Changing politics 'from the inside out'

Finley Campbell, senior professor at Chicago's DeVry Institute of Technology and former Minister of Education for the Black Panther Party, spoke Sunday afternoon on the morality of voting in this year's election.\nThe event was sponsored by the "What Color is Community?" group of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, 2120 N. Fee Lane.\nAfter declaring Al Gore a "demo-publican," and saying there is no true democratic candidate for president, Campbell asked people to vote for Gore anyway and attempt to make changes from the inside out.\n"The only difference between Al Gore and George Bush is that one agrees with the death penalty and the other one has actually pushed the button," Campbell said. "When Gore gets into office, you should write him and tell him, 'Don't press the button, you're making God mad. He's given you stewardship over this country."\nCampbell also spoke about the Democratic Freedom Caucus, a group formed in Chicago which hopes to reform the Democratic Party.\n"We want to revive the old New Deal legislation and take the democratic platform and implement our recommendations," Campbell said. "We want to see us go to the Democratic Party convention and be able to bring our agenda. If they don't let us in, then we set up a parallel party."\nCampbell referred to the election process as simply transferring power from one evil to another and said inequity is the great sin that keeps God in an uproar and creates a universe in chaos. \nDeclaring that presidential candidate Ralph Nader does not represent any minorities, Campbell attempted to dissuade people from voting for Nader. He said the candidate's platform promises were unrealistic and that Nader's lying is "worse than having Gore as an honest liar."\n"A tree is known by the fruit it bears," Campbell said. "The Green Party is bearing white fruit. When I see Green Party people standing in front of the steel mills in Gary, then maybe I'll believe him."\nShari Woodbury, a strategic planner at a consulting firm and IU alumna, said Campbell changed her mind and helped her think differently about things.\n"I was going to vote for Nader because I share his views more closely than I do with Gore," Woodbury said. "But now I see that working from the inside out is a more efficient way to change. He used a metaphor about either grabbing the wheel of a car and slowly turning it around or building a whole new car to go where you want to go. I agree with him about grabbing the wheel and changing slowly."\nCampbell also gave a sermon during the morning service, but said he was very sad to see that there were no black students at the afternoon discussion.\n"I understand the effects of black nationalism though," Campbell said. "It's my job to work with black students and win them and make them see that the fight for black rights must be absorbed in the fight for human rights"