Liberty and Justice Only for Those Who Can Afford It

Most of us born in America after WWII, the "Baby Boomers", seem to be ingrained with the illusions of freedoms that we actually do not possess in reality. Since the days of Reagan, America has taken on the mantle of imperviousness...we do not have to sacrifice, we do not have to be realistic and we are above anything and everything else within the entire universe. We are privileged. Jimmy Carter told us that we needed to sacrifice for the greater good and attempted to lead by example, for instance, installing solar panels on the White House. Reagan followed by telling us we did not need to sacrifice and should not have to sacrifice right before having the solar panels removed. The United States would be a great deal better off if we had followed Jimmy Carter's lead and tried to conserve rather than followed Reagan's lead and become wasteful. We could have been well into the energy changes needed by now but we have put reforms off so long that everything needed in the way of reform will be severely painful and difficult at best.

I was born at the end of the "Baby Boomer Generation" and have watched my country fall into disrepair and shame because of inflated egos, divisive and juvenile attitudes concerning religion and false patriotism.

The truth is that we are not impervious. Our country is not above anything and everything within the expanse of the universe and, in fact, we are all mortal and have no realistic aspirations or claim to being masters of anything. The "Baby Boomers" have, in fact, taken their enhanced idealism of individual rights to extreme. The "individual rights" mantra of the Baby Boomer generation was used to alter the United States government to the point that special interest groups who adhered to personal interests of politicians born into the Baby Boom generation became the power players in our country, thereby leaving the masses to fend for themselves. Our Constitution gives use certain rights that are supposed to be guaranteed but they are not. A good example can be found in almost every aspect of America...people falsely imprisoned, children in the foster care system being warehoused while getting no help and under a constant threat of being abused again in the system, government officials and employees fabricating evidence against people they find "unworthy" so they are legally allowed to persecute them, politicians who rig elections or attempt to force discrimination, politicians allowing their personal religious views to dictate the laws and legislation for all citizens of America even if it means covertly preferring one religion over another...which, by the way, is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN by the Constitution of the United States.

An honest view of America's heart is quite sad when you compare it to our delusional, over zealous patriotism. The phrase "liberty and justice for all", written in our Pledge of Allegiance, does not describe the reality of America at all but rather wishful thinking of those who have fought to create this country. In truth, those who supposedly represent the citizens of America have all but decapitated the principles that the country was founded on. Money became more important to our government than the citizens they are elected to represent...a despicable truth that is still prevalent today. One of the best examples of this fact is when the U.S. Supreme Court, by Conservative majority, established that a corporation has the same Constitutional rights as every single American citizen...an extreme distortion of the Constitution and the Supreme Court. A corporation is not a U.S. citizen, it is a capitalistic venture established to earn a profit, yet extremist Conservatives (a.k.a. neocons) sitting on the Supreme Court have made it the law of the land that a monetary venture has the same rights as any American citizen, yet Republicans have a problem with any Democrat selected for any court if they believe the candidate will legislate from the bench (which is exactly what the Conservative judges did by giving a corporation the status of an American citizen).

Many Americans will take offense to my claims that America is not a haven on a mountaintop fortress. but it matters not to me that unrealistic people do not want to live with the facts. Most people that would take offense are those who are insecure within themselves and let that personal insecurity override common sense to the point of foolish, and even childish, behavior. They scream, yell and try to divide this country into pettiness and fantasy in order to perpetuate their unrealistic belief that one "God" is the heart of America and those who believe otherwise, as the U.S. Constitution gives us a right, are demonized, ridiculed or otherwise attacked.

