From the StopPatriarchy blog:
Still Crazy After All These Years: How I Got Off the Couch and Onto the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride
By an Abortion Rights Freedom Rider from Minnesota | August 6, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
That, of course, is the title of a 1975 Paul Simon song. One reviewer claims this song describes the “impotent rage” that many men and women feel as they get older. They watch the world pass by, are unhappy with the state of affairs but feel too detached or maybe too powerless to really care.
Four in the morning,
Crapped out, yawning
Longing my life away
I’ll never worry
Why should I?
It’s all going to fade.
I could very much be living in this Paul Simon song. I am more than middle aged, have been comfortably active in local and state issues, and have done my share of community work. Now it is someone else’s turn. I’m old; it is time for the kids to care. Yes, there are important issues that demand my attention but I vote and I give some money to good causes. Yes I am angry about the injustice that I see in the world but what can I really do anyhow? I am the definition of “impotent rage.”
But now I have been on the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride (ARFR) for four days and I have a lot more to say about our ability to shake the apathy and to change our world.
These riders, from the west to the east, are truly inspiring. Men, women, older, younger: they are spending their time and committing their lives to struggle and change. This is not change in the way that I have imagined it in the past. It is a real change that must happen if we are to see lasting equality and justice.
This ride was organized to highlight the state of emergency that surrounds the issue of abortion. The new laws being passed in state after state suggest a chilling reality. Ninety-seven percent of rural counties have no abortion providers; five states have only one operating abortion clinic; and eight abortion providers have been killed. Unless people speak up and fight back, women will see their rights systematically stripped away. We will go to sleep in 2013 but wake up in 1953.
But this assault on abortion rights is just part of a larger assault on women, and that, in turn, is part of an even larger assault on the people of this country. We can no longer sit back and wait for the political leaders to guide us out of the darkness. We cannot sit by hoping that some candidate or some party will be able to change the direction of this decline. I cannot sit at home watching the “good” news channel, railing against the “bad” news channel, and let my rage stay silent. I cannot wait for someone else to fight the battle for me. I have to get off the couch and get on the bus.
I was raised to be a good Democrat and I have held tight to the belief that the Democrats will one day defeat the evil Republicans. I have made excuses for years as Democrats give ground on human rights issues. I have been loyal to Democratic candidates who say they are going to fight for change but not just yet….maybe next month or next session or during their next term. I started this ride because I want to stop the assault on women. I continue on this ride because I realize that the fight must come from the people. I cannot wait any longer for change to come through the political system. The old saying goes “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” Why should I vote over and over and expect that maybe the next time things will be different?
Riding across the upper Midwest with a growing group of riders is, indeed, a trip. There are constant conversations about lodging, food, and logistics. I haven’t been “communal” for a long time but it is coming back to me. Working for a cause and living with a group is indeed still crazy after all these years. But at least I am giving voice to my anger. No longer impotent rage, I am at the beginning of an important journey. If you are on the couch reading this, please give voice to your outrage. You are not alone and it is not too late.
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.