I believe that we are running a marathon, not a sprint. Remember, the corrupt entity in Washington did not emerge overnight. It has been evolving for years. Those of us who recognize its villainy, and desire to end its reign, need to attack this colossus through a variety of non-violent means. I envision this hideous, puissant incarnation of tyranny suffering death by a thousand cuts. Progress toward justice will occur in small increments. We may not see the fruits of our labors in our lifetimes, but we can revel in the spiritual fulfillment that we are working to make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.
Fuel for my Passion
Fifteen years ago, I underwent a spiritual crisis. Along the path to rock bottom, I experienced homelessness, joblessness, severe emotional pain, and isolation. From the heights of being Valedictorian of my high school class (with a fully paid university scholarship), I plummeted to seven years of self-destruction and mostly self-inflicted pain. Drifting from menial job to menial job, abandoning my young twin boys to the care of their mother for a short time, suffering a severe industrial accident, and abandoning the use of my Higher Power-endowed gifts of tenacity, intellectual dissection and analysis, and capacity to articulate, I slipped into the abyss of my own private nightmare.
Realizing I was addicted to alcohol, I quit drinking and began a profound evolution. As I climbed the path back to spiritual health, my soul searching led me to deep existential wanderings. I read, studied, pondered, kept journals, and conversed with a wide array of people. My thirst for philosophical and spiritual knowledge grew logarithmically. I healed and I reclaimed my spiritual well-being. I became very active in my twins' lives again. I found employment which suited my strengths and paid me a decent wage. I returned to school and completed my degree by chipping away one course per semester (while I worked and parented my children). I met my current wife, who had a two year old boy. I have since adopted him. In 1997 I quit smoking and freed myself from the psychological chains of yet another product of avaricious corporations. In 2002 I began teaching myself Spanish, and am now proficient enough that I can converse with my numerous Hispanic immigrant customers in their first language. My wife and I both work to maintain a lower middle class income (no easy task under the Bush regime).
Having reclaimed my soul and embraced truly fulfilling spiritual values, it was only a matter of time before I awakened from my slumber and discovered the fetid odor of decay and corruption emanating from Washington DC. Having hit spiritual rock bottom, I forged a powerful set of core values which include honesty, sobriety, self awareness, taking responsibility for my actions, practicing the Golden Rule, acting assertively rather than aggressively, loving as an act of will, living within my financial means, engaging in acts of moral courage, respecting self and others, reclaiming my strong work ethic, embracing diversity in people, empathizing, feeling compassion, working at relationships and communication, and helping those in need (as I am able). About a year ago, I finally turned my focus to political and social matters. At that point I realized that many of the actions and policies of my government represented the virtual antithesis of my core values. Given this revelation, I decided to focus my energy, effort and attention (outside of work and family) on pursuing social justice, human rights, civil liberties, peace, and intellectual freedom in a nation governed by extremely depraved and sick people, who value property over people, worship money and "success", and thrive on deceit, betrayal and abuse of power.
Exposing the Lies and Turning the Tables on Them
One of the first things that those of us vigorously pursuing social justice need to do is to reframe the debate. Those in power have worked tenaciously to portray themselves as shining liberators in Iraq and practitioners of a benevolent "compassionate conservatism" on the domestic front. They wrap themselves in the American flag and speak of patriotism and "spreading freedom and liberty". They claim to represent a "culture of life" because they oppose abortion and the use of frozen embryos to advance stem cell research. Bush II claims to embody the compassionate teachings of Christ, when in reality his pathological devotion to the illegal war in Iraq belies the truly perverse nature of his administration.
Their prevarications are indeed both flagrant and obvious. In 2003, the United States invaded a sovereign nation based on lies disseminated by its government. Much of the world views our presence in Iraq as an illegal military occupation perpetrated to advance American imperial interests in the Middle East. Many Iraqis want the US military out of their nation. Forcing a nation to adopt democracy at gunpoint is utterly absurd. Compassionate conservatism is Orwellian in that it means the US government is shutting off the spigots of money flowing to the poor and working class, as evidenced by the manner in which they are handling the New Orleans disaster, the continued flow of tax dollars to the military industrial complex, tax cuts for the wealthy (which shift the tax burden to the "lower classes"), and budget cuts to socially beneficial programs. Bush and his loyal followers spew rhetoric about a patriotism which is simply a repulsive form of nationalism they use to maintain an "us" versus "them" mentality to justify their perpetual war against "terrorism". Our government represents a "culture of life?" For years, many of our leaders have wrung their hands over the plight of the unborn (to garner the support of the Religious Right). At the same time, our government has been directly or indirectly responsible for the slaughter of millions of innocent civilians (including women and children) in the Middle East, Vietnam, Africa, and Latin America. For more on this, visit:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/foreign_policy/us_foreignpolicy.html.
