The True Choice

I realize that the vast majority of American citizens are oblivious to the fact that their country has been pulled out from under them. Most Americans are the uneducated products of the defunct public school system, or worse ignorant immigrants who still shackled with despotism of their home countries fear reprisal if they speak up about anything. Living pay-check to pay-check tends to keep you hungry, afraid than if you rock the boat you might be fired and starve in this land of the free. Above all Americans are lazy, willingly lulled to sleep by entertaining TV and sports shows that vivify them with pseudo-intellectual pursuits, so they can deny their failures and pretend that they are not slaves.

Since the farce of an election in 2000, when the Supreme Court overstepped itself and illegally judged the presidential election without grounds or president, the Executive Administration of George W. Bush, with the help of the corrupt Congress and Senate, have 'adjusted' the Constitution of the United States to make themselves more powerful. They imposed limits on our freedoms, took the checks and balances away and freed themselves to write signing-statements that effectively put the executive administration above and beyond the law.

All this is necessary, they claim, to fight the "War on Terror". Using the concept of the "unitary executive" backed by the specter of the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001, (attacks that might have been prevented if not for their own incompetence) they have played upon the fears and ignorance of America's people. Warping reality with illegal propaganda and flat out lies, they committed our military to endless illegal wars of empire. Foolishly, the majority of our citizens followed them like sheep to slaughter. As our sons die or are irrevocably maimed by the psychological wounds inflicted by the experience of atrocities committed in unnecessary wars, most Americans go on with day to day life, living a beach party, without sacrifice, as their future is slowly sucked away.

Now we face an uncertain future. One without education, or affordable healthcare, where our potential is no longer limitless, but determined by the size of your trust fund. We have let go of the American Dream, and replaced it with the competitive paradigm of capitalism, where each person is out on there own, fighting with their brothers for scraps dropped from above. And still the proud idealists, independent, self-reliant Americans, hard working and defiant, still deluding themselves with the possibility that they can become one of the over-class, win the lottery, or boost themselves up with non-exestant boot-straps, continue to support the bankrupt causes of those who believe themselves their betters based upon the quantity of income they command.

Worse, some of our weak minded Americans have fallen for the oldest con in the book, and accepted the promise of eternal rewards in the hereafter. For that they follow willingly the corrupt and mistaken preachers who live like parasites off their voluntary tithe, and willingly vote as they are told, for those politicians who play to their religious bias and prejudices. Their mistake, believing themselves to be guilty of sin without cause, and just as guilty as those who take them by the nose. Pity the fools who curse this democracy without thought, they know not what they do.

Now, here we stand, on the edge of the knife again. We have been here before, in 1776, and 1860, or maybe 1968, and we have forgotten our legacy. Once we make the choice there will be no going back. Either America will recreate itself, renew itself, reclaim itself, or it will fall back into the dust of history, as the grand experiment that ultimately failed.

We have a great battle ahead, the economy, your homes, education and healthcare, the criminal industrial complex, endless wars, a world of uncertainty awaits. The question is will you allow those who would control you to manipulate you with fear, or will you join the fight and create change. Will you dare to hope.

"We must be the change we have been waiting for."

None of the problems we face are insurmountable, we have the resources, and with hard work and will, we can right the ship. But if we allow our US Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our freedoms to fall as casualty to our failure to elect the right people in the past, then none of it will matter. We can fight, and bail out all the banks, and give people back their homes, and feed the hungry, and sacrifice till it costs our children their potential, but none of it will make any difference without our freedom. Without the Constitution this is just another kingdom, just another dictatorship, a police state called America. Without the protections of our nation, America is nothing. That founding document is what unites us, it is what binds us, it is what makes ours a country that inspires and protects the people's of the world.

What Bush and his ilk have done is unforgivable. They have attacked our Constitution and claimed our power, our freedom, for their own. Like vampires they suck out the lifeblood of our country. Stealing our honor, our potential, our very promise, and using our powers to enrich themselves while inflicting unjust suffering on peoples we had no cause to harm. Atrocities committed in our name are still our responsibility, and we must someday pay for their elite arrogance, but the first step in saving our ship of state is to patch the hole they have torn in her hull.

We must find the strength to face our failures, to rebel against the mistakes we allowed to be made, and renew the checks and balances our fathers died to protect. We must hold a light up to the abuses of power, and hold those accountable who have tarnished our freedoms. We must do the hard work to redefine the powers of the executive, restore transparency in the face of secrecy, demand that all men be held within the laws. No more can we allow our ignorance to excuse us our duty. We must learn, we must understand, we must digest and incorporate the truth of our failures if we are ever to restore our promise. America is the one country on earth that has had the courage to deny kings, now we must rebuke the elitist billionaires who have stolen our potential by buying our government.

Many people think that the American Dream is to start with nothing and become rich, but that is not my dream. My dream is to create a just world where any person can, with honest hard work, fulfill their greatest potential, and together we can succeed at maximizing our freedoms, together, without bloodshed or destructive competition.

Money may be the master of you who dare not question authority, for fear of exposing your weaknesses, but for those who hold higher values, who would face such fear, and gain the courage to stand for something greater than yourself, for you I willing dedicate my life. It is not a sacrifice, it is the price we all must pay to earn our freedom.

I challenge you, move beyond, break your shackles. If we don't hold something above our greed, if we value nothing more than money, then there is no place left for us to go. We have dominated the world with our capital, we have bought all the weapons, and paid off all the terrorists. We effectively own the world. The question now is what kind of world will it be?

The Choice is yours, November 4, 2008.