I am old enough to remember Woodstock but was in Alabama and all I recall is that a bunch of strange people called hippies were rolling around in the mud somewhere in New York or somewhere in Yankee land, were bra-less, in the throws of gross immorality, high on dope, dirty, wild music, etc, etc. I had not clue what it was about, did not care and figured they at the "stock" would end up in hell anyway for the sins they were committing openly in the mud. THAT is my remembrance of Woodstock. Now at sixty-three, that echoes of that memory resounds with this "Occupy .." thingy and the participants in New York seem to be wanting the media to see Woodstock 2011. But why Occupy? Why now?
I have no simple answer. I have not invested much mental time in it for my natural tendency is to move closer to the center of an issue or a problem therefore farther away from the ends of the Bell Curve or the fringe and I see the Occupy as fringe just as I do Rush and Glenn Beck and the others. I do not like loud for loud, fringe for fringe's sake. Tell me the facts, don't add sirens and bells and let me corroborate with other sources and then I will decide. That is just me!
Do I believe there is value and viability to the Occupy thingy? Hum, I hope so but not quite sure yet. I keep watching to see who is climbing on the bandwagon and what I see, frankly, are the groups with the most to gain politically, spelled financially, from active participation. Unions enmasse seem to be "Occupying" at a high rate which always makes me suspect! The "movement" seems to be running out of gas as the cameras are moving on to other things. I sense the Arab Spring uprisings gave model to the Movement and we all applauded the Yemenis, the Egyptians, the Libyans, etc, but the Occupy Movement in the US seems to be, well, rather tepid and hungering for media coverage more that articulating clearly the mission and the vision for their movement. Here is what I know ... AMERICANS ARE RIGHTLY VERY ANGRY.
David Brooks has written an excellent piece in today's New York Times I posted to FB about the silver lining in all the morass, angst and growing resentment Americans are sensing for his thesis is that Americans, when faced with this same stuff before, "manned up" to the challenge and faced the headwinds finding a way individually out of the mess. In today's Wall Street Journal is an editorial that the US government has spent an all time high in 2011 and grown the deficit more deeply that any previous government with a statement that is so true and for me sums up the whole issue: GOVERNMENT AUSTERITY IS A MYTH.
Government will not and Government cannot fix this mess. It is we the individual taking our individual skills and talents and drives and passions into a collective thrust to change our individual world for the better. Synergy must and will kick in at some point in spite of Washington and Columbus and Montgomery and, etc, etc. We have grown to DEPEND on the Government safety nets of Entitlement. Entitlement costs are what bring down empires; not foreign armies. The Roman Empire is a great example and history will probably record the European Union and the United States like other empires imploded under the weight of government safety nets. I HATE SAFETY NETS in any form at an individual or corporate level. Show me a trapeze artist doing his thing with a safety net below him and I will show you a trapeze artist not giving me his best for the money I paid for the ticket. I expect the best but safety nets preclude Best!
Americans are angry! Anger is a motivational and inspirational part of the human existence. Properly channeled, anger can move mountains and we have quite a mountain to move. It is we the people and not they the government that will fix this mess so as long as the culture is programmed to wait for the government to fix, the hole will only grow deeper, quicker.
I really want to see that trapeze dude do his best for me. Why, I deserve it and so do you!
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