I've only written one other diary here (last year and of little consequence), I comment some and lurk incessantly. But with the confluence of the 35W Bridge collapse, the impending 2nd Anniversary of the levies' collapse in New Orleans, the continuing outrage in Iraq, our Democratic representatives collapse and, certainly not the least, my frustation at not being able to be in Chicago right now(!), many thoughts have started to, oddly, quiet down enough to be sorted out. Follow along if you'd like...
On KO the other day, Jonathan Turley noted with some awesomely ironic irony that, until this Administration, the FISA Court was thought by many to border on unconstitutional and now we're struggling to preserve it as at least some sort of check on this Unitary Executive!
I was enveloped by NightProwlKitty's diary "PAIN" because it so completely tied up all of my responses to these issues being presented to us every day. I am at a point where I don't know what to do to at least be able to tell myself that I'm attempting to make things better.
I've written letters, made phone calls, signed petitions, attended rallies, volunteered for candidates, contributed to local and national campaigns and generally kept informed of what's going on around me and engaged those that seemed amenable.
I think a big point that needs to be made is that taxes are not inherently evil because, if we are to call ourselves Americans, WE ARE COLLECTIVELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE. And we have a right to expect that At the very least, physical structures must be maintained and that takes money. I remember saying to my mom once when I was in, probably, middle school (1960-something) that taxes were kind of like rent that everybody paid to keep things up. She was driving at the time, looked over, smiled and said "I never thought of it that way before, sweetie." How the hell did I know that then and the 'GrownUps' in charge don't know that now?!?! How and where do we stand up?
I am at a loss as to where to go now, if our Democratic repressentatives continue to roll. Our Troops must come home, health care must be available to all of our citizens, our roads need to be maintaind and our way of life must be attended to.
The 'terrorists' are not destroying us...we are letting ourselves fall apart.