The Fall of US

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”- George Bernard Shaw


The history books say Rome fell in 476 AD but in reality it took 300 years for Rome to fall. It didn’t happen in a day. The barbarian’s were at the gates watching and waiting for these fat cats to become “to big to fail” and slowly but surely, much to the Roman’s surprise, Rome tumbled.

There were many reasons why it fell; the empire was too large to govern. The military was corrupt, as was the empire itself. Inflation was rising as trade was decreasing. The poor were over worked. And all Romans had decreasing interest in religion and morality and an increased interest in luxury and gold. Hmmmm.

There was not enough food grown within the city walls of Rome, so whoever controlled the importing of grain controlled the people.
 The phrase “Bread and Circus” comes from the poet Juvenal who was referring to the ploy that the empire played on its people by distracting them from how bad things really were by giving them free low grade grain and entertainment by way of inviting them to stand up for twelve hours every Sunday watching the Gladiators kill each other once a week at the Coliseum or watch the chariot races in the Circus Maximus on the Palatine Hill. (Like government cheese and The Kardashians!)

In the movie Gladiator there is a scene where the people are thrown loaves of bread just as the Gladiators enter the ring to fight. The common people would cheer saying  “Isn’t the emperor great?! This beats slaving and starving all week long! Long live super creepy Joaquin Phoenix!” (Or whoever was in power at the moment because by the time Rome was failing the only people who held office were born into the position and were “professional” politicians or they took it by violence and coercion so no one was really qualified therefore they were always easily being over thrown or poisoned.)

Professional politicians? Whoever heard of someone holding office without ever having to live and work in the private sector, that just doesn’t make any sense?? Oh wait a minute…never mind.

Suzanne Collins just wrote a book trilogy called The Hunger Games that is a great Young Adult series. There are parallels to the fall of Rome and to what is going on now in the United States. The main theme of the books are controlling the masses through hunger and starvation and the people, finally having had enough, rise up together under the leadership of a sixteen year old girl fighting for independence from a big brother government called The Capitol.

In the bible it states in Isaiah 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
Interestingly enough I believe it is our generation that will end up changing things for the future of our children. I truly believe no other generation has done more to protect the welfare of their children than ours, or at least that is our generations intention. (Sometimes catering to instead of caring for gets mixed up.) Whether that is good or bad is irrelevant. I think people are motivated to work together to help make the world a better place for future generations.  Surely on that we can all agree. Our parent’s assumed our futures were all set as long as we worked hard. We know on every level economically to environmentally there are no guarantees for our kids futures. Can we help them unite this country as it ought to be or will we show them by “what not to do”? One way or another we will be gone and they will be left here holding the bag.

 

Not that throwing money at a problem will work across the board but can we start with, where is all the money that the government collects from everyone going? Can I get a break down? (Break it down) Why are there career politicians in this world? I am certainly no expert but it seems logical, just to keep things from getting unbalanced that a congressman should not be allowed to hold office for more than a few terms not 50 years.

I was the head committee member of my kid’s summer camp when they were young and I ran a tight ship for five years. I will be honest; I didn’t want anyone else’s mom deciding what the movie was going to be on the rain day or when field day would be held. I was intoxicated by the power my clipboard could wield. By three years in I didn’t even have a committee anymore. It was all me. I had the power.  If it took Slurpees everyday just to get the kids and counselors to listen to me, then let them drink slurpees I declared. I had no shame. I didn’t even care.   When my oldest grew to old for camp, I came to my senses realizing that I needed to step down for the same reason I stepped up. Things needed shaking up, some new blood to make things fresh. Time served, moving on.

If I could easily slip into this totalitarian way of running a summer camp, then how could that not happen to someone in charge of a town, city, county, state or country? When one person has the power, the fear of losing the power becomes what drives them to keep the power at all cost. Everything becomes based on fear and not on the greater good of the people. Slurpees everyday is good for no man.

For everyone considering running for office of some kind: Get a real job, once you have worked and lived in the private sector, then run for office with a specific amount of money that all candidates receive so no one can be in anyone else’s pocket and can be owed favors and placed in positions that benefit their businesses that helped put the candidate they “purchased” in place to begin with. There are unfair politics in every business on every level right down to the schoolyard. How many times have you stood on a side line of a soccer field watching your kid play and have overheard Gladys Kravitz say “My Tommy would have made the A team but Billy took his spot because his Dad is the coach, it’s all political.”  OMG!

First and foremost USG, start reforming our education system.
Our outdated and antiquated system that was standardized years ago is obsolete. There is no room for divergent thinkers, artists and poets. What there is room for is learn it this way so you can take this test and if you don’t we will put you on medication until you do. If you don’t think the way everyone else does, than something must be wrong with you. Can we just try empowering all children and see if that works?

While we are at it, can we earmark some money for art and music? The fact that these programs are getting shut down in schools nation wide is preposterous.  Basically all creative people are essentially being told that they hold no value in this society.  Can kids still have recess or is there no time because if you give them 20 minutes to eat the food, (that is void of all nutrition and then they can’t think straight anyway!) Then there is only enough time for a 30-minute test review class and we all have to get high grades on the test so we have to have the review class! If you do badly on the test than you’re an idiot and maybe you can come over and mow my lawn because the world needs ditch diggers to Danny. (Thanks Judge Smalls.)

Growing up I rarely felt like I had the voice to speak up and I felt I should just do what I was told. I heard more often than not, “Children should be seen and not heard.” (Which I really didn’t get when I was younger but I also didn’t get it when my Dad would say, “You are a cute kid but who likes goats?” Wha?) Anyway, in my lifelong attempt to be a “good” daughter, wife, mother, friend, citizen, I obliged for the most part. What if someone didn’t like what I said anyway? I really didn’t want anyone to think I was anything but the illusion.  Smoke and mirrors baby. It was just so much easier that way. Until it wasn’t.

I am redefining what “good” means to me. Perhaps it is getting older or not wanting my own children to put up with anyone else’s bullshit but I can no longer ignore the tightness in my chest and the lump in my throat when my body is urgently telling me listen up! Something is not right. I urge my children to not go with the status quo. Question things that don’t resonate with you. Stand up for yourselves and for people who need you to stand up for them, but only if they deserve it. And don’t be a whiny pain in the ass and complain about everything without trying your best to help the situation. If something doesn’t seem right, it’s probably because it isn’t. Trust your instincts and don’t expect anything to be handed to you because everything worthwhile takes hard work.

Let’s not let “The Capitol” fool us into thinking it is us against each other. We are all in this together. Allow me have my beliefs and I will let you have yours and let’s together tell anyone who tries to tell us we cannot have our individual beliefs that “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.”