As members of our staff travel around the country, we often get into discussions, with friends and strangers alike, that more often than not involve politics.
These discussions are sometimes effective to help educate, inform, and change the minds of people, including us. Much of the time, though, we realize that these discussions are simply words, people venting to one another, looking for some kind of answers to questions that make all of us - left, right, and center - shake our heads in collective frustration.
Putting words into majority-supported, positive political action isn't something Americans have been well-known for, over the last few decades. Our U.S. Congress - both House and Senate - has become the poster child for this kind of failure of conviction, with actions like the reaffirmation of the official U.S. motto by the House on Wednesday.
The legislatures in many statehouses across the country aren't much better.
This lack of action - almost everywhere - is one reason we were so excited to see what happened in Oakland on Wednesday, with the first general strike anywhere in the country in 65 years.
Most of our readers, and our entire staff, have never really experienced a general strike, so we understand that some of you may be a bit concerned about what is involved in a general strike.
In short, a general strike shuts down almost everything, in a predominantly peaceful way. Businesses, activity at ports, bus service, and most other economic activity shuts down, due to workers not showing up or even just walking away for a day. In short, a general strike is what happens when a significant majority of people follow the example of the character Howard Beale, in the legendary film Network, when he says, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Contrary to the propaganda from some on the right, the general strike in Oakland has thus far been very effective in what they've been attempting to do - stop the flow of normal activities for a time.
We agree with others who've made the important point that the general strike in Oakland isn't about the recent police brutality or even the Occupy Oakland movement and its disputes with the city. The general strike in Oakland is about the same thing the Occupy movement has been about, both in the U.S. and abroad - that REAL actions need to be taken by those in positions of power, and that those politicians need to take responsibility.
With that in mind, it's also important to remember that in a system of government like ours, in the U.S., it's WE who have the power, - and the responsibility. We can take responsibility for things that are hard choices, like President Obama has done this week with the economy and with the final decision on whether the Keystone pipeline will even be allowed to go through. Or we can deny, obfuscate, and generally make excuses, like Herman Cain about allegations against him and his campaign, or Rick Perry, with his recent odd speech in New Hampshire.
With respect to the inequalities that lay at the heart of the Occupy movement's concerns, like it or not, Americans will soon have a choice. They can follow the president's lead and be responsible, pushing their politicians to clean up the system, and raise the real collection of tax dollars from those who have been wealthy enough so far to skate out on paying their fair share.
Or we can cry, whine, accuse others, and attempt to avoid the responsibility of accepting the reality that - as a country - we're simply not collecting the taxes we need to operate our government effectively.
For those people who've said, in the past, that the rich in America will have to pay their fair share only when hell freezes over?
Let's just say we don't think it's only the weather in Nebraska that's getting colder.
