What self respecting American industrial mogul would hesitate at the chance to use bullets to make a political point? All workers have to face the fact that they will die sometime.
The case of attorney Richard Fine, who is becoming the most famous American political prisoner since Peter Zenger, brought this columnist to the Full Disclosure Network’s web site because Leslie Dutton has "owned" the Fine story since day one. Recently, she went off topic to do a report on the likelihood of some violence(AKA civil unrest)in the streets.
At the same time we stumbled across a new book titled: "The Zombie Combat Manuel." This caused us to wonder if the Zombie fad is a bit of a parable for racists cleverly disguised as a harmless bit of the horror genre. We could find a Zombie academic authority and get some material for a column on that topic and maybe during the dog days this summer we will.
Another bit of information we gathered last week was found in a passage in "The Pullman Strike" by Almont Lindsey, which we discovered in the bargain bin at the Berkeley Public Library. It said (Phoenix books paperback edition) on page 142: "A vital part of the strategy of the association was to draw the United States government into the struggle and then to make it appear that the battle was no longer between the workers and the railroads but between the workers and the government."
It was, like Col. Kurtz said, a "diamond bullet" moment.
If the rich folks can stir up the patriotic poor and then somehow engineer it so that President Obama has to order federal troops to fire upon American citizens (or illegal aliens who might be terrorists) then it will be a win-win situation for Republican candidates. If that does happen the conservatives will think that Obama was too weak and let the situation get out of control and the liberals will feel betrayed. For Republican candidates there is no downside to the thought of provoking a fusillade into a crowd of American citizens.
If American troops can’t shoot American citizens who can? The country has to have law and order. (Hat tip to Richard Nixon.)
Isn’t "mowing them down" and American tradition? What about The Pullman strike and the Haymarket affair? Let’s not forget Kent State.
Here are some links for the folks who like to play fact checking at home
The Pullman strike
http://www.lib.niu.edu/...
They Haymarket dustup
http://www.kentlaw.edu/...
Shoot first
http://www.psychologytoday.com/...
The Molly Maguires
http://www.providence.edu/...
America has always differentiated between slaves and employees. You couldn’t shoot the slaves. Whip them, yes; but not shoot them.
The issue of illegal immigrants may provide the conservatives with a new opportunity to put down dissenting opinions with bullets. It’s a tradition. Usually it is only the folks who survive getting shot at who object. The people in charge of doing the shooting usually investigate to see if they may have (however inadvertently) over reacted. They have a perfect record and have never gone too far.
Do you ever expect to see an American millionaire acting as a "human shield" for querulous workers on the verge of starting a riot?
On the day that President Kennedy was shot, our college French teacher recalled sitting in the cafes in Algeria watching the peasants get a few warning shots in their backs. He said that we were young and that eventually we would get used to seeing the game of hardball politics being played out. It has taken a very long time, but now as the teabaggers start taking up the challenge to take a bullet or two for the conservative political candidates, I finally see what he meant that day. There should be a better way to accomplish change, but, so far, nobody has found the better way and, as the teacher said on November, 22, 1963: "These things happen."
President Ronald Reagan may have said it best: ""If it's a bloodbath they want, let's get it over with." (Note for fact checkers. (Then) Governor Reagan said this during a visit to a national park in California and it appeared on page 3 of the L. A. Times the next day. The front page was devoted to the fact that John Wayne had won an Oscar the previous night.)
Now, the disk jockey will play "Street Fightin’ Man," "Wild in the streets," and "(Four Dead in) Ohio." It’s time to go down to the demonstration (in Berkeley, they’re just like streetcars) and get our fair share of dramatic photos. Have a "get my fair share of abuse" type week.