Identity Crisis

Its as if one is standing on a hill watching a train barrel down the tracks at a high rate of speed.  You look further down the tracks and in the path of the oncoming train, you notice a car stalled and sitting in its path.  You are very much aware of the outcome of the situation and no matter how loud your scream, or how frantic you wave your arms and jump up and down, nothing can get the attention of the engineer to stop the collision.  But what if there was more than just you standing on that hill.  What if there were thousands of people screaming, jumping, and waving?  The engineer may not notice one soul....but he cannot ignore the pleading of thousands.

Ask anyone not of this country to define an American.  They will probably tell you that Americans are loud, patriotic, think their country is the best in the world.  Damn straight!  We earned that right.  We fought tooth and nail to become what and who we are.  No one told us or gave us permission to be our own country and not a single soul made us what we are.  Not a single soul, but thousands.  A group of people drew a line in the sand and said NO MORE.  They rallied together and defeated a world superpower improvising, adapting, and overcoming great odds along the way.  They also laid the foundation for a great democratic, capitalistic, republic.

When the Continental Congress met to decide exactly what type of government we were going to have, and of course like most governmental decisions, it took many days of debate and compromise to reach a decision.  Benjamin Franklin emerged and someone asked him what kind of government were we going to have.  His reply was, "We have given you a republic...if you can keep it."  That statement rings with prophecy.

We have lost our identity.  Americans have compromised ourselves to the point that trying to read the mere definition of "American" is like looking through your grandma's bifocal glasses; completely blurry and staring at it too long will make you dizzy.

 The Constitution, like the Bible, has been manipulated and interpreted to support or damn any argument for the sake of winning said argument.  All of the power that was given to the states so they could govern themselves, has been taken away piece by piece.  Which is exactly what our founding fathers didn't want.  The federal government was suppose to be a guide for the states, not a sole ruling power.  Ya know..."checks and balances."  The term itself is an illusion.  Whatever the political party the president is...the congressional majority will be the opposite.  So no decisions ever get made, they just keep getting bounced from the house to the senate like ping pong balls.  The people that we elect to represent us in the federal government have made it a life long career.  Example of this is Senator Strom Thurmond who served 48 years as a senator.  Hell the president can only serve 8 years at the most because we are afraid they will become a dictator.  I believe that our fear is misplaced.  After awhile, they become more focused on how to get re-elected than actually helping the people that put them there.  They're maybe only a handful that actually represent their people.  Corruption, selfishness, and the appetite for power is rampant like a cancer and the American people have such a low approval rating for congress...its as if they are almost obsolete.

If you think about it, Benjamin Franklin was right..."if we can keep it."

The parallels between present day America and ancient Rome are scary.  The Roman senate ended up being obsolete and then being ruled by a dictatorship.  Caesar made it so the people were almost totally reliant on their government to provide for them.  Roman government was slowly chipped away, until it imploded on itself. That's exactly what is happening to us.  Kind of like watching a train wreck.

We compromise who we are constantly.  Sure we will stand up and draw a line in the sand.  However, if that line upsets a small group, we erase the line, and then ask where they would like for it to be.  A good example   of this is when certain states vote every year on what their official language is going to be...English or Spanish.  Really??  Americans speak English.  You want to live in this country, learn to speak the language.  If I moved to Saudi Arabia, I would be expected to learn Arabic in order to communicate there.  Not waiting to see if the Kingdom is going to change their language just to accommodate me.

Sometimes I feel like I am that one soul on the hill.  My hope is that the majority of the United States wants to be who we were founded to be.  We are a great nation, but we are a fragile one as well.  The sacrifices that those who have come before us have made in order to build this amazing idea that is the United States will be for nothing if we lose who we are.  There is still time to stop this train wreck.

They Obviously Didn't Read the Manual AKA The Walking Dead

I've been watching Walking Dead.  Granted, I have not seen them all, and only watch them when the husband does.  However, there are a few insanities that I can't help but point out.

