“Just give me a promise that you’ll protect me and, oh, as long as I’m entertained, and as long as you come across as someone I’d like to have a beer with, as long as you’re not, you know — too smart, too ‘elitist,’ you can shove all that other stuff into the dumpster. And remember to tell me how smart I am.”
And now it’s oil, cheap gas, and “Boy! how I absolutely demand that. As long as I can get to the mall and take the kids to soccer and can put cheap gas in my car you can also drill for oil wherever you want (71% of respondents, via a recent survey.). Don’t care that much about America that might be beautiful. If I want ‘beautiful,’ I’ll spruce up my apartment with a new rug, or buy one of those really sharp purses, or maybe those jeans at Nordstrom. Besides, what’s beautiful got to do with it if the price is $4.50 a gallon. How’s that help me?”
Most probably won’t. But some will, remember the “keep America beautiful” television ad from the 70s, the one that featured the chisel-jawed Native-American with the tear finding it’s way down his cheek. When I pause to consider the state of our country, what’s happened to America, what’s happened to Americans . . . I feel the same sadness, the same feeling of tragic loss. And I want to ask: What’s happened to America?
I also want to ask: Is there any chance we can get it back? Turn things around? Because if there’s not . . . The sign on the front gate might say ‘America.’ You can call a thing anything you want, but it won’t be AMERICA. You see, Americans live in America, and Americans just don’t behave the cowardly, sycophantic, servile way I’ve seen most in this land behaving these past seven years.
— Ed Tubbs
Thousand Oaks, CA
PS — Of course I welcome responses, those that disagree as well as those that agree. But I’ve got to insist that only those retaining the courage of their convictions to include their real name and the city where they reside, exactly as they would for any letter to the editor, will be read or responded to. Now is the time for all of us to live up to the words and sentiments in our National Anthem.
PPS — Once again, whether or not to be an ignorant fool is a completely voluntary choice each of us makes. For those who are more insistent on opinions backed by facts than opinions out the rear sphincter, I’m appending the just plain facts database URL, with links to how your party or office holder voted concerning every (EVERY) issue that came before the House and/or the Senate. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/?wpisrc=newsletter
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
