Late Happy Thanksgiving!

Things continue to wind down here at Kimberley House in Observatory.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with tons of food on Thursday night, with help from a care package which arrived that very day from my mother.

I’ve also been busy with the choir as we prepare for our upcoming trip to the Old Mutual National Choral Competition, and that will consume much of my remaining time here.

I attached at last a group picture of us with Desmond Tutu and another of us with our awesome driver, Pearnel.

After Mass downtown on Friday, November 7

Also after Mass on Friday, November 7

Last weekend, most of us traveled in two cars to the northeast.  Caroline, Glenn, Steve, and I took one car and stopped off to taste some amazing wine at Robertson before continuing on to Outshoorn, where we went to a cheetah farm and also the awesome Cango Caves.  I got to pet a cheetah!  On our way back, we stopped by the Indian Ocean at Mussel Bay and spent the night at Swellendam where we hiked up to a waterfall.

God bless,

Andy

Hey, is that weird Marshall guy still lost in Africa?

Yes, as a matter of fact I am.

I’m sure I will totally fail at summarizing the last two and a half weeks in this short post, but I will try anyway.

Well, the election went down, I went into a deep funk that even Obama’s beautiful victory speech couldn’t shake, and I declared a personal fast from all American political websites on November 9 that I will be keeping until I return home on December 9.  At least Republican-turned-independent Jeff Wood narrowly held on to his state Assembly seat to become the first non-affiliated state legislator 70 or 80 years.

Fortunately (if I believed in fortune, that is), we at long last had our Anglican Mass with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Friday, November 7.  I even got a much needed haircut, which was needed as I had been without one since June.  I shook his hand and received communion from him as part of the beautiful service.  Unfortunately, he had another engagement so we couldn’t have breakfast with him like the Marquette students usually do, but it was still cool.  I will post our group photo if I have time.

As of this morning, we are now all finished with the academic side of things here.  I took my Old Testament theology final on Saturday, November 8, followed by AIDS and Development on Monday, November 10.  We presented our “visual diary” projects for theology of reconciliation on Friday, November 14, and went on an amazing retreat at Chris Ahrends’ vacation home in a former fishing vilalge on Monday to conclude this amazing course.  Wednesday, we present our “advocacy projects” to conclude Leaders in Grassroots Organizations, our other Marquette class.  Caroline and I presented a plan to develop a community coalition to link HIV-positive South Africans with new AIDS research, and we actually did fairly well.  Then, today, Glenn, Steph, Maggie, and I took our postcolonial and postmodern literature final.  Free at last . . .

Other random things. The four of us guys plus Chris’s brother Jason went to the local Italian restaurant on Tuesday night instead of focusing on our advocacy project presentation and totally dominated their all you can eat pasta deal.  We went through 38 bowls between us and actually ate all their pasta.  It was a good feeling.  Today I got to meet a Cape Town city government official with my friend Vic to discuss Wheelchair Users Forum South Africa plans, and she almost singlehandedly improved my usually low opinion of all politicians not named “Ron Paul.”  She was so friendly and actually listened to what we had to say.

Choir update. I have continued to enjoy my time in the UWC choir and sang with them at the Rector’s Concert last month.  We will be competing at the Old Mutual choral competition in Pretoria the first weekend in December, and I’m really excited for this trip (especially because Old Mutual is paying).

The Andy Marshall Tour schedule. I will be on the choir trip from December 4 to 8 and flying out right after midnight on Tuesday, December 9.  Because of the time zones, I will arrive in Chicago that same evening and hopefully end up in Milwaukee that night.  I will then probably bum around Marquette and Brookfield for a few days, hopefully catch some Golden Eagles domination on Saturday, December 13, and then returning to headquarters by the 14th.

I will seriously post pictures before I leave . . . I mean it.  Now I have to go before Glenn physically beats me for not cleaning my side of the room now the excuse of finals is no longer viable.

