When Will the Marches Begin?
Many conversations around the table this week about anything from education to taxes to rethinking Government. As 2018 wraps up, it is just mind-boggling how much has changed in the past two years. The divide in our country is not attractive, the anger is getting worse not better, the Government has essentially ceased to exist with an absolute lunatic at the helm.
I wonder when will the marches begin? We can look back to Vietnam when the country had just had enough. We were in a war for way too long that was used as a ruse to keep power in the White House. That is when our country stopped trusting Government. The reality the Constitution is the basis of how our country is run. Our country has changed dramatically over the past hundreds of years from an Agricultural Revolution to an Industrial Revolution to Information Revolution. Does our Government really represent what we need today?
More women, more minorities including younger people are getting involved in politics. They understand to make change we need new voices in Government. There is a shift happening. It is like the last gasp of power holding on to something that is ultimately heading in a new direction. The winner in the GOP is the person who has the smarts to stand up and say enough is enough as history will show that will be the breaking point of the insanity we are living in right now.
The Constitution begins with those simple three words, We The People. It is a lull as it usually is at the end of the year but now it is 2019. I believe the people will start to rise up just as they did during the
Comments (Archived):
Yup, the times are certainly changing.I am as well very optimistic.
I was just a young child during the height of the Vietnam protests, but what I remember most is that it wasn’t just the protests, it was that *everything* changed, seemingly overnight. What people wore, their hair styles, the music, the way they said hello, the way they connected. Everything. And today—when the new House got sworn in, I got a glimpse of that same kind of change. You could see it. Brighter colors. A diversity of new Reps that covered different ages, genders, backgrounds, religions. It *looked* different. We still need the marches. But I too am optimistic.
.To marshal change, the Dems put a fossil in charge. An old fashioned patronage pol, Nancy Pelosi is the enemy of change within the Dem party.You cannot make changes when you return to the management those whose policies you want to change. Look at her proposed rules. They are the same that existed 30 years ago.The other problem is the new wave of Congresspersons know less than nothing as to how the institution works. They don’t even know the rules. Meanwhile the lobbyists are sharpening their knives and organizing fundraisers and meet & greets for all the freshmen.They will learn and they will be just like all those before them — they will shortly be owned by the lobbyists, the power brokers, the entrenched powers that be, and the all-pervasive money. Tomorrow they start running for re-election.I was an adult during the Vietnam War and participated in the issues of the day directly. You are right, it was a complete cultural rending of the fabric of America. We lost 58K killed and 305,000 WIA (2338 MIA, 766 captured).KIA stats: https://www.militaryfactory…KIA, WIA, MIA, CIA: https://thevietnamwar.info/…To put that into perspective our entire Regular Army today is about 450,000 men. When I was in the Army it was 3MM men.The Vietnam War lasted from 1 Nov 1955 to 30 April 1975.BTW, the world lost a total of 3.6MM persons during the same time frame.The reason I mention these numbers is that the magnitude of the VN War Era is far greater than what we are currently facing.Know what? The best music in the history of the US was created during this time period — my theory the music was channeling the pathos of the times.”Won’t Get Fooled Again?” Haha.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
So true. I wasn’t alive for a lot of the Vietnam war and was a baby when it ended. But the impact it had on people, well, I really don’t think we’ve had anything of the same scale since in the US.My dad’s life was massively disrupted by the draft and he lost his chance at playing baseball professionally because of it. But without that, I guess I would never have been born, so…
Yes! If 2018 was the “Year of the Woman,” maybe 2019 will be the year of “The Other” — all those people that the white patriarchy has been othering since Day One.
.Did the Year of the Woman or the Year of The Other result in any meaningful legislation emitting forth from the Congress?Or, is it just window dressing?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Let’s hope so!
.The Dems will spend all their time congratulating themselves, investigating (not the same thing as oversight), impeaching, and forget their job is to legislate.As to investigations, they naively forget that whatever they find has to be referred to the DOJ to be referred to a US Attorney all part of a Republican Executive Branch.I don’t see how the Dems can avoid the temptation to impeach Pres Trump — thereby ensuring his re-election.In the end, they will legislate — nothing.Today, they cannot even agree on the Rules of the House.A dinosaur — the status quo that they came to change — rules the House in the person of Nancy Pelosi. I admire her for her public face and the ability to put forth a consistent message while engaging in old fashioned “Daddy was the Mayor of Baltimore” patronage politics. She runs circles around Paul Ryan.No, there will be no change. Even if the House can come up with meaningful legislation, they do not have the diplomacy to negotiate its passage with a Republican Senate and a Republican White House.The House, under Paul Ryan, couldn’t even pass a budget, pass the dozen appropriations bills.The Dems will be so distracted by investigations, impeachment, the Dem primaries, they won’t even get the budgets done.The weak performance of the House will be a driver of the Trump re-election.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
.As to marches, let’s be a little careful, shall we?Nancy Pelosi — 78 years oldDianne Feinstein — 85 years oldMaxine Waters — 80 years oldThis is the base from which change is required and they hold the power. Good luck with that.Term limits, anybody?The median age of a Senator is 65 years, 101 days.There are 5 Senators in their 80s.18 in their 70s.32 in their 60s.If you want fresh ideas, you need fresh blood.Should you believe my view is partisan, I want Grassley (85), Shelby (84), Inhofe (84), Roberts (82) all Republicans to retire. Now.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
.Well that didn’t last very long, eh?https://www.foxnews.com/pol…The quicker the Dems can vote articles of impeachment, the quicker we can get this behind us.There will be no Dem sponsored legislation out of this Dem Congress. None.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
This is from 2017, or am I misreading it?
