Tag Archives: America

Aug 24 2014

Don’t Call Us “The Homeland” – Please Share if You Agree

Homeland

Small wonder that the entire world thinks that we are their own personal police force.  Calling this great country “The Homeland” just exacerbates the image that America is Amerika, a militaristic force in the world, ready to rain down death and destruction everywhere we go.  Every time that word is used, cadenced stomping boots of hundreds of thousands of marching troops accompanied by missile launchers and tanks can be heard throughout the world.  Is that how we want to be perceived?

Another regrettable artifact from the Jingoistic Bush Administration, it is time to let this phrase go quietly into the night.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to be renamed or disaggregated into its component parts.  We are not Nazi Germany during World War II, Soviet Russia during the Cold War, or North Korea today.  We do not have Panzer Divisions, or thousands of jackbooted, goose-stepping troops poised to invade every country in the World on a moment’s notice.  We do not seek to overrun our neighbors, or impose any final solutions.  We just want to live in peace, or at least I think we do.  Am I wrong? 

But continuing to call our great country, the Homeland certainly gives the impression that we are Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or North Korea.  It is now time to stop.

Nov 13 2012

Plutocracy Fails; Democracy Wins – PLEASE SHARE

“Let Them Eat Cake!” or something to that effect was famously attributed to Marie Antionette, who ultimately lost her head over that attitude.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, we decided, not withstanding a blitzkrieg of political ads telling us how good life would be under a benevolent plutocracy, that we would rather stay a democracy of people from a myriad of nations who believe in the words inscribed at the foot of another famous French lady,

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

[Author: Emma Lazarus]

Isn’t she beautiful?

So, thanks but no thanks to all the well-meaning rich folk, who knew what we needed better than we did.  We don’t want your plutocracy, oligarchy, theocracy, or any other “archy” for whatever you were selling.

We’ll just muddle through like we have always done be they natural disasters, wars, economic meltdowns, or mindless idolatry like you would have foisted on us.

Oh, by the way, please play by the rules and don’t tank our economy again, just because you are not pleased that we did not want to be your serfs.

We would rather eat from the table — not crumbs from the dirty floor that trickled down off your sumptuous banquet.  It tastes better when we can stand proud and say that we did it ourselves as a caring, all inclusive nation.

In our America, there is no upper class, no middle class, and no lower class.  There is only the American Class.

We are the American Class.

I am Philip Chen, and I approve this message.