[NOTE to administrators: I'm reposting this article as somehow it didn't post as I'd written it. I don't know if it was a bug in my computer or coming from the web site but it was easier to just delete it and repost it. Thank you.]

Huh? "What?" you say. What is so special about August 5th?

Well, it's the day I've written this blog, silly. (Well, truthfully, I wrote most of it in my head shortly after July 4th, but for all practical purposes it was written into the blogosphere today.)

On July 4th, we celebrated independence, freedom, liberty. We'd fought for it, and we'd won (or at least we're told we won.)

Were we ever really free?
Will we ever be?
And really who are "we?"
White men with property?
Not much of a democracy
When the majority
Is treated like a minority...

Anyhow, it really doesn't matter because on this day, (August 5th--or whenever this blog entry is published) we celebrate the aftermath, the post-liberty period, the unfree and not so brave after all. Today, we celebrate the end of that silly, old "liberty" nonsense, and the beginning of a new era: the Patriot Act! The National Defense Authorization Act! Civil Forfeiture! Torture! Secret Prisons! Persecution of jounalists! Conformity! Complacency! Fear of saying the "wrong" thing! Fear of being different (or of being around those who are different from us!) All of these things are what now make the USA great!

USA! USA! August 5th! August 5th!

Oh, stop that nonsensical talk about the 4th Amendment. No one cares about it anymore. No one's even read it. Heck, with the high cost of university tuition these days, maybe reading should just become illegal so that smart people don't put themselves in debt and cause themselves a lot of misery (once they learn about the Constitution and Bill of Rights and how they died slowly and painfully--heartbreaking, really.) So forget about all that. c

Remember, remember the 5th of August! It's Loss of Liberty Day! Yay!
Huh? "What?" you say. What is so special about August 5th?

Well, it's the day I've written this blog, silly. (Well, truthfully, I wrote most of it in my head shortly after July 4th, but for all practical purposes it was written into the blogosphere today.)

On July 4th, we celebrated independence, freedom, liberty. We'd fought for it, and we'd won (or at least we're told we won.)

Were we ever really free?
Will we ever be?
And really who are "we?"
White men with property?
Not much of a democracy
When the majority
Is treated like a minority...

Anyhow, it really doesn't matter because on this day, (August 5th--or whenever this blog entry is published) we celebrate the aftermath, the post-liberty period, the unfree and not so brave after all. Today, we celebrate the end of that silly, old "liberty" nonsense, and the beginning of a new era: the Patriot Act! The National Defense Authorization Act! Civil Forfeiture! Torture! Secret Prisons! Persecution of jounalists! Political activists who conveniently "commit suicide" before they can create social change! Ignorance! Conformity! Complacency! Fear of saying the "wrong" thing! Fear of being different (or of being around those who are different from us!) Fear of upsetting anyone who has power over us! All of these things are what now make the USA great! USA! USA! August 5th! August 5th!

Oh, stop that nonsensical talk about the 4th Amendment. No one cares about it anymore. No one's even read it. Heck, with the high cost of university tuition these days, maybe reading should just become illegal so that smart people don't put themselves in debt and cause themselves a lot of misery (once they learn about the Constitution and Bill of Rights and how they died slowly and painfully--heartbreaking, really.) So forget about all that. Remember, remember the 5th of August!

Remember, remember the 5th of August! It's Loss of Liberty Day! Yay!
Remember, remember!

There will be no fireworks (too expensive) and no public celebration (i.e., "socialism.") Instead, we sit alone in front of our televisions and contemplate how much more money we will need to make in order to buy how many more things to titillate our empty and lonely spirits into further inaction.

Nevermind that old-fashioned "freedom" nonsense. Aren't we glad to be done with that? Being free means having to tolerate people we don't like, listening to the stupid things they say (due to freedom of speech laws) and allowing them to do things we don't think they should be doing.

I mean, why should we care that the police are being armed with military equipment and being encouraged to act aggressively? It's to protect us all from terrorists, remember? I haven't been beaten up by the police. Have you? Well then, what is the problem? If nothing bad has happened to me then there is no problem.

Nothing's happened to me.
Nothing's happened to me.
Nothing's happened to me.

