Community Organizing

On Wednesday night, the woman who got all the buzz this week Sarah Palin--GOP Vice Presidential candidate and Tina Fey look-a-like--criticized Democratic Presidential candidate's experience as a community organizer. Her words: "a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities." There was much to groan about in this speech, but for me, this was the line that was over the line. I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of good people on all sides of the political spectrum who are community organizers--especially people of faith. Their work to get ordinary Americans to get together and make their communities better is our society at its best--think preservation groups, neighborhood watch groups, soup kitchens, mentoring programs, PTA's, and so on and so on. I'm also pretty sure we got things like the abolition of slavery, the right to vote for women, civil rights for African Americans, etc. thanks to community organizing.

Jim Wallis has a great defense of community organizing on the God's Politics blog--much better than my few thoughts.

Grace and Peace,

Chase