The spirit of freedom that stirred American colonists to declare their independence from the oppressive rule of the British monarchy should be rekindled by Americans in 2008 to declare their independence from modern oppression akin to King George's high-handed abuses.
This new proclamation would require selflessness and an end to the what's-in-it-for-me culture.
Onerous public policies are evident to virtually every American today, and it's time to stand tall and demand independence from:
- Corporate influence of political campaigns that literally buys the loyalties of elected federal officers and compromises their freedom to decide before they even reach Washington D.C.
- Political mismanagement that has transformed the United States into the world's largest debtor, mostly beholden to governments hostile to America.
- The notion that our best and brightest will find greater rewards on Wall Street than teaching, nursing, agriculture, charitable service and other civic work.
- Tax laws that encourage outsourcing Americans' jobs overseas and the importing of substandard foods and products from countries that disregard labor, quality control and environmental standards.
- Cronyism that enriches political friends and supporters with favorable tax laws that penalize workers.
- Patronage hiring based on religious and political beliefs, rather than professional competence.
- Indifference to the environment that frees industry and consumers of responsibility to their planet.
- Reliance on foreign oil and the inertia that led the nation to fail to develop dependable new fuels, new fuel-efficient vehicles and conservation programs.
- Do-nothing regulatory agencies that allow investors, consumers and homeowners to be hoodwinked and fleeced by unscrupulous manipulators.
- Health care that spends far too little on preventive medicine.
- The impulse to use or talk about using military force rather than using skillful diplomacy and alliances of nations to end international crises.
- Religious extremists that demand laws to enforce their particular beliefs in a nation of diverse beliefs.
- Politics of hate and division engineered by hired mudslingers and dirty tricks strategists.
- Torture of military prisoners.
- Political candidates that trivialize public service with impossible promises to accommodate supporters.
Americans deserve far better. Independence Day 2008 is a good time to begin to make it happen.
