Happy Birthday, America! (No, I will NOT type ‘Murica as so many have been doing lately. I find it offensive and lazy and damn it – I just won’t do it! Not even ironically).
      There have been a lot of postings amongst my Facebook friends revolving around the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, impeachment, NSA/drones/privacy. There are talks of gatherings and protests, of going off-grid, of prepping and survivalism, of coups and militia.
      I support our freedom to discuss that, and that if it comes to it, to overthrow a tyrant.
      But I also wonder, where the outrage was when The Patriot Act was passed.
      Why were all those opposed to it branded as conspiracy theorists and crackpots? Why did we allow this to happen with hardly a peep of public outcry? At least, a mere whisper compared to the blaring trumpets ringing out against Marriage Equality or the Texas law which passed recently banning – get this – MASTURBATION.
      I suppose maybe, in the wake of 9/11, we, as a nation, were still shaken. We were scared. Fear quieted our common sense and the powers-that-be took a hold of that and ran with it. They ran so far away.
      And now we seem to be utterly screwed. Monsanto owns the government, at least enough of it to get its own protective bills passed so that it can, without any fear of retribution or recompense, continue to fuck over farmers the world over and steadily poison the American people. Big Banks, Big Oil, Big Corporations-at-large own our government. They pass new laws every day to line their own pockets and fuck over the American worker. They deny us simple things under the guise of protecting us, and use every slimy trick in the book to keep us fat, uneducated, unmotivated, and entirely dependent.
      Be a good drone and you won’t wake up with a black bag over your head and a laser sight pointed at your back.
      Well damn it – that’s not how it should be! That’s not what America was designed to become.
      I want to challenge everyone who reads this – all one of you – to re-read the Declaration of Independence. Really re-read it. Read it like there will be a life-or-death quiz at the end, because in a nutshell, there will be.
      And when you’re done, and you’re good and upset, go grow something instead of a lawn. Go support a local business instead of a conglomerate. Go barter your time for something you need, go natural instead of chemical, go for whole foods instead of processed food-like items.
      Less dependence on THEM and more reliance on OURSELVES.
      Also, let’s really look at getting rid of politicians and electing REAL people with the people at heart – not their own pocket books. There must be some, somewhere. Politics shouldn’t be a career, it should be public service.
      End Rant.
      Happy Independence Day.

Note: Image is “American Flag” by Emitea from SXC.hu