It’s the Fourth of July.
Independence Day.
As a lifelong student of American history, I consider this as one of the calendar’s great days. It celebrates the assembly of a group of profound thinkers who penned brilliant words that inspired a war that, five years later, turned a handful of Old World colonies into a vibrant new nation.
At the heart of the new nation were two philosophies: government by democracy, and economics by capitalism.
Today, in that nation, both democracy and capitalism are in serious trouble.
Democracy depends on an intelligent and informed electorate. If the voters are ignorant—unaware that much of what they are told about and by their government rests on lies and falsehoods—they cannot vote with the insight democracy demands. If their elected representatives do not represent them, but instead represent entities who have contributed heavily to electoral campaigns, then the very spirit of democracy is not served.
Today the nation is involved in a horrific and senseless war, and it was launched on lies. The nation is slaughtering innocent people, torturing many others and spying on its own citizens. Our news people—so vital to an informed electorate—are restrained from routinely exposing these wrongs by the huge corporations that employ them. We watch as “news” is trivialized into celebrity-watching and “reality TV” that has no basis in any reality we would want to be part of.
Capitalism is dependent on growth. We see our economic and governmental leaders interpreting it as “growth at any cost.” Countless people are purchasing countless things large and small without the money to do so. Citizens and government alike are so over-extended with credit that if our creditors were to call in the loans, citizens and government alike would be immediately and irreversibly bankrupt.
We cannot blame those founders who argued, compromised and finally reached agreement in Philadelphia in 1776. We have read their thoughts on the need for an informed electorate, for separation of church and state, for civil liberties, for personal privacy, for an honorable presence in the world. And our so-called leaders — politicians and corporations — have decided they know better. They have shredded the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and are doing great damage to the Constitution.
We have one hope.
This is election year.
We can try our best to identify the candidates who are closest in spirit, philosophy and integrity to those great men in Philadelphia and then vote for those candidates … and hope the voting machines aren’t rigged.
2 comments:
Greg, very well put.
GREG ,USED TO BE A TIME THAT:THE TALLEST BUILDING,THE BIGGEST MANMADE DAM,THE MOST PER CAPITA PHONE SATURATION AND ETC.HAD ONE WELL KNOWN ADRESS-IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.NOT ANYMORE.IF YOU HERE THAT SOMETHING IS FIRST IN SIZE,AND CHALENGE THE WORLD RECORDS IS OVERSEAS .THE EXAMPLE OF WELL WORKING CAPITALISUM -USA ,THE LAND OF INVENTIONS AND CHALENGES SLOWLY BUT SHUREDLY IS SLOWING DOWN.WE ARE STILL A MAGNET FOR BRIGHT AND INVENTIVE MINDS FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE,BUT THE TIDE OF THE UGLY XHENOFOBIA IS ON THE RISE.DEMOCRACY IS BASED ON TRANSPARENCY AND OPENNESS NOT HIDDEN AND DISTORTED BEHIND THE "COMITTIES " DOORS.THEIR ARE LOT OF HONEST PEPLE WHO WOULD TAKE PART IN THE POLITICS BUT THEY DONT WANT TO BE DRAGG TROUGH THE MUD OF MEDIA SIRCUS.AS THEY SAY" TO FIGHT WITH THE MEDIA IS LIKE WRESTLING WITH A PIG .YOU GET MUDDY AND THE PIG LIKES IT".COMPARING THE CITIZENS REACTIONS TO THE RULLERS IN OTHER COUNTRY,LET SAY FOR EXAMPLE FRANCE/THE MODERN CRADLE OF DEMOCRACY AFTER ENCIENT GREECE OFCOURCE/IS TO TO DO IT THE WAY THEY KNOW IT BETTER/IT WORKED BACK THAN AT THE FERNCH REVOLUTION/TO MARCH ON THE STREET AND OPENLY SHOW THEIR COLLOURS.HERE IN USA WE DO IT WITH OUR PURCHASING POWER;DONT BUY THIS,DONT BUY THAT.REMEMBER BACK AT THE WORLD WAR 2 THE NATION WAS UNITED AND EVERYBODY WAS DOING THEIR SHARE/JANE THE RIVETER TOO!!/AFTER SEPTEMBER 11 "THE BUNGLER FROM TEXAS" SAID:GO AND SHOP TO HELP THE COUNTRY! SAD BUT TRUE THIS GREAT NATION IS SINKIN IN THE COMPLACENCY IN THE SAME WAY LIKE IN THE RECLINER IN FRONT OF THE BIG PLASMA TV SHOOTING THE RECENT MEDIA DISTORSION.TO FIND THE THROUHT TODAY IS A SERIOUS WORK TO DIG TROUGH WEBSITES AND TRACK DOWN DIFFERENT OPINIONS.WHO HAS THE TIME TO DO THAT?>WE BETTER NOT MISS THE LATEST CLUELESS"BIMBO"STORY ON THE TUBE.I THINK THAT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT VOTE PERPETUATE THE STATUS-QUO OF LETTING IMMORAL AND CORUPT POLITICIANS TO REIGN OVER THEM.JUST REMEMBER THE OLD ADAGE CITISENS:THE HISTORY REAPETS ITSELF.REMEMBER THE TIME OF THE GASOLINE CRUNCH BACK IN THE 70S.WHEN CARTER CAME IN POWER HE HAD THE GREAT GOAL OF WEANING US OUT OF THE ARABS PETROL DEPENDENCY.HE INSTALL SOLAR PANEL ON THE WHITE HOUSE TO SET A EXAMPLE.WHEN THE POSTER COWBOY REAGAN CAME THE FIRST THINK THAT HE DID TO TAKE UM TO THE LANDFILL.SO MUCH FOR YOU COWBOY FANS OUT THERE/AND THE CUTE BUMPER STICKER THAT SAY,S"ALL MINE FAVORITES PRESIDENTS ARE COWBOYS'.F.Y.I THE CURRENT ONE IS NOT EVEN A "SELFDESCRIBED COWBOY"HE WAS BORN ON THE EAST COAST/CONECTICUT/AND HIS DADDY BOUGHT HIM A RANCH IN CROFORD.THERE ARE MANY HARD WORKING COWBOYS OUT THERE THAT A SCRAPING BUY AND THEY ARE NOT AROGANT AND DISHONEST LIKE THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION AND THE POLICY AND WORST OF ALL THE IMAGE OF AMERICA AROUND THE WORLD THEY PROJECT.IT IS TIME TO A CLEAN START AND NEW FUTURE.MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND VOTE.WE WILL TIP THE BALANCE!ONE VOTE AT THE TIME.REMEMBER THAT YOU STILL LIVE IN REPUBLIC!!MAKE THE DIFFERENCE ,DONT BE INDIFFERENT!!!
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