I have to take this moment to issue a word of thanks to the survivors of the Parkland Florida shooting for coming into Janesville and making an attempt to connect with the area's youth.
I can't blame them for indirectly excluding older folks from their communications and schedule, afterall, today's older folks (not all of course) are responsible for the condition of our sold-out government to corporations. Any hope for change and progress in the future will come from today's young people. There is no doubt about that.
But I thought the attendance at Ryan's office should have been better given their national exposure, until I realized this is Janesville.
In Janesville, young people are taught to sit down and cooperate with the adults and the very few that do stand up and voice their concerns are scorned by peers as attention getters or labeled as argumentative troublemakers. For the few young voices showing potential for local leadership over the years, all of them have sadly turned silent or allowed themselves to become assimilated into the status quo establishment woodwork. So it was good to see some fresh faces in attendance showing interest in civic participation.
The sad truth is; The city of Janesville, once thought to hold the potential for a reconstituted democratic progressivism after the collapse of its middle-class, has become a willing laboratory for non-democratic right-wing authoritarian corporate engineering. Put it this way, the flag of surrender - not resistance, is waved in Janesville.
But just as important, I also want to thank them for keeping this latest event an issues and organizing event and not allowing themselves to be used by any particular candidate for a campaign rally. David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez remain true to their cause.
Very refreshing and ...thank you!
ADDITIONAL:
My State Line - Parkland Students Take Gun Control Message to Janesville
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