The Plight of the American Man

I am sad.

I am very sad. Because today, when I went to drop off my daughter at my grandparent's house, I discovered that my 70-year old grandfather now has to work again because they don't get enough from social security to pay their bills. Not because their benefits are decreasing, but because the cost of all the stuff they have to pay for to continue living have increased dramatically.

Now, I can sit here and bitch and moan about why they are having to do this, but today I will not. All I am going to say is that blows. Why is this happening? Why are we forced to keep 70-year old men at work to afford to live?

I guess I lied earlier when I said I wasn't going to point the finger at anyone. But it's someone's fault: the government. Democrats, Republicans, Mormons, they're all responsible. They are responsible for the welfare of the people, for their safe-keeping and their continued support of their government. All we have to do is vote.

That's it. That's our job when it comes to government. And we've done it. We've done it admirably. We've voted in every election since the beginning of this country. But now it's time for the government to do their job. It's time for us, as working-class, American citizens, to take back the country. To make damn good and well that the government is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

America is being held hostage by the big corporations who donate massive amounts of money to political candidates, no matter their party affiliation. All these corporations ask in return is for the government to turn around when they're bending us over and...well, you know. That's it. And the government, in true fascist nature, does exactly that.

Anyone who denies this is just like them: a fascist, corporate bigot with nothing in mind but the money they can make. How can people not listen to this? How can we, as Americans--AMERICANS!--let this happen to our nation? The land of the free, the home of the brave, where people come to escape injustice and wrongdoing in their own country? Why now, as we enter an era of information and the pinnacle of civilization, are the roles suddenly reversed? Has it become so bad that people are fleeing the country that offers the most freedoms?

It seems that way. Because this is not America. This is Corporationland, the funhouse where rich people go to get their freak on at the expense of the workers there. Wake up and see this, people, that's all I'm asking. Wake up and realize that this nation is being held at gunpoint by the very people sworn to protect it. It's the fox guarding the henhouse, only we know that he's eaten some chickens. And we're still letting him guard the henhouse, keeping some insane idea in our minds that he's good at what he does and will protect the chickens.

What happened? I am abolutely dumbfounded at what this country has become, because I for one am a man who knows his history. America did not used to be like this. We became the best because our people were the best, our government was the best. We were the best because we were constantly on the lookout for things that we could make better, whether it be the roads or the conditions of the workers or the food or what have you. We've been through laizze faire capitalism, and it doesn't work. When the government steps out of the way of business, and lets it run unchecked, then the corporations can do whatever they want to do.

And that means not following health laws, like we saw in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. If you haven't read it, you need to, because that is laizze faire capitalism at its finest. And that's where we're headed again. May God have mercy.

-Anteaus