I'm doing okay, so what's the problem?
I'm doing okay, so what's the problem?
I'm doing okay, so what's the problem?

Is something wrong?

Frankly, I don't like having to care about anyone or anything other than myself. Having to care about other people takes up too much time and energy, and I need all that time and energy to watch my favorite TV shows. What's the point in spending all that hard-earned money on cable TV if I'm sitting around worrying about poverty, war, drones, and government spying?

And people who have more money than I do are, obviously, much smarter than I am and have made much better choices. That's why they're rich. And I'm so glad that wealthy, powerful people are able to make decisions for me so that I don't have to. They can care about things that are happening in the world and come up with much better solutions to problems than I can. I'm just too busy with my iPhone and my butt twitching to think about problems. I'm a positive person. I don't see problems. Problems don't exist for me.

That's why I'm so glad there are rich people who can see the problems I can't see and come up with such wonderful solutions. (Rich people have made all the right decisions, have done all the right things, work extremely hard to inherit their wealth, and have been blessed by God Himself! That's why they're rich!)

Thank God for the rich. Without them, we might need to start thinking about freedom again, and that means equality, democracy, thinking about the "greater good," the big picture, sacrificing for the betterment of our society and all that nonsense. Whew! I'm getting tired just typing that stuff!

I admire rich people SO much I can hardly contain myself. I'm so relieved that they're here to take care of us (and to prevent us stupid poor people from making bad decisions without their help.)

Look at Donald Trump, for example. The guy's a genius and always has such helpful observations about other people that he freely shares publicly with the rest of us. He has such wonderful social skills, works and plays with others so well, that I can see how he got to be rich. His winning personality and his handsome face say it all, don't they? (Well, not quite. I do believe his mouth has been doing most of the talking lately. But I digress...)

And then there's George W. Bush, for another example. He didn't become President of the USA because his family was rich, after all. Nor did his being a wealthy, white male have anything to do with it. He was just so well qualified to run this country. And run it he did! He ran this country right down into the... into the... the...
Gosh, he ran. Fool him once, and we can't get fooled again!

https://youtu.be/eKgPY1adc0A

I gotta tell ya', I'm so glad we have such great leaders guiding us all 'cause we poor people make such bad decisions and we know so little... It's just great to have people in power who prevent us from getting fooled again. And again.

Because really it's just so great to have people who are bigger, stronger, richer, whiter and more masculine than the rest of us making decisions for us. I certainly don't want to have to pay attention to what's happening in the world or even in my own community. Why should I care if my next-door neighbor just lost his house? Or if the lady down the street lost her job due to outsourcing? I'm doing just fine thank-you-very-much. And I'd have to pay attention to all that negative, depressing stuff in order to be qualified to make good decisions on how things should be done.

So what I do is I sit back and let the smarter, richer white guys make all those tough decisions for me. They know more than I do. That's how they got rich.

So... we can't get fooled again!

Thank you, George W. I really appreciate your keeping us all from getting fooled. I wanted to buy your book too. I heard it was a bestseller. But, ah. I don't have time to read. Books are just so... Old School. (I'm not "too school for cool," ya' know.)

So... in short, I celebrate the 5th of August (not so much the 4th of July.) Freedom, liberty, etc.--that's all just a bunch of nonsense. There are just too many terrorists out there. And, frankly, too many people who are DIFFERENT from me! They dress differently; their skin color's different; their religion is different; heck, some of them don't even have jobs!

Remember the days when homeless people slept on the streets or (horror of horrors!) on the subway trains? Remember when we could stand on a public sidewalk without getting accosted by the police?

Now that we're all under surveillance, the police are allowed to kill poor people and confiscate their money, loitering is illegal, we're constantly at war, and the average American knows virtually nothing about current events, I would say we're so much safer than we used to be. I don't know about you, but I don't want to walk down the street without someone somewhere watching my every move via a surveillance camera.

Heck, they can watch me pee, if they like. 'Cause ya' never know... Terrorists use toilets too. I just hope they don't turn the volume of the camera microphones up too high in case I fart too loud while under surveillance. I wouldn't want to blow out the ears of law enforcement. COINTELBLOW?