SO PUBLIC OUTCRY CAN HELP BRING ABOUT CHANGE

A very exciting article in yesterday's DemocracyNow Column, Public Outcry Forces Lawmakers to Say They’ll Recoup Millions in AIG Bonuses.  Shows that in numbers, we have the power to make the necessary changes this country needs. All we need is for people to remain informed, concerned and act on their outrage through outcry......easy enough....and we DO have things to be outraged about. 

Yet, We should not only be outraged when unfairness hits us, but when misfortune affects others as well.  I try to speak up against ALL injustices I experience in my life, it's my warrior spirit inside.....I made a pact with myself I'd rather be embarrassed than live with the regret of not speaking up...and oh, how regret bites. Like when a grown up talks down to a child in my presence and I am in the room, I WILL address it with you.  If a person make homophobic, racist comments to my face, I let them know I am not amused and that it's offensive. I actually don't even participate in gossip. It can be destructive and can break up a sense of community and trust within weeks. 

Back to the article. The idea of coming together as a people to make changes reminds me of my favorite movie of all time, V for Vendetta where the people finally stand up against tyranny and fascism and make the government work FOR them again.  If you have not seen it, rent it today.  Such a deep, deep message here. 

 

If only we stood up as a country and took it back, for example, from the lobbyists who fight to continue our financial support of countries that kill innocents, took it back from the weapons corporations that keep us in war, the food companies that keep us unhealthy....Oh, the changes we would make.  In 2 weeks we'd be out of this ridiculous war....

In other countries, most, even the poor and disadvantaged, is deeply involved in politics.....in this country, you mention politics and people shy away and give you some line about how that's just "the nature of things" or just shake their head and claim disbelief and quickly change the subject. Also, in this country, everyone is out to fight their own war. for example, the gays might only fight their local injustices, but ignore poverty or racism, the the moms I meet fight the food industry, but know nothing about women in Gaza whose children are getting killed.  African American children are being taught about their own history in the US but are not being taught about how their struggles are similar to other peoples throughout history.  How are we to see the many, many ways in which we are the same if we only ever stay in our own microscopic tight little world? 

As the saying goes, "If you are not outraged, you're not paying attention!"

Here's a poem by Martin Niemoller, 

"In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. 

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. 

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then they came for me -- and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."

A Word About The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

I just had to read more about this Recovery and Reinvestment Plan and surprisingly found more info on it on Wikipedia.  I love Wikipedia, but that is an entire new post for another day. 

To set the tone for my views I have to bring out this one line first, "

"On January 28, 2009, a full page advertisement with the names of approximately 200 economists who are against Obama's plan appeared in The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal. The funding for this advertisement came from from the libertarian Cato Institute. The ad stated, "... we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s... To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, savings, investment, and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth."

Remove impediments to investments! Isn't that what got us into this ridiculous mess to begin with....de-regulation?  BURDEN OF GOVERNMENT! Government is only a burden to bankers and investors who started this whole problem...These are the same people that cry "socialism" whenever the middle class (and all the way down to the poor) asks for the same benefits they enjoy.  

It makes me sad when this rhetoric of being against BIG GOVERNMENT gets repeated by people who would benefit from big government. These very people run around unaware that the public school system is a socialist framework, and so is the U.S.Mail.....We certainly enjoy these amazingly free benefits but then are taught to believe that a government-run anything is the kiss of death. 

When regular health insurance costs runs to over 1K/month how could any person be against universal health care for example. So easily we are persuaded against such an ideal by the very people who are getting rich off of this system now, the insurance companies. They say the lines would be too long, the quality would be horrible. We stupidly believe this and cry "no" to something that might save our lives one day. For as you all very well know, just because you have insurance does not mean you will be covered for all services. The pencil-pushers non-doctors have the last say as to whether or not you get that money. 

So friends more government does not scare me one bit. What DOES scare me awake at night is our military spending. We have bases in 156 countries, totaling in 702 overseas bases and another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Our military spending budgeted for 2009 $651.2 billion dollars. With this money we could make the lives of every American live in prosperity, health and well educated....but the priorities of our country is not it's people, but maintaining its status as the world power. 

As an artist I often visualize nations as people; filled with their own unique personalities. I see the U.S. often as a bully who too often indignantly cries when other countries do not follow the established rule of law, yet, we cross those same lines as we see fit with little regard for other countries and their sovereignty. When our provervial muscles are driving our actions, the heart has no say. 

As Americans, we are still in our "youth" in terms of how we see ourselves amongst other nations. As we all know,  most young people often see things in black and white and in extremes. To a young person, BIGGER IS better, louder is best....they are all ego.....To a seasoned heart, bigger is not better, and it's actually a detriment to peace to be so centered around such fake ideals of grandeur. 

We all have encountered the young driver armed in a brand new vehicle zipping past us like a maniac down the road, without one once of through to the fact that all around them are innocent lives, just trying to get from one place to another. Living in America makes most young beings crave this form of grandiosity; we live in an imagined bliss shaped by TV and movies in which we are always the protagonist. Such forms of grandiosity can be so short lived and unsubstantial. On the other hand, compassion drives the heart of a wise person. Perhaps one day America's leaders will borrow ideals from the East which emphasize compassion and camaraderie and run this country with a set of priorities congruent with these ideals. To think that bigger is better is the ideal of a young mind....we need to grow up. 

Would love to hear your comments.