Oh say does that Star-Spangled banner yet wave...
o'er the land of the free and the home of the benevolent criminal.
Sometimes I can't help feeling a little dirty in my American skin. Dirty with the blood and sweat of what seems like nation after nation we wrong and mistreat. Rattling our sabre at the drop of a baseball hat and crushing Mom's Apple Pie under mis-deployed GI boots and treads.
All in the name of peace, which -- it would seem -- we have no concept of. Not at home, and certainly not abroad.
The famous "Uncle Sam" illustration that at one time seemed a symbol for strength, might, and even well-meaning patriarchy, now looks like a bully, tossing backhanded and ill-conceived threats and accusations across ocean and continent. And what's to counter this hopefully incorrect assessment of our motives? An uncompromising drive for crude oil, military superiority, political control, and vanquishing of our "evil" enemies.
Are we not a nation that denies freedoms to its citizens, ignores the plights of the elderly and infirmed, fails to provide proper healthcare and education to the bulk of its population, and is [nearly] single-handedly thawing the polar ice caps and deforesting acre after acre? Is our business community not continuously engaged in the practice of greedily hording wealth to the detriment of our working class? Do our politicians not mindlessly cater to special interest lobbies controlled by powerful corporations bent on serving only their profit margins?
Are we not awful.
Am I not dirty?
Posts
