the bombs bursting in air..."
Ah, the immortal words of war enshrined in the American national anthem. It's no wonder the country prepares to celebrate independence by positioning war ships and materiel offshore of yet more targets of unilateral aggression. It's no wonder that country has populated the world with war drones and bathed other nations in blood and depleted uranium.
It's no wonder no one is too upset about Fukushima. The Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya wars have unleashed amounts of radiation that will take some reactors in Japan a few more years to match.
Any more, independence day is pretty much an oxymoron, at least as far as America goes. About the only thing left there that's still independent are the banksters and corporations that run the country. Everything else is owned lock, stock and two smoking barrels.
Kind of a shame, too. It was a great idea. Those founder guys imagined a land where everyone was educated to the hilt. They foresaw a new Golden Age based on enlightened citizens spending summer afternoons arguing the finer points of Plato, Descartes and Bacon. They dreamed of a nation that incorporated Rome in its glory mixed with Atlantis, populated by philosopher-kings whose realms were loosly confederated into an absolutely egalitarian society that would lead the world in moral, ethical and intellectual pursuits.
Oops.
Looks like things got derailed somewhere around Lincoln.
I suppose the dream could be recaptured, but it would take at least a century, since that's how long the Prussian model schools have been indoctrinating the nation's youth. It would take at least two generations just to undo all the damage caused by psychiatry and social workers. It wouldn't be easy, either. People being deprogrammed tend to react badly. Just ask Tom Cruise.
Look at the great hordes of folks that, despite 60 years of evil unleashed by Washington, America is the "greatest nation on Earth" and the least corrupt, most lawful nation with the highest standard of living and the best of everything.
It's not.
America could take a lesson from Indonesia. You see, here the politicians and bureaucrats simply ignore the law, much as they do in the States. The difference is, the Indonesian people follow suit. They figure if the lawmakers don't abide by their own laws, why should we? You end up with a kind of beautiful mildly controlled anarchy that works just fine, thank you.
No need to worry, though. It seems, at least from listening to the news and various prognosticators, that everything is about to change in rather profound ways.
Naturally, the PTB are fear-mongering because that is what they do best. They use fear to manipulate not only people, but the very fabric of time-space itself. All we have to do is follow Douglas Adams' advice, and Don't Panic!
The ninnies that imagine themselves in charge of everything have built themselves extensive underground caves to hide in, because the first rule of using fear to control is that the user must also be very afraid of losing control.
What will happen, most likely, is that we will realize in a couple of hundred years that H. G. Wells was right after all. The PTB will retreat to their caves like good little troglodytes and try to run the world as they slowly mutate into Morlock. Our job, as the Eloi, is to make sure we don't end up as food stock for them, but rather help to seal them in and forget about them while we rebuilt our planet into something much more interesting and sane.
I've worked pretty hard to do just that. At the Junior Far Side World Headquarters, sitting 1,290 meters above mean sea level, I've installed a water well with a hand-pump, and I'm in the process of getting a solar array up and working. The house is located just a couple of miles from our 7-hectare farm, which is even higher up, and currently growing teak wood for building materials. It's isolated, has a cool breeze all the time, and a year-round growing season. In true Far Side tradition, whichever way the PTB are going, I'm going in the opposite direction.
It's time to give up on the world as it currently exists. I see little hope for it all. More often than not, I have found Mark Twain's advice to always go against the common wisdom to be most beneficial. One spends a lot of time being ridiculed, but the part I hate is that by the time I can say, "I told you so," everyone already thinks it was all their idea in the first place. By that point, I'm already going the opposite direction again, anyway.
No, I'm not a rabid contrarian like the guy in Little Big Man. I don't wash with dirt and dry off with water and ride horses backwards. But if I see a mass of people rushing to one side of the boat, I figure it's prudent to go to the other side. At least the waters will be less crowded with panicked people when we all end up in the drink.
What it all boils down to is this...as you celebrate independence day, think about all the ways you are dependent and try to figure out a way to reverse that problem. Seize your heritage and become a subversive in any of a hundred different and quiet ways. Become passive-aggressive. Appear to appease the glory-eaters, while chipping away at their control structure a little at a time.
You don't have to go head-to-head and fight an open war. The best way to fight an overpowering enemy is the classic hit-and-run.
For instance, install a solar water heater and take your old gas or electric tank off the grid. If you have a smart meter on your house, put a lead box around it so it can't communicate with the grid. Get an FTA satellite system and cancel your cable subscription. Join with your neighbors and buy a cow every couple of months, have it butchered and share the meat. Turn every open patch of ground around your house into a food-generating piece of dirt. Grow veggies and medicinal herbs. Buy, sell and trade for everything you can using co-ops and grey markets. Don't buy anything new. Watch the classified ads for things you want and only pay cash. Keep your bank account with a minimal amount of money in it. If you get paid by check, cash it. If you have direct deposit, withdrawn the whole amount every payday. Buy a safe and keep your money at home. Close your safe deposit boxes and put your import documents in the safe, as well. Get a passport and let all your other ID expire (passport numbers change every 10 years and you can use them in any country).
For independence day, declare yourself independent. Fight back without throwing a single punch or even an angry word. You'd be amazed at how powerful you feel even doing these little things to slap the supposed owners of all they survey. You'll notice too that these little suggestions don't take a lot of effort, and they can fill time that would otherwise be given over to TeeVee indoctrination. Heck, the kids can even get in on the action, and the experience will teach them some valuable skills, as well as the importance of self-sufficiency.
And none of it is illegal...yet.
This revolution stuff can be so much fun! Happy independence day!
