"The
spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seem generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Our
cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching
America
where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster
Heed
the threat and awesome power of the mighty Pentagon
Which is wasting precious millions on the toys of Washington
Just
one time I'd like to be somewhere where
None of your clever lies fill the air
I'm tired of your frozen smile and your voice of tin"
-0-
Lyric
Excerpts from "Monster
Album" by Steppenwolf, 1970.
Up
until November of 2000, an American citizen could have arguably maintained
that the United States had become a more tolerable society having,
in some respects, tamed much of its monstrous behavior and murderous
history, and that there would be no return to the wretched mentality
that allowed some of the greatest atrocities in American history.
And
there's no question about the human rights abuses that have become
part and parcel of that history. President Thomas Jefferson made it
the policy of the US to wipe out Native Americans leading to what
would become America's Final Solution by stating in 1807, "And
if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe,
we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated."
Slavery
and segregation of African Americans began in 1619 in the North American
continent, Virginia to be precise, and lasted well into the 1970s
in the USA. Open minded American's like Princeton's Woodrow Wilson
would declare that "universal suffrage was the foundation of
every evil in the US" and that African Americans were an "ignorant
and inferior race."
As
reported by John Gray in Straw Dogs, in 1899 thousands of other open
minded Americans - men, women and children - in the US state of Georgia
assembled in the town of Newman to watch the hanging of African American
Sam Hose. When eight-months-pregnant African American Mary Turner
learned that her husband met his end in similar circumstances, she
protested to the authorities. Her reward? She was hanged upside down
from a tree and while still alive, members of the crowd cut open her
abdomen and the tiny infant fell to the ground. As hundreds of bullets
were fired into her body, someone from the crowd stepped forward and
crushed the infant's head as the onlookers cheered.
Add
to that chilling tale, the grotesque treatment of American women who
suffered disenfranchised for 72 years until 1920; the deadly anti-union
policies that would result in events like the Ludlow Massacre of mine
workers in 1914; the internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s;
the debasement of Chinese Americans in the 1850s; the destruction
of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1960s and 1970's; US eugenics
laws and practices of the 1920s and 1930s that Adolph Hitler would
later use in his Final Solution; and the insidious US support of the
former apartheid regime in South Africa that would mercifully end
in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela.
These
are but a few instances of America's sordid past that don't find their
way into popular accounts of mythic America. And contrary to popular
belief, globalization and wars to ensure US market dominance were
set in motion as far back as 1898.
On
the Senate floor in that year, Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana
would maintain that: "Where shall we turn for consumers of our
surplus? ... It is elemental. It is racial. God has not been preparing
the English-speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand years for
nothing but vain and idle self-contemplation and self-admiration.
No! He has made us the master organizers of the world to establish
a system where chaos reigns. He has given us the spirit of progress
to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made
us adept in government that we may administer government among savage
and senile peoples. Were it not for such a force as this the world
would relapse into barbarism and night. And of all our race, He has
marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in
the regeneration of the world. This is the divine mission of America,
and it holds for us all the profit, all the glory, all the happiness
possible to man. We are trustees of the world's progress, guardians
of its righteous peace. The judgment of the Master is upon us: 'Ye
have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many
things.'"
In
taming America's most noxious actions, most US government and business
leaders wouldproclaim that they alone were responsible for the bright
light of reason and the courage to redress the wrongs perpetrated
by the US government and its greedy counterparts in the corporate
world, and their enforcement arm - the US military. But the reality
is that in every one of these instances, the cure came as the result
of individuals joining together - sometimes sacrificing life and reputation
- and taking to the streets to stop the murderous and prejudicial
behavior that plagues not just Americans, but the entire human species.
The horrible treatment of fellow human beings is never the urgent
motivator for most of America's government and business leaders, and
indeed world leaders. It always was and remains to this day the fear
of losing power and prestige. And so again, as in every case above,
it falls to the true progressives, the American people - those who,
shall we say, have evolved far beyond protoplasmic entities that occupy
the US government - and their counterparts everywhere, to take to
the streets and stop a return to the hideous policies and practices
of yesteryear.
Kings
of Pain
On
January 18, 2003, as 100,000 plus Americans rallied and marched in
the "capitol of the free world," Washington, DC, their weasely
president-select and vice president-select and their 533 representatives
and senators were nowhere to be found. Only Michigan's John Conyers
braved the elements to energize the crowd. And while anti-Iraq war
sentiments received top billing, more was afoot than what was generally
reported by media outlets around the globe.
All
the speakers who took to the podium, and the 100,000 plus individuals
that made up the crowd, were decrying the mentality and an environment
that led to some of the most sinister acts ever undertaken by the
US government. "Jobs Not War!" and "No Tax Cuts for
the Rich!" was a constant refrain. The "No racism, Stop
Hate!" theme could be found on thousands of posters and placards,
as could "No Death Penalty" and "Money for the Poor,
Not the Pentagon!" "No One Should Die for Bush." Podium
speakers and the crowd were fearful of a return to a US government
and society that had, in its history, encouraged some of the worst
aspects of humanity.
