George Soros.
My heart skipped a beat. At last, it was finally here. This must be my check from George Soros.
After all my wife and I had earned it. We went to the Hartford, CT Women's March in January of 2017. We attended one of the local March for Our Lives events against gun violence in the wake of the Parkland, FL shootings.
And those events were in January and March respectively. Not the warmest time of year in New England. We had done on our part.
I knew from reading the internet sites of true Patriots and listening to the voices of real Americans that all the millions of people who showed up to protest Trump and the NRA were not sincere. Well at the least they were not marching out of purely altruistic motivations.
No, we were being paid to be there. Paid to embarrass Dear Leader.
I don't know what the payout was for the Women's March, but I had read that the going rate for the March for Our Lives was $300. Sure the killjoy realists at snopes had debunked that claim, but a guy can dream can't he?
So I eagerly tore into the envelope to get my prize for all my sacrifice and good work. I tried to anticipate what the amount might be. If the March for Our Lives rate was $300 then I figured the Women's March was likely to be around $231 as a Women's March would probably only earn 77% of a real march.
But then I wondered if there was a sliding scale depending on which venue of the marches you attended. Maybe the $300 for the March for Our Lives was for the DC rally. Or other major cities. What would you get if you attended a rally in a small town like Kent, CT? $50? Gas money? A food allowance?
Same for the Women's March. Maybe top dollar was only for people at the big rallies - the main one in DC. The other large rallies in New York, Boston, LA, etc. Sure the rally in Hartford, CT attracted 10,000 people, not too shabby for the area. But would Soros pay the full going price for the smaller sites? I was about to find out.
Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered no check inside. Not even a thank you note for getting off my ass in the dead of winter to protest on behalf of the causes Mr. Soros supposedly holds so dear. It wasn't quite as bad as being enrolled in the Jelly of the Month club as a Christmas bonus. Hold it, yes it was; at least Clark Griswold was getting something!
Rather there was a letter from Soros which began "Dear Friend..." Friend? Where's the money, pal?
This was a questionnaire and fund drive for a group called Drug Policy Alliance. It decried the evil and waste that has been our country's War on Drugs. Just fill out the questionnaire and send along a donation to help their efforts to change drug laws and stop the senseless war on drugs. Hey as worthy as that goal might be, didn't Soros owe me something first for my past efforts before I should be doing more of his bidding?
No $300 for March for Our Lives. No $231 for the Women's March. Not even a sliding scale amount for participating in smaller, local marches.
I felt betrayed. I marched. I showed up. What was in it for me? Apparently I had done it all for nothing.
Or maybe, and you'll find this hard to believe, I know I did when the thought first crossed my mind. Maybe Trump and all those other right wingers had lied all along. Maybe all the millions of people taking to the street hadn't been paid after all. Maybe like me they were concerned citizens marching out of a sense of duty and expecting nothing material in return.
Maybe our only wish was for a better, brighter country. And maybe we don't need to be paid by George Soros or anyone else to believe in that goal and take action to achieve it.
Just a thought.