Bin Laden is dead, the nation cheers

Posted on May 6th, 2011 by steve

Is no one else disturbed by this?

I’m not talking about the possible fact that Bin Laden is dead; I mean the convenience of this information. What a load-off it must be for the GOP. After months of dealing with backlashes for stripping our rights one by one across the country, they now have a bit of a break while the population is nicely distracted. Don’t lose sight of the real problem our country if facing right now – within its own borders.

They talk about democracy and justice and all the while Republican Governors and officials across the country are working hard to get rid of collecting bargaining rights, to put in place officials who can dismiss mayors when they see fit, and to make it more difficult for people to register to vote. They are doing everything they can to ensure that the poor and powerless don’t have a say.

What saddens me most is that many of you don’t see it. You’re too busy watching the millionaire-owned news networks who spoonfeed you garbage to distract you from the very real things that are happening.

‘When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the (many) believe almost anything you want, and you can guide them.’
– Gore Vidal, The Golden Age

For generations the government has worked to make our children less competent, less knowledgeable, more distracted, and more out-of-scync with what is real. They take money out of our educational system by staggering amounts. Yes people get angry, but do you think they really care? Of course not. An uneducated mass is an easily controllable one.

I worry for the US, and, consequently, the world. Our country is run by the rich and powerful. Let me take a moment to explain how a part of our economic system works (what it is these people control). Everyone knows about our central bank. It’s where our government has our money printed when they, well, need more. This bank is not controlled by the government. It is private owned by some of the richest men in the world. Let me stop for moment and point that out again. It’s private owned. That in itself is ridiculous.

‘The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.’ – Abraham Lincoln

Apparently Lincoln was wrong since we now don’t have that system. And like Lincoln predicted – now when they print this money, they do it on a loan and add interest right on top. This means that when money enters circulation, so does more debt. This means that the government, or rather, the people, always owe money to the central bank. Always. There is no way to settle our nations debt, because that’s how the system is designed. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? It is. But it’s designed to be that way; again, it’s an issue of control. That’s all they want from us, for us to stay in line and to not question.

‘There is no more direct way to capture control of a nation than through its credit (money) system’ – Mr. Phillip A. Benson, President of the American Bankers’ Association, 1939

Question is exactly what we need to do. We need to question everything. I know of people who would say that questioning your government isn’t patriotic. I hope, after everything that’s happened in the past several months, that those people have changed their minds. Remember, this country was founded by people who questioned their government and I’m sure that’s exactly what the founders would want us to keep doing.

‘Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings – that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.’ – Buddha

Aren’t you tired of being manipulated and lied to? Aren’t you tired of being taken advantage of? For all my religious friends; Is this really what God wants for us? Is this what you want for our society, for our future?

Our lives are decided by a thin piece of paper whose only value is the value we give it. Money decides if we eat or if we starve, if we are sick or if we are well, if we have a place to sleep or if we don’t. Does anyone else find that repulsive? We call ourselves enlightened and civilized, yet we live in a world where people die of starvation and curable diseases. We turn a blind eye to them because well, they’re not us. It’s a shame, but I give them ten cents a month, so I’m doing my part. Right? Wrong. They are human beings. No one deserves to live like that. No one.

Worst of all, there is no reason for them to live that way. None whatsoever. There’s enough money in the world to take care of them. We may not have it, but corporations certainly do. But there’s no way they’d give so much of it away. If there’s no profit to be made, there’s no reason to do it. We sell life-saving medications for hundreds of dollars when it costs almost nothing to make. How sick is that? If you don’t have the money, you don’t get better. You die. We are barbarians who wear the mask of civility.

But companies are businesses, right? We can’t expect them to be . . . human. Sadly, you’re right. And therein lies the problem. Greed. Our system cannot help but foster it. We are taught that you have to work hard in order to survive. If you don’t, you won’t make it. Oh well, it’s your own fault.

That’s a terrible outlook to have. We are all human beings. Why do we work so hard to push each other down just climb all over them? Anything to get to the top. Here’s a crazy idea. Why don’t we work to help each other up? I’m not talking about jobs and money. That is the root of our problem. Money. It causes just about every problem we have today, poverty, sickness, war, crime, etc. It’s all caused by money and it’s brother, greed.

There has to be a better way.

We need to stop seeing the world with an ‘us against them’ mentality. We are one world, one species. We need to stop fighting each other and work together to keep our species alive and thriving. Our civilization is sick and demented. We have been engrained with the idea that we have to work in order to survive. Thing is, that is no longer true. Thanks to brilliant problemsolvers (note: not politicians) we have the means to feed, clothe, provide shelter and energy for the entire world – every man, woman, and child. [link] All without the need of human labor.

I’ve read a lot of people complain that if people didn’t have to work, they wouldn’t do anything. That is ridiculous. That’s just another idea engrained into us. Sure young adults and adults alike today may become lazy, but that has nothing to do with who we are as a species. It is not our natural inclination. Those people who are that way today are so because they are unsatisfied with life and the reason they might not pursue other things is likely because they don’t have the education to do so or the money to pursue even that. And are so forced to work mundane jobs for the majority of their lives.

This is not what human beings are capable of. Think of us as children. We are naturally curious, naturally creative and explorative. That is who we are. We are problem solvers; how do you think we got the wheel? It is only through our poor educational systems and sad ideas of what is expected of us that those natural tendencies are forced out of us. It is then that the majority of us become drones of the working class.

We deserve and are capable of so much more. I remember reading about the Renaissance, wondering how people could become ‘Renaissance Men.’ I was astounded by the thought of knowing so much about so many different things. Later I realized that it is not so astonishing as it is inevitable when our growth of knowledge isn’t stunted. It’s something we are all capable of, we have just lost the environment that fosters it.

If we continue to let the small group of powerful and wealthy control us, we’ll never see our full potential. Eventually people are going to get tired of it and are going to have to either stand up for themselves or let themselves be herded like cattle.

I for one am hoping for the former.