The "Spirit" of America.

By: Jillian

America was founded based on freedom. The British Monarchy was incredibly oppressive on their people, forcing a certain religion and principals on everybody. The oppressed people called Puritans go to America as somewhat of an experiment. They establish their colonies, form their government, and compose their rules. They begin a hierarchy based on social status, land ownership, and money. Religious sects start breaking off the chunk and the rich lead the way. More states are then formed because of this pursuit of religious dominance. "Wow! What a great history!" you may think. "Our country rules! We broke through the chains of oppression and freed ourselves from tyranny!" It's hardly like that though. In my eyes, all we did was form a different kind of Monarchy. A different kind of tyrant called Democracy. You know, the government where "we" get to rule. "We" get to choose. "We" have a say. Our freedoms are plenty. Yeah..right… Equality didn't and never will actually apply either. You're only equal or lesser in value to whatever the leading rich compare you up against. Time has never put out this age-old fire. Democracy peeks its head out of religious hell soon enough and is automatically accepted by "everyone", the people who will benefit on the front lines. Ahh…the two party system… This is known as, the beginning of American spirit. After years and years of revisions and new lawmaking, we are now caught in a never-ending rift. Many people have taken this spirit to extremes that can't be fathomed. White Supremacy is a prime example of this spirit. These people think that since they're American, they are superior to everyone. (I guess fucking your sister puts you higher up on the food chain) You can actually learn a lot about our country from them though. They think that they represent this perfect race, the dominant force, the religious right. It's scary but when you look at America from afar, we come across the same way. Granted, our religious freedom is actually better than what it was and no one's being burnt at the stake for it, but we definitely have to conform around religious ideals. Our government puts up this guise like we are such a dependable source for freedoms but after you sort through all the glittering upsides, the downsides are dominant. Why is America so awesome to people? "Because we can beat anyone if we want to!" That's what I hear most. What kind of claim to fame is that anyway?! So the government can spend billions of our hard-earned money on weapons and tools of mass destruction. That can only do so much. What about the people living in the US that need support? Oh yeah, we're too busy worrying about other countries to take care of our own. "Lets put Fidel Castro in office and then war with him! Lets put Saddam Hussein in power and sell him Anthrax and then war with him!" This is the mentality that is supposed to defend us I guess o_O So suddenly, tragedy hits us like a ton of bricks. After the initial shock it's now time for everyone to ban together , pray, and support eachother. (I'm sure the media has a neat slogan for this, but I don't know it) Bullshit! Now it's time for the heartless multinational corporations and rich people to spread their wings. "Hey! You see! I just donated money and bought 1000 flags! I love America and I love you!" Bullshit! So yeah, it's real nice that people spend green pieces of paper in thought of helping others. But what is the value of money? Means nothing to me. Money doesn't suddenly make you okay and it sure as hell doesn't bring back the dead. Rich assholes need to listen up and realize that their paper isn't what they'd like it to be. They haven't secured their way to "heaven" and they haven't made new friends. Buying a pass to heaven was something that the people did in Britain when the Catholic Church was the ruling party. Now everyone feels great about himself or herself and ever so optimistic… "Let's go buy some flags!" Here's another part of our "spirit". Stores. They sell American paraphernalia like it's crack. The more flags you buy, the higher you get. The person with the most flags wins and has got to be the most patriotic, right? Wrong! Patriotism is a joke in itself. Respect comes from inside and just because stores of America can shove American flags of all shapes and sizes and forms down our throats does not makes anyone patriotic. Let's pray! Another part of this "spirit". "Lets just pray for them." "I'm praying with them this whole time." "My prayers are with them." I'm praying that the world doesn't collapse on itself…and for a pizza to appear out of no where cause I'm hungry……waiting…waiting….the world is collapsing….waiting…where's my damn pizza!!! Yeah, a bunch of words can really make a horrible situation better, right? NO! Sitting in your house, on your knees even, saying a bunch of "holy words" and slogans to a cross with a battered body on it will not do anything. Praying is such a selfish act it seems. You make yourself feel better and more worthy, but 10,000 or even 10,000,000 people praying at the same, with extra donation cash, doesn't help the actual situation at hand. It's making people lazier and more dependant on an entity that no one really knows exists. If heaven is there for the innocent, why mourn the deaths of the innocent? Wouldn't they be better off there anyway?? Maybe it's that no one is actually that sure about it…but I was always told to "just have faith" that's right… "American Spirit, just have Faith!" I just made up a new slogan! Stores could market faith for 20 bucks a pop! I'd have to buy some though cause I lost mine somewhere on the road called reality. In a nutshell, American spirit to me is just a pack of assorted, colorfully wrapped lies. While the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, our society breaks apart like the faults of an earthquake. Things like the Sept 11th tragedies are used for corporate gain, and to take our minds off of our long-term problems. People forget how downright retarded our President is. People over look the rise of hate groups. People forget that there's more to life than mourning and revenge. What does that billboard say? Come and play, come and play. Forget about the movement. Democacy is a joke and always will be. America is like a cyst and all of us let it become cancerous by letting the government get away with things, virtually causing the cancer to spread. No wonder other countries hate us, this country is like a disease. Our face says, "We love all. We are freedom." But our heart says, "Come here and buy our bullshit, conform accordingly. Come and let our government feed off of you". "Buy our flags, support our lost brethren." In a year, all those capitalist bastards will still be feeding us crap, and most will still buy it. These trickle down economics are sick. George W. Bush will be known as a great president at the end of his term, even though he's been spanking us the whole time, profiting off of it like mad. He was bred to do so. I and many others will still be waiting for some change, or a revolution. American spirit will still be a bodiless ball of faith that I will have not bought. There is no freedom, there is no patriotism, there is no spirit of America….we sold it all to the devil a long time ago.