Hmmmm...
I've decided to share with this with everyone. It's a post the my stepmom posted on her blog on Myspace. Really made me think... check it out!
We need to talk...
Didn't sleep well last night. Thought too much, tossed and turned. I think we need to talk... it's about America. You see, as I was thinking and thinking early this morning, I realized there's something terribly wrong in America.
Perhaps it was the news item that Chile will now provide free hospitalization for senior citizens. Or perhaps it was the story about months and months of prescription drugs from Canada being held indefinitely in US Customs, ordered and paid for by cash-strapped and ill American seniors. Or maybe it's the ever-present knowledge that people are increasingly having to choose between eating, rent, and just the most basic health care.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that one party controls all levels of the Federal government now. Every single one. Maybe the idea that checks and balances, oversight, and fair representation, are quaintly antiquated notions now. Is it the realization that we will never know if we'll ever have a fair election again? Could it be that the enormous scandals of domestic spying, outing CIA agents for politcal retaliation, corruption by lobbyists on a grand scale, are weighing on my mind?
I'm certain the Iraq war is on my mind. Perhaps it's the fact that we were blatantly misled into the war. Maybe it's the billions spent, literally, each month in Iraq for a situation that grows worse every hour. The needless causalites of the unjust war surely weigh heavily on my mind every night.
Is it the growing mega-churches that rake in millions while preaching hate and intolerance? Is it the nouveu-riche clergy of these churches that drive expensive new cars, fly only first class, and are richer than the heads of some small countries? Is it that people are flocking to those churches and listening to sermons about how to hate thy neighbor?
Is it the brazen push to disenfranchise our friends, family, and neighbors, because of their sexual orientation? Is it the war on same-sex couples that has me worried? Is it the thousands of children in foster care who will now have thousands of less options, as states are moving to ban gays from adopting children?
But.. what is it that keeps me awake? The war? The worsening environment? The disappearing middle class? Health care? Corporations outsourcing jobs? Hunger in America? Women's rights being eroded? Global warming? Nuclear proliferation? Is that what's keeping me awake?
No. It's the fact that millions and millions of Americans are content to turn their heads and do nothing about it. Millions of Americans can tell you who was eliminated on American Idol last season. They can tell you the name of Brittney Spears' husband and baby. They recount every detail of the final episode of Friends. But.. they can't tell you who their Senators are. They refuse to acknowledge that we are the last industrialized nation NOT to provide health care on a national scale. They can't honestly say they ever contacted an elected official to lend their voice to a cause. Until the majority of Americans start paying attention to what's going on around them, outside of their little center of the Universe, we are fucked.
p.s. If you want to do something right away, check out this group: http://www.washingtonwontdiscriminate.org/ Seems that within days of signing an non-discrimation law for sexual orientation, Christian Coalition and others have begun a campaign to repeal the law.
We need to talk...
Didn't sleep well last night. Thought too much, tossed and turned. I think we need to talk... it's about America. You see, as I was thinking and thinking early this morning, I realized there's something terribly wrong in America.
Perhaps it was the news item that Chile will now provide free hospitalization for senior citizens. Or perhaps it was the story about months and months of prescription drugs from Canada being held indefinitely in US Customs, ordered and paid for by cash-strapped and ill American seniors. Or maybe it's the ever-present knowledge that people are increasingly having to choose between eating, rent, and just the most basic health care.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that one party controls all levels of the Federal government now. Every single one. Maybe the idea that checks and balances, oversight, and fair representation, are quaintly antiquated notions now. Is it the realization that we will never know if we'll ever have a fair election again? Could it be that the enormous scandals of domestic spying, outing CIA agents for politcal retaliation, corruption by lobbyists on a grand scale, are weighing on my mind?
I'm certain the Iraq war is on my mind. Perhaps it's the fact that we were blatantly misled into the war. Maybe it's the billions spent, literally, each month in Iraq for a situation that grows worse every hour. The needless causalites of the unjust war surely weigh heavily on my mind every night.
Is it the growing mega-churches that rake in millions while preaching hate and intolerance? Is it the nouveu-riche clergy of these churches that drive expensive new cars, fly only first class, and are richer than the heads of some small countries? Is it that people are flocking to those churches and listening to sermons about how to hate thy neighbor?
Is it the brazen push to disenfranchise our friends, family, and neighbors, because of their sexual orientation? Is it the war on same-sex couples that has me worried? Is it the thousands of children in foster care who will now have thousands of less options, as states are moving to ban gays from adopting children?
But.. what is it that keeps me awake? The war? The worsening environment? The disappearing middle class? Health care? Corporations outsourcing jobs? Hunger in America? Women's rights being eroded? Global warming? Nuclear proliferation? Is that what's keeping me awake?
No. It's the fact that millions and millions of Americans are content to turn their heads and do nothing about it. Millions of Americans can tell you who was eliminated on American Idol last season. They can tell you the name of Brittney Spears' husband and baby. They recount every detail of the final episode of Friends. But.. they can't tell you who their Senators are. They refuse to acknowledge that we are the last industrialized nation NOT to provide health care on a national scale. They can't honestly say they ever contacted an elected official to lend their voice to a cause. Until the majority of Americans start paying attention to what's going on around them, outside of their little center of the Universe, we are fucked.
p.s. If you want to do something right away, check out this group: http://www.washingtonwontdiscriminate.org/ Seems that within days of signing an non-discrimation law for sexual orientation, Christian Coalition and others have begun a campaign to repeal the law.