Be Sheared And Baa Not

From E.L. Doctorow on September 9, 2004 comes this very, very (in my mind) accurate depiction of what we, as Americans, have allowed our country to become. Each of has a choice: to stand up and speak out against repression, facism, censorship, the stifling of dissent, corporate jingoism clothed in patriotism, the furtherance of the elite at the expense of the commoner...or we can be sheep who think it's easier and safer to just go with the flow, be sheared and baa not. It is the individual's choice and we all know which is the easier path. But, for my money, the easier path is the more dangerous of the two and more cowardly. It is the individual who effects change, just as it is the group who usually takes that change and turns it into sponsor dollars. But it is the sheep who baa not that allow our leaders to do what they want willnilly without having to answer to choruses of boos. We stood up once before this war began and shouted out "NO!" in one loud, common voice that resonated and was mirrored across the world. Since then, we as a people have done nothing but watch our children die in a vainglorious effort by megalomaniacs to ensure their own power into the next generation. They don't care about us. They never did. Many of the parents of those in power right now were once affiliated with the Communist party. After that, they became New Deal Democrats under Kennedy. Disillusioned by that, they became or trained their children to become what we now brand "neo-cons". They have no roots, history, culture or true experience in commitment to anything. They change like the wind if their politics blow south. They will do anything, say anything in order to regain power, because that is all they are about. And the tragedy of it all is that they make those morons who reside in the House and Senate look like saints in comparison.

"But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war."