We who are struggling for social justice need to pierce the false image of benevolence projected by our government through the education system and corporate-controlled media. More Americans need to see our deviant and twisted leaders as they truly are. We need to deliver the message that what we are seeking is a society (and a government which reflects and represents that society) which treats all of its members with dignity, reveres human rights for all people, is militarily prepared to defend itself from a legitimate threat but not to engage in imperial expansion, limits the obscene power entrusted to corporations, is prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to protect our environment, seeks peaceful co-existence with the rest of the world, is prepared to abandon wanton over-consumption, respects international law and the treaties to which it is a part, promotes an education system which teaches a more honest view of history and critical thinking skills, and adheres to the US Constitution. We need to rally more people to our cause because it is just and humane, not because it is "left" or "right" or "Republican" or "Democrat". Partisanship is divisive and is another illusion created by the government to divide and conquer its "underlings". A moral and sane government is what we seek, and people need to understand our goal.
Purveyors of Porn are not the Only Beneficiaries".
As activists for social justice, the Internet is one of our most powerful tools. Thus far, the government and their corporate partners have not gained control of this invaluable means of communication. I know from my own experience that gathering news and information from the Internet (in a discerning manner so as to exclude the trash) is far more reliable than watching Fox or reading the New York Times. Besides the myriad of alternative media sites which are not compelled by corporate masters to maintain America's facade of benevolence, one can find a plethora of refreshing opinions and analyses on blogs, and can exchange thoughts and ideas with a virtually unlimited number of people via email and other forms of Internet communication. Remember, the US government has imposed their "soft tyranny" through capturing the hearts, minds, and souls of many of its citizens, not by using force. Convincing those still faithful to the US government that they have sold their souls to the devil is crucial to the cause of social justice. I have spent countless hours without pay over the last year gathering information, "connecting the dots" with my essays which advocate social justice and expose many of the myriad malevolent aspects of our government, and working to get published on the Internet (over 100 Websites have carried my work). I have spent perhaps an equal amount of time communicating with readers and fellow activists via email and maintaining my blog at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/. We need to utilize the power of the Internet to gather information and to communicate. Working through the Internet, we can network with like-minded individuals and reach out to those somnambulists who still believe the "Red, White and Blue" stands for freedom and liberty.
Don't Underestimate the Power of Simple Acts".
Few if any acts are too small to be of value to the advancement of true freedom and justice in the United States. As I go through my everyday existence, I act on my spiritual values I described earlier. My goals are to be a part of the solution and to set an example for others. I realize I am only one person making a ripple in a vast ocean, but if many of us act in spiritually healthy ways together, the ripples will evolve into waves. Eventually those waves will form a tsunami which will wreak havoc upon the slime oozing about our nation's capitol. To contribute to that tsunami, I suggest that a person be as honest as they can in their endeavors. I advocate taking responsibility when one makes a mistake, learning from it, and making amends. Simple endeavors like recycling, keeping debt to a minimum, and refusing to become part of the culture of greed and over-consumption will help save the environment and make continued human existence on Earth feasible. Treating oneself and others with dignity and respect is a cornerstone of spiritual health. Embracing diversity in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical condition is crucial to the advancement of social justice. Each human being deserves their human rights and brings something positive to contribute to the world (if they choose to do so). I advocate working hard to attain one's goals, but at the same time, realizing that each person deserves help along the way. Standing up for one's beliefs in the face of adversity is essential to our cause. As I have stated in previous essays, I will continue to act for social justice and my spiritual beliefs, regardless of the consequences. There are risks to pursuing this cause, even in the United States. The people we are challenging stand to lose a great deal and have clearly demonstrated their ruthlessness and inhumanity. Despite the fierceness of the opposition, everyday acts by large numbers of everyday people can tip the balance back toward a humane, sane, and just society.
