United States of Mind - Economic Democracy

The new Martin Luther King memorial in D.C.

We both consider Dr. King an inspiration.  And were privileged to be alive when he led his movements for peace and justice. Greg’s mom and dad even heard him speak in West Chester in the late ’60s.  He was a fearless person who spoke truth to power and became the spearhead of the ongoing historical struggle for human rights and dignity.  With this inspiration in mind, we created a performance piece during the crest of the salon movement, when all kinds of establishments were looking for ways to bring people in during off hours.  We had already staged events at Marshalton’s Oyster Bar (now the Four Dogs Tavern), Phoenixville, Wagontown, and West Chester.  At that time, like now, the corporate world owned and ran Washington, voting turnout and citizen engagement was pathetic, and real wages were already falling far behind executive compensations.  Given all this, we wanted to have an inter-active discussion about the state of political affairs in mid-90s America.  This would include the history of Capitalism, the power of the banking industry, corporate welfare (a new term then), what being a citizen means, and other issues.  So we created this event, The United States of Mind- where Everything’s Political, to get a crowd together to discuss this apathetic, cynical disjoint between citizen and government.  Greg designed an outtasight flyer and we posted them around West Chester, including at the event venue, Vincent’s Bar/Restaurant on Gay St. (now the Imperial Importer).  Vincent’s was long known as a watering hole and pickup joint for county lawyers and politicians.  In other words, the belly of the local beast for things political in W.C.  So we were really surprised and upset when we discovered that our flyers in their lobby had been torn down.  We were told by management that they didn’t like something about the title.  Which kinda said it all, and demonstrated that, indeed, everything was political and words have power.  We put it on anyway, got a good attendance, had great discussions, and had no interference from management, to their credit.  Guess we sold enough food and drinks.

Fast forward to now and the amazing Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington.  Economic justice is a major part of King’s message that was rarely covered then and even now at the memorial:  That all people should have the opportunity to a fair wage no matter what their color, and that the power of the military and corporate spheres stood in the way.  This was pretty heavy stuff in the 1960s from a person of such national prominence, a Nobel Laureate no less, and it was not viewed kindly by the establishment.  It was deemed tolerable for King to talk about bigotry and skin color and integrating lunch counters and buses.  That was controversial enough, seeing all the violent resistance to that message. But when, in 1967 and ‘68, he started folding those ideals into the big picture of our entire economic philosophy, and began criticizing the Vietnam War as a waste of our lives and our economy, he was stepping on some big toes.  Soon after that,  he was assassinated.  And if you think that was just the act of some misguided redneck, we have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. 

So now it is with great excitement that we witness the upsurge of the Occupy movement, raising awareness of these same problems that have stood in the way of America achieving the ideals set forth by our founders.  It honors all the people who, like King, risked their lives to do it, and it paves the way for a future that really is about “people getting together to debate their collective futures”… which was Aristotle’s definition of democracy way back when.