Yes, the government in Ferguson, Missouri, and the State of Missouri is the current tip of the spear of oppression, but it is far from the only subversion of the American Dream,. indeed, as the minorities in this nation allegedly founded on liberty, justice and equality for all have long known, and what the privileged white people in this country, especially those of the dying middle class are just beginning to wake up to, our freedoms, our rights, our very lives are not our own to do with as we choose, absent a great deal of money. For a brief time after the New Deal and WWII when arguably we, as individual citizens, enjoyed a small measure of freedom, equality and occasionally justice, but if truth be told, our government has never been overly concerned with being of the people, for the people or by the people, no matter what the Gettyburg Address says.
Ask the working class people without jobs or hope.
Ask the college students and grads with no careers and debt up past their ears.
Ask the Unions who have been ground down into the dust from which FDR once upon a time permitted them the protection to bargain for a living wage and safe working conditions on equal footing vis-a-vis Big Business.
Ask the veterans of wars fought to benefit the high and mighty dollar, especially those with brain injuries, lost limbs and PTSD who have been abandoned by the government they swore to defend.
Ask the Occupy Wall Street Movement what good came of their exercise of their 1st amendment right.
Ask the dead children sacrificed on the altar of the NRA and gun manufacturers.
Ask the people who still cannot get adequate medical care because their state officials would rather they die than receive Medicaid expansion.
Ask all the young men and women in privatized prisons who suffer for the crimes created by the war on drugs while criminals on Wall Street who ruined our economy and brought death and misery to millions of non-corporate persons are free to roam the streets without fear of prosecution from our so-called government watchdogs.
Ask the corporations who dodge taxes, and the wealthy corporate executives who ship jobs overseas, raid pension funds, destroy the middle class, and live behind gated communities where none of their children are ever shot down in the street for not walking on the sidewalks.
Ask the police and law enforcement officials in every state and local community in this country, if push came to shove, whether they would give a goddam about your constitutional rights.
Ask the fucking NSA what rights of yours they think worthy of defending.
Ask all the women who suffer every year from sexual assault and unequal pay what theyb think of this home of the brave.
Ask the homeless how they feel about the treatment they receive.
Ask the millions of mentally ill and emotionally disturbed people how wonderful this land is for them.
Ask a gay man,a Lesbian, a transgender person or a bisexual about the freedom they enjoy in this greatest nation on earth.
Ask the practitioners of any religion that isn't branded Christian how great a country this is for their members
Ask teachers and scientists about the wonderful lives they lead.
Or just ask Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin and every other person of color who has been killed or arrested or just harassed because of the pigmentation of their skin.
Oh sorry, you can't ask Michael Brown or any of the people of color who were slaughtered by the people dedicated to protecting and serving them, because those people can't speak for themselves anymore because they are dead.
And for those of you who have spent the past decades ignoring the truth about our nation and its governments, who tune into news only when Fox is on the air at some airport, or Rushbo is on the air on your car radio, maybe you don't care about what is happening to our politics, and our economy, and the poor people who are oppressed every day in Oakland, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis or your own hometown. But let me tell you, just because you aren't getting slammed to the ground or pepper sprayed or shot in the face with your hands in the air pleading for your life, doesn't mean you are safe, or that your life will continue to be charmed, or that this not a democracy will come to your rescue when the shit really starts to hit the fan once this death spiral we have started down starts to gain even more momentum.
What will you do when food prices and gas prices and clean water safe enough to drink prices rocket out of your ability to pay? What will you do when the extreme weather means your homes and neighborhoods are destroyed or lose power for months at a time. What will you do when the police consider you as much of an enemy combatant as they do the poor people of Ferguson, Missouri?
Cuz that train is coming for you people and all the guns you bought and canned food you stored won't do you any good if we keep going down this path, and likely sooner than you believe possible. Because the police and the military have more guns, and the rich have more money and resources to insure that their asses are kept safe from the likes of you.
Just food for thought, people. Word of advice though, don't take too long to think about it. The times are changing and they are changing fast.