something wicked this way comes

letter to a friend:

thank you for sharing this with me.  you do write very well.  i wonder it we have not dug ourselves a hole so deep that we are now unable of crawl out of it.  i doubt we can even find our way back to the values of our grandparents era that seemed so much gentler and kinder then.  i realize that civil rights were not yet born and that this genteel world was selective.  i doubt i could have tolerated living then knowing what i do now.  

still FDR was a hero to my great grandmother because of his social reforms.  it is a shame that he died before his second bill of rights came to fruition.  our world might have been much different in that case.  i read recently that social security disability funding is in dire straits because of the budget and that there may be no such thing in the near future. not to mention social security for retirements probably going away shortly after...  FDR would roll over in his grave.   

obamas presidential campaign was platformed on the hopes for a brighter more hopeful and thus less cynical world.  it seems the entanglements of the previous administration have kept him too busy fixing messes of the big money institutions and wars in foreign lands to heal our own ailing country.  i fear the new power shift is so extreme in its ideology that it will hobble the civil rights so hard won over these past many years and send us into a right-wing authoritarianism that will cripple us further.   

funny how the tea partiers tout preserving liberty and freedom while taking it from its citizens....  progress made over dadt and doma with be the first to fall to its self-righteous sword.  the leaders of this movement seem more interested in shoving their religious and moral values down our throats...  i read that ron paul had a big ol’ texas bash recently that included a strong religious element but plainly excluded catholics jews and other spiritual leaders.  it was taken as a slap in the face "i dont give a damn what anyone else thinks."  too big for his britches already... i think if these groups gain true purchase in the political arena then we can expect to go far backwards in social justice and personal freedom.    

your solution for a simpler tax structure...i fear that the powerful who control money and bathe in their own greed have corrupted us to the extent that we are doomed to extinction.  just as in rome our greatness is in danger of self destruction by the glut of the powerful.  shame on us.  the only thing that might save us is the education and activism of each and every voting citizen.  i think though that it may be a case of continuously beating the dog until he loses his will.  i sincerely hope ours is not lost.  

normally i try in all things to slant a positive spin.  i am afraid you have caught my achilles heel.  i feel fear and a near panic for our future.  i feel shame for what we have become.  i feel hopeless to do anything about it.  i do know that i have a gift with words.  i do know that i have a voice.  i do know that i should and must use it.  i fervently hope that others will use theirs as well.  perhaps then we can get off this dizzying merry-go-round.