Vietnow

The title of this particular entry is lifted from a Rage Againat the Machine song by the same clever name and it seems to fit well with the political climate right here in the US of A. A fight has broken out between the stay-the-coursers and the get-out-of-dodgers regarding The War. Everywhere you look, it's the late 1960's. Or so I'm told, as I was not even an embryo in those years of public revolt against the Johnson and Nixon administrations. But am I the only one that thinks all of this activity on both sides of the issue feels like an imitation in every regard? More like a reunion than a movement?

Oh wait, but which war? The war in Iraq? The war in the 'Stan as my brother the combat Vet calls it. The general War on Terror...er, I mean the "Struggle Against Extremist Ideaologies". The latter is probably more accurate but just isn't as catchy, regrettably. That's most likely why you find our President slipping the former phrase back into the daily dialogue, against the wishes of the Secretary of Defense.

And then there is Dear Ms. Sheehan's mug on the tube today. She looked extraordinarily uncomfortable and angry as hell. She wants Bush to own up to all kinds of things. (Politics aside, more people should be requesting that exact thing on inumerable fronts) And the pollsters and hucksters are all trying like gangbusters to prove that there is some serious unrest boiling and bubbling; all to keep this movement rocking and rolling, like penne pasta a-tumble. But the ingredients for a 60's redux are for the most part missing in action. The music scene is pretty much flaccid and tired...though Green Day got some accolades at the MTV Video Music Awards for their fairly anti-administration epic "American Idiot". But let's face it politically charged ballads just aren't what they used to be. In fact it would seem the biggest impact that Green Day has had on affecting hearts and minds are those that gather around the nominating table for the VMA awards. And then there is the absence of leadership. And of true outright iconoclasm. That fat bastard Michael Moore is a tragically poor substitute for the Dr. Kings and Robert Kennedys and Cesar Chavezs of the ol' Yesteryear.

The people of this country are just not keyed into a meaningful and earthshattering mindset. Laziness, apathy, comfort. And the old hippies are just not getting it done. I think there are a quite a few of us out here in the ether that would love a full on revolution...but we won't have it for the same reason that we don't have any guitarists like Hendrix or Clapton coming up from the ranks of the youthful balladeers.

Why oh why? Well here it is: a wholesale lack of dedication to being Really Good. See, that requires work and sweat and suffering and the American people want to have the fruits and the dreams and the change without having to actually put in the times and tears.

Thus, thus: None of this is Vietnam.

Those that continue to draw that parallel are doing the opposite of what they surely are intending as a call for change in current U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Instead they are casting the current situation in the light of the past and in doing so making it all but impossible to craft new solutions free from the bonds and restrictions of the old ones. So to the Vietnow camp I say this: Get off your tired old soapbox and starting thinking about new ways to approach the very real threats, lies, missteps and misunderstandings that characterize our current state of affairs. Solutions will never be found on dusty old placards or buttons on the lapels of green fatigues. Such efforts are just too easy to work.