God bless,

Andy

[P.S. Steph says hi to her parents.]

A Brilliant and Insightful Examination of the Upcoming Election from South Africa, Part 2

Election Day. The long, long campaign nears its painfully slow conclusion at last. Of course, I won’t actually find out the results until sometime between 4:30 and 8 a.m. here in Cape Town. Fortunately, for those of you not among the probably less than one percent of American voters supporting Bob Barr, I will cease and desist from harassing people who actually follow the mainstream election coverage and who are actually interested in supporting a mainstream candidate who may have a chance to win. Instead, I will blog about the opinions of South Africans and foreigners studying or working in Cape Town with regards to the presidential elections. (McCain supporters may want to stop reading now.)

Like basically the rest of the world, every South African I have met supports Barack Obama. This holds true regardless of their age, race, gender, education level, South African political affiliation, religion, and income. Also, just about every South African I meet wants to talk to me about the election, including people on the train and the postal clerk I bought stamps from yesterday. In fact, I can imagine I have many more enjoyable political conversations here than American students did in the years immediately following the 2004 election.

In general, South Africans support Senator Obama as embodying a change in America’s attitude in the world and because of the symbolism of historically white America electing a black president. Although the white liberal activists who make up the bulk of our program speakers strongly support Obama, black South Africans seem even more committed to this symbolic nature and the hope for racial healing it holds out for South Africa as well. While most people don’t seem to be personally against Senator McCain, they do have major problems with President Bush and tend to see McCain, fairly or not, as representing the continuation of current policies.

As far as international students go, generally liberals seem to sign up for study abroad programs to Africa, particularly Marquette’s South Africa Service Learning Program. This doesn’t reflect poorly on them or the program; if anything, it reflects poorly on libertarians and conservatives. From my own internal polling of Kimberley House, I can guarantee that Bob Barr received more vote(s) than John McCain, but that Barack Obama took the precinct in a landslide. I have yet to meet an American here who supports John McCain and every non-American international student I have talked to backs Obama as well. Regardless of their many policy similarities and their few policy differences, which aside from abortion are primarily differences in degree than in kind, the election of Senator Obama today would at least make America much more popular in South Africa.

[One last note on my own views. I realized that I didn’t address pro-life issues at all in my previous post despite my strong opposition to abortion. For pro-lifers wondering how any of their number could “waste” a vote in such an “historic” election, I suggest reading an excellent essay by G. C. Dilsaver about how voting Republican doesn’t deal with the root issues, which basically sums up my view; for the opposing view, arguing that McCain’s pro-life stance is the only reason for a conservative to vote for him but a compelling one nonetheless, read this intriguing and rather convincing article comparing McCain to the Tsar of Russia but still advocating a vote for him.]

Don’t worry. It’s almost over, and we can all go back to worrying about the Packers instead.

God bless,

Andy

A Brilliant and Insightful Examination of the Upcoming American Elections from South Africa, Part 1

First off, if you are looking for what was promised in the post title, I must warn you this is a classic bait-and-switch.  I will actually write a disappointed, somewhat bitter analysis of this “historic” (aren’t they always billed as such?) election, interpreting it through my conservative libertarian biases and the narrow sample of South Africans I have talked with about it.  I don’t claim to “know” all the answers or to be somehow smarter than all those who have been observing and participating in American politics for far longer than I have, but the election has helped shape my experiences here in South Africa, and so I will blog about it.

In my own all too predictable opinion, Senators McCain and Obama have indeed brought about the elusive “change” they promise.  They have changed what could have been an illuminating and ultimately healing dialogue about the basis of our foreign policy, the roots of the financial crisis, the proper balance of the national government and states’ rights, and our broken healthcare system, among other pressing issues, into yet another spiteful, divisive battle with both candidates converging toward a mushy, socialistic, and invariably indefinite consensus, agreeing on massive government expansion all around and income redistribution from the taxpayers to their loyal supporters.  You don’t have to agree with me that we should withdraw American troops from the vast majority of the more than 120 nations they occupy in our name worldwide or that the financial crisis came about largely through government policies rather than free market greed to see that this election season was the time for serious reconsideration of our government’s role in world affairs and in regulating our own financial system, even if the ultimate course of action after this reflection differed little from present policies.  No offense to all the passionate supporters of either honorable senator but these men squandered that opportunity to bring about real transformation.  Neither of them has run a campaign worthy of the future “leader of the Free World.”

