IS TWO HUNDRED YEARS LONG ENOUGH?
by Mary Pitt
A mere two centuries is not long in the history of previous great nations of the world, but it does seem that Americans are eager to end their era of influence in world affairs. We are soundly in the grip of the two-party system, made up of professional politicians, the parties locked belly-to belly in a danse macabre to the music of the multi-national corporatists until it is nearly impossible to discern one from the other. In this artificially-elongated campaign season, the feeling that arises from the grassroots of the mountains and the prairies is a heartfelt prayer for a sensible person with no ties to any of them to arise and save our democracy.
While the Houses of Congress are involved in the acquisition of political power, we are led by a putative President who began his reign with the declaration that our archaic laws do not apply to him or to his minions, dancing a jig to the music while waving his middle finger at the helpless sheeple who must labor ever harder for the necessities of life. By way of compensation, they are entertained by the antics of the super-rich as they flaunt their worthless charms in lifestyles of worthless degradation in their search for fame and fortune. Never mind that you cannot afford the health care that will equip your children for a solid future; see what Paris Hilton has done this week! Will she really have to go to jail for flouting the law? Of course not! Nor will the vice-President's aide serve a day for his obstruction of justice, while a pair of lawmen rot in a cell for shooting and injuring an international drug smuggler.
Are we supposed to search among the small army of candidates to choose someone who will have the vision and the courage to restore our nation from the ravaged shadow of its former self which it has become under the present system? It seems that they were all cut from the same roll of cookie dough, the only difference discernable being the shape of the cookie cutter and the amount of time that they spent in the oven. Is there one person there with the with the guts and the wisdom to correct all the mistakes that have been made in eight years of mis-management? If there is, he/she has yet yet to stand above the crowd and point out the difference.
History is rife with examples of the unfortunate ends of governments such as ours has become. In every case, those governments were either overthrown by the revolutions of their own working class or, having become fat, inbred, and over-confident, were overcome by other nations which they had previously considered were not a match for their vaunted strengeth . Most notable of the former was France whose government was dissolved by revolution, the heads of their leaders being paraded about the streets on the end of pikes, and the latter by the ignominious fall of the Roman Empire. Even England had periods in which the King was forced to concede power to the working class in order to avoid the same fate. We should be reminded that such a rebellion resulted in the famed Magna Carta upon which our own Constitution is based.
As time goes on and the "middle of the road" becomes so crowded that progress seems impossible, there is no choice but to find a different path. There are some who would prefer to go to the right and gut our government still further but, by and large, the majority of the people are finding the "left" side of the road appears to be the better route to the restoration of our freedoms and the betterment of the working class. We are sick unto death of those who feel that their bank balances are the result of their human superiority while others are not rich because they are inferior beings. Our Congress of "representatives of the people" has become a conclave of millionaires with no concept of the trials in our ordinary, everyday lives while the corporate lobbyists are more than happy to make them richer still in return for their favorable votes.
Across the nation, those who label themselves "Independents" are growing in number as they deliver the benediction of, "A pox on both your houses!" and turn their backs upon the greedy, squirming mass of preening, futile wannabees whose very existence is epitomized by the invisible "For Sale" sign above each of the bobbing heads. If we, as a nation, are willing to accept and tolerate this situation, then the fault is ours alone. After the end of World War II, it was assumed that the world had learned its lesson and large wars and revolutions would be a thing of the past and could therefore never happen again. As the result, the history of the world was given short shrift by our educational system and several generations of Americans have no idea of things that occurred in the world prior to that time. We began electing officials as we chose movie stars, those who were most attractive were assumed to be superior and those with more money to be more intelligent.
If this is the state of mentality which prevails in our country, then, yes, two hunded years is long enough for the greatest democracy in the history to suffer an upheaval of the people or to fall of its own complacency.
Mary Pitt is a septuagenarian Kansan, a free-thinker, and a warrior for truth and justice. Huzzahs and whiney complaints may be sent to mpitt@cox.net
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