As an Agonist reader, I am often appalled by what is churned out via the newswire. Not appalled because the news make it to the front pages [or blog chatter] but rather by what I consider deterioration of that America that raised me. And I think am not alone. After all, the people that bother to go through the paces of blogging a news article at the Agonist do so because they find said news somewhat touching, alarming. Disturbing.
I suppose I ought not to have an opinion on American politics but I inevitably end up doing so eitherway for reasons best explained below.
I am not a US citizen so why should I give two rats about deterioration of the America that saw me fit to be one of its own? California took care of me for many years, shaped me after its image and many of my relatives call California its home, heck, my eldest daughter is a Californian born child. Despite what Malkin might say about my previous status in California or that of my child, having grown up there and having my child born there, there is something that many US citizens fail to understand about the Southwest and northwestern Mexicans: love of land. We have historical ties to the land that law abiding citizens from the rest of the federation fail to grasp in their logic based notions of what a nation ought to be constituted of.
So even if I have no US citizenship I still belong to the culture by geographic default as well as liaisons provided by persistent US politic noise from the cherished old family.
Hence, it is therefore interesting to see this backward progression of progress catapulted by malignant organs at the very heart of the constitution of America. Yes, I know, I have a reference of an America that ceased to be a long time ago. By that I suggest the progressive and concerted effort of the dismantling of longstanding American values in favour of raw power, spoused mostly by the Rightwing of American politics. There is almost an illusion that things have been this way for a long time. Leave it to Beaver wasn’t just an American television show, for me, it was the very fabric of a lifestyle I lived.
This America, the freedom spousing one, is sadly, more and more becoming a distant memory. How has this become possible?
I don’t think that a doctoral thesis on the subject can cover enough ground to explain the latter. Yet the outcome is here, our worst nightmare come true. For many years we feared the red boogey man and our driving force was detente of this monster, a small levee preventing this night terror from landing in our shores. Alas! the wolf came dressed as a lamb.
The very society that we avoided, worked so hard to demolish, instead, we imported. We got duped. A quack came by to our town and sold us quackery at a very high price. How else can one explain the model of society in our days when we give everything to government instead of being afraid of it as our culture prescribes? At the behest of the chief in arms we are ready to dismantle America to please our modern day politburo.
There is, however, no turning back, we like macho police people who use the long arm of the law to comply with our innermost desires, and fears. I suppose white America had to be next, we Mexicans, blacks, reds and Asians have been experiencing the brunt of American law down our throats for decenniums on end. Countless politicians have played this card for personal gain, contrary to our past as a culture, but hey, who wants to look back to our past to learn from our forefathers to lead us in this brave new world?
Our own personal wild West and its gun touting sheriff lives on.
I suppose that it had to happen someday, America lives a life draped in a starry flag that twinkles to draw attention to its whole and less to its parts. So that Mexican history and its living culture in the southwest goes largely unnoticed in favor of more whole common traits such as white America or black America; direct talk about mexicans in the US tend to tilt towards the legality issues of the culture in US territory. The law this or that.
Be that as it may it still breaks my heart to read news of people being arrested for expressing thought. Every time someone gets arrested or harassed by government cronies sends shivers down my spine because there is a change going on that I dislike.
For good or bad, it is here now. The killing has been done, ’tis time to ask the questions.