From Southern Exposure 1974

OUR PROMISED LAND
"Speed now the day when the plains and the hills and all the wealth thereof shall be the people’s own and free men shall not live as tenants of men on the earth…" ~ Ceremony of the Land, Southern Tenant Farmer’s Union (1937)

I've been re-reading some old periodicals we purchased at a thrift store in Blacksburg, VA a few years ago and came across this great quote.....

"Our long national nightmare is over..." ~ President Gerald R. Ford

and it was followed by this prophetic comment in the ad it was included in:
"NO WAY!" ~ The Progressive
...It goes on to say.
No way is the nightmare over. Watergate was only a small part of it; rising unemployment, skyrocketing prices, shortages of housing, gasoline, home heating fuels, grain, aluminum.... For millions, the American Dream is turning into an American nightmare.

And then...
"Our society cannot continue indefintely to decay. It seems virtually certain that it the Left does not begin to give voice and direction to the growing anti-corporate anger, then a right-wing politician like Wallace will, through demagogic appeals to fear and uncertainty. It is a crucial time in which to work and build." ~ Harry Boyte from Prospectus for a New Party

So even thirty one years ago it was apparent that demagogic right-wing politicians would use fear to convince the masses of a need to fall into lock step with them. Our need for security is a basic need, yet one that cannot out-weigh the desire for freedom.

With the current K street mess in DC, the adjusted employment figures, continued rising prices, the upcoming fall of the housing market, OIL PRICES (that they could not have dreamed of in 1974), food shortages due to drought, and production shortages due to corporate America not spending the money to upgrade facilities....umm...sounds vaguely familiar.

"We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security." ~ Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)