This is Not a Test of the Emergency Broadcast Association

This is kind of a test. It is a test of our endurance. Life as we know it in America has changed. It’s changed without any of us really realizing it, but it changed all the same. It’s time we recognize the shift and stop with this elitist attitude toward everyone. We’re sinking into third-world-nation status; when a country has an upper and lower class but no middle class. We are losing our middle class, it shrinks every year. The fiber our nation was built on is tearing, why this denial that we can still go on while throwing out our foundation with the bath water? We need to accept this, our time to step down has come. Our fall is imminent. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Look at Britain, they’re not the top dog anymore and yet, they are still successful. We can be another Britain, but let’s face it, we’re no longer Rome. America has changed forever. We have been surpassed in every major category; economy, military and education. We need to do the prudent thing and sink quietly into the shadows, or the repercussions may be more than any of us can bear.
Our economy, or at least what’s left of it, is shrunken and broken. Instead of hiring full-time employees, employers are hiring temps. The unpredictable market forecast is terrifying for these employers, they don’t want to hire full-time employees because they never know what tomorrow is going to look like. This puts the rest of us, at least a lot of us, with the constant fear of being laid off. The question; “will I still have a job tomorrow?” Is one I’m beginning to hear with alarming regularity, I myself fear this every single day. We’ve been passed by many as economic king of the hill, and fingers are being pointed everywhere. I got caught up in the “blame the Bush regime” party, and had actually convinced myself it was the previous administration’s fault. But, you know what? It’s not the Bush administration’s fault, it isn’t Obama’s fault. There are 300 million of us. We greatly outnumber our government officials. They answer to us. It isn’t the other way around. We let this happen. We destroyed our economy. We let gas prices grow out of control, we allowed the pharmaceutical companies to jack their prices up way too high, and we let the housing market destroy itself from the inside out. It’s because we did nothing. We didn’t care enough to, and unfortunately, it seems we still don’t. So what 300 million are we? That 300 million of angry, stupid, scared, pathetic populace, that helped to complete the destruction of our once-great economy? Or are we activists and progressives willing to do something about it? I fear we are the former, let’s change that.
We are spending a ridiculous amount of money on a people thousands of miles away, our boys are dying for something that we as Americans cannot define. Countless people died to stop the communists from spreading, many soldiers felt as though they were fighting phantoms over in the jungles of Vietnam. We’re fighting different phantoms now, but they’re still phantoms all the same. We created this hatred. The creation of Israel, the never-ending foreign interventions of the early 1900s up through today. There will never be peace in the Middle East, and it certainly won’t come at the point of a rifle. So, why fight? Diplomacy has worked there before. Look at the peace talks between then Israel Prime Minister Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Clinton magnificently conducted these talks. The two bitterest rivals shook hands on the lawns of the White House. Things were moving. Then came the Camp David Accords, this was a landmark show of cooperation between Israeli and Egyptian leaders, Sadat and Begin. Real progress had been made, until Sadat was assassinated by one of his own. I know this piece of history seems bleak, but it should be a beacon of hope. Reason helped them to see the blood of their own people was not worth it. Okay, so maybe it just wasn’t the time for peace, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try diplomacy again. Many of the hatred for America coming out of that region stems from our support of Israel. We have to show that we support the world. Peace before pillaging. Love before lechery. We can do this. This never-ending battle is putting a strain on young men and women signing up. How does our government get by this? By sick promises of free higher-education and free health care for anyone signing up to be in the military. That’s disgusting. I’m not saying the men and women of our armed forces don’t deserve these luxuries, they do, I wholeheartedly believe they do. But when recruiters advertise this as a reason to join, it makes me sick. This is exploitation of the poor and underprivileged of our nation. Yes, the poor and underprivileged. Wars are not fight by the wealthy, they’re fought by the poor.
It has become apparent where America’s priorities are. We spend an immense amount more on our military than we do on our education system. This sends a clear message to the rest of the world. What you spend your money on shows what you feel is the most important thing in life. The alcoholic spends his or her money on alcohol, the drug addict’s money goes to drugs, and the country who feels conquest is more important than education spends their money on their military. No wonder our youth don’t take their education seriously. Their government doesn’t either. I don’t know how much clearer I can be in this regard. There is a silver-lining in all of this, however.
It may be too late to get back to what we were 50, 25 or even 10 years ago. However, our sense of community can help pull this nation up and become great again. It’s time to circle the wagons. Neutrality, though not ultimate neutrality, it would be impossible to return to an ultimate neutrality policy, is what we need to get back to. We have to fix our own problems first. We need to redefine our communities. We have to trust each other, and in return, can we be more trustworthy? Let’s not try to screw one another out of anything. These frivolous lawsuits have to go. Stealing, lying, judging, this harms everyone. Rape, murder, hatred, this has got to stop now. We all need to look in the mirror, this is a you problem, it’s a me problem, it’s not his fault or her fault, it’s not Bush’s fault or Obama’s fault, it’s our fault. Maybe this has to start with trust, maybe it has to start with us being more trustworthy, let’s work on both at the same time. How can we love one another when our minds and eyes have been closed and latched so tightly? To love someone, you have to accept them, to accept them, you have to accept all of them. This means the differences have to be put aside. Atheists, stop hating the religious. Religious, stop hating the gays. Conservatives, stop hating the liberals. Liberals, stop hating the conservatives. It really is not as hard as it seems. Our country is not what it used to be, and it never will be again. We have to recognize this change and redefine ourselves. Community is what’s important. Let’s build a strong national community before we try to build a strong world one.