My daughter once said I had an inner hippie...that I should have been one in the 60s.

madfloridian

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Wed Oct-26-11 10:18 PM
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My daughter once said I had an inner hippie...that I should have been one in the 60s.

It's really an amazing thing for her to say since she always saw the mean parent, strict teacher side of me. It showed a lot of perception and insight I guess into who I really wanted to be.

I couldn't be that, not where I lived, not where I went to high school. I did get my mind opened up in college thank goodness.

There were no hippies where I live, not then not now. Nothing really very similar. It was so conservative here that some of the deacons in our Southern Baptist Church warned my parents against letting me go to see Elvis in his appearance here. They let me go of course, that is how they were.

It's still pretty much that way around here. We were talking with another liberal this week, one of the very few who are in the area. We discussed how we actually don't bother to have conversations about the real world because they lead nowhere.

I feel that inner rebel coming out when I watch and read about the Occupy Wall Street movement and offshoots. I want so badly to be there, but life has gotten in the way too much lately. Too much illness, too many close family lost, too many things tying us down.

I know the word hippie really doesn't apply now any more than it did in the 60s. These are people who are standing for all of us who can't be there. No, they are not hippies, but true to the form of the media they will probably be called worse before it's over.

Still my anger is bubbling to the surface every day now. I am seeing a party I have been a part of since I could vote become something I do not recognize. They are standing for the very same things the Republicans stand for, a very dangerous thing in times like this. The Republicans cater to the Tea Party extremists out of fear of losing.

Our Democrats became complicit with the Republicans for fear of losing, forgetting they have millions of us who are waiting for them to stand for something.

How dare the Democrats not only carry on Bush's agenda of privatizing schools...but push it even further than he ever did. How can they in good conscience allow the negativity toward public schools and teachers without speaking up? I guess they need the money of the billionaire boys club to win their next election.

And the cuts the Democrats are pushing in Medicare, Medicaid are unconscionable. They are already defunding Social Security on the sly by cutting its funding by cutting payroll tax cuts.

Seniors are scared and angry, and they have no one advocating for them now except some groups who realize the danger. There is not a single power player in politics who is speaking out for the elderly. Oh, there is maybe a word now and then in a TV interview, but that is about all. No major push to protect the safety net for seniors is going on.

Obama finally took the initiative to help those facing foreclosure, but I think it took OWS to get his attention.

Here's what I read today about how very proud the Democrats on the Super Committee are of their efforts to push even harder than the Republicans to get huge cuts in senior programs that need to survive.

Democrats made the first move in a closed-door meeting this week, pressing the bipartisan panel to pursue a far-reaching deal to slice $3 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade through an equal mix of spending cuts and new revenue. The proposal calls for significant cuts to health and retirement programs, as well as $1.3 trillion in new taxes.

...Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, offered to cut as much as $500 billion from Medicare and other health programs and to adopt a less generous measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits, according to aides familiar with the talks. He also called for as much as $300 billion in new measures aimed at stimulating the flagging economy.

�Supercommittee� showing signs of life

They are proud and smiling over their progress. It makes me furious.

Now and then we see someone stand up and say enough. But it is not long enough or loud enough. We are supposed to hang on to every little sign of support from our party for the people of this country who are hurting.

When I write about how the federal government is giving tons of money to private companies to manage schools that once were public...that once were managed by local school districts I cringe. What's worse is the sound of silence that greets such posts. That is most telling silence ever. They are turning schools into corporate training grounds before our eyes, yet the silence grows except from a few stubborn folks and bloggers.

I can't be with the Occupy movement physically right now, but I am with them in spirit. I am with them financially as well. I watch Keith Olbermann every night to see what they are encountering. I am glad to see Rachel Maddow cover them some now.

I don't want the police to break their spirit. It's scary to watch their power tactics. It's showing me a country I never really have seen. Remember that though we knew of the anti-war movements in the 60s...there was not yet a wide-spread TV coverage.

That was about a war back then, one that was tearing our country and theirs apart.

This is about so much more than that. It is more like a matter of survival of our country in its present form because soon it will be too late.

My inner rebel is about ready to scream out at what I am seeing from our leaders. I am there in spirit with OWS.

My perceptive daughter was right. I would have been a very good hippie. If circumstances allowed I would be a very good OWSer as well.