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What Happened To My Country?
By Steve Osborn
02/19/06 "ICH"
-- -- I grew up an American, and proud of it. I was taught in
school about the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution and Bill of Rights. My brother was a Merchant
Marine Officer during the war and had three ships sunk beneath
him. We beat the Nazis, the Fascists and the Japanese and made
the world safe for democracy. After the war came Nuremberg and
the assurance that things like the holocaust could never happen
again. The Marshal Plan helped to rebuild the shattered portions
of the world. America, Democracy, compassion and help. It was
good to be an American. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sad, but
necessary to end the war and save lives, we were told.
We read George Orwell’s 1984, which could happen in Nazi Germany
or the Soviet Union, but we could never have thought police and
endless war here in the United States. Then came the Cold War,
McCarthy, Korea, and later on Vietnam. My service time crossed
those wars, but I thanked my stars I didn’t have to fight in
them. I was at Bikini for the Hydrogen Bomb tests in 1956, which
taught me
the the unthinkable horror of nuclear war.
Vietnam taught us the danger and folly of going to war on a
false pretext. Tonkin Gulf was to be a lesson to us all, as was
the intended impeachment of Nixon for violating the law and the
Constitution. We wouldn’t let that happen again; no president
was ever going to spy on his own people again, or persecute
people who didn’t agree with him or his policies.
Yes, the United States was a nation of great wealth. A nation
that took care to see to the freedom and well being of its
citizens, and welcomed the downtrodden foreigner to the new
land. It was a nation that pioneered the exploration of space
and gloried in the advance of science. I was proud to be an
American!
My God! What has happened to my nation? My nation that no longer
pays more than lip service to its Constitution and Bill of
Rights, which have been a beacon to the world for over two
centuries. My nation that unilaterally discards treaties that
were the hope of a world of peace, guided by law and diplomacy.
My nation that will wage a war of aggression against a far off
nation that was no threat to it, but that has lots of oil. My
nation that gives all of its wealth to the rich and is satisfied
to leave its citizens to starve, homeless, unemployed and
sickly.
What happened to that Constitution that so wisely divided the
government into three separate units, to provide a system of
checks and balances against any one branch usurping power? How
did we wind up with a President that refers to the Constitution
that he swore to protect and defend as “just a goddamned piece
of paper,” and a Congress that seems willing to rubber stamp any
giveaway the President demands? How did we find ourselves with a
Supreme Court that will set aside the Constitution in favor of
unlimited presidential power for the duration?
Now I live in an America I don’t dare leave for fear of being
spat upon, shot, bombed or kidnaped. I am looked upon as a
citizen of a rogue nation that has no concept or respect for any
law except bullying and strength. I need a passport even to
visit Canada, which was to be our sister nation with open
borders forever. I must expect to be required to show my
“papers” at any time, to any official. I must accept that the
government can break into my house and rifle my belongings and
papers any time it wishes on the thinnest of excuses and it is
not even required to let me know it has violated my home and my
privacy. I must accept the fact that the government can listen
in to my private conversations, my phone, my e-mail, can
probably read my snail mail if they wish and can put a gag order
on anyone who has information on me so I may not even be made
aware that I am being spied upon. George Orwell’s absolute
dictatorship has crept in to my home and my life and thrown out
my beloved Constitution and Bill of Rights. The difference
between the United States, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy is steadily and inexorably diminishing and the
people are letting it happen while they remain paralyzed with
fear. Fear incited by the gang that runs the White House and
their cronies in the propaganda ministry that used to be our
last bulwark against tyranny; our once free press.
So now my pride in America is for our past; my sadness for our
present; my fear for our future. I am no longer proud to be an
American, but I have no place to go.
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Stephen M. Osborn (theplace@whidbey.net)
is a freelance writer living on Camano
Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an
"Atomic Vet." (Operation Redwing, Bikini
Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active
working and writing for nuclear disarmament
and world peace. He is a retired Fire
Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer,
poet, philosopher, historian and former
newspaper columnist. |
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