The political and social climate that surrounds us today did not just appear with the non-election of G. W. Bush. It is the end result of a progression of presidential successes and failures. It might not even be the first time that a presidential administration has been so lacking in honesty or intelligence, but it is certainly one of the most dangerous. Permit me to reminisce.....
Among my earliest memories are those of my parents speaking in respectful and reverent tones about the President of the United States of America, Retired General Dwight Eisenhower. He was, after all, a bonified hero, the general whose guidance and leadership had helped win the war in Europe against the darkest and most threatening forces of evil that anyone alive had seen or could imagine. The year would have been about 1955 when I was a five year old in kindergarten. I guess I assumed, for the next few years, that he was THE President of the United States, the only president, and would be for as long as he lived. Obviously, at that age, I knew next to nothing of the world, but I do remember quite well the feeling of the time, "I LIKE IKE!", the feeling that all the grownups respected, yes loved, the man and were honor- and duty-bound to speak well of him, to pray that he received guidance from "the Lord", and to fulfill their obligations of citizenship and patriotism as only the populace of such a great and heroic country, led by such a great and heroic leader could do. Was it that pure? Of course not. There had been, and would be, political machinations that a child couldn't understand or be aware of. Those who know history better than I can point to the fact that even the vice-president, at that time, was in fact a representative for the conservative wing of the Republican party and would, in fact, go on to despoil the portion of history that he was asked to lead. That fact notwithstanding, there was a spirit of unity and pride in accomplishment and a general concensus that to be a citizen of this blessed and resourceful country was in and of itself a goodness to be protected and cherished, yes even to be shared!
I would have been 9 years old during the 1959 presidential elections. My family had only had a television of our own for about a year, so my Dad was glued to the screen watching the first of its' kind, television debates. I was completely bored. There were a lot of other things that were far more entertaining to a nine-year-old. I didn't like either of the two men, very much. The younger man, the one who seemed smarter, sounded funny when he talked and my dad said we should be very concerned about the fact that he was a Catholic and would have to take orders from someone in a different country. The older man was ugly and frightening and didn't smile very much and when he did, it seemed forced and put-on. Anyway, the grownups were good and could be trusted to take care of the country, so I didn't think much about it. I remember lots of my parents' friends and members of their church being concerned about the fact that this "awfully young" Massachusetts senator was now the President, but it was the 1960's now and new and exciting and bold things were going to happen! You could feel the quickened pulse of the country as it embraced new and powerful advancements in science and technology. And the bright young couple with little children that graced the White House, and our nation, with their presence and enthusiasm for life, reminded us all that our lives could be good and exciting and healthy and prosperous in this land of plenty.
Three years later, much of that dream came to horrible shattering end. We cried silently as we watched the pictures over and over, we cried as we tried to eat, all of us sitting at the supper table in shock, afraid to look at each other, listening as Walter Cronkite tried to comfort us while even he was shaken to his soul. We looked at our parents, the grownups, the community leaders, the people who took us on picnics and taught us in school and in church, the ones that we depended upon for strength and security, and they were so shocked and so broken. How could it happen here? How had this evil have found a way to sink its poisonous roots into the rich and living soil and impenetrable bedrock of this monument to "liberty and justice for all?"