As an international affairs major studying abroad, the candidates’ treatment of foreign policy stands out as my biggest disappointment with the whole campaign season.  America’s government has been growing since our late republic’s founding, so I’m not surprised that both candidates have no real plan for balancing our budget, paying down the debt, or even reducing the government’s rate of growth.  After the disastrous foreign policy of President Bush (with the removal of Saddam Hussein and the dismantling of Libya’s WMD program as his only significant triumphs) and the growing hostility to American military interventions in Iraq and elsewhere, the two candidates could have at least treated their fellow Americans to a genuine debate on our government’s relations with other nations.  Initially, I almost believed Senator Obama stood for real foreign policy change, but he quickly changed his tune.  He discarded his more balanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in favor of the foreign policy establishment’s usual pro-Israel rhetoric, even telling Israelis that Jerusalem’s status, one of the primary areas of contention, shouldn’t be negotiable before his campaign aides quickly reassured us he didn’t mean it.  The brief war between Georgia and Russia exposed his supposed emphasis on diplomatic engagement instead of preemptive war as mere window dressing when his belligerent response to Russia was only slightly less confrontational and slightly slower than McCain’s war rhetoric.  Even with regards to Iraq, Obama has stated his position is now essentially the same as the gradually phased withdrawal being negotiated by the Bush administration, and McCain has also moved his frequently quoted out-of-context “100 years” position toward this legitimized temporary occupation.  Both candidates support a surge in Afghanistan, where even the British commander says we can’t achieve victory.  Note that when the British say a colonial war can’t be won, they know what they’re talking about.  In short, Obama’s foreign policy will end the Cuban embargo (cigars for the people) and maybe talk to some “bad guys” before we blow them to kingdom come, whatever kingdom it is they think they’re going to, instead of blowing them up first, but generally looks like a politically correct version of the McCain and Bush foreign policies.

Of course, those Democrats and Republicans interested in engaging in real debate wound up sidelined by their parties, the media, and eventually the voters themselves during the primary season.  Not just my own Dr. Paul but fellow Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Democrats Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, and, to a lesser extent before he sold out to Obama, Joe Biden all got blackout or dismissive treatment for most of their campaigns.  Although I disagree with much of his proposed foreign policy, former United Nations ambassador Richardson had far more experience than the Democratic frontrunners, and he got steamrolled by the establishment.  This strangulation of any alternative views carried through to the general election where the Four Horsemen, or rather three horsemen and a horsewoman, of the Alternate Political Apocalypse have been largely marginalized.  Former Congressman Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, independent consumer activist Ralph Nader, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, and former Florida Moral Majority chair Rev. Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party all represent views delightfully out of step with the stale establishment consensus, but they get no media attention except as possible “spoilers” who somehow steal votes “belonging” to McCain or Obama and thus help the other one.  That’s too bad because all of these candidates, despite their own squabbles, prejudices, and sometimes irrational policies, would add a serious dimension to the national debate.  I don’t agree with Nader that we need state-run universal healthcare, but after hearing him and Rev. Baldwin respectfully debate the issue, I have no doubt Nader’s presence would improve any McCain-Obama healthcare debate.  All these candidates opposed the bailout, although for varying reasons, while both McCain and Obama supported it.  Does that segment of America, anywhere between 20 and 80 percent depending on which poll you believe, opposing the bailout deserve no “viable” candidate?  Apparently so.

