Some people find that prospect scary, since it connotes a very deep sense of personal responsibility about the type of society we will live in, in the future. I welcome it, not because I don't understand the stakes, but because I realize that I have no other option; faith and destiny have once again called upon all people of good will who value freedom and democracy to stand up against enslavement and tyranny.
We are on our own. Nobody is coming to the rescue. As Benjamin Franklin said, "If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately."
Yes, it is important that we acknowledge mea culpa for the deep level of endemic corruption that has swept government institutions in the entire country. We were warned by our forefathers; by philosophers of yore. Tyranny and corruption are relentless in their eternal drive to engulf societies, while the vigilance necessary to prevent their rise seldom is.
So here we are... Living in a society that has become debased and enslaved to the ethos of greed, consumerism, militarism, and corporatism. A society where the rich and powerful are able to commit great crimes with total impunity. A society where the bought-off politicians have become the henchmen of the monied ruling class.
That's the way tyranny usually engulfs a society. A psychopathic ruling class takes control over a sycophantic political class, and then imposes tyrannical rule over an apathetic populace. It's a perfect trifecta.
And thus, it is up to you to say basta; no mas. You are no longer going to be apathetic or disengaged from fully participating in the shaping of your own future. Nobody is going to tell you that you have to give up your Constitutional rights; nobody is going to tell you that it is okay to give up your privacy in the name of security; nobody is going to tell you that there is one set of rules for the rich and powerful, and one for everybody else.
If you value your freedom; if you value your dignity, and your future, and your children's future, and if you understand that we have no option than to find a way to live in harmony with each other and our natural environment, then you are going to have to do something about it. You.
And you start by speaking truth to power; by challenging corruption and the unearned sense of entitlement and privilege of the tyrannical and criminal ruling class.
Do not be afraid to take on this task. It is worthwhile, especially during a time like this in history, where after decades of mass manipulation and propaganda, there has finally been a mass awakening to the lie.
Now you know that the entire political system is corrupt; you know that the entire corporate media conglomerate serves mainly as a propaganda tool meant to manipulate your mind, so you acquiesce to your own enslavement.
You know how corporatist interest set up propaganda PR firms like the AEI and the Heritage Foundation, and fascist organizations like ALEC, and use them as tools to impose tyranny.
And you know how politicians are bought off, and bribed, and made to prostrate before the altar of greed.
Having gained that knowledge you have no option but to share it with others so they can also be awakened to reality; to unite with other good and responsible citizens and exercise your constitutional responsibility to re-establish and maintain and safeguard democracy and freedom.
Nobody else is going to do it for you; those who have become so corrupt and drunk with wealth and power are not going to relent and give up easily. They have no sense of dignity or responsibility to country. They are self-serving parasites, seeking to extract wealth and power by pillaging and by deceiving.
It is your responsibility to clean house; to remove the sociopathic ruling class and replace them with true honest public servants. It is not going to be easy, but again, if you want to live as a free man (or woman), you have no option than to take on this sacred task; it is a calling, and it is now your turn.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must pay for all they get...
- Frederick Douglass