Is the left here in the United States of America in a Run Boy Run moment....

[WCGreen]

Anyone who has ever seen Camelot often times doesn't remember the Merry Month of May, What do Ordinary People Do or Merlin teaching a young Arthur how to be Arthur...

No, if the person has any heart at all, they remember that moment at the end where all is lost and Arthur is about to meet his fate. In that moment, the moment that I am sure caught in many a person's throat, the ability to see that no matter how good an idea is, often good intentions succumb to the callowness of their leadership.

It's nothing short of idealism dashed in raw emotional terms.

But, the moment also carries hope to the next generation as Arthur commands the boy to never forget....

Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot .

The point is I am starting to feel as if our country, the country that was dragged into modern times by desperate people who believed the tools were there to win in the end even though the other side had all the money, all the media and all the power.

But now, we are being forced into a corner and it looks like there is no way out. We worked to elect a champion of idealism and we got a more pragmatic version than Mr. Pragmatic himself, Bill Clinton.

The Democrats system was revved up, there were jobs to be had, there was power to be grabbed, there were 6 figure book deals or lobbying positions waiting at the end of the presidency. And they did what most politicians do, they looked out for themselves more than the people who gave them honor of serving.

It appears to be shinning moment for the few at the top and near betrayal for the rest of us who worked so hard and believed so deep.

The point of all this midnight rambling is the I got one more silver dollar and I might not make it home but I will stay here to pass along that once there was a shining place that was real, where people could organize, where people who worked hard would be rewarded, where the people had a say in how this crazy country of ours was run.

And I have hope that even though it looks so dark, that all the power in this system is over on the other side, that this generation will give us another Mother Jones, that this generation will read an Upton Sinclair expose and realize that there is something worth fighting for, that this generation will take it upon themselves to fight for themselves.

So run boy run, never forget that once there was a place called The United States of America that did, for a brief shinning moment, take care of the poor, compensated their workers and made certain that they had a voice in the government...

(BTW, I hope I am wrong and that the sporadic displays in Wisconsin can erupt and spread across the country. Liberals can be as testy as teabaggers only we have logic and emotion. They have only emotion and anger to sustain them.)

[PeaceNikki]

1. The events in WI are NOT "sporadic displays"

Just to clarify.

[WCGreen]

2. Well, Just to clarify...

Sporadic: Occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered or isolated.

If it breaks out of Wisconson then I will agree. But if that energy is isolated in Wisconson or the republicans prevails and nothing else happens then it will remain a sporadic event...

I'll wait for results and sustainability before I believe that this isn't sporadic.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. It has

OH and IND for starters.

[WCGreen]

11. We shall see....

Look I would love them all to work out for the better, but I have seen so many good intentions wiped out by republicans with the complacency of democrats to get more than a little excited.

What is happening in Wisconsin is far more defiant than what happened in Columbus today. From the looks of this, it was a large crowd, some estimate 3,800, but this was state employees in Wisconsin, kids hit the street, college student joined with the Unions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. You are talking of 30K in Madison alone

it is all over the state.

As to the rest... join them. That is all I can tell you.

[WCGreen]

14. Sorry I didn't make it clear...

the 3,800 was here in Ohio at the Statehouse.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. They started with 2000 in Madison

go join them, in OH

[WCGreen]

17. I wish I could....

I am tethered to O2 and it isn't really good for me to be around crowds, especially at this time of the year what with all the germs.

One more lung infection and I could be pushing up daisies...

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I understand, but I prefer to think that we

are seeing the waking up FINALLY... and not thinking that this is all for nothing.

And that was my point.

It is spreading, Tomorrow there is a rally here in solidarity. And if I got my truck back from the shop, I AM there... if I could find a public transportation...

And this is the best chance we have seen of this. It is historic... support it the best way YOU can.

[WCGreen]

25. Well, we will see...

The protest in Madison seems to be organic, more of a spontanious event while what is happening in Columbus seems far more staged.

The Ohio situation was fuel more by Kasich refering to a cop who pulled him over as an idiot three times in a taped speech.

[PeaceNikki]

5. It's all over the state. They aren't reporting that to you but we're on day 4 of protests

in every county. Every day. All night. 4 straight days throughout the state is not sporadic.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Since he was specific about OUTSIDE WI

well OH and IND are just starting to get there.

