thoughts for tuesday

i actually have many. i tend to be a bit high strung and tempermental- and my family would say moody- so when i get my knickers in a twist- they are usually pretty bunched. this is going to be another think as i go piece- but i have been thinking about stuff i want to say- so i guess not so much a stream of consciousness thing. i think it is pretty clear to anyone who ever reads this blog that i very much love my country. i love the fact that this country was based on the constitution and the bill of rights and that we used to open our doors from time to time and let 'the poor, the tired and the hungry' in. i am extremely disillusioned and saddened by the loss of these principles.

now, i take what people say to me- right and left- and i digest it. i don't always agree with it- but i listen. here is what some folks have been saying that i have been listening to:

“I agree that we need to stay on the hypocrisy...but sadly nothing seems to come of it, Betmo! ...And yet this administration just cruises through plamegate, torture, scores of things that make Lewinsky pale in comparison."

“five weeks to go betmo..........hang in there. If you don't see the REAL America rise by then, you will really have something to worry about."

"Most outsiders would say this to you: listen to us! Well, here's one thing you Americans can do, betmo: stop believing in things. Stop believing in the garbage pumped out by Hollywood and TV; stop believing in 'this nation under God'; stop believing in gods; stop believing in the efficacy of the law, of rules, of regulations, of fads and bullshit; stop believing you are going to be rich forever and that throwing money at human problems can solve them; stop believing in 'America' and then, perhaps, you might become a force for good once more."

“I hate to say it betmo, but this image of a grand America that you speak of is just that, an image, an illusion. The way you describe America today, is the way it has always been. America is about class, and one class controlling the others. Always has been , always will be, until the lower classes, or the working classes if you will, stop towing the line and force the big business interests that run America to relinquish power. Easier said than done. Nothing short of a revolution will cure America. It has been a few hundred years in the making."

“You're going to drive yourself nuts. I see this as a trap you're in - the evil machine is enticing you to throw all kinds of energy into this thing you can't and won't change. There are things you can change - how people who are already elected vote is not one of them. The process through which they decide how to cast is a vote is not just a matter of weighing right and wrong, moral vs. immoral vs. amoral, principled vs. unprincipled on each isolated issue. I wouldn't even want a politician who voted according to what her constituents think they know - the populist, egalitarian horse shit has to go. The world's too complicated, and few opinions have any value or merit. This government is a reflection of its people. The people create their government. We have not substantially reduced our need for oil in the past five years, we have not altered our patterns of consumption. There will be no real, significant progressive change in the way our politicians function until *we* change the way we function. I monitor politics to monitor progress, and nothing more. I say let the democracy we had die. It was meant for different people in a different world at a different time.”

when i look at the party in power and the hypocrisy and lies that have been gotten away with- and the number of people who continue to feed in- i begin to believe that maybe these folks are really right on. this government we have now came into power in 1994 with the 'contract with america.' allegedly, the republican party was going to clean up washington politics and restore honor and dignity to the congress and then in 2000 the white house. well, the republicans shut down the government to get their way and then cheated their way into the white house through partisan 'activist' judges on the supreme court. since that day- the 'party of lincoln,' 'the party of family values and moral authority' has lied, cheated, stolen, blackmailed, murdered and so on. they are a party of porn addicts, alcoholics, drug users and pedophiles, adulterers, philanderers, etc. but god damn it- they are christian folk!! and the right wing zealots eat it up and listen to robertson and falwell, limbaugh and bush and keep right on thinking that they have to save the world for fetuses against the homosexuals. but it is ok to murder in the name of jesus- just not allah. and it is ok to brainwash your kid through homeschooling and bible camps- but boy if those 'towel heads' do it- it's evil.

it is time to take a look at america for what it is- a decaying and fallen nation. as long as a significant portion of our population believes in the bullshit that is going on- no significant changes will happen. my friend above is right when she says that it is up to individuals to make a difference in their own way of living. we can make a difference- how? by doing stuff. what kind of stuff? well, as my fellow blogger human has posted on his blog- we are a nation of conditioned consumers. let's hit these fuckers in the pocketbook. the corporations control things- so let's start being savvy about what we buy and how much and from whom. let's boycott and support the companies that do give a damn- and there are a few. let's put some thought into our lives and what we do that impacts the whole planet. will it make an immediate difference- no. but then again neither does blogging or writing your congresspeople. it helps- but it isn't a cure for what ails america. the people of america ails america. we can change some of them- we can change us. it's a start. short of starting a real civil war complete with guns and bloodshed- it's worth a try.