If It Were Up To Me
In downtown St. Joseph Michigan we stopped in at Cabana’s ice cream parlor. The ice cream was worth the wait. I had a giant single scoop of dark chocolate with chocolate chips in a waffle cone. Summer deliciousness…!
I noted several paintings, rather surreal images of cows displayed on the walls. I thought to myself that if it were up to me, I’d decree that we have outgrown the utility of the American Eagle as a symbol or our nation. We no longer push westward in caravans, battling the elements, fending off the indigenous people already living there, hoping the reach the land-of-promise, California. We are a well developed, affluent nation. an empire in decline if you will. Things have changed, as they always will.
I’d propose that we adopt the pacific, dairy cow as our national symbol. The cow is peacable. Even the capitalist among us would agree that peace is “good for business.” Business hates uncertainty. A nation that has a symbol that is peace oriented by it’s nature, aspires toward peace among it’s own people, and toward it’s neighbors, which would include every other nation on earth.
So what’s it gonna be? Are we going to choose a pathway toward peace? Or do we prefer the other pathway?
2 thoughts on “If It Were Up To Me”
I highly doubt that most high ranking capitalists care for peace. These capitalists know that war will rip open the pursestrings of the government and hence their own pockets will fill with blood tainted wealth. As long as it’s not “them” or their immediate kin who face death, only the nameless minions who are conscripted into service and who will find glory in their ultimate sacrifice. Soldiers who are trained to destroy the darker skinned demons who live on foreign soil, the ones who will only get what’s coming to them for not being true red-blooded, white Americans. “Send them back” chant those who feel the world of inferior beings is encroaching, and then let’s drop bombs on them from unmanned drones so that the exercise of condoned murder is as “clean” as possible. They cheer as they watch the videos of the “unwashed” being blown to smithereens, just like a TV sitcom brought to you with commercials for great smelling aftershave or PayDay loans to help you get to the next paycheck (at a 50% interest rate). A paycheck delivered to you from the same capitalists who regard you as human detritus to fight their unholy war against whomever. Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
I too have perceived that that the investment houses, the biggest banks will do what they can to get ahead of a disaster, in order to make money off the misery. That is, if they themselves are not the cause of the catastrophe…. The prime principle of capitalism is, — always maximize profit. The real estate bubble collapse from which we have yet to recover, in part was caused by the investment houses bundling failing loans to sell off to unsuspecting investors.
And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut often said.