Reclaim the Dream
End the 40 years of dispair.
buy sell trade
BY CAROL HORNE
fashion
that pays
to be me.
B
ack in the 1950s, a political movement began that we see today reach-
ing its ultimate goals. Part of this movement was the
creation of the CIA. Since its inception, the CIA has
had, in one or more of its top three positions, a leader
from either a major banking institution or the
Securities and Exchange Commission. It is possible
that the CIA, in the guise of protecting national securi-
ty, was actually established to protect American eco-
nomic interests throughout the world. The current
administration is so brazen that these covert motives are
becoming obvious. Multi-national corporations and the U.S.
oil industry have become the sole world super-power.
Another movement began at about the same time, focused on civil rights
and the inclusion into our democracy of the disenfranchised. Relieving pover-
ty and creation of social services became the dream. One could feel the coun-
try moving forward, and then came the assassinations — John Kennedy, then
Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In just five short years, from
1963 to 1968, this movement lost its most powerful leaders. The shock threw
it into a despair from which our generation has never really recovered.
Later, as the Vietnam War waged on, we marched and protested, only to go
home and watch TV and see the death and destruction continue. The grieving
grew and no new leader would step up to bring us back together.
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H
ere we are today. As the other movement has continued to reach for
its goals, we have spent 40 years in grief and shock. Our inaction has
resulted in the eminent destruction of our democracy, the loss of our
civil rights and the imprisonment of foreign-born citizens. It has been long
enough.
It’s time for the baby boomer generation to reclaim its dreams. It’s time for
us to move out of our cozy, middle class comfort zone and remember who we
were meant to be. Our movement didn’t die. It rested, it healed. And we have
a battle ahead for which we have been preparing for 50 years.
There are many ways to re-immerse oneself into the passion of social jus-
tice and the exhilaration of having a say in the world in which we live. With the
“Big Brother” eyes of the USA PARTIOT Act lurking around every corner, the
five open seats on our own Human Rights Commission could put you on the
frontline in protecting civil liberties. (Contact the City Manager’s office at 682-
5017 to receive an application.)
The obscene priorities that are running the country have also gripped our
state, as our Legislature cuts funding from programs that assist the most vul-
nerable among us. Take the short drive up to Salem. Join in on already organ-
ized protests or drop in to speak with your representatives. Tell them what
you think.
If these budget cuts have broken your heart, as they have broken mine,
adopt an affected organization and make a commitment to send a check
every month for a year. Give until you feel it. Remind yourself what it’s like to
do without.
Look into being a war tax resister. There are thousands of people around
the country who redirect a portion of their federal taxes to social service
organizations. If Congress won’t perform its duty and stop the insanity of the
Bush administration by choking off its money, then we must. You can contact
the Military Tax Resistance of Lane County for more information (342-1953
and 342-2914).
O
ne thing I remember from the 1960s and ‘70s is that we were less
afraid to get into trouble. OK, a lot has changed since then. We have
homes we can lose, and the police seem less tolerant of old fashioned
civil disobedience. But, remember what’s at stake. When Daniel Berrigan, a
man who waged peace for more than 50 years, was sent to jail one more
time, a friend asked, “What are you doing in there?” Berrigan responded,
“What are you doing out there?”
Those who would deprive our grandchildren of the future promised them
in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights had better beware. Our movement
has awakened. The revolution we sang about has arrived. Today, we have a
choice. We can either, throw off the mourners’ black and become active mem-
bers of our democracy once again, or we can sit back, complacent, watching
our freedoms dwindle as our stock portfolios grow. Which choice will you
make? Which choice can you live with?
THE
THEKIVA
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ERS, •
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& WINE
& WINE •
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Organic Produce,
Natural and
International Foods
Homeopathic and
Herbal Remedies
• Dried Fruits, Nuts
and Bulk Foods
• Imported and
Domestic Wine
and Beer
• Deli with Over 150
Cheeses, Sliced or
Cut to Order
• V itamins and Body
Care Products
Carol Horne of Eugene writes and directs educational videos. She says her current goal is to make her FBI
file at least two inches thick.
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Ave, DOWNTOWN
DOWNTOWN EUGENE
EUGENE • • 342-8666
AUGUST 7, 2003 9