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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(C) 2002,2003-2009 Charles Rehn Jr IV All rights
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