Comments on: It’s all about us http://blog.ivi.tv/2009/01/its-all-about-us/ Live Internet Television Done Right. Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:35:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Ron Erickson http://blog.ivi.tv/2009/01/its-all-about-us/#comment-23 Ron Erickson Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:00:57 +0000 http://blog.ivi.tv/?p=212#comment-23 Forty years ago, in January 1969, I was living in Washington, DC. I was working at the Office of Economic Opportunity, the agency created by the Johnson administration to wage its War on Poverty. A young social activists, like others of my generation, we were committed to making a difference in the world and convinced that with hard work we could, in a few short years, bring about the change we sought. How wrong we were. The election of Richard Nixon in November 1968 while not completely stopping the change we sought, certainly slowed it to a crawl. Those of us at the offices of the War on Poverty, believed that we would have to take our fight for change outside of government. Like so many of our generation we were about to become guerrilla bureaucrats if we were to survive and continue to work for the change we so fervently believed in. As the Inauguration Day neared a handful of radical activists made plans to hold a counter-inaugural. The primary organizers were the radical group, The Hog Farm Commune, lead by Wavy Gravy, the nom de guerre of Hugh Romney (no relation to Mitt), the so-called hippie crown prince. It was called the InHoguration in honor of the inauguration of Pegasus the Pig as President. And I was there with them. The InHoguration was held in a circus tent on the mall. Rock bands played. It was a fun filled event and easily possible to obtain what was then called a “contact high.” As time passed, it became clear that Nixon and his merry band were hardly just the true pranksters. They were criminals. Now, forty years have passed. We witnessed the inauguration of a wonderfully brilliant young African-American as President of the United States. Wiser and older now we we know that change does not happen overnight. I will never know whether our counter inaugural changed anything but I do know that today, l was, with tens of millions of my fellow Americans, cheering with great pride and more than a few tears for the journey our country has made. Forty years ago, in January 1969, I was living in Washington, DC. I was working at the Office of Economic Opportunity, the agency created by the Johnson administration to wage its War on Poverty. A young social activists, like others of my generation, we were committed to making a difference in the world and convinced that with hard work we could, in a few short years, bring about the change we sought.

How wrong we were.

The election of Richard Nixon in November 1968 while not completely stopping the change we sought, certainly slowed it to a crawl. Those of us at the offices of the War on Poverty, believed that we would have to take our fight for change outside of government. Like so many of our generation we were about to become guerrilla bureaucrats if we were to survive and continue to work for the change we so fervently believed in.

As the Inauguration Day neared a handful of radical activists made plans to hold a counter-inaugural. The primary organizers were the radical group, The Hog Farm Commune, lead by Wavy Gravy, the nom de guerre of Hugh Romney (no relation to Mitt), the so-called hippie crown prince. It was called the InHoguration in honor of the inauguration of Pegasus the Pig as President.

And I was there with them.

The InHoguration was held in a circus tent on the mall. Rock bands played. It was a fun filled event and easily possible to obtain what was then called a “contact high.”

As time passed, it became clear that Nixon and his merry band were hardly just the true pranksters. They were criminals.

Now, forty years have passed. We witnessed the inauguration of a wonderfully brilliant young African-American as President of the United States. Wiser and older now we we know that change does not happen overnight.

I will never know whether our counter inaugural changed anything but I do know that today, l was, with tens of millions of my fellow Americans, cheering with great pride and more than a few tears for the journey our country has made.

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