Hard Hats

I hope you'll forgive my sluggardly posting of late. The fact is that I've been greedily absorbing almost every bit of the daily news. Political developments, the war in Iraq, the indictment of Enron's Ken Lay, they're all in the system, you could say.

Processing, grinding, stewing.... there's tons in there to type, I assure you.

Even though what's in the news is a virtual embarassment of riches, I'm finding myself a bit stand-offish to the fray, a detached observer if you will.

It's not hard for me to put my finger on what's got me in this state of mind. In fact, if you want to read one of the best discussion threads I've read in the past few days, just go spend an hour with Citizen Smash, and you'll perhaps have an insight as to my thoughts.

Frankly, I'm on guard here. Deep, deep down in my gut, I have a sense of being on the precipice, of teetering on the tightrope of national sanity, or the loss thereof.

Michelle of A Small Victory piqued Lt.Smash's synapes into overdrive with her post which addresses civility in blogdom and the choice by some bloggers to switch-off their comment features.

But her take on the subject far exceeds a mere address on the civility of blogs and their commenters. And she hits the nerve that's been bothering me like a 22 oz. Estwing framing hammer driving a 6d nail into a 2x4.

I've been voting since 1980. I've been paying attention since long before then. I honestly cannot remember a presidential election where the sides were so far apart that the feeling of a war between the voters - not the candidates - was in the air. Well, yes I can. We can go back to the 1968 for that. I may have only been six years old at the time, but trust me, I was fully aware. My mother reminds me that I was reading the newspaper every day from the time I could read. Not just the comics or the sports pages, but the entire paper. I asked questions, some she couldn't even answer. And, as my parents were news junkies before me, we watched the nightly news together every evening. I had cousins who were in the thick of the protests. In fact, I had to go with my aunt one evening to drag an older cousin away from a protest that was turning ugly. What I remember most about that year (I do have a memory like an elephant) was the feeling that something was wrong. It shaped how I viewed politics.

Well, I'm but a few years older than she, and I can remember my Dad, then a U.S. Navy recruiter, working in the downtown Los Angeles recruiting and induction center.

During the Watts riots.

Those sailors kept loaded Garands by their desks.

And like Michelle, I've been a news junkie all my life. Just a snippet of a war story, but when Robert Kennedy was leading the primaries, the huge majority of the kids in my elementary class were all agog over him, for reasons yet unbeknownst to them. They were smitten by his youth, looks and indeed in hindsight, his genuine charisma.

I was one of the few who supported Nixon on that playground. I understood, even then, even before my then Democrat Dad understood, that one side of the political spectrum supported our troops, while the opposing side supported every cause but a victory in Vietnam.

It wasn't until the Reagan years that my Dad finally made the change away from "the other side".

But, I digress. (I seem to do that a lot, here, don't I?)

What's bugging me is that it really is 1968 again. Oh, the riots haven't started yet. But then, neither have The Conventions.

That said, there's some striking differences which steel my heart to stand strong against the onslaught, should it come.

Unlike 1968, conservatives in our schools and universities are finding their voice.

Unlike 1968, we've seen this before. As in, back in 1968. Those of us who were there haven't forgotten, and we know what todays '68ers look like, sound like. Smell like.

They smell like rats. But that's besides the point, actually.

Unlike 1968, we finally have a strong, clear and open forum for our voices to be heard.

Right fucking here, baybee. It's called the Internet, and Al Gore can kiss my ass. But that's besides the point, really.

Unlike 1968, we have a bit of AM Talk Radio, to help counter the stranglehold of the alphabet meida on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, et. al.

And a bit of Fox News thown in, just for good effect.

Unlike 1968, we have countless pundits, both bloggers and dead-tree media, riding herd on the likes of Moore, Dowd, Krugman and Rall.

Together, we're callling bullshit on that collectivist herd of swine, just as fast as they can spew slime to screen.

And unlike 1968, we're no longer a Silent Majority. Hear us quietly roar.

From the ballot boxes, the left will be deafened by the thunder of our vote.

You see, no matter how screwed up George W. Bush is on immigration, on education, on his misbegotten "New Tone" in Washington, there's one thing he's absolutley resolute on.

Our War on Terror.

And even in that, I find fault here and there with his choices on that front.

I probably would have bitched about Roosevelt, too. But he sure did spank some Nazi ass, didn't he? And Tojo's probably still bowing to him from Valhalla.

So, here I sit aboard ship. I'm watching, reading, listening, absorbing.

Processing.

