For the full hour I joined John Fortier's
peace vigil, it was warmly attended by a Swiss couple in their 60's, a couple
with duel U.S. citizenship who have lived in the U.S. for many years. They have
been either together or married for a total of 34 years.
They are a bit unconventional in that they have spiked hair, hers
being multi-colored including a brilliant bright red, black and gray, and they
have body piercings and tattoos. They also appeared to be in fine physical
condition with little body fat and high energy and they are active walkers,
including taking a 25 mile walk each week.
But they were unconventional
in another interesting way. They care very much about U.S. and global politics and
humanity and they are very well informed, about the U.S. wars, budgetary
problems, etc.
She supported John Kerry for President in 2004 and was an
avid supporter of Barack Obama for President in 2008. While she is disappointed
in President Obama's performance as president, she plans to vote for him again
because she believes he is a better alternative to Mitt Romney.
"How can
you live in a country that goes to war for nothing," she said their European
friends say to her. But she is hopeful America will change and end its wars. But
they are deeply concerned for the effect money has on U.S. politics. "Those
people in (the military industrial complex) have so much funding," he said.
"They overwhelm (opposition to the wars). The (electoral) process is
corrupted."
And he spoke of how these giant companies get the money to
corrupt the U.S. electoral process, using Haliburton as an example but pointing
out that it is widespread among U.S. corporate giants. "The largest of these
companies have created (offshore) subsidiaries (and they route substantial
profits through those subsidiaries to avoid paying U.S. taxes)."
This man
who is quite corporate savvy and an executive vice president and chief operating
officer of a U.S. company described how these corporate giants "invest in jobs
elsewhere" and create products "mostly made outside the U.S."
He added,
"they keep lobbyists on their payroll" to get whatever they want from Washington
and they are now in charge of what our government does. I agree but I think we
would both agree that if Americans became active in their electoral process,
this could change.
One of the elements of this man that really impressed
me was years ago, when he was looking for a job and got turned away by a company
that couldn't afford him, he so liked what they produced, he showed up the
following Monday with a tool kit and went to work there for free. After a few
weeks of seeing what he accomplished, they hired him. Eventually, he became the
Chief Operating Officer of the company. This is a great 'can-do' attitude in
action.
He feels the U.S. is a nation with many wonderful people
and tolerant of unconventional thinking and the U.S. offers great
opportunities. It was refreshing to listen to both of them and they helped to
make this particular vigil more interesting and hopeful, knowing that people
such as them really care about this nation and want it to be a better place for
all.
Dick
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