I see what has become of our politics, particularly this election year, and I cannot but think that it is, literally, become a thing God-damned. This is not what countless men and women across two centuries and more have died to give us.
While they were "over there" fighting for us, those of us over here haven't done a damned thing to be a free people. I now fear a tyrant in Washington more than I could ever fear a criminal cowering in an overseas cave.
There is no more rule of law in America. The Constitution, for all intents and purposes, is defunct. Government "of the people, by the people and for the people" is now government for sake of government, power for sake of power. When we arrive at the point where we are compelled to do things at the point of a gun more than we are by virtue of conscience, then we have turned a dark corner indeed.
Maybe now you understand why I am conflicted about Memorial Day. It isn't that some gave all so that we could have freedom that obligates terrible pause, but that most care to give nothing for their own freedom at all.
America will not be a truly free country again, I fear, until we have suffered a terrible fall. We may yet rise again. But the ground will first be caked with the blood of those who brought her to ruin before that bright and glorious day.
And as frustrated as I'm feeling right now, my mind is troubled with the notion that I might gladly throw some of them against the wall before offering to pull the trigger.
4 comments:
I feel the same. Memorial Day is now a distraction from the freedoms being taken from us. It would not surprise me the least if your blog is being watched by Homeland Security. This is not the country that many brave people died for.
It would no doubt raise a few eyebrows as to where this blog gets visits from in the course of the average day. I like checking the counter's stats every few hours to see where the hits are coming from, what pages are most popular etc. and this blog *does* get quite a bit of traffic from U.S. government agencies (as well as more than a few foreign governments).
A fried told me awhile back that because I'm so opposed to Bush, that my name is most likely in a database somewhere. I don't doubt it. Don't really care either. If it is, just goes to prove the point, doesn't it?
The real fun though is what some of these government workers - on the time and dime of the taxpayers, - come to this blog looking for. I'm still laughing at the visit (which I saved a record of) from someone at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington D.C. who came here looking for "dolphin pornography". Uhhhhh...
I disagree, I believe that the Constitution is alive a well. It's fighting off encroachers, as it has for 200 years, but it is fine.
I worry more for the nation as a whole though. The apathy worries me. But can you blame us for being an apathic nation when we've always been told we can have anything we want any way we want? The sense of entitlement means we have to earn nothing. Thus the unwillingness to sacrifice. I see it on a daily basis in my classrooms.
If the Constitution is alive, it's certainly being ignored. Just in the past few years we've seen Habeas Corpus thrown out, unwarranted search and seizure becoming practically the norm, etc.
Since running for office a little over a year ago, you wouldn't believe how many people have told me that this doesn't seem like the America they grew up in anymore. Did 9/11 "change everything"? I don't see why it should have at all. The fact that we've let so many of our liberties be taken away because of that makes me sincerely wonder if Osama wound up getting what he wanted after all :-(
Yes, we're an apathetic nation. We believe everything is owed to us just because we happen to be alive. Look at the cult of celebrity in America: people obsessed with the famous and with *becoming* famous.
We've forgotten that anything worth having requires commitment and sacrifice of time and effort to achieve it.
Heang, you and I both know that the only life worth living is a life that is lived fully. Including everything that comes with it, heartbreaks and all. An "easy" life where everything is given to us, at the end of the day is a life of shallowness and mediocrity.
I don't think that's what God has called us to have at all. He wants us to have a rich life but that doesn't mean a life of *material* riches necessarily. It's funny: the past eight years or so, I've gone through the valleys more than I've been on the mountains. I'm not rich, but for the first time in my life I feel like I'm finally getting to where God wants me. He gave me an amazing wife to be at my side. And He has filled our lives with so many wonderful friends.
For all the struggles, letdowns, outright betrayals, and every other bit of nonsense that's happened over the past few years... there's not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for the life He's given me. Because if He can bring us through this much, this far, He can bring us further still.
Heang, I think that's the root of the problem: we've put our faith men and governments to provide for our lives, and not put our faith in God nearly enough or even at all.
And on another subject: thanks for coming by my blog, brother :-)
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