American Eulogy

I love this country, or maybe it is the idea of this Country that I love. What we have today is no longer America. It is no longer a land of freedom and dignity; hope and the future. It is not a land where people from the ghetto can achieve wealth or even a better standard of living. In fact, people in this country aren't even a priority of their own government. Witness New Orleans.

America has a myth about education. There is an assumption that we are a well educated people. Once, long ago in 0ur history this may have been true. Not now. A high school education in this country is equivalent to 6th grade in most Western Countries. Don't believe it? Ask a high school graduate to write an essay. The result is pitiful. A university education is becoming a rarity, except among the rich and well to do. This is becoming a land where a university education is only for the chosen, not the rabble.

America has a myth about Religion. The myth is that America is founded on Christian principles and beliefs. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a lie perpetuated by Christians to establish dominence over all other religions. Christianity, has become like the 800lb guerrilla in the room, a bad-breathed bully who shreds the furniture and craps on the rug. All other religions and spiritual practices have been crushed beneath's this slobbering monster's rage. Somehow, Christianity, this massive simian, has taken a lunging break to the extreme right leaving even Jesus Christ behind, never noticing or even caring. AFter all, in this country, appearance is just as good as reality.

I don't know if American was ever this land that I love. It may have always been a sham. Just look at the McCarthy hearings in the mid-1950's and ask yourself; "Are Loyalty oaths and witch hunts part of freedom?". "Is it in keeping with American Ideals to blackball someone because they believe in another political or religious system?" The answer is "yes", if history is any indication.Then turn to today and look at the abandonment of American Citizens by the U.S. Government after Hurricane Katrina and ask yourself; "How can I have loyalty to a political system that has no loyalty to me?"

I fear that the land I love is gone, and sadly, perhaps it never was. This country has become a land of ignorance, banality, and utter cruelty. This is a country, once with so much promise, is now perched on the precipice of absolute tyranny and theocracy. It is a pariah nation, blinded by hubris, confused by lies, and controlled by conservative republicans and evangelical christians who demand subservience in place of knowledge.

Go out now and ask anyone if they know about the Internet. Most will say 'yes', and they will tell you that the United STates invented the internet and leads the world in this technology. Sadly, this is not true.The United States is now falling farther behind the rest of the western world in internet use and technology.

"In the past five years, the United States has dropped from 4th to 16th place in global rankings of broadband internet use." 'We're behind Hong Kong, Japan, and Israel, as well as most of Western Europe.."
Additionally, broadband rates in the United States are 200 times slower than in Europe and this country is no longer consdered a leader in Internet Innovation. Europe and many advanced nations are positioning themselves for the future by developing broadband internet innovation that will yield "...economic growth, increased productivity, and a better quality of life..." (American Progress, Dec. 6, 2005)

But how can that be? Isn't this America? Aren't we the acknowledged leaders in all technology? Isn't American the greatest country on the earth? No dear, that is a myth.

At this time in our history the sorry state of this country is being created by three entities that want absolute power and control: Republican Politicians, Theocratic Evangelical Christians, and American Corporate Interests. The United States is falling behind because it is in the interest of these three entities to be so.

Let's look at corporations for a moment. Across the country they are working to control the internet solely for their own profit. Read the following account of what is going on in New Orleans.

"..According to the Washington Post, "officials said BellSouth was upset about [New Orleans's] plan to bring high-speed Internet access for free to homes and businesses to help stimulate resettlement and relocation to the devastated city." Though notable for its ruthlessness, BellSouth's move is just the latest evidence that major U.S. telecom firms will stop at little to undercut local control and prevent competition in their efforts to outlaw municipal wireless systems. (American Progress, Dec. 6, 2005)

The United States has a poor internet system because it is designed that way. The unholy triumvirate; Republican politicans, evangelical christians, and corporate power, have combined to reduce America to a hopeless world of truncated promises, meaningless patriotism, and a soulless religion while the rest of the world, explores the future unencumbered by such tyranny. Ignorance is Bliss in this Orwellian world of America, 2005.

Today, I sat in a secluded coffee both at the mall and watched my fellow Americans go about their holiday shopping. I don't know this as a certainty, but I have a fairly good guess that less than a handful have any idea how badly America has slipped in the world.

My guess is that these good people assume America is still the leader in world technolgy, science and mathmatics. They don't know that China graduates 5 times more scientists than the United States and that the world is flocking to attend Universities in Asian Countries. The United States, once the acknowledged leader, is no more.

My guess is that these loyal Americans have no idea that despite our stores crammed with food, toys, electronic gadgets, designer clothing, and assorted, nonessential things, we are a shell of what we once were. All of these goods are not the result of American knowledge, expertise, or industry. Everything we have is the product of Chinese, or Japanese, or European industry and technology. America is nothing more than a monstrous mall loaded with goods from other countries and the only skill Americans now possess are shopping and buying.

The United States has the most expensive health care in the world, and an infant mortality rate closer to Zambia. Yet, if you corner and American and ask him or her where our Health Care rates in the world, they will immediately chirp: "We're number one." We aren't even close and few Americans have a clue.

The triumverate of Republicanism, Evangelism, and Corporatism has created an America foolishly ignorant of the real world. The closest we come to actual reality is a television program that teaches survival skills ass backwards. Just a note, if you find yourself trapped in the jungle or desert, or on an isolated island, you had better work at cooperation, not conflict, or you're dead meat. But the triumverate doesn't want you to work as a group, they want to instill the values that everyone works only for themselves. So the lesson is the myth: "The lone stranger with rugged individualism triumphs". What horse shit. The trumverate knows that 'rugged individuals' are sitting ducks for manipulation and control.

America is littered with people who haven't the faintest clue about what is happening in the world, or even our own country. WE are taught to be ignorant, believe only what our leaders tell us, follow the myths, and don't ask questions.

Other than personal and national indebtedness, we lead the world in nothing.

America, where have you gone?