Thoughts on the Death of America.
This writer has not posted in some months, but judiciously maintains constant connections to the current news and views of the day. It seems some progress has been and is being made to rein in the pack of pirates currently serving as our ‘leaders’. Congress may be doing as much as can be done and the news is hopeful on any given day that democracy and America as we know it will prevail.
Each day’s news highlights the insidious consequences of the Neo-Conservative putsch-that-almost-was and the fact that this particular release from the Pandora’s box of democracy-gone-bad sprouts another head as soon as we manage to lop one off. That these machinations will continue in the backgrounds of our daily lives is a sure bet, no matter who—if anyone—goes to prison.
That the neo-conservative agenda has failed this time does not mean it will fail next time, and until our newly elected and somewhat naïve politicians figure out that ‘neo-con’ is a smoke screen for something even more insidious and as greedily devouring of America as a flesh-eating bacteria, our politicians elected to preserve the qualities dear to the hearts of Americans will be at the mercy of the “lies, secrets and silence” [1] of a cabal having no allegiance whatsoever to any values beyond the pursuit of greater personal wealth at the expense of the rest of us—and with wannabees trailing in the wake of infinitely more successful neo-cons like so many flies tracking the scent of excrement.
Tracking the news on a daily basis, availing oneself of almost unlimited hard drive space for storage, and the greased lightening benefits of Desktop Search allows one to keep tabs on the doings of our ‘leaders’ in ways unimagined a decade ago. More to the point, this writer questions the condition our country would be in today if not for the internet, if not for bloggers, if not for the ability to access and save vast amounts of information on our personal computers.
If not for the ability to track the past statements of politicians, and also, to have access to a large variety of news, America as we know it might well have fallen into the pit of fascism that this cabal seems to have planned for us. And let’s face it—we still don’t know who’s behind this group of traitors. We don’t know and we may never know until it is too late to change anything, as it almost was this time.
Democracy worked this time. And we may well be able to fix this mess so that America never again comes this close to destruction and sedition from within, but the allegiance to wealth trumps all other considerations and we have seen and continue to see the truth of this allegiance every day, just as we continue to see the allegiance to whatever conspiracy hides behind the mask of ‘neo-conservative’; behind the label of ‘right-wing Christian’; behind the dubious corporate titles of “CEO”; behind the fawning obeisance all the way down the ‘corporate ladder’ to the lowliest rung.
We must examine and re-examine the role of corporations which ultimately bring these disturbed and disturbing values into the least of our cities and counties at the direction of those higher in the corporate chain of command. We must question these corporate decisions which affect our neighborhoods, our neighbors, our recent high school graduates who can no longer afford higher education and thus become slaves to a cubicle and a computer and whatever corporate-speak governs their lives.
Consider the youth of today, who instead of working at employment that would result in fresh air and good health, sit under fluorescent lights, tapping away at rigorously controlled computers, wearing headsets, and talking to ‘customers’ while attempting to stay within the bounds of whatever corporate rules apply. Consider the physical health of these youth in forty or fifty years. These are our future politicians, our future soldiers, our future parents to another generation.
And this is the enslavement of America.
The reduction of manufacturing jobs which build muscles needed in old age, which put our youth in sunshine, which encourage healthy lifestyles and appetites has diminished our employment options to the point where cities such as Spokane, Washington, for instance, offer little to young people seeking their first employment—as an alternative to the military, to college, to a life of endlessly numbing poverty and the cycle of welfare, drugs, and wasted time—beyond employment in a ‘customer service center’—a call center—by any other name.
These call centers are quite often located in ancient (and cheaply acquired) buildings leaking sewage from over head pipes, full of asbestos from dated construction, ill-lit, containing hundreds of people sitting cheek-by-jowl with little in the way of ventilation and not much in the way of light and air. Disease and sickness are rife. Exposure to tuberculosis, viri—any sort of contagion—is inevitable. Comparisons to third world sweatshops are valid, but little discussed within such facilities, because to do so would result in termination of employment, and the quest for slightly higher wages than these employees could earn at fast food restaurants obviates the desire to question the conditions at ones place of employment.
Lives are being thrown away on a daily basis in order to line the coffers of the exceedingly wealthy, and quite often, the corporate ladder ends in a country other than America.
We note from time to time the idea that we are selling America out, and rarely do we note that America is already struggling to keep her nose above the water of corporate profits.
Remember the fall of Mother Russia? This state of affairs is our future, and damned soon, if we don’t get a handle on the machinations of corporations and those who offer no allegiance to the American principles that have sustained this country for all these generations.