One thing I've not heard out on the wire about 1968 though.

The Hard Hats. I remember them, and remember them well.

Are we to be the Hard Hats of 1968, brought forward to a new and bloody day? Let's hope not. But like '68, there's a breaking point out there somewhere. The camel's loaded up to it's last few straws, one or two more might find the breaking point. And for all the hand-wringing back then about the big-bad construction workers beating up on the poor widdle peacefwl pwotestews, note this paragraph from the WSJ article:

Stock market activity slowed to a crawl. Brokers, analysts, investors, and office help poured out of the buildings or clustered at windows to watch. After the initial foray, the construction workers regrouped to march first down Wall Street and then up lower Broadway. As they marched, they chanted "U.S.A., All the Way." Many in the dense crowds on the sidewalks cheered. From the windows of offices lining the street came streams of ticker-tape and data processing punch cards.

Today, as in 1968, I think the reaction of the overwhelming majority would be in support of the troops, the Soverignty of the United States and the rejection the U.N. And the majority would, in spite of everything, support the modern Hard Hats, almost forty years after the originals.

And in case anyone's forgotten just how violent the left really was in those days, perhaps this will put a few things into perspective. Governor Lincoln Almond of Rhode Island was on the anti-war side of the Vietnam issue. But he was a good man and a responsible administrator. Here, from his April 1998 interview for The Whole World Was Watching an oral history of 1968.

KC/PM: The SDS

LA: The SDS? Yeah, and they were coming and they were using the black movement, and, which was not involving the blacks, and we had some good information that they were going to kidnap a Federal Judge and put him on trial, and we believed the information, so the Chief Judge gave me permission to lock the doors of the courthouse, and sure enough, they came. And they were the worst. They were the only violent group that I encountered during the entire Vietnam War. They were very, very difficult.

KC/PM: How did you confront them?

LA: Well, we locked the doors, I had marshals within the building, we had FBI agents within the building, and outside the building. And, oh, they had chains and they had everything and they were throwing things, and they were trying to break the doors. We finally had to restrain some of them physically and eventually, when they saw they weren't going to succeed. They were going to go to Judge Day's courtroom, where there was an actual trial going on, a criminal trial, and they were going to disrupt the proceedings and they were going to seize the courtroom and try Judge Day for treason, and there was no question they were going to do that. You know, it was a very, very difficult day. It lasted about half a day.

KC/PM: Was there a reason they had chosen Judge Day?

LA: No idea. It was just going to be a statement. But most of the demonstrations were on the steps of the courthouse. They were fairly peaceful, and just the heckling. The most difficult thing I had was across the street they were building the Hospital Trust Tower, so you had all the hard-hats, and the hard-hats would stop work and sit on the girders and taunt the protesters, so you always had this confrontation between the hard-hatters at the construction site and the demonstrators in the front of the. That was the most difficult one. I was always fearful about it. I used to go over and talk to those guys all the time, and say let us handle it, but I was always fearful of them charging from the Hospital Trust Tower. It did cause a lot of high emotion.

The left today is the same as it was then. The members of the S.D.S. and Weather Underground would find welcome homes with MoveOn and DemocraticUnderground.

Our Hard Hats of today are beating the Left without having to resort to using pipes wrapped in flags, crowbars or the like. Instead, they're educated, informed, articulate and bold beyond words. And the Left fears them more than they ever feared taking a beating in '68.

In 1968, the hippies loved having film-clips of their bloodied visages playing on the evening news. Such images turned sympathies to their cause, no matter how wrong they actually were.

And we're not giving them those images to play with, this time. At least, not yet. And not unless it comes to us defending ourselves, our families and homes and our Nation.

But if it comes to that, we're ready.

My God, how we are ready.

And that's what sets me back a bit, you see. For I too, am ready. And I hate, absolutely hate, finding myself in that state. But it's really very simple, you see.

Our future is either with that of the United States of America residing as a true Sovereign Nation, existing among and with other sovereignties of like heart and spirit.

Or as a subject State, of bended knee before the collective of the U.N, otherwise known as Eurpoia.

Pulling back from that brink is really, as simple as your vote in November.

Yeah, Bush pisses me off to no end, too.

But the alternative is 1968 in overdrive. And I really, really pray it doesn't come to that.

Let's first keep the Ship of State off of the rocks.

Then we'll bitch amongst ourselves about how the ship is run.

Comments

[Rivrdog]

Fine retrospective. You left something out though, Jim. The (D)onks have been in FL for a while, vowing to sue everyone who doesn't see conducting the November election there in their particular way.

