We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence
In the film No Country for Old Men, there is a scene where Ed Tom Bell is having coffee with the Sheriff of El Paso and the latter describes what he sees as an almost unstoppable and uniquely new wave of crime, violence and borderline anarchy. "Its the tide...its the dismal tide. It is not the one thing" the Sheriff says. Later in the film, Bell is told by a retired deputy that these things are not new. "This country is hard on people" the deputy says. This country is hard on people.
Bell has a hard time accepting that the crime of old and the crime of his time are the same. It is almost instructive, so much as film is able to teach, of adages and axioms we've come to value. "The more things change, the more they say the same." "There is nothing new under the sun." It seems that the American Dream, the idea that by working hard and playing by the rules, one can secure a better life for oneself and ones children, is being rolled over by another tide of sorts: a tide of the great power of the wealthy to set, change, and even abuse the rules with impunity and without consequence. But these times are nothing new. If the past is as least as instructive as film, the "dismal tide" will pass and something new, but similar to the past will emerge.
It is difficult to construct a case for optimism in times like these. The wealthy interests that control the levers of power in America seem almost unstoppable. They control a highly concentrated media. They finance the political operations of both parties. They have control over governments from local to Federal. The military and police forces protect the status quo both here and abroad, in spite of the fact that pay and benefits of those very people are also under assault. They control our access to communication, to food, to shelter, to the financial system. They can ruin the economy, privatize the profits, socialize their losses, and bail themselves out with taxpayer money with impunity. They can organize massive frauds without fear of prosecution. They have pulled the nation into a continuous state of heavy debt, both public and private. They hate to pay any taxes whatsoever if they can, even if it means that other fellow Americans will suffer just a little less. Worse, there are a large number of Americans who are not rich but like it this way. "If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself" a popular presidential candidate recently said. Against forces like these, it seems the middle class doesn't stand a chance. For the poor, it defeats any hope of ever making to the middle.
The young people occupying Zucotti Park in Downtown Manhattan have renamed it Liberty Square. This has significant meaning. They could have chosen any name, including something far more modern and commercial. Like "iSquare" perhaps. They could have chosen a name with retributive quality like "Justice Plaza." Instead, they've chosen a word that is at the very heart of the American ethos. In spite of growing up in a fast moving world of constant availability, rapid technological change, an uncertain future, and an inept, self-absorbed, and narcissistic class of elites, they still believe in the 18th Century notions of agrarian rebels. Liberty for these youth does not mean freedom from a British sovereign, but the ethic is the same. They want liberty from being thrown to and fro by a financialized economy that rewards gambling, fraud, and theft but punishes work, thrift and invention. They want liberty from a political system which not only ignores, but actively seeks to disenfranchise them. They want liberty from a global economy that benefits only a handful of people fortunate enough to be global citizens with private jets. They want liberty just as much as Americans did two centuries ago. They are doing what those young people of old did: assembling for their inalienable rights.
What we are witnessing is the rebirth of the American Dream in a new generation. If they didn't believe in it, they wouldn't be fighting for it. For all those who ask "what do the protesters want" the answer is clear and obvious: They want life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They want The American Dream. The tide is turning. Sooner or later, they will have it. The times we are in, the crest of the dismal tide, is nothing new. Our ancestors, in one way or another have fought the tide before. This country is hard on people. Sometimes just a little bit too hard. When it gets too hard, a generation of young Americans will arise and give meaning to liberty, once again, in its own way, for its own time.