“But there is no sunken treasure rumored to be wrapped inside my ribs in a sea black with ink.” 

– Wilco “Sunken Teeth”

So… here we go again. I am terrible at these things and sorely lack the discipline to continuously voice my thoughts, opinions, and criticisms on a consistent basis. There is a fire in the beginning, but it soon loses its fuel rapidly like a ghost train fading into the ethers. What remains are embers that burn shyly until another spark turns me on. I am a restless soul rattling against this cage society has built around me. I dare to break free. So, here’s another warring shot, another sharp strike, another hot flash. Let’s see if I can crack this ennui wide open, paint these pages with my viscera.  

I loathe speaking politics, but it is prevalent in our lives. It haunts my mindscape and it paralyzes my core. My fears whisper, “Remember. Fight,” and I am frozen in amber. So… I must howl.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE WORLD TODAY?

Well… it’s day twenty of the Government Shutdown.

The shutdown is a reflection of the broken machine that currently runs our country. Individual wants have come before the needs of the country and we are mere subjects of Les Enfants Terribles. It lies, it cheats, and it steals as we happily pave our individual death-rows towards our scaffolds. We cover our eyes and plug our ears like cattle to the prod (cross). Like the wrathful deity in the Pentateuch, it demands total obedience or face the consequences. So suffer the consequences, suffer little children. 

Still, there is no compromise in totalitarianism. Any semblance of compromise are but ashes that blow in the wind those in power choose to sway towards. History tells us this has happened before, and it has happened recently. Likewise, novels have told this story before while our intuitions scream within our bone-house. Yet, as a country we still march on to the beat of authoritarianism. It’s a funeral dirge towards our cells.

Our freedom for our safety! Was it not Benjamin Franklin who said that those who are willing to give up their freedoms for security deserve neither? Oh, the travesty. What would our Founding Fathers say of our current predicament, of our current tribulations? I imagine they are rattling against the gates of heaven with the fervor of freedom setting the kingdom on fire. Are we not that fire that forged this great land? After all, it is our proclivity towards rebelling that built our great country. We are the United States of America, not a sovereign state of the United Kingdom. Yet, why are there many of us who are willing to give up our individual liberties for cold comforts and a sedated life in private penal domiciles? It is disheartening, but I must keep my hope alive. I have to believe that humanity will win out in the end, but I must admit brothers and sisters that these are some dark, dark days and my faith is waning with every masterstroke against our cherished democracy. 

It is a war for our souls and we a lose a little of our spirit with each concession. Sides have been chosen. There is a deep scarlet line that runs through our collective social sphere and it is jagged and wide. The wound is a measure of our splintered fidelities and we are all  enthralled with our disparate allegiances of politics, beliefs, morals, desires, and/or vices. The American spirit is bleeding out from this cavernous chasm and we are but pale reflections of our former glory. Other countries watch the madness unfold with zeal flaring in their eyes, and the color is green and it flickers madly while their crooked teeth sink deep into our decaying, distended flesh like vampires seeking nourishment from our weaknesses. We are burning from the inside out and there is no remedy in sight to succor the breathless corps(e). We are a divided nation and divided we will fall.

So I must ask: Are we the next Roman Empire? Are we doomed to Fall? Or are we Rome armed to the teeth?