Tensegrities

Get mad -- there are good reasons to do so!

A couple of days ago I wrote in here about the compelling management of symbol that the Reagan administration inaugurated and pursued, even past his death. I mentioned the reality that I rarely heard voices with equal eloquence speak on issues I care about with ideas I agreed with. Well, there are some exceptions. Bill Moyers is one, and whatever you feel about his media abilities, take a moment to read the transcript of a speech he gave recently in New York.

The middle class and working poor are told that what's happening to them is the consequence of Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand." This is a lie. What's happening to them is the direct consequence of corporate activism, intellectual propaganda, the rise of a religious orthodoxy that in its hunger for government subsidies has made an idol of power, and a string of political decisions favoring the powerful and the privileged who bought the political system right out from under us.

This is a description of "class warfare" -- but not one started by those of us on the progressive end of the political spectrum, but rather those on the end favoring greed and narrowly construed notions of who deserves to be wealthy. He concludes: "What we need is a mass movement of people like you. Get mad, yes -- there's plenty to be mad about. Then get organized and get busy. This is the fight of our lives." He's right. What will you do?

Posted by hessma at June 16, 2004 02:28 PM