4 Comments

Well said, Jim, I agree. The DNC Convention was a tour de force and was exactly the burst of enthusiasm we needed! It really showcased the deep bench of strong, energetic and compassionate leaders in the Democratic Party of today. They reaffirmed our shared values. They were diverse, yet unified; clear-eyed, yet optimistic, and unabashedly joyful. It has given us the second wind we need to carry us through to the most important election win of our lives in November. It's all hands on deck, now, so LFG!

Expand full comment

MANA is the acronym for "Make America Normal Again".

Mana is also an important concept in Maori spiritualism meaning everything from community, family, and personal honor to a willingness and ability to defend that honor -- "Come on our shore and we will kill and eat you all!".

According to the Maori dictionary, it is "prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma - mana is a supernatural force in a person, place or object. " A related quality is 'tapu' from which we get the English word 'taboo'. It is that sacredness that surrounds a person or thing or community of great mana.

So, the Capitol Building has mana. The Resolute Desk has mana. Presidents themselves have more or less mana depending on their actions in office. Our outrage at J6 and the conduct of the former president is his transgressing the tapu that protects and fosters the mana of the Capitol Building and the Office of the President.

I only lived in The Land of the Long White Cloud -- Aotearoa -- for eight years. I would love for a Maori Tohunga to formulate a karakia -- it's something between a prayer and a magical spell -- to protect the mana of our MANA movement.

The New Zealand Embassy is on Observatory Circle in DC -- a close neighbor of the Vice President's residence at the Naval Observatory. Perhaps there's already a Karakia being chanted there for Kamala and America.

Expand full comment

I do hope there is a Karakia. Very interesting comment.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the encouraging words, Jim. I think there are many of us (particularly women) who feel joyful and excited about Kamala, and cautiously optimistic. But deep inside us we carry the trauma of having watched an abusive man be convicted for multiple crimes, then be set free--and is now hanging around outside our house again. It's giving me, and I'm sure many others, bad dreams. I really cannot imagine what will come to pass if that monster slithers his way into the White House again. Thank-you again for all your righteous work.

Expand full comment