40 Years in the Wilderness

[99th_Monkey]

40 Years in the Wilderness

Forty years ago today, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated ... not just at the hands of Sirhan Sirhan the “crazed lone gunman”. RFK was publicly murdered in cold blood by the darkest forces that move among us; on orders from the Death Star if you will; because he represented a kind of threat to “inside” interests that could not be tolerated. There are two main reasons he had to be eliminated.

First, Bobby Kennedy regarded all people of all races deeply as equals. So deeply in fact that he went on --against the advice of his staff -- to appear as scheduled to meet with a predominantly black urban audience that dark night his friend, Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, and most black communities were being set ablaze with black rage.. The city in which he spoke that night, Indianapolis, was the only US city that did not erupt in violence and widespread looting and burning.

Secondly, Robert Kennedy had grown to understand the folly of unjust war; and had a passionate resolve to end war wherever he could, starting with Viet Nam; but also anywhere war needlessly threatened to break out. He had a vision of peaceful coexistence for the people of our planet rooted in a conviction about the fundamental decency of our highest human nature.

These also happen to be the two major reasons I supported his bid for the Democratic nomination in 1968. I dropped out of Portland State University to work full-time with the Robert Kennedy for President campaign, both in Oregon and California primaries. I met the man briefly. He shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and thanked me for my work on the campaign. I remember being impressed by his warmth, and at how much detail he went into regarding my tasks.

For the past 40 years, we as a nation have been wandering in the proverbial wilderness; and having to do so without the guidance of a Moses -- unless you feel like me that arguably our Moses has been Ted Kennedy. For forty sorry-ass years since Bobby’s death, the very same military-industrial corporatism and rampant corruption that Ike had warned us about has all but destroyed our nation. The last 8 of those years have become a living Hell; so much so, that most Americans “get it” by now. It has taken much longer than we hoped and prayed for, but this moment has come around at long last.

I don’t want to make too much of the 40 year wilderness analogy, but I couldn’t help being struck by it either. I see today as the dawn of a new era of hope and progressive change, a new chance to “dream of things that never were, and ask ‘why not?’. We have a whole new generation now alongside us liberal boomers who still remember Bobby, and yes we can make this happen.

I also don’t want to make too much of the similarities between RFK and Obama either. They are two uniquely gifted leaders in their own right, from two distinctly different times. But as I reflect on this day marking the 40 year anniversary of RFK’s death, my heart swells with renewed hope for our nation’s future.

I have no illusions that winning the White House is going to be easy or without risk; but at long last we have a real opening, a real chance to reverse our self-destructive ways and to clean out the rot in Washington DC. I look forward to campaigning hard for Obama and becoming the change we’ve been waiting for. GObama!!.

[Robbien]

1. Nicely written

If nothing else, at least this campaign is shining light on the right wing capitalistic path we have been on for the last four decades and the ugliness it has brought our country.