God Bless the Wild Americans
By Jim Dyar (12/7/2011)
Thank God for Willie Nelson.
That’s all I could think to post as a Facebook comment after watching Willie and his wife Annie voice their support for the Occupy Movement.
Willie began: “We stand with humanity, against the insanity. We’re the ones with the ninety nine.”
Annie continued: “Stand up against tyranny. You now have the floor. You’re the ones we’ve been waiting for. We’re the ones with the ninety nine.”
I consider them fearless and soulful American patriots.
I’m also flashing on Kris Kristofferson, who mentions Willie Nelson (as well as John Trudell, Merle Haggard and Steve Earle) in his song “Wild American.”
Wild American
You’re the one they never tamed
’Cause you stood your ground
And they could not make you change
You’re the warning
They still don’t understand
Watch your back now
They’ll kill you if they can
Tyranny accurately defines what humanity must stand against. Tyranny has already arrived on our doorsteps. How else would you describe the forces that -- in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis – looted the U.S. Treasury for $700 billion while concurrently taking $7.7 trillion from the Federal Reserve at nearly zero percent interest. The loans netted billions for big banks. The money from the Fed was, as Dennis Kucinich puts it, “created out of nothing.”
I’m praying that deep soul and numbers can counter tyranny.
At this moment, we’re staring squarely at the National Defense Authorization Act. The act just passed in the Senate and contains language that would allow for the permanent detention of American citizens without due process. It defines the entire country as a “battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity.
This must be the “insanity” part Willie is talking about. We used to have something called the Bill of Rights. Voices around the country are calling this a very real threat to civil liberty.
And all of this makes what I saw in Redding yesterday seem odd and a little unsettling.
Standing at the Occupy Redding tent (the loitering, smelly, dirty hippie that I am) in front of City Hall, I noticed a number of troops leaving the building and getting into a large white van. At the same time, a number of other folks were exiting, including law enforcement officials (I noticed CHP and Sheriff’s officers).
A quick call to the city revealed that the meeting was a “training session” that took place in the community room. The meeting room was reserved by the Redding Electric Utility.
I’m not suggesting that something sinister is at play here. I have no idea what the meeting was about. I don’t know who the troops were, only that they wore fatigues and drove away in a white van.
But fresh in my mind are the confrontations between law enforcement officers and Occupy Movement protesters happening all across the country. Also surfacing now is the language for this new National Defense Authorization Act, which covers $662 billion in U.S. defense spending for 2012.
For the first time that I can remember, I’m seeing Homeland Security officers at Whiskeytown Lake. Friends in Hayfork have been telling me about seeing Homeland Security officials across sparsely populated Trinity County. A quick check of the Homeland Security website reveals -- they’re hiring.
I also think it’s odd to wave at someone and receive only a cold stare in return, but I won’t get into that right now.
In just over a month and a half of being involved with the Occupy Movement, I’ve met a variety of fascinating people who have an incredible array of perspectives. I’ve had heated discussions with people who are completely against the movement. I’ve been flipped off and angrily told that my face will be remembered.
But my view of Redding has also shifted to the positive. I’ve heard from and seen so many people who seem to get that something is wrong. They seem to be waking up to ways in which this tyranny has taken shape over the past three decades. This is a big season for a peaceful uprising. I feel like this is a Jesus-Gandhi-MLK-type moment.
As James McMurtry sings: “You can read it in the paper/read it on the wall/hear it on the wind if you’re listening at all.”
There are legions of artists, writers, poets, speakers, independent journalists and others who have been revealing this tyranny for what it is. They’ve been speaking, writing and singing about it for much longer than the Occupy Movement has been around.
Merle Haggard recently asked in a song, “What happened? Where did America go?” He wants to know why it’s “everything Walmart all the time/no more mom and pop five and dime.”
Maybe we’re trying to get it back, Hag. You’re good buddy Will’s on board.
