The other day I was reminded of what it was like to be part of a protest surrounded by thousands of others. How did the huge protests happen? There was no internet or Facebook or Google telling people where to gather at what time. No one called me to meet them in Grant Park or on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago, yet I got there, along with thousands of others.
We were there because we wanted an end to the war in Vietnam and to call attention to changes we wanted to see in society. Peace and love were what we wanted but we were called “dirty hippies” and beaten up and arrested.
I was in Washington, D.C., on the weekend described in this article http://wapo.st/3rBN4lo where thousands were arrested. When the jails were full, the Nixon administration used a football field to secure the protesters. Fortunately, I wasn’t one of them.
During the late ’60s and early ’70s, thousands of us sat in the streets of downtown Chicago blocking traffic or surrounding the Dirksen Federal Building sending our message to stop the war and bring our friends home. Yet, if we were successful in our demands, what next?
Between 1969 and 1978 I was attending college and working, paying for my education and an apartment and a car and struggling through each day toward some end that wasn’t defined, but I knew it had to be better than the lives of the millions of those in the “silent majority.”
For any unfamiliar with that term, here’s some information – http://bit.ly/3vdlpJJ.
My goal was not to get a piece of “the American dream,” but rather to prepare myself to live each day to be happy and help others. That’s all I ever wanted.
I was never interested in buying stuff or socking away money. I was here to help. It was always that straight-forward to me.
As I look back on those years, my only regret is that I didn’t have the knowledge of how the economy works that I have today. I can’t change the past, but I can share the knowledge I have today with everyone I meet, everyone I talk to, everyone I encounter through social media.
Maybe I’m trying to make up for lost time. No harm in that. I believe only good can come from my efforts each day working to make friends and influence people to care enough to learn there’s an existing framework filled with solutions and approaches to struggles we face.
I always try to get to the bottom line and figure out how to get results. I don’t like to spend lots of time “figuring,” I prefer results and some gratification. That’s not to say you rush in without any planning. You can’t let emotions rule your actions. You’ve got to have a plan.
Well, I now have a plan, a framework, the knowledge that guides me every day. I know how the economy of our country works and how that government can pay for what the citizens it represents need and deserve. I know the truth as to why the political decisions are not made to benefit society.
Put that knowledge to work and society will benefit.
It all falls into place for me. Take knowledge and truth and share it with everyone. Don’t let anyone stop you, just as millions weren’t stopped from protesting over the years. Care enough to arm yourself with facts and share what you have learned.
Open your mind and, as the nuns in school used to tell us, “get rid of the cobwebs” and let ideas come into that great brain you have.
I know for sure not everyone will do this, but I’ve got to keep trying to share the economic framework. You can begin here with this work from Warren Mosler, one of the originators of Modern Monetary Theory: https://bit.ly/30J5GEB. Go to the Real Progressives’ bookshelf, https://bit.ly/2PUSudD for much more. There are also podcasts at Macro N Cheese, https://bit.ly/3rBBSFE. To understand why the wrong political decisions are made, watch “The New Untouchables: The Pecora Files” at https://bit.ly/3erL8Z9.
Who knows what protests would have accomplished if we had the knowledge we have today?
Rose Ann Miele is a journalist and was public information officer for Boulder City for nine years. She is the national outreach director for Real Progressives. She can be reached at roseannrab@hotmail.com or at 702-339-9082.