War, wealth disparity cause for revolution?

Will we ever stop preparing for and speedily going to war and discontinue the increasing spread of wealth? Seems impossible at first because the world has always had wars and the increasing spread of wealth has been increasing in the U.S. for more than 30 years. I had quit hoping until Bud Brand sent me another of his poems and second Mayor Erickson gave me one of Edgar Guest’s that I hadn’t seen for years. Congress is deadlocked and I guess I had given up, too. I’ll close with their poems, but express some change of thought they provided me and hope it will you too.

Lawmakers will listen to the people if enough of us would take a definite gutsy stand. If we don’t accomplish it peacefully, there could come a revolution. Do you remember reading about revolutions? They are terrible events and we see it in parts of the world today. We need to take a very loud and lengthy stand insisting that our nation does the right thing. We had Occupy Wall Street and other protests this year. Are they early warnings?

Let’s look at war first. We are the strongest nation in the world in every way: nuclear power, battleships, airplanes, troops around the world, etc. Why do we keep piling it on? Those that don’t have as much “defense,” are compelled to increase their readiness. We reduce social benefits to provide the tax money in response to other nations’ responding to our continuously larger enormous military. We’ll discuss the income inequities next, but let’s take on war here.

Who fights for us? Always have and always will. We have eliminated the draft so our armed forces are made up mainly of young men who do not have other vocational opportunities. Even when we had the draft, the “1 percenters” had the bureaucratic influence to keep their youngsters safely home so the “99 percenters” did the dying for the rest of us, as usual.

Look at the growing financial inequity in the U.S. Rich are getting richer; poor are getting poorer. Wages are going down for the lower income workers especially. Economists felt that fair trade and NAFTA could be an equitable proposition. They thought that even though other countries had much lower wages, our ability to buy from those low wage countries would offset the wage difference.

Experience has taught us otherwise. Again it is the lower income folks who suffer. One of my coffee group members said that maximum wage has been tried and when doctors and other high paid professional retired early (reached the maximum allowed in a short few months). So that had to be changed. Many more doctors would come in droves from countries who have better medical results than we do, but immigration controls prevent. Money talks again and people who have it call way too many of the shots.

You’ve heard enough from me. Read the poems. Bud Brand kept “Failure” short and to the point:

Some failures can be devastating,

And some failures can make you cry,

But the only without dignity

Is the failure at least to try.

Edgar A. Guest (a poet I loved to read as a lad) titled his poem: “It Can Be Done’:

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

But he with a chuckle replied:

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh you’ll never do that —

At least no one had ever done it.”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With the lift of his chin, and a bit of a grin

Without any doubting or quit it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done and he did it.

There are a thousand who’ll tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands who prophesy failure:

There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin

Then take off your coat and go to it.

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That “cannot be done” – and you’ll do it.

Bernie Hughes, Ed.D, is a retired educator who resides in Superior. He can be reached at bernie3024@centurytel.net.

Tags: community, seniors, money