47 years ago today, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. A few years before, his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, upon leaving office warned that "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Nearly 50 years later, Eisenhower's prediction seems consummated.
Americans recognize the damage this amassment of power has created in their country, as evidenced by biennial elections that flip power between the two ruling parties. They remain unsatisfied and ignored by both as each time, the winning party always claims their victory as a mandate.
There is really only one mandate made in recent elections by Americans regarding government, and it speaks to the balance of power, which is misplaced. The power should belong to the people, not the Government or corporations.
We may never know why JFK was murdered. but we should reflect on whether this is how we want this country to be: divided by partisan politics that obscure the truth. Power is misplaced and in the hands of people whose interests are not that of the people, but their own. Some are in government and some are in business, and the line between the two is ever blurring. They support both parties because that sustains and grows their power. To correct the balance of power Americans will have to make hard, informed choices about our communities, our leaders, our economy, and this country's direction.
Frustration, devastation is what I feel when I contemplate on the condition of all political systems, not just the American. The film "My Trip to al-Qaeda", based on Lawrence Wright's book/play, haunts me to this day. Nothing this year has resounded like that and spoken so much to me about the current situation of American politics in regards to the Middle East, talk about misplaced power! It is human nature to become corrupt once control is attained, look at the many leaders that were once the bourgeois, once the poor, that failed to be congruent with their initial ideals once they came to power. They conformed.
ReplyDeleteI must admit though that I am a complacent citizen too. I am, and I don’t like to admit that I am, but there is very little evidence pointing to the contrary. I am complacent because I am not as informed as I should be, because I do not want the burden of this devastation upon me every day that I wake. I do not seek further knowledge on matters of politics because it infuriates me, because I have not come to terms with my impotence. You write “The power should belong to the people, not the Government or corporations.” but I have missed the empowerment and transcendence of protesting on the streets, on blogs, on calls to your state senator, and going unheard time after time. I don’t want to be complacent I just don’t know an effective alternate way of being.
Thank you for your comment. Taking the time to write a response to a post that engages you is a small step towards empowering yourself and others to overcome the inertia of complacency. It is natural to disengage when faced with seemingly unavoidable negative outcomes and situations.
ReplyDeleteEmpowerment and transcendence doesn't come from protests, blogs. or calls. It comes from an understanding of power and truth, and from growing that understanding by sharing it and focusing on it. Alone, a human is a fragile and temporal creature.
Our power as a species and as individuals has come from cooperation. In fact all human achievements are exactly that, and not the individual achievements with which they are often confused.
Empowerment for humanities' least powerful (and most oppressed) will come when, united, they face those who insist that they are empowered. So it was that Ghandi and the Indians defeated the mighty British Empire.
I don't believe you are impotent, and I believe you have every right to be furious. But knowledge and truth can transform what you feel into a productive energy. The hard part is having the strength to persevere in the never ending quest for knowledge and truth, and staying on the paths you choose throughout your life.
Don't give up. Hope. Stay purple. Share purple.