My mail for the column comes in many tones, but the most repetitive request I receive is for a full frontal attack on the US administration and its policies. I would, if I believed speaking out would implement change. I am no longer that naive.
When I was young, my parents argued, constantly. There was never an outing, a drive, or a meal without the sound and fury of their voices. Children cope by ineffective means, crying, holding their ears shut, and separating themselves from the drama of arguments. It is a limited arsenal, but it is also a pattern forged on one’s mind and it whispers in the night, “It’s no use.”
I still avoid confrontation. I no longer hold my ears or cry, but I maneuver to safer topics. Conflict is part of a columnist's job. In the past, I have stated my views on elections, illegal immigration, the war, and current events. When I received mail, both critical and supportive, I enjoyed the exchanges. When I was harshly corrected, I drifted. I understand that is their goal, to stop the critics, and sadly, sometimes it is effective.
I have the privilege of having a column, and I am living during a monumental time in America. There is so much mismanagement with the Iraqi war, border control, biases in the law still saddled with Gonzales, Scooter Libby proving the Good Old Boys Club is still in power, Cheney denying the very heart of the constitution, Chinese tainted imports, a struggling health care system, the billion-dollar-debt with China borrowed to fuel our nation building; columnists can list these horrors, like beads on a rotten rosary, but crying out for change in America is like screaming in the wind.
US Citizens will continue to buy junk from China because their $20 an hour manufacturing jobs are gone. Most of us, living under this new Rich Republican Rule, earn less than half of our previous salary. The market is saturated with Chinese goods. Just try to buy furniture, clothing, or electronics made in the US. ‘The Breadbasket of the World’ is now importing food from China.
The current US government is holding its ears shut to new ideas, solutions, and criticism. They push their agenda, repeat the same slogans, and in boredom and resignation, we comply. It is as useless as asking my parents to please stop fighting. They are not listening and they are in power.
Never before in my fifty some years of being an American citizen, have I felt this hopeless despair. I have lived through many wars and presidents, from both parties, but previously, there were controls, laws, and a balance in the system. Now freedom and justice are dead. It is as if we have a king, living in his own storybook world. We have a court, the House and Senate, but they only bicker and strut and play all sides for votes and cash. The emperor has no clothes, and no one will tell him, no one has the courage, the position, or the talent.
Who of us will hold up the mirror and show the world that the American king is a fraud, a pretender, and a failure? I hate controversy more than most, but my God, when does this ridiculous government see the truth and act nobly?
More often, I am tempted to hold my ears shut, pretend myself and write fiction, because I understand futility. Nothing stopped my parent’s arguments, but death, and I see no one in the 2008 lineup that inspires a spark of hope.
I know the rich are richer, the poor are poorer, and the country is in record debt. I stabbed at confrontation; I attempted to draw the curtain away from the naked king. What good does it do? What is your response, your solution? Does anyone even try anymore, or is escapism Americans only reply? We watch sports, and Sponge Bob while the world falls apart; we are worse than the Romans at the end of their empire, because we know it is coming, and still we do nothing.
