I saw the people of Tunisia force change, democratic change. Hopefully, the country will come out of it better, more democratic, healthier, and more responsive to people’s needs.
Now the same thing is happening in Egypt; the people are tired of a corrupt government, and they are taking to the streets to demand change. They are extending the hand of friendship to the Army, calling them "the People’s Shield". And that is what the Army should be.
meanwhile, in the United States....
Here in the United States, the Army has become a tool of the corporations. Trillions of dollars in profits are flowing to so-called "defense" industries while everyone else suffers. The same defense industries that are sucking our treasury dry to the tune of trillions have lobbyists that bribe our government officials shamelessly. And because our election process is so dependent on money, this is not only done, but done legally.
Meanwhile, our infrastructure, our education, healthcare, alternative energy, and so many other things that make us a civilized country are going by the boards. And we take it.
Maybe we keep letting the corporations and their hired politicians rob us of our birthright because we’re still too comfortable; satisfied with plastic products from China, food that does not nourish us from corporations here in the United States, overpriced but still barely available medicine from big Pharma, and mindless entertainment, we are way too complacent.
We are like the frog being boiled alive; the water’s on the edge of simmering, but we’re still patiently toeing the line, because many of us can still live a barely satisfactory life. and it’s only satisfactory because we are satisfied with substandard education, infrastructure, government, healthcare, and entertainment.
As we gradually lowered our standards, we’ve actually accepted things such as Beck, Limbaugh, and other hacks as entertainment, instead of seeing them for the cheap rabble-rousers they are.
As we gradually lowered our standards, we’ve actually accepted potholed roads, nonexistent mass transit, corporate healthcare, and food that ruins our health. We "go along" with all of this because we’re just barely satisfied; and we are just barely satisfied with the standard of living that would’ve been called inadmissible even 30 years ago.
So yes, I envy the people of Egypt, who have the courage to go out and demand change. We were sold "hope and change" but frankly, I haven’t seen much. A weak health care bill that is in the process of being gutted, a nod to alternative energy while the corporations gut that, complete capitulation to big Pharma and the insurance companies, a selling out of our country to the big banks; what’s not to like? At least for the people who really run the country?
In Egypt, people are telling the government who really runs the country. They may succeed, and they may not; only time will tell. In Tunisia, change is coming, and maybe there is hope. In the United States? Not so much.
We’re comfortable. Perhaps some day we may get uncomfortable enough to actually have a hope for change; but until we get the military-industrial complex off our backs nothing will change. Got that? Nothing. Oh, maybe a little something, a little scrap thrown to the dogs to keep them from making too much noise, but not any substantive change. That might make the corporations uncomfortable, and they, after all, are the ones that pay our politicians.
I envy the people of Egypt. They are showing that they have the courage to do what we don’t; make damn sure that there is real change. I wish them the best.