Who and What We Are Now

It is time to shrug off our preconceptions of ourselves as Americans. We are a new people. And it is best to admit it to ourselves, and the world who we have become.

We are a nation that believes that the Ends Always Justify the Means. We believe that profit is the goal of our Nation. Accountability is only required of the small and disenfranchised. The Silent Majority. That cash trumps all. That torture is legal. That surveillance is required. That there are some who are above the law we all used to believe in.  Do you remember when you trusted the law?

We are a nation that moves on, looks forward, not back; past crime, past deceit, past evil.  We do not look back. We do not examine our flaws and we lie and inflate our empty honor.

As Americans we now serve. At Wal-Mart, at McDonalds. We now serve the powerful, the rich, and the banks in all their permutations.

We no longer build libraries, schools, manufacturing plants, warehouses or hospitals, nor homes that many may buy and someday own. Ownership Society. Ha. Owned society, more like.

We build prisons, and malls, and corporations. Empty office buildings, and faulty bridges.

It is time to look into the glass darkly and acknowledge just who we have become.

When hundreds of thousands cry out for peace, and go unheard, thousands more demand justice and  see only the back hand of the law.
When hundreds plead for a fair shake, an even playing field, a chance are deemed slackers and cheaters and worse.

Millions in prison because prison is a profit center.

When we abandon our sick, halt, lame, old, young and the most vulnerable, we must admit that that is just who we are now.

Thrift has become unpatriotic. Indebtedness is now expected of us all. And to do anything else is viewed as folly at best or treason at worst.

We cannot grow food that Agribusiness does not approve. We cannot drink water for free. Or raise animals, nor sell eggs without fee, without permission.

And we can't do a damn thing about it.

Surely you will cry out "NOT ME! NOT ME!"- But indeed it is you. And me. I couldn't stop or even slow the progression of our bad politics. Not even with your help.

I marched, I wrote, I petitioned. I visited, I demanded. I raised my fist sometimes with middle finger thrust high. So did you. And what are we now?

Small, ignored, mocked. Sneered at, marginalized, diminished. Of no notice. Beneath notice. Shunted aside. We are what we are. And sadly, all too frightened and complacent to rile up a revolution.

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