Saturday, March 20, 2004

Rites of Spring

It was gloriously sunny and warm on the first day of spring. I rode my hybrid bike downtown. There were many other bicyclists going downtown as well, in fact there were more bicyclists on the Hawthorne Bridge than cars, and the police were at each of the first four intersections coming off the bridge. I had a lot of questions about my pedal/electric powered bike from the other bicyclists. I figured I might as well take advantage of all the police, and locked my bike to a parking meter directly in front of where they were set up across from Pioneer Square. Nobody messed with it.

I found the square was filled to overflowing and people were backed up onto the surrounding streets, letting the light rail trains pass as needed. Then the march started about 1:30 or so. There had to be well over 20,000 people marching, Northwest Cable News said 25,000, but KGW said only 5-6000 and the AP estimate was only 2000. But after I left Pioneer Square to go up Broadway, I looked to our left and way down on 3rd, the march was going by, about 15 blocks ahead of us on our route. When I reached the top of the hill in front of the Oregonian building on Broadway, I looked back behind me and the march was still coming out of Pioneer Square. That made the march well over a mile long, and it filled the street.

The rally and march were peaceful, and there was none of the tension that pervaded last year’s actions. Many families were there with their children, and hope and joy were in the air, along with a passionate determination that it’s time for action and justice.

This wasn’t a bunch of fringe radicals, I even talked to some Republicans who feel betrayed and who will not vote for Bush this time. The nation has grown tired of constantly shifting lies, justifications and excuses for Bush’s policies and their results. Revelations now come like a drumbeat, one after another, reinforcing that the White House ignored the warning signs of 9/11, again and again that Bush was obsessed with invading Iraq, that there were no WMDs, vengeful outing of CIA agents, exploding budget deficits, bogus Medicaid costs and on and on…

The Republicans were mostly upset over economic issues. So I had to ask them, “are you better off than 4 years ago?” to quote an old Reagan line. No, they’ve lost benefits and they’re worried about losing their jobs. I understand, half my friends are out of work, some of them for well over a year, and now I’m amongst them myself. When leaving Pioneer Square on the march, I walked past Fox Tower, where 2 months ago I had a $50K a year job, until I was laid off in yet another round of downsizing. Now my wife and I have lost 60% of our income, and we’re trying to make up some of the difference from savings. So much for the resurgent economy.

But the message everyone had today was absolutely clear. Bush has to go. No ifs, ands, or buts. It’s time to reclaim our country from the liars and the zealots. The deep anger of last year was still there, but today it was focused on one thing, getting Bush out of office, and the breadth of diversity and cohesion among all the different groups represented today was inspiring. People finally are waking up to the fact that they’ve been lied to over and over, and it’s time that “we the people” put a stop to it. And in November, we will.

- Bob Woods