A Former Radical Goes Back to the Future at the 9/12 March
She takes to the National Mall again forty years later, marching for very different reasons.
In 1967, I was the radical Alinsky wrote the rules for. On the political cutting edge, I’d been arguing with fellow students and coworkers for years about Vietnam, and my growing disgust with my country led me down many winding roads of anti-American thought. I was counterculture before there was a name for it, skipping my prom and graduation as “bourgeois,” going barefoot, braless, and unshaven, and collecting tattoos at the only place in town those days — a crummy hole-in-the-wall next to downtown D.C.’s Greyhound station.
Everything about me was about making a statement. And while it was pretty exciting for me as a young woman to create a new identity based on rejection of the status quo, for years I’d felt like I was alone.
Then suddenly I discovered I wasn’t.
On October 21, a crisp, clear D.C. day, I arrived with my boyfriend at my first anti-war protest and felt a thrill of belonging and hope. The Pentagon grounds were churning with 50,000 or so people like us — a curious conglomeration of serious anti-American academic types (like me) and sha-la-la-la-la-live-for-today potheads (like him). But the differences didn’t matter to us that day, which celebrated everything from putting flowers in National Guard rifles to taunting police until we were tear-gassed. The counterculture had a big umbrella, and we were all hippies at heart — eager to create a new world, whatever that might turn out to be. This day gave us a sense of unity, strength, and purpose.
I went on to help organize events — from the whimsical Ring Around the Capitol (sponsored by Another Mother for Peace) to the ultra-violent May Day, where we used our bodies to stop traffic on the bridges into D.C. Rallying cry: “If the government won’t stop the war, we’ll stop the government.”
Through it all, to be honest, I felt a little ashamed that I wasn’t completely living up to my political ideals, which involved destroying the status quo. I was always a secret admirer of the most radical — people like Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayers. But while they were busy blowing things up, I’d gotten married and had a baby — Samantha Sunshine. Still barefoot and braless, I kept up my counterculture credentials by dropping her in the college daycare center during the week and carrying her on my back for weekend demonstrations. While my heart yearned for solidarity with my most radical leftist comrades, my mother’s instinct to stay alive and out of jail prevailed.
I was also among the original second-wave feminists — fed up with the machismo of our political comrades — who made abortion the next battleground. As a mother, I became a sought-after spokeswoman for the right to “choice.” After all, an unwanted pregnancy at this point would interfere with my education; didn’t I have the right to get rid of a parasite growing in my body?
Flash forward forty years to find this mother of 12 (nine by birth, three by adoption) once again a political activist — but now for the conservative cause.
What happened? Life happened. A 1972 permanent pilgrimage to San Francisco, another baby (Jasmine Moondance), divorce, promiscuity/experimentation, abortion, drug addiction, welfare — all in accord with my proud leftist political banner. A 1980 move to Marin County, Alcoholics Anonymous, a second marriage, New Age spirituality, birth control failures, building a business, owning a home.
A 1987 born-again experience, homeschooling, a son with Down syndrome, a writing career, three adoptions, and finally in 2002 a cross country move with 24 native Californians (my husband, children, sons-in-law and grandchildren) to come back to the traditional values I’d rejected before.
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Barbara Curtis is a wife, mother of 12, and author of nine books, including Reaching the Left from the Right: Talking About Social Issues with People Who Don't Think Like You. Visit her at www.barbaracurtis.com or at her blog www.MommyLife.net. Her fourth son will begin Marines OCS in January.
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66 Comments
1. RE:Barbara Curtis has met the enemy and it is she. Nostalgic about her youthful ideal of destroying the status quo and tearing down traditional values, she expresses no remorse or regret for advancing those ideals creating the problems, incivility, and recklessness she marches against today.
It does not seem that Ms Curtis has grown any wiser over the decades. It’s all about fun and emotion and how Barabara feels about the atmosphere that surrounds her at the moment. Perpetual adolescence.
It’s kind of sad, actually. But at least she’s on the side of good this time around.
Sep 15, 2009 - 2:40 am 2. Inge:What an honest self examination, and transformation.My respect for you is beyond words. Thank you, this country needs you!
Sep 15, 2009 - 2:59 am 3. JadedByPolitics:How appropriate that a liberal of the 60’s that helped pave the way for the MORAL DESTRUCTION of our beautiful country should make amends and try to turn it back around. I pray it isn’t to late.
