What does your ideal world look like? Mine looks like this one if I could just change a few essentials and add: universal health care, affordable housing, higher education at lower cost, public transportation, a safety net, and employment opportunities. That was the Europe I lived in for 2 decades and now is threatened by the same forces that have decimated the US economy- speculation with pensions, a housing bubble, and extreme wealth inequity.
So I am grateful to those intrepid Buffalonians that can hold meetings and even sleep in a city square through freezing rain and wind. I am grateful to see people of all ages including retirees, veterans, and college students fighting the good fight.
They can represent a majority that never vocalize their concerns, like the lost souls taking the city bus on their way to the endless appointments in the social services bureaucracy (at least in NY state there are social services). They can represent my Burmese student who washes dishes in a suburban restaurant. He finishes work at 10 but after 2 buses and a subway ride only gets home at 1 AM. They can represent many of my part-time co-workers who have no health care or even myself, facing a very uncertain financial future.
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