I Had to Share This

I read this recently and it just made me smile and lifted my spirits.

There was once a good man and powerful orator by the name of Eugene Debs.  Now, Eugene was a strong headed man that fought for the common man against profiteering companies and worthless governments.  There are a couple of sayings that you may have heard in your life but never knew that it was Debs that said them.  First of all, this quote:

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.

That was a wonderful line, but his most famous quote is this one:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

...but I read something tonight that blew me away.  Mind you, the people he fought for were the people of this country, and the corrupt government that he fought against was the government of Woodrow Wilson, who branded him a traitor to America.  In 1918 Debs was giving a speech to against the draft in WWI to which he urged people to resist it.  This got him in trouble in which they found him guilty of sedition.  During his trial he spoke for nearly two hours, and then a few days later at his sentencing, he spoke again.  This speech is one of the most amazing things you will ever get a chance to read (This is also the same speech that the quote above came from.)  Debs had a power of words that was inspiring, poetic, and both angry and moving at the same time.  Here is the small section that got to me tonight:

Your honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the form of our present government; that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in the change of both but by perfectly peaceable and orderly means....
I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and factories; I am thinking of the women who, for a paltry wage, are compelled to work out their lives; of the little children who, in this system, are robbed of their childhood, and in their early, tender years, are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon, and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the machines while they themselves are being starved body and soul....
Your honor, I ask no mercy, I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never more fully comprehended than now the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of freedom. I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. In due course of time they will come into their own.
When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the Southern Cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches the Southern Cross begins to bend, and the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of Time upon the dial of the universe; and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the look-out knows that the midnight is passing – that relief and rest are close at hand.
Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

 When I read this was a filled with a renewed hope.  Yes, this was almost 100 years ago now and a lot of what he was hopeful for has yet come to pass, but still it is refreshing to see.  One of the most sad things was that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime disenfranchisement.  I did not even know that they could legally give someone that sentence?!

Debs appealed to the Supreme Court, but that appeal failed.  He was branded as anti-American and really never recovered.  Afterward there were multiple attempts to grant Debs clemency, but President Wilson denied them all, stating:

While the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines sniping, attacking, and denouncing them....This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration.

Wilson felt that Debs was basically a terrorist for not agreeing with his views and wanting people to stand up for what he felt was wrong in this world.  Debs was eventually released from prison when his sentence was commuted by President Harding in 1921.  Three years later he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Karl Wiik, stating that "Debs started to work actively for peace during World War I, mainly because he considered the war to be in the interest of capitalism," but he did not receive the award.

He died two years later...

I just wanted to share some of the life of Eugene Victor Debs with you.  Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

One of the reasons that this speech hit me was that it reminded me greatly of another writing that touches me deeply and that is the "Great Wave" speech of Hunter S. Thompson from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."   Hunter used the same poetic style, but to describe the opposite of Debs, the loss of hope and meaning.  These are polar opposites, but they were both inspired by the loss of freedom and human rights in the United States bought on by corrupt Republican administrations.  Hunter just did not see that light that Debs saw.  Hunter only saw the "high water mark." that it left behind as hope was enveloped by darkness and greed.  Hunter was not a socialist or labor rights leader as Debs was, nor did they share much of the same political opinions, but in the end they wanted the same thing for all people.  That thing is what a lot of politicians, especially on the right, never seem to care much about anymore and that is basic human dignity.

Dignity for all people is the basis of human rights and freedoms, but in today's society it seems that dignity only goes to large companies and those people that can afford it.  That is exactly what Debs and people like him fought so hard to prevent from happening, but maybe Hunter was correct.  Maybe the time is past.  Does dignity still belong in today's America?

I still think so.  I also believe that it is still worth fighting for, but most people seem to have fallen into apathy and forgotten about the fact that they have a right in this country to be an artist, a writer, a painter, a musician, a mechanic, an inventor, an astronaut, a fireman, an uncorrupted policeman, or whatever they want to be.