An Empire in Decline is an editorial piece written by Tim Clark and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme Entropy: Overcoming Destruction for the month of July
An Empire in Decline
In America we recently celebrated the 4th of July. A declaration of freedom. A day that’s supposed to mark the end of tyranny, at least foreign tyranny, the emancipation of a nation. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Even today, when most of our history as a nation was much closer to oppressor than downtrodden, it makes us blush with unvarnished pride.
Sure, we made some mistakes, drowned a few “witches”, persecuted the native population, locking them in gulags we called reservations. Imported some inexpensive labor to tend crops. If they didn’t want to tend crops and live here, well that was their problem. Progress demanded cheap labor, someone had to do it.
It’s almost a sin to admit. We don’t want to talk about it. Slavery happened, but it was a long time ago and it wasn’t us, it was somebody else, somebody we didn’t know. No point in telling children about it, they might feel bad. It hardly registers these slavers could have been related to us, ancestors of ours. God forbid we should acknowledge we might have owned slaves if it were a 175 years ago. We’re much too enlightened to think of people of a different race differently. That’s what we tell ourselves, and many of our state governments are willing to support our blindness. People of a different race have markedly different views, but, if we stop talking about it, it will go away. It’s the past, why dredge that up?
It barely registers that these same governments are making it more difficult for minorities to vote. It has nothing to do with race, they just don’t like poor people, they should have to earn their rights, if they wanted to be part of society, they would have money, anybody can have money, it’s the American way. Wait, they didn’t say that they don’t love poor people, who else would clean the buildings and cook the food? They just don’t like liberals, and progressives, they’re way too much like socialists. Besides, they’re not republicans.
You know who has rights? Guns, rather gun owners, and gun manufacturing plants, and gun salespeople. Tons of rights, inalienable rights. If you can load a bullet in it and use it to shoot at something or somebody it cannot be regulated, and that’s in the constitution, pal, so don’t question it. “¿Comprende, Amigo?”
You know who doesn’t have any rights? Gay people, they aren’t in the constitution. Which makes me wonder if “all men are created equal” means all men? Did the founding fathers, in their zeal for freedom forgot to include “all men who are like us” to the text, it would be understandable, they had to dip a feather in an inkwell and shape each letter, and a few oversights could be forgiven. Besides, they probably reasoned it was going to adapted to the inevitable evolution of the country. It is becoming increasingly clear it is being widely interpreted to mean Christian white men whose ancestors were of European descent. Real men who like guns and women. Attending church isn’t a requirement. Still, the government is increasingly evangelical in nature, the Supreme Court is enacting a Protestant Sharia.
It hardly matters they don’t care about women. They will make an exception for Christian women, women who know their place. Don’t expect too much. Freedom’s just another word for knowing your place in the strict sociopolitical economic strata of modern society. If you know your place you’ll do just fine. The most important thing is fitting in.
That’s the real problem, isn’t it? Nobody wants to fit in anymore, everybody wants religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to protest the things they find unfair, or oppressive. Don’t they understand, America is the land of opportunity, provided… Well, to hell with that. America, love it or leave it.
We are watching a revolution in reverse. Opportunity is becoming a commodity and if you can’t afford it too damned bad. Our country is starting to slow, education is becoming secondary to indoctrination, if we don’t teach children to think critically growth will not be possible. Stagnant and bitter, we will become the next nation to crumble under the weight of our own rank and unsolvable divisions. “America, where are you know, don’t you care about your sons and daughters, don’t you know, we need you know, we can’t fight alone against the monster?” Indeed.
Read more from Tim Clark by visiting his website at Life, Explained or by checking out his previous write-ups here at The Ugly Writers.
