Tonight our president will deliver his State of the Union address. For the first time in his presidency, I'm not sure I will listen/watch. I feel discouraged - not by Obama who I still think is a really good person and the best president we've had in a long time - but by the sinking ship of our empire. I find that I just don't want to hear about it. Is that denial? You tell me.
The Supreme Court decided to allow corporations the right to donate as much money as they want to political campaigns. It's a ridiculous decision in everyone's worst interest. And our president decided to freeze spending on domestic programs like education - an area in which investment is sorely needed - while not freezing military spending.
Most days I feel very lucky to live my privileged, cushy lifestyle where I can choose not to eat wheat, for instance, because there are so many other things I can eat, in which I get a nice hot shower every day, crank up the heat when I'm cold or the A/C when I'm too hot, and can attend to almost all my discomforts.
Some days it makes me heartsick to live in this empire. It is not sustainable, but we carry on anyway, as if the resources of this planet were unlimited. They are not! We are crazy to think it's more important to keep fighting two hopeless wars than to invest in education. Please.
Like all empires that rise too high, we are falling. OK. OK. Some days my heart sinks along with the empire. That's all I'm saying.
Detritus from last week's "Right to Life" march on the mall.
22 comments:
the fall has been coming for years. One year we will certainly pay, and it's gonna be a lot worse then anything we've experienced to this point. Gwarsh, i hope i'm wrong!
You wont sink. Be optimistic. I read your blog almost daily,and I know that probably we sit in opposite pews politically, but I fight just as hard for your views as you do for your own. We do have a long row to hoe, but I aint dropping my hoe. thnx for your views.. glenn
Such a mixed feeling reading your post today, Reya. That of believing that this Empire is indeed on the verge of collapse; but also the comfort of knowing there are others out there of like minds. As .38 Special used to sing, hold on loosely... EFH
Reflections in taillights, such a great metaphor for the US. Reya, I love your photos.
Hold on loosely, I like that. Tom, I believe you are correct, though it feels like a slow fall to me. Who knows?
me2 sista
me2
love you so
me2 sista
me2
love you so
Thanks, Dan! And Glenn I won't drop the hoe, but I might look a little disgruntled as I work. OK?
Deborah: 2. Two. Too two.
I'm with you , sister...but the pendilum does swing- this nation must get it's shit together and if it takes sinking to do so I think that we will rally, So much is out of whack here, so Imballanced at the moment- Perhaps we need to drown a little, gasp a little to come to our senses...
It is painful to watch us slide, I agree. It's frustrating to see people wasting time and energy on ideological bickering rather than collaborating to solve problems.
That said, here's my ideological volley: Why aren't those Right-to-Lifers out there marching for the lives of our soldiers, pushing to put an end to this endless military involvement, fighting for the educations of the children they're so obsessed with bringing into the world?
You know how I feel these days. Sigh. I wonder if I'll feel more optimistic in the spring, or if it's just going to be this way until I quit reading anything or watching the news?
GREAT article in the WaPO today by Joel Achenbach, called The Audacity of Nope. It really helped me to read it - didn't help my sense of sinking, but he put language to the situation.
Oh, Reya. You've said what so many of us are feeling. Someone I met in a store the other day was talking about this and I said that I felt we as a nation had been holding our breath for a year. My hope ebbs and flows and downright takes a beating every other day it seems. I'm so glad to know I'm not alone.
Beautifully said, Reya--that sums up the way I feel about this nation's circumstances much of the time.
Holding my hoe and sending even MORE reiki.
I feel the same way. People just want to be on top and they don't care who they are standing on or what they destroy to get there. My friend John Kurman's post today was along these same lines http://johnkurman.blogspot.com/2010/01/wither-america.html
reya - perhaps the american empire is retreating to a more useful position. i'm english and got to see the tail-end of the empire my predecessors created. it isn't pretty - the process or the current state, but it's a more truthful place.
alternately, move to canada. we have never had an empire. we have no empire - we never will!!! peace. steven
reya--you have spoken what so many of us have been hesitant to say--I believe that there will be a better day, it is just going to take a lot longer and more work than any of us are used to--so much has been lost and many people have been affected by this recession--don't give up and keep talking, disgruntled or otherwise.
best-c
thought it was a good speech and hope it helped dispelled the sense of despair, disappointment and impatience sweeping the country.
the country didn't get into the bad shape it's in overnight and it's ridiculous to expect that the obama administration can turn around decades (and esp 8 years) of erroneous and counter-productive behavior and policies in a year!!
we have to hang tough, work hard, and commit to making sacrifice
Amen, Kimy!
Kim I agree with you completely. You, too, C.M. We aren't used to having to work so hard.
Moving to Canada? I've thought about it so many times, Steven!
Maybe we are sinking, but I hope it is more of a loss of rudder that can be righted.
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