Our political system will have again produced a disappointing outcome, regardless of who wins and by what margin on November 4.  I still support Barr and the Libertarian Party (and applaud the LP for actually nominating a pro-life candidate I could vote in good conscience), as I have since the Libertarian convention, even though all hope for a breakthrough into even the 5% range disappeared a long time ago.  America, land of the free, has again experienced another campaign waged by major party operatives over trivial issues in the midst of nontrivial times.  May God bless and save America.

[Note: this rant got so long that I will add a second post on how South Africans view the election in the near future rather than continuing this one.]

God bless,

Andy

Massive Random Post

Since October 1, I have helped change a tire in the African desert, pursued the great Raymond Westbrook all over Cape Town academia, run down Table Mountain alongside a Rastafarian biker gang of some sort, experienced Cape Town’s night life on the famous Long Street, baked some amazing butternut squash muffins at 3 in the morning, voted twice on the same day, and so much more. Alas, I have not yet met the great Desmond Tutu because an urgent funeral came up, but we are currently scheduled for mass and breakfast with him on November 7.

Let’s start with academics. My AIDS & Development semester paper, on how redefining our approach to the AIDS pandemic should force a rethinking of the entire “development” concept, was a more excellent research and reasoning adventure. You have no idea how challenging it can be to link the libertarian Austrian School of Economics, AIDS research, and leftist development critics, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. If only more libertarian scholars addressed development issues, it would have been much easier. Thank goodness for Peter Boettke and Christopher Coyne!  While my own beliefs obviously significantly impacted the paper, I did find a lot more common ground between the Austrian tradition and the post-development scholars than expected and really found myself excited by the realistic chances for scrapping old development aid for a new system based on self-reliance, freedom, and cultural context. Possible development grad school future . . . who knows?

Then, the do-or-die Old Testament theology semester research paper due Friday, October 25. I chose to research the Mosaic concept of the sabbatical and jubilee years found in Leviticus 25. In Leviticus, God calls for the land to lie fallow every seventh year, the Sabbath or sabbatical year. After seven such seven-year cycles, God calls Israel to celebrate a jubilee, freeing all Hebrew debt slaves and returning all agricultural land sold to pay off debts to the original owners. Whether these laws were ever actually put into practice or even meant to be put into practice, and what they mean for the Christian worldview today, remain the subject of much debate. This brings me to the previously alluded to quest for Raymond Westbrook, a legal expert specializing in Ancient Near Eastern law and customs. Mr. Westbrook happened to write an excellent article analyzing the jubilee in 1971 for the Israel Law Review, which I desperately wanted to find. Alas, UWC, despite including a law school, had neither the hard copy nor an online subscription to the legal databases containing this article. So, I headed off on the train to Stellenbosch, a charming town north of Cape Town known for its wineries and Stellenbosch University. I power walked across town not the regular university but to the highly acclaimed Stellenbosch Theological School’s library, recommended to me by Dr. Lawrie. I found a number of key articles, including a 2006 Stellenbosch thesis, that helped me write the paper, but Stellenbosch also lacked online and hard copies of that scarce 1971 volume. My pursuit of Mr. Westbrook led me to University of Cape Town, very close to Kimberley House. I had discovered online that UCT’s law library had both the hard copy and online access to the article, and on Monday the third time was indeed a charm as I left proudly bearing a photocopy of pages 209 to 227 of the 1971 ILR. Of course, that justified me not starting hardcore on the paper until Wednesday.

Thursday night, I wrote most of the paper, went to bed from 11:30 to 3, when I got up and listened to an amazing debate between independent Ralph Nader and Constitution Party standard-bearer Rev. Chuck Baldwin over the Internet via Restore the Republic Radio. Fear not, the long-promised commentary on the upcoming American and South African elections (EXCLUSIVE to Free Spirit Runner, read it here first!) is on the way, but not tonight. While this real exchange of ideas, including substantive discussions of universal healthcare, America’s overall foreign policy direction, and the global economic crisis, was stimulating my mind, I baked some crazy good butternut squash muffins in my new muffin tin that I finally bought and made a great frosting, even though I had to extract the lemon and orange zest from those fruits with a potato peeler because we lacked a zester. Muffins taste so much better at 4 in the morning, don’t you think? I then finished up my theology paper and turned it in at UWC, but it ended up taking me so long that my journal entries for the grassroots leaders class didn’t get finished on time. Oh well.

