== More Unwanted Thoughts By Me on The 4th ==
As to fireworks, not only is there noise that people and animals may have trouble with, but some of us are no longer so enamored with a holiday that celebrates values which have become trampled in the last few decades, let alone with the goings on of our current Administration.
A "free" country that didn't free its slaves for how long? A "Christian" country that allowed slavery and indentured servitude, in the first place? As well as condoned the killing and displacements of entire indigenous populations? A country that didn't give women the right to vote until the 20th Century?
We're in two endless wars, and I'm not even sure what they are for, any more. Oh, wait - lithium, opium, and oil, maybe? The majority of 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, but we go to war with Iraq. Now, the neocons are pushing for war with North Korea, and Iran -- Iran, which has become much more moderate toward the West. Hey, what another generation sent off to be maimed or killed? Hey! We can thank them for their service! (Hasn't THAT become a cliche!)
In the meantime, we pull out of the Paris Climate Accords -- a symbolic gesture, because participation is voluntary, and where we step back in leadership -- be it economic, or otherwise -- Germany and China will step up, but hey, OK--until the planet's hell in a handbasket for our children and grandchildren. (Some are warning that it's already too late.)
The Confederacy lost the Civil War, and there are elements that turned that into a social war that persists to this day, because goodness forbid our schools be integrated! All lives don't matter until black lives matter, until LGBTQ lives matter, and until we have police forces which no longer have to be litigated or shamed into doing right by the constituents and communities they serve.
Did I just write constituents? What a mess the Congress has become, and that won't change until we force the big money interests out of politics, again. (GOP-you were the party of Theodore Roosevelt, who fought corporate influence a hundred years ago. I'm lookin' right at you while you laughably defend the guy you couldn't beat now in the White House.)
We can't have Sharia law, but the Evangelical Christian right wing, desperate to retain control of its slipping social influence, sponsors and passes draconian laws to control women, birth issues, and what is taught, or not taught, in our classrooms.
Look at the history, and we've done good things - even some great things - but most of them come out of the fact we messed up, first, and big time!
(First came the Declaration of Independence, and then the disastrous Articles of Confederation, which tried to give power to the thirteen states, and wasn't that a treat? So, the Constitution was written to fix that mess!)
But, hey, let's have our easy patriotism, and wave our flags and blow up stuff, and take it all for granted.
Here's the deal: we have the technology, the money, and the growing understanding to turn this planet into a paradise for nearly every one of its inhabitants. Do we have the vision? Do we have the will? One Love.
As to fireworks, not only is there noise that people and animals may have trouble with, but some of us are no longer so enamored with a holiday that celebrates values which have become trampled in the last few decades, let alone with the goings on of our current Administration.
A "free" country that didn't free its slaves for how long? A "Christian" country that allowed slavery and indentured servitude, in the first place? As well as condoned the killing and displacements of entire indigenous populations? A country that didn't give women the right to vote until the 20th Century?
We're in two endless wars, and I'm not even sure what they are for, any more. Oh, wait - lithium, opium, and oil, maybe? The majority of 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, but we go to war with Iraq. Now, the neocons are pushing for war with North Korea, and Iran -- Iran, which has become much more moderate toward the West. Hey, what another generation sent off to be maimed or killed? Hey! We can thank them for their service! (Hasn't THAT become a cliche!)
In the meantime, we pull out of the Paris Climate Accords -- a symbolic gesture, because participation is voluntary, and where we step back in leadership -- be it economic, or otherwise -- Germany and China will step up, but hey, OK--until the planet's hell in a handbasket for our children and grandchildren. (Some are warning that it's already too late.)
The Confederacy lost the Civil War, and there are elements that turned that into a social war that persists to this day, because goodness forbid our schools be integrated! All lives don't matter until black lives matter, until LGBTQ lives matter, and until we have police forces which no longer have to be litigated or shamed into doing right by the constituents and communities they serve.
Did I just write constituents? What a mess the Congress has become, and that won't change until we force the big money interests out of politics, again. (GOP-you were the party of Theodore Roosevelt, who fought corporate influence a hundred years ago. I'm lookin' right at you while you laughably defend the guy you couldn't beat now in the White House.)
We can't have Sharia law, but the Evangelical Christian right wing, desperate to retain control of its slipping social influence, sponsors and passes draconian laws to control women, birth issues, and what is taught, or not taught, in our classrooms.
Look at the history, and we've done good things - even some great things - but most of them come out of the fact we messed up, first, and big time!
(First came the Declaration of Independence, and then the disastrous Articles of Confederation, which tried to give power to the thirteen states, and wasn't that a treat? So, the Constitution was written to fix that mess!)
But, hey, let's have our easy patriotism, and wave our flags and blow up stuff, and take it all for granted.
Here's the deal: we have the technology, the money, and the growing understanding to turn this planet into a paradise for nearly every one of its inhabitants. Do we have the vision? Do we have the will? One Love.