Strength in Numbers and Concerted Efforts
We need to join groups like the ACLU and Amnesty International (or one of hundreds of other NGOs) which struggle for human rights, freedom, peace or equality. I cited the ACLU and Amnesty because I am a member of both. I have done volunteer work for the ACLU and participated in some of their meetings and activities. I utilize both organizations' Websites to glean information about civil and human rights violations, and to send letters to various members of governments around the world on behalf of the oppressed. With what little discretionary money my wife and I have, we donate regularly to theoe two entities and sporadically to various charities. Groups and organizations bring large numbers of similar-minded people together and garner significant resources needed to mount legal challenges to the criminal acts of our government, and to expose those committing egregiously unlawful and immoral acts to the glaring spot-light of public awareness. Charities help to fill the gap left by the diversion of our tax dollars to military funding.
Teach Your Children (and Yourselves) Well"
Fuel for my Passion
Fifteen years ago, I underwent a spiritual crisis. Along the path to rock bottom, I experienced homelessness, joblessness, severe emotional pain, and isolation. From the heights of being Valedictorian of my high school class (with a fully paid university scholarship), I plummeted to seven years of self-destruction and mostly self-inflicted pain. Drifting from menial job to menial job, abandoning my young twin boys to the care of their mother for a short time, suffering a severe industrial accident, and abandoning the use of my Higher Power-endowed gifts of tenacity, intellectual dissection and analysis, and capacity to articulate, I slipped into the abyss of my own private nightmare.
Realizing I was addicted to alcohol, I quit drinking and began a profound evolution. As I climbed the path back to spiritual health, my soul searching led me to deep existential wanderings. I read, studied, pondered, kept journals, and conversed with a wide array of people. My thirst for philosophical and spiritual knowledge grew logarithmically. I healed and I reclaimed my spiritual well-being. I became very active in my twins' lives again. I found employment which suited my strengths and paid me a decent wage. I returned to school and completed my degree by chipping away one course per semester (while I worked and parented my children). I met my current wife, who had a two year old boy. I have since adopted him. In 1997 I quit smoking and freed myself from the psychological chains of yet another product of avaricious corporations. In 2002 I began teaching myself Spanish, and am now proficient enough that I can converse with my numerous Hispanic immigrant customers in their first language. My wife and I both work to maintain a lower middle class income (no easy task under the Bush regime).
Exposing the Lies and Turning the Tables on Them
One of the first things that those of us vigorously pursuing social justice need to do is to reframe the debate. Those in power have worked tenaciously to portray themselves as shining liberators in Iraq and practitioners of a benevolent "compassionate conservatism" on the domestic front. They wrap themselves in the American flag and speak of patriotism and "spreading freedom and liberty". They claim to represent a "culture of life" because they oppose abortion and the use of frozen embryos to advance stem cell research. Bush II claims to embody the compassionate teachings of Christ, when in reality his pathological devotion to the illegal war in Iraq belies the truly perverse nature of his administration.
Their prevarications are indeed both flagrant and obvious. In 2003, the United States invaded a sovereign nation based on lies disseminated by its government. Much of the world views our presence in Iraq as an illegal military occupation perpetrated to advance American imperial interests in the Middle East. Many Iraqis want the US military out of their nation. Forcing a nation to adopt democracy at gunpoint is utterly absurd. Compassionate conservatism is Orwellian in that it means the US government is shutting off the spigots of money flowing to the poor and working class, as evidenced by the manner in which they are handling the New Orleans disaster, the continued flow of tax dollars to the military industrial complex, tax cuts for the wealthy (which shift the tax burden to the "lower classes"), and budget cuts to socially beneficial programs. Bush and his loyal followers spew rhetoric about a patriotism which is simply a repulsive form of nationalism they use to maintain an "us" versus "them" mentality to justify their perpetual war against "terrorism". Our government represents a "culture of life?" For years, many of our leaders have wrung their hands over the plight of the unborn (to garner the support of the Religious Right). At the same time, our government has been directly or indirectly responsible for the slaughter of millions of innocent civilians (including women and children) in the Middle East, Vietnam, Africa, and Latin America. For more on this, visit:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/foreign_policy/us_foreignpolicy.html.
