An Ideal Vision

*******

We grew up in an America of idealism, and elevated, noble ideals. We saw the United States as an achievement of-- not just a half-completed "experiment" in-- democracy. It was the "real thing."

God (Love or compassion) had very much to do with this nation. It was indeed a vision of a just country ruled, and influenced, by honest men and women. To these intellectual and social giants, people meant more than money. Average Americans, and even the poor, were equal in value with the very rich. Foreign people were also equal human beings, not "less than" Americans. Their lives, and those of their children, were to be respected, valued, treasured, and preserved. "All men" [meaning "all persons"[ were "created equal." No human being was disposable, and none should be murdered for greed, oil, profits, or corporations.

We trusted our founders, as we trusted our leaders, to be paragons of real strength, real and strong leaders-- not those who fled and disappeared when threatened by terrorists. These strong men and women had the courage to be real Christians-- to live by the laws of kindness and compassion, to care truly for the poor, to stand against the filthy, dark, abominable nightmares of greed and fascism.

We worked together, with the rest of the whole world, for protecting the planet, serving the needs of most people (not just the elite), reducing dangerous pollutants and toxic, corrosive chemicals so that our kids were not poisoned for greed. Smarter people drove more efficient cars, and brave and intelligent people stood strong for the rights of women and minorities. Church and state were separated by a galaxy, and this was one of the most noble ideals of a free society. People were friendly rather than aggressive, united as human beings, or as Americans, not hiding behind slogans of "conservative" and "progressive."

We looked towards the future, and counted on human discernment and wisdom to make it better. We trusted the future to bring us education, intelligence, and wisdom, to end war, poverty, racial bigotry, and most of all, greed. We truly were naive enough to believe that the year twenty-oh-five would be better than 1975. We had every reason to think that we were, as a society, getting better and smarter. We thought, at any rate, that we were way above, and beyond, fascism. Other countries might be renegade, living outside of international law, but America, we said, would never engage in national criminal activity; we could and would never kill hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children; we could never attack a third-world country in an offensive war; enough of our best and smartest had died in the horrible, razor-toothed jaws of senseless wars. Never again!

But we who lived on such sweet idealism underestimated the great power of the humanimal nature, with its cruelty, stupidity, incompetence, and hideous greed. We thought that the "reptile within the brain" had been outgrown and conquered. Vicious evil was impossible for a sane, educated man.

Someday, God (Love) will have her triumph over the satan (fear). But that day was not then, and it is not now. Human leaders of government are as cruel, crass, stupid, and callous as they were in 2005 BCE. Vicious and omniverous greed was their demonic god then, and it is still so. Let us recognize these horrors, and those who perpetrate them for power and wealth. But, in the midst of the blood and noise, let us never give up the dream. For, when all the noisy, dirty engines of senseless war have been muffled in the ancient dust, the dream will arise anew, bringing again the rainbows, butterflies, and roses of a new world.
*******