We are all products of the times we live in with our own unique personal perspectives that include variables like social status, wealth, spirituality, age, employment, status, and many other underlying factors. Our generations have shaped our thoughts and values. Much like our past. The time is right now to take today by the reigns so we can own tomorrow. We must say good bye to career politicians, over paid athletes, American idols, and celebrities and hello to real leaders, who are going to work for all of us by leading our communities to a brighter future now. Not sometime called tomorrow which as we all know it never comes.
Look how far "they" have gotten us. Majority of the over paid athletes aren't leading anyone off the field and get paid to do their jobs only a small percentage of the time. Those so called American idols want to you buy their products and whatever else it is they pedal, but decline to comment about any social issues or worse distract you from them yet at the sometime manage to get the youth to vote in larger numbers than the elections for some hopeful that will only end up owing money to record company they sign to if they win. Yep, that's a win win for all us Americans. Celebrities are just the same, but can even be more dangerous. Imagine someone not knowing the real person falls short at home of the heroic characters they portray is terrify to think about. I assure you this is actually a real problem. I feel the need to remind some of you out there they are actors, actresses, musicians, and artists who are all human. Finally we have the career politicians that only answer to their major donors and lobbyists, who are holding their asses accountable over ear marks. Who do all these people serve? I can't speak for anyone else but my self. (Author takes a deep breath.)
When I reflect on life over the last two decades I see a post apocalyptic wasteland clinging to the 1990's, since then American citizens have become products of the margins in United States of America. We now mostly come from broken homes, HUD ghettos, trailer parks, food stamp lines, homelessness, shitty free preventative healthcare, and unionized unemployment lines that stretch for miles and look more like a funeral procession than progress. Society has been raped and completely stripped of any dignity, culture, and heritage; with it our sense of identity. Alcoholism, drug addiction, rape, suicide, murder, spousal abuse, and poverty can not be what continues to define us as Americans and I'm only referring to the "middle class" here, not the under privileged or any other group in America. I think I might start crying.
In fact I started crying the moment I became a father. That's when everything hit me like a ton of bricks in a comic book. WAP! When I was a child my parents taught me that where we live if you work hard anything is possible and the bad guy always goes to jail. Not hero's like my dad, Martian Luther King Jr, and now even me. In all these instances a normal person would be amazed when they discover the causes behind the cases. America can't even police it self right; yet it loves to play murder tanks and airplanes with Gi Joe all over the world instead of focusing on it's citizens first in a positive light. We should be more like a massive Wayne Enterprises and Batman helping citizens to become prosperous, manage commerce (not the Federal Reserve), saving the day like the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army.
In order to do this we need to get back to our roots and find liberty's groove. We were founded by entrepreneurs (merchants), privateers (pirates), and revolutionaries (people fighting for freedom and seeking refuge in a new land far from persecution), then we need to cultivate people like that (us), try to achieve fiscal transparency, and a laundry list of things each party would love to see happen that is important. I'm sick of watching the news and reading the headlines in the papers. It seems to me like the 20-40 somethings and beyond are experiencing a disconnect and missing something. They aren't in touch with each other and are not addressing their congressmen or senators in writing, on or off line, or in person, and have become disenfranchised, because they are not voting in the primary elections if they bother to vote at all. Hell America's offices are open damn near 24/7 with the internet. There is no excuse for either side here.
I've tested this theory my self with others with emails, Facebook, and Twitter in the process and managed to make a stand. If you try long and hard enough someone will listen and answer. We could have avoided this mess if people were out there reminding us to write our so called leaders instead having our pets spayed or neutered every morning. Go to their offices now, call them, write them, email them, tweet them, facebook them, and voice your opinions respectfully. If they don't listen then take them to town in public by peacefully assembling. If that doesn't work then we have major problems that no one person can address by themselves and solve. As long as we have people out there not serving the group also known as America we will never live the American dream or the other one we have all shared since Martian Luther King Jr. spoke of it during the civil rights movement. Now that sounds like a plan doesn't it?
Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com
