Give up on America? – Jim Hightower, 11/29/2004
Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it.
The “it” is giving up on America and moving to Canada, or wherever. Some progressives, bemoaning both the tone and result of the presidential election, wail that they no longer recognize their country and can’t stand the thought of enduring four more years of W.
Come on, folks – get a grip. I understand the impulse, and other lands certainly have their pluses, but this is America, a land of incomparable possibilities! It’s our home, our big family, and you don’t walk away from something so special just because we’ve hit an ugly patch. We’ve had plenty of ugly patches in America’s brawling history – Cotton Mather, slavery, Civil War, the suppression of women, the Robber Barons, Jim Crow, violence against labor, Joe McCarthy – what if progressive forces in these times had just cut and run?
Thankfully, they didn’t. Instead they fought and eventually won. Progressive forces have endured serious institutionalized violence against them. During the labor struggles in the 30’s, management hired Pinkerton goons to bludgeon demonstrators.
During the civil rights fights in the 60’s white trash sheriffs turned water cannons and attack dogs on non-violent demonstrator. Churches were burned, innocents maimed and murdered.
Opposition against the grotesqueries of McCarthy at first came from a small, courageous few, willing to risk everything. Many paid a serious price, careers ruined, prison, etc. But they prevailed. Public opinion finally swung their way, and McCarthy was thrown from power.
The point is, a few committed people mobilized, took big risks, and after concerted effort and struggle millions had joined with them. Public opinion shifted and the battles were won. they didn’t run. They stayed and fought. And did so enthusiastically, even joyfully. Yes, it may be a struggle, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a glorious time while doing it!
Besides, it’s not like the entire population has suddenly become right-wing crazed zealots and you’re all alone. Remember, 49 percent of us voted against the Bushites, vehemently opposing where they’re trying to take our America. We’re strong…and getting stronger.
Indeed, progressives are organizing are unifying like never before. 2005 will no doubt have major fights and confrontations. So – organize. mobilize. Be ready. And have fun doing it!
Karl Rove would like nothing more than to see all of us move away, leaving America to him. We have no right to do anything like that – it’s our happy duty to be in their face and take our country back.
Blame Canada? Nope, some want to move there
In the last week, more than 300 people in L.A., Seattle and San Francisco paid $25 each to attend how-to seminars put on by a Canadian immigration law firm.
In the capital of Canada, immigration officials dubbed the huge increase in visits to their official website “the November spike.” Traffic grew from an average number of around 50,000 hits a day to 180,000 on Nov. 3. A majority of the hits — 64% — came from south of the border
One website launched as a spoof by THIS magazine, a Toronto-based political journal, invited Canadians to “rescue” Americans by marrying them.The site got so many hits the weekend after the election — 350 per second, up from 350 per day — that its servers crashed.
What we have here in Canada,” said Michael Adams, a pollster and sociologist, “is like the consensus in Massachusetts and coastal California — if those people ran the country. That’s what Canada is like.”
Gay marriage to be legal in Canada
Let’s make this country as progressive as Canada. The planet will thank us.