The DNC: The Lazy Anarchist

Last night at Invesco, during one of Barack Obama's most inspiring speeches, he talked about education. He said:

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Frankly, this couldn't come too soon.

If you're a regular reader, you've already heard about the wild adventure I had with MOMocrats Julie Pippert, Donna Schwartz Mills, and Deb Gorman.  While Julie and I may have scared Donna and Deb when we ran into the crowd to interview protesters and take photos, I can assure you that the scariest thing I witnessed that night was the appalling lack of knowledge the protesters showed.

After the riot police donned their gas masks and had pepper sprayed part of the crowd, some of the protesters began yelling at the police that “only terrorists gas people!” and “We want justice.”  Julie, always the mom, couldn't help but mutter about the declining standards of our educational systems and began lecturing the young protesters: “You don't mean terrorists, you mean fascists.”  Followed by, “You don't want justice, you want freedom of speech and assembly.”  If you know Julie, you know that all of this was delivered in a firm, motherly, “you've disappointed me” tone.

It only got worse.

After talking to several bystanders and legal observers I found a few masked protesters willing to speak with me. One young man, who declined to share his name but was a native of Denver, informed me that they were protesting “capitalism.”  When questioned further, he really couldn't tell me much about why their protest was so broad.  Of course, he appeared to be wearing Diesel jeans.

Another young man, also from Denver, seemed similarly clueless.  He told me that he wouldn't be traveling to Minneapolis next week for the Republican National Convention. When I asked if he might be protesting the wrong party convention, told me, “Well, yeah, but the Democrats are here.”

In a probably futile effort to help him out for further interviews or questioning, I asked if the Democratic convention could be seen as a symbol of the U.S. tradition of conspicuous consumption and corporate profits, with its celebrity parties, t-shirt vendors lining the streets, and sponsorships by Google and AT&T?  He replied, “Um....sure.”

So there we have it folks, the future of our nation.  Brought to us by the United States educational system.

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I have to say: Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

When Stephanie isn't running into riots or forging the crowded stream on the convention floor, she can be found blogging about more mundane matters at Lawyer Mama.

Comments

[Amatore]

As far as McCain’s campaign goes, lobbyists are flying roughshod through the Republican ranks. McCain’s town meetings are a farce, run by some of the top lobbyists in the country. Let's take William V. Hilleary, for example. He's a lobbyist for Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. He's also acting as the Tennessee co-chair. He's doing loads of fundraising for McCain, with alot of money coming from previous clients. You gotta wonder, how do the donations from these companies reflect Americans? It's the same thing in Florida with Brian Ballard. Recently he's been working for Honda, probably getting bills passed that are automotive friendly. Brian is a major part of McCain's fundraising efforts, he's McCain's National Finance Committee Co-Chair. Let's move onto Kirk Blalock. He's a lobbyist for Airbus, an aircraft company. This guy's services basically go out the highest bidder. Our American aircraft company, Boeing, lost a contract from the U.S. because of Brian's lobbying. We also have Slade Gorton, a lobbyist for a bunch of conglomerates. That makes him eligible to be McCain's Honorary Chairman. This guy's laundrylist of lobbying is so long they were going to dedicate a shopping mall in his name. McCain has his campaign plodding along with lobbyists at the forefront. They're on the trail with him, raising money for him and chairing his committees. Rather than drop the lobbyists, McCain is letting the lobbyists drop in on his campaign. His proposals aren't for the people, they're for laggard commercial interests!

[Amatore]

As far as McCain’s campaign goes, lobbyists are flying roughshod through the Republican ranks. McCain’s town meetings are a farce, run by some of the top lobbyists in the country. Let's take William V. Hilleary, for example. He's a lobbyist for Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. He's also acting as the Tennessee co-chair. He's doing loads of fundraising for McCain, with alot of money coming from previous clients. You gotta wonder, how do the donations from these companies reflect Americans? It's the same thing in Florida with Brian Ballard. Recently he's been working for Honda, probably getting bills passed that are automotive friendly. Brian is a major part of McCain's fundraising efforts, he's McCain's National Finance Committee Co-Chair. Let's move onto Kirk Blalock. He's a lobbyist for Airbus, an aircraft company. This guy's services basically go out the highest bidder. Our American aircraft company, Boeing, lost a contract from the U.S. because of Brian's lobbying. We also have Slade Gorton, a lobbyist for a bunch of conglomerates. That makes him eligible to be McCain's Honorary Chairman. This guy's laundrylist of lobbying is so long they were going to dedicate a shopping mall in his name. McCain has his campaign plodding along with lobbyists at the forefront. They're on the trail with him, raising money for him and chairing his committees. Rather than drop the lobbyists, McCain is letting the lobbyists drop in on his campaign. His proposals aren't for the people, they're for laggard commercial interests!

