So Much Going On

So Much Going On
Neal Ross
5 Aug. 2007

When I first began writing politically based articles and letters I was concerned primarily with two issues, gun control and illegal immigration. They were both areas that I felt comfortable with and I felt strongly enough about them both to write both my Congressman and the President.

I grew up with guns. I had my first Daisy bb rifle at age five and by the time I was ten I could hit bull’s eyes and 50 feet with both a .22 rifle and pistol. By the time I joined the military I was shooting expert with an M-16. I was trained early on to respect a weapon, to treat it as if it is always loaded, and never to point it at anything you don’t intend to shoot. Guns were a tool and there were only as dangerous as the person holding them. So gun control was an affront to me and I felt obligated to write about it.

Illegal aliens are the same way. When I was younger I grew up in a largely Hispanic community in San Jose, CA. They were mostly legal residents, who spoke English, kept their homes well landscaped and their kids were my friends. They were not like the immigrants who come to the U.S. today. These immigrants have no desire to become Americans, even though some of them are in fact naturalized citizens. They still feel as though they are Mexicans first and U.S. residents second. Their loyalty lies not to our country, but theirs. Many of them bring crime and poverty with them and it saddens me that our country is losing its sense of being as we allow more and more immigrants into this country who do not assimilate into our society. In my community, anywhere I go I am subjected to hearing Punjabi, Hmong and Spanish being spoken. I often have to train people at work who have less than 100 words of English in their vocabulary. So the issue of immigration, particularly assimilation is of great importance to me as well.

However, as I began researching for these articles I became aware of more and more issues that confront this, formerly great, Republic we live in. Our way of life, the American Dream, is under attack from so many fronts that I often feel like throwing in the towel and just giving up. I feel so overwhelmed, like I cannot possibly make a difference.

I remember when I was about 6, I attended swimming lessons. After the first day I was bragging to my dad how well I did, how I had learned to float. He said, “So, you think you can swim?”, and then tossed me into the deep end of the pool. After I splashed my way back to the side and climbed out, he tossed me back in yelling, “That wasn’t swimming, do it right!” I didn’t drown and through my stubbornness made it back to the side of the pool again.

That stubbornness, pigheadedness, or whatever you want to call it, is all that keeps me going when I realize what is happening to my country. It just is not in my nature to ‘give up’ no matter the odds of my success.

Yet I still feel I am facing insurmountable odds when I see all the problems that need to be corrected if our country is to survive.

We have a monetary system that is run by elitist bankers who rape and pillage our hard earned wages to pay interest on the money they loan our government to operate. The Federal Reserve System is unconstitutional and no matter how hard I try to explain it, people do not care as long as those dollar bills keep buying them their beer and their DVD’s.

We have an emerging North American Union, a joining of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, being formed by the leaders of these countries and no one wants to see it for what it is. Our sovereignty is being dismantled right before their eyes and they sit back and watch American Idol.

Our president has lied to us, and changed his story so many times about an unconstitutional war in Iraq, yet if you say we need to bring our troops home you are called soft on terror, or unpatriotic. While many Americans begin the summer on Memorial Day by going camping or having a barbecue, they forget that our young men and women are dying overseas in a war that we have no business being involved in to begin with.

Our corporations in search of more profits for themselves have sold out the American workers by moving jobs overseas and hiring laborers who work for a fraction of the cost of Americans. The high tech industries import thousands of H1-B visa workers to take away the jobs from those Americans who have spent time and money on college to work in those fields. Illegal aliens flood our country by the thousands and are hired by unscrupulous employers who then pay them below average wages, forcing American workers to take cuts in salary if they want to keep their jobs. All the while Americans flock to Wal Mart by the millions to buy those “Made In China” goods that are now being found to be unsafe as well as made by workers who took the very jobs that force them to buy cheaply made foreign goods.

Our Constitution is being dismantled by a maniacal president who seems to think it is ‘just a piece of paper’. His many destructive acts include the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and numerous Executive Orders which give him the authority to declare martial law and proclaim himself King George the first. Yet America cowers at the thought of another terrorist attack. The recent failed steam pipe in New York shows the fear level that Americans have concerning another terrorist attack. Yet these terrorists would not have any reason to attack us if we did not meddle in their internal affairs and start wars to overthrow dictators, dictators which we at one time propped up.

These are just a small sampling of some of the things that worry me. I could go on for pages, giving examples of how our country has gone wrong. I only hope that America will wake up to what is going on and demand some change. We need to hold our elected officials accountable for the neglect they have for the Constitution and to represent us, We the People.

I cannot do this alone. I am not capable of being effective on so many fronts. It is like taking one knife full of butter and trying to butter a whole loaf of bread, I cannot spread myself that thin and have any effect on the huge number of problems this country faces.

So I am calling upon you, my fellow citizens to unplug your televisions, grow a spine and become Americans. Become people that our founding fathers would be proud to call compatriots and brethren. If you cannot find it within yourself to do this, and do it soon, I suggest you go out and find a nice pair of shackles, as the chains of slavery are soon to be upon you.