Divide and Conquer

Let’s just admit it. As a nation, we really don’t have any “values” or follow any common set of religious or secular-based morals. Sure, we like to think that when we collectively look in the mirror each morning we see decent, god-fearing folks (and there are some among us), but we really don’t give a damn about anything other than cold, hard ca$h, baby. To bastardize Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to reflect our sorry times, our government is “of big business, by big business, for big business.” (The one “for the people” has certainly perished…)

All the sanctimonious babble about morals and values vomited forth by our “leaders” and TV talking heads is simply bread and circuses (present day: super-sized fries and “Fear Factor”) for the common people, and, as bad as some of thing Dubya’s administration will do during their second term, Dubya will not deliver on all of his promises to the evangelical Christian/conservative voting block (though coming up with the boogeyman to blame will be kinda sticky, as they have the choke hold on every branch of our government). It's the same old story. Corporations and the rich will continue to rake in the benjamins through tax-cuts and environmental, workplace, and industry deregulation (see all pesky barriers to massive, super-wealth happily vaporized by Congress and the White House), while the rabble (that means us, kids!) duke it out over fetus love, gays shacking up, and prying guns from the kung-fu death grip of Charlton Heston. The politicians stay in power, the rich become richer, and we pay the price (does the largest deficit in our nation’s history sober you up?). C’mon, the “culture wars” have worked so well over the past 20 years, why should the powers that be “solve” these issues and satisfy the bloodlust of their right-wing base of voters? Then, the people might actually demand that the politicians do something to about health care, unemployment, education, and the environment!

And don’t you think that a nation of our extreme wealth with its wonderfully resourceful citizenry could have figured out by now how to house, feed, clothe, educate, provide health care, and employ the poorest among us? The only governmental mechanism that comes close to doing all this is our increasingly gulag-like prison system. So, let’s not even take the “values and morals” bait that the crazies are using to browbeat us. No, we evildoers and elitists need to fight back by fighting for real societal change and real social justice. It’s not going to be easy, but it will be the right and moral thing to do.

Revolutionary? You bet. Just like their revered JC.