American People Need A Movement
I was born in 1949 so I came of age in the turbulent 60s. And I've come to be very proud of my generation of Americans for many reasons. But one of the principal reasons would be that we were a movement. By that I mean that we took strong positions on many issues. We stood up to our leadership all over the board. In all the various areas of American life we threw our weight around; we protested. And we forced our leadership to listen to us and we forced them to make fair and decent changes to the American way of life.
My picture icon depicts just one of the powerful figures of our time. Muhammad Ali was a movement that the American government found no successful way to keep down; but they tried. Ali was very helpful in highlighting the true wrong of the Viet Nam war. We had many musical groups that had power to influence politics at the upper levels to. Just go back and listen to the many songs that were made that spoke to the political situation of the day and in word form they stood up for us and against the unfairness of the current American government policies. While in the Navy in 1968 , and when returning from Viet Nam , we arrived in Pearl Harbor Hawaii. And we were told that the Admiral had restricted all Naval personnel from going on liberty. We couldn't believe it when we found out the reason was that Credence Clearwater Band was in town and so many thousands of people showed up from all over the world to see them. Credence was no different then other bands of the time who chose to stand against the system with their music. So what do we have today to match the real significance of people like Muhammad Ali and musical groups like Credence Clearwater; Rush Limbaugh , P. Diddy and Britney Spears. Give me a break. I mean no dis-respect to my children's generation but I tell them constantly that this generation can't hold a candle to ours. We had real power and we stood up to the bullshit leadership of our country.
American leaders are no different then leaders of any other time in history; they take care of themselves. And they will do this until convinced or forced to do otherwise. This is reality. Very few leaders of the people are going to be fair and caring with the oversight of the people. The few leaders that stood up for the American people in the 60s were killed. That's reality too. But we continued to stand against our leaders even after the deaths of great Americans like President John Kennedy and his brother Robert. Even after the killing of a great American leader like Martin Luther King. And we lost less notable leaders throughout America but who also were no less important to the cause , to the movement.
We had movements in our generation and we need movements for the American people today. We have quietly relied on our leaders to do right by us and we have been disappointed. We need to find a way for the American people to exert ourselves in a way that we force our leaders to pay attention to us and do the right thing. And we are going to have to just tell them what we expect of them and be clear about it. And we definitely need to send a clear message to our leaders that we know who and what the problem in America is. It's our leadership and their bullshit policies! It's our leadership and their bullshit policies!
Life is a war that you can never win or lose. But you must show up everyday to fight it's battles. And at 60 that's what I'm still trying to do. I'm still trying to be part of that movement that I learned about all that many years ago; I'm still trying to show up and fight the battles. I'm still trying to fight like my Grandpa taught me to do. My Grandpa fought Jim Crow in the early 20th century Texas and is the reason our family is in Minnesota today. Thanks Grandpa for what you did for me. Thanks for teaching me to be part of a movement that fights the battles for normal American people.
.
Great piece!
Thanks for sharing that.
You are correct about American's needing a movement. Although, there are so many to choose from. So what the real need is to get an individual to pick a battle and stick with it.
I too am in the same era as you and I too am a Navy vet... 1965 to 1971.
If you haven't already, you may dig reading some of Wattree's blog posts. He's right in the same neighborhood (age-wise) as me and you . . .
Welcome to the zoo...
~OGD~
January 29, 2009 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for that I'm going catch up on those recommended blogs.
January 29, 2009 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post Viper. There hasn't been a central issue in this generation on which we could easily rally around, and help consolidate the diffuse issues that the Vietnam war provided us in the 60s. The one lesson the government internalized during that period was to never institute a military draft to conduct its little foreign intrigues, not to avoid them in the first place. Oh... and don't let pictures of military coffins returning to US soil make it into the press. These approaches by gumint have effectively neutered the outrage they should now be experiencing with regard to the mismanagement of just about everything in the last 30 years. Again, thanks for posting.
January 29, 2009 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Welcome to the zoo as Golden puts it.
Just a thought, besides two wars that need to be ended there is a strong desire among many on this site for National Health Care. One payer.
People get sick and go to the doctor to see if they can get well.
They go to the ER when they are in a car accident.
By the way, you are a product of the 40's. I am a product of the '50's. 1950.
January 29, 2009 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love the post! Exceptionally well written, and a thoughtful topic as well.
I am from the same era as you.
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fuck hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent... and young!
We should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our life's too fine to let it die and
We should be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy... is
We
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall(motherfucker)
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Perhaps not so young anymore, but I still hear this song and so many others as anthems calling me to raise a lil' hell just one more time.
As for a movement, don't underestimate how much anger and disbelief is being spread about as we begin to understand the injustices behind this economic recession and its self-serving "remedies" that do very little to help the common man. Methinks there are interesting times ahead.
Thanks for the post! I look forward to reading more from you. Keep it coming.
January 29, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love your post; we have a responsibility don't we?
January 30, 2009 12:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
.
Hey Hey ... SJ . . .
Here's a little ditty written in '66 ...
It doesn't amaze me that much that things haven't changed too much, except the census.
~OGD~
January 30, 2009 5:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did you say 1966? Or yesterday?
Relevant, indeed! unfortunately.
January 30, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bravo!
Excellent post!
I'm not quite as old as you but remember all of the things you point out and you are right. It was a time of many movements and they often overlapped. That was a rare period of history when rebellion occurred and people demanded substantive changes in our society and government that was not brought on by economic crisis, but by prosperity and a huge number of young people that weren't "smart" enough to be resigned to their fate.
I am hoping against hope as a late baby boomer that that huge number of people who are now no longer young, will, as a last and most notable achievement rise up once again and demand that the revolutionary vision of those years be realized:
No more imperialist wars and dismantle the military industrial complex
Equality for ALL people regardless of race, sex, religion, national origon or sexual orientation
Health care must be recognized as a human right and not a privelege and provided by the government to every citizen just like we provide ourselves police and fire services
The supports and assistance that we KNOW will work must be provided to the poor so they can finally be in a position to lift themselves out of the poverty they were born into.
Poverty must be recognized as the #1 contributing factor to all our social and economic ills whether that be lack of skills, crime, teen pregnancy, the unbridled proliferation of single parent families, poor diet, decreased life span, etc... and we must provide the resources consistently to combat these problems and not just a little here and a little there.
Education for all as far as one's ability can take them must be recognized as a right in this country and paid for by all. We must fully fund all the nation's schools and provide the resources students need to do well in their studies up to and including higher education. We must recognize the number one hindrance to academic excellense is an unstable and poverty stricken home and therefore jobs for all must be a priority if we are to properly educate all our children. It is obscene to talk about improving the nation's schools while turning a blind eye to the war zones poor kids return to after school and the helllish, stressful lives they leat at home when there's inadequate housing, not enough food, high rates of alcohol and drug abuse, high rates of physical and mental abuse and also sexual abuse.
This is just off the top of my head, but there are plenty of other important topics that could be added to the list of a new movement for justice, peace and prosperity for all Americans.
January 30, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
You speak so very well about issues. I would encourage you to realize the power you have in the written word. It effects the way that people feel and think. Keep it up we need you.
January 30, 2009 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks and right back atcha Viper!
January 30, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink