Bush Legacy Tour

ALBUQUERQUE, NM-John Steinbeck would not recognize the Route 66 of the 1950’s during its heyday,  let alone the stretch of it that runs through the Nob Hill section of Albuquerque today. When Steinbeck wrote the Grapes of Wrath he described an oft-desolate road full of pit-falls, hardships, and some no-good people looking to take advantage of hard working decent Americans in a variety of different ways. The story of the Joad’s journey west-bound along Route 66 touches on big finance corruption, lack of healthcare, union-busting and money being put before the needs of decent Americans. The Bush Legacy Bus parked on Central Avenue (formerly part of Rt.66) in Albuquerque eighty-plus years later, is essentially telling the exact same story.

We pulled up Monday morning on Central Avenue in Nob Hill, which is now an area where boutiques, record stores and coffee houses have now taken residence in the buildings that once housed the hotels, diners, and gas stations tourists frequented on their drives across country. Much of the old signage and architecture remains and we thought it would be the perfect spot to bring the bus.  The foot traffic was excellent and we had at least 150 people come through the bus in a couple hours. 

In the tradition of the many travelers on that famous stretch of road, we had people from all walks of life come through the bus on Monday. We had Terry, a mother of a young boy, who is stridently trying to teach her son to “do the right thing” and has fought against this administration’s misdeeds throughout.   John Wantz who is a ceramic artist from Santa Fe came by with a gift he had made for the bus. He presented us with a ceramic mask of GWB with his head shaped like a toad, eating a small frog. When asked about the meaning behind the piece he said, “Big toads eat little frogs.”

 I spoke to Hammer who is retired from the National Air traffic Controllers Association.  He talked about the dire state of the air traffic controllers in the country today. They are drastically understaffed and it is at the very least affecting the ease of travel for passengers and at the very worst going to cause a catastrophe. Hammer dutifully performed his job since 1981 and watched over the last eight years as the Bush Administration and its conservative allies in Congress blocked legislation time and time again that would rectify the problem of understaffing.  As I point out my inconvenience sitting on the runway many times waiting to get clearance due to the increase in traffic and the decrease in controllers, Hammer laughs. “That inconvenience is really the least of your problems. What you should be worried about is the air traffic controller and the pilot that are on their  55^th working hour that week  controlling and flying the plane.”

 I cannot think of a better example of where the conservative policies of Bush and his allies are more inappropriate.  The idea of limited government that only performs the functions that people cannot perform for themselves sounds great in theory but regulating an industry responsible for the safe passage of millions of people every year takes some oversight and accountability.  Even under the auspices of limited government, I would not feeling safe flying the friendly skies if the same corporate sector responsible for Enron and the mortgage crisis are deciding how air traffic should be controlled.  http://www.natca.org/newsletter/Staffing.msp

The Route 66 stop was a success and we engaged with a lot of people. Upon leaving I stopped in a home furnishing boutique the bus had been parked in front of during the stop. I started talking with the store manager who had come through the bus a half hour prior. I apologized to him if the bus being on the street had in any way diverted business. He said quite the contrary they had not had a Monday morning that busy in ages. He thanked us for the business and for getting the message out.