Perennial Victims

After eleven years it is time for this nation to get back on its feet, live as a nation made whole and quit living as a nation with an unhealed hole which defines and weakens us. Just as a beaten wife must finally redefine herself, we must redefine this nation. The law can take away the abusive husband and put him away, but it is the woman who must accept the responsibility at some point to cast off the role of victim and accept the role of a whole person who can stand on her feet and face life on life’s terms.

It is time for America to cast off the role of 9/11 victim in which we spend more on punishment and protection than we do on development and advancement of our own people; all out of an unending sense of victimhood framed by pictures of burning towers and the words “never forget.” In such focus is the wallowing role of the victim that says, “never move on.”

Such was the role of “Occupy Wall Street” who, rather than marching on Washington to demand that something be done to improve the lot of the middle class, focused on sitting placid and mired in inaction on Wall Street in order to point the finger of blame and bemoan the fate that had been imposed upon them by “the one percent.” They preferred the safe role of victim to the difficult and dangerous role of activist.

The nation cries out for taxation of the rich as redress for the victimization
of the "99%" by the "1%," a chorus of victimization which drowns out any voices demanding action to improve the lot of the middle class and concerted action to improve jobs. We are more focused on how we have been mistreated than we are on action which could improve the conditions in which we work and live.

Such is the role of today’s labor movement, which looks to Congress to pass laws such as “card check” which make unionism easier for them and then cries foul and accepts a declining middle class when Congress fails to do so. What few labor protests which do occur are by single unions and are not accompanied by concerted action on the part of labor as a whole, and so they fail for lack of support and labor and the middle class resort to the whimpering victimhood of unfair treatment by government, unwilling to act in concert in their own behalf.

The labor movement in Poland rose up with weapons no more potent than axe handles and faced down a Communist government backed by armies which had machine guns and tanks. American labor cannot even face down a state governor with a divided legislature who is armed only with words. Utterly pathetic.