[Aimee Greeblemonkey]

This is what has been driving me CRAZY about the "capitalism" protests and aalot of the people who are do these kinds of things. I know I am going to sound like an old fogey as well, but this is why I have stayed away from "jam band" concerts... people in tie dyes talking about "living simply" getting into their limited edition SUVs and driving away. Same thing I have seen in Denver this week. A bunch of kids who want to get caught up in the drama but don't know what they hell they are talking about, or who they should REALLY be arguing with.

Sure, there have been some really effective and honest to goodness protests that have made sense (particularly the Veterans against the War), but none of THOSE ended in riots or arrests.

And if similar (at least in terms of people protesting capitalism, seeing as riots are never good) does not happen at the RNC, I am going to be further disappointed the youth of America.

[Donna]

Thanks for posting this, Steph and not letting it get lost among all the material we are all processing still after leaving Denver. It was worth the wait!

[cynematic]

I second Aimee Greeblemonkey: if those protesters can't get off mom's couch and get themselves to the RNC for a decent protest, then they aren't worthy of the fine tradition of dissenters in this country who made REAL change come about.

[Lazy Anarchist II]

How about this.. the Obama administration is filled with the same criminals that are responsible for the financial crisis we are in. Complementing that.. the democrats primarily hear the voice of the ultra rich and corporations in our society over all other voices. I can't compete in our current economic and political system because my pockets aren't deep enough for my voice to be heard. I disagree with capitalism because it is exploitative toward the worker in society and doesn't provide equality/fair wage/basic needs met for everyone. You can talk about capitalism how hard work rewards those and helps them climb to the top.. I guess the same could be said about other societies where you could work hard as a slave and pay for your freedom sooner or later (possibly even become the slave master). Why should there be privilege in society when there are people that work harder in physical form compared to the lawyers, politicians, doctors.. etc.. In essence, some physical laborers work just as passionate and hard as the lawyer or doctor (or any other so-called elite). I guess it is all based on privilege even when those that work to the top have prejudices that don't create a virtuous society.

You know people put themselves in danger and risk life and limb daily only to be looked down upon by people similar to yourselves. I'll admit there are certain others who are lazy but who would not desire to be lazy in a sham society like we have. I think all the anarchist want in society is the ability to have an option to have total solidarity and liberty without a society built upon hierarchical and statist authority.. With these things how can a human mind be free when you have someone enforcing their authority on you (constant threat of firing, lay-off, starvation..etc).. I guess you could call me lazy too.. I detest working and helping out a society like ours.. I prefer to sit upon the side lines and watch others similar to yourselves worry about all the materialistic garbage you have to pay for and all the ills that causes.

I prefer to be the master of my own destiny.. I don't feel like following market trends and finding the next big niche market. I don't want to become another mindless member of society that chases after money. I prefer to use my skills to mutually aid other members of society.. I don't even ask that they believe in what I believe.. I prefer not to volunteer my labor in a world where the minority who are rich rule over all men.. Why.. so I can help a company create a business analytic applications that helps the ultra rich get richer by exploiting product pricing and controlling markets.. Yeah, real fair society.. You can keep it..

Oh, and if you feel so inclined to criticize my writing .. By all means, do so.. I can program multiple programming languages, I know how to reverse engineer code, and have a very analytical mind.. But, for some reason I am not interested in the least bit of helping a capitalist society. I prefer to just live my life and live meagerly without any desires for large plasma televisions and the fastest computer known to mankind. I don't need lawyers like yourself nor believe in them.. I'd rather have empty pockets and a rich heart.. I'd consider others and mutually aid my fellow man.. I wouldn't criticize his condition or let my prejudices allow him to starve..

Thank you,
Another Lazy Anarchist..

[Lawyer Mama]

Lazy -

Way to write a comment that had pretty much nothing to do with the actual content of the post, which is also more than a year old. It was about education and protesters who had no idea what they were actually protesting. That's too bad, because if anyone had been able to give me two coherent sentences on *what* they were actually protesting, they would have had a great forum. I wasn't the only representative of the media there.

You sort of missed the point. Try reading the post again. I'm sure your analytical mind can handle it.