After that, things were different. We no longer felt or spoke or acted as though we were as blessed as we had been before. Even our daily lives were lived to the droning backdrop of a war that was on tv every night at suppertime. The man who was our president was probably doing the best he could, under the circumstances, but he was sour and hateful at times and my dad had lived close to where he came from and always grumbled that he was a crook and couldn't be trusted. There always seemed to be a controversy and someone taking issue with some other politician or group, or someone trying to stand in the way of someone else's rights while claiming to be preserving their own. It was confusing and disgusting and threatening and nothing seemed very solid anymore. Even after a new president came into office, promising to end the war, restore our pride in our country, and to repair the damage of the recent past, it was still just more of the same. I was a teenager now. I had to start making up my own mind. I had to figure out what it was I was going to do as an adult, had to choose my own path of right and wrong. There wasn't much I could do or even felt I wanted to do about the country. I was just a kid. And, anyway, it just seemed like everything about government was screwed up and too complicated and involved. I didn't even think I cared about America anymore. I was sick of school, didn't have money for college and wasn't about to be some kinda fuckin' hero marine, so I joined the Navy hoping that I could avoid getting shot and maybe learn how to do something with my hands to earn a living. Sure enough, I had a place to sleep at night, plenty to eat, friends I could laugh with and talk to, and enough work to keep me busy most of the time. It wasn't long, though, before I noticed that I was drawn to the people that were open and accepting, people that read, even if the book was controversial, people that wanted to learn and have fun and expand their minds and hearts. Conversely, I began to realize how little I trusted or respected the "lifers", the rigid ones, the ones that acted and thought as though they were junior CIA agents, always looking for someone they could turn in for doing something that wasn't according to regulations. It was now the late sixties, I was a pretty good guitar player and singer and had begun to hear and read way too many things that said that the VietNam war wasn't a good war, that we shouldn't be there destroying that country, that in fact, much of the reason we were there had more to do with huge companies selling products to the military than liberating a tiny country or protecting it from Communism. In fact, many of our country's leaders were lying to us, trying to get us to feel ashamed if we didn't go there for their war and die! They were trying manipulate the news media, at times, to convince the American people that we needed to stay there just a little longer, all the while allowing more and more young people to die! And we were killing old men and women and children and dogs and chickens and trees and rivers and.. anything that was unfortunate enough to be in our pathway or in our sights!
Then, of course came the Watergate hearings and the Nixon resignation and more stumbling and bumbling and more of the same. My hopes were raised for a while that a Democratic President for the 200th anniversary of our nation's birth could help lift us up but the country seemed not to want help, just to be left alone for a while to heal.
The Reagan Presidency, as someone's diary said here just a few days ago, was what laid the groundwork and preparation for the current debacle. It came sweeping onto the political scene like a whirlwind. It was energetic, it was a kind of "Super-Patriotism" that had not been seen for many years, if ever. But it wasn't so much a naturally occuring bubbling up of patriotism as it was the "selling" of patriotism. The energy that seemed so abundant wasn't from the heart of the strong helping to lift the weaker ones up with them, but rather from the gut-wrought greed of a psuedo-Darwinian theory that if everyone who could grabbed as much for themselves as they could, somehow the "right" ones would survive and make the cut and those that didn't, well, maybe the world was just better off without them! So it never was supposed to be a success story for all of us. It was only meant to benefit those who bought into it for the price of a soul.
Forty-one. Not too evil, a little bit transparent and elusive, always prudent, sort of beige.
Bill Clinton, smart, educated, savvy, business-like, effective, smooth-tongued, chamelion, charmer, human.
And now, the present. What else can be said that hasn't been said? What more fear and dread can I feel that everyone here hasn't already felt? What don't these members of a corporate slime cartel understand about fucking "LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!" What in the name of heaven makes them feel entitiled to dismantle decades and generations of sweat and work and struggle and self denial and intelligence and humanity? Oh, God! Oh, God! Can you hear us? They know not what they are doing! They most certainly know not what they have done and what they are doing!
They know what they're doing. They may be ignorant, and horrible, maybe even evil, but they know exactly what they are doing. They know that where there is complacency, people can be herded. They know that if they spread fear, people will try to find a strong sanctuary. They know that if they appear invincible, people will doubt their own abilities and effectiveness to overcome them, even when they know they are wrong and that what they have inflicted upon much of the rest of the world, in our name, is unforgivable.
I cannot give up. You cannot give up. No matter what poll or what survey says that our chances are slim, we cannot give up. There are so many good people who come to this site. There are so many good and brilliant and strong and energetic people who come to this site every day and to sites very much like it every day! There are so many chances and opportunities to influence someone who might not have made up their minds, yet. There is still time to get our message out. There is still time to restore and repair and resurrect these states that long to be united, there is still time to insure freedom and liberty and justice for all Americans that are now here and for all who will come to be free and liberated and just Americans.
Peace.