Danielle Levy

This presidential election campaign, as those in the past, is between two political parties, but this one seems to have something those in the past did not, acrimony, so much acrimony it is difficult to think of both parties as belonging to the same country. The campaigns have come to sound as if the two parties are enemies, as if it is more like a war than a political contest. Yes, each side represents radically different values, but ought it not to be possible to present varying visions without framing the choice as one between good and bad guys, between good and evil? I wonder if this sentiment doesn’t come from the top, perhaps not from the candidates themselves but more accurately from those working the campaigns, the mass of invisible brains called the handlers as well as from their desire to please the religious fervor of some. I wonder too if it is not related to the way campaigns are now waged, catering to the 24-hour news cycle, with polls, consultants and an army of talking heads dissecting every aspect of events and speeches whether or not what they say has value, adds understanding, deepens our divisions, maybe because of long held notions that conflict brings better ratings and arguments add interest. Campaigns no longer are an exercise in citizenship, enlightening listeners and viewers about the positions of the candidates or the issues of the election. Now, positions and issues are given lip service, it’s who’s ahead, who’s lost, which side got the better of the other, its’ suppositions and conjecture, opinions and of course an endless rehashing of whatever knee-jerking reactions they and others have said somewhere else. There has to be a better way, and the quicker we find it the quicker we can reclaim being citizens of one country.

Unless one lives in Arkansas, it is doubtful one has heard of Rep. Jon Hubbard and former House member and candidate for the House Charles Fuqua. Hubbard wrote in a self published book that slavery was a blessing in disguise and that African Americans are better off than they would have been in they had stayed in Africa. Fuqua wrote on his website that we ought to expel all Muslims from the United State partly because to him anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus as their savior is part of the anti-Christ. Both men and their statements have been denounced by Republicans and Democrats alike. Some have even regretted donating money to Fuqua’s campaign. Rep Rick Crawford, a Republican called such writings “divisive and racially inflammatory.” A democracy grants these men the right to their views, and the right to publish them. No democracy could be true to its principles without such rights. And to the credit of our republic, they have been denounced. The tendency is to think of these views as extreme, not held by many and that denouncing them, mainly on principle, is enough. Yet, is denouncing them really enough? If one sees such views as a form of evil, a form that can mutate and multiply, then more than denouncing is needed. It’s not a question of limiting the freedom of those who hold them or voice them, it’s a question of sharpening our understanding of what evil is and can be. For the more we do, the more we are able to recognize what evil is, the more it can be exposed, and the less are its chance for survival.

Sometimes the world goes forward in very small steps. Here are some examples: A Hippos Water Roller, a drum that can be rolled on the ground making it easier for those with no faucets or running water to carry large amounts of water faster and over longer distances; An icow app that is used on mobile phones in remote areas to improve dairy farming and increase milk production; FMNR, farmer’s managed natural regeneration, which can restore existing trees on drought stricken areas, tried mainly in Senegal; Portable Water Pumps that help small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa grow crops out of season; A computer tablet that can diagnose heart disease in rural areas with limited access to medical services; Ethanol cooking oil plants, or how to locally refine cassava into ethanol to provide cleaner cooking fuel; Refugees United, a way for refugees to find their lost families and trace missing relatives; Sickle Cell Disease Research showing that large scale genomic studies are possible in Africa; M-PePea, a way to offer emergency credit through mobile phone for people who have no access to credit cards or bank loans; The Tutu Van combating the stigma of tuberculosis and HIV, a mobile clinic that offers screening; Orange Sweet Potatoes, a sweet potato containing beta-carotenes to help fight childhood blindness; Speaking Books, audio books to get life saving messages to millions of isolated people suffering from depression and mental health problems; Narrative Exposure Therapy for Uganda’s former child soldiers, encouraging storytelling to help them come to terms with their experiences. These projects, mainly funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, may be too small to make the news, but together, along with many similar ones, do sketch a picture that the world and the human race are more than discord, violence and greed.