(With apologies to Leonard Cohen)
By Timothy V. Gatto
"They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom,
for trying to change the system from within.
I'm coming now; I'm coming to reward them,
First we take Manhattan, and then we take Berlin."
It started in Tunisia and then spread to Algeria and eventually to Egypt. It's still going on in Bahrain, Syria and other nations in North Africa and the Middle East. It's also happening in Greece, Spain and most recently Great Britain. It won't be long until it happens here. The writing is on the wall for all those that wish to see it.
All the money the Koch brothers have, all the profits that GE and other defense contractors and oil companies have will be able to stop it. Democracy is coming to the USA. It's coming through a crack in the wall. It's coming from the silence on the dock of the bay to the brave and bold and battered heart of Chevrolet. From the wells of disappointment where the women knell to pray, it's coming from the deserts here and the deserts far away. Democracy is coming"to the USA.
While the leaders in Washington fight, for things that they know are not exactly right. While the poor end up with less and the rich end up with more, there are no words of wisdom from the Congressional floor. When the country is split and we fight amongst ourselves and the corporations turn their backs on this fundamental hell, we all sit and wonder where the next threat will come, while we support a war in Libya by providing all the guns.
Most people in this nation understand that what we do is wrong. To promote the death of people that haven't caused us any harm is tragic. While the people of Bahrain continue to resist while we turn our backs on their fight for democracy is a tragedy that exemplifies the best of the worst in us. We stand up for rebels in Libya that have taken up arms against a government that provided free education health care and housing by bombing cities indiscriminately and causing a great many deaths to non-combatants while we turn a blind eye to the invasion of Bahrain. There we have Saudi Arabia, an undemocratic absolute monarchy sending in troops to keep another undemocratic monarchy from falling. Where is the morality in this?
In fact, where is there a semblance of morality anywhere that U.S. troops fight? Just who are we supporting in Afghanistan, a nation that has seen its opium production rise by over 400% since we sent troops there ostensibly to "punish" al Qaeda, an organization that was the brainchild of the CIA in Langley? Where is the morality in sending predator drones to fire hellfire missiles at anything that moves in Pakistan, Somalia and other nations?
There is a general discontent brewing right here at home. While Americans clip coupons, count their change and apply for food stamps, we watch billions of dollars being spent by a regime hell-bent on causing the most damage and death to anyone that oppose us.
Americans aren't stupid. We see what is happening, even if the mainstream media sanitizes it on their nightly news. The people in Washington that claim to be looking out for our interests had better take a good long look at what they are actually accomplishing. What they are really doing is alienating their own citizens.
How do I know that is what they are accomplishing? It's because the American people are reading what I write along with others that are basically telling them the same thing albeit in different ways. There is going to be a demonstration in Washington this October that will bring out hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that are fed up with wars over jobs. They are fed up with military appropriations over social programs to feed the poor and stop foreclosures on their homes. They are tired of our government propping up the bankers while ignoring the people.
They are frightened too. They are taken aback when police departments possess armored vehicles and body armor that make them appear more like combat soldiers than policemen. They are wary of being spied on by their government due to the Patriots Acts and the enhanced FISA Laws. People in the United States are becoming fearful of their own government. It has to stop.
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