Look what's happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I'm dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Ain't it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution got to revolution...
Come on now we're marching to the sea
Got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you? We will and who are we?
We are volunteers of America.
—
Jefferson Airplane, "Volunteers," 1969
I wasn't
at Woodstock when Grace Slick and her band performed this anthem 40
years ago this month. I was preparing to move with my Navy husband
to assignment in Greece.
But my
social libertarian side related, not to the drugs, but to the desire
for more freedom in an uptight society.
Admittedly, the Woodstock generation may have overdone this
somewhat. Worse, and incredibly, some became supporters of Big,
Controlling Government in later years!
Not I.
Not Chip Ford, who was 19 in 1969 and would have been at Woodstock
had he not been an Army draftee. Last week we were among those some
have labeled "right-wing kooks"
rallying in Peabody Square.
The
rally was organized by Republican congressional candidate Bill Hudak
to urge that our congressman, John Tierney, hold a town meeting on
ObamaHealth before there's a vote on the bill, regardless of what it
ends up saying.
There
were an
estimated 500 people in the square, which seemed impressive for
a weekday, though many were union members who always seem to find
time for these things. Still, I thought, the more the merrier in
support of asking our congressman to show up to discuss the issue
with his constituents, i.e.; his employers.
But
wait! Many of those who came in response to an e-mail from Tierney
looking for help — the Massachusetts Nurses Association arrived in
its own blue MNA bus — were there to oppose a meeting with
constituents!
Those
nurses were wearing blue T-shirts saying "Medicare for all;" never
mind that Medicare for just seniors is almost bankrupt.
But
another nurse, not wearing blue, was on the other side of the square
in support of a town-hall meeting to discuss the small problem of
unaffordability. The MNA, like most unions, doesn't speak for all
its members.
The
seniors, veterans, boomers, young people and mothers with small
children didn't look like "right-wing kooks" to me, though as always
there were one or two in the crowd. One was waving a sign saying
"the voters are idiots," which seemed counterproductive to me, since
the goal was not only to express frustration, but to get said voters
on our side.
Hudak,
however, is easily defined as "one of us" — the voters who want
respect and accountability from the people we elect.
I went
as a columnist, but found myself cheering when Hudak, in
shirtsleeves, jumped on top of his slogan-covered SUV to address the
crowd. I heard him speak two days later at the Marblehead Republican
Town Committee picnic; the man is a natural. His campaign theme,
"Restore the balance in America," reflects a need for more voices in
Congress to stand up to Obama's rush to radical change.
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Candidate Bill Hudak
atop his campaign SUV addresses the Peabody Square crowd |
This
theme is similar to that of gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker,
who was also at the RTC picnic: "This campaign is about jobs, the
budget and balance."
As an
Independent, I try to stay out of Republican primaries, but it's
hard when an old friend like Charlie is running.
I'm
trying to wait on the congressional race: Dave Sukoff, with whom
I've spoken by phone, also seems a viable candidate; and Rich Baker,
who ran in 2006, made a fine presentation at the picnic; so it looks
as if the Republicans have a potentially impressive primary in the
works here. While Tierney is e-mailing his supporters for help in
avoiding a town meeting, his opponents are out and about, starting
the 2010 revolution.
It's not
just the top of the ticket either. At the picnic I met a young man
with the map of America on his face with freckles and a smile, who
is already running for a North Shore state rep. seat. Another
attractive young man just joined the town committee with a future
political campaign in mind. And two other young guys were "fighting"
over a raffle item — a Reagan sweatshirt — reminding some of us
older activists of the "Reagan kids" who first got involved during
the revolutionary 1980 presidential campaign.
Yes, the
Obamaphiles who want to change America are meeting citizens who want
entirely different change — away from Big Government, high taxes,
suffocating debt and the erosion of the American dream. They want
reform of health care, but not a government takeover; control over
government-connected Big Business, not control over the entire free
market; jobs with real wages, not taxpayer handouts to failed
entities. No wonder the Democratic machine is scrambling to demonize
these citizens by grabbing the occasional "kook" and trying to make
him appear representative of the opposition. Too many other
Democrats, along with Independents, are looking for some balance in
both budgets and ideology.
They are
the new "volunteers of America," and they got themselves a
revolution. They don't push drugs and they like policemen. (Those in
Peabody Square that day were very nice, by the way.)
Now
where did I store my tie-dye T-shirts?