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FReepathon Day 45 ...
Posted on 11/14/2011 3:07:57 PM PST by Chi-townChief
The boys wanted to go to The Art Institute, so the family piled on Metra’s 10:35 a.m. train to downtown Saturday. It would, I calculated, have been cheaper to drive — the dreaded family multiplier effect: four Steinbergs x $3.65 fare x 2 for a round trip = $29.20 transportation costs.
But I didn’t feel like driving. And it was pleasant to sit there and face each other and talk while being whisked to the heart of the great city on a lovely day. We emerged from Union Station to a dull clanging sound.
“What does that mean!?” asked the younger, anxious one.
“The bridge is going up,” I said. At that moment, down went the gates on the Adams Street Bridge, and a pair of rich guys’ yachts could be seen bobbing below us in the river.
My wife was all for watching the bridge go up, and I’ll confess to the little-boy thrill of seeing city streets lurch into the air. We parked ourselves at the rail and waited.
And waited. The transportation folks were taking their sweet time about pressing the Bridge Up button, apparently.
“Maybe there’s some technical problem,” my wife said. Growing bored, we nipped down to Jackson to walk to the museum. The bridge finally went up — at least the western half — while we were crossing the river. We paused to watch one yacht slip under the Adams bridge, but the other seemed reluctant — were it me, were I stopping traffic into the Loop, I’d be quicker about it. But what’s the rush? It’s his world, now. The ants can wait. We pushed onward.
“This will be your chance to see Occupy Chicago,” I enthused to the boys, as we approached La Salle. The older boy — who really is like Michael J. Fox in “Family Ties” — fell into reverie about confronting the “bohemians” for their irrational Marxism.
“You do that,” I goaded. “Feel free.”
When we got to La Salle, the light changed, and we paused before the Federal Reserve and regarded the protest across the street. There was no drumming. There were five or six protesters, two holding signs expressing solidarity with the people of Egypt, who I’m sure appreciated the support.
“That’s it?” said my wife. “Pathetic!”
“Maybe they’ve marched off someplace,” I mumbled, as if I were responsible. “They sometimes go to Grant Park.”
Location, location, location, as the real estate folks say. By establishing themselves in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, Occupy Wall Street drew a day of media smirking, because they weren’t actually occupying Wall Street. But the practicality of having space to camp in swelled their numbers and numbers are what protests are all about.
Occupy Chicago obviously didn’t get the memo, and based itself at the heart of the financial center, one of the more tight and unwelcoming corners in the city; I don’t think you could comfortably operate a pretzel cart at La Salle and Jackson. They tried to shift to Grant Park, but were thwarted.
Don’t interpret pointing out this tactical error as lack of sympathy. Regular people in this country need help. That said, the Republicans have become ruthlessly effective at servicing their big business masters, crippling the government when necessary. This paltry response is just feeble. Tea Party ideas — social programs don’t work, taxes and regulations are bad, helping people is not government’s role and best left to churches — have become the holy writ for many, who maybe don’t know we tried laissez faire in the 19th century and the resulting horror led to the government regulation and safety net now under attack.
Protests get attention by their size, which creates a sense of drama, by the possibility of social upheaval and real change. Nobody is going to take significant action because a handful of people are cold. The Occupy movement started strong but now smacks, not of a protest, but a vigil, of those Quakers standing across from the White House, year after years, accomplishing nothing. Occupy Chicago isn’t winning, it’s losing. Entrenched wealth is still busily maximizing its advantages — those pesky EPA standards have to go! And why should employers be saddled with the health care of their workers? The only opposition is this shambling mess, its novelty gone, its numbers dwindling. That was it? Sheesh.
What a maroon. Times have changed since the 19th century bub!
I talked to a few of these occupy fellows. They were fighting amongst themselves, accusing each other of theft and laziness. If they were dynamite they could not blow their nose.
which moron planned these protests for late in the fall- there is a freezing rain outside today here- I almost actually feel sorry for any morons camping out in this
If i was camping with my children in this weather I would pack up and go home
stress on the word ALMOST
How about the many who prefer to remember the twentieth century Socialist-Marxist fix resulting in genocides, pogroms, death camps, gulags, starvation's and mass executions by the most tyrannical big governments in the history of the planet, as a more important horror to remember, Neil?
So they did get it right, finally!
Yes, they did. They were both right.
Don't be rude. Mentioning facts to counter Marxism is definitely politically incorrect.
I get a kick out of Steinberg’s comments about the “rich guys’ yachts” as if he doesn’t have quite a few pesos stashed away for himself.
I stand reprimanded, I shall go without dinner this evening.
I bet the author is “rich” by OWS standards. Also, her inability to understand that both parties are in the pockets of special interests is demented.
The Federal government has too much (unconstitutional) power and too much money to hand out and the politicans get to decide who gets what. That is why they are up for sale. That is the root of the corruption.
Most of the nineteenth century's economy was dominated by government involvement and corruption.
I got a kick out of that one, myself!
I have enjoyed the pleasure of sailing on many “yachts”.
I remember once “we” waited for our turn to navigate the waterways under a bridge in the city. I had to drive over that bridge every day to get to work, and again on that particular night, to get to the marina to board the “yacht”... It was very cool to experience motoring under that bridge, for once.
Many of my friends owned sail boats. Some of them lived year round on their boats, some worked their boats for charter fishing and/or sailing businesses, and a select few just sailed whenever they got the chance, purely for pleasure.
I enjoyed several dozen sunset sailing cruises on various yachts, and learned many things that help me navigate through life.
1.If you always bring snacks and/or drinks, and always help clean up the boat after it docks, you will always be invited to return, and other people will also invite you onto their boat.
2.If you are willing to follow simple directions, the captain is willing to teach you what you need to know to become part of the crew, even if your role is simple ballast, there is honor in filling that role to the best of your ability.
3.Yachts have to be hulled, and few people will actually pitch in and help with the hard physical work of maintaining a yacht.
4.I will never, ever buy a boat! No matter how much money I might manage to acquire. The sheer number of people who think they deserve and even have a right, to sail on my boat, simply because I have a boat and they don’t sickens me.
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