Sanders 1969 essays.

LINK

quote:

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The Revolution Is Life Versus Death

by Bernard Sanders

Mr. Sanders, who has written several other thoughtful pieces for The Freeman, lives in Greensboro Bend, from which vantage point he takes a penetrating look at the world around him.

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The train pulls out of 14th street in Manhattan at 8:30 in the morning. Sleepy people, miserable people, hold on to the overhead straps and each other. (The seats have been filled up since way back in Brooklyn). It's another mass of hot dazed humanity heading uptown for the 9-5. Moron work, monotonous work, coffee breaks, office gossip, and 5 o'clock comes and the same train, the same mob of faceless people, turns around and heads the other way.

The train stops somewhere in Brooklyn, a crowd gets out, someone walks a few blocks into a 3 room apartment, family, dinner, arguments, TV and sleep. Eight-thirty the next morning the train is back on 14th street.

The years come and go, suicide, nervous breakdown, cancer, sexual deadness, heart attack, alcoholism, senility at 50. Slow death, fast death. DEATH.

And some people actually wonder why young people rebel, why there is a revolution taking place.

Lies, lies, lies, invasion, napalm torture bombings, annihilation of whole villages, body counts, and more lies.

"In defense of liberty", "against communist aggression", "to protect American interests", empty phrases, dead words spoken by dead people, lies. "Democracy" is a United States congress composed of millionaires and state legislatures controlled by lobbyists. (Does one American in a thousand know who represents him in his state legislature?). "Freedom" is an arm broken by Mayor Daley's cops, while nobody's choice for president kisses the television set as he is nominated in Chicago.

Somewhere in California, in Vermont, in New Mexico, in Colorado, and in everyplace, new things are happening. A revolution is taking place - against strangulation. Life is fighting death, and Life will win.

Life is young (at any age), alive, open, and nonfearing. Life can take his clothes off and be naked with friends. He or she has nothing to hide. There is nothing pret­tier than the unclothed hu­man body.

In Miami, the American Legion sponsors a "rally for decency." Even Jackie Gleason attends. Ron Morrison of the Doors is arrested for giv­ing a lewd performance. He is "immoral." The President of the American Legion calls for more bombing of Viet­nam. "Bomb them into the stone age", the general says, after cocming out of church. This is the morality that civilization is made of. The general is "moral", Morrison is "immoral."

Because they have been good little children, and be­cause the judge this year is liberal, daddy is going to al­low everyone who is ever 18 to see "I Am Curious Yel­low". Yes, you can see naked people and even sexual inter­course right in your local movie theatre. And 300,000 people (over 18) lined up, like good little girls and boys, and saw it. Yes, son (age 90), that's how other people do it.

In Vermont, at a state beach, a mother is repriman­ded by Authority for allow­ing her 6 month old daugh­ter to go about without her diapers on. Now, if children go around naked, they are liable to see each others sex­ual organs, and maybe even touch them. Terrible thing! If we bring children up like this it will probably ruin the whole pornography business, not to mention the large seg­ment of the general econo­my which makes its money by playing on peoples sexual frustrations.

The Revolution is coming and it is a very beautiful revolution. It is beautiful be­cause, in its deepest sense, it is quiet, gentle, and all per­vasive. It KNOWS. What is most important in this revo­lution will require no guns, no commandants, no screaming "leaders", and no vicious publications accusing everyone else of being coun­ter-revolutionary. The revo­lutionary. The revolution comes when two strangers smile at each other, when a father refusese to send his child to school because schools destroy children, when a commune is started and people begin to trust each other, when a young man refuses to go to war, and when a girl pushes aside all that her mother has "taught" her and accepts her boy­friends love.

The revolution comes when young people throughout the world take control of their own lives, and when people everywhere begin to look each other in the eye and say hello, without fear. This is the revolution, this is the strength; and with this be­hind us no politician or gen­eral will ever stop us. We shall win!

VERMONT FREEMAN

WEEKEND NOVEMBER, 14-17, 1969

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As if there aren't enough reasons to vote for somebody else how can you vote for someone who was 28 years old in 1969 and couldn't get the name of the lead singer of The Doors right?