Within the last hour, I’ve read or seen news that: 1) people are outraged by a few sentences uttered years ago by an ''African-American preacher in Chicago, 2) an actor was sentenced to 3 years for not filing his taxes for 3 years (3 misdemeanors) because he believed the requirement did not exist, 3) Parents’ groups are “outraged” by advertising promoting a racy TV program about teenagers by using posters emblazoned with the letters, “OMFG” across the front, 4) there is moral indignation about a photograph of a 15 year old TV celebrity in Vanity Fair magazine shows her bare back (to above the waist) with a blanket wrapped around her . . . I could go on and on, but my question is simply, when is enough, enough? When will the moral prigs in the
United States begin to worry less about teens viewing sex and more about their futures? When will the government stop putting non-violent misdemeanor offenders (tax evasion, drug possession charges, etc.) in prison just to prove that they can, and start protecting its citizens from REAL crime – robbery, theft, terrorism, violent street crime and, worst of all, corruption of political officials and the usurpation of power it engenders. When will we stop investing our time into political rhetoric and begin actually trying to improve the lives of our citizens, and the rest of the world?
We are faced, today, with such severe multiple “crises” that we ignore them or procrastinate only at our peril. We, in the US, are at the mercy of our avowed enemies for the oil products that keep our nation alive, yet “Bush & Co.” have not only done nothing to ameliorate the crisis, but have apparently been active sponsors. They have led us into a war based upon lies, deception, and fear, whose only purpose appears to be lining the pockets of their Saudi friends (from which most of the 9/11 terrorists came), and Dick Cheney’s old company – Halliburton, and encouraging the establishment of the largest and most powerful mercenary army in the world; Blackwater, while Americans struggle with $4/barrel oil prices, $100 fill-ups of their cars, and heating oil that left millions in the cold during the winter. This, along with our dependence upon Chinese loans and imported goods arising from exported jobs has left our economy in such shambles that millions of Americans are being turned out of their homes in foreclosure actions, bankruptcy rates are skyrocketing, airlines are going out of business, nearly 50 million people are without health insurance and, therefore health care, and the cost of food, both here and around the world is reaching the point when starvation may become the leading cause of death, while fields are left fallow and billions are spent to prosecute the new prohibition – drugs.
We are living in a time our ancestors never thought to see in America – when we are divided into classes of “haves” and “have-nots” rather than being the nation with the largest “middle class” in the world – our greatest strength. Perhaps it is time to consider a different path.
Thomas Jefferson once said that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” and that “every generation needs a new revolution.” Perhaps it is time we had ours. Our Constitution declares that our government was formed by, “We the People.” It is We, in whom ultimate power resides in this nation and it is We who must rise up and exercise it from time to time by exorcising the demons whom we have allowed to occupy offices in our government. Before we fall as a nation, weakened by greed, paralyzed by fear and defeated by our own inaction, let us once more raise the banner of our founders and declare, “Don’t Tread On Me!” Let us return to the most basic truth that when people fear the government there is tyranny, but when the government fears the people, there is liberty. Let us return the seats of power to those who would use them for our benefit, not theirs and to this end, let us once more pledge “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
