An Open Letter To America

Happy New Year America! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and I really don’t want to harsh your hangover or anything, but there are a few things I want to say to you. I don’t want to come off sounding superior, or even suggest I am condemning you…I’m not.

I know how consuming and complex life in the 21st Century is, I know how hard you are working, I know how many errands you have to run and how hard it is to keep up with the housework and the kids schedules and how your weekends are eaten up by the all the chores around the house. I know you don’t have much time to relax…let alone time to think about stuff that is just…well…. unpleasant to think about.

And that is what I am going to ask you to do for a few minutes in this letter.

And heck, you might not even know some of this stuff is going on, if you get your news from your television. Television news is one of the things I am asking you to think about, in fact! It is after all one of the reasons we are in such a mess.

And I know you know we are in a mess. In polls,75% of you have said that you are unhappy with the direction we are headed. And if you do get your news from TV, you probably are not fully aware of a lot of the stuff that is going on in our country….but apparently, even just catching the headlines is enough to make you realize that there is something deeply wrong going on. In fact there are a lot of things going wrong right now, and they have been going wrong for quite some time.

I’m sure you have noticed that Iraq has gone terribly wrong. In spite of the best efforts of our politicians and news media, it is pretty hard to miss that one. I know that TV news doesn’t report how many Iraqis have died as a result of our invasion, the government doesn’t want you to know, so they have a policy of not announcing things like that. They probably DO track it themselves, somewhere in the depths of the Pentagon and the CIA, but they don’t want you to know…it would upset you.

And they, the government and the news media, don’t want you to be upset.

Well just to let you know…at LEAST 100,000 Iraqi men women and children have died, with some estimates well up over one million. Around 4 million Iraqi men women and children have been forced to leave their homes and become refugees. I’m sorry to be the one to break that to you, if you didn’t know.

You have probably also heard that there is a ‘debate’ about torture. Many folks who support George Bush are trying to find ways to say that torturing people in our names is ok, somehow. That it keeps us safe from the terrorists. Well…it doesn’t. Ask any REAL expert on torture and they will tell you that unequivocally. The folks that the government and the right wing guys trot out are usually paid apologists, trying to cover the governments ass, because the government HAS tortured….In your name. In Americas name, using the excuse that it keeps America safe. Here’s the thing though….what good is safety if we have to torture to get it? America has always been a country based on ideals. On honor, on doing the right thing….on being the good guys. Don’t let them confuse you! You KNOW torture is wrong! It is one of the great taboos of humanity, and for very good reason.

Remember, whatever we do to them….they will do to our troops. And we certainly don’t want our troops to be tortured, do we?

Our government is also quite possibly spying on YOU. Not only on terrorists or suspected terrorist sympathizers. The methods they use are not that discriminating. They use data mining, we means they listen to just about everything, and try to pull out the relevant info. That means that the government is pretty much always monitoring what YOU talk about. I know some people say that if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about…but again, aside from all the excuses and explanations, this is just plain wrong. America is great, America is free because of our Bill of Rights. Well your government has just about done away with one of the most important Amendments and rights. The Fourth Amendment, the right to not have your life and privacy and home invaded by the government without a warrant….without a judge of some kind saying that the government has a damn good reason to search your house or search you or read your mail or listen in on your phone conversations.

Next, your money. I’m sure you have noticed inflation, your dollar buys less. If you own a home I’m sure you have been corned about mortgage rates…and th credit industry in general. Not to mention taxes…and the fact that the rich are getting MUCH richer while ordinary Americans are struggling…and being kicked out of their houses. It has probably occurred to you that the whole game is rigged somehow.

Well…it is.

And it is rigged by pretty much the same people who are doing all the other things I have talked about here. Like it or not….there is a Ruling Class in America. Even though that goes against every thing we have been taught to believe about our system, where the little guy is supposed to have a chance. Well that may or may not have been true at some point. But right now, in our time, the Ruling Class has pretty much given up on maintaining that illusion of equality. The game IS rigged, and the people in power have rigged it and rigged it to produce amazing prosperity for themselves. At your expense. And your children’s and grandchildren’s expense. Just as an example, we are about to go over the 700 billion dollar mark on war spending. That is paid for by your taxes. And where does it go?

