A CALL TO ACTION

THERE IS NOTHING SO PERMANENT AS CHANGE

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Linda Gruer Mason County Progressive

If there ever was one, this is a time for action. There are so many things we could be doing, it almost seems we are in shock and watching it all go by, like mosquitoes on a screen door, buzzing but not going very far, like we have no power.

We are conditioned to believe that there really is a screen and that we the people can do a little buzzing (we vote, we work for candidates, we work on issues, all crucial stuff), but that we are just destined to stay behind that screen. We certainly get knocked down often enough that it seems so. (Nothing like a big recession to keep the militant mosquitoes down.)

We are also conditioned by the idea of "the American Dream", which is pervasive and I am not sure I even know what it means these days. Just work hard, keep your mouth shut, and maybe you will be able to pay your bills, educate your children, have a few well-advertised "things" and make it to retirement with enough put aside, and hope the next generation will have it better than you did. Or that we will really become one of the "rich". Cynical? Or realistic?

Part of that "work hard" ethic is that we are expected to become a worker that has a skill that is wanted, a target that is constantly moving, most recently to another country. Don't get me wrong, I am the first to accept that everything has a cycle and there is nothing so permanent as change.

What I do resist is that people and workers are so often seen as expedient to the bottom line. I would like to see that screen torn down and that all people become as important as the balance sheet. What we are doing now (with all the income at the top, etc.) is simply unsustainable.

What am I calling for? For the people to realize that the screen door is just an illusion, and that we all begin to BUZZ in really large numbers, in unison. NOTHING could really stop us! And NOTHING has really ever happened for the people if the people haven't really BUZZED.

Sounds pretty general and idealistic, I know. But how about this? Let's start thinking that the issues we take on are part of a larger process. That process should have a goal, so I am proposing: an economy that exists for the workers, not the other way around. We need to build organizations that are not so interested in profits, as in workers' well-being. Managers don't need to make 50 (or more) times the wage of the average worker.

Instead of rewarding companies for shipping good jobs overseas, Americans want to close corporate loopholes and invest in good jobs in the USA. Instead of slashing Medicare and Medicaid, we want the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. Instead of scapegoating workers, we want working and middle income families to be able to bargain for good wages and benefits. We want to rebuild our lives (and that would include everyone in the world when you think about it) with good jobs and strong communities, and that includes clean air and water.

And now it seems I have come full circle; these goals sound more like the "American Dream" I am interested in. Just a little shift, it won't take as much as you think, if we all do a lot of BUZZING. Especially if we realize that the screen we think is there, really isn't.

What do you think?