What Do You Want ?

I sometimes find myself sitting here in disbelief, wondering what is going on with this country. What are we doing, what are we out to accomplish. It’s a common feeling for me nowadays to ponder what we have become and where we are headed. There is only one answer I can come up and the answer is… I really don’t know what that answer is. I don’t know what people want, what they crave, what they need. I don’t know anymore. We seem to have no direction and when we finally get a direction – in the form of a completely fresh start for all of us – it is abandoned in an instant, rejected with disdain. I don’t know where to go from here, where to turn. And frankly, it’s scary.

For 234 years and counting, this nation cannot make up its mind. We don’t know what we want. We know we are all passionate, taking sides, and when that side wins, well, what do we do next? We seem to be rudderless politically. The people have been lied to and fed bullshit for so long we cannot decipher what is a lie and what is truth. In and out, rapidly changing, evolving, adding, dumping, subtracting, lopping off, forgetting, remembering then forgetting again, misunderstanding, misspeaking, hating, loving, caring, shunning, and all the other “ings” we can insert into this paragraph. We just can’t seem to stay the course, ever changing our minds…

But don’t you get that strange feeling that we’re going in circles? Who do you believe? Every election year I view the candidates and witness a sea of empty promises and a lot of false hope. This year is no different and I am sick and tired of the same drivel.
It’s taken me a while to put my fingers to the keyboard for this article, as every time I go to write, I find myself more and more bitter; angry at the state of our so-called union. The problem for America is its passion: We don’t know how to shut it off or direct it to the common good. Patriotism and deep-rooted traditions have scarred what was once a promising nation. Americans are fickle, quick to point out faults and ridicule an opposing view and label it as blasphemous. Do you notice that the same tea-baggers are from the same group that started this mess in the first place? Our political candidates, churned, recycled and then dusted off and propped like a ventriloquist’s dummy every four years, rally their troops and think they are fighting the good fight; they have the answers. Everyone’s got a new and exciting idea, the way to “change America.” The problem with America is that there is too much change, kids in the playground picking sides – strongest and dumbest first and then the smartest last. Didn’t we adults learn from these games? We’re all big kids with a small attention span.

Thinking and putting forth right decisions that benefit all of our citizens is the first step in righting the ship. We got that 2 years ago (it was only two fucking years ago, shit, time flies). Now we don’t want it. I liked to think of America as a place where people can come together and see the goal and work together to attain it. Don’t see that today. I see a split, major groups fighting… it is a civil war. Our divisiveness is no good anymore, doesn’t work. We have two factors at play here: those that want to stay stagnant and those that want sweeping change. As for the stagnant ones, I call that selfishness. Those are the people that are close to death’s door, mid-life and above that want to bring it back to the way we were which was isolationism, one country, one paycheck, one block party and 4th of July picnic. They can’t help but want to live Rockwellian again. The changlings? Well, they’re looking for solutions, global growth, a new millennia. We shouldn’t go back; we needant go back.

I don’t know what the answer is, don’t really have a clue. Just a guy with some thoughts on where we are headed and I don’t like it. Not one bit. All I know is that two years ago we wanted change, got it unilaterally, now on the verge of crushing it with a radical vengeance. Whether the change is unprecedented and we’re scared remains to be seen. You just have to give it a chance and move forward, progress. I don’t know about you but I think we should stop and listen to one another… we just might like what the other is saying.

So I say put the toys down and come out of the sandbox. Come to the table with one clear vision and go for it. I know opinions matter but opinions are like assholes… ah, you know the rest. Everyone’s got one.