A Dirge for Liberty

Let's keep this short and to the point, as it is very sad. Today is the day we in the United States of America call Independence Day. It is the day on which we celebrate our freedom from tyranny. However, this year some of us do not feel that we can celebrate, because we have proof of what we have long suspected: we are living under tyranny much worse than anything the founding fathers could have imagined. Imagine their outrage if the British government had set up peeping toms in every home, just in case someone happened to speak of treason! Imagine their horror if they knew that Americans would someday be subject to illegal searches on a daily basis without any knowledge, on the grounds that it was for the public good. After all, it might prevent a few crazies from killing a few people. Is the safety of a few worth the loss of privacy of the entire group? I say no. I say this is tyranny on a grand scale. We were never allowed to vote on such an important issue. It was meant to be a secret from us.

I have grown more and more disgusted with the country I loved as a child in recent years, as I have seen our leaders create unending wars while ignoring suffering in areas where we might have been able to intervene in more positive ways, use our poorest and most ignorant citizens as political pawns, and continually damage our entire country's economy so that each can claim the lack of jobs is the other's fault. It has been a truly sickening spectacle. Even more disturbing, I watched as habeas corpus was suspended in cases of suspected terrorist activity, and very few people seemed to care. I watched as the government gained more and more rights and we citizens lost more and more freedoms. I started smiling and waving for the cameras I knew must be somewhere, and everyone thought I was just being paranoid.
I hoped they were right.

They weren't.

I still smile and wave for the cameras, and talk to them, explaining what I mean and clarifying what might sound like violent anti-government sentiments. I am terrified, to be honest. After all, I have had to check out library books about communism and fascism for research papers. I even read Das Kapital. I have also checked out books on serial killers and poisons for my own personal reading pleasure (and to find out what plants might be killing my parents' goats). I know that because of all this I have probably been on a watch list for years. And now they have finally confirmed that we are all being monitored. Every time I talk about this with my husband I find myself tensing up, waiting for the sound of jackboots breaking down the door. I doubt they'll take me to Guantanamo...I wonder where they do take people now? They don't give that information away on the news.

The thing is, I don't want a big violent revolution with all of our silly leaders being guillotined. I don't want anyone to be hurt(unless you count a few kicks in the rear-end for teaching purposes), let alone killed . I don't believe in murder. But I do think we need a revolution of some sort. I want them all out and new folks in...people we actually choose, not people who are chosen for us by the parties. How do we bring this about though? How do we remove the corruption that has destroyed our government?

If you have any ideas, please let me know! Until then, let us sing a dirge for freedom, and for America.

(to the tune of Streets of Laredo)

"Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
And play the dead march as you carry her along;
Weep bitter tears as you think of her memory,
She was a young country but she had gone wrong."

PS. I know I am going to offend someone with just about every sentence of this. Feel free to express your disapproval, just please remember that I will not publish any comments that contain profanity or are downright abusive
("Obviously you are nothing but a stupid lazy ignorant woman who shouldn't have been allowed to reproduce." There, that is an example of abusive language. Don't talk like that and you'll be fine).
I have tried to keep my language civil here; please do the same. We can show our anger without letting it get the better of us. We're cool like that ;)