You're Not Paying Attention!
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
—Martin L. King Jr.
We are moving toward an oligarchy society where a relatively small handful of the rich decide, with their money, who will run, who will win, and how they will govern. The defenders of the present system will fight hard to hold on to their privilege, and they write the rules. Nothing short of an aroused public can change things, nothing less than democracy is at stake.
—Moyers, Bill. Moyers on America - A Journalist and His Times. New York, New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
If You're Not Outraged...
The movie Network was made thirty years ago. I didn't see it but I did see the out take of Peter Finch's character, Howard Beale, leaning out a window and yelling at the top of his lungs, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." His words perfectly describe my emotions today.
First of all, I am not a political writer. There are more qualified political commentators on the web who can explain our political, economic, and social conditions better than I. I am just fed up with what this current administration is pulling off almost totally uncontested by either the Democratic party or the American public. The checks and balances of our government have been tossed aside by a corrupt and secretive executive branch. The only thing the oval office seems committed to is the increase in corporate profits at whatever cost.
I came of age during the sixties. In those days filled with racial tension, the war in Viet Nam, young men burning their draft cards and women burning their bras, I knew the enemy. It was anyone over thirty who supported institutionalized racism and the systematic destruction of any form of government which questioned the spread of democracy and capitalism. It was during the Cold War, one of the wars designed to keep us afraid, which ended with the destruction of the Berlin Wall. We also had the War on Poverty, the War on Crime, and the War on Drugs which fed the coffers of the Wall Street investors but didn't really end anything. These wars were never won because to do so would be a loss for corporate America on the bottom line and that was unacceptable.
Today, the enemy is the same only its spread is greater. From Washington's oval office to the corporate boardroom. From the lies and deceit which led us into an unnecessary war in Iraq to the lies and deceit leading to the billions in profits by the Oil industry, Enron, World Com and others. The current administration and its band of robbers lied to us about the electrical shortages as they told power plant executives to shut down their generators in order to raise the price of electricity. The employees of Enron and World Com lost all of their investments while their executives stashed millions in offshore numbered accounts. And where O' where are those Weapons of Mass Destruction?
The enemy hasn't changed much, but taking over the oval office is a bit more involved than occupying the provost's office at the University during my college days. I had very little faith in our electoral process before the 2000 election but now I have none. I no longer believe my vote matters nor will it make a difference. I don't see change coming from the inside. Corruption cannot police itself. And I don't see any knights in shinning armor coming to our rescue. It's time for a revolution. I'm not sure how to go about it, but I got out of my chair. "I'm mad as hell and I'm getting madder."
Photo Credit: Bush Borg
