in the fuse box without making it evident that the switch had been disconnected. Ten school days of the boys sweating and the girls perspiring were for naught. We did not even get the chance to write our Declaration of Dissension!

Something akin to the class spirit is afoot in the current race to the oval office. There has been a lot of tripping of switches in fuse boxes lately. The voice of dissent is of equal force as the consent of the governed. Never before has there been a clear delineation of a choice than in this one, claims many a pundit. America approaches a crossroad, we are told. Exhorted to vote, the young are encouraged to be bold. And the choices are, hold the fort and batten the hutches, or change the lunch menu and go Subway.

A redeeming sideshow to this quadrennial primetime contest is the proliferation of many websites that poke fun at the candidates and all things silly and serious, sacred and profane, associated with them. Titles like Kerry Core Parody and Dubyaspeak comes across my email frequently these days from friends and strangers out to influence my vote. Campaign ads have created slime humor. The partisan twist to social commentaries and documentaries has moved the genre from the political science classroom into cinematographic showrooms. To counter the impact of Michael Moore’s irreverent Fahrenheit 9/11 comes Faith in the White House with Pres. Bush reportedly being portrayed as ‘ God’s Warrior’. The heat of partisan sentiments is spilling over known civil thresholds. High emotions make it easy to accuse one’s opponents of being less than patriotic.

If baseball be a portent of things to come, with the Boston Red Sox waging once more a losing battle against the Yankees, then the Kerry camp need limber up some more for the last inning of the game. Too bad for the BoSox that they are not playing the Texas Royals! But not to throw in too many confusing metaphors and analogies into the stew, I just want to echo the claim that in this contest, the Loyalists are out to defend George II, while the Patriots are out to say, “Enough, already; time to play the Boston Tea Party.” History may just augur tomorrow.

On the local scene, the attempt to get the local population interested in the Presidential Election hit a snag. It was to pit former governor Froilan Tenorio of the Democratic Party, representing Sen. Kerry, and Gov. Juan N. Babauta of the Republican Party to represent President Bush in a mock debate orchestrated by NMC students. It appears that Lang had not been properly briefed of the event. Besides, he claims that he is more a supporter of the Republican Party than the Republican incumbent, characterizing Gov. Babauta as being more in tune with the Clinton Democrats. He added that Babauta would of necessity have to support Bush in this election since the National Republican Party had just officially recognized the CNMI Republican Party.

Anyway, the mock Presidential ballot box opens in Saipan Saturday, October 30, at the Joeten Kiyu Library and we enjoin all registered voters to exercise their right and privilege. Our choice will not be counted in the Electoral College, but CNN and the major networks might just pick it up, or we can shoot off the result widely through the multifarious channels of the Internet. Who knows what influence our choice may make?

Now, for the crux of this opinion piece. Where lies my preference? I think that the reign of terror post-9/11 had been compounded by George’s error(s) in prosecuting a war that from hindsight seems now to have been dubious in intent, ineffective in execution, and shortsighted in resource management. But more importantly, the spirit of America has been denigrated into a limping behemoth, anxiously defensive internally, and perceived externally as paralyzed over its fear of the stranger and the unfamiliar. We have made war an instrument of foreign affairs against our better historical judgment with our preemptive strike policy, and violated our very own unique sense of the inalienable rights of individuals in the apparently callous suspensions of provisions of our Bill of Rights. As someone has commented elsewhere, 9/11 is not our definitive moment. We are people of the glorious Fourth of July, the welcoming gaze of the Statue of Liberty! We have become addicted to our negations, and forsaken our affirmations; we have become adept at destruction, and have renounced our treasured tradition of construction. That’s my dissent on George and the company he keeps.

“Flip-flopping” has been the media’s oft-quoted characterization of Sen. Kerry. I was once associated with a group of people who did indicative battle planning at the local level for community development. One colleague used an India ink pen to signify his confidence in his abilities; another used a lead pencil to show that freedom in planning requires the flexibility to change one’s mind when new relevant data emerges. In all cases, the latter colleague was proven right. In my book, the responsible person keeps in creative tension the qualities of obedience and freedom. Obedience without critical intelligence is tyranny; freedom without accountability is libertine license. My responsible consent goes to Kerry.

* * *

Vergara is a Social Studies 6th grade teacher at San Vicente Elementary School and writes a regular column for the Saipan Tribune.