LOST IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

Like a camera zooming in on one object, the news rivets our eyes to what they want us to see, but let's expand our vision to the larger picture for a moment. Remember when we used to joke about someday having a "big brother", or some would say, big government, welfare style, who would know all our business?  Not so funny anymore---with the news that it is now not only possible to learn all about us, but do-able, and in fact , has been done. Spying is in, secrets are out. Is that what Obama meant when he said his would be the most transparent administration ever---but it's our slip that's showing, and our  business that isn't our own anymore. In fact, we don't even know our own business--- like what really happened in Benghazi, who was really behind the IRS scandal, what's really in the Affordable Health Care Bill, and how it's going to affect us, who or why we're going to drone/kill next, or whether our email or phone calls are being monitored.  In short big brother, my dears, is here to take care of you.  Trust him, he says,  he only has your best interests at heart, along with his--- and will do what's best for the common good. Ask him to pull up a chair. help himself to our lives; then we can go our merry way, leaving politics to the politicians, the news to the internet headlines, and any political discussions to those who refuse to mind their manners and insist upon offering an actual, opinion as to the state of our national affairs. Opinions are out, taboo too---somebody might hold it against you, and worse,----somebody might be eaves dropping, and well, you never know what could happen next.  Better to get along, and hope everything will work out. Won't it?

 In China they still throw people in prison for saying the "wrong" thing. Couldn't happen here? Ask the man who aired the anti-Islam video, initially blamed for the Benghazi attack---and who is currently still in jail in New York,  purportedly for a probation violation--- for nine months??

 Some countries will penalize you for associating with the wrong folks---not here? Ask the reporters at the Associated Press.

And some people in power, will encourage  a lynch mob mentality, even after a man has been declared innocent by a legal jury. Eric Holder, our very own Attorney General, has said  the federal government will agree to a civil trial, in order to appease those who insist that George Zimmerman is a racist and acted accordingly, on the night that he confronted a young black man who appeared in his neighborhood and upon being followed, fought with Mr. Zimmerman.  Jesse Jackson, the self appointed civil rights leader, has been doing his best to form and conduct marches in the streets of big cities to express outrage, as to what they perceive as an injustice. And even Barack Obama, who had the bad the judgement to show his personal feelings, by referring to Trayvon Martin, as a son he might have had, thereby injecting not only race, but presidential prejudice into a pre-trial case.   Mr. Zimmerman will never walk free---he is a marked man, smeared by a biased media, and pursued by those who insist upon creating a racial mountain out of a tragic mano to mano confrontation that if it had been a black on black crime, would never have made front page news. What if the media's views are wrong---that instead, George Zimmerman acted inappropriately, stupidly, but was not an evil racist, and shot Trayvon Martin in self defense?  That is what the jury concluded after
studying all the evidence, piece by painful piece. It was a teachable moment---the jury dared to go
against popular opinion, though have requested that they remain anonymous. It isn't that the death of
a young man wasn't a tragic loss, or even that the possibility of an injustice occurred---it's that the jury had spoken and in this country, that has to be enough--or risk mockery of our own laws.

We have much to learn in our hearts and in our minds, but is anybody listening to all the lessons??  Have we learned that you can't trust one man or even a whole congress of politicians from both sides to do what's best for you or the country?  They are only as good as those who put them there, and require  constant vigilance, or ultimately they begin to love their careers and power more than us.

 Have we begun to see that the liberties and sense of freedom our carefully structured government is supposed to provide, is slipping away, step by subtle step, as we placidly accept and go along to get along?  Harry Reid is successfully trying to do away with the filibuster in order to shut up the opposing minority Republicans in his majority Senate.  Way to go Harry, but not in the best interests of a fair and balanced government.

 That others are making profound life altering decisions without our or even our congress' advise and consent--i.e. drones, new unvoted for green energy laws and taxes, and presidential tweaking of the health care laws in order to favor whomever is deemed politically important?

That  racial issues in this country, while  much improved, are still simmering below the surface and need only the slightest provocation to ignite? Are the rioters really rioting for justice, or simply reacting to a ginned up crowd mentality? Are we still guilty of the deeds of the past, and must continue paying retribution into eternity,--- thereby enabling, excusing, and perpetuating dependency of those, who in the short term may benefit from their victimization, but self destruct in the long haul.  Bill Cosby has tried to advance this theme, by pleading with his people to realize it's their responsibility to change their status and their future, by changing their behavior, not by remaining angry, resentful victims of the past. He has been scorned and criticized, but is he not to be admired for speaking a truth to a people who must claim their own destiny by refusing to cling to the misdeeds of the past, to realize that much has already changed for the better, and will continue to, but that they themselves must be part of the change? As important as laws we can make to effect change, trials we can lean toward emotion, not fact, sympathies we can feel,  self help is the  ultimate way out of the ghettos, the crime, the drugs, the one parent families, the life of a perpetual victim----to finally say, enough. We are done being slaves to our past.  President Obama, the greatest evidence of racial change in America, is proof that we have come a long ways, and that by choosing not to live a life of victimization, he rose to the top of his abilities.

In a weekend speech, the president spoke out once again regarding the Martin/Zimmerman trial. The country was waiting. What would he say this time? Would he use his bully pulpit to "Shut it down", as Pat Robertson, the religious talk show host had advised a few days ago, when things were heating up and there was fear of rioting in the streets? Or would he go personal again and speak as a black man, not a president of all the people?  He actually did both, and it was from this blogs's perspective, one of the best, if not the best speeches of his presidency. He attempted to have us see things through the eyes of those who have suffered the remnants of an unspeakable history. He went personal,
not in a political way, but a very believable, sincere and helpful way---he did not condone violence or the re-do of a trial, but he did try to lay out some of things our society and laws could do to help the remaining inequalities in our system.

Bravo to you, President Obama---you finally led, and it was a shining moment---perhaps the most defining, purposeful moment in your career. Yes, it probably helped you win even more minority votes, but it rang true, and  one had the feeling that for once, you had painfully examined every point of view,  considered the whole picture, and rose above the politics of it all. You gave us a glimpse of what you could have been---a president for all the people. Not just an agenda seeking, politician, hell bent on having his own way. Now----about that Benghazi thing

Zooming our camera back out, the shrieking chaos continues, and the drumbeats of perhaps too many tribes threaten to wreck havoc  upon this land.  Where is the peace, the balance, the voice that will bring calm and healing to our country? Perhaps we have lost our way indefinitely.

There is an email making the rounds that is entitled, "We Are Not Coming Back". It's gist is that we've gone too far off course, to ever return to a more stable, happier America.  But, if that's true, then, it's based on a false premise that all things were acceptable to all, and we know that's not true.

 Ask those who still carry the wounds of the past. We needed to change, make things better, see the world and ourselves differently----we needed to mature, to grow up.  Perhaps that's what we're doing now. We are like a huge, noisy, brawling family, but who underneath, all want the same thing-- a little prosperity, peace, happiness, and the freedom to pursue those things--- but we are pulling in too many different directions. Is Big Bro the answer? Don't think so---big brothers, like big governments,  only work if they have little, lost, needy people to boss around.  That's not us,  is it???    

  







.