Whistling

I don't want to make too much of the comparison, however...

Certain anniversaries this year have been filtering into my consciousness, catching me off guard, and reminding me that we are 40 years through that crucible that was so momentous for the US and the world. This year too, 2008, is so eventful and portends so much for the future that, well, I've been distracted from that crucial year when anything seemed possible, both the good and the bad.

Today, we mark 4 decades since the murder of Dr. King. Today the NYT releases a poll that shows more US citizens dissatisfied with the their country’s direction (81%!) than at any time since they began asking about the subject in the early 1990s.

The word momentous really doesn't begin to describe 1968. Since January, the trickle of 40 year-old events has shown-up in wire service reports; the Prague Spring, the Tet Offensive. Political events from the Democrats of old have been overshadowed by this year's race: Eugene McCarthy coming within striking range of a sitting president and inspiring Robert Kennedy to change his mind about not running for the presidency, Lyndon Johnson's decision to not seek re-election in face of public disapproval of "his" war.

With the anniversary today of Dr. King's being cut-down by a sniper on a Memphis hotel balcony while fighting along side striking garbage men, more deadly commemorences begin their march back into the sidebars and back pages of daily media.

The economy is number one in the minds of yanquis today, instead of an illegal war and invasion begun with official lies. But it was number one in the mind of Dr. King then as well ...after coming to the conclusion that the newly won civil rights gains could not be fully realized without economic equality.

To say the US economy was different then beggars another word. Productivity per US worker was at its zenith and the phrase "American Dream" didn't draw puzzled looks anywhere in the world. The stage was set, however, for a downturn from which the US did not recover until the Clinton administration. A downturn aided by an oil crisis and a long, drawn-out war far away.

"History does not repeat itself," said Mark Twain, "but it does rhyme." I hope you'll forgive me for pausing to wonder if this tune we've been whistling has a eerily familiar melody. The world made a lot of mistakes during and after that time. I'd like us all to remember those mistakes in the hope that we won't repeat them.