In
short, this was arguably more anti-Bush II than anti-Iraq war sentiment.
Participants were mindful of the type of environment that breeds violence
and suffering, and impoverishes thought and debate. They know very
well that if Bush II and his government, and the US Congress, remain
unchecked, an environment of greed and corruption and racism and fear
will flourish.
And
there's plenty to fear from this King of Pain who represents the most
callous elements of America. Few have commented on the fact that every
single business venture that Bush II has meddled with - from failed
oil companies to the now suffering State of Texas - has ended up as
either a public and commercial embarrassment or in shambles for taxpayers,
with wealthy cronies and political appointees having to spring for
bail and create spin for the alphabet-challenged President. Texas
is now billions of dollars in debt and battles horrid air pollution.
The residents of Arlington, Texas, are still paying for Bush's stint
as owner of the Rangers. The Texas Air National Guard shamelessly
puts the best face on Bush's service debacle - actions for which any
other reservist would have been swiftly sent to Vietnam.
So
now, it's the United States' turn to suffer a similar fate. If ever
there was a practitioner for ruthlessness, it's Bush and crew. Ruining
people's lives seems to be something in which this regime prides itself.
Eliminating billions of dollars for birth control programs, food disbursements,
benefits for the unemployed (8 percent and climbing unemployed in
the US), environmental protections, and promoting what amounts to
$2 trillion in tax cuts primarily for the rich is hardly the way to
maintain a somewhat egalitarian society. Standing idly by while knowing
California's energy crisis was caused primarily by Enron, and while
many states approach bankruptcy is to court further disaster. Giving
the wacky Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department budgets which
approach $500 billion while holding spending on infrastructure, education
and health care to a ludicrous $350 billion is close to criminal.
Inserting church into state through untidy faith-based programs and
inserting state into the home through the efforts of convicted criminals
like Admiral John Poindexter seems the work of madmen.
Attempting
to criminalize affirmative action by challenging the University of
Michigan's affirmative action program on the eve of Martin Luther
King's birthday and turning a blind eye to those great 20th century
racists Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond says much about Bush's and Beveridge's
God. Now American Muslims must suffer while their kin in the US and
the world over are fingerprinted and registered as if they are cows
to be branded. There are watch lists for American citizens who are
Greens or antiwar protestors. High school students are suspended for
criticizing Bush and his government. First Amendment zones are created
for anti-Bush demonstrators and while in them, police cameras record
the process.
Donnie
Rumsfeld's extraordinary statement that draftees lend little to the
US military must have come as a surprise to many veterans. On that
note, it's interesting to listen to Rumsfeld and other active duty
military-types who are fond of pointing out that without the protections
they provide the demonstrations in the USA on January 18 would have
been impossible. Yet, on that day in Russia, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico,
Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Jordan, England, Australia,
France, Syria, India and elsewhere, tens of thousands exercised the
same freedom displaying many of the same banners as their brethren
in the USA.
United
States of Anarchia
What
it all adds up to is that Bush II has led the way in tearing the fabric
of America apart. He has eased the ability of 15 percent of the US
population to accumulate further wealth, while leaving to the remaining
85 percent to fight over what amounts to a pittance. He has mindlessly
opened the doors to racism and greed while at the same time he has
closed and locked the doors of accountability, openness and peace.
Millions of people are out of work in the US and his government has
no solution but war and tax cuts. From the jungles of Colombia and
Indonesia to the streets of Washington, DC, and Portland, Oregon,
America is now at war with the world and itself. It seems that it
hasn't come all that far since 1970 when other ruthless human beings
- Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger - were doing all that they could
to destroy America and Southeast Asia. But, perhaps, this time around
there may be a difference.
In
1688, German Quaker settlers in Germantown, Pennsylvania - led by
Daniel Pastorius - were the first to publicly protest US slavery by
challenging Pennsylvania's Quakers. Their efforts at the time were
unsuccessful, but many in the community of Quakers were moved to change
and their actions would ultimately contribute to Pennsylvania becoming
the first state to pass anti-slavery legislation in 1780, and in the
1800s their statements contributed to the argument against slavery.
Like
the German immigrants to America who had the foresight to see that
injustice, the millions who protested around the world on January
18, 2003 will be remembered for raising the consciousness of people
everywhere to the great danger that George Bush II and the current
US government pose to America and the world. The greatest threat to
American society besides Iraq Oil Wars, is an unaccountable White
House occupant, Congress, Supreme Court and military, the latter being
the now well-established fourth branch of the US government.
Americans
and the world can only hope that there will be more rallies and marches
as occurred on January 18. If not, the US government, as it stands
now, will destroy or imprison its people and those of any other nation
who dare challenge the Bush and Beveridge God-given right to rule
the world.
The
Monster is, indeed, on the loose and no single individual can fight
against him.
John
Stanton is a Virginia-based writer specializing in national security
matters. He can be reached at [email protected]
www.blackcommentator.com
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