I distinctly remember it was McCormick’s & Schmick’s, back when they only had a restaurant or two. Maybe 1988-89. – JDW
Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression. – Malcom X
“WHY WOULD THERE BE A COUP?”
“What would the U.S. Army have done in a coup against the government? Would the American soldiers have opened fire on the people?,” I asked.
It was my question of the moment sometime late that summer.
My buddy, thirtysomething with the world by the balls, looks at me for a moment, puzzled.
“Why would there be a coup?.” He answered a question with another question. Which probably tells you something. But I don’t know what.
We were sitting in an expensive wood-paneled bar drinking boutique drafts and preparing for a grueling night of gallery hopping. So, it must have been about the first Thursday of August.
My friend was dressed in some custom-tailored Italian suit which made him look maybe fifteen pounds lighter and five years younger. In the teeth of the recession, he’ll see his compensation drop to maybe $165,000.00. U.S. Pre-tax. That doesn’t include the car, the medical, the retirement. The expense account. The free tickets.
I can only look at him. I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EARS. This is my friend. A man who once wore his hair long. When that had seemed to mean something politically.
“Why would there be a coup?”
This was one answer I hadn’t contemplated.
“Well, I’m asking, why would anybody want a coup in the United States?”
He wasn’t joking.
Realized at once I had just had one of those too rare moments in life, one of those times you tell yourself, I AM SO GLAD I WAS PAYING ATTENTION. Because I learned a valuable lesson right there. To cite an Oriental proverb, the dogs bark, but the caravan passes on.
The global economy is in free-fall. Soon the AUTHORITIES will start treating the poor much like the frontier “settlers” treated the “savages” when we “won” the west. Look for a tightening of restrictions on the reservations.
Don’t take any small-poxed blankets. Don’t buy their firewater.
There are too many people making too big of a mess in way too many places on this planet. Only the rich can afford medical care.
There is greater economic differences in class, greater than during the time of kings and serfs. If it’s not the crooks hurting us, it’s the politicians.
Nobody cares. They’re socially unconscious.
Times are getting hard. A lot of people are out of work. A lot of folks on hard times. A lot of them could be… any one of us.
The lottery is up to twenty-three million something. I had lost track.
“Why would there be a coup?”
Too many Americans are socially unconscious.
My buddy actually said he didn’t care about the homeless.
Later, overheard at the Pulliam-Nugent Gallery.
“I know I watch too much news, but I still have my traditional values.”