Sep 15, 2009 - 3:28 am 4. Barbara Curtis:To RE:
from Barbara Curtis
I am so sorry that I left the impression that I do not deeply regret my past. I have written of it elsewhere. I came from a faithless, fatherless background including foster homes and childhood sexual abuse. I had a lot to overcome and I’m sorry it took so long to overcome it, In AA I learned to do my best to make amends to the people I’d harmed.
And I’m also grateful that God gave me the opportunity to redeem my life through having a second chance at building a solid family. With half my children grown, I am gratified that such an unworthy vessel could be used to build a strong generation. My kids are all solid citizens and one son will enter the Marine OCS next year.
I have tried to repay my debt to the cause of life by adopting children with Down syndrome – one of whom was saved from abortion.
I’m actually not an emotion driven person anymore. I see that as a big difference between the Left and the Right. I’m very proud to be a conservative and work tirelessly at my blog to keep readers thoroughly informed about the issues and their root causes.
As a writer, I am continually learning how to do a better job and I thank you for your response. I truly regret that in trying to establish my street creds as a radical leftist I neglected to communicate my thorough grounding in and passion for conservatism. But I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to set the record straight.
I invite you to find out more about me and my family at http://www.barbaracurtis.com, http://www.mommyteachme.net, or http://www.mommylife.net.
Sep 15, 2009 - 3:30 am 5. Bumr50:I’ve found you’re piece to be further proof that there is hope among the idealistic, yet indoctrinated youth of today.
Throw off the guilt that’s been foisted upon you and feel what it means to truly be free. Then help us to find solutions within the free-market and under the current Republic.
The Democratic party is lording over The Man as we speak, don’t wait until it’s too late.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:29 am 6. Bumr50:I apologize to the English language for my previous comment.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:31 am 7. Sk8 Punk:I hope you are right- that this will last and continue, but I doubt it. The Hippies had the Media and Academia on their side, and even then much of their “story” has had to be fabricated by revisionist historians years later.
Now more than at any point in our history Power and Privilege matter, and we don’t have that. Everyone talks about technology and the Internet, but people don’t realize that it primarily allows like minded people to gather with like minded people. We have to talk to the independents and youth. We are losing youth. I know, because I live, work, skate, surf, game, and do just about everything else with them. Please talk to youth and help them realize that this is real anti establishment thinking.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:53 am 8. Ohio Granny:Barbara, Your story is not so different from my story (okay, so a dozen kids is way out of my league!), but I was a flower child, and then a mother by choice when another choice would have made MY life easier.
Sep 15, 2009 - 5:26 am 9. LeighB:I was there too. Did you see me? I was the one in the yellow hat. I am the one who is soft, and fat, and very granny-ish, and was beaming with joy, and glowing with all the sun beam and moon beams and love bombs. I was sitting on the Capital lawn. I was telling the grandkids that granny is sooooooo radical, she and grandpa actually walked down the “middle of the street”, in broad day light, without an actual permit! Okay, so there might have been a million of my new friends there too but hey, WE DID IT.
And it isn’t the culmination, it’s the starting gun, the shot heard around the world. And we read. And we research. And we vote. And we work. And we pay taxes. And we will.not.be.pushed.again. WE are the ones we have been waiting for. So kids, get with us or get run over.
What the Washington Post, with their tale of “tens of thousands” doesn’t get is that they no longer matter to us. They can’t stop us. They can’t discourage us.
Barbara, when we went, we didn’t really care if we were the only ones there. First event, 50 people on public square on a cold rainy day Feb. 2009. Sept. 12, I’d say a few more….! But the number count is for the other guy. We are the rolling stone. We are the snow ball careening down the hill, growing as we go.
Can you hear us now?
What an interesting person you are, Barbara. And what a journey!
I think the 9.12 movement will continue. I think there is no turning back. Obama is the “rebound” President and now that many independents have woken up and taken a good look at his agenda and the damage he has already done, they can’t divorce him fast enough. And the young people investigating ACORN? I have been hoping that someone would take a good look at the “machinery” on the left, what a service they have done for us all.
Perhaps there is a silver lining in the economic hard times. Many of us have been forced to slow down and look around, to reassess what is really important to us. To reconsider where we stand and with whom we want to stand. The 9.12 crowd suits me just fine.
Sep 15, 2009 - 5:45 am 10. Steve:I think you are right about this movement. It is amazing. Like one big AA meeting. We need it because our lives have become unmanageable.
