Velvet Verbosity

For those that are interested, here is a reading list to start with.

• Chris Martenson on What the Bail Out Really Means, includes details of new legislation.
• John McCain, Economic Radical?
• Wikipedia, The Great Depression. Compare current situation with events leading to the Great Depression for yourself.
• No help for the little guy, yet no caps on Wall Street compensation.
• Why Obama has my vote.
• And why you couldn’t pay me to vote for McCain

And where are these people now?

I’m not a political writer. I simply don’t have enough background in history, politics, or economics to provide regular commentary. I am, however, a U.S. citizen, and as such, I feel a responsibility to talk about what is happening right in front of our faces. I feel silly writing “fluff” while our economic system is in collapse, our government is breaking the constitution, and greed run amok is leading rampant hypocrisy and downright criminal behavior.

I feel a responsibility to take a stand, state my position, and perhaps inspire dialogue and debate. No matter your position in life, or your interests, if you are silent and inactive in these matters you are allowing our government to essentially rob us, and then turn around and ask us to pay ourselves back.

In Steven G. Brant’s words:

Think about this. Our government has just decided — without asking any of us, including our Congressional representatives — that $85 billion more of our money should be used to cover the actions of (and pardon the unsophisticated language here) stupid, greedy, criminal people. Stupid, because they didn’t have a clue that what they were doing would have such negative consequences. Greedy, because all they could see were short term dollar signs in front of their eyes. Criminal, because they just robbed you and me of $85 billion dollars by holding a “we’re too big to fail” gun to the head of the US government.

As citizens, we can no longer make the mistake of believing Bush’s rhetoric. As a nation, we believed him when he told us that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the 9-11 attacks, and we did not stop to question his actions in Iraq. We’re still there, and there is still not one shred of convincing evidence that Bin Laden was responsible, but there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. We elected the man to a second term and stood by silently as our rights were taken away, as the constitution was breached, because we were led to believe that we were being taken care of.

We should be alarmed. We should be coordinating, gathering, debating, planning, and taking action. What is so alarming about the current economic crisis is that had we, as citizens, not been asleep at the wheel, we would have seen this coming. If we want a democracy, and we do, we have to be ACTIVE in understanding what the issues are, active in understanding the economy, foreign policy, government systems, laws, etc. While we are busy defending our “rights” to privacy (i.e. internet anonymity) we allowed the government to pass legislation that would increase things like racial profiling and allow other breaches of our privacy like illegal phone tapping. While we are busy defending the first amendment to protect our rights to access violent video games, ‘gangsta’ rap, pornography, etc, we have collectively stood by while journalists were arrested for trying to report on the news, while whistle-blowers lost their jobs and were swept under the rug. Instead of being engaged citizens, we were getting our “entertainment” on, and the only things that ever really got our attention was when that entertainment lifestyle suddenly came under threat.

We are a nation with our priorities out of whack. We have been remiss in our pursuit of individual success to the detriment of the very foundation of what made all of our luxuries possible in the first place. We have abused the bill of rights to pursue our own selfish wants. We have turned away from our responsibilities in hopes that someone else would take care of things. A government “for the people and by the people” requires citizen action, and not just at the voting booth. We owe it to our country to know what the hell is really going on so that we can make the right decisions, mobilize when necessary, and take action swiftly.

It is already too late to stop the likely $700 billion bail-out of Wall Street. The question is, why aren’t we raising our collective voice to ask some obvious questions. Where is this money coming from? How will it be repaid? What is the real plan here? Where was this money when we needed it for schools, health-care, scientific research, or higher education? When will the so-called “trickle-down” actually manifest so that every single family in America that is working full time can earn a livable wage? Why did the government support policies that created a wildly unstable and skewed distribution of wealth, and why should the taxpayers bail out the few at the top without assurances that something will be done to balance out the distribution? 

There are more. Many more. And we need to be asking them, out loud. To each other, to big business, and to our elected officials. We need to increase the volume until we are heard AND answered. We need to grow up, put down the entertainment, and investigate our government’s policies deeply. We need to be citizens of America.

Two nights ago it was the “could be the first time in history” Super Bowl and tonight it’s “we’re watching history in the making” Super Tuesday.  I can’t take this much tension so close together!   California votes are just coming in now.  Excuse me while I go watch.