Let’s jump right on in, shall we?
Some folks have taken a rather laissez faire clueless citizen to all knowing government approach to the current NSA citizen phone call list collection thing. Basically, these people put for the argument that we…the citizens…should step out of the way of government and let government do what it will because government is looking out for us.
This bitch takes the patriotic stand….the American stand…and the stand that our Constitution demands we each take. The future of this nation is at stake. We are in the midst of a domestic battle over the balance between liberty and security.
And we have been here before…way back during our colonial past…when Security was called The Crown and the pursuit of Liberty was called Treason.
This government is of a bitch, by a bitch and for a bitch (wink).
So, in the spirit of our founders and full to bursting with bitchitude, this bitch presents to you my patriot rant as a clarification of our collective job description as American citizens.
ABB’s Patriot Rant…
Most Americans study the Revolutionary War at some point in our lives. Along with the details of specific battles and the historic speech laden moments there is a very clear definition of the patriot.
This nation was founded by radicals. The rest of the folks were loyal to the monarchy. Speaking out against the monarchy was illegal…they called it sedition and it was punishable under law. Every single published quote…every single speech…every public gathering or meeting…every act of melting household items to make bullets or hording food to feed soldiers…all of that shit was radical as a motherfucker.
So, when my fellow citizens verbalize a blind and unquestioning respect of an elected office in the face of questionable right trampling policy they are speaking the language of the loyalist not the patriot.
When citizens indict fellow citizens for criticizing our government they are speaking the language of the loyalist and not the patriot.
A bitch is concerned that some of us who have been born Americans really don’t understand the responsibility of citizenship. It is important to remember that the final check in the check & balance plan is the power invested in each citizen.
We tarnish our legacy and insult our history when we embrace the ideology of non-involvement, blind trust and apathy rather than live up to our responsibility to check elected officials on the shit they do in our name.
We have a role to play and that role is to be active citizens...to vote, challenge and critique our government.
Of the people, by the will of the people and answerable in all ways to the people.
This patriot takes that role very seriously.
Trust? Read Thomas Paine and you will read the language of the questioner…the challenger…the patriot.
Respect? Read Alexander Hamilton and you will feel the passion and careful consideration of the role of political power literally vibrate off the page.
Apathy? Read Benjamin Franklin and you will be reading the words of a man who had long ago earned his retirement when his nation called upon him to serve…who was in the winter of life when he raised his voice to power in the face of war, tyranny and oppression.
We have a role to play…and those who choose not to play it are anything but patriots.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for
the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.
This is the spirit that fueled the Civil War to settle long unsettled issues…the Suffrage Movement to address hypocrisy…the Civil Rights Movement to address some more hypocrisy and the Feminist Movement to continue that addressing process.
Those were not acts of rebellion so much as the actions of responsible citizens who were being radical within the framework of a nation that infuses radical responsibility into the citizen contract.
What has been established in our name…by the blood, sweat and tears of citizen patriots…is ours to uphold.
This patriotic bitch is prepared to go to the wall in defense of that shit...with my fist raised and my voice loud.
Here endeth the lesson.
26 comments:
Great post, ABB. I believe apathy is our worst problem. To be honest, I'm not sure if looking at calling patterns to combat terrorism is all that bad per se.
What I find disturbing is all the weirdness and secrecy around it, and a general sense that any law can be broken or suspended in the name of terrorism.
We must hold those we elect responsible or the fault lies with us.
ABB speaks the truth. Some folks have a foul idea of what "patriotism" is.
Thanks for saying this, it needs to be shouted from every rooftop in every city in every state. Any ideas on how to get our elected representatives to get a frickin' clue? Being unelectable myself, worried about whether my vote even counts on a Diebold machine, despairing of finding one backbone, ok three backbones in the entire halls of Congress...WTF is a patriot to do?
Amen!
It should be noted, too that the penalty for the crime of treason that Paine, Hamilton and Franklin (et al) were all committing, the penalty was death.
Isn't it sad? That many don't vote, and that many others view challenging and critiquing our government as un-patriotic?
ABB,
Why you always gotta pull that elitist east coast ivy league liberal mess and start talking about actually *reading* Ben Franklin and the rest of them? Sheesh! If you aint done nothing wrong w/ your cell phone, you aint got nothin to hide. *wink*
Hugs and kisses
Ayodele
(ps: C-Money looks fabu as always w/ her free-the-land fro!)
Ahhh!
Ayodele jumped up into the mix.
You had a bitch rolling, my sistah!
Peace, love and hair grease.
Damn a bitch is on fire today! A goddamn breath of fresh air to read these words.
SuperB
I'm reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's words:
'The question is not whetherwe will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. . .'
In peaceful struggle!