Politicians tear down regulations that are meant to protect the public from being scammed, defrauded, poisoned, polluted or otherwise taken advantage of, all for the love of money. If it came down to terminating all the politicians who put America and it's citizens interest first vs. their own interests, we would not have enough people still in government employment to run the affairs of the country. Since America does not require a psychiatric evaluation for all candidates running for public office, it is no wonder that we have more narcissism than altruism spending our tax dollars. John Boehner (R) wants to basically gut the E.P.A. and remove the regulations that protect the public. One has to wonder if his campaign donations from polluters are more important than the protection of the public considering that studies have been released that prove pregnant women are, unfortunately, giving birth to babies that are subjected to chemicals, pesticides and other toxins while still in the womb. He claims to be a pro-life Republican but he does not seem to be concerned with the pollutants a child is born with and the cost of a child's health care once it is born. Tom Delay (R) best describes the problem with narcissism within the U.S. government. In front of the media, he informed us all "I AM the Federal Government!" when he was told he couldn't smoke on government property, after he had manipulated his way to power...apparently laws that applied to the rest of us did not apply to Mr. Delay. I was unaware that we had a supreme ruler in this country but, apparently, Tom Delay thought he was such and the rest of us were expected to bow at his authority. I suppose he thought himself America's version of Hosni Mubarak, unfortunately for Delay, our laws would prohibit such tyrannical power. Then we have those like Mr. Jefferson (D) from Louisiana who decided he would take bribes and stash the cash in his freezer. You can not meet 10 different politicians at once who all have a clean slate and a clean conscience. It never stops.

The so called "Birthers", people who refuse to believe that Barack Obama was born a citizen, keep attempting to change legislation concerning proof of Obama's birth more than two years after his official birth certificate was made public. The Governor of Montana has gone so far as to try to create legislation that demands that BOTH of a political candidate's parents have to be U.S. citizens by birth. Obama was born in Hawaii and his mother was born in Kansas but that is far from good enough. The motive for this kind of stupidity is quite obvious if you listen well to the conversation. While interviewing different people who do not believe Obama was born a U.S. citizen, there was one issue that surfaced repeatedly...his father is black, his mother was white and his skin makes him black. During a conversation with one woman who seemed to be a rational Republican, the idea of Obama's parentage was made very clear, "Obama's father is black, his mother is white, he is a son of a bitch because his mother is a bitch for being with a black man!". This outburst was quickly followed by an exit and a slamming door. The third person in the conversation was a dumfounded as I was to hear this from an intelligent and reasonable person that we both have known for almost a year but, as unimaginable as it was, this is the attitude of the "Birthers". Bigotry is the basis for it and I have heard similar, though not as explosive, statements from more than 60 people I have spoken to about Obama being an American citizen, every single person presented a severe case of bigotry as the predominant reason for the belief that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Many of these people claim that our President's birth certificate has never surfaced when, in fact, CNN and other media have shown the actual document on the air yet these delusional people still find an excuse to dispute it. It is a pathetic attempt to hide bigotry and nothing more. If the "Birthers" would at least be honest with themselves they could spend their time taking care of realistic problems instead of inventing problems that do not exist. Some of these people do not realize that their prejudices against biracial marriage are bigotry but most I have spoken to are fully aware. Not surprisingly, in some polls that measure a high number of GOP "Birthers", Sarah Palin holds an approval rating as high as 83%, leaving no question as to the ludicrous and unrealistic nature of the idea that Obama was not a citizen because of the general ignorance that Palin displays concerning government issues.

The election of Barack Obama has also led to an increasing number of Confederate remembrances ranging from days marked as holidays to vanity plates for your car that celebrates a slave trading, Confederate officer famous for the slaughter of black Union troops at Fort Pillow in 1864 and noted as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Does it not strike America as at least "odd" that since 2007 when Obama announced his candidacy that a section of our country has done everything in their power to undermine him? The same disrespect would not be happening if he were white.

Between those who swear that Obama is a Muslim to those who want to glorify ties to slavery, America has to come to the conclusive truth that we are still an extremely childish and bigoted country. I am not a fan of Mr. Obama but I do hold respect for our elected President, no matter the color of his skin or religious beliefs, just as I did for G. W. Bush whom I did not like or agree with at all. We have forgotten what respect is and shall not prosper and move forward as a whole until we learn again how to show respect for what began as a "melting pot" of different kinds of people that created what used to be the greatest country in the world.

Carter installs solar panels on the W.H.
http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=194797
Supreme Court gives corporations "citizen" status
http://www.uspirg.org/issues/elections-and-government/fair-and-open-elections/citizensunited
History of the W.H. solar panels
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/tp/History-of-White-House-Solar-Panels.htm
Archive of Tom Delay quotes
http://www.fact-archive.com/quotes/Tom_Delay
"Birther" poll (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/birther-poll_n_823666.html
Pollution in the womb article
http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/pollutioninthewomb.htm
Controversy over Confederate/KKK Officer in Mississippi
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/14/mississippi.kkk.controversy/index.html
Fort Pillow massacre
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/CW_FP.HTM