Hi all, I'm a member of the young generation. You know, "Generation Y/Millenials"....

[bvar22]

48. Thanks for the excellent read!

Well thought out and well composed.

I don't want to sound like an Old Fogey, but I would like to point out that the Student Loan disaster is part of a much BIGGER systemic problem in the USA.

My parents were members of the Greatest Generation.
They grew up in the Depression. My fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles, and Great Uncles shed BLOOD fighting for the rights of the Working Class to a better life. They fought and won WW2.
Under FDR's New Deal, [font size=3]they were able to give to evberybody
the wealthiest, largest, and most upwardly mobile Working Class the World has ever seen.[/font]

In the 50s and 60s, a single, non college educated, Blue Collar Worker could:

*could find and keep a GOOD job with benefits and job security

*could raise a family in relative comfort with ONE person working a single Full Time job

*could provide good health care to his family

*could BUY and Pay Off a comfortable home in the suburbs

*buy a NEW American made car every couple of years

*could take a REAL traveling vacation every year

*could provide education and good clothes to the children

*could save enough to retire in relative comfort

There were the lingering problems of Race & Gender discrimination,
but the Democratic Party was making great advances in making the above possible for everyone.

In the 60s and 70s, it was possible for anyone to attend the State University and graduate DEBT FREE if willing to work a part Time job.


I benefited from all of the above, and I am grateful.
The reason I am posting this is not to gloat,
but to point out that ALL of the above were possible because of the LABOR Movement,
and the New Deal of President Franklin Roosevelt.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established [font size=3]for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.---FDR, SOTU, 1944

Please note that Democratic President Roosevelt specified the above as Basic Human Rights,
and NOT as commodities to be SOLD to Americans by For Profit Corporations.

There was a time in MY life when voting FOR The Democrat was voting FOR the above Basic Human Rights. Sadly this is no longer true,
and the results are, in ONE respect, the crushing Student Loans that you and your generation are having to battle.

It breaks my heart to see an entire generation turned into Wage Slaves loaded down with massive debt at a time that should be the Most Free and Unburdened years of your entire life.
That is not something that just happened.
It is a part of something that was Deliberately Done to You by some of the greediest and most cold hearted bastards the World has ever seen.

Again, I don't want to preach, but I feel that the History of America's Working Class
and the tremendous gifts of The New Deal are being deliberately erased from the History Books and from the Living Memory.
It certainly doesn't get mentioned by the Democratic Party Leadership anymore,
so it is Up to You and Yours to embrace this history and THOSE values that made the American Dream possible.

THAT hasn't been just accidentally "lost".
It has been deliberately STOLEN from YOU steadily over the last 30 years.
It IS Your American Birth Right,
but it is up to you to demand it back from those greedy and craven bastards that have stolen it.

Good Luck you YOU and your generation.
"They" won't let go without a fight.


[font color=firebrick size=3][center]"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone[/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity![/font]