Tonight was our big chance. Tonight was the chance we had to prove something.
Tonight we lost.
I am not referring to the result of the presidential election which for the second time in this millennia will be debated in a court of law.
We, is referring to the country that at one time could call itself the United States of America. One can simply recognize it for what it is. A corporate driven, capitalistic machine that utilizes the joint democrat and republican machine to polarize people in the name of fear and hate.
Tonight, we had the chance once again to make our voices heard. Tonight we had a chance to vote for all those antiquated terms that politicians tell us we don’t understand: Liberty, Justice, Freedom.
Tonight we watched a slew of southerners and middle americans prompted by their churches vote against the godless liberals. Tonight we watched a crusade of defensive intellectuals prompted by the ‘other team’ to vote against the establishment simply because it’s them.
We have turned the words liberal and conservative into racial slurs. Only we’ve almost been able to do so without bringing race into it anymore. Four years ago, I heard screams (yes, literally screams) of NEVER AGAIN. And yet, four years later not only is the map unchanged…. but the networks all agreed, “The reds got redder and the blues got bluer”
And those in the middle? Those that actually hoped their country would remember what it stood for and what freedom and liberty meant? What of them?
Not less than 10 different people considering emigration. I have watched already abject depression and detachment from people. If you didn’t think your vote counted in 2000, you probably think it even more now. The media almost said it, and John Stewart of the daily show did. The country tonight consisted of 9 states. The rest…. no one cares.
I for one am making a declaration. If the political machine of the two major parties wishes to turn the elective process into a polarizing challenge of US GOOD, THEM BAD… so be it. But my declaration is that THERE IS NO LONGER A UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
From this day forth they shall be known (by me and anyone else who agrees) as
THE STATES DIVIDED BY AMERCA. (sic)
SDA if you must.
The first half is obvious. If we were to be foolish enough to call this collective a nation anymore we would have to agree it would have to be called a nation divided. And no matter how many times Peter Jennings tells you that the polarization of the vote doesn’t represent the polarization of the people; check the numbers. In almost every state, the numbers were divided by less than 10%. Typically less then 3%.
The word Amerca, I picked for several reasons. One… it’s a mispronunciation that I have heard in both the urban centers as well as the most rural. (And I’ve lived in both). Further, it rather poetically removes the “I” from America. Lastly, it makes it sound more like a corporate name than a country. I find this nomenclature more apropos. Ooh, sorry, that last sentence may be too cerebral for the likes of half the country. I’ll try again. Ah, find th’ new name, more fittin’.
There are some that will run up and call me unamerican. Which I will find ironic. I did my duty. I voted. And I voted for the candidate that I felt most represented my views. I believe in a nation that protects the rights of all its citizens. I believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not mutually exclusive ideals. I also believe that I have not seen a whole lot of happiness in the past 10-20 years in this nation.
Tonight, some partisans are crying and other people are preparing to gloat. Some are preparing to fight, some feel there is no fight necessary. Primarily because their team did or didn’t win. Some, because they still think they can win this one for the gipper. (Who incidentally wasn’t on their team, but details details) Tonight the brainwashed fundamentalists that are electors prepare to be let off their chain by their masters so they can push the button they’ve been told to. Tonight the two major political parties won… and you lost.
Tonight, I would weep. But how do you shed a tear for a group of people that were a nation and now have no soul to weep for. When the two sides become religion with no spirituality and intellectualism with no wisdom.
I for one… I shake my head.
It is my belief that evils like superstition, tyranny, and oppression must not merely be fought against, but utterly vanquished. Destroyed if you will. The human will must be preserved, defended, and fought for. But it must be done with a combination of brains, wisdom, faith, and philosophy. And when the issues bump up… you must find out what is the deeper core of the issue.
As long as I am a citizen of this land where they say I can speak as I will (As long as I don’t incite to panic or make threats against our administration; of which I do neither)…. I will speak as I will. I will speak until I am hoarse. I will keep speaking even when they have told me to stop. I will fight both sides of the issues until they bloody well shake hands and say, “Ah, that was it.”
I will fight, rip, tear, shred, rend. Until polarization is a thing of the past. I will NOT allow the politicians to neatly stack up buzzwords like chess pieces until they can build the perfect stalemate that renders the voice and will of the people undone.
If you cared enough to vote, than Damn you all if you don’t care enough to figure out what you really care about and fight for it until you have sucked the marrow out of life.
If you want to call yourself Americans… Than by anything you hold holy, divine, or the lack there of….
Start acting like americans. Stop acting like puppets.
