I was sitting here reading the news and realized, for all the crap we have to deal with here in the US of A, the
neo-fascism and
hypocrisy, the
flag waving in your face to distract you from the fact that the
Bill of Rights is being used by
Ashcroft as
toilet paper, we still have it pretty damn good. I mean, if you have to live in
imperial times, it's much better to live in
Italy than
Gaul, you know what I mean? (And forget about living in
Dacia or
Germania.)
At least we are headed towards a Huxlerian dystopia instead of an Orwellian one. If I'm going to have to toe the company line, I'd rather it involve rampant consumerism and mindless entertainment instead of cheap gin and coarse overalls. (Of course, if the thought police get you, you're still pretty fucked, but if you mind your business you should be able to enjoy your 42-inch plasma TV in peace.)
Sure, if you express freedom of opinion you'll get stepped on, but that's how it's always been. America was a bold experiment, and isn't gone yet, but if Sam Adams and Paul Revere were around today, they would have been driven out of business by special interests by now if they had the temerity to speak their minds, no matter how good their beer or silverware were. Ben Franklin would have been hounded out of office by sexual scandal, and Washington would have been cashiered the first time he bucked the best and the brightest in Philadelphia.
There are too many people in this country that forget that the President is not the country, the people are, and he only works for us. They seem to think that to call Bush a frat-boy ex-cokehead alcoholic who owes everything he has to connections and influence is unAmerican. I find it funny when a punk who has never done jack for this country tries to lecture me on patriotism, and I was freezing my ass off on the East German border watching the Soviet Army when he was still jerking off to National Geographic pictorials. When I volunteer again to work for the candidate of my choice, will I be called anti-American because I want Dubya out of office?
But at least in the heartland, we have cable TV and 30-minute pizza delivery. Who cares if 50% of the planet has to get by on $2 a day? Does it matter that 90% of the big fish are gone, and will be extinct soon if we don't do something about it? If the coral reefs die off, will anyone cry for the reduction in biodiversity?
Oops, I gotta go, There's a James Bond Marathon on TNN...