Minnie In The Pole Barn
In another dark and troubling time, one of my journalistic heroes, Thomas Paine wrote that “Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good”
Mine too.
A half century ago, I decided to cover the revolution rather than join the revolution. Actually, the 60’s were more of a resistance than a revolution, and I began my work as a radical writer for a liberation news service, and then chose to became a reporter, which was the more comfortable place for me to be.
I wanted to be in the middle of everything, but I’m not really a joiner, I’d rather watch. Intimacy has always frightened me more than real danger. This fits my own perennial role in life as an observer. I suppose I was always afraid to get too close to the fire.
Since then, I have largely avoided politics, often didn’t vote, paid as little attention to the process as I could. Now, I am intrigued to see that I am paying a lot of attention, and without too much self-consciousness or drama. I am joining the New Resistance forming to the harsh and angry politics sweeping the country.
Actually, I think the New Resistance has joined me.
The New Resistance has formed all around me, is taking shape everywhere I look and I want to join, from a small band of heroic journalists, to the tens of thousands of volunteers rushing to help the refugees, to the countless acts of humanity and compassion spring out all over the country. I am going to mentor a refugee family soon, I am expanding my therapy work with Red, I am sharing my thoughts as they evolve.
I see a new Army Of Good rising up, they will be a powerful force to be reckoned with. The country was born in revolution, it can be reborn in another.
The members of the New Resistance are fanning out to do good, looking for opportunities to help others, to stand up for the values we see as best and most authentically representing our country. It is a moral movement, which does not mean it is always right, but it seeks a moral and humane way to live in our troubled world.
The Corporate takeover of American institutions – our media, culture, weather, health care, work, incomes, judiciary, and now, our national political system is nearly complete, that is our new reality. And it has happened with the support of many of the “people,” perhaps dazzled by the replacement of truth and facts with emotion and rage.
Some revolutions begin in hope, some in anger. The New Resistance has some work to do. Anyone who has every come close to politics understands that the rich will always screw the poor, it is the doomed outsiders who always come to their aid.
This New Resistance is, perhaps the movement I have been waiting for. Curiously, Saturday Night Live is a gathering place for the New Resistance, it’s biting skits are front page news all over the country. On Sunday morning when I wake up, that is my news.
Its seems more truth often comes from our entertainers than our journalists or political leaders. Everyone I know is plotting to do good, that is a resistance movement the world needs. And what is the ethos of this new movement? It is quite simple. We seek to do good.
I’m getting involved to protect the lives and safety of refugees, to fight for the role of a free and independent media, one of the crown jewels of our democracy, and to stand for the immigrant experience, the American dream, our light to world, and for Mother Earth, our grieving sister.
The New Resistance movement wants also to work to give the poor hope, and to support the freedom and dignity of women, and the right of all people to adequate medical care. This is a human right. Curiously, if I had a slogan for my movement, it would be Liberty For All, not just the rich and the white.
I guess many would argue that this is the tired old rhetoric of the left, but I reject these labels we put on one another, this is the agenda of our better angels, of the better side of humanity.
I understand that these are, sadly, now controversial thoughts in our very divided country, and I don’t write this as an argument but as a continuing effort to stand in my truth and share my life.
I’ve been writing for decades online and off, and death threats and nasty messages do not bother me much, it’s a lot like the weather, the New Resistance is about a civil and humane society. I don’t argue with people on Facebook or sent cruel e-mail messages. I don’t really care with others think, I care what I think. We all choose our own path to walk on.
This is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the country we once had and took for granted, and want back. I do not believe it is too late or that the struggle will take too long for me. I have many more years behind me than ahead of me, and it is my wish to leave Maria, my daughter and my granddaughter with the wonderful country I have grown up and love.
I join this movement in honor of my grandmother, whose love saved my life, and who sacrificed so much to come to America, which she saw as a light and a beacon for the weary and oppressed of the world. I want to help turn that light back on. And for Maria, whose heart and spirit are pure. I can’t speak for her, but I imagine this is a movement she might wish to join.
I don’t know if I will live to see the outcome of this, but there are somethings very much worth fighting for. I believe the most effective resistance is non-violent and moral. Government was created to protect people and help lift them up, not to frighten and persecute our weakest and most helples, or exploit and inflame our darkest instincts.
We bring about change by doing good, creatively and continuously.
I understand that many people are unhappy about the broken promises made to them, but what I see is something I have been writing about for years: our country is truly becoming a corporate nation, about to be ruled by Generals, bankers, oil barons, CEO’s, billionaires, conspiracy theorists, climate deniers and a diverse cast of enraged old white men and women with whom I have nothing much in common.
We are, in fact, now officially a Corporate Nation. A Divided Nation. A Bewildered Nation, unsure now of our ideals and purpose.
I fear the angry populists who so yearned for change are going to get some, I doubt it will be the change they wanted. I don’t see any unemployed factory workers joining the cabinet or the new government. These left behind people are continuously being told they will never be forgotten again, but that is the conjurer’s trick of the demagogue, I fear.
They have already been forgotten, by almost everyone on every side of the spectrum. The live in a world that needs to forget them, they are incompatible with great wealth.
The were forgotten the day after the election. There is no pleasure to be had in their ongoing, perhaps ultimate betrayal. Anger is no food, it does not bring good work or send kids to college. But I believe there is wisdom in the decisions of the people. We will be hearing from them soon enough.
Truth does not come from what we say, but from what we do. And truth wants to live and be free.
In my life, I have always most admired the non-violent resistance movements that have been the most successful. At times they have changed the world: the moral power of men like Mandela, King, and Gandhi, Bessie Rayner Parkes.
Success is not final, said Winston Churchill, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts. I am getting to be an old man, and I have seen a lot. I’m happy to have the opportunity of the New Resistance, it is just how I would wish to be remembered, it is a call to be a moral and caring human being.
People are good, given the chance. Now is the chance.
The great leaders of the world promise suffering and grief, not miracles and glory. Paine wrote that the mind, once enlightened, cannot again become dark. I hope to help make it so.
The great resistance leaders all made promises and kept them, they delivered and always preached compassion and humanity while sparking great and genuine revolution, as opposed to promises of revolution. They were sincere people, close to the poor and the yearning, they were not beloved by billionaires and divisive political leaders.
They touched and uplifted the hearts of people.
They turned us away from anger and fear, they did not draw us towards it. So I’m in the New Resistance, I’ve joined and I will occasionally do again what I did so long ago – share the experience with other people.
The circle does turn, doesn’t it?