Four score and twenty betrayals ago, when Barack Obama was posturing as a transformational leader, when he was promising government of the people, by the people, and for the people, he spoke of the core values progressives have always believed in as the solution to America's problems . . .
That spirit of looking out for one another, that core value that says I am my brothers keeper, I am my sister's keeper, that spirit is most evident during times of great hardship, but that spirit can't just be restricted to moments of great catastrophe. Because as I stand here and look out at the thousands of folks who have gathered here today, I know that there's some folks who are going through their own quiet storms.
Hurricane Ike had just hit the gulf coast of Texas, Wall Street was about to implode, the foundations of the economy were crumbling, Americans everywhere were losing their jobs, their homes, their last remnants of trust in the government . . .
All across America there are quiet storms taking place. There are lives of quiet desperation. People who need just a little bit of help. Now, Americans are a self-reliant people, we're an independent people. We don't like asking somebody else to do what we can do ourselves, but you know what we understand is that every once in awhile, somebody's going to get knocked down.
Every once in awhile . . .
Yes, and every once in awhile, the sun comes up. Then, every once in awhile, it goes down again.
Low income Americans get knocked down every day, middle class Americans get knocked down every day, seniors on fixed incomes get knocked down every day. Republicans knocked them down for 30 years, and now Barack Obama and that gang of corporate enforcers that used to be the Democratic Party are doing it. A punch in the face is a punch in the face. Analyze that, Beltway Republicrats. When Americans are flat on their back all the time, they don't give a damn whether the fist that knocked them down was a Republican fist or a Democratic fist. A corporate fist is a corporate fist. Whistle past that graveyard, Obamabots. Have an "ideologue" diary contest, fill that wreck list of yours with "ideologue" ravings and let's all see who can clap the loudest.
Every time Americans try to get up they get punched to the ground again, by health insurance profiteers, by bankers and predatory lenders, by credit card company and drug company and oil company thugs. Those profit-addicted junkies in their crack house corporations can call it "free market capitalism" all they want, but that's not what it is.
It's a highway of diamonds with nobody on it, it's a black branch with blood that keeps dripping, it's a walk through the depths of the deepest dark forest, where the people are many and their hands are all empty, where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters, where the home in the valley meets the damp, dirty prison, where the executioner's face is always well hidden, where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten.
Turn off the network "news". Put the petitions away. Hang up the phone. Forget about calling Congress. You don't need to watch TV to know what the "news" will be, you don't need to send petitions you know will be ignored, you don't need to call Congress to know what the answer's going to be.
Bob Dylan was right 40 years ago, and he's still right.
Those quiet storms Obama talked about before Rahm handed him a club and told him to use it on all the wrong people won't be quiet storms much longer. There are too many quiet storms, there's too much suffering, there are too many consequences piling up, the silence is not going to last, the biggest storm this country's ever seen is heading our way and there won't be anything quiet about it.
It would be wise to get ready for that.
I remember the protesters at the Republican Convention in St. Paul. I remember their courage. They were the heart and soul of change we can believe in. They were the freedom you've never had, they were the leaders you've never known, they were the answer you've never understood. They were no one, but they were everyone, they were nothing, but they were everything. They were humanity taking a stand against inhumanity, they were the light on streets of darkness, they were reality in a system of unreality, they were the truth in a nation of lies, they were the promise of healing in a world of pain.
There will be more of them next time. At both conventions. Many more. Too many for the "free speech zones" to hold, too many for the talking heads to explain away, so many that the whole world will be watching.
Be one of those protesters. Be one of those Americans. Be the heart and soul of change you can believe in, be the leader you didn't know you could be, be the answer you finally hear blowing in the wind. Be humanity taking a stand against inhumanity, be the light on streets of darkness, be reality in a system of unreality, be the truth in a nation of lies, be the promise of healing in a world of pain.
This world is going to need healing, because a Storm of Karma is coming.
The Beltway Republicrats are heading right into it, but they don't even see it. I don't know when it's going to hit, but I know one thing, when that storm hits full force, it's going to be much too big for their little boat.
How many times can a politician turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see?
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