A call to national unity: ‘Try to love one another. Right now.’
Commentary by Andy Pope | FāVS News
I’ve been seeing a lot of posts coming from Occupy Democrats addressing issues of classism and inequality. These issues have been grossly amplified in an era of irresponsible billionaires making it hard for responsible poor people like myself to continue breathing.
Though I agree with posts like these, the reason why I don’t share them is because I think it’s strategically unsound. So many people right now — including myself — are frustrated with the Democrats.
People like me agree with the content; we only wish it were not associated with the Democrats exclusively. The Democrats should not be acting as though they hold the monopoly on social activism.
It may be a while before conservative white blue collar workers feel the full crunch of these economic insults — at least to the degree that say, homeless people have felt it. But it’s getting close.
There are Republican blue collar workers who can barely pay their bills and feed their families. Naturally they become resentful when people they associate with liberalism accuse them of being sexists, racists and homophobes. In most cases, that stuff is not even on their radar. They’re too busy worrying when the next financial emergency is going to land them on the streets.
The reason why I know about the struggles of blue collar workers is because I myself landed on the streets, and I met these people. Extremely frustrated white blue collar workers who had lost their job due to something like medical bills or transportation issues at a time of rapidly rising rent. Some were racist, but by and large they weren’t. They were only sweating bullets trying to figure out how to extricate themselves from the huge hole that is urban homelessness.
People do not how huge is that hole. It took me 12 years to escape homelessness in the Bay Area. Had I not wised up and found a nice college town conveniently located near the Canadian border, I would have died in a Bay Area gutter. Furthermore, were I to return to California today, I would eventually land in that same gutter. The only thing that has kept me from homelessness throughout the past eight plus years in Idaho is that my one bedroom apartment rents for one-fifth it would rent for today in the Bay Area.
I suppose I could have jumped yet again to yet another California living situation that would have yet again landed me on the streets, but I think my point is clear. While the Democrats were focused on the intellectual abstraction of “identity,” most of the nation, myself included, was focused on the maddening state of the economy, and how challenging it has been to make ends meet.
If posts like these came from an organized movement called OCCUPY AMERICA, I and others would receive them more generously. I did participated in Occupy Berkeley when I was homeless. But I remain persuaded that the left-right division in America today is a bigger problem than what has been happening on either side.
We need to be united, as a nation, in order to solve our common problem. I pray that this unity will manifest soon, because the Big Boys and their Tesla Toys just love to see left warring against right and vice-versa. This is the division they have intentionally promoted, in order to sow discord, and keep the American people from uniting. The less power the people have, the more power the Big Boys have to grab.
In my opinion, we need another 1968. If you don’t know what happened in 1968, look it up. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from the 60s — and on throughout the Watergate of the 70s. In the era post-Watergate, I watched the people of America come together. My dad and I had been political enemies, and now — we were embracing each other in tears.
Come on people now! Smile on your brother! Everybody get together — try to love one another right now.
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
I LOVE this (and the Youngblood song). Two things for thought:
1) until we get money out of politics we are stuck with a two-party system. Rank choice or STAR voting might weaken it, but until then I can’t go along with the Dem bashing. It is the ONLY party I support because the other party is poison. I have no problem being anti-poison.
2) All of the dem bashers I know are not attending local democrat meetings and for that reason, I suspect their knowledge of things. Complainers who are absent from the organization are never going to control the organization and get it to do what they want.
I really don’t know Janet. I personally don’t see much hope in the Democratic party. But that’s just my own view. I’m not a Democrat. I do think we need to get money out of politics, though I’m not sure how. In line with my thinking, I believe individual people need to shed the “love of money” and replace it with the love of God–or at least of all things good, truthful, right and just.
This will take courage. The love of money does not only affect those who can bribe and extort. It also affects those who are bribed and extorted. It’s a venom that affects it all, and to relinquish it requires courage.
I’m not a lover of the current Democrat party — just willing to work with what I’ve got — and show up. The party is organized as a grass-roots organization and CAN be taken over (like MAGA took over the Republican party) but it would take people showing up and doing it (going to meetings) instead of throwing rocks at it from the outside. That’s just my opinion.
I often rant about money in politics. This is common ground — NOBODY likes it. I agree with you that greed is driving most societal ills. I have started to write about greed so many times I suppose I’ll just have to do it to get it done. I am researching an Anti-poverty Manifesto and know I will be writing about greed.
Thanks for starting this conversation, Andy. Your life history gives you the wisdom and authority to give good advice to us liberal Democrats. I agree, however, with Janet that we need to keep supporting local, regional, and national efforts to provide some opposition to the right wingers who currently control our economy, our culture, and our foreign policy.