Today in Madison, I saw my America. - by GrumpyWarriorPoet

[kpete]

Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 06:09 PM EST
Today in Madison, I saw my America.
by GrumpyWarriorPoet

..............

As I made my way around the Capitol, the procession of firefighters was moving around the square. The streets weren't closed today. The streets weren't closed until the firefighters and cops wanted them. A mass of people a city block long moved through the streets, with two squad cars slowly creeping behind them for protection. Traffic stopped, and their chants echoed around downtown. When the procession reached the corner of the open entrance, they turned en masse and began processing into the Capitol. Those of us outside quickly gravitated to either side of the entrance they were about to use.

That's when it happened. I saw my America march by me. First the firefighters, then the cops, the prison guards, steelworkers, sheet metal workers, nurses, all of them walking by and cheering. Blue collar, white collar, it didn't matter. All of these people just saying, "We're in this together, and we're right to be." Later in the procession were contingents from some smaller unions. I was bowled over when I saw representation from the two major unions of my field - Actors' Equity and IATSE (Theatrical Stagehands). In a very real way, I was in that procession, too.

I was so profoundly moved by what I saw that the tears come again as I type this. That was the America I was told about. I had given up on it. Maybe it actually is possible. Maybe we don't have to resign ourselves to the well-funded madness that is invading our discourse.

I think tomorrow I'm going to visit the new lobbying office opened by the Koch brothers with a big sign and a vuvuzela. One day longer, right?

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/23/948937/-Today-in-Madison,-I-saw-my-America

[Doremus]

1. Thanks for posting this. nt

[Skip_In_Boulder]

2. Yep Maybe the America I grew up in, where people stood up for things.

Is coming back.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Very Moving - I never thought of it that way

The America we had given up

Some where between the Disco generation and the "Me" decade we lost sight of what it truly was to be American. I always remember my mother and father talking about "The Middle Class is the Backbone of America" The ones who pay the majority of Taxes, send their sons and daughters off to War to defend this brave country, the ones who work on the farms and in the factories that have built this country

[Lifelong Protester]

4. I love this post! Joshua BLOW THAT HORN!!