Sunday, April 21, 2019

Civic DUTY

Namaste my friends, family, and fellow knowledge seekers and welcome to another posting on my blog, the Quiet Mouse Strikes Back. Today I want to discuss the issue of civic duty. I placed the word DUTY in bold to accent the importance of this topic.

As some of you already know, I honorably served this nation as a member of the United States Navy. I took my oath to protect this nation from all enemies both foreign and domestic. I took that oath very seriously. I still believe in the basic tenets of the Constitutional Republic in which we live, these here United States of America.
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We don't really feel so much like  a United states at the moment, however. Greed, laziness, entitlement, under-education, apathy, isolation, and selfishness, among other things like fascism and racism, are tearing away at the fabric that makes our country great. Our founding fathers, flawed as they may be owning slaves and whatnot, STILL tried to devise a system of governance that was fair and just for all the people that would endure for many generations. Those principles of freedom also came with a discipline that was to be carried out by the people in order to benefit the majority of lawful citizens. But not everyone agrees on ideology, politics, or the general way in which things should be ran. Some believe the focus should be on business and growing the economy. Others believe we should have a more humanistic approach and focus our wealth and resources on things like education, healthcare, and social programs meant to assist people in raising their standards of living. Both sides have valid points of view.
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It feels to me sometimes like we have over 300 million individuals living in this geographical region rather that a unified people that are working together toward a common goal.
I think we forget, at times, as a culture of the courage and sacrifices of our ancestors to make things better. YES, there have been a LOT of mistakes along the way, all the way from the indigenous Native American holocaust to slavery to the mistreatment of every major immigrant group including the Jews, Irish, Italians, Muslim, Hispanic, and basically anyone that didn't speak English. When many Americans see hats that read "MAGA - Make America Great Again" they see the sordid past of our nation, that sadly was built on the exploitation of minorities and those who could not stand up with their own voice to defend self. They see slavery and oppression; pain, hurt, anger, and death.
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Modern society has been brainwashed into a state of apathy by the media, crooked politicians, greedy corporations, bankers, and business tycoons. The masses crave constant entertainment and distractions from the cruelty of the world, much of which is being caused by the exact same people that claim to abhor war and violence... yet the bombings continue, and as long as a person can use cognitive dissonance to ignore and avoid the things that they don't want to see, hear, or believe... well, ignorance truly is blissful, but only for the ignorant individual.
Beyond the obvious need for a better education system, what we sorely need is less nationalism and MORE PARTICIPATION... all the way from local to state to the national level. Our Constitutional Republic is NOT a spectator sport!!! When 2/3 of registered adult voters fail their CIVIC DUTY to participate in the system and elect a GOOD candidate for the job, then we are constantly stuck in this BULL SHIT rut of choosing the "LESSER OF 2 EVILS".
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Please readers, get this point...
A democracy is NOT what the United States is. It is a Constitutional Republic.
A democracy is basically just mob rule. If they vote to take your stuff, your freedom, your livelihood... well the vote of the masses could assure that.
In a Constitutional Republic your property and the cumulative value of your work is yours as well... NOT the property of the masses.
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The next upcoming election is going to decide what kind of nation we are going to be moving forward. We are dangerously close to slipping into a Nazi-like fascist state. Think the world hates us now? Wait til the rest of the world holds us accountable as a nation for our leader's war crimes against humanity... we also have the option to give a shit about one another. We have the option to truly put the needs of American citizens FIRST, with universal healthcare, the demand for living wages, affordable housing, and a clean sustainable environment for both civilians and corporations to thrive in an eco-friendly and economic friendly world. It can be done. We can have both. But folks need to care. They need to participate. Americans need to read and educate themselves in order to be part of the SOLUTION, not just part of the problems. Learn about history, the voting process, the NEED for the electoral college (unless you just want New York, Florida, and California to decide every election)... learn about your candidates and make INFORMED DECISIONS about the future of your business, family, community, state, nation, and fellow citizens. We are not, nor can we afford to be an isolationist nation shut off from the cruelty our country has inflicted on the world; our brothers, sisters, & cousins from around the globe.
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If we isolate our selves and allow the bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, racism, and prejudice to consume our nation, then we are no better than those who came before us and sat idly by while history recorded the greatest loss of life in human history in World War 2, second to the decimation of the North American natives by white Europeans... I sadly see history repeating itself. There is no wall that is going to protect our nation and its people from the home grown prejudice that is rampant in our homes, at the dinner table, in the streets, in the minds of the willfully ignorant, and in the hearts of broken men and women.
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We CAN do better, America. We CAN be leaders in technology, innovation, sustainability, and synergy. We just have to care enough to try AND keep doing it, rather than make excuses and fail before we give ourselves the chance to succeed. We don't all have to like one another all the time. We don't always have to agree on everything to mutually understand one another. What we should all agree upon, however, is that despite whatever aspiring dictator or political whore is in the oval office... we, as citizens are all Americans. WE make this nation, NOT a political puppet or career con-man/woman that represents corporate interests over We the people's interests. It is the diversity and uniqueness of our culture that makes it great. We should not forget that. If we are going to give advice to others in the world... then we should get our shit together first and quit acting so shitty toward one another.

This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse.
Peace. Love. Education. Respect. Empathy. Participation.

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