Dave Lindorff: Remembering When the US Government Was at Least Approachable

[marmar]

Published on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
Remembering When the US Government Was at Least Approachable
by Dave Lindorff

We've come a long way towards imperial government in the US - towards a view of the relationship between the federal government, and especially the administration, and the citizenry that has more of a ruler-subjects than a democratic feel to it.

Now I know it is easy to gloss over the way things were, and since I spent a few days in federal prison for protesting the Indochina War at the Pentagon in 1967, after being beaten by federal marshals for doing nothing more than exercising my constitional right to protest on public ground, I am well aware that 40 years ago we were also often treated like serfs. But that said, there was something different back then-a sense that you could deal with powerful officials as an equal.

Back in the summer of 1968, I spent one of several summers on the road (something more young people should do today). I had hitch-hiked across the country from Connecticut to Washington state with Allen Baker, a college buddy, and then, towards the end of that summer break, had bought an old pick-up truck for $100, which we were driving home via the West Coast and the central route. Not having much cash, we were stopping at cities along the way, where I would play guitar for gas money.

This was the late ‘60s, and there was a major and sometimes violent culture war underway between the long-hairs like me and the clean-cut American "Silent Majority," and my travel companion, Allen, and I were concerned that it would be tough scaring up much cash in the vast Republican stretches of desert, mountains and prairie that lay between Nevada and Missouri. So when we passed through Yosemite National Park, we decided to spend a day in the valley's main parking lot, raising donations from tourists.

While Allen dozed in the back of the truck, I opened my guitar case and put up the "Gas Money" sign, and then, sitting on the running board of the old Dodge, started to play. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/27-4

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I couldn't agree more. I, too, remember when the government still held some

belief that it existed to serve the people. It's one of the reasons, I've still got that 'sinking feeling', that even with Democratic victories, my country, the one I grew up in, will never return.

[crickets]

2. Excellent article. Thanks for posting it. K&R -nt