3/21/08: "Frivolous" fabulous if it replaces apathy

A few years ago, filmmaker Michael Moore pulled a political stunt on his television show, "The Awful Truth": He ran a ficus tree for Congress. Or he tried.

Officials were skeptical, irritated and finally enraged by Moore's continued insistence that his plant, over the 25-or-older age requirement for representatives and born -- or grown -- in the United States, should be allowed to run, if the petition he passed around gathered enough signatures.

Bumper stickers and signs were produced by campaigners, and Moore took the ficus plant in question all over the district, speaking on its behalf and imploring people to "Vote Ficus." The campaign ran itself as though it were serious, and Moore never broke stride in his drive for votes.

But of course a ficus could never win a seat in the House. That wasn't the point. A vote for a ficus plant was a vote for something else, something new.

Americans, especially young people, seem apathetic when it comes to traditional ways to be involved in civic life and politics. When they do get involved -- as in the ficus-plant campaign, supported mainly by young voters -- their brand of participation is usually seen as annoying or frivolous.

Students protesting at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., last year, over the appointment of a university president they considered unfamiliar with deaf culture -- Gallaudet being the primary school for deaf students across the country -- were accused by pundits and citizens of not living in "the real world," where people have to put up with circumstances they don't like. The rage expressed by some people at these students, who participated in sit-ins that shut down the campus for weeks, was incredible.

And badly placed. Gallaudet students, the majority of whom are deaf, could hardly be accused of living in a dream world; the challenges they faced every day in a hearing world were likely more significant than a hearing person could understand. The anger against the protesters said more about those hurling insults than about the students.

Many Americans are disillusioned with "the system" -- of governmental politics-as-usual, corporate white-collared, cubicled life, of our societal focus on individualism and material wealth. The frustrated usually fall into two categories: those who feel that our responsibility is to buckle down, accept reality and do our duty, and those who protest against what they feel are grievous errors but cannot offer reasonable solutions or alternatives.

But a third category is emerging: People who want to change the system by creative thinking, by reinterpreting the boundaries and rules that frustrate them, who refuse to be disillusioned.

The young people supporting "Ficus for Congress" did not sit at home ignoring the issues or concerns of their district, despite their unhappiness with its representative candidates. The students at Gallaudet did not resign themselves to complaining to friends in the cafeteria and accepting the decisions of the powers that be. They expressed their opinions, made their issues known and their voices were heard. This is democracy.

Recently, the people of Brattleboro, Vt., passed a resolution indicting President Bush and Vice President Cheney for violating the Constitution. The resolution will have no effect, as the town has no legal authority to arrest the president or vice president should they ever visit Brattleboro, and the citizens of Brattleboro have been accused of wasting taxpayers' money -- that is, their own money -- of being puppets in a left-wing conspiracy, of not living in "the real world."

I say good for them.