Who has pocketed that 700 billion dollars? It ain’t “the Troops,” that’s for sure. The greatest transfer of wealth from ordinary Americans to the Ruling Class and super-rich ever, has occurred in the last few years.

We have been snookered. The worst possible thing that can happen in America has happened, there are some seriously bad people in our government, and in the halls of finance. Folks who have given up any pretense of fairness or equality and are basically just plain looting our country. While scaring us into ignoring the horrible things that are going on with the threat of terrorist attacking us.

But the worst thing that has happened is that they have convinced us that we are powerless. They have succeeded in convincing us that there is nothing we can do. They have made it nearly impossible for us to have time or energy to do anything about it by making it so hard for us to survive, while at the same time enticing us to pursue the American Dream….which has been reduced to having the latest cars and appliances so your life looks like the life of the people on TV…a life that THEY have created for you to strive for. A life that is artificial and based on buying the products and services that make them rich.

But…but…

We are NOT powerless.

In fact we are incredibly powerful.

We are the ONE thing they fear. The one thing they cannot control.

We still have a choice, a choice that we make everyday. We can comply and surrender to the world they want us to have…or we can make our own world. Anmd right now that choice is more important than anything. Because of the one thing that I haven’t mentioned in listing the challenges we all face the 21st Century. Climate Change.

You see it is this lifestyle that they are selling us that is causing climate change. The reason we are in Iraq, the reason we were attacked, the reason we ‘have to’ torture, the reason the have given up the pretense of economic equality to make themselves richer at your expense are all tied into this lifestyle. It is unsustainable you see. It can’t last. But they are growing so rich off of it that they don’t want to change it. They see only the now, the see only the profits. They, like the rest of us are scared. And all they can think to do is to continue down this path.

Our country and the world needs desperately to change, you know it and they know it. But change to those who are in the Ruling Class is the scariest thing possible. They have everything they want and need, this allows them to tune out what is really going on, how bad things have gotten on just about every front we face. For them, the solution is just to acquire more money, they think that will make everything ok. This is America. They have been taught that more money makes everything ok.

But it doesn’t.

More money won’t erase the fact that we have invaded a country for no reason and killed and terrorized it’s People. More money won’t make it ok that we have tortured people. More money won’t make it ok that Americans are getting kicked out of their homes. More money won’t make the planet cooler.

They are living in a suicidal illusion, both morally and financially…and that illusion is killing the planet…and our souls. They are foisting a reality on the rest of the world for there own comfort and short term gain and are ignoring the consequences to their children and grandchildren and your children and grandchildren.

And only one thing can stop it…you.

All of the yous.

It is time for deep meaningful change, the consequences of continuing on as we are are just to dire to ignore, but the only thing left that can change it is for each individual to stand up and say no. To say enough. To find their own way to resist and oppose the world that the Ruling Class wants you and your children and grandchildren to live in.

I can’t tell you exactly how, but I can tell you to get involved. Get involved in YOUR government, first and foremost…we are still a democracy, we can still make a difference if we all work together. Get involved in your community, talk to your neighbors and you will find that they feel the same way you do, that something is wrong and that something has to change.

But the main thing is…stop being afraid.

Stop being afraid to speak up. Stop thinking you are powerless, stop letting the fear that standing up and saying NO this is Wrong won’t work. It will. That is EXACTLY what it will take for change to happen. You and all the yous like you have the power to change our government, the power to change the world, the power to make a new world…one that actually works, one that is sustainable. One that will be there for your children and grandchildren.

We are struggling to find our way in this new century, in this new world. None of us knows where we are going, what is going to happen. But we do know one thing…if we let THEM decide what it will be….it will NOT be good.

So stand up every chance you get, speak out every chance you get and take every chance you can to support others who are doing the same.

The future rests with US. The future relies on us. The future is waiting for us to build it. All we have to do, is do it.