Sep 15, 2009 - 5:56 am 11. David Thomson:Barbara Curtis and the other Tea Party members are not “true believers.” They are not bored individuals seeking a cause to provide meaning to their desperate lives. These people are mature adults who realize that the United States is under serious threat from the radical left. They will continue to behave in a calm and relentless manner. In many respects, these American patriots are similar to soldiers who can’t wait to get back to their regular lives. They prefer not to be obsessed by political activism. This is simply a job that must be done.
Sep 15, 2009 - 6:06 am 12. totin in tx:Sk8 Punk,
I don’t know how old you are, but don’t fall for the”they’re bigger and more powerful than us” thing. Power and privilege always matter a little. But in 52 years and over 25 of them in Silicon Valley, I’ve seen time and time again that upstarts, fresh thinking, belief in what matters — these are what ultimately prevail. Power and privilege often breeds softness, entitlement, and complacency. Someone with grit, belief in right and wrong, and even a little bit of courage is a magnet for people who, in their guts, know that the left’s causes are not personally, long-term satisfying and are usually empty promises. And people with even a little bit of willingness to take one small step find that thousands — or as in DC — millions — are right there with them. But you will never see it without taking that step. As Mordecai, in the book of Esther said, “who knows but whether you are here for such as time as this.” You are in the place you’re in because it sounds like you have a gift for working with youth. YOU have the conviction — or you wouldn’t be writing here. YOU have at least some credibility with them or you probably wouldn’t be there. Simply say what you know to be true. One small thing. Talk to them. Find out what they aspire to, show them a better way. Truth is always stronger than power and privilege — you’ll see.
Sep 15, 2009 - 6:53 am 13. trangbang68:Barbara, I have followed a similar trajectory. I was a drafted Viet Nam vet who came home to years of deep drug addiction, radical delusion and brokenness until Christ rescued me in 1978. My subsequent life has included a wonderful marriage, 4 kids, ministry ,homeschooling and a hope our nation survives the current nihilists and con men ravishing it. Good article.
Sep 15, 2009 - 7:04 am 14. goy:- What happened? Life happened. … back to the traditional values I’d rejected before.
In short, Barbara, you attained moral maturity. It may sound trite, but it’s actually a critical point. Many of us have experienced exactly this – Thomas Lifson, Roger Simon, Bill Whittle, Ronald Reagan, neo-neocon and a host of others. As your moral framework matured, your political ideology evolved. As it must.
Ideological differences, as it turns out, are tied inextricably to one’s level of moral maturity. This isn’t just an idle assertion, there’s copious clinical research and evidence that backs up this notion. We best begin to thoroughly understand the underlying dynamics and use that understanding to put this country back on track – before the moral adolescents in our society drive this train off a cliff.
Sep 15, 2009 - 7:19 am 15. Minda:It is good that she finally came to her senses. But people like her did a lot of damage in their time and are still doing damage.
Sep 15, 2009 - 7:23 am 16. Sally:Barbara I have read some of your other stuff and know where you stand. Thanks for a great article. I really enjoyed the pictures, they made me feel as if I was there. And I will be next time, I let minor infirmities get in the way this time but seeing the seniors in the group inspired me. Yes we Can! LOL
Sep 15, 2009 - 8:30 am 17. Roland:Society has allowed Universities to take the place of Churches for places to find “truth.” Then, we let out Universities and education system to be corrupted by anti American liberals. That produced the biased media and paved the way for the enemies of what has made the Untied States great to take over our government. Great American need to FIND THE TIME to get involved, unite, and take America back before it is gone from us forever.
Sep 15, 2009 - 8:43 am 18. Scott:Barbara you are one classy lady, way to deal with the haters. Thank you for your efforts and God bless.
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:03 am 19. Sherab Zangpo:Beautiful article, thank you.
And I like to remember here that yesterday evening (Monday Sept. 14th) O’Reilly began his show saying that there were “70,000″ marchers in DC.
Congrats, O’Reilly, you got your money, you lost your soul.
At the time of the most important battle for America’s Freedom.
The O’ in O’Reilly stays for Obama.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:37 am 20. Zeitgeist:Welcome home Barb.
As a former lib myself and a child of counter culture parents( a true neo-con) I fully understand where it is you come from, where you are…and where you are going…
Be well.
