Then they came for me... (an updated version)

[Sapphire Blue]

First they came for the welfare mothers, but I did not speak out; I wasn't a welfare mother.

Then they came for the union workers with union busting tactics, but I did not speak out; I wasn't a union worker.

Then they came for the minimum wage workers, by refusing to raise the minimum wage, but I did not speak out; I wasn't a minimum wage worker.

Then they came for the unemployed, setting stricter eligibility standards, but I did not speak out; I was not unemployed.

Then they came for the homeless, reducing funding for low-income housing, criminalizing sitting on the street, criminalizing sleeping in public, but I did not speak out; I was not homeless.

Then they came for the hungry people, reducing funding for food assistance programs, but I did not speak out; I was not hungry.

Then they came for the Katrina victims & survivors, but I did not speak out. I couldn't speak out. You see, several weeks before Katrina, I lost my job, I lost my car... I had no money & no way to evacuate. I drowned in the flood.

[Redstone]

1. Hey, that's a really good adaptation!

Redstone

[Sapphire Blue]

2. Thank you, Redstone! My thanks go to DUer bobbolink for her inspiration...

... in helping me compose this version.

[Redstone]

3. Well, I'm going to reply to kick this thread, because more DUers

need to read it.

Redstone

[Sapphire Blue]

6. and I'll reply to kick it again : )

:kick:

[EFerrari]

4. Then they came for the tax payers because we were still here.

:kick:

[Pathwalker]

5. So true. So sad.

Thank you for this.
:kick:

[RevCheesehead]

7. Well done!

K & R. :kick:

[merh]

8. K&R

thank you :hug:

[NMMNG]

9. Good work

Your adaptation helps to remind us that no matter what or who we are, they could very well come for us--and probably will.

[lonestarnot]

10. Never forget! Never surrender!

Thank you Sapphire Blue.

[wicket]

11. Great work!

:kick:

[checks-n-balances]

12. Excellent updated list. Some other things could be added...

even though they somewhat change the responsibility from our speaking up, but just think about the many things that have been taken away from us. Also, they are too long and wordy, but they're there nonetheless. Something like:

Then they dismantled our local public school systems, but I had no children of school age, so I didn't speak up.

Then they took away most of our bankruptcy protection, but I didn't speak up because I actually trusted our legislators to protect ordinary citizens from preditory lending practices.

Then they took away our customary tax deductions and gave them to the wealthiest 2% of our citizens, but I didn't speak up because I was overwhelmed with so many other things to speak up against.

Then they took away our election system integrity, but I didn't speak up because it sounded too scandalous to believe (besides, prominent Demcrats told us not to believe such "rumors" and "conspiracy theories").

Then they took away our national security, we had been reaussured just the opposite - that it was being protected - so I didn't speak up.

Then they took away our democracy, but I ignored the warning signs because I thought "that COULDN'T happen HERE."

Then they came for __________________ , but I didn't know they were coming because there were no more independent or truthful news outlets remaining - not even over the internet - to warn the public.

[Sapphire Blue]

13. Oh, checks-n-balances, your list is excellent! EXCELLENT!!!

:kick:

[raccoon]

14. Great posts, the OP and checks-n-balances' additions. nt

[checks-n-balances]

15. Thank you. I was too late to update, but added in a few more...

(hope it's not too much, but we all know it could be much longer, thanks to all the destruction these Right-wing Republicans have wrought in just five years!) Sorry, some of it is repeated:

Then - bit by bit - they took away Veterans' Benefits, but I didn't speak up because I was in denial that it was really happening.

Then they took away most of our protections against Bankruptcy, but I didn't speak up because I actually trusted our legislators to protect ordinary citizens from preditory lending practices.

Then they took away the Separation of Church and State, but I hadn't spoken up since I underestimated the power of Religious Right (they only appeared to be harmless "crackpots").

Then they dismantled our local Public School systems, but I had no children of school age and besides, it took place over time and not dramatically, so I didn't speak up.

Then they took away our customary Tax breaks and deductions (or maybe they just looted Social Security/Medicare/The U.S. Treasury) and gave them to the Wealthiest 2% of our citizens, but I didn't speak up because I was overwhelmed with so many other things to speak up against.

Then they took away our Rights to Privacy, all in the name of "National Security", but I didn't speak up because I thought we had already fought totalitarian "Communist countries" for taking those kinds of things away from THEIR people.

Then they took away our Election System Integrity, but I didn't speak up because it sounded too scandalous to believe (besides, prominent Demcrats told us not to believe such "rumors" and "conspiracy theories").

Then they took away our National Security, after we had been reaussured just the opposite - that it was being protected - so I didn't speak up.

Then they took away what was left of our Constitution - thereby robbing us of our democracy - but I ignored the warning signs because I thought "that COULDN'T happen HERE."

Then they came for __________________ ("Liberals"?), but I didn't know they were coming because there were no more independent or truthful news outlets remaining - not even over the internet - to warn the public.

Thanks, Sapphire, for starting this thread, although it does make me unbelieveably sad.

[Sapphire Blue]

16. Again, EXCELLENT!!!

You should start another thread w/your post!

This would be my ending...

Then they came for the voters who tried to go to the polls, but we didn't know they were coming because there were no more independent or truthful news outlets remaining - not even over the internet - to warn the public. Now we wait in detention camps...

You see, we now live in a totalitarian dictatorship.

[Sapphire Blue]

17. *** KICK *** Please read checks-n-balances' post #15!!!

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

18. !

:kick:

[H2O Man]

19. Well done.

[bobbolink]

20. Yes! Yes!

It's always the poor mothers who first take the brunt of the authoritarians! And, usually, it's ignored. It doesn't affect most, so ......out of sight, out of mind.

Thanks for posting this, Sapphire Blue!

:pals:

[Sapphire Blue]

21. Thank * YOU * so much for your inspiration on this, bobbolink!

You truly do inspire me! :pals: :loveya: :hug:

The poor have been taking the brunt of the republicans' cruelty since Reaganomics. And some day soon, those who think they will never be affected just might be the ones who drown... right along w/the poor. If we're not of the elite 'haves & have mores', we are expendable.

[bobbolink]

22. "You truly do inspire me" -- I'm sorry, I'll try not to do that again...

:rofl:

You have such a clear vision....you can take bare bones ideas, and run with them.

However, the problem isn't just the cruelty of the RW -- it's also the apathy of the Dems.

What's that great quote.... about all that is required is for those who care to do nothing..?

See, there I go again.... I know that'll be your next great post.

~~gigglesnort~~

...from one of the expendable ones....

[Sapphire Blue]

23. Aaaah, the apathy of the Dems...

Yes, there is too much apathy. The issues of poverty, minimum wage, homelessness... so many important issues... don't often seem to garner support.

What's with the attitude seen all to often... "Well, poor people don't even bother to vote, why focus a campaign on their needs?" WTF ever happened to doing the right thing? And doing it just because it is the right thing?? What's all this lamenting these days about "Where is today's Martin Luther King?" when we have trashed his beloved community & thrown the poor overboard to drown in a goddamn flood??? Where is Martin? Turning over in his grave, that's where he is! :rant:


When it comes to apathy & indifference, I can't say it any better than Elie Wiesel...

Elie Wiesel: The Perils of Indifference

(Excerpt)

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.

Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.

(snip)

In the place that I come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders. During the darkest of times, inside the ghettoes and death camps -- and I'm glad that Mrs. Clinton mentioned that we are now commemorating that event, that period, that we are now in the Days of Remembrance -- but then, we felt abandoned, forgotten. All of us did.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html (text & audio)

[lonestarnot]

24. kick