Our founding fathers gave us a Republic, not a Democracy. |
I was probably about 17 the first time I picked up a copy of
George Orwell's book, 1984. I'm thinking this was 1969 and just before I real
Tolkien's trilogy the first time. We were coming out of the turbulent 1960's
and I was a young man close to graduating high school with no plan for my
future. All that was about to change with the Vietnam War on my horizon, but I
didn't know that. I learned of the horror of war about this time when I found a
copy of "Johnny got his gun". About 10 years ago, I reread it and Fahrenheit 451.
I have this predilection to read everything concerning a
subject until I fully understand it. For instance, about 20 years ago I became
interested in black history. 19 books later, I pushed back from the library
table, sated. Unfortunately, like food for the stomach, I consume this
knowledge and it fades, so once again I find I need to go back and reread some
material. This is what is happening now with the book "1984". Now
somewhere over the years, I also saw the movie and have heard reference to this
book many times. Now it comes to me that many of the folks who claim knowledge
of it have only seen the movie.
If they would have read the book, they would be shaking in
their boots over the current climate in the United States social political
scene. Donald Trumps systematic dismantling of the oligarchic democracy would
be impossible in Orwell's dystopian society. Heck, it might just be impossible
in ours. Our government has ceased to be a republic and we proles don't even
know it - or care. As long as we get our government bread and circuses, we are
happy to be blissfully ignorant of how a select few dictate what we accept as
the norm.
Our government has directly adopted Orwell's War is Peace
philosophy and each new President, regardless of said position carries it
forward. The United States
is the most predatory country on earth. In the name of freedom, we walk all
over countries traditions and culture and ruin them. To get an idea of how many
troops we have in foreign countries "protecting them", our military
in Europe spends close to a million dollars a
day on alcohol and food alone. War means money and by golly, we are good at it.
The USA
spends more on "defense" than the next 7 countries put together. We
have 200,000 troops stationed in 177 countries, yet we can't stop drugs from
flooding into our own land.
Orwell coined the term Newspeak. While there are many
interpretations of what exactly this is, suffice it to say almost everything we
read and hear as news has been massaged to get across someone's interpretation.
Gone are Chet and David and Walter. What we have now are a group of giddy news
teams or angry late night "comedians" telling us the real dirt. When
only 20% of the adult world will read a newspaper and 62% get all their
"news" from Facebook, we have set ourselves up to run off the nearest
cliff.
A man at work one day got defensive and all but yelled
"I don't discuss politics with friends!" I looked at the fellow and I
swear the thought that ran through my mind was, "Well then, who do you
discuss them with - enemies?" Anyone who challenges you to define what you
believe, is your friend. Don't get mad or defensive, get educated. If you belly
up to The View to get the news, then god bless you, but I wouldn't recommend
that line. I watch the athletes taking a knee at professional sports venues and
I wonder how much history do they know or care about. I watch angry people
incited by who knows who, stage protests, yet when reporters ask them to define
their grievances, they are so vague that a 5th grader would walk away confused.
As in 1984, we are erasing history until many people cannot
explain major events. Ask about the Spanish flu of 1918 that killed 20-50
million people worldwide and they stare back at you with hollow eyes. Don't
even ask them about World War One... or Two or the Civil War. They think Vietnam
was WWII in size and scope and their line of reference is Saving Private Ryan. At
the end of the movie, many couldn't tell which war it was.
It's time to drain the swamp. Boot out the old guard and
bring in the new who remember what a Republic is. Our democratic oligarchy is
killing our freedoms. We must vote out the established cancerous system.
Privileged "representatives" on both sides of our government are
screaming foul because they see their thrones threatened. Their only concern is
staying in office. It doesn't matter who is in the White House as long as they
can conduct business as usual and that business has nothing to do with you or
me.
Freedom of speech? There is no freedom of speech, because of
newspeak, political correctness trumps it. You literally cannot say anything
that could possibly be offensive to one of 500 splinter groups or you are a
monster. A monster and a pervert and a racist. People literally want to kill
you or have you locked up. Back in the day, folks would just avoid you and mark
you as someone undesirable, but they sure didn't try to stuff a sock down your
throat. No. There is no first Amendment freedom of speech right. It's gone.
Time to vote. Time to drain the swamp.
.
5 comments:
Mimsy315: Sad & scared. Not for me but my grandchildren.
Melody Marshall-Sievers: Excellent article pops! I talk about this all the time at work and it seems, like myself, most have no clue how to "drain the swamp" as you write. My generation is swimming in so many told falsehoods we do not know which way is up anymore. So what do you do? We do nothing. It's a crying shame.
Allyce Lankford: Great article! I had what I thought was a conversation with someone I love very much about a topic that was very important to me. They became defensive and wanted to know why I got so “worked up” about it. I told them I that one day I hope they found something in their lives to become passionate about and not take conversations they are uncomfortable with as a personal attack on them.
John Frock
Wow! Way to go Bert! Love it! And, you nailed it!
Keep breaking it down, Bert. Good job.
Post a Comment