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In the early days just after the contested elections, there was a small window of opportunity in which to prevent the collapse of Kenya's government structure. As time passed and the violence grew, the root of the contention - tribal conflicts became more apparent. At some point in the past few weeks tribal rivalries between the Luo and the Kykuyu became the focus of the violence. Exactly as that in Rwanda, the Congo and other African nations recently collapsed. It will take decades, perhaps a century or more to restore the foundations of democratic goverment...it is entirely concievable that it may never happen at all if outside interests fighting for African resources keep stirring the pots. How is this like the Democratic Party in 2008?
The DP has never been a cohesive monolithic organization. Will Rogers famously said 'I do not belong to an organized political party. I am a Democrat." And so it is. But today we finally fielded the most diverse group of candidates in our history. Everyone knows that. We had the opportunity last Fall to play this game at a level of never before imagined in politics. The candidates, and their supporters could have kept all the ugly factors under the table, but they did not. The fault does not lie with any one campaign or candidate it lies with them all. It was predictable, they are politicians and politicians must win...so the ugliness was placed on the table, and then it was exploited by all sides and now the ugliness will, like the tribal conflicts of Africa over weigh any issue that tries to rise above it.
It is not set in cement nor written in the stars, but it is certainly a strong possibility that whether Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama wins the nomination, the Democratic Party will split and cease to exist as a single entity. Certainly the gains made in the past few decades, precious few yet momentous, in racial equality will be nearly erased. The moderate Democrats will be decades before they again trust the black voters for support. This will cause the Black Americans to increase their distrust of ALL other Americans...we will once again be in Watts, Los Angeles and Detroit of the 1960's. The Gay movement will be lost and the hispanics had best look for opportunities in barrios or Mexico. Is this some wild fever fed nightmare? Not at all, this is America and equality and civility are the most fragile components of our society...they have always been the first victims in any crisis we have faced.
Can this be prevented? I do not know. All I know is that if what I describe is not to be, it will take one of the most extraordinary concerted efforts this nation has seen since the early union and civil rights movements. Are you willing to do it, to risk almost all, to actually fight for an ideal?
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