August 5, 2008
by Philip A Farruggio

That fine political analyst, Mr. Shakespeare, said it best: " The fault dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. " Well, the stars these days are the political stars, the ones who inhabit the four houses of our government: The White House, Senate, House of Representatives and the Supreme Court ( those appointments have always been political, you should know that ) .

These people are supposed to have our public trust. They are supposed to 'speak for us ', we the people. For is it not 'we the people 'who pump out too much of our weekly earnings at the gas station? We who have either mediocre health coverage or none at all? We who watch our cities and roads and schools slide into Third World status as select industries make billions in profits from the Iraq disgrace?

We who....... Oh , you get it by now, right?

They stand at the podium, like peacocks, dressed so neat and trim. A president who cannot wait to retreat next January to his ranch in Crawford, having done the deed for rich cronies of his old man and himself. Senators and Congress people ( with but few honored exceptions) who posture and spew rabble rousing gunk , while answering only to the wealthy donors and special interests who put them there.... Financially!

For it is you, the suckers and saps and lollipops who pull the levers to elect these phonies. They then vote away your hard earned cash....... Giving it to the few who already have much too much. Never any talk of really representing We the People with ..... Action! They will wait, as did the liars and paid performers of America's pre depression government, until the layoffs and foreclosures and eviction notices snowball into endless lines at unemployment offices, food pantries and soup kitchens. A convoluted parody of this tragedy plays out as those same masses, to save a few bucks, will then stand on cashier lines at the local Wal-Mart, as it rips away scores of local mom and pop businesses ( and jobs ) .

Think I'm kidding, right? Tell me, how much more of your tax dollars need go down the toilet in Iraq ( current tally over $ 600 billion ) before you realize that there is no federal money to help the states to then help the towns where you live? Laugh at me, while the library system gets either privatized or cut into oblivion. The most sacred thing to this writer, as a little boy, was to walk one mile each week to my library. To stand amongst all those wonderful rows and rows of books, picking and choosing which new one to bring home to read at bedtime.

Sad, how it will all end..... Sooner than you may think. How many cops, teachers and other vital city workers will be laid off, services cut by your town or city..... Before you see the abyss getting closer to your door? How many IRAs will be cashed in, early , to stave off the bill collectors?

How high do you need see the crime rate spiral before you notice the connection? How physically ill must more of us get, with no money to pay for proper treatment, before we see the end is ......here? How many of us ( this writer included ) must walk around with spaces in our mouths where a tooth once lived, because it is so much cheaper to have them pulled than to afford a root canal and crown?

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What to do? Radicals talk of ..... Revolution!

To replace one group of goons and fools with but another? No, the answer is simple, so simple it is scary. YOU, you reading this need to ...... Protest. Find one hour a week and stand on the street corners of your town, sign in hand and show your neighbors that 'Enough is enough!'

Do not vote for the hacks that come out from their safe havens each election cycle, and then retreat back in. Write in Mickey Mouse before voting for the hack. Better still, if you are a true conservative or a textbook Republican, then cast your national vote for the Libertarian candidate for President. The libertarians ( recall Ron Paul's run this past year ?) Agree with we progressives when it comes to 'foreign entanglements '( duh, like ..... NONE ! ) And maintaining over 700 military bases in over 100 different countries ( duh, like..... NONE! ) .

Now, if you are a true progressive, not some yuppified phony liberal who votes Democrat no matter what , then cast your eye for either Cynthia Mckinney of the Green Party or Ralph Nader, when you vote for President. As far as doing something substantial and meaningful , take 10 minutes each week and send in your gripes and ideas, flooding the 'Letters to the Editor 'of local and national newspapers. Go to public meetings and forums, with others who agree with you, and ...... Speak out! Tell anyone who will listen to you " How much does one person have to earn before we say Enough!?  Take the profit out of the misery of the many for the benefit of the few! Support our small mom and pop businesses and say NO to the national chains." Then practice what you just preached. Stop giving Wal-Mart all your money. Spend a little less there and a little more at a local competitor or theirs. Finally, tell your elected officials, from your Congressperson to the City Council person: " Represent the interests of 9 to 5 folks or....... Out !!! " Demand a Medicare for All system. Tell those who support sending soldiers to Iraq " Hey, send your kids or grand kids... Or sign up yourself.....hypocrite! "

Is all this easy to do? Not really. Complacency is always the easier road to take. Yet, if you truly believe that there is a God and a 'sweet hereafter ', pause to consider: 'Why are we here? 'Really. Why are we here? Is it not to serve others and reserve a place for ourselves in the heaven our faith and our ministers and wise men tell us exists?

To this writer the Holy Trinity for mankind is : Truth , Unconditional Love and Forgiveness . Truth is the beacon we must follow. What good does it profit us, spiritually, if we continue to either live in untruth or follow leaders who are not truthful?..

These Houses of Cards will never collapse, unless they take all of we good people down with them.

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Philip A Farruggio [send him email] is a free lance columnist, small businessman and activist. Since the 2000 elections, he has had over 90 columns posted on various websites and in many newspaper op-ed sections. To review some which have been shown, just google his name.

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