Generation Zero: The Pawns That Lived Through It

May 15th, 2010 | By Sonnie Johnson

When you think of the ’60’s, what’s the first thing to come to mind?  Even though this was the time of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, when phrased properly, you get an immediate image of “Hippies” and drugs.  Woodstock.  War Protest.  An era of American History where we lost all sense of common decency and affection towards each other.  This is the time period explained in Citizens United’s Generation Zero.

The documentary is a great timeline of how we got to the financial crisis now gripping our country.  It starts with the Hippies of the ’60’s and progresses until those same people began to control Wall Street and the White House.  But you know me, I can’t replay the movie for you.  Check it out at GenerationZeroMovie.com.

Here’s what I learned.  Big Government is sooooooo dangerous because the “Kings” and “Queens” treat every other player on the board like a pawn.  I’m not a GREAT Chess player but I know the rules of the game.  The “King” and “Queen” alone can not win a Chess match, I don’t care how special or all powerful they assume they are.  That’s why they are provided Rooks, Knights, and Bishops to give them support, plus one row of pawns to deflect, protect, and advance the “Kings” and “Queens” influence over the board. 

Here’s where the problem comes in.  The “Kings” and “Queens” of Big Government have convinced the American Middle Class that we are “Rooks”, the outside stabilizing force of the American System and we need to be taken care of.  Yet in the same breath, they move our protective pawns leaving us completely exposed.   An example:  I remember my teenage years under Clinton.  All the black inequality talk at the time centered around black inability to acquire a home loan.  So the “Kings” and “Queens” told us we were “Rooks” and we deserved to have a home.  And we bought it hook line and sinker.  We didn’t pay attention when our protection was removed and we didn’t ask why all of a sudden there was so much movement other places on the board.

 If you came up during this time period, especially with the “Liberal” education provided at public schools, you didn’t see yourself as a sacrificial lamb.  The edict from Big Government told you all this was for your benefit.  So “WE”, the American People, went out and took advantage of these loans.  We didn’t care about Fixed rates vs Variables.  We didn’t bat an eye when Acorn workers told us to lie on applications.  While some of this was wreck less, uneducated, and plain irresponsible, it was also a result of us believing we were way more valuable than we actually were.

WE BELIEVED GOVERNMENT.  We believed our “Kings” and “Queens” held the Rooks at high value or if not, we believed they were smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds them.  This is why I’m not great at Chess.  You have to be sneaky and underhanded.  You have to mask your true intentions behind frivolous moves meant to distract and unbalance your opponent.  I’m more of the lay it all on the table type and so are most of the American People, especially when we realize we are not being treated like “Rooks”.   The Federal Government is playing us like pawns and they are not even hiding it any more.

The Banks got Bail-Outs.  The American People got home foreclosures, great loses in property value, bad credit, and bankruptcy.  The Auto Company got Bail-Outs.  The American People got Car Dealerships forced into giving away their location, cars, and client list to other Dealerships because Government said so.   Obama Supporters got payback in the Stimulus Package.  The American People got 10% unemployment rates.

How will history reflect US?  While we worry about what legacy Bush or Obama will have, what will the future generation say when they look at us through the annals of time?  I hope they will look back and realize what some of us currently here are afraid to acknowledge, America was not built for Big Government.  I hope they look back at us and say that was the generation that refused to be put into it’s place by Government.  That was the generation when the people gained enough to power to win the Chess match without a Queen on the board and without the King moving a single space.  That’s when we started to sacrifice for each other because we wanted too not because the Government forced it on us.

That was the Generation were once again America reclaimed, By the PEOPLE for the PEOPLE.