We who are struggling for social justice need to pierce the false image of benevolence projected by our government through the education system and corporate-controlled media. More Americans need to see our deviant and twisted leaders as they truly are. We need to deliver the message that what we are seeking is a society (and a government which reflects and represents that society) which treats all of its members with dignity, reveres human rights for all people, is militarily prepared to defend itself from a legitimate threat but not to engage in imperial expansion, limits the obscene power entrusted to corporations, is prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to protect our environment, seeks peaceful co-existence with the rest of the world, is prepared to abandon wanton over-consumption, respects international law and the treaties to which it is a part, promotes an education system which teaches a more honest view of history and critical thinking skills, and adheres to the US Constitution. We need to rally more people to our cause because it is just and humane, not because it is "left" or "right" or "Republican" or "Democrat". Partisanship is divisive and is another illusion created by the government to divide and conquer its "underlings". A moral and sane government is what we seek, and people need to understand our goal.
Purveyors of Porn are not the Only Beneficiaries".
As activists for social justice, the Internet is one of our most powerful tools. Thus far, the government and their corporate partners have not gained control of this invaluable means of communication. I know from my own experience that gathering news and information from the Internet (in a discerning manner so as to exclude the trash) is far more reliable than watching Fox or reading the New York Times. Besides the myriad of alternative media sites which are not compelled by corporate masters to maintain America's facade of benevolence, one can find a plethora of refreshing opinions and analyses on blogs, and can exchange thoughts and ideas with a virtually unlimited number of people via email and other forms of Internet communication. Remember, the US government has imposed their "soft tyranny" through capturing the hearts, minds, and souls of many of its citizens, not by using force. Convincing those still faithful to the US government that they have sold their souls to the devil is crucial to the cause of social justice. I have spent countless hours without pay over the last year gathering information, "connecting the dots" with my essays which advocate social justice and expose many of the myriad malevolent aspects of our government, and working to get published on the Internet (over 100 Websites have carried my work). I have spent perhaps an equal amount of time communicating with readers and fellow activists via email and maintaining my blog at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/. We need to utilize the power of the Internet to gather information and to communicate. Working through the Internet, we can network with like-minded individuals and reach out to those somnambulists who still believe the "Red, White and Blue" stands for freedom and liberty.
Don't Underestimate the Power of Simple Acts".
Few if any acts are too small to be of value to the advancement of true freedom and justice in the United States. As I go through my everyday existence, I act on my spiritual values I described earlier. My goals are to be a part of the solution and to set an example for others. I realize I am only one person making a ripple in a vast ocean, but if many of us act in spiritually healthy ways together, the ripples will evolve into waves. Eventually those waves will form a tsunami which will wreak havoc upon the slime oozing about our nation's capitol. To contribute to that tsunami, I suggest that a person be as honest as they can in their endeavors. I advocate taking responsibility when one makes a mistake, learning from it, and making amends. Simple endeavors like recycling, keeping debt to a minimum, and refusing to become part of the culture of greed and over-consumption will help save the environment and make continued human existence on Earth feasible. Treating oneself and others with dignity and respect is a cornerstone of spiritual health. Embracing diversity in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical condition is crucial to the advancement of social justice. Each human being deserves their human rights and brings something positive to contribute to the world (if they choose to do so). I advocate working hard to attain one's goals, but at the same time, realizing that each person deserves help along the way. Standing up for one's beliefs in the face of adversity is essential to our cause. As I have stated in previous essays, I will continue to act for social justice and my spiritual beliefs, regardless of the consequences. There are risks to pursuing this cause, even in the United States. The people we are challenging stand to lose a great deal and have clearly demonstrated their ruthlessness and inhumanity. Despite the fierceness of the opposition, everyday acts by large numbers of everyday people can tip the balance back toward a humane, sane, and just society.
Strength in Numbers and Concerted Efforts
We need to join groups like the ACLU and Amnesty International (or one of hundreds of other NGOs) which struggle for human rights, freedom, peace or equality. I cited the ACLU and Amnesty because I am a member of both. I have done volunteer work for the ACLU and participated in some of their meetings and activities. I utilize both organizations' Websites to glean information about civil and human rights violations, and to send letters to various members of governments around the world on behalf of the oppressed. With what little discretionary money my wife and I have, we donate regularly to theoe two entities and sporadically to various charities. Groups and organizations bring large numbers of similar-minded people together and garner significant resources needed to mount legal challenges to the criminal acts of our government, and to expose those committing egregiously unlawful and immoral acts to the glaring spot-light of public awareness. Charities help to fill the gap left by the diversion of our tax dollars to military funding.
Teach Your Children (and Yourselves) Well"
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