family ties

i received an email from my cousin recently who is also struggling with disgust with the status quo and the challenge of affecting real social change.

i wondered earlier about the mystery of the People's lack of outrage, he replied questioning the existence of democracy and whether people believe it does anymore. indeed, the (il)logic of this blatant fact is readily apparent. i say illogic because to any rational person it doesn't seem logical.

"if there is a democracy, then why would there be a social elite? why would the top 1% of our country control a third of our national wealth, and the top 10% control over 70% of all disposable income? the thing is, to me it all comes down to money..."

Absolutely. it doesn't have to be this way is our point and that of many others. us bottom feeders can simply rise up and claim our slice of the pie, at least for our own healthcare. i'm really interested to see what happens post "sicko".

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and when people are so busy just trying to make it through another day, they just don't seem to have time, energy, much less the knowledge, to start making some changes - because with each new change comes another period of instability that must one must get used to, at least until it stabilizes.

yes, after working our ass off all day, the last thing we want to do is educate ourselves about the world we live in. if its not tv then its beer, liquor, name your addiction. i think we can minimize the instability by careful, "faith"ful planning. We need to ask ourselves, what are we working so damn hard for?

Cousin goes on to illustrate the seeming impossibility of changing the system without a massive collapse. i think that's why it needs to be a numbers game. it simply won't happen without enough people. but thats going to require a lot of people waking up and smelling the coffee. The movements typified by MLK and Gandhi still represent a positive step, imho.

coincidentally, i'm reading a fantastic book... by howard zinn, a people's history of the united states: 1492 - present, that, if accurate in its accounts, reveals our country's history to be very different from the way it has been taught to us from a young age. much more importantly, though i can't say for certain, not having finished the book, but if our origin is truly different from the way we believed it to be, then the chances of our country functioning like we believe it to be is very slim as well.

first of all, that not a coincidence at all. this book is a milestone in my personal "awakening". and lets face it, you don't just stumble onto h. zinn. i think we're on the right path. if memory serves me, zinn wraps up the book on a very hopeful note, which i hope you'll get to soon. maybe i got this from him, but as long as we have the... hallucination (call it what you will) that the country is founded on the lofty ideals we've been taught, then we still have ground to stand on. Indeed, i think our best bet is to wrap ourselves in the constitution, the declaration of independence and yes, the flag, to create not only a better nation, but a better world.

I'm trying to protect your identity, so i edited alot, but its really good to know we're not alone. thanks for a great email.