Mommy Life

September 15, 2009 12:45 PM

Former Leftists? Tell your story.

A Former Radical Goes Back to the Future at the 9/12 March

by Barbara Curtis, Pajamas Media September 15, 2009

In 1967, I was the radical Alinsky wrote the rules for. On the political cutting edge, I'd been arguing with fellow students and coworkers for years about Vietnam, and my growing disgust with my country led me down many winding roads of anti-American thought. I was counterculture before there was a name for it, skipping my prom and graduation as "bourgeois," going barefoot, braless, and unshaven, and collecting tattoos at the only place in town those days -- a crummy hole-in-the-wall next to downtown D.C.'s Greyhound station.

Everything about me was about making a statement. And while it was pretty exciting for me as a young woman to create a new identity based on rejection of the status quo, for years I'd felt like I was alone.

Then suddenly I discovered I wasn't.

On October 21, a crisp, clear D.C. day, I arrived with my boyfriend at my first anti-war protest and felt a thrill of belonging and hope. The Pentagon grounds were churning with 50,000 or so people like us -- a curious conglomeration of serious anti-American academic types (like me) and sha-la-la-la-la-live-for-today potheads (like him). But the differences didn't matter to us that day, which celebrated everything from putting flowers in National Guard rifles to taunting police until we were tear-gassed. The counterculture had a big umbrella, and we were all hippies at heart -- eager to create a new world, whatever that might turn out to be. This day gave us a sense of unity, strength, and purpose.

I went on to help organize events -- from the whimsical Ring Around the Capitol (sponsored by Another Mother for Peace) to the ultra-violent May Day, where we used our bodies to stop traffic on the bridges into D.C. Rallying cry: "If the government won't stop the war, we'll stop the government."

Through it all, to be honest, I felt a little ashamed that I wasn't completely living up to my political ideals, which involved destroying the status quo. I was always a secret admirer of the most radical -- people like Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayers. But while they were busy blowing things up, I'd gotten married and had a baby -- Samantha Sunshine. Still barefoot and braless, I kept up my counterculture credentials by dropping her in the college daycare center during the week and carrying her on my back for weekend demonstrations. While my heart yearned for solidarity with my most radical leftist comrades, my mother's instinct to stay alive and out of jail prevailed.

Read entire article at Pajamas Media.

Love,

Posted in Activism, My life, Obama Nation | Permalink

Comments

Excellent article Barbara! I noticed at the end there was a blurb mentioning one of your books, "Reaching the Left from the Right: Talking About Social Issues with People Who Don't Think Like You." I'm going to have to add that to my "wishlist" because I am so frustrated with the divide that seems to exist between otherwise rational people!

Posted by: Donica | September 15, 2009 1:24 PM

Barbara,
What a great story you have. I, too, had something of a "hippie" background---though was never an anti-war marcher---but I was a drummer for 10 years and opened for "Steppenwolf" and "the James Gang." Now, I'm a history professor at the U. of Dayton and author. If you don't have a copy of my books (two of the more prominent are A Patriot's History of the United States and 48 Liberal Lies About American History), I'd be happy to send you one if you give me an address. My most recent project is a documentary based on the premise that rock and roll helped bring down the Iron Curtain (of course, Reagan and the Pope were preeminent), and I have great interviews with all the "golden age" rockers---the Rascals, Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Rare Earth, Sugarloaf, Dave Mason, and Alice Cooper.

Anyway, thanks for a good column on 9/12.
Larry Schweikart
Professor of History

Posted by: Larry Schweikart | September 15, 2009 1:53 PM

I am what you would call a "radical leftist" right now. I am an atheist, though I have deep respect for people with religious viewpoints and have studied the Bible in school. I read both conservative and liberal blogs and get my information from a variety of viewpoints. I am a member of the ACLU. I participated in the anti-Iraq war marches before I even turned eighteen and even though my parents are both conservative. I helped to register over 100 first-time voters at my school--of ALL parties.

I fully understand conservative viewpoints and even agree with *some* of them. But I do put myself pretty squarely on the left. I am not un-American, though if you knew my viewpoints on most political issues, I think you would label me as a radical leftist. I voted for Obama.

Not all of us--not even most of us--are crazy. On your blog you make it sound like those on the left are out to destroy America and squelch the voices of the opposition. I'm here to tell you that we're not. That may be your experience with being on the left, but it's not mine.

Posted by: Carol | September 15, 2009 3:26 PM

I was a politically active leftist for only a couple of years, but I was raised by a very left-leaning mother.

I remember challenging my teacher when I was in 5th grade over the term "husbandry." My argument? It was an archaic, patriarchal term.

I voted for Kerry, but then I came to my senses. After a pregnancy that almost killed my son, I became pro-life. That was the domino that eventually pushed me to conservatism.