Remember that way? They recounted ad nauseam, tried to have a revote where some criminals got arrested on Election Day and disfranchised thousands of military, whose votes would not have gone their way.

Do I remember 1968? Yep, but my memory goes back a few years before that. I ran a YAF (Young Americans for Freedom) PAC at a major liberal University 1965-1966. I set the PAC up to fight the SDS and I was successful in removing their cover lies. I paid plenty for that bit of conservative leadership, but I'm here to talk about it and my antagonist isn't.

If it weren't for the lawyers, now emboldened by the choice of one of their own as Veep candy-date, I would agree with your basic premise of optimism.

I don't, just because the lawyers will try again, ONLY THIS TIME THEY WILL START SOONER, WELL BEFORE ELECTION DAY.

The (D) lawyers may well create a real Constitutional Crisis, the kind you and I prepare for frequently at the range.....

[A Recovering Liberal]

Great post. Thanks for the history lesson (c:

[Guy S.]

Yeah, I remember '68 lived in a norhtwest suburb of Chicago...*they* had long hair and atitude...*we* had Chicago's finest. And back then billy clubs were not the least bit shy of being applied to some miscrents knoggen. And you can say what you will about (senior)Daley's political machine...but *nobody* was going to mess with his town or his people. (hmmmm I would have been 13 about that time)

And so here we are 36 years later.
I agree, there is a chasum, deep and ever widening. The big difference and perhaps the saving grace (for the moment) is the folks on the other side of that chasum are working within the system (they may also be working *the* system but they feel there is a chance for success by doing that rather than out and out violence. For now.

I am waiting for what happens after November. If we win by a large amount...they will be crushed and scatter like the roaches they are. But if it is even close to the results of 2000 (regarless of who wins), then we may be in for some hard times. And god forbid if we loose. The twin towers will be just a memory of what will be coming as the terrorists and all who support same will see a liberal victory as a green light for further misadventure.

Sorry if I took up too much time on this soapbox. You hit a big red button.

Guy

[Mortimer Snerd]

I love this... so here you are, advocating violence against Americans for the crime of disagreeing with you "BEYOND THE POINT WHERE IT'S ACCEPTABLE," whatever the hell that means. That and refering to fellow Americans as roaches because you don't care for their politics. That's pretty classy, too. I guess it makes it easier to attack some college kid who thought that freedom of speech and association applied to them, too.

Come on. Take a bloody civics class, people. Patriots step up and do what they do at the ballot box, the local pub, and over their back fence, agreeing to disagree and trying to work it out because that's the only way that democracy works. Patriots aren't out there "preparing for a Constitutional crisis" at the local range... only deeply disturbed tweakers with a profound disregard for what it means to be an American are doing that.

[Sam]

This, my friend, is a GREAT post.

Thanks!

[michele]

Excellent post. You did a much better job at conveying what I was trying to get at.

[LF]

Good post. Scary but good. Scary because I am such a wuss, and reading this thing made even me want to go bust some heads. And Mr. Snerd, how is calling someone a "deeply disturbed tweaker" any different than calling someone a roach?

[Guy S.]

Hmmmm, " "BEYOND THE POINT WHERE IT'S ACCEPTABLE," whatever the hell that means."

And there, my fellow travlers is our whole point in one bit of commentary. They well and truely do not *get it*. I would be upset and or ranting at this point. But it is pointless...there are two different cultures growing in opposite directions. You either have some sort of moral compass or ya don't. If you do, then the first part of the above statement answers the question. If ya don't, well that would expain the last (uncapitalized) part.

Snerd, your nick fits you better than you know.

[Michele]

Thank you for so lucidly bring back the past and placing it ina context that sheds light to my own political education and past leanings. Like you I believed Bobby Kennedy a dangerous man. Like you I also supoorted Nixon in the playground. The end result was having a small brick hurled at my head by another student and winding up in the hospital. It's no wonder My political voice was silenced all these years.
Thank you for such an eloquent and poigniant entry.

[recon]

The common denominator is Kerry.

Thre architect, source and initiator of the sheer hatred is McAuliffe, Klintonian tool.

Kerry's doing now what he did then.

Only now, the stakes are a lot higher.

And he's a bigger traitor than ever.

[doc Russia]

Beyond the point which is reasonable:
When subterfuge masks sabotage
that is beyond the point that is reasonable.