Hammer
I believe that every person who believe it's okay for the government to track our phone calls and to do wiretaps without a court order under the guise of "It's for our nation's protection!" needs to come talk to my husband. You know the one who lived under East German communist rule for thirty years and who had that sort of shit done to him and his friends and his family on a regular basis and was told it was for the same bullshit reason.
What she said! Absolutely inspiring.
interesting viewing on c-span... saw senators debating it, and some of them had the audacity to say it's no problem having a massive database of all of our calls. something about it's not wiretapping, the phone company sends you that info in your itemized bill, that same info (who from and to whom) can be found on the outside of an envelope sent in the mail, blah blah blah...
so why aren't they keeping a database of everyone i send stuff to in the mail and who sends me stuff in the mail? and how about keeping track of my e-mails? while they're at it, how bout keeping a database of all of my debit card purchases? surely i would have no reason to want my relationships with the post office, my internet/e-mail service provider, and my bank to be held in confidence with those entities (unless i have something to hide, right?)! the government should feel free to watch all of my actions, just so long as they don't look into my mind! until bush does a signing statement on the entire goddamn constitution!
there's more, but that's as much ranting as i can do on this friday afternoon--thanks for the forum, and thanks for your passion...
poetry in motion
beyond brilliant
nice to see that some people aren't suffering from scandal fatigue. thank you for your wisdom & strength
Since you're in the mood to read (and to bitch) go read Greg Palast's latest article- The Spies Who Shag Us. Seriously fucked up shit is going on and not just with our phones.
http://gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=502&row=0
I love this post. You are right on. I don't think that anything dressed up as "we're looking for terrorists" should just be allowed. If so they need to begin with their own records they are the ones causing all this terrorist stuff anyway. There would be no terrorists if the US government would stop doing all its dirt in other people's countries. Notice no one is trying to blow up Sweden or Canada or any other number of places on earth. Stopping the madness stops starts at the white house. And though we have been abadoned by the media we do still have the requirement to hold these losers in government to task. They are stealing money. Not one of them is doing a good job. Let's get them out! It is time to clean house. I mean a deep cleaning with soap, ajax, mr clean and may be even some amonia.
Ahhhh, a good cleaning that will be great!
We ARE the government, Ms. Bitch. And this Crippled, Pissed off White Bitch is happy every time you share your thoughts with us.
P.S. Nobody could fake a voice like yours.
i've been saying for half my life that this place was ripe for a revolution.
isn't that what happened the last time this bullshit was going on?
jefferson said it was the responsibility of the citizens to revolt every couple hundred years. we're behind schedule.
i love my country and what that feebleminded son of a c**t has managed to do to it in such a short time breaks my fucking heart.
okay then i have a questeon pleas do not be mad i am faerley new here and i am tryeng to understand the way you pepel thenk...okay so what if thaer was some mans say a grup of them and thay were goeng around rapeng and killeng womans and be may some yung girls too....supose the poleeses say okay now we will go to difrant plases and see if we catch them in the act and in the meentime we will tap pepels phones to see if thay call someone for helpeng them....what wuld you say to that sureley you wuld not say no the poleeses can not come around to plases and be spyeng becos we want our privasey from this....okay then how is this aney diffrant....what good it do you privasey if suddenley you are goeng to work and a terrors killers bomb you and kill you....and to the person who call president bush a bad name you shuld be ahame of youselv....that is just my opineon now pleas do not be mad at me.
Jefferson actually called for a revolution every 20 years, not every couple hundred. He was THAT radical. Amen to this post, Bitch.
I fucking love you, when you've sorted out america can you come over to England and whip us up into shape? I love your America, but its bleeding to death by a thousand wounds of those loyalist scum. Thank god for you
That is one fine post! With all this talk about fighting for our liberty, it is good to remember that the Founders (actually, their workers and slaves--the Founder/Framers/Forefathers just wrote it up) won their liberty in a fight against their own rulers. Our rulers are always the greatest threat to our freedom and lately too many people have forgotten that.
Right the hell on, ABB. A bitch is en fuego!
Excellent post, full of ranty goodness! Hear hear!
...from ANOTHER "Crippled, Pissed off White Bitch"...
HELL yes! Speaking as a Angry Deaf Bitch :)
Reading that reminded me of one of the School House Rock cartoons on TV in the 80's (was it?) The one where they sang the preamble to the constitution. Reading that brought the tune back to me and I had to sit and sing it to myself.
Inspiring!
how is it we don't have a single benjamin franjlin, thomas paine, or alexander hamilto now?
Hey-why can't we have more people like you in high places? It seems that the only people that have a say in our life and country are rich and don't know what the fuck the common man needs or wants. Lets throw them all out, get everyman as replacements and put all the old politicians on Medicare. That would fix their ass and get Medicare fixed once and for all! Let's have 2 terms for these "leaders" (sic) and throw them out. We need new blood in Washington. I voted for Bush but I am now embarrassed that I did.
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