Reposted from the Rastafari Speaks Board....A Look Into the Mirror
By Manuel Valenzuela
08/09/05 "ICH" -- -- Through the veneer that is Washington, with its grand monuments to great men, its hallowed halls of history, its monolithic structures of governance, its corridors of power, its seats of wealth and effervescent illumination as the reincarnation of ancient Rome, can we, if we dare look upon the vision emanating from its shallow pools, see the manifestation of what America, and by consequence Americans, has become. To see inside the capital of modern day Democracy, Freedom, Liberty, Manifest Destiny and 21st century Empire is to reflect on dreams shattered and promises broken, on visions abandoned and principles ignored, on utopian possibilities forgotten and human reality expounded.
It is to come face to face with a reality hundreds of millions wish to never confront, preferring instead to seemingly and conveniently whitewash all semblance of the uncomfortable truths that dare not become manifest. For amongst its cherry blossom trees and green lawns, its shallow mirror pools and gentle crisp waterways lies a truth of what the Republic born a mere 230 years ago has mutated into. Washington, like ancient Rome before it, has become, through the course of years breathing the airs of moral degeneration, corruption and greed, the monument for all that is wrong with the nation it represents, a new symbol of debauchery and immorality, a decadent city on a hill whose once noble foundations are now cracking under the weight of unscrupulous entities and malfeasant activities.
Inside its streets and buildings the disease rotting America festers, like a virus attaching itself to the halls of governance and the seats of representation. Whether we like it or not, the nation’s capital is the mirror image of the rest of the country, ever so intently becoming the beacon shining light on what we have become. In its shallow pools can we see reflections of ourselves, for the capital is but a microcosm of a much larger reality spreading its wings from the Redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters, from Atlantic to Pacific, penetrating deep inside the pores of a nation living a grand delusion basked in ignorance, omnipotence, arrogance bred in overabundance and a delusion of grandeur.
Washington is America just as much as America is Washington, a symptom of a disease birthed from the womb of superfluous wealth and overabundance, the reborn image of hubris only spawned by the overflow of decadence. Living in gluttony, possessed by greed, blinded by fear and ignorance, enraptured by a wanton addiction to materialistic wealth and capitalistic fervor, America today is the result of a nation led astray by the demons of capitalism, a nation cannibalizing the talents and futures of its progeny and of those yet to come, sacrificing the tomorrow for the short term benefits of today. It is our children and grandchildren who will inherit a nation bordering on self-implosion, teetering on the edge of chaos and lunacy, forced to confront harsh destinies inside a nation unrecognizable in both scope and principle to truths once held to be self evident.
Washington, along with legions of vermin occupying its structures, is merely the most visible manifestation of a nation transformed into a society corrupted by the same system it adheres dying loyalty towards, unable to exorcise from its midst that which shackles and blinds to the perils of its own making, thereby robbing an entire planet of a greatness it once promised and a human betterment it once espoused. It is the system conditioned into the minds and lives of millions which is corrupting so much of the human condition, bringing our society perilously close to eventual and inevitable collapse.
It is this system which hundreds of millions of us follow without question, believing in its short term successes, basking in its present indulgences, yet not wanting to acknowledge or comprehend its all too real ramifications in the long run. The system we have been brainwashed since birth is destroying our culture, as well as our humanity, taking America down with it. The collapse might not be imminent, but it is inevitable. The question is not if, but when. It is time, therefore, to look deep into the mirror, carefully observing our respective roles in the degeneration of America, placing blame not on those we elect or those we choose to lead, but rather on the collective agenda of the masses, the great majority entranced by the seductive demons of capitalism.
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