Thomas Jefferson Says: RISE UP!
Thomas Jefferson, as you likely know, penned a decent chunk of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. His words should be inscribed on every civic monument and building, tattooed upon the flesh of every elected representative. Most vital was his declaration that, “Governments are instituted among men to secure the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Further, if the People recognize that their government is acting contrary to their well-being, “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institure new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most liekly to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Abe Lincoln revisited these words just prior to the launch of the Civil War. It’s time for us to take a hard look at them as we wage battle against those who would hamper our efforts to save a planet that is in great distress. If the Dems and Republicans continue to look the other way on environmental issues, Again quoting Jefferson, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” I don’t know about you, but I have a four-year-old son. He is going to grow up in a world that, if it continues along its current path of enironmental degradation, will be entirely unliveable by 2035. If our elected officials refuse to change course, then their ignorance is a direct assault on the U.S. population, as well as that of the world. Many of my fellow citizens, even the most “aware” or the most “liberal” have infinite faith that somehow we’ll get bailed out, that our “leaders” have our best interests at stake, that the Toyota Prius is a mechanical Eco-Jesus that has arrived in the nick of time. I’m willing to wait another year or two, to see if the Democrats really do give a damn, to see if the “Inconvenient Truth” was more than just a post-VP bellowings of a guilt-wracked man who sat on his hands for 8 years. Beyond that, I will do what any good father would do - I will protect my family, my friends, and those who have no voice from those who seek to destroy them.
The saddest thing to me is the fact that the vast majority think that anyone who espouses such notions in this time of unparalleled danger is considered utterly cracked. We’ve forgotten our history so thoroughly. We’ve become perfectly conditioned. The U.S. public school system, modeled directly after the 19th century Prussian People’s School (designed to rapidly produce compliant soldiers, with the children of the Prussian elite going to the “real” schools), has done it’s job admirably. We’re a threat only to ourselves.
Tags: Politics, Ruminations