Oh, can you see their world is crashing
Crashing down around their feet
And angry people in the street,
Are telling them they've had their fill
Of politics that wound and kill
-The Moody Blues
"They Call it the "American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe it."
-George Carlin
Thane Plowman was born on August 7, 1968 and died on October 27, 2011 at the home he shared with his mother in Felton, California. His earthly remains were cremated on November 8.
Depressed an d in utter despair, he had come to believe that the so-called "American Dream" he had believed in all of his life was just that - a dream . He was correct of course. It's a farce. It's a sham. It's a three-card-Monte hustle. Get a grip. And if the plutocratic power brokers who rule our lives have their way, in a decade this goddamned country won't be worth the paper the maps of it are printed on. Don't count on either of the two politic al parties to come to your rescue. The Democrats are littered with corruption and the Republicans have become so thoroughly corrupted that they're no longer a political party. They've become an organized criminal enterprise.
And yet these disgusting stooges for the plutocracy re fuse to comprehend the anger of the people who are occupying Wall Street - who are occupying America - who are occupying the planet, baby! I'll use that contemptible Buddy-Holly-lookalike, Eric Cantor as an example of what I'm talking about. This knucklehead dismisses these patriots as a "mob". What he fails to understand - indeed what most of Washington doesn't even come close to getting - is that the American left has awaken from a very long and troubled slumber. This isn't a fad. This isn't some kind of mass, childish temper tantrum that will pass the moment the weather hits the freezing mark. This is for keeps. Wake up and face the dawn.
MEMO TO THE ONE PERCENT:
You may have the money, but the people whose economy you've destroyed have the power - lots and lots of power. And they're going to give you a example of their power on the day after Thanksgiving - " Black Friday " as you call it. On that day, which is usually such a boom for the economy, enough of them to make a marked difference will not be going shopping. As a matter of fact they won't be spending a dime. Think I'm kidding? That day will merely prove to be a nasty harbinger of things to come. Eventually the American people will bring you to your knees. In fact you won't even know what hit you. They have the power to shut this country down. You don't. Black Friday indeed. I get as giddy as a school girl just contemplating the possibilities. Forgive me.
"We need to keep his image in the brackets of our vision, and his memory in our hopes for the future. We need to remember Thane to appreciate the best parts of the past, and to keep alive our hopes for a better future."
-Lance Hames
Thane Plowman lost everything - his means of living, all of his benefits, his self esteem - everything. He was a victim of a system that threw all of us overboard three decades ago. On the twenty-seventh of October his mother became so alarmed at his visible deterioration, she momentarily left his side to get him the help he was in such desperate need of. When she returned a short time later, he was dead by his own hand. I won't go into the details of how he ended his life. He's gone. We'll just leave it at that. In an e-mail yesterday, his mother Christine told me:
"He was my best friend, my soul mate and my prankster in crime....He was in great despair. I want to fight back for him and for all Americans who are hurting so deeply right now. I don't believe Congress has a clue. My dream would be to speak before them. It's a tragedy beyond my ability to express."
I'll bet. I've always had this immense talent for empathy but this one is way out of my league. I won't even attempt to interpret this tragedy for you. Christine's words will have to speak for themselves. I cannot imagine the grief that she and Thane's family and friends are going through.
It's time to take sides, folks. You're either going to be on the right side of history or you're going to be left standing in the sewer. The choice has not been this stark in a century-and-a-half. We've got to put hideous bastards like the Koch brothers on notice. We need to make all of them realize that the people are standing up and they're not going to stand down under any circumstances.
Call it a silly hunch on my part but I've got a feeling that Thane Plowman would have approved.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
The problem with the American people is the fact that there is no one left alive who remembers what life for ordinary working people was like in this country when this book was published in 1905, in the days before unions and workplace regulations. When Upton Sinclair died on November 25 1968, both he and his most famous book were pretty much forgotten. Recent years have seen a resurrection. Do you want to understand where the right wing wants to bring us back to? Read "The Jungle".
When you have a moment or two, look up The Thane Plowman Remembrance Page on Facebook. Stop by and wish his family and friends well.
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