an open letter to the sheep...

'we are all fighting the same

we are all in the same war

we are all in the same revolution

got to know who you're fighting for'

—Fight the Fight, Living Colour (1990)

you want change? Then let's get some! But i'm not convinced you want it...

you want affordable health insurance but you don't want the government to run, presumably because the Health/Medical Industrial Complex is running it so well. i was once fortunate enough to qualify for Medicaid after a health emergency. To put things in perspective, my two prescriptions cost a total $10. Under my plan with Local 3 i paid $40. Under government operated Medicaid i never paid out of pocket for appointments, EKGs or Echos, under my plan with Local 3 there was a $20+ copay. You have to ask yourself, is this about socialism or is it about profit. The tea baggers are being tea bagged...

you want Obama to eat shit, well, he's eating it, but not because of some Red Bulled Doc Brown-like gasbag. Obama's party sold their souls for some extra seats in Congress, but what they got were left handed republicans, who are holding onto the center for dear life. There is no change in the middle...

you want the banks to stop giving bonuses and the current administration to bailout the tax payer not the big bad banks. If my memory serves this bailout plan was the brainchild of the former administration. While Tim Geithner hasn't picked the ball up and ran with it, the onus lies upon the former administration and Congress, many of whom are still sitting in the same seats on this very day. You want change, forget about democracy. Voting is our right and privilege, but what is it worth when our elected officials are more concerned with what's in the lobby then your family's living room. You want change, get your money out of the market, fire your broker, fire your bank! Walk out, bring your business to a local financial institute. Its just plain hypocritical to complain about the state of the banking industry while you have a Chase, Bank Of America or Citibank ATM card in your wallet...

once you begin to realize that the world doesn't revolve around sound bytes, and gasbags and politicians and that in fact is is being run by people who have more money and control over what you buy for dinner than you do—once you get that—maybe we can have a serious conversation...

the elder had a Social Studies teacher named Hoffman. He would always lecture the class about how he was going to move out of the country at some point due to the cold war/nuclear crisis of the '80s. The fear of mismanagement leading to a nuclear holocaust. Right now i want to leave because of the fear that is crippling this nation. Manufactured fear. Fear of socialism, or disarmament of your Borelli, fear of faux-"death panels", whatever other nonsense that has scared you into the idea that unfettered capitalism is the only answer. This is the result of "smaller government"...

time to man up and take some responsibility for yourselves—you're being tea bagged...