Posted by: Lauren | September 15, 2009 8:32 PM

Loved your article!! so well written and interesting to read right to the last word. Your photo album brought me to tears by picture 20...i Don't know exactly why, I guess just overcome by so many who really and truly love our country, so any people smiling and having a good time. not angry. not even upset. So many beautiful, full flowing American flags being carried in the wind, so different from the "flag burnings" back in the 60's eh? I love my country. It has left me teary to see so many others who do as well. thank you. :)

Kristy in Germany

Posted by: Kristy in Germany | September 16, 2009 7:22 AM

Barbara,

Love this picture!! I always find your story so inspiring. Do you think the fact that you were so radical and in that culture is what ultimately changed you. I have relative who were never in the hippie culture, but to this day espouse the liberal mantra. My grandmother, who is about 75, totally bought the feminist rants, even though she herself was married, working, and raising 3 children. To this day, she can have some pretty crazy ideas.

And to Carol, you just sound young. I'm a 35 yo mom of soon to be 5 children. My first election was 1992 when Clinton won the first time. I'm from Arkansas and was actually there in LR on election night. In my youth, I very much bought into the "moral relativism" that is so promoted in our culture. I lived my feminist, independent life and very soon found it to be empty and lonely. I met other women in the same profession as myself who were never married or divorced with no children. Did I really want to be 50 and alone? So I quit my job, finished my Master's right before getting married. About 1 year later 9/11 happened and changed me for life. I'll wrap it up with a famous Winston Churchill quote, "If you're not a liberal at 20 you don't have a heart, if you're not a conservative at 40 you have no brain." So true.

Posted by: Bethany | September 16, 2009 7:48 AM

I didn't spend nearly as much time on the left as you, Barbara, and by the time I graduated college in 1990, there were few protests to get involved in. But I do recall with particular chagrin a couple of the more choice "causes" I got involved in during my college years.

I'm embarrassed looking back on the immaturity inherent in our college student government association insistently passing resolutions demanding that our college divest itself from any company doing business in South Africa (apartheid being the fashionable issue of the day for lefty college kids at the time). It didn't really matter that such a move might well hurt many of the people we were purporting to help.

Then there was "Hands Across America," in which participants paid $10 a head to reserve a spot in line to form a human chain from coast to coast to fight poverty and homelessness. Lost on me at the time was the fact that there are unarguably more effective ways to fight poverty and homelessness than holding hands and singing, but at the time for me it wasn't so much about what the actual outcome was, as it was about DOING SOMETHING, or perhaps more accurately, being seen as doing something. The worst moment was when several of us started shouting at passersby to help us complete the line in Washington, DC, demanding of them whether or not they cared about stopping poverty. I would imagine there were some folks that day who (rightly) thought we were nuts. Well-meaning...but nuts.

The wikipedia page on the event catalogs the big-name celebs who were also "doing something" about poverty and homelessness, as well as the fact that the event was a massive failure, costing upwards of $17 million, but only raising $20 million. Still more efficient than the federal government, I suppose.

My move to the right involved a change of career from the arts (not a lot of diversity of ideas there) to IT (more balanced politically, though still plenty of liberals), getting married, having kids, and most recently joining the Catholic Church, after having been married to a Catholic for more than a decade.

I, too, am inspired by my fellow Americans who marched on 9/12, as well as the courage of folks like James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who are exposing the ugly underbelly of ACORN, and doing so at considerable personal risk.

As more concerned Americans step forward, our next step should be to throw some of these bums out of office...but that's just a short-term solution. The long-term problem is that the amount of power that has been concentrated in Washington, DC is a guarantee of corruption. We cannot trust that "our" candidates will handle this power any better than the GOP did while they were in power and spending with abandon, or than the Democrats are doing now.

No, ultimately, if we want to save this republic, we must find ways to start limiting the power of the federal government, in keeping with the model our founders envisioned. Whether that is through term limits, via lawsuits, or by enacting constitutional amendments to reinforce the 10th amendment and limit the (currently outrageous) abuse of the commerce clause, I'm not sure. But if we do not do these things then throwing the bums out and putting new folks in place will only be a game of musical chairs, not a fundamental change of the political landscape.

Over 200 years of history in this country provides solid evidence that the American people are capable of remarkable things. We are among the most charitable and industrious nations on the face of the planet. When given freedom, we choose to sacrifice to help others, in addition to investing in the businesses and industries that help the nation grow. A call for a return to freedom, and devolving power to the States and ultimately to the people, should be what drives us forward from 9/12.

Thanks for sharing your story, and giving folks like us a venue for sharing ours!

Posted by: Andrew | September 16, 2009 10:59 AM

ahh, Bethany, that quote of Churchill's. I would say it was true except that my daughter is 16 and a conservative. She has a very big heart, does a lot of community service, helps with her younger siblings and maintains a 98-99% average in school. Not a liberal but a conservative with a very big heart.

Excellent post, Bethany. :)

Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | September 16, 2009 11:56 AM

I am looking at a few ideas of documentary routes to go down for the 9/12 march this 2010...
Do you know of any people who voted for Obama who are going to the 9/12 march? If so, I would love to ask them to be a part of my documentary.
Thanks in advance.

Posted by: Jay | September 5, 2010 2:27 PM

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