In the United States of America, July fourth is commemorated as the anniversary of our nation. We are supposed to celebrate our country and the freedoms it affords with parades and picnics and fireworks.
I don’t feel like celebrating.
Our national government is mired in long-standing dysfunction. Poverty rates are high. Infrastructure is crumbling. Social mobility is nearly impossible. Income inequality is at an extreme level, similar to the 1920’s, right before the Great Depression.
I think what distresses me the most is the inability of people to even listen to those with a different viewpoint, much less reach a consensus that moves us toward resolving any of these issues.
Many in the country seem to have forgotten the Preamble to our Constitution, which sets out what our nation and its government, chosen by the people, is supposed to be and do.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.”
It’s time – past time – for all of us to take this obligation seriously. If we don’t take action soon to truly “promote the general welfare,” there will not be blessings to bestow on future generations.
Let’s all get to work.
Now.
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Top of JC's Mind 
You have many good points. I am so upset about the things that are going on today that I tend to rant in many of my songs. “Espionage Blues” in the album Sahara Rose, “For the People Blues” from the album Monkey of Sousse, “Sold Out” in the music album Osaka Tim and “Ecoutez-moi” in Manaus where two Rivers Meet. “Bach Sheesh Blues” from the album Sahara Rose pretty well says it all, too much corruption. We call ourselves a first world country. What a joke – with the homeless numbers at all time high and food banks for the working poor.
Leslie
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Thanks for sharing, especially with your music.
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There are good people out there, they just need to wake up to the fact that there is a lot of suffering going on and government policies are behind a lot of it.
Leslie
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Hey JC,
I’m right there with you, we need to stop being apathetic about our government and do something about it and demand democracy like it was before.
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Thanks for the support. I do think that we are seeing stirrings at the grass roots that will get us back to where we need to be, but it will be a long, hard slog, fought tooth and nail by those who are currently pulling the economic and poltical strings.
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Ive tried to be active and have joined organizations to see whats going on but there needs to be a collective understanding between parties and a clear definite goal which seem to be lacking in some of the grassroots, not to say that all are like this.
Personally, the tactics that Anonymous have done are impressive and I’d participate in them as they seem to cause commotions and get talked about in mainstream media, which means, there is a big enough disturbance that will cause change, or at least keep the government on their toes ^^
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Some reaction is pretty amorphous, but some is coalascing around specific issues, such as predatory banking or low wages.
One of my favorite progressive organizations is NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby, and their affiliated organization that does education about national issues. NETWORK has increased in prominence over the last several years for a number of reasons, including the Nuns on the Bus tours and the speeches and writings of Sister Simone Campbell. I am Catholic, so I am particularly drawn to their work and witness, but they partner with many groups of other faiths as well as secular groups to work on issues across a wide range of topics from health care to immigration reform to social services to foreign policy to military spending to tax policy.
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