“Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth, communism is the equal distribution of poverty.“I’m not sure to whom this quotation should be attributed but it came to mind as I watched Chris Matthew’s
interview with David Crosy and Graham Nash on
Hardball. However, in this case, I would reframe the quotation to be ”Modern American Democracy (MAD) is the unequal distribution of burden....“ At least that’s how I see it.
As Crosby, Nash and Matthews point out, the burden of this war is being born by a minority, a minority that is unlikely to rise up and demand change. We are not all at risk. We are all not suffering the consequences of this war. Only the small percentage of our population who are in the active military are shoulder this burden along with some unnamed future generation of debtor citizens.
It is as if our government has successfully divided and muted its citizens. A majority, when asked, is against the war but they are not acting on their convictions. We are passive because the threat is not knocking on our door, the cost is not in our blood or coming out of our pockets. Why speak out? Why demand action when somebody else is shouldering the burden.
I do not believe in this war. I do not believe in this administration. This is not the country I studied in my high school government class. Slowly, our population is being divided and either pitted against itself or just marginalized until it is just a whisper. The checks and balances that were put in place to ensure the government was ”of the people, by the people and for the people“ are being dismantled. Our judicial system is politically compromised and Congress is AWOL.
Do we not have an obligation as citizens to ensure we maintain the government our Founding Fathers established? I realize that life is busy, our lives are complicated and we have many demands on our time but can we afford to remain safe in our own cocoons while others die, possibly in vain, for us? Do I deserve their sacrifice if I’m unwilling to shoulder my own my own responsibility to this country; my own ”burden“, so to speak?
I apologize for allowing my personal opinions come through so strongly on this blog, it was not my intention but as I watch Hardball this evening, I was struck at how the current situation has been structured (either intentionally or unintentionally) to remove the motivations for galvanizing an anti-war movement. I watched Crosby and Nash speak and wondered how many of our young Americans can even relate to their message.
We have a mess in Iraq and I don’t think it is going to end well, no matter which way we go. I know I can no longer accept the reasons and explanations given by our current administration and I’m not sure I can really expect much different from the next... unless the people speak with a strong and clear voice.
Where is our national voice?
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