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:38 am 21. tim c:Barbara thanks for the great piece.I was there as well and the people I rode the bus from Atlanta all ended with see you at the next one,realizing that the pols wouldn’t learn their lesson.But I’m with you if everyone brings a friend next time we will win!
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:44 am 22. Professor Guvinoff:A beautiful testimony, heart warming in so many ways! It shows how life can be a story of many chapters, and how the rebellious energy of youth can be preserved to serve again later, after mothering twelve children (more energy than most of us can ever hope to muster), in a season of life where emotion does not have trump everything else at each moment.
Heart warming, too, the recognition that someone like Sarah Palin can connect with individuals who found their intellectual comfort on the left, as Ronald Reagan was able to do.
You have to wonder whether a fountain of energy like Barbara Curtis could manage to resist the call of elective office?
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:47 am 23. Mark:We all make our own way through life, hopefully maturing and gathering wisdom as we go…it sounds like you have done well in your journey. I think Churchill said it best: “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.” Thanks for your article, and especially thanks for the pictures. No angry mob, no nazis, no paid participants…just the guy next door, the checker at the grocery store, the girl who cuts my hair (whats left of it)…just Average Joe American. I love it!
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:49 am 24. 98ZJUSMC:—-I have tried to repay my debt to the cause of life by adopting children with Down syndrome – one of whom was saved from abortion.—-
Barbara,
I wish all the pro-choice people could understand just what an undertaking that is. It is, indeed, life changing. My sister is high functioning downs. Kudos!! Give your son an ooo-Rah from a former Jarhead. I turned down an in-service opportunity to go to OCS and a shot at Annapolis and I have regretted it to this day.
RE: Grow up.
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:52 am 25. Mike Sheard:Thanks for sharing your story. It was very up-lifting and encouraging.
Everyone, get involved! It is no longer acceptable to make excuses. Call your representatives even if you know they already agree with you. Join the campaign of someone you can trust. And pray and live the right kind of life.
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:53 am 26. Nahanni:Barbara,
Thank you for your wonderful article.
You and I share the “same experiences” but in a different way. I was not a protester, but I was at one time a card carrying member of the Democratic party and worked on local, state and national campaigns. Among the national campaigns I worked on were Carter ‘76, Kennedy ‘80 and Clinton ‘92.
I had my “Road to Damascus moment” after the 2000 election when the scales fell off my eyes and I finally saw the malevolent powers that had taken over the party. It was no longer the Democratic party of JFK and Truman but was now the party of Stalin, Mao and Soros.
I see many of the commenters here wish to berate people like you and me for causing the damage we are seeing now. They are right in their assessment and anger but I would ask them to realize that we are trying to make amends for it. The ‘fire’ always burns the brightest in the sinner who has repented. What is more is that people like us make “mighty warriors” against the evil (and yes, I am going to use that term) powers that are arrayed against the people of this nation-for we know them for who and what they truly are, we know their tactics and will not be daunted by them.
Sep 15, 2009 - 10:03 am 27. Canadian Mike:What an awesome story Barbara, thanks for sharing it. I particularly appreciate your candid and thoughtful response to the first poster. We all have things in our past that we wish we could change. I know I do. Congratulations on joining the right team, it takes a lot of guts to challenge your own strongly held beliefs.
Sep 15, 2009 - 10:27 am 28. 98ZJUSMC:Sk8 punk:
Don’t sweat it too much. The youth of this country has never been particularly conservative. I think the best you can hope for is intelligently moderate. It is life’s experiences, as Barbara so aptly pointed out, that brings one to those values. I think more than just a few of your buds will change their views somewhat as they age. I know I did. The seminal moment came when I finally had to admit to myself, “My God! My parents know exactly what they are talking about.” Well, that and the Marine Corps. Academia is a big problem. I hope that we can outlast the boomer lefties and start righting that corrupt ship. Keep the faith!
Sep 15, 2009 - 10:28 am 29. Dave:Goy,
Moral Maturity is PERFECTLY right… those who vigorously, loudly, churlishly shout “no war for oil” and “Bush lied people died!” are like children, able to pick up on simple (unrealistically) ideas but unable to perform even the most basic ‘moral analysis’ of what goes on around them.. they claim to be morally superior but they are in reality morally UNDEVELOPED, and don’t have the mental/spiritual resources to go down that path of maturing and understanding the world as it really is.
