If you think about it, there’s quite a bit to like about America. The people have a pioneering spirit and, normally, the ability to think accept challenges and see victory. As I get older though I see things I don’t like living somewhere that has stopped being a repository for freedom. The things I don’t like are starting to be more in quantity than the things I do like.
I don’t like being regarded as though my only worth to the ruling class — the government and the wealthy — is as a supply of cheap labor and money. I do not like being seen just as a end-user whose life is summed up in bits and bytes. I do not like the idea of being snooped on and being treated as though they have forgotten my basic privacy rights..
I dislike politicians who spend lavishly for my tick-mark on the ballot and then forget me once they get in office. I’m tired of having representatives who are completely unable to watch out for my best interests.
I don’t like being put through scans, searches and pat downs by the money-vacuum called the TSA. I don’t like raids on targets like bus depots and shopping malls by robo-cops who remind me more of the Gestapo than they do of American freedoms.
I don’t like laws that seek to punish for lawful activities such as having Bible studies at home, having a vegetable garden in the back yard or gathering rainwater in a barrel. I can’t stand the NDAA, which gives the president and the military the authority to incarcerate Americans — indefinitely. I don’t like the Patriot Act which has cleared the way for all types of government abuse and intrusions.
I don’t like the Department of Homeland Security which now is America’s de facto Army against its citizenry. I don’t like military-grade weaponry being raised against US citizens. I don’t like government organizations like the DHS, Post Office and the Social Security Administration buying up truckloads of hollow point bullets.
I don’t like America’s willingness to lock put people away — for life — for non-violent crimes.
I don’t like the idea that people living within 25 miles of the Mexican/US border have been given a great view of the growing American police state. Border Patrol agents there are permitted to search people’s homes, intimately search their persons and rummage through their property and belongings — and do it without a warrant.
I don’t like my taxes paying for schools that act as though students were prisoners. I have zero tolerance for the zero tolerance laws that make criminals of kids for childish behavior.
I don’t like police jurisdictions whose main purpose is making a profit at the expense of those they have sworn to protect. Scams like speed traps, asset forfeiture laws and red light cameras are funding the militarized police and their SWAT team raids.
I don’t like being treated as if I have no rights. I don’t like the feeling that we’ve gone back to a pre-1776 point in time.
I especially don’t like feeling that there is no hope for America to reverse course.
I’m not giving up, at least no time soon. But I’m also not waiting around for the government to get its act cleaned up either. I plan to keep fighting, keep writing, keep speaking up and speaking out — shouting if necessary — and generally raising a ruckus anytime the government tries to undermine the Constitution and trample over the rights of American citizens.
I believe firmly that we are at a crisis point in America. If we don’t get off our butts and take our place in the fight for freedom, then straight ahead is the graveyard for American hopes and dreams.
I agree with MLK, Jr., when he warned that the hottest places in the afterlife are meant for people who remain neutral in a national crisis.
