Wed, 10/21/2009 - 2:07pm — chicago dyke
I can't, but believe me if I could, I would be there. It's hard not to like stuff like this:
The same financial institutions that caused the economic crisis and took billions in taxpayer bailouts are back to earning incredible profits. Meanwhile, Americans face shrinking pensions, rising foreclosures and unemployment, state budget cuts, predatory lending, outrageous overdraft fees, and sky-high credit card interest rates.
The American people want oversight, accountability and common-sense financial reform NOW. This is the classic David vs. Goliath fight, with Wall Street spending millions and millions on lobbying to defeat reforms that would protect the American people and our economy
I can't say how much it annoys me to be in a place in my life when I am more motivated to be an activist than ever, but at the same time less able than in any other time in my life to be one, due to economic and health care burdens/limitations. But that's a Feature and not a Bug, right?
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I'm So Glad You Posted This
I keep meaning to and then RL intervenes.
Here's a long post at naked capitalism about the potential for a civil rights movement for the middle class with a focus on the Chicago march. There's a lot to chew on in it as it posts a variety of people talking about the barriers to activism in today's America.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
I'm struck by the level of defeatism in the comments, the sense
that it's already too late for the United States.
I, personally, happen to think otherwise. But then again, I'm young, and full of youthful energy; more than that, my natural inclination is toward optimism. I believe in a bright future for my beloved country.
Still, I have to wonder: does anyone here think it's too late for the U.S. to reform itself? Are we doomed to crumble like the other great powers of the past? Will we repeat the fate of Western Rome and Eastern Rome, steadily losing power and prestige until we're a footnote to history?
I think the very existence of this blog implies the answer to those questions, but I'm curious to hear it straight from someone's head.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
Why does the "very existence"...
... of this blog imply an answer to the question either way?
What do you mean by defeatism?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
What I mean is that Corrente exists to refuse to admit defeat
in the struggle to reform the United States. The proposition of reform implies the possibility of reform. That we can postulate ways in which the country can be made better implies that we believe in the country's capacity to be made better. At least that's how it looks to me.
As for 'defeatism,' just read some of the comments at NC. There's a great sentiment of futility and defeat in many of them. Lots of folks over there think it's too late to make change for the better.
And over here, it seems that the posters, myself included, think that it's not too late, or else we wouldn't even be here.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
good catch
for the first time in my life I think I am seeing what could be a precursor to a third party that might replace the Dems as the party of the left.
It's also in the single payer movement
and, for that matter, the gay rights movement. Because these are movements. Some of them are just beginning, like the anti-bank one, some are further along, but it is in people movements that we expand our political options.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Hmmm, I COULD go...
The 25th is a Sunday and the 26th is a Monday. Hypothetically, I could fly up there on Sunday and miss my Monday classes, then come home that evening...
Damn classes. And damn my missing some of them already, or else I could afford to miss them for this.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.