Basic human condition– lefties don’t get this. It’s why they keep trying leftism, communism, socialism, statism, Stalinism.. because they haven’t gotten the drift of the basics of the nature of human beings.
The American colonists tried those dreamland solutions, and found themselves starving because personal motivation was GONE in a collective system. Hey, someone else will do it, why should I? I get the same food in any case, right?
But they switched, just in time, to a policy that permitted each person to keep what they earned/produced, and in no time there was more food than anyone could eat.
capitalism. The morally mature system.
Sep 15, 2009 - 10:31 am 30. dan:It is great to read about these transformations. I think the only good reaction is forgiveness, acceptance, and gratitude. These people lived through quite a bit of hell although they believed they were pursuing the good. Welcome home, Barbara. There’s room for everyone (except possibly the Leninists – hard to say yet).
Sep 15, 2009 - 10:44 am 31. bastiches:RE:
If your response is the type of welcome a newly converted conservative is to expect, it wouldn’t surprise me that less will make that jump. Your cynicism is misplaced and only serves to make the rest of we happy warriors look poor in spirit.
Leave the foul demeanor and condescension to the Left. It doesn’t help to snipe at your own team.
Sep 15, 2009 - 11:08 am 32. goy:@29. Dave: – … those who vigorously, loudly, churlishly shout “no war for oil” and “Bush lied people died!” are like children, able to pick up on simple (unrealistically) ideas but unable to perform even the most basic ‘moral analysis’ of what goes on around them.
Precisely.
This would be why the left relies so overwhelmingly on sloganeering intended to bypass actual assessment and analysis altogether. “Health Care Now!” is a perfect example – as if everyone in the country doesn’t already have access to health care. It’s the “paying for it” part they object to. If they were honest, their slogan would be “FREE Health Care Now!”, because that’s what they’re really demanding.
This is a perfect example of sloganeering bypassing analysis, inasmuch as there’s no such thing as “free” individual health care services (just as there’s no such thing as “free” public fire department services). Someone has to pay for these things, and so of course the other unspoken demand is that someone ELSE should pay, which is nothing more than a perpetuation of the adolescent condition where parents pay for everything their children have. Again, the moral adolescent wins out over the rational, mature adult. Politicians are all too happy to exploit this condition, which is why every society tends to slide toward socialism if it doesn’t use its head.
- Basic human condition– lefties don’t get this. It’s why they keep trying leftism, communism, socialism, statism, Stalinism.. because they haven’t gotten the drift of the basics of the nature of human beings.
Now you’ve got it. Why else would socially suicidal ideologies keep cropping up as ‘the solution’ to society’s ills when those ideologies have never provided a solution in the past – only economic stagnation, demographic decline, bloodshed, mass murder and totalitarianism.
Sep 15, 2009 - 11:48 am 33. Eurika:Excellent words and photos, I visited your blog and looked at each one.
Sep 15, 2009 - 12:06 pm 34. M. Report:“So soon old, so late smart.” :/
But, as I tell myself, better late than never.
As to Leaders, there is a trap waiting there;
There will be attempt(s) to co-opt the Coalition.
Anyone who envisions themselves at the top of a
new pyramid of power is part of the problem.
This is a grass-roots, Army-of-Davids, Web-driven
Sep 15, 2009 - 12:22 pm 35. Julie:movement, which should throw the rascals out of
_both_ parties, and then watch their replacements
very closely; Anybody who wants to do anything
but restore economic stability should be returned
to the status of private citizen.
I follow your blog Barbara–excited to see you on a fav. site of mine now too. I have your “Reaching the Left to the Right” book but haven’t read it yet but after reading your thoughtful & humble response to the first poster, I’m confident I’ll learn much.
To the posters naming the Left’s condition as “moral immaturity”–right on!! They definitely remind me of the kids in high school trying to look cool.
Sep 15, 2009 - 12:55 pm 36. Dale:29. Dave: “The American colonists tried those dreamland solutions, and found themselves starving because personal motivation was GONE in a collective system. Hey, someone else will do it, why should I? I get the same food in any case, right?
But they switched, just in time, to a policy that permitted each person to keep what they earned/produced, and in no time there was more food than anyone could eat.
capitalism. The morally mature system.”
Wow. Looks like somebody dropped out before 7th grade American History. It always astounds, but never surprises, when right wingers drape themselves in the flag but are wholly ignorant of our nation’s history.
