For the past sixty-five years and with two exceptions, the decent and honest people in this country have "ducked and covered" at every turn in the assault on the people for the advantage of the corporate interests. The exceptions were the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War movements. The former accomplished far more than the latter, but both were defeated by a few bullets.
I've been told that the Korean War and McCarthy Era were dark times in this country. While just a kid, the Cuban Missile Crisis seemed scary enough to me. As was the assassination of JFK. After that, and the landslide defeat of Goldwater, things seemed fairly good with the passage of the Civil Rights and Medicare acts. For a while, Vietnam looked more like those black and white WWII movies I was raised on. Then not so much. But those who objected in those early days were still just kids. Idealists because we couldn't vote.
Martin. Bobby. Chicago. Our innocence was shattered.
Kent State. Jackson State. My Lai. The perps got free passes.
The war went on and on. The Pentagon Papers. Watergate break-in. Nixon re-elected in a landslide against one of the most decent and smartest men ever to run for President. (Not so good at choosing a VP nominee.)
Watergate trial. Watergate hearings. Allende. Agnew's resignation. Nixon's resignation. Ding-dong the crooks are gone. Except for Kissinger. Then Gerald Ford told us how the "real world" works.
The bullies won. And have been winning ever since. For you see, as Chris Hedges reminded us today, Even Lost Wars Make Corporations Rich.
And I'm not even nice enough to say, "Thank you for your service" to those willing to or conned into working for the US killing machine. The machine that has made most Americans poorer and the nation as mean as it was when men and women were blacklisted and African Americans were only nominally free. The weapons and targets have changed -- semi-automatic glocks for nooses and liberals, Democrats, Muslims, Mexicans, and African-Americans for African-Americans -- but not much else.