Help Wanted

Who's gonna fill their shoes? Who's gonna stand that tall?

George Jones

Pete Seeger is dead. He lived for 94 years and for most of them was actively working for the betterment of his fellow human being. His music professed his love for them and the country in which he lived. That is not to say he never disagreed with his country. He did that often, loudly and musically. Pete grew up in those turbulent times that went from The Roaring Twenties to the Wall Street Crash to Bread Lines and on to WWII. Then he was caught up in the McCarthyism of the fifties which he famously assaulted head on. Then to the Civil Rights Era and then the Anti-War protests during VietNam. An entire life filled with activism of the highest order and with music and non-violence. Even more recently he spoke up in his opposition to rising income inequality and the current spate of tinpot wars in which we find it so easy to become engaged.

At his passing I was wondering, “Who's going to fill those shoes?” Who can throw himself or herself into the fray with such unrelenting passion? When Pete took the stage everyone knew that regardless of agreement or disagreement they were in the presence of something greater than just the mere man that stood before them. I was casting about in my memory for others who have shouldered the concerns of the common citizen and carried them for the rest of their lives. Certainly Martin Luther King, Jr. fills the bill but, tragically, his pilgrimage came to an early end. Many forget that Dr. King's message was not just one of racial equality but also one of equality of opportunity and peace. It was to that end that he was in Memphis on Bloody Sunday. He was there to take part in a demonstration for equal pay for the sanitation workers of that city when the assassin’s bullet took him. I have no doubt that, had he lived, he would still be standing for those causes, speaking truth to power. His legacy is that many other people who served with him have taken up the cause and carried it forward accomplishing in legislation much of the agenda about which he preached.

The dearth of captivating figures is certainly not due to a lack of causes deserving enough to be carried to the streets and to the watching eyes of America's public. Racism still exists in many forms, bigotry is the same. The decline of the middle class and with it the American Dream of upward mobility and a chance to participate in the expansive wealth of this nation is a cause that is richly deserving of massive public demonstration. The Occupy movement attempted to tap into that vein but for some reason failed to ignite the American spirit after a promising start. The emphasis on non-violence prevented those who hold the reins of power from bringing the might of the state to bear so what was it that failed to excite the American spirit.

Lottery for beds at a shelter in LA.

Just this question has occupied my mind for several years now and I have a few ideas. Just as our country has marginalized the effect of war by not requiring sacrifice by all and using a volunteer force so have we marginalized the poor and jobless by making it seem as if their plight is their own fault. They failed to keep up while financial interests boomed. When their houses were lost it was said by many that they should not have entered into such onerous mortgage agreements. Little was said about those who used predatory practices to lure them into those agreements. When a few were declared liable the giant banks were given fines but no one has gone to jail. The fines written off as a cost of doing business. And, then, when the homes were gone, retirement savings vanished and unemployment benefits exhausted they were declared to be takers, not makers and, as such, not worthy of the compassion of the American government. They were marginalized while what remains of the middle class was forced to run harder and faster to maintain that precarious standing. Education became too expensive for many to afford one of the means of improving one's chances in the lottery to become average. The combination of marginalization and busyness has left those in the trenches with little time or energy to complain. Radicalization of ideological politics has diminished the power of the vote and led to people voting against their own self interest, slaves to the memes and political slogans that infect our government.

This is not the first time. Most recently it happened during the Great Depression which led to many social changes. It happened during the civil rights era when the American public was treated to dogs and fire hoses coming out of their televisions. This one is still looking for the spark that will ignite the passions of those who have had enough of watching fellow citizens in bread lines and sleeping under bridges. The goals are the same, the obstacles are different. Social media is both a blessing and a curse that can either pacify a restive public or galvanize that public into action.

So, who will rise to sing the songs of the depressed and mistreated. Who will begin to preach the sinful nature of a lack of compassion? How will they penetrate the hearts of the harried? David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the New York Times said that if, a few years ago, he had been told that economic inequality could be this great, unemployment could be this high and we could be involved in the longest war in American history, that we would not have a virulent progressive movement he would have been incredulous but here we are.

My take? HELP WANTED: visionary people to step into those shoes and walk a mile or two.