[Chris]

This is a great post. It confirms some unanswered questions that I have about why I started a blog. I am a bit younger than you but can remember watching the events of the late 60's/early 70's on television with my grandfather (WWII vet) as a young child. I share your disgust with the generation whose mantra was "bring it all down". I watched Walter Cronkite report each protest and defeat of this country. What an incredible formative experience. Thanks.

[Valerie]

JIm,
This is why I read this blog. Your special blend of facts and personal musings. Absolutely sublime.

[Ben]

I am not so certain we will have the violence and riots we did in the 60's again. First off, they have been peddling gun control all these years, we have been arming ourselves. They may be crazy, and they may be stupid, but come on. Do you really think they are that crazy and stupid to go up against armed Americans? I think that fact alone, as "facists" as it may sound, will stop them from turning violent. Anyone who would be on their side would have to reveal themselves as a hypocrit, or a weakling, or suicidal.

I think they want to return to 1968, I get that some of them missed it the first time round. It was noted that Moore started high school in 1969, which means that by 1973, when he graduated, the hippies were already passe, and we were moving into the disco era.

So now they accuse Bush of protecting innocent civilians of being lynched by a mob of angry Americans. Stupid angry Americans who might think that since we can't get the guy who did 9-11, we can take out his brother, sister, cousin, what have you. They are accusing Bush of not locking these bin Ladan family members of up some kind of concentration camp. And this is bad why?

History repeating itself is not always a bad thing. The first time it is a tradegy, as the boat people, and re-education camps and killing fields of South East Asia attest. But this time, it is farce. The present hippies, and old wannabes, are simply too silly to be that much of a threat.

[Guy S.]

I don't know about that Ben....never underestimate your opponent/enemy.

[Mark]

Guy S., the problem is that they do have a moral compass, and it says that we're at fault for EVERYTHING. We just don't believe 'right', you see, so we've got to be forced into the right way of thinking; all for everyone's own good, of course.

[Guy S.]

Mark, perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my las comment...and for that I appologise...you are right in that they have morals...and so you might think they have a compass to go with em....BUT there morals are situational (for those that even have same) and as such how can a compass work if the cardnal points either keep moving or changing or even disappearing as the situation warrents? That is why (and you are correct again) they *do* blame us for every thing....cause denial of the facts and a lack of a consistant morality can mean only one thing...it's our fault not theirs.
Look at it this way, If the road to Hell is paved with good intent (and I would argue so is the road to the distruction of this country as we know it) then the liberal mindset with all of its (alledged) good intentions is heading us to one or the other or both.

[urthshu]

I'm an Xer, so I only lived in the aftermath of the 60's [no picnic either] but as I recall, there were several assassinations that occurred in 68, and that the riots were worldwide, not confined to the US.
I think- now that you mention it- that same generational cohort has just approached leadership age & the students are coming into their own as it were. With it, there may come some settling of older scores, a desire to make bigger 'statements', etc.

And that is what I fear. Being part of the 60's, you were perhaps less likely to notice the wreckage left behind your generational juggernaut. We've always felt like the ones who had to clean up after the party & got b*tched at for making too much noise as we did so.

One last mess? Who knows. Try not to make it too big this time, guys.

[Lyndie England- Queen of the 'Anti-Idiotarians!']

You seriously think that Democratic Underground- most of whose members supported the fiscally conservative, pro-gun centrist Howard Dean in the primaries- are in any way comparable to the Weathermen- a group whose members used bombs and helped Dr Leary break out of prison? Keep smoking that crack-pipe, dude.
I do, however, actually agree with you that there may very well be violence at the Republican convention this year. The people of New York have good reason to be seriously pissed at Commander Codpiece. First their city is attacked- which could have prevented had he not been too damn lazy to read those PDBs- and yes, I know there weren't any pictures, but he could have got Karl and Dick to explain it with glove puppets. Then, when the attacks actually happen, he gives a good old demonstration of 'staying the course' by sticking around to read 'My pet goat' while America was under attack, but then, you wouldn't want a commander in chief who couldn't concentrate on the task at hand because he was too concerned about a fictitious goat, would you? Then, he wasn't willing to put enough effort into catching Bin Laden, and actually originally wanted to skip Afghanistan and go straight into Iraq to go hunting for Weapons of Mass Invisibility. And then, to top it all off, he then went and *increased* the risk of terrorism by outing Valerie Plame and by turning Iraq into a terrorist funpark. In light of all this, arranging the republican convention for New York in September can only reasonably be interpreted as pissing on the graves of the WTC dead.
I think there will be a number of people who have enough basic decency to try to prevent the shameful spectacle of turning the third anniversary of 9-11 into a campaign event, and there will be many on the right, gutted that they were born too late and in the wrong country and missed on all the fun antics of Krystallnacht and the Night of the Long Knives, who decide to beat up those of us who want a president capable of at least some minimal degree of humanity and competence. The result? The increasingly far-right republicans are shown up for the vicious, anti-american vermin that they are, leading to a Kerry Landslide that even Diebold can't stop. Hopefully- even despite the right-wing media- the republicans can be kept out of power for long enough to undo the damage of the Bush administration, and maybe even get things back to how they were before Bonzo bukkaked America, and make it into a country it's people can be proud of again.