First of all, if you have not seen the show, let me summarize the ENTIRE series. 

People get infected with some sort of virus.  The side effects of said virus are: turning into a zombie, craving human flesh, walking with a limp, "Summer" teeth (summer here summer there), patchy baldness, hives, heartburn, psoriasis, bleeding of the gums, diarrhea, swelling of the feet or hands, low sex drive...well you get the idea.
I would love to say that those of the lucky few human beings that haven't been zombiefied, ban together to preserve humanity, but honey, that just ain't the case.  They DO seem to end up in the same spot which is some farm located in Georgia at the corner of "Can we keep her Pa?" and "You got a purty mouth."
 However, NONE of them stay together.  Someone is constantly walking off to be alone with their thoughts.  REALLY?  You are an endangered species with blood thirsty zombies always wandering around in the woods and you wander off alone?!?  Did you forget, you're the food?  When said idiot does end up becoming a Scooby snack, I love how there is always a gun shot heard by the group at the farm (because they had to make sure ole dude had a fighting chance), and they send ONE person out to investigate. They obviously didn't get the memo about safety in numbers.
Then, there is this kid named Carl who's age is 10 to 12 years old.  His father is the "leader" of this rag tag group of survivors and his mother had an affair with some other guy in the group and is carrying his child. So if the fact that zombies are trying to kill him hasn't fucked this kid up, his dysfunctional family will.  Carl's parents seem to not give a shit about him, because they never know where he is or what he is doing on a farm surrounded by zombies.  When the zombies do show up, they are always telling this kid to stay in the house and he NEVER does.  I believe that if he were mine, I would've either duck taped this kid to the bed or chained him up somewhere.  Kid needs Ritalin. Good thing they let Carl walk around with a gun on his hip, Lord knows he's gonna need it to protect himself.

All of these people are either living in the farmhouse or camping in a FIELD next to the house.  Did they set up a defensive perimeter and post roving patrols to ensure the safety of their loved ones?  Hell no.  They didn't even dig a moat.  I mean its a farm! Dude must have some barbed wire and fencing in the barn.  Oh that's right...they can't get into the barn because crazy Farmer John has packed it with zombies plum full to the rafters because he believes God can cure them.  Even though the survival of the human race is in jeopardy, racist Farmer John has an issue with his daughter having a relationship with the Asian-American man, camping out at the farm.  So if the writers painting Farmer John as a God fearing hillbilly wasn't enough, lets make him a racist as well.  Because apparently...all of us southerners are that way.

The last episode of season 2 was quite humorous.  The farm was attacked by a horde of roaming zombies.  Apparently zombies are like birds and migrate south for the winter.  Three or four of the main characters get eaten, which you knew was going to happen and damned if they didn't burn down the barn.  The rest of them speed off in vehicles, leaving one chick behind, not knowing if she is still alive or not.  I guess that was the hook for season 3...I have no idea what the hell else it could be.  All survivors rendezvous at some car parked on a freeway packed full of abandoned cars.  Now logic would dictate that since all Wal-Marts and 7-11's are now out of business due to lack of employees, that one would more than likely scavenge all of the abandoned cars for any supplies and syphon any gas for the vehicles they now travel in.  Oh hell no!  They even stopped and had a 15 minute conversation about how they need to keep on living for their future or some shit!  Well they speed off.  Of course...SURPRISE SURPRISE...they run out of gas and are now stranded at some ruins that look like they have been left over from the war of 1812 where after they hear walking through the woods, have another 15 minute conversation about some moral dilemma  the leader had with killing a guy.  Did they quiet down and make like holes in the ground to avoid detection by potential zombie attack...again OH HELL NO, they had a damn bonfire blazing and were yelling at each other like an episode of Jerry Springer. 

Then it ended.  Damn!  Now I gotta wait until next season to see what happens.