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BS ‘n’ About…
The 1st Tuesday in November
(written when it was suggested by the Admin that 2004 election could be
postponed because of terrorism)
We had a Civil War and still held elections. We had an influenza epidemic and still held elections. We had assassinations and still held elections. We endured the ‘60’s and still held elections. We damn well better hold elections this time around too.
The very fact that it is even being mentioned that the election could be ‘postponed’ is all the more reason it needs to be held. And if the guys making the postponement proposals can’t keep us safe the 1st Tuesday in November, what hope have we that they’ll ever be able to keep us safe. And if they can’t, We the People ought to be eager to don flak jackets and get to the polls and elect someone who can. Saddest of all, it is probably just some political genius’ idea to scare us away from the polls and lower voter turnout. Has politics come to this?
America doesn’t feel like America anymore. We used to trust our leaders. We didn’t torture people. We didn’t starve our enemies. We didn’t begrudge our kids and elders their every tax dollar. We didn’t lie, cheat, and steal as a matter of course. When the Berlin Wall fell, we were a superpower that stood for everything that was good about our world. Where have we gone astray?
For twenty years we’ve been the undisputed ‘big dog on the block’. We haven’t made the world any safer. We haven’t made any real effort to bring water to the deserts, food to the starving, or healthcare to the sick. We’ve made no attempt to use our dominant position to unite the world in any good works. On the contrary. Millions go hungry every day because of sanctions we’ve imposed upon those who collect their taxes. We’ve broken peace treaties and poured trillions into the Pentagon. We are the single biggest threat to the stability of the world today.
There was a time when our soldiers were greeted as liberators and met in the streets with flowers. There was a time when it seemed victory in the Cold War would usher in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. There was a time when we knew in our hearts we were the good guys. There was a time when We, the People took to the streets over issues a lot smaller than the ones we face today.
Now we seem to react to everything as if it were just another reality show. Canceling elections. Torturing prisoners. Amending the Constitution to limit citizen rights. Ignoring the Constitution altogether if it is in the interests of ‘Homeland Security’. This isn’t the America I pledged allegiance to every morning in grade school.
America is at a critical juncture in its history, one that will very likely alter the course of our entire species. History bottlenecks through us and the future will largely be what we make it. And we’re making a mess of it. We, the People need to start paying attention to where we’re headed.
It is easy to assume that tomorrow will look a whole lot like today. But those of us old enough to remember the ‘60’s or the Great Depression know that the canvas of society can be ripped overnight. The trash heap of history is filled with societies that failed to adapt to changing times. We live in changing times. We’d better start paying attention to where we’re going. And we damn well better be casting our ballots the 1st Tuesday in November.
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