|
Write On: Progressive
News for Northern Michigan October 2003 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Local Links Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice State, National, and International Links |
Get a Job Lanni Laanto What is an average young American supposed to do after she attends a 4-year state university? Well, most would say enter the job market, raise a family behind a white picket fence, and ride in her Benz to retire in Florida. After all, isn’t that the American dream? It’s capitalism at its best except it doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve always been one to question the motives of a society that has six-year-old girls on diets and 80-year-old women getting botox. Today, however, I’ve been asking more questions than usual. Now my suspicions are not just aimed at advertisers who sell us lingerie by women dressed up as angels, but to our president who seems to be selling us lies. Michael Moore may have said it at a sensitive time but it was nonetheless the truth, “We live in a time where fictitious election results give us a fictitious president.” The novel didn’t end there though. In the next chapter he started a preemptive war, spreading American dislike around the globe. If you don’t like to read, you could compare his mission to kill Saddam Hussein to a scene right out of the film Apocalypse Now, “Terminate with extreme prejudice”. Even the Pope can’t argue that Saddam was a devilish dictator but why is it that a lot of Americans believe this Iraqi war was fought in retaliation for 9/11? Wasn’t it made clear that culprit was previously United States CIA trained and funded Osama Bin Laden? Regardless, through the use of fear, Bush got the masses to follow him, while any conscientious objector to his policies was branded unpatriotic. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of hippies were even exiled to Siberia. Let’s move on to chapter 2 or scene 2, whatever you prefer. Operation Iraqi Freedom was accomplished, we had conquered and we had won. Why wasn’t anyone celebrating? Probably because we went to war without planning ahead (D’oh!), amassed a projected $480 billion deficit, our troops were still dying abroad while we were cutting Vietnam veterans’ benefits, and damn it, we were still paying $1.74 for gas. Somebody was celebrating though, you just didn’t hear about it because you weren’t invited to the party. A bunch of CEO’s over at Halliburton, which was formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, had won a contract for $1.7 billion because of the success of this Operation. The Washington Institute for Policy Studies also published a report that the 50 companies who had the most lay-offs in 2001 also had a median pay increase of 44% to the CEOs. Should I even continue to explain the injustice of the Texas redistricting, California recall, or Ashcroft’s Patriot Act? This Republican Administration has waged war, and not just against foreign countries or even democrats, but against democracy itself. So, while the rich of our country get tax breaks on Hummers, college graduates are being screamed at by men such as Ron Eibensteiner, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, to I quote, “Get a job!” Well, since making a career out of lying is left up to the professionals, I guess an amateur like me is stuck trying to uncover the truth. Jay Leno gave me an idea when he joked, “President Bush’s economic team is now on their Jobs & Growth bus tour all across America. I think the only job they created so far is for the guy driving the bus”. Only I’m not joking, I am going to drive the bus. Okay, actually it’s my car and I won’t be getting paid for it. I’m not alone in questioning this government. I’m not the only one my age who can’t find a job to match their degree, who didn’t agree to this war and doesn’t want their librarian tattling on her because she read “George W. Bushisms: The Slate Book of The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President”. I can’t be the only one who has moral issues about funding the killing of Iraqi children instead of using that same money to feed the world. Actually, I need to know that I am not the only one who is tired of being deceived and lied too by an Administration that withheld evidence because it didn’t support their views. In less than a week my cousin and I will hit the road on a journey across the United States. We plan on doing something that hasn’t been done; we plan to listen. Along the way, we hope to inspire and raise consciousness that people who feel this need for change are not alone. In reality, we are the majority of Americans and we are at an extremely unique moment in history. We stand at a crossroads where we have the power to alter the course of events and give the historians something to write about besides war. Along with the help of some ardent praying and genuine faith in people, we hope to trigger an already present grassroots movement capable of changing this political landscape. We might be coming to your city. Although we don’t have Starbucks to support our “campaign”, we do have something else the “competition” is lacking: an open mind and a willing ear. The novel isn’t finished yet folks and the director hasn’t said, “That’s a wrap”. We still have time to buy this rough draft screenplay from the big giant Hollywood producer and write our own ending. Let us know you’re out there, for the sake of my own sanity and for the sake of the future of the United States. But no matter what you do, don’t tell me to “Get a job!” Lanni & Sara welcome any and all comments, motivational speeches, and prayers. They can be reached at Lantto2004@usa.com.
|
Write On Issues |