Kerim Friedman defines "Dissident" in - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
I am a dissident bourgeois housewife. Just because I have great health insurance, a healthy 401(k), and own a home, doesn't mean I agree with the established order. I DISSENT.
Millions of Americans don't have the safety net I have. My breast cancer is not bankrupting us because we happen to have good insurance. We are lucky. Nobody deserves to be unlucky in such matters.
The established order has done nothing to preserve the safety net. My illness, had I not been covered by good insurance, would have cost us $200,000 and more.
I don't dye my hair purple or pierce my body for ornament; I practice monogamy in a heterosexual marriage; I even pray to a Supreme Being of my understanding. No drugs and little alcohol. I am also too uncool to keep up with the latest (or even stalest) alternative rock. Dan Zanes is as hip as I get. So I don't look anything like a real counter-culture mama. But I do not accept the established order, and I now call myself
Proud to be a dissenting American.
I demand
single payer health care
a national energy policy devoted to sustainable energy and weaning ourselves from oil
increased funds for university research
protection for civil liberties and a rollback of the Patriot Act
higher taxes for the rich and corporate interests, and penalties for corporations who outsource or otherwise take profit offshore
the US out of Iraq
Israel out of Palestine
justice against terrorists, not revenge against innocent civilians
the US to sign the Kyoto accords and do something constructive about climate change
40 mpg or better on all consumer vehicles
massive infrastructure development for public transit
fewer unwanted pregnancies and better access to birth control for all
a public health system that can take care of the public's health.
Maryam here. I think I shall definitely call myself a dissenting Australian too.
Posted by: Maryam | November 04, 2004 at 05:23 PM
I can't disagree with any of your demands. I guess that makes me a dissenter, too. Funny, I thought I was just a liberal.
Posted by: gloria p | May 23, 2005 at 07:27 PM