River Ron

Taking my wife to work this chilly morning I saw a local character we call River Ron walking north across Main Street carrying his worldly possessions on his back and muttering occasionally to himself. This is Montana and we are experiencing record cold for this early date but Ron has endured much much worse, camping as he does year round in very makeshift arrangements. I was invited one near- zero day into his tarp tent which was heated only by candles.He has been in the area for ten years or more and I do not know his backstory, but he prefers this independent life to staying in shelters or on urban streets and manages to survive. He always has a fishing pole in one hand but I don't know if he hunts game.

My wife says over thirty percent of the Head Start children she deals with come from homeless families, a shocking figure to me. Most stay tenuously with friends or family, though some live out of cars or in shelters. Many of her kids have parents in prison. In America there are roughly three million homeless people on any given night and the number is rapidly growing, as are the general assistance and food lines of course. The Missoula City Council recently passed an ordinance banning the sleeping in doorways in the down town area and a coalition is forming to fight it. I wish it were a simple cut and dried issue of injustice but I think there are contingent factors and any protest would need to focus on roots of homelessness and the lack of social services in general.

As talk of escalation in Afghanistan moves front and center, the worn narratives over Viet Nam still haunt the national psyche and highlight the dysfunctional nature of "liberal/ democratic" capitalist imperialism. ( a mouthful, I know) Every time a historical analogy gets brought up, the contested territory of "history" causes paralysis, usually favoring the status quo. From Wilsons "Fourteen Point plan" to "Losing China" to "we could have won in Viet Nam" there is a consistent theme from rightwing revisionists, "The Enemy Within". It goes like this: If only we had listened to those of strong moral character and brave hearts ( exemplifying the "True America Character") instead of weak willed naysayers, we could have prevailed ( in each of these instances). Indeed, it is "the enemy within" which must be defeated before righteousness can prevail. Another chorus to this martial hymn is "Let the Generals decide", for their moral standing and hard headed, clear eyed rationality is above reproach. Talk shows are filled with the square-jawed warriors, fighting and re-fighting each war over and over.