Although bombs and gunfire aren't the everyday experience of most Americans, I can't ignore the many ways we are at war.
As I move in and out of the political banter in anticipation of the election, I feel a deep sense in my gut of a
country at war with itself. I notice how captivating
speeches and charismatic personas intoxicate people. They bring on a sense of righteousness, a sense that there are the good and the bad among us.
And it makes me sad. It’s not us against them. It’s just us, and the oldest
model of putting the public to sleep is taking over: divide and conquer.
And then, as we are distracted by our silly red/blue war at home, we're fighting wars abroad on increasingly abstract grounds. Do we really know: what are we fighting for? where? who? are we using humane means? is it all worth the loss and risk of lives, the huge expenditure of resources? Instead of getting convincing answers to these questions, we just seem to be sold a fantasy that all the U.S. occupation and warfare throughout the world makes us safer.
And then, there's our war on drugs. What has it really accomplished? Are our streets safer and people healthier because of our approach to drugs? OR Are our prisons fuller than we can handle, filled with the poor that are disproportionately exposed to the drug culture? Does a dangerous black market more than provide for any demand? Does the filtering of so much money and drugs through law enforcement open doors to extreme corruption and "Training Day" situations?
We're afraid to look at the political taboo issues, to say these wars aren't working, they aren't just, they aren't right. We're afraid to ask, where is the money that we throw at these wars going? Who benefits from the wars we declare? Who loses? We're afraid to question whether these wars make us healthier, safer, stronger, or more free.
And I say, "ENOUGH ALREADY!" I can't just shove my head into the sand. This is the moment in history that we wake up, that we revolt, that we take our country back, that we stop following the path we're on and make a sharp turn toward a new destiny.
But we don't.
There was the rise of the Tea
Party, pulling its name from an act of civil disobedience that
fueled our country’s quest for freedom.
But where did it go? How did the media impact the movement? Why didn't it lead to change?
Then, there was Occupy Wallstreet,
protesting the way our central government can be bought and sold, the way the
power of money diminishes our power as citizens. But again, what happened? Where is that power in numbers?
Divide and conquer: that's where the power went. We can't present a united front to regain our power as
citizens because we're so receptive to the "us against them" crap we're being fed. We're quick to jump on the critical bandwagon and discredit others. We're quick to join the team that looks like it could win. To me, The Tea Party and Occupy Wallstreet seem so similar, motivated by the way the government and the fuel behind government run away without true connection to the people. And, these two movements just got pitted against one another - painted red or blue and then made part of our distracting cultural war.
We are being told to choose a nation of heart; or we are being told to choose a nation of
freedom. Either we care for our fellow
citizens as our brothers and sisters; or we care for the freedom on which our
country was founded. Either they are socialists
and are willing to settle for mediocrity; or they are selfish and will vote for
whatever candidate will keep them from paying their fair share.
And we buy the rhetoric. We let it confuse us, let it drive us to the polls to prevent that greater evil.
But, my intuition tells me that the direction of our country will
vary only slightly if Obama or Romney is elected in November. The win of either candidate will just mark
the win of a battle in the red/blue war, and the distracting fight will
continue. There will be no bridge to bring us together so we can make progress, if either candidate wins.
I believe real change is only possible if we collectively start to wake up from the way we are being divided, and we gain the courage to try something different.
And in that vein, the presidential candidate that I'm voting for in November is Gary Johnson, libertarian nominee. He has become a personal obsession for me over the last year or so. I followed his short-lived run for the republican nomination, and I was there in Santa Fe the day he declared that he would seek the libertarian nomination. My sense is that he is a man of honesty, integrity, and courage, and that his motivation for the presidency comes from a genuine sense that we need to stop all these wars, that we need to stop blindly building the size and power and resources of the federal government.
He is a rare breed of politician that wants to get into power to take power away from his position.
Gary Johnson doesn't fit the mold, he won't play the game, and he certainly doesn't have the charisma to be the next American Idol. Add this to the fact that there is quite a bit of energy being focused on blocking him from ballots and squelching his name on the airwaves. But even in the face of the unlikelihood that he could win, I just can't let go of my, "what if?"
What if we didn't have either red or blue win the presidency this year? What if the teams no longer were the driving force in our political discourse? What if a campaign with more energy on what is being offered than on how the other guy will let us down could truly lead to victory? What if the best of red and blue came together in a candidate that could lead us through this divided time?
I've never put a political bumper sticker on my car or taken this much interest in an election, but today, I peeled the backing off and stuck on my Gary Johnson sticker. For me, this is about more than just the hope that he will win in November. My hope is for an end to all this war in America. I just can't pick red or blue when I see them at war with one another and don't think either one of them is right. Instead, I feel drawn to invest my vote and energy towards the "united" of United States.