The early colonies that were established in America in the 1600s were private businesses such as the London Company, which shipped indentured English servants, debtors and mercenaries to America to put them to work. In exchange for seven years of labor for the company, the company provided passage, food, protection and land ownership.
So even from the very beginning, America was definitively capitalist. There was never any socialist dreamland; just some very tight knit communities in a new frontier that, for the sake of survival, had to band together, make decisions cooperatively and provide for each other’s general welfare. Of course, you would call such an arrangement Socialism. To them, it was common sense.
Sep 15, 2009 - 1:18 pm 37. Jim Rockford:Great piece.
Sep 15, 2009 - 1:38 pm 38. JMD:Thank you, Barbara.
Your account of going to the 9/12 rally last week closely matches my own experience. The packed trains, the crowds from every corner of the country, the feeling of not being alone! It makes my hair stand on end just thinking about it.
You also give me hope for those in my family who are on the far left. My brother in law reacted to my account of my trip with something that looked like it came from the HuffPo random post generator. It was really quite offensive. You give me hope that people can change.
See you at the next rally!
Sep 15, 2009 - 2:08 pm 39. JMD:36. Dale
I believe that Dave is referring to the Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower. They set up a system where each person contributed to the common stores and then was alotted provisions from these stores (basically communism before it had officially been invented). The ideal of community unity was noble, but laziness quickly set in and the system collapsed.
Since then, free enterprise has been the way of things in America, with far greater success.
Sep 15, 2009 - 2:15 pm 40. Kymberly Parker:Thanks for a well-written piece. Thanks for letting those of us who were not rebels know that finally some of the ones we tried to speak to are coming around. I saw there were changes that needed to come about in some things, but I also realized that all the screaming and hatred and bombing was exactly the opposite of what was needed, and a boost to death at the same time.
Sep 15, 2009 - 3:04 pm 41. ui:Good for you for admitting your past and the break with it.
As to emotions, they are an integral part of most every movement. Explaining them is usually the best way to help non-attendees understand the impact. Wonderful emotions at the beginning of things helps momentum. Those of us who really want to ’speak truth to power’ are the ones who will keep contacting our senators, representatives and so-one, long after the emotions are gone. And I expect many of those in DC that day are just such people. We will be working to get those who will NOT listen to us, OUT, by getting out the vote, by passing out literature, by making voting records known. Mainly by keeping ourselves and our families and friends informed of the truth.
Actually, I figure all this trying to push an extremely leftist, liberal agenda down the throats of Americans has in some ways been good. It’s made us conservatives sit up and take notice. We’ve decided, no, it’s not all about us, but we’re not to be ignored either. We ARE part of America, and a GOOD part of America. And what most of this is, is exposing truth and lies for examination.
And getting the MSM to SHUT-UP and quit trying to force their idiocy on us.
My ex- girlfriend and former live-in partner was a boomer (I just turned 41).
She made the 60s out to be the greatest thing. It got old hearing about it.
Can’t blame her, though, we all idealize our youth. I might have done the same were I to be in a relationship with a twentysomething and tell her the 80s were the greatest thing.
It was by the way. It was the last decade before the boomers came to power and f***d it all up.
Sep 15, 2009 - 3:06 pm 42. Xcontra:Fantastic article. I plan to blog it up and talk it up widely.
Sep 15, 2009 - 3:18 pm 43. goy:@36. Dale: – So even from the very beginning, America was definitively capitalist. There was never any socialist dreamland; just some very tight knit communities in a new frontier that, for the sake of survival, had to band together, make decisions cooperatively and provide for each other’s general welfare. Of course, you would call such an arrangement Socialism.
Socialism?? Nah. Sounds more like a Republic to me.
Socialism is when communities band together and pretend to provide for everyone’s individual welfare. Too easy for that sh!t to get out of hand.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:26 pm 44. Linda:Bravo! I met Barbara at the March. She is an impressive woman, and a good writer. She both captured the mood of the event and my feelings. Until Saturday, I’d never demonstrated, carried a sign or protested, and it really felt good. I recommend, if you didn’t go to this one, do yourself a favor, don’t miss the next one.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:31 pm 45. Rose Ann:Linda
Barbara, Thank you or your honesty and openess and a very well written essay… You owe no one an apology for past behavious/indulgences/etc. Your insights are relative b/c of your past experiences…. We all have lived lives that in restrospect bring us to another level of understanding and action. All I can say, as a woman of the 60/70sss, is LET’s GIVE THEM HELL for trying to down our beloved USofA.
