January 21, 2008: As I listened to Obama's inauguration speech, I felt as though it contained mixed messages. Later, when I read the text, I was sure it did.
Initially, I said to myself, "Joe, some of this makes him sound like a conservative" - a reaction to the President's references to war, entrepreneurialship, and markets. But when I took a good look at what he said, I realized that thought was way off the mark.
The one statement which showed me that the original thought was incorrect was the one about people coming to this country, working in sweat shops, etc., everyone working towards the common good, to kind of paraphrase Obama's statement. Now, I don't know about that.
People came to this country to have the ability to make a place for themselves in the Sun of humanity. Many came from countries where what they earned was not necessarily theirs to keep, but was to be part of the common good.
People came to this country to have the ability to make a place for themselves in the Sun of humanity. Many came from countries where what they earned was not necessarily theirs to keep, but was to be part of the common good.
Let me take you back to the 1930s. I was born in the waning year or so of the Hoover administration. Herbert Hoover, the "Great Engineer", was involved in developing national construction/infrastructure. But his politics were more Progressive than Republican. Following his election, FDR continued in the same vein.
Times were very difficult in the 1930s - the years of the "Great Depression". My parents were fortunate to have jobs - my father a department store salesman and my mother a Western Union telegraph operator. When my parents married and then brought me into this world, they lived with extended family, and the three of us had one room to share. My parents did not work to share the wealth with others - they worked, as probably everyone did, to improve their lives. It took about five or six years before they were able to afford to rent their own apartment, and a couple of more years until they could afford to rent a home (which many years later they bought for around $2000.00)
So our new president should be aware that most people who came to this country were really interested in gaining a good life for themselves and their children. What they earned by the "sweat of their brow" was not for the common good, but for their own. Of course, the fact that they were able to become productive affected the common good, and just about everyone believed thy owed a debt of gratitude to The United States of America for that opportunity. That feeling was expressed well when, in 1941, we were brought into the new world war.
What I realized President Obama was talking about were markets, entrepreneurial development, business growth that would all be part of a Mussolini style progressive corporatism. I, as probably millions of others, receive weekly, if not daily, email from Obama's people about getting out there and serving the community. Every time I receive one of those messages, in my mind's eye I see those black and white movies showing people in factories, on farms, and in schools, marching, working, and singing together for the good of the state.
Is this all in my imagination? Is this call for what could sound like a Conservative political system in actuality be a call to join the Progressive (Socialist) movement? I sure hope that it is all in my imagination, and should I be proved wrong, I'll be more than happy to admit the errors of my ways.
One other point. Reverend Lowery's final convocation line that white people should correct their ways with relationship to browns, yellows, and reds. What chutzpah! I realize that he was the core person in the civil rights movement, and was a founder of the SCLC (maybe this is a reason for the statement),but to state poetically that whites are the only racial group which needs to correct its ways smacks of Rev. Wright's Black Theology. Seeing Obama's face with a great big smile following that line was not very heartening.
So once the Obama euphoria ebbs, maybe we all should take a good look at what's going on. But then, as I said, maybe it's all in my imagination
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