When I was a kid, every day in school we saluted the flag, said the pledge of allegience, and sang a patriotic song. That's how we started the school day, every day. We were taught that our country was the greatest on earth, built on the rule of law, on the principles of personal freedom, and the will and trust of an active participating citizenry. Freedom and democracy were responsibilities we all shared and these things combine made our country strong and different from every country that had come before. We were, we were taught, the good guys.
Of course, then came the revelations that Vietnam was not our shining moment and that our president was, well, a crook. But even then, those thing were anomalies. We may have made some mistakes, but we were still the good guys. And I believed that for a very long time.
But today, the US is a country that lies, that tortures, that spies on its citizens as well as its enemies, that ignores our global neighbors on issues of diplomacy and planetary survival. We do the things we used to accuse other nations of doing. And the protections of dissenting view points are being eroded daily. That marvelous document we learned about in school, our country's Constitution, with its Bill of Rights -- ideals so strongly held, we gave them a special name -- is either being gotten around or bandied about for pet causes to keep the ruling party in power. The Bill of Rights was established to protect our country from the tyranny of the majority (I believe Tocqueville coined the phrase -- go ahead google it up and see if he didn't have a point).
People say to me, "but Mother, things are different now." What's different? We were attacked by terrorists, yes, but if we are no longer the open, democratic society we have always claimed to be -- if we change the rules of the great experiment the founding fathers laid out -- then the terrorists have won. No matter how many people die in Iraq, whether our government ever brings bin Laden to justice, they've won and we've lost. Worst, it isn't the terrorists robbing us of our freedoms, trashing our ideals, making us feel ashamed to be Americans. It isn't the terrorists, it's our own government. The government manipulates our fears, plays on the feelings we all shared on that fall day nearly five years ago. If we don't give up our freedom, if we don't undermine our ideals, they tell us, then the terrorists will strike again. And if we voice our disagreement, then we are unpatriotic at best, and complicit with the terrorists at worst.
Chances are, American has not experienced its last terrorist attack. That we had escaped terrorism as long as we had was amazing. We can't go back to a time when we felt ourselves invincible. But we can go back to feeling proud of our country, we can go back to believing in the ideals and principles they taught us in the school room, all we have to do is stop being ruled by fear, and those who exploit that fear.
Choose to be the brave our country is supposed to be home to.
Choose to be the free our country is supposed to be the land of.
Mid-term elections are coming this fall.
Choose.
Choose to take our country back from fear.
6 comments:
Very well put. Not that it's any surprise. You do that quite frequently.
I would like to add one thing.
Open your thoughts to an alternative party. Don't vote Republican or Democrat simply because anything else is "throwing your vote away". The problems this country has right now can be blaimed on having a two-party system that has spiraled out of control. The main two-parties have all but combined into one giant cluster-fuck of embarrasment.
Seek out and listen to an alternative to the cookie-cutter, run-of-the-mill politician if you can.
Those that make the biggest changes in the world are those that appear to come from nowhere.
Although this seems to be happening to a lot of western countries it's probably worst in the US.
It's sad to see a country fall, but I don't think the US will get anywhere until it hits bottom. I think there are too many people who love the country too much to see faults with it yet. America probably needs to be broken and then rebuild itself with the lessons of the past.
Moto, what good does it do to vote for a different party, when there seems to be a much bigger problem. You only have about 60 % voter participation. Apathy is your greatest enemy there.
While I'm the first to admit we have a major problem with wilful ignorance in this country, I'm inclined to think that many of the 40% non-voting citizens do so, not out of apathy, but out of anger.
There's been a great deal on the web these days about Hillary Clinton running for President, and the phrase that comes up is "hold your nose and vote." I think a lot of people have grown frustrated with that style of voting and so they stay home. Not everyone takes the third party route that Moto and I have chosen, but to me it sends the clearest signal that I'm not apathetic, I'm pissed off (it also helps that I believe in what the Green Party represents).
This country needs a new direction -- desperately, vitally, critically. If people do not turn out and vote, both in 2006 and 2008, to elect new leaders, leaders who believe in real, fundamental change, then they will get exactly the government they deserve. Sadly, the stakes are so high now that waiting another four or eight years may be too late. The world is in a fragile state, environmentally and politically. The US can be the country that takes the lead or the country that takes the fall.
Getting away from the two party system is something near impossible. It would require the people in power were ready to give it up.
Whether it's anger or apathy probably isn't very important. I think the anger fase might end out being apathy when people get tired of it all. What's important is that you have 40 % that doesn't vote, what happens if that increases to over 50 % would it then still be a democracy in anything but name?
I think it would require a lot to get the US back in the lead. You have fallen so far under this administration and it would require some serious ass kissing to get the world behind you again.
I hope that enough Americans wake up, take a critical look at what's going on and choose to do something about it. I'm a great believer in the squeeky wheel and the ripple effect, but at this point you guys may need a tidal wave to effect enough change to stop the downward slide.
But, I'm ever the optimist. What choice does the rest of the world really have? We're kind of at the mercy of the US electorate. Every US citizen needs to care enough to get informed, get involved, and vote. So, please keep on keeping on Mother, moto, and others.
Before we can repair our reputation abroad, we first must fix what is broken.
I would suggest three places to start:
Run "Clean" Elections -- public financing of campaigns keeping "special interests" out of the election.
Undo Clinton's chowder-headed move to eliminate "equal time" from the FCC regulations that helped third-party candidates gets their message out.
Allow all eligible candidates to participate in the debate process.
These three changes would break down the barriers that keep ours a two-party system, deplete the culture of corruption, and ensure elected officials spend more time governing and less time fund-raising for the next election.
As for mending fences with our international neighbors -- how loud can I shout it -- Close Gitmo!
Other ideas would be: Sign on to the Kyoto Protocols. Live up to our G8 pledges for aid to Africa. Engage in real, meaningful dialogue with Latin America regarding fair trade. And of course,
Vote for a President who believes in the rule of law and elect a Congress that is more than a cesspool of corruption, a rubber stamp for big business, and a panderer to the religous right.
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