I, standing at attention, my little hand raised in salute.
My heart racing, silently screaming,
“I’m free, see, I’m free!
It is better,
constantly moving on the wind.
My heart aches less at the shame we’ve allowed;
as the one time symbol of my and the world’s
personal freedom, hope and pride dances with the wind.
Changed; I now know that only a People
can make a little girl’s heart move
to salute and cry out, “See my Flag?! See?! I’m Free! I’m FREE!”
Only a People who are not blown by any wind…
Only a People ever vigilant of little girls’ freedoms…..
Now I know, that little girls’ freedoms are blown away
by the winds of Fascism,
as in all times past…
Copyright 2008/14 by JD Adam
All rights retained by Author. An American Girl may be freely copied and freely distributed without request as long as this copyright notice remains in place.
English: Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ll share here what I said to my friends….
First, Friends, we had a coup in our Government implemented by the United States Supreme Court during the Presidential election of 2000. Vice President Al Gore was running for the Office of President. George W. Bush was running on the Republican “ticket”. Bush, as you remember, was an “Oil Man” whose family‘s privilege traced back to a goodly amount of “Nazi” gold, via the Walker family, so he enjoyed an inherited position as a member of what we call here, the 1%. We define the 1% as approximately two thousand individuals on the Planet (and four to six hundred here in the U.S.) that own up to 99% of, and control the work and property of all the Peoples of the World.
Many of you are seasoned Fascist Fighters. Clearly, we didn’t recognize them when they spawned in our own politics.
For the first time in American History, the Supreme Court of the United States of America stopped a full and accurate counting of our votes. In so doing they found themselves justified to install the looser, George W. Bush, as America’s President.
Frankly, if it wasn’t for rare independent media like Democracy Now covering stories like this and Wikileaks, Chelsea Manning and the Iraq war video; with Glenn Greenwald reporting on Edward Snowden’s disclosures on the NSA spying web, we wouldn’t know much about anything. But we did notice when we lost our right to choose……
The shock was beginning to wear off quickly with Bush in office. He was a fool in speech and action, vacationing (clearing shrub from his “ranch”) most of the time. Bible thumping Racists began to act crazy, and the hard right-wing “Tea Party” burst loudly upon our propagandized Political stage. We had not seen this type of vitriol since the Civil Rights Movement. They are fundamentalist in everything from Religion to philosophy and science! Jim Crow, John Birch (the Koch Brother’s influence, their Father co-founded the John Birch Society) and the Klu Klux Klan all rolled up into one “movement”. They are not very well learned, even those who have academic credentials proved the effort was wasted on them. After all, the President the 1% gave us was a Harvard grad.
We were also dealing with an out of control media blitz by the 1% Bush Cheney camp. Just to give you some idea, Bush Cheney authorized over eight* billion dollars in campaign advertising which was translated as fake “News” Broadcasts all over the country for an extended period of time. We still see this pattern in our local news broadcasts everywhere.
So I come to that which galvanized America in fear and anger and secured every American Citizen as “Victim”. We all know it well, and just as I have, some of you have lost loved ones by terror. The financial center of the world, the Twin Towers in New York City, was hit by suicide pilots with innocent passengers aboard two commercial flights. One of three attacks launched that day, September 11, 2001. We forgot all about our own home-grown Fascists thumping their Bibles wrapped in our Flag. They were already in the White House and we didn’t know a remedy, nor would we ever be allowed one as our esteemed Democrats took impeachment “off the table”!
We found ourselves helpless in the face of billions of 1% dollars with complete control over all public media. We were stampeded like Buffalo over the cliff by their “Global War on Terror”. Suddenly, instead of working with other Countries, We The People were used as fodder in the Administration’s power grab behind the insane “Axis of Evil” and Iraq’s “WMD” contrivances. (Yes, some of us knew these were lies.) And it’s all gone to literal Hell from there.
In any case you know the rest as well if not better than any American. Suffice to say that the Coup de grace came with the Supreme Court’s 2010 proclamation introducing us to our newest American Citizen Brothers; the Multi-National Corporations. The 1% as Giuseppe, with carefully sculpted Corporate Pinocchios presented to us as cuddly Velveteen Rabbits to be cherished into living entities… “It’s alive! It’s alive!” cried Frankenstein (The Supreme Court) in triumph! We REALLY noticed that one!
