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A review by papablues050164
Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches 1963-2009 by Howard Zinn
4.0
Very early on there was a section in the first speech presented that really struck me, in part because this observation was made in April, 1963, but also because of its relevance: “Forty million people, under $2,000 a year…Look at the concentration of wealth, on the other hand. One percent of the population, 700,000 families, own 25 percent of all the money, stocks, bonds, real estate, all the tangible assets, in the country. And furthermore, this hasn’t changed much over the years. “
This should be required reading; we should bind every nativist ignoramus in this country to a chair and force-feed them these speeches. Again & again over the year, Zinn reminds us that change never comes from the top down, never at the pleasure of our Congress. It has to happen when a mass movement of people become too large a body to ignore; when the people say, ‘Enough, we’re done waiting for you to change’. These are the words of a man who fought for his country, who found reason to question our rationales of war, and found them wanting. Words that’ll remind us that we can love your country while remaining critical of our government. Not that his reasoning is always perfect; in his frequent nods to the passage of the 13th,14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution, Zinn forgets to mention that without the Confederate states to block them, passage of those Amendments became a surer deal; in fact, those Southern states were not allowed back into the Union until they ratified them. Finally, we should take to heart his reminder that all governments rely on the obedience of their people; that once the people withdraw that obedience,, once they start defying bad laws like the Fugitive Slave Law, once soldiers refuse to fight in unjust wars, that government stands on very shaky ground.
This should be required reading; we should bind every nativist ignoramus in this country to a chair and force-feed them these speeches. Again & again over the year, Zinn reminds us that change never comes from the top down, never at the pleasure of our Congress. It has to happen when a mass movement of people become too large a body to ignore; when the people say, ‘Enough, we’re done waiting for you to change’. These are the words of a man who fought for his country, who found reason to question our rationales of war, and found them wanting. Words that’ll remind us that we can love your country while remaining critical of our government. Not that his reasoning is always perfect; in his frequent nods to the passage of the 13th,14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution, Zinn forgets to mention that without the Confederate states to block them, passage of those Amendments became a surer deal; in fact, those Southern states were not allowed back into the Union until they ratified them. Finally, we should take to heart his reminder that all governments rely on the obedience of their people; that once the people withdraw that obedience,, once they start defying bad laws like the Fugitive Slave Law, once soldiers refuse to fight in unjust wars, that government stands on very shaky ground.