[Abraham] looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God... All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ...They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. (Hebrews 11)
This track from Tom Waits' 2011 album Bad As Me sums up a lot of what's going on these days.
Get a job, save your money, listen to Jane Everybody knows umbrellas will cost more in the rain All the news is bad Is there any other kind? Everybody’s talking at the same time
Well it’s hard times for some For others it’s sweet Someone makes money when there’s blood in the street Don’t take any lip Stay in line Everybody’s talking at the same time
Well the dog is in the kitchen And the war drags on The trees wait by the freeway All the moneys all gone Well she told me she would leave me I ignored all the signs And now everybody’s talking at the same time Everybody’s talking at the same time
Ain’t no one coming to pull you from the mud You gotta build your nest high enough to ride out the flood I know you’re leaving and there’s no more next time Everybody’s talking at the same time
A tiny boy sat and he played in the sand He made a sword from a stick And a gun from his hand Well we bailed out all the millionaires They’ve got the fruit We’ve got the rind And everybody’s talking at the same time Everybody’s talking at the same time
A few days ago, after I shared on Facebook a notice of an Occupy Denver event taking place this weekend, a close friend replied, "What are you promoting Dale? What's this movement about?"
Another friend liked my reply and suggested that I post it as a note. I decided to make it a blog post instead, so I could include some images and hyperlinks inline. Here it is.
Well, that's a fair question. This is my understanding of it, which may not be expressed the way the people most involved would choose for themselves.
I think it is a more or less gut response to economic injustice. There have always been some people more wealthy than others, and as someone is supposed to have said, "Ye have the poor always with you." In the last thirty years, though, and particularly in the last ten or so, there has been a systematic, deliberate and massive transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich.
The government, which in theory is supposed to represent the interests of all people, and particularly of the most powerless and therefore most vulnerable, has been little more the willing servant of the rich, bought out body and soul. Both parties have been more or less complicit in this.
The most culpable have been the financial sector,the big banks and Wall Street investors. They went on an unprecedented spree, gambling recklessly with other people's money to enrich themselves. When it all fell down around them, as it had to eventually, we the people bailed them out. Then they walked away with impunity, not one of them (except a few of the most egregious examples, like Bernie Madoff and Raj Rajaratnam) being indicted, much less jailed, for larceny on a scale that defies comprehension. Many of them even received and were allowed to keep bonuses for the success of their crimes!
All of this wouldn't sting so badly if there were an expectation of a better life for all and a chance of upward mobility for at least some of us. The widespread fear is that we are being locked permanently into a society with a tiny class of the super-rich, an ever growing underclass suffering in poverty, and a shrinking middle class with less and less hope for financial security. My parents and yours believed we would have a better life than they did. Hardly anyone believes today that their children will live even as well as we do, even in our straitened economy.
For better or worse, right or wrong, we Americans have always believed in our exceptionalism--that we were meant to be a "Shining City Upon a Hill." We thought we had a social compact that guaranteed we would be an example to the world of what it might be, free of an aristocratic ruling class securely ensconced in its privilege, a place where everyone had room in which to develop and express the best they had within themselves. That is what we are losing, and this may be the last chance to seize hold of that dream and resuscitate it before it slips away, irretrievable forever.
