Good Morning, 99%'ers!

This week and next, the Wednesday Open Thread is taking a hiatus from discussing neo-liberalism. This is mainly due to my personal schedule being too busy to enable me to do the research necessary research to write a quality essay. I will be traveling most of the next week and a half. But I do intend to write more on the subject of neo-liberalism when I return from my travels.

For those who may be interested, here are links to the previous essays in the neo-liberalism.

Week 1 - The Curse of Neo-liberalism
Week 2 - Neo-liberalism Part 2
Week 3 - The Neo-liberal Myth of Meritocracy
Week 4 - Characteristics of Neo-liberalism
Week 5 - Neo-liberalism - Obama and the Clintons
Week 6 - Neo-liberalism - The Legacy of Bill Clinton
Week 7 - Neo-liberalism - Lack of Empathy

In my Week 5 essay, I wrote the following paragraph;

Understanding the neo-liberal ideology explains why Hillary Clinton and most of the current political establishment seem hell bent on jettisoning the New Deal and continuing to pursue the destructive policies of the neo-liberalism. And there really is not much difference between neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. Neo-liberalism is capitalism on steroids and it is not very liberal in the way those of us on the left define "liberal." Neo-consevatism is American exceptionalism on steroids. The two ideologies exist in a symbiotic relationship with one another. Over the years, they have become simply two sides to the same coin.

For years, I never quite understood why the United States continued to become embroiled in multiple wars with no end in sight. Perpetual war always seemed, at best, a wasteful pursuit when the monies spent on wars could be much better spent on our own people. With that in mind, I got involved in a local Peace vigil about four years ago.

Today's Open Thread topic is a personal one. As I have posted before at caucus99, for the last four years, I have been privileged to be able to participate in a local Peace vigil. I learned of it quite by accident as I happened to be downtown one Saturday between noon and one pm and stopped to talk to them. At that time, there were four men and one dog actively involved.

So the next Saturday, I showed up at noon and selected a hand written sign from about fifteen signs that one of the men (Don) made. The group also had a homemade banner that read "No Blood For Oil." I positioned myself next to Bill because he had a dog. Bill wore a sign around his neck that read "Retired History Teacher and Dog for Peace." His dog was a beagle/basinji mix named Buddy and Buddy wore a small sign around his neck that read "Peace." Buddy was totally dedicated to the Peace vigil.

These four men were the remnants of a larger group of about 35 people who began the Peace vigil in response to the Iraq War. The group remained fairly large until the election of Barack Obama as President. Then participation dropped considerably as most believed that Obama would end the wars. We all know how that went. Not well.

And so it was Don (retired physician), Bill (retired high school history teacher) with Buddy, Richard (90 year old WWII vet), and Keith (retired college math professor) and me. For about two and a half years, the five of us met weekly in front of the courthouse for one hour every Saturday to hold our Peace vigil.

For us, it was all about having conversations. We would meet with people and talk with them about why these wars were so wasteful. Much to my amazement, we had some very good conversations with self described conservatives. My approach was to avoid moralizing, but to emphasize the practical reasons why these wars are to wasteful. Most people were polite except for a few who seemed to think that being against these wars was unpatriotic. And most of those fit into the demographic of elderly white males who are generally conservative.

Two years ago, this coming Sept., we lost Buddy. Bill let him out one morning and Buddy never returned. Bill was devastated. Two weeks later, Richard informed us that he could no longer participate because he was physically unable to do so. Richard was our most stalwart participant, but old age caught up with him. So we were down to three by the end of September 2014. Then in December, Keith quit coming.

Last year, it was Don, Bill and me along with Bill's new dog, Bailey. As the year went on, Bill, who is 80, was having physical problems. Early this year, it was just Don, who is 86, and me. Bill wanted to come, but his health prevented it. Don and I continued this spring. Finally, Don called me and said that he and Bill decided to end the Peace vigil. I was upset, but saw that this day was coming. We tried to recruit others, but giving up every Saturday is a big commitment.

Still, this was a beautiful experience for me. Don and I have talked about doing some special event Peace vigils. I would love that.

Here we are, about three years ago. We always lined up in the same order, for some reason. We were photographed numerous times over the years and none of us ever tried to hide our identities. I have posted this picture before, but I hold this dear to my heart. Looking at us, from left to right: Me, Bill, Richard, Keith and Don.

Edit to add: This was the 14th year for these guys. Prior to that, Richard (WWII vet in the center) was involved for five years protesting against the death penalty. Don (who is the youngest 86 year old I know) continues to be active on line with other Peace groups. Bill and Richard rarely missed a week. All of them were very dedicated.