No, I'm not talking about slogans to sell Chevys though anything that can pull GM or Ford out of the doldrums certainly wouldn't hurt, I’m sure. What's been on the top of my mostly amorphous idea pile the last few days has been the sense of urgency that seems to be coming to the surface since the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report went head-on into an almost impervious wall of disdain for other ideas besides those of the ‘deciders and residers’ at the White House. Not that the Study Group had an earth-shaking impact on anybody. There really was very little bargaining room even between the left and right ON the right. In the media however there seemed to be a small glimmer of hope even within the highly scripted offerings from the major outlets that the beginnings of an international consensus could develop to bring the world back from the abyss of endless war.
Very little has changed in the human condition in that people seem to be custom built to outmaneuver other people, just as one carmaker tries to outdo the other in presenting their brand as superior in as many ways possible to capture the maximum number of potential buyers. From our beginnings Americans have been natural overachievers and believers, a trait that shows itself brilliantly attractive to the average person irrespective of the culture into which he or she was born. It's like growing up Irish, Jewish, or Italian. Everybody knows something about the person you are merely by looking at you and you, being of a particular upbringing don't have to ponder very long on what's hanging onto your soul and won't let go. Being American is a lot like being of an identifiable ethnic heritage. I may not know the constitution by heart or may not know it even a little, but I do remember the basics that were cherishingly taught to us in grade school - that our rights come from God and/or by natural law and those rights are inviolable by any political entity and that awareness gives us a collective pinch when we know the country is slipping and sliding to where it ought not go. We knew it back in the '60's when we were deep in 'The Big Muddy' and when there were serious riots in the cities. We knew we were in trouble when we got hit with Watergate in the '70, in the '80's with El Salvador and Nicaragua and now with the Mutha of all Shitpiles, a possible Middle East war which could explode into WWIII if one of the countries in the nuclear club decided to vaporize one or two of the others' cities.
I've got a feeling that 2007 is going to be a big year, hopefully a good year and that the ‘big’ will come to mean that we as members of the human family finally start to come to our senses and throw out those crazy hostile thoughts that pop into our empty little heads because we are bored, angry or partially nuts. I think too that finally some plain common sense will win out over suspicion and arrogance in our unceasing rush to crush and conquer and that Tom Paine did really have it right. The greatness of America is not having a huge military and being able to throw our weight around wherever we want. What we have is what everyone knows and wants – the right to live their lives the way they want to in peace and security. What we show the world now about ourselves will in large part determine the future of the planet. ‘To whom much is given, much shall be required’ and we have been given so much. It’s time to stop our leaders from trashing the rights of people in wars that trample dignity under foot and return the country to what its best at by restoring faith in what we are deep down in our guts. That is the real essence and meaning of the revolution. America can re-root itself and become even stronger and wiser than before. It’s not about imposing its will on others. It's about letting people live out their own dreams even if they’re different than our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment