Cape Karen
Another year has begun. . . what will it bring, I wonder? The presidential race is heating up, complete with all the vague and empty promises of "change." I'm afraid my skepticism is reigning supreme in regards to this 'race to the finish.' For any real change to occur I think we'll need a savior, not just a new president. Undoing the ungodly mess of the last eight years will require more than a few miracles, and I don't see a single candidate running that excites me in that regard. (And if John McCain gets in, I'm moving to Canada... talk about a two-faced flip-flopper!)
One pathetic thing about our election process now is that it's all such a sham. Once they get into office they all get infected with the D.C. virus, and quickly become 'good-old-boy' clones. Corporate lobbyists take over their brains, fill their wallets, and we end up with a whole new series of gripes, aimed at a new figurehead.
Imagine real change... starting with a minimum wage that matches our soaring inflation. Imagine not having millions of interlopers, sneaking in under the cover of darkness, using false names and fake social security numbers, keeping wages suppressed and taking jobs from willing Americans. Imagine no outsourcing of jobs, no poverty, no wars and no corruption. Imagine a country with real forward-looking leadership - someone at the helm with the intelligence and courage to tackle all the difficulties and inequalities we face. Imagine everyone having decent health insurance, all our schools educating our young people to face a challenging future and everyone being secure in their jobs and home ownership.
It wouldn't really take that much to make these positive changes. It would just require a good hard shake-up from the top down, led by a smart leader with guts and integrity. I don't hear that person at the podium these days. I just hear a bunch of political airbags trying to say what they think we want to hear... and failing miserably. I don't know about you, but they're all insulting my intelligence and offending my sensibilities.
As far as 'we the people' go - we might as well take that phrase right out of the Constitution - because it's as if 'we' don't even exist anymore. We've given away the 'power of the people .' Through apathy, cynicism and hopelessness we've allowed ourselves to become mere pawns in the political process - unwilling to stand up, shout loudly and force any real change in the 'status quo.'
President Lincoln could be speaking today, regarding the war in Iraq, when he says:
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
President Bush has done a good job over the last eight years of completely eroding a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" from the earth - can anyone ever turn it around?
Perhaps, if we the people stopped being "the silent majority" we could do it.