Memorial Day Revolution... Of Sorts
Moday was Memorial Day, or at least the observance of Memorial Day. I was obligated to spend part of the day with my in-laws down at what our family lovingly calls the "Love Shack," which is really their fifth-wheel RV located at a year-round campsite.
It was hotter than hell, and the electricity went out for the RV, which meant that the air conditioning was off. There were a ton of tiny gnats flying about because the weather was undergoing a rapid change from hot, to hot and stormy. But we managed to get the burgers cooked, the sausages and brats grilled, and the table set for about a dozen family members and friends.
In order to really understand the context of this experience one must get to know the characters. My mother-in-law, "Wheezy," is the retired secretary for an ultra-conservative Petecostal Protestant church, and an active tax expert working for the H&R Block folks. She is about as honest as the day is long during the summer at the North Pole. She also works as the director of a church-sponsored food pantry serving the poor and needy in Hammond, Indiana, a community of about 70 or more thousand people just southeast of Chicago proper.
Lyndall is my father-in-law. He is a loving man and a lay preacher for the same church. He is a little more relaxed about his Christianity than his loving wife, but ultra-conservative none-the-less. He has retired from the steel mills, and despite the severe cuts to his pension due to the failure of these mills to protect the pension funds, he is not bitter about the way he has been mistreated and cheated by big business and corporate America.
Ken and Pat are friends of my in-laws, also members of the same church and denomination, also retired, and have an RV next door to Lyndall and Wheezy. They have a son that served faithfully as an aircraft mechanic with the Marines for 21 years. There son and daughter-in-law were ultimately the hosts for this shindig as they still had their electricity working and we could fire up the grill at their site. They, too, are members of the church, conservative and believe in a holiness. The other participants were of a similar nature and character.
During the festivities we began some discourse on the government and the Bush gang. Surprisingly, all but one of the group expressed utter contempt for our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, disbelief in the way that the Bush gang misled us to get us into the war, astonishment at the way we continue to be lied to about events over there, disgust at the wiretapping fiascos, and a lack of support for anything our government seems to be doing at the moment. While my mother-in-law still had some support for our government's response to Katrina (and I was disappointed by her entrenchment in this arena), the sentiments expressed by this group was decidely anti-Bush, anti-Republican leadership, anti-Democrat (as to be expected) and outrage at the lack of morality and adherence to our basic American values. The pattern of abuses conducted by our government and our troops have hit home with them.
I offer this description of this Memorial Day observance as evidence that it is not just us Yankee, Catholic and notoriously rabble-rousing Bay Staters raising the issues, questions, eyebrows and doubts any longer. There is a quiet reveloution occuring and the steam is building... but there seems to be a lack of outrage, shock and willingness to call for action... and that is ultimately disturbing, still.
But these folks were staunch Bush supporters not three years ago. My in-laws were almost asked to leave my home because they were advocating the view that Bush and his gang were honorable and decent human beings doing a good job... and now they see room for criticism, chastisement and rebuke... but no outrage and no call for impeachment.
There is a current of discontent... and the pumps are primed... and we will see an explosion soon if the right spark is struck... and we may yet see the outrage and the call for not only impeachment, but criminal charges and imprisonment... I cannot wait for the revolution!
It was hotter than hell, and the electricity went out for the RV, which meant that the air conditioning was off. There were a ton of tiny gnats flying about because the weather was undergoing a rapid change from hot, to hot and stormy. But we managed to get the burgers cooked, the sausages and brats grilled, and the table set for about a dozen family members and friends.
In order to really understand the context of this experience one must get to know the characters. My mother-in-law, "Wheezy," is the retired secretary for an ultra-conservative Petecostal Protestant church, and an active tax expert working for the H&R Block folks. She is about as honest as the day is long during the summer at the North Pole. She also works as the director of a church-sponsored food pantry serving the poor and needy in Hammond, Indiana, a community of about 70 or more thousand people just southeast of Chicago proper.
Lyndall is my father-in-law. He is a loving man and a lay preacher for the same church. He is a little more relaxed about his Christianity than his loving wife, but ultra-conservative none-the-less. He has retired from the steel mills, and despite the severe cuts to his pension due to the failure of these mills to protect the pension funds, he is not bitter about the way he has been mistreated and cheated by big business and corporate America.
Ken and Pat are friends of my in-laws, also members of the same church and denomination, also retired, and have an RV next door to Lyndall and Wheezy. They have a son that served faithfully as an aircraft mechanic with the Marines for 21 years. There son and daughter-in-law were ultimately the hosts for this shindig as they still had their electricity working and we could fire up the grill at their site. They, too, are members of the church, conservative and believe in a holiness. The other participants were of a similar nature and character.
During the festivities we began some discourse on the government and the Bush gang. Surprisingly, all but one of the group expressed utter contempt for our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, disbelief in the way that the Bush gang misled us to get us into the war, astonishment at the way we continue to be lied to about events over there, disgust at the wiretapping fiascos, and a lack of support for anything our government seems to be doing at the moment. While my mother-in-law still had some support for our government's response to Katrina (and I was disappointed by her entrenchment in this arena), the sentiments expressed by this group was decidely anti-Bush, anti-Republican leadership, anti-Democrat (as to be expected) and outrage at the lack of morality and adherence to our basic American values. The pattern of abuses conducted by our government and our troops have hit home with them.
I offer this description of this Memorial Day observance as evidence that it is not just us Yankee, Catholic and notoriously rabble-rousing Bay Staters raising the issues, questions, eyebrows and doubts any longer. There is a quiet reveloution occuring and the steam is building... but there seems to be a lack of outrage, shock and willingness to call for action... and that is ultimately disturbing, still.
But these folks were staunch Bush supporters not three years ago. My in-laws were almost asked to leave my home because they were advocating the view that Bush and his gang were honorable and decent human beings doing a good job... and now they see room for criticism, chastisement and rebuke... but no outrage and no call for impeachment.
There is a current of discontent... and the pumps are primed... and we will see an explosion soon if the right spark is struck... and we may yet see the outrage and the call for not only impeachment, but criminal charges and imprisonment... I cannot wait for the revolution!
posted by Jim Downey at 7:12 PM
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