Weird. Nope. Just posted a few days ago
Besides women, do people march anymore IRL in the era of social networks & just posting a status update? IMO only women have the energy and fight to do it these days. Everyone else just tweets. Slacktivism to the 100th degree.
.Well, we are sort of at full employment. When you have a job, it’s hard to get time off to march or riot.Or, maybe, normal folks find this stuff a little boring? Just taking a stab in the dark here.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Slacktivism is a great word
Semil you are a young guy (that is from envy and a compliment I wish I was younger!). As such you don’t personally remember the Vietnam era or for that matter civil rights marches. (Obviously you are familiar with them but not the same way as someone who lived through the era).With Vietnam, the marches and protests came not because they didn’t like the war but (primarily) because people didn’t want to be drafted. In fact I’ve dated multiple women whose fathers became teachers solely to avoid getting drafted. That was what it was all about. Both said ‘I became a teacher so I wouldn’t get drafted’.With civil rights people were suffering and had nothing to lose. Plus with at least some of civil rights there was rioting and violence as well. Additionally ‘back then’ (I mean the 60’s) you had a limited number of news sources. You had the big three networks and people watched the news at night (local and national) and took what they saw very seriously. Not like today when there is all sorts of infotainment competing for people’s attention. And one other thing. The news cycle is vastly different. There is so much new material ‘fodder’ for the news anything last week is as if doesn’t even exist anymore. Remember MBS and the Saudi Journalist? That story is just about gone but it was big while it lasted. In the 60’s that would have played much longer (of course you would never find out about it but that is a different story).Iconic images (like the woman over the man killed at Kent State?). That would be noticed and then quickly forgotten in this day because there are so many new things slung at us each and every day.Plus as others have said now people working are not going to protest. And I don’t think that college students are bothered enough to protest. For one thing they have it pretty good and aren’t faced with being drafted or seeing their friends being drafted.Bottom line: No personal pain point. That is what drives protests. At least protests that would lead to some change that would matter.
Hi LE – lucky for you, I studied the Vietnam War as my area of focus for my major in college. I understand what you’re saying, but I think in the post-Internet world, women have showed (across income, across races) the ability to mobilize and organize relative to any other group. But yes, as you point out, these are different times and doubtful others will muster up the energy, fear, or time to do so. At least for now.
I agree with you.LEs interpretation of the Vietnam protests is not one that this person who participated in them saw as the reality, but an outsiders point of view.I remember distinctly the day of the Ohio massacre as I was going to school at Ohio U at that time. It like most of what was happening was routed in community building held together as much by our music as anything else.I also think the energy and activism of the new crop of representatives many from the middle class that I grew out of is the change agent of our times.
Hah! Well like the saying ‘go know’!Interesting that you studied the war (I would read a blog post on what motivated you toward that area in college).
Government is not as much about good ideas or being smart it’s about getting others that are decision makers to go along with what you want. Without that you are not going to make any change. As such you have to recognize the art of compromise with others. It’s hard to do that when the voters (the people that you represent) can so easily call you out (on social media which then is rebroadcast on traditional media) on any deal you cut. Because you will have to cut deals or you won’t get others to agree with you. And people that call you out will not be smart enough to understand why you do what you have to do.This idea that you can just go in and have good ideas and that is enough to get something done does not fly. (Works very well with small dictator run businesses though).Let me give the ‘condo board’ example that I like to give. I was on a condo board and another board member really cared about planting trees. I thought the trees were a 100% a waste and we didn’t need them at all. However I decided to agree with the proposal. First that board member was going to do all the work for the project. (As you know board members on a condo are typically never paid). Second the amount was manageable. Third, if I didn’t agree there would be payback. The board member most likely wouldn’t agree with anything that I wanted to do and perhaps even if he did he would spite me and vote ‘no’.The idea is very simple. You can’t get everything you want in deal making you have to be willing to compromise and make deals with the devil.The question really is will the new members understand this? How long will it take? Plus of course once they understand this then will that be good or bad?
Facebook or not, – the real march Will always Come true!