Sep 15, 2009 - 4:40 pm 46. dan:“It was by the way. It was the last decade before the boomers came to power and f***d it all up.”
HA! that’s a great point – agreed.
Sep 15, 2009 - 5:02 pm 47. seanmahair:I loved this article. Thank you Barbara for pointing out that even with our different experiences we can all come together and make great things happen. Life is complex someone once told me, but we all need to really live it. Sounds like you’re a expert at doing just that.
Get involved, stay informed, be optimistic these are all excellent ideas. Thanks again.
Sep 15, 2009 - 5:59 pm 48. gordo:Nice piece Barbara. I sorta remember the age of acquarius – a bit of incense and pot fog. At some point one has to grow up, clearly many people haven’t. The irony is that back in those days the hippies walked around and said, “power to the people.” Well, even though they didn’t know what they were talking about, I would rather have more power in the hands of the people than in the hands of the government. One has a soul, the other doesn’t. Also, these folks who came from a culture of civility and comfort rejected it and used the Viet Nam war as their cause. For those of us who were involved in that war know this, when Nixon ended the draft the protests stopped. It was all about them, not about our country and not about their neighbor. We reap what we sow.
Sep 15, 2009 - 6:44 pm 49. Poor Citizen:Commendable Barbara. You attended an anti war rally in the sixties. You cared. However, all those drugs, alcohol and the twelve kids.// Though I skipped the drug addiction and alcoholhism, my kids terrible twos made me a bit religious too. Kids eh?. Anyway, glad you found God and it looks like you still care. By the way, with twelve kids, how did you find so much time to write all those books and worry about politics so much? Nice article, thanks.
Sep 15, 2009 - 8:08 pm 50. EscapeVelocity:Thank you Barbara.
We need your experience in helping us stodgy conservatives with revolutionary tactics that work. We need your guidance.
People like you and David Horowitz are invaluable to our just cause.
We need to out Left the Left!
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:02 pm 51. wGraves:But what should guide us in this, our hour of need?
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:12 pm 52. Jeremy:Everyone makes mistakes, and God has His time for everything. I for one am glad to have veterans of the other side to gain experience from. (There are even one or two in my local tea party which I know quite well). Those that don’t learn from History..
Sep 15, 2009 - 9:18 pm 53. JohnR:The continued attempts by the MSM and the Leftists to denigrate the Tea Baggers and protesters is just a sign of how desperate they are. Polls indicate that support for Obama’s policies…across the board…are tanking, and Independants and Swing Voters are abandoning him in droves. The Left is hysterical. Just when they thought all of their dreams were withing reach…they see it all slipping away. And this hysteria and caused them to lash out. Nothing but name calling and vitriol from the Left at this point. And here’s a news flash: the term “racist” has been so overused that it’s become a generic pejorative with no more power than “jerk” or “meanie”. Everyone realizes this, except for the Left.
Sep 16, 2009 - 7:50 am 54. Dana in NYC:“I was in DC. Those people (and there were about 60,000, not the ‘million’ reported in some places, were ugly racists, plain and simple. That is all that united them. And it was visceral and real. You might have once reported that those gathered for the Beerhall Putsch in Munich were also united in their opposition to Weimar Germany’s economic policies. You would have been wrong then also. The time to stop this is now, before it gets really ugly. And in America, it could.”
Sep 16, 2009 - 9:06 am 55. David H:Found this Post on Telegraph Blogs
So which point of view is real? This writer or that writer.
Glad Barbara Curtis found herself a new belief system. It’s good to try new things. What’s next?
Barbara you give me hope, thanks for your story and feelings.
Sep 16, 2009 - 10:45 am 56. Barbara Curtis:Dana in NYC – look at the pictures linked in my article, Dana. Words can lie. Pictures don’t.
Sep 16, 2009 - 11:53 am 57. Jeff:Barbara, thank you for writing an excellent article. Thank you also for posting the photographs of 9/12.
I pray your optimism regarding the “power” of the people proves true, and the anti big government forces make themselves known at the ballot box.
As I perceive matters, neither Democrat nor Republican have proven fiscally responsible in the past 9+ years.
Yes, we could “throw them all out”, but there certainly are no guarantees that the new politician would be any more fiscally prudent than the one they replaced. Hopefully, at a minimum, they would stay the hell out of my personal business.
