A New Earth

Terra Nova is unlike Sandhill in several ways.  It is urban, being four side-by-side rambler houses in Columbia, MO.  The average age is its members is at least double that of Sandhill.  And there are many signs of political activism.  A sign in the front yard says “Neighbors for Peace”, there is a “War is Not the Answer” bumper sticker in the window and there are Occupy placards in the living room, waiting for action. 

I turned onto their street, looking for their houses.  A big cement truck was right in from, repairing the street, so I moved past it to park.  I saw a man walking toward me hauling a couple of bags of groceries.  He hailed me with “You must be looking for Terra Nova.  I can tell by your van.”  He said is name was Howard and that I should turn around and park back up on the other side of the street and that everybody knew everybody here.  He left before I could say anything, continuing on his way, away from Terra Nova.

It turns out that Howard did live at Terra Nova for a while, then, because of something about squash soup (or was it lentils?) bought the house two doors down.  He couldn’t buy the house next door because two other friends of Terra Nova had already purchased it.  At the rate they are going, they will take over the whole block.  There are 4 current residents in the copper-roofed houses, and they all came from Eastwind.  They also know the people at Sandhill and Dancing Rabbit, the eco-village where Skyhouse is.  In fact, one of the residents of Dancing Rabbit, Bobbi, was also staying the night, since she had a class in Columbia that day.  We had a lovely dinner and an even lovelier conversation.  Howard joined us after dinner and I got an earful about Eastwind.  Lots of good stuff along with some juicy gossip.  Then, the conversation got interesting. 

I remarked about the difference in ages and activism in the communities.  Bobbi had a good explanation for this.  The older people came from the activism of the Sixties and had seen some changes, including ending the Viet Nam war.  The young saw no future for them in this society and believed in creating a new society.  By engaging in activism, even by voting, they would give power to a system they did not believe in.  That may be the reason I have not mentioned Claire McCaskill during this trip.  The younger people at Sandhill and Skyhouse just did not seem interested.  When I bemoaned the fact that most Americans were not involved, a fellow asked, “You mean, they are just living their lives?”  I think he thought I meant that everyone should be out protesting something.  “No, “ I replied, “they are just glued to the TV and not connecting with others in a meaningful way.  No one talks about important stuff.  They seem to be more involved with other people’s lives, even fictional people, than their own.”

I have heard this debate before.  “My vote doesn’t count.”  “I only vote in the big elections.”  “I can’t vote for anyone.  They’re all bought by corporations.”  Lots of reasons not to vote, but there is only one of the above I can kind of agree with.

Every vote DOES count, especially when there are attempts to suppress the vote.  And look at the close race between Gregoire and Rossi.  And it is the local elections that are really most important.  More on that when I start quoting Tocqueville.

I do believe that most federal politicians ARE arms of corporate interests.  And that is something we need to work on.  At least I need to work on.  Maybe, if I play my cards right, I can get you to work on it, too.

The debate among the elders at Terra Nova is not whether or not to vote, but whether to vote for the Democratic Party or the Green Party.  My feeling is that the Green Party is good, but it is throwing your vote away.  I don’t think they are on the ballot in all states.  And I still remember how it cost Gore the election.