Here we are in 2012, the end of the world hasn't happened yet, although one can still dream, maybe that could be the one thing that could save us from ourselves. What has happened to our culture? What has happened to just basic human goodness? We have become a nation of individuals and not a nation of citizens working together to help each other for a common and greater good. Commercialism has taken over and we have become a nation that wants whatever new gadget that comes out as soon as it comes out even if it is not a necessity. Now, I am not against new technology and if you have the means to purchase said items then more power to you, but what is the cost of selling our souls for posessions. The theory of capitialism has run its course, because it has become the ruling power. The "ruling elite" has taken over not only the consumer's wallet, but the true power in this country, they now dictate policy. If anyone thinks that the average politician isn't bought off by members of the business class, then you have alrady drank the kool-aid and you are as good as dead. Laws are put in place to help business suceed and not the citizen. Now, helping business suceed can be a good thing if the people who control the businesses would give back, but their primary concern is gaining as much for themselves as possible. We are witnessing what continuous outsourcing has done to this country; we truly are losing middle America. The average person can't live a comfortable life. More and more people are clinging to public welfare systems just to survive and all the while it truly seems that no one gives a shit about it.
For many years I believed that Darwin was right in that only the strong will survive, however, it has gotten to a point where even the strong can't make it. More and more college graduates are finding themselves out of the work force and denied the opportunities that they worked and paid into the system for. We are looking at the collapse of the American Dream. Anymore, it's not about hard work and your natural and learned abilities putting you on the track for success; it ultimately comes down to who you know. You have to network yourself and make the perception of yourself be better than the actual. The promises of our youth have turned into out and out lies. There are millions of people out there who are dying and desperate for work being forced to feel that they aren't good enough, even if they are overqualified for a job. It's an absolute crime that people go out and fill hundreds of applications or send out resumes and find nothing. You used to be able to make lateral career moves to give yourself a chance to be better, now people are so thankful to have a job that they do whatever they can to hold onto it, instead of trying to reach upward. There is no more risk-taking, because the risks are truly risks now, not calculated ones. Trying to better yourself could now lead you unemployed for months and forced to sell off everything you own just to survive.
And all the while the rich sit back and laugh, because they know they are safe. Even if they do fail, they know that they have a government that will spend taxpayer's money to bail them out. The burden for rich people's failures once again falls on the working class. Some would argue that saving those companies is a good move for economic stability and while that can be true; we also the reality of that bailout the companies had to streamline their books and the first and quickest way to do that is to cut jobs. Both Chrysler and GM shut down dealerships in order to make the bailout plausible, ultimately, the heads of these companies got a second chacne at the expense of so many. There is no common decency anymore. We have sold ourselves completely to the idea of green pices of paper being the most valuable thing in the world and most will do whatever to get their hands on it.
Is money a need? That can be argued theoretically, but it serves a purpose for people to purchase things they truly need. You will indirectly die from having no money, because you cant get food to keep yourself alive without it. How many of you would kill someone for a million dollars? A hundred thousand? Yet, the majority of people will go on their daily lives not thinking there is anything wrong with so few having so much, and so many having so little. The old saying is quite true, the majority of men live their lives full of quiet desperation.
However, the desperate are growing in number each day and the problem that most overlook is that the majority of the desperate are also armed. That's right, be afraid because there are more and more people out there with nothing to lose and have themselves a weapon. "Tempt not a desperate man", wrote Shakespeare centuries ago. Think of that the next time you see someone walking on the street, who may have have just lost his job and can't find any. Think of that and wonder why he/she may rob you. The crime can serve two purposes for the desperate, first, it may supply them with enough to get by for a few days, and second, if they get caught that can be a victory as well, because prison is sometimes a better reality for these desperate, wanting people. Now, imagine if this group of people somehow found a leader, someone who could rile them up and get them to band together to go on and start a revolution. Marx writes that the suppression of a group from another "ruling" group if gone on to long will lead to to revolution. The question then becomes, who do they go after, the politicos or the CEOs. The sad part about revolution is that there will always be innocents, people stuck in the middle that will pay the ultimate sacrifice. We have become an nation of hatred. We'd rather hate, then communicate. People have different opinions; most people have lost the ability to respect another's opinion. Why is there so much dissention between are politicians these days? Both sides have always disagreed and have always wanted to be the controlling party, that's not new, but there used to be a spirit of ultimately working together and finding a solution for the greater good. Now, there only seems to be what serves the greater good of the party, not the people, voters, and most importantly fellow citizens. We all share this great country. It's time to share great ideas with each other and work with a spirit of cooperation first and not competitiveness. This country became great because it was every citizen working together to help the greater good of the country. We helped each other up when we fell. I fear that we have become brainfed into a nation of walking by or stepping on those that have fallen. Just remember the next person you step on, may shoot you in the ass as you go by.
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