[Ghost Dog]

23. But "they" aren't reporting that...

I take it there are organized youtube channels and such?

... In every county... sounds good...

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. Sorry, all I remember about Camelot is that they eat eggs and jam and spam a lot.

Sounds like a silly place.

[flying rabbit]

24. Silly? PFFFTT, you are a lumberjack

and we all know what they are all about :silly:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. The events in Wisconsin have already influenced Ohio...

I heard it today...

I believe that we just might see this as the start of something important, something that will spread into all the states where our Democratic ideals are under attack the way they are by the Republican governor of Wisconsin.

People are angry, and they are catching on to what is being done to them...

I believe that this generation will take it upon themselves to fight for themselves and their children.

Recommended.

[WCGreen]

13. Can't really say that Peg, as much as I would like to believe that...

this was organized a while back, the bill hearing was scheduled with enough time for all concerned could come to testify in front of the committee.

It was perhaps energized by the events in Wisconsin, but it was a separated piece of legislation.

In Wisconsin, from what I understand, this is an emergency action that was literally being rammed through.

In Ohio, it is normal legislation.

[Frosty1]

7. I just hope

that shining light at the end of the tunnel isn't an oncoming speeding freight train.

[jillan]

9. Love this OP - I totally understand what you are saying, and I agree. And

I am so relieved to see this movement growing to take back our country from the corporations because it was beginning to look alot like the end of Camelot around here.

[pacalo]

10. Bravo! I adore that movie ('67 version) & I love your analogy.

Good intensions backfired, indeed, with greed & thirst for power by the corporations, or military-industrial complex.

I'm grateful to have experienced that brief shining moment when employee satisfaction was so important, but wistfully so, as I know the young people, including my son, who have started their careers will never know what it was like for us.

[WCGreen]

16. that's the bad part of all of this....

But perhaps what is happening in Wis, first and foremost, and Ohio, secondary as of now, is the first step in a long slog to take the country back for the people...

[pacalo]

27. I posted elsewhere today about what I think the Republicans' agenda is.

Putting all the pieces together, I believe their goal is to "globalize" working conditions, putting the U.S. workers on the same scale as third-world countries so that corporations won't have to relocate overseas to pocket more of their profits. Perhaps they're growing weary of all the backward ways of life in third-world countries & are pushing politicians to reach that goal.

I don't think they'll be able to turn back the clock, considering that living expenses here in the U.S. are so high.

[Kablooie]

19. According to the cycles of history we are right at the moment where...

a cataclysmic crisis occurs that will bring a massive disruption of society.

At the other end, after a period of suffering, is a new rebirth of American society which will lead to a period of euphoria.

The last crisis was 1929 and finished with the end of WWII. This led to the optimism of 1950's America.

The crisis before that was the Civil War. Before that was the American Revolution.

They occur roughly every 80 years, the length of an average human lifespan.

Whether the new direction is one we would approve of or abhor, is not known, just that it will be different from today.


(I'm reading The Fourth Turning right now and this is what it says. It makes this point very convincingly.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. It is a slightly americanized version of Toynbee

and there are cycles, I like to call them echoes. And we are now in one of those cycles.

[Kablooie]

21. Yep. But the crisises have usually been wars.

And if our crisis becomes an actual war, who will be fighting who?
According to the theory, it should resolve itself by 2026.

Will it be progressives against conservatives? That's what it feels like it's turning into.

And if it is, who wins? If conservatives win we could be in for a new puritanical America.

The winners would control the overall mood of society and I could see an enthusiastic religious mania taking control .

Of course it might become something other than this. Average people against the corporate overlords.

Whatever it is, we may be in for a period of 'interesting times'.

[WCGreen]

22. If this keeps going on the trajectory it has started...

It will be a spiritual awakening but not the kind that conservative like.

Too many people see that fire and brimstone crap for what it is, Medieval.

It's late and I am just riffing here now, but it's as good as anything else.

The 2016 election will be the pivotal one.

By that time, Oil will become more expensive and the environmental degradation will be getting worse.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Civil war is not something I will dscount