Let’s backtrack. (This post is becoming rather like the non-linear, postmodern novels we’ve been reading in our English literature class.) One of the reasons I didn’t start my theology paper until the week it was due (besides my finely tuned Marshall instincts) was that five of us rented a car and headed north to Afrika Burns on Friday, October 17. Basically, we borrowed a small tent and drove for five hours to go to this anti-corporate, hippy, camping party in the middle of the barren stretch of South Africa just over the border into the Northern Cape province. It’s like a smaller version of America’s Burning Man festival. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, managed to somewhat all fit in the tent (which was of course somewhat expertly pitched in the dark by a certain Eagle Scout from SuperTroop 540). Yes, I realize the futility, wastefulness, and irony of renting a car and buying the gas necessary to drive five hours north and back again to “stick it to the man,” but I was mainly on board to get out of the city, and we definitely accomplished that. The major flaw in this whole plan was that we had to drive three hours or so on this lousy gravel road (oh, the poor rental car). This worked fine on the way there, but on the way back, we blew our left rear tire and somehow didn’t notice it for a while because the road was so bumpy to begin with. (Don’t ask how we didn’t notice it, or why it seems that all of us were thinking that maybe we should stop and check things out but we didn’t for a while, because I really have no rational explanation.) This left us on the side of good old R355 (the gravel road) in the middle of the desert, out of cell phone range, and 80+ kilometers from the nearest service station. Fortunately, we had a full service spare and were able to successful change the tire. Even better, we stopped off at several Stellenbosch wineries on our way back.

Before we left for Afrika Burns, a number of us mailed off our election ballots, and I can say “Barring” a mishap by the postal services, the Township of Elk Libertarian tsunami has officially been launched . . . hey, we can all dream. I would point out that, as best I can tell, the Libertarian presidential ticket is either tied with the Republicans behind Obama or in sole possession of second place here at Kimberley House precinct. My presidential vote decision was easy compared to the fiercely contested Price County races, where I strongly supported the Democratic straight ticket against their apparently intimidated, non-existent opposition.

My American absentee ballot means nothing compared to my crucial vote on the future of UWC on Thursday, October 16. SASCO, the reigning PASMA, and a few independents fiercely contested the election, completely with rallies, inflammatory rhetoric, and chants. I hear the student government’s annual general meeting turned into a chant fest between SASCO and PASMA. Since the UWC choir is full of PASMA supporters and they are all nice people, I proudly voted straight ticket PASMA and got the precious ink of democracy on my figure to prevent me from voting again. I actually haven’t heard the results yet, but the Pan African Congress (the small, radical Africanist political party that PASMA is the youth wing of) deserves to control something in South Africa (and I deserve to win at least one contested election this fall).

Friday, Jesse’s parents were here and took us out to eat, so that was great! Afterward, I met my Pentecostal pastor friend Kholekile downtown and enjoyed hanging out at a nice dance club on Long Street, the night life heartbeat of Cape Town. Yesterday, I ran/walked a ways up Table Mountain. On the way down, I passed and was passed several times by a group of seven bicyclists with massive dreadlocks. They seemed very relaxed, and so I have concluded they were having a Rastafarian convention on Table Mountain. Today, I went to Kholekile’s Pentecostal church with Glenn, even though Kholekile wasn’t there today, which was an energetic service focused on purity. This evening, I went to this great, friendly Presbyterian service in the next suburb over, Mowbray.

That’s about it for tonight. Classes finished up last week, so I will have more time now.

God bless,

Andy