Wake up.
[1] On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978 by Adrienne Cecile Rich Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Each day’s news highlights the insidious consequences of the Neo-Conservative putsch-that-almost-was and the fact that this particular release from the Pandora’s box of democracy-gone-bad sprouts another head as soon as we manage to lop one off. That these machinations will continue in the backgrounds of our daily lives is a sure bet, no matter who—if anyone—goes to prison.
That the neo-conservative agenda has failed this time does not mean it will fail next time, and until our newly elected and somewhat naïve politicians figure out that ‘neo-con’ is a smoke screen for something even more insidious and as greedily devouring of America as a flesh-eating bacteria, our politicians elected to preserve the qualities dear to the hearts of Americans will be at the mercy of the “lies, secrets and silence” [1] of a cabal having no allegiance whatsoever to any values beyond the pursuit of greater personal wealth at the expense of the rest of us—and with wannabees trailing in the wake of infinitely more successful neo-cons like so many flies tracking the scent of excrement.
Tracking the news on a daily basis, availing oneself of almost unlimited hard drive space for storage, and the greased lightening benefits of Desktop Search allows one to keep tabs on the doings of our ‘leaders’ in ways unimagined a decade ago. More to the point, this writer questions the condition our country would be in today if not for the internet, if not for bloggers, if not for the ability to access and save vast amounts of information on our personal computers.
If not for the ability to track the past statements of politicians, and also, to have access to a large variety of news, America as we know it might well have fallen into the pit of fascism that this cabal seems to have planned for us. And let’s face it—we still don’t know who’s behind this group of traitors. We don’t know and we may never know until it is too late to change anything, as it almost was this time.
Democracy worked this time. And we may well be able to fix this mess so that America never again comes this close to destruction and sedition from within, but the allegiance to wealth trumps all other considerations and we have seen and continue to see the truth of this allegiance every day, just as we continue to see the allegiance to whatever conspiracy hides behind the mask of ‘neo-conservative’; behind the label of ‘right-wing Christian’; behind the dubious corporate titles of “CEO”; behind the fawning obeisance all the way down the ‘corporate ladder’ to the lowliest rung.
We must examine and re-examine the role of corporations which ultimately bring these disturbed and disturbing values into the least of our cities and counties at the direction of those higher in the corporate chain of command. We must question these corporate decisions which affect our neighborhoods, our neighbors, our recent high school graduates who can no longer afford higher education and thus become slaves to a cubicle and a computer and whatever corporate-speak governs their lives.
Consider the youth of today, who instead of working at employment that would result in fresh air and good health, sit under fluorescent lights, tapping away at rigorously controlled computers, wearing headsets, and talking to ‘customers’ while attempting to stay within the bounds of whatever corporate rules apply. Consider the physical health of these youth in forty or fifty years. These are our future politicians, our future soldiers, our future parents to another generation.
And this is the enslavement of America.
The reduction of manufacturing jobs which build muscles needed in old age, which put our youth in sunshine, which encourage healthy lifestyles and appetites has diminished our employment options to the point where cities such as Spokane, Washington, for instance, offer little to young people seeking their first employment—as an alternative to the military, to college, to a life of endlessly numbing poverty and the cycle of welfare, drugs, and wasted time—beyond employment in a ‘customer service center’—a call center—by any other name.
These call centers are quite often located in ancient (and cheaply acquired) buildings leaking sewage from over head pipes, full of asbestos from dated construction, ill-lit, containing hundreds of people sitting cheek-by-jowl with little in the way of ventilation and not much in the way of light and air. Disease and sickness are rife. Exposure to tuberculosis, viri—any sort of contagion—is inevitable. Comparisons to third world sweatshops are valid, but little discussed within such facilities, because to do so would result in termination of employment, and the quest for slightly higher wages than these employees could earn at fast food restaurants obviates the desire to question the conditions at ones place of employment.
Lives are being thrown away on a daily basis in order to line the coffers of the exceedingly wealthy, and quite often, the corporate ladder ends in a country other than America.
We note from time to time the idea that we are selling America out, and rarely do we note that America is already struggling to keep her nose above the water of corporate profits.
Remember the fall of Mother Russia? This state of affairs is our future, and damned soon, if we don’t get a handle on the machinations of corporations and those who offer no allegiance to the American principles that have sustained this country for all these generations.
Wake up.
[1] On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978 by Adrienne Cecile Rich Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
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