Julia Dalton went to the Van Jones event in New York, “Rebuild the American Dream,” and came away pleasantly surprised, if still skeptical, about its efficacy and intentions. Was this actually an Obama event? If so, forget it. If not, will it work?
Like Van Jones (formerly Obama’s Green Energy Czar) and many of us, she has given up on Obama, thinks he chose power over principle.
For me the jury’s still out. However, at this point I almost unwillingly tend to the opinion that Obama might have lost his own bet. That though he is a good soul, and very bright, with his heart in the right place, he figured he could thread his way through the snake pit when he agreed, many many years ago, to be “elected” as another puppet president.
In my version of Obama’s inner life, he assumed that by playing his cards just right, he would be able to gradually and subtly turn tables on the powers-that-be, bring the cabal down, and save the world.
But of course, as Van Jones says, it’s “Yes, WE can.” That was always way too much to ask of one man, no matter how “powerful.”
Even so, I still root for Obama, and send him positive energy. My sense is that, energetically, if he receives enough juice from others who also hold the vision of a world at peace, he (we) may still be able to pull it off. In any case, the last thing he needs is to be the object of negative projections.
Thanks to opednews.com.
Julia Dalton (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)
Thursday evening I attended the “Rebuild the Dream” event in New York City hosted by Van Jones, featuring the musical group ROOTS with Shepard Fairey DJing. Honestly I went to hear Jones but also to see Fairey whose “Make Art Not War” poster hangs in my living room.
I didn’t know much about Jones except he was Obama’s Green Energy czar and was thrown under the bus when he was labeled a radical, leftist, commie, raised by Black Panthers or some other such nonsense by the king of fear mongering and right wing echo chamber lies, Glen Beck.
I admit I was skeptical. Is this a front group for Obama’s reelection campaign because honestly if that’s what this is I’m not interested. I’m suffering from buyer’s remorse like many progressives but decided to keep an open mind.
Jones took the stage before a packed house and proclaimed, “We are being lied to.” And we’re not stupid enough to fall for it. The lies we’ll break down tonight are: America is broke. Taxing the rich would hurt America’s economy and be a job killer. And the most patriotic thing we can do is to dismantle the government and wreck it. Okay he got my attention.
Jones is handsome, funny, articulate and reminds me of a young Malcolm X. Oops, I mean a young Sidney Poitier. No need to give the psycho hypocrites on the right any ammo cause we know how they love to spin facts into misinformation and lies.
Jones grew up in West Tennessee, attended church, Bible study, public schools and his father, who served in the military police, sent him and several other members of their family to college. He sent Van to Yale Law School where he felt tricked by the poverty and injustice he saw around New Haven. Jones rebelled against his father’s ideals and ended up on the “left side of Pluto” as he called it. He headed to Oakland, CA and worked in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America trying to keep kids out of jail by getting them into jobs but was attending more funerals than graduations. He learned, “Angry rhetoric may feel good but it doesn’t make a difference. Education is the key to opportunity and nothing stops a bullet like a job.” Jones ended up coming full circle back to the values his father taught him. Being an Army brat myself who rebelled against everything my father stood for I understand this quite well.
Jones became emotional, as did I, when he spoke of his father and the lessons he taught him. Including, “Nobody can give you anything that stops you from being poor. Every poor kid has to climb that ladder out of poverty. It’s about personal responsibility and society has a responsibility to give us a ladder to climb.” The American Dream for his father was the belief that if you worked hard you could create a better life for yourself and your family. Then he asked, “Why are we allowing the ladder of opportunity to fall over without a peep of protest?”
“This is about to change,” he continued, “and change starts with telling the truth.”
Lie #1. America is broke.
“Wrong,” says Jones. Wall Street doled out its largest bonuses ever. Corporations have experienced their highest profits in history. This lie is very dangerous. If we accept this lie soon other beliefs seem acceptable, i.e. we can’t afford Medicare, we need to lay off teachers, firefighters, police, nurses, take away heating assistance, healthcare and infrastructure. News flash: We are still the richest country in the world. Our economy is almost as big as two Chinas.
America is not broke. We were robbed. So who has all the money that use to be in our pockets, schools and retirement accounts?
Wall Street has $144 Billion.
Fighting two wars on a credit card – $1.3 Trillion.
Bush Tax cuts for the rich – $42 Billion every fiscal year.
Corporations paying less or $0 in taxes.
