Something we can't seem to wrap our minds around:



Whatever happened to us?



200 years ago, we thought our freedom was worth fighting for.



200 years ago, we thought it was important that we establish a democracy unlike anything else in the world.



Through the perilous fight, we kept our heritage.



We did it through the trenches of WWI and when it came to fighting the

Nazi menace in WWII.



We persevered against those who would uphold a Cold War.



We met the challenges on our trip to the Moon against the threat of Sputnik.



We did all of these things to preserve our way of life…..



And then ground to a blinding halt seven years ago in an election that has not only changed us, it changed the world.



Now, what do we do as we see our freedoms curtailed, our liberties evanesce?



Nothing!







Are we a nation of wimps?



Have we become so domesticated, so manipulated, so controlled that we are afraid to open our mouths?



This question has been bothering me for the last seven years.


I've lived and traveled to a great many places; no where have I seen this level of apathy.

People are afraid to say anything on the Internet. The government is going to clamp down.



People are afraid that their mail is being read; and their personal life scrutinized.



And it probably is.



We’re also worried that If we don’t abide by the laws, the government will slip anthrax into our envelope….



Or not give us the antidote to the new strain of flu virus….



Or bin Laden will get us….



These bug-a-boos have seemingly had the collective effect of silencing us as a people.


Very odd because we have never known repression as a people.

We don't know what it means to be picked up on the street by MPs for doing nothing!

We do know, however, that we can no longer count on the media to tell us the unvarnished truth.

The media is in the pocket of big government.

As a result, our media has been especially docile and noncommittal.



But why?



Ah, something called contracts, and favoritism and big business conservatism perhaps?



Be that as it may, why have we, the so-called archetypes of liberty, been so afraid to say something against our government's hi-jinx?

This is what I don’t get.



In France, if the government opens its mouth, the Unions are right there….and if the government persists, everyone will be out on strike for a month…



In Italy, the papers attack their president freely.



In Canada, if the government doesn’t cut the mustard, the people will be right out there with letters, editorials, protests, even attacks on government institutions by so-called “radicals.”



In most of the free world, today, the people speak up. They do not feel intimidated.



Even when I was living in Korea, the people stood up for what they believed. They protested; ;they marched; they posted signs; held rallies....



Even in Japan, the papers reflect what the people think.



The only place that I’ve lived in where that hasn’t happened has been on a little island in the Carribean off of St. Maartin where they actually fought against breaking with the English Colonial Empire and it has worked out well ever since.



So, what happened to us?


How do you take back what is yours if you don't have a voice?

Where are our heroes?

Where are those people we respect?

Lying in fear of being sent to Egypt for torture?

Who knows?


But I'm beginning to think that the biggest thing wrong with this country is us.


les Aaron