[Mike]

Ohh, Lyndie, your really should brush up on the facts, not just review the democratic underground talking points. The attitude you have displayed is exactly the issue which further defines the divide. I don't intend to vote for Mr. Kerry - but that doesn't mean he is a sincere, dedicated, but horribly misguided man. One who is not the best choice to continue the War on Terror. Which we are winning . . . .

Regards,
Mike

[feste]

Sorry, but 2004 is not even remotely like 1968, the Vietnamese were not flying airliners into skyscrapers in NYC. If they had they would not exist today.

We were in shock after near misses with the Soviets in Cuba and Berlin, three political assassinations and ten years of racial upheaval you can't even imagine from today's perspective. I had friends killed in in Alabama and Watts long before any were killed in Nam.

The media tends to forget that the '60's anti-war movement wasn't as large or pervasive as it is now portrayed, the protest was almost entirely on college campus in large Liberal cities. You could drive 30 minutes from Berkeley and find a perfectly normal middle class town where people were not involved in the war or even cared much about it. It was even more so in fly-over country. The majority of high school grads didn't go to college in the 60's, most went to work, got married, had kids, bought a house...they were mostly apolitical or voted on pocketbook issues.

You do not want to relive 1968, trust me. I got the T-shirt.

[Lyndie]

Ohh, Lyndie, your really should brush up on the facts, not just review the democratic underground talking points.

Care to cite some examples?

The attitude you have displayed is exactly the issue which further defines the divide. I don't intend to vote for Mr. Kerry - but that doesn't mean he is a sincere, dedicated, but horribly misguided man.

Sorry, but my attitude is simply a response to the attitude and actions of the Bush Administration, their corruption, and their incompetence. Yeah, I'm angry, and yeah, I'm pretty damn sarcastic about the whole matter, but quite frankly, they've piled outrage upon outrage upon outrage, fuckup on fuckup on fuckup, and yet there are still people who'd be willing to follow George W. Bush into hell (which is pretty fortunate, because that's where he's leading us...)
Look, the fact is, the vast majority of the people who are against Bush aren't extremists in any sense. In fact, there's a case for saying that Bush has made the left LESS extreme, not more- for example I read an article about an anarchist, stop-the-city, No-logo woman who had, in the wake of Iraq and so on, moved right and joined the Dems so she could campaign for Kucinich. Similarly, plenty of others who complained all through the Clinton era about NAFTA and the corporate influence on the political process and really weren't that keen on the guy became a lot more willing to compromise and accept a less liberal candidate if it would get rid of a dangerous extremist like Bush. The contrast between how President Gore would have responded and how Bush did is so striking as to render those claims that 'There's no difference between the two parties' completely absurd. To blame the deep division in American society on those responding to the Bush Administration's actions, and not on those actions themselves is deeply disingenious.

One who is not the best choice to continue the War on Terror. Which we are winning . . . .

You're right, we are winning the war on terror- DESPITE George Bush, and that's largely because the soldiers, the top Brass at the Pentagon and the Intelligence agencies are pretty damn good at what they do. These people were strongly advising against invading Iraq- hell, even George Bush Senior was against that- and now many of them have come forth and said, look, we really need to get rid of this guy. Will we still be winning the WoT in four years time? Probably not if Bush is still in charge.....

[Jim]

Lyndie: "All Rhetoric, All The Time".

For all it's blathering, I've not seen it cite a single sustainable fact in the midst of it's Jabba The Moore driven diatribe.

Seeya, Lindie. Be gone from my bandwidth. Go start your own blog and post your ramblings there.

But not here on my dime. I subscribe to Mrs. DuToit's "one strike" rule. You're out.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

[J.]

But can the "New Hard Hats" succeed at the institutional level?

Will the be able to consolidate by initiating--and *succeeding* at--their own "Long March through the institutions," the way the leaders of yesteryear's Pseudo-Peace movement did?