Former Lt. Gov. of Georgia Geoff Duncan (4 minutes):

I have been looking for a platform to express my incredibly astute general observation of the Democratic National Convention. I finally decided that someone allows me to post on this platform so I am going to make use of it.

My observation is simply this: Everyone gets to play. Whether the cameras pan out or close in to take a group close-up, whatever section they take a picture of the group is diverse. All mixed in like a delicious salad with a huge list of ingredients that are all tossed together to make a delightful dish.

Not that I am any deep thinker noticing nuances and projecting some mysterious universal meaning on to them. However, since the drivel that the corporate media feeds us daily never seems to capture my full attention, I often find my mind wandering. One place that it wanders to is whether the promises of America will ever be fulfilled.

Like most in America I have been a consumer of media from my early days, which now covers many decades. My memories of media go back to the back and white TV days. While the medium was black and white, the actors and hosts and moderators were almost all white and male. The civil rights movement and the women’s movement of the 1960s highlighted this imposed reinforcement of the predominant prejudices of the day.

As a youngster I often wondered if this milieu would ever evolve. Certainly music, in particular rock and roll broke barriers, but the powers that be did a very good job of containing their influence. As youngsters like me moved into careers it seems our beliefs and interest in breaking such barriers got co-opted by the paycheck. 

There was some movement but it was glacial. Blacks in media were often portrayed as criminals or sidekicks. Women often had light roles as stories were still built around the white male. However, much as the 1950s were a boiling pot that simmered below the surface that exploded into the 1960s, we seem to be seeing that the Obama years of progress that led to the retrenchment. Of the Trump years is now about ready to explode into a surge forward.

As the pot gets ready to blow, in the background we are are seeing women and minorities taking leading roles. In the movies and on the TV screens we see more and more female and minority leads. And in Democratic politics, we are seeing an absolute kaleidoscope of leadership.

So what has really caught my eye at this year’s DNC is the crowd shots. The mixed salad of people that makes up today’s Democratic Party is extremely exciting. It is looking like the promise of America that it is the land of opportunity for anyone willing to put in the work seems to finally be coming true. A country where sex, skin color, religion or background doesn’t make a difference.

I realize we are not here, that there is a long way to go, but it sure looks like we are really headed to fulfilling that long ago promise of America. Now since we have reached this far, we simply can’t go back. We must build on this great base for an even better future.

Having a society where all are contributing and in turn are respected as contributing citizens is the ultimate goal. It is time to leave the right wing’s politics of division behind, way behind in the dustbin of history where it belongs.

The difference of the Democrats party with its kaleidoscope of people and backgrounds working together is the future. The MAGA party and its white, male narrow scope is the past.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson noted this in her daily newsletter of Thursday August 2 with these lines:

In 1974, music writer Jon Landau saw a relatively unknown musician in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and wrote for an alternative paper: “Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theater, I saw rock’n’roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” The review helped to catapult Springsteen to stardom.

After three days at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, I feel like I have seen the political future and its name is the Democratic Party. But rather than feeling like I’m hearing politics for the first time, I am hearing the echo of political themes embraced in the best moments of America’s past. (my bolding – ed.)

Join in and get ready for the exhilarating ride into the future.