"You are preaching to the choir," said a 60 ish man as he read the sign. "[But] I've been out of work for 7 months and I applied to an aerospace firm. Hopefully, if I get a job, it won't be war related."
This was indicative of last night's vigil, one filled with horn honks and waves of support, the first horn honk of which came while the vigil was being set up and the sign not yet displayed. And the vigil was joined by a 50 ish couple who often join and by a 55 ish woman who has joined on occasion recently.
But today dear reader, I would like to share with you my reply to my friend Ben Haney who said I was harsh on President George Bush about the wars and about the economy but have been far less critical of President Obama:
I view President Obama much as I did President Bush, both guilty of extensive illegal actions and wish one would be impeached and the other who is out of office be indicted. But I’ve come to understand it doesn’t matter who is elected President or who serves in Congress, the system is bought and sold. Until the people take to the streets, this won’t change, up to the time we go bankrupt. It is my hope that the Occupy Wall Street movement or another movement becomes widespread and continuous, involving Americans across the nation in huge numbers to take constructive, non-violent action to seize control of their government and restore the Republic it was.
As for the wars, I take to the streets EVERY Wednesday and nearly every Friday and host http://www.candlelightvigils.blogspot.com/ and http://peacedemonstratins.blogspot.com/ in an attempt to fire up people. I’ve also written letters to the editor of the Daily Breeze to reach thousands more. But the combination of no military draft, widespread U.S. government censorship on news coverage and people scared about the economy, keeps them honking horns of support but not getting involved. Ironically, if they got involved in large numbers they could stop these wars.
It breaks my heart to see this nation, once the greatest nation in the world, fall apart. But it is falling apart and for now my solutions fall on deaf ears. But it won’t stop me from fighting the fight because humanity is worth it and I refuse to sit in silence while American drones and “Kill/Capture” squads conduct widespread murder in the name of peace. I refuse to be silent while America borrows and prints money to the point of insolvency to support the military industrial complex by building endless numbers weapons of mass destruction, fighter jets it doesn’t use, drones, tanks, ships and other weapons, all to employ people in U.S. based manufacturing and all at taxpayer expense.
I refuse to be silent while America’s soldiers and their families pay an enormous price. Soldiers are killed and maimed and their families bear the brunt, invisible to the U.S. public because the government doesn’t want to show the human price of war, not even the price paid by those who answered the call to arms issued by U.S. politicians, few of whom would ever send their own families to fight. I refuse to be silent while the military industrial complex provides hundreds of thousands of “contractors” all at taxpayer expense, while making huge profits for themselves as additional blood money to that they already make on weapons. The number of contractors is unknown to the American public for as usual with everything surrounding the military, it’s a secret and the U.S. news media doesn’t pursue it.
I refuse to be silent as the U.S. elite builds an American Empire, occupying or fighting in countries at will, despite it being illegal under the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Convention and the United Nations Charter. And I refuse to be silent when the many victims of those wars including dead or orphaned children have no voice. I raise my voice for them and encourage others to as well, for we are all brethren and they are your and my extended family. We will all be impacted by the suffering we cause them.
Thank you Ben for your comments and questions.
Dick
No comments:
Post a Comment