First there was the earthquake in Haiti with up to 2 million people not having food or water. We could give money, but many of us still felt impotent to help. And our federal government seemed to respond similarly.
Then there was the loss of Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat to a Republican in Massachusetts, a Republican offering his daughters at his victory speech.
The next day we hear that health reform is dead.
And today we hear that the Supreme Court sides with corporations giving them and other special interests freeer speech than any of us can ever hope to have!
What's next? Is it time to simply focus on the local and let the federal government self destruct?
Recently in Asheville, a number of us started to act as though we are a Transition Town, a community of resilient people who are facing the challenge with enthusiasm as Peak Oil and Global Climate Disruption intersect.
In other words, the world may go to hell in a hand basket, but we are determined to carry on because we will be much more resilient and able to meet our food, energy, water and shelter needs no matter what.
We will know how to grow our own food and preserve it for the winter. We will be able to grow some food throughout the year. We will know how to conserve what we have better. And we will also know that we can all depend on one another.
While all of this is good, I mourn for what is happening in my larger community, my home country that we call the U.S.A. While my country continues to occupy foreign lands spending my tax money to kill and maim people who had no malice toward me, I grow my own crops in my front and side yard. While my country cannot join all the other industrialized nations around the globe to offer guaranteed health care, I plug up the energy leaks in my small and simple apartment.
While my U.S. Supreme Court decides today that Exxon-Mobile and Con Agra and Monsanto buy and sell my elected representatives with unlimited amounts of money, I work with community members to set up our own local currency.
My United States of America has now become the United Corporations of America. Only thing is corporations aren't human beings. They are instead our slave holders who control more than any real slave holders ever did.
Pinch me now! Are you sure we still don't have a Bush presidency?