Building Power, Seeking Justice

Blogging. I've been doing it off and on for about six years now, but since I got in trouble for sharing opinions while I was a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, I haven't actually had my own blog.

I think now is the time.

For the past 20 months, I have been deeply engaged in Senator Barack Obama's historic run for President of the United States. I knew even back when it was only rumored that he would challenge Sen. Hillary Clinton that this would be a Moment in Time. A historic moment when our country would have to look deep inside itself and perhaps reevaluate where we had been and where we are going. I knew that I could not live through this moment without doing everything I could to help push things in the right direction.

That is what I have been doing for the last 20 months, and really for the last five years since Howard Dean's run for the Presidency in 2005. That is when I quit my career as a journalist to devote it to the cause.

What is that cause? Back then, it was little more than wanting to disrupt Republican control. But over time, and by nature of the people I have been so fortunate to meet and work with, the cause for which I am fighting is social justice. My vision is for a thriving, multi-racial democracy, which works from a place of love to further the cause of justice in this country and around the world. My strategy is to build a strong political movement, one that works with but outside of the Democratic Party, to fight relentlessly for this vision -- all day, every day. This movement is made of large numbers of diverse people, is fueled by compelling ideas, strengthened by inspiring leaders, and kept thriving in part by use of creative media -- particularly on the Internet.

I work on this vision and strategy in various ways, but primarily as a senior advisor to Steve Phillips, a San Francisco-based activist and leader who founded PowerPAC.org and Vote Hope, and who sits on the board of the Democracy Alliance. Our work is often difficult to describe our quantify, but our motivations can be summed up by a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., that we have on the back of our business cards:

"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice."

Our lives have been consumed in the last 20 months, maintaining our ongoing work while putting everything we have into helping Barack Obama become the next President of the United States. But we are very clear that our work does not end there. Under President Obama, our work really will just begin.

That's why I created this blog, so I can share my stories and my thoughts as we go on to the next leg of this "improbably journey." It's an incredible time to be alive, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a part of it.