A man or woman with the best intentions, who've lived an honest, humble life prior to office, will become tainted by the United States Government's Political Regime...where the government's needs come well before the people's needs, their own very citizens...needs.
However, most honest, humble individuals never even get close to holding a position or office of authority in the United States Government. It's the ruthless, lying, cheating pricks who are the pick of the litter...
Ah...the U.S. Government...
They've got a hand in every damn country in the world...as most countries do, in the form of an Embassy or Consulate...or...well both, I guess. I mean really, what the hell is the difference? Embassy/Consulate...I'm too goddamn lazy to look it up online so maybe some astute person out there in Cyberland can enlighten me.
I'm a fairly good representative of what I'll call, "The näive kid from the southwest, born in the 50's."
The buzzwords back in the mid-to-late 50's and the early to late 60's, were "Patriotism, Optimism, Communism and wholesome living." I grew up in that 1950's household where daddy was an alcoholic, mommy was a psychotic abuser, grandma was a lazy washout, and family secrets were well-kept.
There was a debate in my household, whether to dole out the mega-money and send me...little Jimmy...to private school, or opt-out for the much cheaper route of sending me to public school. Since my father was not only a drinker, but also a very bad gambler, my mother made the decision to send me to public school, afraid the money just wouldn't be there if I were to attend private school.
I wasn't like most kids...afraid of that first day of school.
No, I was excited.
Being at home was becoming a bore for me at age six and I was also looking forward to spending several hours a day away from my mother and her psychotic anger issues...often being beaten within an inch of my life for shit like forgetting to turn off the T.V., or for making too much noise while playing out back of her beauty shop, which was attached to the house as an addition.
No, I had my newly purchased notebooks, lined paper, pencils, pens, colored pencils, ruler, compass, eraser and a case where everything fit neatly inside. I was already a budding neat-freak and I loved organization...the hallmarks of a kid whose life was severely disorganized...so I made up for it in other ways.
Being neat...the only organization in a life that was severely disorganized.
I left my mother's station wagon after giving her a kiss, and after stepping out the door, I saw other kids screaming and crying...afraid to leave their mother's side. Even at age six, I already hated my mother, so there was no love lost there...she was a child beater and I feared my mother more than anything else I'd ever encountered in my life to that point.
My first class...Mrs. Baird's class, my homeroom, was wonderful. I liked Mrs. Baird from the start. She became a maternal surrogate of sorts during my younger years.
I remember well, how from the very beginning, the propaganda began.
"I have the greatest admiration for your propaganda. Propaganda in the West is carried out by experts who have had the best training in the world, in the field of advertising, and have mastered the techniques with exceptional proficiency...Yours are subtle and persuasive; ours are crude and obvious...I think that the fundamental difference between our worlds, with respect to propaganda, is quite simple. You tend to believe yours ... and we tend to disbelieve ours."
-Soviet correspondent based five years in the U.S. -
-Soviet correspondent based five years in the U.S. -
We were taught how to stand for the United States flag and how to place our right hand over our heart and recite the "Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
There was much more to it than that, but it's not important right now....My point is the whole damn thing made no sense to me then...and doesn't make a whole lotta sense to me now...at age fifty-five.
This was part of what was called "Patriotism," a concept I not only knew nothing about at the time, but one that I'd grow to detest over time. As a child of age six, this was all nothing different than the propaganda that was being crammed down the throats and into the brains of Chinese kids, Portuguese kids, Italian kids, Singaporean kids, and any other kid in any other part of the world. Governments were attempting to brainwash all of their citizens to believe they had to give a part of themselves to their country.
Patriotism?
What a crock of shit.
Religion...another crock of shit...tended to mix often with government bullshit...creating the on-going rift of the need for separation of church and state...which has never really been resolved, and is currently the cause of many of the world's most violent, ridiculous wars.
Brainwashed from the ripe old age of six...and from listening to my parents? The same had been going on for ages before me. Propaganda....brainwashing...all a form of governmental control. We were preached at about Patriotism, devotion to our flag, to our country...there were no options at the time...it was unheard of for a school or any public organization for that matter, to skip such matters and make patriotism irrelevant in their private or public organizations.
To do so, at that time and even now...was to be labeled COMMUNIST.
The "REDS," the "COMMIES," as they were referred to...
If you acted in the least suspicious manner, people were watching you and a simple phone call could end you and your pals in jail for extended periods of time. Everybody was paranoid. The Russians were considered evil, sneaky, and pervasive...recruiting you in every way and means possible...the threat of a nuclear war hung in the air.
In schools we had regular "drills" for air-raids...The BOMB was COMING...Nuclear War was imminent. "Duck and Cover," became a household phrase...children were taught in school to "Duck and cover," meaning getting out of their desks, placing their hands behind their necks, folding their arms forward, climbing under their desks, and hunching down into a ball.
...and kissing your ass goodbye.
Every school, shopping mall, auditorium, theater, etc. had a "Fallout Shelter," marked by the black and yellow Nuclear symbol....a place to go when the big one was dropped.
Patriotism...it was everywhere. Just like diseased vermin. U.S. citizens were MADE to believe the piece of cloth they flew on flagpoles actually meant something...soldiers were resigned to giving up their lives for it...and still are, but to a much lesser degree now. Why? Because people are becoming smart. They are learning to disbelieve patriotism...they are learning to disbelieve in their government.
Why-o-why go and fight in a war that your own government started in the first place and kill people you don't even know for a cause you really don't understand or believe...for that matter. Why? I certainly don't love my country enough to get killed for it. Hell, it's just a chunk of dirt with border lines drawn in it.
Sorta like that game we played as kids. You draw a line in the dirt and you say, "Cross that line and you're dead meat man!"
Matter-of-fact, looking back over the years...most of what my government did or had its hand in, was all like child's play...silly assed stuff in the hands of irresponsible adults. And who pays the price? Not the government...no, they sit in their comfy chairs in their climate controlled offices while we, or our children die for their fuck-ups.
During high school, a fairly good friend of mine was literally grabbed and taken away during a high school pep rally because he refused to stand for the "National Anthem." He held his place, sitting down, and was roughly grabbed and made to stand up by one of the school muscle-head coaches. Then, when he still refused to comply, he simply disappeared.
I asked questions...but at the time received very few answers. Only much later did the truth surface, that he was a Jehovah's Witness who, by his religious belief was not allowed to "worship" inanimate objects such as statues, icons, flags, or other items. Hell, as it goes...Jehovah's Witnesses are not even allowed to celebrate their own birthdays.
I thought it all a bit nutty...but even at my young age, I thought it was rather communistic...or whatever...to arrest a person, detain them, or punish them for their own religious beliefs in a country that supposedly preached freedom. It was then I began to see that the United States was built upon a bunch of lies and misconceptions.
And still is....
You see, past President John F. Kennedy...one of the popular presidents of his time...if not THE most popular president in history...had it all wrong.
It's not, "Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what YOU can do for your country..."
It should have been, "Ask NOT what you can do for your country...ASK what your COUNTRY can do for you!" Isn't that how democracy is supposed to work?
And at this moment in my life, I can't really think of much my country has done for me...and that's only one of the numerous reasons I'm living in Asia at this moment in my life. Stay tuned sports fans, because my next post will point out a bit of what I'm talking about...how our own government treats its citizens.
-Jeeem-
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