Along the Way…

Posts Tagged ‘Patriotic’

I am pretty pessimistic when it comes to the United States of America, and our odds of survival over the next decade or so. When the best the Republicans could find to face Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election was George Bush, I became convinced that grassroots, incremental improvements would never bring freedom and liberty back to this land. Nothing short of the complete collapse of the United States of America will give true liberty a chance, in my opinion.

I am very opposed to the imperialistic invasions of foreign sovereignties that our country has undertaken just since 9/11, let alone over the past half-century. If our rulers would be honest and acknowledge the empire-building that’s going on, I would be more understanding. Nations have been conquering nations for as long as there have been people on this planet, and I have no illusions that world peace is humanly achievable. But, the lies and cover-ups that our government masters perpetrate to pretend we “fight to make the world safe for democracy” or whatever B.S. is popular at the moment, are more nauseating to me than the battles themselves.

I have no hope that Obama has any intention to do good things for you and me. In fact, I am rather convinced that he and his cronies are going to have a four- or eight-year party at our expense.

However, I watch something like this…

…and I am reminded that…

I have great confidence in The Average American to do the right thing when it really matters. On a day-to-day basis, the typical American follows the course of least resistance, and lives their lives in comfort. Remember the people of the Axiom, the flagship of the Buy ‘n Large fleet that coddled humanity for nearly a millennium in deep space? This is the image I have of the current state of the average American. Generally, these people were very friendly, and well-intentioned. They were simply out of shape because they had been living in the lap of luxury for so long.

It touched me to see the hundreds of people who took time out of their day, rearranged their schedules, left the comfort of their homes, sacrificed the couple of hours’ pay, and stood along the road with their U.S. flags to salute the fallen soldier. I’m sure many of those people don’t realize they support imperialism, but I’d bet quite a few understand the issues and don’t support the war. In spite of their various opinions, levels of understanding, and emotional support for the politics of the war, hundreds (and, maybe, thousands) of average Americans heard about a husband and father who had died, trying to do the right thing, so they stood on the side of a road and honored his memory.

Here’s a fun rendition of the patriotic classic (thanks to Warner Crocker for pointing this out to me)…