# SHAME on the USA



## gokedik (Aug 11, 2014)

Imperial Shame



    Tonight the US government has shut down, unable to agree on how to divide the money in the petty cash box beneath the Senate majority leader’s oak and velvet seat. Squabbling over  funds that really aren’t theirs to begin with. We are floating on a magic carpet that would put Aladdin to shame. Closing our eyes and extending ourselves across oceans to beg for another hit from a country that we were locked in a psychological with 20 years ago. Promising that we’re going to do well this time, that we have it figured out when the only people that have us figured out are the one’s trying to, and succeeding in, killing us.
    We come into this world with blinders on and a dollar bill that dangles in front of us. Nobody explains why and we don’t figure it out until we are young adults and finally push our minds out of the matrix and see the strings being pulled that manipulate us all, like Dorothy in Oz. Some just pretend that it’s not true or that they never saw but when they but when they choose the path of denial and become a cog in the wheel of the me,me,me contest. They must feel the hairs on the backs of their necks stand up when they make a wrong turn and drive their shiny BMW’s through skid row or see hungry, dying children on their spirit guide, television.
    It’s a dog eat dog world and we always and we seem to always end up with the bone, never sharing a lick or a sniff. Others keep wanting to switch that bone for a stick of dynamite and be rid of our imperialist march that tends to mow down peoples and cultures in it’s way. We didn’t stand on shoulders to reach this precipice, we stood on ashen skulls leaving behind apocalyptic darkness of Bruegel’s Triumph of Death in our wake.
    Being the top dog, there is only one way to go. And the slide down will be fraught with bumps and scrapes from those that once existed below us. There is a possibility we won’t survive and fade into history, becoming a myth like Troy but not half as gallant.We will be forced to liquidate our assets, selling off hot merchandise to their rightful owner. There is something seriously wrong with this picture. We are being allowed to dance around and act like big shots when there’s someone on the sideline just waiting until we have gone just far enough out that our rubber band of confidence loses in elasticity and then BOOM we are property of a greater nation. Sun Tzu’s Art of War was written 100 years ago, yet we are slowly getting caught in a web that
 I’m afraid will pervade every aspect of our society. 
    What we can do is back peddle like a gossip girl at prom and demonstrate some humility for all the nations we raped. And they are many. We need to give back the advantage that we took all these years. Other countries conserve better than us because, for them, it’s a matter of life and death. And it’s a death that we are greasing the slope for.


*                                                             I'd rather miss by aiming too high than get caught sitting on my gun.*


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## Pandora (Aug 12, 2014)

gokedik, wow your visuals and the analogies are incredible. Wonderful read, well done, thoroughly enjoyed.  I'd rather just be a friendly dog than a top dog. I have the feeling that is not what our founders wanted though. More more more . . . another awesome lyric by Jack.


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## gokedik (Aug 12, 2014)

*SHAME again, but gratitude for my reader*

Thank you for your appreciation, I tend to ruffle a few feathers. But seeing as the majority of us are, circling the drain at the bottom of the barrel of wealth, I didn't imagine many dissenters on this one, but I have more that are just CAUSTIC. Many I'll post them and not fear the barrage of hate that I imagine I'll get.I dare to take apart religion being as weak as it is. Again, Thank you for your time, your comments and your encouragement. It makes all the difference for us neurotic, painfully self-judgmental bunch, as Kevin Spacey (?) so eloquently established at the 2013 Academy Awards. 





Pandora said:


> gokedik, wow your visuals and the analogies are incredible. Wonderful read, well done, thoroughly enjoyed.  I'd rather just be a friendly dog than a top dog. I have the feeling that is not what our founders wanted though. More more more . . . another awesome lyric by Jack.





*                       "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and not have yourself"-Cyril Connolly 1933*


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## ppsage (Aug 12, 2014)

Hi gok.... Saw this when it went up but wasn't that sure then that it was intended for actual critique, so I let it go by but since it's on a creative board and since you're still hereabouts, I'll give it a shot. I'd call the genre here a rant, one of my favorites, and, as you note, trying to ruffle feathers. I can see it posted here or there, in forums or commentary. Many people will be trying to dismiss it and the grammar errors and typos and poor formatting will be all the excuse they will need to ignore the argument and the pretty nice rhetoric you're trying to present. So I would say for a start that you'll need to proofread much more carefully and take the time to understand how the editing interface you'll be using affects the format. ------------ The topic you raise is as pertinent today as it was eighteen months ago but that particular gov't shutdown is yesterday's news, dead and gone, so I think making a more timeless starting point will be essential. This is something we ranters need to keep in mind, not to be too reactionary in our remarks, to lead with the more lasting aspects of our topic so it stays more timely and can be more often utilized. (There are also, in my opinion, factual difficulties with this opening, which need bolstering with actual data and perhaps historical precedent, for I'm pretty sure that, while certainly of concern as you note, the foreign held public debt is not the greatest percentage overall. This is the sort of thing that will be immediately raised against the rant, again leading to dismissal-without-ruffling. It could and probably should be preemptively addressed. While I'm not here to argue cases, I do think any good rant needs to call out some sustaining evidence, especially initially.) ---------------- I'm very taken with the sliding focus here, in the best tradition of the political rant, from populist anti-gov't to patriot nationalist. I personally like how the transition is abrupt and unannounced, taken for granted as it were, a given, but I worry that many will find the about-face a contradiction (which we ranters know it is not) and be again, in their own minds, justified with dismissal rather than severe ruffling. Perhaps a bit more of a transition is in order, to provide a path through this crucial juncture. It may be good to remember, that preaching just to the choir is a diminishing circle. ------------- All in all, an exhilarating read, which, with a bit more effort, can be timeless. In appreciation, pp.


