To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [permaculture] My election day statement
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 08:41:04 -0600
I am a candidate for mayor of Oklahoma City (I
don't remember if I have mentioned this here
before). Below is my election day statement (today
is our municipal election day).
Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
A SPRINGTIME OF HOPE FOR OKLAHOMA CITY
www.bobwaldrop.net
Social justice. Energy conservation. Environmental
sustainability. Local economic development. "What
kind of whacko candidate are you, Bob?", a good
friend gently teased me after reading my website.
Indeed, it says something about the modern
political context that these simple, common sense,
and pragmatic ideas are considered irrelevant to
the present era.
If you want to know where I come from, you have to
go down to southwestern Oklahoma and back in time
a bit. My grandparents went through the Depression
and the Dustbowl years as farmers in Tillman
County. They didn't get through those hard times
by being foolish. They raised nearly everything
they ate. They were frugal with their money. They
pitched in to help friends and family in time of
need. The idea of conspicuous consumption and the
"throw-away society" were not part of their
vocabulary. Many years ago, I was at my
grandparent's house - a home built by my
grandfather Glen Waldrop and his brother Fred -
and I threw an empty glass jar into the trash. My
grandfather picked it out of the trash and said to
me, "Bobby Max, you already paid for that jar, why
would you want to throw it away?"
I wouldn't have anyone believe that those days
were perfect, even in the retrospective view of
memory. Tillman County wasn't Walton's Mountain.
Racial segregation was a blot on the honor of the
community, and the poverty was so deep it ground
people into the dust. But the seeds of overcoming
lay in the fertile soils and people not only
survived, they prospered.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and those basic
ideas seem almost quaint in their simplicity. We
fancy ourselves as much more complex these days.
We are far beyond ideas like local food security
and energy conservation - we think - in our 24
hours a day, seven days a week "busyness". But are
we actually happier? Are we more secure? Are our
prospects as hopeful as theirs? Somehow I don't
think so.
I realized a few years ago that I was becoming my
grandparents. In our youth oriented culture, some
might be horrified by that thought, but I wasn't.
I found myself thinking, "This is the way things
should be." I am grateful that their basic
virtues, including a deep and abiding love for the
land and the soil which gives all of us our daily
bread, were part of my own life, despite many of
my personal efforts to escape that cultural
legacy.
Outside of my windows, the peach and the apricot
trees are blooming, and asparagus shoots are
coming out of the ground, promising a feast of
abundance in the future. Spring is a time when
farmers and gardeners look forward in hope. The
cold of the winter is past, the heat of the summer
has yet to come, the wheat is growing, the peas
and spinach and potatoes and turnips have been
planted. Promise is in the air. It is said that to
everything there is a time and a season. Thus, I
dare to dream of a springtime of hope for Oklahoma
City, a time to put aside the politics of division
and hatred, a time to open the doors and welcome
all to the table of plenty, a time to remember the
virtues of our grandparents and to understand
their importance and their utility for the 21st
century.
Victory in this election is less an issue of my
actual election as mayor and more a realization by
people that they can take personal responsibility
for their lives and live them with great
intentionality and that doing so is a way towards
a life of joy and abundance and hope and security.
Going along to get along will get us nowhere but
the ash-heap of history. Greed and gluttony are
the roads to ruin. A secure, prosperous, and vital
Oklahoma City calls forth the opportunity for
people to do what is right, irrespective of the
occupant of the mayor's office or what the city
council may or may not do. It doesn't take a city
ordinance for people to get out of their cars and
walk, ride a bicycle, or take public
transportation more often. It doesn't take a
mandate from City Hall for people to buy food from
Oklahoma farmers, to shop at locally owned stores,
to plant fruit and nut trees in their yards and
grow their own tomatoes and carrots, to eat at
locally owned restaurants, and to put their money
in locally owned credit unions and banks. Every
person who does these things is participating in
the springtime of hope for Oklahoma City and is
doing more than all the politicians added together
to build a secure and promising future for
themselves and their children.
Today is not the end of this campaign. It is only
the beginning.
Bob Waldrop
PS. Thanks to everybody for the wonderful support
for my campaign. Don't forget to vote! And don't
forget to invite your friends and family and
co-workers to vote! Don't forget to plant some
fruit trees this spring! If you can, come by our
watch party tonight, starting at 6:30 PM at 1524
NW 21st (that's the southeast corner of North
McKinley and NW 21st. There will be lots of good
Oklahoma food on the menu. Bring a dish to share
with friends. For more information about the
Oklahoma Food Cooperative, visit
http://www.oklahomafood.coop . For more
information about simple and sustainable living,
visit http://www.bettertimesinfo.org . If you need
help with energy conservation, go to
http://www.energyconservationinfo.org . If you are
concerned about local transportation issues, visit
http://www.oklahomacityrail.org . If you are a
fabric artist, and sew clothes or quilts or other
items for sale to the public, I would be happy to
list your business for free at
http://www.oklahomaclothing.org . For more
information about the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker
House, visit http://www.justpeace.org .