Going to Washington: a Capital Idea!
When the airline asks if you mind getting bumped from a flight, and in return they'll give you a round trip ticket to anywhere they fly, I recommend taking it. That's what my daughter did three months ago when we were on the way back from vacation. The payoff? She and I went to Washington DC for a 4-day weekend.
I decided that since they weren't really teaching civics in school anymore, why not take her to the nation's capital, show her around, and exercise our right to "redress grievances" while we were there. A couple we know here got inspired by our hare-brained idea and got themselves tickets and hotel rooms to go, too.
If you don't know me, you should know that I'm really unsatisfied with the Bush presidency, the current Republican party, and the direction this country's headed. In fact, if it doesn't change directions, I think we're pretty well headed to the shitter. I apologize is this is crude language to you, but the crude language is only a small measure of the depth I feel about this. Mr. Bush is dismantling our rights, turning much of the middle class to lower class, oh, and I could go on and on. Instead though, let's talk about DC.
We stayed in Rosslyn, an affluent across-the-Potomac suburb from the Mall. A half-block from the hotel was an underground Metro stop. The Metro is the great equalizer. The poor, the middle class, and even some of the hoi paloi (you know, the rich) ride the Metro. In DC they're clean and safe and pretty user-friendly. If they just had a stop on the Mall, I'd have been one happy camper.
So Saturday morning dawned cloudy and about 68 degrees. This was the day of the demonstration that would see a quarter million anti-war demonstrators--and 400 pro-Bush folks--gather on the Ellipse to let the powers that be know that LOTS of folks didn't agree with the direction they were taking this country. Unfortunately, a really demanding lady named Rita took the attention of the ADD news media away from what a huge number of its citizens were peacefully trying to get across.
It was really a great time for the four of us. It re-affirmed that my country IS about freedom and about having an opinion other than what the powers that be might have. I've been amazed to find so much anger amongst those who do support the President. And this is one of my big personal themes: The United States of America crows loud and long about being the land of the free and the home of the brave, yet it screams mightily when people actually exercise that right. Well, last Saturday we did exactly that. We re-affirmed our love for the USA, and our love of freedom through actually exercising that freedom.
The foundations didn't crack. The terrorists didn't win. The founding fathers didn't spin in their graves. Other than the small coverage the media gave it, what happened is what should have happened. People gathered and redressed grievances. We're Americans and believe in that, right? Right?
I decided that since they weren't really teaching civics in school anymore, why not take her to the nation's capital, show her around, and exercise our right to "redress grievances" while we were there. A couple we know here got inspired by our hare-brained idea and got themselves tickets and hotel rooms to go, too.
If you don't know me, you should know that I'm really unsatisfied with the Bush presidency, the current Republican party, and the direction this country's headed. In fact, if it doesn't change directions, I think we're pretty well headed to the shitter. I apologize is this is crude language to you, but the crude language is only a small measure of the depth I feel about this. Mr. Bush is dismantling our rights, turning much of the middle class to lower class, oh, and I could go on and on. Instead though, let's talk about DC.
We stayed in Rosslyn, an affluent across-the-Potomac suburb from the Mall. A half-block from the hotel was an underground Metro stop. The Metro is the great equalizer. The poor, the middle class, and even some of the hoi paloi (you know, the rich) ride the Metro. In DC they're clean and safe and pretty user-friendly. If they just had a stop on the Mall, I'd have been one happy camper.
So Saturday morning dawned cloudy and about 68 degrees. This was the day of the demonstration that would see a quarter million anti-war demonstrators--and 400 pro-Bush folks--gather on the Ellipse to let the powers that be know that LOTS of folks didn't agree with the direction they were taking this country. Unfortunately, a really demanding lady named Rita took the attention of the ADD news media away from what a huge number of its citizens were peacefully trying to get across.
It was really a great time for the four of us. It re-affirmed that my country IS about freedom and about having an opinion other than what the powers that be might have. I've been amazed to find so much anger amongst those who do support the President. And this is one of my big personal themes: The United States of America crows loud and long about being the land of the free and the home of the brave, yet it screams mightily when people actually exercise that right. Well, last Saturday we did exactly that. We re-affirmed our love for the USA, and our love of freedom through actually exercising that freedom.
The foundations didn't crack. The terrorists didn't win. The founding fathers didn't spin in their graves. Other than the small coverage the media gave it, what happened is what should have happened. People gathered and redressed grievances. We're Americans and believe in that, right? Right?
posted by VTexan at 5:48 PM
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