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September 2004
Wake Up and Smell the Instant Coffee!

By Cliff Hahn



Activists hate me. No, I’m not a right-wing, bible-n-gun toting Republican. Worse, I’m a lazy progressive.

Though my heart and sensibility have always been in the right—er, left—place, my actions for the most part have been like a 90-pound shortstop: all field, no hit.

I am someone who has always been more comfortable dealing with the “small p” of politics. Though I do play well with others, I don’t join groups, and never enjoyed sing-alongs, and any activity involving more than four or five hundred people gives me claustrophobia.

Put me in the “history is a forward, progressive spiral” camp. My worldview basically has been that of a cynical but deluded optimist: everything sucks, people are stupid, governments are corrupt, nuclear annihilation is inevitable but, hey, everything will turn out okay…somehow.

For me, making the connection between “everything sucks” and “everything will be okay, somehow” was the key moment. Who was going to make everything okay? Who was going to take care of things? When will Mommy and Daddy be home, I want cookies and peace!

If, for a moment, I can presume to represent ‘All of Human Kind’ (which I am prone to do, much to my wife’s annoyance), this is a key development in my—and humankind’s—progress. To actually rewire our thinking from “somebody (Mommy and Daddy) is going to come and fix everything,” to “okay, we’re on our own here in this burning house, the adults are drunk and insane, so WE have to grow up, and fast!”

Deciding to do more than just registering, voting and having spirited discussions with like-minded friends, began with the sense that, nope, Godot was not coming.

For me, flipping on the “activist switch” was directly tied in with the Bush administration’s exploitation of 9/11 and subsequent war on Iraq. I went to several anti-war marches and each time invited lots of friends. Very few showed up, feeling that it was pointless to protest or that this was all just a small w-shaped bump in the road. Being the cynical optimist, I too knew that the marches wouldn’t stop Bush going to war (only a pretzel could have done that), but that it was important, as Americans, to show the rest of the world we weren’t all in support of the P-P-Pres of Bush.

Over time, it became increasingly clear to everyone that our nation was lied to regarding Iraq. (Even my Bush-loving relatives in Ohio now say “Well, he lied, but for a good reason!”) If someone tells a big, fat, ugly lie right to your face and you don’t call them on it—and, in fact, you reward them for it—it’s a reflection on your character. I came to view the upcoming election as a test of our national character.

Once I made that determination, it only took a small step to realize that character begins at home, in the mirror. Yes, that mirror, the one right in front of my face...and yours. What we choose to do or not do during this time reflects more than our image, but who we are as a nation, as Americans.

Did I mention this self-directed monologue on character occurred at four in the morning? I suppose theses things always do. But alas, at about 4:12 that morning, I started writing. And I kept writing, for three weeks. The end result, I had written a play about our democracy, Voting for Godot. One part slapstick, one part C-SPAN, all parts satire, the play is my reaction to the sense that, while the Dems fiddle, Rome burns. And, hello, can someone unlock this exit door?

Having finished the play, my wife and I decided to produce the show during the Republican Convention. Since we’re both journalists, it seemed apropos that we turn to farce, too, alongside the New York Times, CNN and the F-Word News. Only we’ll be more honest about it. And no groupthink allowed!

Activists will hate it. The play takes more than its fair share of shots at the Democrats while also lampooning the GOP. Republicans will do what they are hard-wired to do: seek money and power. You can’t expect a zebra to change its spots (or something like that) but you can hope that the Democrats can stand up a little taller. Which I realize is hard to do when you’re bent over, slurping at the corporate trough.

Centered on two clownish party campaigners, the play follows a mythical candidate put into the blender of modern campaigning, through polling, fundraising, the media spotlight and finally our voting machinery itself. Combining broad slapstick with news-savvy geekiness, the play takes irreverent jabs at both parties, the media and voters themselves—um, that would be us. It’s not a pretty mix that comes out—but with a big dash of humor, it might be just what we need. Voting for Godot is essentially a cautionary comic tale about Democracy: use it or lose it.

Of course, I wanted to go further than “let’s put on a play.” Along with the production, my wife and I are registering voters and continue to hand out pro-democracy information, with a special focus on a provision of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform laws that make it easier for any citizen to run for office.

All of our pro-democracy materials will be given to audience members and packaged as Voting for Godot’s “Democracy in a Box,” a small ballot box stuffed with voter advocacy materials and a democracy-themed prize. We Americans love gimmicks and gifts and ya gotta make Democracy fun!

Will any of these positive political actions make any difference? Who knows? At least I’ll have bitching rights if things go wrong. One thing is for sure: once that “activist switch” is on, it spreads from person to person. Several of the actors who auditioned for our play said that, even though they weren’t cast in the show, they went out and registered for the first time. George H.W. Bush called for a thousand points of light; his son lit a million firecrackers. Burn, baby, burn!

Cliff Hahn
formerly ran the New York office of Children’s Express News Service, a news organization staffed by youth journalists. For more on Voting for Godot, see www.votingforgodot.com. For more about Cliff, visit www.cliphy.com.

 

 


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