politricks and other distractions

Happy Fourth of July

It's been weeks since I've blogged here. Thanks for still tuning in, if anybody's still out there. I've been writing and working on other projects, so this had to take a back seat.

It's also been a pretty depressing few weeks in American politics. The Supreme Court has issued rulings that protect gerrymandering across the country. The citizens of this fine land can now look forward to extended periods of administrative haggling in state legislatures any time one party gains control of both the state house and the Governor's mansion. It's about time the Dems started to play that kind of hardball and I know they will, I just lament the loss of time spent GOVERNING, you know running things like the schools, the roads, the police, taking care of the poor, and protecting their environment.

And when the Supremes laid down the law and finally tried to rein in our Imperial Lord and Master by outlawing his military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Dubya and his minions in Congress immediately said they'd find new ways around that decision. I guess we're moving towards a monarchy at a record pace.

Patrick Fitzgerald disappointed many of us letting scumbag Karl Rove off, but one can only hope there was a plea deal involved and we'll see a different kind of fruit from that labor.

Then there are murders and rapes committed by (hopefully only a few of ) our troops in Iraq. Nothing like raping a woman, killing her family and burning the body to win the hearts and minds of a people whose country we're occupying. We've lowered the bar on who we'll allow to enlist - and raised the age to 42! - so we're bound to get people who have a few problems. And now news reports admit that Bush made their jobs easier by disbanding the CIA taskforce dedicated to finding Osama Bin Laden. I guess we've just quietly checked him off our list. Dead or alive? As Emily Litella would say, "never mind!"

So even though this is my favorite holiday, today I face it with a heavy heart. Coming from a military family, I always enjoyed the fireworks display in DC. I didn't mind that it was a celebration of war, since it was a war we fought for our independence. It was the one night a year my family went out together. We'd spread a blanket on the lawn by the Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington and watch as the sky lit up over the Washington Monument with fireworks. They'd reflect in the Potomac, encircling the boats anchored there with shine. It was a night that was always happy.

Now I think we're in a much tougher fight for our independence. Apathy and the busy-ness of our lives keeps most people from paying too much attention to what's going on. And so far that's led to the gradual stripping of our rights as Americans, the slow drip of freedom leaving our lives as we keep up the race in the hamster wheel to pay our bills and keep the oil companies fat with profits.

This is the way America ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

posted by dcnative @ 10:39 AM