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## Plasticweld (Aug 12, 2014)

PPsage makes a great point about formatting and writing in a presentable and readable form.  I looked at this as I would a Wildman ranting on the corner, spouting off all sorts of things, nothing connected, nothing makings sense, but full of passion.  There are ways to change minds or share a thought, I sincerely doubt you managed to do either.


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## gokedik (Aug 12, 2014)

ppsage said:


> Hi gok.... Saw this when it went up but wasn't that sure then that it was intended for actual critique, so I let it go by but since it's on a creative board and since you're still hereabouts, I'll give it a shot. I'd call the genre here a rant, one of my favorites, and, as you note, trying to ruffle feathers. I can see it posted here or there, in forums or commentary. Many people will be trying to dismiss it and the grammar errors and typos and poor formatting will be all the excuse they will need to ignore the argument and the pretty nice rhetoric you're trying to present. So I would say for a start that you'll need to proofread much more carefully and take the time to understand how the editing interface you'll be using affects the format. ------------ The topic you raise is as pertinent today as it was eighteen months ago but that particular gov't shutdown is yesterday's news, dead and gone, so I think making a more timeless starting point will be essential. This is something we ranters need to keep in mind, not to be too reactionary in our remarks, to lead with the more lasting aspects of our topic so it stays more timely and can be more often utilized. (There are also, in my opinion, factual difficulties with this opening, which need bolstering with actual data and perhaps historical precedent, for I'm pretty sure that, while certainly of concern as you note, the foreign held public debt is not the greatest percentage overall. This is the sort of thing that will be immediately raised against the rant, again leading to dismissal-without-ruffling. It could and probably should be preemptively addressed. While I'm not here to argue cases, I do think any good rant needs to call out some sustaining evidence, especially initially.) ---------------- I'm very taken with the sliding focus here, in the best tradition of the political rant, from populist anti-gov't to patriot nationalist. I personally like how the transition is abrupt and unannounced, taken for granted as it were, a given, but I worry that many will find the about-face a contradiction (which we ranters know it is not) and be again, in their own minds, justified with dismissal rather than severe ruffling. Perhaps a bit more of a transition is in order, to provide a path through this crucial juncture. It may be good to remember, that preaching just to the choir is a diminishing circle. ------------- All in all, an exhilarating read, which, with a bit more effort, can be timeless. In appreciation, pp.


 I appreciate your thoughtful and apt critique. I wrote this as I watched CNN and began to think that our gov't thinks we're stupid, realizing that they do started this rant and wanting all things I write to be valid, added the references as I ranted along. I was careless about my readers consideration and the formatting I have not figured out yet, It was formatted when I wrote it but haven't figured out how to make that transfer. Thank you for your time, thought and critique. That is what this website is for, right? Thank you I am immensely grateful.


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## Pandora (Aug 12, 2014)

gokedik said:


> Thank you for your appreciation, I tend to ruffle a few feathers. But seeing as the majority of us are, circling the drain at the bottom of the barrel of wealth, I didn't imagine many dissenters on this one, but I have more that are just CAUSTIC. Many I'll post them and not fear the barrage of hate that I imagine I'll get.I dare to take apart religion being as weak as it is. Again, Thank you for your time, your comments and your encouragement. It makes all the difference for us neurotic, painfully self-judgmental bunch, as Kevin Spacey (?) so eloquently established at the 2013 Academy Awards.
> 
> 
> 
> *                       "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and not have yourself"-Cyril Connolly 1933*


Oh a favorite of mine Kevin Spacey. gokedik this forum isn't big on hate and we don't debate here so your informative opinion articles are welcome. They will be read, critiqued. In presenting your opinions on things that mean much to others tread lightly though, sometimes hearts get hurt. My biggest fear in life is "please don't let me be misunderstood" another great quote. Good to have you join us here in Nonfiction, I do love it here.


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## gokedik (Aug 12, 2014)

Thank you, again for your caring and courteous response. I am newly active to the site and am here to make more relevant, timely and attractive my writing. You have helped greatly and will consider your input when posting from here on out. Thank you and may we all show the grace that you have shown me, to our peers


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## gokedik (Aug 12, 2014)

Thanks for your generous encouragement.


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## Seedy M. (Aug 14, 2014)

Very interesting. I was a hippie in the late sixties and seventies. Exactly what we warned against has happened.
I am living in Panamá for the past ten years. It is amazing how different things are on the news there and on other places. We get everything from Al Jazira (sp?) to Haifa to Moscow to Hong Kong to Peking and anything else you want by clicking on the station. I think, personally, that the US has become everything it stood against until the late fifties. The slide was much slower then, but has gained a lot of momentum. 
I tried to tell a few people I corresponded with for years what was going on. They simply stopped any contact. Even family members. An aunt who was always very close has refused further contact with me because I sent her some things taken directly off the TV here. She is so brainwashed she automatically excludes anyone who would say anything negative about Bush or Cheney from her life.
Well, I am here where there actually is freedom. I escaped the cage. It saddens me greatly how low the once greatest nation in the world has descended.


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