I think about it a lot…my country, my enemy. I think of what JFK said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Well, I’ve “done” for my country. I’ve paid my taxes and registered for the draft despite of Vietnam. I’ve obeyed the law and tried to the best of my ability to be a good citizen. I’ve voted in just about every election. I’ve flown the flag and pledged allegiance to it. I try to mow my lawn and be a decent neighbor. The only time, I think, I’ve asked anything from my country, was when I was laid off up in NJ and received unemployment. I feel I have fulfilled my duty as a citizen of my country.
But then I think hard about my country. And I can only and sadly say that “it” is now my enemy. I feel I have very right to have these feelings. This is especially true now that our economy is stalled and although not many people care to admit it, we are in a depression.
So. My country…my enemy. As my family and I try to make it through these hard times – I have thank goodness not missed a mortgage payment yet – my country is not helping. It seems lost, out of control and very likely to cause me harm. It is, quite truthfully, my enemy.
Down at the local level, where I have lived for 25 years in Florida, all law enforcement have been ordered out to write as many tickets as possible to boost revenue. Code enforcement “agents” are out in force trying to find the smallest silliest violation, issue citations and collect fines. And “they” have continued to spend the tax money they collect from me on the “best” of everything, never asking my permission.
We have helicopters, speed boats, cameras, aircraft and SWAT and disaster equipment, the need of which is highly questionable. They spend more on “correctional” facilities than health care for non-criminals.
We have thousands of traffic signals – even at places where there is little or no traffic. “They” built a multi-million dollar “cultural” center. Apparently my country is also in the entertainment business. There is the new multi-million dollar library. The old one was fine. When is the last time anyone went to a library?
There are all the new police cars, fire engines and garbage trucks. When you go to the dump there are 5 people to every garbage can making sure trash is properly separated. It all ends up in the same place in the end. And then there are the 3 well paid supervisors who watch over the 5 workers, and three more layers of six figured management overseeing them.
There was the downtown redevelopment project that was unnecessary. The circle that made traffic worse. The millions of dollars in road projects that are boondoggles. The sidewalks where nobody walks. The remodeling of courthouses and government offices that rival Fortune 500 boardrooms. My country seems to be run by folks that get compensation “packages” that are far above what my wife and I could ever possibly hope to make.
At every level in my country there is waste and mismanagement. There is pork on top of pork. There are politicians, lobbyists and businessmen who don’t pay taxes. We’ve seen some get caught, but we all know there must be thousands who get away with it.
Wall St. firms and banks get “bailouts” while buying jets and giving out huge bonuses. Billions are handed out by my country tagged as necessary “social programs” with no accounting to the taxpayers. How can it be a “stimulus” to spend $30 million to upgrade a government office when 5 miles away folks live in poverty.
It really seems that my country is all about itself, and not its citizens. This is no longer a democracy but a pompous, narcissistic, self-indulgent, corrupt, bureaucratic out of control freight train. It is my enemy.
Let me define enemy for you: “Someone that feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against or engages in antagonistic activities against.” Now that sure sounds like that’s what my country is doing to me – to us. How can you possibly disagree with what I’m saying? The signs are everywhere. It gets worse day by day.
Rich old men and women in Washington “debate” on how to spend “our” money. They treat us like children. Who the hell do these people think they are. 99% of them I never voted for. I fear we have a smart young man as our new President, who has no clue as to how to help “us.” He is being guided by the same morons and pinheads that got us into these mess in the first place.
I’m scared. I never thought my country would be my enemy. The only weapon I have is to try and communicate what I see happening. Who knows if anyone is listening. I have no power to change the course of events. For this is no longer a government by the people – for the people. It is a place in time, a moment in history, where our destiny is being determined by a small group of people who just don’t have our best interests on the front burner. And until proven otherwise, these “others” are our enemy.
Look at the picture of Gen. Washington crossing the Delaware and let’s try to remember what “it” was all about.
The photo credit is: www.pleonast.com/user/ethospathoslogos?&user=..
