We hear it all the time. Repeated like a prayer manta. Like a hypnotic trance.
"America is the Greatest Country in the World".
It's taken as a matter of faith. A matter of fact.
"America is the Greatest Country in the Word"
It's said without thought. It's said without consideration. It simply IS.
"America is the Greatest Country in the World"
But I wonder today as we celebrate this particular 4th of July - exactly what is so Great about it?
Are we the Greatest Nation at Soccer? (No, apparently that would be Spain based on the 2010 World Cup!)
Are we the Greatest Nation at Basketball? (Well yes - as we are the current FIBA World/Olympic Champions, but I doubt we'll even get a medal in 2012)
Are we the Greatest Nation at invention, creation, music or manufacturing?
Are we the Greatest Nation at educating our young, taking care of our poor? Of our sick? Of our Elderly?
It seems pretty clear that if you're one of those people, they don't really care about you.
Are we the Greatest Nation at making War?
How's Libya and Afghanistan working out so far?
When Michele Bachmann said she thought the media should do a penetrating probe to se how many in Congress had "Anti-American Views" - exactly what the Frack was she talking about?
Anti-American How?
Did she mean like Reverend Wright because he said "God Damn America" for it's many crimes against Humanity from Trail of Tears to the Internment of the Japanese Americans and the Tuskegee Experiment. (Do people seriously think some kind of prize was deserved for that?) Well, what about Pat Robertson who just recently said "God Would Destroy America for the Sin of Marriage Equality?"
Gee, that seems pretty Damning to me.
Will America be Destroyed by God, or by Itself? I think Naomi Wolf has something to say about that.
It seems to me that some of our more Conservative American brethren, only believe in a Conservative America. They seem to think that the Blue States are merely a Mirage. A Phantasm. That California and New York are really just parts of Europe or Canada or something, they aren't the Real America. Isn't that what Sarah Palin meant, because that's pretty much what I heard.
Apparently many of us aren't Real Enough for her, especially those of us on Lefty Coast And then she wonders why she has Hollywood so mad at her?
And what about the much vaunted American Dream? Maybe you can only have a dream when you're Asleep?
We can see it from Massachusetts to California. Massive cut backs in investment in infrastructure, in education, in public workers rights, pensions and health care - as if this were the magic bullet to creating jobs and prosperity.
But this pyrite has already been proven false. Cutting Government Spending Reduces Jobs.
Here you can see, averaging across all the states of the nation the result in lost jobs as government cuts back on it's spending and investments.
Steep state spending cuts have gone hand-in-hand with rising unemployment rates, falling private-sector payroll employment, and lower growth in state’s gross domestic product, or GDP — the sum of all goods and services produced by labor and equipment in each state, less imports.
Take private sector jobs, for example. This graph shows that state spending is not just about jobs for public service workers, but also has far reaching consequences for private businesses and their workers. The downward sloping red line shows the relationship between cuts to state spending and changes in private sector employment relative to the national average since the start of the Great Recession. States that cut spending are seeing significantly more job losses in the private sector than states maintaining or increasing spending levels. For every 10 percent cut in state spending, state economies lost 1.6 percent of their private-sector jobs.
And this is what the GOP is hell bent on giving us more of. More job losses, more shattered dreams. Even though the CBO says the Budget will Balance Itself by 2016 if Congress does NOTHING.
And here the Senate Appropriations Committee shows that we don't have a massive spending problem (except for the Military) we have a massive Revenue Problem because of expensive, ineffective tax cuts and job losses.
The facts and numbers don't lie. But apparently quite a few politicians do. And Pundits as well. Pundits like George Will as he attempts to blame all of this on allegedly misplaced "Compassion" for the poor.
It really is incredible to see such a concerted effort to rewrite history in front of our faces. There is not much ambiguity in the story of the housing bubble. The private financial sector went nuts. They made a fortune issuing bad and often fraudulent loans which they could quickly resell in the secondary market. The big actors in the junk market were the private issuers like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Lehman Brothers. However, George Will and Co. are determined to blame this disaster on government "compassion" for low-income families.
But of course they're going to blame the poor, how else do you dehumanize a victim but to turn them into the aggressor, deserving of not pity, but scorn.
This is why ACORN was attacked.
This is why the GOP is so constantly upset about Voting being too Easy, even though there is no real evidence of widespread Voter Fraud anywhere.
The goal is simple, the Rich get Richer - the Poor get used and exploited for cheaper and cheaper labor while the Middle Class Disappears.
And with no middle class, there's no upward mobility - and no American Dream. No Hope for the future of our prosperity to live in Liberty. Just more back-breaking, nervous breakdown inducing labor for lower and lower wages, while price rise higher and higher.
Joe Biden: It's one of the Biggest Scams in American History.
You're Damn Skippy it is Mr. Vice President.
That's the America the GOP believes in, and longs for. A Feudal America, controlled by Corporate and Wall Street owned Politicians like Walker, Kasich, Christie and Scott.
Our Corporate OverLords living in their Gated Community Castles, protected by private armed security Knights, flying about in their Jets, Helicopters and Private Limos through our toxic Mercury poisoned countryside, piss covered city streets and dilapidated schools to the Board Room to make Big Decisions and Golf Course let off some steam while we scramble for spare change to put just another gallon in the tank to get the work that keeps paying us less and less for more and more.
"Let 'em Eat Cake" isn't right. More like "Piss Boy - don't forget to wait for the shake".
This is what they think of the America People and American Workers.
We are becoming their peasants and serfs. Chattel under their heel. And it's not by accident.
We have to come to realize that all of this is part of the plan. The Great Recession and everything they've done in reaction to it - is part of their Shock Doctrine, as Naomi Klein would say.
They have used this economic disaster to strengthen their positions and power politically and financially, ensuring that the downward spiral of the middle-class continue ever onward.
And why shouldn't they- they're making money hand over fist doing it aren't they? America may suck for us, but for them it's pretty great.
Just which way is it to their America anyway?
They attacked Obama because he said he wanted to "Spread the Wealth Around" - which they interpreted - wrongly - as a call to socialism. What it was, was a call to Economic Justice.
A call for a return to an America where a man could be a journeyman working with his hands and his heart where he could earn enough to purchase a home, provide for his family and give them an even better future than he had.
Where America is Great is where that Dream Lives.
It's not about beating our chests, or beating some other nation in any sports or commercial contest. The America Dream is about slowly, gradually, building a better future for ourselves and our posterity -isn't that what the Constitution says?
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
WE....
THE PEOPLE!
It doesn't say "Under God". Or Jesus. America is not the property of Corporations. It's doesn't belong to the Fat Cats. Nor the Nu-Robber Barons of Wall Street. It's belongs to WE - The PEOPLE.
That Flag that we hoist and look at today is not about the Wars we've fought, lost, won or draw. It's not about terrorism.
It's about Us.
It's about our chance to build a better and brighter tomorrow. Our chance to fight back against the Feudalists and the Corporatists to protect our rights to breath clean air, drink clean water, freely associate, freely assemble and petition our government via collective bargaining, our right to live healthy with access to affordable healthcare, safe food, safe working condition, reasonable hours, vacations, pensions -- our rights to be Respected As Human Beings and to share in the fruits of our labors.
Our right to be Americans, the result of 300 years of refugees from every nation on earth gathering together into a motley and messy mass of humanity.
All Yearning to be Free.
I think that's what Real Patriotism is.
And for those who say "America: Love it or Leave it" - I say back...
"America: Fix it or Lose It"
Amen
Vyan