A Small Circle of Friends

Hello again. It's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been inspired by my wife, who has added my blog to her favorites. I doubt anyone else who hasn't tried to sell me something has even looked here.

I'm sitting at home listening to Phil Ochs' Greatest Hits while my 7-month-old son plays in his exer-saucer. He is starting to complain, so I'd better make this brief. Phil Ochs seemed appropriate today, as a reflection of the disappointed, depressed, yet always hopeful feelings I have about the current political situation. The war in Iraq continues with no end in sight, the president breaks the law with impunity, millions of Americans go without healthcare, hateful, bigoted voices dominate the corporate controlled airwaves--and the Senate passes a law to make English the official language of the U.S.

Fucking great. That'll solve everything.

Can't these people get real jobs?

Tom Tomorrow nailed it more than ten years ago.

And Phil Ochs' mocking, melencholy voice reminds us:

"It's written in the ashes of the villiage towns we burn.
It's written in the empty beds of fathers unreturned.
And the chocolate in the children's eyes will never understand
When you're white boots marching in a yellow land."

Change a few words, and I don't think you could have a more eloquent statement about the Iraq war. Once again, we seem to be destroying a country in order to save it. What's worse, we're taking our own country with it.

Secret dentention centers. Torture as a matter of policy. A president who acts as though he is above the law. A supine Congress that rubber stamps the president's illegal activities after the fact. An even more supine media who seem more concerned with cozying up to power than with reporting the truth. Elections rife with voter intimidation and even outright fraud. Hateful bigots who call for anyone who disagrees with the president to be sent to Gitmo--or worse.

When did my country become a corrupt, tinhorn dictatorship? When did we cross that invisible barrier from republic to empire, like Rome so long ago? Is it too late to turn back?

What the hell happened to us?