Jeff
Sep 16, 2009 - 1:08 pm 58. Sarah Schmitz:Disenchanted Republican — pitching tent in the Libertarian Camp.
Thanks for writing Barbara and posting the great pics! I’m 28 with four children ages five and under and live in Ohio. It’s a busy time in life but I certainly made time to come to the 9/12 march with my baby, sister and her newborn baby. We met nuns, cowboys, coal-miners, nurses, retirees, in short, a VERY diverse crowd from all over the U.S. It was amazing!
Sep 16, 2009 - 2:42 pm 59. Jason S:Re:
What an awful comment to read in the very first post after such an insightful piece by a very brave woman. I have a feeling if you were on the “wrong” side, you would never have a mind open enough to change or to even approach the level of self-inflection the author displays. What a strange reaction you have; I hope Barbara is not second-guessing herself now due to your ignorant post.
I say better late than never. Thanks for the pics Barbara!!
Sep 16, 2009 - 7:46 pm 60. SYNO2O:Barbara,
God has a special plan for all of us. You were always part of a bigger plan…because you have so much love to give to others.
Sep 16, 2009 - 8:51 pm 61. dave:What an inspiration and May God Bless you and your family.
19. Sherab Zangpo:
Beautiful article, thank you.
And I like to remember here that yesterday evening (Monday Sept. 14th) O’Reilly began his show saying that there were “70,000″ marchers in DC.
Congrats, O’Reilly, you got your money, you lost your soul.
At the time of the most important battle for America’s Freedom.
The O’ in O’Reilly stays for Obama.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Sep 15, 2009 – 9:37 am
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That was my first reaction, too. Then I thought it’s just as likely he’s using the number because he knows that being reminded of the dismissive attitude towards us keeps the fire burning in our bellies.
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31. bastiches:
RE:
If your response is the type of welcome a newly converted conservative is to expect, it wouldn’t surprise me that less will make that jump. Your cynicism is misplaced and only serves to make the rest of we happy warriors look poor in spirit.
Leave the foul demeanor and condescension to the Left. It doesn’t help to snipe at your own team.
Sep 15, 2009 – 11:08 a
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+1
Sep 17, 2009 - 2:28 am 62. p:Thanks for being on the good side this time.
But know that you and your friends destroyed my country, and perhaps with it, civilization.
While you danced and laughed and fornicated your lives away, you ridiculed and spat at me and my children. We emigrated in 1969.
So you had a tough childhood. TS! As an orphan I worked on the streets as a child, did not tatoo myself, do drugs, ridicule or spit on decent citizens nor fornicate at Woodstock.
I am not proud of you regardless of your politics du jour.
The “5000 Year Leap” has fallen flat. You killed it. Be ashamed.
Sep 17, 2009 - 6:56 am 63. Barbara Curtis:And don’t look to me for redemption.
P:
Thank God I don’t have to look to you for redemption – He has provided it.
Again, though, I am sorry for my past and doing the best I can to work toward a better future. I thank God there were people like you who had more character and common sense than I.
God bless and keep you.
Barbara
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:54 am 64. Buddy LeBenson:Barbara,
We were at the rally last Saturday and I couldn’t agree more. This was a peaceful demonstration by concerned citizens. One of the amazing facts is (regardless of the “official” attendance estimate) there were easily more than a million people there and not one arrest. These were good people who were exercising their constitutional rights in an extraordinarily appropriate manner.
Sep 17, 2009 - 5:22 pm 65. Jamie W.:Barbara,
Right now I’m very pregnant and in Hawaii — no way I could come. But next year, I will see you and everyone else there, and I’ll bring my entire extended family with me. Let’s pray that the ‘10 9/12 is as peaceful and uplifting as this year’s was.
The Tea Party movement is only getting bigger as America gradually Wakes Up.
Sep 18, 2009 - 11:21 am 66. always right:Thank you for writing your journey. I was there, never before participated in any kind of protest/march before. What I saw was amazing. We took some video recordings (but have yet to go through editing them), and enjoyed looking through your photo collection.
p/s: stop apologizing for ‘your past’ or for you ‘generation’. I am sure you went through what you did for a purpose. Otherwise, everyone would be the same, and how boring that would be. The small mindedness only reflects poorly on the other person.
Sep 18, 2009 - 1:29 pm