Our new “fellow Citizen Corporations” owned the media, took ownership of our Commons and control of everything from local School Boards to Congress; they are the Supreme Court, they are above the Law, and they are holding us hostage. You did hear we had a Government shutdown? ……. this is a cry for help, can somebody hear us?, we are not what you see on TV, we are people like you and our Democracy is crumbling from beneath us every day!!!……………. Oh, sorry about that, I got carried away…..
If you wonder at my leaving out all the craziness around the legitimate majority vote with mandate for Barack Obama as our President in 2008 and 2012, the Government shut down should be final example enough that the Fascist Right will allow We The People no further rights to our Government. It is my opinion if we don’t get some help we will not see a democratically elected President in our Nation any time soon again.
Anyway, I’m tired now. I hate this history, but it looks like we must clean up the past now before we can actually move forward. Americans will re-discover what binds us as a People, and we will stand in solidarity with one another again. But not as long as Corporations are considered living Citizens and Democracy remains One Dollar, One Vote. For they have decimated our wealth and re-written our laws to disenfranchise Human Citizens from the Democratic process. Each day more such laws are being passed in almost every State in our Union. Those who refuse to stay home and not vote are legally murdered in the streets by gun toting racists; yes, even in our own homes by a militarized police force. You already know that the NSA is collecting all digital information about each one of us, and you.
This is our sad, sad story, and we are sorry to have let you down, they tied our hands with our own wealth. Our elected officials yet have no stomach to stand in the face of 9/11, left without courage or reason to protect that which is most cherished by the people who once voted them in; our Constitution, our Democracy!
Your sad and weary Friend in the U.S.
Official portrait of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Congress approached the 2006 reauthorization of the VRA
with great care and seriousness. The same cannot be said of the Court’s
opinion today. The Court makes no genuine attempt to engage with the
massive legislative record that Congress assembled. Instead, it relies
on increases in voter registration and turnout as if that were the whole
story. See supra, at 18–19. Without even identifying a standard of
review, the Court dismissively brushes off arguments based on “data from
the record,” and declines to enter the “debat[e about] what [the]
record shows” … One would expect more from an opinion striking at the
heart of the Nation’s signal piece of civil-rights legislation.”
They recommend that I tell you something about myself, intimating that you may find what I have to say more interesting if I do so. I honor the right of every reader the full use of our escape and delete keys.
I have been and am many things, including being extremely curious about others’ trans-formative experiences. First I am an insatiable Bibliophile. Have been since the first time I held a book in my hands! Then they gave me paper without words on it and a pencil. My next longest state of being began, writing.
Primarily I’m a poet. Some poets commit every word penned to tongue’s tip, in explanation of the Poem. That’s not me. It isn’t in the words we speak that the communication exists with this poet, it is in the words I write. It is the shared communion with my Creator.It is in the poet’s inspired poetry that everyone, at once and alone, can glimpse something inside of themselves that is at the same time in each and every one of us. I know that the Human is spurred by what moves their heart; Truth and Beauty.
I, of course, welcome this medium to share my poetry, but that’s not my motive in writing this blog. It is Election 2012, undeniably the most important Election of the 21st Century; I dare say that our individual and collective actions today will certainly be felt throughout the rest of Human History. We are bringing about a world order that has only been dreamed of by good and ill, in bits and pieces throughout our modern history. Most of us are lost in a maze of unreliable misinformation; our “system” has failed and we are angry, frustrated, distrustful and resentful; even worse, vindictive! Mostly just hurt and afraid.
If you are under 21, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for the world you have grown up in. Ours was a lot better, and it was pretty bad. You have so much to catch up on, we haven’t told you the history of You yet, but you must learn it, as it will be the foundation you build your own personal and generational history upon. Ask questions, and learn to discern the motives of those offering their hand. As we say, “Question Authority” all the time, in every Time, no matter if the “authority” is you. Teach your children, don’t fail them like we did you; by my standards anyway.
What I do know is you are one person, like me, sitting in silence with this creation, and I am humbled just thinking about you, having captured your attention for a moment. I have to admit, I’d love to know some of your Brilliant Ideas!
It’s better.
... following Odysseus..... 
You must be logged in to post a comment.