Article: Whatcha Gonna Do About Me?

"You poisoned my sweet waters, you tore down my green trees, the food you fed my children was the cause of their disease.........." Those are lyrics from the song 'Whatcha Gonna Do About me?' by Quicksilver Messenger Service, circa 1970. So apropos today, some 30+ years later. Nothing has really changed, cept the faces and the names. America in this the 21st century is as economically corrupt and dishonest and unfair as ever before. Just that now we have SUVs to carry us from dead end job to Superstore.

What this writer has learned in years of studying most of the world's great philosophies, great spiritual teachings etc.. is that "there is truth, or there is nothing." In the Course of Miracles, a spiritual guide to self awareness, they teach us " everything not of love is not of God". Thus, we are here on this spinning mass of energy to simply learn how to love one another- nothing more, nothing less.

"My world is slowly falling down and the air's not good to breath - and those of us who care enough, we have to do something......" What can the great majority of us do to begin to change our world, thus 'the world'? We have, in America 2003, a republic where 1 % control over 85% of our wealth. That's correct, 1 in 100 of our fellow Americans leaves the other 99 to scramble and scrap for 15%. We have a political system that is subsidized by the wealthy, with most of our major politicians either within that 1 %, or 'outside the candy store window, pressed upon the glass and ogling in at all those sweets'. We watch them on C-span, dressed in their Sunday best, debating issues that really never benefit our incomes or our health. The lobbyists and the think tanks 'ghostwrite' our economic policies; the politicos just 'sign off' on them.

The sole trump card that the 1 % rely upon is the continued apathy and resignation of the populace. So long as John and Joan Q Public resort to 'venting' as opposed to action, the 'fat cats' smile as only the Cheshire can. Yet, at rare times when the public shouts 'enough is enough', the body politic trembles to the bone. If only we, the 99% would know the power we do possess. If only.

Every major industrialized nation in the world has national healthcare, except the world leader, America. This current healthcare system is so broken and unfair, that even many doctors ( you know, the profession that fought tooth and nail to defeat Medicare in the 60s) are confiding that Universal Medicare would be better than this private system. Why shouldn't all Americans have the same health coverage as our 'public servants'? Instead, we have a White House, with a willing Congress, that rushes into wars of preemption based on half truths and (promised) contracts for selected corporate sponsors. Methinks that the $400 plus billion already spent in Iraq could have easily helped jump start a Universal Medicare system. Under this writer's plan, all employees and employers would contribute into the kitty. When all the smoke clears, it would still be much less expensive, and more easily regulated than what now passes as progress.

"Your newspapers they just put you on..... they never tell you the whole story..... they just put your young ideas down - I was just wondering, can this be the end of their pride and glory?" If only all those good hardworking folks out there would focus on what ails em. If only we the masses would demand that those who run for office address the real issues. What could eventually occur would see both political parties adopting bread and butter policies. Hope does spring eternal, if enough of us take up the chant "Whatcha gonna do about me!!"