Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Hello all,

It's been a while since my last post.  There's been a lot going on.  People getting married, people getting divorced, people having children, people at the best of times, and the people I'll be talking about today-people at the worst of times. 

Let's face it folks, there are A LOT of people, nowadays, that for many reasons are facing very, very hard times.  I believe it is mostly due to the general incompetence and corruption inherent in our government.  That's not saying that there aren't good people in our government that are trying their hardest to help the people.  I'm saying that the "government machine" as an institution has become self serving, corrupt and incompetent.  My personal belief is that this is because our government officials have sold their services to corporations.  All corporations want is to take as much of our money as they can, without giving back any.  They only seem to spend money when it is, of coarse, in their best interest.  However, that seems to be buying legislation, or buying the death of legislation, that will further THEIR goals, irregardless how it affects the rest of us.  The thing they bought, I believe, that has hurt us the most is the deregulation that has allowed corporations to take advantage of us.  In that time, employee rights, consumer rights, and community rights have all fallen slave to what the corporations want, because they control tons of money.  There's an old, and crude, stating, "Money talks and bullshit walks".  That has been true throughout history.  To use another adage, "He who has the gold makes the rules". 

So, what has the deregulation taught us?  It's easy, as it's all over the news, corporate greed has crippled us.  Our financial markets have practically collapsed, causing corporations to have played damage control and hoarded the majority of this nations wealth while cutting costs by putting the average citizen out of work, cutting money and benefits earned by employees that were not let go and made to thank them for still having a job, massive neglect on our infrastructure a careless disregard of environmental health.  The worst thing about all this is that all of these disasters have actually strengthened the death grip corporations have on us, as we need them in order to engage in money lending and circulation, energy, medicine and jobs that allow us to support ourselves and our families.  Now, without them, we become cut off financially and have no hope to enjoy basic necessities like home, groceries, transportation, medicine, etc.  Now, because they have "fortified their defenses", millions of citizens suffer.  They suffer from loss of home, loss of self-respect, decreasing self-esteem, etc.  They, for the most part, have had to endure this for the past couple years, since the economic meltdown began.  So now we have the upper class buying legislation and the lower classes suffering while hoping and waiting for our corporate masters to show favor upon us.  Now,...where have I heard about this type of thing before.....?  OH YEAH, it was the feudal system that has been the only prospering form of economics for the world since the dawn of civilization. 

Our founding fathers tried a novel approach with our democratic republic, as most people at that time were socially and economically equal at the time.  However, as we grew as a nation, and our government grew, we prioritized what, and who, was more valuable to our society and dedicated our resources to them, leaving those not chosen to struggle and fight for whatever "scraps" were left over.  Now, I think I understand what is meant by the phrase "It's a dog eat dog world".  This division among us, also, helps corporations control us, as we are easier to manipulate and be taken advantage of.  Power thrives on keeping the powerless confused, divided and uneducated.  This is because if the powerless were ever to gain any of these things, they could take that power for themselves. 

So, what does this mean to those of us that can't afford to buy a home, have lost their home, have lost their job, or are unable to get a loan in order to sustain themselves?  It means we continue to suffer and struggle and fight each other for the "scraps" that corporations throw to us, because now, it's not about quality of life, but about survival.  I have a difficult time believing that the founding fathers had this type of existence in mind when they stated in the Decloration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."