How To Truly Be Independent
Because we are entering the 4th of July weekend, I write this piece and hope it will inspire you during this time that celebrates our nation’s independence. Today, once again we are called on to join together and claim our own independence as well.We declared our independence on July 4, 1776; one hundred and fifty years ago we as a nation voted for Abraham Lincoln and fought a Civil War in defense of human rights. Later we picketed Woodrow Wilson and convinced him to endorse women’s suffrage. Not so long ago we held teach-ins for Richard Nixon to educate him and the country on the travesty that had become the Vietnam War.We’ve watched the Wikileaks scandal and we’ve seen The Pentagon Papers finally released in full. In the process, we’ve learned that we must continue to fight to make sustainability, independence, and equality the future for our grandchildren and their children.We cannot count on the voting booth in 2012 – or any other year. We know that our elected officials are too often beholden to corporate campaign coffers and therefore that we must vote in the marketplace each day. It is the ultimate polling booth. Corporations exist only because we support them in stores, at the malls, and over the Internet. It is up to each of us to decide which companies will succeed and which ones will fail. Only when we truly demand our freedom from the corporatocracy, its lobbyists, Wall Street, and the loans, regulations, and central bank that bind us to a failed economic system will we assure ourselves the real freedoms our forefathers envisioned for us.We are united in our desire to create a socially and environmentally responsible economy. We want to rid ourselves of the viral form of predatory capitalism that continues to fail us.Each and every one of us has a role to play. United we will win. We will bequeath a world to future generations that reflects the ideas of true democracy and a world rooted in a sustainable, just and peaceful society for all.So, as we listen to the crack of fireworks and watch the sky light up, let us feel our passions, deep in our hearts, and let us know that we have the power to create change. Let us each offer an oath to future generations, a promise that we will create a world they will want to celebrate for generations to come.Happy Fourth.John