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Charles Rehn - Democrat for President 2004

A Conversation With America
Questions That Must Be Answered
Web Edition (c) 2002, 2003 Charles Rehn All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 
March 21, 2003: 
Today is My Birthday

Today is my birthday. I am now 48 years old.  I sit in my rented home on the edge of a rainforest, attempting to gather my thoughts about the incredible potential we have as individuals and as a nation to lead the world in creating a place of equality, freedom, abundance and justice.

You see, I've always loved my birthday.  I've really never cared about gifts or parties or any of the trappings we've become used to and expect.  What I always loved about my birthday, at least until the calendar was adjusted some years ago, was the fact that it was the day spring begins.

Having grown up in some very remote and beautiful places in the mountains of this country, I profoundly understood the gift of the beginning of spring.  This planet, this heaven on earth abounds with resources and animals and flowers and people. It's a beautiful place filled with gifts we are granted every day of our lives.

To me, the beginning of spring is more about a whole new season of growth and creation and inspiration.

I laugh at my own audacity to think that I am someone deserving and qualified to be President of the United States.  People might think I'm crazy.  But, then, I laugh at how no one in their right mind would want the job.  Surely, you understand what I am saying.

But, if you understand that, then certainly you must also understand that when I turn on my television to see what destruction we have wreaked upon Iraq today... as I cringe at the thought of the damage caused by a shock and awe policy of diplomacy, I turn the channel to C-Span, and listen to what our Representatives have to say about the nation's priorities.

Talk about shock and awe.  I assure you, based on what I have witnessed, I have no more doubts regarding my qualifications or the moral imperative that causes me to seek the office.

What they're discussing is the budget.  The spin is appalling.  I keep imagining these people's mothers saying "Now, don't you lie to me young man".   It's like stealing some cookies and, while swallowing the last bite, trying to persuade mom that you didn't take them.

It seems that the only thing I ever hear about tax cuts is how it will put money in the pockets of our citizens, a patronization that gains votes. A promise that is a lie.

I hear endless chants and rhetoric about how ignoring the poverty and despair of our citizens caused by the Bush Administration's lack of domestic policy will be cured by giving tax breaks to the rich.  I hear the truth twisted into rhetoric to the point where it is unrecognizable.  You see, the truth is no longer important. The truth has become whatever politicians can cause the American people to believe.

It's like the movie "The Matrix".  Perception is reality.  The truth is not necessarily required.

The truth is that Americans don't understand that those tax breaks represent the Republican party's acknowledgement that they do not believe the government has the responsibility for the well-being of the American people.

Instead, they use a fancy word to describe their facade and call it a vision of free-market economics: privatization.  Placing your best interests into the hands of corporations who want you to spend the rest of your money so they can afford to build new factories overseas where the labor is cheaper... at least, that seems to be the trend.

And, oh, by the way, the unions that this government seems to want to defy and break up: they are destined to be your real representatives when decentralization of government is completed.  If you don't understand why unions are your friends, you will soon.

They don't tell you that the tax breaks are given you as a way to pay for what the government will no longer provide. 

They won't tell you that because, if they did, you would not spend the money as you've been told to do in order to keep our economy afloat. You would understand that it needs to be saved for higher local taxes and services your states can no longer afford to provide because the Federal Government has implemented a policy of the New World Order of how the Federal Government should be involved in war and tracking citizens, while the states should individually govern the people.  All of which makes me a little skeptical of the idea that these people actually believe in a nation united to confront challenges in a way that is beneficial to all.

When I think about what is being proposed as a free-market economy, it begins to sound more like anarchy to me.

The government hasn't told you about the FTAA, a treaty called the Free Trade Area of the Americas that will actually require giving American jobs and contracts to foreign citizens because they are willing to work for less, and we will face lawsuits for failing to comply.  In some ways, it represents the annexation of South America. 

It hasn't occurred to these leaders to inform Americans of these things as if we were partners in the future of our country.  It has occurred to them that if we were actually informed, we would most definitely say no.  I'm no Ross Perot, but the message is the same as NAFTA, only the sucking noise will just get louder and louder and louder...

But I just remembered, this is about my birthday.

I guess if I could I would simply wish that everything worked.  But I realize that things aren't that simple.  It's a no brainer there.

But, for my birthday, I'm getting my tax id and setting up secure payment capabilities on the web site and cleaning up things and preparing for the REAL book publication, and embarking on a journey I've decided I will take. It's the kind of challenge I like. And if I can't just snap my fingers and make it so, I'll settle for the opportunity to do everything I am capable of doing to cause it.

That's a gift, and a privilege, that I will treasure most of all.

So, while I may not notice that my hair is turning a little grayer and that one pesky hair in my left ear has grown out again, I always notice that my birthday, regardless of what's going on in the world, is a great day.  Because it represents the chance to begin again, to create a new future.... Creating the Future seems to be a recurring theme for me.  In my world, I do it everyday.

There really are no coincidences...

PS: Pray for our friends in the military, and the citizens of Iraq

 


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