We sit on the precipice and are damned by the actions of those who would make profit with the blood of our sons and daughters, damned by our unwillingness to stand up and say not one more of them will die for the oil under the sands of foreign lands. We are damned by the greed of those who will not look the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, husbands and children in the eyes when their loved ones are returned maimed, broken or in a flag draped box. We are damned by false patriots who wear flags on lapels of suits costing more than a month’s pay of the soldier they have condemned to a foreign battlefield for their vision of Nation Building.
Since our inception as a nation we have been of two mindsets, one followed the ideal established centuries before of Manifest Destiny, the idea that we, that is the American People and our Institutions, are exceptional. This ‘feeling’ of extraordinary specialness has been a matter of bitter dissent throughout our history, leading to battles in the halls of Congress and ultimately a war between the factions within these United States over Slavery and States Rights. Make no mistake the core and underlying issue of the Civil War was whether human beings could be held in perpetual servitude by other human beings, propping up economy and life-styles that were rotten to their core.
Manifest Destiny led to the destruction of the original people of this land, to their deaths in unequal wars waged against them fought in the name of expansion ever westward. Manifest Destiny led to the colonization of Hawaii and Alaska and the destruction of the indigenous peoples and cultures of those lands. Manifest Destiny led to the colonization of several Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico, which is still under our dominion and though its citizens fight in our wars they do not enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Manifest Destiny led to slavery and the degradation of an entire people for centuries and included both those who were enslaved and those who believed they had the ‘right’ to own another human being and thus lost their souls.
Emanuel Leutze
Westward the Course of Empire
This brings us to today where Manifest Destiny continues to raise its ugly head, killing the heart of this nation. Manifest Destiny and Divine Province have always been tied together in the minds of many; our ‘Right’ to spread our institutions have always included both our form of government and religion. For some reason those who subscribe to the political philosophies of Manifest Destiny do not understand just how anathema it is to the true meaning of the following:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” US Constitution, Signed 4 July 1776
We do not really believe these words. What we subscribe to is something different, something almost nefarious. What we believe is this:
- If you are of Angelo Saxon / European descent and male you have the right to exist as ‘equal’ and are endowed as a fully enfranchised member of society, unless you happen to be … poor. If you happen to be poor, they will call you when they need you, either to die in their wars or to act like fools and vote against your own best interests.
- Government exists by the consent of those wealthy enough to pay for it, though the rest of us are allowed to participate periodically, the truth is most Americans are uninformed and easily led by the nose, easily fooled by the next great white hope, the next lie, the next conspiracy. Americans have extremely short memories and are by nature afraid of ‘other’ what is not like them.
- Finally, that whole pursuit of happiness thing well yeah, no. If your pursuit of happiness happens to be in conflict with the ‘norm’ as defined by the those in the pulpit of the accepted God (Christian) rather than ‘Their Creator’ God which would mean whomsoever you might happen to believe bakes cookies in the sky, has a tail and creates tidal waves, dances naked in the grove or otherwise floats your boat; well, if you happen to purse your happiness differently you are in deep doo.
Why did I go down this path? It is important to the discussion of Manifest Destiny, you see large swaths of our own population have yet to recover from the first wave of Manifest Destiny and Divine Province. The African American community struggles with poverty, sub-par education systems, sub-par infrastructure, housing and a lack of opportunity both in and outside of their communities. These issues were not corrected by the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights legislation or Voting Rights, let’s all admit racism is alive and well in the United States of America, we may have white washed the problem but it did not disappear.
The indigenous peoples of this nation lost everything, through theft of lands and broken treaty. Their culture and language has been largely decimated. The level of poverty within most reservations is abysmal, healthcare and education is sub-par where it exists at all. Yet the Nations and their needs are largely ignored, overlooked by most Administrations till now.
Now we have the Hawks in Congress and out who drove us into more than a decade of war and wish to drive us into more. Hawks who beat the drums of war and destruction for no reason other than Nation Building, asset management, profiteering and the philosophical standard of Manifest Destiny and Divine Province. War Hawks who were wrong the first time a decade ago and feel no remorse for the sons and daughters who bled for their ‘ideals’ and refuse to accept or acknowledge their ‘mistake’, in fact defend their position and point fingers and this President for refusing to follow them into the same quagmire they created in the Middle East with their first two wars.
Which brings me back to where I started, why are we allowing this administration to be insulted, lied about, obstructed, threatened with lawsuits and even impeachment of its highest officials simply because those who lost the last two elections don’t want to play by the rules.
That is they lost the White House.
Why are we not standing up, marching in the streets, demanding action of our elected officials that they represent us, that’s right us their constituents not just the minority they like but all of us. Why aren’t we in their offices, in their mailboxes, in their Facebook accounts and in the news every single day with our demands for real change that represents the nation we want. Why do we continue to accept our place at the bottom of the food chain, beneath wealthy donors, big business and their lobby’s, religious (Christian) coalitions’ and the self-interests of congress members themselves; somewhere after all of these, we the people fall.
How far we have fallen, our own inertia has allowed us to send our sons and daughters to die in foreign wars to increase the wealth of the Beltway Bandits, to see our own opportunities diminish and the opportunities of our children shrink even further so theirs is the first generation that will not exceed that of their parents in wealth building, our rights those won by our foremothers and fathers have shrunk rather than expanded and with the election of this President what small steps forward we might have made in equality and the elimination of racism, well let’s just say those have been entirely obliterated by the sheer hatred, fear and fury demonstrated toward Barack Obama from the first day his election was called. Our children face a world that is more violent than ever before, where schools are places of bullets rather than learning, where date night at a theater is a risk that might not be worth taking, where 5 year olds play with live ammunition and still we do not one damned thing.
Our apathy is shameful, our inertia is decimating this nation.
We have one opportunity to change the direction of this nation before it is too late. I can only say this to all those who call themselves Democrat, Liberal, Progressive or whatever other label you slap on…..get out and get up and Vote come November. Do you job and do your duty.
VOTE
I leave you with this, this is what we have to look forward to if we do nothing. This is what we will continue if we allow the Hawks to take us down this path and do nothing but allow apathy and inertia to win.
Another day, another week, another spree of violence from more cretins with axes to grind and tendencies to believe conspiracies and live in fear and self-righteous entitlement. Isn’t it fascinating the very same people who point outward, complaining about all those ‘others’ who live on the teat of the government dole, tend to be the ones who live on the brink of tumbling into the chasm, needing a handout in the worst kind of way. Yet, they are constantly complaining about those ‘others’ that are destroying the fabric of America, you know the ones they are always talking about;
to having the first Black President in the White House.
It has been a very long time since I have been to a political event. This is not because I am disinterested in politics, as anyone who reads me knows. The truth is since my shooting I have an abiding fear of crowds. It is difficult for me to quell my fear, to stop my heart beating outside of my chest. Nevertheless, I did it. In fact, I did it twice in one day and I am glad I did.
QBG_Tilted Tiara 